Monday, November 12, 2018
the 1966 Fitch Phoenix, a prototype created from a Corvair, body built by Intermechanica of Italy
A Chevrolet Corvair-based two-seat sports car created by the late John Fitch, a famous racing driver and inventor.
The Corvair's rear-mounted, air-cooled 2.7L flat-six was tuned to produce 170 horsepower, while the weight is 2,150 lbs. The big bumps between windshield and front tires? Are for spare tires, since the car has two sizes of wheels, it was equipped with a spare for each
Fitch planned to build and sell 500 examples of the Phoenix, but before that could happen, President Johnson signed the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act into law, making it pretty much impossible for a small independent manufacturer to offer a car to the public.
It's debut was at the Abercrombie and Fitch (no relation) Manhattan, N.Y., store.
As a result, the prototype was the only one built, he returned the 100 deposits, and Fitch kept it for the rest of his life.
https://autoweek.com/article/car-life/escape-roads-1966-fitch-phoenix-corvair-based-phoenix-still-turns-heads-and-snaps
https://www.gtplanet.net/forum/threads/fitch-phoenix-1966.301616/
here's a guy who will be the text book example for a long time to come, of what not to do... in several ways.
notice his speed triple from 47 mph to 141 before he catchs up to the speeder and pulls them over.
Ironically he says, "I don't recommend doing that" just before we can see the smoke start to appear from under his vehicle, due to the extremely hot exhaust pipe and catalytic converter lighting off the weeds he parked on.
He doesn't get his vehicle backed away, and off the weeds... so it starts to burn, taking out the electrical system, and disabling the vehicle.
Then he can't operated the fire extinguisher.
That's just stupid, doubled down.
https://www.powernationtv.com/post/cop-passes-drivers-on-the-shoulder-at-130-mph-tells-everyone-dont-try-this
Celebs and Hollywood stars are losing their homes in Malibu to the fires
Looks like he lost his Bronco too.
He recorded about a minute of the neighborhood in Point Dume https://www.instagram.com/p/BqF9fpVlBbk and it's like the houses were built of gasoline soaked matchsticks. Everything around them is fine, but the houses are ash.
Other people whose names you know that have lost their homes, Myley Cyrus, Neil Young.... and those who might lose their homes, and have already been evacuated, Lady Gaga, Cher, Alyssa Milano, Riann Wilson, Guillermo del Toro, Orlando Bloom, and Mark Hamill
https://heavy.com/news/2018/11/celebrity-homes-destroyed-by-fire-woolsey-malibu/
https://www.instagram.com/p/BqDOMy5Fz69/
Trans Ams... good looking car that happened to be in the right time for Disco and the "Macho" movement
The Mecham brothers were selling new cars out of their father’s Pontiac Dealership in Glendale, Arizona, until 1977, when they founded DKM, Inc. to build hot Trans Ams bearing the ultimate ’70s moniker: Macho T/A, and began pumping steroids into the Trans Am.
“At that time, macho was the ‘in’ word in the Southwest. Everything was macho. In desperation, I said, ‘Why not call it Macho T/A?’ It was almost tongue-in-cheek. It may not be the best name, but how can you forget it?”
With the 455 disappearing in 1977, DKM focused on Pontiac’s W72 400, and began by changing the jets in the stock Quadrajet carburetor to enrichen the mixture, altering the distributor’s curve to hit 36-degrees of advance by 2,500 rpm, opening up the Shaker hood scoop to enhance breathing, and bolting on a set of Hooker Headers and a custom 2-1/2-inch exhaust with a crossover tube and a pair of catalysts, but no mufflers or resonators.
The changes under-hood reportedly added about 50 horsepower to the Macho T/A, and period road tests show the car was capable of running from 0-60 mph in 7.8 seconds, on the way to a 14.29-second quarter-mile at 98.79 mph, a full second faster than stock
Most other options were performance-oriented, including a fiberglass hood that saved an estimated 60 pounds, Corvette disc brakes, a turbocharger, and an oil pressurization system that prevented starvation in high-speed corners. With a starting price of $9,610, over $3,700 more than a stock Trans Am’s base price of $5,889, the Macho T/A certainly wasn’t targeted to the budget-minded enthusiast.
https://www.hemmings.com/blog/2017/08/30/flipping-the-birds-a-collection-of-1978-macho-trans-ams-heads-to-auction/
https://www.hagerty.com/articles-videos/articles/2018/02/08/macho-trans-am
1959 Buick Invicta
but if you can tell me what causes this to be at SEMA, you'll be a step ahead of me on that.
Sunday, November 11, 2018
the most incredible air brushing at SEMA was this van that has been the canvas for the artist Ed Beard, whose incredible work you'll recognize as the Dungeons and Dragons art for the past 3 or 4 decades
the only troubling thing, is that PPG seemed to ignore him and the van throughout the convention
cool workplace vent invention
I don't know how this is better than a fan, though, it's certainly better filtered and more focused
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