Just A Car Guy: 5/22/16

Friday, May 27, 2016

finally, they added another vehicle to the National Register.

the 7 that preceed it are all covered at http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/05/this-is-one-cool-way-of-displaying-what.html and they were the Shelby Daytona, the Meyers Manx, the Boyle Special Maserati, the 1918 Cadillac, the Tucker, the Futurliner, and the Mercedes 300SL

it's very likely the Camaro, Mustang, and Model T will join this list.

https://www.historicvehicle.org/national-historic-vehicle-register/vehicles/1940-ford-pilot-moed-gp-no-1-pygmy/
https://www.historicvehicle.org/category/press-releases/
https://www.historicvehicle.org/national-historic-vehicle-register/vehicles/

Cragar SS

https://www.pinterest.com/johnjaythistlew/car-n-truck-stuff/

if you're serious about GN turbo 6 power, see Kenny Duttweiler, here's why

It started out that if you could make 600 hp on the dyno, everybody was ecstatic—they couldn’t believe it. Then a year later, it was 1,200 hp and 20 years later or whatever it’s 1,900 hp. I’ve got one on the stand right now that made 1,930 hp.

That’s from a 265ci V6 engine. The evolution is interesting because I started out with a stocker that made 200 hp and then we just kept adding better turbos and better everything.

http://www.hotrod.com/features/1502-take-5-kenny-duttweiler/

1994 old news - An unmarked FBI car with an AR-15, a 12-ga shotgun, two 9mm and about 1,000 rounds of ammunition in the trunk was stolen from the home of an FBI agent

A gray 1992 Buick Skylark with those weapons and two FBI raid jackets, a bulletproof vest, a hand-held two-way radio, handcuffs and other equipment was stolen between 10:30 p.m. 7:10 a.m. from the driveway of an FBI agent in Canyon Country.

http://articles.latimes.com/1994-12-22/local/me-11905_1_unmarked-fbi-car

Sgt Bill Chaffin, LASD, SWAT, drag racer and friend to Big Willie owns a 1987 GN that has 28 NHRA class championships, engine built by Kenny Duttweiler

http://picssr.com/photos/navymailman/interesting/page3624?nsid=32590873@N04

"Scott’s shop is like an open-faced Bell helmet blast through Adventureland on methanol" ... Car Craft, June 2015. Scott was one of Mickey Thompson's employees from 67-71

After working at various Ford dealerships, Scott eventually landed a job with Mickey Thompson from 1967 to 1971 when Mickey was heavily associated with Ford, who funded most of his racing, including his famous record-setting efforts on the Bonneville salt.

Mickey took three Mustangs to set endurance records, with two cars on a 10-mile oval. Scott was there, helping to refuel the cars and keep the smudge pots burning during the night. Later, Mickey returned to the flats with his Ford-powered Autolite Special streamliner urged by a pair of 427 Cammers and Scott’s bright blue paint job.

That was a time when pallet loads of engines and parts were delivered to Thompson’s southern California shop, dropped out of the sides of DC 3 cargo planes. How good was it back then? A well-funded shop might have a little 1963 Falcon Ranchero to run parts and get lunch. Scott’s parts chaser was a 1969 428 Cobra Jet Torino.

427 Ford with Mickey Thompson hemi heads... made of pure unobtanium.

Mickey Thompson only built four pairs of these Ford hemi heads, so the term “rare” doesn’t begin to describe them. Scott says one set ran in Mickey Thompson’s Thunderbolt, with another set as backup, a third set went into a supercharged dragster while the final set sat in the window of M/T’s retail store in Long Beach for sale for $3,200. There were only three cross ram intakes ever built.

Lightweight 63.5 Galaxie that ran a best of 9.26 at 149 mph

the Hemi in this T-bird has a turbocharger and three Carter carburetors. The engine has been relocated six inches to the right to accommodate the set-up. The car has a separate methanol tank and pump system to feed the third carburetor. The Hemi made 804hp normally aspirated and 1,100 on alcohol, and was put together by an engineer who worked at Garret AiResearch turbos

In the photo, it appears Big Daddy in the far lane has a comfortable lead, but Voigt power from the supercharged M/T Pontiac hemi was enough to power past the Swamp Rat for the win. As part of the Top Eliminator prize, Craftsman awarded the winning crew chief the aforementioned tool box that Voigt kept (including its original cardboard container) all these years.

Cool trailer design, coffin top on stilts that pivots up out of the way

http://www.hotrod.com/cars/featured/ccrp-1207-scott-dapron-this-guys-garage/
http://www.hotrod.com/features/1506-look-at-this-unbelievable-stash-of-factory-race-cars/

tell me this is just a coincidence of parking behind the plow... and since I don't see the hydraulics attached to the front of the car, it must just be a clever photo, not a GT 350 with a plow

thanks to Steve of StiffSpeed https://www.facebook.com/groups/stiffspeed/ via
http://www.gt350h.com/66shelbys/shelbysnowplow.jpg

just go get a kleenex box. Then watch this, inspired by a son who lost his dad too soon

The short tells the story of a young man who logged quality time with his father while playing a game called Rallisport Challenge, released in 2002 for the original Xbox. When the father dies unexpectedly, the console is banished to the garage. Ten years later, now age 16, the boy retrieves the dusty console

Already over a million hits on You tube, this is not exactly a true story, its based on comments on a video about "Can Video Games Be a Spiritual Experience?

The video creator and director/producer got his favorite collaborator actor to star.

Wikstrom, 25, graduated from Florida State University's College of Motion Picture Arts and moved to Los Angeles four years ago. He found some work as a treatment designer for the directors of commercials. But he hadn't made any of his own. I think he's just paved the way for a career with a company that can spot talent and make quick decisions

What about Microsoft? The young director said he's heard from "someone high up" at the software giant, who wrote him personally to praise his work, but nothing official.

Adweek contacted Aaron Greenberg, Microsoft's head of Xbox's game marketing, who told us: "This is really inspiring. Connecting players through gaming is one of the best rewards of creating video games, and stories like this are always touching and inspire us to do our best work.

We applaud this fan's courage in sharing his story and the filmmaker's artistry in bringing it to life so vividly."

Wikstrom maintains the project was "a labor of love."

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/heres-story-behind-moving-xbox-video-microsoft-had-no-hand-creating-171051

I found that I posted the story in Jan 2015

http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2015/01/coolest-thing-youll-read-today-might.html

2 ministers in one morning... that has to be a record for politicians opening doors and causing bicyclists to crash

Belgian Health Minister Maggie De Block and Deputy Prime Minister Alexander De Croo had carelessly swung open their doors on the way to the federal cabinet of Brussels this morning...

http://deredactie.be/cm/vrtnieuws/regio/brussel/1.2666955

Did you know the Nomad design was patented?

https://www.facebook.com/groups/413414438697407/

A little girl who was allegedly being bullied at school got some help from her local biker club.

The first-grader at Marshall Elementary in Toledo loves to ride her dirt bike, and she proudly rides up and down her block.

So, Reynolds decided to enlist the help of The Punishers -- a motorcycle club comprised of law enforcement, EMS and military personnel, and firefighters. The club surprised little Audrianna with a ride to school -- on a real motorcycle.

"We got her a vest and told her to think of us like her uncles, and she is part of our family now, and if she needs anything let us know," the group's president, Daniel Bushey, told WTVG. "Any chance we get, we help kids out, we do in a heartbeat."

http://abcnews.go.com/US/local-motorcycle-club-allegedly-bullied-girl-ride-school/story?id=39395162

the power of the car

Found on http://blog.garagistry.com/2016/05/morgan-i.html

Back in 1952, Pete Gutteridge purchased a three-wheeler Morgan in parts, put it in the back of a lorry and drove it down to Dorset, where its rested until he returned from National Service and began the project of rebuilding it.

He would drive to London regularly on the old road to London via Blandford, on this journey which he took on a Saturday morning and returned on the Sunday evening he would pass by a small farm. A young boy aged 6, who lived at the farm would hear that Morgan approach. He'd rush down to the fence and watch the Morgan pass. Come rain or shine, without fail, that little boy would be there.

Some years have passed since the boy saw the Morgan. But these Morgans have a habit of making an impression. The cars that have indefinitely shaped the man that Pete is today, wait patiently in the garage in which they are housed, for the next chapter. The next custodian, the next drive and to influence their environment. And the little boy? He’s all grown up now and has a Morgan of his own now.

"It was a sports car. You wouldn't be seen dead in a Morris Ten Four or an Austin Seven. They hold no charisma to me you see, it had to be something a little bit special."

— Pete Gutteridge

An Avenger, (torpedo bomber) missing since 1944, was recently located in the waters surrounding the Pacific Island nation of Palau

The Air Force Heritage Flight Foundation founder and chairman Dan Friedkin finances ongoing search and discovery of MIA, at the families request, and scattered among and concealed within the dense mangrove forests, lagoon waters and coral reefs of Palau’s island chain are several dozen U.S. aircraft and the remains of as many as 80 U.S. airmen.

"We have identified 100 cases worldwide that are suitable for recovery and over 200 families have reached out asking for help with MIAs," he said. This case took two months of towing side scan sonar.

“The importance of our mission is reinforced with each new discovery of a missing aircraft," said Eric Terrill, an oceanographer from Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, one of Project RECOVER's three founding entities.

Project RECOVER’s goal is finding the final underwater resting places of all Americans missing in action since World War II.

Established in 2012 with initial support from the Office of Naval Research and now private funding, Project RECOVER is a partnership among researchers at the University of Delaware’s College of Earth, Ocean, and Environment, Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego, and the BentProp Project.

http://www.projectrecover.org/
https://scripps.ucsd.edu/news/downed-world-war-ii-aircraft-missing-72-years-located-pacific-islands-project-recover

the Goodguys Trendsetter award in 2010 was awarded to a guy that just was found to have been cheating customers for years

The 43-year-old owner of Redline Performance Motorsports near Pittsburg was charged with stealing more than $430,000 from classic car customers who left vehicles in his care over the past six years, when he also moved his shop 4 times (that's what the above map is for) from Warrendale to Coraopolis until December 2014, then moved to Zelienople and Harmony.

Curtis Ukasik of Finleyville, faces a 16-count list of charges, including multiple counts of theft by deception and deceptive or fraudulent business practices. Ukasik is accused of selling parts to pay rent and lying to customers throughout builds that authorities say often were never finished, or even started.

For example, a 1969 Chevy Camaro was delivered to the RPM garage in 2010, along with of $227,500 in payments to Ukasik from June 2010 to October 2011.

The car ended up being stored until 2014, and barely any work had been done, during that time Ukasik gave regular email updates describing the progress, justifying delays and asking for additional money, all while asserting how good the end result would be upon completion of work, investigators said.

Ukasik has a history of building cutting-edge cars that combine reliability, style and extreme performance, according to Goodguys. He, along with his team, built Bill Steele’s Model A, which earned the title of Goodguys 2009 Gearstar Hot Rod of the Year. In addition, he built Bryan Frank’s 1969 Pontiac Trans Am, which was named the Goodguys 2009 Detroit Speed Muscle Machine of the Year. Ukasik became even more well-known when he took on the build of the 2010 Goodguys Grand Prize Giveaway Car, known as the Boss Snake. Ukasik is the 13th recipient of the Goodguys Trendsetter award.

Past recipients of the award include Chip Foose (Foose Design), Troy Trepanier (Rad Rides) Alan Johnson (Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop) Eric Peratt (Pinkees Rod Shop) Tim Strange (Strange Motion) Dave Lane (Fast Lane Rod Shop) Zane Cullen (Cotati Speed Shop) Jesse Greening (Greening Auto Company) Dean Livermore (Hot Rods by Dean) Troy Ladd (Hollywood Hot Rods) J.F. Launier (JF Kustoms, Desert Speed Shop) Phil and Jeremy Gerber (The Roadster Shop) https://theshopmag.com/features/curt-ukasik-named-goodguys-2010-trendsetter

http://blog.garagistry.com/2016/05/while-you-were-away-9.html
http://www.observer-reporter.com/20160421/auto_shop_owner_from_finleyville_charged_with_stealing_430000
http://www.hotrod.com/news/1011sr-curt-ukasik-2010-goodguys-trendsetter/

Thursday, May 26, 2016

Donald Johnson was trying to work on his 1970 El Camino on a Saturday morning... by rolling it out of his garage. It kept going, faster than he (at 73 yrs old) could jump in to hit the brakes.

It kept rolling and ended up in the Yakima Washington canal, where it was carried downstream, upside down. It ran over his leg when he either missed the jump in, or tried to stop it, and busted his leg... not cool, that, will really wreck your day.

But, he's had the car since he was young, not necessarily an original owner, but no one says exactly how long he's had it... his daughter said since he was a kid (impossible of course, he's 73, at most he's had it since he was 27)

http://blog.garagistry.com/2016/05/while-you-were-away-9.html
http://kimatv.com/news/local/man-injured-while-trying-save-classic-car-from-rolling-into-water
http://www.kapptv.com/article/2016/may/16/1970-el-camino-towed-roza-canal/

Set the time machine to 1991, and enjoy the Garagistry Blogs exclusive video of the making of the Boxster

Saved from a box of about a half-dozen video tapes covering several milestone events associated to both Porsche and Audi in the late '80's and early '90's, when tossing out a box of VHS tapes donated to a charity that couldn't do anything with them, was this tape:

The Making of The Boxster from GARAGISTRY on Vimeo.

http://blog.garagistry.com/2016/05/the-making-of-boxster.html

It's an interesting step by step of design on paper, to clay, to metal evolution of an idea to a completed car. I don't think I've seen a video of this process before... and wow, they are so 80's!

the biggest volume selling cars in America, 2015

Camry 361,111
Corolla 306,693
Accord 294,935
Altima 283,372
Civic 277,538
Fusion 255,143
Elantra 209830
Cruze 193680
Focus 180,287
Sonata 173,751
http://www.caranddriver.com/flipbook/10-most-cars-here-are-the-bestselling-cars-in-america-for-2015#1

average, and oldest nameplates in the car business infographic (Car and Driver magazine is incredible at these) the age of every model on the market today, who’s clinging to the oldest names.

http://blog.caranddriver.com/age-of-consent-charting-the-longevity-of-automotive-nameplates/

eye catching advertising for the 2016 GT 350

the top 9 list of cars with the highest theft rates for 2009

Ford Shelby Mustang GT (8.61/1,000)
BMW’s M5 (7.58/1,000),
Dodge Charger (6.47/1,000)
Honda S2000 roadster (5.60/1,000)
Mitsubishi Galant sedan (5.11/1,000),
Chrysler 300 sedan (4.57/1,000),
the Infiniti M luxury sedan (4.32/1,000)
the Cadillac STS luxury sedan (4.28/1,000)
and the Mercedes-Benz CL-Class luxury sport coupe (3.91/1,000).

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jimgorzelany/2011/11/07/cars-with-the-highest-theft-rates/#670944e21ae4

Subaru decided to market directly to lesbians... no joke. Lesbians are 4 times more likely to buy a Forrester

Rather than compete directly with Ford, Toyota, and other carmakers that dwarfed Subaru in size, executives decided to return to its old focus on marketing Subaru cars to niche groups instead of fighting every other car company over the same demographic of white, 18- to 35-year-olds living in the suburbs.

Which led Subaru to the 3rd rail of marketing: They discovered that lesbians loved their cars.

Lesbians liked their dependability and size, and even the name “Subaru.”

‘Subaru’ is the Japanese name for the Pleiades, a six-star constellation. It was chosen to represent how six Japanese companies had merged to form Fuji Heavy Industries. But in English, the constellation is also known as the Seven Sisters—the same name as a group of American women’s colleges.

This was the type of discovery that the small, struggling automaker was looking for. So Subaru decided to launch an ad campaign focused on lesbian customers. It was such an unusual decision—and such a success—that it pushed gay and lesbian advertising from the fringes to the mainstream.

If you’ve ever wondered why people joke about lesbians driving Subarus, the reason is not just that lesbians like Subarus. It’s that Subaru cultivated its image as a car for lesbians.

http://priceonomics.com/how-an-ad-campaign-made-lesbians-fall-in-love-with/
http://www.autonews.com/article/20040621/SUB/406210701/marketing:-subaru-expands-its-association-with-gay-lesbian-groups

used car scam alert

a piece of junk is fixed up just enough to run long enough to sell, then an expensive vacant house is located, the car is driven there and put in the driveway with a for sale sign.

the seller then has buyers come check out the car where the buyer gets the impression that rich people are selling an old car cheap, and is told that for any reason it fails to satisfy just bring it back.... to the house, for a full refund.

The scammer won't be there of course, they don't live there

the largest commercial disaster in history just destroyed 10,000 cars

The explosion destroyed more than 10,000 Toyota, Hyundai, and Range Rover cars and prevented the shipment of others from nearby factories. Additional impacted companies ranged from John Deere to the drug company GlaxoSmithKline. Roughly the damage from the explosion, equal to 21 tons of TNT, killing 100 people when a warehouse full of hazardous chemicals exploded.

http://priceonomics.com/why-you-never-heard-about-the-largest-disaster-in/

when they were young

https://www.facebook.com/bigislandchopper?fref=nf

1/4 scale tiger tanks

for more http://thefunnybeaver.com/giant-14-scale-rc-tanks/

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

paved roads are a very good thing, driving really sucked before roads were properly put down and paved

http://my28chev.blogspot.com/2013/01/stuck-in-mud-vintage-car-style.html

the world's largest privately owned vintage dirt-bike collection, Moto Armory

a collection in East Moline Illinois, of over 600-museum quality: surviving motorcycles, restored motorcycles, vintage parts, memorabilia, and signage. While the Moto Armory museum is mainly dedicated to off-road motorcycles, we have many other items of general motorsports history including: Vintage snowmobiles, vintage chainsaws, aircraft motors, bicycles, motors, military motorcycles and miscellaneous off-road equipment.

http://www.moto-armory.com/#!about/c10fk

Coolest thing I've seen all day, a garage built tractor / engine hoist to ease the moving of heavy car parts around

Very cool hot rodder, and cool guy blogger Travis, had blown my mind again... check out this fast photo gallery build of an ol Sears garden tractor (or mower)
http://perichbrothers.blogspot.com/2016/05/tractor-time-sears-gt16.html

this is not what a "drive through" is supposed to be... no, they really should have called it a "drive around"

http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/local/driver-dead-after-smashing-into-ormond-beach-wendys-police-say/302390272

Johnny Isakson, the senior U.S. Senator from Georgia, wants to keep trucking from going faster than 65 mph

“We'll put speed governors on all trucks at 65 miles an hour,” Isakson said. [That] controls the speed they'll go [and] keeps them under the speed limit, which is most times 70 [mph] but is far more safe for the people on the highways with them.”

The Department of Transportation has been working for three years on a new rule requiring the devices.

So far, the amendment has passed the U.S. Senate. If the bill passes the Senate and the House of Representatives, the rule would go into effect nationwide within six months.

http://www.actionnewsjax.com/news/crash-that-killed-five-georgia-students-sparks-push-to-lower-big-rig-speeds/301281263

I'll be darned, this blog just had it's 18 millionth view

warning, this is probably going to piss you off and make you furious at stupid people. One moron backed down an exit ramp, because he was lost- and caused a chain reaction crash

The initial crash occurred Tulsa’s Inner Dispersal Loop around 4 p.m when a man driving a white Nissan backed down a ramp because he claimed that he was lost.

This maneuver triggered a chain reaction crash involving two other vehicles on the IDL.

Richard Hughes, 63, a trucker since 1980, was hauling an empty tanker down the IDL and came upon the crash scene. The motorists involved were standing around their crashed vehicles. Hughes says he knew that he didn’t have time to stop to avoid hitting them, so he made a split second decision to save their lives

He hit his brakes and steered his rig up a concrete embankment, hitting an overhead sign post before coming to a stop.

Hughes was pinned in his truck, broken leg, with his foot trapped against the sign post and some truck parts for two hours as firefighters worked to extract him.

The driver of the white Nissan, Michael Todd Bennett, admitted that he backed up on the ramp, he was cited for improper backing on a roadway.

http://cdllife.com/2016/top-trucking-news/featured/trucker-says-he-crashed-to-save-others-lives/

Good front bumper... that is sure to be long lasting and never cause you worry when asked to give someone a push

Irony... in the time of chrome bumpers, many people couldn't afford to replace the lousy cheap batteries they made back then, (remember the JC Penny battery fiasco?) or a starter that was needing replacement, so they would get a jump from anyone with jumper cables, or a push so they could pop the clutch, or park near the top of a hill so they could coast downhill and pop the clutch. Most tow trucks had big rubber pads on a huge flat front bumper, so they could push a vehicle off a road (wrecks weren't treated to hours of police analysis back then) or give someone a bump start