Just A Car Guy: 10/23/16

Saturday, October 29, 2016

running on a small budget and a school bus engine against some million dollar race teams, Roger Rager went to Indy in 1979

He wanted a very seasoned block so he went to the junkyard and got his motor out of a school bus, thinking that the hot/cold cycles, the heat expansion and loads would make an engine more durable than a new block.

"My theory was if I got a block out of a truck or a heavy unit that had been hot and cold and pulled a lot of weight, that block would have already done everything it was ever going to do," he recalled in a 1996 interview. "So we were at the junkyard, and there sat a bus and it was a Chevrolet and it had what we wanted.

Rager just missed qualifying at the brickyard by one spot in 1979. He did make the Indy 500 field in 1980 with the 10th fastest qualifying time, at 186.374 mph, faster than veterans A.J. Foyt, Tom Sneva and Gordon Johncock, and by the 16th lap, he was leading the race

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roger_Rager
http://www.espn.com/espn/wire?section=auto&id=2456837

Ted Horn, surpassed many winners at Indy, yet never won

Ted Horn's record will never will be matched.

After starting as a rookie in 1935, and placing 16th, Horn never finished worse than fourth. In his next nine races from 1936-48, Horn was runner-up once, finished third four times and fourth four other times.

Including his 1935 rookie race, when a steering problem knocked him out after 145 laps, Horn finished 4,860 of a possible 5,000 miles, a 97.2 percent career average for his 10 races at Indy.

By comparison, the completion rates for current drivers who have driven at least 10 times at Indy are 84.8 percent for Al Unser Jr., 81.7 percent for Michael Andretti and Buddy Lazier, 74 percent for Scott Sharp and 70.2 percent for Eddie Cheever.

http://www.espn.com/espn/wire?section=auto&id=2456837

Did you know Cummins diesels were used for racing as far back as 1931, and in Indy in 1952

http://www.trucktrend.com/cool-trucks/0808dp-cummins-diesel-race-car/

https://primotipo.com/2016/10/11/cool-dude/

Dick Allen invented a lot for choppers, but most people have never heard of him

He is most famous for developing the 2 into 1 exhaust system,
first using disk brakes on bikes,
first using automotive 'mag' and aluminum rims on bikes
and being the first guy to run a primary belt drive on a Harley V Twin made by using belts from the 6-71 dragster blowers on his own machined pulleys in 1963.

He actually came up with a lot more than these few items and invented countless 'small' innovations for bikes that have become almost commonplace today.

And he was probably the first to make an aftermarket, narrow springer, from 3" to 36" longer than stock. Just like Meyer's Manx dune buggies, there was far more demand, and several companies went into business making similar but not as high quality.

Dick experimented, improved and then built Choppers so that other people could ride and enjoy having a properly modified bike and not some monstrosity built by a celebrity. He cared not for fame or fortune and sought out neither during his lifetime. He didn't run a shop that sold glitz and bling for inflated prices. He didn't rip people off for 'services' and basically he lived by the 'Golden Rule' of Do unto others as you would have them do unto you'. Dick was into bikes for the pure joy and excitement of the 'Ride' and this is probably the real reason he became a legend. Somebody in the industry was once quoted as saying that Dick's 'Word' was better than any printed legal 'guarantee' offered by any manufacturer anywhere at anytime.

http://www.chopperhandbook.com/allen1.htm inspired by a story in an issue of Garage Magazine, issue 11, October 2006

During the 1971 Cannonball Run, 2 strange things happened

and Arizona cop chased down Dan Gurney who was doing 140 in a Ferrari Daytona. He wrote Dan a speeding ticket. That is some serious determination... chasing down Gurney on a freeway.

the other thing was that a Chevy van was only 47 minutes slower across country than Yates and Gurney

the 72 cannonball was won by a Cadillac, over such powerful competition as a Cotton Owens prepped 340 Challenger

http://www.neautomuseum.org/blog/cannonball-outlaw-reunion-set-for-june-2-in-greenwich-conn/

full race 1969 Super Bee

found in the online magazine https://issuu.com/333bigbob12/docs/2scdsdcdsc

Great news! Online musclecar magazines!

https://issuu.com/khanhvitran/docs/muscle_car_review_-_october_2016

Restored 1968 Ford 428 Cobra Jet cutaway took Rick 23 years to get a school to pull it out of storage and donate it to his museum

Ford was mighty proud of its new 428 CJ powerplant and commissioned this cutaway engine in early 1968. Now, keep in mind that this was done in the days before the invention of the CNC machine. Ford cut the heads and block using a basic band saw and common hand tools. The crankshaft, connecting rods, main caps, valves, and just about every nut and bolt on it were chrome plated. Flash and casting marks were ground off all the cast-iron pieces, including the heads, block, bellhousing, and water pump. The block and all the cast-iron pieces were then polished, and the cast-iron pieces were copper plated to seal their porosity. Any problem areas on the block that stood out were covered in plastic body filler and re-worked until they were smooth as glass.

The cutaway Cobra Jet engine debuted with the new 1968-1/2 Cobra Jet Mustang. While the car itself rotated on a turntable, the engine was placed to its left side, “running” courtesy of a 12-volt electric motor. The engine toured the country throughout 1968 and 1969. In 1970, the engine was upgraded with cutaway finned aluminum Cobra Jet valve covers.

In 1971 or 1972, the cutaway CJ was donated to the auto shop at Ponca City, Oklahoma’s Pioneer VO Tech and was used for a number of years in its auto shop classes to demonstrate the workings of an internal combustion engine. However, with the emergence of dual overhead cams, electronic ignitions, and fuel injection, the CJ was put in storage.

“That’s when I became involved with it,” says Ford collector and historian Rick Kirk of Ripley, Oklahoma. “It took 23 years of negotiating with the school before I was finally able to get my hands on this engine.

http://www.hotrod.com/articles/restored-1968-ford-428-cobra-jet-cutaway-demonstrates-inner-workings-fords-famous-fe-engine/

Delage D8 120 S Pourtout Aero Coupe, I found the lines and the registration number display to be very cool

that accent curve over the rear wheel, that i something I don't recall seeing on a car before. I'm sure I have, I just don't remember it.

This is the only carrozzeria badge for Pourtout I've ever seen

is that close to the most elegant thing you've seen on a car?

Friday, October 28, 2016

Jack Chrisman

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Fran-Francisco-Hernandez-157884174258948/photos/?tab=album&album_id=165049720209060

Some people have asked, and I found out what's up... Go Away Garage blogger closed the blog, and put out the sign "GO AWAY"

A couple guys asked me (heck, what do I know? I'm just a car guy! I dunno jack) and so today when Mario asked, I dig a little digging....

Go-Away Garage Gone. Kaputt.
Ixnaed. No more.
Leave the kumpooter and go work in your garage.

Is what he wrote on his Facebook page, off to the side.

See, on Sept 10th he had an auction and sold off his shop, and lotsa stuff in it. Maybe everything.

And from the note, and the sign that says no texts, I'm guessing Mitch was really fed up with tech and people. Maybe I'm wrong, but he seems to have carried out his intent he wrote about on his blog

"The Go Away Garage is a real garage in Wichita Kansas. Mitch Willis started out building custom hot rods on West Street and now builds motorcycles at the joint on Commerce St., where the garage has been for more than a dozen years. When Willis needed privacy to devote to his projects, he’d put up a 4-foot-by-8-foot sign that said “Go Away." The name stuck. Thus the Go Away Garage.

https://web.archive.org/web/20160429010515/http://goawaygarage.blogspot.com/

It's self prophetic, that he has always said he would close the shop and put up the sign "Go Away" and name his site the GAG if you use the acronym.

Maybe the guy was just more damn clever than we ever realized!

Cubs themed Jeep Rubicon is getting raffled off for charity

Like a hammer through butter... is the slogan Dodge advertised the Hellcat Challenger and Charger in this photo with

GT 40 trivia

the windshield wiper motor is from Boeing 707

dumping bed trailer... nice!

B Body Mopar chassis stiffening kit, $650. Or get the next level of full race stuff, with mini tubs, rear spring relocation for 400 bucks more

this is the $650 kit

A total unibody stiffening package for your 1966-70 Dodge / Plymouth B Body. Includes cnc machine cut Frame Connectors, a complete set of front & rear Torque Boxes, Inner fender Braces and a Lower Core support frame brace. This is a complete chassis stiffening package that will add an incredible amount of rigidity and structure to your B-Body unibody.

this is the $1050 kit, the same as the top, but with the mini tubs and rear spring relocation added

http://store.uscartool.com/Chassis-Stiffening-Kits_c_46.html

Hydroplanes in the 50s, when any crazy goofball could get ahold of WW2 surplus airplane engines and some plywood and do ridiculous speeds on lakes and rivers

band leader Guy Lombardo owned the Tempo VI at the end of the video

you should watch the movie Madison, for a really cool view of what it took to keep these racing with a shoestring budget.

cool old engines on a stand with the original crate? I love it. Restored and put on a cool old speedboat? Even better

http://www.woodyboater.com/blog/2014/08/26/struck-lightning-classic-boat-love-story/

Summers about over, time to haul the boat out of the lake and get it into the garage for the winter

http://stancraftboats.com/history

Engineered Material Arresting System... airport runway paving blocks that slow planes down at the end of the runway (like a semi truck runoff on a freeway) in a safer way than the cables or berm method

The concept behind EMAS is fairly simple. Instead of putting asphalt before the thresholds of runways, the area is covered with a stretch of thousands of brittle, concrete-like blocks meant to collapse when the weight of an aircraft’s landing gear bears down on them. The plane’s gear continues to ride through the blocks, dramatically slowing the aircraft’s speed in a very short distance. The technology is especially relevant for airports with short runways and limited overrun areas.

http://www.thedrive.com/the-war-zone/5732/these-special-blocks-saved-mike-pences-plane-from-disaster

Thursday, October 27, 2016

the Mach 2 concept car, that I don't think I've ever seen before, but now I see a connection with Ford's desire to buy Ferrari in he mid 60s

https://www.facebook.com/pg/Fran-Francisco-Hernandez-157884174258948/photos/?tab=album&album_id=172511302796235

the Mach 2 on the road (the one I've seen before)