Category Archives: Antique Cars

Barrett-Jackson Classic Car Auction – Scottsdale, AZ 2017 Videos 6-7

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Welcome back to  our recent trip to Barrett Jackson Classic Car Auction 2017 in Scottsdale, AZ.  Keep in mind these videos were part of the our Facebook Live event and I’m sharing them here on our blog.  Quality is ‘iffy’ in spots but if you’ve never been to some this huge it’s cool to see some of the areas that the TV coverage doesn’t always show.

These next two videos give you a little look at the auction area. 


In this video I’ll take outside and into the staging areas.  Now we mere mortals aren’t allowed to be in these areas but if you are cool about you can often get up close and personal with some of the cars.

 

 

Nice Road Runner waiting in the staging area at the auction.

 

More coming including some discussion with the stage crew and one of the sellers – and my experiences driving the New Camaro SS and RS.

Tim

Barrett-Jackson Auction Company – Scottsdale 2017

Event Dates: 1/14/2017 – 1/22/2017. Event Location: Westworld of Scottsdale. 16601 North Pima Road Scottsdale, AZ 85260. Site Map. Download. Scottsdale …
The People of the 2017 Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction | Slideshow …

Jan 16, 2017 … Not All Cars Are Created Equal at Barrett-Jackson 2017. January 16 at 10:56 a.m. | by Jim Louvau · Justin Bieber Made a Ton of Cash at …
Barrett Jackson 2017 Walkthrough with Justin Bieber Ferrari …

3 days ago … This my version of the 2017 Barrett Jackson out here in Scottsdale Arizona. Its a mind blowing experience if you’ve never been before! There’s …

Is My Car Rare? 1971-1973 Mustangs

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It’s every muscle/antique/collector car owner’s dream that their car is “Rare”.  However, determining that your car is rare can be tough. So, there is nothing cooler then having the numbers/statics that help prove that your car is special.  Take such as the Marti Reports for Ford products.  They provide those numbers for the Ford collector.

If you aren’t familiar with the products Kevin Marti  can provide here is a link to my post where I the Marti Report for #ProjectSportsRoof – Classic Mustangs – #ProjectSportsRoof’s Marti Report .

There are other similar services for other brands like PHS (Pontiac Historic Services) which has similar documentation.  Whatever your favorite car maker – go check out forums that are related to that brand and ask around.   Now that I have a 1973 Mustang, I hang out at 7173Mustangs.com a wealth of knowledge exist here as well great looking cars and enthusiastic owners from all over the world.

The Marti Report #ProjectSportsRoof show that is is 1 of 76 with that paint and trim codes.  No doubt it is ‘rare’ if you boil the data down far enough and that’s great.  I as mentioned in the posting above that’s great to boast at the local car club hangout. But what does it mean for value?

Logically someone, who has been exposed to car values through the web or the online car auctions like Mecum and Barrett-Jackson, can equate rarity to value.  Just count the number of times the auctioneer says the word “rare”.  But really what equates to value is ‘desirability’ and rarity is a component of desirability.  There are a lot more Boss 302 Mustang produced in 1969 or 1970 then  76 in 1973, but the body style of my Sports Roof isn’t as desirable as the 1970 or 1969 Boss.  So during this Classic Car Auction season in Arizona,  keep that in mind when you are attending an event live or virtually.

But value isn’t everything….you have to enjoy your ride!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

 

73 Mustang 351C Rebuild – Removal 3 – YouTube

Jul 31, 2016 … Getting closer to pulling out the engine for #ProjectSportsRoof. The 1973 Mustang (last of the big ‘Stangs) 351C will be pulled part and rebuilt.
average guys | Tumblr

Thanks checking back in with the 1973 Mustang (#ProjectSportsRoof). I’m moving right along with getting the progress on the 351C tear down posted up.
Mustangs, The family and To the on Pinterest

Tim Sweet. 1973 Mustang #ProjectSportsRoof · Looking for similar pins? Follow me! pinterest.com/kevinohlsson | kevinohlsson. Save Learn more at reddit.com.

 

 

 

Auto Factoids for the Week of Jan. 15, 2016 – Ford, Caddy, Turbo Bus!

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Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the week of January 15, 2016.

 

Jan 16
– A.J. Foyd’s birthday – born this day in 1935 in Houston, Texas

A legend’s Birthday

– Dodge Omni and Plymouth Horizon were debuted on this date in 1977.   Who would have thought that one of them would sport the Shelby name plate?

4 Cylinder Turbo – AWESOME!!

Jan 17
 – Cadillac shows off its first car at Madison Square Garden on this day back in 1903 – the Run-About.

1903 Cadillac

 – Corvette debut, at the NYC Motorama in 1953

From the 1953 Motorams – Corvette Display

 – Ford Motor Co. begins offering public shares in 1956 – everyone loved the T-Bird!!!

Stocks and T-Birds offered!!!

Jan 20
– Chevy builds the last car back in 1942 just before WWII. They were one of the holdouts after the first Presidential request to stop production to support the war effort.

1942 Grill – No more Brightwork for a while!!

Jan 21
– GM produced the 1st Gas-Turbine vehicle was exhibited in 1954 in NY.  It sported the GT-300 engine.

http://www.turbinecar.com/mags/trueauto55/trueauto55.htm

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

www.agcarrestortion.com

Auto Factoid for Week of Nov. 30, 2014

Hope you all had a great Turkey Day!! Here is the line up of Auto Factoids for the first week in December!!!   Nov 30 1960  De Soto ceases production.  The last De Soto produced were really the Chrysler Windsor, most did not sale, even though dealerships continued to received cars after the …
Auto Factoids – Week of May 31, 2015 – Ford, Olds, Model T

Here are your Auto Factoids #AutoFactoids for the beginning of June, 2015. May 31, 1927 – Ford produced the last Model T.    There is some debate as to actual date and it’s said that the 15th million Model T rolled off the production line on May 26th, 1927 and the Henry …
AUTO FACTOIDS & C.N.N for Week of 7/26/2015 – Studebaker to Viper

Kaiser-Fraser formed July 26, 1945 – The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was the result of a partnership between automobile executive Joseph W. Frazer and business man Henry  J. Kaiser. In 1947, the company acquired the automotive assets of Graham-Paige.  Interesting enough, Kaiser had no automotive business experience.   In 1953 the company became …
Auto Factoids and C.N.N for week of Sept 6th 2015 – TBird and Studebaker

Here is your #AutoFactoids and Car News Now for this first full week of September 2015. Auto Factoids Sept. 7, 1954 – Production of Ford Thunderbird begins 1955 T-Bird 2002 Thunderbird             Sept. 8, 1903   Preston Tucker was born in Capac, MI. While dubbed “Tucker Torpedo” during production no ‘Torpedoes’ were produced. Beautiful …
Auto Factoids for the Week of 1/25/2015

Wow it’s the end of January already.  Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the last week of January 2015. Jan 26th 1920 – Lincoln Motor Company formed. Lincoln Motor Company was actually started in 1917 and produced  Liberty engines with Ford parts for World War I.   After the war they began …
Auto Factoids for the Week of 2/22/2015 – Firebird, Thunderbird, AMX

Got a few huge debuts this week’s Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids), so lets get started.   Feb 23, 1954 – Ford shows off the Thunderbird for the first time. Although the Thunderbird wasn’t available until 1955 it was in design.  Originally it was going to be called the Vega!! 1955 T-Bird   Feb 23, 1967 – …

 

They Made How Many? 1959

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I haven’t done one of these in a while, but I was reading an article from the ” Worlds Most Excellent” automotive publishing enterprise – Hemmings.  An article in the January 2017 issue of Classic Cars publication is a piece written by Jeff Koch (who is their – West Coast/Southwest guy) on GM’s Flattop designed cars of the 1959-1960 era.  These were massive cars with huge trunks and tons of  wrap around glass.

This a 1959 Pontiac Bonneville Flattop 4 door

This a 1959 Pontiac Bonneville Flattop 4 door- ain’t it huge?

According to the article these were just a two-year deal – ’59-’60.  So that got me to thinking how many were made?

Over all car production for 1959, which still saw the likes of DeSoto, Edsel (its last gasp of breath), Studebaker,  Imperial (as a separate brand…again) and even the Metropolitan, as producer of cars.    The leader for that year was Chevrolet in first place with just over 1.46 million cars produced followed by Ford in close range with 1.45 million cars produced.  The rest of the field looked like this:

Plymouth with 458, 261 (in third place which gives you an idea how the rest fared) followed by  Pontiac with 383k, then  Oldsmobile with 382K and  Rambler with 374k.   Buick managed 285K and  Dodge produced 156k, which was just slightly than Mercury with 15ok and Cadillac with 142K cars produced.  The field rounded out with Studebaker driving 126k out of the factory and a substantial for Chrysler with just 69, followed by Desoto with 45k, Edsel with 44k and Lincoln/Continental with just 26k.  At the bottom stood Metropolitan and Imperial 22k and 17k respectively.

So an estimated 2,655,686 cars were produced by GM in that year.  That’s a lot of flattops this include Cadillacs that didn’t escape the design.
1959-cadillac-sedan

chevrolet

Nor did the Corvair!!

So where are the now?  I just don’t see that many around and I’m sure it’s due to the 2 year only style and finding all that wrap around glass.

Have you seen one of these cool designed GM Flattops?  Drop me a note and pic and I’ll publish it up.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

I don't really need a Lambo....but.....

#TheyMadeHowMany

#projectsprotsroof

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1901

This is it. The beginning of it all.     What were they making in 1901? The top producer was the Locomobile car company with a total out put for the year 1,500 cars. Winton was second with 700 cars. Oldsmobile (ahh one we’ve heard of!!) was third with 425. White came in fourth with 193. Autocar was next …
Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1911

1911 oh… that was a great year!  Well I don’t actually have any proof of that, but there sure were a lot of new car makes that year.  Here the list: Alpena; ArBenz; Atterbury; Carhartt, Case, Chevrolet; Colby, Crow-Elkhart, Dalton, Gaylord, Havers, Hupp-Yeats; King; Lenox; Mighty Michigan; Motorette; Nyberg: Penn; Rayfield; …
Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1922

It is 1922 and the car industry is moving right along.  Small start-up car companies pop up here and there in the 1920’s. Here is how they stacked up for 1922. Top spot was Ford  producing 1,147,028 cars. Dodge was a very distant second with 152,653 car rolling off their assembly line. Chevrolet ran …
Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1928

The Roaring Twentys – a great time in US social and economic history.  1928 things still looked pretty good and no indication of the tough economic times that would lead to the terrible 30’s. 1928 saw 8 car companies fighting it out for market shares. Chevy lead the way with just over a million …

Auto Factoids for Week of 8/21/2016 – Oldsmobile, Broadway, Caddies and Rolls

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Here are your Auto Factoids for the last full week in Aug 2016.

On Aug. 21st back in 1897 Oldsmobile incorporated to form Oldsmobile Motor Vehicle Co.

1897 Oldsmobile

1897 Oldsmobile

 

Taking a trip back in time to 1921 and NYC’s Broadway and the first play about cars opened – “Six Cylinder Love”.

– Produced by Sam H. Harris  and held on Broadway in the Sam H. Harris  Theater.

– It was a 3 act comedy and had 344 performances from Aug 25, 1921 to July 1922.

– In 1923 it was adapted to the big screen – albeit silent and again in 1931 with Spencer Tracy!!

Six Cylinder Love (1931)

Six Cylinder Love (1931)

 

Happy Birthday Charles Rolls – (the Rolls part of Rolls Royce).  He was born Aug 27, 1877 in London, England.

The two-cylinder Royce 10 - Born 1904

The two-cylinder Royce 10 – Born 1904

Check out this great site on Rolls Royce https://www.rolls-roycemotorcars.com/en-GB/the-rolls-royce-story/the-history-of-rolls-royce.html

Jump forward 25 years and Cadillac became a company on the same day in 1902.

This Runnabout is top of the line Caddy back in 1902.

This Runabout is top of the line Caddy back in 1902.

 

Thanks for reading #AutoFactoids.

Tim

Auto Factoids for the Week of 2/1/2015 – Kaiser Week

Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the first week in Feb. 2015!!! I think we can call this Kaiser Week as 3 of our factoid are related to the Kaiser auto manufacturing. In fact the month starts right off with Kaiser factoid. Feb 1, 1947 – Graham-Paige sold out to Kaiser. …

Auto Factoids for the Week of 3/29/2015

Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) to finish out March and kick off April 2015.   March 29, 1980 – Audi introduced their all wheel drive 1980 Quattro – Not a bad-looking car at that!!! Here are some specs for the Quattro: Engine     2.1 L I5 SOHC 10v Transmission     5-speed manual Dimensions Wheelbase     99.4 …

Auto Factoids for the Week of 4/19/15

Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for last full week of April 2015. April 22, 1954 – Nash and Hudson merge to from AMC When does this: Nash Rambler PLUS THIS: ’53 Hudson Hornet EQUAL THIS?  : Javlin Well that’s the equation formed when Nash merged with Hudson and produced AMC.   AMC (American Motor Corp) …

 

 

1955 Ferrari 375 Plus Cabriolet at the 2016 Elegance at Hershey — Mind over Motor

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Ferrari ownership and postwar royalty seem to go hand-in-hand, especially one offs. This 1955 375 Plus Cabriolet is a one-off specialty car built for the ex-King Leopold III of Belgium, and is a mix of the older engineering that put Ferrari on the map in the early Fifties and newer styling features that would later […]

via 1955 Ferrari 375 Plus Cabriolet at the 2016 Elegance at Hershey — Mind over Motor

Thanks for reading

Tim

pininfarinapininfarina

A Couple of Mustang Things – Line-Lock and Mustang Crossing

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As I work on getting more restoration work on #ProjectSportsRoof I thought I’d share a couple of Mustang things that popped up.

There are a number of reasons I love Ford products, in particular Mustangs.  One of those is the fact that it didn’t need the bailout money a few years back, choosing to tough it out and some of the innovative/purposeful special purpose options.

I recently received my Ford Mustang ‘Go Further’ brochure.  I’m not including the 310 hp they are dragging out of the 2.3L EcoBoost (I’ve often said “I don’t want anything on my dash that says Eco!!!!”  but wow to the 320 lb-ft of torque. Don’t even think bout the 435 hp and 400 lbs-ft of torque from the 5.0L in the GT…come on!!!!  I can do with out the heated and cooled seat…meh…   However, the Track Apps, MagneRide and launch control are bomb.

The most #awesome purpose built is the Electronic Line-Lock!!!!  Come on…that’s what every weekend racing warrior (and spirited every day driving!!) wants a car manufacture to be thinking about!!!    The Electronic Line-Lock keeps the front brakes locked while you ‘warm up’ the Mustang’s rear tires….come on I don’t have that in my Corvette!!!  But maybe I can figure it out for my 1973 ‘Stang.

It looks something like this…exactly like this:

 

Here’s a great little destination (after you warmed up the tires).  Located at the corner of “No Where” (Hwy 90) and “U’r Lost” (Hwy 82) is this little place called Mustang Crossing.

Great place for a 1973 Mustang photo shoot!!!

Thanks for stopping by.  More coming up on #ProjectSportsRoof.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1973 Mustang Project SportsRoof – Exterior Walk-Around

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof.  I run my car projects much like I run my IT projects.  You always have to know where to start and know the end game.   As with any project that isn’t being built from scratch, in other word, you have to work with what you’ve got, …

1929 Detroit Electric Headed Out and 1953 GMC Gas Monkey Garage Build

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I’ll say it again, it’s not part of my daily routine (Although I which it was!!!) that I get to deal with some rare cars.   By day I’m the Director of Information Technology for a retail company with stores throughout Arizona  at home I’m a Corvette and Mustang (check out #ProjectSportsRoof) loving car guy.  But today the two intersected and that equaled a cool day.

If you look back at my post entitled Driving a 1929 Detroit Electric Model 97 http://wp.me/p2YxYx-4Qp you’ll get a good look at the Detroit Electric. Today it is headed back to its owner and the owner of our company.

We pushed the Detroit out of the building and into the sun light again – most likely will be its last bit of Arizona UV rays.  This beauty is on its way to Hood River, OR where the owner is loaning it to a transportation museum. The guys in this video, Tom, David, Lynn have worked and lived with this rare mode of transportation for over 10 years. It will be missed.

As if that’s not enough for one post, there’s more to this ‘most excellent day’ (to steal a phrase from Bill and Ted).

It’s tough to pick a transport company to move your special vehicle across country. I have used my share, transporting a Mustang, a Torino, a VW bug and a motorcycle via different carriers and it’s a big deal. The company selected for this rare car was FSI Transport Service and the care the driver showed was very reassuring that this 1929 electric car was in good hands. FSI is operated by Frank and Laura Martinez, out of El Paso, Tx.  Their rig was perfect for the job – being that the Detroit is a bit taller than the average car.

Often the car you are shipping travels with several other cars that are headed the same way. But this time there was only one travel mate for this trip. It just happened to be a beautiful 1953 GMC Custom pickup, according to the driver it build by the folks at Gas Monkey Garage and headed home to the owner.

That’s a beautiful truck and a worthy travel mate for the old electric car.

 

Thanks for reading

Tim

Out and About!!! #ProjectSportsRoof

Out and About!!!
#ProjectSportsRoof

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

detroit electric car

The world’s fastest electric car? – BBC Top Gear

Remember the Detroit Electric SP:01? Announced in 2013, it followed a well-thumbed recipe and promised to be an esoteric entrant in the eco-friendly sports car class. SP:01 Well, it’s back and in production form ahead of official sales in 2015. And it’s a bit different to before, adopting a new fastback …

1953 gmc pickup

Engine Line Up – 1947 Chrysler

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There’s not a huge fan club for the 1947 Chrylsers.  They were huge cars weighing well over 3,000 lbs, 18ft long and room for the whole family.  With names like Town & Country, New Yorker, Windsor, Saratoga – these car did demand respect.

1947 Town and Country - that sub-model name was used a lot by Chrysler

1947 Town and Country – that sub-model name was used a lot by Chrysler

You’d think they’d have huge engines to push these around town but the engine line up for 1947 consisted of only 2, one 6 cylinder and one 8 cylinder.

The 6 cylinder was called the Royal/Windsor engine.  It was an L head, cast iron hunk of metal.  With a bore and stroke of 3.438 ” x 4.50 “, five main bearings, solid lifter it displaced 250.6 cubic inches.  With the compression ratio at 6.6:1 (rather low) and topped with various carbs (B-B EV1 or Ev2 or E7L4 – for the fluid drive and B-BEx-1, EX3 or Ex2 for the manual shift) it managed to put out 114 HP’s.

Flat Head L6 Chrysler engine - powered some of these giants.

Flat Head L6 Chrysler engine – powered some of these giants.

The 8 cylinder was labeled Saratoga/New Yorker.  It was a flat headed iron blocked L8.  The bore was smaller than the 6 cylinder @ 3.25″ and the stroke was slightly higher @ 4.875 (nearly 1/2 an inch higher), creating compression ratio of 6.7:1 and displacing 323.5 cid.  It had solid lifters and five main bearings and took in air though a B-B E7A1 carb.  This all produced horse power of about 135 @ 3400 RPMSs

1947 Chrysler Saratoga/New Yorker L8 engine

1947 Chrysler Saratoga/New Yorker L8 engine

I really enjoy  doing Engine Line Up series of blog post. Hopefully you do too!!!!

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Engine Line Up – 1946 Packard

I love writing Engine Line Up pieces. I learn a lot doing the research. Back in 1946 there wasn’t a lot of imagination when it came to naming cars. Packard either named their cars after the engines that powered them or their engines after their car models plus the cylinder count. …

Engine Line Up – 1949 Chevrolet

1949 was the first year after World War II where Chevrolet did a complete maker-over of its offerings, meager in terms of variations as compared to what they would become in the next decade. With only the Special Series 1500 GJ, Deluxe Series GK, each with a Fleetline and Styleline …

Engine Line Up – 1956 Hudson Part I

Think there was much of a choice of engines back in 1956?  Well there were a few for the 1956 Hudson. As was custom back in the 40’s and 50’s, the engines were often named similar to the model of the car they powered.  For the 1956 Hudson, the company had …

Engine Line UP – 1964-1966 Griffith

Ok…how many of you stopped to Google Griffith? Not a commonly mentioned classic car, right? Well the Griffith was developed by a Ford dealer, Jeff Griffith.  It was a tubular frame with a British TVR body bolted on.  He produce the cars in that configuration, until the source of the TVR bodies …

 

 

2nd Annual Team Tanner and Friends Car Show – Benefiting Autism Society

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A fun car show for a  GREAT cause!!!   Autism Society of Southern Arizona.

JOIN US ON MARCH 5, 2016

Bring your classic beauty, your muscle machine, your chopper,  your tuner, your daily driver or your project car!!!!  Heck – bring your farm tractor!!!!   You’ll get a swag bag with goodies (Car Guys Garages  free t-shirt offer, Hagerty Insurance and more) and a cool T-Shirt. There will be raffles for collectible die-cast cars, and other prizes from O’rielly’s Auto Parts, Hot Rods at Old Vail Road, car wash packages and more.

Come on out and hang out with some cool cars!!!!

EPSON MFP image

FUN AND A GREAT CAUSE!!!!!

I’ll be there with my 1973 Mustang and 2007 Corvette!!

See you there.

 

Tim

07 and 73

07 and 73

 

 

 

 

 

 

CarGuyG

http://www.carguygarage.com/