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

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

Hey…A Car Show!!! Mustang II

It’s pretty cool to happen upon a car show in the course of running weekend errands.  I normally have a calendar event for the major shows and/or the ones I plan on attending.  But now and then I see one in passing, and of course I am compelled to stop and usually do.  Sometimes there are some real gems.  By gens  I mean  cars you don’t see at the average car show as they may not be in top condition or even restored at all (that doesn’t stop me) and the owners would enter them.

You don't need shiny paint to go to a car show. Here's #ProjectSportsRoof at it's first car show.

You don’t need shiny paint to go to a car show. Here’s #ProjectSportsRoof at its first car show.

A couple of weeks ago I picked up my son at his place and we took care of some business.  I always have my ‘old car’ radar on and it went off as we passed a little church.  We had finished all of our tasks so I stopped.  There may have been 15 cars in the parking lot with hoods up and doors open.  True to form there were a few cars that one rarely sees at a car show.

This awesome Fox-body Mustang Vert was in the line-up:

Fox-Body Vert

Fox-Body Vert w/ Whale Tail!

Oh MAN!! Look at that plumbing!!!!

Oh MAN!! Look at that plumbing!!!!

 

There was this 1964 Chrysler 300 K.  You don’t see many of these at a show.  Love that it’s a 2 door.

'64 Chrysler 300 K

’64 Chrysler 300 K

Cool Steering Wheel!!

Cool Steering Wheel!!

Here is a rare sight!!!  Mercury Comet Caliente VERT!!!!

This Comet is in O.K.shape

This Comet is in O.K.shape

IMG_20160409_095300697

This cars is nicely preserved and a little body work has been done, but still very nice car.

But this next car was my favorite as unlikely as that may seem, I’d buy this car and I’d show it big time!!!  Check out this 1974 Mustang II:

I think it's a sharp little car!!!

I think it’s a sharp little car!!!

IMG_20160409_094934783

Nice wheels!!!!

Yeah..that's a V8 - 302!!

Yeah..that’s a V8 – 302!!

Still lots of room under that hood.

Still lots of room under that hood.

Interior is so awesome.

Interior is so awesome.

 

You can tell that this car was stripped and restored.  It was painted with, even the interior,  with a white rhino lining/satin like paint.  It is just amazing and I’m was impressed.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Check out these other post for Mustang II:

The Mustang II – Say What?
http://wp.me/pKHNM-uY

Mustang Muscle in the Mid 70’s
https://www.average-guys-car-restoration-mods-racing.com/mustang-muscle-in-the-mid-70s/

Feature Car – 1978 King Cobra
https://www.average-guys-car-restoration-mods-racing.com/feature-car-1978-king-cobra/

 

 

Preservationists’ outcry, demolition begins on iconic Phoenix Studebaker Dealership | Hemmings Daily

 

phxDEalerRow

Old Studebaker dealership buildings tend not to attract the attention of big-city mayors or generate headline news these days. One in Phoenix, however, has proved the exception to that rule when demolition began on it earlier this month, prompting preservationists and that city’s mayor alike to condemn the developer responsible.

Designed by architect W.Z. Smith and built in 1947, shortly after Studebaker introduced its new postwar cars, the Stewart Motors Co. building – named after the dealer that built it in the heart of Phoenix’s Auto Row along Central Avenue – incorporated a turntable in its glassed-in corner showroom along with numerous Streamline Moderne elements all rendered in brick, with nary a wagon wheel in sight. As described on Modern Phoenix, the building created “a joyful dialogue with the streetscape, which is pleasant to enjoy both on foot or by car.”

Many Phoenix residents, however, probably know the building better for its subsequent tenant, Circles: Discs and Tapes, a locally-owned record store that put go-go dancers on the turntable to attract teenagers cruising the Central Avenue strip during the Sixties and Seventies. Despite leaving many of the original features intact during renovations to the building, the owners of the record store never applied for historic status for the property before closing it in 2009.

In an effort to preserve the building, the city’s Community and Economic Development Department and local preservationists began to negotiate with Empire Group, the developer that intended to place a 19-story apartment complex on the site. According to Downtown Devil and Robert Graham’s City Views, Empire had earlier in the year proposed a design that maintained the street-facing facades of the Stewart Motors Co. building, meanwhile asking the city for a tax break for its project, but threatened last month to tear the entire building down as a negotiating tactic.

“While the developer denies that they have any plans to demolish the building within the 30-day life of the permit, they made clear in a public meeting… that they would seriously consider complete demolition of the building if their request for property tax incentives from the City is denied,” Graham wrote.

See the rest of the article:

Source: Despite preservationists’ outcry, demolition begins on iconic Phoenix Studeba | Hemmings Daily

This isn’t the only dealership left.  The A.E. England Motors Inc. (1926) was remolded and is now part of the ASU campus and had a few other business operation from there. Like wise with C.P. Stephens DeSoto Six Motor Cars (1928). $250K was spend on that and it’s now called DeSoto Central Market and has bar and restaurant housed there. The old Lincoln Mercury dealership (built in 1947) has a automotive repair conducting business there.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

old studebaker dealershipsold studebaker dealerships

1973 Mustang SportsRoof – Floor Pans Getting To It! – Part Four

Thanks for checking back on #ProjectSportsRoof.   I’m about the finish the cuts and fitting for the  right rear foot-well that was rust all the way!!!!

Final Fit for foot-well.

Final Fit for foot-well.

This video is pretty comprehensive so I’m just going to just let it roll.

 

A couple of things worth noting.  The “flap” what was clearly not going to work and leaving the sheet metal running up the side of the transmission/drive shaft tunnel was going to give too much flex in that panel, as the welds would be pretty high.  It’s important to have that solid because as most must guys and gals know the Mustang of this vintage only have sub-frames which lease the floor as the most important body stabilization part of the car.   I will eventually put sub-frame connectors under this beast.

In case you are wondering what that electrical wiring is to the right of foot-well that is for the seat belt switch which when pressure is applied to the seat bottom there must be a connection completed by the seat-belt male end and female end to turn off the “Seat Belt” light and or buzzer.

I have a lot more coming up on the floor pans so stay tuned!!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

1973 Mustang SportsRoof

 

 

 

 

 

vintage muscle car | Tumblr

Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. We beginning the actual work on the vacuum system on the projects 351C starting with the valve assembly distributor ( the …

Engine Mini-Series – Ford’s Small Block V8s Part I

I haven’t done a Engine Mini-Series in sometime, I find readers like the Engine Line Up posts a lot, so I’ve stuck with that.  They are quick and fun pieces to research and write.

SEE A NOTED DEVIATION IN THE COMMENTS BELOW.

I received a request from a reader  (motown_missile) from the /r/classiccar subdirectory over on Reddit, who read my latest Engine Line UP post, for something on Ford small block V8’s specifically  the 221, 260 and 289 engines.  So I thought yeah that’s a great idea!!! But it didn’t really fit how I structure the Engine Line Up posts and then I recalled doing these mini-series and that fits the request.  Thanks motown_missile!!!!

Now the Ford small block V8 label (also called the “90 Degree V8s”) covers a few rare engines (limited production/limited use), one of the most iconic and some real workhorses.  The engines that fall under this designation are 221, 255, 260, 289 and yes the 302 and even the 351 Windsor (not the Cleveland).  I’ll cover each one in separate posts.

The Ford small blocks were designed the end of the 1950’s put in to production cars in 1962  the first and smallest (20 inches across and only 475 lbs) and it displaced 221 cubic inches and so designated as the 221.

The 221, in 1962,  had a compression ratio of 8.7:1 with a bore and stroke respectively of 3.50 x 2.87.  It sported two-bolt main-bearing, cast nodular crankshaft (only 37 lbs), cast aluminum pistons, hydraulic camshaft and individually mounted iron rockers.  The cylinder heads were wedge-shaped and the intake valves were 1.59 in. and the exhaust valves were 1.39  This was all topped off with a cast iron two barrel intake manifold and it produced about 143 hp @ 4,500 rmp and 217 foot lbs of torque @ 2200 rpm.  For 1963 it remained about the same with a slight increase in the bore and stroke (3.75×3.30 inches) producing a compression ratio of 8.8:1 and 145 hp.   Both years were topped with Holley carbs.

The 221 is one of the rarest small block.  It saw only 2 years of production use (1962 and 1963) and you could find it in the Ford Fairlanes and Mercury Meteor.  If you want to know if your 62-63 Fairlane or Mete0r originally had a 221 check the VIN for the code L ( C – 1962 export or 3 for 1963 export).

Nicely painted 221 V8

Nicely painted 221 V8

1962 Mercury Meteor 33

1962 Mercury Meteor 33

1963 Ford Fairlane

1963 Ford Fairlane

 

Next up will be the 255.

Thanks for reading and if you have any input or pic of your own 221, drop me a note a AGCarRestoration@cox.net.  Comments always welcome!!!

 

Tim

Out and About!!! #ProjectSportsRoof

Out and About!!!
#ProjectSportsRoof

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ford 221 v8 engine

1973 Mustang Sports Roof – Floor Pan Discovery – Part One

Thanks for following along with #ProjectSportsRoof.  Over the next couple of weeks (giving myself a lot of time to get this all down in the blog) I’m going to take you through my process for repairing the floors in the 1973 Mustang.  I’ll be interrupted by  (air quotes)REAL (end air quotes) work and a couple of car shows between now and then.

As much as I’d like to say I was aware of the rust on the floor of the Sports Roof, I can’t.    I really missed seeing the extent of the damage.  Needless to say I was a bit depressed when I brought it home and climbed in the back seat and notices the floor seemed a bit….’crunchy’.

Take a look at these videos:

You might be able to tell by my voice that I wasn’t overjoyed with the condition of the passenger side floor.  To make matters worse I eventually found out they don’t reproduce a patch for under the rear seat for the 1973 Sports Roof.  More to come on that in a future post.

Just to issue a reminder as you might be wondering why you see the back seat now in the car as in the previous video it was out, but my goal is to have this as a rolling project and able to at least speed on down to the local petrol station fill it up and grab a Pepsi. (You just can’t work on a car without a Pepsi!!! – Hey maybe they’ll sponsor this rebuild and I’ll change the license plate to read “1973DrinkRealSugarPepsi”.)

O.K. so if you were listening closely you’d realize that I started the floors back in Dec (2015) and it’s now the last day of the Feb 2016 and I’m just getting to post this up now.  So it’s taken me a good chunk of time to do this all by hand – including all the cutting with just a hand-held dremel and some metal snips.

I appreciate any and all comments so let ’em fly!!!!

BTW day on this Leap Year day – we’ve surpassed 20,000 registered user on this blog, thanks everyone!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

 

projectsportsroof

1973 Mustang Sports Roof – Vacuum System Part IV

1 day ago This will be a longer post as I finish up the vacuum system on #ProjectSportsRoof , the 1973 Mustang Sports Roof. We have to make a repair, …

 

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

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/

1973 Mustang Sports Roof – Vacuum System Part II

As I get started I’m reminded of watching my father working though the vacuum systems of the cars we use to own – mostly  Chevy.  Those always ended with vacuum hose tide off in knots or screws/nails unused holes.    But back then in New York emissions weren’t tested as part of the annual State Inspection.

Here is how I’m tackling it:

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#ProjectSportsRoof

projectsportsroofprojectsportsroof

Car News Now (C.N.N.) The Case Against a Mid-Engined Corvette

Take a good look at the picture below. If you thought there was a fuss  about  the C7 styling, just wait for them to roll this out!!!

 

They say it’s really going to happen: my friend Chris Doane used his massive telephoto Canon lens, nicknamed “The Stanley Cup” by his friends, to catch what looks a lot like an engineering mule for a mid-engined Corvette. Either that, or there’s going to be a mid-engined Holden Ute with no available space in the bed coming to Australia real soon. Supposedly this is going to be called the “Zora” or the “ZR1” or, predictably, the “ZR1 Zora” and it will go on sale at the end of 2017 alongside the current C7-generation ‘Vette.If that’s truly the case—if the first production Corvette to locate its engine behind the driver is just a limited-production, megabuck special—then I suppose I have no real beef with the idea. If, on the other hand, they’re proposing to replace the traditional Stingray with a mid-mounter, then that’s totally freaking crazy and we all need to take the strongest possible action before it’s too late.

Source: The Case Against a Mid-Engined Corvette

 

Thanks for reading

Tim

mid engine corvette zora

73-17

Barrett-Jackson Car Auction, Scottsdale, Az 2016 – Sleeper Pontiac

I just have to add one more sleeper car slated to be auctioned off in Scottsdale this week.  You might be surprised at this little gem.

Since you know by the title that it’s a Pontiac (or is it?) let me show you a badge on the car to give you a hint.   Don’t scroll all the way down yet!!

Hey it's a Pontiac Sports Deluxe? Not exactly!!

Hey it’s a Pontiac Sports Deluxe? Not exactly!!

 

Can you tell yet?

It is a 1967 Pontiac Beaumont!

Looks like a plain Jane Pontiac from the backside!!

Looks like a plain Jane Pontiac from the backside!!

 

It's got a V8!!

It’s got a V8!!

Love the side vents!!!

Love the side vents!!!

 

The Beaumont was a GM based Canadian car sold at Pontiac-Buick dealerships in Canada.   Through out it’s production years of 1962 – 1969 it was based on a the Chevelle, the Chevy II and the Nova, all at different point on it’s time line.  The Sports Deluxe (SD) was in fact the same trim level as the Chevy Chevelle  SS – hence the engine option below.

This one is restored to original, including paint color and it has  date-code-correct 396 engine tweaked a bit to produce 375 HP.

Now that’s a sleeper!!!!!

Should be crossing the auction block on Thursday 1/28.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

barrett jackson scottsdale 2016