Category Archives: Auto History

Car Upholstery/Interiors: “Muscle Car Interior Restoration” Book Review

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Every now and then I share a book that I’ve found useful while I’m doing a restoration or managing a restoration for some who loves their car and wants is restored, but doesn’t have the knowledge or time to manage it themselves (in progress a rare 1975 VW standard – article forth coming as we are just about to marry the body back on the chassis).

A few posts back I mentioned the upholstery project I did on my 1970 Mustang (now residing in a small collection in Nebraska).  Along with the upholstery I did a lot of work on the interior – dash, carpeting, headliner…the works.  I was reminded of the books I used for the process and one in particular was authored by Daniel Strohl entitled “Muscle Car Interior Restoration”.

 

There are a few books out there but this one covered the fundamentals very well.  So well, in fact that I’m going to give a copy away to one of my readers.  Drop me a note  at timsweet@cox.net or AGCarRestoration@cox.net or post up on my Facebook page – https://www.facebook.com/AGCarRestoration with a pic and some info.

Muscle Car Interior Restoration by Daniel Strohl

Muscle Car Interior Restoration by
Daniel Strohl

 

You can catch Daniel’s writings over on Hemmings.com and the Hemmings Motor News.  As you know I love the Hemmings’ publications.  

Get me a pic of your project (completed or in progress – love the in progress photos) and get chance to pick up a free copy of “Muscle Car Interior Restoration”.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Post Script:  Other than a happy consumer, I have no relationship with Hemmings or Dan Strohl.

 

 

Artico – it’s vinyl upholstery by another name

Leathercloth. Naugahyde. Ambla. These are just a few of the words that car-makers have used to name vinyl upholstery. Name and euphemistically disguise a badly hidden truth in fact, because vinyl has almost always been seen as inferior to cloth trim or …
Warning: Hikers crossing in Bennington, Vt.

If that’s you, don’t miss the Hemmings Auto Museum (216 Main St., 802-447-2496, www.hemmings.com, open May-October, free), a small auto museum featuring vintage vehicles on display. And hiking deserves a second mention, as there are so many great …

 

 

ABANDONED!!! 1939 Packard Henny Hearse – Update 6/24/20

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Five years later this car is now spruced up and sits outside the Boot Hill Gift Shop in the “Town too Tough to Die”  Tombstone, AZ. !

 

I don’t know too many car peeps that don’t have a soft spot for abandoned cars.  Either they stir up distant memories of years gone by or inspire you to think of all the possibilities for that misused piece of iron.  One of my hobbies is to photograph abandoned car when I get the chance.  Whether they are just sitting in a junk yard, or field or even being used as advertising they mark the passage of time.

On the outskirts of Tombstone, AZ. is where you’ll find this car.  It’s easy to spot as it is the ‘landmark’ advertising car to get you to stop at the Boot Hill gift shop.  Clearing abandoned at some point, it was dragged to its current post many years ago and is a bit of a tourist attraction.

 

Greeting you at the edge of the town "that's too tough to die" Tombstone, AZ is this 1939 Packard.

Greeting you at the edge of the town “that’s too tough to die” Tombstone, AZ is this 1939 Packard.

 

 

As you can tell it purely used as prop now.

As you can tell it purely used as prop now.

 

This Packard 120 still retains it 288 Straight Eight engine. Look like with a little TLC it will roar to life.

This Packard 120 still retains it 288 Straight Eight engine. Look like with a little TLC it will roar to life.

 

The 288 (sometime called the Super Eight) produced 150 hps. Not a lot for all that American Steel.

The 288 (sometime called the Super Eight) produced 150 HP. Not a lot for all that American steel.  But speed wasn’t a factor when you are headed to the local ‘boot hill’.

 

It's a fair piece to bring a body to Tombstone, AZ from Texas.

It’s a fair piece to bring a body to Tombstone, AZ from Texas.

 

Although the Arizona heat is tough on car interiors this one still retains all of its details.

Although the Arizona heat is tough on car interiors this one still retains all of its details.  Has the shift column and I’m betting the new for 1939 Overdrive.

 

Henny began using the Packard chassis 1937 replacing the stretched Model A chassis.

Henny began using the Packard chassis 1937 replacing the stretched Model A chassis.

 

This old hearse has a ton of character and prominent place at the edge of town.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

On The Road To Pebble Beach In A 1939 Packard

One by one, the engines of 22 classic cars come alive. Some cough with a wheeze, some need coaxing and some hum with precision. Whatever their personality, they all start. This is the first miracle of the road trip. Gathered in a semi-circle around …

Powers, beloved journalist, dies at 93

Murphy owns a 1939 Packard Super 8 Henney Hearse and Powers always wanted a ride in it. Murphy was willing, but somehow it never worked out. A funeral has yet to be scheduled at St. John’s Cathedral, but Murphy vows that when it happens, Powers will …

 

 

 

Pininfarina’s aerodynamic 1960 X Concept was 50 years ahead of its time

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The name Pininfarina is synonymous with expensive and elegant Italian sports cars such as the Maserati GranTurismo, Alfa Romeo Spyder and a log file of Ferraris such as the 365 GTB/4, Enzo, F40 and Testarossa. The global design legend does much more than style beautiful cars though, and ample testimony will appear at auction this week in the form of a little known 1960s concept car. With its four wheels arranged in a diamond shape, the tiny aerodynamic four-seater Pininfarina-X had a drag coefficient of 0.23, indicating that Pininfarina was a long way ahead of the rest of the world in exploring the critical area of aerodynamics, long before it was fashionable.

via Pininfarina’s aerodynamic 1960 X Concept was 50 years ahead of its time.

 

drag coefficient of 0.23

drag coefficient of 0.23

Thanks for reading
Tim

 

Pininfarina Aerodynamik-Historie unterm Hammer

Pininfarina hatte das Model X ausgiebig getestet und sogar rund 145 km/h erreicht. Damit war der X deutlich schneller, als ein normaler Fiat 110. Trotz des Mißerfolges war Farina von der Aerodynamik in den Bann gezogen und ging abermals auf Professor …
Things to know about Barrett-Jackson car auction

Featured cars include a 1969 Ferrari 365 GTS by Pininfarina and a 1932 Packard Deluxe Eight Individual Custom Sport Phaeton by Dietrich. Details: Jan 14-16. Preview runs 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Wednesday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursday and Friday. Auction runs 5-9 …

60,000 Classic American Cars, and Three Good Ones

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So many times I have marveled at the seeming multitudes of vintage American cars in the country of Cuba. There’s never been a lot of press on these cars but now that some of the barriers are down, I’m hoping there is a lot to learn about the car culture that as grown our of necessity.  I’m not expecting to see a vintage Buick with the original V8 and perfect body and interior.  I am hoping to see is what has been done to these cars.  Some purists would might not be able stomach what has been accomplished but it is truly a unique sub-culture that has flourished on its own without all the trapping we have surrounding our beloved hobby.

 

The article below is from CarGurus blog via Throttel Response.

Cuban Car Culture

Cuban Car Culture

 

The cars of Cuba are somewhat legendary in the United States, because the vehicles that roamed the roads there in the 1950s are the same ones being driven today. Since we’re not allowed to go there, very few of us have seen them in person, yet we know they exist.

Does that mean American collectors should start salivating over the prospect of virtually untouched classics if Cuba and the U.S. become friends again?

Probably not. The 1959 Cuban revolution essentially put an end to imports of American cars, so Cubans have had to make do for the last 55 years with what they had, or buy Soviet-era imports. That means no new parts, no new cars and lots of Chevrolets and Buicks running with Soviet-made engines.

With over a half-century of neglect and little real maintenance, it’s a miracle that somewhere around 60,000 of these classics are still being driven. If the U.S. and Cuba do rekindle their old flame, it won’t be the Americans who benefit.

 

Read the rest at 60,000 Classic American Cars, and Three Good Ones.

 

I believe I have a few readers that may have first hand knowledge of the Cuban car culture.  I’m always looking for more information.  Have any images?  Contact me via this blog and we’ll make a deal.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

Could Classic Cuban Cars Be En Route to the United States?

For years, importing cars between the United States and Cuba has been illegal, forcing Cuban mechanists to be resourceful in fixing up old cars. With the recent easing of trade embargoes between the two countries, Cuba’s vintage cars could now be a …
Cuba’s scrappy vintage cars may be better for scrap heap than collectors

“I can see the first couple of cars that are shiny and have some sort of interesting drive-train – Russian tractor diesel, for instance – bringing $50,000 or so at a Barrett-Jackson auction, if they are the first Cuban cars to sell publicly in the US …
Classic Cuban Cars Coming to US? Think Again

Classic Cuban Cars Coming to US? Think Again. By: Chris Cybulski; 12/19/2014 10:09 AM; ShareThis Facebook Tweet Email; Text size: + -. TWC News: Lower Restrictions to Bring Changes to Cuba Play now. Time Warner Cable video customers:

Los Angeles street racers aim to bring drag racing back to Terminal Island | Hemmings Daily

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The old drag strips are disappearing.  I have an article coming out about an abandon drag strip right in my backyard.

 

Terminal Island in the Port of Los Angeles didn’t play by the typical drag strip operations manual. Intermodal shipping containers surrounded the strip and served as the basis for some of its structures. It had no national drag racing organization affiliation, and everybody pretty much run what they brung. It opened and closed nearly a dozen times over the course of three decades, and now, in the midst of an LAPD crackdown on street racing in the city, fans of the drag strip are working to bring it back.

“Our main goal is to keep everybody off the streets,” said Donald Galaz, a lieutenant with the International Brotherhood of Street Racers and the founder of Project Street Legal, an initiative to return racing to Terminal Island. “But you know the way politics is – the wheels go very very slowly.”

Read the rest via Los Angeles street racers aim to bring drag racing back to Terminal Island | Hemmings Daily.

 

Vette at Terminal Island

Vette at Terminal Island

 

I remember my first drag strip experience, it was in the middle of a corn field in the middle of Texas (just outside of San Angelo).  I recall thinking how awesome it was to have a place to test your skills – legally!!  I wonder if it’s still there?

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Police: Pair Caught Drag Racing Friday

Two men were charged late Friday with drag racing on East Andrew Johnson Highway, Greeneville police Officer Joe Prokop said in a report. Charged were Justin E. Aiken, 21, of 127 Sam Aiken Road; and Kieffer L. Keller, 20, of 1500 John Graham Road.
West Chester’s Nikki Bennett has passion for drag racing

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — The dragster is all black, and its driver is dressed in all black, too, from the top of the helmet right on down to the shoes. For a long time, no name was displayed on the sides like there are on other machines. It goes to the line …

Auto Factoids for Week of Dec. 28, 2014

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Here are your Auto Factoids for the last week of Dec 2014.

 

–  Charles Goodyear was born Dec 29, 1800 in New Heaven, Conn.   39 years and 4 days later he developed vulcanization or rubber (Jan 2, 1839)

– Jan 1, 1942 was the date that the us Government banned the sale of all non-essential car and small trucks in an effort to save valuable resources for the war effort.

– Back in 1966 on Jan 1st, Dodge rolls out the Charger.

1966 Charger Love the lines!!!

1966 Charger Love the lines!!!

But it has had some changes over the years.

 

1969 Charger

1969 Charger – Nice!!!!!

 

1987 Shelby version of the Charger.

1987 Shelby version of the Charger.

 

2010 Dodge Charger - not a great looking car.

2010 Dodge Charger – not a great looking car.

 

2014 Charger - looks make you want to yawn...but it can move!!!!

2014 Charger – looks make you want to yawn…but it can move!!!!

 

 

– Chevy debuts its first air-cooled engine on Jan 2, 1923.

Copper/Air Cooled

Copper/Air Cooled

 

– On Jan 2, 1957 Ghia announced the production of the Crown Imperial limo.

 

Here is an 1958 Chrysler-Imperial Limo example.

Here is an 1958 Chrysler-Imperial Limo example.  That’s a nice looking car!!!

Thanks for reading this installment of #AutoFactoids.  

 

Tim

 

 

NOTE:  If you’d like to sponsor an Auto Factoid contact me.  With thousands of views every day you will get noticed!!!!!

 

1984 C4

1984 C4

 

Auto Factoids for Week of Dec 14, 2014

Dec 15, 1861 Charles Duryea was born in Canton, Ohio. He grew up to be an engineer and with his brother Frank, they began production bicycles. By 1893 they test driving the first U.S. gasoline powered vehicle. It was a …
Auto Factoids for Week of June 8, 2014

Let’s get right to the glory and the tragic historical events of this weeks Auto Factoids. June 10, 1927 the Graham brothers purchased Paige-Detroit Motor.
Auto Factoids for Week of May 18, 2014

If you thought last week was light…this week is weak!! Buick became a corporation back in 1903 back on May 19. It eventually became a major General Motors brand.

This Fascinating VW Prototype Would Have Been Revolutionary

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By the late ’60s, VW was in a legitimate full-on panic about replacing the Beetle: somehow, they never really managed to figure this out. The Beetle was just selling too well for too long to worry until it was almost too late. Eventually, the Golf saved the day, but there was a brief moment where it looked like VW’s salvation would be much weirder.After VW bought NSU and Audi in the late ’60s, the much more conventional water-cooled, transverse front-engined Golf/Rabbit was derived from NSU/Audi designs and saved VW’s bacon, as well as set the company’s fundamental technical DNA to this day. But this was a sort of last-minute desperation plan. The goal of replacing the Beetle as VW’s core product went back much further, and almost culminated in a surprisingly sophisticated and unusual car, the EA266 prototype.

via This Fascinating Stillborn VW Prototype Would Have Been Revolutionary.

 

ES-266

EA-266

 

Thanks for reading.

 

Tim

Auto Factoids for Week of Dec 14, 2014

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Dec 15, 1861  Charles Duryea was born in Canton, Ohio.  He grew up to be an engineer and with his brother Frank, they began production bicycles.  By 1893 they test driving the first U.S. gasoline powered vehicle.  It was a used horse drawn buggy they purchased fro $70.00.  It sported a single cylinder 4HP engine with friction transmission, spray carburetor and low tension ignition.  The car was then stored in 1894 and found and given to a museum.

Charles and Frank - left to right in there first car.

Charles and Frank – left to right in there first car.

1994 Duryea

1894 Duryea

 

These brother went on to create Duryea “Motor Wagon Company” and produced 13 hand-made cars out of their garage.  These were the first commercially produced automobiles in the U.S.   This wasn’t their only ‘first’.   The Duryea car won the first American car race and was involved in the first traffic accident.   Charles and Frank parted ways in 1898 and Charles died in 1938.  Frank formed the Hampden Car company. To actually produce the cars brother Frank sought out the services of J. Stevens of J. Stevens Arms and Tool Company.  This eventually lead to the Stevens-Duryea cars being produced.

This is the Model C Touring car. Production continued until 1927.

This is the Model C Touring car. Production continued until 1927.

 

 

New York City creates the first one way street Dec 17th 1791.

 

Ford names Lee Iacocca as president 10/18/1970.

 

Dec 20, 1892 Pneumatic automobile tire patented.  The original patented was by Robert William Thomson who invented the first pneumatic tire but apparently never caught on, however, John Dunlap’s did.

Harvey Firestone was born in Columbia County, Ohio on Dec 20, 1868.    After high school Harvey  worked for the Columbus Buggy Company .  In 1890 before starting his own company making rubber tires for carriages.  By 1900 he began marketing tires for automobiles and then founded the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company, a pioneer in the mass production of tires. In 1926 he published a book, Men and Rubber:

Sears, Roebuck & Co show off the Kaiser built Allstate, Dec 20, 1951.  The Allstate was built on Kaiser-Frazer platform and marketed by Sears.   It was a 2 door, fastback and came in a Series 4 and Series 6 with several different trim levels.

The Allstate

The Allstate

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#AutoFactoids

 

Auto Factoids for Week of June 8, 2014

Let’s get right to the glory and the tragic historical events of this weeks Auto Factoids. June 10, 1927 the Graham brothers purchased Paige-Detroit Motor.
 
Auto Factoids – 1970 Mustang – Ford Assembly Line …

Auto Factoids – 1970 Mustang – Ford Assembly Line http://timsweet.wordpress.com/2010/12/01/auto-factoids-1970-mustang-ford-assembly-line/ December 1, 2010. Today is the anniversary of the assembly line created by …
 

La grange ultime trouver: Artcurial unearths a treasure trove of collector cars | Hemmings Daily

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The Collectors’ Car Department at Artcurial has discovered 60 collectors’ automobiles, all major marques dating
from the early days of the motor car through to the 1970s. Found following fifty years of lying dormant, the Baillon collection
will be sold by Artcurial Motorcars in the first part of the traditional sale at Retromobile Salon, on 6 February 2015, in Paris.

via La grange ultime trouver: Artcurial unearths a treasure trove of collector cars | Hemmings Daily.

 

There are some awesome cars in the Baillon collection and some are in awful shape.  Some aren’t restorable.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Artcurial to Auction 60 Barn Find Classics from Forgotten Baillon Collection

The forgotten Baillon Collection will be auctioned at the annual Retromobile event in Paris next February. The lots include some of the most desirable Ferrari’s and Bugatti models and is sure to provide a talking point for the classic car market for …
‘Passion’ Investors Follow the Money

It will be the star lot of Artcurial’s Baillon Collection sale in Paris on Feb. 6 with an estimate of 10 million euros, or $12.4 million. Another example of this rare car, this time in smarter “concours” condition, sold for $15.1 million at Gooding in …
L’incroyable collection Baillon mise à jour par Artcurial

… « Depuis la révélation de la collection Schlumpf de Mulhouse, jamais une telle réunion d’automobiles emblématiques n’avait été dévoilée, mais plus encore, dans un tel état d’origine ! », a confié Matthieu Lamoure, Directeur d’Artcurial Motorcars.
Automobile: des grandes marques oubliées dans une ferme en France

MOSCOU – RIA Novosti/La Voix de la Russie Une collection d’environ 100 véhicules anciens de grandes marques – des voitures sport à celles de luxe – a été découverte dans une ferme en France, a annoncé lundi le magazine Artcurial Motorcars. Diaporama …

 

Buy the only pre-production SSP Mustangs in the world

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In the pantheon of lust-worthy Mustangs, the Special Service Package cars tend to hang out at the tip-top of the mountain. Fitted for police pursuit duty, the cars came from the factory with a bushel of parts to go faster and stop shorter. The two cars pictured here are reportedly the first SSP Mustangs ever built. Ford whipped them up in December of 1981 as test cars for the California Highway Patrol and the State of Texas. Of the machines CHP tested that year, these two were the only cars to pass the department’s performance tests. California ordered 400, and the SSP program was officially under way.

via Buy the only pre-production SSP Mustangs in the world.

Fox body cop cars!!!

Fox body cop cars!!!

 

Owning one of these cars or any former police car is a great part of the car collecting/restoration hobby.  But keep in mind there are rules for what equipment/logos, etc. that can be on these cars while they are driven on public streets.  Each U.S. state has different rules, research those.

 

CHP, I met a few of those guys driving the roads of Southern Cal.

CHiPs, I met a few of those guys driving the roads of Southern Cal.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim