Category Archives: Auto History

Part and Parcel: State of the Swap

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http://www.oldcarsweekly.com

Each July the tiny town of Iola, Wis., is invaded by a sea of humanity and old iron. Many in attendance come strictly for the swap meet, which covers about 4,500 spaces.

Old car hobby doing well — at least ‘parts’ of it

By John Gunnell

“Don’t tell me there’s no recovery going on,” said Kurt Kelsey, an Iowa City-based vendor of new-old-stock Pontiac parts. According to Kelsey, his business this year is much better than it has been in a long time. “The phone has been ringing off the hook every day,” he said.

Kelsey’s observation about an up-tick in the market isn’t alone. Positive reports have come from other vendors, parts manufacturers and catalog retailers since late last fall. Despite an unsettled national economy and high unemployment, the old-car parts business seems to be in the midst of a boom.

During a Dynamat seminar at the Hot Rod & Restoration Show in March, company owner Scott Whitaker said one-day shipping of Dynamat automotive insulation products has been impossible to promise lately, because a large increase in orders has outpaced new hiring. “The bump in sales wasn’t expected and caught us off guard,” he said.

In early April, Bob Marx at Marx Parts in Arpin, Wis., came to visit us and he, too, was upbeat about his rising sales. Marx has been growing his inventory of vintage gaskets and rear main seals and is now rebuilding fuel pumps, but he said that new products do not explain all of the growth he is seeing. Like several other industry veterans, Marx pointed to the TV exposure of the Mecum and Barrett-Jackson auctions as a factor that’s helping the hobby grow. “New people are getting involved with old cars,” he said.

“After a winter of inactivity, old cars tend to leak or fail when they are put back on the road,” said Fred Kanter of Kanter Auto Products, who wonders if the business boom might be seasonal. “March, April, May every year, it’s the same thing — spring,” Kanter said. He pointed out that from spring through summer every year, his most popular items are fuel pumps and water pumps. “There’s a lot of factors that affect our business.”

You never know what you’ll see at big swap meets. You might come across a 1958 Edsel Pacer looking for a new home.

Al Suehring of Amherst Junction, Wis., specializes in ring gears and is another vendor who feels that the market is strong. We caught up with him at the Vintage Chevrolet Club of America dinner in Chilton, Wis., and he said that his business from the United States and abroad has been showing noticeable increases lately.

Ray Yager of Classic Industries said the level of growth of reproduction parts sales is “hard to keep up with.” His firm supplies MoPar, 1955-’57 Chevy, Camaro, Firebird, Nova, Impala and Chevy truck parts, and parts sales for these vehicles are moving in a positive direction. Yager thought the company’s 18-month-old MoPar parts catalog may account for some, but not all, of the huge increase in business he’s seeing. At least one vendor who solely deals in Chevrolets is likewise seeing increases in business.

“I’m having a really good year,” said Ron Kellogg of Chevy Tri-Power. “Rather amazing since I’m selling restored multi-carb setups in an era of $5-a-gallon gas prices. I’ve probably sold 25 Tri-Power units — normally a year’s worth — since November 2011.”

Kellogg’s increase proves that car collectors still want high-performance options on their classics.

In addition to new products, increased TV exposure of the hobby and added catalogs, parts suppliers said both the use of the Internet and increased advertising seem to be attracting more customers. Some big companies such as Mid America Motorworks and Eastwood have begun sending daily e-mails to thousands of potential customers. This takes time and money and employees with Internet skills, but their efforts are paying off with increased sales.

Many mom-and-pop operations that can’t afford daily e-marketing efforts are creating websites, Facebook pages, blogs and Twitter accounts to reach the marketplace. Hobby events aimed at professionals — such as the Racing & Performance Expo, the British Motor Trade Association and the SEMA Show — all offer seminars on Internet marketing techniques to these businesses.

As their marketing efforts become more sophisticated, parts sellers are also discovering that they can use print media to drive customers to their websites. Companies that never ran a print ad before are discovering that a clean-looking space ad with the right design and not much text can generate strong client interaction. The right picture of a car can catch the potential customer’s attention and a simple e-mail address or website link is all that’s needed to bring business knocking. A good ad will pay for itself much faster these days.

While an increase in parts sales would suggest that restoration shops and collector car sales are both on the increase, growth in those parts of the hobby isn’t as clear-cut as it is when a part is “checked out” in an online catalog. Collector car dealers such as Colin Comer of Colin’s Classic Auto in Milwaukee and market players such as Joe Bortz are fairly universal in the belief that collector car prices are off 15-20 percent in today’s market. Some restoration shop owners say that they are busier than they’ve ever been, but others say the opposite.

From all of the indications we have seen and all the comments we’ve heard, it appears the old-car parts niche is improving for 2012 and this trend will presumably filter down to other parts of the hobby. The hobby is changing in many ways, and the wise businessmen in it are getting more sophisticated as the market grows.

Sources mentioned

Kurt Kelsey
NOS Pontiac parts
641-648-9086

Dynamat
automotive insulation products
www.dynamat.com
513-860-5094

Marx Parts
vintage gaskets
www.marxparts.com
715-652-2405

Kanter Auto Products
mechanical components
www.kanter.com
800-526-1096

Al Suehring
ring gears
715-677-3809

Classic Industries
restoration parts
www.classicindustries.com
714-847-6887

Ron Kellogg
most tri-power units
www.chevytripower.com

Joe Bortz
vintage vehicle sales
www.takeyourcartoauction.com
847-668-2004

Mid America Motorworks
Corvette and VW restoration parts
www.mamotorworks.com
866-350-4543

Eastwood
restoration equipment
www.eastwood.com
800-343-9353

Colin’s Classic Auto
vintage vehicle sales
www.colinsclassicauto.com
414-964-3747

Mustang Muscle in the Mid 70′s Trivia Question.

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So we are going to cover the offering for 1975, but before I continue I have a question for everyone.

It’s often said that the Mustang II was just a Pinto with different sheet metal.  Is that true or false

I’ve got a free gift for the right detailed answer.

Post your answer on this blog.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

74 Pinto

74 Mustang

Hudson Cars….and Trucks?

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You can learn something new every day.

I remember when I was a kid, spending hours (when I should have been wet sanding  primer or masking off a car) while working in my Dad’s body shop looking at the Chilton’s and other repair books, memorizing the front and rear configurations of each car – mostly the late 50’s and all of the 60’s.  In the early 70’s there were still plenty of the old ones around – especially in the depressed economies of up-state New York.  If they weren’t driving around you still saw them in the garages or on blocks in the backyards for sure, and often at the local stock car track.  It was always fun to be able to pick them out and know the model and year.

Still I run across one or two models that I never knew existed.  Even today with all the reading and all the online data, I don’t think I ever ran across a Hudson pickup truck.  Sure I’ve seen (and love) the Hornets and the Wasps, but a pickup?

Sure enough after reading the Aug ’12 issue of Hemming Classic Car there is a mention in an article (about a guy who ‘hoards” Hudson ) of a 1946 Hudson Carrier pickup (don’t know way the didn’t bother to show the  a picture – seems it ought to be rare enough).

So here are a couple of pics and some specs.  I have never actually seen one in person.

1946 Hudson Carrier Pickup

They came configure like this:

212 CC L-Head Inline 6-Cylinder Engine
Carter 2-Barrel Carburetor
102 BHP at 4,000 RPM
3-Speed Manual Gearbox with Column Shifter
4-Wheel Hydraulic Drum Brakes
Front Independent Suspension with Coil Springs
Semi-Floating Rear Axle

They have great lines, for a pickup!

I’d love to see one in person and take it for a quick spin.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Mustang Muscle in the Mid 70’s

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Are you still laughing at the title?   I know, but keep in mind in the Mid 70’s, after a couple of years of low powered 4 and 6 cylinders, the V8 returned to the Mustang!!!!  If nothing else it laid the ground for some of the best-selling and now very sought after Fox body ‘stangs. But we are going to discuss the cars before the Fox-body generation.

Model names like Ghia, 2+2, Mach 1, Cobra, Cobra II and King Cobra and cool stuff like T-Tops and front air dams and hood scoops.

It all started in 1974 when the Ford Mustang became the Mustang II and yes in some case you wouldn’t be able to pick them out of a pile of Pinto.  You all know the story…EPA, emissions, gas prices, etc.

I’ve mentioned that there was a Mustang II in the family, back in 1978, it was a 1974 Mustang Ghia the 4 cylinder version. It met its demise one evening when a Ford Econoline Van took out the rear end while it was parked (after it careened over VW parked behind the ‘stang.

1974Ghia

So let’s take it year by year and cover the most “powerful” cars of 1974 to 1978.

1974:

The most powerful engine for 1974 was the V6.  This was an option for all models but standard for the Mach 1 for that year. (The Mach 1 was hatch back.)

The Mach 1 – Hatch Back

 

The Mach 1 was powered by 2.8 L – 171 cid, V6, 2bbl, 105 hp (‘Z’ code) – the biggest engine available for the Mustang II that year (the other was the option was the I-4 2.3 L – 140 cid, 2bbl, 88 hp (‘Y’ code).

Sales for 1974 worked out like this:

69F Hatchback: 74,799

69R Hatchback – Mach 1: 44,046

60F Coupe: 177,671

60H Coupe – Ghia: 89,477

Total Production: 385,993

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Retrobuilt 2010 Mustang Turned Old-School Boss 302

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by on June 13, 2012


This whole custom Retrobuilt seems to be all the rage lately from the Reversion Mustang at SEMA to the new GT500 CS convertible conversion. If you don’t know who Retrobuilt is, it’s a Official Licensee of Carroll Shelby Licensing, Inc. They specialize in S197 Mustangs from 2005-2011 and turn them into a modern classic by using custom fiberglass panels, true steel bumpers, door handles, rear window louvers, Shelby wheels, custom exhaust and retro tail covers. Every car built by Retrobuilt includes a serial number, dash plaque and Certificate of Authenticity.

However, another one just made an appearance on eBay motors in the form of a 2010 Mustang turned old school Boss 302. From the front it may seem to be an old school Boss 302, until you realize that the body is a bit different and then get a glance of that rear. Body panels added to this car go over the doors but replace the front hood and fenders. The rear deck lid panel is new and you can see that it also features the black hockey stick Boss stripes. The front and rear chrome bumpers are both from a 1969 Mustang. A good 58 lbs. have been lost and some of the weight has been transferred to the rear.

The interior features red leather seats and the same pattern is also on the door panels. The seats supposedly have no wear or tear and are in good condition, as well as the headliner and carpeting. Under the hood is the stock V8 complete with shaker hood with 34,973 miles logged on the odometer. This car is still under warranty until the end of September and the title obviously states that this is a 2010 Mustang.

What do you think of this retro Boss?  Drop me a note.

I, personally, like it, in an odd sort of way.  I’d have to see in it person.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

The Official 2012 Corvette Production Numbers Are Here!

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by on June 7, 2012

It’s nearing the peak of summer, which means 2013 model year cars are only weeks away from being released. But before we can welcome in the last of the C6 models for next year, we owe it to the 2012′s to take a look back and see just how well the Corvette did this year. So here are some of the production numbers for the Corvette’s 2012 model year compliments of CorvetteBlogger, and some of them may just surprise you.

Just like in the 2010 and 2011 model years, the Grand Sport got the most amount of buys for 2012. Between the Grand Sport coupe (5,056 sold) and the GS convertible (2,268 sold) , the model made up nearly 63 percent of all Corvette sales. Coming in at a far second, was the base model with 2,820 coupes and just 651 convertibles sold to make up 29.5 percent of Corvette sales.

As far as the high-rolling Z06 and ZR1′s go, only 478 Z06 models were sold, making up 4.1 percent of total sales, and only a measly 404 ZR1′s were sold, making up just 3.5 percent of sales. In total, 11,647 Corvettes were manufactured for the 2012 model year.

Not surprisingly, the most popular color among the 2012 models was Torch Red with 19.5 percent of Corvettes sold sporting the color. The vibrant shade was closely followed by the Carbon Flash Metallic paint of the special Centennial Edition cars. Nearly 19 percent of Corvettes sold featured the special edition package.

Other interesting tidbits we found browsing through the 2012 production numbers were that 62.3 percent of Corvettes were sold with Ebony interiors while only 88 were sold with yellow stitching accents and 105 sold with blue stitching accents.

Option packages appear to have been popular with 2,416 Corvettes sold with the 1LT option package, 1,691 sold with the 2LT package, and 5,510, or 47.3 percent, sold with the 3LT package.

For more of the 2012 model year numbers, check out the full report from CorvetteBlogger.com.

Car Show in – Rothrist, Switzerland

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Remember a few post ago that covered MOPAR’s in Sweden? (Short Link:  http://wp.me/pKHNM-174)  I wrote how interesting it was to see US sheet metal in other countries.

Well check out this car show in Rothrist, Switzerland.  This is from Andres Palomares who lives in Bern, Switzerland.  There are some great examples of US car history in this show.

Switzerland is beautiful and visited Interlaken several times while living in Europe.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Parking Lot Spotlight – 1957 Chevy

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Another classic spotted in my local supermarket (does anyone actually use the word ‘supermarket” any more?).

This 1957 Chevy has all the chrome you might want.  It appears to have fairly new paint.  I love the wrap around windows and the exhaust exiting the rear bumper. (If I could figure out how to make that happen with my Mustang I would!!)

Of course I couldn’t hang around in the parking lot waiting for the owner, but would have loved to see the engine compartment.

You can tell the ’57’s a mile away.

Love bumper chrome and the wrap around windshield. Oh…that’s my grocery cart in the background.

Paint looked flawless on this car. Not labeled as a Bel Air or Impala and clearly not a ‘plan jane’ One Fifty.

Love the exhaust exit location on these cars!!

Chevy‘s standard engine for these cars was the 6 cylinder. The V8’s were considered a separate series and not an option.  Chevy produced over 1.5 million cars in 1957, second only to Ford.

Have a really cool parking lot find?    Drop me a note and we get it posted up.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1930 Ford Pickup Hot Rod – Pure Fun

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There are a lot of reasons to build a hot rod and never just one reason.

Here are a couple guys enjoying one of the reason.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1960 Chevrolet Impala

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I love this Impala and I don’t care that it has 4 ways to get in!!!!!!

By Angelo Van Bogart

Chevrolet built 497,048 four-door sedans in 1960. No one knows how many of those sedans were Impalas, Bel Airs or Biscaynes, but you can bet the farm that many went to rural America.

Determining how many 1960 Chevy sedans went to farmers is likewise impossible, but John Broucker isn’t concerned about that figure. What he’d really like to know is how many of those 1960 Impala sedans were equipped with a 348-cid V-8 and a four-speed manual transmission like his central Ohio sleeper ordered new by a farmer?

“I called General Motors and all they could tell me was how many were four-door sedans,” he said.

Chevrolet was not particular about the details of its production in this era, but Broucker’s car is certainly rare. Maybe even as rare as hen’s teeth. Broucker himself had a hard time believing the car’s combination when he first heard about the four-speed Impala sedan in 1980.

“The farmer that bought it new, I worked with his sister’s son, his nephew, and he said, ‘My uncle has a 348 four-speed,’ and when I [saw it], I said, ‘That’s a four-door.’ My buddy said it can’t be, it just can’t be, so I called the guy and I bought it.”

Even after buying the car from the original owner, and running into a mechanic who watched the car get unloaded at Progressive Chevrolet in 1960, Broucker sometimes has to defend what some people assume is a clone.

“Honestly, if I was going to clone a car, I wouldn’t clone a four-door ’60 Chevy,” he said.

That still begs the question: Why does a four-door 1960 Chevrolet Impala four-door sedan with a 250-hp Turbo-Thrust 348 and a four-speed with Posi-Traction even exist?

“Back then, if your buddy drove up to you in a four-door four-speed, you’d say, ‘You’re crazy,’” Broucker admits. “But he said he didn’t like the Impala (hardtop), it had the big back window, and he wanted a ‘fooler.’”

For the full fooler (a.k.a. “sleeper”) effect, the original owner even ran little hubcaps and blackwall tires to help the finned Impala fly under the radar. Aside from its performance options, the Impala is otherwise a typical farm sedan and generally lacks creature comforts.

“It doesn’t even have the rear-view mirror on the outside,” Broucker said. “It does have an AM radio, a heater, and the only thing that doesn’t work is the clock in the dash.”

With only 56,000 miles on the odometer, the rest of the Impala works as new, and Broucker said it remains largely original.

“It still has the original clutch,” he said. “I put front brakes and maybe a fan belt on and that’s about it. It has the original paint, original interior and original chrome. Sometimes, people look at the bumpers and say they’re a little wavy, but that’s they way it was. It even has the original generator, and the right rear tailpipe has a couple holes, but it’s the original exhaust.

“Behind all of the six tail lights, they have those little plastic cups on them. These are still on there. Any time anyone changed a light they threw them away.”

The unrestored Impala shows so well, it’s even placed second at the Stan Hywet car show in Akron, Ohio, against restored cars. Broucker believes the car’s excellent level of preservation is partly due to how the original owner stored the car.

“This farmer also worked at the railroad, and [he and his brothers] brought cabooses home and they made garages out of them,” he said. “I bet the thing was 3 feet off the ground and the wood floor helped preserve the car.”

When Broucker first saw the Impala, it was wedged in one of those cabooses.

“It was a real tight fit,” he said. “There was a pot belly stove in the caboose and I don’t know if he used the stove or not. They say the wood doesn’t sweat, it absorbs the moisture.”

The storage served the Impala well through 20 years and 50,000 miles with the original owner. Today, Broucker remains thrilled with the Impala’s condition. However, he hasn’t always found the car thrilling, which is why he’s only added about 6,000 miles to the odometer in his 32 years of ownership.

“Back then, I bought and sold a lot of cars, and for some reason I just held on to this,” he said. “I did think it was neat at first — I just thought it couldn’t be real, but it was. Honestly, I think I kind of lost interest and wondered, ‘Why did I buy a four-door?’ Then I would take it out and drive it and think, ‘This drives pretty nice.’ I was really happy with that.”

Many vehicles have come and gone from Broucker’s collection, but the Impala has been a mainstay. In fact, Broucker has pared his collection down to a 1969 Dodge Dart he races in the 1/8 mile and this oddly optioned Impala. That raises the question, would he ever race his Impala?

“I have [thought about it], but I might be embarrassed by it,” he said. “It has a lot of torque, but the point I am at, I don’t want to tear up the clutch.”

Instead, Broucker is content to blend into the car show landscape, making his Impala blend into the sea of hobby cars. For those collectors who enjoy the unusual, stumbling onto this rarity is like finding treasure. Maybe as exciting as finding that needle in the haystack.

From http://www.oldcarsweekly.com