10/12/1950 Kaiser-Frazer Built their 500, oooth car.
There ya go...the 500, 000 th
On 10/13/ in 1902 Packard Motor Car Co. was formed from the Ohio Automobile Co. Of interest: In September, 1900, the Ohio Automobile Company was founded as the manufacturer, while the cars were always sold as Packards. Since these automobiles quickly gained an excellent reputation, and there were more automobile makers that produced — or at least planned to — under the label “Ohio”, the name was changed soon: On October 13, 1902, it became the Packard Motor Car Company.
1902 Packard Model F
An Ohio
The very next day 63 years later Oldsmobile debuts the Toronado (10/14/1965).
1965 Toronado I want one of these
On 10/15/1945 Oldsmobile began creating producing per war cars.
And 1924 on the 15th of October, one of my hero’s was born. The proud Poppa of the Mustang and savior of Chrysler Lee Iococca was born in Allentown, PA.
I had previously added a can of Techron Fuel System Cleaner. This was the first treated tank. Today the Vette need filling up and I recorded the incident.
In the second video please excuse the legs shot.
This first is the status as I pulled in to gas up.
I haven’t done much writing about my C6 Corvette, mainly because it has really been a great car (still is) even with the technology glitches.
However, as you might have gathered from the title there is an issue that I thought I’d jot down along with some possible causes and some preventive measures.
I recently had the problem with my gas gauge flopping round and kicking off the low fuel warning. Interesting enough it only happened immediately after filling up. It is an immediate reaction when I turn the car on. During this most recent incident the gauge remained flat-lined for what seemed a bit longer then it has in the past. I’m talking 20 miles or more with 3 stops full and shut down. It was accompanied by the engine light, which remained on after the gauge went back to normal and the low fuel warning stopped.
The Vette ran perfectly during the event so I’m not too worried , but still you don’t want to have to call the flatbed.
So I dropped a note on my corvette clubs site ACE (Arizona Corvette Enthusiasts) http://www.arizonacorvetteenthusiasts.net and to see what they thought.
Most swear by Chevron gas with its Techron cleaning agent and some were thinking it might be a sending unit and some said it is a common problem with C5 ( the previous generation of Corvettes).
Here are some comments:
—“Use some Seafoam (Autozone, Checker etc.) per directions on the bottle. Techron works also.” My NOTE: Seafoam is tough stuff, you have to be sure to change your fuel filter shortly there after.
—“Same thing would happen to me with Roxxane II (c5). It would show empty when I filled her up. I would use 2 bottles of Techron and then one bottle at every fill up for the next 4 tanks. Problem went away for a while. Then I would use one bottle every 2 tanks and that kept the demon away.”
This one was exteremly helpful……”Well, stop putting gas in it, maybe the problem goes away.”
—“It’s a level sender issue for sure. If Techron doesn’t solve it, you’ll either have to learn to live with it, or replace the faulty sensor. Do you have any way to check the codes to see which sensor is unhappy?” ( I don’t so if it acts up again, I’ll have to take it in.)
—“Two possibilities…. sulphur build up on the sending unit or the sending unit going out. I understand they are a biotch to change.”
—“My C5 had the problem unless I ran Chevron gas in it. About the second tank of non Chevron the gauge would go crazy. I would switch back and the problem went away.”
—“This was a common occurrence on the ‘early’ C5’s. It usually happened when high sulphur content fuel was put in. Some of the fixes were switching gas to adding a bottle of Techron every once in a while. The real ‘fix’ was a reflash at the dealer. Apparently the sender was a bit too sensitive, so they slowed it down.
I had the issue occasionally on my 99, but when I put a 2002 Z06 operating system into the computer, it went away.
Since you have a C6, I would expect that the issue isn’t a reflash. My guess would be that maybe you got some high sulphur content fuel or your sender is acting up in some way, maybe a poor or intermittent connection somewhere along the line.
—“You could try a treatment with Techron and see if that ‘cleans’ it up. ”
—“I was using the Techron trick in my C5. I switched to Gumout Regane Fuel System Cleaner. I t seems to help, although my gauge still jumps to E at times when below 1/3 of a tank. Good luck. It sucks to not really know how much fuel is in your tank. Although a Vette is light in comparison to other cars, I just can’t see myself pushing it into the gas station.”
So there you have a round of discussion on the topic.
Now the fuel leveling sensor is used because the C6 had two tanks and this keeps the tanks level. Which is important especially if you are running auto cross. Here is area a couple of graphics from http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com:
So you can see that it would a chore to replace. So I’m going to try the Techron and hope it works. I’ve been cautioned that I need the Fuel System Cleaner – not the injector cleaner. Here’s a pic:
Get the Fuel System Cleaner.
I’ve used my first 12 oz can and I’m currently at half a tank. I’ll fill it up again in a couple of days (Yes..when you normally drive it like you just stole it you tend to have to fill up – now and again..mostly..again!) and I’ll try to capture the event on my trusty Android.
Stay tuned (up). {someone please say they get that}
Chevy and it’s customer loved the Chevelle, the customers because of the low price and horse power, Chevy because of the sales. Now days a Chevelle is a highly sought after collector car. Finding a real good one is rare unless you want to play nearly a years salary.
Among those are clusters of the extremely rare. Within the production of the 1965 Chevelle there is an extremely rare version. That was the year Chevy took its brand new Mark IV 396 engine and hoisted it to the engine bay. It was the first of its kind (but not the last – the following year the 396 Chevelle became a regular model) with 375 hp and a 4 speed transmission. This was the special SS model of the Chevelle.
This was Code Z16 and only 201 1965’s were made with engine/transmission and trim, making this one of the rarest of the Chevelles SS.
I don’t normally do this but every now and then someone will drop some spam on this blog and I’ll actually read it. Rarely are these worth while bit I did find this one interesting.
The car brand is called SEAT and EXEO is one of its models.
Seat Exeo
The is actually made in Spain at the SEAT factory. Volkswagen has a hand in the build as well. The base platform for this 5 seater is the Audi. Manufacturing started in 2008.
It comes in 4 and 5 door bodies and is considered “a large family sedan”. It is based on the VW Group B7 platform which is the same platform used for the Audi A4.
Wide range of power plants for this car from the 1.6 liter I4 to the 2.0 liter 16v that has the Turbocharged Fuel Stratified Injection set up.
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 in third place with 138,932 cars made.
And finish up the list were Buick with 123,152; Studebaker with 105,005; Williys-Overland with 95,410; Durant with 55,300 and finally Maxwell/Chalmers 44,811.
Total passenger cars produced were 2,274,185 with 269,991 truck being made.
Rickenbacker was a new upstart beginning production in 1922.
Durant produce a car priced at $319 . Ford reduced prices to $298.
Balloon tires were introduced.
Hey fuel gauges began being installed in dash in 1922.
1922 Durant Star - An attempt to undercut Ford's prices
I was just reading about the 2015 Mustang (yeah..they are planning it now) in the Oct 2011 Motor Trend.
It’s going to look great with a lower angled windshield and it will be lighter, but it will begin to lose it’s muscle car images, at least
underneath.
From the Motor Trend web site. 2-15 Mustang
The live axle will be gone, replaced with an independent rear suspension. Not really what you want to take to the track. There was talk that the live axle might live on in factory drag packs, but the tooling would be expensive and perhaps not cost-effective. We’ll see what actually happens.
Ford Live Axel
Independent Suspension.
But this is not focus of this blog entry. What I really want to mention was a side bar in the article. It is entitled “Icons on An Icon” “What should the next Mustang be?” Those interviewed were Jack Tenack who was a designer for Ford and global design vice president ( He actually drew the first proposal for the 1965 Mustang); Chris Theodore who was chief of Ford Motor Company’s North American product development (he left after a disagreement over the
suspension for the 2005 Mustang with Phil Martens); Tom Gale who had nothing to do with Ford at all, he was Chrysler design chief (now retired).
Generally Mr. Tenack stayed true to form, basically wanting small changes to the next issue of the Mustang, reinforcing the muscle car
image. He thinks all-wheel drive should be added as an option…that’s not horrible.
Mr.Theodore wants the new Mustang to have a 4 cyclinder…WHAT??? Yeah, get this, he’s like the V8 engines reserved for ‘specialty models”…can you say …hiss…boo??? “Hey, the 70’s called they want their paradigm back!!” Of course he led the charge to replace the live axle.
Mr. Gale thinks that we need to copy Europe and thinks the Mustang needs to be smaller. He says the Camaro is more similar to is predecessor then the Mustang is to its predecessor.
Drop me your thoughts. No V8? Live axle? Smaller ‘Stang?
I bumped in to Bill Holtzclaw from Cartersville, Georgia, virtually (Facebook) and he shared a few pics and some detail on his restoration of a 1967 Olds F-85.
Bill's F85
“I am doing a full, frame-off restoration on this 1967 F-85 Club Coupe. It has a convertible frame, 442 suspension, steel crank 330, .030 over with W-31 cam and 2” intake valves, close ratio Muncie 4 speed and heavy duty 3.91 posi rear. It is a radio delete, heater delete, carpet delete car with the factory cloth and vinyl interior. The drive train is built and the chassis is being assembled. The interior is done, the chrome and bright work is done. Next, we’ll pull the body and put it on a rotisserie. It will be two-tone Crystal and Midnight Blue.”
“I’ve had a lot of interest in this project from some of the leading Oldsmobile collectors in the country. It is my version of what would have been a 1967 W-31, which was introduced in 1968. All of the parts to build this car back in the day were available as either RPO options or over-the-counter upgrades. The W-30 package was available as an over-the-counter package in 1967. The W-30 cam and the W-31 cam are one in the same, and the OIA kit will work for both small block and big block cars. So, it was a possibility! ”
The upholstery turned out awesome! He used NOS fabric for the seat inserts. The car was a factory carpet delete car with a near-perfect vinyl floor covering. “I cleaned it and had it dyed the color blue (same as dash pad) that I wanted. It looks absolutely brand new! I had seat belts custom made to stock appearance, and the standard steering wheel came out nice, too.”
Check out the vinyl floor covering
“I had the gauges restored by R&M restorations in Greenville, SC. The odometer was re-set to zero.” The dash bezel was restored by Chrome Tech USA. They repaired the 44 year-old plastic, re-chromed it and then detail painted it. The radio and heater delete plates were purchased from Red Venom Enterprises. “They only make the radio plate, so I purchased two and trimmed one to fit the heater control panel and the PRNDL panel. ”
Bill did the polishing himself
He installed a Sunpro Mini Tach in place of the factory clock. Looks like it came from the factory that way!
Great Job - Bill!!
Final Product
Bill is also the owner of a 1967 Oldsmobile F-85 Town Sedan with “Police Apprehender” package. It has the HiPo 330/320 hp, Heavy Duty Jetaway and 442 suspension upgrades.
Nice!!!
Might be why he’s known as OldsMoBill. “I am also known as the “Oldsmobile Police”!” Bill states.
Bill, I hope you check back with your status from time to time and thank you for sharing.
I want to cover two more cars in this part. The first will be the TVR S3..?? ..yeah…me too! The second will the Caterham Seven.
TVR S3 was put up against the Triumph TR4 and frankly there is nothing I know about a TVR S3..so here we go.
TVR S3 C
TVR engineering started back in England in 1947 with the first TVR being produced in 1949. Here’s the 2nd TVR built:
#2 TVR
Through out its history it used all types of engines include the Ford Kent engines and even a Buick engine (3.5 litre Rover V8).
The S series was produced between 1986 – 1994. The TVR in this article had steel spaceframe chassis and a fiberglass body. The engine was an iron, overhead valve, 2936cc 12v V6 with electronic fuel injection. This power plant cranked out 168 hp and 170 lbft of torque. The suspension was an independent double wishbone with rack and pinion steering. This all combined to let the car reach its top speed of 135 mph.
In the comparison, the TVR S3 beat out the Triumph TR4 in Driving, Practicality, Character, Value and Usability 42 to 32. The price of the TVR S3 is about 4000 Euros with the Triumph at 13,000 Euros.
The company was sold to a Russian buyer in 2004 and after a not so great start the company halted production.
For a full history on the TVR – check out http://www.tvrsseries.com/
Next up is the Caterham 7:
Caterham Seven
The Caterham Seven is a kit car – you can still buy and build them today. Interesting enough it started out as the Lotus Six. The next version was the Lotus Seven, however Lotus dropped the production and Catherham purchased the rights to build the kits. The components are flexible with such pieces as Ford axles and de Dion-axles being used. The engines used is very expansive from the Lotus Twin Cam engine to Ford’s cross flow engines. Even Cosworth BDRs appeared around 1983, in 1600 cc 140 bhp (104 kW) form, followed by 1700 cc 150 bhp (112 kW) versions three years later. In the ’90’s the common engine had become the 2 litre Vauxhall HPC, as fitted to the Vauxhall Calibra, putting out 165—175 bhp. Motor cycle engines have been also used with the likes of the GSXR1300 engine used in the Suzuki and the Honda CBR1100 engine.
These are favorites for the SCCA and other grass-roots racing.
Thanks for all the comments and emails on the Part 1 of the Cars You Never Heard Of.
Thought I’d follow it up with the Panther Kallista. This stems from the same article in “Classic and Sport Car” a UK publication. The article pitted pricey European cars against less expensive cars and rated them. It’s over all theme was “See you can get this close to the expensive cars, for less.”
1985 Panther Kallista
Kallista was the product of the Panther Car Company and they were built between 1980 and 1990, actually coming on the market in about 1982. The were a box chassis with an aluminum body. The engine that was first used was Fords 2.8 V6 which cranked out 2792 cc from its 12v configuration. The electronic fuel injection helped it deliver 150 hp and 159 lb ft of torque. Top speed was about 120 mph with the help of the 5 speed manual transmission.
In the article Kallista was compared against the Morgan Plus 8 which you can purchase now days for about 35,000 British Pounds (about $70k US) compared to the collectors price of 7,000 BP ($14k US). In that contest comparing Driving, Practicality, Character, Value and Usability the Morgan was judged with a total of 37 points and the Panther Kallista end up with 35.
I did find one on Ebay with a few days still to go with a current bid of just over $4k. It’s an 1986, 4 cylinder – not a V6.
