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 with some great cars in the 60 and 70 like the A bodies GSX, the Wild Cat, and the Grand National.
I got the Goodyear Blimp taking its first flight on May 22, 1929. Still provides some of the best auto racing coverage!!!
In an earlier Auto Factoid we talked about Walter P. Sloan of GM fame, well he has a birthday coming up this week. May 23 back in 1875 he was born in New Haven Conn.
This one got lost. Better late, than never. 5/4/1923 First Le Mans 24 hour race -The original intention of the race was for a winner to be declared following.
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 …
Good write up – rare Corvette RPO. Auto Factoids 2011-1 Corvette Fuelies RPO 5789E Auto Factoids 2011-1 Corvette Fuelies RPO 5789E Average Guy’s Car Restoration, Mods and Racing 1957 – 1958 saw the use of the …
If you are over 40, you might remember back when talking to your car was only done to coax it to start or make it to the next service station or when it failed to do either one. Gadgets were limited to a radio with AM/FM and a cigarette liter.
Now days you can give your car voice commands and it can give you a host of information, like my Drivers Information Center (DIC) which runs my C7 Corvette. We can even control the environment on different sides of the car from temperature on down to how much air blows out of your vented seats.
But that wasn’t always the case. If you are way over 30 you might recall the only way to adjust the temperature was to open your vent window.
Recently I was at a car show and if you’re a regular reader you might recall that I love dash boards, especially those that are painted and chromed, I saw a curious feature on a Rambler dashboard(I don’t recall the year). It was labeled “Weather Eye”.
So a little research was in order.
As you may know Nash was an auto maker and through a series of mergers or purchases changed it name to Nash Kalvinater, eventually became American Motors Corporation (AMC). Well they were the first to develop a car heater. Back in 1938 engineers got the idea to run fresh air over the hot engine water and pass it into the cabin. The air came in through the vent in the cowl and passed the air through a heater core filled with hot coolant. Later on they figured out how to keep the warm are in and the cold are out, by adding a fan to keep constant pressure in the cabin.
A year later Nash engineers added a thermostat for the first climate control, dubbed the “The Weather Eye”. Here are some pics:
This was the dash that caught my eye.
Here is an image from the web that shows a better image of the “Weather Eye”
Here is an image show the “Weather Eye’s” controls
Classic Motorsports is an American periodical devoted to classiccars, classiccarrestoration and vintage racing. It was established in …
A Nevada prison is giving their inmates the chance to restore vintage cars. Don’t use this as an excuse to go out and get arrested. – See more at: http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2011/10/30/Nevada-Prisoners-are-Bringing-Classic-Cars-Back-to-Life-7705491/#sthash.HNHeZB1O.dpuf
A Nevada prison is giving their inmates the chance to restore vintage cars. Don’t use this as an excuse to go out and get arrested. – See more at: http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2011/10/30/Nevada-Prisoners-are-Bringing-Classic-Cars-Back-to-Life-7705491/#sthash.HNHeZB1O.dpuf
A Nevada prison is giving their inmates the chance to restore vintage cars. Don’t use this as an excuse to go out and get arrested. – See more at: http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2011/10/30/Nevada-Prisoners-are-Bringing-Classic-Cars-Back-to-Life-7705491/#sthash.HNHeZB1O.dpuf
A Nevada prison is giving their inmates the chance to restore vintage cars. Don’t use this as an excuse to go out and get arrested. – See more at: http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2011/10/30/Nevada-Prisoners-are-Bringing-Classic-Cars-Back-to-Life-7705491/#sthash.HNHeZB1O.dpuf
A Nevada prison is giving their inmates the chance to restore vintage cars. Don’t use this as an excuse to go out and get arrested. – See more at: http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2011/10/30/Nevada-Prisoners-are-Bringing-Classic-Cars-Back-to-Life-7705491/#sthash.HNHeZB1O.dpuf
A Nevada prison is giving their inmates the chance to restore vintage cars. Don’t use this as an excuse to go out and get arrested. – See more at: http://www.carbuzz.com/news/2011/10/30/Nevada-Prisoners-are-Bringing-Classic-Cars-Back-to-Life-7705491/#sthash.HNHeZB1O.dpuf
You just never know what you are going to find at a garage sale.
I was running some errands this pass weekend that included a trip to my local Ace Hardware store. As I entered the parking lot of the hardware store, I noticed a “garage sale” sign outside the local self-storage located across the street.
I don’t often attend garage sales unless I know ahead of time what I need might be there and that I can pick it up cheap. However, it was beautiful Southern Arizona morning so I walked across the street and wandered around the storage buildings. It was a good size storage lot a bit more like a swap-meet, with some guy cooking burgers on his small home grill and selling bottled water. Not much interested me and I was about to exist, when I saw notices some car parts in the far corner. No self-respecting car gal/guy wouldn’t pass up at least a quick glance at old car parts.
There was no one around and no prices, so maybe it wasn’t part of the garage sale. Looks to be a 1955 Chevy front clip.
It had some re-bar temp braces on the back side to keep it from betting out of alignment.
So it ends, at least the recovery part of the ill-fated “Great 8” as dubbed by the National Corvette Museum folks.
The Mallett Hammer comes to the surface.
As with a couple of the others – this is how I expected to see them come to the surface.
From the NCM:
The 2001 Mallett Hammer Z06 was one of two Corvettes that’s whereabouts were initially unknown after the sinkhole happened. The car was finally discover this Monday, upside down with the nose pointing towards the red Spire in the center of the room. It is, by far, the most heavily damaged of all eight Corvettes.
“It looks like the worst one… a lot of parts and pieces,” said Mike Murphy, CEO of Scott, Murphy and Daniel Construction. “It took a lot of punishment from a lot of big rocks.”
The Mallett Hammer was donated to the Museum this past December by Kevin and Linda Helmintoller of Land O’ Lakes, Florida, Lifetime Members of the Museum and previous R8C Museum Delivery participants. Upon hearing the car had been located, Kevin traveled to Kentucky to witness the rescue operation. “I expected bad, but it’s 100 times worse,” he said. “It looks like a piece of tin foil… and it had a roll cage in it! It makes all the other cars look like they’re brand new.”
Strode had forewarned Helmintoller that the car would be in bad shape and he might not want to watch the recovery process. “Honestly though, I’m still glad I’m here because I would have never believed it was this bad. I’m not positive I would have recognized it – there are just a few little pieces that give it away.”
Helmintoller added that he sent pictures of the damaged car to his engine builder, who (jokingly) was quick to point out that the motor was not covered under warranty.
Kevin and Linda spent 13 years modifying the Corvette, a car they purchased new in 2001. The Mallett Hammer conversion was completed in June 2002 and since then has had many AntiVenom LSX Performance modifications with the car boasting 700hp with 575 torque at the flywheel. The car’s speed achievements helped it score a cover of GM High Tech Performance magazine.
GM has said they would restore them. I look at this one and the Spyder and say “Really?” Same VIN number perhaps…not a lot more.
Although the recovery is completed – other than fishing out the top parts of the “Hammer” there is still a long way to go for rebuilding that part of the museum and restoring the cars.
I hope GM keeps great video records and that they release them to the public to allow us to keep track of the progress. That ought to be a good History Channel – nearly live – documentary, yes? For sure a dedicated YouTube channel. (Not sure live 24 hour camera coverage would be of much value.)
I’ve hyped the National Corvette Museum and urging folks to donate and I still do (Here’s the link again. Donate Click Here ) they need the assistance. But that’s because Corvettes are my thing (one of them, anyway), but there are a lot of car museum’s across the country that are doing a great job preserving vehicles of interest.
Right here in Tucson, Az is the Franklin Museum with a very nice collection of Franklin cars. Find one near you!!
The Mallet Hammer has been located in the sinkhole at the National Corvette Museum (NCM).
According to the NCM:
The final Corvette… #8 of the “Great 8” has been found! The Mallett Hammer is upside down with the nose going to the Spire in the center of the room. There are lots of rocks, so the removal process will be more time-consuming that it was with the other cars.
Thanks to Samuel for this photo!
Mallet Hammer at the museum.
I’d image it’s going to take as while to pull that out and odds are it won’t be in great shape.
When the Z06 was introduced in 2001, Mallett quickly grabbed hold to engineer and develop the “Mallett Hammer” Z06 Corvette. Historically, this Z06 is significant because it was one of the first Mallett Hammers engineered to …
I watched part of the day (stupid budget meeting!!! ) as they dug around the 1.5 millionth Corvette.Currently it is lays at the bottom of the of the sink hole.
The Spyder hood has been found! Thanks Timmy with SMD for taking this pic. They also found a badge that had come off the car that was also autographed.
That’s Great!!! Look at all the signatures….HEY…LET’S NOT RESTORE THIS HOOD!!!!
Update from the Construction Managment company, Scott Murphy and Daniel from yesterday afternoon: We are continuing to carefully excavate around the 1.5M Vette. With the limited space, heavy rock boulders, and its position with the…See More
Thanks to this guy and all the workers. NICELY DONE!!! Can’t wait for the beautiful 1.5 to surface!!!
If you’ve never been to the National Corvette Museum, you should put that on your bucket list. If you are a car gal/guy you’ll love it, even more so, if you own or previously owned a corvette.
Here are my pictures I took of the 1, 500,000th Corvette on one of my trips to the NCM.
Details
One of the best looking Vette paint scheme wise.
Awesome look!!!
I actually thought about getting a decal for my C6 with the number on it!!
Current location of the 1.5 Mil Corvette Sad to see it here.
) as they dug around the 1.5 millionth Corvette.Currently it is lays at the bottom of the of the sink hole.
