Category Archives: Cars

Terrible Transportation – Plymouth Cricket

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Oh yes this will be an interesting series.

We are going to start of with a well-meant attempt by Chrysler to meet the oil crises  from 1973 to 1980.  Introducing the Cricket!!!!

1973 Cricket

This car was actually  a US spec’ed Hillman Avenger.

It featured the Avenger’s 1.6 liter pushrod engine.  This car’s top speed was 84 mph and took a merely 19.8 seconds to get to 60 mph (I bet you were thinking 100 mph!!).

The car was horrible slow and because it was detuned for as part of the US requirements it ran poorly.

Here some of it features:

– Quick Rust fenders and body parts

– PVC coated foam interior for safety

You are going to want one after you see this ad:

[vodpod id=Video.15696452&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

The Plymouth Cricket, posted withvodpod
s

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Small Oval Track Vintage Racers

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Tim Sweet (@07C6Vette) has shared a Tweet with you: “HemmingsNews: Back in the day, when kids’ toys involved combustible fuel and DANGER!

Those were the days!!! I actually have one of these. I will update this post with a few pics of it later on.  (see below)
Thanks for reading.
TIM.
[vodpod id=Video.15641217&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

Gas powered

 

Engine View

Rubber Tires

Parking-Lot Spotlight 1955 Chevy Belair

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Note: Updated to correct mis-Identification of this parking-lot find.  It is in fact a 1955.  The main details that denote the difference is the placement of the Chevy and BelAir badging and grile.

So I’m lucky. I live in a place where there is not prone to any type of natural disasters, we don’t much rain and it only snow when it’s a cold day, you know where.

It’s also a place were you don’t have to put way your collectible set of wheels, you can drive the year would and a lot of folks do.

Here is my latest parking-lot find.

It is a 1955 Chevy, 2 door Belair.  Yeah, I know it’s a couple years before the super wonderful 1957’s came out, but I like these shoe box cars, with their very clean lines especially the 2 door version and I particularly like the lines of the BelAir convertible.  It reminds me of the clean lines for my 1966 Chevy Impala convertible.

Love the red and white.  Fantastic chrome.

Wheel aren’t ordinal but I think that are great for this car.

Look at the stance! It’s just great.

You gotta love that hood ornament!!

 

All Belair came standard with a 6 cylinder with about 353,00 produced, not counting convertibles.

The 6 was an overhead value, cast iron power plant with a displacement of 235.5.  With a 3 9/16 x 3 15/16 and a compression ratio of 7.5:1
these cars knocked out a whopping 115 hp.  The would breath through a Rochester one barrel Model 7007200 carb or a Carter one-barrel Model
2101S (for the Powerglide auto transmission) and a Rochester one-barrel Model 7007181 for the standard shift.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1911

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1911 oh… that was a great year!  Well I don’t actually have any proof of that, but there sure were a lot of new car makes that year.  Here the list:

Alpena; ArBenz; Atterbury; Carhartt, Case, Chevrolet; Colby, Crow-Elkhart, Dalton, Gaylord, Havers, Hupp-Yeats; King; Lenox; Mighty Michigan; Motorette; Nyberg: Penn; Rayfield; R.C.H.; Roader; Rogers; S.G.V.; Standard Electric (yes electric); Stutz; Stuyvesant; Virginian; W.F.S.

So who were the leaders for that year?

Ford out-paced all with 69,762 Cars.

Second up was Studebaker/EMF with 26,827.

1911 Studebaker...you can't use just '11 any longer - someone might think this was a 2011 Studebaker

Willys-Overland up next with 18,745 and Maxwell about 2,000 less at 16,000.

One of the 16,000 Maxwells

Buick came in at fifth with 13,389, beating out Cadillac with 10,071 cars.

Hudson and Chalmers finish up the list with 6,486 and 6,250 respectively.

The 1911 Chalmers - look at that stance!!!!

1911 Milestones:

–  International Motor Company was formed (MACK)

– Buick sets a speed record, running 20 miles in just over 13 minutes.

– First Indianapolis 500 was held and won by Ray Harroun in a six-cylinder Marmon Wasp – 6 hours, 42 minutes and 8 seconds of drive time.

The Marmon Wasp

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Automakers World War II Efforts- Crosley

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As you know, the US government asked and eventually forced the auto industry to contribute to the war effort.  This series is to highlight some of the major contributions and first up is Crosley.

Crosley produced cars from the 1930s until the 1950s.  Interestingly, before Powell Crosley produced cars, he was the owner of the Cincinnati Reds.  Their first car, what we would call a subcompact these days, was a convertible.

1939 Crosley Convertible

For the war effort Crosley supplied its power plant the four-cylinder CoBra.  CoBra was short for  Copper Brazed and often refered to as the “The Might Tin” it was used aboard PT boats  and  and the B-17 Flying Fortress bombers  mainly to power generators, refrigeration compressors, etc., and were widely praised for their successes in the war effort. The engine was made from sheet metal rather than cast iron like most other engines.

CoBra Block – the thin walls reduced hot spots.

Crosley CoBra this one was set up for vehicle use

Crosley stayed in business after WWII and eventually closed up in 1952.  Their last attempt to save the company was to production a utility vehicle called the  Farm-O-Road which was used on farm and ranches.

1950 Farm-O-Road Utility

Their last car was in 1952:

Last year of production for Crosley

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Vacuum – Tune it up!

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Checking the vacuum on your old car is an important part of a thorough, but most of the average guys don’t bother, or don’t have the gauge.  Most often if you do have the gauge, you might not be exactly sure what the reading might be.  For the recorded I’ve never had a car where the readings were stable.  Normally you’ll get a fluctuating reading that move around.  Below are a few ‘ranges’ and what they may indicate.

Standard Vacuum Gauge

These are for V8’s only:

–  A good reading will be between 15 and 22 in. hg (a steady needle).  Closing the throttle you should see a 5 notch drop and reopening it should settle back previous span (15-20).

– If you get a reading where the needle has a swing 4-5 in. hg ethier side of normal, you are looking at a possible simple carb adjustment.

–  If the reading is higher than normal you need look at replacing your air filter or check to ensure your choke is not stuck.

–  Low reading would be fairly steady reading around 5 hg will have you looking for a vacuum leak on the intake/carb area.  Look for poor connections at the carb or any “T” or “Y” or straight though connection.  Baring that look for cracked hose.  You know I hate vacuum leaks.  I recently restored a 1984 corvette with the Crossfire injection set up.  Rather than chase down a single spot, I just replaced them all.  That was a lot of vacuum hose and tucked in some stuff spots.  But you are working on something bit older, like my 1970 Mustang, replace it all, it’s going to go back sooner or later, especially with the kind of temps we have out here in the Southwest.

–  If you get a reading that between 8 and 14 you are looking at a timing issue at the least to leaking piston rings at the worse.  Do a compression check for the leak and use your timing light before you tear it apart.

–  If the needle is swinging (unsteady) between 14 and 19 hg that indicates valve guide problems.  That going to be a valve guide problem.

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

C6 07 Corvette – Fuel Gauge – Video

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Here is the follow-up for the Fuel Gauge issue I had with my Corvette.

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.

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Here you can clearly see the flop and the service notice.

 

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Fuel Issue Vid1, posted with vodpod

After about 20 miles, the gauge when to 3/4 full and a few minutes later it when to full.

After I got home I put in another can of fuel system cleaner.  We’ll see how that works.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

SEAT EXEO – Spanish Car

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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.

Here is a shot of the 5 door:

5 Door Seat Exeo - mini van? crossover?

 

The interior looks well equipped:

 

Interior

 

I don’t believe these are available in US specs.

What do you think?

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Mustang Upholstery Front Seat Finale

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So what I’ve I been doing lately car-wise?

Finishing up the front seats of Mustang and putting them back in the car.  Yes, I know I should have gotten all the new carpet and the heat and sound deadening but  I didn’t.  They are easy enough to remove so not really a big deal.  I did notice while the seats were out just how thin the carpeting actually was, there is nothing between it and the floor pans, I’ve got to get those done…soon…soon.

Here’s some shots of the final production.

Drivers seat

 

Passenger's Seat. This is the one I just finished.

 

 

 

Tim

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1922

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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

1922 Rickenbacker 4 Door

I love this one:

1922 Chrysler Panel Truck

Thanks for reading.

Tim