Category Archives: Cars

2015 Mustang – No V8?!!!

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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?

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Photos: ROUSH Ford Mustang Sinks In Parking Lot During Hurricane Irene

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Worst feeling ever

Photos: ROUSH Ford Mustang Sinks In Parking Lot During Hurricane Irene.

Photos: ROUSH Ford Mustang Sinks In Parking Lot During Hurricane Irene

Posted by on August 30, 2011 – Viewed 1,662 times – 3 Comments

photos-hurricane-irenes-wrath-on-coastal-nc

As I’m sure you’ve heard or witnessed first-hand, Hurricane Irene threw her wrath against the eastern seaboard with initial landfall in North Carolina as a Category 1. Although predicted to be a Category 3 at landfall, this storm was still nothing less than a monster. This major hurricane realeased havoc from Myrtle Beach up to Maine as it churned along leaving major paths of destruction behind and massive amounts of rainfall. Power outages became widespread up the east coast, (includes my family in Pennsylvania at this current moment). Streams and creeks became raging rivers taking out roads, bridges, one being a 156-year-old hand-hewn bridge in upstate New York. It destroyed houses and stranded people in or away from their homes. Evacuated people are now stranded wondering the fate of their homes and personal belongings. Washed-out roads and bridges have left complete towns stranded without a way to get to or out like these towns in Vermont that have over 260 roads closed.

This storm has caused massive destruction and that has effected some of our own Mustang enthusiasts. Member, RobTRoma from PA, joked about getting a photo of his car next to a hurricane in our Mustang game thread. Featured above, what looks like a very nice ROUSH S-197 Mustang is sinking in a Subway parking lot in North Carolina during Irene’s throw-down. It almost has an ambience of Jaws coming out of the water before Roy Sheider exploded it.


Photo Credit: Jennifer Rotenizer/Journal

Another angle of the ROUSH from NJStangers.com

AMC Grembin and Pacer New and Now Value

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One of the things I enjoy checking out is increase in the value of some of our US classic cars.

I recently ran across this  breakdown in Hagerty Insurance magazine…it normally has some good articles.  This one was about American Motors and it had a section on original cost of the cars and the current collector’s value.  So check this out:

1967 Marlin – a cool looking car if you ask me – had a base prices of $2,963.  Today that car will cost you about  $23,100.

A good looking car in Two Tone paint.

1969 Javelin SST – love these cars  – I once dated this girl who drove one and..oh…um..nevermind – back in the day they cost  $3,144 and today average cost is $33,900.

69 Javelin SST

1970 AMX 390/325 – I know I’m suppose to love these cars – they being, perhaps the sporty-est of the AMC brand, but I don’t – they would run you $3,798 back then and now you can pick one up for a mere $55K!

1970 AMX

1972 Javelin SST – see my comment for the ’69 – base price in 1972 was $3,807 and today $22,400.

1973 Gremlin X Coupe – ok  I really don’t care at all about these, except when I see them at the drag strip with a huge GM block stuffed between the fenders – they would set you back $2,098 back in ’72 and today you can get one have it mounted on a pole in the front yard for $11,700 (pole not included and labor extra and you’ll have to sign a waiver).

1973 Grebmlin X Coupe (Seen here without the pole)

 

1976 Pacer DL Coupe – well.. if wasn’t a DL coupe….ok even though it is…insert comment for Gremlin above – except for $15,000 you can pick one up today, remove the body from the frame, bury it upside down in backyard and with a little tweaking you can have a really cool hot tub.

1976 Pacer DL Coupe…just before it was turned into a hot tub!

OK..that was mean..here ya go:

’76 Pacer DL Sport Coupe

1978 Matador Hardtop Coupe would have tapped your wallet for nearly $5K (4,799) – I sort of liked these cars – but not a lot and today you can sort of like them for about $12,500 big ones.

78 Matador Coupe

Unless it look like this one!!!

This is the Matador X

 

Want to see some more brands laid out like this? Drop me a comment and I’ll dig  some up.

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

 

1967 Olds F-85 Club Coupe Restoration

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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.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Lemons, Lemonade, Life and Project Cars

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No this isn’t a about purchasing a junker car.

This is just an update.

I’ve been preoccupied the last few days I haven’t kept up with my articles.  Since this is the Average Guy’s..etc., then you’ll get this next part.

Thing’s happen in life (a.k.a. – Lemons) and you just have to deal with them.  The goal is always make the best of the circumstances (a.k.a. – Lemonade).

Earlier this week I lost my job with the company I worked in for the past six years. This is not  uncommon in these economic times and there are many average car guys and car gals in the same boat.   Many of those people have project cars and these end up being put on the back burner or sadly end up being sold. As car people we all know this happens and hopefully the car goes to good home.  Hold on before anyone drags out their savings and offers to purchase my Mustang – I’m not there yet.  But it will put my major plans for it on hold for a bit, which is a darn shame, because now I seem to have extra time on my hands to accomplish all those mod, not true a week ago.

So for the better part of the past week I’ve been setting up my job hunting network and getting it in motion.  Now it time to wait it out and see what pops up.  In the meantime I’ll have more time for writing and doing the little left over projects on the Mustang.  I still have the passenger’s seat to re-upholster and the front air dam to put on (I’ve had that in the box for years).  I can install  the polished aluminum alternator bracket I worked so hard on and have yet to install.

And……. I am project managing the restoration of a 1975 Standard VW beetle – pro bono. Here she is:

1975 VW Standard Bug - New Project.

More to come on that.

So unless you are Jay Leno (I hate that guy!!! – not really,  I’m just jealous – I want him to hire me to keep his cars driven and shiny and search out more cars for him..hey..there’s an idea!!!! “Dear Mr. Leno, I’m a car guy and I currently find myself with some  free time so I’m applying for…..”)   you dealt with circumstances like job loss or lack of funds to finish or keep that project collector car.  But remember you can take it slow on projects – it’s OK to slow down and if you have to give up that beautiful machine, keep the memories and there is always tomorrow and another car in your future  –  you have to believe that and work toward it.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Wrenchin’ Tip – Got 6 Volts?

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I was recently talking to a coworker of mine who own a 1949 Pontiac Silver Streak Delivery Van (link –     http://wp.me/pKHNM-Bx ) and we were discussing his 6 volt system and the troubles with low amperage.

Well I just ran across a couple of interesting articles dealing with that subject.  Now I will tell you I am not “the guy” for electrical work – nope not me (I had a bad experience – ok – a couple of bad ones).  But even this one I can understand.

Increasing the power supply often means that you need to convert to 12 volt and maybe 15 years ago yes, but now 6 volts are readily available.  So here is what you do (sorry no pics)

Take two 6 volt batters and link them in parallel by connecting the two negative terminals to each other and the two positive to each other. The main positive cable goes from the positive terminal of the first battery to ground and the main negative cable is connected to the negative terminal of the second battery.  Of course in some case you may have to modify the batter shelf, but it will sure help kick up the cold cranking amps.

Thanks for reading

Tim

Car Production Numbers. They Made How Many? 1950

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Folks seem to like this segment so let’s continue with 1950.

19 major car makers existed back then and Chevy topped the production totals with 1,498,590 units followed closely by Ford with 1, 208,912.  The rest of the field were all less than have that.

Plymouth – 610,954

Buick – 588,439

Pontiac – 466,429

Olds – 408,060

Dodge – 341,797

Studebaker – 320,884  (Don’t ya wish they would have made it?  I would love to have seen their innovation continue.)

Mercury – 293,658

Chrysler – 179,299

Nash – 171,782

DeSoto – 136,203

Hudson – 121,408

Cadillac – 103,857

Packard – 42,627

Lincoln – 28,190

Kaiser – 15,228

Croslely – 6,792

Frazer – 3,700

Of note:

This was the last year for the Old 6 cylinder 76 models, while their Rocket  88 set speed records at Daytona – averaging 100.28 mph.

Packard began selling the only automatic transmission ever developed by an independent car maker.

The Rocket 88 - record setter.

 

Can a pick a Frazer out of a line up?  Me either. Here’s one.

1950 Frazer Manhattan Convertible

How about a Crosley?  Yeah I could do that one.

Crosley Hot Spot - circa 1950

And what did a automatic transmission look like in 1949?  Here is the Packards Ultramatic.

The looked a lot like todays automatic transmissions

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Product Review – Griot’s Garage – Long Lasting Tire Dressing Closure

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So you’ve read my review and I promised to drop a note as to the “Long Lasting” part of Griot’s Garage’s – Long Lasting Tire Dressing.

Now is has rained nearly every day since I applied the dressing.

So take a look at the tires with 2 applications and 3 applications.

Tires with 2 applications of tire dressing

 

Here is the tire with 3 applications of tire dressing

 

Here is what I think as a wrap up.   Long lasting to me doesn’t necessarily mean just duration, but can it stand up to everyday driving – oh—yeah…just in case I failed to mention, the  Vette is my daily driver.  It lived up to the Griot promise.  I’ll continue using this product.

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

Tanner 67 Camaro

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A readers’ trip to the drag strip. Tanner Dutton making a pass in his 67 Camaro.  It was an 11.5 pass.  Not too shabby  Tanner.

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Tanners's Camaro at rest. (That is not Tanner in the pic)

Readers Question – Swings in Oil Pressure.

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From Michael Woodword – hey, I just got a 1993 thunderbird with a 5.0 HO. every time I come to a stop, the oil pressure drops dramatically. I was wanting to know if you would have any idea what could cause this. Thank You
But when I get back up to speed its fine.
It would be nice to get an opinion from an expert which ar
nt easy to find

 

ANSWER:   Michael. The pressure should drop when you stop, dramatic swings in the gauge could be a problem with the gauge or you need replace your oil sending unit.