The world’s most significant all-Corvette show is moving back to central Illinois. After nearly a decade of being held at the Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Bloomington Gold will be moving about 115 miles south to the town of Champaign for 2013, near where it first began nearly four decades ago.
According to Bloomington Gold CEO, David Burroughs, “Although it will be hard to beat the beautiful fairways of Pheasant Run, input from Corvette-owning customers wanted more opportunity for socializing and driving events as part of the entire Corvette show experience. It needed to become more dynamic.”
David went on to say: “Our customers own Corvettes because they are fun to drive. So, we needed a venue that not only served our exhibitors and customers who buy/sell and certify Corvettes, but also a venue that makes it easy and fun to navigate to/from and around the community before, during, and after the show. Therefore, we needed a small-town atmosphere with big-town hotels, great facilities, and quick escape routes to miles of country roads. Champaign, Illinois, has the smaller-town atmosphere, and the University of Illinois Assembly Hall grounds have everything else.”
So mark your calendar for June 27-30, 2013. Not only will this be the first year for the new venue, but it will also be the show’s 40th anniversary. And if you’ve ever attended one of the Bloomington Gold shows, you’ll know that there’s something very special planned that every Corvette enthusiast will not want to miss. In the meantime, the 2012 edition of Bloomington Gold will remain in St. Charles and take place June 21-24. For more information, visit BloomingtonGold.com.
Hope everyone has recovered from heavy eating and traveling, I know I need to rest up before Christmas, maybe even drop a couple of pounds ahead of time.
I’m also to attempt to meet my goal of 500 posts before the end of 2011. (Yes this one counts).
I have a couple of contests coming up with some auto related DVD’s to give away and some a couple of parking lot finds, and a feature car or two.
One of my regular readers, Bill, posted the following question in response to the piece I wrote on Chevy engines. Bill asked…
“No 454 V8 in 1971? I guess that motor came later. ..”
That get me to thinking so I did a little more research. The references I’m use are “Ultimate AmericanV-8 Engine Data Book” by Peter Sessler; “Standard catalog of American Cars” by John Gunnel and “110 years of the American Auto” by James Flammang and Auto Editors of Consumer Guide. I try not to get too much from the Internet at large.
Interestingly enough the 454 is briefly mentioned in the Ultimate American V-8 Engine Data Book, but there aren’t many details. That reference shows that the 454 was available in 1971 as a 4V producing 365 horse power. It doesn’t show under any model just as a general option for Chevy’s. I’m assuming it was just a 400 block with a different bore and stroke.
The 454 was developed by 1970. It’s bore was 4.251 in and had a 4 inch stroke (where as the 400 had 4.251 in bore and a 3.75 stroke). There were other version in 1970 and 1971, designated as the LS5. This version of the 454 was used in the 1970 and beyond in Corvette for one instance and was used in Chevelle.
Interesting that it isn’t referred to in the mentioned references for 1971 year.
Hold the presses!!!!!
It appears that in the reference “Standard catalog of American Cars” by John Gunnel that the 454 was left out off the comprehensive listing of engines for 1971. However, the 454 was use in the SS version of the Monte Carlo – 1,919 were produced. For the Chevelle 80,000 were sold with the SS badge of those only 19,992 were with the 454.
1917 Chevelle SS 454
1971 Monte Carlo SS 454
And in this reference I found the answer to a question I’ve had for some time. About 5 years agoing I was at a car show and ended up talking to a guy with a 1971 Nova SS. It had a 454 as the power plant between the shock towers. However there were 7,015 Nova SS packages sold, none had the 454 as the option.
Many, many 1978 Indianapolis 500 pace car replica Corvettes were mothballed with hopes of the cars turning into super collectibles, so finding a low-mileage example today isn’t hard. In fact, there are seven for sale in the December issue of Hemmings Motor News. One, formerly on display at the Corvette museum in Bowling Green, has just 116 miles on the clock. Another is advertised as having been driven just 700 miles. If you want a car you could actually drive, there’s a 1978 Indy Corvette with 22,900 miles.
Unfortunately, the demand predicted for these cars back in the Disco Age has yet to arrive. If you like ‘Vettes, you wouldn’t kick a 1978 pace car out of your garage, but as Corvettes go, these are considered lackluster performers and too many were built for them to ever be considered rare.
According to the Corvette Black Book, the original plan was to make 300 of the black and silver ‘Vettes. Mike Yager’s Corvette Bible claims 2,500. Had Chevrolet stuck to either of those figures, Indy Pace ‘Vettes would probably be more collectible today. But for Chevrolet, the profits these cars were raking in must’ve been as irresistible as coke at Studio 54. The Indy cars received a lot of hype, so demand went through the roof and Chevrolet cranked out 6,502 copies – more than one for each dealer.
With a base price of $13,653 compared to the standard Corvette base price of $9,446, the Pace Cars were expensive and profitable because they were loaded with “mandatory options.” Power windows, power locks, removable roof panels, rear window defogger, air conditioning, tilt/telescoping column, AM-FM radio with 8-track (or CB radio at extra cost) – all were included. Even this probably doesn’t help the value of these cars as luxury tends to be the exact opposite of what Corvette collectors crave today: radio delete, heater delete, oversized fuel tanks (when they were available), manual transmissions. You get the drift – racing-related stuff on a Corvette is hot. Stuff that you would normally associate with a Caprice Classic is not.
Anyway, receiving almost as much press as these cars received when new is a barn-find pace car offered for sale by Hemmings advertiser Corvette Mike. The car has been all over the Internet due to the fact that it has only 13 miles on the odometer. It’s even covered in an authentic layer of scurvy storage grime.
The pace car’s bonafides include a CB radio, Gymkhana suspension and the 220hp L82 350, all of which are cool. The fact that it’s an automatic makes it a little less so. Check it out for yourself over at Corvette Mike’s.
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}
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 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.
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.
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.
