Category Archives: GM

Auto Factoids for Week of Nov 29, 2015 – Ford, De Soto, Front Wheel Drive

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Here are your Auto Factoids for the end of Nov. 2o15.  (Yes only 24 shopping days left!!!)

Nov 30 1960 De Soto ceases production. The last De Soto produced were really the Chrysler Windsor, most did not sale, even though dealerships continued to received cars after the brand was terminated.

1961 Windsor

1961 Windsor

1961 DeSoto

1961 DeSoto

 

Nov 30, 1900 Germany patented an automobile front wheel drive. Although this is a common historic fact, there is some evidence that the first production car with front wheel drive was a French car. There exists a French Patent around 1898 or 1899. The manufacturer was Société Parisienne and the car was the Victoria Combination.

It was a lightweight two-seater trailer, known as a ‘Victoria’, combined with the back axle and mechanical components of a motor tricycle, but this axle was placed in front of the trailer and steered by a long tiller on which the controls were located. The first examples were powered by 1.75 or 2.5 horsepower De Dion Bouton engines geared directly to the differential, but larger engines of this make were fitted as they became available.

1900 Victoria Combination

1900 Victoria Combination

 

December 1, 1925 GM purchased Vauxhall. Vauxhall started out as engine manufacturer mainly for pumps and marine use (1857 – Alex Wilson). They began making cars in 1903. Here is a video of a 1903 Vauxhall. They are still producing cars using the Opel name under GM.

One more of it on a road test.

Dec 1, 1913  Ford fired up the first “continuous” assembly line.  (Olds is considered to be the inventor of the assembly line…maybe.)

Ford's Production Line

Ford’s Production Line

And just one day and 14 years later (Dec 2, 1927) Ford unveiled Models A which would soon be produced from this assembly line.  The Model A was announced on May 25, 1927 and sold as 1928 model.  Ford sold 607,592 units in 1928, nearly double that of the previous year.

1927 Model A

1928 Model A

 

Thanks for reading

Tim

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Auto Factoids – Week of May 31, 2015 – Ford, Olds, Model T

Here are your Auto Factoids #AutoFactoids for the beginning of June, 2015. May 31, 1927 – Ford produced the last Model T.    There is some debate as to actual date and it’s said that the 15th million Model T rolled off the production line on May 26th, 1927 and the Henry …

 

 

Lingenfelter Unveils Wide-Body Kit For The C7 Corvette

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I think this kit gives the C7 an awesome look…not that it needed it.

The kit widens the all-American sports car by roughly two inches either side. It consists of wider wheel arches as well as a new front splitter and rocker panels. Lingenfelter also adds a carbon fiber hood extractor to give an aggressive, tuner look. With the kit installed, you’ll be able to install 20-inch wheels rocking massive 335/25 size tires.

And to ensure that your C7 Corvette has the go to match its new show, Lingenfelter offers a supercharger package that even with mild boost pressure will see the stock 6.2-liter LT1 V-8 spit out 624 horsepower and 600 pound-feet of torque. Along with the supercharger, in this case an Edelbrock E-Force TVS2300, there is also a high-flow exhaust system incorporating Kooks headers and cat-back Corsa pipes.
Chase Motor Authority’s link to read the rest of the article.

Source: Lingenfelter Unveils Wide-Body Kit For The C7 Corvette

Thanks for reading.
Tim

lingenfelter c7

Lingenfelter Reveals Widebody C7 Corvette

Well known tuning company Lingenfelter has just unveiled its range of upgrades for the C7 Chevrolet Corvette including a widebody kit and a range of performance modifications. As for the bodykit, it isn’t quite as insane as the widebody kit offered by …

 

Project Search Continues – 1974 Stingray…Missed it!!!

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This story starts two weeks ago, as I was driving through my neighborhood headed off to run some errands.  As I rounded the a corner I see one of my neighbors with the garage door open and I think, “Wow!!!  What a clean garage!!”  Then I go…”Whoa…what is that?”  My eye had caught a C3 Corvette sitting to one side.  It was blue and had chrome headers and side pipes and an awesome set of wheels. Looked like needed some paint.

These were hanging out of it!!!

These were hanging out of it!!!

This wheels!!!

This wheels!!!

At that moment I planned to stop by on my way back, just to say hi and have some Vette chat!!!    As my luck often goes, the garage was closed and there were no cars in the driveway.  So I made mental note to check back another day.

Fast forward to the next Friday and I’m pouring through the on-line ads for my next project car and up pops a 1974 Stingray – Blue with a 350 engine, chrome  headers and a great looking set of wheels for sale.   Asking price…..wait for it…….$2000.00.   I immediately text the number on the ad and got some particulars.  The car needs some work, the 350 was good but need points/condenser and the side pipes installed.  The lady informed me that someone was coming to look at  and if they didn’t buy it she’d give me a call.

Fast forward to 4 hours later.  My wonderful wife arrives home and says…”Hey remember that Corvette you saw the other day?  They are loading it on a trailer.”

Well I thought….nah…can’t be. So I texted the number from the ad, just to check, and sure enough it was the same car I saw the past weekend.  I told the lady I was just down the street and hoped it was going to a good home.  She said…”If I knew you were a neighbor, I would have given you first chance.”

Although I did not weep openly, I cried like a baby on the inside!!!!

I was....THIS CLOSE!!!!

Missed it by this MUCH!!!!

 

Thanks for reading!!

Tim

 

 

Photos: Bear in the driver’s seat

Tommy Johnson of Lake Mary, Florida, and Brian Smith of Woodstock, Georgia took these photos of a black bear in a 1974 Corvette Stingray about a week ago in the Auke Bay Ferry Terminal parking lot. At one point, they said, they saw the bear scoop up a …
GM’s iconic Corvette at a crossroads

1974 Corvette Stingray. Barnstarbob | Wikipedia. 1974 Corvette Stingray. New life with a new Interior. As GM was sliding towards bankruptcy, work on the seventh generation Corvette slowed down. Once the automaker went into bankruptcy, there was a brief …
Waxing nostalgic

This 1974 Corvette Stingray was among the 112 cars on display during the Cecil Proffitt’s World of Wheels International Custom Auto Show at Heritage Park in Windsor. The show was held at the park for the first time as a partnership between Proffitt and …

Stereo Swap on A C6 Vette – Part I

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Even at my age I still love cranking the music while I’m driving.  When you have a long commute, you don’t mind it as much when your tunes are on.   A couple of months ago my CD player in my 2007 C6 Vette decided to toss error message rather than belting out music.  I thought perhaps the CD was bad and changed it out.   Nope…still only read errors.  Ejected that one and tried a third and got the same result.

Ya know, radio ain’t what it use to be, it’s sad when you can go nearly half your drive hearing only one track and the rest of the trip is listen to a couple of voices attempt to entertain you and fill the ‘dead air” with totally horrible local commercials.  After programming the buttons on the receiver and about a month of actually mashing the buttons on the radio, 40 times a each way,  I decided to pick up a used stereo online and swap them out.  It only took a few minutes to find a used stereo (receiver and CD player) that coincidentally came from a 2007 Corvette and of course you trust that it works and this one did.

I hadn’t up to this date spend any time taking the dash apart on the C6 -unlike my 1970 Mustang and 1984 Corvette where I visited behind their dashboards a lot.  So I reached out across the nation, via Google to find instructions.   Needless to say there are a lot of videos out there and after the first time pulling the center dash off it’s pretty easy (yeah…I had to do that more than once).

Caution:  As with most tech laden cars, be careful of all wire connections. Highly unusual for me, I avoided all those fit falls.

IMG_20150411_160103198_HDR

This is the lower part of the dash (ashtray cig lighter areas) opened up.  You can clearly see the back side of the cigarette lighter (maybe we should call them – power port – whole generation out there that don’t know that this luxury item is).  Additionally, there is the connection to the to a second power port and at least in most models the traction control.  Just highlighting the necessity to be careful.

In short you have to remove the consul storage lid (a few hex drivers are required for that) and the unsnap the cover for the emergency brake as well as remove the shift knob.  The rest pulls off easily…BUT…first disconnect the power ports.

There are a few screws for pulling out the cd player and receiver and you’ll need to disconnect the power and antenna.

You can find that all out on one of the online video or you tube and since this isn’t the subject matter of the post I’ll let you find the one you like.

Dropping in the replace stereo is just as easy….piece of cake!   Just before putting all the trim pieces back in I rested the CD/Receiver units and tested it.  It played for a few seconds and then “LOCKED”.   Clearly a bad sign.

Stay tuned for how the options and how I handled it.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

c6 corvette stereo replacement

1 Millionth Corvette Restoration

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Craftspeople and technicians at the General Motors Design Center are painstakingly restoring the historic 1 millionth Chevrolet Corvette damaged nearly 16 months ago when a sinkhole opened beneath the National Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, Ky.

The restoration crew is part of GM’s Mechanical Assembly group at the Design Center, which typically spends its time building prototype and concept vehicles. The white 1992 Corvette is a challenge because rather than build an all-new vehicle from the ground up, the workers are trying to preserve the original appearance of a production vehicle.

It is the second of three sinkhole-damaged Corvettes that Chevrolet has pledged to restore. The first, a 2009 Corvette ZR1 prototype known as the Blue Devil, was only lightly damaged and was returned to its original condition last fall. The National Corvette Museum will oversee the restoration of the third car, a 1962 Corvette.

Five other Corvettes swallowed by the sinkhole will remain in their as-recovered state to preserve the historical significance of the cars. They will become part of a future sinkhole-themed display at the museum.

Shared from: http://corvettemuseum.blogspot.com/2015/06/sinkhole-swallowed-1-millionth-corvette.html

If you are wondering  about all those signature they are original to the car when it first rolled through the assembly line.  This forced the restorers to fix parts that were originally set to be replaced completely.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

#Corvette

 

Surprise discovery shifts strategy to save sinkhole Corvette

(CNN) For Corvette lovers it’s sort of like a painter being asked to touch up the “Mona Lisa.” Because — like Leonardo da Vinci’s painting — there’s only one 1 millionth Corvette. Restoring the white, 1992 LT1 convertible roadster doesn’t really come …

Auto Factoids for the Week of 5/10/2015 – GM and Corvair

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Here is this weeks AutoFactoids (#AutoFactoids).

May 10, 1923 – GM names Alfred P. Sloan as president.

They didn’t just pick from the streets.  He was actually, a draftsman for a bearing company, Hyatt Roller Bearing.  That company eventually merged with a few other companies with United Motor Corporation.  Sloan became the president of that and shortly after that they were purchased by GM.

He served GM from 1923 to 1956 in some manner including board chairman.

Imagine the innovations he saw during his tenure!!!   The corporate mergers, the V8, the Corvette, lucky guy!!

Alfred P. Sloan

Alfred P. Sloan

 

May 12, 1969 (or 14th) – The last Chevy Corvair was produced.

Last Corvair build.  If you know only a little about automotive history or maybe politics or the consumer safety revolution of the 60’s and 70’s you’ll know the name Ralph Nader.  With a little Google’in you’ll find various search results linking him to the demise of the Chevy Corvair (and apple pie and America) – most are not flattering to Mr. Nader.   According to most accounts the last Corvair carried 6000 as the last 4 digits of it’s serial number.  The car was blanketed by the press when it rolled off the assemble, but then disappeared.   There are various stories as to the actual disposition of car #6000  but it remains a mystery.  We do know it was a two door, hard top,  Monza, Olympic Gold was the color and it likely had a Service 140 replacement engine.

I'm seeing the Corvair but can't help notice the Nova's on the rail car.

I’m seeing the Corvair but can’t help notice the Nova’s on the rail car.

The last Corvair convertible was #5997 which was a Forest Green Monza that has come up for sale a few times.

If you are a Corvair fan you’ll enjoy this read:  1969 Corvair: Finger Tip Facts by Corvair historian Dave Newell.

 

Thanks for reading

Tim

#Autofactoids

 

Auto Factoids for the Week of 3/29/2015

Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) to finish out March and kick off April 2015. March 29, 1980 – Audi introduced their all wheel drive 1980.
Auto Factoids for the Week of Feb 8, 2015 – NY To Pairs 1908

As we run through the middle of the 2nd month of the year, here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids). A light week this week. Feb 10, 1942 – Pontiac stops car production for WWII. – As you know WWII took a lot of sacrifice …
Auto Factoids for the Week of April 5, 2015 – Lotus and Tires

It’s a light week for the automotive history. April 5, 1923 Firestone introduces balloon tires. Everything we’ve accomplished with our rides has greatly.
Auto Factoids for Week of April 26, 2015 – Lamborghini and …

Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the last week of April 2015! Light week for Auto Factoids unless you are Lamborghini or Ford fan. Ferruccio Lamborghini was born on April 28, 1916 in Renazzo di Cento, Italy.
 '69 Corvair Monza.jpg

It’s always a treat to see a Chevy Corvair

Bob and Carol Marsh, of Chesterfield, are the owners of the 1966 Corvair Corsa convertible shown on this page. And, believe it or not, this is the actual car Bob owned when he was in high school. He told me he “hot rodded” the car as a teenager. (Can …

Indy Driver Sam Schmidt hits the track again piloting a C7 Corvette!!!

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You’ll love this story!!!

 

Sam Schmidt, who has been paralyzed below the shoulders since slamming into a wall 14 years ago, always believed he’d never drive again. On Sunday, he will–in a Corvette he will control by shaking his head and gnashing his teeth.

Schmidt was a promising driver with 27 Indy Racing League starts when he went into the wall at Walt Disney World Speedway in Orlando, Florida on January 6, 2000. He knew he’d never race again, but one year later he returned to motorsports with his own team, now known as Schmidt Peterson Motorsports. He’s enjoyed a measure of success as a team owner, but driving seemed out of the question.

via This Quadriplegic Racer Drives a Corvette by Tilting His Head | WIRED.

 

Thanks for reading

Tim

sam schmidt

IndyCar team owner Sam Schmidt drives nearly two laps on Long Beach course …

LONG BEACH, Calif. — Sam Schmidt took a spin around Indianapolis Motor Speedway last spring, his first time behind the wheel since being paralyzed in a racing accident in 2000. He had a tougher challenge Sunday: Navigating the twists and turns of the …

Up Grade your Points & Condensers? – Engine Restoration

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I keep an eye on the several cable shows that relate to cars (“Counting Cars” is one of my favorites).   Most of them are short on technical details for restoring but they sure do put out some wonderful cars.  Budgets are everything.

I happened to catch a repeat of the other of the shows as they were working on a 1950’s vintage Caddy.  They were leaving it mostly stock except the engine and bagging the suspension to be able to lower it.

In the course of the starting up the engine they ran into a couple issues and one left the points and condenser fried.  As they showed the fried wire, I wondered “Why keep them?”  Seems to me if you are going to chop or lower and bag a classic, why not upgrade one of the weakest parts of the mechanical engine, the ignition system?

Weak Link

Weak Link

I learned from my Dad how to deal with points in particular (basically a condenser works or is gets replaces).  He taught me how to gap them and to take a bit of emery cloth to “clean” them up (hey money was tight when I was a kid) and re-gap them.  That’s really a lost art these days, but maybe for good reason.

 

This is commonly called a Feeler Gauge it is use to set the gap on spark plugs and points.

This is commonly called a Feeler Gauge it is used to set the gap on spark plugs and points.

 

If you are unfamiliar with the gauge or the technique you can still find ‘how to’ videos and gaping specs on-line, that doesn’t negate the fact that these are a common weak link (they will need to be replaced) in the over all functioning of your car’s ability to burn fuel properly.

The 302

The 302

Shortly after I installed the rebuilt engine in my 1970 Mustang (re-manufactured long block) the new distributor took dive.  I had done research on ignition systems and ran across Pertronix and decided to use one of their Flame Thrower modules and coil to replace everything under the distributor cap.  It was a good decision, there is no change to the appears of the engine, everything tucks under the cap and it becomes pretty much trouble-free.  I had no issues.

So tell me, would you keep the it old school under the distributor cap for your restoration or give it a chip?

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

Engine tuning

magneto ignition systems, including poor battery supply bonding, points and condenser problems, distributor failure and spark plug gap. One feature was

Commodore name won’t sail on when GM replaces big Holden sedan – Autoblog

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Big changes are afoot at Holden. After General Motors opted to shut down its only plants Down Under, its Australian subsidiary is shifting from a manufacturer to an importer of automobiles. The question on everyone’s mind, then, has been whether Detroit would keep its Australian nameplates in place, or replace them with global ones.

The word on the yellow-brick roads of Oz has been shifting back and forth, but the latest indicates that GM will kill the Commodore name when the replacement for the current model arrives. Holden’s only proprietary model, the rear-drive Commodore sedan, wagon and ute are set to be replaced by a front-drive model to be brought in from either Asia or Europe. And while Holden execs have been pleading their case, it now appears that – because the car will be so fundamentally different from the one it replaces – GM will push the same nameplate it applies to the vehicle in other markets rather than try to port over the Commodore name, killing it alongside the Falcon that Ford is discontinuing as well.

via Commodore name won’t sail on when GM replaces big Holden sedan – Autoblog.

 

Holden Commodore VF

Holden Commodore VF

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

holden commodore

Holden Commodore recalled for second time in two months

THE new Holden Commodore has been recalled for the second time in two months because the windscreen wipers might not work. Holden is recalling 27,074 cars built from 27 February 2013 to 31 August 2013 because faulty windscreen wipers may become …
Holden Commodore sales resurgence means its factory won’t close early

Holden Commodore: 2648 — up 60.8 per cent. Hyundai i30: 2553 — up 1.6 per cent. Ford Ranger: 2317 — up 35 per cent. Volkswagen Golf: 2301 — up 46.1 per cent. Mitsubishi Triton: 2254 — down 13.5 per cent. Mazda CX-5: 1715 — down 3.5 per cent.

GM suspends sale of 2013-14 Chevrolet Cruze for potential airbag glitch

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Chevy Cruze

Chevy Cruze

Well I believe Mary Barra is cleaning house…which is good and bad.

DETROIT — General Motors is telling dealers to halt delivery of all 2013 and 2014 Chevrolet Cruze sedans because of a potential airbag problem, hampering sales of the company’s top-selling car amid an end-of-the-month sales push.

Some of the cars may have a “suspect” driver’s side airbag inflator module, according to a stop-delivery order sent to Chevy dealers nationwide on Tuesday and obtained by Automotive News.

via GM suspends sale of 2013-14 Chevrolet Cruze for potential airbag glitch.

Read the rest at the link above, but I had to share this part directly:

 

The Southeast dealer noted that many customers who have dropped off their Chevy Cobalts to have ignition switches replaced are driving Cruzes now subject to the stop delivery.

Cobalts are among the 2.6 million vehicles being recalled for a defective switch that can slip out of the “run” position and cut power to the power brakes, steering and airbags, a defect that GM has linked to 54 crashes and 13 deaths.

“What am I supposed to do?” the dealer said. “Tell them to bring the loaner back now?”

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

GM Recalls 3.4 Million More Cars for Ignition Problems

(DETROIT) — General Motors is recalling another 3 million cars because of a defect that causes a similar problem to one that led to an earlier massive recall of small cars, and is linked to 13 deaths.
GM dealers grapple with recall avalanche

As General Motors continues to pile on recalls, the scope has become staggering — and the work and customer interaction will all fall to the automaker’s franchised dealers. They’re the ones who will perform the actual repairs on what is already 17.73 …