Just down the street is a new eating establishment. From the outside it looks odd, until you realize that the shape on the roof is a car air filter. On the inside it’s very unique.
While dinning you are sitting slightly above and do the West of a very large working garage. The glass walls allow patrons to view the projects that range from a built from scratch race platform (not yet a car but tube framed out), a Cobra body – mostly likely a kit, any early 1900 Ford, a 50’s Chevy and few other.
It has a great atmosphere with lots of car and racing memorabilia (with a complete Sprint and drag car) and lots of TVs tuned to all types of sports. Food is good and prices are reasonable.
Hot Rods
As you can guess in my two previous ‘almost live’ posts Hot Rods is a great place to hold a car show.
And what would a car show be without some classic corvettes? Well we weren’t able to explore that at this show.
Vettes
Hot Rods and Vette!!!
Classic Vettes
All this for FREE and only 1o bucks to enter these great cars!!
DETROIT – The 2014 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray coupe will have a suggested starting retail price of $51,995, and the Corvette Stingray Convertible will start at $56,995. Both prices include a $995 destination fee but exclude tax, title, and license.
“The 2014 Corvette Stingray perfectly embodies Chevrolet’s mission to deliver more than expected for our customers,” said Chris Perry, vice president, Chevrolet marketing. “The Corvette Stingray delivers a combination of performance, design and technology that very few manufacturers can match, and none can even come close for $52,000.”
Standard features on the all-new 2014 Corvette Stingray include:
Seating with lightweight magnesium frames for exceptional support, and eight-way power adjustment
Five-position Drive Mode Selector that tailors up to 12 vehicle attributes
New seven-speed manual transmission with Active Rev Matching
6.2L LT1 V-8 engine with direct injection, Active Fuel Management, continuously variable valve timing and an advanced combustion system
Carbon fiber hood on all models, and a carbon fiber removable roof panel on coupes
Aluminum frame that is 99 pounds lighter (45 kg) and 57-percent stiffer than the previous model’s structure
Advanced, high-intensity discharge (HID) and light-emitting diode (LED) lighting
Dual, eight-inch configurable driver/infotainment screens, with next-generation Chevrolet MyLink infotainment system and rear vision camera
Bose nine-speaker audio system with SiriusXM Satellite radio, Bluetooth connectivity, USB and SD card and auxiliary input jack
Keyless access with push-button start
Power tilt/telescope steering wheel
An all-new, fully electronic top on the convertible that can be lowered remotely using the key fob
As shown at the North American International Auto Show, the Stingray coupe fitted with the major available options would be $73,360, including:
3LT interior package, with leather-wrapped interior ($8,005)
Z51 Performance Package ($2,800)
Competition sports seats ($2,495)
Exposed-carbon-fiber roof panel ($1,995)
Magnetic Ride Control with Performance Traction Management ($1,795)
The 3LT interior package includes: Bose 10-speaker surround-sound audio system; SiriusXM Satellite radio with one-year subscription and HD radio receiver; color head-up display; memory package; navigation system; heated and ventilated seats with power lumbar and bolster adjustment; premium Napa leather seating surfaces; and leather-wrapped dash and instrument panel, console and door panels.
The Z51 Performance Package includes: high-performance gear ratios; transmission-cooling system; larger 19-inch front and 20-inch rear wheels and tires; larger, slotted rotors and brake-cooling ducts; electronic limited-slip differential and differential cooling system; unique chassis tuning; and available Magnetic Ride Control active-handling system with Performance Traction Management. Equipped with the Z51 package, the Corvette Stingray is capable of accelerating from 0–60 mph in under four seconds, and more than 1 g in cornering.
Well one thing we can count on for sure, is that things will always change.
For nearly 10 years my 1970 Mustang has been a great joy. I’ve taken it from a 6 cylinder lady’s car (I say that purely because it was first owned by a lady, who in turn, handed it down to her daughter and it had some dainty pin striping) to a proud muscle car.
We suffered a couple flat-bed trips, a problematic carb and leaking power steering, an AC unit that got less miles per oz of coolant then the engine did in miles per gallon and invented some new cuss words!
We survived a few charity drag races and won a bunch street light mini drags, took home a couple of car show trophies and placed a lot of smiles on passerby faces and kids when I let them sit behind the wheel.
But things change and I’ve enjoyed my Mustang thoroughly. But it’s time to move on so my Mustang is going to a new home, where it will enjoy the company of four other Mustangs.
I will miss the old steed but so proud of where it started and where it is now.
So fare well old friend…on to new adventures.
1970 Mustang Mods for 300 HP
So what’s next for me? Well there is my 1965 Bridgestone motorcycle and many more car shows and SCCA with the my C7 Vette and a surprise coming up….oh…no you are just going to have to wait to find out.
So stay tuned for some more mods, car shows, racing and classic/muscle car reading.
They almost always went hand in hand with GM, at least during my formidable days. Then came the Trans-Am. Pontiac was over took the Camaro arguably in performance but uncontested in folklore, I offer up Burt Reynolds & “Smoky and the Bandit” for support (you can count the Rockford Files, the Camaro there was not much more than a prop –cool no doubt but mostly a prop.
Camaro’s back (in case you’ve been living under a discarded intake manifold) with the Z28 soon to return and the SS and LT1 already burning up the streets. But the when the axe fell on Pontiac it took with it any chance to bring back the Firebird in any kind of configuration. So we are forced to back in time and watch old super 8 movies of Firebird/Trans-Am in motion. Or do we?
What if (and it’s a BIG IF) some where, someone started producing that iconic version of the Firebird – not a pre-made body – al-la Dynacores’ Mustang offering, but an up to date platform, like Mother Mopar did with the Challenger.
What if (BIG IF – again), they placed it on a new 2012 Camaro platform and soup-ed it up a bit? Something like this:
Awesome!
Yes , that is just what those innovative folks did at Lingenfelters. This is the 455 TA “lightly” (snicker) Camaro.
It sports a the Tran-Am trade mark split grille and honey comb wheels and blue and white paint schema. But under the hood is a power plant will make the hardest Camaro shake in it’s engine bay.
Oh…BTW…comes in drop top…love the wheels
The engine is a custom RHS Aluminum engine block at displaces 455 cubic inches. It has a 4.155” bore Diamond 11.5:1 compression ratio pistons, 4.200” stroke, Lunati forged crankshaft, LPE CNC ported and polished LS7 heads. Pair this up with LSX Fast 102 intake and Lingenfelter’s 6 bolt LS9 twin disk fly whee/clutch assembly and you get a 655 horse powered monster that can lay down 610 ft-lbs of torque to the 20×11 rear tires (front are 20×10),
MONSTER!!!!
OK…you can exhale now, but when the 455 TA does it uses a custom Corsa stainless exhaust and it sounds AWESOME!!!!
I caught this version at the Barrett Jackson Auction this past January.
The LPE concept body mods include front air dam and rear Firebird like spoiler and taillights.
Amphicar – a flip of a lever and two propellers kicked in and made water-crossing a breeze.
It was powered by an iron block and iron head Inline 4 engine with 2 valves per cylinder. It displaced 1147 cc and had 2.72 x 2.99 bore and stroke with 8.0:1 compression produced 47 hp and 61 ft lbs of torque.
For years later one of the most important cars (although not this particular version) was introduced – the 1964 Plymouth Barracuda. Little did Plymouth know at the time 6 to 8 years later the version of the ‘Cuda’ would break collector car value records.
1964 Barracuda – Glassback.
Not the powerhouse that the 70’s versions were but it did have a V8 available that net you 180 hp. Dubbed the “Glassback” because most of the slanted back was class (not unlike my 07 Corvette).
A few years later in 1970 AMC showed off their oddest car yet – the Gremlin. (Although the Pacer was arguably the worse.) Ugly or not it was a good seller and it’s standard 6 cylinder was economical and produced 128 hp. There were 872 2 passenger and 27,688 4 passenger made that year.
1970 Gremlin. Fastback or ‘no back”
Also this week Mr. Walter Chrysler was born in 1875 on April 2 and Charles Hall patented Aluminum in 1889 on the same day.
In 1923 on April 5th, Firestone produced the first balloon tire.
As you know Parking Lot Spot Light is a piece where someone as parked their classic, muscle or other cool car in a local establishment to conduct some sort of business.
This time it was a local grocery store (car peeps need to eat) this beautiful fastback.
As Mustang fans know the 1964 Mustang flew out of the show room. But I bet if they new what was coming in 1965 the might have waited. I know if I but a 1964, I’d be looking to trade it the fastback came out. Especially if I had saw this color with these stripes.
Fantastic Fastback
Love the scoop and the stripes!!!
Didn’t get to peek under the hood but I’m betting the 289 is still there.
The interior was just a great looking as the exterior.
So after a little follow-up I found that the car was a promotion created by Ford and Autocraft. See below.
Lot 446.1 – 1969 Ford Mustang Convertible
Sale Price: $24,750
TMN Rating: 9
TMN On-Site Review: Other than a few body panel mis-aligns, presents nicely.
Seller Description: An extremely rare and most unusual Mustang, a “Rumble-Seat.” This particular package was a joint effort by Ford and Autocraft of Dearborn, Mich. The option was not shown on the Build Sheet or Ford Window Sticker because the conversion was done after assembly. It was a blossom-time sales promotion offered only during April 1969 to certain Michigan Ford Dealers. Documented by two different magazine articles it is still uncertain exactly how many were done. This Mustang is believed to be the only one in Meadowlark Yellow. This Mustang was built April 16, 1969 and delivered to Jack Dykstra Ford in Lansing, MI. It is a V8, automatic, power top, factory tachometer, power top, Rumble Seat. It has only 56,000 Miles.
