Hot Rods Head to Beaulieu — WordPress.com

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BEAULIEU’S ever popular Custom & Hot Rod Festival, held on Father’s Day, saw hundreds of colourful customs and stunning hot rods flood into the picturesque parkland of the National Motor Museum.

The Festival, held in association with Victory Wheelers, the south coast’s leading Custom, American and Hot Rod club, welcomed 7,320 visitors.

A large variety of custom cars and motorcycles were on display, with plenty of unusual designs and eye-catching artwork for visitors to admire. A number of trade stands were open for business, selling clothing, Americana memorabilia, merchandise and accessories.

This year, three dragsters formed a special display in a corner of the Beaulieu Arena. The Ratcatcher Resurrection slingshot dragster and Joe Bond’s Nuthin Fancy fuel-altered dragster both fired up for watching visitors, showing off the powerful force of their engines, in morning and afternoon demonstrations.

Europe’s first dragster, Sydney Allard’s 1961 Allard Chrysler, which was officially returned to the National Motor Museum at last year’s Festival, following extensive renovation, was also on display.

via Hot rods head to Beaulieu — WordPress.com.

Car shows on the grass are the best!!!!

Car shows on the grass are the best!!!!

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

hot road festival

Maserati centennial exhibition in Modena — WordPress.com

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A UNIQUE exhibition dedicated to the Centennial of Maserati was inaugurated in Modena this week.

Maserati 100 – A Century of Pure Italian Luxury Sports Cars retraces the story of the Italian car manufacturer through an exhibition featuring some of the Trident marque’s most significant road and racing cars and to learn about the individuals who shaped its history.

via Maserati centennial exhibition in Modena — WordPress.com.

Headed to Modena next October (2015)

Maserati

Maserati is celebrating 100 years and although it was started in the Italian city of Bologna but eventually moved to Modena in the 1930’s  where it’s headquarters still operates.  The area is called “La Terra dei Motori” or Motor Valley and host not only Maserati, but Ferrai, Lamborghini, Dallara and Pagani as well as Ducati, Malaguti and Bimota motorcycle manufacturers.   We are headed to the Modena area Oct 2015!!!!

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

lamborghini museum modena italy

Video: An Easy Way to Decrease the Value of Your Vette – CorvetteOnline.com

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While we all realize that cars are depreciating assets and therefore lose value with time and usage, many enthusiasts try to do everything possible to slow down this process. Some enthusiasts will go to the extent of covering their car daily, intentionally reduce the usage of their car, or even park their car when its brand new only to never use it for collector value.On the flip side of this, there are a lot of enthusiasts that believe “a car is meant to be driven” and will use their Corvette as if it were a Honda Civic in daily driving conditions. Both groups are very passionate about their opinions and if you ask either party, they will tell you that they are right and the other group is wrong.Whether you preserve your cars or drive your cars, one aspect of vehicle ownership that is sure to rapidly decrease the value of your car is an accident. Unfortunately for the driver of this video, they found out the hard way that while a beautiful black on black C5 may have a strong resale market when it looks great, that is not the case after a severe accident. Judging by the video, this black on black C5 ran right off the road– and into the trees. The impact of hitting the trees was severe enough to thoroughly mangle the front end of the car and deploy both front airbags. Often times, once the airbags deploy, the car gets totaled, which is unfortunate. Without having a video of the actual incident, one can speculate that speed was involved and the car was potentially pushed too far. Sad to see but hopefully they had some great insurance!

via Video: An Easy Way to Decrease the Value of Your Vette – CorvetteOnline.com.

My Note:  I’m the guy that drives his corvette like a Honda…only faster!!! Yes they sure did a job on this one but I don’t think they over drove the cars capabilities, more like the driver exceeded his abilities, which is usually the case with hi-performance cars.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Can Cars – Hand made – UPDATE!

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Update:   It seems that the story isn’t actually true…here is the site:

http://www.sandyscancars.com

That’s to Steve Sears for researching that.

Tim

I can’t recall which reader sent me these images (they were in an attachment that I saved but deleted the email apparently) and I don’t know if the story that went with it was true but the skill it took to make these can cars is impressive and they look so cool!  Here’s the story:

 

Supposedly there was an elder man that was thought to be homeless and was often seen rummaging through dumpster and pick-up cans in the street.  He was often ridiculed by some of the local kids and made fun of because he always appeared dirty and disheveled.  According to the story he never reacted to the taunts, but went about his business.   At some point the man’s body was found on the street and the police traced him to an apartment nearby.  Upon entering the small flat, they found these cars made out of some of the cans the man had collected.

True?  I don’t know.  What I do know and I think you would agree these are very cool!!!

 

Coke Hot Rod

Coke Hot Rod

Coke Hot Rod

Coke Hot Rod

 

A CJ

A CJ

F1 Car

F1 Car

 

Check out this one:

cancar5a cancar5b

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

govauctioncars

http://t.co/PReN3pITSH Paper Cars: Print And Cut Out The Patterns Of This E-book To Build Your Own Paper Model Cars! http://t.co/2HQRyAhljA
Model car racers eye Scalextric’s crown

Stuff, has been working on its RealFX Racing system for model cars for six years. Originally the firm, based on Wolverhampton Science Park, was going to use a single ‘roll out’ racing track, but chief executive Richard North said research had found …

Bridgestone Project: Exhaust and Heads Part II

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So on to the second part of the tear down of the exhaust on the Bridgestone Dual Twin.  I have a couple videos to post, and pls keep in mind that I don’t have a ‘camera crew’ or an film editor (but I have download Adobe’s software to try — at some point– to edit my videos), nope just me and my Android.

So I showed last post how the exhaust was attached.  Not much different than most other motorcycles, except for the rubber pieces that connects the header to the baffle.

You can see the header is a bit rusted but the bolts came off with no problem. The first header I removed was the left side and there was little to no room for a wrench much less be able to get a socket in there.  So it was a bit more clearance if I were to remove the head.  Which I’ve been meaning to do to get a look at the piston and cylinder so I did. Here are the pics and the videos:

This just shows the bolt on the inside (between) the left and right exhaust.

This just shows the bolt on the inside (between) the left and right exhaust.

 

As you can see here's no room go get a socket or even wrench in between the frame and back nut on the header.

As you can see here’s no room go get a socket or even wrench in between the frame and back nut on the header.

So taking the left head off was going to gave me more room.

The heads are on with for nuts on studs in the head.  These looked really rusted but it came off easily.

Here are couple of images:

Nuts and studs are indicated.

Nuts and studs are indicated.

 

Here is the header removed.

Header, nuts and bolts and o-ring.

Header, nuts and bolts and o-ring.

 

Baffle removed

Baffle removed and my foot!! (At least it’s not my thumb!!)

 

Of course I have to include a shot of the pistons and cylinders and you see them in the videos as well.

 

Left Piston and Cylinder

Left Piston and Cylinder

Left Head Chamber

Left Head Chamber

 

Right Piston and Cylinder. See the right head/chamber in the videos)

Right Piston and Cylinder. See the right head/chamber in the videos)

 

Videos show a bit of the exhaust and a few good shots of the piston/chamber/cylinders.

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

1966 Bridgestone Motorcycle Brochure – DadsCycleMags.com

6-Page Color Brochure that was a magazine insert. Shown in brochure: Bridgestone 175 Dual Twin; 60 Sport; 90 Deluxe; 50 Sport; 90 Trail; 50; 90 Mountain; 90 Sport. 1966 Bridgestone 6-Page Motorcycle Brochure …

Motorcycles – Let’s see em!

Club(s): (PNDC). Here are 2 I brought back from the dead when I was in high school. A 1979 Kawasaki 440 LTD and a 1967 Bridgestone 175 Dual Twin. The 440 sounded great and was a smooth ride. I bought it for $200 and …

Go Inside the Bloodhound SSC, or The World’s Fastest Car – Supercompressor.com

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The Bloodhound SSC team isn’t content to just create the world’s fastest car—they’ve designed it to be the first car capable of hitting 1,000 mph. And even if they fail, it should shatter the land speed record 763.035 mph set in 1997 when tested out some time next year.The SSC has a powerful internal combustion engine that’d be at home in most race cars and it’s sole purpose is to pump fuel into the Rolls-Royce jet needed for attaining quadruple-digit speeds. Staying both in control and safe will be no easy task, as is illustrated by the just-completed cockpit you can see in great detail here.

via Go Inside the Bloodhound SSC, or The World’s Fastest Car – Supercompressor.com.

 

I just can’t let this one go.  PEOPLE!!!!!   This is NOT A CAR…..it is a  ROCKET SHIP  –  just pointed in the WRONG direction.   Great is shatters a record set buy a older rocket that was directionally challenged!!!    But it’s NOT a CAR!!!!   What I am impressed with is the driver Andy Green!!!! That’s got to rock to pilot that spaceship!!!

Am I wrong????

Am I wrong????

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

High-test peroxide

HTP will be used in an attempt to break the land speed record with the Bloodhound SSC car, aiming to reach over 1000 mph. Hydrogen peroxide …

Bridgestone Project: Exhaust and Heads Part I

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I was sitting around on Father’s Day, relieved of all my normal Sunday duties (I did double time yesterday and got most of them accomplished – my wife picked up the rest for the day), thinking I was going to kick back for the day and just be a bum.  But then I got “the itch”.   You know, when you absolutely have more than an hour of free time and don’t care who’s ahead in the NBA Championship and long ago you gave up watching baseball because you kept dosing off by the 6th inning and nothing there’s nothing good to munch on.  So you start twitching and you just have go do something.  Not just anything but something…mechanical…something that has dirt and grease and involves a fair amount of muscle vs. metal action.  Even though is 104 degrees out and the garage isn’t AC’ed (you don’t even have a fan) you just got too get something real done and BAM!!! one of your projects is getting some attention!!!!   That me was me today.

So I looked over the Dual Twin (Bridgestone 1966 Dual Twin) and what I had scheduled for the next part of the restoration and thought…Do I really want to tackle the electrical system today?  That’s gonna take a few days.  How about something that I can get done between now and dinner, when I have my Father’s Day steak and corn on the cob? So I decided to remove the dual exhaust system.

This a rather simple task and needed to be done eventually and doing today I’d feel like a accomplished something. (Isn’t that just the opposite of what is suppose to happen on Father’s Day?)

So I started looking over exhaust and basically there were two bolts and mounts, plus two more for the header.  Here are some pics:

Overview

Overview

 

One of the bolts and mount

One of the bolts and mount

Inside bolt and mount.

Inside bolt and mount.

 

Manifold/Header bolts

Manifold/Header bolts

 

So you have four bolts and one interesting header to baffle connection.  Check out the connection:

It's rubber!!!

It’s rubber!!!

Yup rubber.  With a old style ”squeeze” clamp and a screw type clamp.   Clearly original equipment!

Next up will be a couple videos showing removal.  But that will be tomorrow…I hear beer calling me.  “Honey…..fetch me a cold one!!!!  (Seriously….that doesn’t work at my house, even on Father’s Day.)

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

Bridgestone

com Site with historical information concerning Bridgestone Motorcycles. Category:Bridgestone Category:Automotive companies of Japan Category …
Bridgestone Motorcycles | IH8MUD Forum

Not familiar with Bridgestone motorcycles? Here’s a brief synopsis: In addition to the more familiar tire manufacturing nowadays, the company produced bicycles beginning in 1946, powered bicycles beginning in 1949, and …
Bridgestone Motorcycles | IH8MUD Forum

Not familiar with Bridgestone motorcycles? Here’s a brief synopsis: In addition to the more familiar tire manufacturing nowadays, the company produced bicycles beginning in 1946, powered bicycles beginning in 1949, and …
Bridgestone Motorcycles to be showcased as Classic Club …

Bridgestone Motorcycles to be showcased as Classic Club at AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days. Rally & Event News Bridgestone has been selected as the Classic Club for the 2010 AMA Vintage Motorcycle Days, July 9-11, …

Auto Factoids for Week of June 8, 2014

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Let’s get right to the glory and the tragic historical events of this weeks Auto Factoids.

 

June 10, 1927 the Graham brothers purchased Paige-Detroit Motor Co. These guys started out producing glass and then moved into making conversion kits to turn Model T Fords in to truck.   They decided they wanted to produce their own trucks and made a deal with Dodge for the engines and selling their trucks though Dodge.  In 1927 they decided they wanted to go into the car business and make the historic purchase of Paige-Detroit Motor for what was $4 million dollars.  Renamed Graham-Page, they produced 6 and 8 cylinder cars using their own bodies (after buying Wayne Body Company) and light trucks.  Truck production ceases when Dodge threatened to enforce the non-compete clause of the original agreement.  Of note was the 8 cylinder engine they developed nicknamed the “Blue Streak”.  It soon became the name for the car. Graham brothers produced cars up until 1940 and only used their factory during WWII for various war effort production.  By 1946 they were producing cars again and farm equipment under Kaiser-Frazer name.  They eventually transferred all the rights to Kaiser-Frazer and their production facilities were sold to Chrysler.

Love this 1927 Panel Truck

Love this 1927 Panel Truck

Model 827 Circa 1929

Model 827 Circa 1929

Survivor!!!!

Survivor!!!!

Oh YES...THEY DID A BUS!!!

Oh YES…THEY DID A BUS!!!

 

June 10, 1951 Jaguar has it’s first Le Mans win and 4 years later and one day, the worse racing tragedy in organized racing history – 81 spectators were killed in the Le Mans crash on June 11, 1955.

LeMans1 LeMans2 LeMans3

June 12 1954 – Packard offers new cars with tubeless tires – major milestone!!!

June 12, 1975 – Chrysler Imperial is no longer produced.  If you recall Imperial started out as it’s own brand and then purchased by Chrysler the name was retired for a period of time and then brought back in the 1970’s.

1975 was the last year for the Land Yacht

1975 was the last year for the Land Yacht

 

June 14 1932, Happy Birthday to

Nicolaus Otto

Nicolaus Otto

Who gagraham paige car for sale

Auto Factoids for Week of May 18, 2014

If you thought last week was light…this week is weak!! Buick became a corporation back in 1903 back on May 19. It eventually became a major General Motors brand.
Auto Factoids for Week of May 11, 2014

Light week this week. 5/14/1969 – 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 …
Auto Factoid 9/8/2013 – 9/14/2013

Auto Factoids are back!!!!   Lets just get started. Happy Birthday (Sept. 8, 1903) Preston  Tucker – nice cars!!!   On Sept 9th 1935 Studebaker put the first car on a Pennsylvania RR rail car headed to NYC  but the final destination was London.  (Actually there were 163 cars in that shipment.) These are …
Auto Factoid 9/8/2013 – 9/14/2013

Auto Factoids are back!!!!   Lets just get started. Happy Birthday (Sept. 8, 1903) Preston  Tucker – nice cars!!!   On Sept 9th 1935 Studebaker put the first car on a Pennsylvania RR rail car headed to NYC  but the final destination was London.  (Actually there were 163 cars in that shipment.) These are …

ve us this thing:

first internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber.

first internal-combustion engine to efficiently burn fuel directly in a piston chamber.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

A Sinkhole Swallowed Cars at The Corvette Museum And Now Everyone Wants To Go

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A Sinkhole Swallowed Cars at The Corvette Museum And Now Everyone Wants To Go | TIME.

A view of a sinkhole that opened up in the Skydome

A view of a sinkhole that opened up in the Skydome

Tourism up 50%….that’s great!!!

 

Tim

 

national corvette museum

National Corvette Museum might preserve sinkhole

The sinkhole that swallowed up eight Corvettes earlier this year has been something of a mixed blessing for the Bowling Green, Ky., National Corvette Museum. On the one hand, those rare (if not uniformly invaluable) Corvettes were damaged, or outright …