I love this series (well I write it…so those were wasted letters) and 1962 was a mix bag of cars. The beginning of the space-age, muscle car era and the ending of the classic, heavy, finned cars.
For example take a look at the 1962 Imperial:
You can still see the fins, but a little space-age flare with the taillights.
Now the 1962 Thunderbird:
Fins are almost gone and now see the space-age/turbine round taillights.
So the leader for 1962 was Chevrolet topping the charts with 2,061, 677 units produced. That is 600,000 more cars than it’s nearest competitor Ford that came in second with 1,476,031 and for had nearly 1 million more than the 3rd place manufacture Pontiac with 521,933 units. Rambler was 4th with 442,346 followed by Oldsmobile with 428,853.
Well the Griffith was developed by a Ford dealer, Jeff Griffith. It was a tubular frame with a British TVR body bolted on. He produce the cars in that configuration, until the source of the TVR bodies dried up he found replacement with a sleeker (nicer looking in my option) by Intermeccanica in Italy.
So what powered this homogenized sports car?
Well since Jeff was a “Ford” guy so you can bet he at least had a Ford iron block in the mix. The total production of the Griffith was 285 cars from 1964 t0 1966.
The TVR Body looks great!!!
This 1964 Griffith in the British TVR body had two engine options. Both were Ford 289. Both were overhead valve and had cast iron blocks. The first option had a bore and stroke 4.00″ x 2.88″ and a compression ratio of 9.0:1. Five main bearing and hydraulic lifters topped with a Ford model C3AF-9510B two barrel it produced 195 bhp. The second option matched up with the first option, except with a higher compression ratio (10.5:1) and topped with the Ford model C30F-9410AJ “4” barrel. That boosted the bhp to 271!!! That’s a heck of a jump…but wait…keep in mind this car weighted only 1450 lbs!!!! Think about that!!!!!
Love the British Racing Green in this ’65 Griffith
For 1965, TVR bodied car matched the two options in the previous year to the ‘T’.
’65’s 289
1966 was a different animal. No more TVR bodied Griffith, this baby tucked it’s power house iron in an Italian steel body from Intermeccanica. And like the body…the Ford engine was gone. In it’s place was a Plymouth V8…yes a MORPAR!!!! It was an iron block with overhead valves. Bored and stroked to 3.63″ x 3.31″ and a compression ratio of 10.5:1. Add in the 5 main bearing and solid lifter and top it off with a Carter 4 bbl. carb (ADB3853S) and you could coax 235 bhp out of it. Not bad…down from the 271 with the Ford 289. However the car with it’s new Italian designed steel body, weighted over 1000 lbs more then the TVR version, topping the scale at 2540 lbs.
David Nicoll purchased his car collection with the blood of others – literally. During his time as president of BLS, the FBI and the U.S. Attorney’s Office maintain that Nicoll received $33 million in payments from a medical blood test bribery scheme that he personally ran for seven years, and which netted more than $100 million in total revenue. Per prosecutors, BLS would bribe physicians to send their patients for medical tests which were oftentimes unnecessary, to be paid for by insurers. Far from being sly and frugal with his ill-gotten profits, Nicoll was an extravagant spender. It’s on record that he spent $154,000 at a gentleman’s club, over $400,000 on sports tickets, $700,000 on an apartment for his “female companion,” and, most importantly, over five million dollars on cars.
Are you a fan of Top Gear? I am! Have been since it’s been on cable. Of course we don’t travel in the same circles, Rut has his Fox Sports gig(covering motorsports) beside all the Top Gear filming and promo events and I’m a wannabe writer, covering the automotive world. So it’s highly unlikely we’d cross paths and sit down for a car discussion. Unless????
That is what’s so great about the age we live in. On my twitter account (@restortation) I’m a follower (among many) of Top Gear and guys (Tanner, Rut (@rutledgewood) and Adam). Just luck let me catch a Tweet by Rutledge that mentioned that he had a Facebook event today where fans could chat with him.
So I closed my office door (yeah I was at work) and joined the crowd on Facebook. I actually got a few questions answered. Here they are:
Write a reply…
Tim Sweet: Who finds the cars you use in the show? Private individuals?
Rutledge Wood: I have found almost all the ones I’ve used…but I’m not in LA to go test drive them. We have some amazing producers that bust their butts for us. Huge support team…but we find most of them online. Craigslist, Auto trader, and even a few on ebay
Tim Sweet: Thanks…great!!!!
Tim Sweet: So who is the STIG…I won’t tell anyone….? Rutledge Wood: honeslty…I have no idea. They wont talk to me. Never seen them.
Rutledge Wood: I want them to give me a hug
Tim Sweet: Everyone wants to hug the STIG
Tim Sweet: Thanks for taking the time to chat with us. I got to get back to this ‘work’ thing I do every day…my C6 needs a super charger!!!! Take care!!!!
I’m not sure they should restore it. Maybe just preserve it.
Elvis’ BWM 507!!!
Only 253 examples of the BMW 507 were ever made, and Elvis Presley owned two of them. The first, a white ’58 roadster, he famously gifted to his Fun in Acalpulco co-star Ursula Andress; the other, a ’58, has been in storage for over 40 years. Now, BMW Classic has obtained Elvis’s “lost” sports car and will give it a full restoration.This Bimmer’s circuitous history begins in March 1958, when the U.S. Army officially inducted its most famous Korean War draftee. While assigned to the Third Armored Division, Elvis met hill-climb ace Hans Stuck, who was racing a 1957 BMW 507 at Autodrome de Linas-Montlhéry in southern France. Presley was smitten with the 150-hp drop-top. After having its 3.2-liter V8 rebuilt and a new four-speed manual gearbox installed, he leased it that December.
“Elvis’s BMW 507: lost & found” exhibition comes to Munich. 27 July 2014. After nearly 60 years, the BMW 507 formerly owned by Elvis Presley returns to its birthplace. You can currently visit the Roadster, still untouched, in the BMW Museum – but when …
BMW has revealed intentions to restore a 1957 507 Roadster which was originally purchased by king of rock ‘n’ roll Elvis Presley. The BMW 507 Roadster seen here had a white paint and rolled off the assembly line in 1957 with the chassis number 70079.
Der Kult-Roadster ist noch bis zum 10. August in der Sonderausstellung „Elvis’ BMW 507: lost & found“ im BMW-Museum zu bewundern. So lange bleibt der Scheunenfund im Originalzustand, danach geht’s zu den Experten der BMW Group Classic.
We all love vintage cars. On a trip to Dana Point, Ca this past weekend I happened to spot this beauty in the hotel parking lot.
This 1958 Porsche 1600 Speedster appeared to be all original. The seats appeared to be still clad in the original – nicely worn leather. This is the 356A which was a modification of the 356 body (from 1957) it was known as Type 2 in the factory (or T2).
This beauty is in the original color, maybe original paint, but interior looks stock, right down the thin rubber floor mats.
I did notice a couple of things – the steering wheel looks to be metal, they were originally wooden and the under the dash gauges of course are after market. As the 356 was track raced the wooden steering wheels were quickly identified as a safety issue. During crashes they would splinter and pierce the drivers body – some career ending injuries. They were often swapped out for metal.
The engine was a OHV flat four with 60 bhp, 1,582 cc and horizontally-opposed OHV four-cylinder engine (the four-cam “Carrera” engine was a more power/extra cost option for the 356A). It came with a four-speed manual transmission, torsion bar independent front suspension, swing axle independent rear suspension, and four-wheel hydraulic drum brakes.
The production numbers were around 21, 000 for the period of 1955-1959.
Great tail lights!!
Now that’s what I like to see – bug spots….this car gets driven!!!!
Missing the ‘cage’ that often covered the headlights.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Buy & Cherish this 1958 PORSCHE 356A COUPE LA CARRERA PANAMERICANA RALLY CAR Coachwork by… http://t.co/gL5hI8Hxu0
This 1958 Porsche 356A Coupe is said to be a matching numbers example, but where you will find the chassis number on the back-half is beyond us. The roof and rear panels do look like the right shape, and the engine has …
The 5.0-liter V8 is probably what fans are most excited to hear about — it’s good for 435 hp and 400 lb-ft of torque. That’s a tidy 15 hp and 10 lb-ft increase over the outgoing model, and it’s within spitting distance of the 444-hp Boss 302. Not bad.
The two other motors aren’t too shabby, either. The 3.7-liter V6 gets 300 hp and 280 lb-ft of torque, and the turbocharged 2.3-liter inline-four EcoBoost puts down a very respectable 310 hp and 320 lb-ft. For some perspective, the V8-powered 2005 Ford Mustang GT put down just 300 hp, so we’ve clearly come a long way — and there’s no telling just what other, even hotter versions of this new Mustang are in the works.
The Avanti II was what was left of Studebaker car company (called Studebaker-Packard by that time) in the 1960’s . By that time all the car production for Studebaker-Packard was being done in Canada and South Bend factories were closed down. Nathanial Altman and Leo Newman (two South Bend Studebaker dealership owners) purchased the rights and the dies/tooling for the Avanti, after failing to get the financial backing to reopen the plant in South Bend and continued production.
The Avanti II
Of course Studebaker wasn’t making its own engine and the two dealers that pulled together enough funds to purchase the Avanti rights and dies/tools were in no position to start full blown engine production. So what’s next? Make a deal with a company to purchase engines.
The Altman/Newman team Avanti turned to GM for the power plant. So for 1965 – 1968 they opted for none other than the Corvette 327 cubic inch iron!!! Purchasing the previous year engines for placing in their new models – Now that explains why I often see the Avanti and the local drag strip during Test and Tunes!!! The 327 was an overhead valved, iron block that came with the stock bore and stroke of 4.00″ x 3.25″ and a compression ratio of 10.5:1.
Corvette Power Plant
Combined with hydraulic lifters, 5 main bearings and topped with a Carter (model 3846247) (for 1965) 4bbl carb produced 300 bhp at 5000 rpms. All that in a light fiberglass body!!!!!
The difference between 1965 thur 1970 327’s were the carburetors that were available. For 1966 it was a Holley 4bbl (model 3884505) , the remainder of production the hard working 327 was topped with various models of Rochester 4bbl carbs. ( 1967 it was Rochester 4bbl (model 3096631); 1968 a Rochester 4bbl (model 7028207); 1969 Rochester (model 7929203)
In 1969 Avanti II was blessed with an additional engine option. It was the Corvette’s 350 CID. This was an iron block overhead valve engine. 4.00″ x 3.48″ bore and stroke with hydraulic lifters and five main bearings. With a compression ratio of 10.5:1 and breathing through a Rochester 4bb carb the lightweight was but 300 bhp. (Same as the 327 – but there a lot you can do now with a 350 – again this may be the reason we still see them at the drag strips.
By 1971 the 350 was the only engine in the Avanti II and it’s configuration remained unchanged except the compression ratio was dropped to 10.25:1 and the horse power suffered to the tune of -30 hp, dropping to 270.
In 1973 the engine was changed to the generic GM 400 CID, but before you get too excited, it had 4.13″ bore and 3.75″ stroke but it was strangulated by a compression ratio of 8.5:1 and even the 4bbl Rochester could not help much as it produced only 245 bhp.
For 1974 and 1975 fompression was dropped and the Avanti II struggled to produce only 180 horses. But you could still get the 4 speed manual Hurst shifter….so there’s that.
The first time I saw an Avanti II in person was at my local drag strip, during a charity race that I had entered by 1970 Mustang in (300 HP). The Avanti was a 1970 and mostly stock as far as I could tell and it looked great and sounded even better at the tree.
The Avanti continued on through various owners and still using the Studebaker chassis until 1987 and the GM’s 305 was used for a time. The Avanti continued on through 2006…but that is for another post.
If bongo solos and Studebakers are your thing, you are guaranteed to enjoy this week’s vintage Car and Track road test of the 1969 Avanti II. Even If bongo solos and Studebakers aren’t your thing, chances are you will still …
Check out this drag racing video. The Chevelle has a bad day.
The driver is in shorts and no helmet – no rules at “Run At Your Own Risk” drag strip, but really? Have to them some credit – the post and cable on the edge of the strip most likely saved a few spectators from being injured.
This 1967 Ford Mustang is number 7 of 11 “Eleanor” versions built by Cinema Vehicle Services of North Hollywood, California, for the 2000 remake of the original 1974 cult classic “Gone in 60 Seconds.” The car is one of only three used in scenes involving the cast of Gone, which included Nicholas Cage, Giovanni Ribisi and Angelina Jolie, and it incorporates the now-famous design features originally penned by famed hot rod designer Steve Stanford.
