The information posted over at Mustang6g says that Tuesday September 10 is the ok to buy date your 2015 Mustang. According to Mustnag6g this means that dealers will have the ok to begin selling stock inventory. Special orders on this date will then begin production. According to the post at Mustang6g this is to limit any glitches on special order vehicles. The 2015 Mustang convertible wont’ begin production until September 15. Its ok to buy date is not slated until October 27.
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!!!!
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 …
I’m a member of a lot of groups/pages on FB and they all are great, but I grow weary of the static, standing by the side your car photos!!!
Let’s see some action!!!!!
Average Guy’s Action Photo/Video contest starts today 7/12 and runs through 7/19. Let’s see your classic/vintage, muscle, race car (even just your daily driver) in action. There will be at least two categories – still action shots and videos.
Only a couple of rules:
1. Be safe.
2. It has to be you and it has to your car.
3. It has to be an action shot either a still photograph or video.
Something like these:
Auto crossing with my C4 at Bondurant facility.
Auto crossing with my C6 Sports Car Club of American (SCCA) Sole Class.
Lining up my ’70 Mustang at the drags against a Ford Focus!!!!
There will be prizes given away, including car art take by one of the artist on http://wp.me/P2YxYx-19F and we’ll check the budget for some on-line auto parts gift cards as well.
Get you pics or videos to us either on our FB page https://www.facebook.com/AGCarRestoration or email them to AGCarRestoration@cox.net or timsweet@cox.net.
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.
As a European, I must salute you. The two Corvette C7.Rs were simply amazing at Le Mans. And not just because of those burnouts.The 24 Hours of Le Mans is the greatest race in the world, and while it certainly works without Americans, having a few stars and stripes around always makes it more exciting. Just think of all those GT40s back in the day!The C7.R is no GT40, but Chevy’s newest racer built by Pratt & Miller for the GTE Pro and USCC GT classes. It’s no GT40 because it’s not a prototype and also because they couldn’t beat Ferrari at Le Mans this time: The #73 car finished second behind a 458 Italia while #74 got the fourth place thanks to a rapid 911 RSR.Still, great results from a pair of brand new cars fighting against the best of Europe, especially with Cadillac’s paint from the early 2000s quietly fading away in the background as a constant reminder of previous GM failures at Le Mans.
A while back I ‘had’ installed a Spec Stage 3 clutch with steel/iron fly-wheel. I did a lot of research before hand and decided that this would be a great combination for my auto cross/daily driver. So far I’ve been happy with the switch. It’s not as ‘street’ smooth as the stock but it helps get the torque to rubber!! But you have to do your research. If you noticed in the first line above I used the phrase ‘had installed’. It is a monster job to disassemble the tunnel and you don’t want to have to do it again after find out that you can’t leave a red like without loosing rubber, nor pay the $$$ for someone else to do it.
I grabbed the article below to share, it has some great tips.
Selecting the Right Clutch for Your C5/C6 Corvette
If you’re a late-model Corvette owner and you’ve ever been in the market for a new clutch, then you’ve discovered that there is such an array of options to choose from, you could find yourself being a little bit lost and confused. To make things even more difficult, thanks to the transaxle layout of the C5 and C6, swapping a clutch is a far more involved process than on a car with a more conventional driveline. A clutch swap isn’t the kind of job you want to do twice on these Corvettes, so getting it right the first time (and having the room to grow for more horsepower and torque down the line) is critical. Read on:
1997-2004 Chevrolet Corvette Clutch Kit Ac Delco Chevrolet Clutch Kit 381408. ac delco clutch press and driven plate kit 11-11/16 in. x 26t x 1-1/8 in. diaphragm; includes flywheel and cover; a high quality direct fit oe …
White Noise – White noise is a common synthetic noise source used for sound masking; it is effective in improving the mood and performance of workers by masking background noise.
So crank up the volume on your media player and help your co-worker improve their mood. This is my kind of white noise!!!
