I received a couple emails referring to the images on the blog. Generally, I can’t get copies of the Robert Hooper’s prints, but I can get copies of the Mustang interior.
If you are interested let me know…sorry..they aren’t free…but very reasonable.
Thanks for the interest. Remember, a blog’s life’s blood are comments. Drop me some.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Barrett Jackson Auction Photo
I love car art…anything from poster, to quality prints to cartoonish drawings.
On my wall in my office here at home I have 4 beautiful pieces done by Robert Hooper. We ran into him in Prescott, Az and at a street fair and, I just have to have these pieces.
I can’t them off the wall and scan them. So you’ll just have to stop by and see them….little joke there. I tried to capture them with the digital. Not great…but here ya go.
Next
Next
And the last of Mr. Hooper’s
I like these.
I really like this next one in particular…why? It’s an image of the interior of my Mustang. Let me know what you think. This one hangs up in my office at work. Little washed out as posted here but much better in person.
You have a piece of car art? Let’s hear about. Drop a note, post a pic or email an image to me and I’ll put up on the blog.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
As I slowly start to bring this blog back to the core of why I created this blog (Restoration, Modifying, Race..etc) I’ll begin to post some restoration tips. This will be things I’ve actually done, or friends have done that I know worked.
So here is one:
Most of the old cars with manually roll down windows have felt window seals. You know, the two cushions on either side of the door that the window slide up between. Those are normally rubber with felt covering and over time they get hard and shrink. The next thing you now you have water in the bottom of your door. That water will rust your car, even in Tucson, AZ where I live.
I don’t know if you are like me but I drive my cars, no garage babies or trailer queens and I drive them while they are in the middle of being restored…..erk…as long as they are safe to do so (had to through that in there…just in case!!!). This means they get wet, although here in AZ, it’s mainly from a weekly washing, it’s still water. I bring this up because, besides the door felt leaking, other rubber areas can leak as well. The very thing that makes AZ so great, the abundance of sunshine, can be harmful to your car. Sure it’s great for getting a tan and raising cactus… not so great for plastic and rubber parts of your car.
I know this because I had a problem with my Mustang and a rear window leak. Water would puddle up (slightly) in the trunk. If you are familiar with the older cars you’ll know that many of the trunks have a drop off on each side of the trunk floor that leads to the side lamps. This forms a nice little well in the bottom of the rear quarter panels and water collects there. Where water collects, water rusts….ya don’t need a degree in chemistry to figure that out.
So now I have water in both my doors and both of my quarter panels. NOT GOOD!!!!! Some cars were built with in drains in the quarter panels…my Mustang has them. However, if you remember back a few post (errkkk….Hey if you are new to my blog…go back and read the older posts..there’s some good stuff there…) I mentioned that my Mustang was rear ended. During the major reconstruction the body shop left debris in the quarters and it plugged the drain. Unprofessional, for sure (we’ll talk more about picking the right place to have the work done in another post), and dangerous.
So make sure you check this area out and keep the drains unplugged.
Now I went a step further…I took an 1/8 inch drill bit and added a couple extra holes in the doors and quarter to ensure that air gets in there and the water can get out.
Ok..anyone freaking out yet?? Good!!! I placed these where they can’t be seen (unless you are laying on your back with the door open in the very bottom of the door between the weather-stripping and the outside of the door, where it meets the rocker panel. And in the quarter panels I just drilled in the 1/4 space that is the width of the bottom.
I took a very small round file and smoothed the holes up and then took a little touch up paint to them.
Works like a dream and but you still have to check them and ensure they don’t plug up.
Any other good idea? Drop in a comment.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
Here are a few picks from a past car show. Enjoy.. that’s my Corvette next to the Stang.
Pic 2
Trophy Winner with the 70 coupe
Mustang took 1st in Under Construction and the Vette took 2nd in its class
Here in Tucson we have a lot of road construction and as is the case with most states in the union, suffering some budget issues, so maintaining our roads is a bit lacking. Put these two things together and you have a lot of debris lying around the road.
Over the course of the last 3 weeks two incidents have taken a toll on the undercarriage of the CINC_Household’s car….)erk…..CINC is a military term meaning “Commander in Charge”). Seems a pieces of metal ended up in the front wheel well and snapped off the clips holding the plastic lining. That one had to go to the dealership for repair. Just last week the CINC couldn’t miss what appeared as a bent hub cap on a highway and this destroyed the plastic covering underneath the engine compartment.
So my task today is to replace that piece along with the sound proofing.
Need to get that done this morning, because apparently, although totally beautiful outside right now, we are in for some nasty weather this afternoon. I’ll post up some pictures of the work later on. Yes…I know…not a classic car and not a muscle car..but it’s got 305 hp w/ automatic slap shifting transmission….it can get out of its own way!!!! And one day…I’m sneaking it out of the garage and taking to a test-n-tune.
Thanks for reading
Tim
I should throw “collecting” in the title of this blog, because, although it’s about 2.5 months old, I have mentioned collecting a bunch of times. But really that is part of hobby as well.
Of course if I were to list all the cars I’d love collect, it would be fairly long and in reality (my reality) unaffordable..unless you are Jay Leno… I hate that guy. Ok..I don’t hate him…not really..the green-eyed monster made me say that.
Since I’m not as funny as Jay and I have to work for a living….what?…..ok..ok….I’m sure Jay works very hard…I guess…it’s tough reading funny newpaper clips….ok…Sorry Jay, I have “substituted” this alternative method of obtaining the cars I’d love to own.
You all figured it out yet? I’m talking about models, scale diecast replicas. There is an entire industry out there that produces, imports and markets these items. Some of them are extremely well done.
Here are some shots of my collection. I’m concentrating on the Mustangs and Corvettes in the sizes 1/18 or 1/24 scale.
These are a few of Mustangs
And these are a few of the Corvettes.
A Few of the Vettes
Most of these are Danbury Mint and GMP pieces, I do like what they produce, lots of details and they are affordable (around $100.00 each).
Here is a few shots of the 1967 GT 350.
GMP 1967 GT350 Interior
GMP Mustang GT350 Engine compartment
The Franklin mint produces cars, Greenleaf, Motormint, just to name a few.
It’s fun and affordable and they do increase in value. It’s gotten so popular that even the mainstream car magazines like Hemmings (they normally have at least one article in every Motor News edition), Mustang Monthly and Corvette magazine have articles that discuss this portion of the hobby and even rate the quality of individual brands and their offerings.
If you collect already or want to get started drop a comment to this post. Toss in some pic as well.
Thanks for reading.
Tim
OK we are getting down to the wire. I have only two entries for determining who wins a $25.00 gift card to Checkers and the $25.00 gift card to Home Depot.
Drop a line and send a picture and you could get 25 bucks..hey it ain’t the lottery….but it’s free!!!!
timsweet@cox.net
Let me know if you like the new look? Too much?
If you recall in a previous post I mentioned the psychological hurdles that some (at least I) have to over come when working on our own cars. The one of them was the “fear” of breaking it yourself. Remember? Well ..here ya go….
It’s the end of January and I still had my x-mas lights up….so yesterday (1/24) I decided they had to come down. I didn’t want to be the guy taking them down in June (like my neighbor).
So, I pull the Vette into the lower part of the drive and then proceeded to back the Mustang down. The Mustang takes a while to warm up so instead I just release the e-brake, pushed the clutch in and coasted down the driveway.
Had a neighborhood kid in the driveway so I was keeping an eye on him (he’s 5 yrs old) and I left the door of the Stang open.
Yeah…you guessed it….I heard a crunch and I looked over to the left and there was my Mustang door (good old American steel) stuck in my Vette’s fender!!!!!
All I can say is plastic bumpers saved the day….not so much for the fiber glass fender and belt molding on the vette.
Oh..adding insult to injury the 5 yrs old said..”That’s why you need to close the door..that’s what my Dad says!”
If it ain’t one thing it’s another!!!
Thanks for reading.
Tim
So I left off with perhaps one of the worse fears, breaking it yourself.
Having it broken by someone else is only slightly better, YOU didn’t do it, so you can be mad at someone and chances are the signification other will lighten up, especially when they find you sobbing uncontrollably, laying on the hood your classic.
I have had that experience with my Mustang. Since kids might run across this blog I won’t use the language I might normally, when relaying this next incident.
I had just gotten the engine conversion done and I was happy. Some work on my part and fair amount of money got me to where the car had the power it needed. I’ll talk more about the modification and conversion later on. I think I had the car back for a couple months and one day…a rainy day….errk………..I live in southern Arizona ….what manner of horrible luck can you have to deserve such crappy timing? I was only a mile from home and I stopped at a red light. 10 cars in front me and as I waiting with them, I glanced in my rear view mirror. There I see a small white pick-up in the distance coming my way. As I watched, I realized that he was coming pretty fast. A nano second later I was 100% sure he wasn’t going to stop. I shoved the clutch in, dropped her in to first, cranked the steering wheel to the right, hit the gas and popped the clutch. Well, the additional power I longed for, now realized…spun the rear wheels, in what normally would have been an enjoyable manner, but right that minute I was wishing for the straight 6 again…(well..maybe not exactly). I was just able to nose the Mustang’s front end way from the car in front of me when I looked up and saw…(this was all happening in extremely slow motion – right now just playing it in my head..it seems like ten minutes at least) this white pickup starting to stop and then I felt the slam from behind. The force pushed the Mustang past the car in front of me by 3/4 of a car length. If I had not gotten the few precious inches just before the tires began spinning, I would have destroyed my 3 month old bored out 302 and all the hard work that went into the engine bay, electrical, and new AC would have been for naught.
Ok I’m going to stop here for the now. More tomorrow.
One more day until Corvette Auto X day. Taking my son with me, he’ll be grabbing some vids and pics that I’ll share.
Thanks for reading and thanks for being able to read!!!!
Tim
