Tag Archives: Vintage Cars

The End of a Decade – The Mustang Era

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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

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.

Thank you for reading.

Tim

 

Road Tripping – Cars – Lowell, Az – Part I

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One of our (myself and my better half) favorite things to do is road trip to out of the way places.  Once there, I have a limit to how many shops, art galleries and “antique” stores I can handle.  So we’ve taken to the back streets to look  at the local neighborhoods.  My wife is an interior designer and she loves architecture so we are always keeping eye out for interesting homes and buildings and I love cars so I’m always on the lookout for what’s in the backyard.

So that is what led us to this unique discovery outside of Bisbee, Az.  The next few blog entries will be what we discovered in the area.

Lowell, Az is nearly a ghost town, surrounded by the mining town of Bisbee.  The story goes like this: there is this fellow who had something to do with starting and promoting one of the largest motorcycle events in the world… The Sturgis, South Dakota motorcycle event!!

Some call it a ghost town, but it is not.  There is a food co-op, a small cafe and a working motorcycle restoration shop.  The rest is really a very cool set up.

Here is the town:

Downtown Lowell, Az

Downtown Lowell, Az

IMG_0069

Coming up we’ll explore this town and find some interesting details.

Thanks for reading,

Tim

They Made How Many? 1908

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There were a lot of car makers in 1908 some of the names you’d recognize  like Lincoln, Imperial and Sears (yup that Sears) and some you  wouldn’t like Benner, Mier and Browniekar.

The top makers were headed up by Ford with a whopping 10,202 cars produced.  (This was the year Ford introduced the Model T.) The rest of the maker looked like this:

Buick – 8,820

Studebaker – 8,132

1908 STUDEBAKER - Model H, 4-cyl., 30 hp

1908 STUDEBAKER – Model H, 4-cyl., 30 hp

1908 Studebaker Electric carry-all

Studebaker Electric

 

Maxwell – 4,455 – What’s a Maxwell?  Well like many cars of this era  they look like one another but here’s a pic.

1908 Maxwell Runabout

1908 Maxwell Runabout

 

Reo – 4,105

Rambler – 3,597

Cadillac – 2,377

Franklin – 1,895

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

 

 

Ford Indy V8s Side-by-Side at the HOT ROD Homecoming – Hot Rod Magazine Blog

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These are AWESOME!!!!

Ford Indy V8s Side-by-Side at the HOT ROD Homecoming – Hot Rod Magazine Blog.

Steve-Strope-Indy-V8-FIA-Ford-Mustang-1965-1966-1967

tim

Spec Page – 1954 Plymouth Belvedere Suburban

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Spec Page is a new series where we explore a particular model’s DNA.

This post is covering a car that I’ve frankly never heard of before.  Plymouth Belvedere sure is recognizable as a 60’s muscle car (yes properly powered they were muscle cars) and Suburban as big hauler.  The 1954 Plymouth Belvedere Suburban was a hauler, but power house it wasn’t.

Plymouth Belvedere Suburban

Plymouth Belvedere Suburban

So lets start with the engine.  Weren’t  a lot of choices in 1954 and the standard for working class cars was the Plymouth’s flat head six.It was an iron block with L-head valves.  It had a bore and stroke of  3.25″  4.64″ and a compression ratio of 7.1:1 and displaced 217.8 cubic inches.  Topped with the a single carb barrel downdraft (normally a Carter Type BB model D5h2) help produce 100 hp.

Flat Head Six

Flat Head Six

All that power was transferred to the wheels was a 3 speed synchromesh on column and a Hypoid 3.73:1.  Once underway  stopped by 4-wheel hydraulic drum with double front cylinders. And those will be need to get this 3,000 plus pound, 189 inches (nearly 16 feet).

Supporting all this mayhem was a double-channel box frame with side rails and 4 cross members and Briggs all-steel body.  The suspension was independent in the front with coil springs and torsion sway bar with tapered leaf springs and 6.50 x 15″ tires and press steel safety rims.

You could buy his car with some added option like push-button radio, heater, two-tone paint, wire wheel covers, white side walls, bumpers guards, tissue dispenser, exhaust extension deflector locking gas cap, mirrors.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

Enthusiasts pick up the pieces of a fallen soldier’s GTO restoration | Hemmings Blog: Classic and collectible cars and parts

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Enthusiasts pick up the pieces of a fallen soldier’s GTO restoration | Hemmings Blog: Classic and collectible cars and parts.

 

CaleroGTOresto_06_700

Engine Line Up for the 1946 Chryslers

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I really enjoy doing the engine line up series.  I love engines.  If I had the $$$ and the space I’d collect them.  Wouldn’t it be cool to have a straight eight, or twelve cylinder sitting on a stand, all clean and shiny?

For 1946 Chrysler had the Royal, the Windsor, The Saratoga and the New Yorker series, 2 more series than they had engines.

One of the coolest models was the Windsor two-door three passenger coupe.

1946 Two door, 3 passenger

1946 Two door, 3 passenger

Let’s get to the engines.

If you can’t guess there were one 6 cylinder and one 8 cylinder.  They were split by series.  One was the Royal/Windsor engine and the other was Saratoga/New Yorker engine.  If you know anything about Chryslers you might know that the New  Yorker named cars were large cars and traditionally had larger engines.  In this case the Saratoga/New Yorker carried the V8.

It was an L-Head, cast iron block V8.  It displaced 323.5 cubic inches with a bore and stroke of 3.25″ x 4.875″. With a compression ratio of 6.7:1 the engine put out about 135 horsepower.  It had five main bearing and solid lifters and was topped with a B-B E7A1 carb.

1946 Chrysler 323.7 Straight Eight.

1946 Chrysler 323.7 Straight Eight.

 

The other engine was a 6 cylinder or the Royal/Windsor engine, smaller cars (like the 2 door 3 passenger).

It two was an L-Head and cast iron block engine.  It displaced 250.6 cid and the bore and stroke were 3.438″ x 4.50″.  The compression ratio was 6.6:1  and it had solid lifters and 4 main bearings which combined generates 114 horsepower.  It was topped either B-B EV1-EV2 j or E7L4 (for the Fluid Drive and Vacumatic) or B-BEX1, 2 or 3 (for the standard transmission).

The 1946 Chrysler 250 straight 6

The 1946 Chrysler 250 straight 6

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

 

 

 

Ferrari LaFerrari | BleuCartel

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963 horsepower from a combined combustion/electric engine?!!!  Yes!!

Farrari Combo Combustion-Electric

Farrari Combo Combustion-Electric

It has been long-awaited for the day we see the successor to the mighty Enzo supercar. After its debut this morning at the 2013 Geneva auto show, the automotive world is in uproar over the new Ferrari icon, LaFerrari. Producing a combined 963 horsepower through a 800 horsepower combustion engine and a 163 horsepower electric motor, the new LaFerrari is the most powerful and efficient Ferrari built to-date. 0-62 in under 3 seconds and achieving 205 mph top speed. Body & chassis structure is similar to the multi-material used to in the Scuderia F1 racecar. Like its predecessors, LaFerrari will be a limited production vehicle. Though just 499 copies will be made, that’s much more than the Enzo 24 copies. Price has yet to be announced, but expect it to be north of the $1 million dollar mark.

Enjoy the video.  I DID!!!

via Ferrari LaFerrari | BleuCartel.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

Auto Factoids for the Week of March 3, 2013

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A really light week this week.  It includes a government bailout, corporate take over, iconic debut, a tragedy and record falls.  Yeah…not much going on!!!

Lets start with the government bailout  it was 1971, but it wasn’t a US auto company but Rolls-Royce got a $144 million loan from the British government March 5th 1971.

1971 Rolls Royce

1971 Rolls Royce

On the same day in 1952 Willys rolled out its Aero-Ace.

 

Willys Aero Ace

Willys Aero Ace

In 1929 on March 7th General Motors buys Opel.  I was not aware that this occurred that early.

The iconic car released by Pontiac on March 8, 1969 was a variation of the Firebird – the Trans Am – amazing car.

1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

1969 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am

Did you know there is a company that is making the a Trans Am out of the new 2012 Camaro?  More coming on that!!!

Automotive tragedy occurred in Detroit in 1901.  The Oldsmobile plant burned down.

A few days later (plus) twenty-seven years Sir Henry Seagrave broke the 200 mph land speed barrier.  Here is his beast.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

Cars and Snow

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Ye,s I know, you are saying big deal!!   But it was a big deal here is southern Arizona.  Even a couple snow flakes can cause a tizz, that alone two snow squaws dumping  2 plus inches each and then having  cold enough to stick around until the next day.

Vette - Nicely tucked in the garage.

Vette – Nicely tucked in the garage. Mustang tucked under it’s cover.

Normally this isn’t the normal scene, the snow nor the Vette in the garage over night (0nly happened because I was taking the Mrs. Lexus in for service.

Here are some more RARE winter scenes from Southern Arizona.

IMAG1791IMAG1793

Thanks for reading.

Tim