classic car

Click on the title of this post to see one of the most wild of these hopeless supercars. You'll see why it got my attention...

After I looked at this photo on my digital camera, I realized what I could do. I have a plan to go around and get peoples' permission to look in and around their barn(s), and photograph any cars I see there. I will combine these photos into a collection and maybe make them into a book about midwest barn finds.
I know that this will take a long time, but it will be well worth it in the memories of the owners of the cars, and hopefully I may be able to get it published. Look for the book in stores come 2012!

I am getting extremely bored now that winter has started setting in. I have to make do with identifying the make and model (and occasionally trim level) of every car I see, but it's no fun now that it's started snowing and everyone has moved their good and collector cars inside (except for those 80's ugly caddys). Up until two weeks ago, there was still a lone daily driver who'd pass me each weekday on the road, but now even he's in some econo-car. I just wish I could skip to summer again...

In my opinion, 80's American cars (to put it lightly) suck.

Here is my list of overrated cars. I have not been influenced by other's opinions, and I don't work in advertising, so these are my opinions only.

1: Geo metro. It may get 36mpg, but it looks like a semi-modern Pacer and runs like one, too. A slap on the face for GM.

2: Most modern "American" "muscle cars". Barely any are actually made in America, and most don't even have 200 horses!

3: Hummer. It's huge, bulky, huge, and has obviously no mind towards originality in styling. Proves that America can still rip off others' ideas and make them worse.

4: Chrysler 300. Once again, rip-off(fake rolls/bentley)styling and not enough power, even the srt-8.

5: 80s Corvettes. they had about 225hp, enough said.

I changed the name of the blog and altered the description as an experiment to see if I can get any higher up on google. This is called search engine optimization. This may not work because blogspot has preset templates that don't include a metatitle or decription for the serch engines. This holds me back, so maybe my only way forward is just getting more views.

Okay, the results are in, and many of you were very close, though nobody was right. This mystery car is actually a Volkswagen 411, which was produced from 1969-1972. This one is not a '69, as those had single headlights, but other than that, I'd need a look at the interior. The 411 was part of the type 4 VWs, which were produced from '69-'74. These were offered as sedans (2/4 drs.) and, starting in 1970, wagons, too. The photo is from thesamba.com, info from type4.org.

I was looking around in this guy's barn/garage, which has millions of used parts and engines, when there to look at at a project he was selling, when I spotted this odd car wedged in under many parts. I inquired, and the guy who owned the garage told me all about it. I was going to tell you... but what's the fun in that! I'm going to have you guess, so here's two of the photos. Please put your guesses in comments.

We're heading to Chicago this weekend in search of a perfect project car. We're looking for VWs, fieros, '65-'66 mustangs, MGs, and basically any smallish car from 1910 to 1979 that will be relatively easy to restore. I've compiled a list of under-$2500 craigslst Chicago ads that interest me, and we will also stop at some auto museums and stuff like that along the way, just for fun. Wish me luck!

I recently did a father-son project on our rusty sailboat trailer from the 80s. When we bought the boat and trailer about a year ago, we affectionately called the boat "Ripple". The trailer had been sitting behind a barn, so it was the perfect barn find for restoration! We had not done much work and only replaced a tire up until a month ago, when we decided to do a good old restoration/hot rodding on our old Shoreline trailer. We stripped all the pin striping and logos off, then sanded off the rust. We then primered it in rust-resistant red and painted it green, matching the stripe on our boat, an S2 6.9 (6.9 refers to how many meters long the boat is). Matching the rest of the boat, we proceeded to put white pin striping, and white flames on the fenders on the trailer. We replaced most of the lights, and voila! A hot rod Ripple transporter!

How many classic Chevys can there be in one neighborhood?!?! I just discovered two MORE old Chevys that are lurking in peoples garages! I just can't believe how many people around here are car enthusiasts like me! It's crazy!

I don't know about you, but I hate almost every American car of the 80's, the exceptions being the Camaro/Firebird and the Fiero. I am happy every time I go by the metal recycling plant and see a new piece of junk waiting it's turn to enter the crusher. I hate 80's cars, and hope there will be none left to restore in the future. The photo is from www.ranlayracing.com.

Anyone in the construction business? Then you may be interested in this. JCB claims this is the world's fastest backhoe, and I'd have to agree! It goes 100MPH! The idea came from Frank Carson, a comedian, in 1985 with a joke about a 100MPH JCB. Just think what would happen if these went into production. No more waiting behind a 20MPH backhoe on a main road! It's powered by a big Chevy V8, making 1,300 HP.

here are some car videos on youtube:
Ken Block rally car jump-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDi0MZJZ-w0&feature=related
need for speed carbon chase-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Y1rxyE05_k

What is your favorite car and why? Put your ideas in comments, please.

It may not be your first thought for a place to search for a project, but craigslist.org has many project cars floating around dirt cheap. If you're looking for a project I'd recommend their auto section.

I already know that someone down the road from me owns a Shelby GT350 and a '67 Chevelle, another owns a '54 GMC panel truck, and another has a '84 Corvette. But today, I was surprised to find that one of my neighbors has a '70 Corvette Sting Ray and yet another owns a '57 Bal Air (what's with all the Chevys?)! I never knew so many people near me were classic car enthusiasts! You should check this out yourself, you never know what you might find!

Where I live, I hear the throbbing engine notes of tuners that only come out by night racing around on the streets. Last night, I was thinking, why do these people race at night to avoid police and traffic, yet they have the largest engine throbs in history that attract police like flies? I think it's pointless.