classic car

  As any returning visitors can tell, I've changed my blog template (the background/layout) to a more modern and professional-looking setup. As you can see, a BMW convertible is the first impression of my blog now (unless you are on an old or weird screen setup), and it looks much better. Sorry I'm talking about templates, not cars, but I just wanted to share this info with you viewers and establish that this is the same blog and the same author. It's just a new, better-looking template.

  For many months now, I've been searching for the perfect project car. I've looked on Ebay, at dealers' websites, and gone on wandering car trips to see what I can find on peoples' property. But most of all, we have used craigslist.

  I opened my new issue of Automobile to a random page, which turned out to be one of the auction coverage pages. I always look forward to this section because I can judge what cars are going for depending on mods, history, originality, etc... Anyways, I saw these cars, and they just didn't look right in this section. There was a Pontiac Aztec, a Saturn SC2, a beaten-up '97 Corvette, and other GM cars of the Eighties and Nineties. Then I read the info provided, and it all made sense, if weird sense. All of these GM cars were auctioned off by the company in an effort to earn money. The Aztec was the first Aztec built (with camping equipment still in place, mint), The Saturn was the Millionth Saturn built, and the Corvette was a pre-production C5 prototype. Of course, the SC2 and the Aztec failed to bring $25k (combined), but the 'Vette got $41,800. Another Corvette, an '89 ZR1 made a Convertible by Don Runkle (GM engineer), got an impressive $286,000, probably a record for a close-to-stock GM car from the Eighties. The photo is of the 'Vette (known internally as the DR-1 for the guy's name) and is from corvettes.nl

  Today, in the spirit of actually seeing an old car in the dead winter that seems to have taken a hold on us again, I decided to check out a project that I'd  considered buying. This would be our fourth project we've looked at so far, and none so far had little enough rust to be considered for a first-time restorer like me. We were hoping that this one would be less rusty; a black '61 Rambler American Convertible, less engine. We contacted the owner, who told us where it was. We went to the place, lifted up the tarp, and saw... Another car with disintegrating floors and rot all over. Too bad... hopefully we'll find a project by summer (if it ever comes here). The photos are of the car under the tarp from the back, and the front, which was not covered.

   I just can't believe it. Last night I could see my lawn and everything was looking Spring-like. And then I wake up the next morning to find my lawn looking like early january again! Here's a photo that shows you just how much it snowed last night. this was taken at 6:20 in the morning, and it's just kept snowing throught the day. This can only mean one thing. My hopes of seeing some classics out and about soon have been dashed. It seems mother nature can't figure out what to do with us. One moment, it feels like a Floridian winter, with sweltering (to us Wisconsinites) 50-degree temps, and then we are put in an Alaska type setting. Please make this stop! I'm sick of Cavaliers!

Okay, folks, listen up. This one is so big and mysterious that Tom Cotter tried to track it down and couldn't (if you don't recognize the name, the guy who wrote "The Cobra In The Barn" and "The Hemi In The Barn"). This is so big that the photographer who revealed it was sworn to secrecy. THIS IS THE ULTIMATE BARN FIND. Some person found it on a forum thread that was quickly deleted, but saved these photos that are now all over the internet. Enjoy:

    Where I live, the police office, like many others, thought up the genius idea some time ago that getting a full-size sedan nobody buys, adding lights and antennas, painting it an ugly shade nobody would buy on any car, and cruising at 5mph in a 25mph zone would somehow not shout "Police!". Well, as we all know, this is absolutely stupid reasoning, and it's obvious that a Crown Vic with extra lights, a yellow license plate that says "official" (due to state laws), and just plain obviousness is an "undercover" police car. When I travel, I occasionally see a police office that is smarter than most and puts a big engine in a 90's Dodge, much like a sleeper, and nobody expects it. But there is still one big, ugly problem. That is that these cars sit in the lane in between the sides of the highway reserved for official and emergency vehicles. There is one smart police force I've seen though, and my hat goes off to them (not that I'll be wearing that hat much longer if spring is finally on its way). In Virginia, there is some county that takes rusting Cavaliers and other junk and does the sleeper treatment, but they put them on the shoulder of the highway to look like they've broken down, and nobody expects it, especially when they want to egg the helpless, stuck driver.

    Ever get those e-mails forwarded to you with little jokes and stuff (although these's also one about somebody's giant car collection floating around)? Well, this one makes up for all of those that were spyware or just not funny. I got a forwarded e-mail from someone who likes cars, and it was just amazing. Go to http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/carroll/bal-md.fastcar07feb07,0,2315880.story?page=1 and find out what I mean.

    For a while, I had driven past a blue 1950-ish Chevy Panel Truck that resides next to a barn rusting near where I live. I saw the words NEW Hobby painted on the side, and thought that it meant both the person had a mew hobby and NorthEast Wisconsin. But soon, I found the truth. It was staring me in my face, but I never made the connection until one day I happened to be driving on a street I don't usually venture onto, but has an autoart shop near it. anyways, I noticed a business with a certain name, NEW Hobby Shop! I proptly walked in and noticed that the place was FILLED with model cars, die-casts of every kind, scale, color, and many other things. But one thing that caught my eye was a model of a 1950 Chevy panel truck on the desk. I knew I'd found the right place. The shop also sells models of their retired truck in the form of coin banks, shown in the photo provided by NEW Hobby Shop. I've bought quite a few of my die-casts from them since then, and it just shows that project hunting may lead to unexpected places (in that autoart place I mentioned earlier, I was checking out a cheap buick and chevelle project when I saw the name and adress of the autoart place on a trailer in the back of the property).

We got our first non-frozen rainfall here since November this evening, and man, is it a whopper! I'm thinking we'll have the same flooding as last year, where in some places the water bypassed the 4-foot deep ditch and spilled onto the road. All this sudden rain got me thinking about rust and ways to avoid the abomination:

1: Don't drive in wet weather or during winter. it's the simplest and easiest way to avoid the rust and also lets you get more attention when you DO drive your special car, because people don't see it every day. There used to be a '68 Camaro COPO clone that would drive past me every day, and at first I thought "Cool, a '68 Camaro!", but after a while it got old and lost its novelty (a lot like the Chevy Volt, huh?).

2: If you must go out, do it only for a short time and try to find some cover in a certain parking space, maybe under an overhang of the store's roof. I know it's nice to be able to park your car far away from everyone Else's, but in the rain, no one is going to come up to your car and gawk at it unless it's a Bugatti or they're stealing it (or both).

3: if your special car is also your daily driver, do a little touching up, maybe sand it and coat on some Rust-Eeze every few years. This helps protect against rust and you can apply a new coat of paint to keep it looking good after sanding.

If your car is the kind from the 70's that had door handles that fell off when you took the car for a test drive and were rusty before they left the design room (A.K.A. Pinto and Vega), you're pretty much out of luck. Trade it in for a new ride that doesn't rust out in a day and doesn't blow up when rear-ended (speaking of that, I can only find one genuine video of a pinto rear-ending on Youtube).

P.S. If your car looks like the one in the photo, I genuinely fear for you life with parts flying off and/or disintegrating as you touch them. Get a new car or do a 500k restoration. photo from lh3.ggpht.com

As many of those who know me have seen, I collect model cars like they're worth millions. I've decided to share some photos of a few of these cars with you. I have over 60 cars in my collection, and these are a few.

I have always liked the idea of a sleeper. To quote Hot Rod Magazine, "There's just something cool about an unassuming car that goes fast" But to me, some sleepers don't make the cut. Some have American Racing wheels, a flame job, or other showy I-go-fast parts that take away from the concept of a sleeper. So here's what a sleeper is in my mind and probably yours:

A car that looks completely stock or may be customized (just not in a sort of way that makes it look like it's faster than a stock version), but has tons of power underneath. A sleeper is not a rat rod, it is a clean car that may be a wagon, four-door, or something like an AMC Pacer that is not known for speed at all. Then the basic trend is to drop in a monstrous V8 (though I would go for a V-12, not that I could actually buy one) and other gear that can only be seen when the hood is open or the car disassembled. And then, Viola! Your sleeper is ready to astound.
photo from www.turbomirage.com

This was really a trick question, you see. Most of the details were made to sound like luxury options, but in reality I have vinyl seats with a leather look, a jaw-breaking rattle in my body, and seating for more than 70. I'm a school bus, the kind with no hood and the engine located right by the driver. If I see somebody list bus on the other post after I post this, their comment will be deleted. photo from www.stnonline.com