2015 Mustang starts production at Ford’s Flat Rock Assembly Plant; car to be exported globally for the first time in its 50-year history New Mustang goes on sale this fall in the United States, and in more than 120 countries next year Mustang sets new performance and dynamics benchmarks for the brand with world-class handling, more precise steering control and enhanced ride comfort.
FLAT ROCK, Mich. — Ford began production of the all-new 2015 Mustang on Thursday at its assembly plant here. The first 2015 Mustang off the assembly line was a red GT coupe that has been sold to Texas dealer Sam Pack for $300,000. He is donating the …
As you can see the cabling is pretty extensive – Choke (x2), Clutch, Brake, Accelerator (x2). That includes splitters for the Choke and Accelerator.
When you are a hobbyist, there’s normally a gap between tasks. For instance these photos are from Feb 2014. I’ve made some progress since then (now Aug 2014), but as you’ll see in the next post labeling everything (and videos) help with the assembly.
In this case it is critical, because I have to replace with all new cables made and mixing them up and great a cable that is too long and having too much slack when routing it from the handle bars down to the carbs or transmission of course two short, even a little, would be fatal to the project – short choke cables will keep the bike from starting at all.
Wow where has 2014 gone?! It’s almost Oct!!!! But that’s a good thing here in the southwest, because that means its peak car show season and there “ain’t” nothing better than that!!!
Being a veteran car show participant, both as a spectator and entrant, I attend many hot, dusty car shows in Southern Arizona. But the Tucson Rotary Club’sAnnual Tucson Classics Car Show is a premier car show, in a beautiful setting and…wait for it…wait…it is on “GRASS”!!!!
With over 400 antique, sport, classic and hot rod cars, product and food venders everywhere, it is a day well spent with the family.
If you are entering your pride and joy, these guys know how to run a quality car show! Well organized and professional with lots of classifications. They really cater to the car owner.
Since I’m a Corvette lover, I really like that the Tucson Rotary Club is, again, giving away a beautiful Corvette! I never miss a chance to win a Corvette.
Oh!!! All the proceeds support local charities, like the St. Joseph’s Neonatal Unit, among others.
Here a peek at this beauty:
Win this 2003 C5 Corvette Convertible!!!
For more information on the rules for the give-a-way and the car show navigate over to WWW.ROTARYTCC.COM and you can purchase your tickets for a chance to with this beautiful 2003 C5 Convertible (and other prizes) and enter your vehicle.
I did drive the Renault sport in Italy last year and I’d have to say it was a blast!
100% Fun to Drive
SEAT Leon Cupra 265
The value option of the VW group’s bulging array of hot hatches. A point rammed home by the option of a 276bhp version (until recently a Nürburging record holder), which, at £27,210, could technically slot into fourth in this list. £25,690, 261bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the SEAT Leon Cupra
Renaultsport Megane 265
If a comfortable ride and the option of a paddleshift gearbox aren’t important to you, this is the hot hatch of choice. Aggressive front differential makes it exciting enough for you to wonder why you’d want rear-wheel drive. And the new Trophy-R version nicked the Leon’s Nordschleife bragging rights. £26,930, 261bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the Renaultsport Megane 265
Nissan 370Z
A proper, six-cylinder, rear-drive sports car for £85 more than a tarted up Renault Megane looks like the bargain of the century. And indeed, the Zed is a fun old thing. But the key word is probably ‘old’… £27,015, 326bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the Nissan 370Z
Vauxhall Astra VXR
Like the Megane 265, a mechanical diff on the front axle endows the go-faster Astra with some properly engaging dynamics, though this is a blunter instrument than its French rival. Approaching 300bhp through the front wheels ensures torque steer aplenty. £27,270, 276bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the Vauxhall Astra VXR
Subaru WRX STI
It’s a particularly old school way to get hold of a shed-load of power for not a lot of money, but there’s plenty to like here: stocky manual gearbox, rally kudos, simply enormous rear spoiler. Its heinous thirst betrays its £-per-bhp honours somewhat. £28,995, 296bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the Subaru WRX STI
VW Golf R
The finest all-round hot hatch on sale also offers a very healthy amount of power and premium loveliness for its sub-£30k price tag. Hugely fun four-wheel-drive system results in a better modern-day take on the rally-rep Impreza than Subaru’s own WRX STI. £29,900, 296bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the VW Golf R
Audi S3
Same engine as the Golf R, but Audi will take an extra £745 off you for demanding your German hot hatch has four rings on its front grille. Not quite as fun to drive as its VW relative, but it’s still the best S3 yet. £30,645, 296bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the Audi S3
BMW M135i
The S3’s closest rival, and a car which delivers an extra 20bhp, priced at an entirely reasonable £10 each. The Beemer is also more entertaining, owing to its rear-wheel-drive chassis and sonorous six-cylinder engine. £30,845, 316bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the BMW M135i
Volvo V40 T5
The least fun car in our top ten, the Volvo V40 is undoubtedly rather sensible in this company. But it’s a very pleasant thing, nonetheless. Its characterful five-cylinder engine is nearly ruined by a dim-witted automatic gearbox, though. £31,900, 254bhp
Read Top Gear’s verdict on the Volvo V40
Peugeot RCZ R
Further proof of Peugeot’s return to form. The RCZ R is not only ludicrously powerful for a car with a 1.6-litre engine, it will also oversteer like a exuberantly driven 205 GTI if you want it to. Who needs a TT? £31,995, 266bhp
This is a fantastic car. Follow the link below on Street Legal TV.
1964 Monster Tempest
Many of the people we come across tell us they’ve had their car for a long time, and that time frame is just barely into double digits. But Paul Minore from Orange, Connecticut, has surpassed many of those people three-fold. His 1964 Pontiac LeMans was purchased right out of high school and has been in his possession for 32 years now. It wasn’t new at the time, with some 18 years under its belt already, but he had plans for it.PM-Tempest09While most people know the musclecar-era LeMans as an A-body, it began as the Y-body Tempest, a sub-compact car that was shared with Buick and Oldsmobile in the early 1960s. Pontiac’s designer du jor from that decade was none other than John DeLorean, who had a hand in making the early Tempest a bit more unique than its Buick and Olds cousins.
2) The tail lights and rear trim are from a 1964 Tempest Custom. 3) The paint code says the original paint was Alamo Beige (however Sunfire was available in 1964) 4) The trim code says it was originally a saddle interior.
A few years back I pick up a 1984 Corvette…my first Corvette ever and it was my daily driver. I did a lot of work on it and it brought home two trophies best in class.
While looking for display items for a car show set up (brochures and the like) I ran across what the dealer ships called “Promo Cars” These were basically scale model (1/24 or smaller scale) cars given out to promote the car that year. They were plastic and normally no movable parts (doors, hoods, trunks didn’t open), most had rubber tires that turned and a detailed interior. So I picked up a couple for my ’84 Vette along with the boxes, in fact two of them were ‘red’ that matched my car color. Eventually I sold the C4 and purchased the my C6.
1984 C4
2007 C6
Just recently I ran a cross a batch of promo cars and realized that there were a lot of car manufacturers that produced these back in the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s. I thought they’d make a good addition to my current collection.
They all varied in quality and detail especially when a 1960 model is compared to a 1980’s model. I recently ran across a promo car for the 1961 Thunderbird and I purchased it for $10.00.
1961 Thunder Bird
Some Nice Detail
Door don’t open but detailed interior
Rubber tires with White Walls
Nice detail there
Not great quality looking at the front scoop
The really interesting view is of the bottom of the model.
Pretty Good Detail of the undercarriage.
What’s up with all the text? They promote the options for this model year!!!! Very cool! Let’s take a closer look.
On Tank it states “Thunderbird…unique in all the world” Hey…”Triple Life Aluminized” Mufflers
unmistakably New – Not a Hair Wider unmistakably Thunder Bird – not 1/10 longer
Notice that is has “Special Three-Phase Rust Prevention Treatment”. Sports a “Cruise-o-Matic Drive, Power Steering and Self Adjusting Brakes – All Standard Equipment”
“Welded, Integral Body and Frame for Quietness and Strength” “New Wing-Away Steering Wheel (Optional)” (BTW that actually function on the promo model – you can push the steering wheel to the side.
“Wider Tread” on the axle
Gas tanks reads “New 12,000 or 1 Year Warranty
“New Thunderbird 390 Special V8”
Oil pan says “4000 Miles Oil Service Changes”
The seats are two-tone and the steering wheel swings to the side.
You can notice that the tires are rubber, the wheels are plastic and they are on metal rods.
With most disputes over the ownership of the former Packard plant on East Grand Boulevard in Detroit resolved, the new owner of the plant told the Detroit Free Press this week that he intends to begin cleanup soon and eventually restore some of the plant with the help of Albert Kahn Associates, the firm named for the man who designed the plant in 1903.Though Peruvian developer Fernando Palazuelo paid $405,000 for the 40-acre factory complex – vacated by Packard in 1956 – at a Wayne County foreclosure auction in December, he’s since had to clear a few hurdles to begin work on the deteriorating and vandalized buildings.First, in March, the former owner of the plant, Dominic Cristini – whose failure to pay about $1 million in back taxes led to the foreclosure of the factory – stepped forward to claim that he and a number of investors who backed him still held an interest in the factory worth $3.5 million. Though Palazuelo then described the claim as “typical blackmail,” he told the Free Press that he reached a deal with Cristini last month, and that he probably didn’t have the clear title to the plant that he previously thought he had.Then, earlier this summer, a number of Detroit news sources reported that Palazuelo owed the county more than $92,000 in delinquent taxes. At the time Palazuelo said that he believed his lawyers had taken care of the back taxes, but the Detroit Free Press noted that he only paid the county those back taxes after he resolved the dispute with Cristini.That leaves just one last hurdle, a dispute over a 4.5-acre parcel within the Packard plant complex that includes half of the much-photographed pedestrian bridge crossing East Grand Boulevard and that was not included in the county foreclosure auction. Palazuelo is reportedly working with the city to resolve that claim.
I’m a GM fan. Have been since I was a kid and currently drive a C6 Corvette as my daily. I’m also a manual transmission guy so automatic transmission really aren’t a preferred option. Of course the new Corvettes has paddel-shifting which is state of the art, but what do I do with my left leg???!!!!
DETROIT – The all-new, GM-developed Hydra-Matic 8L90 paddle-shift eight-speed automatic transmission offered in the 2015 Corvette Stingray and Z06 enhances performance and efficiency, while delivering exceptional refinement and world-class shift responsiveness that rivals the world’s best dual-clutch transmissions.
In fact, in the 2015 Corvette Stingray, it enables a class-leading 29-mpg EPA highway estimate – a 3.5-percent increase in fuel economy over the previous six-speed automatic – and a quicker 0-60 time of 3.7 seconds, all while delivering wide-open-throttle upshifts quicker than those of the dual-clutch transmission offered in the Porsche 911.
“GM’s new 8L90 eight-speed automatic represents a rare win-win-win scenario for customers,” said Kavoos Kaveh, global chief engineer for eight-speed automatic transmissions. “It offers greater performance and efficiency, while weighing less than the transmission it replaces. That’s a rare accomplishment in the industry today – and one for which GM has been awarded more than two dozen patents.”
The GM-developed Hydra-Matic 8L90 eight-speed is approximately the same size and weight as the Hydra-Matic 6L80 six-speed automatic. Its 7.0 overall gear ratio spread is wider than GM’s six-speed automatic transmissions, providing a numerically higher …
I haven’t done a “Wrecked” piece in a while. These are fun articles to do. They include some history and specs for the highlighted car and a look at one that has quality parts still available.
You can find this featured car over on www.Parting Out.com. They have a unique system that pulls together quality used parts from all over Texas and U.S.
In 1972 the Mercury Cougar (rich cousin to the Mustang) took a different path from is roots as a classy coupe and began the move to the luxury side of the auto market.
By 1972 the Cougar series to flavors the Cougar and the Cougar XR-7. Body styles were 2 door hard top Coupe and 2 door convertible for both the versions. If you say “…hmmm I don’t recall seeing a convertible!” There’s a good reason for that. In 1972 only 1,240 Cougar verts were produced and only 1,929 for the XR-7.
Engine for the 1972 was the Ford work-horse power plant, the 351. It had a cast iron block, overhead valves, bore and stroke 4.00″X3.50″. Compression ratio was a low-ish 8.5:1 and topped with a two barrel carb it was able to knock out 163HP.
There isn’t anything that great to see is a donor car like this one:
Lot of parts on this car. Hard to find glass and any of the light lenses.
Good fenders and doors and intact rocker molding – a huge plus
Here is the best part. Rear bumper..will need re-chroming but the taillight lenses took to be in good shape!!
1971 429 XR-7 on E-Bay. A bit tired but has some nice options. http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Mercu…item4ac46cf6e3. 1972 Cougar,XR-7. My Cougar 2003 Focus SVT My SVT …
Fiat Chrysler unveiled the 2015 Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat on Wednesday. Like its Challenger sibling, the Hellcat Charger is being positioned as an extreme high-performance car that is also a practical daily driver. Source: Fiat Chrysler. To the …
