Author Archives: Tim Sweet

Mallett Hammer Corvette – National Corvette Museum

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Update from the National Corvette Museum:
In less than a week, the 1.5 Millionth Corvette has gone from location unknown to being dug out from the depths of the sinkhole… regaining its status as a display car in the National Corvette Museum on Thursday.
While methods of probing the mounds of dirt in the sinkhole and the use of metal detectors were

unsuccessful in finding the milestone Corvette, it was the retrieval process of the Spyder that yielded signs of the first of the two missing cars.  “We had no idea where it was, we just happened upon it,” Mike Murphy, CEO of Scott, Murphy and Daniel Construction said.

Upon the removal of the Spyder, the team began working to free the 1.5 Millionth.  Initial attempts to pull the car free were to no avail as a large rock appeared to be wedging the rear of the car in the dirt.
“Originally, we thought we had to remove the boulder itself to free the vehicle,” said Zach Massey, Project Manager with Scott, Murphy and Daniel Construction, “But we were able to free the 1.5 without addressing the boulder as it turned out it was not directly resting on the car, which was a great advantage to us.”
Wednesday afternoon the team was able to successfully free the car, with final removal from the sinkhole taking place Thursday morning.  “While the car appears to be in really rough condition, most of the major components are still there and provides a great base to work off of,” said Adam Boca of the NCM Insurance Agency and a member of the Museum’s Display Committee.
The National Corvette Museum was given the opportunity to purchase the milestone car brand new to preserve its place in history.  It was built in Bowling Green, KY on May 28, 2009 and is a white convertible with red interior, a small nod to the first 300 Corvettes built in 1953 in Flint, MI – all being white convertibles with red interiors.  The 1.5 Millionth is fully loaded with the 3LT Preferred Equipment Group, Z51 Performance Package, Dual Mode Performance Exhaust, Navigation, 6-Speed Automatic Transmission with Paddle Shift and has a 6.2L V8 engine boasting 430 hp.
The final Corvette to be removed is the 2001 Z06 with Mallett Hammer conversion. “The rest of the day will be spent probing and excavating the area to find any signs of the Mallett Hammer,” said Murphy.
mallett hammer corvettemallett hammer corvettemallett hammer corvette
Thanks for reading.
Tim

1.5 Millionth Corvette – Back on the Surface

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Then there was one.

 

Flatbed15mil

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

1,500,000th Corvette 4/2/2014 – C6 Convertible

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I watched part of the day (stupid budget meeting!!! Cry)  as they dug around the 1.5 millionth Corvette.Currently it is lays at the bottom of the of the sink hole.

 

1.5 Millionth C6

1.5 Millionth C6

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One of the best looking Vette paint scheme wise.

One of the best looking Vette paint scheme wise.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Enough said.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Corvette Museum Update 4/2/2014 – Spyder’s Hood

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National Corvette Museum
Liked · 7 mins

The Spyder hood has been found! Thanks Timmy with SMD for taking this pic. They also found a badge that had come off the car that was also autographed.

That's Great!!! Look at all the signatures....HEY...LET'S NOT RESTORE THIS HOOD!!!!

That’s Great!!! Look at all the signatures….HEY…LET’S NOT RESTORE THIS HOOD!!!!

 

Update from the Construction Managment company, Scott Murphy and Daniel from yesterday afternoon: We are continuing to carefully excavate around the 1.5M Vette. With the limited space, heavy rock boulders, and its position with the…See More
Thanks to this guy and all the workers. NICELY DONE!!! Can't wait for the beautiful 1.5 to surface!!!

Thanks to this guy and all the workers. NICELY DONE!!! Can’t wait for the beautiful 1.5 to surface!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1.5 Millionth Corvette Pre-Sinkhole

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If you’ve never been to the National Corvette Museum, you should put that on your bucket list.  If you are a car gal/guy  you’ll love it, even more so, if you own or previously owned a corvette.

Here are my pictures I took of the 1, 500,000th Corvette on one of my trips to the NCM.

Details

Details

 

One of the best looking Vette paint scheme wise.

One of the best looking Vette paint scheme wise.

Awesome look!!!

Awesome look!!!

IMG_7165

I actually thought about getting a decal for my C6 with the number on it!!

 

 

Current location of the 1.5 Mil Corvette

Current location of the 1.5 Mil Corvette Sad to see it here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading.  Drop me your comments.
Tim

National Corvette Museum Sinkhole Update 4/1/2014 – Spyder and 1.5 Mil

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From what I can see at this time the 1.5 millionth car is being uncovered as it was laying beneath the Spyder.  Here is an update from NCM:
“When we started digging around the Black Spyder, we found a piece of white fiberglass underneath it and we continued to expose that until we saw that it was the 1.5 Millionth car,” said Mike Murphy, CEO of Scott, Murphy and Daniel Construction. “We had no idea where it was, we just happened upon it. We hope when we move the white car we find the red car that way, because we’ve just not had any luck detecting where it is.” Murphy indicated that they have utilized metal detectors as well as probing rods, and that they remove layers of dirt as they probe but have not had a lot of luck so far.

On Monday, the team worked to continue removing dirt from around the Spyder, then in the early evening decided to carefully pull the car out of the remaining dirt.

“It was free everywhere except underneath there was a concrete slab wedged. We felt we had it in the best position, just like pulling a gun out of a holster. Everyone felt like it was best to take it so it wouldn’t bend and break if we’d had it exposed more,” Murphy said.

The team resumed recovery efforts early Tuesday morning, removing a large boulder that was lodged in the cabin of the Spyder and collecting bits and pieces of the car to help with any restoration or preservation efforts. The Spyder was removed from the depths of the hole around 9am CT, and is in worse shape than even the PPG Pace Car.

ZR1Spyder - The only ZR1 covertible...EVER!!!

ZR1Spyder – The only ZR1 convertible…EVER!!!

ZR1Spyder-1.5

ZR1 Spyder and the location of the 1.5 Mil

 

 

Current location of the 1.5 Mil Corvette

Current location of the 1.5 Mil Corvette

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

 

Auto Factoids for Week of March 30, 2014

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Here is your weekly Auto Factoids for 3/30/2014.

 

April Fool’s Day back in 1964 the Plymouth Barracuda was introduced.

1964 Barracuda

1964 Barracuda

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The base price for a ’64 ‘Cuda was about $2,500.   The platform was the Valiant A-Body.  The engine choices were between two variations of the Chrysler I6 (slant 6), either the 170 (2.8L) rated at 101 hp or the 255 (3.7L) with 140 hp.  You could also get a V8, that was the 273 (4.5L) and with a two barrel carb it produced 180 hp.

 

Lot of Color Options!!!!

Lot of Color Options!!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Same date back in 1970 the AMC proudly  debuted what was perhaps the homeliest car of the era – the Gremlin.

1970 Gremlin. Fastback or 'no back"

1970 Gremlin. Fastback or ‘no back”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Again on April 1st, what was a innovated car for its time the Amphicar in 1961 was all car and part boat, was introduced.  These babies are sought after aggressively.

Love the fins!!!

Love the fins!!!

Engine - 1147 cc straight-4 (Triumph)

Engine – 1147 cc straight-4 (Triumph)

The Quandt Group made only 4000 between '61-'68

The Quandt Group made only 4000 between ’61-’68

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Happy Birthday to Walter P. Chrysler who was born in 1875, on April 2nd.  Wonder what he would have to say about government bailouts and Fiat?

Walter Chrysler

Walter Chrysler

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regular production began of air-filled tires by Firestone on April 5, 1923.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

National Corvette Museum Sinkhole Update 3/31/2014

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Look as though they will be attempting to pull out the Corvette Spider from the Sinkhole.

 

 

Digging out the Spider

Digging out the Spider

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The car was secured with straps attached to the other crane.  They attempted to pull it out, but still too much dirt on the car.

Shoveling it off with the huge shovel/backhole.

 

Stay tuned for more updates.

Tim

 

 

 

Auto Factoids for Week of March 23, 2014

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Here are your Auto Factoids for the week.

Back in 1863 Mr. Henry Royce was born in Alwalton, England on March 27th.

 

Mr. Royce

Mr. Royce

The Royce 10

The Royce 10

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Royce 10 was a 10 horse powered car.  It was produced at the Trafford Park, Manchester plant in 1904 and sold fro 395 British pounds.  You could a variety of ‘power plants’ for this first offering.  Those included 15, 20 and 30 hp models.  (They were named the Royce 15, Royce 20 and Royce 30.

 

On March 29, 1980 Audi debuts the first all wheel drive (4 WD) Quattro.

1980 Quattro - Not a bad looking car at that!!!

1980 Quattro – Not a bad looking car at that!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

If you’d like to sponsor an Auto Factoid drop me a note and your ad appear weekly.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 vs. Porsche 911 Turbo S vs. Nissan GT-R Comparison – Motor Trend

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Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 vs. Porsche 911 Turbo S vs. Nissan GT-R Comparison – Motor Trend.

So let’s see the Camaro got spanked at the drag strip.  I get it.  It wasn’t designed for straight stretch racing, so what’s the point Motor Trend?  Why not take a Prius and run it against the Lotus?  Oh….what?  The Prius isn’t a race car?  Huh…go figure!!

But I will say it wasn’t too shabby on the strip!!  The Z/28 ran 0-60 mph in 4.0 seconds and the quarter mile in 12.3 seconds at 117.2 mph.   But it couldn’t compete with 2.7 to to 60 and 11 second @ 125 MPH (GTR) nor 2.6/10.9@ 123 MPH (911)

The Z28 and some other cars.

The Z28 and some other cars.

If you read further they complained about “racing’ tire peformance…wait for it….in 290 temps.  Seriously…read it yourself, it’s right there!!

I autocross my C6 here in beautiful…and HOT Arizona and you have to have meat that sticks (tires).  I don’t plan on taking the car up to the mountains and have it hang on to corners in the snow… much less  below freezing temps with the tires meant for track duty.

I agree with the conclusion that the Z/28 is “… a race car for the street. It’s got Recaro buckets, Pankl connecting rods, Mahle pistons, Brembo carbon-ceramic brakes (co-developed and shared with the upcoming Z06), and Multimatic dynamic spool valve shocks. But it’s not just a name-brand collection of parts, and the Z/28 is no tuner. It stands as one of absolutely the best track-focused cars in the world.”…..except that last part – I say  it was 2nd best next to the Corvette.

 

While I love the nostalgia that comes to mind when I see this Camaro and the Z/28 badging, I don’t think I’d spend $75K on it.  I just jump up to the  C7 Corvette Sting Ray and be done with it.

What about you?

Thanks for reading.

Tim

z28 camaro