It seems that car culture here in Arizona is everywhere. (Or is it just me?) I always have my eye peeled for cool cars and car artifacts, I’m sure my wife thinks I need therapy, sometimes they pop up in surprising places.
In a recent trip to the cool Southern Arizona town of Bisbee – which is right next door to Lowell, AZ (check out my post – click – Road Tripping – Cars – Lowell, Az. we ran across something unique.
Bisbee is a mining town build, mostly, on the side of a mountain. One of its main attractions are the many stairs that you can climb to reach different street levels.
So many stairs that they hold the Bisbee 1000 – The Great Stair Climb annually an it’s a big deal!!
Stairs!!!
Well the stairs we claimed only number 181 and well.. they are pretty steep. As we climbed I had to stop twice…to view the follow….not because I was winded…much!!!
Road Tripping – Cars – Lowell, Az – The Lost Blog Posts http:/. Save … Downtown Lowell, Az Road Tripping – Cars – Lowell, Az – Part I http://wp.me/p2YxYx-1A1 …
I haven’t written a Parking Lot Spotlight (#ParkingLotSpotlight) in a while, but this beautiful Bonneville was worth breaking the dry spell for.
Spotted this beauty just today as I had to run back to the grocery store because there are days, although armed with a list, things just don’t make in the shopping cart. This particular return trip paid off.
The ’67 Pontiac lineup these days are pretty much dominated, at least in the collector world, by the Firebird, GTO, Tempest, LaMans, Gran Prix but I love the other two door offerings you could find in the showrooms. These include some awesome cars with long, low lines, roomy interiors and massive trunks. They came in hard and soft tops as well. Some of those sported model names like Executive series which in NO-WAY looked like a stuffy exec car. These were muscular and sporting. Cars like the Catalina 2+2 with (eight lug wheels) and the Pontiac Executive are exceptional looking cars and powered with V8s and 4bbl carbs.
I have always coveted the Bonneville models of the mid-1960, they remind me of my first car, 1966 Impala. Same long lines and big interiors and I loved the dash and instrument setup.
So check out this beauty:
Great looking paint – not original but beautiful
These are the lines I’m talking about. Long and low….AWESOME.
HUGE trunk!!! Love those inset taillights and how the bumper is incorporated into the design of the rear end.
Long and sleek belt lines and the white-painted top does this car justice!!
Over/Under headlights with the bottom set incorporated in to a beautiful distinctive chrome bumper. (One drawback of having to manage a good pic in a crowded parking lot – I couldn’t get the perfect front end shot.)
That year the Bonneville came in a 2 door hard top like this beauty as well as 4 door sedan, 2 door convertible and even a station wagon. Engines available were the 230 CID in various configurations as well as the 326 CID and the 400 CID engine and the 428 CID all as options. Sychromesh or Turbo-Hydromatic transmission were available. There were 96,708 passenger Bonnevilles produced. Of interest was that 483 Bonnevilles were sold to car converters and at least one of those turned up as the car that the fictitious (at the time) band the “Monkees” tooled around on the television show of the same name. Oh, you might have heard of the guy that bought at least one of the Bonnevilles and turned it into the this cool car – George Barris!!
MonkeeMobile
According to the for sales sign this Bonneville is powered by the 400 CID topped with a 4bbl carb which would put this between 333 HP and 350 HP. The transmission is the 400 Turbo-Hydromatic.
I love the interior of this factory air car!!!
Love the linear gauges!! Is that a factory 8 Track!?!?!!! Come on that is SO COOL!!!! Options list I found doesn’t show this as an option.
Cloth seats and look at all the room!!! Love the large center speaker and it has the front bench seats with the pull down arm rest. It looks as it should!!!
Of course I’m at the grocery store and no time to hang around and wait for the owner to show up.
As a side note I don’t know this car nor the owner.
Here are your Auto Factoid for this last week of August 2016.
Aug 29 1898 Goodyear Tire & Rubber incorporated – With a capital stock of $100,000 and 13 employees, they began November 21, 1898, with a product line of bicycle and carriage tires, horseshoe pads, and poker chips.
First Goodyear Factory
Aug 29 1876 Charles Kettering Born Dayton, Ohio 1876 – Kettering founded Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (Delco) (which started in a barn) and later became head of research for GM (1920-1947)
Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company, or Delco.
Sept 2 1893 Frank Duryea car driven – it wasn’t much just the typical ‘run-a-bout’ and I think kudos goes to Frank’s brother Charles as well
1994 Duryea
Sept 3 1895 Duryea Motor Co. incorporates – Almost two years to the very day of the first drive, Duryea Motor Co. becomes a reality. They produced some beautiful cars like:
This is the Model C Touring car. Production continued until 1927.
Sept 3 1875 Ferdinand Porsche born Mafferdorf, Bohemia – You may have heard of Freddy (as his Mom called him) Porsche, if not you know his cars:
It was a 3 act comedy and had 344… View On WordPress. Tagged: AutoFactoids Auto HistoryAuto RestorationAutoBlog · 21st August 2016 · Video with 1 note …
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for the first week in Feb. 2015!!! I think we can call this Kaiser Week as 3 of our factoid are related to the Kaiser auto manufacturing. In fact the month starts right off with Kaiser factoid. Feb 1, 1947 – Graham-Paige sold out to Kaiser. …
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) to finish out March and kick off April 2015. March 29, 1980 – Audi introduced their all wheel drive 1980 Quattro – Not a bad-looking car at that!!! Here are some specs for the Quattro: Engine 2.1 L I5 SOHC 10v Transmission 5-speed manual Dimensions Wheelbase 99.4 …
Here are your Auto Factoids (#AutoFactoids) for last full week of April 2015. April 22, 1954 – Nash and Hudson merge to from AMC When does this: Nash Rambler PLUS THIS: ’53 Hudson Hornet EQUAL THIS? : Javlin Well that’s the equation formed when Nash merged with Hudson and produced AMC. AMC (American Motor Corp) …
Time to celebrate!!! The 351 Cleveland is out of #ProjectSportsRoof.
Yeah…I know!! It seemed like to took forever!!! Seems longer since I haven’t driven it in months.
Now if you missed the last post and you are expecting to see a video of the engine coming out, that’s just not going to happen. Here’s a recap of just why there’s no video.
I had made arrangements with my neighbor Dan (Dan did the welding on the floor panels for me) for a Friday he had off to pull the engine. I was going to “work” from home that day and we’d carry out the task in the morning – it’s pretty hot here in Southern Arizona this time of year. Well, I had an issue at work and I had to run in for what I hoped would be only a few minutes – it took until noon.
By then, it was over 100 degrees and when I pulled into my driveway Dan was outside working on one of his projects. After apologizing I changed in to some grubby clothes real quick and we got to work. By then it was about 106 degrees out and of course we are doing this outside. We should have been done by time we actually started and Dan’s adorable twins we hoping to make it the pool before their Dad had to head off to work for the evening.
I mention this all because I’m setting up you for the disappointment, (there is nothing more exciting than getting the engine out – well maybe putting a new one in, it’s a milestone worth capturing on video). Given the above circumstances, I felt it very unfair to ask Dan and the twins to hang out while I stopped to talk you all and then perform a task and then record. So I have no shots or video of pulling the engine out.
351C finally on the stand!
It was an effort but here it is:
And there you have it. #ProjectSportsRoof gave up its 351c power plant and boy does it need an overhaul!!
So keep checking back here (www.agcarrestoration.com) and watch it all unfold!
Thanks for read and drop me a note, love hearing back from readers.
http://wp.me/p2YxYx-4V. Tagged: projectsportsroof … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be …
Jul 31, 2016 … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof,with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be pulled from the engine bay In this …
2 days ago … Tagged: projectsportsroof … We are moving right along on #ProjectSportsRoof, with the 351 Cleveland rebuilt. Still getting it ready to be …
Well win some and you lose some. If you’ve seen my other posts related the replacement of the points and condenser for the 351C you’ll notice that I gave conversion high marks. This was all based on the years of use I got out of the conversion I did on …
I’ve done all the clean up and all the adjustments necessary to get a good reading on the health of the ’72 351C engine in my 1973 Mustang. The next step is to check the compression. First up was to warm the car a bit and then pull the plugs. Here’s what the …
This is the wrap up on the compression testing for the 1973 Mustang w/ a 1972 351 Cleveland power plant. You’ll might have notices that I referred to the remote tester, which is my code for remote starter…yeah…that’s it!!! All of these tests were dry test and I should have done a …
Thanks for check in on #ProjectSportsRoof. If you remember a of couple months back, shortly after bringing the ’73 Mustang home, I conducted a compression test on all the cylinders. The 351C was running rough (to put it mildly) and smoked like a pile of tires on fire (only the smoke …
Mustang lovers check this out. There is place in El Mirage, AZ called Marti Auto Works. They own the rights to the Ford databases and records prior to 1974 (some models up to 1989). These guys have everything..I mean everything. Give them the VIN number and they’ll pile on the data (it’s not free but very reasonable). They are authorized by Ford to reproduce window stickers and Protector Plates (identification plates that go on the inside door jamb) and more.
If you have a classic Mustang you’ve got to get this report. I thought I’d share mine with the readers. The link below is to the .pdf and here is an image.
Whether you are just interested in the car history or doing an original restore this report comes in very handy. It’s pretty cool to see when it was ordered and build and all the original options are there to match.
The Statistics section – so cool!!! This section lets you know where your car ranks compare to those produce that year. As you can see above #ProjectSportsRoof is o1 of 76 with that paint and trim coat. If nothing else it bragging rights and in some small way this may add to the value of the car, but that’s tough to measure.
The list of items in the Door Data Plate Info, helps you determine how original your might be. For example you can see that my 73 Mustang left the factory with 302 and if you’ve followed my posts on #ProjectSportsRoof you’ll know it now sports a 351C V2 date coded 1972 and a C4 transmission but now it has a date code 1972 C6.
Visit the Marti report site and see what they offer.
Thanks for picking backup with blogging of the work done on the 1973 Mustang Sports Roof (#ProjectSportsRoof).
The floors are done and the heat and sound barrier are completed and it’s time for the carpet.
I’ve seen some pretty awful quality carpet for cars and I’ve had friends that attempted to use the one piece kits with not great success. I chose to go with ACC Carpet 2 piece set. Because my car was ordered special ordered with the Mach I Interior I went with their “Original Style Molded Fastback Mach I for 1971-1973” (CJ’s Part Number MC9-V). It is really well-formed and pre-cut for steering column and even dimmer switch.
The pieces come folded in a box and needs to be laid out flat for a while before installing. Luckily I live in Arizona and the sun makes quick work for that.
Here are the two pieces laid out on the hood of #ProjectSportsRoof.
This image shows the pre-cuts and forming in the front piece. ‘A’ is the cutout for the steering Column, ‘B’ is the quality built-in vinyl floor mat, ‘C’ is the cutout for the dimmer switch and ‘D’ is the very well-formed door jamb and finally ‘E’ is the transmission tunnel formed part.
Here’s a pick of how it just lays there and conforms to the floor.
Now check out the full shot with the front sections in place and the shift bezel in place. Looks pretty good, yes?
At point ‘A’ you can see the contour of the floor mat portions of the carpet piece. ‘B’ is the hole with the seat mounting stud protruding (you have to cut that) and both ‘C’ locations show just a simple X cut to allow the seat bolts to slip through.
This last still shot is with the rear pieces laid out.
You can see the forming in the carpet where the rear mount of the front set lays. The circle is where I had to cut to allow the bolt to slide in.
Here is little video.
I’m very please with this carpet. As of this blogging I haven’t finished trimming it. In real-time it’s been a few months. I had to put the seats back in and get it to a charity car show. Before I had a chance to get back to carpet, the Cleveland developed a bottom end knock and that’s were we are today. I can finish up more interior work while the engine is out.
The 351C rebuild is coming up next for #ProjectSportsRoof.
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. With the floor pans welding, sealing and coating finished the next step was to apply the heat and sound barrier. This is …
Ferrari ownership and postwar royalty seem to go hand-in-hand, especially one offs. This 1955 375 Plus Cabriolet is a one-off specialty car built for the ex-King Leopold III of Belgium, and is a mix of the older engineering that put Ferrari on the map in the early Fifties and newer styling features that would later […]
As I work on getting more restoration work on #ProjectSportsRoof I thought I’d share a couple of Mustang things that popped up.
There are a number of reasons I love Ford products, in particular Mustangs. One of those is the fact that it didn’t need the bailout money a few years back, choosing to tough it out and some of the innovative/purposeful special purpose options.
I recently received my Ford Mustang ‘Go Further’ brochure. I’m not including the 310 hp they are dragging out of the 2.3L EcoBoost (I’ve often said “I don’t want anything on my dash that says Eco!!!!” but wow to the 320 lb-ft of torque. Don’t even think bout the 435 hp and 400 lbs-ft of torque from the 5.0L in the GT…come on!!!! I can do with out the heated and cooled seat…meh… However, the Track Apps, MagneRide and launch control are bomb.
The most #awesome purpose built is the Electronic Line-Lock!!!! Come on…that’s what every weekend racing warrior (and spirited every day driving!!) wants a car manufacture to be thinking about!!! The Electronic Line-Lock keeps the front brakes locked while you ‘warm up’ the Mustang’s rear tires….come on I don’t have that in my Corvette!!! But maybe I can figure it out for my 1973 ‘Stang.
It looks something like this…exactly like this:
Here’s a great little destination (after you warmed up the tires). Located at the corner of “No Where” (Hwy 90) and “U’r Lost” (Hwy 82) is this little place called Mustang Crossing.
Great place for a 1973 Mustang photo shoot!!!
Thanks for stopping by. More coming up on #ProjectSportsRoof.
Welcome back to #ProjectSportsRoof. I run my car projects much like I run my IT projects. You always have to know where to start and know the end game. As with any project that isn’t being built from scratch, in other word, you have to work with what you’ve got, …
