Category Archives: Classic Cars

Leilani Münter “Life is short. Race hard. Live green.”

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You are going to like this story.  I’m as green as a guy that believes dead dinosaurs  are for burning (fossil fuel…get it?), but I do recycle including oil.  Here is something I can get behind as well.

Leilani Münter “Life is short. Race hard. Live green.”.

Race Car Driver and Eco-Activist Leilani Münter is Getting in Gear to Take “The Cove” Movie to the High Banks of Daytona
Activist Raising Funds For A “The Cove” Themed Race Car to Help Raise More Mainstream Awareness of Dolphin Captivity and Slaughter

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Daytona Beach, Florida (Jan 3, 2012) Leilani Münter, race car driver and passionate environmentalist, is bearing down on her goal of driving a “The Cove” themed race car at Daytona International Speedway, arguably one of the most famous race car tracks in the world. The ARCA race at Daytona is February 18 and will air live on SPEED television, which is available in 79 million homes. This will be the first ever ocean awareness themed race car to race the high banks of Daytona. Münter is seeking corporate and philanthropic donations for the remaining funds required, which is $30,000. Leilani has already raised $15,000 in donations prior to this story. To make a tax deductible donation, please visit opsociety.org/securedonation.htm and be sure to write “For Daytona” in the notes.The Academy-Award winning documentary “The Cove” exposes the annual slaughter of thousands of dolphins in a small cove in Taiji, Japan. It also exposed the undeniable connection between dolphin parks and dolphin captivity, and the largest slaughter of dolphins in the world.

“The Cove forever changed me. I know race fans will respond to it, they just need to know about it,” said Münter. “The race falls on my birthday, and my greatest wish is to end the slaughter and the ongoing abuse of these beautiful ocean creatures.”

This campaign in designed to educate and engage 75 million race fans in the United States. Director of “The Cove” Louie Psihoyos has committed to giving away 1000 DVDs of “The Cove” at the race, and in addition, will be in attendance for the race alongside dolphin activist Ric O’Barry autographing DVDs of the film. People donating $50 or more will be entered into a raffle to win two pit passes for the Daytona race and two other lucky fans will win two garage passes each. Münter will be wearing a helmet painted for “The Cove” during the race, which will then be auctioned off with all the proceeds going to Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project to continue the fight on the ground in Taiji. To donate to “The Cove’s” awareness campaign at Daytona, click here and be sure to write “For Daytona” in the notes.

Münter is a biology graduate turned race car driver and environmental activist who adopts an acre of rainforest for every race she runs and promotes only environmentally conscious companies on her race car. Since seeing the film, she has traveled three times to Taiji, Japan to document the slaughter first hand and has organized several screenings of the film. Most recently, she spearheaded a campaign to turn the lights of the Empire State Building red to raise awareness.

At Münter’s last race at Daytona, she was driving the first ever 100% eco sponsored race car, with six environmental companies coming together to get her car on the track. The race was watched by 2.4 million people live on SPEED television and 100,000 people were watching the race trackside. The media exposure she received included the front page of the sports section of the New York Times.

“The Cove” received 47 awards including the Audience Awards at Sundance Film Festival and the Oscar for best documentary film. New York Magazine described it as “Passionate, exciting, and frightening” and Cinematical called it “A stunning, shocking story. The film itself is an act of heroism.” Over 2.3 million people from 151 different countries have signed a petition asking for the slaughter to end. The grassroots movement to spread awareness has spread to social media, with over 500,000 fans of the movie on Facebook.

For more information on the cause visit thecovemovie.com, opsociety.org and dolphinproject.org and for more information on Leilani, visit carbonfreegirl.com.

Driving Difference

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Since I’ve gotten the 4 speed ( T-10 from 1967 Shelby) in the Mustang, I’ve been driving it a lot more.  I’m surprised at how much of an improvement it has made in the drive ability.  Of course there is more power going to the ground which is remarkable and the RPMs are put to much better used.  The original three speed top out pretty quickly and nothing left but engine noise.

Of course with more power hitting the ground, my current tires (wide and hard) tend to grip a lot less and spinning them through 2nd gear is common.  That will required some new, softer tread before long.

After driving the Mustang a few days in a row, I took the Vette to work.  Now you would expect there to be a difference, especially with the 120 hp disparagement in power  the Vette (about 420) and the Stang (about 300 – maybe a bit less) , but what I notice is how both cars arrive at top speed.

Both car’s like to launch, but the Vette does so with much less rear hunching then the Mustang.  The Vette feels lighter as it gets up to power – less down force on the road.  The Mustang is much different.  You can feel it, feeling the road.  I can actually feel the power longer and deeper in the Mustang as it move on up through the RMPs and the gears.

I think I’m ready to at a tach to the Mustang, I need to see the RPMs it’s turning out and then I’m going to have it dyno’ed.  It will be a good baseline before I get the  351 CJ head and intake installed.

Thanks for reading

Tim

 

Valiants Down-Under

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I enjoy the off-beat (as in not in the top 20 collectible) cars.  And they really have some of those ‘down-under”.  I grabbed this from this site

I  LOVE Valiant cars!

Found this one in Yarraville, Melbourne.

 Thanks for Reading

Tim

The Cars of Cuba: Photos and stories from Havana

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I hope you can view this article.  Has some great cars – although the saying “keep the shiny side up”  doesn’t really translate – these just don’t have one.

I’d love to spend time wandering around Cuba, just to look at the cars.

The Cars of Cuba: Photos and stories from Havana.

This is from Hagerty Insurance Company.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Alice Cooper’s Classic Ford Mustang To Cross Barrett-Jackson Auction

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I’m hoping to get a few shots of it when I’m there.
Posted by on January 2, 2012 – 0 Comments

alice cooper

Any Alice Cooper fans out there? If you worship Mr. Cooper plus love classic ‘Stangs, the best of both worlds is about to cross the auction block at Barrett-Jackson this month. A red 1965 classic Ford Mustang with a 4-speed automatic 289 V-8 and only 35,915 miles. Supposedly fit his golf clubs in the trunk perfectly!

Here is an opportunity to own Alice Cooper’s 1965 Ford Mustang fastback with 35,915 original miles. Alice used this car for the Golf courses, going to the mall and dinner from time to time. We will include a set of Calloway golf clubs for the new owner of the car.


Source: [Barrett-Jackson]

Engine Line Up – 1973 Ford – Mustangs

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The engines for the 1973 Mustangs pretty well with the rest of the matched up the other models engines, but with some minor “tweaks”.

You couldn’t get a Mustang with a 4 cylinder (yet) but you could get with the standard 6.  This was the 250 version, (250 cubic inches of displacement) the bore and stroke was 3.68 x 3.91 also used in the Torino.  Topping it with a single barrel Motocraft carb and coupled with a compression ratio of 8.0:1 gave it a ground pounding horse power rating of 88 (Oh don’t worry, it gets worse in 1974).

302 remained the same for the Mustang and was the standard for the Mach 1.  The 351’s (Cleveland and Windsor were available and they really remained the same as those for the other models.

Now you might be saying, ‘Well Tim, seems like you typed yourself in to a corner here.  Those engines are the same.”  But here is what made the differences  – options!!!

With special intakes, valve springs, dampers, large 4300 D carbs, 2.5 inch diameter dual exhaust outlets and modified cam, you now talking increased breathing and exhaling capacity. Which we all know means…say it with me…..”MORE HORSE POWER!!!!!”   But how much? I’m glad you asked.

The 351 with these types of option produced between 246 and 266 horse power.  The 302 doesn’t show being configured with anything other than the stock options.

1973 351 Cleveland 2 barrel Intake

'73 351 Windsor 4 barrel intake.

Why didn’t they put the 400’s in the Mustang????

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Engine Line Up: 1973 Fords Part II – 351s

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Here is the second part of this ’73 line up for the V8.

There were 7 V8 in 1973 (not including the Mustang engines) and the ranged in numbers from 302 to 460 (big number to be sure). Just reading those you think..OH…THE …POWER…NOTHING BUT 100’s RUBBER BURNING, FISH-TAILING HPs!!!…right….uh…NO….these ain’t 60’s engine and they aren’t 2010 engines..nope..they the 70’s engines.  Here’s how they ponied up.

The 302 – Overhead valves, cast iron block with a bore and stroke of 4.00 x 3.00.  Compression ratio of 8.0:1 with 302 cubic inches displaced.  Top that with an awesome 2 barrel Motorcraft carb and you are knocking out 135 hp’s!!!!  Those are number only a grandma could love.  Compare that with the 302 sold under the hoods of Fords in 1970 which yielded 220 hp with a two barrel carb. (Take that 302 bore it .030, toss on a typhoon intake and a 4 barrel Holly you’ll have exactly what currently have in my ’70 Stang.)

My Mustang's Enhanced 302

 

Next up is the family of 351s, the Windsor, the Cleveland and the CJ Windsor.

All three had overhead valves, cast iron blocks and all displaced 351 cubic inches.  They shared the same bore and stroke which was 4.00 x 3.5 and the compression ratios ranged from 8.0:1 to 8.6:1 and the horse power varied by rpm 3800 to 4000 between 156 up to 177, the Cleveland and baby Windsor were choked with a 2 barrel carb while the CJ managed to steal a 4 barrel of the assembly line shelf and had a compression ratio of 9.0:1.   The 351 CJ was able to come in a little more respectable with 266 hp at 5400 rpm.

I will tell you this there were very few 351 CJ Windsor made in 1973 and 1974.  I owned a 1974 351 CJ  and my researched showed that less than 100 of these engined were produced that year.

All of these were used in the Torino, Montego, Mustang, Cougar and other Ford and Mercury models.  The 351 CJ was used in the Mustang and Cougar.

1973 Cleveland 351 2 barrel under the hood of a Mustang.

 

Up next the 400’s for 1973.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1970 Mustang Coupe for Sale – Project car.

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1970 Coupe – automatic – desirable 289 engine  – (all there).  $2,600.00

Kim’s husband passed and she’d really like this car go to someone who will restore it and not part it out.  Car will need some work.  If you purchase this car I’ll help project manage the restoration. Might even have some spare part for ya.  Car is here in Tucson.

“1970 mustang coupe for sale. It was my husbands, but he passed away and I don’t have the money to fix it up the way he wanted it to be. I don’t want to sell it for a parts car, I would like to sell it to someone who will restore it and take care of it. It did run at one point, but it has been sitting under a cover for the last 7 years or so so it won’t start. He was in the process of replacing the vinyl roof, so that is why the top is rusty. It probably needs to be replaced. The engine is a 289. All the parts he had bought comes with the car. Extra doors, windows, hood, tail lights…and a few other things. This car is a definite project car!! Any questions, please feel free to email.”

 

There's your 289

Going to need a little work.

Automatic

Thanks”

Here is Kim’s link.

http://apps.facebook.com/marketplace/browse/-/-/usa:az:tucson/?cm_mmc=FB_Friend_Email-_-111206ade03f0aa8c5ed0e10f68f1ddb1ccebf-_-Summary_Local_City-_-100000356349979

Thanks for reading.

 

Tim

Car Art vs. Car Art

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There’s car art (art with cars) and then there’s car art (art on a car).

Here are a couple interesting pieces.

The first is  in Prescott, Az.  Prescott is beautiful city in up-state Arizona where we love to hang out.  It features a beautiful town square that would rival any of them back East.  That square is the venue of some very enjoyable events, include a collector’s car show and an all Corvette show, every year.

Walking a few blocks away from the square is a parking garage with one side depicting an a mural.

 

Mural in Prescott, Az

Notice the cars?

Here’s a close up:

 

Mural in Prescott, Az

 

Great art  work!!!

Let move to the other end of the spectrum.  I’m keeping in mind that “Art” is in the eye of the beholder..nah…that’s not working here!!!

Bisbee, Az is nearly the complete opposite of Prescott, Az.  In fact, it’s even located at the opposite end of Arizona.  Tucked in to the mountains, near the border of Mexico, it is  very interesting mining town, turned tourist town.  Bisbee sits in a time warp stuck between the 1960’s and mid 1970’s.  Gives all the feel of the VW  bus generation with a huge variety of artist’s, art galleries and old mining camp homes built into the side of the mountains.  No..this ain’t the travel channel…so here’s the Art on the Car.

It appears to be a….why YES!!!…it is an El Camino.  Ya..know….I can’t really say any more…you look at it…and give me some feed back!!!!

El Camino - Art'ed out

 

Yup...eactly...WTF!!!

 

Well..ya know....it was cheaper than going to MACCO for a paint job

 

“nough…said”!!!

Thanks for reading.

Tim