With the upcoming release of the Shelby GT500 Super Snake many people will have an opportunity to put on of these limited edition Shelby’s inside their garage. It’s quite the opposite for the 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake as the person who wins this ebay auction for the only 1967 Shelby GT500 Super Snake ever produced will have the ultimate limited edition Mustang. The 1967 Shelby Super Snake sports a 427ci V8 with 520 horsepower, a 170 mph top speed and unique triple stripes. The ebay auction is set to end in a week. Check out the pictures after the fold.
Coming up will be a series of posts as I rebuild the original 3 speed transmission. This is the original 3 speed transmission from my 1970 Mustang. I’ve replaced it with a rebuilt 1965 4 speed transmission from a Shelby Mustang. (See that in a post coming up.)
I’ll start the tear down after the Christmas holiday.
Hope everyone has recovered from heavy eating and traveling, I know I need to rest up before Christmas, maybe even drop a couple of pounds ahead of time.
I’m also to attempt to meet my goal of 500 posts before the end of 2011. (Yes this one counts).
I have a couple of contests coming up with some auto related DVD’s to give away and some a couple of parking lot finds, and a feature car or two.
Sergio Scaglietti held a hallowed place in the house of Ferrari.
One of Enzo Ferrari’s most trusted contributors, Sergio Scaglietti, has died at the age of 91.
The famed designer and custom car builder died Monday.
Scaglietti opened a repair shop across the street from the Ferrari works in Modena, Italy. Soon, he was repairing Ferraris and later began designing some of the automaker’s most storied models. He is credited with the 1958 Ferrari 250Testa Rossa and his Carrozzeria Scaglietti built some of the most famous custom-bodied Ferraris, including the 250 California and 250 GTO, which were designed by another longtime Ferrari associate, Pininfarina.
The entire house of Ferrari was in mourning following Scaglietti’s death.
In a statement on Ferrari’s Web site, Enzo’s son Piero Ferrari, said Scaglietti had a special place in his heart.
“He was one of my father’s best friends. He was next to me with Marco Piccinini the day my father died and stayed with me the whole night until the funeral. I loved him and he was a very important part of my life.”
Chairman Luca di Montezemolo said Scaglietti left an indelible mark on the automaker.
“Today is a sad day for Ferrari. We lost a friend, a travel companion, a man who had his name forever connected to the Prancing Horse,” di Montezemolo said. “Sergio Scaglietti leaves behind the legacy of an artist who, with his talent, created some of the most beautiful cars of our history. (Those who) had the luck to know him like I did will also remember him as a straightforward and honest man, completely dedicated to his work. We will miss him.”
Ferrari honored Scaglietti by naming its 612 grand touring model in tribute to Scaglietti.
If you read any of my pieces on Engines, you’ll know that I enjoy learning all I can about the various makers’ details on their features. I thought that I might start a series that took a year by year approach to what the US automaker build and used in the cars they produced.
So here is the engine line up for the 1971 Chevys.
Of course Chevy had the V8’s in 1971, not yet strangled by smog control, as well as 6 cylinders and 4 cylinders.
All of the 6’s were inline (often referred to as straight 6 – for the pistons all being in a straight line configuration) these were 250 cubic inch displacements – (very similar to the Ford 250, with the exception of the Blue upping the compression to 9.1:1 vs Chevy’s 8.5:1). These were cast iron with hp running about 145 with hydraulic lifter, and normally topped with a Rochester one barrel carb. Any car that had a 6 in it had this engine and it was an option with most any Chevy model.
1971 Chev Inline Six (this one is in a Chevy Nova)
Next up is the 4 cylinder used exclusively in the Vega (remember those?). They were inline 4’s with Over head Cams, aluminum block (not iron) and managed to displace 140 cubic inches. The compression ratio was less than they 6 at 8.0:1 with hydraulic lifters and a one barrel carb.
Vega Four Cylinder
There were 3 basic V8 that year the 350, 400 and the 307.
The 350 cid was cast iron with overhead valves and compression ratio of 8.5:1 with an hp of 245 hp when it was topped with a 2 barrel Rochester carb. These were widely used in the Biscayne, Bel Air, Impala, and Monte Carlo.
The 400 was cast iron as well with matching stats. However due to the larger bore (4.125 vs the 4.00 for the 350) and longer stroke (3.75 inches compare to the 350’s 3.48) it was able to push the hp’s up to 255 (umm..seems like a lot of work for 5 hps) when it was topped with the same 2 barrel carb.
The 307 rounds this out with its cast iron block and over head valves, it to had the compression ratio of 8.5:1 but with a smaller bore and shorter stroke (3.875 and 3.5 inch)it bu down roughly 200 hp. The 307 was used in Chevelle, Malibu, Nova and the Camaro.
Many, many 1978 Indianapolis 500 pace car replica Corvettes were mothballed with hopes of the cars turning into super collectibles, so finding a low-mileage example today isn’t hard. In fact, there are seven for sale in the December issue of Hemmings Motor News. One, formerly on display at the Corvette museum in Bowling Green, has just 116 miles on the clock. Another is advertised as having been driven just 700 miles. If you want a car you could actually drive, there’s a 1978 Indy Corvette with 22,900 miles.
Unfortunately, the demand predicted for these cars back in the Disco Age has yet to arrive. If you like ‘Vettes, you wouldn’t kick a 1978 pace car out of your garage, but as Corvettes go, these are considered lackluster performers and too many were built for them to ever be considered rare.
According to the Corvette Black Book, the original plan was to make 300 of the black and silver ‘Vettes. Mike Yager’s Corvette Bible claims 2,500. Had Chevrolet stuck to either of those figures, Indy Pace ‘Vettes would probably be more collectible today. But for Chevrolet, the profits these cars were raking in must’ve been as irresistible as coke at Studio 54. The Indy cars received a lot of hype, so demand went through the roof and Chevrolet cranked out 6,502 copies – more than one for each dealer.
With a base price of $13,653 compared to the standard Corvette base price of $9,446, the Pace Cars were expensive and profitable because they were loaded with “mandatory options.” Power windows, power locks, removable roof panels, rear window defogger, air conditioning, tilt/telescoping column, AM-FM radio with 8-track (or CB radio at extra cost) – all were included. Even this probably doesn’t help the value of these cars as luxury tends to be the exact opposite of what Corvette collectors crave today: radio delete, heater delete, oversized fuel tanks (when they were available), manual transmissions. You get the drift – racing-related stuff on a Corvette is hot. Stuff that you would normally associate with a Caprice Classic is not.
Anyway, receiving almost as much press as these cars received when new is a barn-find pace car offered for sale by Hemmings advertiser Corvette Mike. The car has been all over the Internet due to the fact that it has only 13 miles on the odometer. It’s even covered in an authentic layer of scurvy storage grime.
The pace car’s bonafides include a CB radio, Gymkhana suspension and the 220hp L82 350, all of which are cool. The fact that it’s an automatic makes it a little less so. Check it out for yourself over at Corvette Mike’s.
10/12/1950 Kaiser-Frazer Built their 500, oooth car.
There ya go...the 500, 000 th
On 10/13/ in 1902 Packard Motor Car Co. was formed from the Ohio Automobile Co. Of interest: In September, 1900, the Ohio Automobile Company was founded as the manufacturer, while the cars were always sold as Packards. Since these automobiles quickly gained an excellent reputation, and there were more automobile makers that produced — or at least planned to — under the label “Ohio”, the name was changed soon: On October 13, 1902, it became the Packard Motor Car Company.
1902 Packard Model F
An Ohio
The very next day 63 years later Oldsmobile debuts the Toronado (10/14/1965).
1965 Toronado I want one of these
On 10/15/1945 Oldsmobile began creating producing per war cars.
And 1924 on the 15th of October, one of my hero’s was born. The proud Poppa of the Mustang and savior of Chrysler Lee Iococca was born in Allentown, PA.
It is 1922 and the car industry is moving right along. Small start-up car companies pop up here and there in the 1920’s.
Here is how they stacked up for 1922.
Top spot was Ford producing 1,147,028 cars.
Dodge was a very distant second with 152,653 car rolling off their assembly line.
Chevrolet ran in third place with 138,932 cars made.
And finish up the list were Buick with 123,152; Studebaker with 105,005; Williys-Overland with 95,410; Durant with 55,300 and finally Maxwell/Chalmers 44,811.
Total passenger cars produced were 2,274,185 with 269,991 truck being made.
Rickenbacker was a new upstart beginning production in 1922.
Durant produce a car priced at $319 . Ford reduced prices to $298.
Balloon tires were introduced.
Hey fuel gauges began being installed in dash in 1922.
1922 Durant Star - An attempt to undercut Ford's prices
