I saw my first F-Type on the streets the other day. It wasn’t just a sighting, it was a drive along.
The convertible as white and I think it looked great in motions. We drove side by side for about 10 blocks and it seemed quick (not as quick as my C6 – had to prove that – without breaking any laws or freaking out the cars around us) and had a snappy take off.
However, with my windows down and my stereo off (that almost never happens) I got a ear full of how it sounded. Sorry to say I was not impressed.
I expected to have been, with power specs like this:
3.0 liter V6 Supercharged
3.0 liter V6 Supercharged
5.0 liter V8 Supercharged
340 @ 6,500
380 @ 6,500
495 @ 6,500
3.33 x 3.50 in.
(84.5 x 89.0 mm)
3.33 x 3.50 in.
(84.5 x 89.0 mm)
3.64 x 3.66 in.
I don’t know which model I was driving along with, it didn’t like the sound.
We’ve all seen/heard the Hondas and Nissans with the “enhanced” sound effects mufflers. The F-Type sounds like the Jaguar was trying too hard to create the “muscle” car sound and missed by several octaves (at least). A baffling problem given such a good looking sports car.
Survivor 1959 nomad wagon, with a 348 big block and factory air conditioning. Rust free 2 owner Colorado car. Original interior in VERY NICE condition.
Sometime ago I purchased a MAC tool box from a family member. This one:
It’s vintage 1980’s all steel MAC Tools tool box – it’s Godzilla heavy – about 5.5 feet tall. A month or so a go I was moving tools around in it and got to a section I hadn’t cleaned yet. So I emptied the contents of that section and found an interesting object and I tucked it away thinking I’d do something with it later on.
I re-found it today and hence this brief article. Oh…what is it? Here ya go.
It is a DeSoto Adventurer key blanks
I can’t tell what year it is from.
It folds up like a pocket knife and pictures the likeness of an Adventurer.
Not a bad looker! But they got even better later on!!!
Was I lying? Better looking 2 years later!!
So I thought…hmmm what don’t I know about this car…a lot.
I do know that the 1956 Adventurer is a rare car – only 996 of these were produced and cost about $4k back in the day. It was powered by the 320 horse powered 341 Hemi (considered their high performance model…well…yeah!!).
Here’s some stuff I didn’t know about DeSoto’s Adventurer model:
– They were first produced in 1956 and sported the Hemi 341 with dual exhaust.
– They were often referred to as the “Golden Adventurer” that year and had power brakes, power front seat, electric windows, windshield washer and dual exterior rear view mirrors and dual radio antennas (rear mounted).
– In 1956 they only came in a hard top.
– They were produced from 1956 to 1961 which was not only the
Adventurer’s last year but DeSoto’s as well.
OH…Hold the Presses!!! Didn’t I see one in person not too long ago? Yes, I did. It was a convertible!! Now I recall. I was at….Barrett Jackson Auction with……
….
and we saw this……
CAR!!!
…go for BIG MONEY $$$$.!!!
Here’s the rear end…
Please don’t ask me ‘why’ this is the only pic I took….!!!
In fact the a car above was a 1957 and there were only 300 convertibles made that year. Heck there were only 1650 hard top made that year as well.
In fact, again, they were all low production models:
– 350 hard tops and 82 convertibles in 1958
– 590 hard tops and 87 convertibles in 1959
– more cars in 1960 and 1961 – but they added a 4 door. What!!?!?!?!?!?! Boo!! Hiss!! Yup you could still get the 2 door version, yeah, in hard top only!!! (No convertibles…Double Boo!!! Triple Hiss!!!)
– All the Adventurers came with the most powerful engine DeSoto offered every year – always over 300 horse power, but just barely in 1960 and 1961 when it topped out at 305. (Another article coming up with some engine specifics for this cool model.)
Thanks for reading. If you know what year these key blanks are from drop me a note. If you own an Adventurer, drop me a pic @ timsweet@cox.net.
Danbury Mint 1956 DeSoto Adventurer Diecast Car 1:24 Scale Black/Gold w/Box http://t.co/v0RYpqnz2O
Unique and beautiful machines seen on the streets of New York. Monday, July 15, 2013. 1958 DeSoto Adventurer, First Street and Eighth Avenue. Posted by Cartorialist at 06:56. No comments: Post a Comment. Older Post Home. Subscribe to: …
No this isn’t the finishing up the last trips notes, nope we just returned from there today 6/23.
We had stayed the weekend in Bisbee again with a couple friends and Lowell is 2 minutes away and so we wanted to show them the cool little town.
This time it was a bit earlier on a Sunday morning and the breakfast cafe was crowded and one other thing was different the Harley Repair shop was open.
We got to meet the owner Jim (real first named – last name omitted). As I alluded to in my earlier posts, Jim is a avid supporter of one of the largest motorcycle social events in the world – Sturgis, South Dakota. On this particular Sunday Jim had his shop open and was working on the brakes of his old Chevy pick up.
One of Jim’s many vehicles. He mentioned that we owns nearly all of the motor cycles and cars you see there.
Most of the cars and vehicles belong to Jim. He has a pretty large collection of cars – like a 1969 Mustang Shelby, Studebaker pickup, Hudson, 67 Corvette to name a few (Oh and this Caddy!!).
He has collected all of the Indian and Harley motorcycles you can see on display and parked along the street and I’d say they out number the cars at lest three to one.
This Indian racer has been well restored.
I didn’t get him on camera, hadn’t expected to run into to him on a Sunday morning and didn’t want to impose. As I stated, Jim was setting up to do a brake job on the Chevy pickup pictured above. As we approached we were greeted by two dogs, one named Blondie, the other dogs name I didn’t catch but both were older but cutie dogs. Jim was hauling out a Honda scooter with a for sale sign on it when we walked up followed by the two dogs. Next to the Chevy pick up was a 2004 Harley which he had just picked up from a when a family friend who’s patriarch had recently passed and the family offered the bike at a far price. The dogs belonged the same fellow and Jim adopted them (he had just lost his 12 year old dog).
Jim admits he has collected a lot of interesting pieces and let us know he has a Chrysler with an original Hemi coming in and a flat head Ford V8 engine, but needs a Ford to put it in, and a few more goodies. He laughed saying that he’s running out of friends with space to store thing. Being a fellow car lover, I offered to bring some things back to Tucson with me to help out….we both laughed….pretty sure that’s not going to happen.
Although Lowell is a legitimate Arizona city it has pretty much been left on it’s own. It has been slated to be torn down -(more on that later on). Jim explained that “they” pretty much let him and a couple others carry on business and Jim use most of the building for storing and displaying his treasures.
There is an effort to save the town of Lowell, AZ and make it a historic area. Look for more from me on that.
Let’s talk about the staging. Most of these are original, but staged (well staged) with some period correct signs, gas pumps and vehicles. Let’s check out.
But there are other, equally cool cars that you might take a fancy too and want to restore. Finding stuff can be a problem. My new feature “Wrecked” might help you out with finding those parts.
I’m doing this in conjunction with listing on www.PartingOut.Com they pull together a lot of cars and many are southwestern cars, that means less debilitating rest on the parts you need. And that’s where I found this very near complete parts car.
The 1964 Falcon came in 2 door coupe, 4 door coupe with names almost as long as the wheel base, like Ford Falcon Futura Sprint (yeah…that’s model) and the wagon.
The wagons were the work horses of the suburbs. They got the families to and from ball games and camping trips and the grocery store. 1964 was the first year the Falcon wagons were their own series.
They featured either a 6 cylinder or a V8 for power. Two 6 cylinder, the Falcon Six-Cylinder and the Falcon/Fairlane Six-Cylinder, 85hp and 100hp respectively were available. The V8 mustard up 164 hp, which was pretty respectable for a light wagon.
The Falcon wagon came as a 6 passenger hauler with 3 models, the Standard, Deluxe and the Squire. These were mostly all 4 doors (not counting the tailgate) but there were few with a very desirable 2 door wagon. I’m a sucker for 2 door wagons and I give it a collectable rating of “very”. Why? Well not only do you have a ‘first’ year model but you have a low production car as only 6,034 of two doors were produced.
As you can see used parts are available and they are easy to restore and two doors lend themselves easily to modification for – additional forward thrust. And you can do stuff like this:
Slightly hot rodded
Easy to add more breathing capacity.
Custom 2 Door. Very Nice!!
Have I convinced you yet? If so check out this and more parts cars at www.PartingOut.com
The 2011+ Mustang platform has already proven itself to be a hell of a performer, both on the street and at the track. Livernois Motorsports customer Todd Carlson has one of the cleanest examples we’ve seen to date, outfitted with a number of upgrades including a Livernois Motorsports engine and 2.9L Whipple supercharger. The best part? Todd drives this car every chance he gets, except for in the rain.
Keep in mind while you are reading this that the C7 Corvette was a huge draw for anyone that had an idea, notion or had a dream about the new design. This won’t be as exciting
There is no doubt that for us the 2015 Mustang will be the hottest story of the next year. Rumors abound, and speculation (even by us) is mostly what we have to go on. We’ve brought you plenty of leaked secrets, artist renderings, and our own opinions and wish lists about what the next generation Mustang should be. This week we can add a little more to that growing pile, none of which will be completely confirmed until the Blue Oval decides that we’re worthy of knowing, and let’s the new horse out of the barn.
