From time to time I check out a product that I hear about, in this case, from a repetitive mail from Griot’s garage. This is a catalog of sorts, with a lot of merchandise and everything you need to spruce up your ride.
Thier “Long Lasting Tire Dressing” is the first item I’ve tried.
If you recall I did a review a while back on a tire gel here is the link: ” Like and Don’t Like – Products (Tire Gel) and Tools (Thread Chasers)” http://wp.me/pKHNM-aJ
Now before we start, the bottle you see in the video has instructions and to be fair, I’ll give you any variations.
The direction say, roughly, clean the tire, apply with application pad and that a light application will give you a shine and subsequent will increase the luster. Not much there to go on.
Now you need to know that I applied the dressing with an old sock. Most manufactures always try to sell something extra and kt, which is an “applicator”, the magic potion and a terry cloth/micro fiber towel. I normally don’t go for that sales pitch. So that was the only deviation.
A couple more variables:
1. The dressing was stored in my garage. The temperature in there today was about 105 degrees. I applied the dressing while the car was in the garage.
2. The temp outside was about 108.
3. As you will see my Corvette’s tires have small sidewalls and a lot of small raised text and logo.
Ok so here are a couple before pics:
Before, notice the off-color
More of the discolor and you can see there isn't must sidewall.
After removing the seat track I had to remove the seat stops.
There are two and easily removed.
Next I started removing the upholstery wire. These pliers hook inside the wire and separate them for removal.
Removal
Here are the wires removed. They can be reused if you want to straighten them out.
Wires
Mostly removed.
Part way off however one small deal to handle
Thinking I was on the down hill side with the removal of the old upholstery, I ran into……the …..tuck!!! This consisted of a wire running through a cloth sleeve and the wire is attached to the springs with the hog wire.
Top Arrow is the cloth sleeve with the wire running through it. Bottom arrow is the hog wire crimped to the springs underneath.
Basically the tuck is how they separate the bottom of the seat and the cushions edges, which with vinyl that helps keeps you backside in the seat during those high-speed maneuvers.
Ok, this was the learning seat. I was too busy learning to do too much photography so I’ll to more with the back to this seat and the next.
BUT…………………………..here is my very first seat bottom..completed.
Sorry it’s been more than a couple days…a week plus actually. But hey, it 115 degrees in my garage.
So I removed the seat and inspected the underside.
Again this was my first upholstery job, ever. So removal of the old upholstery on this first seat was a learning experience so I didn’t get too many shots.
Here is a shot of the seat out of the car.
Seat Out
You have to remove the plastic covers for the hinges and the rest of the hardware to separate the bottom from the back.
Just a couple of screws to remove the covers, hinges and hardware
Here is the underside of the seat with the track hardware still attached.
Back removed the track still in place.
The track is remove with 4 star bolts. Be careful use the proper socket, I happened to have just purchased a huge set of tools (a bit more the ‘average guy’ might have) that had the necessary socket set. If you don’t have those, find one of those universal sockets that ‘form’ to bolt.
4 star bolts hold the track to the frame of the seat bottom
I have a co-worker who from time to time has mentioned his Pontiac project and we’ve ‘bench restored’ a few times. But I’d never actually saw this car , nearly a picture. But thanks to our first real rain here in Southern AZ since last year I think, and the fact that we don’t do our monsoon season any other way than “harsh” my co-worker’s (we’ll call him ‘Mike’…’cause that’s actually his name) neighbor had a tree that suffered enough wind damage it and to be taken down. So Mike had to move the car, parked it behind his daily driver. Got up this morning and decied..heck, I’ll drive it to work.
And that’s how I got the pic of the 1949 Pontiac Silver Streak Delivery Van, all original and get this…..his family is the only owner the beauty every had. His grand father purchased it new. More to come on this one but here are some pics.
1949 Pontiac Delivery Van
Back Side of the '49 Silver Streak Delivery Van Pontiac style.
OK after all these years, after the car was gone. I stopped by the house. I was met by Al, short for Albert, not Alan, as Al informed me.
I told him that I had always wanted to check on the Grande and he informed I was a bit late. He said he didn’t mind answers a few questions.
So I asked Al how got the car and he said he bought it back in 1972 from some guy. “It was a nice car with an automatic.” Of course my next question was what was under the hood and he said ‘nothing’. “Took it out about 10 years ago and parked on the side of the house.” He told me he never got the engine fixed, ” ’cause it ‘cost too much.” He ended up letting the guy that did some work on it keep. “Ya know, it might have been a 302.” He said he didn’t really know want to do with the body and just ended up hanging on to it.
So I asked him where the car end up, hoping it was sent out to be restored. He said there was this guy from Texas that would stop by every now and then and ask if it was for sale. He drives large pick up and always has an empty trailer attached. This same guy that has stopped by a co-worker of mine, who has her son’s 70 Monte Carlo and her daughter’s 1969 Camaro sitting under her car port – waiting for some TLC and try’s to convince her that she should sell them to him. She chases him off each time, but he’ll swing by a few months later.
A couple of weeks ago, Texas dude, stops by Al’s home and Al decided to get the Grande out of the yard and sold the man from Texas.
We talked a bit longer about my 1970 Mustang coupe and I showed him a couple of pics on my phone and then thanked him for his time.
I was ready an article in one of the many auto related magazines (can’t recall which one…I’m behind on my reading….a bit <<>>>) and the author was stating that it’s no longer the Mopar guys vs. Ford guys or vs Chevy, but now it’s just tuner vs. tuner.
I first realized that, he was indeed correct and secondly that it really extended into many more areas of life. But for now, I’ll stick with why I’m writing this.
When I was a kid (60’s and 70’s) there were clean lines. My Dad was a GM guy or more specifically a Chevy guy, his Dad had Mopars (but really anything that got him to a store for a ‘soda’ was fine with him). On other side of the family (Mom’s side) there wasn’t much going on there with my uncles (except one who introduced me to Corvettes at the age of about 4 or 5), except my grandfather who always seemed to have a Ford – actually they were always the huge Mercury Marques or similar Merc model.
So there were many discussion on which brand lasted longer, ran better, had more power and a very important are for ‘way’ upstate New York State, which one rusted slower (seems there were two types of cars no matter what brand – those with rust holes and those about to have rust holes). Now school was where things got hyped. Even as far back as grade school there were discussions about which car brand was better….I recall even then the full name of F.O.R.D – “Found On (side of) Road Dead”.
That was the core of a car guy’s or gal’s life back then. Even those that made a living working on them had preferences.
But that is all being lost. It’s hard to tag the exact cause or point in time this happened. However, I’m going to blame racing. Yup straight up, drag racing and oval track racing. The thought that a funny car is really a Mustang or the template fitted oval track car is a Camaro or a Camry, is merely an illusion. When the running of “real” cars stopped, the rivalry began to die.
Funny Car “Mustang” This is John Forces car…no offense intended
Not a Mustang
Camry Funny Car
Looks like the stang.
Ford Mustang
NASCAR Camry
NASCAR CAMARO
Coming up next: So where does the lack rivalry lead us?
Like you, I grew up in a GM only family. My dad bought Chevy Station Wagons (stripper Biscaynes) for family hauler duty and Buick LeSabres for his personal daily drivers. Each and every car he bought faithfully lasted 100K miles with only minor repairs and service.
Then, in the 1980s several things happened that destroyed car loyalty. One, all GM cars were exactly alike both in appearance and crappy reliability. My dad was devastated that his 1982 Buick with Olds 305 V8 was in the shop 100 days per year, each and every year of the 36 months he owned that car, then his 1989 Beretta was the same in reliability. Second, the Japanese, or rather JAPAN, INC, realized that turning cars into ‘appliances’ was exactly what America needed and wanted. Styling is not as important as 200K reliability and 60% re-sale value. Finally, Detroit failed the American consumer by trying to make big profits on SUVs rather than compete on quality car products. All of this contributed to the errosin of car loyalty.
I read an article awhile back that stated that the Asian brand cars have loyalty among themselves in that Honda people buy Toyotas and Toyota people buy Hondas, and some people only consider all Asain brands both Japanese and Korean, but American loyalty has boiled down to the large truck market only. Pick Up truck owners are loyal to only GM, Ford, or Chrysler. In fact, the article mentioned that MOST F150 owners are likely to own Toyota products as their car product.
For me, I was a “MOPAR, or NO CAR” loyal Chrysler buyer for all of my driving life. My first car was a 1969 Dodge Coronet 440 that ruled the street of my neighborhood (less the occasional MACH1 that would beat me). My second car was a Road Runner that never lost a race. Then I matured into a Plymouth Horizon, a Plymouth Laser, followed by a Shelby Charger, a Shelby Lancer, and the present day LeBaron Convertible. I bought Chrysler products because they were the underdog of the Big 3, because Lee Iacoccoa needed our support, because they were the most patriotic brand, and because they were the biggest bang for the buck.
The Daimler takeover ended that loyalty. The FIAT ownership makes permanent that I will not buy another MOPAR.
Today, I am not loyal to any car manufacturer. I can pretty much guarentee you that I won’t buy foreign in that I ‘follow the money’; in other words, Ford and GM money do come home no matter where the assembly point, or source of the car. I lean towards Ford products in that they did not take a bail out, Bill Ford is a family owner of the company, Alan Mullay is an engineer that realizes crappy cars do not sell, and the Mustang is still the very best Muscle Car for the money. Always has been, and I hope will always will be!
Submitting my rant for the day, Bill
RT @JERZEEBABY1: Auto racing returns to Trenton, NJ this weekend! http://t.co/j5p8i8dltS
RT @dustinlong: Covered Auto Racing RT @APSE_sportmedia: Retiring Bill Center 1 of a kind. Nobody outworked him. http://t.co/vasTGbmbY2 vi…
Having grown up working in my Dad’s body shops, was often given the honorable task of taping (masking) off the areas that weren’t going to get sprayed and areas, like windows and mirrors where you don’t want over-spray landing. I learned a few tricks that help speed up the process, but more importantly help ensure a good clean paint job. Removing over-spray is not a fun process.
I’ve tried the machines that merge the paper and the tape, great for straight lines, like the Coca Cola trucks we painted but for tight corners it just doesn’t work.
To save time, which equals a money saver and to get sharp clean lines, outline the areas with thinner tape, 1/4 inch works best. After that use the tape and paper machine and run that along the previously laid tape.
Here’s one more.
I can’t possibly tell you how much a pain it can be to tape off emblems and name plates and it’s never clean. Do yourself a big favor, figure out how they are attached to the sheet metal and purchase replacement them. You know where I’m going… remove the badges and emblems. That is the only way to do it right.
This is a great show of the main gallery. In this clip they have just placed the AJ Foyt #8 Corvette on display and are setting up a C6 Grand Sport next to it.
