You just won the big game and received the MVP award, and with it, a brand new car! But it’s a Chevy, and you’ve been helping sell Toyotas for years… Awkward! Millions are watching live on TV as one of the major sponsors of the game presents you with the keys to a brand new 2012 Corvette Grand Sport convertible – what do you do? Keep it simple and classy, saying “thank you” to at least acknowledge the prize, without seeming like an entitled jerk who is worried about burning bridges with the foreign company that’s been writing you checks for years?
Nope! If you’re Eli Manning, you leave without a word or the keys…
Kevin and Bean of Los Angeles radio station KROQ performed a mock interview with the MVP this morning; according to their “correspondence” with the game winning quarterback the current plan is to use the C6 as a planter. It is unlikely that the Corvette will actually face such a harsh fate, but it does leave ‘vette lovers and football fans wondering will happen to the C6.
While playing in, let alone leading a team to victory in the Super Bowl is an achievement few of us could even begin to comprehend, and the pressure of post-game interviews and ceremonies must be enormous, how hard is it to say “thank you” and pocket the keys? Even if your fear of offending Toyota is so great that actually accepting and driving the gift is unthinkable, at least raffle it off for charity or something…
If anyone at GM is actually reading this, I am sure there are plenty of armchair quarterbacks who would graciously receive the Corvette and provide it with a loving home if Manning never does pick up the keys.
NOW…watch the video…..and see if Eli doesn’t say Thank You.
As the Washington D.C. auto show took place, President Obama decided to make a visit. Truly impressed with the American muscle & sports cars. Though he checked out many new models and the likes of the controversial most iconic American sports car, Chevy Corvette(photo above), it seemed like the new Ford MustangShelby GT500 Super Snake; or simply Shelby GT500; is what really grabbed his attention by stating, “This is sick”.
This is my 500th post for Average Guy’s Car Restoration, Mods and Racing blog (my one and only blog). It has become a bit more board in scope than what I originally intended, but if you are a total car nut case, like me (my wife uses the “o’ word) and have AADD (automobile attention deficit disorder…..HEY..that could be REAL…you don’t know that it’s NOT!!) you want more than just a Chevy or more than just 1950’s cars. You’ll be drawn to others. (“Drawn” makes it sound like a slow process…but picture a disco era strobe light…yeah that’s a but closer to what I’m trying to describe.) I’ve moved fairly close to the edge, having a ’70’s car and a 2007 model and mixing technologies and brands, Ford and Chevy. (I need a MOPAR and a Citroen.)
Of course one of the fun things that keeps me blogging are comments, not so many posted here, but a ton on Facebook and Twitter and now even Google+. I like when a reader’s comment sparks a blog entry instead of just sitting there. That brings me to the subject of this piece.
Bill is a frequent reader and leaves comments on a regular basis. In my recent entry on the 1957 DeSoto Adventurer sold at Barrett-Jackson in Scottsdale, last weekend Bill wrote this:
Bill
Submitted on 2012/01/28 at 6:12 pm
DeSoto was Chrysler’s Oldsmobile, and I think it was unappreciated both by the public and Mother Mopar herself.
Back when I lived in San Jose, CA (actually Santa Clara) in the early 1990s, there was a 1957 Adventurer 4 door parked in a driveway with four flat tires in a neighborhood near mine. I think the car had been registered last in 1979. The body, chrome, glass, and even the interior seemed in excellent condition, yet I knew the car needed more than just TLC to become roadworthy. Each time I passed that car I wanted to leave a note and see if I could get it cheap enough to restore.
I know that 4 door DeSotos would not be collectible, or bring the big money, but somehow this car seemed to be in good enough shape that it was worth saving from being just a donor parts car. I’ll be in San Jose on business soon, and will make it a point to drive by and see if the car is still there.
Have a nice day, Bill
It’s true that in the past 4 door versions of classic cars of the 50’s and 60’s lagged as far as pricing and collectivity. But that is changing. I as work to finish up my classic car auto appraisal certification, I’m finding that, much like the cars of 1910-1940’s, 2 extra doors aren’t hurting the price they’ll bring. Just take the trend of station wagons – sure at Barrett Jackson’s you’ll only see the two door(plus tailgate) and they’ll bring ‘bigger’ money, but 15 years ago, only crazy people had wagons restored. But the prices for cars like the Pontiac Safari wagon and the Buick Vista Cruiser (Sports wagon) are bringing higher prices. (Actually I think it was Olds Vista Wagon and Buick Sports Wagon.)
58 Safari Wagon
69 Buick Sports Wagon
I’m still quoted as saying that my Mustang, because it’s a coupe and not a fast back or a sports roof, will never to be worth what I’ve spent in restoring it. Interestingly enough, you can start finding them on the web and Ebay for $16k. One recently sold for a bit more than that and it to was a 302 with 351 heads and a wing. So these things are changing. Publications like Hemmings and others are often recommending the purchase of 4 door 50’s and 60’s cars. In part because they are well priced and with the after-market bolt ‘ons’ and drop in crate motors, you can take what was originally under powered 4 door and make it a rubber melting monster.
So go get those 4 doors. Winch them out of the barns and ditches, drag ’em home, restore them back to life and drive ’em!!!!
And I hope that Bill’s DeSoto (see I already have him owning it) is still there and at the least can grab us a few pics. And if you can get some contact info for the owner, I might add a pre-MOPAR to my driveway. Thanks for the comment Bill.
Whenever I can I like post up a plea for someone doing a restoration that may need some assistance. The Sarasota County Lodge #45 needs assistance with restoring a 1953 patrol car. This car is a ’53 Chevy Bel Air 150.
Here are some details:
1953 Chevy Bel Air 150
The Sarasota County Lodge #45 of the Fraternal Order of Police is spearheading a project that will involve the restoration of an antique patrol car. The vehicle will match one that was actually used by the sheriff’s office since the office first purchased patrol cars in 1953. Once the restoration is complete, the vehicle will be donated to the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office for various public uses.
By reviewing photographs in “From Shield to Star,” a book by retired Sgt. Bob Snell that documents the history of the department, several vehicles were identified by make and model. The first fleet of four vehicles consisted of 1953 Chevrolet Bel Air 150s. The project is being coordinated by FOP #45 Vice-President Kevin Lynch, who is a retired SSO lieutenant. Lynch has overseen the restoration of several emergency vehicles including two fire trucks and a Cadillac ambulance that he currently owns.
Tax-deductible contributions to this project can be sent to The Community Foundation of Sarasota County, P. O. Box 49587, Sarasota, FL 34230-6587, marked for the antique patrol car project.
The FOP is also looking for in-kind services and donations such as labor and supplies needed for the project, and possibly the vehicle itself. Storage space will also be needed for the vehicle as well as initial transportation to Sarasota. Questions can be sent to FOP Lodge #45 at P.O. Box 1488, Englewood, FL 34295-1488 or e-mailed to Lynch at floridafop45@yahoo.com. You may also visit the Lodge #45 website at foplodge45.com.
Back in 1973-75, when I was 16 to 18 years of age, I worked in the maintenance department of Ray County Memorial Hospital in Richmond, Missouri. I mopped, swept, and vacuumed floors, cut the grass and trimmed hedges, hauled trash (that you don’t want to know about) to the local dump, and sometimes cleaned out ambulances after particularly “messy” runs. I earned $1.65 an hour to perform these duties.
During the 2 ½ years I worked for the hospital, I owned four different cars. These cars, my first four, were all Chevrolets: two ‘65 Impala Super Sports, a ’68 Impala Custom, and a ‘67 Malibu. No one handed me these vehicles: I bought them, insured them, and maintained them from the money I earned working nights, weekends, and summers at the hospital. Yes, I’m sure that seems like a lot of cars in a short period of time for a high school kid to buy and keep up with, but cars were cheap in the ‘70s, and I was good with money . . . then.
Now I dearly loved my first four cars, but there was one car I really, really had my eye on during the time I worked at Ray County Memorial . . . but, unfortuately, the car was way out of my league at the time. The assistant administrator for the hospital (a yuppie before there was such a thing) owned that car. I used to salivate every time I went past it on the hospital’s tractor as I mowed the grounds.
What the administrator had was a 2-door fastback 1971 Oldsmobile Cutlass S (not a Cutlass Supreme or a 442, but a Cutlass “S”). The car was burnt orange with a matching interior (I would later learn that the color’s actual name was, Bittersweet). It had a white vinyl top, white pin-striping on the front fenders, and a new set of Firestone 500 tires. It also featured cool-looking hood louvers that gave it a bit of an edge. Not only was the car sporty-looking, it screamed sophistication at the same time. It was one damn fine looking car—I swore then that I’d have one just like it someday!
I graduated high school, moved on from my hospital employment, and went to work in a women’s clothing warehouse/distribution center in Kansas City. There I earned the princely sum of $3.52 an hour! About a 1 ½ years into my employment there, I was driving home from work one day and what in the world did I see at a local car lot, but the same ’71 Olds that I used to covet! As soon as I could get my butt to the bank to get a loan, that puppy was mine!
Although I can remember exactly what I paid for nearly all of my cars, for the life of me I can’t recall what this one cost me. It seems to me that it was in the neighborhood of $2,300. But money was no longer an impediment: I was making $3.52 an hour and working lots of overtime, so the car was within my reach; no longer was it something I could only dream of owning.
Now that I had the car of my dreams, I gave my ’67 Malibu—my former love—to my little brother, Steve (look for a future posts on both). I then got to work on building a relationship with my Olds.
I chose not to personalize the car. Rather than slapping decals on it, jacking it up in the back with air-shocks, running loud dual-exhaust, and sticking wide tires on it—as was customary at the time—I decided to leave it stock. It didn’t need all that junk: it looked perfect just the way it was!
I was constantly cleaning this car—believe me: I made the local car wash owners rich! After hitting the car wash, I would use Blue Coral, Blue Poly wax on the body, and Lemon Pledge on the vinyl interior—and the tires. I can’t adequately describe how slick this car looked when cleaned up! (It also felt slick: due to the Lemon Pledge us on the interior, one tended to slide across the seat when going around a curve.) The car was beautiful, and to use a tired old expression, it had class! In my opinion, the ’68 to ’72 Cutlasses had some of the best body-lines and interiors that General Motors ever produced!
I was the proud owner of this car for a little over a year and I enjoyed every second of my time with it! It was a pleasure to drive and cheap to operate. Other than the cost of routine maintenance, I remember spending a grand total of $33 in repairs on it during the entire time I owned it—not bad at all! But although I absolutely loved the car and appreciated the fact that it was a really well-made vehicle, I ended up trading it in on a ’74 Cutlass.
. . . So why would I get rid of a car that I had dreamed of owning for years you ask? A couple of reasons: The impatience of youth for one. Like many kids, I constantly wanted newer and cooler toys to play with. The other reason was the fact that the car reminded me too much of a long-term girlfriend I had broken up with, I figured I needed to let the car go in order to be able to move on.
Ironically, this particular girlfriend—who at the time said she cared for me—never cared for this car much. She found it a bit old-mannish: nice, safe, but a bit boring. She eventually got around to feeling the same way about me and sent me down the road.
My ’71 Olds was Bittersweet in color; the memory of it made bittersweet by the young lady’s rejection of me.
______________________________________
A few months after trading in the car, I was told by the owner of the car lot I had purchased it from that he had seen it show up at a car action in Kansas City. The car lot owner told me that the car looked as good as ever, but someone had rolled the mileage back about 50,000 miles. He went on to say that the car ended up being sold for more money than I had paid for it. Honestly, even with the mileage fraud, somebody ended up buying a great car! I hope they enjoyed it as much as I did!
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’m going to rebuild the old 3 speed transmission that I took out of my ’70 Mustang coup and I’ll do it in stages (average guy, average time to spend on a project…especially one that isn’t going to benefit my cars). The rebuild kit is on it’s way.
This the first time I’ve attempted this, so who knows how it’s going to go.
First I’m going to give myself a transmission anatomy lesson, which I’ll share here.
Well, I’m officially depressed. No it’s not because of the holidays, or the rapidly approaching June when I’ll move too far into the 50’s to be able to fool myself that I’m just barely 50, nope none of those things.
I’m looking at GM’s (bastards!!) Performance Catalog and all the shiny things in it. Like the ported LS3 heads, and the LS376 – 525…yes 525 hp in a crate engine, drop in and drive. I realize two things, I need an older Chevy to play with (or upgrade the C6 Vette) and that I’ll need a second job if I even want to touch any of this stuff and where will I live when the better half finds this stuff laying around the garage? (Tell me you aren’t depressed now?!?!!…It’s ok…admin it!!!)
Note: It’s gonna get worse… I have the Ford performance parts catalog as well…all I can say is thank GOD!!! I don’t have a Morpar to drive around….oh….the therapy…bills….!!! Why, OH Why didn’t I drink the family KoolAide when I was a kid..I would have been able to shun the Fords and Mopars and just be a normal one brand car guy??
There is some awesome stuff the Chevrolet Performance Team is put out, everything from small block crates to LSX monsters, to circle track crate engines.
Over the next few post I’m going to cover a few highlights and a couple unexpected – like engines for the Chevy Cobalt and some V6 engines. (Have just read some specs for the upcoming 2013 Mustang V6 – I want to see what Chevy’s got.)
In fact let’s start with something off the wall. Like the 900 V6 Intake for a 4 barrel carb!! What???!!!! It’s an aluminum high-performance for the 3.8 or 4.3 liter V6. So go ahead bolt on that 390 cfm carb..oh heck….grab that 600 cfm 4150 and drop it on top.
That is not a bad price. Of course it’s not for all heads, like it won’t fit the 3800 V6 or the 18 degree heads and you might have add a bump to your hood for clearance!!!
by Lauren Hargrove on February 6, 2012
