Friday: Customs

You probably all remember 1949  -  right? While I'm awaiting your answers, I'll begin..........

...........and no, I don't remember it either, but Ford introduced the Mercury in the above ad. It was a big step forward for Ford, but an even bigger opportunity for customizers. There were a lot more of these artists in the '50's, '60's and '70's. They would take a car and add/bend metal until they got their personalized vision of that particular car. Many were quite beautiful while others were quite hideous (beauty in the eye......). But the '49 Merc caught everyone's attention, so much so, that it has become iconic and the most customized car ever.

Here is one of the first chopped top trendsetters, the "Hirohata Merc"..........

Bob Hirohata & his Mercury

Done in the early '50's, it caught everyone's attention, appeared in numerous magazines and helped to elevate the 1949 Mercury's status in the eyes of customizers. Of course, some of those early fifties "greaser", "rebel without a cause" flics also helped. Want to see this car in colour? I thought so.......

Danbury Mint (the diecast company) even did a model of it, which for a couple of hundred dollars you too can enjoy. I have one and it's great.

How about this one.......

Or this one.......

You can even buy a plastic model of a chopped Mercury  -  I have built a couple, one with flames, one without. Funny how one car becomes the customizer's darling. With so many having been done, the personalization becomes not so personal  -  how many ways can you customize one car? Still I find it interesting to see how one car has had so much influence. Sixty years from now, will some other blogger be taking a look back at a recent Corolla?????

Now that the car modelling cat and I have finished the North Carolina State Police car, we are moving on to another project. I have the Little Red Wagon wheelstanding dragster on my table now, so hopefully we can get started on it this weekend.

Until next time........

Tuesday: VW

Want to know a car company that is aiming high in terms of sales? Want to know one that is aiming really, really high? Even higher? Think Volkswagen. VW has said they want to increase their North American business by huges amounts over the next 5 years (sorry, I should have numbers). Take a look at their new Passat........

......nice styling and several thousand dollars less than the current model. The latter makes sense since the top line AWD wagon in 2010 listed for over $53,000!!. What were they thinking? You could get an A4 wagon for a similar price, actually just under $50k  -  now that makes no sense.

And for that nice, but anonymous styling, Acura's 1999 TL had similar lines  -  12 years ago! Wait until you see the back end  -  you'd never know what kind of car it is, it's so bland. Not unlike the latest Jetta. Can't VW have a bit more definition in their styling?

How will it sell? Now there is an interesting question. The latest Jetta using the same strategy has done very well, but then again the Jetta had a reputation. Who buys Passats? Even the recent and quite lovely CC has been nailed to the showroom floors. I like VW and deliver quite a few of them, but come on, get a bit creative.

Weekend racing........how about the Montreal F1 race on Sunday? Add a little rain to any race and it gets very interesting. I watched for about 1/2 hour, but got bored watching the SLS glide around the circuit in the rain, so I went out for a couple of hours. Came back home, turned on the TV to catch the end of the NASCAR race from Pocono and guess what, the F1 race was just restarting. Vettel seldoms blinks, but with Button hot on his tail, he did blink with about a 1/2 lap to go. Button made quick work of Vettel's miscue and luckily squeaked in his win before the time limit ran out, but it was very, very close.

Pocono was nothing exciting, except my favorite Dale Jr continues to be consistent, finishing 6th.

Speaking of NASCAR, I'm reading an interesting (and very short) book by Michael Waltrip, called "In the Blink of an Eye". It deals with Michael's career, but the focus is Dale Earnhardt senior's death "in the blink of an eye" on the last turn of the last lap of the 2001 Daytona 500. I cried when it happened and I shed another tear last night when I got to the part......well, you know.

By the way, did you notice the advertising for Michael's book on his Ferrari racecar at LeMans on the weekend?

Until next time........

Friday: Changes

How things change..........gas prices keep going up - what happened to the 10 cent/gallon 1950's? You drove a big, huge, immense land yacht like this Lincoln Continental and you just didn't care  -  or maybe even then you complained about gas prices.

But you did have choices and not everyone wanted, needed or could afford a big beast, no matter how cheap gas was. My Mum was British and Dad listened to everything she said, so in the '50's when it came time for our family's first new car, there was little discussion, it had to be a Brit car and it would probably be an Austin  -  does anyone remember them? We were just an average family with not a lot of money to throw around on a car, so we ended up with a 1956 Austin Cambridge, manual trans, no radio.............

............ours was black with a white top (Mum insisted) and a red leather interior  -  everything British had a leather interior. It was a good looking little car, but in those days when we were going on a 90 mile trip, it had to be thoroughly checked over to make sure it would endure!

Our next car was bought in 1960 and at the time it was a big step up  -  a six cylinder and an automatic........

Our "luxurious" new ride was a 1960 Austin (again) A99 Westminster designed by Pininfarina. At the time and I still think today that it was a great looking car. Black and white (again) with the red leather interior and thanks to my big brother insisting, snap on whitewalls  -  they fit between the wheel rim and the tire  -  just don't tear them by hitting a curb! And once again -  no radio! Great car.

 Finally an American car in '66. Black (yet again!) and after much discussion, which I can still remember, the white top was turfed in favor of - get ready for it - a beige one with a beige interior. It looked much better than the forlorn example in the above pic, but it was a 4 door hardtop and that was a treat. Engine? You guessed it, a six, but the "big" six. Loved that car, but it still didn't have a radio. As a teen, you just can't make out to the sound of heavy breathing!

Ok so much for nostalgia........big race in Montreal this weekend, the Canadian Grand Prix. Vettel crashed in practice, but probably won't slow him down. Hoping as always for Hamilton. By the way, in a couple of weeks, Lewis Hamilton and Tony Stewart will switch rides at Watkins Glen  -  now this should be interesting. 

Until next time........

Tuesday: Many Minis

You gotta love the Mini..........BMW takes an old car name, although one with a solid reputation and builds an entire brand around it. Not only that, but they build a much better car. How many variations have they given us so far.........the regular two door, the station wagon, a convertible, sports models, an suv(!!!!) and now a coupe.......

This is the new Mini coupe which will be coming out in the near future. Only seats two (shorter?) people  -  check out that lowered roof line. I wonder if the new Fiat will have as much success and variations?

This got me thinking about how many custom Minis have been made? How about these........

A dragster

 A classy formal limo

                                                              A not so classy limo

A pick-up

I could go on, but I'll leave you to Google the many other varieties you'll find on the net. Have fun and let me know if you see anything really unusual.

Until next time........

Friday: Hemi

Check out the licence plate frame on this North Carolina State Police Dodge Charger.........

If you can't read it, it says, "Yeah, it's got a Hemi". What other motor has such a reputation that this statement strikes fear in the hearts of speeders everywhere? Just mention "Hemi" to any carguy and they'll have an imagine of a fire breathing performance car. There is no other engine anywhere that has had a reputation like that and has had it for over 45 years!

Hemi's first were used in Dodge and Plymouth production cars starting in 1966. Were they an expensive option? In Canada how about $1200, not that bad, until you realize that the base car cost about $4000 before the Hemi was added. Now that's an expensive option and back then you didn't get an upgrade to a fancy model, you just got a 426 cubic inch motor. This was an extremely rare engine.

I can even remember the very first one I ever saw in 1966. I grew up in Saint John, New Brunswick which was hot car deprived, since there just wasn't that much money around town. I was coming out of my grandfather's house and a blue '66 Charger drove by and ol' eagle eye spotted the 426 badge on the front fender (it was like the one above and you can just make out the badge). I was so excited, I rushed home to tell my big brother that I had seen a Hemi. Can't remember when I saw another one, maybe I never did, but that was the magic this engine created.

I can still remember an ad that featured drag racer Don Garlits commenting on the Hemi. He said, "It idles like a coffee can full of rocks......" and this was a positive comment!

When they brought the name back on the new Charger and 300C, it still had the magic (hence the licence plate frame above), even though it was definitely not the same motor. Great marketing. The modern interpretation was still potent  -  I had a 300C and that engine just wouldn't quit. Hit the gas at over a 100 kms per hour and it took off. Try doing that with most 6 cylinders.

Other uses for a Hemi? How about this Hemi grille..........

.......definitely a waste of a good motor, but a fun pic.

By the way, I've put the licence plate and frame from the state police car above on the model the car modelling cat and I are finishing up. I'll post a pic when we've finished it.

Until next time........

Tuesday: Racing Thoughts

Indy 500..........GO TAG GO! Well that was unfortunately a lost effort as Tagliani hit the wall along with Paul Tracy and James Hinchcliffe. The latter in his 1st 500 showed pretty well for awhile running in the top 10, but hitting the wall usually impedes all forward motion. The real heartbreaker though, was JR Hildebrand, a rookie, hitting the 4th turn wall on the very last when he had the race sewn up. The winner was also a surprise  -  Dan Wheldon had won before, but this year he only had one ride, the Indy 500. What a way to make up for a season without a full time ride!

Coca Cola 600.........I'm a real Dale Jr. fan, so you can imagine my disappointment when he runs out of gas with only a part of a lap to go. I could say it's just not fair, but his Dad lost the Daytona 500 many times with so many close finishes. Is it not fair or just racing? The winner Kevin Harvick replaced Dale Sr. in 2001 and as such has been one of my favorites since then. He can be quite entertaining (fight anyone?).

Now to my "worst moment" of the weekend..........good race at Monaco until there was a reg flag with about 1/2 dozen laps remaining. Ok, the cars stop, but what's this? Tires are changed, a wing is changed, a front clip is changed and god knows what else!! Is F1 the ONLY series in the entire world that allows this to happen under a red flag? The three car finish was going to be great, but under the red flag, Vettel took new tires and ruined an exciting ending. F1 or Fstupid?

If you follow car racing and read the odd column, you'll find some very frustrated folks about this bush league ending.

Until next time.........

Friday - Vette and collector Caddy

This a new Corvette? Actually it's a concept car called the Endora SC-1 designed and built by a German company. It really is a Corvette or at least it's built around a 'Vette chassis and mechanicals. When I saw it, I immediately thought it looked like a concept car from the '70's or '80's and certainly wasn't an improvement on the production Corvette. Turns out it is Endora's interpretation of an older concept car. Not sure why they did it  -  it looks like a bit of a lump to me.

Is a new Caddy DTS a collector car? I wouldn't have thought so either, but the head of the Bulgari empire (jewellery, perfume, etc) and a Cadillac collector, just bought the last DTS to roll off the production line.

I've always liked big Caddy's and think GM did a good job on this model. Would I want to own one? Not a chance  -  I had a big, big Coupe de Ville years ago and tired of it pretty darn fast. Was great on the 401 in a straight line, but watch out for anything resembling a corner. I'll stick with my Acura TL SH-AWD or in my dreams a CTS-V.
Great weekend for a racing fan........

F1  -  Monaco Grand Prix  (whoever gets the pole wins  -  come on Lewis!)
Indy Car  -  Indy 500  (100th running  -  GO TAG GO!)
NASCAR  -  Coca Cola 600

Did you see where Kyle Busch was picked up doing 128 mph in a 45 around Mooresville, North Carolina. I know those roads and all I can say is "Wow"  -  now that is car control and guts (or maybe just stupidity?). He certainly had the car for it, a new Lexus LFA. One writer expressed surprise that he wasn't going much faster and must have exercised restraint!

I'm heading for the golf course  -  it's cold and wet  -  just great.

Until next time........