Cars..

[wbw6cos]

Oh, the humanity!

 

 

[Bill_Walker]

On 2/4/2021 at 8:48 PM, roadscholar said:

Nicely done film featuring a few old guys that like them all, were young once.

Great little film with a cool story and some great guys!  My favorite line was from Brundle: "it must have been nice to have brakes that actually stopped the car, instead of giving you a place to rest your foot while you were having an accident!"  LOL.

[roadscholar]

Looks like mr. burnout tried one too many.. anybody looking for a slightly used C7?   

[wbw6cos]

When I first saw the title. I was expecting a crash.  I still was not disappointed.  

[John Ranalletta]

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man, but WTF is wrong with guys who do burnouts?  It's like rollin' coal.  Stupid.

 

[Hosstage]

52 minutes ago, John Ranalletta said:

Maybe I'm just a grumpy old man, but WTF is wrong with guys who do burnouts?  It's like rollin' coal.  Stupid.

 

Because it's so damn cool! You're kind of coming off grumpy old mannish!  

[roadscholar]

3 hours ago, Bill_Walker said:

Great little film with a cool story and some great guys!  My favorite line was from Brundle: "it must have been nice to have brakes that actually stopped the car, instead of giving you a place to rest your foot while you were having an accident!"  LOL.

 

Just learned that Murray Walker recently passed at 97, the longtime voice of F1 (in it's heyday). Here he is in a commercial with Damon Hill : )

 

 

[John Ranalletta]

11 hours ago, Hosstage said:

Because it's so damn cool! You're kind of coming off grumpy old mannish!  

Go back and watch the OP video again and tell me that was a good idea. 

[RandyShields]

11 hours ago, roadscholar said:

Just learned that Murray Walker recently passed at 97, the longtime voice of F1 (in it's heyday). Here he is in a commercial with Damon Hill : )

 

Thanks Bill.  The reference to Murray Walker, reminded me of a sweet story about an encounter with another legendary motorsports voice and journalist.  In 2007, my wife and I were enjoying an anniversary dinner at our favorite Charlotte restaurant, McIntosh’s.  As we were dining, the waitress brought us over two more glasses of wine.  When I mentioned that we hadn’t ordered more wine, she glanced at an older gentleman walking our way.  He was on his way out after dining alone, and wasn’t stopping by for a thank you, but simply to say “cherish the moment.”  He then disappeared out the front door.  But that voice – I knew that voice.  When the waitress came back, I asked about him and she said he was Chris Economaki.  He and his wife had dined there often and, watching us enjoying each other’s company, he was missing special moments with his wife who had passed.  So, he wanted to share his feelings with us.

 

He had to be in his mid-80s, so I didn’t quite recognize him, but that unique and distinctive voice was still quite recognizable.  I wish we had the chance to spend some time with him, but he was out the door in a flash.  I had to explain to my wife who the dean of motorsports journalism was, which didn’t mean much to her, but his kind gesture and the circumstances made her cry, along with a lady at an adjoining table who witnessed the whole thing.  Good memories.

 

Below is a link to a Dave Despain hourlong tribute to Chris on an episode of Wind Tunnel.  It has been some time since he left us, but RIP Chris Economaki. You were special.

 

Wind Tunnel - Chris Economaki (2006) - YouTube

[Hosstage]

1 hour ago, John Ranalletta said:

Go back and watch the OP video again and tell me that was a good idea. 

Hey, I didn't say it was a good idea, I said it was cool! In this guy's case, it was cool a few times before, this one didn't work out so well! Who among us hasn't done a few things that were kind of cool, but not necessarily a good idea? Nobody here ever tried to do a burnout in high school? You know you did. It was not a good idea (especially in mom's station wagon), but it was cool!

[TEWKS]

23 minutes ago, Hosstage said:

Who among us hasn't done a few things that were kind of cool, but not necessarily a good idea?

 Hmm yeah, too many to count comes to mind.

 

Fairly new driver, five of us packed into my father’s XR7 ( I thought at the time) coming back from a ski day. I’m not sure how fast the car would go but I had it mashed to the floor on I-89 for about five miles. Got bagged coming back down through 90 MPH. I think that cost me about a months worth of work at the time.

[Rougarou]

12 minutes ago, TEWKS said:

 Hmm yeah, too many to count comes to mind.

 

Fairly new driver, five of us packed into my father’s XR7 ( I thought at the time) coming back from a ski day. I’m not sure how fast the car would go but I had it mashed to the floor on I-89 for about five miles. Got bagged coming back down through 90 MPH. I think that cost me about a months worth of work at the time.

 

 

11-12 years old, Dad would give the keys to me, my uncle would give the .22 wheelgun to my same age cousin.  Dad would say which roads I wasn't allowed to cross.  Area is all rice fields traversed by gravel roads, I weren't allowed on the paved ones.  Anyway, 1977ish Pontiac Gran Prix, two little boys driving along, you could feel the car floating on the gravel, coulda been bad, but rear end started the fish tail thing, then finally, car goes sideways, gravel washing up the drivers sided of the car, nearly chit a brick,......so, I drove fast again, and again, and again, all on gravel.  Oh, the wheelgun,........that's when we'd stop at the canals and shoot snakes, turtles, or anything else that moved.

 

I's allowed to drive anywhere in the red, I could only "cross" the paved roads outside of Midland.......those were the days!!!

 

[John Ranalletta]

57 minutes ago, Hosstage said:

Hey, I didn't say it was a good idea, I said it was cool! In this guy's case, it was cool a few times before, this one didn't work out so well! Who among us hasn't done a few things that were kind of cool, but not necessarily a good idea? Nobody here ever tried to do a burnout in high school? You know you did. It was not a good idea (especially in mom's station wagon), but it was cool!

 

No street burnouts in my '63 Chevy Nova Super Sport 194 6cyl engined bomb for sure.  We did our burnouts on the drag strip with a flathead powered '32 A, 63 1/2 Fastback Ford Galaxy w/ Holman & Moody blueprinted engine and a 427 Holman & Moody prepped Shelby Cobra.

[Hosstage]

6 minutes ago, John Ranalletta said:

 

No street burnouts in my '63 Chevy Nova Super Sport 194 6cyl engined bomb for sure.  We did our burnouts on the drag strip with a flathead powered '32 A, 63 1/2 Fastback Ford Galaxy w/ Holman & Moody blueprinted engine and a 427 Holman & Moody prepped Shelby Cobra.

 

Now you're talking my language!

[Rougarou]

22 minutes ago, John Ranalletta said:

 

No street burnouts in my '63 Chevy Nova Super Sport 194 6cyl engined bomb for sure.  We did our burnouts on the drag strip with a flathead powered '32 A, 63 1/2 Fastback Ford Galaxy w/ Holman & Moody blueprinted engine and a 427 Holman & Moody prepped Shelby Cobra.

 

Meh, my first car I bought was a 79 Pinto with the 2.3,......super, super slow,......and,......and, two cylinders had no compression.

[Hosstage]

2 hours ago, Rougarou said:

 

Meh, my first car I bought was a 79 Pinto with the 2.3,......super, super slow,......and,......and, two cylinders had no compression.

That's factory!

[John Ranalletta]

1 hour ago, Rougarou said:

 

Meh, my first car I bought was a 79 Pinto with the 2.3,......super, super slow,......and,......and, two cylinders had no compression.

 

Had a red sedan.  You know.  The ones that burned when hit in the ass.  My wife and infant son were in the car when it was hit from behind.  Car totaled but no damage.  Traded a 69 Fort Torino GT for it.  Duh!  That's part of having kids.

 

The second Pinto was a blue wagon.  A fuel hose leak led to a fire that torched the engine bay.  Totaled.

 

[Rougarou]

22 minutes ago, Hosstage said:

That's factory!

 

Ya, but I was jamming to British Steel with eight speakers in that car!!!   The stereo was a super badass Kraco.  I paid $73 a month for that Pinto, when I left for boot camp, I sold it for payoff, $300.

 

20 minutes ago, John Ranalletta said:

 

Had a red sedan.  You know.  The ones that burned when hit in the ass.  My wife and infant son were in the car when it was hit from behind.  Car totaled but no damage.  Traded a 69 Fort Torino GT for it.  Duh!  That's part of having kids.

 

The second Pinto was a blue wagon.  A fuel hose leak led to a fire that torched the engine bay.  Totaled.

 

 

While the Pinto was my first car I paid for, my older brother had two vehicles and I got to use the "lesser" of the two until I kinda wrecked it.  An awesome 77 Ford Courier,........I tell ya, I'd love to have that little guy back again.  Same 2.3l engine, but it ran on four cylinders.

[Hosstage]

19 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

 

Ya, but I was jamming to British Steel with eight speakers in that car!!!   The stereo was a super badass Kraco.  I paid $73 a month for that Pinto, when I left for boot camp, I sold it for payoff, $300.

 

 

While the Pinto was my first car I paid for, my older brother had two vehicles and I got to use the "lesser" of the two until I kinda wrecked it.  An awesome 77 Ford Courier,........I tell ya, I'd love to have that little guy back again.  Same 2.3l engine, but it ran on four cylinders.

Kraco stereo, K Mart's best! I had it paired with the Kraco equalizer, high tech! But, mine was in the much sportier 1971 Maverick Grabber, 250 straight six, awesome one wheel burnouts! Wish I had some pics of that rusty but trusty chick magnet.

[Rougarou]

4 minutes ago, Hosstage said:

Kraco stereo, K Mart's best! I had it paired with the Kraco equalizer, high tech! But, mine was in the much sportier 1971 Maverick Grabber, 250 straight six, awesome one wheel burnouts! Wish I had some pics of that rusty but trusty chick magnet.

 

Sparkomatic underdash cassette player was in the Courier......had a 40watt "booster", don't remember that brand.

 

Another brother still had the 8-track player in his truck, so he had to get the 8-track cassette adapter.

[Hosstage]

Ah, the good old days! The Sparkomatic was Radio Shack, I think? The Jenson Coax speakers and Pioneer Supertuner were game changers. Not to mention the auto-reverse cassette decks.

[Rougarou]

Jensen,.....completely forgot about that high quality stuff!!

 

Anyway, a couple of years ago, I saw an article that compared the prices of car audio from the 80's to present.  Clarion, Blaukpunkt, Nakamichi, Pioneer, Kenwood, all the other high quality stuff.  Prices in Crutchfield were stoopidly high for a am/fm/cassette player with auto reverse, music search and the like (seen prices that hit $1k+). 

 

Now, a decent head unit is nothing.  Picked up a Junk Very Cheap (JVC) for the old blue truck with bruetoof for $100, threw in some rockford fosgate speakers for another $100.

[wbw6cos]

What about drifting?   In reverse?

 

 

[roadscholar]

Sorry man, it's not quite April 1st : )

[realshelby]

Well, Hi-Fi it wasn't....am I the only one here that has owned ( more than one ) fm converter?

[Rougarou]

17 minutes ago, realshelby said:

Well, Hi-Fi it wasn't....am I the only one here that has owned ( more than one ) fm converter?

 

Nope, the Courier had factory AM, so I also had the little FM converter.

[TEWKS]

A near perfect Pinto today seems to be fetching some pretty good money!

 

My older cousin’s buddy had one when I was about ten. He had big fat mag tires on the back, we thought it was cool! 

[ESokoloff]

2 hours ago, roadscholar said:

Sorry man, it's not quite April 1st : )

It’s got to be true.......

I saw it on the internet.

[Skywagon]

1 hour ago, realshelby said:

the only one here that has owned ( more than one ) fm converter?

 

Nope,,,,I had a couple of those...but did you ever have a converter you could plug into your 8 track that would play a cassette...now that was a real 2fer.

[roadscholar]

24 minutes ago, ESokoloff said:

It’s got to be true.......

I saw it on the internet.

 

I always liked this one.

 

 

[ESokoloff]

9 hours ago, roadscholar said:

 

I always liked this one.

 

 

At least that looks more plausible with Michael involved.  

[wbw6cos]

I saw that done on Men in Black.  

[Hosstage]

I just got around to watching the limo drift, that was hilarious!

[roadscholar]

A little slow starting off but it gets better.

 

 

[BrianM]

Garage last Monday, moving things around.

Today

Making room for this. For my wife. Thanks for 29 years of racing.

[roadscholar]

Here's the 2nd Carrera Cup race from Sebring this morning. The track is still pretty rough but not as bad as it was in the early 80's the first couple times I drove in the 12 Hours. New GT3RS's are 190k, Cup cars probably more if you can get your hands on one.  

 

 

[roadscholar]

DTM, the early years.

 

 

[roadscholar]

SOLD on 3/11/21 for $39,000. (79k miles)

 

SOLD FOR $24,250 ON 3/19/21 (69k miles)

'01 1150GS (35k miles)

 

If you've been noticing 'some' cars from the 80's and 90's selling for more than they used to, here are a few of the reasons. The same concept can (and will eventually) apply to BMW motorcycles (oilheads) from the mid 90's to mid '00's, they're well made, have timeless design, modern suspension and brakes, ride nice, are mostly analog, and easy to work on. 

 

Hoovie pretty much nails it..  

 

https://www.autotrader.com/car-video/heres-why-e28-bmw-535i-now-worth-50000-272500

[Rougarou]

9 hours ago, roadscholar said:

SOLD on 3/11/21 for $39,000. (79k miles)

 

SOLD FOR $24,250 ON 3/19/21 (69k miles)

'01 1150GS (35k miles)

 

If you've been noticing 'some' cars from the 80's and 90's selling for more than they used to, here are a few of the reasons. The same concept can (and will eventually) apply to BMW motorcycles (oilheads) from the mid 90's to mid '00's, they're well made, have timeless design, modern suspension and brakes, ride nice, are mostly analog, and easy to work on. 

 

Hoovie pretty much nails it..  

 

https://www.autotrader.com/car-video/heres-why-e28-bmw-535i-now-worth-50000-272500

 

Sooooo, I shoulda kept the 1990 750i instead of offing it for $1k a few years ago?

[roadscholar]

3 minutes ago, Rougarou said:

 

Sooooo, I shoulda kept the 1990 750i instead of offing it for $1k a few years ago?

 

Maybe, maybe not, that gen 7 series was the beginning of BMW building overly complicated cars and 7’s have always been the worst offenders, personally I steer clear of them. But the fact it’s a 12 cylinder has some redeeming value if even more complicated. One thing I remember about those cars is they go down the highway extremely nice, maybe nicer than a same era S class.

[Rougarou]

48 minutes ago, roadscholar said:

 

Maybe, maybe not, that gen 7 series was the beginning of BMW building overly complicated cars and 7’s have always been the worst offenders, personally I steer clear of them. But the fact it’s a 12 cylinder has some redeeming value if even more complicated. One thing I remember about those cars is they go down the highway extremely nice, maybe nicer than a same era S class.

 

Ya, it was a nice ride, even with the self leveling thing not functioning.  But, you fix one issue, than another appears,.....more wiring in that damn car than the space shuttle.  

[roadscholar]

Today was a good car day, with a few motor-sickles thrown in. Swapped out the Z3 for the Boxster at the overflow storage facility.

 

 

stopped by a buddiy’s car lot.

 

 

Went to the CADS meeting.

 

 

and afterwards got a ride with one of our younger guys in an M4 with the competition package. I told him he should take it to a track day, he goes I need someone to teach me, I said I know somebody.

 

[roadscholar]

John Ranalletta sent a message this morning about this, thanks John I hadn't seen it. 

 

 

 

Told him I had a couple 550 stories and sent a link to one of them back. Here's the other, an old racing buddy found this car sometime in the late 80's I believe. He restored it back to original in the livery it raced in the Carrera Panamerica where it defeated many more powerful cars and became responsible for the iconic name. He took it to the Monterrey Historics one year but also entered the Pebble Beach Concours on Sunday where it won it's class. Porsche found out about it and said, we want that car. Another long time buddy negotiated the deal, it wasn't easy but they got it.

 

   

[roadscholar]

More Porsche content (you don't have to watch it : ) actually an hour and a half worth,  well made and an insightful look into the nuances (and highs and lows) of endurance racing by a couple of top tier teams. 

 

 

[MikeB60]

Saw this at Wooly's BMW in ATL this morning.  And I thought brake pads were expensive...

 

[wbw6cos]

While I was out and about in E. Roswell, I saw an i8 roadster in E-Copper Metallic paint.  Sa-weeeeeet!   Now I want one!  Oh, my.   That color was awesome!

[roadscholar]

[TEWKS]

One quick pick away, or five less motorcycles.  

 

[roadscholar]

 

[TEWKS]

I’ve never visited a Porsche dealership (drool from afar only ) but Bill, do you have an idea what that 911 GT3 would cost over the Cayman in the post above? Like I said, I don’t dare get close enough to be stung but my guess would be about eighty thousand more for the GT3?   The Cayman at around 80K and 160K for the 911. Just a guess.