Category Archives: Auto

Discussion of automobiles.

What’s Old Is New Again

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It seems like the domestic car companies are returning to classic muscle car looks and names to bring in the customers. In most cases, they’ve been doing it with names that have been discontinued. First was the Ford Thunderbird which looks just like the ’55-’57 original T-Birds. Then came the Pontiac GTO, which even though it looks nothing like the ’60s style GTOs, still looks good enough to use the GTO name. The newest GTO was discontinued but it’s set to return in ’08 or ’09 and is supposed to be based on the ’09 Camaro. That brings us to the next car, the Camaro. Chevrolet is bringing the Camaro back in 2009 and it looks a lot like the classic 1969 Camaro. Dodge decided to get into bringing back old names when they brought back the Charger this year. The only thing I don’t like is it looks nothing like the 1969-1970 Charger which most people would know better as the General Lee from the TV show The Dukes of Hazzard. At least they’re making up for it with the Challenger coming out in 2008. Even though it was never discontinued, Ford remodeled the Mustang to look like the 1969 Mustang. They’re even bringing the Boss 302 engine back.
There’s still a few cars I would like to see return looking very similar to previous models. One would be the Chevrolet Chevelle, with it looking like the 1970 style. Another would be the Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am.

 

Pinks All Out

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I was watching Pinks last night and saw a commercial for a new Pinks show called Pinks All Out. Instead of racing for pink slips, the racers race for $10,000 cash. There won’t be any sandbagging allowed. It’s going to be a heads-up, run-what-you-brung racing. I don’t know if it’s just a special show they’re doing or if it’s going to be a new series.

 

Countdown To The Championship

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That’s what NHRA is calling the new multitiered playoff system for determining a champion in each of the four pro categories (Top Fuel, Funny Car, Pro Stock, and Pro Stock Motorcycle). Basically, it copies the “Race to the Cup” that NASCAR uses. After the first 17 races, the top 8 in points move on to compete for 4 positions. The points get reset starting with 2,070 for first place, 2,060 for second, all the way down to 2,000 for eighth place. After the next 4 races, the top 4 in points move on to compete for the championship. The points are reset again, this time with first place getting 3,030 through last place getting 3,000.
Personally I don’t like this new system because I just don’t see the incentive for the other 12+ teams to go to the races. They never said what happens to the points system for the teams that either don’t make it into the top 8 or the 4 teams that make it to the top 8 but don’t make it to the final 4. What would happen if someone that finishes outside the top 8 winds up with more points than someone inside the top 8? There’s too much they didn’t mention that I’m still confused about.

 

Driving Force

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I just got done watching the first 2 episodes of Driving Force on A&E. The only complaint I have is that each episode is only 30 minutes long. I would rather see a full hour episode like some of the other reality shows on TV. If American Chopper and American Hot Rod can have hour long episodes, I don’t see why Driving Force can’t. Normally I don’t watch reality shows. I still have never bothered to watch an episode of American Idol. I’ll watch American Chopper and American Hot Rod if I’m flipping through the channels. This will be the first “reality show” I watch religiously and it’s partly because of the racing.

 

2006 Indy 500

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I just got done watching the Indy 500 and none of the drivers I would have liked to see win, did. I personally would’ve liked to have seen Michael Andretti win. If he couldn’t win then I would’ve liked to have seen Michael’s son Marco win. If neither Andretti could win, then it would’ve been nice to see Danica Patrick win. Michael could’ve won if Marco would’ve stayed behind him. Then it would’ve been Michael winning with Marco taking second place, which is what Mario Andretti said, before the race, he would’ve liked to have seen.

 

Briggs Chevrolet Chevelle LS6

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I’m sitting here watching the Barrett-Jackson Auto Auction on Speed Channel and the Briggs Chevrolet 1970 Chevelle LS6 just sold for $1,150,000. Yes, you read that right. One million, one hundred fifty thousand dollars. From the Barrett-Jackson site:

454cid LS6 V8 automatic transmission with 61 miles showing on the odometer. This is the car that Ray Allen drove and won just about every conceivable race entered in 1970. This car won The US Nationals, The Super Nationals, The World Finals and most of the division races that were entered. This car has gone through a frame-off restoration that was mostly built and supervised by Ray Allen himself. This car is being sold with the original New Jersey title in Truppi & Kling’s name and also comes with the original build sheet and various magazine and National Dragster articles about this World Champion Car and pictures at The Winners’ Circle. This car is truly a legend in muscle car history.

The car was bought originally for $1500. If I remember correctly, my father said that that included the flatbed to tow it on. The interesting thing about the car is that it was truely one of 17 ever made and NHRA required that at least 50 of a car be made for it to eligible for competition. Truppi-Kling was able to get a letter from Chevrolet stating that 50 were made even though there weren’t.

I’ve included an edited video of the auction that I recorded to my PC thanks to my TV tuner card

 

John Z DeLorean 1925-2005

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John Z. DeLorean, the man who brought us the Pontiac GTO and the DeLorean (obviously), died late Saturday night from complications of a recent stroke. If it weren’t for this man, who knows what the time machine in Back to the Future would’ve been. I’ve always wanted a DeLorean. He even had a dealership down the street from my house. I’ve had the chance to meet him a couple of times and he was always a very nice man. I had always hoped one day there would be a new DeLorean sports car.