Monday, May 26, 2008

SURFING THE WEB?

Nick Cash

I needed some parts for my 57 Chevy Belaire, so I decided to Google for them.

WOW! A search for 57 Chevy Parts pulls up 1,650,000 pages to look at, so I settled down for a morning on the computer, but guess what? That 1,650,000 pages is limited to less than 800 pages available and then I am stopped from going any further! On top of that, many of the pages, which are presented at only 10 pages per page, many of the pages are duplicates and other pages on the same websites! Sheesh!

A lot of the links are eBay links that are outdated or on the verge of being sold. Or some other website like Auto Trader, etc, etc, etc.Then there is are the fake links that try to sell you ebooks on how to sell on eBay or how to get rich numerous other ways. Here is one that has no bearing on 57 Chevys at all; "57 Chevy parts, giftsforgirls com, free wweonlinegames, diva staz".

I have to say that it was mighty frustrating! All in all though, I think I found 3 new sources for parts.

So, frustration aside, my surfing was a success, if you don't count that new keyboard I had to scavenge from my kid's computer because I spilled beer in mine.

I guess I will wrap this up and go buy a new keyboard for my computer before I get in trouble with the kid...

Tuesday, May 20, 2008

Going To The Drive-In Movie

by Karl Nichols

The Drive-In Movie was a weekend fixture in my family’s plans as it was with so many other American families and when it disappeared, we didn’t even realize it. The transition from Drive-Ins to TV & Video/DVD Rentals was so subtle and smooth that nobody even thought to say goodbye. I remember, after the Air-conditioning was installed and we bought the color TV, we didn’t think about the Drive-In Movies anymore, the industry just bled to death out of site and mind.

The first time I realized this was in 1987 when we moved into a new house in a new city and there, as big as life, sitting beside the entry to our new subdivision was a Drive-In Movie Theater. My 9-year-old daughter said, “Dad, what is that?” She was the last of our 4 kids and the only one who was still at home, and as I thought about the answer to her question, I realized that I hadn’t been to a Drive-In Movie in at least 10 years, my daughter’s question was proof of that.

We are still living in that house, and my daughter just graduated from college, but the Drive-In is gone, about 10 years now. Gone the way of the Buffalo and the Outhouse, crowded out by a civilization that ruthlessly moves on, discarding the bodies of past technology in it’s wake and such was the fate of the Dive-In Movie, left behind like a discarded 8-Track Cartridge.

What brings about this maudlin sentimentality for the Drive-In? I was recently surfing the Net and ran across the website http://www.driveinmovie.com/ which is dedicated to helping people who are looking for Drive-Ins. The site has all(?) the Drive-Ins listed state by state to help those of us who still wish to be eaten by mosquitoes while sweating copiously, having to use smelly over crowded restrooms and eat bad carryout food which is cold by the time we stumble around looking for and finally finding our car. Man that is what I call a good time! The old saying that “Hindsight is 20-20” could actually be restated as “Memories are blind as a bat”! See ya at the Drive-In next week.

Copyright KL Nichols 2008

Sunday, May 18, 2008

BOB'S AUTO PARTS AUCTION

BOB'S AUTO PARTS AUCTION
Tony and Michele Hamer

Are you looking for a parts car or a restoration project? Well Rowley's Auction Service will be auctioning off the entire contents of Bob's Auto Parts in Fostoria, Michigan, this weekend. This facility has operated as a classic car salvage yard since 1938. Bob and Chris Zimmerman have owned and operated the business since 1957. Due to the death of Bob Zimmerman, all the vehicles will be sold at auction. What will be auctioned are the 1,800 cars in a junkyard that's been in operation since 1938. Looking at the pictures on the website, there are some interesting collector car material from the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s. There will be a minimum bid of $400 for all of the cars and pickups "due to high scrap prices", so we might assume, that whatever doesn't sell at auction goes straight to the crusher. If you see anything on the website you might be interested in, give Bob's a call and save a classic from being crushed.

Read More Here: http://classiccars.about.com/b/2008/05/15/bobs-auto-parts-auction.htm

WHERE DID ALL THE MUSTANGS GO?

WHERE DID ALL THE MUSTANGS GO?
This is from http://www.cars-on-line.com/ Newsletter

On Tuesday morning when we opened the Cars On Line office there were four inspection orders that had come in overnight. They were all for buyers from Australia. Three of the four orders were requests for us to look at classic Mustangs for sale here in the United States. That's the way the market has been going lately. Australian buyers are putting down cash money for first generation Mustangs, Mach 1's and Boss Mustangs. And here's the kicker. They're buying up all the Mustang hardtops (coupes) they can find.

Now you and I know that only the early Mustang convertibles are of any value here in the U.S. But the word is that in Australia the resale on American Mustang coupes is $40,000 to $50,000! Look out! Right now in California, Arizona and Nevada, Australian front men are buying up as many solid, dry Western coupes as they can find and shipping them back to Australia to sell to collectors there. The average value on the early Mustang coupes had been around $6,500 in the U.S. up until now. But in California they are getting $10,000 to $12,000 for rust free high No. 3 condition coupes.

I'm worried that ten years down the road there won't be any '65 and '66 Mustangs left here in the U.S.," a California Mustang collector told us this week. "At the Pomona Swap Meet last month Australian brokers bought all the decent cars during the setup day on Saturday. When the show opened on Sunday they were standing at the gate buying all the rust free Mustangs as they came in." This collector told us that, out of the last ten cars he has sold, all ten went to Australia. He delivered one to a dock in Long Beach where he said there were hundreds of cars standing outside in the yard waiting to be loaded on boats to go back to Australia. He said that he was told there was a backlog of five hundred cars waiting to be loaded and shipped. They didn't have enough boats!

Classic car dealers across the country are telling us the same thing. Some say half the cars they sell are going overseas. We may see that scenario increase. And its not just Mustangs that are being shipped overseas.

We've noticed that collectors in Australia, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and the U.K. have been buying American classic cars in greater numbers this year since the U.S. dollar has weakened against the world economies. Now foreign collectors can buy American classic cars for one-fourth of what they used to pay, not to mention that prices have dropped in our own market. The only thing that will correct this trend is for the U.S. Fed to stop printing money (and start raising interest rates again.) The Fed is so worried about bailing out "house flippers" and real estate speculators that they succeeded in pushing gas prices over $4.00 a gallon this week. To add insult to injury, now we have to watch while our collector cars are being bought up because our currency gets about as much respect as the Mexican peso.

Food for thought: Isn't it amazing how the rest of the world appreciates our "old cars?" Now consider this: is that a good thing?

(This is from their newsletter, which is worth subscribing to. Normally I would just link this article to it, but it is a good article and there seems to be no way to link to it!)