CarNewz

More pics from Barrett-Jackson on Saturday

2009-01-17T21:26:00.001-08:00

Pictures Copyright Mark C Bach 2009

Ratty Cars? - BS Brash

2009-01-16T18:35:00.000-08:00

I'm am sorry, I just don't get Rat Rods, and I have the same disdane for them that I have for Art Cars, why don't you just restore them properly. I feel a little the same way about Streetrods also, but them I understand a little bit better. If you don't think the available cars will fit your personality, and you don't have the money to buy something really fancy, you start with what you have right where you are and hope for the best.

But Rat Rods are ratty looking! If you have $50k under the skin, why not top it off with a 100 coat hand rubbed paint job and really wow the world?

Give me a break! If you drive a Rat Rod, what kind of statement are you making? "Hi world, here I am, a ratty person with an ugly, fast car?" The same thing goes for Art Car owners, are you debasing yourself or just cleaning out the garage? Your girlfriend HAS to be ashamed to ride in it?

Don't misunderstand me, if you are driving a ratty looking classic just for the fun of it before you start restoration on it, I am not talking about your car!

Yeah, I know, I am going to get a lot of nasty emails because of this article! But I stand by what I wrote!

Copyright 2009 BS Brash

WHERE IS THE MARKET HEADING? - Mark C Bach

2009-01-15T18:55:00.000-08:00

WHERE IS THE MARKET HEADING?
- Mark C Bach

Even after the dust settles from the auctions currently being held in Arizona, I’m not sure many folks will know the answer to that question. That being said though here are a few thoughts to ponder.

Most cars are being bought at a car auction with a buyer’s premium. That means above the stated purchase price, the buyer must pay an extra amount. And most sellers get a commission deducted from the selling price. So auction houses make money from both the buyer and the seller. What that also means is there is always a gap (sometimes huge) between what a buyer pays for a car and what a seller receives for that same car.

So buying at an auction and then quickly selling it can be an expensive and harsh lesson.

Hagerty Insurance sponsored a Smart Collecting Seminar at the Russo and Steele Car Auction this morning, Thursday January 15, 2009 in Scottsdale. The six panelists voiced their opinions on several items that collectors can take to heart.

Has the Collector Car Market Tanked?

No. Some speculators who rushed blindly into the market may get spanked, but prices- while soft- have certainly not dropped as much as the US stock market.

“Knowledge is Power” said McKeel Hagerty and with the growth in the Internet and the sources available to knowledgeable appraisers, a prudent buyer will know more about the cars available today. They’ll know common repair issues, past history on specific cars and what prices have been going for on that marque around the world.

Collect with a Passion

For the past five years many felt that the collectors are buying cars that they had a personal connection to. So even if the market does drop, the collector can still keep the car without regrets. The car was bought to bring pleasure and that won’t change.

Many of us can remember when silly money was being spent for questionable 57 Bel Air Convertible Fuel Injected cars in the late 1990’s. If you were buying as an investment that was probably dumb. If you bought one because you always wanted a Bel Air convertible and have kept it, what’s the harm? Just as in stocks you don’t suffer a “loss” until you sell.

Photos and copy all copyrighted 2009 by Mark C Bach

Barrett-Jackson Day Two - Mark C Bach

2009-01-14T20:24:00.000-08:00

Barrett-Jackson Day Two
- Mark C Bach

The second day of the Barrett-Jackson auction is being held today and Speed is showing five hours live (5-10 PM, locally from Arizona.). Speed cable coverage continues through Sunday with live telecasts and tape re-broadcasts. The weather was great and as the television lights came on, so did the prices.

The folks from GM are selling off some cars from their Heritage Museum. It is interesting to note that the auctioneers are repeating frequently that these cars are not warranted, nor necessarily carry the required safety or emission equipment. Instead of a bill of sale, which is common when cars don’t have a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) like NASCAR race cars – these cars are being sold with a scrap title. Some collectors might be paying top dollar for cars that will never be able to get on the road. Speaking of NASCAR, Rick Hendrix was buying some of these GM pieces.

When GM first started to list the cars they were releasing for this auction, some bloggers criticized them for selling plain Jane pieces that could be easily be replaced in the museum at a later time. But in reality many are concept cars or one offs that don’t have a twin in existence. These cars were rightful fought over and the prices show the collectors’ interest.

Copy & Pictures Copyrighted Mark C Bach 2008

Antique & Vintage Cars Auction

2009-01-14T14:38:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to tell you about these antique cars we have on an auction Feb. 7th for the Walker Family in Frontenac, (Pittsburg, Ks).

You can see our pictures and listing on these cars at www.meyerauctionservice.com

Feel Free to call

Col. Dave Meyer

Meyer Auction Service

Pittsburg, Ks

620-231-7561

Antique & Vintage Cars

1950 Ford Coupe (Solid Body - Solid V-8 - Needs Restoration)

1954 Ford Customline (No Engine - Solid Body - and All There)

1960 Cadillac Sedan Deville (Runs Great - Excellent Original Condition)

1962 Thunderbird (Nice Interior and Instruments - Solid Engine - Rough Body)

1970 Chevy Pickup (3/4 ton - 4 Speed - Runs Great - Good Work Truck)

1973 Cadillac CoupDeVille

1974 VW Carmen Ghia (Ran When Parked - Rusted Body)

1979 Chevy El Camino (Runs Great - Bored 350 Engine - Body Average)

1984 Cadillac (Runs Great - Nice Interior)

(2) 1984 Cadillac El Dorados - (Parts Cars)

Misc Car Parts of All Descriptions, 1940 Chevy Grill, Old Hub Caps, Old Car Radios, Lots of Model Cars (Unassembled), Repair Manuals, Auto Magazines and Books

Tractor

8 N Ford Tractor (Runs Great - Needs Tires - with 5 foot Bush Hog)

Thanks

Col. Dave Meyer

Car Auctions Are Coming To Arizona

2009-01-09T23:21:00.001-08:00

- Mark C Bach

Each January the car auction companies flock to various Phoenix area sites to hold their classic car sales/auctions.

The grand daddy of them all is Barrett-Jackson’s auction held in Scottsdale and featured live and on tape on Speed with nearly 40 hours of coverage next weekend. This will be the 38th annual auction for them which they call – The World’s Greatest Collector Car Events” TM. And they probably are right! This year the auction offers a stunning black T-Bird, the first one off the factory floor. Plus Craig Jackson will assist GM in auctioning off for charity the first 2010 Camaro, outfitted as the winning bidder desires. Readers might remember that last year at Barrett Jackson, the first production Corvette ZR-1 sold for $1,000,000. GM is even feeling the pinch and will be selling some cars there from their extensive collection.

Russo Steele will be holding four days of car auctions further north in Scottsdale and ESPN cameras will tape the auction action for later broadcast. The contrast here is that only actual bidders are allowed into the auction tent and cars can be sold with a reserve. This means if the current owner wants to sell the car for at least “$x” amount, they can keep an unannounced reserve on the car and hope it fetches at least that amount.

Silver Car Auctions will be on the east edge of the metropolitan area at Fort McDowell for four days as well. Mitch Silver and his auctions helped establish Hot August Nights in Reno and is boastful that their slate of cars is more for the average buyer – meaning more reasonably priced.

Boutique auctions also occur next week with RM and Gooding in town as well for separate one day sales.

In two weeks Kruse Auctions comes into town and sweeps up the remnants, boasting of nearly 1,000 cars to auction. Sometimes I think they must be counting the car’s wheels to come up with their car counts but they still have a great selection.

The bottom line is there will be plenty of cars in Arizona for the next two weeks and lots of money passing hands. Will there be million dollar cars crossing the auction block? You can count on it.

Stay tuned for more coverage as the auctions proceed.

Copyright Mark C Bach 2009

OODLES OF FREE ADVERTISING!

2008-11-16T22:37:00.000-08:00

OODLES OF FREE ADVERTISING!
- KL Nichols

Craigslist.com is the first place, these days, that most people think of when they want some free advertising, but I am going to recommend Oodle.com. In the cars for sale category as I write this, there are over 27,000 cars for sale. Admittedly, like on CraigsList.com, most of the cars for sale are daily drivers. But this indicates the activity on Oodle.com and where car buyers congregate, collector buyers can't be far behind!

Admittedly, CraigsList.com is a bigger website with more traffic, but the fact that you can only advertise in one city at a time on CraigsList.com negates their size and traffic.

I report this information only to prove that as a collector in these trying times, you can sell your collector vehicle and save money on advertising to boot!

http://oodle.com

SEMA SHOW 2008

2008-11-08T17:23:00.001-08:00

SEMA SHOW 2008
Mark C Bach

Each year the Las Vegas Convention Center is besieged by the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). Over a million square feet of indoor spaced was covered with cars, car parts and an expected 125,000 registered attendees.

Over four days this week countless celebrities mingle with the crowds, unveil cars, sign autographs and drool over the cars. Perhaps the strangest celebrity pairing was Carroll Shelby from Cobra fame and Guy Fieri the cook/host of “Diners, Drive Ins and Dives.” This year a record fifteen car manufacturers brought out their stock of new releases and concept cars.

Despite the economy we read about in the newspapers and hear on television, there was plenty of business to be made. Typically at the SEMA show manufacturers strut out their latest offerings and products and write orders with their jobbers and wholesalers. As the public sees the new offerings they tell their suppliers what THEY want to buy. Besides the car manufacturers, almost 2000 other exhibitors brought out their lines. One of the highlights of the show is many exhibitors bring out their demo cars or show cars to draw in the crowds and showcase their equipment. So over 2000 great cars are on the premises to look at.

Some of the cars included a restored Ghostbuster’s ambulance, some pimped out cars from DUB with outrageous rims, the much touted 2010 (or whenever) Camaro, the Hyundai Genesis and Toyota’s Venza. If you looked closely you could find more brands of quick detailer car spray than you even knew existed!

This year marked the 36th year of the show which first modestly started at LA Dodger Stadium. As tantalizing as all this sounds and seems, it is a trade show and closed to the general public.

Copyright 2008 ClassicRag.com

1936 Ford Tudor Sedan Stainless Steel

2008-11-02T08:37:00.001-08:00

This is the 1936 Ford Tudor Sedan built for and owned by Allegheny Ludlum Steel. This is 1 of only 4 in existence and is the only one currently in running & in road worthy condition. The car is in exceptional condition, with the interior and even the frame looking great. All 4 cars each had over 200,000 miles on them before they removed them from service.

These cars were built for Allegheny as promotional and marketing projects. The top salesmen each year were given the honor of being able to drive them for one year. The v-8 engine (max 85 hp) ran like a sewing machine and was surprisingly smooth and quite.

The story has it that the dies were ruined by stamping the stainless car parts, making these the last of these cars ever produced. More information of the history on these automobiles can be found at Allegheny Ludlum's website

http://www.alleghenyludlum.com/pages/companyinfo/stainlesscars.asp

Happy Birthday USMC

2008-11-02T08:34:00.002-08:00

November 10. The only fraternity I ever joined, Semper Fi Marines!

Happy Birthday Route 66!

2008-11-02T08:34:00.001-08:00

Route 66 Birthday - Route 66 was officially established on November 11th, 1926.

All Automotive Appraisers are not equal

2008-11-01T17:39:00.000-07:00

All Automotive Appraisers are not equal; to locate a certified IAAA
appraiser and read the Classic Car News; go-to www.AutoAppraiser.info. If you are or know of a recognizedautomotive appraiser who could qualify, write or call for a membership application. IAAA, PO Box 338, Dept. RAG, Montvale, NJ07645. 201-391-3251 (12d07)

BUSINESS FUNDING SOLUTIONS

2008-11-01T17:38:00.000-07:00

BUSINESS FUNDING SOLUTIONS

"The Secrets of Raising Capital for Start-Up & Early Stage Business"
This eBook Serves As The Most Comprehensive Guide Available Into The World Of Raising Capital.

http://tinyurl.com/6dcsub

WIN A SHELBY TERLINGUA RACING MUSTANG

2008-11-01T17:37:00.000-07:00

WIN A SHELBY TERLINGUA RACING MUSTANG
Benefiting The Carroll Shelby Children's Foundation
http://tinyurl.com/43hfsy

QUICKIE WATERLESS CAR WASH

2008-11-01T17:36:00.000-07:00

QUICKIE WATERLESS CAR WASH – WE PAY THE SHIPPING!
Environmentally Safe!! Saves our Precious Water!
(The average car wash uses over 100 gallons of water)

Quickie Waterless Car Wash Cleans, Polishes and protects cars, trucks, boats, recreational vehicles, airplanes - virtually any non-porous surface – all without using any water. You just spray Quickie Waterless Car Wash directly on the dirty surface, wipe to lift dirt and buff it
dry with a clean terry cloth! Now you can have a just-detailed, showroom finish without messy hoses, buckets, cleaners or waxes!
Waterless Car Wash contains no silicons or other ingredients harmful to your vehicle's paint or the environment. $16.95 a Quart.
One Quart will wash the average car 8-12 times. Or one GALLON IS $39.00 (Gallon includes Spray Bottle) also shipped FREE!
http://www.QuickieCarWash.com

BARGAINS AT BARRETT-JACKSON

2008-11-01T17:34:00.000-07:00

BARGAINS AT BARRETT-JACKSON
- Larry Edsall

2006 Ford Mustang customized by By now you know there were no million-dollar cars at Barrett-Jackson's inaugural Las Vegas auction.

Hard to believe, isn't it? A Barrett-Jackson auction and not only were there no million-dollar cars, there were no half-million dollar cars.
In fact, in going through the auction results, I found only four cars that sold for a quarter of a million dollars or more:

$330,000 for a 2006 Ford Mustang customized by "Funkmaster Flex"
$313,500 for the 1949 MG TC that was the first car ever raced by Carroll Shelby
$260,700 for a 2003 Saleen S7 sports car
$225,500 for a highly customized 1954 Rolls-Royce Silver Dawn sedan

Nonetheless, something like 15,000 people showed up on opening day and by the time the three-day event concluded $29.1 million in collector vehicles had changed owners.

Barrett-Jackson president Steve Davis noted that half of those bidding had never been to a collector car auction before. "At times," added Craig Jackson, "the bidding went in smaller increments because some of the bidders were less experienced."

Whether it's the overall economy or all the new bidders, maybe there's finally an opportunity for those of us of more modest means to get our dream machines.

With that in mind, I paged through the Barrett-Jackson catalog and results sheets and discovered some relatively affordable classics I'd love to have in my garage:

Read More Here: http://tinyurl.com/ClassicRag06

OMG! I WANT ONE!!

2008-11-01T17:32:00.000-07:00

OMG! I WANT ONE!!

Bugatti's Veyron is the world's most expensive and powerful production
car ever. At $1.3 million, it boasts a 8.0L quad-turbo W16 engine that
produces 1000+hp and 927 ft. lb torque -- rocketing the vehicle from
0-60 mph in just 2.4 seconds.
http://tinyurl.com/ClassicRag05

Bruce Willis's Sale

2008-11-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

Bruce must be running short of cash? He has sold his collection of cars. Bruce Willis Auction Report - http://tinyurl.com/route66er11

Oklahoma Surf Rods?

2008-11-01T17:30:00.000-07:00

Can you imagine what size of fish requires a fresh water Surf Rod? Oklahoma's got 'em! Get your Surf Rod from www.CherokeeRodCompany.com

Corvette Giveaway!

2008-11-01T17:26:00.000-07:00

Corvette Giveaway! Benefits Kids Wish Network. Win a Pair of Vets worth $250k Tax Free! Better than stock market! www.winthevettes.com

Bid on the WD-40® Ultimate Work Truck!

2008-10-31T22:28:00.000-07:00

As The Last Straw Tour comes to a close, you now have a chance to bid on the WD-40 Ultimate Work Truck and support a great charity! Click on the following link to view the live auction page:
Last Straw Tour eBay auction page http://tinyurl.com/route66er10

Please share with family and friends who might be interested, and consider bidding on the tricked-out truck to support a great cause! Your entire winning bid will be donated to our partner, Rebuilding Together®, and will help support its efforts to provide free home repair and renovations for low-income homeowners.

DRIVE-IN THEATERS STILL POPULAR AFTER 75 YEARS

2008-10-25T18:21:00.000-07:00

LAKELAND, Florida (AP) -- The view from Row 2 of the Silver Moon drive-in has changed hardly a whit in 60 years. Cars enter the road leading to the box office at the Silver Moon Drive-in Theatre in Lakeland, Florida.

Take a gander, and you'll see:

To your left, a yellow wooden post supporting a cast-aluminum box with a single volume knob and a tongue that hooks to an open car window -- a monaural speaker, from the days of President Truman.

To your right, in the rear of a Ford pickup lined with quilts, sleeping bags and goose-feather pillows, three jammie-clad youngsters devouring popcorn the way squirrels do acorns while Papa snoozes and Mama sips lemonade.

And dead ahead, the gods of Hollywood filling a gargantuan silvery screen beneath the grandest of all templates: the coal-black heavens, cluttered with thousands of points that flicker like diamond chips.

Not a place to miss if you happen to be in the neighborhood -- or even if not.

Ask Donovan Padgett, 44, who rolls his Ford F150 into the lot of the Silver Moon, on average, three times a week, making a 50-minute trek from his north Tampa, Florida, home.

He shrugs off the inconvenience. "There ain't many things left in this country you can call 100 percent, true-blue Americana," he says. "But this place, right here, is one of 'em. It's got a feeling to it. Homey."

The drive-in theater, that uniquely American institution which turned 75 this summer, is experiencing an unexpected renaissance. After decades of closures, about 100 drive-ins have opened or reopened since the mid-'90s.

Read More Here: http://tinyurl.com/route66er6

THE NEW UPPER CRUST

2008-10-20T20:24:00.000-07:00

KL Nichols

As I pulled up to the gas pump and prepared to download (cringe) $50+ dollars worth of gas, a guy in a Dually, you know, one of those pickups that are as wide as they are long with 40 or 50 tires on them? Anyway, this guy pops out and plugs two gas pumps into two gas tank filler tubes on his side and comes around to my side and says, "Hey buddy, when are you going to be done with that pump?" Apparantly, he had two more filler spouts for an additional two tanks on my side. I quickly finshed and as I relinkished the pump to him, I asked him how much gas his rig held, he said, "240 gallons, 60 to a tank."

My next question brought a big smile to his, "What kind of mileage do you get with your truck?" He said proudly, "8 mpg around town and 5 mpg on the highway." I was so stunned that I couldn't talk so he went on, "Unless, of course, I am pulling the trailer with the dragster in it." "Then It goes down to a couple of miles per gallon highway."

I just sat there in my car and watched as he drove off. I got out and looked at the four pumps he had used and by mental addition, his 4 pumps totaled $700 and change. It was at this moment, I realized that sometime in the middle of the recent national financial crisis, I may have dropped a notch to lower class. Here to fore, I had considered myself middleclass.

Copyright K&L Enterprises 2008

The All New Wanna Bee

2008-10-18T22:27:00.000-07:00

Nissan driver with sense of humor. I've seen this car driving back and forth on the Beeline Highway (SR 87 in AZ) often. Gotta love his sense of humor and his decal on his yeller car.

Mark C Bach

IN THE HOT SEAT? UH-OH!

2008-09-01T21:08:00.000-07:00

- By Daily Mail Reporter
- 28th August 2008

Heated car seats and long traffic jams 'may be a threat to men's fertility'

Traffic jam: Scientists claim heated car seats can lower a man's sperm count

Heated car seats may keep drivers warm on cold mornings - but they could also lower a man's sperm count, scientists claim.

A study found the electric-generated heat emitted by some driver's seats raises body temperature to a point that interferes with the production of healthy sperm.

It follows evidence from previous studies that men who sit in a car for more than three hours a day, or who work as long-distance lorry drivers or long-haul pilots, could be putting their fertility at risk.

The ideal temperature for sperm production is around 35C to 36C (95F to 97F), just below the average core body temperature of 37C (99F).

If temperatures are much higher - because, for instance, men wear tightly-fitting trousers or underwear, have long, hot baths or spend too long sitting down - sperm counts can fall dramatically.

Some fertility experts believe changes in fashion and lifestyles are partly to blame for falling sperm counts in recent decades.

To test the effects of car seat warmers, researchers at the University of Giessen, Germany, fitted temperature sensors to 30 healthy volunteers who then sat on a car seat fitted with a warmer for 90 minutes.

Within an hour, temperatures had risen from to an average of 37.3C (99F).

One man recorded a temperature of 39.7C (103.5F) New Scientist magazine reported yesterday.

Sitting on an unheated seat also led to slightly raised temperatures of around 36.7C (98.1F).

While the researchers did not test the quality or quantity of the volunteers' sperm, they are worried the effects of car seat heaters may pose a greater risk to fertility than merely sitting for long periods.

Researchers in Holland compared the sperm counts of men who wore tight-fitting underpants for six months and found it fell compared to when they wore loose undergarments.

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY!

2008-09-01T21:07:00.000-07:00

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY!
- BS Brash

Video is not new, but selling classic cars with it is a new wrinkle. YouTube.com, a Google website has pretty much set the stage to post any video for the public to see. Once you post a video to YouTube, you can use the URL to send it to anyone by email or YouTube offers you the html code to embed it in your website or your ebay auction. The following two examples are samples of both a personal and an ebay video.

Most people don't have the knowledge to jazz up, read that edit, a video for posting.

This is where the business opportunity come in, if you do have a video camera, the knowledge and the software to edit the videos, it would be worth a lot of money to people who don't have that knowledge or equipment to help the make a video to post on their eBay auctions.

There are also some websites that allow you to make slide shows and videos from still pictures. Here are a few of those sites, http://280slides.com/, http://preezo.com/, most of these have a small learning curve and look pretty professional when done. Some of them even allow audio and music too.

Just as an idea, how about this; you take a video of cars for sale and post it to YouTube. You change the owners anywhere from $50 to 100 depending on how in-depth the video of their vehicle is, then you put 5-20 cars on the video and post it on YouTube. I am sure you can refine the business plan to suit your time and ability.

CLASSIC IMPALA CARS 4 SALE!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fZ6Dml8YukU
---------------
1968 Chevy Impala Fast back RARE and PIMPED OUT for sale
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5N9ZLDRG88&NR=1

If this idea interests you, I am sure that a little digging around on the Internet will come up with a lot more info on it. Mean while, you will learn how to do this just for yourself.

Copyright 2008 BS Brash

I HAVE ONE WORD FOR YOU, PROVENANCE!

2008-08-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

KL Nichols

American Heritage Dictionary defines Provenance as:
(prŏv'ə-nəns, -näns') *n. Place of origin; derivation.
1. The history of the ownership of an object, especially when documented or authenticated. Used of artworks, antiques, and books.
2. The records or documents authenticating such an object or the history of its ownership.

If you own an expensive piece of art, you will need a written history on the art to, A. prove ownership, B. prove its worth. Provenance is the pedigree of the valuable piece of art.

Everybody knows that if you have all of the paperwork for your classic it is easier to sell. That means Dealer's Sticker, Owner's Manual, any repair and body work receipts, etc, etc, etc.

If you have all of the above paperwork, you are well on your way to establishing Provenance for your Classic. But if you really want to add value to your classic, you should document it and put it in a fancy binder.

One way that I can prove this to you, have you ever heard of the classic category, "Star Cars"? These are classics that belonged to famous people, Elvis, Steve McQueen or John Wayne, just to name a few. This is a category that has a strong following and in order to prove that the car they are selling actually belonged to Elvis Pressley's 7th aunt twice removed, you have to be able to authenticate it. Provenance! Out of the 200 or so cars that Elvis actually gave away, there are probably a thousand floating around out there, so if you are not careful, you can be fooled.

Provenance, how do you go about establishing it?

The easiest way is to start a diary and write down everything, and I mean everything that you do to and know about your classic. Video your classic thoroughly, documenting any repairs if possible. If you do a frame off restoration and strip it down to the metal, video the entire body as proof of no rust or bondo, then keep the CD or DVD with your diary. Pictures are great; if you have enough, make a photo album. The more information you have, the more the Provenance will boost your car's value in the eyes of the would be buyer which will translate into more profit when you sell it. If it is featured in any magazine or on local TV in a parade, keep copies of these with your diary.

One more thing, after you go to all of the trouble building a Provenance for your classic, go to a copy store, and have two copies made and bound buy the pros. That along could add $500 value to your classic! Put the originals and one of the copies in a safe place, just in case your show & tell copy get destroyed or beer spilled on it. Make it just as professional as possible, if you aren’t a computer person, find one who is and pay them to do the typing. Keep all files, photos and anything else you have on your computer about your classic backed up on two CDs, one for each set of Provenance

Provenance will also help establish your classic’s value in the eyes of the insurance guy in case, God forbid, you son should wreck it on his prom date!

Copyright 2008 KL Nichols

SHOULD YOU TAKE PAYPAL PAYMENT FOR YOUR CAR?

2008-08-16T08:47:00.000-07:00

- KL Nichols

A friend called me to say that he had sold his 63 Corvair Spyder. That in itself was nothing new, I hear from a lot of car sellers both before and after the sale. I am involved in the collector vehicle market.

What was different is that he told me that the guy who bought the car paid him by PayPal. Again not to unusual, but in this case he received the full $16k payment by PayPal. Not good!

First, PayPal charges for their service, a hefty charge, as much as 6%, on $16k and that is close to $100.

Second, PayPal protects the buyer, not the seller, at least they protect the buyer a lot more than the seller. What does that mean? PayPal will refund that $16k to the buyer at the drop of a hat, and leave the seller holding the bag! Once the money is refunded, the seller will probably play hell getting his car and title back!! Especially if it is in Alaska (another story for another time), Rhode Island, Hawaii or outside of the US. At best case scenario you will be stuck for return transportation and in this day of high fuel prices, that can be 10% or more of your vehicles worth!

Before I say anything else, I want to say that I love PayPal, but it has it's place. If you need to use PayPal to get an Earnest Deposit, that isn't bad, but be prepared to lose the entire amount if your sale goes south.

PayPal ain't God, but they do sit at his far left hand side, at least where your money is concerned and they are not easy to talk with. I have seen grown men brought to tears with frustration when trying to find an actual person to talk to at PayPal! It has been said that, "God is easier to talk to than eBay or PayPal!".

Did I mention that eBay owns PayPal? So it might follow, that if you piss off one, you may have scored a twofer! Something that might happen if you have spent the money you received thru PayPal for the sale of your vehicle and PayPal wants it back to refund it to the buyer. If that happens, I see lawyers and court time in your future! PayPal has no sense of humor where money is concerned. The reason is that they refund the money to the buyer and then expect the seller pay them back.

Copyright K & L Enterprises 2008

GUYS ARE ALL THE SAME

2008-08-16T08:42:00.000-07:00

BSBrash

It was Saturday and my neighbor Pete, trotted out his absolutely perfect 57 T-Bird, it is Turquoise, has both tops and only 387 actual miles on it. It also has the McCollough/ Paxton supercharged V8 in it and the T-Bird Special F Code. He only gets it out when it is sunny and over 85 degrees and after doing the cosmetic necessities, he lets it set in the sun to dry any errant drop of water left. I would buy it from him, but I am about $150k short of the asking price.

When he does get it out, I generally go stand bird watch, since we don't have a bird problem, we just generally swap lies and BS about cars, local gossip and etc.

This time we got to discussing Gorp, (At least I think that is his name) the teenager across the street, the one with the Nissan with no muffler. He is a discussion with just about every body who goes to bed before 12:00a as his muffler tends to wake up anyone sleeping when he comes home for the late shift down at Burger Haven.

Anyway we were discussing him as drove up with a girl that caught both of our eyes, she had to be 20 (I later found out that she was 16, OMG) and well built, wearing a skirt that would have been cleared the upper edge of her nylons 30 years ago. I don't know about Pete, but my estimation of Gorp when up more than a couple of notches.

Anyway, we were discussing Gorp and how we were just like him when we were young. I had a 50 Merc with straight pipes and steel mufflers that would have put Gorp's pipes to shame. Pete's ride was even noisier. My recollection is that our cars were much louder than Gorp's, maybe to the 10th power? Not to mention tires squealing during a peel-out was a common sound all over town back then! Drag racing at almost every stop light. Funny, once in a while I see peel out makes around the neighborhoods on the streets, but never hear them. The tire marks are mostly in front of a cute girls house, it is a guy's way of telling a girl that she has been noticed!

It was the same back on our day, but we it seems to me that we did it with a little more style. That's my story and I'm sticking to it!

Copyright BS Brash 2008

Holy Cow Batman!!

2008-08-09T21:47:00.000-07:00

Man Builds Batman Tumbler Replica Single-Handedly
In the pantheon of awesome fan art, Bob Dullam holds a place of high regard after his work on a full scale, working Tumbler replica from the movies Batman Begins and The Dark Knight. Constructed in his two-car garage with little more than pictures and the extra features from the DVD, Bob has built for himself the single baddest piece of driveway candy ever to make the leap from the silver screen. This thing makes Deloreans with bent up trash cans on the hatch look like kids' stuff.

Read more and see pictures here: http://jalopnik.com/399892/man-builds-batman-tumbler-replica-single+handedly

UK Businessman Decapitates Self With Aston Martin DB7

2008-08-09T21:39:00.000-07:00

Shade of Jame Bond

An inquest into the death of Welsh gym owner Gerald Mellin has found the businessman decapitated himself in his Aston Martin DB7 after an argument with his estranged wife.

According to the court, Mellin tied one end of a rope to a tree, climbed into his DB7 and wrapped the other end around his neck. Mellin then jammed the pedal down on the $173,000 car, driving into a busy main road, forcing other drivers to watch his horrific death. Police found his headless body still in the driving seat and his head on the back seat. But what caused Millen to kill himself with such heinous vehicular methodology?
Read More Here: http://jalopnik.com/400143/uk-businessman-decapitates-self-with-aston-martin-db7

Mexico Confiscates Some American Pickups Buying Cheaper Mexican Diesel Fuel

2008-08-09T21:36:00.000-07:00

Mexico Confiscates Some American Pickups Buying Cheaper Mexican Diesel FuelBy: Mike Levine © 2008 PickupTrucks.com

Americans who buy cheap diesel fuel in Mexico do so at the risk of having their pickup truck confiscated and a fine assessed by Mexican customs officials, according to local newspaper and television outlets in Texas.

Demand for low-cost Mexican diesel fuel has grown to new levels since the beginning of 2008, as the cost of diesel fuel in the U.S. has increased dramatically; it hit a record $4.85 a gallon in mid-July, according to AAA. Diesel fuel prices have started to drop, but the national average is still $4.59 a gallon, up from $2.95 a gallon a year ago.

To avoid paying those high costs in the U.S., some American truck owners who live close to the U.S.-Mexico border have made short trips into Mexico to purchase diesel, which averages about $2.20 a gallon there.

Read More Here: http://www.pickuptrucks.com/html/news/miscnews/mexico/diesel/mexico-confiscates-some-american-pickups-purchasing-mexican-diesel.html

AN AUTOMOTIVE JIGSAW PUZZLE

2008-08-09T19:22:00.000-07:00

AN AUTOMOTIVE JIGSAW PUZZLE
-KL Nichols

Have your ever wondered why some people completely disassemble a classic car and then abandon it in their garage like an unwanted jigsaw puzzle, sometimes for years?

Take this car for example, it is for sale by a friend of mine, he rescued it from someone's garage in hopes of finding that special person who can re-assemble it into the valuable classic that it should be. If you would be interested in salvaging this would be beauty, or know of someone would would, give him a call or email him from his website. The car is in the Tulsa area and will have to be trailored.

1961 Ford Starliner 2 door, this is the best 61 Starliner body I've had in 35 years. Disassembled for restoration. Just out of an estate. 390, auto, factory air, power steering. A rare show car in the making! This car won't last long at only $5,000.00, www.HPFord.com, 918/706-5788

Copyright K & L Enterprises

WHAT DOES 9,800,000,000 MILES LESS LAST MONTH MEAN?

2008-08-09T18:45:00.000-07:00

BS Brash

Americans drove 9,800,000,000 miles less last month! OMG, that is almost 10 Billion Miles less, approximately 400,000,000 gallons less used, that is close to 21 million barrels of oil, which is about one day’s usage for Americans! And still the price of gas is high!

It means less money spent on gas, tires, car repair, gas taxes ($73+ Million less), road repair, road construction workers, tolls, wrecks, less body shop repair, less cars purchased, way less trucks, SUVs and RVs purchased. It is no secret that the American vehicles drive our economy, no pun intended!

Listen up would be gas boycotters, I mean the people who send all of those emails to boycott one or two brands of gas or just boycott gas for one day to show the gas companies who is boss, that is a real waste of time! Driving 10 Billion miles less in July didn’t! Compared to that, a boycott couldn't even make an inroad on that negative 9,800,000,000 miles less driven this month. So much for boycotts!

The only light that I see at the end of the tunnel, with immediate potential for gas replacement, seems to be CNG, Compressed Natural Gas. It requires an approximately $350 -$650 conversion per vehicle, but at the price a gallon of CNG is, .90 cents currently, it sounds interesting even if it only gets about 1/2 the MPG that petrol does. That makes normal gas mileage less than $2.00, about half the price of gas. I can live with that!
The biggest crock of BS is Gasohol. Anytime you use a food product to make fuel for transportation, it is going to screw up the economy. As you are probably aware, food is going up, meat is going up and the manly essential, beer, is going up too!

One other problem no one is talking about is that alcohol only has half the combustibility of gas, if you ran on straight alcohol you would get one half the gas mileage, so when they take out 10% gas and replace it with alcohol you are only going to get 95% of the mileage out of it that you would straight gas. Not to mention, and I hear nothing about the fact that alcohol isn’t that good for your engine, it screws with your car’s computer and gaskets, so it follows that gasohol isn’t good for your car!

Half-ass politicians saw an easy out by jumping on the gasohol bandwagon, It will be years before the repercussions of this bad decision stops rattling around our economy!!

BS Brash Copyright 2008

CANADIAN MARKET FADING SLIGHTLY

2008-08-08T14:01:00.000-07:00

KL Nichols

The Canadian Dollar, called the Looney, because of the bird pictured on it is a Loon. It might as well stand for the eratic uncertainty that the Canadian Dollar is facing.

While Canadians celebrated last year as the country's dollar reached parity with its U.S. counterpart for the first time since 1976, traders now predict the currency will fall as much as 17 percent through 2009. Riding the express train that is the American economy, energy prices and certain commodities have boomed.

In May Canada's economy shrank 0.1 percent, as the extraction of natural gas slowed and car production dropped, Statistics Canada said last week in Ottawa. Economists predicted a 0.2 percent expansion.

If you have been watching closely, you have probably tracked this drop yourself, there being no labor savings for American Manufacturers in Canada since the parity, and the rising price of gas, mfgrs. are closing factories in Canada and looking for a cheaper market. The next factories opened will probably be in Mexico whose labor is still cheap and the pollution regs. are pretty lax.

Why am I writing about this, because the Canadian market was just developing and with the parety between the Looney and the Buck, the Canadian market was just starting to replace some of the drop the collector car market was experiencing her in the US.

The collector vehicle market is still going fairly good for foreign buyers, but so goes America, so goes the foreign economy, so if you get a buyer interested in your classic from over seas, don't bargain to hard.

Copyright K & L Enterprises

CHEVY'S FIRST V8 ENGINE

2008-08-02T11:09:00.000-07:00

CHEVY'S FIRST V8 ENGINE
-BS Brash

Since it was Saturday evening and the yard work was all done, I decided to mosey over to Mother's, my favorite watering hole and quaff a few with the guys. The "guys" being my life long friends and all of them were classic car nuts. But every now and then I like to shake them up and tonight was one of those times.

I headed over to Mother's, I like to walk that way I don't have to automatically be the "Designated Driver" and it was only about 6 blocks and it was beautiful out so the walk was very pleasant and filled with summer smells and sounds.

When I got to Mother's, the gang was pretty much all there, with the possible exception of Pete who was serving some jail time for shooting squirrels inside the city limits. The judge being a gardening man himself had let Pete off with a fine the first two times he had been caught, but the third time was a charm, so Pete was in the Pokey for 30 days.

We raised our glasses to Pete and then after the usual banter, I sort of slid in the comment that cast doubt on their virility and said, "I bet a beer that none of you guys know when Chevy built it's first V8 engine?

"Well that is easy beer, Tom Said, "It was the 265 “Turbo-Fire”, it was rated at 162 horsepower with a two-barrel carburetor and had a 8.0:1 compression ratio".

"Wrong, not even close" I said. and the uproar began. We have probably come closer to being thrown out of Mother's for noise, but I can't remember when.

After the guys quieted down I told them about the 1917 Chevrolet Series D Engine . Chevy started the production of the first Chevrolet V8, a 288 cid overhead valve motor rated at 36-55 (There is some confusion about this) net horsepower. A total of approximately 3000 Chevrolet V8 motors were made between 1917 and 1919. It was pretty pricey and finally was pulled from production in late 1919. After that Chevy decided you could have any engine that you wanted as long as it was a 6 cylinder, and continued that production practice untill 1955 when they built their "Second" V8 engine!

Man, the free beer was cold!

BS Brash Copyright 2008

SELL YOUR CLASSIC FOR FREE 01

2008-07-09T22:51:00.001-07:00

SELL YOUR CLASSIC FOR FREE 01
KL Nichols

So you want to sell your collector vehicle and you don't know where to begin?
Like everyone else, I like to save my money and if I can advertise for fr*ee, I will choose fr*ee every time!

Fr*ee was pretty hard to do before the Internet, but thanks to the many fr*ee classified ad websites on the Internet, it is now very possible.
Last issues of the Rag, I went into some detail about Craig's List, possibly
the largest Fr*ee Classified Ad Website on the internet. This issue I will go
into a couple of lesser trafficked, but still fr*ee classified ad websites.
The first is www.buzztrader.com , you can put several cars with 4 pictures
each on their website all for fr*ee and they will stay posted for up to 90 days.
BuzzTrader is not unique in the fact that they allow other website owners to post their html code on their website and this makes it look like the cars are posted on each website, when in fact it is one website posted to several,
possibly hundreds of other websites. This is good and bad. Good in that you do get extra views of your ads, bad in that it is confusing about who is
actually selling your car as each website pretends that the cars from
BuzzTrader are in fact proprietary to the website you actually view the ad
on. Confused? So are the potential buyers seeing the car for sale on several websites...

The second is www.Auto-RoundUp.com . You can advertise your cars fr*ee on this website too, but they do have the advantage of printing several Magazines and for $10, they will also put your photo ad in one of their magazines too.

I will tell you about some more Fr*ee classified ad website next issue, so,
meet me back here next week!

Copyright 2008 KL Nichols

IS GM HEADED FOR CHAPTER 11?

2008-07-09T22:50:00.000-07:00

IS GM HEADED FOR CHAPTER 11?
-MaxChevy Magazine www.MaxChevy.com

Wall St. analysts say that GM may be forced to file for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection if the company is unable to secure funding. Merrill Lynch says the automaker may need to raise as much as $15 billion.

With sales plummeting, GM stock is doing likewise. Merrill Lynch analyst John Murphy moved GM’s rating from “buy” to “underperform” and said the stock might get as low as $7 per share. Stocks were at $10.07 per share Wednesday, July 2, on the New York Stock Exchange, the lowest value since 1954.

“While we do not believe GM is facing an immediate cash crunch, the urgency to shore up liquidity to navigate through a difficult 2008-2009 has risen significantly in recent months,” Citigroup analyst Itay Michaeli told Reuters. He predicted a full recovery in the U.S. auto market would not begin until 2010 or 2011.
Read More Here: http://www.maxchevy.com/news/2008/news-iii_6-10.html

STOLEN STREET RODS AND HOT RODS

2008-07-09T22:49:00.000-07:00

STREET RODS AND HOT RODS- By Daniel Strohl – Hemmings Newsletter
Stolen car alerts: Three hot rods go missing during month of June
June was a fairly horrible month for stolen hot rods, with at least three reported nabbed across the country.

The first, stolen straight off the owner’s property in Schuylkill Haven, Pennsylvania, the week of June 9, was a 1932 Ford roadster with cycle fenders, painted flat black with red wheels, red interior and a 1953 Mercury flathead V-8. The owners of the car request that anybody with information about its whereabouts contact the Pennsylvania State Police at 570-593-2000. For pictures and more information about the car, visit www.hotrodhotline.com/pr/2008/08stolen32/

The second, stolen shortly after the Holley NHRA National Hot Rod Reunion, was a yellow 1940 Willys coupe with a new Chevrolet 572-cu.in. crate engine and was taken along with its tow vehicle, a burgundy 2005 Ford F-250 Supercab pickup, and its trailer, a white 2005 Haulmark Edge 26-footer. All three were taken the weekend of June 14 from the Springhill Suites on the west side of Knoxville, Tennessee. For pictures and more information, visit www.hotrodhotline.com/pr/2008/08stolenford or www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=272626 .

Finally, another car stolen from a major hot rod show, a 1955 Pontiac Star Chief, went missing from the Comfort Inn in Brooklyn Center, Minnesota, June 22, during the Back to the ’50s weekend in and around Minneapolis. For more information and photos, visit http://winnipeg.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-classic-cars-Stolen-1955-Pontiac-Star-Chief-W0QQAdIdZ58620915 .

WOULD YOU PAY $10.00 A GALLON?

2008-07-09T22:48:00.001-07:00

WOULD YOU PAY $10.00 A GALLON?
-BS Brash

Yeah, it's coming, and it ain't gonna go away either. I know, I know, you say it may drop in the future. BUT I can almost guarantee you that Gas is never going back to $2.00 a gallon again, unless the Dollar is devaluated.

American and the world too, are gearing up for some other kind of fuel, probably hydrogen and as we change over to any other kind of fuel, the scarcity of gasoline will drive the price up further. And why would that matter to you since you will probably buy a hydrogen powered car when they become available? Just what are you going to power your collector cars with, air? That's right, Gas! And I have no doubt that you will shell out any amount of money to have fuel for your musclecars? Because it just ain't right to run a classic on anything else! So my answer is, “Yes!” You will pay $10 a gallon or more.
Copyright 2008 BS Brash

ARE YOU USING CRAIG’S LIST?

2008-07-09T22:46:00.002-07:00

ARE YOU USING CRAIG’S LIST?KL Nichols

If you aren’t aware of www.CraigsList.com , you are in for a treat. Craig’s List Is a huge network of things for sale covering most of the US, if not the world?

Craig’s List was started by an aging hippie in San Francisco approximately 7-10 years ago as a place to give stuff away. When the word got around, and it did quickly as the Internet was just exploding and America was looking for just such a website! It exploded so fast it out grew the San Francisco website and users were clamoring for their own city home page! So CL did just that and never looked back! So almost every major and a few minor cities have their own city page.

Now, after all of these years, you can still advertise FR*EE on CL! Not that it will always be that way? About a year or so ago, the Mother of all Websites, eBay bought 25% of Craig’s List. The investment turned out to be another snafu for eBay, Craig’s List has resisted charging for their ads, and now there is a Law Suite between CL & eBay trying for a change in whatever agreement that they originally entered into, what ever that was.

Any observer of eBay knows that they paid Kruse Auctions $250 million for their auction business a few years ago and then a couple of years later sold it back to Kruse for $50 million. Even a dummy can see that wasn’t a good business deal!

Enough about business, let’s get down to how you can use of Craig’s List to sell cars and parts.

First (this is for the beginners) you surf on over to www.CraigsList.com and then find your city or a city near you that you would like to advertise you merchandise in. This brings up a big complaint and something that you will have to work around, when you advertise on, let’s say the Kansas City Missouri page, the only people who will see your ad are the people who actually visit the KCMO page, and here’s another glitch, Craig’s list would let you list the same thing in more than one city…. A real big pain, but if you work with it, changing your wording and rename your pictures, etc, etc, you may be able to list on another city page. One good item is that you can post up to 4 pictures with your ad and for pete’s sake do post as many pictures an you can. Collectors are a visual group and will think you are hiding something if you don’t.
Okay, there are some other irritations with CL, the main one after the above problems is that if you post on a big city site, such as Kansas City Mo, your ad will disappear in a day or two because every ad is listed at the top of the page and if there is a lot of ads posted, pretty soon your ad is three or four pages down and CL only lists the 100 most recent ads first and then they post the link to the last 100 ads on a link at the bottom of the page, and so on…
My advice and you have to do it this way, is to cancel your ad if it hasn’t expired and repost it at the top of the list every 3 or 4 days or so. When you first register with CL, you will be sent to your back office where you can control your ads, there are no limits to the ads you post just as long as they are different. I suggest that you bookmark your back office so that you can go right to it when you want to. Another little detail I probably should mention, the ad posting times run from 7 days in major markets to 45 days in smaller markets. That’s just the way it is, deal with it!
CL doesn’t like links away from their website. Sometimes they will let you do it, sometimes not. Also, remember I told you this was a aging hippies website? There is a rating system on each page, and if the visitor thinks your ad or if CL thinks your ad is inappropriate, miscategorized, prohibited, or spam/overpost (this means posted more than once) , the reader can flag your ad and if CL agrees with them your ad is outathere! There is no court of recourse! If you run into a antagonistic local, post on another city page.

This is just a little info and if you have any questions, email me at route66er@cox.net and I will try to answer your question.

Copyright 2008 KL Nichols

COUNTING NOSES

2008-07-09T22:46:00.001-07:00

COUNTING NOSES
KL Nichols

Saturdays in my neck of the woods is the day that the homeowners all get out the lawn mower, hedge clippers and the leaf blower and do the weekly maintenance that home ownership requires!

And while this ritual is going on, I get out my 57 Chevy and go for a snoop, looking for what antiques & classic vehicles my neighbors have tucked away in their garages! I have been doing this for years! In fact I actually got started on this in the early ‘80’s when I lived in a small college town of about 5000 permanent residents. I had just restored a beautiful 49 Ford Convertible and I was out to show it off with out bragging. As I drove around I started seeing Model-T’s and Model-A’s hiding in local garages. The amount was so large, I started counting and the inaccurate total was in the 50’s and in such a small town too!?”So what”, you say? I was so amazed at the booty I saw in those garages, I started investing in any stock I could find, related to the collector vehicles and their aftermarket. And the market exploded, my collector cars gained in value nicely every year until 1991 when the bottom fell out of the collector vehicle market, just after the First Gulf War.

Did I mention that I went back to that small town last month and I went for my “Snooping Drive”, I only counted 4 Model A’s? But I did see an amazing amount of other classics including 18 pre-70’s Mustangs and a couple of GTOs, not to mention several other potential keepers!

My advice to you is to take a ride whenever you get the chance, it’s likely to be profitable.

I BELONG TO SEVERAL COLLECTOR CAR CLUBS & YOU SHOULD TOO!!

2008-07-09T22:45:00.001-07:00

I BELONG TO SEVERAL COLLECTOR CAR CLUBS & YOU SHOULD TOO!!
By Nick Cash

I was at a car club picnic the other day when another member asked me what I drove. I told him that I owned several classics and a couple of foreign models, and then I asked him what club this was? He looked shocked and said, “This is the Back Country Mustang Club, Aren’t you a member?” I told him yes, I was a member of this club and approximately 22 others. He asked me why, and I told him, I have several collector vehicles and belonged because I liked the people, enjoyed the social events and the clubs were a good source of parts and model information! Which brings me to my title of this small article. For the very same reasons that I mentioned above and one other, most times it costs less than $50 a year to be a member and support a local club! Plus I have to say that you meet the nicest people in car clubs!

PS. FYI, Car Clubs are a great place to get hard to find parts and a great place to sell parts and classics!! Generally, you can advertise for FR*EE on their website or in their club newsletter, but if not, the fairly inexpensively!

APPLE PIE & THE 4TH OF JULY!

2008-07-09T22:44:00.001-07:00

APPLE PIE & THE 4TH OF JULY!
BS Brash

I am old enough to remember the summer picnics back when the classics and muscle cars of today were everyday drivers. And to top it all off, there were no car shows? The collector car industry as we know it, the car shows and the rich collector car auctions were things of the future and swap meets weren’t even a gleam in the inventors eye yet. The guys that started the collecting were ex-GIs running around in Model-Ts and Model-As stripped down to the now-famous hot rods and t-buckets the Street Rodders of today so emulate.I kinda miss that time when the biggest event in July was the 4th of July picnic and the Big $250 Fireworks event that was planned after it got dark and all of the horse shoe & softball games were over. After the big watermelon feast provided free by the local farmers for which their only pay was to ask us to spit our seeds in a bucket so that they would have seeds for the next years crop.

Yes, they were good times, but would I trade them for today? No way! I was too young to drink beer and I would have to sell my collection of classics and muscle cars which either didn’t exist back then or I couldn’t have afforded them if they did…

Copyright 2008 BS Brash

CHECK OUT THE NICK INDEX

2008-07-09T22:42:00.000-07:00

CHECK OUT THE NICK INDEX KL Nichols

The Nick Index. Think of it as the Dow Jones Index for collector vehicles. Visit it at www.NickIndex.com/ ”Collector cars increase in value approximately 7 to 10% per year and some cars appreciate much more, why not make an investment you can have fun with!!” How is your 401K doing???We are interested in your input, so feel free to look it over and then drop us a line!

WATCH 'EM LIVE!

2008-07-09T22:41:00.000-07:00

WATCH 'EM LIVE!
KL Nichols

I love web cams! One of my favorite is the 46th & Broadway in Times Square where the world never sleeps, here is that link for your edification;
http://www.earthcam.com/usa/newyork/timessquare/index.php?cam=fridays. It has a little microscope with a + in it down in the lower right hand corner that allows you to double the size of the viewing window.

What does that mean to you? How about being able to watch collector car
auctions while in progress?

While perusing the latest email from Mecum Auctions, I saw a Big Red Button that said, "Connect To Live Auction", so I clicked on it and lo and behold, a live auction did appear! Here is the link to that;
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/mecum-muscle-cars-and-more---live%21, be forewarned, you need a broadband connection to see it and it may be over by the time you read this.

"So", you ask, " What does this mean to me?" Maybe nothing right now, but this technology, like every other technology is expanding daily. My favorite Techie says that computers double in speed and intelligence every two years.
As a matter of fact, the technology is already available for you and me to
watch TV on the Internet; the big TV syndicates just haven't found a good
enough way to make money on it yet.

Kruse and others already have Internet options for high dollar absentee
bidders. Not that it bothers the high dollar folk, but maybe it could save gas
money for the rest of us, if they do need the rest of us! Internet viewing may cut down on ticket sales for lookee-lous so maybe they will have to charge for the Internet Viewing? As always, you can figure out a lot of stuff by just following the money!

900 CLASSIC CARS HEADED FOR THE CRUSHER

2008-07-09T22:40:00.000-07:00

900 CLASSIC CARS HEADED FOR THE CRUSHER
By Rob Einaudi

It's the same old story. Crazy old man hoards cars on his property, then dies. Weird family doesn't want to deal with all the circling gearheads and sells off the lot to the scrap guys. If you look at the pics there are some rare and desirable cars here--Road Runners, Super Bees, Camaros, Impalas, Fairlanes, etc. This is especially upsetting to me cause a puke green Road Runner like the one below is pretty much my dream car, and this one is probably gonna be turned into five econoboxes.

See Pictures & Read More Here....http://blog.cardomain.com/blog/2008/06/900-classic-car.html

PHISHING FOR CLASSICS?

2008-07-09T22:38:00.000-07:00

PHISHING FOR CLASSICS?
BS Brash

A friend of my forwarded me this email that he had received recently:
===========================================================
"Hello Seller, How are you doing today and also i am here to notify you my
interesting in your item you placed on this site for sale on behalf of my client,
Also i will like to know more about the item before we proceed on our to pay
you. So please kindly answer the following question below..
1,Are you the original owner of the item?
2,What is the condition of the item?
3,Can you acept certified check as a mode of payment?
4,Can you allow some company to pick up the item from you?
5,Can i trust you on this transaction?
6,What is the final asking price of this item?
So please kindly get back to me asap now with those question requested
from you,so we can proceed on payment asap and we complete this
transaction as soon as possible. Email me back now to
....LASSY1977@xxxxxxx.xxx "
===========================================================

This and tens of thousands of similar emails show up everyday in the in-boxes
of people who advertise their vehicles on the Internet! If you are an Internet
Newbie, you answer them back, if you are Internet Savvy, you just delete them
or forward them to the appropriate authorities.

Below is my answer:

Unfortunately there is no program for defense from scam emails except good
common sense. Spam and Phishing as this kind of email is called are a way
of life if you advertise anywhere on the internet. That being said, there are two
ways that you can get some satisfaction by forwarding any suspicious emails
to, they are www.coldrain.net & Spam@uce.gov . Coldrain.net has taken down
1000's of websites of scammers and spammers and you can join their
crusade, it's fr*ee to join. The other is a USGov email that you can forward any
suspicious emails to if there is no website listed, I think they pass them along
to the proper authorities

I have a friend that is a collector car dealer and he has played games with
these kind of people for several years and for his efforts, he has enough bad
checks and money orders to paper his office with them.

My advice is to forward them and forget them!

The Internet is a growing force and a great tool for buying and selling collector
vehicles, but like all tools, safety first, protect yourself!!
Copyright 2008 BS Brash

MUSCLE CARS

2008-07-09T22:36:00.000-07:00

MUSCLE CARS
Z-L1 POWER RETURNS
Hemmings Blog

Chevrolet has reissued a 430hp 427 to celebrate the big-block's 50th.
photo courtesy GM
A few years back, GM Performance Parts rolled out a reissue of the ZL-1 aluminum block, claiming that the original tooling used in 1969 to create the infamous alloy rat engine installed in just ’69 Camaros and two Corvettes had been updated and pressed back into service. Now, a complete engine assembly is being produced as part of the 50th anniversary of the Chevrolet big-block engine (we’re assuming GM is considering the 348 the first big-block).

The Anniversary 427 is filled with a forged-steel crank, forged steel connecting rods and forged aluminum pistons that make 9.5:1 compression when paired with the 110cc combustion chambers in the aluminum oval-port GMPP heads, also featuring 2.19/1.88-inch valves. A hydraulic roller-tappet camshaft with .510/.540-inch lift controls the valves through 1.7:1 roller rocker arms and an 870cfm four-barrel carb feeds the beast through an aluminum intake.Read More Here…
http://www.hemmings.com/newsletter/newsletter.html?volume=4&issue=1&id=1729&refer=news&emlid=135074#1729

HOW NOT TO SELL YOUR CLASSIC

2008-07-09T22:35:00.000-07:00

HOW NOT TO SELL YOUR CLASSIC
Nick Cash

A lot of people think that putting a for sale sign in the window of your classic & parking it down at the Wal-Mart parking lot will do the trick. Well, the concept is good, but your classic may be vandalized, stripped, stolen or towed to an impound lot because Wal-Mart is not happy about the liability you are forcing on them, plus in some cities, even parking a car in your driveway with a for sale sign in the window is illegal! This is a law that a city council has passed to make the local car dealers happy (they pay a lot of taxes).

You need to protect your classic investment, and parking it where the public has unattended access to it, is a real bad idea! I have heard horror stories of classic cars loosing steering wheels, chrome, door handles, tires & wheels, hubcaps, and even engines when left unattended. A #2 car can be reduced to a project car by a couple of determined parts thieves. It used to be that it was kids looking for parts or a crooked body man, but with the advent of eBay, your classic may wind up being parted out nationally! The unfortunate problem is that unless the thieves are actually caught in the act with the parts in their possession, most car parts are unidentifiable when found later and as such make recovery difficult is not impossible.

Another BIG No-No is letting a prospective buyer take your valuable classic for a drive alone. First of all, this may invalidate your insurance and never trust a buyer’s affirmation that his insurance covers him in your car, because he may be lying or may not have any insurance to start with and if he has larceny in his mind, he may just never come back with it. I have seen engines blown, transmissions ruined, clutches blown, parts stolen and in on case a wonderful person took the car and used it in a wedding! Never underestimate the devious nature of a potential buyer. Make sure you are perched in the front seat right next to the driver testing your classic and that way maybe you can ward off a potential wheelie popper!

Is there any safe way to show your classic? Yes the odds are in your favor that the guy looking at your classic is a good guy, but use your street smarts to make decisions on him. If he had “I feel the need for speed” tattooed on his arm, give him a good third degree grilling and wear your T-Shirt with, “I have The Cops On Speed Dial!”.

A little more advice, show your car somewhere public and not where you have it stored! The reason for this is that classics can be car-jacked too! And if the crook knows where your car is stored, it may not be there the next time you look.

Copyright 2008 by K & L Enterprises

HOW TO MAKE A FEW EASY BUCKS AND LIVE TO REGRET IT!

2008-07-09T22:34:00.000-07:00

HOW TO MAKE A FEW EASY BUCKS AND LIVE TO REGRET IT!
BS Brash

Recently I was at a weekend swap meet and I spent a little more than I realized on the parts I bought, and when I added up the total, I was short about three weeks beer money...

I knew the little wife wasn't going to like it if I shorted her weekly salary, if you don't think your wife is worth a weekly salary, my guess is that you are on your third or forth wife?

Anyway, I was on the alert for a little extra cash flow when I read the paper that Sunday, I ran across a classified ad wanting to rent a classic car for a wedding. Cool, maybe my 57 Chevy convertible could earn a little towards it own keep? A great idea, so I called the guy about the ad and he mentioned that he had an extra $250 built into the wedding costs for a classic rental car just for the trip to the reception and then back to his home where he would pickup is own car for the trip to the airport. Seemed like easy money to me, so I asked him when and where? He said to bring it by his house Friday afternoon and he would put it in his garage, and I could pick it up Sat afternoon about 3:00pm.

I complied and dropped off the 57 at his house on Friday and watched as my baby slid into his garage and the door banged shut...

It was Friday and as I occasionally do, I went off to my favorite watering hole, Mother's Bar & Grill to tip a few suds with the guys. About 11:00pm, I came outside intent on going home when I heard the unmistakable sound of a 327 engine at high revs come roaring down the street. Nice, I thought, but as I looked for the car, when it passed me, to my horror I realized that it was MY 57 Chevy convertible with what looked like no less than 20 people in or hanging on madly as the car screamed by. OMG? What Have I done, I thought, or maybe I shouted out loud? Dang, that trip by me just then probably took about $5k off of the value of my car!! I had to get it back and right now!

I called Buba, a friend of mine who was the local sheriff and told him what was happening and he swung by and got me and we took off after the 57.

But the 57 proved impossible to find, there were over 50 reports of it all over the city, so after arriving too late at every report, we decided to just go to the guys house where I dropped it off and wait. We sat there until 2:15am when my 57 Chevy finally came limping in breathing really hard. To stop a murder, Bubba went and extracted the soon to be bridegroom and the remaining 3 or 4 passengers that hadn't been thrown out by the night's wild drive thru the city.

I got in my baby and drove slowly home. I parked her in the garage and shut the door and locked it! I was afraid to look too close because I needed to sleep all night to be braced for tomorrow.

It will suffice to say that it took me two months and $2800 to get the 57 back to #1 status. Plus the case of scotch I sent bubba for his help. No I didn't put a hit out on the stupid groom, but I kept the $250 and was happy that he unhappily had to get another car for his ceremony the next day.

The moral to this story and I think it is obvious, is; 1.) Never let anyone drive your classic! 2.) Never rent out your classic unless you are doing the driving! 3.) Get it in writing so that you can sue the b*st*rd when it goes wrong!!

Copyright BS Brash 2008

CARROLL SHELBY?

2008-07-09T22:32:00.000-07:00

CARROLL SHELBY?KL Nichols

First off I want to state that I have never met Carroll Shelby and don’t even have his autograph. But that doesn’t stop me from loving him from afar.

But the above isn’t what I want to say about him.

Carroll Shelby, like all world champion fighters has maybe jumped into the square circle one too many times. But he is still great!I am not going to cater to his detractors by quoting what they have said about him lately, but it suffices to say, there is a lot of negativity going around about Mr. Shelby.

This is unfortunate and reminds me of the saying, When a mother asked her kids for some help, reminding them of how much she had done for them over the years, they said, “I know mom, but what have you done for me lately? Shelby is a made man, no one can take that away from him and the great stuff he has done speaks volumes about his status in the automotive world!

So for crying out loud, give the guy a break and get off his back, because like all of the greats, he is here only for a small amount of time and we may have to wait a long time for another key automotive figure as great as he is!
“Carroll, who loves ya baby?” I can definitely say, “I do!”

HOW DOES YOUR CAR RATE?

2008-07-09T22:31:00.000-07:00

BusinessWeek.comHere's a preview of the Martin Rating System for Collectible Cars from Sports Car Market. They've selected 100 cars, each with something different to offer to a collector, and rated them on a 1–100 point scale, in five categories of 20 points each. Over 2,000 collectible cars will be rated in the upcoming book, The Martin Guide to Collectible Cars.Read the full article here; http://bwnt.businessweek.com/collectible_cars/index.asp

SURFING THE WEB?

2008-05-26T21:52:00.000-07:00

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...

Going To The Drive-In Movie

2008-05-20T20:35:00.000-07:00

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

BOB'S AUTO PARTS AUCTION

2008-05-18T12:24:00.000-07:00

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?

2008-05-18T12:20:00.000-07:00

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!)

FINDER'S FEE? PART II

2008-04-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

KL Nichols
If you missed Part I of this article, you can find it just below this article.

A lot of you guys can skip this part because you have grown up scrounging for parts and cars and telling you how to find a part is like telling a dog what to do with a bone! But for the newbies, here goes;

You will need, besides an innate love of cars, a phone (I suggest VOIP and cell), a computer, some sort of filing system that will help you keep track of your wants and finds. (You must be and stay organized)

Here are a few pointers;

1. I have never thrown away a business card (I trade business cards with everyone) and as a result, I have about 40 or so, 3-ring notebooks full of them dating back about 30 years. When a phone number or address changes, I note it on the business card.

2. However, I am slowly moving all of my info to a program that I like called Any Time Deluxe and is available at individualsoftware.com for about $40. It has all kinds of goodies, a great phone book/directory, a Phone Dialer, yes it will dial the phones of my Contacts, & you can send emails directly for the Phonebook, you can schedule Appointments and Things To Do in it also, plus a bunch of other features. All of this and much more with a very small learning curve!

3. I carry a printed list of the top 200 (some of them are long term wants) most important wants. I like to focus on the most profitable, so I revise it frequently. I keep it in a text file on my Desktop in my computer for easy editing and easy to print out. Yeah, a lot of what I do is on the computer, so if you are seriously computer inept, I would suggest that you get a partner that is good on the computer.A word here about computer illiteracy, "Computers are a tool and are here to stay, so get used to it and learn how use it, even if you have to go to a local college for a short non-credit class in computer usage!

4. Email: I have a large email list just for locating. Yes, they all are friends or businesses that are in the business (I also publish another newsletter for The Want List and also maintain a website for it. And believe me, you better get permission from each person that you add to lists like mine or you can be banned from your ISP (Internet Service Provider) and they don't kid around or just ask you to stop sending UCE (UnSolicited Email) known to many as (Sp*am). They just turn you off!!I make about 50-100 calls a day, I spend 6-8 hours a day on the computer when I am in the office, I email about 1000 emails a day (a lot of these are 10 to 20 at a time, as CC's), all in the name of locating collector cars and parts. I collect names, phone numbers and URL's (website addresses) of everyone and anyone that might be of help in my searches.

5. As a tool for your business, I suggest that you spend $7.00 and buy the ebook "Classic Salvage Yard Locator" at classicsalvageyardlocator.com. It has 200 plus Salvage Yards, phone, URL & and in most cases an interest area, like Fords, Chevy's etc, etc.The database I have boils down to a whole lot of friends and when I call, I ask for a certain individual that I know and I generally don't get put on hold. (Time is money!)

6. I communicate with my customers frequently, because you never know when they will turn up the Wanted Item on their own or thru another Finder. One thing that has helped me is to focus narrowly in a field that I know a lot about, be it a make, model or year. This being said, don't focus so narrowly that you ignore someone that wants to give you money!

7. There is also a lot of money in helping individuals, widows and estates to sell off collector cars or even complete collections. One time a lady called me having been recommended me by a friend of hers and asked if I could help her sell her late husband's old cars. I went out to her place just outside of a small town in South Dakota, it was a long drive, but I decided that she sounded like she needed help. When I got there it turned out to be a small hobby farm and with about 11 or 12 out buildings, she took me past 6 or 7 of the buildings to a nice looking small barn and opened the door. Inside were 12 cars in #1 or #2 condition. I told her I would be glad to get some values for her and help her sell them. I took a lot of pictures and as we were leaving I asked what were in the other buildings, she said. Oh, nothing but a bunch of old car parts….

All in all, the "late husband" had $1.2million in the cars and "old car parts", it took me 6 months part time to get them all sold , my commission of 10%, and I took a month off in Hawaii!!

Not all of my finds have been that great, I have had to tell a lot of people that the rusting Corvair framework that they have had setting on the ground in their backyard for 15 years is definitely not going to fund their retirement! Also I can't tell you how many people that I have had to count as a loss when they wanted to sell a rusting 57 Chevy 4 door part car for #1 book value! So like any service business, you take the good with the bad.

Most of the money I make is after the fact, meaning after I find the part or car. However, and this is a judgment call, if the part of vehicle the customer wants is hopeless or possibly "extremely long term" (I have looked for 12 years for a specific car with a specific vin # for a person who drove it to high school and is now rich enough to pay anything to find it.) This type of customer I charge a search fee to help me stay motivated. I also charge a flat fee to parts wanted customers to weed them out. You will find a lot of people want you to work for fre*e! But as for asking for a lot of money up front, you set off a lot of alarms in the minds of customers, not to mention the Better Business Bureau and Law enforcement organizations.Deadbeats? Yes there are some in this field too. If you take credit cards that helps and you can also take checks over the phone, the software for this is available for $10-$12 at nicks411.com

One last thought, don't try to cheat your customer because bad news travels at the speed of light. I know a more than a couple of Finders/Locators that spent a little time in the hoosegow because they messed with the grandfather of the local sheriff or some other local person of importance! Good luck and good hunting!

Copyright 2008 KL Nichols

FINDER'S FEE? PART I

2008-04-26T11:50:00.000-07:00

FINDER'S FEE? PART II
KL Nichols

If you have ever looked for a collector vehicle or a part for a collector vehicle, you will know that it is a big world.

One of the biggest expenses to restoring a vehicle is the cost of time and long distance phone calls to find parts. When most guys can’t find their socks, it takes a special person to locate parts!

Some might say that has all changed because of the Internet and all the free long distance vailable today on cell phones and VOIP (Voice Over Internet Protocol) systems. But if anything, it makes the competition worse as the huge amount of pressure put on the available inventory by the Internet and Online auctions like ebay. EBay alone has 140 million users and every one
of them is looking for something to sell! Now that Is Pressure!!

Okay, so you know this, or at least are aware of it. So what? This is where Finders come in. If you have ever dealt with a Finder, you will know that they charge a fee for their services. A Finder takes the pressure off of you and a Finder has contacts that he (I say “He” for brevity here, but one of the best Finders I know is a stunning female type person!) has built up over his
career!

Why am I telling you this? Because you might be interested in being a Finder or at least knowing how a Finder works and what they charge?

A Finder generally is a person who has grown up loving cars. Along the way, they have developed a fairly large mental database of cars, and car parts. You know, the guy who can tell you if a dirty, greasy engine block lying in a dark corner of an unlit garage is a Hemi with out even getting dirty! That is generally the type person who is a Finder, but there is also a place for a detail person who loves to spend time on the phone and online surfing the parts yards websites. Which in either case that is what you do.

Now how do you make money being a Finder, or better yet, what do Finders charge? Since I do a lot of finding, I can tell you what I charge…

Cars are more profitable, you can make a lot more finding a car than a part. Nobody wants to pay you what it costs to find parts; it is just as easy to find a $25k car, as it is a $50 part. So if you are going to be a Finder, get your priorities straight.

If someone just has to have me find a part, I charge a minimum $50 up front and 25% of the cost of the part with a minimum of $50, not everybody can pull that off, but I don’t actually get money, most of the time I get a credit card to charge or I send them a PayPal invoice and most people know that PayPal will Cover their butts in case of fraud, so they are safe using a credit
card or PayPal or a credit card on PayPal. That’s a little confusing, but in time you will understand it.

Give the customer his money’s worth; but don’t spend a lot of time finding $10 parts. Depending on what your hourly fee is, you can also adjust these prices to your hourly fee. But, I have to say, it is a really desperate person who will pay a $1000 to find a $10 part so don’t be dumb!

Now on the other hand, there are Finders fees for classic cars! If, and this is the case more often than not, I have located the car before a Buyer shows up, I charge a flat fee of $100 or $200, depending on how much of a classic it is. If I have no clue where the car is and it is a hard to locate car, you know, a limited production car, then I ask a minimum of $250 - $500 and a percentage of the purchase value of the car, which depending on the circumstances can be
any where from 5% to 10%. I know that sounds like a lot, but considering the services I provide, finding, negotiation, and in some cases I get, at the customer’s expense, an appraisal, plus as often as not, I find the transporter for the buyer. One point here, as a Finder who brings a transporter to the table, you may be liable for any problems with the transporter! Case in point,
I found a 66 T-Bird for a guy in NY and the car was in OK, the firm I used sent a sub-contactor to transport the car, he drove around for a couple of months holding the car hostage and phoning in to the transporter every couple of days wanting more money. Eventually he dumped the car off in NY at a storage lot, which charged $35 a day, we didn’t find the car for over a month.
The transporter stood all of the costs, including the lot storage fee. This is the reason to check out the references of your chosen transporter! Oh yeahthe final cost was over $2500 and I only had to pay $750.

One more thing, if your buyer had purchased the classic at one of the big auctions, his cost of purchase would probably be a lot more than I charge!

Next issue in Part 2, we will talk about How To find cars and parts.

Copyright 2008 KL Nichols

WISDOM - FROM THE MILITARY MANUAL

2008-04-18T15:49:00.000-07:00

"If the enemy is in range, so are you." - Infantry Journal
------------ --------- --------- --------- --------- -----
"It is generally inadvisable to eject directly over the area you just bombed." - U.S. Air Force Manual
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"Whoever said the pen is mightier than the sword obviously never encountered automatic weapons." - General MacArthur
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"You, you, and you ... Panic. The rest of you, come with me." - U.S. Marine Corp Gunnery Sgt.
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"Tracers work both ways." - U.S. Army Ordnance
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"Five second fuses only last three seconds." - Infantry Journal
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"Any ship can be a minesweeper. Once."
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"Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do." - Unknown Marine Recruit
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"If you see a bomb technician running, follow him." - USAF Ammo Troop
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"Though I Fly Through the Valley of Death, I Shall Fear No Evil. For I am at 80,000 Feet and Climbing."
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"You've never been lost until you've been lost at Mach 3." - Paul F. Crickmore (test pilot)
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"The only time you have too much fuel is when you're on fire."
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"If the wings are traveling faster than the fuselage, it's probably a helicopter -- and therefore, unsafe."
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"When one engine fails on a twin-engine airplane you always have enough power left to get you to the scene of the crash."
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"Even with ammunition, the USAF is just another expensive flying club."
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"What is the similarity between air traffic controllers and pilots? If a pilot screws up, the pilot dies; If ATC screws up, .... The pilot dies."
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"Never trade luck for skill."
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The three most common expressions (or famous last words) in aviation are: "Why is it doing that?", "Where are we?" And "Oh S...!"
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"Friendly fire - isn't"
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"Airspeed, altitude and brains. Two are always needed to successfully complete the flight."
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"Mankind has a perfect record in aviation; we never left one up there!"
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"Flying the airplane is more important than radioing your plight to a person on the ground incapable of understanding or doing anything about it."
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"The Piper Cub is the safest airplane in the world; it can just barely kill you." - Attributed to Max Stanley (Northrop test pilot)
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"There is no reason to fly through a thunderstorm in peacetime." Sign over squadron ops desk at Davis-Monthan AFB, AZ, 1970
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"If something hasn't broken on your helicopter, it's about to."
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"You know that your landing gear is up and locked when it takes full power to taxi to the terminal."
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As the test pilot climbs out of the experimental aircraft, having torn off the wings and tail in the crash landing, the crash truck arrives, the rescuer sees a bloodied pilot and asks "What happened?". The pilot's reply: "I don't know, I just got here myself!" - Attributed to Ray Crandell (Lockheed test pilot)

From An Unkown Source - Let me know if you know the origin, I would like to give the originator credit!

You Missed this on eBay

2008-04-17T22:59:00.000-07:00

Eight Cars on a SpikeThis is actually a fairly famous piece of roadside sculpture. It was created by Dustin Shuler and was commissioned by the partnership that owns the Cermak Plaza shopping center in Berwyn, Illinois. This is one of those things that would really go a long way toward irritating your homeowners association should it happen to end up in your front lawn. The cars on the “Spindle” starting at the top:
1. 1967 VW
2. 1976 BMW
3. 1981 Escort
4. 1974 or 1973 Capri
5. 1978 Mustang
6. 1981 Grand Prix
7. 1980 or 1979 LTD
8. 1981 or 1979 Mercury

MUSTANG ABUSE!

2008-04-15T23:31:00.000-07:00

By Elizabeth Dinan

Owner of classic car says jealous husband should pay for damage

April 15, 2008 2:09 PMPORTSMOUTH — The owner of a restored 1968 Mustang that was "totaled" by his girlfriend’s jealous husband, who pummeled it with a golf club, told a judge his insurance company should not have to pay the $14,000 in damage.

The jealous husband, Matthew Neill, 30, of 41 Front St., Exeter, pleaded guilty in March to a pair of criminal mischief offenses, admitting he went to a Holly Lane residence on Jan. 12 and beat the antique Mustang with a golf club. He also admitted smashing the windshield of his bride’s 2007 Honda.

Neill was summonsed to Portsmouth District Court for an April 15 restitution hearing when, through an attorney, he disputed the $14,000 figure and suggested payment come from the insurance company.

The Mustang's owner (the Herald does not publish the names of crime victims) told the court he and his father restored the car to certified classic condition and displayed multiple photos as evidence. Another set of photos showed smashed out windows, removed Mustang logos, a smashed rearview mirror and damage to the interior caused by weather getting through the broken windows.

The cost to repair it to its restored condition, he told the court, is $5,068 for the interior and $11,753 for the exterior.

"It’s never going to be a classic vehicle again," he testified, adding his insurance company offered to total the car at the Blue Book value of $14,000.

Under cross examination by Neill’s attorney, the Mustang owner told the court he has no intention to file a claim for that $14,000.

Judge Stephen Morrison asked why.

"I was very upset and I don’t feel the insurance company should pay for the damage," he said. "He should pay for the damage to the vehicle."

The judge said he would review the evidence and issue a ruling at a later date.
Neill previously admitted that after discovering his bride was with another man, he grabbed the golf club and smashed out multiple windows on both of their cars.

During a March hearing, prosecutor Corey MacDonald told the court the victims reported hearing "a loud banging" outside, then discovered their damaged cars. After telling the officer they saw a familiar sport utility vehicle flee the scene, the investigation moved to Exeter, where police there found Neill’s vehicle still warm and stained with blood.

A broken golf club was discovered on the passenger seat.

Neill’s attorney, Phil McLaughlin, described the crimes as the "unfortunate" result of the dissolution of a six-month marriage.

Neill was sentenced to 12 months in the Rockingham County House of Corrections and fined $500, with $250 suspended. The sentence and half the fine are suspended contingent on his good behavior and payment of restitution.

HOW NOT TO SELL YOUR CLASSIC

2008-04-13T10:31:00.000-07:00

Nick Cash

A lot of people think that putting a for sale sign in the window of your classic & parking it down at the Wal-Mart parking lot will do the trick. Well, the concept is good, but your classic may be vandalized, stripped, stolen or towed to an impound lot because Wal-Mart is not happy about the liability you are forcing on them, plus in some cities, even parking a car in your driveway with a for sale sign in the window is illegal! This is a law that a city council has passed to make the local car dealers happy (they pay a lot of taxes).

You need to protect your classic investment, and parking it where the public has unattended access to it, is a real bad idea! I have heard horror stories of classic cars loosing steering wheels, chrome, door handles, tires & wheels, hubcaps, and even engines when left unattended. A #2 car can be reduced to a project car by a couple of determined parts thieves. It used to be that it was kids looking for parts or a crooked body man, but with the advent of eBay, your classic may wind up being parted out nationally! The unfortunate problem is that unless the thieves are actually caught in the act with the parts in their possession, most car parts are unidentifiable when found later and as such make recovery difficult is not impossible.

Another BIG No-No is letting a prospective buyer take your valuable classic for a drive alone. First of all, this may invalidate your insurance and never trust a buyer’s affirmation that his insurance covers him in your car, because he may be lying or may not have any insurance to start with and if he has larceny in his mind, he may just never come back with it. I have seen engines blown, transmissions ruined, clutches blown, parts stolen and in on case a wonderful person took the car and used it in a wedding! Never underestimate the devious nature of a potential buyer. Make sure you are perched in the front seat right next to the driver testing your classic and that way maybe you can ward off a potential wheelie popper!

Is there any safe way to show your classic? Yes the odds are in your favor that the guy looking at your classic is a good guy, but use your street smarts to make decisions on him. If he had “I feel the need for speed” tattooed on his arm, give him a good third degree grilling and wear your T-Shirt with, “I have The Cops On Speed Dial!”.

A little more advice, show your car somewhere public and not where you have it stored! The reason for this is that classics can be car-jacked too! And if the crook knows where your car is stored, it may not be there the next time you look.

Copyright 2008 by K & L Enterprises

SELL YOUR COLLECTOR VEHICLE CHEAPLY

2008-04-12T18:09:00.001-07:00

KL Nichols

I have been in the collector vehicle advertising business and found a lot of ways to advertise them for sale.

Yes, I am quite familiar with all of the Pay-Per-Ad services and magazines. That being said, I intend to tell you of a few ways to sell your collector vehicle for little on nothing!

One of the prime ways to sell is on CraigsList.com, (hereafter called CL) unfortunately, it can also be a waste of time. One of CL’s problems is that you can only advertise your vehicle on one. That means when you advertise your vehicle on the Kansas City home webpage, that it isn’t searchable on any of CL’s 100’s other city page. What a waste of good traffic. When eBay bought 25% of CL a year or so ago, I had high hopes that they could resolve that problem, but alas, so far nothing. Keep in mind that locally might not be the best place to advertise your classic, so pick a big city not too far away to run your ad on. One other thing, CL readers are notoriously cheapskates. When you can advertise for nothing, you get a lower end clientele. One other problem with CL is that there are a lot of scammers working the ads on it, so be forewarned! Never give out your address or the location of where your vehicle is stored and never let someone drive your classic without you setting right there is the front seat too!

Another freebie photo ad site is BuzzTrader.com. (hereafter called BT) BT has a unique following and it has a website feature that allows other website owners to brand BT for embedding on their website, so you get hundreds if not thousands of page views all over the Internet.

Another freebie is Auto-RoundUP.com, (hereafter called AR) not only a great website where you can post a free photo ad, but they print three of the larger vehicle collector magazines and will run two free photo ads a month for you. AR is a good source to sell parts and memorabilia too!

Another great freebie website is RacingJunk.com (hereafter called RJ) One reason I like RJ is that it is compartmentalized, which is also the reason it will take you a little time to put your ad in the right category. It is aimed at the racing and drag market, but has a large classic section too! Your ad will run 90+ days

Copyright

One last thought, for top dollar, make sure that your vehicle is clean, fix all the broken stuff and make sure the engine will start. Sure you can sell a car in almost any kind of condition, but if you really want top dollar, do your best!

WOULD YOU BELIEVE?

2008-04-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

BS Brash

I spent last weekend at a swap meet that got a lot of rain! Normally rain at a swap meet is not what most people would call fun! But since a lot of the guys were already set up and were just sitting under cover waiting on the rain, so I donned my handy-dandy garbage bag and went parts shopping.

Laugh if you will, but the threat of rain had dampened the spirits of the sellers and with the price of gas and diesel being what it is, prospects for a big weekend loss dramatically brought down the prices and I may have gotten a little wet and muddy, but I figure I saved close to $700 over what I would have had to pay had the sun been shining!

I am now packing up a “Wet Swap Meet Kit”, to carry in my trunk so that when this happens again and it will, I will be prepared!!

Copyright 2008 BS Brash

Classic Detroit iron outpaces Dow Jones and the S&P 500

2008-03-28T21:59:00.000-07:00

Those who follow the classic car market are probably not surprised to hear that prices of vintage Detroit iron, especially those cars from the muscle-car era of the mid-'60s to early '70s, have shot up in the last several years, outperforming both the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index, according to NADA Guides. Classic cars valued at over $125,000 performed the best, on average, by appreciating 47 percent between February 2004 and February 2008. By way of comparison, collectible cars in general increased in value at an average rate of 36 percent. Sounds like a good rate of return to us! Read More Here...

CRUZIN' ROUTE 66

2008-03-25T17:30:00.001-07:00

CRUZIN' ROUTE 66
Sure, you've heard a lot of stories of Old Route 66, but have you heard the story of the alien abduction that occurred on Route 66?

My story is about Sonny Paul a fellow Route66er and classic car nut, and the horrible thing that happend to him one night on Old Route 66.

Sonny Paul was riding the Road all the way from Chicago to San Bernardino and was well along on his journey when he reached Kingman and made the decision to make a side trip to Las Vegas.
The sun was just going down, but he decided the drive to Las Vegas at night would be cooler. He was diving an absolutely beautiful 56 Chevy Bel Air convertible and he really wanted to drive with the top down. Sonny was really proud of it as and had carefully restored it over a period of 15 years and he was taking it on its maiden cruise on The Mother Road. Does life get any better than cruisin' America's Main Street in a sweet classic car? I think not.

How ever things were about to take a bad turn for Sonny Paul!

The First mistake was trying to travel at night because the roads are harder to follow at night.

The Second mistake was in not watching his gas gauge. He had made good time until he realized that he was almost out of gas and started looking for some place to fill up. He was some place on Highway 93 going North, he recalled later, when he thought he saw a gas station off the main road and so took the next exit and doubled back to it. Area 51 is not far from there and we all know what can happen out there! His last recollection was that the station was strange looking, kinda saucer shaped, but when you are anywhere near Area 51, you should expect to see strange things, mostly tourist traps aimed at the Alien minded tourists heading for Area 51. It is from the point that he drove up to a gas pump, that the lights went out for him.

When the police found him later on what was determined the third day after his blackout, he was stark naked and no longer in possession of the 56 Chevy Bel Air convertible and 30 miles North of Las Vegas... When they found him, Sonny was okay but dehydrated and sunburned as you might expect from someone who has been wondering around in a desert naked and without supplies for 2 or 3 days.

The police were very through in their investigation of the incident and I even drove out with Sonny to the spot he thought he saw the gas station, but all to no avail. There was no gas station and worse, no 56 Chevy Bel Air Convertible!

It has been almost a year now and Sonny is doing better. But he is still having flashbacks, his strangest flashback is that of a weird little green guy doing donuts in the sand in his 56 Chevy Bel Air Convertible, just before he drove it into the strange gas station. He says that he remebers that the gas station dissapeared straight up? He asked me if I thought a gas station could fly?

I don't want Sonny to know this, but I think he may never see his 56 Chevy Bel Air Convertible again. Because I think he had the bad luck to run into an Alien that was a car collector?

So if you are going to Cruise Old Route 66 this summer in a classic, be forewarned, your classic may be in jepordy! Don't make me say, "I told ya so!".

Copyright KL Nichols 2008

DUH!!

2008-03-24T15:23:00.000-07:00

KL Nichols

XM and Sirius Satellite Radio stations announced that they were merging.

Who did not expect this?

In my personal opinion which is worth little on the market, there is no reason for one satellite radio station, much less two! Why? If you haven't figured it out for yourself, why pay for something that you get free. Almost all vehicles have radios that we have paid for in the purchase of the vehicle or added at a fairly hefty price later. We have .mp3 players, CD & CD changers, iPod by the millions, just what brainiac figured we need a paid subscription radio too? My guess is it was some spoiled rich guy that didn't think it thru!!

What is the future of satellite radio? It won't last on a paid basis! The $120 or more wasted on it each year is the first thing to go in a financial pinch like a recession! There may be some hope for it if they can figure out how to sell you a radio and include a lifetime subscription in the price. Or the same thing with a car. My guess is that there are 10,000's of cars running around with Satellite radios in that the aren't working!

I have another idea, why don't they get corporate sponsors for it and give Satellite Radio to the masses or is this just another richboy toy? Or here's an idea, why don't they sell commercials on it and give everybody that is interested free Satellite? You know there already is a similar radio system called National Public Radio and it has a real small listening audience too, maybe they could merge with them? Either way, it's overkill in the capitalistic marketplace! For it to survive, they are going to have to do something radical or it's curtains for Satellite radio!

TALE OF TWO MUSTANGS

2008-03-21T22:59:00.001-07:00

TALE OF TWO MUSTANGS
KL Nichols In the news recently are two stories about Classic Mustangs that havebeen returned to their owners. Here they are:

1. After 38 years, man's stolen Mustang is back
It has 300,000 extra miles, but still running just fine

LOS ANGELES - A Los Angeles man is getting his Mustang back — 38
years after it was stolen.
The vehicle has an extra 300,000 miles and a different paint job, but Eugene
Brakke's 1965 Mustang is evidently running just fine.
Brakke reported the car stolen to Burbank police in May 1970.

One month later, a Long Beach teenager named Judy Smongesky received
the car as a high school graduation gift from her father, who had bought it at
a used-car dealership.
Smongesky, who now lives in San Diego, said Thursday she had been
driving and maintaining the car for nearly four decades, and only learned that
it had been stolen when she recently prepared to sell it. San Diego police
verified the car was hot.
"It's his car, even though he had it for four years and I had it for 38,"
Smongesky said. "He seems like a real nice gentleman, though."
Brakke found out Smongesky had twice rebuilt the engine and painted the
Mustang from its old gold color to silver-blue.
"He wasn't too happy with that," Smongesky said.
The pair planned to meet up to transfer the car soon.
"It was hard but it was the right thing to do," Smongesky said. "I haven't really
cried yet, but when he drives it away, I think I'll fall apart."
--------------------------------
2. Man to reunite with his Mustang
LEAGUE CITY, TX (KTRK) -- We know that truth can be stranger than fiction.And some stories, if you made them up, they wouldn't be believable. That seems to be the case for a League City man and his Ford Mustang, stolen 16 years ago.
Andy Felchak's mom gave him her 66 Ford Mustang when he was a junior in high school in 1991. He spent a year painstakingly restoring it inside and out, only to have it stolen from a Crosby grocery store parking lot.
He has spent much of his adult life aching over that missing car. That is, he had until now.
Felchak loved his '66 Mustang. "I took time to restore it after she gave it to me," he said. "I had the motor redone. I had some front end work redone. Also got it painted and replaced all of the interior."
But then one day at work, someone stole it.
"Never really thought I'd see it again," he said. "After a year or two passed, I was pretty confident I wasn't gonna see it."
But for some reason, Andy and his parents kept stacks of photos of that sky blue classic. They kept the title, still in Andy's name. They even kept the keys.
But then one day a couple of months ago, Andy got a call from a detective in Wichita, Kansas.
"He said he thought he had my car," said Andy.
And in fact he did. A woman in Kansas tried to register the car and it came up stolen all these years later. She was probably the fourth or fifth person to have that car since 1992, the first one outside of Texas.
It's a little worse for wear. Andy doesn't care. He's already cleaned out his garage and is ready to go pick it up in a couple of weeks.
"Are you planning on putting an alarm system or a Lo-jack in it?" we asked.
"I'm gonna do something," he said. "Definitely don't want to get it stolen again."
And maybe one day, he says, he'll give it to his daughter.
Interestingly, Felchak is getting the car back because he didn't have it insured in 1992. He only had liability coverage. If it had been insured, he couldn't keep it. It would have belonged to the insurance company.
Is there a moral here? Surely not the lack of insurance angle, but maybe it is that the system
actually or occasionally works?

WILL THE STOCKMARKET AFFECT THE COLLECTOR VEHICLE MARKET?

2008-03-15T14:11:00.000-07:00

KL Nichols

"Collector cars increase in value approximately 7 to 10% per year and some cars appreciate much more, why not make an investment you can have fun with!! How is your 401K doing???"

This is a quote from a friend of mine, Tom Thorson of Valley Motors and it reaches into the heart of the question, "Will The Stockmarket Affect The Collector Vehicle Market?"

The Stock Market is on everybody's mind as is the Weak American Dollar, plus the price of OIl, Gold, etc., etc., etc. But past experiences tells us that when the stockmarket gets hinky and the dollar drops, a lot of the Smart Money moves to the Collector Vehicle Market. Add to that the fact that when the dollar is weak, buyers from all over the world flock to the bargains that American Collector Vehicles offer. This is good and bad, good for collector vehicle sales, but bad in the sense that American Iron is going abroad! But we can take solace in the fact that when their stock market takes a dive and it will, the collector vehicles will come back. Meanwhile, the American Collector Vehicle Market should be a Bull Market!

New Chemical Element Found! - Governmentium (Gv)

2008-03-10T23:20:00.000-07:00

Science lesson for today…

Study of recent hurricane and gasoline issues have proved the existence of a new chemical element.

A major research institution has recently announced the discovery of the heaviest element yet known to science.

The new element has been named "Governmentium."

Governmentium (Gv) has one neutron, 25 assistant neutrons, 88 deputy neutrons, and 198 assistant deputy neutrons, giving it an atomic mass of 312. These 312 particles are held together by forces called morons, which are surrounded by vast quantities of lepton-like particles called peons. Governmentium is inert. However, it can be detected, because it impedes every reaction with which it comes into contact. A minute amount of Governmentium can cause a reaction that would normally take less than a second to take over four days to complete.

Governmentium has a normal half-life of four years; it does not decay, but instead undergoes a reorganization in which a portion of the assistant neutrons and deputy neutrons exchange places. In fact, Governmentium's mass will actually increase over time, since each reorganization will cause more morons to become neutrons, forming isodopes. This characteristic of moron promotion leads some scientists to believe that Governmentium is formed whenever morons reach a critical concentration. This hypothetical quantity is referred to as Critical Morass.

When catalyzed with money, Governmentium becomes Administratium (Am) -- an element which radiates just as much energy as Governmentium since it has half as many peons but twice as many morons.

ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE

2008-03-04T20:03:00.000-08:00

ACCELERATION PUT INTO PERSPECTIVE
One Top Fuel 500 cubic-inch Hemi dragster engine makes more
horsepower (8,000 HP) than the first 4 rows at the Daytona 500.
* Under full throttle, a dragster engine consumes 11.2 gallons of nitro methane per second; a fully loaded 747 consumes jet fuel at the same rate with 25% less energy being produced.
* A stock Dodge Hemi V8 engine cannot produce enough power to merely drive the dragster's supercharger.
* With 3000 CFM of air being rammed in by the supercharger on overdrive, the fuel mixture is compressed into a near-solid form before ignition. Cylinders run on the verge of hydraulic lock at full throttle.
* At the stoichiometric 1.7:1 air/fuel mixture for nitro methane the flame front temperature measures 7050 degrees F.
* Nitro methane burns yellow. The spectacular white flame seen above the stacks at night is raw burning hydrogen, dissociated from atmospheric water vapor by the searing exhaust gases.
* Dual magnetos supply 44 amps to each spark plug. This is the output of an arc welder in each cylinder.
* Spark plug electrodes are totally consumed during a pass. After 1/2 way, the engine is dieseling from compression plus the glow of exhaust valves at 1400 degrees F. The engine can only be shut down by cutting the fuel flow.
* If spark momentarily fails early in the run, unburned nitro builds up in the affected cylinders and then explodes with sufficient force to blow cylinder heads off the block in pieces or split the block in half.
* Dragsters reach over 300 MPH before you have completed reading this sentence.
* In order to exceed 300 MPH in 4.5 seconds, dragsters must accelerate an average of over 4 G's. In order to reach 200 MPH well before half-track, the launch acceleration approaches 8 G's.
* Top Fuel engines turn approximately 540 revolutions from light to light!
* Including the burnout, the engine must only survive 900 revolutions under load.
* The redline is actually quite high at 9500 RPM.
* THE BOTTOM LINE: Assuming all the equipment is paid off, the crew
worked for free, & for once, NOTHING BLOWS UP, each run costs an estimated
$1,000 per second.
*0 to 100 MPH in 0.8 seconds (the first 60 feet of the run)*0 to 200 MPH in 2.2 seconds (the first 350 feet of the run)*6 g-forces at the starting line (nothing accelerates faster on land)*6 negative g-forces upon deployment of twin 'chutes at 300 MPH
An NHRA Top Fuel Dragster accelerates quicker than any other land vehicle on earth, quicker than a jet fighter plane . . . quicker than the space shuttle.
The current Top Fuel dragster elapsed time record is 4.420 seconds for the quarter-mile (2004, Doug Kalitta). The top speed record is 337.58 MPH as measured over the last 66' of the run (2005, Tony Schumacher).

Putting this all into perspective:
You are driving the average $140,000 Lingenfelter twin-turbo powered Corvette Z06. Over a mile up the road, a Top Fuel dragster is staged & ready to launch down a quarter-mile strip as you pass. You have the advantage of a 200 mph flying start. You run the 'Vette hard up through the gears and blast across the starting line & pass the dragster at an honest 200 MPH. The 'tree' goes green for both of you at that moment. The dragster launches & starts after you. You keep your foot down hard, but you hear an incredibly brutal whine that sears your eardrums & within 3 seconds the dragster catches & passes you. He beats you to the finish line, a quarter-mile away from where you just passed him.
Think about it - from a standing start, the dragster had spotted you 200 MPH & not only caught, but nearly blasted you off the road when he passed you within a mere 1320 foot long (1/4 mile) race!
That is acceleration!

Note: I receviced this from a friend and have no idea of the orgin, if any reader knows where it came from, please let me know and I will give credit to the originator!

BOYD CODDINGTON - RIP

2008-02-29T06:27:00.001-08:00

BOYD CODDINGTON, 63, HOT ROD ARTIST EXTRAORDINAIREWhen I read this afternoon that Boyd Coddington had died at the age of 63, it came as no great shock or surprise. Coddington had gained and lost large amounts of weight during his lifetime, and they say that's tough on anyone's heart, but what struck me most about him was his tenacity, patience, ideals of perfection, and his determination to recover from adversity ... and that's not to mention his gorgeous cars, truly worthy of what someone once called "applied art with a practical purpose". Coddington saw great success, watched as it mostly disappeared, then built himself, his name and his business back up again. What he went through, the tremendous ups and downs, personally and in business, were enough to do-in ten people. I'm just happy that towards its end, his life had become, again, a pretty good success. Read More here....

2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8

2008-02-26T22:01:00.001-08:00

After 35 years, the big Dodge Challenger has returned, with the SRT8 version powered by a 425 horsepower Hemi engine with 420 lb-ft of torque that can get to 60 mph in under 5 seconds.The list price is just under US $38,000, including destination; for that, buyers will get —
0-60 in 4.9 seconds Five seats Zero to 100 mph and back in under 17 seconds Quarter-mile times 13.3 seconds 60-0 braking of 110 feet Skid pad performance of 0.88 g (or .9g as reported in the launch ceremony) A five-speed automatic (no manual transmission yet) The two-door, rear-wheel drive coupe is based on the Dodge Charger, which has found favor among lucky police departments. With a 116-inch wheelbase, the Challenger coupe is four inches shorter than the Charger and 300C. With a brake-lock differential, all-speed traction control, and a uniquely-tuned Electronic Stability Program (ESP), the 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT8 has world-class ride and handling characteristics. Read more and see more photos here

Magna Steyr’s MILA Natural Gas Sports Car Concept

2008-02-23T17:44:00.000-08:00

(CNG) Compressed Natural Gas looks a whole lot better to me than Gasahol! Gasahol uses food grains, for the most part, corn, to make the fuel with and although it is helping farmers make some big bucks, it is driving up the cost of food at the grocery store. CNG is almost polution free and there are huge quantities of it right here in the good ole US of A, not in Iraq!! So when we heard about the Mila, above, we thought you should know about it too!!!!
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Magna Steyr has introduced a CNG-fueled concept single-seater sports car, the MILA (Magna Innovation Lightweight Auto) at the Frankfurt IAA.

The MILA CNG sports car
The MILA uses lightweight construction and a modular design enabling different models to be built (single or two-seater, normal or high-power engine, etc.) without much extra effort, as the components and modules have been developed in advance and optimized in terms of cost and weight.
The concept uses a 1.6-liter four-cylinder engine converted to monovalent CNG operation.
Apart from installing CNG-specific injection valves, Magna made no other modifications to the original gasoline engine. Its maximum power of 110 kW (150 hp) gives the concept vehicle a top speed of more than 200 km/h (124 mph) and acceleration from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.9 seconds.

If One Duesenberg is an Event

2008-02-22T20:34:00.000-08:00

If One Duesenberg is an Event, Two Must be a CelebrationThe car found its way into the Pacific Auto Rentals collection during the late 1940s (one of the best-known suppliers of antique and classic cars to Hollywood television and movie producers): the centerpiece of their collection, ...Classical Drives - http://www.classicaldrives.com/

CarWorldConnect.com Blog

2008-02-22T20:31:00.000-08:00

CarWorldConnect.com.....Connecting Buyers and Sellers CarWorldConnect : Your Number One Source for Classic Cars on the Internet. Yes, We have a large selection of Fine Classic Autos in our inventory. But, We also have a large selection of New and Used cars listed as well. ... - http://www.merchantcircle.com/blogs/CarworldConnect.com.314-775-6424

Porsche Congratulates Motor Sport Legend

2008-02-22T20:30:00.000-08:00

Porsche Congratulates Motor Sport Legend Hans HerrmannBy nospam@example.com (ClassicRallies) porsche, hans herrmann, Le Mans 550 Coupé, classic cars Click on the picture to enlarge Photo Gallery: Hans Herrmann Stuttgart. On February 23, 2008, Hans Herrmann, one of the most successful and popular works racing drivers of Dr. ...Classic cars, Vintage Racing,... - http://www.classicrallies.com/blog/

Classic cars on sale today at Palm Springs

2008-02-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

Classic cars on sale today at Palm Springs Collector Car Show and ...From hot rods and muscle cars to classics and collectibles, nearly 600 automobiles will be up for sale today through Sunday at the 44th Palm Springs Collector Car Show and Auction.MyDesert.com - Palm Springs - http://www.mydesert.com

Honda Classic - Oximoron?

2008-02-22T20:27:00.000-08:00

Japanese Classic Car Show & One Or Two Hondas - EventsIt's only as of late one would even think to consider a Honda a classic...or really any other Japanese car for that matter, at least in the US anyways. But some do. In fact, the Japanese Classic Car Show Association (JCCS) has a set of ...

BESERKLY

2008-02-16T21:20:00.000-08:00

The recent insanity out of Berkley California is yet another indication that we should indeed allow them to secede from humanity once and for all!

I don't know much about Berkley before 1965 or 1966 other than it was the town in which the huge Berkeley Campus of California University. Which in the middle '60s, was the center of the Free Speech Movement. which spawned the sex and drug culture that was the Free love Movement. Honestly, it was probably not Berkley's whole fault, the Vietnamese War was escalating and that started a firestorm that swept across the nation at warp speed.

That said, Berkley has nurtured and fanned the flames of anti-US sentiment ever sense! So I would like to propose that Berkley be allowed to become their own country, to run as they please. And then, maybe, we can turn it into the slag heap that it deserves!

Will I Live to see 80?

2008-02-05T17:06:00.000-08:00

Here's something to think about.

I recently picked a new primary care doctor. After two visits and exhaustive Lab tests, he said I was doing 'fairly well' for my age. A little concerned about that comment, I couldn't resist asking him, 'Do you Think I'll live to be 80?'

He asked, 'Do you smoke tobacco, or drink beer or wine?' 'Oh no,' I replied. 'I'm not doing drugs, either!' Then he asked, 'Do you eat rib-eye steaks and barbecued ribs? 'Isaid, 'No, my former doctor said that all red meat is very unhealthy!' Do you spend a lot of time in the sun, like playing golf, sailing, hiking, Or bicycling?' 'No, I don't,' I said.

He asked, 'Do you gamble, drive fast cars, or have a lot of sex?' 'No,' I said

He looked at me and said,....

'Then, why do you even give a shit??

Field Strip Your Butts?

2008-02-04T18:02:00.000-08:00

Nick Cash

For those of you, like me, that can remember the Old Corps, that was a common order!

The first time I heard it, I was stationed in that hell hole boot camp that the USMC called MCRD, the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego California. This was back when the Marine Corps encourage you to smoke, yes I said, “encouraged you to smoke!" The smokers in the platoon got 5 minutes to smoke and all non-smokers were set to "Policing The Area", another term I came to hate. That meant that non-smokers had to walk around and pick up the smoker’s cigarette butts and "Field Strip" them and by Field Striping the Butts, that meant to tear them up into tiny pieces with which the wind could have it's way. So, I started smoking, only pretending at first just to keep from having to police the area, and then one day while I was sitting on the bottom of my 11 quart bucket (issued as part of our boot camp equipment) outside my quonset hut (something recruits got to do on Sunday morning if there wasn't a church of your denomination on the base to go to morning services, which is why the Marine Corps has me registered as a Moslem, which is another story for another time. Any way sitting on my bucket (I still have a permanent ring on my butt), I discovered that I was actually inhaling the smoke from my previously faked cigarette smoking and enjoying it deeply! So as I said, the Corps encouraged recruits to smoke and not only smoke, but smoke Pall Mall cigarettes by requiring that every boot locker had one carton of Pall Malls in it in a prescribed manner and place so that everybody’s foot locker was uniform!

So much for the reminiscing, I guess I just wanted to say, “Smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em”See ya later.

Semper Fi

Could Plastech bankruptcy sink Chrysler?

2008-02-04T13:42:00.000-08:00

The buzz on the street is that Plastech filing for Chap 11 Bankruptcy has shut down 4-1/3 Chrysler plants so far, but according to those who know this may be a lot worse than we are being told. All 14 plants are at risk for lack of parts. Chrysler is moving to take possesion of the tooling involved, if they are unsuccesful, you can expect a major blow to Chrysler and possibly force Chrysler into bankruptcy for the second time in history!

Here is the Automotive News story , you may have sign up for a free subscription to read this article.

There are no ugly women

2008-01-30T18:29:00.000-08:00

There are no ugly women.
This photo was taken at a competition in June 2006. The competition was between 9 women for best makeover. They had every possible beauty treatment available to them over a period of 12 hours before the contest. Look at the before and after photos. It really is Shocking!
Conclusion - there are no ugly women * (see below), only poor women.... If you had the money....Good Grief!!! BTW, the woman 2nd from the left won the contest.

Scottsdale Classic Car Auctions Deliver Record Prices

2008-01-28T20:09:00.000-08:00

Whilst the number of cars crossing the block at the Barrett-Jackson Collector Car Event at Scottsdale saw a decline in the total number of cars sold, there were many highlights from the $88m sale.
Total reveneus were down on the $111m of 2007, but a record attendence of 280,000 and strong prices in a number of sectors proved that, despite the current US economy, the classic car market remains buoyant. Corvettes fetched strong prices, as did 'tri-five' 1955-57 Chevys throughout the week. The average hammer price of these two groups increased by 13 percent on the previous year. In total 1,163 collector cars crossed the block. Read more here.....

What The Arizona Auctions Mean

2008-01-26T06:12:00.000-08:00

Posted by John Gunnell, Gunner's Garage
Now that the big Arizona Auctions are over, everyone is talking about the "trends for 2008," almost as if the year is over. People say all kinds of things about the big-buck auctions out west, but I believe only what I hear from people who actually went there to buy or sell cars. The buyers I spoke to were split. Some thought the auctions were an absolute circus that meant nothing in the bigger picture. The other group of buyers was very happy - in today's terms, there were deals to be had if you were buying. The sellers were not happy. Those who got 80 percent of what they expected to come home with felt they did well. But many got less than half of what they needed and expected and took a big hit.

Read more here....

2008-01-25T23:00:00.001-08:00

Semi-Confirmed: Pontiac G8 ST Pickup to Premiere at New York Auto Show, GMC Ute May Move to Chicago

As usual WindingRoad Magazine has found the Pontiac PickUp ahead of everybody else. If you don't ready Winding Road, you are missing a great read and it is FREE!!!

Check it out and get your free subscription by email at www.windingroad.com

It is great!

Political Correctness

2008-01-24T11:30:00.000-08:00

Due to the climate of political correctness now pervading America,
Kentuckians, Tennesseans and West Virginians will no longer be referred to as "HILLBILLIES." You must now refer to them as APPALACHIAN-AMERICANS.

And furthermore HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT WOMEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. She is not a "BABE" or a "CHICK" - She is a "BREASTED AMERICAN."
2. She is not "EASY" - She is "HORIZONTALLY ACCESSIBLE."
3. She is not a "DUMB BLONDE" - She is a "LIGHT-HAIRED DETOUR OFF THE INFORMATION SUPERHIGHWAY."
4. She has not "BEEN AROUND" - She is a "PREVIOUSLY-ENJOYED COMPANION."
5. She does not "NAG" you - She becomes "VERBALLY REPETITIVE."
6. She is not a "TWO-BIT HOOKER" - She is a "LOW COST PROVIDER."

HOW TO SPEAK ABOUT MEN AND BE POLITICALLY CORRECT:
1. He does not have a "BEER GUT" - He has developed a "LIQUID GRAIN STORAGE FACILITY."
2. He is not a "BAD DANCER" - He is "OVERLY CAUCASIAN."
3. He does not "GET LOST ALL THE TIME" - He "INVESTIGATES ALTERNATIVE DESTINATIONS."
4. He is not "BALDING" - He is in "FOLLICLE REGRESSION."
5. He does not act like a "TOTAL ASS" - He develops a case of "RECTAL-CRANIAL INVERSION."

THE PARTS YARD PATROL - THE BIG QUESTION - SURVIVAL?

2008-01-24T09:51:00.000-08:00

Nick Cash

If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would have called anyone who told me about it a liar! I was standing in the middle of a Salvage yard in the seedy old industrial area of a major city. I had my trusty camera and camcorder in hand and I just couldn't wait to get started shooting. The scenery, to an old yard dog, was magnificent, it was resplendent with aging hulks of formerly splendid classic vehicles. It was mind bending just standing there in the middle of so much history!
But today I wasn't there to just look; I was there to find an assortment of classic vehicles. I was like a kid in a candy store. I couldn't help but find everything that I was looking for within an hour. The yard was amazing, as was the old curmudgeon that owned it. A retired contractor who must be in his late 70's at the least.
As I stood in the middle of that restoration paradise, I couldn't help but feel sad! The value of every single vehicle is only $75-$100 for crush value! A yard of this size with an elderly owner can only be wasted. It can't be moved, the cost of moving is unbelievably expensive. If it is sold, it generally will be sold to an under funded wheeler dealer who will strip it of the valuable pieces and then crush the others indiscriminately to make payroll and payments. Unfortunately, the value of the yard is mostly in a few rare vehicles and the rest for parts and scrap metal value only.
Another parts yard I ran onto some time back in the northeast area, that had over 5000 rust-free classic vehicles collected from the Air Force men which drove them up there to assignments on the nearby Air Force Base, the owner told me at that time that he had enough parts to put together around a dozen 49-51 Mercury's. Unfortunately he didn't want to sell anything individually, he wanted to sell all 5000 at once! He is a farmer and the cars were on prime farmland which he needed to reclaim, so all the cars had to be moved. If it only cost $5.00 to move each car, the cost will be $25,000.00, but my guess is that it will probably run 3 to 10 times that cost!! So the yard was probably be crushed, he had already crushed around 3000 cars because the lot was originally around 8000 cars. It doesn't take a fortuneteller to predict what the future holds for that yard, as well as the other one I mentioned!
Is there a solution to this problem? I honestly don't see an easy answer! Maybe someone out there has an answer, if so speak up before it's too late!
Please don't ask for the Salvage Yard owners name, location or phone number, I have been sworn to secrecy!

Meg Whitman Resigns?

2008-01-23T19:53:00.000-08:00

***A Message from Meg Whitman*** January 23, 2008 01:04PM PST/PTMany of you know I've said in the past that 10 years was about the right amount of time for any CEO to stay at the helm of a company. Now that I’ve reached that milestone myself, I still believe this. It's time for eBay, and this community, to have a new leadership team, a new perspective and a new vision. As we announced today, I will step down as eBay’s President and CEO on March 31, 2008, and our current head of eBay Marketplaces, John Donahoe, will succeed me in my role. Rajiv Dutta, our current president of PayPal and former CFO for several years, will replace John as the president of eBay Marketplaces. You’ll be hearing more from them and their teams in the coming weeks and months. Looking back, I was given a remarkable opportunity when Pierre Omidyar, eBay’s founder, asked me to join eBay in January 1998. Ten years later, I couldn’t be more in awe of what we accomplished together. When I joined eBay, it was a small site, in some ways still very much an experiment. Most people didn’t know, or didn’t believe, that perfect strangers would trade with one another, and that they could almost always be counted on to do the right thing. Over the course of a decade, you have helped revolutionize the way people use the Internet, buy and sell things, create and grow businesses, and connect with each other. In 2007 alone, our community of hundreds of millions of people around the world traded more than $60 billion in goods. Millions found the courage to tap their entrepreneurial spirit and start businesses. Millions more have pursued passions and made connections that will last a lifetime. And countless others found that perfect thing – an old high school yearbook, a favorite toy from their youth – that they couldn’t get anywhere else. I am truly astounded by what has been built here. And all the credit goes to you, our community. You took the chances to start businesses. You created markets for products where there were none before. You defined what it means to be a good citizen in this Internet-enabled world. And yes, we hit a few bumps along with way, but that's to be expected when you’re building something that has never existed before. But even, and especially, during those times, I was always inspired by the passion you showed. It’s with great pride and a strong sense of accomplishment that I leave this post and hand it over to the capable leaders we have in John and Rajiv. I’ve known both of them for many years and have believed for a long time that they are the ideal people to steer eBay into the future. eBay is in my blood and always will be, so I'm not stepping back completely; I will remain on eBay’s Board of Directors. And of course, I'll keep buying and selling on the site. I'm so very honored to have worked with you in building this incredible community. Thank you for letting me be a part of it for the last decade. Meg

The $2500 Tata Nano

2008-01-23T14:49:00.000-08:00

Yep, that's what it sells for in India, $2500!

NY Times and a hundred other media outlets are all aghast aover this little car. According to sources, the Tata Car Company is in line to buy Jaguar and Land Rovers companies, so maybe you will be seeing them on US highways soon? My guess is that after emission problems are solved and the non-union status of the car makers is satisfied, the Tata Nano will sell in the $45,000 range. :) The dang thing has a 30+hp engine and is belt driven, one windshield wiper, no and I mean no amenities at all. This was kinda tried back in the 80's when the Ugo reared it's rusty head in the USA, and we all know how that ended! Just what we need, uninsured drivers in Nanos. Why would you carry any thing but liability insurance. Complete coverage annual cost would cost more than the car was worth? Is it me or does Fred Flintstone's car come to mind here?

The 2008 Barrett-Jackson Final Sale List

2008-01-22T14:27:00.000-08:00

Here is the link to the final sales list for the Barrett-Jackson 2008 Annual sale. This year had it's normal share of excitement but not as much controversy as 2007. THE lawsuit has been settled and there is peace in the land.

Will the huge stock market fluctuation today, have any effect on the collector vehicle market? Who can say, but in the past, a significant drop in the stock market has caused a lot nervous money to gravitate to the 59 Caddies and the Mustangs.

Any way for what it's worth, this is what the market was worth last week! Read it and weep?

Is Chrysler Roadkill?

2008-01-22T13:00:00.001-08:00

Car & Driver Seems to think so, as does Consumer Reports?

Today's Chrysler products are not the fault of present management. Daimler-Chrysler designed these vehicles years ago. And the new Chief Executive Robert Nardelli is trying to remedy some of the most glaring problems with Chrysler's current lineup.

But the big problem with Chrysler is the new management team. Cerberus Capital Management, Chrysler's new owners, hired Wolfgang Bernhard, one of the top car men in the world, to run Chrysler. Bernhard was one of the executives behind the Chrysler 300 success and for cutting costs, too. Apparently, he walked out when he found out he would not be the boss but was to follow the orders of Bob Nardelli, former chief executive of Home Depot. Prior to coming to Chrysler, Nardelli had no automotive experience. Just what you might expect from a corporate entitiy that is named after a three-headed dog guarding the entrance to Hades and with little or no automotive expericence of their own.

Chrysler's new purchasing boss, is a former associate of Nardelli at the hardware store. Everyone assumes this means the company will be buying more parts from China, where everything is cheap. This is not a good move to telegraph to the market!

Chrysler just made a deal with Nissan to buy some cars from Nissan's factory in Mexico, and sell them in Brazil and Latin America. Don't expect much to come of this agreement. Chrysler has no business in these markets and can't gain market share with a re-badged car. There will not be any profit in this. What Chrysler is doing here is anybody's guess because there is rarely enough profit in a small car for one manufacturer, much less two! Rarely does this type of deal work for either company. Chrysler needs to relearn the term "Focus"!

There are still many positives in Chrysler. Their minivan is good enough to be the best seller, and the Dodge Ram pickup has a huge following. Customers are not fools. They know what they want. Personally I think the Chrysler 300 sedan is one of the best-looking cars on the road and the Hemi V-8 is still a keyword in most masculine mindsets!

Never say never! Chrysler has come back from the dead before and the market loves a come-back kid!

Cathedral Cruiser

2008-01-22T08:41:00.000-08:00

GM Futurliner Restoration Project
National Automotive and Truck Museum of the United States When GM decommissioned the Parade of Progress, 12 Futurliners went up for sale. We know that a couple of them found their way to the Michigan State Police and were used as traveling exhibits for fairground displays. We also found out that at least one Futurliner found its way into the hands of the popular Oral Roberts crusade of the sixties. Parader Jim Tolley recalls, "... I was on duty when Oral Roberts visited the site in Tulsa one evening. I showed him around. He was interested mostly in the tent; he had never seen one like it before, and tents were a part of his evangelical tours at the time. He told me he was leaving for Australia the next day, so I gave him John Ryan's (Parade Director) number in Detroit. I never heard from him or saw him again and did not know that he had purchased a Futurliner." Futurliner volunteer, Howard Sullivan, paid a visit to the Oral Roberts University in Tulsa, Oklahoma the end of February, 2004 while visiting relatives in the area. He inquired at the library as to the validity of the story that Oral Roberts had used a Futurliner in his crusades. At first, he drew blanks but persistence paid off as he kept asking various people at the university. He hit pay dirt when he researched the Abundant Life publication published by Oral Roberts during that time-period. Having obtained copies of the articles, Howard met Don Maynard who found photos and negatives of the Futurliner. Don put the pictures on a disk and gave them to Howard.Read more here.. http://www.futurliner.com/oralroberts.htm

It's All (most) Over But The Shouting?

2008-01-21T18:00:00.000-08:00

Mark C Bach

Well another season of car auctions in Arizona is almost over. Kruse Auctions drags up the rear this weekend, but all the rest of the folks have closed the doors, totaled up the bills and car carriers are rushing down the interstates with their precious cargo.

The monster of the car auctions is Barrett Jackson in Scottsdale. They auctioned nearly 1200 cars.

On Friday, NASCAR’s Tony Stewart auctioned off his racecar for charity. He then stayed around and bought an orange (naturally) 50 Mercury custom for $85,000. Unfortunately he should have kicked tires a little bit more, because by Saturday the right front was flat!

John Schneider from the Dukes of Hazard brought his General Lee to sell. Many of you may recall the jaw dropping numbers the car was fetching on eBay before the last bogus bidder sniped in at the last second. To hear John’s side of the story, he later verified that he had twenty valid bidders all legitimately bidding over $5 million each. Too bad he couldn’t make a deal with one of them because it sold for only $450,000. Someone showed some clever work on his California personalized plate. But was I the only enthusiast who cringed when he STOOD on the top of his car?

But as always the reason for the auctions is to sell cars. A sweet show car 55 Chevy sold for a solid 137,000.

The ‘deal” of the show was bidding a cool one million dollars for the first retail Corvette ZR1 model. It will list at $99,900 per GM. Dave Ressler, the winning bidder, gets a nice donation to United Way and lots of publicity. (plus a new blazer to match the Blue Devil). Reaves Callaway of the Callaway Corvettes brand had an interesting take on the car. He figures his turbo upgrade available through GM dealers next year, will allow some of the public to bump up a stock Corvette to near ZR1 performance at a much lower price. Reaves likened the potential dealer markup of the ZR1 to be “confiscatory”.

GM dragged out their yellow 57 from Hot Rod magazine. This never ending project car for the magazine, dubbed “Project X” was looking good with fresh paint and a new engine under the hood. We first saw it up at the SEMA show in November and it was NOT for sale.

Of course BJ is not the only game in town. Up the road is Russo and Steele who has an “upscale” auction. There if you aren’t a bidder you can’t get inside to see the actual auction. Drew Alcazar who runs Russo-Steele had an awesome 65 Sunbeam Tiger at his auction that was to die for.

As always the January auctions show where the market is heading. In my view some cars didn’t fetch nearly what was expected and many marques showed some downturn in the pricing. My guess after a new president is elected, that in 2009 the prices will ramp back up. As usual you need to be VERY careful when looking at the cars. The sellers sure can stretch the truth. A bunch of tri-five Chevy were advertised as “numbers matching” but back then the engine numbers didn’t match the VIN, so there is nothing to match. Jeez!!

See ya on the road.

Copyright 2008 Mark C Bach

The making of the Nano

2008-01-21T07:17:00.000-08:00

The making of the Nano
Ratan Tata

The launch of the People's Car by Tata Motors is a defining moment in the history of India's automotive industry. For Tata Motors, the car — christened the Nano, because it is a small car with high technology — is the next big step in a journey that began with the Indica. For the Tata Group, it is the realisation of a pioneering vision to create a breakthrough product globally that rewrites the rules of the small-car business.
What does this path-breaking endeavour really mean for the Chairman of the Tata Group, in many ways the inspiration behind the car? That's what Christabelle Noronha set out to discover when she met Mr Tata at Pune, as 2007, a momentous year for the Group, was drawing to a close.
The Tatas and you, in particular, are on the brink of realising a long-cherished ambition. Do you feel vindicated? Are you apprehensive?There has always been some sort of unconscious urge to do something for the people of India and transport has been an area of interest. As urbanisation gathers pace, personal transport has become a big issue, especially since mass transport is often not available or is of poor quality. Two-wheelers — with the father driving, the elder child standing in front and the wife behind holding a baby — is very much the norm in this country. In that form two-wheelers are a relatively unsafe mode of transporting a family. The two-wheeler image is what got me thinking that we needed to create a safer form of transport.
My first doodle was to rebuild cars around the scooter, so that those using them could be safer if it fell. Could there be a four-wheel vehicle made of scooter parts? I got in touch with an industry association and suggested that we join forces and produce what, at that point, I called an Asian car: large volumes, many nations involved, maybe with different countries producing different sets of parts… Nobody took the idea seriously, nobody responded.
This was similar to what happened when we wanted to get going on the Indica. I had proposed a partnership with an industry body to create an Indian car, designed, developed and produced in India, something that could be conceptualised and executed as an Indian enterprise. Everybody scoffed at the concept. I remember people saying, "Why doesn't Mr Tata produce a car that works before he talks about an Indian car." My confidence got a boost when we finally succeeded with the Indica. Willy-nilly, we decided to look at [the low-cost car] project within Tata Motors.
It was never meant to be a Rs1-lakh car; that happened by circumstance. I was interviewed by the [British newspaper] Financial Times at the Geneva Motor Show and I talked about this future product as a low-cost car. I was asked how much it would cost and I said about Rs1 lakh. The next day the Financial Times had a headline to the effect that the Tatas are to produce a Rs100,000 car. My immediate reaction was to issue a rebuttal, to clarify that that was not exactly what I had said. Then I thought, I did say it would be around that figure, so why don't we just take that as a target. When I came back our people were aghast, but we had our goal.
Today, on the eve of the unveiling of the car, we are close to the target in terms of costs. We are not there as yet, but by the time we go into production we will be. This project has proven to everyone that if you really set yourself to doing something, you actually can do it.
Two-three important events have influenced the development of the car; inflation, for one. The cost statement was made three-four years back but we are holding on to that price barrier. This will definitely diminish our margins. The price of steel, in particular, has gone up during the intervening period.
A second point is that we initially conceived this as a low-end 'rural car,' probably without doors or windows and with plastic curtains that rolled down, a four-wheel version of the auto-rickshaw, in a manner of speaking. But as the development cycle progressed we realised that we could — and needed to — do a whole lot better. And so we slowly gravitated towards a car like everyone expects a car to be. The challenge increased exponentially; there was the low-price barrier, inflation, adding more features and parts to the vehicle, substantial changes in basic raw materials… What the team has been able to achieve, in the face of all these constraints, is truly outstanding.
What does it mean to me? It means that we have in us the capability to undertake a challenge that many car companies have chosen not to address or have been unable to address.
What are the innovations that have made the Tata Nano possible, from design to product finalisation?Initially I had conceived a car made by engineering plastics and new materials, and using new technology like aerospace adhesives instead of welding. However, plastics didn't lend themselves to the volumes we wanted because of the curing time required. Volumes mean the world in this context: if we produce this car and if it is for the wider base of the pyramid, we can't settle for small numbers because then the purpose is defeated.
When we were planning facilities for the car and working out a business plan, the business plan shown to me was looking at a figure of 200,000. I said 200,000 cars is crazy. If we can do this we should be looking at a million cars a year, and if we can't do a million then we shouldn't be doing this kind of car at all.
But such a figure (a million cars) has never been achieved in the country before. If it had to be done the conventional way, it would have meant investing many billions of dollars. So we looked at a new kind of distributed manufacturing, creating a low-cost, low break-even point manufacturing unit that we design and give to entrepreneurs who might like to establish a manufacturing facility. We looked at different ways of servicing the product, at the customer's location, and through a concept adopted from the insurance industry, wherein self-employed people are trained and certified by us. And we went back to innovation in design and scrupulously took, as much as we could, cost out of the product.
We did things like make similar handles and mechanisms for the left- and right-side doors; we developed our own small engine which could sit under the rear seat, enabling us to craft a smaller overall package; we looked at a new type of seats; and we worked at cutting costs everywhere. We have put our instrument cluster in the middle, not in front of the driver. This means the same dashboard will work for a left-hand-drive vehicle. There are a lot of such innovations that are low-cost and future-oriented.
Equally important to the cost structure was the incentive we could get from having our manufacturing facility at a particular place. The benefits on this count will be passed on to the customer.
Our move to West Bengal was a leap of faith and a sign of our confidence in the leadership in the state. We were breaking new ground, not only on the product front but also in helping industrialise a previously ignored part of India. But we did not start out getting the incentives that other states were offering. I remember telling the chief minister [Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee], "Sir, much as we have tried, it makes no sense for us to come to West Bengal. We cannot meet the cost requirements we have without incentives." It was then that we negotiated a set of incentives that, long-term, work out to be the same as we may have had if we set up in some other place.
Other than emission norms and safety standards, what are some of the other challenges, physical and psychological, that Tata Motors had to overcome to make this car happen?There was the usual dilemma of what is basic and what is nice to have. A basic car may not have all the niceties its fancier cousins sport, and when you're looking at saving money on every single bit of the car — even parts that cost as little as Rs20 — you keep facing these dilemmas. Hundreds of such dilemmas have risen.
However, we were always conscious that there should be no quality stigma attached to the buying of this product. One thing we were clear about: this was never going to be a half-car. Nobody wants a car that is less than everybody else's car. Our car may have a small engine and certain limitations in terms of being basic, but that does not make it inferior. Also, we have a higher version of the car — with air conditioning, leather seats, etc — that we will be displaying at the auto show in Delhi. We hope people will look at that, too. Down the line, as we widen our range, we will have dressed-up versions with higher-powered engines, diesel engines, automatics and the like. We have a whole bunch of innovations coming along on this platform.
What we now have is a car that is truly low-cost which has, approximately, the same performance as a Maruti 800 in terms of acceleration, top speed, etc.
When future versions of this car hit the market, will they not be in direct competition to the Indica?No. The way I see it, this vehicle will cannibalise some of the lower-end car market and some of the higher-end motorcycle and scooter market. It will eat into both of those markets but it will also create a market of its own. It will expand the market by creating a niche that did not previously exist. It may well cannibalise some of the higher-end car market, but to a small extent, and probably only when people look to buy a second or third car.
About the criticism that the car will add to India's pollution problems, why are the Tatas being singled out? This is something I'm going to talk about at the launch. For now, let me just say our car will cause less pollution than a two-wheeler.
I'm trying to think of a parallel where someone has introduced a product at a disruptively low price and changed the market. A good example would be the Swatch watch, low-cost, trendy and with a wide range. Did Swatch finish off the Swiss watch industry? No (in fact, it was a Swiss company that created Swatch, the same company that produced Omega). Did it finish off Citizen and Seiko and other Japanese competitors? No. Did Swatch cause the Japanese and others to produce something like the Swatch? Yes, it did, but Swatch continued to dominate its niche.
What did this do to the global watch industry? It enabled somebody to look at a wrist watch almost like cufflinks: you could buy 10 Swatch watches, you could wear different ones for different occasions. Swatch sold multiple watches for a single wrist. I think something similar could also happen with the Nano.
Why are people attacking only the Tata Group?I think it comes from vested interests. Let's ask ourselves why the car is attracting so much attention and why it is being attacked so much. My view is that if the car were not attracting all this attention, it wouldn't be attacked. This car has provoked serious apprehensions in some manufacturers. There are people in our company even who fear what it will do to the Indica. Do you think there's a concern among three-wheel manufacturers that it might replace their vehicles? Yes, there is because some three-wheelers cost more than what the Nano will cost. All in all, I think people are attacking us because they are apprehensive.
Has the Indica experience helped in the creation of the Nano?Oh yes, enormously. The Indica experience and the Ace experience have helped; Ace especially because it was another tight, cost-based exercise.
From the Rs1-lakh car to products costing many millions, if the Jaguar deal comes through: What next for the Tatas on the automotive front?I won't comment on the Jaguar deal, but to answer your question, we are not in an acquisitive mode. That's not our strategy for growth.
The Tatas have been on the front pages constantly of late-- what is it like being in the middle of it all?Embarrassing and unpleasant. Whenever you are on the front page, you are also — each time, and more so in India than elsewhere in the world — creating detractors and critics. For every action there is some kind of reaction, somebody who is hunting for something to criticise. And most often it is the reaction that people remember. This is all the more embarrassing because we are not a Group that seeks publicity.
If you look at the coverage that has happened, you cannot fail to notice how the low-cost car has been turned into an issue of congestion, of pollution, of safety. Initially it was all about why a car at this cost was simply not possible; that talk is long gone, only to be replaced by these 'new' concerns. We are not really talking about how it will change the way people live or transport themselves, what their aspirations may be.
Ideally, I would really wish we didn't have the visibility and the media publicity because we haven't sought it.

(I post this here as a follow up to the Smart Car. kn)

BARRETT-JACKSON AUCTION COMPANY ANNOUNCES SETTLEMENT OF DEFAMATION SUIT

2008-01-20T22:56:00.001-08:00

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. - January 9, 2008 - Officials with the Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. LLC, today announced that a settlement was reached on Jan. 7, 2008, in a suit filed against David L. Clabuesch in U.S. District Court in Arizona. In the settlement, Clabuesch exonerated the Barrett-Jackson Auction Company of all allegations of wrongdoing in relation to a situation that occurred at the company's Scottsdale event in January 2007. Details of the financial terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
"We're pleased to have reached a successful resolution and to put this matter behind us," said Steve Davis, president of Barrett-Jackson. "While we regretted having to take the extreme step of filing a lawsuit in this matter, we had no choice but to aggressively defend our integrity and the fairness of our company's business practices. This action was necessary to protect not only our own interests, but also those of the thousands of bidders and consignors who place their trust in us each year."
The lawsuit arose from circumstances surrounding the sale of Clabuesch's vehicle at Barrett-Jackson's January 2007 Scottsdale auction. Unhappy with the price paid for the vehicle, Clabuesch locked and chained the tires after it was sold, and attempted to prevent delivery to the new owner. Clabuesch also posted numerous signs in and around the vehicle expressing his opinions about Barrett-Jackson and the company's auction practices. Visible in one of the most high traffic areas of the auction site until removed by the company's security officer and local police, the signs were viewed by the company's customers and members of the public attending the event. Shortly after the January 2007 incident, the company was faced with responding to numerous defamatory rumors and untrue statements related to the Clabuesch incident, which were published on various Web sites, blogs and online chat rooms.
A settlement was mediated on Jan. 7, 2008, by former Superior Court judge Rebecca Albrecht. In connection with the settlement, Clabuesch issued a written, notarized statement that reads:
"Upon review of auction video footage and further consideration of the relevant facts, I, David L. Clabuesch, have concluded that with respect to the January 20, 2007, auction of my vehicle - a 1970 Plymouth Hemi-Cuda - conducted by Barrett-Jackson that I can no longer pursue any action alleging auction irregularities, including the claim that the car was short hammered while on the block. I have also determined that there was no relationship between Barrett-Jackson and the buyer of my vehicle, nor was there any conspiracy between Barrett-Jackson and the buyer of my vehicle, or any other person, to short hammer the sale of the car. I no longer believe that Barrett-Jackson violated the terms of the consignment agreement in conducting the auction sale or otherwise breached any duties to me as a consignor."
Davis concluded, "On the brink of the most exciting automotive lifestyle event in our history, we've demonstrated that Barrett-Jackson upholds the most ethical business practices in the collector car auction industry and that we will take the steps necessary to defend those practices when we are compelled to do so."
Copies of Barrett-Jackson Auction Co. LLC et al vs. David L. Clabuesch et al, US District Court for the District of Arizona, Case No. CV07-561-PHX-EHC can be obtained by contacting the clerk of the U.S. District Court in Phoenix or at http://www.azd.uscourts.gov/. A copy of Judge Clabuesch's statement can be read at http://www.barrett-jackson.com/media/pressreleases/www.barrett-jackson.com/statement.
Established in 1971 and headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., Barrett-Jackson specializes in providing products and services to classic and collector car owners, astute collectors and automotive enthusiasts around the world. The company produces the "World's Greatest Classic Car Event" in Scottsdale, AZ, and has expanded to other venues, including Palm Beach, FL and in 2008, Las Vegas, NV. For more information about Barrett-Jackson, visit www.barrett-jackson.com or call (480) 421-6694.

THE SMART CAR?

2008-01-20T22:21:00.001-08:00

Just what American car companies need another cute little foreign car. Never mind the great mileage, it will be labeled a "Chick" car. It is just too cute. The Smart car is an acronym for Swatch Art and is made by the former owner of Chrysler, Daimler. It is just another little car and they are calling it Smart4two. This is just a way of taking something negative and hiding it in plain site. Your wife won't want one because it is too small and your daughter will want one because it is small. A few guys will choose it but will immediately know it for what it is, a Chick Car! This is the main reason that the little foreign car, the Mini-Cooper hasn't made it big, it is viewed as a Chick Car too!

Maybe the Smart Car will answer the question about what to do about rising gas prices, but I doubt it, it will just pull sales away from US made small cars, like the PT Cruiser and etc. Maybe, maybe not, but at any rate with the gas prices going up and the dollar's value falling, maybe we will all be driving little cars (or Mopeds) before to long whether it is labeled a "Chick Car" or not!

GM SUPERCENTERS?

2008-01-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

General Motors is in the process of consolidating it's dealers and reducing the number of dealers. The Supercenter made famous by the retail industry seems to be an intelligent way to do so. The consolidation is supposed to be done this way; 1. Chevrolet, 2. Buick-Pontiac-GMC, 3. Saturn, 4. Cadillac-Hummer-Saab. And the program is kinda working. The recession is driving the transition. Due to lagging sales, by cutting the amount of dealers the sales should pick up for the remaining dealers and by opening Supercenters it should still make the vehicles available to the public. Th only sticky point is the #4, the Cadillac-Hummer-Saab is still not being implemented, but GM says that they are committed to the overall plan.

Like the Super Centers, GM's new cry may be, "Pile 'em high and stack 'em deep!"