Antique & Classic Cars Blog

Regular visitors have heard this before. Well hear it again! Count this and the next few among the very best weekends this state serves up in a whole year for taking to the roads in your classic car.

As you speak with friends and family today about weekend plans, deftly work your car into the conversation.

For inspiration, here’s a shot of Rollie T.’s ‘59 Buick, which he has owned since new. Look for a Locals in Motion piece on this glorious land yacht in the paper in the coming weeks.

When the world’s largest car book publisher throws open its Osceola, WI, warehouse and fills it with discount books, and then lines the surrounding grassy acreage with classic cars, it’s good. Real good. Add outstanding, if simple, food like top-shelf brats with homemade sauerkraut, natural casing hot dogs, and ice cream, and you’ve got yourself a worthy Saturday afternoon.

Boss 302 was a Pennsylvania rust bucket, but six years of restoration effort yielded a worthy ride.

Ahh. A nice feature on Boss 302s is a stock four-speed transmission.

The little lady and I climbed into my ‘69 MG and made the roughly one-hour drive past Stillwater and into the land of rolling hills, cheese and Packer fans. As the car ads say, NO DISAPPOINTMENTS. Respecting the old journalistic formula, Picture = 1 x 10[3 superscript] Words, here’s some highlights.

If you don’t like first gen. Vettes, you have a serious problem. Consult your doctor immediately.

A flock of DeLoreans prepares for takeoff.

“Dude, where’s your trailer?” “This is my trailer. It’s also my race car.”

When Cadillac owners complained that they couldn’t get a twelfth set of golf clubs in the trunk, the manufacturer offered the continental kit to shift the spare tire to the rear bumper.

Ford station wagon sports collapsible tent. Folding picnic table mounts to back bumper. Cool.

One of the quickest ways to increase your home’s value is to add a Yenko Chevelle to the garage.

This Studebaker Dictator sat disassembled in a field for 50 years. Its fortunes have improved.

Many beautiful Triumphs were on hand, which I single out because I have one.

We followed a ‘69 MGC GT for many miles. Most passersby probably thought it and my ‘69 B GT were identical, but rare C has a factory six-cylinder engine.

On the way back, the missus and I took 35 south on the Wisconsin side. We had fun following a near-identical ‘69 MGC GT (only the bulged hood gives away its six-cylinder power) for many miles. Then a faster crowd showed up. Five black cars–three Porsches, a Ferrari Dino, and a Pantera–zoomed past, flexing a little more torque than the MGs could muster.

My wife loves aggressive engine notes and she laughed loudly at this show of raw horsepower. Unfortunately for these low-slung road missiles, a row of slower vehicles kept them to a modest fraction of their explosive capabilities. Oh well–more oggling for us.

Motorbooks was recently sold, so this may have been the last Wheels & Wings (the latter name coming from an airplane show down the road). If not, don’t let this gig pass you by like a string of sports cars next year.

Is this a picture of a car or a tree? Yes.

You don’t have to be Clouseau to determine that this car is parked on a tree-lined street.

But mostly it’s a reminder that your classic will look better, longer, if you wash off the grime, bird poo, tree sap, chemical and mineral deposits and whatever else has collected on its surface. Then get a quality wax, like Maguire’s carnauba, and put a tough, shiny barrier between airborne assailants, including sunlight, and the paint that makes your car look nice.

It took about 90 minutes to carefully wash and wax my ‘69 MGB GT (and only a second to split that infinitive). It’s a new paint job’s first waxing, which will help it retain its deep color and gloss.

Car, tree or house? Right. Spruce (and elm), ‘69 MG and ‘26 bungalow.

In Minnesota, winter falls with a thud. Protect your car’s finish as soon as you can, before you turn off your outside spigots, and salt and gravel coat the streets eager to digest classic sheet metal.

TR6 radiator (on its side) is about 20% smaller.

These pages have covered a few aspects of the 215-V8-in-a-TR6 project. With a little firewall massaging, new motor mounts, custom passenger’s side exhaust manifold (like the driver’s side one, from a Buick 300 V8), custom alternator bracket, remote oil filter, re-routed steering shaft and some other tweaks, it’s fitting together pretty well.

TR6 radiator taller but narrow. Buick Special radiator built for 215 engine.

The original TR6 radiator had inadequate capacity, so I sourced a proper 215 rad at French Lake Auto Parts and had it rebuilt. It was too wide to fit where the original piece went, so it now sits in front of that. I made brackets and the photos here show them installed.

Front side has slight lip to guide installation.

With the radiator moved forward, I needed another fan spacer to keep the fan close for good airflow (air draw) through it. Here are those pieces.

Lotta spacing to bring fan right behind radiator.

Because of how the 215 radiator fits in place, it will take quite a juke to get the lower radiator hose down off the water pump, under a crossmember, back up to the outlet and then redirected 90 degrees to mount up. Carlberg Radiator, which re-cored the 215 rad, suggested mocking up a sample and taking it to an auto supply store to see if something off the shelf might fit. Otherwise, there’s flexible “universal” hose–have to be very flexible–or setups like a piece of hose, a section of pipe and another length of hose.

Lower hose will have to make a reverse “s” to fit.

One day at a time….

It’s Friday again. We know this because yesterday was Thursday and the pattern’s been pretty consistent. But even without calendar memory (like muscle memory, but requires no heavy lifting), we can feel Friday. It’s in the air—which is fresh and weekendy, in our guts—which are unknotted and ready for a beer around 5, and in the innate sense that even our bosses will be cool if we adopt a more relaxed pace for the rest of the afternoon.

It’s dress-down day. How much can you enjoy that if you’re all worked up about productivity? If employers wanted that, they’d call Friday “Dress for Success” day and walk around with a box of steak knives or a first-rate fake Rolex for the person who worked the hardest. They don’t. They’re dressed down too, watching funny pet videos on youtube and emailing them to other bosses with re: lines like “Fourth Quarter Earnings,” “Yesterday’s Meeting,” and “Time Slips.”

Friday’s purpose is to go easy, relax, slide into the weekend with a smile so you can return to your desk on Monday with renewed vigor. And what better way to relax the mind than by pondering important car and bike questions.

I think we can all agree that in this subject area, one question stands with all others:

“So, what kind of motorcycle did Fonzie ride, anyway?”

If the internet has a true calling, it is to conjure forth fast, furious and often specious details on just such pressing queries. In a world where surfers are king and misinformation is also king, though of a different country, you can find lots of valuable information on trivial things.

Here’s what the hacks, typists, and enthusiasts seem to sort of agree regarding TV’s most famous motorcycle. In the early episodes, Fonz traveled by Harley Davidson. Some say this was a Sportster; others contend it was a Knucklehead. The difference is significant because Knucklehead production ended in 1947 and Sportsters first appeared in 1957 (and are still made). A Knucklehead’s an old bike. So, cool if that’s what the early one was based on.

In later episodes, “experts”—which now encompasses anyone who posts things on the internet in a convincing prose style—now agree that Arthur Fonzarelli rode a Triumph and possibly the occasional BSA. Both of these marques now fetch good collector money, which we can only attribute to an international nostalgia for the Cunninghams, Ralph, Potsie, Arnold, Pinky Tuscadero, jukeboxes, bobby sox, and of course, the original cool guy, Fonz.

Here’s a few sites to take your mind off work (site 1, site 2, site 3). Do your employer a favor and read up so you’ll be nice and refreshed on Monday.

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Answers to Oct. 19 Friday Fun movie and TV quiz:
1. Green 1968 Mustang GT
2. Black 1968 Charger 440 R/T
3. Red Sunbeam Tiger
4. White Dodge Challenger R/T (1970) Extra credit: they got a first gen. Camaro to bend over the bulldozer blades.
5. Dodge Charger, 1969
6. Yellow Camaro (1970, without front bumper) You see different wheels on the cheap one they roll on its top.
6a. Ferrari Daytona spyder
7. Delorean.
8. Bike descriptions above.
9. First gen. T-bird, red.
10. Lincoln Futura show car
Bonus: Mad Max

Motorbooks, world’s largest car book publisher, is hosting its annual Wheels & Wings show tomorrow in Osceola, Wisconsin. I’ve harped a lot on summer’s looming end and the need to get your classic out on the roads a few more times.

Well, this is your best opportunity remaining in 2007. Pull off the car cover, fire up the classic and point it toward Osceola, where you can spend a morning, afternoon or day admiring a wide array of cars–powerful, beautiful, curious, rare and familiar–and hanging out with fellow enthusiasts. The grounds are inviting, there’s food and drink, and if you keep a car library, thousands of titles are discounted at the show. People from the Twin Cities can go home on the Wisconsin side, which is a scenic, relaxing drive worth the trip on its own merits.

If you see a red MGB GT with wire wheels, that’s likely mine, and my mug is on display through the link to the right of my blog page. Say hello and tell me about your cars and bikes. I love meeting fellow enthusiasts; every one has something cool to share and teach. (Wheels & Wings details and directions on the link, above.) KP

The ever if slowly moving 215-V8-in-a-TR6 project tapped the brakes when I learned the original radiator was inadequate to cool an engine with a one-liter-larger displacement. Grabbed a 215 radiator from French Lake, but it needs to sit forward of the mounting brackets for the original (as in that spot the remote oil filter bolted to the inner passenger-side fender interferes).

Built the brackets, but then needed another fan spacer to make up the difference and keep the fan about an inch off the back, where it is still efficient at pulling air through the radiator. Well, lots of phone calls failed to turn one up close to Minneapolis, so it was off to Sonny’s Salvage in Delano with my junkyard-traipsing buddy, Tom.

The second mid-’60s Chevy hood we popped had a 2″ item at the ready. I only needed another one-inch spacer–to add to a one-inch and a 1/2-inch item on hand. But I can do basic math. Since Sonny’s had a two inch I bought it and will give my on-hand one inch a holiday for life. Hopefully this Sunday will see the radiator and fan back in place–and maybe even a ride around the block if I can find a proper universal radiator hose for the bottom fitting.

More to come….