Antique & Classic Cars Blog

Americans learned a long time ago that British Sports cars are a cheap way to have fun. When servicemen returned from WWII, many of them brought MGs–smaller, nimbler cars than were popular here–and the British sports car invasion began. Drivers who wanted something exciting to throw around the twisties created a demand for MG, Triumph and Jaguar cars that consumed the majority of their production for decades.

Except for classic Jaguars and rarer machines like Aston Martins, British sports cars are still cheap. And one of the things popular since about the time they began appearing here–throwing in a bigger American engine–is still popular. If you’re a regular visitor here, you’ve seen my take on this phenomenon–a ‘72 TR6 with a 1962 Olds F85 aluminum V8 engine.

I came to that idea from the likes of Carroll Shelby–whose Cobra set the curve for Yank-powered British roadsters, a great book excerpted from Hot Rod Magazine called Engine Swapping Tips and Techniques, and an article in Performance Magazine showing the lineage of the 215 aluminum V8 in the States and across the pond when GM sold the design to Rover in the mid-’60s.

Lots of people have followed in Shelby’s footsteps and the internet has made their cars and knowledge readily available. If anyone has any interest in pursuing your own fast British sports car–of even if you just like reading about them–check out the website British V8. Here you’ll see cars like mine (vintage approaches), plus many more truly incredible machines with uprated suspensions, roll cages, fuel injection, turbo chargers, blowers, race gearboxes, cutting edge cooling and oiling systems, and just about every other innovation you can throw at a beautiful car to make it go like it looks.

Check it out sometime. Maybe it’ll put an idea into your mind that’ll turn into your own homemade performance automobile. What makes a project like this special is that it’s your creation, and the planning, sourcing and building is a big part of the fun, something to make the winters shorter and give eBay and wrecking yards more purpose in your life. It’s also the best way to make use of all the tools your family’s been giving you as gifts. Recruit the kids to help out and everybody learns and benefits.

Here’s that cyber hangout one more time: www.britishv8.org/ See you at the swap meets.

Our state has the lottery, the quintessential chance-driven business. We also have gas stations, whose activity is no more predictable. Are the odds of guessing tomorrow’s price at the pumps any better than the odds of hitting the slots?

Maybe we should combine the two and stick a new lever on the side of the pump. You drive up, give it a pull and wherever the whirling numbers stop, that’s your price. Might be five bucks a gallon, might be a nickel—excuse me, 04.9 cents.

Why do the prices jump around so much? It’s not like there’s backroom pandemonium at each service station with suited gas brokers trading one-gallon cans in a din of shouts and clanks. A tanker comes on a schedule, the station buys its gas for a fixed price, and the station proceeds to…vary the price every time an employee wants some fresh air or a little practice moving around big numerals.

Or so it seems….

Someone wrote in to my Weekend Garage column inquiring about gas pricing’s volatility. (Is it just empathy for gasoline’s volatility?) My research led to this conclusion: the essential reason for the variability is supply and demand—albeit a very intense and twitchy supply and demand.

Gas is unlike other products. We use it everyday and most of us can’t get to our jobs without it. And it’s expensive. This means we pay attention and much of the population is price sensitive. Drivers hunt for the best price, fill early when gas is cheap, and maybe try to hold out another day when it seems especially costly.

Stations change their prices frequently because many of them are thinly capitalized. They need the money from current sales to pay for the next delivery. If news stories suggest an imminent rise in the price of oil (due to political upheaval, infrastructure damage, a transportation problem, etc.), stations will raise their prices now, anticipating the future need for more cash.

The practice is self-perpetuating. Once other stations adjust their prices, the station that sits will affect its customer flow. If they sit lower, they will get more traffic. But front-loading sales at a low price isn’t helpful—that station will still need more money for the next shipment if the price doesn’t drop, and if they sell out, their cash flow will be interrupted. They’re better off adjusting the price to stay competitive with other stations, maintaining a steady customer rate and tracking the market more closely so they don’t get caught out. Result? Gas prices that change like the song on the radio.

Lots of knowledgeable people view these pages. If you have more light to shed or an opinion on this rather unique dimension of product pricing, please share it with a comment.

If you’re tired of pavement and traffic and relatively flat terrain, a drive to southeastern Minnesota might be just the thing for a fall respite. The leaves have mostly fallen now, but the
hills and the river and quaint little towns stick around all year.

For the city dweller, a hilly landscape is a welcome treat even when the fall colors have largely gone.
On Saturday, we went down to Lake City to a restaurant Rick Nelson had praised called Nosh. The whole experience was a fall highlight. The road along the river to Red Wing and south to Lake City and beyond was worth it on its own. (We went to Wabasha based on a Google search only to learn that Nosh had lost their lease there and moved north 12 miles to Lake City.) Our dinner reservation was at 6:20 and I had wanted to arrive around 5:30 for a little daylight viewing out at Lake Pepin–but the 24-mile detour cost us that time. No problem, though, as that terrain is as enjoyable through a car window as a restaurant pane.

If you’re drawn to science fiction and horror movies, there’s something unsettling about 100 large, strangely symmetrical organic objects populating a field. I kept my eyes on them and they didn’t move–at least not till we were out of sight.

The plan was to take my ’69 MG but like the trees, that car knows when it’s November. Starting was not in her playbook. The B is stored in a friend’s garage to which I’d ridden my motorcycle and I had no jumper cables and no vehicle to jump it with.

A little fall color held out, though I didn’t do an ace job of photographing it.

Even without the loud stiff ride and constant stream of heat on our feet, we managed a great trip. I’m no restaurant critic, but the meal at Nosh was superb, one of the best I’ve had, period. Though my wife ranked the old Levain under Stewart Woodman ahead of it, she too was very pleased. I’m usually more about the beer and company, yet I actually thought of that meal the following day. (I had a homemade sausage appetizer on homemade toast with cheese, empanadillas for first course and a dish with shrimp, crawfish and spiced rice for an entree.)

On the way, we stopped in Red Wing at what is largely an antiques mall in a brick warehouse on the old Main Street. Old furniture is cool by me–bookcases and desks and cabinets demonstrating craftsmanship–however I usually have no interest in small old stuff. The exception is old tools. Often a small adjustable wrench would come in handy–for a nut or bolt on a carburetor, coil, gauge, or those ones up under the dashboard. Picked up a four-inch Diamalloy, made in Duluth, and I’m eager to use it. Even if that chance comes up infrequently, you gotta love a cool old handtool!

Answers to 11-16 Friday Fun quiz:

1. Speed’s brother, Rex Racer.
2. Trixie.
3. Sparky.
4. Spreitel. Chim-chim, a chimpanzee.
5. A rebuilt race car that returns after a crash. A dummy with a recorded message utters “Melange still races” as the car, driven by remote control, hunts down the drivers who caused the original crash.

If it’s still Friday and you’re reading this at your office, your escape-and-drive-your-classic plan failed. That’s OK. Driving can be dangerous and your boss wants you safe. Because work creates stress, and stress can harm your health, do your company a favor and check out the following car-trivia challenge to relax your mind.

1) In a series of Disney movies from the 1960s, Kurt Russell plays Dexter Reilly. What’d he drive?
2) Dick Van Dyke starred in the movie, Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang, released in 1968. Was Chitty based on a real car?
3) The Ford GT40 was a wonderful looking car and a terror at LeMans in the late ’60s . What does the 40 in the name stand for?
4) What do the British call engine knock—that is, how do they describe the sound?
5) What’s a true mag wheel?
6) There are two main theories for how the Jeep got its name. What are they?
7) What car did Carroll Shelby slap Ford V8s in to make the Cobra? The bigger the diameter of your exhaust pipes, the more power they provide to a street-driven car or bike. T or F?
9) The Beach Boys had a huge hit with Little Deuce Coupe. What car are they singing about?
10) In high performance race engines, the maximum average speed the piston maintains inside the cylinder is just over a) 60 mph b) 100 mph c) 240 mph.

Answers at the bottom of this entry.

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Answers to the 11-9 Friday Fun quiz.

1. Ransom E. Olds was the founder of Oldsmobile. The REO Speedwagon was one of his company’s early vehicles.

2. Given that he always wore red, white and blue and stars and stripes, you should have guessed Harley Davidson. Those who guessed Ducati, subtract two points.

3.  Edsel Ford was Henry Ford’s son and the Edsel was a Ford Motor Company product.

4. The flathead is a valve-in-block engine. Thus, the cylinder head–what closes off the cylinders–is simply a flat metal plate (often finned).

5. Pontiac GTO (’66).

When you tear into a project, do not scatter your tools to the four winds. Start with one wind, then add winds as your confidence builds.

Mechanical work is fun when it goes well; when it doesn’t your neighbors often know about it if your garage door is open. Planning which tools you’ll need for a job, keeping them at hand, not mixing them all up, and putting them away again when you’re done is lesson one in efficient stress-free work.

It’s Friday and you’re still at your office. Which is strange, given how nice it is. This is a failure of imagination. Looking out the window on a beautiful fall day creates feelings of animosity toward your job, your cube, that guy who talks too loud, the woman wearing a half bottle of Eau du Gagg.

Here’s a few suggestions for ducking the office for some quality time with your classic car or bike:

1) Start coughing, leap up, rummage through something (coat, drawer, purse, briefcase), then dash for the door holding your throat. To anyone who makes eye contact, squawk, “my bronchia.”
2) Pick up your phone, stand up, shout: “What?….when? Oh no!…. I’ll be right there!!” Obviously you have no time to explain. Think something up over the weekend.
3) You left your car running, it has a huge V8, and it’s costing you a fortune. Oh–and you forgot it at home.
4) Gumball Rally is on cable, uncut!
5) You left the door open between the kitchen and bedroom and your airedale keeps setting off your burglar alarm. Each police visit costs a hundred bucks.
6) Your cat has a weak bladder and you accidentally locked him in the garage with your ’54 Vette. Last time he peed on it. (Burn rubber out of the parking lot for this one.)
7) FedEx is delivering your Duntov heads today and if you’re not home, they send ’em back—to 1963. Your mail-order bride is here!
9) Vampires! (If pressed, explain that they can’t tolerate sunlight. Duh.)
10) It’s Friday, it’s sunny and 50, and I have a convertible. (Sometimes the real excuse is the most persuasive. Be sure to offer your boss a ride.)