Saturday, March 14, 2009

One among the rarest 1969 Z28 Camaros

February 26, 1969, 18 year old Lyle Mader went into Rapp Chevrolet in Madison South Dakota, and employed the little known HA Special Paint code. He ordered baby blue. This 18 yr old was the only one to ever do that.

He also went for 24 other options and had his Camaro outfitted with chambered exhaust, special factory headers, and the cross ram intake.

Muscle Car Review, March 2009, page 53

The car was also ordered with the JL8 4 wheel disc breaks, and the car was sent to a special Chevy warehouse where it sat for weeks waiting for the parts for the 4 wheel disc brakes.

Unfortunately it did not receive the rear disc breaks, they discontinued 4 wheel disc in May of 69 and this is a June car, so the car was delivered without them.

Lyle also ordered the special Z/28 SCCA off-road cam with heavy-duty valve springs installed by the factory - usually found only on the real SCCA cars. Rounding out the high-performance special-order items, Lyle also checked the box for the M22 close-ratio gear box, the low-restriction chambered exhaust, 4.56 gears in a Posi-traction rear end, factory cowl-induction hood and Firestone 200 Sports car tires.

Lyle wasn't finished with his dream car yet. Unlike the SCCA drivers, he was going to ride in comfort, so he ordered just about every convenience option available from GM he could, including the Z87 custom interior, black vinyl trim, tinted glass, fold-down rear seat, head-light washers, rear window defroster, remote control rearview mirror, center console with factory installed 8-track tape player, AM/FM radio, speed warning indicator, Comfortilt steering wheel and full cockpit instrumentation.

To save weight, Lyle left out the electric windows, power steering and hide-away headlights. The baby blue paint was ordered with the white racing stripes wrapping all the way around the rear bumper - just like the Trans-Am cars he had seen on TV and is the only one ever produced from the factory with the strips running all the way down. A set of optional front bumper guards competed the exterior appearance.

The effect of a UAW and teamsters strikes on GM

In 1972 the UAW strike lasted 174 days, stopping production at the Ohio plant. The result was 1100 Camaro's failing to meet 1973 Federal bumper safety standards. http://www.conceptcarz.com/vehicle/z169/Chevrolet-Camaro-RS.aspx

GM went on strike due to the Vietnam War. Some cars were finished with Buick interiors to go around. http://www.chevellesrus.com/parts/1968.html

Chevelles had Buick interiors possibly due to race riots in Baltimore & KC in early April associated with MLK assasination, and not a strike http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229304

Rather than stop production, assembly plants in Baltimore, Fremont, and Kansas City went to Buick and Oldsmobile for door panels and seat covers. A large number of '68 Chevelles from March to june of '68 had Buick and Olds interiors. Muscle Car Review, March 2009 issue, page 36

April 1oth was the start of a strike that lasted until June 9th. This stopped production of Corvettes, forcing Delorean to continue the production of 1969 Corvettes past the ordinary Sept time of a new model year... causing a all time high production of Corvettes of 38762 units. This also was a cause of low quality control in the 1969 model Corvette. A 1970 Road and Track survey had quality as the worst feature of the Corvette

The April 6 1970 to May 6 strike of the Teamsters and the late start of the '70 vette caused a low production number of just 17316

Pontiac service manual specifications and maintenance information, 1926 -1980

PontiacRegistry.com has begun the largest compilation of Pontiac maintenance information ever.

http://www.pontiacregistry.com/

Througha special licensing agreement with General Motors, the website has been given permission to reproduce and post all Pontiac service manuals from '26 to '80.

It'll be $12.99 a year to access the information, or a donation of materials they are in need of: the 1926-34, 37-39, 54-59.. that'll get you a free lifetime membership. Pay the money, you'll never use the website very much after the first year anyway is my guess.

The new El Camino by Pontiac is cancelled


The birth of the new Chevrolet El Camino has recently been taken away by Pontiac. This means that the next generation of El Camino will never be.
GM decided to junk the plans for the ST sport truck version of the G8, since the current focus is on smaller, more economical cars.

Anything might show up to the racetrack


LeMans Classic 2008 big wallpaper size photos




Dean Martin and a Facel Vega

Facel Vega was a French builder of luxury cars. Their advertising slogan was "For the Few Who Own the Finest". French design with American drivetrains that peaked at 392 cu in hemi engines and a 727 Torqueflite in the Facel Vega II of 1961.

Owners include Pablo Picasso, Ava Gardner, Ringo Starr, Joan Fontaine, Stirling Moss, Tony Curtis, and several Saudi princes. Race-car driver Stirling Moss would drive his HK500 from event to event rather than fly.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Facel_Vega

"In the annals of all that is car, certain vehicles stand out. Others tend to leap. A very select group however, reaches right into your chest, squeezes you around the heart and won't ever let go." Jalopnik

Bonneville Salt Flats... the Fastest Place on Earth


The plane Steve Fossett was piloting disappeared while he was preparing for his latest record attempt, a shot at the land speed record of 763.035 mph. His crew plans to try to break the record anyway in the jet-powered car built for that purpose. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/graphic/2007/12/08/GR2007120801879.html

Photo by Louise "LandSpeed" Ann Noeth... I found it on page 14 of Goodguys April 2009 issue, and at http://www.automobilemag.com/features/0809_bonneville_salt_flats_fastest_place_on_earth/index.html
Where Louise wrote a good essay / documentary about the salt flats... lots of facts and info. About Louise; http://www.sae.org/globalsections/sections/localactivities/noethbio.html

It was the 90's... and anything was possible. If subscriptions can become 50% off, anything is possible



Kool Tools by Doug Dorr, very damn cool!










Featured in Hot Rod Deluxe, Street Rodder, Rodders Journal, Custom Rodder, Street Rodder, and dozens of others!

Via http://customsickles.blogspot.com/

beautiful engines

How crazy is that.... two photographers loved the look of this engine, and found their own example to photograph

Custom Sickles, from Italy. They have it all, the beautiful ...