I don't find restoring a fiberglass body any more tedious than steel or aluminum. And I have done several of each. Each has it own problems. To properly do a steel or aluminum body, you have to go over them with a dual action orbital sander. Steel and aluminum bodies will be fraught with small dents and dings which have to be attended to, just as you will find cracks and chips in the fiberglass. Chemical paint removers should never be used on any body. Try not to sand through the gelcoat if there is any. If an area needs to be patched, taper the edges around the void back at least an inch, then soak the ground area with MEK to soften the old fiberglass some. Let the MEK evaporate, then glass in the patch. Do the grinding and finish sanding to contour. Then prime with a top quality two-part epoxy primer. Finish sand and paint. I look at fiberglass as an artist's medium. You can do anything with it. ... View more

You guys have lost all my respect! Compare the Mustang with the Camaro, not the Corvette. That's not apples-apples. The Camaro was intended to compete in the pony-car wars, the Corvette wasn't. Compare the Corvette with the European sports cars, the niche it was intended for. ... View more

Great collection of Carroll Shelby's most important creations. Also on display is GT104, once belonging to friend Greg Lonberger. Unfortunately, Greg died before he could finish the work. He was a talented craftsman, as I watched him restore a Cobra 427SC that had been wrecked and literally rolled up into a ball. He straightened every piece, including the aluminum body. To show off his work, he ran the car for several years in bare polished aluminum. Not a single sign of how badly the body had been crumpled was evident. About 1985, Greg brought the car to a vintage race event I was chairing at Blackhawk Farms Raceway. On the Saturday practice, he spun in turn four and backed the car into the tire barrier, and pushed in the right rear fender. After dinner that night, he went back to the motel and straightened the damage using a soft leather mallet and a piece of a 2x4. At the Sunday morning tech-in, the car looked as perfect as it had the morning before. ... View more

1964 Dodge Polara hemi, in red, jacked up at least 3 inches, and cheater slicks in the rear.  I had Cragar S/S's on my '68 Road Runner. I think the chrome worked best on that car.  ... View more

My auto shop teacher in high school drove a Prinz for giggles. He got it for free from a PTA parent. I played football for the school, and for a joke a bunch of us players pushed the car out to the center of the field during halftime. The teacher was high in the stands and couldn't get down to move the car before the second half started, so we just played around it. We were building dune buggies in the shop at the time, and we helped him put a souped-up VW 1600 and trans in the car. It looked silly with the bigger rear tires sticking out from the fenders, but it went like a fart in a windstorm. ... View more

You sprayed it with rattle cans? Get back, Satan!. Considering the abuse this bike is likely to be exposed to, this frame should have been powder coated. Not expensive. But at least it should have been shot with a high quality two-part enamel. With proper spray equipment. Since this is a bike frame with no large flat surfaces, an inexpensive gravity-feed spray gun and small compressor could have done the job far better than spray cans. Plus if you clean the gun properly, it will be ready for your next project. When a rattle can is empty, it's empty. ... View more

Not only are we into the winter of the year, I am now in the winter of my life, and I too, wonder what is going to happen to all the knowledge that has been accumulated over the better than 100 years of the automobile. I have watched all the older mechanics that taught me the ins and outs of working on so many old cars from Bugattis to Ferraris fall by the wayside. I will donate most of my library of books to my local library, but I don't see them being able to use the technical books I have on cars, nor those from my other love, restoring old steam locomotives. So they will need a home. There are a few nationally supported historic libraries I have considered, but I haven't started any correspondence with any of them. Beyond that, there are subjects rattling around in my head that can not be found on paper, and sadly, those will perish along with my remains. Already we have lost such a wealth of knowledge and experiences, it is so sad to think that much more will be lost. ... View more

I don't necessarily recommend auto-darkening welding helmets. It's the initial flash that triggers the screen to go dark, and in that millisecond, that flash can leave a spot on your retina. I know they are convenient as they allow you to see what you are going to weld and set up for it, but I find the regular grade 11 or 12 screen to be best, and to just use a nod of the head to bring the helmet down into position. I may be old school, but I have been welding since I was 12, 60 years, and have no eyesight problems from welding. ... View more

I certainly don't agree that project cars will continue to stay shelved. With the pandemic seriously restricting participation in car events, I see those active in showing and racing vintage cars returning their attentions to finishing those projects, getting them ready to use when things loosen up. Now is the time to concentrate funds into finishing those projects as events become more restrictive. ... View more

You weren't far from us in Elmhurst. We would "test" our buggies at a gravel pit owned by Palumbo, a road construction company out near you. ... View more

We built dune buggies in high school during the 1960's when they were the hot thing. I would still choose one of those over any other "beach" conveyance. The school I went to had a deal with Sears Roebuck to buy tools and other materials that were for educational use for cost. Sears sold dune buggy kits at that time, so we could get a kit for less than $200 bucks. We would scour the local junk yards for discarded VW beetles, and cut the 14 inches out of the pan, weld it back together, and make all the other changes after school each day. We would rebuild the engines, hop them up with all the parts we could get from Warshawski's, and sell the finished buggies to the rich kids in town. Those things were really fast and nimble with the heavy bug bodies gone. ... View more

I agree with the 250GTO Breadvan. Italian food, Italian delivery vehicle. ... View more

It has to go back to the high schools. Most school districts dropped industrial arts classes years ago, since the parents of the kids didn't want their kids working in blue collar jobs. The districts started pushing business based curriculums because, naturally, the folks wanted their kids to get multi-million dollar a year executive positions. The truth is, that not every kid is material for that type of lifestyle. As Judge Schmales said, "We need ditchdiggers, too." When I attended high school, we had the Mopar Troubleshooting Contest. That has disappeared in the Chicago area. We are beginning to see more support of STEM education, and that is a good start. If our governor wants to bring more industry into Illinois, there first needs to be a worker base. The place for that to start is the schools. From there, they need to work their way up through experience. Nobody gets, or deserves, to start at the top. ... View more

Is this an early April Fool's joke? How come it says Hagerty across the back of the cover? Good one, guys! ... View more

Something is fishy with that interior shot. Obviously a different car. A caption would have helped. Anyway, I can attest after whizzing around Maine riding in a Bugatti T-37, these open air vintage cars provide a thrill that can't be matched in any other vehicle. ... View more

Weirdness is not an alien concept to drag racing. In my lifetime I have seen all sorts of cars made into gassers and altereds. These were my favorite classes, starting in the mid-fifties when innovation ruled. Around the midwest we saw Morris Minors, Henry Js, American Bantams, Anglias, Crosley station wagons, Nash Metropolitans, Studebaker Larks, and Fiat Topolinos all built into drag cars. Even an Austin America powered by an electric motor that got it's juice from an Allison aircraft engine and generator mounted on a trailer, and a pair of 1320 foot long extension cords to get the power to the car. It's a travestry that those days are gone, today's car culture youth don't have anything like that anymore. The closest thing is the "meltdown" type events a few times every year. ... View more

I also saw that car years ago, and thought it a neat idea. A friend had a 250GT cabrio with a cracked block. He found another 128F short block, and we did the switch. He said I could have the bad block, which it turned out also had a broken rear main cap. But stuff I could fix. I had the idea of completing the engine and putting it in a T-bucket roadster, if for no other reason than to piss-off my Ferrari friends. But the idea of having that engine, with red cam covers and six DCNFs in full view, was really enticing. Just one of those things I wish I had done, but other projects kept me from attempting. ... View more

Actually the reason a project stalls out can be as simple as other responsibilities take precedent. In my case, I had five restoration projects that were zipping along until work responsibilities escalated. I had a perfect system developed; work on one project until it needed parts or I needed help, then move on to another one. Then 9/11 happened and my company was basically drafted into producing defense materials. All other activities in my life ceased for 12 years, when the physical and mental stress created health problems that made doing either the government work or the work on my vehicles too difficult. i was able to pass on the defense work to another entity, (with continued help from me), but the work on the project cars slowed to a standstill. My body just plain gave out. So those projects have been passed onto other enthusiasts. ... View more