I would put a fourth on that. ... View more

Your July 1 email "Another reason to celebrate Ferrari" related the shock of the Chinettis when the 308GT4 arrived. I'm glad they stayed in business and grew to at least accept the car because the 308GT4 has long been one of my favorite Ferraris (especially those 308GT4s without two-tone paint on the sides). Bertone has designed some oddities for sure, and Gandini himself, too, but I tend to like a lot of his designs and this one is a winner from nose to tail in my book. And not every Pininfarina-designed Ferrari is gorgeous. Just look at the 400 Superamerica; what a dog. I applaud you for devoting the time, knuckles, and bucks to restoring this example. I am enjoying your journey vicariously and look forward to its hopefully joyous conclusion. ... View more

I built two Corvair engines, a 110 and a 140 out of parts from other people's part's hoards. Both ran great for years, the 140 went into a 64 Monza convertible and the 110 went into a Greenbrier. Both were fun cars to own and drive. I've moved on to other dumb stuff, but something inside of me still gets excited when I hear about any stash of cars and parts. ... View more

Thanks for the compliment. I appreciate it. I do have to say that I first learned of global warming in a class at UC Berkeley in 1975, and although the notion of global cooling was in the media that year, serious scientists, such as my professor, were not taking it seriously. But because the physics of global warming is obvious to anyone who has studied the relevant sciences (physics, chemistry), it had been predicted as early as the late 19th century that combustion would cause a warming of the earth. CO2 in the atmosphere works like the windshield on your car on a hot day, to let in the rays from the sun that heat the car, and to keep that heat in the car, rather than letting it radiate back out into space. As a result, glaciers all over the world are melting. Everywhere. (Road and Track had a terrific article by our own Sam Smith, from before he came to Hagerty, examining the melting of glaciers in Glacier National Park over the last 3/4s of a century or so.) And I can see how sea level has risen since I was a kid due to warming, along places I've always frequented on the Massachusetts coast. I wish it weren't so. I love internal combustion engines, and I have little desire to drive electrics. ... View more

Great article, thanks. ... View more

Thanks for beating me to it! 🙂 ... View more

Could you put the donor car frame under the '46? I think that if you're asking that question, the answer should be no. Around 1990 or so, the AOD became the AODE, so you also have to contend with a transmission that might be electronically controlled. Fuel injection has benefits, but how often are you going to be driving this, and how much do you really want it, versus a more vintage appearing engine? Have you considered the Edelbrock AVS carburetors? They have different venturis that supposedly result in a gain of about 2 mpg, versus 3 mpg for fuel injection - if that's the only change. With fuel injection you need to modify the tank with a pump - Aeromotive sells kits for this - and you need to add a return line. And does the '46 have the master cylinder under the floor like a lot of older cars? What about clearance between the oil pan and steering components? The Ford 5.0 has the sump at the front of the engine - will that be a problem? ... View more

Great reading historical account! ... View more

Just turned 200K on my 2012 Challenger V6. I face much the same conundrum as you as far as the exterior goes; the interior is mint. While 10 years and 200K was the replacement goal, I’m now looking at another 4 years thanks to the elderly gent who totaled my wife’s car, which I was set to inherit. Should I repaint the hood? Should I repair the rust in the quarters? Or should I save the money for more of the preventive maintenance that’s gotten me this far (and for the inevitable front end rebuild-again)? I think the answer is yes. To all of it. I like the car, and I find it easier to stomach dropping repair dollars in the future on a car I’m still proud to look at. Just a thought. ... View more

I remember these. They were like the car everybody’s grand father owned and even though they were not old cars and the fenders were always rusted.  But they always ran.  ... View more

Well, ya never know!   🤔 ... View more

Ronald Reagan was president in 1981, not Nixon. 12.8 mpg average on a road trip? OUCH! That's motor home territory. That also explains why most vehicles of the era came with the small V8 and happily settled on only 95% of the performance of the larger engines as their heavier duty rotating masses all the way through the drive train were a drag on the higher performance of the engine. ... View more

Seek one out, you won't regret the effort!  ... View more

He talks about the great demand for electric vehicles and it fascinates me how, since the whole "global warming" fiasco, it has produced mass hysteria and mass insanity not only in this country, but in the whole world. No one seems to know that electricity does not magically come out of a plug in the wall and the processes for producing batteries and disposing of them combined with the emissions from producing electricity will far out do any pollution our modern combustion engines produce. I just fraction of the money spent on R&D for electric was spent on making combustion engines more efficient, we could probably reduce the emissions to almost nothing, but oh no, that won't buy votes or make scammers rich.   ... View more

Drop me a line: jbaruth at Hagerty. ... View more

How about Tim Allen? ... View more

Lucky you to get to drive it! Cool car, neat bit of history, and great article. ... View more

The only time I was ever **bleep**ed on The Hagerty forum was when I mentioned Ralph Lauren's real name. ... View more

Nice looking car. The family history adds to the coolness. ... View more

Sweeeeet. ... View more

Speaking of restoration gaffes there is more than one in the Pontiac decal on the air cleaner. How about the wrong air cleaner for a restoration topped off by the stupid clear plastic fuel filter up over the intake. ... View more

You go farther on ugly than I do. The teens is definitely the worst decade for automotive styling. And SUVs have been particularly ugly. The '90s had a few good looking cars (Caprice, first gen Saturn SL, Integras, various others). Even the '00s had some OK cars, especially the first half of the '00s. As you say, EVs have mostly been ugly, or even Fugly. The Teslas are among the fugliest. But a few of the new ones--the Lucid Air for ex--look pretty nice. I just find mechanical things have character, and electronic things--including electric motors--don't. I like ICE. ... View more

If it's indeed the wheel bearing grease cap, it's a very rare condition, IMHO - as it's typically easier to break into a bank vault than to remove one of those caps.  So, my question is, does this cap just push into the hub, or are you having to tap it in (generally requiring a large socket or section of pipe that fits over the cap and transfers your blows to the flange).  If you're able to put the cap in without blows, I'd suggest that it's undersized for your hub - could just be a mis-pick from the parts bin at the kit manufacturer.  I agree with Swamibob to swap right for left to see about fitment, and you are likely going to find that you just need a replacement cap that is sized correctly! ... View more

Left brain: It's a cool design exercise that shows intake tuning can be very effective. If implemented in an actual car it would crack to pieces in short order because the extreme length would put too much stress on the mounting points. Right brain: That is so cool! 😄 ... View more

As a flipper I'm a flop, but I don't care. I buy old vehicles because I'm curious about owning them, how they drive, how they make me feel, how they look in my driveway. It's really not to make money but it's nice if I can break even over the years with this curiosity thing. In the past 25 years, with very limited space to work and storage, it's been two wheeled buys - motorcycles and scooters - that I enjoy and mostly sell off when I'm bored with them. Some turn out well and selling is not easy and some are total disappointments. But that's the point. These Hagerty discussions are far too focused on dollars. ... View more

With this type of thinking on every level in society, the world would be a much better place. ... View more

Restored cars are easier for me to tear into than a nice original car, which is why my car feels a bit like a trap. If it were "merely" restored then anything done to it could be undone, but with original paint anything done to it that isn't a bolt-on is irreversible. I have decided to have fun with it with bolt-on parts, including an engine with 2.5X the original power and that made me feel better, so I knew I made the right choice for me. All original parts will be restored and put away for eventual reinstallation. ... View more

Reminded me of the time I thought I would let a vala park mine. Love this. ... View more

Yeah, for $72,000, I'm gonna need a drivetrain in there. That being said, the design cues are actually really good... except for the headlights. A perfect opportunity to drop in some flip-up headlights and really smooth out that front profile. Would've made a huge difference. ... View more

Nothing against your Mom and Dad, but I'm not sure they were setting the best examples for you as an impressionable youth.   😁   But then again, I can't argue with their coolness levels! ... View more

Are you sure?  I know the clubs aren't (I tried to burn a few that I had that were obviously defective), but it would seem to me that the balls are made from plastic and rubber stuff that would ignite.  Oh, but that crazy guidance gizmo inside them that makes them go every which direction and distance but the one you want them to might be made of some sort of material that won't burn - and it might even be radioactive...    🤔 ... View more

Hey Nik; That sounds like the perfect time to paint it black and gold, then put a supercharger on it and let's find out how many pieces we can break the crankshaft into? 🙂 🙂 🙂 ... View more

Steve didn't believe in waiting on people's approval to live his life his way without any apologies(sorry)lol ... View more

There seemed to be some new cars available during the height of the pandemic but not now. Seems strange to me. The Toyota and Subaru dealers have cars, but not the Lincoln store I drive past. I get calls from two Ford dealers telling meats are inbound. Tesla says they will build a million cars this year. BTW: How long does it take to build a chip factory? We finally decided to replace my wife's 2011 Volvo with 110k. Bad time to start shopping. The Lexus dealer had us leave a $1000 deposit with the line, "We'll call you when we get one. Then it's take it or leave it". So no choice of color or options on a $50,000 car. Bummer. We have cash, I may just take it, in crisp unmarked bills, to a Ford or Toyota store and get a Escape or RAV4. The heck with what Car and Driver thinks. ... View more

I'd love to drive that, and have thought about building something of my own some day by moving thel FWD ending/trans to the rear. ... View more

Although looking at a Tucker didn't make you burst into laughter... ... View more

Tell you what, Jack, I'll call your first wife and tell her that, if you'll call mine and tell her a few choice things.  I'll send you a list via private message.  Should only take you about 15-20 minutes to read off all the items... maybe less if she hangs up on ya, so read fast!  😁 ... View more

Front section of an S-10 frame (also widened) grafted on to the original frame, rear leaf springs from the S-10, 57 Chevy rear end. Power booster, master cylinder, proportioning valve, brake pedal assembly tilt steering column and seat from the S-10, "paint" on most of the car is original (there is poorly done repair to the body on the right rear quarter panel that appears to have been done early in the cars life), so the car has power brakes, power steering, computer controlled fuel injection and computer controlled auto trans with overdrive. Drives like a modern car, will have AC soon ... View more

Convincing my Bride, will not be as easy as logistics. ... View more

Hey Jack, if you are still interested in an SR3, I've got what may be the highest spec SR3 they built when these came out ... it's gotta go. ... View more

Cool story! Cool car! I see where the bumper doesn't fit perfectly, but I still think it looks great! Knowing AMC's quality control in those days, it could have looked like that when new. I'm glad it all worked out! ... View more

Bought one new car in my lifetime, and one used one from a curb-stoner (unbeknownst to me until I had to deliver a check - though I still have the car 25 years later). Never again. The rest of the cars (8 of them, approx.) have either been off CL with documented service records, or from people I knew. And, IMO, a car 3 to 5 years old is a pretty good value of cost (i.e. depreciation) vs. future maintenance costs. The dealership business model doesn't work for most of us - especially if you do most of your own maintenance. ... View more

I agree with your post completely. Yeah, Elon's a dreamer and I think the Cybertruck is ugly as hell -- we whittled stuff like that in Boy Scouts. But the Muskonian cult members will like it. Then again, ain't it great? If everyone else ONLY liked C-10s I couldn't afford my F-150... ... View more

My '78 Country Squire was rear-ended by a 2000's Honda. It did not end well for the Honda. My plate got wrinkled up. ... View more

That was only the sedans and hatchbacks- the wagons were an entirely different animal in the rear. ... View more

Worth it. ... View more

One side of synthetic fuels which I think is so far not discussed is that using them would potentially separate the cost of fuel at the pump from the cost of oil, and from all the other things which use oil and hence compete for price in the oil market. If your cost to manufacture synthetic gasoline which uses wind/solar/small nuclear/etc power is only based on your capital cost to create the manufacturing facility and then the local labor rates, you'll potentially disconnect the price consumers pay at the pump from other global events and markets. If smaller synthetic fuel manufacturing sites can be built for local markets, the transportation cost for the fuel to reach the pump will also be much lower, again reducing fluctuations in the price. The main driver of gas prices then will just be the consumer demand. This may stabilize gas prices, which is a valuable thing, even if it's at $8/gallon. ... View more

I was working for Oldsmobile back in the seventies and a customer ordered a navy blue Cutlass with a light blue top and light blue wheels it didn't come that way it came with navy Wheels we found a light blue car with a white top and light blue wheels and swap them. I got to tell you a light blue car with the Navy Wheels and white top was sharp ... View more

Bog is created by low manifold vacuum which can be created with a single plane/single 4 barrel manifold with a plenum that is too large. Usually an amateur will simply increase the accelerator pump shot. ... View more

This is a great, thought provoking series of articles. I was excited by both the IDx and the Santa Cruz concepts. Although I very much liked the IDx, I never expected we would get it as it was designed. I figured they would slap that retro body, or something similar, on the Versa platform and call it good. Having owned a Versa Note, I think it would have still been a fun little car, especially with a manual transmission, but I know others would have been disappointed. I know that because that's how I feel about the Santa Cruz. Looking at the comparison photos above, I think Hyundai has done a good job of capturing the basic look of the concept, but they failed to deliver the small size I was looking for. Doubtless that Hyundai's reworked version will sell in decent numbers, but it's not what I was hoping for and has not brought me into their showroom. Given all the complexities you describe, it's a wonder we get any new cars at all... ... View more