|
|
Austin Gasser
Author :: Administrator Account
Uploaded on :: Tue 11/06/2012 @ 06:35
|
|
| Found my Austin in an equipment supply store on the road from McMinnville to Amity in late summer of 2010. I was looking for a retirement project, and wanting to build a 60's style gasser for the street. The Austin was a little earlier body style than I was looking for, but I knew once I saw it that it was exactly what I wanted. After contacting the seller, my neighbor and I hooked up his trailer and headed to look at the Austin up close. The car was pretty tired, but fairly straight, and no rust. It still had the original paint and interior, and the owner said the engine had been rebuilt. We struck a deal, and loaded it up for the trip home. . |
 |
read article
| I only have a one car garage, and my 1971 Camaro I've owned for 39 yrs. had that space, so we pushed it in the backyard. I immediately began tearing it apart, in hopes I could get some things done before winter. With the rain and cold coming, I decided I needed to protect me and the car, so a cheap Costco canopy was purchased, and set up. We laid down some gravel, and sheets of plywood for a floor; fired up the propane heater and I went to work. Over the winter I purchased a 1969 Chevy 327 from a neighbor's son, and a narrowed Pontiac rear from a friend's brother. The front straight axle was one of the few new purchases, and it came from Speedway. I cut the firewall out of the Austin, and test fitted the 327 with a TH350 into the chassis. Once the drivetrain was completed I built a new firewall, and finished the floors. After wiring, and plumbing the car, my wife and I built interior panels, and covered them in a simple black naugahyde. Then we made up patterns for a headliner, and she sewed it up for me. We found an old pair of Harwood racing buckets, and some new gauges to complete the interior in a spartan gasser look. Tires and wheels were found at local swap meets or ads, as was most of the rest of the car's parts. The canopy turned out to be pretty comfy to work in with the heater, and I spent 7 days a week out there from Nov. 2010 to Feb. 2011, and drove the Austin to the Roadster Show in it's old black paint in Feb. of 2011. After driving the car all summer of 2011, I decided last fall to get the car closer to finished. The Austin went back in the canopy and I began the task of straightening all the uneven panels, and finally shot it in epoxy primer. I also pulled the engine again, and began to do a few changes to boost HP. A pair of old camel hump 2.02 heads were installed, along with a new Isky 270 cam, and the Holley Pro Dominator and twin 450 Holleys were reworked. Since I've got zero paint skills, and limited body skills, I turned over paint and finish bodywork to Aaron Clyde at South Bound Customs in Beavercreek, Or. Aaron got the body straighter, and shot the 1974 Corvette Dark Red Metallic. After assembling the Austin, it's been racking up miles this year, just cruising and taking in car shows. Over 5,000 miles this summer, with a few trips down the strip at the Billetproof Drags. One of the high points this year for me and the car was meeting Ed Iskenderian at Clackamas Community College, and having Ed sign the dashboard of the Austin! It's been a lot of fun building, the Austin, and we hope to continue to make little changes, and rack up a lot more miles over the upcoming years! |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Russell Hutchinson's 82 Tercel
Author :: Russell Hutchinson
Uploaded on :: Sat 07/28/2012 @ 12:51
|
|
Hello. My name is Russell Hutchinson. This is my 82 tercel. It was/is my first car. I got it in 87. I took my driving test in it. I learned to drive a stick in it. My kids came home from the hospital in it. Drove my two year old to his heart surgery in it years ago. He didn't make it. I drove it back home after that. Single hardest drive of my life.
|
 |
read article
| We've been through a lot together. She sat for awhile, then in 08, my brother had her rebuilt. Has my son's initials on the seats and on the side. Had her from the beginning. How many people wish they still had their first car? |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fred's 1967 Plymouth Barracuda
Author :: Fred Moody
Uploaded on :: Tue 07/03/2012 @ 05:17
|
|
| I was told by a co-worker about this car for sale back in 1985. I had never seen one, my interest was peaked after doing some checking and found that they are pretty rare only 4228 were built. |
 |
read article
| I went to check it out and well obviously I had to have it. A year later our first daughter was brought home in the car, it will be hers someday. It has been stored for seveveral years at a time while working on it off and on. It has never been entered in a show because it's unrestored but I like it that way and so do alot of people that have seen it parked nearby a cruise in or show. I went to the Rod Run one year and when I returned to my car it was plastered with notes from people wanting to buy it. The car has the original 273 V8 with a console 4 speed ultra rare! white top and black interior. . |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1928 Dodge Brothers Sedan "Mighty Giant"
Author :: Don & Thelma Misener.
Uploaded on :: Thu 06/21/2012 @ 07:15
|
|
 |
. . . When we think back . . . on August, 2003, it seems we were destined to save this most forsaken, unloved, mighty giant from the past . . . |
read article
|
| |
It had been stored in a small dark, dusty "lean-to" for 20 years, and a barn at a wheat farm for 30 years.
|
|
|
My wife and I were both filled with a rush of excitement as the dusty black tarp was pulled off. We both smiled . . . and our eyes sparkled as we visualized how we would change this rusty, dying "Mighty Giant" from the past into its former look of Aristocratic Dignity.
Our first glimpse of the forsaken mighty giant.
Upon getting it home, we found the mice had filled the whole exhaust system with wheat, squirrels had packed the mohair seats with acorns, and termites had eaten away all the wooden parts of the car. Also, 1928 Dodge Brothers parts were as hard to find as hen's teeth . . .
So I had to figure out how to make parts for it . . . and painted it (twice!) in our small garage.
|
|
But it has been a 'work of love' to restore it . . . !
Don & Thelma Misener with their 1928 DodgeAnd since the day we started it driving down the road again . . . it has been giving us such wonderful fun times! And it may sound 'crazy', but whenever he gets a trophy, he 'hums' . . . all the way home!!
|
|
A dignified mighty giant from the past lives again.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Jeff Zurschmeide's 1959 MGA Roadster
Author :: Jeff Zurschmeide
Uploaded on :: Fri 06/22/2012 @ 02:52
|
|
|
For each of us in the car hobby, something happened to make us who we are. Something that captured our imagination, or warped us forever, depending on how you look at it. For me, it was my father's purchase of a crusty old 1959 MGA roadster in 1973. I was 9 years old at the time. I handed him wrenches and watched as he rebuilt the engine and worked on the brakes.
read article
The car was painted in British Racing Green when dad bought it. I recall how proud he was when a box arrived in the mail containing his brand new Nardi Classico steering wheel. I also remember him carefully explaining to me the difference between a “convertible” and a “roadster.”
Dad raced the car in autocross competition with the San Diego Asebring Drivers throughout the early 1970s. The car made an infamous appearance in Fred Puhn’s 1974 book “How To Make Your Car Handle” as an example of what happens when you try hard cornering without a sway bar.
When I got to High School, I learned to drive a stick shift in this car, and I often used the groovy old MGA to take girls on dates. In fact, MGA really does stand for "More Girl Action."
But after I left for college, the old roadster sat in the garage – Dad got older and chose bigger and more comfortable cars and no one was left to keep it running. In 1995, Dad towed the car up to my home in Tualatin and gave it to me. It was not running, and it was sun-faded and generally tired. I set the venerable old roadster in the back of my workshop, and swore I’d do it up right and impress my dad with it one day.
But I lost my dad in 1997, and for a while it seemed as if the MGA would sit as long in my garage as it had in his. Then in 2005 my wife suggested that we should restore it. She didn't have to say it twice. I decided on a total restoration and got the project started. The biggest news came when we looked at the VIN plate for a paint code. I’d noticed years before that the engine bay and trunk were a different color than the rest of the car, and it turns out this MGA was originally painted in a beautiful color called Glacier Blue, though any normal person would call it “Turquoise.”
After six months of parts-finding, painting and bodywork, and a few key upgrades (disc brakes and electronic ignition), the restoration was completed in May of 2006 and I knew I had to show it off. Along with many other shows, I entered it in the Forest Grove Concours D’Elegance. The car won a lot of trophies that summer, but the three I’m most proud of are first in class at the Portland Roadster Show, Honorable Mention at the Lake Oswego Heritage car show, and third in class at the All British Field Meet. Those shows stand out for me because of the large and excellent fields of cars they attract.
In August of 2006 my wife and I entered the car in the Monte Shelton Northwest Classic Motor Rally, and to our great delight we won the event overall! We’ve also taken the MGA on rallies with the Columbia Gorge MGA Club and Cascade Sports Car Club.
As a professional auto writer, driving this MGA is a singular experience. It simultaneously tells me how far the automobile industry has come in the last 50 years and how wonderful a car can be with just the most basic features necessary to move people around.
But more than that, this car has been with me since the beginning — it's part of me, and continues to generate fresh adventures every time the sun comes out (or not) and it's time to hit the road. This MGA is no trailer queen – it gets driven with vigor, as it was meant to be.
Jeff Zurschmeide is a local automotive and motorsports writer, contributing editor of Northwest Auto Review, and has covered cars extensively for examiner.com Portland.
|
|
|
|
|
|