Road Chatter
Ronald Bryant
E N D L E S S R O A D in Savage, MD 20763
Store: 301-497-0369
FAX: 301-497-3690
endls...@aol.com
""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
IN THIS ISSUE
* Car-Guy Trivia Questions * On Order
* Formula One * Recent Receipts
* Bits and Pieces * Car-Guy Trivia Answers
======================= **======================
Car-Guy Trivia (answers are later in this email)
1) Today, a restored, mint original 427 AC Cobra, made in 1965-1967, will
easily sell for $400,000. What did it cost then?
A- $7,000 C- $10,000
B- $8,500 D- $11,500
2) We mentioned a few things about Henry Ford a few months ago. Here are a
couple of things about Walter P. Chrysler:
A -Why did the Chrysler Company sell the Chrysler building?
B - Walter Chrysler built a large mansion on the north shore of Long Island
for his home. What happened to it after he died?
3) F1's Ayrton Senna was the biggest sports star in Brazil at the time of
his death. How did the Brazilian government respond to this loss?
4) What is the origin of the term MOPAR?
5) What Year Was This?
Some Like it Hot, North by Northwest, and On The Beach hit the big screen,
while Rawhide and Bonanza debuted on the small screen.
The radio was blaring Mack the Knife, Misty, and A Teenager In Love, but
Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper, and Ritchie Valens met their end in a plane
crash.
Fidel kicked Batista out of Cuba, and Kruschev visited Disneyland.
Average income was almost $4,600. The average car price was $3,150.
Caddys were nine inches wider, and their tailfins reached their highest, but
Chevy bent theirs outward, and Pontiac went 'Wide Track'.
Ford brought out the Galaxie to fight the Impala, and Chevy brought out the
El Camino to fight the Ranchero.
Impala got a four-door, but the Fury was still only two-door.
Chrysler dropped their Hemi, replaced by the 383's and 413's.
Buick Electra was the Indy 500 Pace Car.
Import car sales went up 62%. VW's, Renaults, and Austins were now joined by
Berkley, NSU, Prinz, Goggomobil, Goliath, Citroen, and Hillman.
Formula One
To continue last month's scenario, what if Michael, Rubins, and Ferrari were
not running this season, who would be the Top Guns for the year? Montoya?
Kimi? We adjusted the points as if the boys in red were not there. We can't
just look at the existing points and drop the top two. We scored all the
drivers in the positions they would be if the Ferrari positions were
disqualified or not there at all. Those in third would go up 4 points from 6
to 10, fourth would go up from 5 points to 8, etc. Plus ninth and tenth
would suddenly get 2 and 1 points respectively. This is what the F1 world
would be without the Red Blitz.
With/without Ferrari
100....00...Michael
.74..00...Rubins
.53..64...Button
.46..59...Trulli
.33..39...Alonso
.29..33...Montoya
.18..14...Kimi
.14..24...Sato
.14..18...Coulthard
.13..22...Fisichella
.12..21...Ralf
..5..13...Massa
..5..10...Panis
..4...8...Webber
..3...7...da Matta
..3...7...Heidfeld
..2...4...Glock
..1...5...Baumgartner
..0...3...Klien
Third through sixth place would move up two, to first through fourth, of
course. But, next would be Takuma "Kamikaze" Sato. And Kimi would drop from
two places in front of his partner, David, to one place behind him. Last
year, we watched McLaren Mercedes and Williams BMW chasing Ferrari, but this
year, even without Ferrari, they still wouldn't even make third place.
2004 Formula One Season:
August 15 Hungary, Hungaroring
August 29 Belgium, Spa
Sept 12 Italy, Monza
Sept 26 China
Oct 10 Japan, Suzuka
Oct 24 Brazil
======================= ** =======================
Bits and Pieces
We took a few days to go to Watkins Glen. No race this trip, just visiting
the place that was the home of American Formula One for twenty years. We
drove the original road course (still public streets) from the middle of
town, into the surrounding country, ending on a long downhill run with
Seneca Lake in our peripheral vision, and swooping back into town. Most of
the course is through the old country roads, still without a single housing
development. Racing cars from the 50's on those roads must have been quite a
feat. There is another long run down a hill. At the bottom of that hill is a
45 degree turn to the right over a stone bridge. That turn and bridge
combination were so obviously dangerous that with all the years of racing,
there was never an accident on it.
Then, we found we could drive three laps on the racetrack for $25. All cars
in a line, at a controlled speed (55MPH), no Hot Dogging, and no rubbing, to
quote the brochure. Of course, we did it. I thought we would be in with
several really neat cars and our Honda. Ha! There were three pickups, an
SUV, a family in a Pontiac sedan, and us. We all spread out as soon as we
got on the track, with a hundred or more feet between the diesel four-door
pickup before us and the pickup behind us. That meant I could slow down in
the straights and blast through the curves. Was it racing? No. Was it
ten-tenths? With Monica beside me? No. Was it a rush? Hell Yes!
A gentleman stopped by the shop the other day and told me about a web-site
that he built. He had a great collection of Olympic car badges. We didn't
know there were Olympic car badges. These are badges to be mounted on the
front bumper of your car, as was the style back when cars had bumpers. But I
did note one was to be mounted on a bicycle. His collection runs from 1932
to 1992. They seemed to run from pot metal, to enameled brass, to cloisonné.
Check it out, you may find it interesting:
http://www.olympiccarbadges.info
Webers, the name immediately conjures pictures in your mind of high-revving,
loud, racing, engines with chrome megaphone stacks on top. If you don't
remember them, think of the row of carbs on top of Corvette Grand Sports or
Ferraris before fuel injection. And 40DCOE is the most popular Weber
carburetor. Our friend, Jeff, dug this up. It is probably more Weber
information than you ever wanted to know.
HP Books 'Weber Carburetors' by Pat Braden offers the following on Weber
names:
The first rule is that there really aren't any rules, but some things seem
to work.
DC is Doppio Corpo or dual throat.
V is Verticale or Vertical.
O is Orizzontale or Horizontal.
I seems to mean Invertito or Inverted, as in IDA.
The author then says that there are no up-draft or Inverted Webers, IDA
being downdraft. I would suggest that since the earliest Webers, Pre WWII,
tended to be Updraft, so maybe the Downdraft carburetor is an ' Inverted
version' of the earlier updraft design. Just a theory.
E is a die cast body.
F is a Ford (or Ferrari?) application.
V is a carburetor with a power valve (this is a device that enriches the
mixture at higher RPMs).
A is a water operated automatic choke.
Any numbers following the basic designation are variations on the basic
type. For example, 45 DCOE9 is a 45mm Dual Throat Horizontal Die Cast body,
variation number 9. But, since this is Italy, nothing is simple. There are
at least 10 known variations of this variation.
An IDA carb should be a downdraft dual throat choke equipped carburetor,
except that they can be had with 2 or 3 throats, and they don't have a
choke. In other words, this is a guide, but not a definitive bible.
Maybe that's why old cars are more fun. Nowadays, the terminology would be
computer generated and boringly consistent.
(Thanks to Jeff, whose notes are always interesting.)
======================= **======================
Here are highlights of a few things we have on order now:
All models are 1:18 unless otherwise stated.
Auto Art: Jaguar XKE V12 Coupe, 80306 Corvette C5-R #50, 80307 Corvette C5-R
#53
Beanstalk: 10029 Ford F150 FX-4 Pickup, Ford SVT Lightning Concept
Brumm: 1:43 Porsche 356 James Dean
Carousel: Coyote 1966 G. Snider #82, Lotus Gurney #17 1965
CMC: Mercedes W196 Stromline Fangio #18. This should be here next month.
Ertl: 33685 1969 Mercury Cougar Eliminator - yellow with black interior,
33711 1972 Chevy Vega - Black, 33793 Saleen Mustang
Exoto is behind on all of their new numbers; some of these numbers have been
on order for over a year. Don't hold your breath.
McLaren MP4/6 Berger #2, McLaren MP4/6 Senna #1. 1989 Works Sauber Mercedes
C9 Le Mans #62
GMP: 1:24 Buick GNX black, 1966 Fairlane 427 White, 1:12 Ford GT40 '69 Le
Mans winner
Highway 61: 1970 Mustang Boss 302, 60065 1967 Dodge R/T
Hot Wheels: 1:43 1970 Mustang Boss red, 1:43 1968 Camaro light blue, 1:43
1971 Plymouth GTX purple
Kyosho: 1977 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 red #64, 1971 Ferrari 365 GTB/4 yellow
Lane / Exact Detail: 602 Chevelle triple black, 603 Chevelle red and black,
504 1965 Malibu SS Hardtop
MIC: 1964 Pontiac GTO Beswick Tameless Tiger, 1969 Dodge Daytona #22, 1070
Ford Mustang Glidden
Minichamps: 1:43 1914 Model T Ford black, 1:43 Bentley EXPSP Le Mans '03 #8,
Bar Honda F1 006 Jenson Button #9
Precision Miniatures: The makers of the Winged Express and the Pure Hell.
PRM04 Ohio George 1933 Willys,
There will be 3500 maximum of this one and 1750 maximum of the six versions
to follow.
Revell: Porsche 962C 1986 Le Mans winner, The first 1:18 Porsche 914
1969 Targa top Porsche 914/4, in yellow and in blue, we sold out twice.
Ricko: 1934 Lincoln Model K black, 1963 Lincoln Continental, 1933 Cadillac
V16
Road Signatures: 1955 Chrysler Imperial
Super Car Collectibles: Most of these are put on hold before we receive
them. Please let us know as soon as possible if you want one.
50239 1970 Dodge Challenger T/A black
50240 1971 Challenger R/T Curious Yellow
50244 1968 SS/A Hemi Dart
======================= **======================
We received these lately:
Action: Crawford DP Daytona 2004 #2, Dale Jr. drove this in the Daytona 24
Hour.
Auto Art: 71121 Corvette 25th Anniversary Collector Edition, 2001 Mustangs
in white
Carousel: 1977 Winner Coyote AJ Foyt
CMC: Mercedes W196R Stromline, We sold out the first time in two days. We
have a limited supply now.
GMP: 1:24 1987 Buick GNX black, 3009 1997 All Sport #11 Trans Am Mustang
Ertl: 33718 Range Rover - Silver, 33691 1970 Boss 302 Mustang
GMP: 1:24 1969 Mercury Cyclone Yarbough, 1:24 1969 Mercury Cyclone Gurney,
All Sport Mustang #1
Highway 61: Dodge Racing Maverick, Dodge Racing Ram Chargers, Dodge Racing
Color Me Gone
Kyosho: Ferrari 365 GBT/4 red, Ferrari 365 GBT/4 black
Minichamps: McLaren MP4/18 2003 Coulthard, McLaren MP4/18 2003 Raikkonen
Lane - Exact Detail: 503 1965 El Camino black
Revell: 1:12 1958 Corvette red
Road Signature (Yat Ming): A good entry-level line of models with good
finish and plenty of detail.
18126 Chrysler Airflow black., 18126 Chrysler Airflow silver, 1961 Lincoln
Presidential convertible
Super Car Collectibles: 50198 1968 Original S/S Hurst Dart, primer/black as
delivered from the factory,
50247 1964 Dodge 330 Little Old Lady From Pasadena Red Hemi, 2537B Black Pro
Street Chevelle
======================= **======================
Car-Guy Trivia Answers
1) The 1965-1967 427 AC Cobra cost new: A- $7,000
2) About Walter P. Chrysler:
A -Why did the Chrysler Company sell the Chrysler building? They didn't. The
Chrysler Building was a personal project of Walter Chrysler, financed
(apparently) largely out of pocket to give his son something to do for his
career.
B - The government bought Walter Chrysler's mansion just before WWII and it
became the nucleus of the Merchant Marine Academy.
(From the book "CHRYSLER, The Life And Times Of An Automotive Genius'.
Thanks to our friend, Jeff, for both of these.)
3) Brazil observed three National Days of Mourning for Ayrton Senna. Now,
that is one "Gung Ho Car-Guy" country. (Thanks to our friend, Frank for this
one.)
4) MOPAR is a contraction of MOtor PARts, coined by Chrysler when
consolidating all their parts divisions in the 1940's.
5) The year was 1959 and the hint of fast muscle cars was in the air.
Visit our web site at www.endlessroad.com for more automotive collectibles.
If you're interested in a particular item, contact us at endls...@aol.com
or call or fax us at the numbers shown at the beginning of this newsletter.
If you're in Savage, Maryland stop by and visit us at historic Savage Mill,
Suite 218.
Thanks,
Dave