Topic: What did you do to your non-motorcycle vehicle today?

[Don R]

 A 240Z with a chevy V8 was called a Scarab around here. I remember one that raced where we did, except he had put a hemi in his, we were at the top end of the quarter mile and he crashed when an oil line blew off and oil went under the tires. I told my driver to leave her fire suit on and drove to the wreck. Fortunately he didn't need any help getting out.   

[scottly]

Don, the Scarab was an American sports car from the '50s that used a bored and stroked 283..
Fred, I was walking out of the McDonalds in Santa Maria in around 1975, when I heard the sound of a small block Chevy with a rowdy cam. I finally realized it was coming from a Datsun truck that was pulling into the drive-through window when I saw the fat rear meats... The wheelie bars were added proof.
Around the same time, a local goofball had acquired a Datsun with a 283 and four speed, and I got to drive it for a short sprint down an Orcutt alley; not much weight on the rear wheels, so not much traction in the dirt.
A couple of years later, Terry acquired an abortion with a VW bug body sitting on top of a shortened '55 Chevy frame, with a 283 and Power-glide. The PO had extended the rear fenders out about 6 inches on each side to fit the much wider Chevy axle; when I first heard Terry was back in town, I was told he was driving a V-8 bug that looked like Dumbo the elephant from behind. I was cruising Broadway a few nights later in my Chrysler big block V-8 powered VW bus, when I pulled up behind a VW bug that looked like Dumbo at a light. Terry saw me through the rear view mirror, grinned, and floored it on the green light. There was a Chevy Blazer next to Terry, and the driver was amazed when Terry took off. He damn near ran into the center divider when I blew past him and then Terry.
       

[Don R]

 I remember the true Scarab. The 240Z/chevy thing was probably a local deal, the Guy that explained it to me was very much in the know about things car related so I didn't argue. I used to own a scarab race car, except mine was 1/24th scale and electric.   

[Don R]

 I removed the 11" power brake booster and M/C from my 69 firebird to be replaced with an 8" double booster for disc/disc It will power the 13.5" Z51 corvette discs and whatever I'm able to dig up in the rear. Now I have 3/8" clearance at the valve cover. W0W, I expected more.  The down side is there is rust behind the M/C above the firewall/cowl seam. Holy W0W.  The major disappointments continue, I should have parted it out a long time ago. Now I'm building a firebird even if it's all new pieces. 
 A new race body less floor with mini tubs is about 12K. Looks like I'm going to get good at welding sheet metal or selling 750's.

[Don R]

I went all in on the firebird. I bought a back half tubbed frame section from Art Morrison. I found my old Lincoln mark V brakes in the crawl space and will use them as cores and brackets on the new 9" ford rear. A few phone calls later I think we got the rear axle width right. 8 week wait so I have plenty of time to work on the body.

[scottly]

I remember the true Scarab. The 240Z/chevy thing was probably a local deal, the Guy that explained it to me was very much in the know about things car related so I didn't argue. I used to own a scarab race car, except mine was 1/24th scale and electric.

I had a 1/24 scale Cox Lotus 40, with a die-cast magnesium chassis.

[Stev-o]

Drove the '70 Corvette yesterday to combat cabin fever!




Was a gorgeous morning, there were many bikes out but not many classic cars.  It would have been a Cars/Coffee day if it had not been cancelled due to the virus, but oh well, I enjoyed the drive!

Been playing with this tracking app, I did 132 miles, averaged 46 mph, top speed 98.

[Don R]

 I ordered the 9" ford rear disc brake calipers for my Firebird project. I dug the cores out of the crawl space, spent a day cleaning, wire wheeling and painting the brackets and today I find there are no cores, so one caliper is not available rebuilt. I forget, left or right. I searched online for two days and think I have a mixed brand pair on the way. I'm considering keeping the originals, bead blasting and rebuilding them. Seals are easily available but not pistons.
 In the pisses me off thread, I'll post about web sites that allow you to order multiple items but drop off what's not available with no notice.

[scottly]

Changed the oil on my '14 Sonic 1.4L turbo, for the second time since I've owned it. It was a LOT easier than my previous daily driver '01 Honda Civic; that car required you to get it up on ramps like 18" high so you could get underneath to reach both the drain plug and filter. The Civic was the worst car I've ever owned, from an ease of maintenance point of view...

[dave500]

most new cars are?all too compact no knuckle or elbow room.

[Stev-o]

Helped my good friend find/purchase/ship another classic car for his collection, and it ended up at my house for testing!

It's a '73 Dodge Challenger with a monster 440 Magnum motor.  Testing results have gone so-so, first thing to fail was the relatively small battery, it came with. I prompted went out and bought a giant 850CCA battery, guy at the auto parts questioned me "you sure thats gonna fit?"
It did and spins the motor so much better!  Gas gauge wasnt moving like you'd expect on this gas guzzler, drove to the fuel station, it was nearly empty despite the gauge reading 3/4. 
Confirmed the ground wire, seems the sending unit is bad. 
Also ordered a few bits and bobs that it needs [floor mats, park brake pad, antenna, etc], I'll keep it at my house for another week or so. I'm a good friend, right?!

[74cb750]

Are you sure you're not his mechanic?  You're quite the friend

[Don R]

 My brother has a 70 Dart 340 Swinger, grounds have been a serious pain. His car is mostly original except headlight relays and I added frame/body connectors. We added grounds to the alternator/engine, aftermarket headlight relays and engine/chassis/battery.

[Stev-o]

Are you sure you're not his mechanic?

Ha!  He never gets a labor invoice so I guess not. 

[dave500]

i love that colour!!!

[scunny]

I'm with you Dave, it looks bloody sharp.

[dave500]

yeah what a unit,imagine one in the day brand new?

[Stev-o]

i love that colour!!!

I do too, it is called Mopar B5 Blue, same color as it came with originally. The paint work is an A-, only 1 little flaw on the door that is hardly noticeable.

[dave500]

those really were the days?factorys churning out HI PO cars in new wild candy metalic colors,the jap bikes started the color trend i think?and ya had all them guys doing hot rods n dune buggies with huge flake,the paint now is much better lasting,most those well done old paint jobs wouldve faded n cracked up by now?thats great looking car,congratulate your mate on its purchase,i want one!

[Stev-o]

those really were the days?factorys churning out HI PO cars in new wild candy metalic colors,the jap bikes started the color trend i think?and ya had all them guys doing hot rods n dune buggies with huge flake,the paint now is much better lasting,most those well done old paint jobs wouldve faded n cracked up by now?thats great looking car,congratulate your mate on its purchase,i want one!

Dodge and Plymouth [Chrysler] had some wild paint colors in the early 70's: Plum Crazy, Hemi Orange, Lemon Twist & Go Mango!  The designers must have been smokin'!

This one was just known as "Bright Blue" code B5.

[dave500]

ha ha yeah,Holden had a color called "lettuce alone"!

[Stev-o]

ha ha yeah,Holden had a color called "lettuce alone"!

This it, Dave?  Funny name!  But what I really find odd is it seems the Muscle Cars in Oz sometimes had four doors.  In America, that was really never the case.  There were no Mustangs, Camaros, Cudas, GTO, and of course Corvettes that had four doors. Four doors were old man sedans! Ha

[dave500]

yeah what a color?those HQs also came in two door,with tick the box chevy 350 option.

[Terry in Australia]

In 1979, at the height of the international oil crisis which saw gas prices in Australia spiral from 20 cents per litre to 30 cents per litre (back then I could fill my little Mazda RX2 coupe for around 8 bucks) big V8 cars were next to worthless, I was looking at a mint HQ SS Monaro for $1600, and then I saw a Ford XA GT "Special" (extremely rare car even then, the "Phase 4" that never was) for 2000 bucks. As a 19 year old, I couldn't get the finance without a guarantor, and there was no way I was asking my dad, he wasn't a car guy.

My Uncle Bob had a purple HQ Statesman Caprice with a white interior and 350 Chev. It was a special order car, and very fancy. When Uncle Bob died, I asked Dad what had happened to the car and he said it had been given to one of his neighbours kids. The one in the pic, below, a base model Statesman, just sold for $36,500. Bugger.

HQ Statesman by Terry Prendergast, on Flickr

[dave500]

those first statesmans were a great car,ya had to have the 350 chev in em though,they could be ordered for some #$%*ing reason with the 202 six banger on real base models,ive seen a 202 equipt one a neighbour had one when i was a kid,since that ive only seen the 350 in them,the hj/x/z were 308s only as the 350 was dropped after hq,and the 253 wasnt offered in them,a lot wouldve got stripped out for the 350/t400 and that front end to put onto panel vans and utes?