As I write this, snow is falling in various parts of Massachusetts, BangShift readers in Texas have the white death on the ground, and the average temperature is dropping like a lawn dart. With those things in mind, I’m looking back over 2011 and the car stuff I did to determine what was the most memorable, cool, or fun thing. I was able to to some fun stuff with the kids, hit lots of shows, announce some kick ass drag races, tear my hand open in Bowling Green, see one of the best tractor shows in the nation, and make a banzai mission to buy an old tow truck.
With it all being said and done, going to get Brutus the tow truck probably sits on top of the heap. The adventure itself was fun, wrenching on the truck in the hotel parking lot was fun, consuming gasoline like a container ship burns crude was cool, and being able to do it with my wife was an added bonus. I had never taken the plunge and tried to drive something that had been off the road for about a decade home with little more than hand tools and a prayer. It is a weekend I’ll have in my gearhead memory banks forever.
So what was the best/coolest/most favorite gearhead event you hit this year?
Drag week.
First flight.
Volunteering at the Hot Rod Top Speed event at Maxton. Going to the Nashville stop of the Power Tour.
Northeast Rod Run. 750 miles, 4 days. Good times.
Bought a 1500 foot barn to store my junk in and a 597 foot house to refrigerate the beer in. Plan for next year? Work on the junk. 🙂
My gearhead accomplishment was 16 straight weekends of EFI tuning, covering engines as far east as Philadelphia, as far west as Southern and Northern CA, Minneapolis, MN to the north and Dallas TX to the south.
In that timeframe we:
-set the A/Production record to 242+mph at Bonneville
-won the Pro Street N/A class at Drag week
-finished 10th with a vintage engine at Engine Masters Challenge
Thrashing to get my car done, then throwing it around Watkins Glen.
Standing next to the wall at Famoso taking pics as top fuelers go roaring by me ten feet away.
1400 miles of power tour in my hot rod with my dad.
Seriously upgraded the Buick 455, having maybe 40 miles on the engine, and rolling out on a 3,800 mile road trip called DRAG WEEK! Awesome.
Awesome trip to Goodguys Nats in Columbus and moonshine to boot.
Not the Coolest but the most Honorable thin and Hot Rodder could ever do.
Here is my storey
25 Miles till home
On Sunday October 2nd The remains of US Army Spc. Robert E. Dyas of Nampa, who died Sept. 21 from wounds sustained by small arms fire in Afghanistan returned to Idaho.
On this hot Sunday afternoon over 150+ hot rods ranging from projects to full on show cars lined both sides of Gowen field road for over a quarter of a mile on both sides. The Idaho POW / MIA Patriot Guard Riders were in full force with over 100+ flag bears and another 75+ in formation. Add in the 25 + Idaho State Police and another 40 plus family vehicles and you have 2 miles of traffic.
With 25 miles to go!
With one lane of cars off on the right hand side of the road and the other taking up the middle lane we patiently waited as the family grieved during the somber dignified handover. With a roar that could be heard for miles the Patriot Guard took up positions slowly leading the fallen hero and family forward. For a moment everything stopped as the hearse slowly passed the long line of people and cars standing at attention, some in dress blues other in fatigues, all looking on in silent and somber resolution that a young man paid the ultimate price for their freedom.
With 25 miles to go!
To take the next event in full context you would have to have been there! Even NASCAR had nothing on this troop of everything from full blown race cars to daily drivers taking the start your engines in queue from Big Jack Armstrong spinning his hand in the air. And with the smell of burning VP race gas and everything in-between we were off! My 60 BelAir with tunnel ram shining in the sun on the tail of a bad 53 Chevy with a Henry J gasser running in front of him! From a 57 convertible to a 30?
DRAG WEEK!
Dropped a valve, rebuilt the motor, then went on DRAG WEEK!
Sadly the only things i did was work on my car trailer, winch and upgraded fenders, and a drum brake Dana 27 to Disk Dana 44 swap on my ’70 wagoneer. Other than that all I did was work on other peoples projects.
Perhapse next year.
Definitely guiding the completion of our 2011 Engine Masters Challenge Hemi and successfully completing the competition in Ohio. We may not have placed in the show, but just getting there was a major victory.
DRAGWEEK! & afterward – finding my engine problem with BS help!
Finally got my speedcar to go like hell at Loring. Thrilling.
the parade for deceased..can’t top that. My satisfaction was swapping camshafts to a sohc boxer engine. A little more american..breathe dammit, breathe.
Photographed the Hunnert Car Heads Up at Union Grove.
I put A/C in my FE Mustang in June and drove it to work almost everyday in July and most of August,Sep,and October plus hit 3 cruises a month on Saturday nights(I work M-F at night) and entered 2 car shows.
I have yet to hit the track(see above work shcedule) but I don’t care I just love cruising that thing.
BTW I live near San Antonio,Tx. so A/C really does improve a car here.
This year was lame.We lost our cruise night. My car ran terrible to/from Lake George (Fixed now) . But we did go to Musclepalooza that was good. Next year will be better .
I was itching to do an engine build just for the heck of it. So I built a nice little 350 small block. It’s got a Corvette 350/350 cam and it’s sitting on my engine stand. Now if I can only figure out what Im going to put it in !
was donating Morine (’66 Fury VIP) to our church’s cars ministry. “How is that cool?”, you ask? Well, tried – in vain – to sell it for the better part of 3 years and not even a serious nibble. Oh, sure, there were the tire-kickers and window-shoppers that wanted to make stupid offers to buy her (“What do ya mean, $200.00 isn’t enough?”), yet not a one that was willing to offer anywhere near what she was worth
In the end, I felt compelled to offer her to our church so that they could detail the body and auction her for whatever they could get and put the $ back into the ministry. The ministry is designed to give reliable transportation to individuals and families that are experiencing hard times and either can’t afford to buy a decent vehicle or can’t afford to repair what they currently have. The ministry is staffed with volunteer auto repair pros that repair donated vehicles and ensure that they will run reliably so as to give financially hurting people a chance to get a leg up without having to spend every dime on auto repair/purchasing and can focus on paying down debt, etc.
So, that was my cool auto thing of the year. Yeah, I miss her, but if she can help someone that really needs it, it’s OK by me.
After years of driving soul crushing but cheap and economical FWD econoboxes I finally got a car I enjoy owning and driving and can fix up. 🙂 It’s not much but it’s a start.
Without doubt my best bangshiftyest gearheaded event had to be my trek to Syracuse NY in my 67 Nova. As a reminder, Its a 406 small block, tunnel ram dual 650 Holleys, 9″ converter, 4:11 rear with a newly installed 200r4 trans. The week leading up to the road trip I went over every nut and bolt onder the car. met the rest of the crew for breakfast the morning we left and didnt look back. 6 hours of cruising at 2200 rpm/70 mph we arrived in Syracuse. We averaged 17 mpg on the trip and I was stoked. The car rode like a caddy. Not a squeek, rattle, vibration or alignment trouble, a flawless ride. I just wish the ride home was the same. Do you folks have any idea how hard it is to find two tires at 3:00 in the afternoon while stuck on the NY Thruway?