Category: 1A Auto Blog Home

Ormond Beach Florida “The Birthplace of Speed”

Jeremy Nutt Leave a comment

Many people recognize the salt flats in Utah as the place where land speed records are held, but what a lot of people don’t know is that this all started in 1902 on Ormond Beach in Fl.

In 1902 many daredevils figured out that Ormond Beach was the perfect place to go fast and to break land speed records. It was long and flat and in the beginning there was plenty of room to go 127 miles an hour. They started over in Ormond Beach and as the times got faster they used Daytona Beach as the shut down area.

When a driver was scheduled to make an attempt at the record the Daytona Beach fire station (which still stands) located on the corner of Beach Street and Orange Ave. would blow it’s siren to alert spectators,  police, National Guard and the Halifax Medical Center that the race was about to take place. People would be let out of work and children were also let out of school to witness the event (can you imagine?).

All of this went on until Britain’s famed driver Sir Malcolm Campbell showed up at Daytona Beach. He was known for breaking many land speed records on the beaches of England. He set three consecutive land speed records on Daytona Beach. In 1932 he went 253.968 mph, 1933 272.465 mph, and on his last attempt in 1935 he broke 276.465 mph.

On the last attempt he realized in order to make a run at 300 mph he needed a larger area because he went under the Daytona pier at 276! If you have ever driven the family car under that pier at 10 MPH there’s not much room.

On September 3, 1935, Sir Malcolm Campbell set a new record of 301.129 mph on the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.

Pictures Borrowed from:

http://www.birthplaceofspeed2006.com/

http://www.floridamemory.com

ZZ Tops Billy Gibbons

Jeremy Nutt 3 Comments

If you grew up in the 80’s it’s hard not to like a band such as ZZ Top,and if you’re a car guy the cars in their videos were the icing on the cake.

Lead guitarist Billy Gibbons has an amazing collection of hot rods which include the famous 33 Ford Eliminator coupe, Cadzilla, and a 58 T-Bird just to name a few. I’ve also seen him do some pretty amazing pinstripe art on anything from guitars to hot rods, which takes a ton of skill and patience to perform.

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Current Poll Results: How Often Are People Changing Their Oil?

Jeremy Nutt 3 Comments

Last week we had a poll called “How often do you really change your oil?”.  Now that several hundred people have taken the poll, I figured I’d post up the current results.  Note:  The poll didn’t specify whether each person was using synthetic or non-synthetic oil, so think of this as a baseline, not the “end all / be all” test.

It looks like 3001-5000 miles is the winner at about 50%.  I was actually pleasantly surprised by this, because there have been many articles floating around the internet claiming that you don’t need to change it that often.  While I agree that synthetics can handle longer oil change intervals, I believe that going more than 5000 on the non-synthetic oil (and filter for that matter) is pushing your limits.  This result gives me hope for all of the non-synthetic engines out there.

The second highest result was the 5001-8000 mile range.  My best guess is that this is where many of the synthetic oil users are landing.  Many synthetic users change it around 7-8000 ish, that seems to be the “norm”.  If you are running non-synthetic up to 8000 miles, you are bold.  I won’t judge though.

Next up is where I fall, in the 17% range. I realize that I’m not in the majority, and I could go to 4000 or maybe in 5000 for my oil changes and probably not see a difference. However, I will spare you because I already cover my thoughts on this whole subject a short time ago.

The “whenever my car tells me to”  was the biggest surprise for me because I expected that to be far higher.  Is it that many vehicles on the road don’t have this feature or do drivers not trust their dashboard?  It’s something to think about for sure!

Newsflash! 1% of people don’t know that oil needs to be changed.  Note to self: Do not buy a vehicle from that 1%.

For what it is worth, I’m going to keep the poll open and review it again in a month or so to see how / if the results change.

One For The Dogs

Jeremy Nutt 3 Comments

Lets face it if you have a dog, old spot likes to hang out while you turn a wrench on your muscle car. While you are working  on your Mustang, Cuda, Camaro or making a sleeper out of the family beach wagon, all this excitement makes a dog hungry.

It was this combination of man vs. machine, and dog vs. lunch time that lead to the birth of the dog dish hubcap. This is basically how they got their name. While guys were out in the garage working on the car (back in the day), they would take the metal hub cap from the Road Runner, Mustang, Camaro etc. and fill it with water or put dog food in it for the pooch.

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TITANSILBER METALLIC: 2011 BMW 328Xi

Jeremy Nutt 3 Comments

Over the weekend, a good friend of mine bought a stunningly beautiful new 2011 “BMW-Titansilber Metallic”  328Xi.  From the name alone, I had assumed that it was a 3 Series BMW, 2.8L engine , all wheel drive, with fuel injection (that’s what the odd lowercase “i” means believe it or not).  However, it’s a 3.0L!  Apparently the “28” in “328” is a total lie these days.  The other thing that I didn’t know was that I may actually be a fan of BMW’s? Gasp!

Naturally, the first thought in my head was jumping in, turning the key to light the fire in the legendary straight 6, and test out the awd launching  capabilities.  Back in reality,  she handed me the key and I quickly realized that this was not the same technology and luxury that my 1989 Dodge surrounds me in.  The BMW key isn’t a key at all.  In fact, it is a fancy plastic Chicken Mcnugget that plugs into the  dashboard.  (Two of my favorite things by the way – chicken & dashboards.)  Once the Mcnugget is fully latched in, there is a start button that immediately makes you feel like a really big deal.  This button is surrounded Read More