Category: 1A Auto Blog Home

Defining Perfection: The Neighborhood Truck

Jeremy Nutt 2 Comments

Seeing cars and trucks used for their intended purposes does wonderful things for me.  I like seeing trucks hauling heavy stuff, Mustangs and Camaros being brutally launched at the drag strip, and pricey exotics ripping at the corners of a road course.  It’s refreshing.  When I went to the SEMA show a few years ago, I remember being absolutely flabbergasted that people in Nevada still drive around old cars daily.  Not as show cars, but as regular vehicles.  Ah…. The beautiful thing about the dry climates…..  rust isn’t desperately clawing at the bottom of your car trying to pull it back into the earth.   As long as the engine stays spinning, and the seats don’t turn into dust, you should be able to drive your 75 Malibu as long as you want.  I love this.  These old cars that are driven daily and used for a purpose often lack some of the pinache’ that show cars have, but they have features that can’t be bought or built, it’s called character.

In my neighborhood, there is an old 58-59 Chevy truck that looks like it gets used for typical yard work, and “around town” type things.  It has more character than any other car in town, and it’s tough to pinpoint why.  It just looks sooo right from every angle.  If I ever were lucky enough to own this truck, I don’t think I would change a thing about it. It is perfection.

What’s in your neighborhood?

Automotive Tales: ’63 Split Window Edition

Jeremy Nutt 1 Comment

Much like a human, the story of where a car has been can seriously effect the car’s soul.  Cars have souls? Yeap, they sure do, but it isn’t James Brown kind of soul though. It’s much different than that.  When you know where a car has been and all of the amazing tales that go with it, it can instantly change a cars value, the way that you drive it, and its appeal to others.  As a car enthusiast, I love hearing these automotive saga’s, because it can turn a very ordinary car into something special.  Whether embellished or not, this is one of those tales.

When I was quite a bit younger, my dad and I went to car shows and often met up with a friend of his named Mike that had a 63 split window Corvette with a Mako Shark nose and a built 427 big block.  The story with his car was an interesting one that landed it near the top of my automotive “Do Want!” list.

The story goes……..that the car was sitting behind a local dealer in the 1970’s after a bad accident.  The nose was completely destroyed, it was missing tons of parts, and the engine had vanished.  For months it sat in the snow and rain, looking more and more sad each day.  Driving by it frequently, Mike made it well known to his wife that he really wanted that car VERY badly.  Sure enough, his apparently awesome wife inquired about the car, bought it, and gave the sad looking pile of Corvette parts to him as a birthday present (Best b-day present ever? Probably.)  He was thrilled, as any guy should be that just received a split window vette.  The only downfall was that now he had to reassemble the puzzle pieces back together again.  He started with a Mako Shark nose, and began flaring the fenders and straightening out the body, eventually painting it a lighter shade of blue.  He then had my dad build a 427 engine for it.  The problem was that they were afraid the engine was going to get stolen before they got a chance to install it in the car.  So what did they do?  Well, they chained it to the house for a while.  Time passes and the high compression engine was built with the meanest parts available at the time.  Before tossing it into the car, they decided to fire it up on the engine stand. Being car guys, they wanted to hear it with the garage door closed for a few second so that they can really “feel” the power.  As they expected, the engine fired up. Unfortunately for them, it immediately blew all the windows out of the garage door.  Oops.  Lesson learned.

My dad still claims that it is one of the most scary fast cars that he has ever been in.  He said that when you bury your foot into the floor it felt like it was going to pull the front wheels off the ground.   The picture above was probably taken around 1994, which was the last time I saw this car.  If you know of it’s whereabouts, I would absolutely LOVE to see it again and / or more pictures of it.  The soul of that car runs deep, and that is what makes it extra awesome in my mind.

Got automotive stories of your own?  Share em with us!

Widebody Wednesday: 2010 Camaro Edition

Jeremy Nutt 4 Comments

I am declaring today as Widebody Wednesday because I was hit in the face with some sweet looking 2010 Camaro widebody pictures and figured that the 1A Auto Blog readers would enjoy them as well.  This car is a work in progress being built by Extreme Dimensions in conjunction with Real Auto Works, and it looks like something I would thoroughly enjoy cruising around in.  The laid out air ride suspension compliments the custom widebody kit perfectly in my opinion, and makes it look different from every other Camaro on the street. Although I may change a little thing here or there, I’m going to have to give this one two high 5’s.  As Facebook might say: “Jeremy Like This!”

Pictures borrowed from:

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?5012975-2010-Camaro-widebody

G54B: Bird Seed & Oil Starvation Edition.

Jeremy Nutt 2 Comments

Over the weekend I acquired a mighty fine engine stand with a G54B engine attached to it.  For those of you not familiar with this Mitsubishi engine, it was the 2.6L that came in a variety of vehicle in the 1980’s.   Many people loved these single overhead cam 16 valve engines, but unfortunately….this one was loveless.  This one was roasted, toasted, and probably 2 rotations away from spitting connecting rods through the block at a very young age.  Before the engine was even broken in at just 46K miles, the engine lost oil pressure for some unknown reason, and promptly ate itself from the inside out.  The engine was then pulled out, set on an engine stand, and parked in the corner of a garage for the last few years.  Did I mention that it was sitting on a nice engine stand?  Well, that is the reason that this engine entered my life.  The price was free, and “POOF!” it landed in the garage as if from nowhere.

For my own entertainment, I tore the engine apart to see the catastrophic damage.  Here is a list of destruction:

– Timing chains tensioners ripped off the block, and chopped into many many small pieces. All hidden behind the timing cover.
– The crankshaft sprocket for the timing chain was missing every single tooth.
– The inside of the timing cover appear to be shot with a shotgun.
– The bearings for the balance shafts were blue, yellow, and black. The balance shafts themselves were blue around the bearings.
– The connecting rods were all loose on the crankshaft. The bearings fell out in multiple pieces.
– Then there was bird seed, so much bird seed. Once the engine became a fixture in my friends garage, it appears that a mouse or chipmonk moved into the upper radiator house. It was full, like 100% packed full.  Inside we found enough bird seed to probably feed all the birds in the Amazon for a month. I don’t know where it all came from, but it was epic.

So what now? Well, I am glad you asked. I am going to clean up the long block and use it as a base for a table. The engine stand was what I really wanted, and it wants an LS1 attached to it really badly.

…..updates on the coffee table will follow in the future 1A Auto Blogs…..

Beautiful and Likely Able to Survive a Dinosaur Attack.

Jeremy Nutt 1 Comment

They say that beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.  I know that this statement is true because this truck’s license plate told me so.  Seriously though, this truck is amazing.  I saw it at a local show and instantly had dreams of driving through the jungle, fighting off a tiger, multiple ligers, maybe giant arachnids, and a dinosaur.  It is an absolute beast of a machine that would probably go around ripping tags off mattresses if you ticked it off.  I’m not sure what its intended use is, but it appears to be limitless in its abilities.  If Jurassic park ever becomes a reality, you better believe I will be the first one making friends with this “beauty”, and guaranteeing my survival of the dinopocolipse.

Bring Back Hood Ornaments

Jeremy Nutt 4 Comments

Am I the only one that thoroughly enjoys the gaudy hood ornaments on old cars, and really think we need to bring ’em back?   I do realize that dropping a giant chromed-out pelican on the front of a new Camry wouldn’t really work. However, if done tastefully it maaay actually improve the look of the car like it had in the past.  Sure it will cost extra money and it would be something for punk kids to rip off in mall parking lots, BUT pretend those negative factors don’t exist for now.  Instead, let’s think about how much class it adds to the vehicle, along with a feeling of luxury and honor.  Please raise your hand if you would not want a giant chrome bird, ship, plane, or beautiful winged goddess mounted to your hood.  Nobody? Yeah that’s what I thought. The fact is: these types of figures make you feel like a big shot.  You instantly feel more elegant, smart, and stylish than you really are.  Just go for a ride in any car from the 1940’s if you would like to experience this for yourself.  Even if the car doesn’t have paint, stalls out at stop signs, and generally looks like a beater, the hood ornament announces to the surrounding community that you are in fact, a really big deal.

Dear big 3,
Let’s try and make it classy again. I want sparkling chrome planes, goddesses, ships, and a variety of fowl guiding my vehicle down the roads. If you must, you can make them out of carbon fiber for a modern touch.
Thanks,
-Jeremy

Now who’s with me?…….echo……echo….