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I have managed to get scanned (thanks Dave Redman) and posted several pictures of Shelbys (and a few Mustangs) from back “in the day”. Most have captions, and all were events I happened to have my camera at.
Enjoy:
It has been recently brought to my attention that the Shelby that used to belong to Bill and Karen Vose was SFM6S2050. I will update the appropriate captions soon.
By ALAN CLENDENNING=
AP Business Writer=
SAO PAULO, Brazil (AP) _ With their unique air-cooled engines sputtering to life, brand-new classic Volkswagen minivans chug off the assembly line after a manufacturing ritual barely changed since hippies turned the boxy vehicle into a counterculture icon.
Instead of heading on long, strange trips across Latin America”s largest country, these minivans go straight to work on the streets of Brazil”s largest cities for deliveries of all kinds, as ambulances, mobile convenience stores and even troop transports for soldiers.
But this Friday, a long chapter in the history of Volkswagen AG ends when the last air-cooled motor will be hoisted into a vehicle seen as a museum piece almost everywhere else across the planet.
VW is being forced to change the minivan”s historic rear-mounted engine because of a new Brazilian emissions law to reduce pollution that goes into effect in 2006. Production will continue next year, but the van known here as the “Kombi”" will get a new water-cooled motor and a radiator for the first time.
The switch marks the last hurrah for the simple engine developed in the 1930s by famed German engineer Ferdinand Porsche, his key element of a “Volkswagen,”" or “People”s Car”" that anyone could afford.
“It”s the end of a very long era,”" said Ivan McCutcheon, editor of Britain”s VolksWorld magazine for fans of the vans and now-out-of production VW traditional beetles. “The VW air-cooled
engine has been perhaps the greatest produced engine in numbers the
world has seen.”"
The move comes three years after Volkswagen”s Mexican division stopped production of the minivan, and churned out its last two-door bug sedan with an air-cooled motor. All told, about 6 million of the minivans were built with the air-cooled engine worldwide, adding to the more than 20 million beetles manufactured.
Volkswagen Brasil says Kombi production is actually expected to
increase next year from about 10,000 minivans annually to 12,000, because the new engine can run on either gasoline or pure alcohol _ widely used as fuel in Brazil, where it costs about half the price of gas.
The body of the minivan won”t change, however, and Volkswagen”s Sao Paulo factory will churn out Kombis in keeping with tradition, minus the high-tech robots that do most of the work in modern car factories.
The Kombi, by contrast, is made by workers who shove the windows
into place by hand, use mallets to tap out imperfections in the vehicle”s body and do a final quality check on the doors by slamming them shut while listening to make sure they sound right.
Volkswagen isn”t concerned about losing market share with the new engine because executives believe the vehicle still has several advantages the competition can”t match: A list price of about $15,400 and capacity to carry a metric ton of goods.
Although the liquid-cooled motor could technically handle air conditioning, there are no plans to list it as an option. Brazilian Kombi buyers, market research shows, wouldn”t pay the extra cost. It will have a little more power, with a top speed of 81 miles per hour, as opposed to the 75 mph maximum with the air-cooled engine.
“There”s just no cheaper way to transport a ton of cargo,”" said Hans-Cristian Maergner, president of VW”s Brazilian division. To mark the engine changeover, VW is churning out about 200 Kombi “Silver Edition”" models for collectors. They are outfitted
with the old engine, but painted silver, instead of the classic Brazilian white _ so owners can then paint them with brightly colored logos advertising their businesses.
“I never thought about getting one before because I thoughtthey”d be around forever,”" said Lucio Calixto, a photo services store owner who already has a 1994 Brazilian-made VW bug. With his wife snapping pictures of him picking up the Silver Edition minivan at a VW dealership and receiving the keys from a manager, Calixto explained that he loves the engine because it”s
easy to work on, can be rebuilt cheaply and lasts for decades if cared for properly.“Ever since I was a kid I was fascinated with it,”" Calixto said.
Unlike most Brazilian Kombi owners, Calixto will use the minivan for weekend outings _ easily fitting his family of five into a vehicle that can take seven passengers. Although VW produces the minivan for sale only in Brazil, about 30 of the special editions are expected to make their way across the Atlantic Ocean via British importers, said McCutcheon, the editor of VolksWorld.
After being shipped and modified to meet British vehicle standards, the minivans end up costing $23,300 for a basic model to $30,400 for a version decked with special extras for camping trips. “Here, you would only buy one as a luxury item,”" McCutcheon said. “This would be bought by somebody who has done quite well for themselves and wants the retro “70s look for the weekend.”"
Haynes: Rotate anticlockwise.
Translation: Clamp with molegrips (adjustable wrench) then beat repeatedly with hammer anticlockwise. You do know which way is anticlockwise, don’t you?
Haynes: Should remove easily.
Translation: Will be corroded into place … clamp with adjustable wrench then beat repeatedly with a hammer.
Haynes: This is a snug fit.
Translation: You will skin your knuckles! … Clamp with adjustable wrench then beat repeatedly with hammer.
Haynes: This is a tight fit.
Translation: Not a hope in hell matey! … Clamp with adjustable wrench then beat repeatedly with hammer.
Haynes: As described in Chapter 7…
Translation: That’ll teach you not to read through before you start, now you are looking at scary photos of the inside of a gearbox.
Haynes: Pry…
Translation: Hammer a screwdriver into…
Haynes: Undo…
Translation: Go buy a tin of WD40 (catering size).
Haynes: Ease …
Translation: Apply superhuman strength to …
Haynes: Retain tiny spring…
Translation: “Jeez what was that, it nearly had my eye out”!
Haynes: Press and rotate to remove bulb…
Translation: OK - that’s the glass bit off, now fetch some good pliers to dig out the bayonet part and remaining glass shards.
Haynes: Lightly…
Translation: Start off lightly and build up till the veins on your forehead are throbbing then re-check the manual because what you are doing now cannot be considered “lightly”.
Haynes: Weekly checks…
Translation: If it isn’t broken don’t fix it!
Haynes: Routine maintenance…
Translation: If it isn’t broken… it’s about to be!
Haynes: One spanner rating (simple).
Translation: Your Mum could do this… so how did you manage to botch it up?
Haynes: Two spanner rating.
Translation: Now you may think that you can do this because two is a low, tiny, ikkle number… but you also thought that the wiring diagram was a map of the Tokyo underground (in fact that would have been more use to you).
Haynes: Three spanner rating (intermediate).
Translation: Make sure you won’t need your car for a couple of days and that your AA cover includes Home Start.
Haynes: Four spanner rating.
Translation: You are seriously considering this aren’t you, you pleb!
Haynes: Five spanner rating (expert).
Translation: OK - but don’t expect us to ride it afterwards!!!
Translation #2: Don’t ever carry your loved ones in it again and don’t mention it to your insurance company.
Haynes: If not, you can fabricate your own special tool like this…
Translation: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha!!!!
Haynes: Compress…
Translation: Squeeze with all your might, jump up and down on, swear at, throw at the garage wall, then search for it in the dark corner of the garage whilst muttering “******” repeatedly under your breath.
Haynes: Inspect…
Translation: Squint at really hard and pretend you know what you are looking at, then declare in a loud knowing voice to your wife “Yep, as I thought, it’s going to need a new one”!
Haynes: Carefully…
Translation: You are about to cut yourself!
Haynes: Retaining nut…
Translation: Yes, that’s it, that big spherical blob of rust.
Haynes: Get an assistant…
Translation: Prepare to humiliate yourself in front of someone you know.
Haynes: Turning the engine will be easier with the spark plugs removed.
Translation: However, starting the engine afterwards will be much harder. Once that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach has subsided, you can start to feel deeply ashamed as you gingerly refit the spark plugs.
Haynes: Refitting is the reverse sequence to removal.
Translation: But you swear in different places.
Haynes: Prise away plastic locating pegs…
Translation: Snap off…
Haynes: Using a suitable drift or pin-punch…
Translation: The biggest nail in your tool box isn’t a suitable drift!
Haynes: Everyday toolkit
Translation: Ensure you have an RAC Card & Mobile Phone
Haynes: Apply moderate heat…
Translation: Placing your mouth near it and huffing isn’t moderate heat.
Translation #2: Heat up until glowing red, if it still doesn’t come undone use a hacksaw.
Haynes: Apply moderate heat…
Translation: Unless you have a blast furnace, don’t bother. Clamp with adjustable wrench then beat repeatedly with hammer.
Haynes: Index
Translation: List of all the things in the book bar the thing you want to do!
Haynes: Remove oil filter using an oil filter chain wrench or length of bicycle chain.
Translation: Stick a screwdriver through it and beat handle repeatedly with a hammer.
Haynes: Replace old gasket with a new one.
Translation: I know I’ve got a tube of Krazy Glue around here somewhere.
Haynes: Grease well before refitting.
Translation: Spend an hour searching for your tub of grease before chancing upon a bottle of washing-up liquid. Wipe some congealed washing up liquid from the dispenser nozzle and use that since it’s got a similar texture and will probably get you to Halfords to buy some Castrol grease.
Haynes: See illustration for details
Translation: None of the illustrations notes will match the pictured exploded, numbered parts. The unit illustrated is from a previous or variant model. The actual location of the unit is never given. The best one I encountered was how to change a brake sensor in a Ford Fiesta Popular Plus. The photo showing the location of the unit failed to mention the crucial detail of whether the item was located in the engine compartment or inside the car ….. and the helpful photo of what the thing looked like didn’t give the reader any clues!
I have had a few other interesting tow vehicles submitted to me over the past few days. Entropy Racing from PA runs fleet of rental Spec Racers along with a couple of IT Honda Civics and a Caterham Seven. But the cool thing is they have a converted old fire truck as their tow vehicle:
This is the second in what we hope will be a regular running series. I have some old vintage tow vehicles in reserve. Keep watching.
There is a new racing facility being Built in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is planned to be 4.5 miles with 24 turns. The terrain around Salt Lake City is fairly mountainous (unlike the famed track at Bonneville), but it appears to be a relatively flat track. The American LeMans Series is sheduled to race there in July of 2006. The facility is called The Miller Motorsports Park.
Looking through their web site it appears that they have a similiar business model to the successes at Virginia International Raceway. There is a club membership, club house and various other facilities at the complex. This is becomming a golden era for American road racing with the development of so many new facilities and the vast improvements happening at the existing facilities.
I wrote recently about going to the Joy Fund Autocross. This is somewhat of a special event for me as my parent’s first autocross was the first Joy Fund Autocross in 1973 I think. The good people at Autocross.us do fantastic jobs of video taping local autocross events. They are a huge asset to autocrossing in the Mid-atlantic area. They captured two great videos of Mom and I at the Joy Fund autocross. Here is the direct link:
Our Family Shelby GT350 at the Joy Fund Autocross
When the #52 is on the side of the car, that is me, when the #34 is on the side that is my Mother. Remember she is now 66 years old and doing this. Here is the link to my article about the event:
Joy Fund Autocross event report
Here is a link to other videos from the Joy Fund Autocross:
Autocross.us Joy Fund Autocross videos
And finally the more general link to the Autocross.us web site. It is a great site.
HAMMER: Originally employed as a weapon of war, the hammer is nowadays used as a kind of divining rod to locate expensive parts not far from the object we are trying to hit.
MECHANIC’S KNIFE: Used to open and slice through the contents of cardboard cartons delivered to your front door; works particularly well on boxes containing seats and motorcycle jackets.
ELECTRIC HAND DRILL: Normally used for spinning steel Pop rivets in their holes until you die of old age, but it also works great for drilling mounting holes just above the brake line that goes to the rear wheel.
PLIERS: Used to round off bolt heads.
HACKSAW: One of a family of cutting tools built on the Ouija board princ iple. It transforms human energy into a crooked, unpredictable motion, and the more you attempt to influence its course, the more dismal your future becomes.
MOLE-GRIPS/ADJUSTABLE WRENCH: Used to round off bolt heads. If nothing else is available, they can also be used to transfer intense welding heat to the palm of your hand.
OXYACETELENE TORCH: Used almost entirely for lighting various flammable objects in your garage on fire. Also handy for igniting the grease inside a brake-drum you’re trying to get the bearing race out of.
WHITWORTH SOCKETS: Once used for working on older cars and motorcycles, they are now used mainly for impersonating that 9/16 or 1/2 socket you’ve been searching for for the last 15 minutes.
DRILL PRESS: A tall upright machine useful for suddenly snatching flat metal bar stock out of your hands so that it smacks you in the chest and flings your beer across the room, splattering it against that freshly painted part you were drying.
WIRE WHEEL: Cleans rust off old bolts and then throws them somewhere under the workbench with the speed of light. Also removes fingerprint whorls and hard-earned guitar callouses in about the time it takes you to say, “F….”
HYDRAULIC FLOOR JACK: Used for lowering car to the ground after you have installed your new front disk brake setup, trapping the jack handle firmly under the front wing.
EIGHT-FOOT LONG DOUGLAS FIR 2X4: Used for levering a car upward off a hydraulic jack.
TWEEZERS: A tool for removing wood splinters.
PHONE: Tool for calling your neighbour to see if he has another hydraulic floor jack.
SNAP-ON GASKET SCRAPER: Theoretically useful as a sandwich tool for spreading mayonnaise; used mainly for getting dog-doo off your boot.
BOLT AND STUD EXTRACTOR: A tool that snaps off in bolt holes and is ten times harder than any known drill bit.
TIMING LIGHT: A stroboscopic instrument for illuminating grease buildup.
TWO-TON HYDRAULIC ENGINE HOIST: A handy tool for testing the tensile strength of ground straps and brake lines you may have forgotten to disconnect.
CRAFTSMAN 1/2 x 16-INCH SCREWDRIVER: A large motor mount prying tool that inexplicably has an accurately machined screwdriver tip on the end without the handle.
BATTERY ELECTROLYTE TESTER: A handy tool for transferring sulfuric acid from a car battery to the inside of your toolbox after determining that your battery is dead as a doornail, just as you thought.
AVIATION METAL SNIPS: See hacksaw.
INSPECTION LIGHT: The mechanic’s own tanning booth. Sometimes called a drop light, it is a good source of vitamin D, “the sunshine vitamin,” which is not otherwise found under cars at night. Health benefits aside, its main purpose is to consume 40-watt light bulbs at about the same rate as 105-mm howitzer shells during the Battle of the Bulge. More often dark than light, its name is somewhat misleading.
PHILLIPS SCREWDRIVER: Normally used to stab the lids of old-style paper- and-tin oil cans and splash oil on your shirt; can also be used, as the name implies, to round off Phillips screw heads.
AIR COMPRESSOR: A machine that takes energy produced in a fossil-fuel burning power plant 200 miles away and transforms it into compressed air that travels by hose to a pneumatic impact wrench that grips rusty bolts last tightened 30 years ago by someone in Dagenham, (or Solihul) and rounds them off.
PRY (CROW) BAR: A tool used to crumple the metal surrounding that clip or bracket you needed to remove in order to replace a 50 pence part.
HOSE CUTTER: A tool used to cut hoses 1/2 inch too short
Michael Andretti to drive 2006 Indy 500
Apparently Michael Andretti has decided to make a run at the Indy 500 for 2006. This will be his first time racing since his 2003 retirement after that year’s Indy 500. Marco Andretti has signed to drive for Andretti Green (the team partly owned by Michael). It is unsure if the motivation for Michael is his unfinished business at the famed 2.5 mile racetrack, or if it is a desire to race with Marco. It is probably a little of both, but rest assured that if Michael is going to do this, he will not be willing to be a middle of the pack runner. Expect him to make us aware he is in the race.
There is already speculation as to which will be the bigger story at Indy, the Andretti family affair, or DanicaMania II. Place your bets.
Katherine Legge Completes Champ Car Test
Katherine Legge spent two days and 238 laps testing a Champ Car at the famed Sebring road course for PKV Racing. This was her second test in an Indy car. On December 13th she ran 70 laps for Rocketsports with favorable results.
“Katherine did a very good job,” PKV Racing general manager Jim McGee said. “On the first day, she ran quite a few miles and after she got comfortable with the car we tried some different things. The second day, we did some long, full-tank runs. Overall, her times were competitive.”
Legge won three times in her rookie season in Formula Atlantics, an honor that avoided Danica Patrick in Atlantics. Legge’s performance had earned her a test with the Minardi Formula 1 team, and a test for Team Great Britan in an A1 Grand Prix car last month.
“Katherine did a good job,” PKV co-owner Dan Petit said, but offered no hint as to Legge’s future with the team. “At this time, PKV Racing is not ready to make a decision on our driver lineup for the 2006 season.”
So which now might be the bigger story, Danica vs. Katherine, or the Andretti family reunion?
Great News
Also seen testing at Sebring was Bruno Junqueira who is trying to get his career back after being injured in a crash at Indianapolis. He is reported to have run 179 laps of testing and turned in the fastest laps of any driver during the tests for the month.
Short Retirement
Ok, not open wheel news, but Rusty Wallace was seen this week testing a Daytona Prototype with an eye towards the Rolex 24 at Daytona International Speedway.
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