Race Car Stuff

If you have ever wanted to build a budget race car, Keith Tanner is someone you should be aware of. He wrote a book about building a Lotus/Catherham Super Seven replica on a budget. The book is called How To Build a Cheap Sports Car. Be sure and check out the web site. He built the car and developed it into an autocross and time trials car.

Well Keith had undertaken another budget project. This one is called the Targa Miata. the intent is a budget competition Miata. He has just started the build, but will keep an online build log. If you want to know what it might take you to build a Spec Miata or similiar type car, it is worth following along.

The highly successful 2000 movie “Gone in 60 Seconds” with Nicholas Cage and Angelina Jolie is well known among movie and car enthusiasts. It made a ‘67 Shelby GT-500 clone nicknamed Eleanor became an instant icon.

But unknown to many of the people watching the movie is the fact that the movie was a remake of a 1974 movie by the same name. The original movie was the brainchild of low-budget, action moviemaker named H. B. “Toby” Halicki. Toby funded his movies out of his pocket, outside of the Hollywood “machine”. He funded, wrote, directed, starred in, distributed, and promoted Gone in 60 Seconds entirely with his own work. The movie became a late show staple of tremendous popularity. The movie grossed $40 million in the days before the original Star Wars reset the standards.

Gone in 60 Seconds featured marginal acting, film quality, sound quality, etc. But it featured a 40-minute car chase filmed entirely on location in and around Los Angeles and Long Beach, CA. The star of the movie was a 1973 Mach I Mustang nicknamed Eleanor. They used one Eleanore for the filming of the entire movie. I was jumped, crashed, spun and just flat out driven hard, to where it looked totaled near the end of the movie.

Toby Halicki was a collector. He collected toys, cars, and many other things. He had a collection of “stuff” that numbered over 100,000 items and took up space the size of a football field. Do you think that the car that was the star of his most successful movie would end up going to a crusher? Not a chance. He kept Eleanore at first for promoting the movie by making it a traveling billboard for the movie (it was on display once at the Military Circle movie theaters in Norfolk, it was probably at another theater near you). Later Toby created a very special display for Eleanor in his huge collection.

Toby Halicki was tragically killed in 1989, while filming “Gone in 60 Seconds 2″ during a stunt sequence.

Fast forward to 2000, and the remake of “Gone in 60 Seconds” was done by a group of Hollywood insiders, with a big budget and real movie stars. The movie may have lost some of the independent spirit of the original, but effort was taken to find the magic that made the original a success. The fact that the star to the original was indeed Eleanor was not lost on the remake. The new movie would still feature a Mustang, but it would be a “Star” of a Mustang, a ‘67 Shelby GT-500. The actual cars used for the movie were definably clones of a real GT-500, but a true enthusiast would have problems with a real Shelby being destroyed in a movie.

Eleanor (the GT-500 version) generates much controversy among the Shelby enthusiasts. Some think that it is a joke because the car is a replica of a Shelby, in a movie that is a replica of the original. To others it is just a movie. But none of them are complaining about the effect it has had on the values and interest in real ‘67 GT-500’s. Before 2000, a ‘67 Shelby was a bargain compared to other years of Shelbys and other collector cars. After the 2000 movie, a ‘67 GT-500 typically sold for from 50-100% more than other years and models of Shelby Mustangs. The movie vaulted the ‘67 to the most desirable, with trickle down effects on all other years of Shelby Mustangs compared to other collectable cars.

Well today there is renewed interest in the original “Gone in 60 Seconds” movie. There is of course much promotion from Toby’s widow. Toby was a true maverick in the filmmaking world. He worked very hard for his success. Every bit of it was well deserved.

Everything about “Gone in 60 Seconds”

The 289 Cobra is arguably one of the most significant production based race cars of all time. According to rumors, the four most significant 289 Cobras in racing history will be presented by The Shelby American Collection at this years Shelby American Automobile Club national convention, (SAAC 31).

I have been having some attitude problems in life lately. My good friend Steve has tried to brighten things up a little for me today with a couple of things I thought I would pass along.

When the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

and

Some people are like slinkies…
They really don’t have a purpose…
But they still bring a smile to your face…
When you push them down the stairs……

Hope they made you smile too….

Expect more than typical postings related to Shelbys over the next few weeks as I get ready for SAAC 31. Here is a picture from a recent car show:

Here is the description of the picture from my friend Jim on the Shelby e-mail list:

The 66 Hertz cars are buddies of mine. The story on the new one is kind of funny. The guy who rented it lives in New Jersey. He flew to Boston to rent it for the week and drove it back to New Jersey. He then drove it to the Ford/Shelby show in Syracuse, New York (5 hours). It is serial number 13. He then drove it back to New Jersey last night. He plans to drive it to Chicago to visit friends than take it back to Boston. Obviously he has unlimited miles….. The car is pretty cool. It had a crowd around it the whole day, I happened to have my car right next to it at the show. Instructions say it must be hand washed only, and he said the late fee for returning the car is $64.50 per hour… The best part of the story is that he got the “Best in Show” trophy. I wonder if he will give it to Hertz when he returns the car. I told him he should tell the Hertz people he won it racing the car.
Jim

Or for a better view of the picture click here.

Huh???? Oh you are not aware of the SAAC. It is an acronym that stands for the Shelby American Automobile Club. Their annual national convention is known by the acronym SAAC followed by the sequential number of the events since the first one. This year is the 31st annual convention, thus SAAC 31. It is also the first event that has ever happened in my home state, Virginia. SAAC 31 is centered at Virginia International Raceway.

We are preparing the family Shelby GT350 for the event. This will be the car’s first appearance at VIR since 1972 (I think) when its previous owner, Lee Mathias, took the car to a time trials event. If you happen to have a picture of a dark green ‘68 GT350 convertible at VIR in 1972, I would love to have a copy of the picture.

The story is, according to Lee, that event at VIR is the reason he sold the car to Mom. The engine started smoking at that event. He thought he broke the piston rings. When I later disassembled the engine, I found several of the piston skirts laying in the oil pan. The original 302 went back together with new pistons and other new parts.

We have been preping the car for the return to VIR. Here are some pictures from the garage:

Keep watching for a little bit of a narative of the preparations and the event.

Being the racer, I cannot come to a father’s day without thinking about the Petty’s. I am a father of four kids. Two are my natural kids and two are step kids that I definitely consider mine. To people without kids, everyone tells you it changes you in ways you never understand before you are a parent.

I also have a father that I can’t begin to describe how great of a person he is. To appreciate this, you have to know my mother and me. Mom and I wanted to race more than anything. Dad somehow managed to live with and love us. Looking back, I sometimes wonder how. In addition my Dad had an awesome career. He was in the Coast Guard. It was his job to do everything possible to save the lives of people he didn’t know. Often the phone would ring at 4:00 AM and Dad would rush out to the station. Sometimes it was a woman upset because her husband was supposed to be back from his fishing trip several hours before. Dad would go out and search for them. Often the fishermen had just run out of gasoline and were trying to paddle the boat back. Other times they had struck something in the water, the boat had sunk and they were hanging on to a life preserver. Other times Dad had to later call the wife with they type of news nobody wants to hear. To say I considered Dad’s job important does not do it justice. My father is truly unbelievable person. If I ever achieve 1/4th of his importance, I will consider my life a success. So far I haven’t.

Which brings me to the Petty’s. I grew up rooting for David Pearson to out run that blue #43. Richard Petty was truly a legend in his own time. His nickname “The King” is well deserved. His son Kyle carried on the tradition. Kyle never achieved the success on the track The King did, but he did learn the ropes of running Petty Enterprises. Kyle built Petty Enterprises from a small family business into a multi-million dollar racing operation.

Kyle always seemed to be doing this with the intent of passing the reigns of Petty Enterprises to is son Adam. As all of you know, Adam was tragically killed in a practice accident at NHIS. Kyle, Richard, and the rest of the Petty family took time for grieveing, but very soon refocused all of the energy into the Victory Junction Camp.

I can’t imagine what Father’s day means to Kyle Petty.

Helmets on motorcycles on the street since the accident of Ben Roethlisberger, the quarterback of the Superbowl champion Pittsburgh Steelers. If you don’t know (I realize that racers sometimes live in a world where there are no other sports), Roethlisberger has in the past been an outspoken opponent of mandatory helmet laws for motorcycle riders. He was in an accident on June 12th in which he was riding a motorcycle, without a helmet. He suffered some head injuries from which he will recover, after he had many hours of surgery. It is fair to say that had he been wearing a helmet that he would not have suffered these injuries, or else they would have been much less severe. This has rekindled the old mandatory helmet law debate.

I am somewhat libertarian in my ideology. I think that everyone has the right to do stupid things that effect only themselves. So by my ideology if someone wants to risk injury by not wearing a helmet, then fine. But unfortunately our society has developed liability laws. These have proven to have a huge effect on how we have to do things in our lives. Unfortunately when someone hurts themselves, they have significant effect on others. If someone gets injured, everyone paying car insurance has to pay more. If someone goes in the hospital from these injuries it affects the entire healthcare system and how it is funded. So society has created a bad situation in which they have given themselves the right to impose things like mandatory seatbelt and helmet laws.

I think anyone who drives a car without a seatbelt is stupid. Same is true of riding motorcycle without a helmet. But should we protect a stupid person from themself? Part of the situation is the fact that motorcycle riders are a very small minority. The overwhelming majority is not affected, so it is politically easy to impose an law that is unpopular with motorcycle riders and beneficial to everyone else.

Seatbelt laws are another story. I think you should be able to not wear a seatbelt if you want on a street car. But again, much of my car insurance is paid to cover the medical bills of others I might be involved in an accident with. I want to pay a low of an insurance premium as possible. Back in the 70’s, before mandatory seat belt laws, it was fairly commonly known that about 10% of drivers wore their seatbelts. I read in several places that if everyone wore their seatbelts, that more lives would be saved than a cure to cancer and heart disease combined. That was a great many drivers, and if I was in an accident and severely injured a person not wearing a seatbelt, his medical expenses were my concern, not matter how safety conscious I was.

I guess I am using this argument to show how I can be confused in my libertarian ideals. But the bottom line is that I ended up being in favor of seat belt laws.

But consider this if you will. Do you realize that there have been multiple studies that have shown that if people driving street cars had mandatory helmet laws, far more lives would be saved than mandatory motorcycle helmet laws. So where do we as a society draw the line on imposing safety regulations. It is just as big of an expense to motorcycle riders as it would be to people in cars. So why not? I would actually be fine with such a suggestion, but my wife would not like what it does to her hair on the way out a diner party.