Eclectic tastes in automobilia

While at first glance the grouping of cars that hold my interest seems to lack any means of common theme, once you understand the reasons I find each interesting, perhaps it won't seem so eclectic.

The Austin-Healey Sprite Mk I was my first "extra" vehicle, purchased simply to have something in the garage to tinker with.  It's small, handles like a go-cart on crazy glue, and has a timeless elegant simplicity to the mechanicals.  Raising the bonnet reveals a tiny bay filled with an even tinier motor.  It has been tinkered with and modified to have most of the upgrades available to these popular little convertibles.

Eventually I felt my little car to be complete, needing only maintenance, so I picked up a couple of other Sprites over the years.  I am in the midst of working on (you'll find this a common theme with me--being in the midst of some recreational automotive task) an early Mk II, that will eventually be set up as a vintage road rally car.  My plans for it include rear spats covering the wheelwells, a Monza style or Speedwell style front bonnet, and a hard tonneau cover.  It is right hand drive, and currently sitting as a roller with a complete rollcage installed.  Next step is to finish the body work.

I waffle back and forth on the engine for it.   I have most of the big ticket items to make it a rotary powered monster (hence it's nickname: Frankensprite), but there is this poor little Mk III sitting on jack stands.   It was restored with new engine, tranny, and suspension back in 1985, and a cheap paint job was splashed on it.  Then it was parked in some blackberry bushes and left to sit after some 2800 miles.  The gathering blackberry vines and collected water made the floorpan and lower section of the unibody a complete loss.  The mechanicals are in top form though, and I think might get transplanted first to Frankensprite.   Who knows?  I certainly won't until the project is complete.

The next vehicle in my fleet is my early Porsche 911.  It was built in December 1966 and sold as a 1966 model year to a US Marines Captain in Hamburg, Germany. The first official year the factory built the 911S was in 1967, here's what makes me call my car a 1966 911S.   In the past it has seen partial duty as my daily driver, and has never let me down (knock wood).  From past records it has over 306K miles on it, not too shabby eh?

The early 911 has a delicate balance that can be really tossed around on the curves as long as you are heedful of the laws of physics and remember that the engine is sitting over the rear wheels.  This does two things for you:   weight over the power delivery system makes the car very nice to drive in bad weather (and the air cooled engine thrives on the cold winter temperatures), and it also makes the rear end act like a pendulum which to the unwary can lead to spins, but when you are used to how a 911 behaves, can lead to some amazing tail out controlled drifts through the turns.  Also, the early 911 has one of the nicest steering responses I've ever felt.  It's like ballet slippers on your feet instead of running shoes with wide soles; very crisp.

Again, being a classic, the mechanicals are simple to work on, albeit a bit harder to get to than the sprites.

Someday, this car will be on the road. Right now it's sitting in my barn. Last year I picked up a 1975 Porsche 914. Originally it had a 1.8l engine and fuel injection. Now it has a set of Weber carbs (get worse gas mileage and less horsepower for only $500!) and has a larger set of pistons making it a 2.1l engine. It also has a bunch of other trick stuff on it that make it worth the barn space, even if it doesn't run at the moment. But soon.....

At first this was my daily driver, I appreciated everything that the magazines talk about when talking about the Mazda Miata.   It handled amazingly well, right from the factory, had enough power to get out of its own way, was sinfully reliable, and the top could be dropped in less than a minute.  

As with anything else you grow accustom to, I too began to want more.  As I campaigned my Miata in autox, I began to search for the next tenth of a second.  Tweaking the suspension, changing the shocks, tuning the engine.   Eventually, I got to the point where I was at the extreme of what has been done to a normally aspirated Miata.  Yes, this is a modern car, with computers and smog equipment, air conditioning, and power steering, but I think that the original essence that Mazda was trying to copy from the old British roadsters seeped in.  Or perhaps it was sharing the garage with my Austin Healeys.  In any case, I delved into modifying my Miata, and it is now highly modified.

Along the path to get where I am now, I found some interesting tips and tricks.  One of these is the very popular brake upgrade.   Check out this web article on how to make your Miata slow down in a hurry

I suppose working on the Miata with all its moderness, I felt a need to go back to automotive roots.  There was also a glaring lack in my automotive wardrobe, something to go get hay, or pick up engine bits.  Thus, my 1950's Chevy pickups.  Actually I ended up having two, since I prefer the lines of the Task Force series (1955-1959) and Mari prefers the more rounded look of the Advance Design series (1947-1955).  The 1950 is stock, from its inline 6 to the straight axle front suspension to the 20" steering wheel that takes 5 1/2 turns lock to lock.

The 1957 has seen a bit of modifying and is my "Work (truck) in progress".

I run the Ole Trucks Mailing list. It caters to Chevrolet and GMC trucks built between 1941 and 1959. You can subscribe to it via majordomo Just put "subscribe oletrucks" without the quote in the body of the message.

The traffic is light, and has an excellent signal to noise ratio with lots of good info.

For the past few years, Jeff and I have been campaigning the Camaro from Hell in the Stockcar Enduro series at various oval tracks in the Oregon and Washington area.