I have no idea where this came from, nor do I know the photographer. I just love the shot.
Category Archives: cars
La Carrera Panamericana Dos
Another La Carrera Panamericana runner is on the auction block. A 1956 Dodge Lancer Custom Royal D500, which is said to have won the Pan-American race twice, as well as the Silver Sate Classic Challenge once, although no details are provided.
The classic Dodge sports a 315 ci Hemi, with 67,000 miles, and a push button 3-speed transmission.
The car is for sale on ebay out of San Diego, with a reserve not met.
Side Tracked
It’s a heat thing…
As I try to balance working on the house and working on the Rover, I’ve decided to complicate life even more by trying to do a little Beetle work. I’ve always wanted to hunt down one of the gasoline powered heaters that were a VW dealer installed option back in the day. They are difficult to find in decent condition, and for a price that is less than I paid for the car in the first place.
I’ve opted to try to add a pair of booster fans to the air ducts instead. The kits run around $169 when you can find them, but I’ve found a couple of inline fans that have a very good reputation within the VW Cult. $19.99 each, and available on Amazon. I just love free shipping.
Winter Bug
Flashback Friday Edition:
This is what you stumble across when trying to figure out what you need to do to drive that Bug sitting in the driveway during the winter months…
Grounded
Here is a situation where 4 Wheel Drive will probably not help.
The 51,000 ton cargo ship Hoegh Osaka developed a rather severe list after its departure from Southampton. Among its cargo is roughly 1200 Jaguars and Land Rovers that were headed to Germany.
The vessel was intentionally grounded on a small isle called Bramble Bank off the coast of England to avoid sinking. The ship’s 25 crew members escaped with only a few minor injuries.
The upcoming “Scratch & Dent” Sale could be interesting.
The Bohemian Run
The Bohemian Run takes place November 15-16th. It’s a 600-750 mile rally, with over 95% of those miles on two-lane roads of Northern California. The rally is open to all vehicles that were built before 1979.
Piece of cake. If I wasn’t still working on a new house, I’d make a run down there just to experience temps above freezing again.
The photo comes courtesy of bohemian-run.squarespace.com
Sign of the times…
I took the Beetle out for one last seasonal run today, then added some fuel additive to the gas tank, and topped it off.
With snow, rain, and more snow in the forecast for the remainder of the week, I figured it was time to take off the roof rack, park the car and put it under cover for the coming avalanche.
La Carrera Panamericana
This 1956 VW Bug, is said to have ran La Carrera Panamerican in 1996. It is now for sale in Mansfield, OH for $5600.
The original Carrera Panamericana, introduced when the Pan-American Highway in Mexico was completed in 1950, was a border-to-border, open road race, that ran between 1950 and 1954. It was considered at the time, to be the most dangerous race of any kind in the world. The first winner of the race was Hershel McGriff who drove an Oldsmobile 88. The car cost McGriff $1900, and the race prize was $17,000.
The race was revived in 1988, allowing 100 cars to line up in Southern Mexico to race the 2000 miles north. La Carrera Panamericana lasts a week, with both experienced and novice racers running on public highways at top speeds, with the Mexican Highway Patrol clearing the roads ahead.
A video of a VW Beetle racing in Mexico in 1996. There’s a great moment at about 1:20 where the Bug is passed by an old Studebaker
The 27th Annual Pan-Am Race will run October 17-23, 2014.
“The Dirty D”
A 1963 Pontiac Le Mans Super Duty racing at the Detroit Dragway with John DeLorean behind the wheel.
The Detroit Dragway was a 1/4 Mile Drag Strip, sanctioned by the National Hot Rod Association, which opened in 1959. It was the home of the US Nationals in 1959 and 1960, before they were moved to Indianapolis Raceway. Up until the late 1970’s, the typical weekend crowd was around 30,000 spectators. By the mid 1980’s, however, crowds had dropped down to a 500 turnout.
The “Dirty D” closed in 1998.
A few years ago, one of Pontiac’s original 1963 Tempest Le Mans Super Duty was spotted on ebay. The owner, not knowing he had his hands on an extremely rare factory race car, opened the bidding at $500. The car, needing a complete restoration and without an engine, eventually sold for over $226,000. The auctioned Pontiac, turned out to be the missing Stan Antlocer Super Duty Tempest Le Mans Coupe.
The Stan Antlocer ebay Super Duty
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