I must first say it has been a busy 2 months. Hard work is paying off though as our house is looking good. Now, let’s get to the car…
Saw this 1973 (I think) Europa in a parking lot. It has a 1973 Manufacturers Championship badge on it, but I thought those only came on the black/gold pinstripe special editions. It looks like a pretty fun ride and a real attention getter. Standing next to it, the car is about waist high.
I am trying out the new wordpress app on my phone so hopefully this works ok.
It is starting to warm up here in the Chicagoland area. I have already seen a few people driving their classics on the nicer days. C’mon Spring! We need more people to bring out their cool cars!
And speaking of cool cars…
I was going through some of my photos from last year and found this old green Dodge Sedan. This model didn’t change much from 1946 to 1948, but the license plate indicates it is a 1948 example. I spotted this in the parking lot while Vegan Diva and I were grocery shopping.
Over the past year, it seems every car magazine has had a story on how you can drive your own car on Germany’s Nurburgring racetrack. They all mentioned how the majority of the racetrack is actually a toll road and you can take a lap around it for only 16 Euros (about $22.19 USD currently). Every story also mentioned the pro-driven BMW Ring Taxis that you can reserve. It was pretty boring how each story was pretty much the same.
I figured there had to be more interesting Nurburgring stuff out there. I mean, it is one of the most famous racetracks in the world. And I was right. This video was made from home movies taken by a spectator watching regular people take their cars around the Nurburgring. All of this footage is from the 1970’s and there’s no sound, but the cars are fantastic. There are plenty of crashes and spinouts featuring original VW Beetles, BMW 2002s, Minis, Porches, and a black Ford Cortina Mk 1 station wagon up on two wheels! I don’t want to give too much away but make sure to pay attention to the gray Beetle at 1:49. Enjoy!
Danase Detailing Supply is closing its doors at the end of February. I will truly miss their high quality products and fantastic customer service. I blogged about their great wheel cleaner in an earlier post. Everything is on sale and some items are already sold out. I urge you to check out his store if you haven’t already.
I got to know the owner, Bob Daniels, through an automotive message board we both belonged to. He is really an all around great guy. As a business owner, he always made sure every customer received great service. He took it personally if something went wrong and did whatever it took to make it right. More online stores could use a guy like him.
I wonder how many they will sell at that price. If I had that kind of pocket money, I’d buy an El Camino and and turn the bed into an air hockey table. (PATENT PENDING)
Thanks to Vegan Diva for suggesting that I register my domain name. She was totally right, it’s so much easier to tell people the new name than trying to explain why “nervousdog.wordpress” is all about cars. LOL
Looking for a classic, custom, or exotic car or motorcycle? You might want to try the two auctions in Salt Lake City on January 7th and January 21st of 2010. All vehicles (nearly 300!) are from the confiscated collection of a guy who ran an alleged Ponzi scheme in Utah, bilking investors out of $18 million.
Some of the highlights include an NSX, a Delorean, a “General Lee” Charger, 2 Pantera’s, several customized 50’s and 60’s muscle cars, and a “Captain America” replica motorcycle (Peter Fonda’s ride in “Easy Rider”).
You can check out a sampling of the cars at the links below:
I know these videos are a little late but… I have been busy with my new job! Thanks to everyone who helped and encouraged me while I was job hunting this fall.
A little background. The last two events for Chicago Region are called “The Twin”. They are run back to back on a Saturday and Sunday. The course runs one direction on Saturday and the opposite direction on Sunday. There were a few tweaks to Sundays version but 90% of it was left the same as Saturday.
Event #7 was cold. The temps started in the 30’s and got into the low 40’s for the afternoon. Yeah, we autocross no matter what the weather in Chicago. The course was slippery in the morning but I was able to lay down my best time on my third run. On my afternoon runs I just hit cones like they were piñatas. I have been moving the camera around to see where I like it the best. This was on the door under the drivers side mirror.
Sunday (Event #8) was better with the temperature getting in to the 50’s. I enjoyed this direction a little more and feel I was able to link some of the sections together better. I had the camera at the front edge of the hood for this run.
As always, it was a lot of fun. I can’t wait for next season! Thanks to all the Chicago Region people who put on great events this year!
Wow, I took quite a break there. In my defense, looking for a job takes up a lot of my time. Hurry up and improve you stupid economy! Anyway, onto the autocrossing videos.
Event #5 had a very fast course. The first slalom you could enter on either side. I found by going to the right of the first cone I could carry more speed through the slalom and pick up a couple seconds. The turn before the finish was very tight and a lot of people nearly spun trying to power across the line.
Event #6 had some fun elements. I liked the turn around as I could make the 2 turns into 1 big sweeper since there was a ton of room at the far end of the lot. Some people complained that there wasn’t enough room to set up for the first slalom but I thought the transition from the gate before it was fine. The finish was rough as you had to almost look out the drivers side window to see the line after coming down the short straight. There was a lot of tire smoke in that area during the day LOL.
This weekend is the big 2-day season ender. Can’t wait!
July 26th was bright and sunny. The course was laid out so that we started and ended in the middle of the space with a turnaround on each end. Lots of slaloms which is my weak spot. In my afternoon runs I just started attacking the slaloms to see how fast I could go before I spun. I never did spin so I will have to try harder LOL. I am getting better at linking some of the course elements, but I could have taken the first turnaround a bit wider. I kind of dove for the inside cones and ended up having to brake pretty hard.
I was 21st out of 43 drivers in my class. Mid-pack as usual. My sixth run was my fastest of the day.
A Car Blog from Chicagoland 