Road Chatter

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IN THIS ISSUE

• Car Trivia Questions

• VHS Tapes at Half Price

• Give Away

• Formula 1

• Bits and Pieces

• Car Trivia Answers

• 10% Off Purchases For Your Trivia Questions

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Car Trivia (answers are later in this email)

1) He designed the first Cadillac; he then went on to bigger things on his own. Who was he? I promise you know the name.

2) Maurice Gatsonides is a famous professional rally driver name from the 50's and 60's in Europe. He is known by his many fans as 'Gatso'. However, in our opinion, he has gone over to the dark side. He was the originator of an object dreaded and hated by car guys all over America. What is this terrible thing that Gatso has forced upon us?

3) Those of you who follow the political machinations behind F1 will know that it is a tale as convoluted as the plot of a daytime soap only, more so. We will not try to unravel all of it here. You may recognize that SLEC Holdings is Bernie Ecclestone's main financial entity in his control of the F1 Empire. But, how many know where the name comes from?

4) When the Catalytic Converter came along, there was much gloom and doom about how this was going to choke the power right out of our cars, forcing us to run low powered unleaded gas, blah blah blah. As it turns out, it was the greatest thing to happen to clean-running cars. But, just when was this wonderful gadget forced on the US

5) What year is this?

-CNN and Solidarity were born. John Lennon did 'Just Like Starting Over' but then, he left us. As did Steve McQueen, Mae West, and Alfred Hitchcock. Mount Saint Helen blew her top. Chris Cross sang 'Sailing'. The Pittsburgh Steelers were the champs. And The Empire Struck Back. The US boycotted the Olympics in Moscow. We had another one for politics here, but it would give the answer away.

Now, let's talk about cars:

- Gas cost $1.15 per gallon (Ah, those were the days.)

- Import auto sales in the US hit 30%.

- Johnny Rutherford won the Indy 500 in a Chaparral, at 142 MPH.

- Watkins Glen ran its last Formula 1 race.

- Alan Jones was the year's F1 Champ.

- Long before the Ford Taurus and the Dodge Aries, Isuzu brought out their

1850cc, 62 bhp, diesel Gemini. It never made it to the states; it wasn't missed.

-British Iron was touting the MGB, TR7, Spitfire, and the four-cylinder Lotus Esprit .

- Japan had their Datsun 280-Z.

-The poor Z28, with all its stripes, hood scoops, side graphics, and alloy wheels, was on the slippery slope, suffering from the gas crunch and emission laws. Its 350 ci could only pull 190 HP through its four barrel, at a whopping $9300.

- Chrysler showed off their K-Car, ready for the next model year.

- Pontiac let it be known they were working on a neat little two-seater, rear engine, five speed, zippy four cylinder, to be released in about three years. (It took four years.)

-And NASCAR was down-sizing next year; they were thinking about 311 cubic inches and 3000 pounds.

--- Retreads --- These next three questions are from over two years ago. If you remember them from before, consider this a memory test.

6) Every car enthusiast is familiar with the blue and white badge of the BMW. What does it symbolize?

7) This was related to us as a true story, and we like it so much we wanted to tell it:

In 1961, GM guru Bill Mitchell debuted the Mako Shark concept car (which, of course, gave us a hint at the styling of the '63 Stingray.) One of the car's most interesting features was its magnificent paint scheme. Several weeks before the unveiling, while on a fishing trip in the Gulf of Mexico, he hooked a fantastic Manta Ray fish. He had it stuffed and mounted it on the wall in his office. He decided that this fish was the color he wanted the "Mako" painted. It was a beautiful silvery-blue, fading into a lighter shade of white. Chevy's painters worked on the car, but it wasn't right. Bill called the painters into his office to examine the fish and have at it again, and again. And again. The third time the car was painted was two days before the scheduled unveiling at the auto show, but Mitchell was STILL not satisfied with the car; it didn't look like the color of the fish. "Do it again" was the order. The painters settled in to crank it out overnight. How did they satisfy Mitchell's demand?

8) In the glory days of Detroit from WWII until the 1970's the annual styling and model changes always came like clockwork towards the end of the year showcasing next year's models. Some called it progress; some called it planned obsolescence. Whose idea was it, and when did it begin?

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• VHS Tapes at Half Price

With DVD becoming so popular, our major supplier is discontinuing all of their VHS tapes. We just received close to $5,000 in tapes that we will be marking down to half price. Look for a new HALF PRICE button in the next few days. If you see a tape you want there, don't wait, the quantities are limited. Once these are gone, they cannot be replaced in VHS. Not all VHS tapes are being marked down, only those that have been discontinued.

• Give Away

Our regulars know that last month, we were giving away our last VHS version of Rendezvous. We are happy to say the winner was our friend and customer, Joseph J.

This month, we have another goody for one of you, our regular newsletter readers. For every purchase our regular Road Chatter recipients make, we will put their names in our drawing, and the person whose name is drawn will receive a $25 Gift Certificate from Endless Road.

Good Luck.

Formula 1

This year's Formula One Driver's World Champion is Fernando Alonzo, the youngest driver to hold that position. The previous youngest driver was Emerson Fittipaldi, who won the title at the age of 26. The age has been creeping down since Formula One's inception in 1950.

1950 - age 44 -Guiseppe Farina 1951 - age 40 - Juan Fangio 1952 - age 34 - Alberto Ascari 1958 - age 29 - Mike Hawthorn 1963 - age 27 - Jimmy Clark 1972 - age 26 - Emerson Fittipaldi 2005 - age 24 - Fernando Alonzo

But drivers' ages will continue to drop. If you don't think so, ask NASCAR's Joe Gibbs and his latest driver, Tony Loganos, age 15.

• Bits and Pieces

Road and Track had a column on famous drivers' favorite cars. What a great read! They say imitation is the greatest compliment. I'm afraid that we don't have a lot of famous race car drivers to beg stories from. But then, every Car Guy has a favorite car of his own. The following is from our friend, Warren M.

In June of 1967, just out of college, I had just secured my first real job ($100 a week), and decided that a new[er] car would be my just reward. After looking at a number of options, I decided on a used Corvette. My dad and I looked at a '63 Fuel Injected Split Window that needed a repaint (silver) with about 53,000 miles for $2300 (yep, $2300!). My dad thought it had too many miles, so I passed it up (still hurts to think about it) and settled on a really nice low mileage '63 Corvette convertible (dark blue with a white top). It was a 327 (250HP), 4-speed, power steering, and posi. What a great car, and surprisingly quick, considering it only had the base 327 engine. My best friend at the time had a '66 HEMI Charger with Torqueflyte. Much to his chagrin, however, I could stay ahead of him until about 55 to 60 mph but, by then the big inch heavyweight was really cranking out some serious power, and the little '63 roadster was finished. I can only imagine what the Fuelie would have done against my friend - oh - if we could only relive our youth.

One cold January day, I remember dropping the top and taking a ride into town and back, with the heater on full bore. That was one of the coldest trips in a car I ever remember, not counting those trips when my wife wasn't talking to me.

After owning the '63 for three years, I sold it for around $2700, which was just about what I paid for it, and bought a new '69 427 Coupe. After owning the '69 for about 5 months, some *&^# dirty rotten scoundrel decided it belonged to him. After receiving an insurance check, I replaced it with another 427 Coupe, which I still have today. However, the screaming little

327 in that '63 is something I'll never forget. Hummm - think I'll get on eBay and see what '63's are going for these days.

-- Warren.

Let us know about your favorite car, and if we use it, you get 10% off all of your next purchases.

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For you bikers who happened to see the first Harry Potter film (with your kid, of course) did you notice the bike in the first scene? It was an early generation Triumph Twin.

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Progress marches on; and sometimes Progress marches right over a race track. The victim this time was 75-80 Dragway, a great drag strip in rural Maryland. It was a family-run business for over 40 years.

Comparing their final Friday Night Drags to drag-racing in its infancy revealed some interesting similarities and differences. At the first drags we attended in the mid 50's in Damascus, VA, the paddock was full of chopped cars, fenderless roadsters, hoodless coupes with many carbs showing, and every one a daily driver. The hot ticket was a stock looking '54 Ford with a Cadillac engine. The fastest on the track was 'The Flying Dutchman' on a British bike. He would go through all four gears and then lay down across the seat and gas tank with his feet out the back like Superman.

At 75-80's race, the paddock was full of dozens of Japanese coupes (many with carbon-fiber hoods), lots of Camaros, and a herd of modified Mustangs. Jeans and T shirts were the thing then, and they still are, but now it is almost mandatory that the T's are embellished with color. The FTD that Friday night was a very hot Camaro that was under five seconds. Heck, The Flying Dutchman wasn't even through the gears by then.

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New Releases

Fifty Years of Formula One - On Board

For you F1 lovers. You may have heard it discussed We searched out the producers of the neatest F1 DVD around. There are great ON-BOARD, IN-CAR rides with F1 legends Fangio, Moss, Stewart, Senna, Schumacher and others. These are on some very famous tracks from Nurburgring to Monaco, Spa, Suzuka, Monza and more. Narrated by Stirling Moss, Jackie Stewart, and Mario Andretti. The first copy went home with me.

Cobra Ferrari Wars

The guys that put Rendezvous on DVD have come out with Cobra Ferrari Wars. There are exclusive interviews with Shelby, Gurney, and lots of others. Footage of millions of dollars worth of Cobras and Ferraris assembled and running at Goodwood. Plenty of archive footage and lots of great photos. This double disk set is worth seeing for any road-race enthusiast.

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Car Trivia Answers

1) Henry Ford designed the first Cadillac. When he designed it, it was for his own company, the Henry Ford Company. That model, and the company itself, became Cadillac when it changed its name in 1903, one year after Henry quit. He later started Ford, the company that lives on today.

2) Maurice Gatsonides was the originator of the traffic light cameras, those evil things that watch us, and, if we should be in the intersection even a split second after the red light goes on, it takes a picture of us, and a computer somewhere sends us a ticket. Yes friends, "Big Brother" is watching, and he costs us a lot of money. (Thanks to our friend, Jeff M, for this one.)

3) Bernie Ecclestone's SLEC derives its name from the name of his wife SLavica ECclestone. (Thanks to our friend, Jeff M, for this one too.)

4) The Catalytic Converters were made standard on all US-Legal cars in 1975. Sometimes, the government slips up and does something right.

5) The year was 1980, and the political clue that we did not use was: A peanut farmer stepped down for an ex-actor. If you don't know that one, you weren't paying attention.

--- Retreads ---

6) The famous blue and white badge of BMW, called the Roundel, is a representation of a spinning aircraft propeller. BMW (Bavarian Motor Works) started out as an aircraft engine manufacturer in WW I. The outer black circle represents the black tips of the propeller, and the optical fields of blue and white (only seen when the propeller spins) are the colors of the Bavarian flag. They were adopted from the original medieval Bavarian coat of arms.

Another company named Autovelo also used the same roundel. They built on the remains of BMW's pre-war plant in Eisenach, East Germany. Autovelo built versions of pre-war BMW cars and motorcycles using BMW's original tooling and, in some cases, parts. In 1951, BMW took legal action to stop the use of the logo, which thereafter became red and white on the East German products.

(Thanks to our friends Bob W, and Jeff M, for this.)

7) Rather than paint the Mako Shark concept car one more time, the painters broke into Bill Mitchell's office and had an airbrush artist re-paint the fish to match the car! The next day, Bill gave the "Mako" the okay, commending the painters on their ability to "capture his vision" in matching the fantastic color of his prize trophy. (Thanks to our friend, Patrick A, for this one.)

8) Detroit's annual styling changes were not the brainchild of anyone in Detroit. It was a government-instituted thing started in 1932 in the hopes of giving a little more boost to the depression era economy. (From the book "MORE THAN THEY PROMISED - The Studebaker Story" by Thomas E Bonsall. Thanks again to our friend Jeff M.)

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10% Off Purchases For Your Trivia Questions

To Jeff, Bob, and Patrick, thanks for the trivia questions. Remember, you will all receive a 10% discount on your next order.

Send us an interesting fact on just about anything on wheels: cars, trucks, F1, Drags, Muscle Cars, weird obsolete car thingies, whatever, and if we use it, then you get 10% off all purchases on everything on your next order.

Thanks,

Dave Payne