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Road Chatter XLII Shop: 301-497-0369 FAX: 301-497-3690 snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
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- Grammar Problems
- Car Trivia Questions
- Give Away
- Formula 1
- Bits and Pieces
- Car Trivia Answers
- 10% Off Purchases For Your Trivia Questions
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Grammar Problems Because of how various browsers treat special characters such as apostrophes, quote marks, and multiple dots, we will use as few special characters as possible. We apologize for the grammatical errors this will cause.
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Car Trivia (answers are later in this email)
1) When Chrysler built the Plymouth Road Runner, they had to find a way to produce the sound of Warner Brothers cartoon figure Road Runner's famous Beep Beep. Where did they find a donor for that iconic sound?2) The Ford Flathead was the hot engine to have when Hot Rods were in their infancy. For those of you that were not around during those dinosaur days, a flat head engine had its valves in the block beside the pistons. This was obviously not the greatest layout for producing power. One of the best modifications to the Ford Flathead was to install Ardun heads. You model collectors may have seen them on the So-Cal Coupe by GMP. Very few of the famous Ardun heads were ever produced; they were highly desirable then and are quite a rarity now. The designer was actually trying to produce more torque and power for Ford trucks. What made the heads so powerful? And whatever happened to the designer?
3) What kind of car did Laurel & Hardy drive? What kind of car did the Keystone Kops drive?4) The Michelin Man is the star of their commercials; driving fast, getting emotional as each tire leaves the plant and so on. Clearly work for a young man, but he is actually older than he looks. Just how old is the Michelin man? 88, 100, 104,106, or 108? What is his name? Any idea of where the name comes from?
5) Tyrell is one of the F1 Greats, the team that rose to glory with Jackie Stewart. Ken Tyrell was not afraid to be innovative; his greatest leap away from the norm was his Tyrell P34. What was the major difference with this car from any other F1 machine ever?--- Retreads --- These next three questions are from over two years ago. If you remember them from before, consider this a memory test.
6) When a major manufacturer is planning and designing a new car, it will be given a code name to be used by those involved. What was the code name for the Corvette when it was first being designed in 1952?7) What do Iron Butt Association members ride while competing in the BunBurner 1500?
8) What miles-per-gallon goal were the Chevette, Escort and Lynx the first U.S. cars to attain?And the last two are from four years ago.
9) Our first question from our first edition; we started with an easy one: John Z. DeLorean is known for his famous stainless steel bodied DeLorean. What other high-performance car did DeLorean bring into production before he went on his own?10) We can all figure out that a Ferrari 512 BB has 5 liters and 12 cylinders, and the 308 GTB has 3 liters and 8 cylinders. But what was Ferrari's numbering system for the earlier models like the 275 GTB/4 and the
250 Testa Rosa? (For anyone who doesn't know, Testa Rosa is Red Head in Italian, for the red valve covers on the Testa Rosa engine.)==================== ** ====================
- Amelia Island: How The Other Half Lives
We were driving to Florida anyway. Amelia Island is just a couple miles right off of Rt 95; we were driving right by it. That is just like a freebie. Yeah, right, only an extra night in a motel, a couple extra restaurant meals. Plus, about fifty extra miles to and from right-off-Rt-95. Plus entry fees. And it was well worth every bit of it and then some.
The Ritz Carlton is the most beautiful place to hold a concours. On Friday, the extra parking was on part of their golf course. Our car has never driven on such beautiful grass. Just park over there by the silver Ferrari and the yellow 300SL convertible. The shuttle busses to and from the hotel were two stretch golf carts and a gold Escalade. Lined up at the entrance to the hotel were the most expensive street machines you could find. Mercedes had AMGs and three SLR McLarens. The silver paint on the SLR was so deep it looked wet. They were giving rides in two Maybacks and three Bugatti Veyrons. Over by the two Gallardo roadsters, a very nice guy tried to interest us in a new Cobra Daytona Coupe.
It was a great mix of cars. There were several woodys from a 1919 Overland, through an early Packard and a 50s Buick to a 51 Ford. A Model A, with brass gleaming, had a six-step instruction list for starting it taped to the dash. A 1949 Caddy convertible sat next to a black Chrysler 300C. A 50s Hudson with racing disks and bullet headlight covers seemed right at home with the Lagonda, Bentleys, Duesenbergs, and Delahayes. There was an Aston Martins sharing a grassy spot with a Ghia, Mr. Bond, Mr. Sinatra, your cars are ready. The pony cars were represented by a couple of Shelbys: one white and blue competition and a black and gold 350H. And there was the most beautiful
1968 Z28 tucked over by the hedge. Jags from XK120s to glass-eyed E types. Of course, there were Ferraris. How about a 250 GT, a 308 GTB, and an F40? One 289 Cobra seemed almost plain till you saw that it ran at Le Mans. As soon as the Stutz Bearcat cleared its throat with a loud rumble, it attracted guys like a magnet. Cast your eyes beyond all the great metal-work, and there were palm trees and the ocean. This sure beats Dairy Queen on Saturday nights.For those that followed Can Am, it was THE place to be. There were over 20 original Can Am racers. On Saturday, there was a discussion panel with 13 drivers and builders, from jog-your-memory names to Gods of Can-Am. Peter Bryant, George Drolsom, Vic Elford, George Follmer, Hurley Haywood, Charlie Kemp, Oscar Kovaleski, Jackie Oliver, Sam Posey, Brian Redford, and the great Jim Hall. Even the audience was name-worthy: Denise McCluggage, Rick Ceppos, Brock Yates to name-drop a few. The large hall contained one each of the four most famous Can-Am cars: Chaparral, McLaren, Porsche, and Shadow. Two hours of Car Guys talking on a personal level about the greatest road racing in America. Jim Hall said that his partner, Hap Sharp, had an idea a minute. Only nine out of ten were no good, but who else do you know that has a good idea every ten minutes? Jackie Oliver explained how his name changed from Jack to Jackie. Hurley Haywood got in a plug for Grand Am. Oscar Kovaleski had lots to say, most of it interesting. Charlie Kemp told how on his first day driving for Oscar, while Charlie was in the car waiting to go out, Oscar leaned in the window and barraged him with rapid-fire Polack jokes. Sam Posey told the best story; too bad we cannot repeat it.
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- Give Away
Our regulars know that last month, we were giving away a $30 Gift Certificate from Endless Road. We are happy to say the winner this month was Wayne from NY.
Again this month, 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 $30 Gift Certificate from Endless Road.
Good Luck.
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Formula 1
Some things are the same this year. Alonso and Renault are still the team to beat. Kimi is still super-fast when his mount does not break.
And some things are quite different. New engine size. A new, more interesting qualifying procedure. The return of tire changes. A larger field by two more cars. At least three very competitive teams capable of winning the championship. Ferrari is back in the action again. There is an American driver in F1 for the first time since Michael Andretti in 1993. There is much more passing than previous years. And, rather frequently, one of the new V8s up-chucks its parts in the middle of the race. This is going to be an interesting season!
2006 ScheduleApril 2 Australia April 23 San Marino May 7 Nurburgring May 14 Barcelona May 28 Monaco June 11 Great Britain June 25 Montreal July 2 Indianapolis July 16 France July 30 Germany August 6 Hungary August 27 Turkey Sept. 10 Italy Sept. 17 Belgium Oct. 1 China Oct. 8 Japan Oct. 22 Brazil
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- Bits and Pieces
Do not get rid of your VHS machines; there are many great racing videos that are available on VCR tape and not scheduled to be put on DVD.
***The last few months, we have had a MY FAVORITE CAR story here. They were well received, and we want to continue. If you have fond memories of one of your fine machines and want to tell about it, send us your story, and, if we use it, you will have your pick of any one item we have on our web.
***Jeff H sent this note:
I remember a movie way back in the early 70's that was almost all car-chase. I can not remember the name and I have been looking for years. I have asked several movie buffs, several motor heads and no one has been able to help. Your section in your latest newsletter sparked the interest again and maybe you can tell me. As I remember there was a white 70-73 Camaro, a 69 Road Runner with the vacuum hood scoop, and a wicked little Gremlin. I thought Steve McQueen was in it but his web site mentions nothing of it. I really don't think it is a figment of my imagination but who knows. Can You Help?
Jeff, if anyone out there knows what film it was, we will try to find it. And if anyone does tell us, we will give them 10% off on their next order.
***Two of our favorite license tags this month:
Our friend, Dave M, sent us this: VW New Beetle: LDY BUG
And our friend, Patrick, owns this one:
2001 Vette convertible: RAINH8R==================== ** ====================
Car Trivia Answers
1) When Chrysler searched for a Beep Beep-sounding horn for their Plymouth Road Runner, the closest they could find was the horn from the Volkswagen Beetle. (Thanks to Speed TV's Barrett Jackson Auction.)2) When Zora Arkus Duntov first built the Ardun heads (Arkus DUNtov, get it? Huh?), he was building the first engine head with hemispherical combustion chambers, a Hemi Head. The head design went on to fame and fortune with MOPAR. Duntov, a poor Jewish immigrant, went on to launch Corvette on the path to becoming the accomplished performance car it is today. (From Hot Rodders Journal, issue #23. Thanks to our friend, Jared, for this one.)
3) Laurel & Hardy and the Keystone Kops drove black Model Ts. If you are over 40, this one was too easy for you.4) The Michelin Man is actually 108 years old, having first appeared in April of 1898. His name is Bibendum. The name comes from their original slogan of Nunc Est Bibendum, which translates as quote: He Drinks Nails (Thanks to our friend, Jeff, for this one.)
5) The Tyrell P34 was the only Formula One car to ever run four wheels in the front. They were ten inches tall, putting lots of rubber on the road while having a very low profile. It was the center of attention in the Kendall Garage in Watkins Glen in 1976. (Thanks to our friend, Mike H., for reminding us of this one.)--- Retreads ---
6) The code name for Corvette? To quote Completion Corvette - From Street to Strip to Speedway Star by the Editors of Consumer Guide: In the fall of 1952, a Chevrolet public relations executive named Myron Scott struggled to come up with a name for a new two-seat sports car being developed under the code name Opel. The Project Opel was cloaked in secrecy. The name was chosen perhaps to confuse outsiders, since Opel is the name of GM's German subsidiary, Adam Opel, AG. Knowledge of the secret sports car effort was limited to those with a need-to-know. If an employee was not directly involved on the "Opel" project, odds were he would never have heard of it. (Thanks to our friend, Warren.)7) Iron Butt Association members ride motorcycles, driving many, many miles in a day, such as the SaddleSore 1000 (1000 miles in 24 hours), BunBurner
1500 (1500 miles in 24 or 36 hours), and the 50cc Quest (50 hours Coast-to-Coast).8) Chevette, Escort and Lynx were the first U.S. cars to attain a heady 30 miles-per-gallon. You know, after all these years, there are still not very many cars that get more than that now (From Trivial Pursuit 20th Anniversary Edition.)
9) DeLorean was one of the fair-haired boys at GM. He is known as the Father of the Pontiac GTO.10) Originally, Enzo used the number of Cubic Centimeters (cc's) in one cylinder as part of the name of a car. Hence, the 275 GTB was a 12-cylinder car, 12 X 275 = 3300 cc's or 3.3 liters; the 250 Testa Rosa was 12 X 250 =
3000 cc's or 3 liters. (Actually, they were 3286 and 2953, but close enough.)===================== ** ====================
10% Off Purchases For Your Trivia QuestionsTo Jared, Jeff, Mike, and Warren, thanks for the trivia questions. Remember, you four will each receive 10% discounts 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