E N D L E S S R O A D Road Chatter XLVI P.O. Box 655 Falling Waters, WV 25419 Shop: 304-274-5074 FAX: 304-274-5076 snipped-for-privacy@aol.com
1) Everyone (well, everyone before the Rice Rocket era) knows that Ford was famous for their venerable Flathead (an engine that had the valves positioned in the block beside the cylinders). Stick a couple Stromburgs on there, mill the heads, add headers feeding into a couple of Glaspacks, and you got yourself a fast car. Well, it sounded fast. That ended when Ford's
1954 OHV (overhead valve) came along. GM and Chrysler had flatheads, too, although the 1955 Chevy OHV V8 pretty much wiped out GM's use of flatheads in their cars. But how long did Chrysler hang on to selling cars with a flathead?2) For those of us that have purchased a new car sometime in our lives, we may have seen F.O.B. on our invoice. 'Yeah, yeah, probably just another thing for them to charge us for.' But, what does the term F.O.B. on a new car's sticker mean?
3) Last issue, we tested you on the full names of Car Builders, like Henry Ford and Enzo Ferrari. Now, let's try drivers: Early Grand Prix - Arnoux Early Grand Prix - Ascari Early Grand Prix - Fangio Early Grand Prix - DePalma First US Grand Prix Winner at Watkins Glen - Ireland Last US Grand Prix Winner at Watkins Glen - Jones US Road Racer - Revson 1st Indy 500 Winner - Harroun Chaparral Builder/Driver - Sharp Chaparral Builder/Driver - Hall Indy Champ - Foyt Indy Champ - Jones Four Pettys in NASCAR that were or are drivers Two Wallaces in NASCAR that are drivers Two Marlins in NASCAR that are drivers Dragster Driver - Force And five Andrettis4) There was talk that two-time two-wheel world champ, Valentino Rossi, was considering joining Ferrari's F1 team. If he had, he would not have been the first. What former motorcycle champion joined Ferrari in 1963 and won the World Championship in 1964?
5) When Alonzo won the F1 championship this year, he was the eighth driver to win back-to-back championships. How many of the other seven drivers can you name?--- Retreads ---
These next three questions are from over two years ago. If you remember them from before, consider this a memory test.
6) You remember the Aztek from a couple years ago; it was around just long enough for every car magazine on the planet to knock it, then it quietly disappeared. The Corvette C6 came out at just about the same time. What do the sleek Corvette C6 and the much criticized Aztek have in common?7) What 1989 movie had Dan Aykroyd note: "Cars don't misbehave, Mama, they have to be caused to misbehave?"
8) One American auto builder had been reaping profits from its performance car for over 20 years. But, in 1987, times were changing, and sales were dropping on their long-in-tooth model. Buyers were going for the lower priced front wheel drive coupes. The American company took one such Japanese coupe, designed their own body, and proclaimed that this would replace their long-standing sporty coupe. Suddenly, they were deluged with more than 4,000 letters from enthusiasts protesting the blasphemy of calling a front wheel drive a replacement and namesake to one of America's favorite cars. What could the company do? They had invested millions and made commitments to parts manufacturers all over the world. And now their customers, their loyal and very vocal followers, were calling them names. What did they do?And the last two are from four years ago.
9) The Porsche Company is famous for its racing sports cars. Although they did go F1 racing in the 1960's, what other Formula One cars did the Porsche Company design? (I never said they would all be easy.)10) In 1955, the first Thunderbird was a sleek two seater. In 1956, Thunderbird's second year, there were only a few minor changes. The biggest change was to mount the spare tire on the back bumper. Why did they do this?
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- Giovanni Cases
The diecast collectors from our retail shop will remember the great Giovanni cases we carried. They have all the diecast sizes from 1:64 to 1:18 and more odd sizes than you can count. We still supply them for a few of our customers. And we can do the same for you. Find the case you want on Giovanni's website, contact us, and we will have it shipped directly to your door; same price as Giovanni, but no state tax or shipping cost.
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- Gift Certificate Give Away
Our regulars know that every month, we give away a $30 Gift Certificate from Endless Road to one of our regular Road Chatter readers. We are happy to say the winner this month was Harold from Cheverly, MD.
Again this month, for every purchase our regular Road Chatter Newsletter 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
Clay Regazzoni 6/1939 - 12/2006 R.I.P. Ferrari 1970 -1972 BRM 1973 Ferrari 1974 - 1976 Ensign 1977 Shadow 1978
Williams 1979
Ensign 1980
About the only way to know if anyone reads this stuff is if someone tells us when we are wrong. Our friend, Andrew, really nailed us this time. In the last issue, we listed all the tracks that Formula 1 had run on in the US. This is what we had:
- The American Formula 1 Grand Prix has run at the following tracks: Dallas Detroit Las Vegas Long Beach Phoenix Riverside Roosevelt Raceway San Francisco Santa Monica Savannah Sebring Watkins Glen That's twelve tracks. (From
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Dispute over the question of F1 tracks in the US.
Obviously leaving out Indy...
This list includes several tracks which only held races prior to 1950 and the current F1 World Championship. Forix has that the U.S. Grand Prix has only been held at nine tracks, Watkins Glen (20), Indy (11 - oval), Long Beach (8), Indy (7 - infield), Detroit (7), Phoenix (3), Las Vegas (2), Riverside (1), Dallas (1), and Sebring (1).
The 11 races on the Indy oval were not F1 Grands Prix, it was simply a race which counted toward the World Championship, and you couldn't really consider Las Vegas a track, it was more of an autocross...
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- It is true; Indianapolis was left out of the list, my mistake.
- I should have worded the question to cover races for the World Championship.
- I do agree that the Las Vegas race was a joke, but the points did count for the F1, title regardless of the size of the track.
- Andrew, I do appreciate you bringing these points to my attention. At least we know someone is paying attention. How about we give you 15% off your next purchase for your trouble?
2007 Schedule . . . maybe This is not cast in stone; it may change several times yet.March 18 Australia April 8 Malaysia April 15 Bahrain May 13 Spain May 27 Monaco June 10 Montreal June 17 Indianapolis July 8 Britain July 22 Germany August 5 Hungary August 26 Turkey Sept. 9 Italy Sept. 16 Belgium Sept. 30 Japan Oct. 7 China Oct. 21 Brazil
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This month, our 'MY FAVORITE CAR' story is by our friend, Mike P.
Project 'Wedge-Works'
I was surfing the web, looking for Triumph TR8 coupes to see what was out there, and interestingly enough, a web site came up on my search: TR8 restoration at
(See our web for a picture of a great modified street TR7.)
With a TR8 coupe needing a restoration of my own, I had a few options to choose from: a modified street car, SCCA ITS race car, or original. The ITS car was not that exciting due to how uncompetitive SCCA has made the car. A modified street car brought back memories of the Woody White 'BAD 8' coupe I had owned years ago. Original was not too far from reality since my car was about 90% stock. After seeing the original works TR7 V8s and some conversions, I was sold. I spent over three months and lots of emails to owners of replicas and original cars. The Steve mentioned above gave me some insight, but it was Bert Smeets of Belgium and Neil Sawyer in the UK that helped me out the most.
Bert owns not one, not two, but three ex-works TR7 V8s! Oh, I forgot to mention he also has the Janspeed TR7 V8 that ran in Le Mans! Bert has helped me with body colors and pictures of many details that are Works-Only preparation. Neil's car was a bare body shell and was being prepared to rally specs as they were back in 1980/81 for Car & Car Conversions. The best thing I like about these TR7 V8s is they still go out and compete and have battle scars to prove it!
(See the newsletter on our web for pictures of two rally TR7s.)
The subject of my conversion is a 1980 TR8 coupe; 5-speed, A/C, Ermine white with green and black interior. The motor was in the process of being rebuilt, and some form of restoration was to begin after 2nd gear disappeared! The clock has about 91k on it, and the body seems to be almost perfect, with some small areas of rust blisters around the windshield and rear window.
(See the newsletter on our web for a picture of Mike's TR7 in process.)
eBay has been the biggest help in finding the parts I need, along with Tim Lanocha of Lanocha Racing, Woody Cooper of the Wedge Shop and Simon from Robsport in the UK. I have managed to get together the stickers/decals, driving and fog lights, hood pins, bonnet latches, T-pull cables, a Bilstein jack, (4) 13x7 rims, (8) 13x6 rims, 2 roll cages, fiberglass front bumper, and most important, the rally flares/arch extensions and front spoilers. The tire selection for 13-inch rims has been the biggest headache.
(See the newsletter on our web for pictures of the loot Mike gathered for the transformation.)
The flares seem to be the most costly, with the dollar being pretty weak compared to the sterling/pound. After some research, it seems that four different types of rear flares and three types of front spoilers were used over the lifespan of the TR7 & TR8.
(See the newsletter on our web for pictures of all the flares and spoilers Mike gathered.)
At this time, I have removed the interior, brake lines, rear end, engine, transmission, glass, bumper and lights. During this process, I found a sticker under the head liner that read the following:
BODY PASSED BODY No. with hand written "LHS V8" NOV 1978
This seems to confirm the rumors that unsold cars of one model year were renumbered to the next model year till they were sold! To solidify this, the
1978 catalyst emission sticker on the door has been covered over twice with a 1979 and finally a 1980 catalyst sticker, and the VIN plate on the windshield has one rivet holding it on........
If you have any comments or information for Mike, it would be greatly appreciated. Send us an email, and we will forward it to Mike.
If you have fond memories of one of your fine machines and would like to tell us about it, send us your story, and when we use it, you will have your pick of any item we have on our web. Bob, our contributor from the previous issue, chose one of our great Monaco posters.
(See the newsletter on our web for a great picture of the Group 44 TR7. Group 44 is Virginia's hometown team that made good.)
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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 VHS tape and not scheduled to be put on DVD. And for those of you finding it difficult to find new blank tapes, we carry the Maxell tapes.
*** Our friend, Warren, says:I went to retrieve a license plate one day and didn't have a screw driver. The lady at the desk wanted to know if I wanted a plus or minus!
*** Floating around on the web:I've sure gotten old! I've had two bypass surgeries, a hip replacement, new knees, fought prostate cancer and diabetes. I'm half blind, can't hear anything quieter than a jet engine, take 40 different medications that make me dizzy, winded, and subject to blackouts. Have bouts with dementia. Have poor circulation; hardly feel my hands and feet anymore. Can't remember if I'm 85 or 92. Have lost all my friends. But, thank God, I still have my driver's license!
*** At Amelia Island, Jim Hall, the creator of the Chaparral, told of when they had hooked up with Firestone Tires. Firestone gave them a set of competition tires to run on seven-inch-wide rims. Jim's people had created wheels with an assortment of various width rims. So they tried them on seven-, then eight-, then nine-inch rims. At the next race, Firestone found they were running nine-inch rims. 'Well, we will have to make you bigger tires.' And, of course, Chaparral tried the new tires on wider and wider rims. At the next race, Firestone found they were now running eleven-inch rims. Said Jim: 'In about six months, we went from five-inch rims to twelve-inch rims!' The grip had increased so much they had to beef up their 'secret' automatic transmission to take the strain.*** Racers, Firemen, and Organists
Trent, a fireman and a friend of ours from our retail shop, once told us how his balaclava (the hood that firemen wear over their heads) has an open mesh in the top of it. He explained that the Nomex would keep the flames from his face, but, in a blaze, his own sweat could turn to steam and cause as much damage as flames. For this reason, the mesh was added so that the steam could escape up into his helmet. This feature has since been added to the balaclavas worn by race car drivers.
It seems organists are keeping alive a technique that is slowly falling out of fashion in auto racing. Our friend, Rob, is the organist for a large stately old church in the middle of Washington, DC. The organ that he plays has three tiers of keyboards, 20 push-pull levers on his left and another 20 on his right. At the base of the organ, there are 20 long foot pedals. He showed us the specially designed shoes that he wears while playing these foot pedals. The soles are quite thin, and the heel is hard leather. 'What do you need special shoes for?' 'Why, so that I can Heel and Toe.'
*** License Tag NovelistsThese three are from a two-block-long car show this summer:
Orange GTO The Judge: ALL RIZE
1968 Firebird 400: FLYBYUBlue Ford Pickup SVT: NHRA SVT
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Car Trivia Answers
1) Chrysler pushed their last flathead out the door in 1959. It was a 230 CID flathead six cylinder. It was available in the Coronet, Savoy, Belvedere, Suburban, Fury, and Sport Fury.2) F.O.B. means Free-On-Board; F.O.B. establishes who pays to ship, selects the carrier and owns the car during shipping. F.O.B. Destination would mean your car was the dealer's baby from the time it left the docks in Detroit. (Well, Mexico, Canada, or wherever your pride and joy was built.)
3) The Drivers' full names are: Early Grand Prix - Rene Arnoux Early Grand Prix - Alberto Ascari Early Grand Prix - Juan Manuel Fangio Early Grand Prix - Ralph DePalma- Not to be confused with Louie DePalma on 'Taxi'. First US Grand Prix Winner at the Glen - Innes Ireland Last US Grand Prix Winner at the Glen - Alan Jones
- You didn't think Parnelli Jones, did you? US Road Racer - Peter Revson
- He was the son of one of the wealthy Revlon founders. First Indy 500 Winner - Ray Harroun
- And he was the first to use a rear view mirror in racing. Chaparral Builder/Driver - Hap Sharp (James 'Hap' Sharp) Chaparral Builder/Driver - Jim Hall
- The sound Sharp/Hall was part of why they named their cars Chaparral. Indy Champ - A.J. Foyt (Anthony Joseph Foyt) Indy Champ - Parnelli Jones (Rufus Parnell Jones) Four Pettys that were or are NASCAR drivers - Lee, Richard, Kyle, and Adam Two Wallaces that are NASCAR drivers - Rusty and Kenny Two Marlins that are NASCAR drivers - Sterling and CooCoo Dragster Driver - John Force, 14-time Funny Car Champ Five Andrettis - Mario, Aldo, Michael, John, and Marco (Thanks to our friend, Ken G.)
4) John Surtees was the first man to win championships on both two wheels and four wheels. And, so far, the only one to do so. Damon Hill started with bikes, winning 40 races on his Yamaha 350 in 1984, but he did not get the championship.5) The eight drivers that won back-to-back Formula 1 championships: Alberto Ascari 1952-1953 Juan Manuel Fangio 1954-1955 (and 1956-1957) Jack Brabham 1959-1960 Alain Prost 1985-1986 Ayrton Senna 1990-1991 Michael Schumacher 1994-1995 (and 2000 through 2005) Mika Hakkinen 1998-1999 Fernando Alonzo 2005-2006
--- Retreads ---
6) GM's Pontiac Aztek and the then-new Corvette C6 were both designed by Tom Peters. What a turn-around in design from so many angles and edges of the Aztek to the smooth flowing lines of the Corvette!7) Dan Aykroyd explained misbehaving cars to his Mama in 'Driving Miss Daisy.' (When I had this question in Trivial Pursuit, I just knew it must be 'The Blues Brothers.')
8) When Ford tried to pass off a re-bodied Mazda 626 as the new Mustang, thousands of Mustang loyalists revolted. Ford then continued the rear-wheel drive Mustangs and called the re-bodied Mazda the Probe. (AutoWeek August 31, 1987) Keep this in mind now that Ford is discussing bringing out both a Mustang sedan and station wagon, as discussed in the AutoWeek December 13.9) During 1933 to 1937, Porsche designed cars for Auto Union. After the war, they designed for Cisitalia. Rumor is that they used the money from Cisitalia to free Dr. Ferdinand Porsche from France where he was being held as a war criminal. And another bit of interest, the go-between for Porsche and Cisitalia was Carlo Abarth of high performance exhaust fame. (Thanks to our friend, Jeff, for this one.)
10) One thing that any good boulevard car has to have is room for a golf bag in the trunk. Ford found that a golf bag would not fit in the trunk of their new Thunderbird unless you removed the spare tire. By adding a 'continental,' they got around this problem. Then the longer tail on the '57 took care of this oversight. (The Acura NSX had a long trunk to accommodate two sets of clubs. The 1935 Auburn had a side compartment to fit a set of golf clubs in the side of the car.)==================== ** ====================
15% Off Purchases For Your Trivia QuestionsTo Ken G. and Jeff M., thanks for the trivia questions. Remember, you both will receive 15% discounts on your next orders.
We try to choose these trivia questions from several groups and still be interesting. This time we got MOPAR flatheads, Invoice Jargon, Drivers, Bikers, Two-Timers, Pretty Sports Cars & Ugly Siblings, a Blues Brother, Fake Mustangs, a Porsche War Criminal, Carlo Abarth, and Big Rear Ends. Anyone have any trivia questions of your own?
Send us an interesting fact on just about anything on wheels: cars, trucks, F1, Drags, Muscle Cars, weird obsolete car thingies, whatever, and, when we use it, you get 15% off all purchases on everything on your next order.
***Thanks,
Dave Payne