Groups toys

[BigRat]

Hey everybody,

I know there are quite a few of us with toys in the garage, lets see them.  I'm trying to attach a pick to this post of my latest project.  If it doesn't work someone may have to help me out, I'm not that good at this sort of thing.  But lets see what everyone has, I know Rowdy has some toys

 
BigRat

[daddog]

Ooooo! Nice.

[d0gma]

Sweet ride!  I've had a lifelong love affair with the C2 Vettes, but it's looking like I will never have one unless I win the lottery.

I used to have a 1973 Jensen Interceptor that I restored from junk:



but I had to sell it for financial reasons.   

My current project is a 73 MGB roadster:



and here's a link to the gallery I've been keeping of it:

http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc284/scottbrawner/My%201973%20MGB%20Roadster/?start=all

[BigRat]

dadog, thanks for the compliment

d0gma, you and me both on the C2's.  I was actually pretty close to buying a 63 NOM vert that needed some work, but it meant selling my 73 all matching numbers big block coupe for it.  Had a buyer for the 73 and a good price but just couldn't sacrifice it for a car that still needed about another 10k in work after the selling price of the 73.  I never heard of a Jensen Interceptor, can you tell me a little about it?  looks like you had it in excellent shape and a great color to boot.  That MGB looks like it's going to be a sweet ride when done, your deffinitly doing a thourough resto on that one, but it all pays off in the end as I'm sure you know.  what color is that by the way?  I'm going to try and attach a pic of the 73 which was my first vette and still have.  I wanted to get my first one in before thirty so no one could accuse me of a mid life crisis

 
BigRat

[d0gma]

BigRat,

The Jensen Interceptor was an English hand-built steel bodied GT, built from 1966 to 1976... Originally came with a Mopar 383 and 727 trans, but was upgraded in 69 to the 440 Hi-po version.  Leather everything, power windows, doors, the works.  Antilock brakes on the rear.  It was about the size of a Vette but weighed in at over 3600 lbs.

One t hing you might notice about the car, if you look, is that there are no seams or panel lines anywhere on the car, except where things open. All the panels were hand beaten and all the seams were leaded over and smoothed in.  Really neat looking but made the bodywork a little... difficult.

Here's an article on it:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jensen_Interceptor

And my gallery.
http://s218.photobucket.com/albums/cc284/scottbrawner/interceptor/?start=all

That stingray is AWESOME, what color is that? Was that a stock color for that year?

[BigRat]

d0gma,

You know looking at that Interceptor, you would never guess that would be a 440 Chrysler under the hood   I'd bet that would surprise a lot of people.  I don't know how in the world you would find parts to restore one though, but you did.  With vettes they are easy to get parts.  That's the 73's original color but not the original paint.  That paint job is probably about 12 years old now but still shows pretty well.  The color is Metallic Yellow, which was a 73 only color and quite rare to see anymore.  Thanks for the compliment

 
BigRat

[d0gma]

I actually had to fabricate some parts, like some of the interior panels and some handbrake stuff too.  I never did find NOS door handles for less than $300 apiece, no bumpers either.  When I finish the MG I will probably have a large Ebay sale with all the stuff I have left over from the Jensen, got some headlight buckets and stuff.

I did manage to get a good relationship going with the only Jensen parts specialist in the States, they cut me a deal on some stuff... still it was pretty expensive.

How about this? A thing of beauty.

[BigRat]

I bet those valve covers are extremely hard and pricey to come by.

 
BigRat

[Wklink]

Some guys here have seen these two cars before.  Along with the other thread (that convertible that I am restoring) these two cars are what take up most of my spare time.

First one is a 1962 Ford Thunderbird Hardtop.  390FE with a cruis-o-matic tranny.  Very smooth, very nice car.  I have it 90% done, only need to replace the headliner and do some minor trim and touch up work and she is done.  I plan on driving her cross country this summer out to Illinois and maybe up to Canada.  Of course if gas hits 4 bucks a gallon I might change my mind.

Car number 2 is a 1965 Ford Fairlane Sports Coupe.  289/4V and a C4 transmission.  This used to be my daily driver before insurance made it a little bit more expensive.  Car probably will be sold in the near future although my son is fighting me on that.  I might keep her and make arrangements for him to 'buy' it off of me in a few years when he is old enough to start doing things like paper routes and other manual labor.  5 years is a long time to hold onto a car for him though.

[Teedog]

I don't have any pictures of my street cars, but here's some past racing pictures.


At Mid-Ohio for NASA National Championship Race

Mid-Ohio National Championship Spec Focus Race 2006

This me taking the head of Ford PR person for a ride at Cal-Speedway

This was our Spec Focus Test car in 2005.

This was a new SF car in 2007 I was testing

Just another Spec Focus Interview.

[d0gma]

Tom,

Those are some sweet cars. I bet you've got skid marks in front of your house from all the people locking their brakes when they see those in your driveway.

[BigRat]

Tom,

very cool , I guess you know the pain of maintaining two old ones too .  Hanging on to that fairlane shouldn't be too expensive.  If it's like my vettes with AV (antique vehicle plates) and limited mileage insurance, the insurance should be cheap, my vettes are like 80 bucks each every 6 months, so 320 a year for both.  They appreciate a lot more then that every year.  I'm sure that fairlane 500 goes up in value every year as well, so I'd hang on to it. 

Cheers
BigRat

[BigRat]

Teedog,

I wish I had the time and money to race competitively with anything.  I dabble autocrossing a couple of times a year, and enjoy the heck out of it.  Albeit I don't do it enough to get really good, and the bull in a china shop 69 isn't exactly the best animal for most autocross courses, albeit a lot of fun with a 3300lb car, healthy 468, and a 4spd. I retired the 73 from racing, figured it wasnt a good idea anymore to risk the matching numbers big block How many races do you do a year? and what modifications are you allowed to do to your focus for racing purposes?

 
BigRat 

[Teedog]

Sorry I didn't see your post BigRat

It depends on which Focus Model you have. They have 5 different engines that you could get in a Focus since 2000, but only 4 of them you can use in Spec Focus.

The motors are
1.   2.0L DOHC Zetec
2.   2.0L DOHC SVT Zetec
3.   2.0L DOHC Duratec
4.   2.3L DOHC Duratec

Basically we can change the heads, cams, intake manifold, throttle body, header and LSD. The 2.3L Duratec you can’t make as many changes as a 2.0L Zetecs.

But all-in-all the cars make around 170-160whp and 160-130lbs of torque depending on the engine. The 2.3L makes the most Tq, but least amount of whp, they also weigh 75lbs more then the 2.0Ls

The weight of a Spec Focus is 2600lbs with drivers (2675lbs for 2.3L).

[Malap]

Here is my baby lol, not as fancy as the above cars but a lot of fun 

http://myfreefilehosting.com/f/42d022d4d3_3.09MB

[BigRat]

Malap, can't get your picture to come up.

 
BigRat

[Malap]

Odd, it works for me, its a 1982 280zx, not as powerful as your Vettes, but it still is a lot of fun in the twisties lol. It has an aluminum flywheel which makes the engine livelier, i installed urethane bushings in the suspension to improve cornering feel, headers and a larger bore exhaust and also a cold air intake.

I plan on lower stiffer springs with new struts and stiffer roll bars next. I also keep considering finding a turbo donor car and stripping all the turbo related parts to install on mine 

I have removed a lot of the superfluous parts such as the Ac components, the location of the compressor would make a realy good spot for a small supercharger 

[Baumer]

BigRat did you hit the link to download the image? It worked for me just fine, but it took a while to download.

[JDog]

My toy technically has wheels, but they are for the track. It loves snow 

[BigRat]

Jdog, looks like you have a nice little shop there


BigRat

[Malap]

Snow is best to be looked at from within, while sitting next to a roaring open fireplace.