Messages

61

General Discussion / Re: MCACN

« on: December 02, 2019, 03:14:55 PM »

Wish I could have made the show, the pictures are always amazing to see all the various cars that show up. I hope to try and save some vacation time to be able to make it next year. Would love to someday drag the 68 all the way there to show it. Maybe if they ever decided to do a L30/M20 display.

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General Discussion / Re: Pony Car/Musclecar market going away?

« on: November 06, 2019, 09:03:12 PM »

the collector market is hard to predict
when the old Ferraris leveled off, people said the young collectors were not interested and wouldn't spend their investment income on them. The old Ferrari's then doubled and tripled

I never thought 1980s pick ups and SUV would go as high as they been doing


this is a pretty good article
https://www.automobilemag.com/news/collector-car-market-buy-hold-sell-classic-vintage/

according to that rest-o mods and original muscle is 50/50 split. Maybe that is what is seen in auction houses, or trending? I don't see half the classic car market going that way in my area.

I have been noticing the rise in restomods and modernized classic muscle cars are typically surpassing restored original cars at auctions. Forget which specific Mecum auction but they had two Corvettes go back to back. Both C2's, One was a 67 big block roadster that was very high end restored (might have had some NCRS awards) sell for a little over $100k. Right after that was like a 65/66 with a aftermarket frame with late model suspension, a ls engine, modern style interior, etc. Defiantly had a lot of money dumped into redoing the car, sold for near $300k. I remember that if you wanted to at least break even on a Corvette you didnt modify it.

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General Discussion / Re: Pony Car/Musclecar market going away?

« on: October 31, 2019, 09:04:38 PM »

There is a far bigger picture here; other bastions of the baby-boomer generation are rapidly declining in popularity. MLB attendance, auto racing in most forms, beer sales, newspaper sales, motorcycle sales.

The collector vehicle hobby will go on, but without us and the cars we like. There have been several good articles on the topic lately, most recently in the Monterey edition of the Hagerty Insider. All sorts of charts and graphs, based on insurance quotes.

20 Vehicles with the highest share of younger buyers:   # of ‘60s Muscle Cars: 0
2019 favorites by share of quotes/Gen X: 20 vehicles listed:  # of ‘60s Muscle Cars: 0
2019 favorites by share of quotes/millennials: 20 vehicles listed:  # of ‘60s Muscle Cars: 0
2019 favorites by share of quotes/pre-boomer: 20 vehicles listed:  # of ‘60s Muscle Cars: 0
2019 favorites by share of quotes/boomers: 20 vehicles listed:  # of ‘60s Muscle Cars: 4 + 68-73 Corvette

This has not been lost on Barrett-Jackson. Craig Jackson writes an editorial “View From the Block” that appears on line and is published in the event program. Some recent quotes:

Now, when you consider the first baby boomers are hitting retirement age we’re seeing another generational shift. The Gen Xers and millennials are gravitating to the cars from the ‘80s and ‘90s with Japanese imports drawing increasing attention. This was very much in evidence at our 2018 Las Vegas Auction where we saw two Toyota pickups from the 1980s and a 1997 Acura Integra Type R set new world records at auction. The Acura in particular caused a stir in the automotive world with the story of its $63,800 sale spreading like wildfire on the internet and social media; our Facebook post about the sale reached nearly 2 million people.

Will Barrett-Jackson still sell prewar classics and muscle cars? Of course - but perhaps just not as many as in years past. I’ve always said that Barrett-Jackson needs to embrace change as the collector car demographic evolves. As a result, you’ll likely see an even wider, more eclectic selection of vehicles cross our auction block in the coming years.

The trends we saw so clearly in Scottsdale continued to fire up bidders in Florida, with nine of the top 10 sales falling into the hot categories of Resto-Mods, contemporary supercars, ’80s and ’90s vehicles, and classic trucks and SUVs.

One can only speculate on when we’ll see the last internal combustion engine car, then the last car you can actually drive, with autonomous vehicles now on the scene. The times are changing, to be sure.

No party goes on forever.

That is understandable, Im kinda hoping the prices would start to drop on some these muscle cars, 32-34 fords and 55-57 Chevy's so I can start my hoarding collection. Still just too far out of reach for a 27 year old, lol.

64

General Discussion / Re: Pony Car/Musclecar market going away?

« on: October 31, 2019, 05:21:19 PM »

As one of the younger guys and I have each of the spectrum. Besides the 68, I also have a 17 Camaro SS. While the 17 runs circle around my 68, I still find much more enjoyment getting the 68 out and going for a drive.

This conversation is something I am seeing alot of lately. Outside of Camaro's, I am heavily involved with 30's Fords and tri five Chevy's and thats something that has been brought up for years and with watching the prices of those vehicles it seems that the gap between a finished car and a project is gotten really small. I do see the interest for original restored cars dwindling as my generation is accustomed to all the plush standard features cars have today, so the restomod and pro touring trends are what is going to keep any interest in the old muscle cars as loads of the younger crowd love the styling and look of the old cars, they just cant put up with the old motors and chassis designs. I guess that makes me an outlier as there is really nothing like the sound of a 30/30 cam or sitting in that old vinyl seat.

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General Discussion / Re: 'Exotic' Camaros?

« on: October 22, 2019, 09:54:30 PM »

 

Maybe Charlie will chime in but I am thinking he had an aluminum gm small block once that was something odd??

was it different than the aluminum small blocks that were built for the 63 grand sport Corvettes and Chaparrel race cars?

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General Discussion / Re: Why Camaro production was extended in 1969.

« on: October 21, 2019, 07:27:17 PM »

Boys,
Wasn't a UAW strike also during this time period?

There was a big strike in 1972 that caused alot of half done cars to be scrapped

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General Discussion / Re: Interesting period photos.... :)

« on: September 24, 2019, 02:50:27 PM »

wow, what year was that taken?

good question, I was thinking the same thing. Has to be mid to late 70's. I know that kind of custom work was big in northwest around that window.

68

General Discussion / My 68 Camaro and I in our 5 mins of internet fame

« on: September 20, 2019, 04:41:45 AM »

Been awhile since I have posted, but I'm still here lurking. This week I had the opportunity to drive my 68 up to Renton, WA to be on a internet streaming tv show that is put on by Turn 10 studios. They are the company that develops and produces the Xbox video games called Forza Motorsport or Forza Horizon. Had a great time talking about cars, especially the Camaro. I know I probably got some facts wrong when talking about originality, was trying to keep it all straight!

Here is a link to the show:

https://mixer.com/Forza?vod=TxuAt7b-PEG1qtp4zKn_ig

Warning the show is 2 hours long, really start getting into the Camaro stuff at the 45/50 min area.

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Garage Talk / Re: 2020 Corvette

« on: July 19, 2019, 07:18:16 PM »

i personally dont like it and I have many reasons why, but its here and cant change it. It will be interesting to see how the car does in say 6 month to a year. There is a huge wave of excitement and buzz so the first run of cars will easily sell, but when the newness (another question in itself, how fast will the newness wear off?) wears off how will the car sell then? Chevy is trying to woo the people looking at Ferrari's, McLaren's, etc and I just don't see that crowd being swayed to buy a Chevy over a prestigious super car brand. The lack of a manual option isn't surprising that has been the trend lately with the top level cars. Hope they have tested this new transmission better than the 8 speed auto used in a lot of cars right now. I am sad to see the front engine corvette go away. The corvette was America's sports car and it was done our way with the front engine and good ol pushrods going toe to toe with Europe's stuff. Now we are just falling inline and i don't think it will elevate the status of the car over the long run. 

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Restoration / Re: Crate Engine Painting

« on: July 15, 2019, 07:20:06 PM »

You dont have to remove the paint, but it would be a good idea to at least clean it with a degreaser and alcohol to make sure the paint sticks to the other paint. Then simply tape off all the holes and paint it orange. I am just about to do the same thing on the crate motor thats sitting in my 68 C10 project. Cant stand looking at a non chevy orange small block.

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Garage Talk / Re: Quadrajet carbs VS brand X and aftermarket

« on: June 27, 2019, 02:49:17 PM »

my experience with quads is that if its good, it's good. The original quad off my 68 would never idle, 3 carb shop rebuilds, a few home rebuilds and it would never idle. Pulled a quad off a project we had that had not run in decades, just plopped it on the motor and ran perfect. Went to an Edelbrock carb, thats my go to carb for a 4 barrel. Usually pretty close out of the box, only needs a little fine tuning. Have had a dual quad setup on my hot rod for close to 30 years and its been perfect with never really needing any tweaking.  Currently have a holley on it now for a more factory correct look and first went with a correct 780 DZ carb, was too much carb for idle and low RPM but man that thing was a screamer when you went to the floor. Now have a Holley 600 and its a much better carb and the motor still screams. Though my favorite carb when dealing with my older cars is a old Rochester 2GC 2 barrel. I love the look of tri powers and 6x2's so always tinkering with 2GC's. I have found they have been the best all around setups for decent performance, okay fuel economy and killer looks.

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Decoding/Numbers / Re: All original, upgraded or Frankenstein car?

« on: June 14, 2019, 08:08:56 PM »

As far as the engine related questions. Yes that is a 4 barrel edelbrock carburetor on a aftermarket aluminum intake. You can easily swap intake to go from a factory 2 barrel to the 4 barrel. The block and heads and intakes all interchange. Along with the intake and carb swap, the valve covers and air cleaner are incorrect as well. The valve covers had to be swapped as they need a oil fill cap as 1968 was the last year there was still a fill tube in the front of the intake that the aftermarket intake lacks. The water pump has also been replaced as factory 327's in 68 did not have the outlet in the top of the housing.

For the transmission (gearbox) it has probably been upgraded to a th350 3 speed. That is a good upgrade over the powerglide.

Also on the exterior of the car, the trim rings on the wheels are incorrect for originality. in 1968 they only ran the dog dish cap, they added a trim rim to the base wheel and tiny cap in 1969.

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Trans-Am Camaros / Portland (OR) Vintage Racing Festival - July 25-28

« on: June 11, 2019, 07:21:05 PM »

Was wondering if anyone from the site here will be attending the annual historic races at Portland International Raceway next month? I plan on being there for Saturday and Sunday for the car show portion with the 68 Camaro and catch the racing. Would enjoy meeting up with anyone that might be there as well!

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General Discussion / Re: Cam for my 1969 302ci

« on: May 20, 2019, 08:07:05 PM »

I have the Comp Nostalgia Plus 30/30H in my 68's 327. I've been running in now for a couple years and i like the cam. Has a great lump at idle. It replaced a GM L79 cam and that swap really woke that 327 up. I do wish I went with a solid lifter cam instead of the hydraulic version now, but overall I have been happy with it.

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General Discussion / Re: Fold Down Rear Seat Panels

« on: May 17, 2019, 10:00:56 PM »

Depends on the year and interior options. 67 Deluxe interiors all got the armrest so the side panel is unique to that. On 67 standard interior and and 68 and 69's they were just regular side panels and the armrest was just added. Based on the few factory fold down cars i have looked at.