Tag Archives: County

Perfect Car For A Wedding #7 – Dodge Challenger SRT/8

It’s been a while since I have run a “Perfect Car For A Wedding” feature and of those I have run today’s third generation 2008 Dodge Challenger SRT/8 is easily my favorite.

While Ford has always been the trend setter in the pony car market segment, Dodge, who were third in first time round with the 1970 Challenger, beat Chevrolet to 2nd place by a full year at the end of the Naughties after the pony car market segmented was started the second time round by Ford in 2005.

The Dodge Challenger SRT/8 was launched at the Chicago and Philadelphia International Auto Show’s simultaneously in February 2008. Unusually all 6400 first production run STR8s were pre sold.

All US market 2008 Challengers like the one seen here were SRT/8 models fitted with 425 hp 6.1 litre / 370 cui HEMI V8s and a five speed AutoStick automatic transmission.

The SRT/8 is built on an shortened Chrysler LX platform known as the LC, and shares front and rear suspension components with the Mercedes Benz W220 S Class and W120 E Class respectively.

In 2008 Chrysler Canada built a separate run of between 670 and 719 Challenger 500’s for the Canadian market only.

The Challenger is seen here at the entrance of Shakespeare County Raceway after the owner had used it at her friends wedding earlier in the afternoon. Wishing everybody about to get married today all the best and many happy years together.

Thanks for joining me on this “Perfect Car For A Wedding #7 ” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t for get to come back now !

Tomorrow Or The End Of Time – Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum

1 Reply

The first piece of music to make the hair on the back of my neck stand on end was by James Marshall Hendrix, some time in 1967 I was home alone during the day time so it was probably during the Easter holidays, I was messing about with some extremely uncomfortable ex military bakerlite head phones when the announcer on the radio told us that coming next would be Jimi Hendrix latest hit “Purple Haze”. I unplugged and took off the headphones and turned up the volume control of the radiogram a little in anticipation of something interesting happening.

By the time the opening riff blurted out I reached out and did something I had never done before, I maxed out the volume ! By the end of the song I was certainly tuned in and turned on to the Jimi Hendrix Experience even though I had no idea what it was, except it felt really good and I had a new found love for the colour purple and a curiosity for the line “Is this tomorrow or just the end of time ?”

This Tomorrow Or The End Of Time theme is revisited in the 1971 flash back road movie “Vanishing Point” which begins with an all American anti hero Kowolski driving a white 1970 Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum pulling back from a 90 mph impact with a couple of Catepillar bulldozers, that serve as a makeshift police roadblock and vanishing into thin air, before retelling the story of how Kowolski got to the point of staring tomorrow or the end of time in the face.

While reading up on the history of the Challenger I was interested to learn that the very first Challenger was actually a limited edition two door body called the Dodge Silver Challenger that was only available in in silver and came fully loaded with premium white wall tyres, full wheel covers, electric windscreen wipers, luxury fabric interior and deep pile carpets through out.

For 1970 Carl Cameron came up with the exterior design for the second generation Challenger, like the Plum Crazy FC-7 1970 example seen here at Shakespeare County Raceway earlier this year. Chrysler had determined that the similar but shorter Plymouth Barracuda should belatedly compete with the Mustang and Camaro and the Dodge Challenger should compete with the Mercury Cougar and Pontiac Firebird in the pony car market.

Of the engine options available to Challenger customers there were two 440 cui / 7.2 litre Magnum options one 375 hp with a single four barrel carburetor and one 395 hp with three x two barrel carburetors known as the six pack. The car seen here appears to be the 375 hp option as distinguished by the air scoop which on the more powerful six pack models sits on top of the carburetor intakes in the center of the bonnet hood.

Because of low sales volumes of the larger engine Challengers they have become extremely collectable, especially if the engine and chassis numbers match the original factory records. Within the pony car segment this late arrival did well to sell 76,935 copies in 1970 after which sales plummeted to less than 30,000 a year until the model was discontinued in 1974.

Attractive though the Mustangs and Camaros are for my money the Challenger is the most desirable of all the muscle pony cars, there is something about it’s lines that are simply a little less fussy, a little smoother and more refined that look a bit further forward than all the others seen on pony cars in my humble opinion.

The Challenger R/T with the 440 Magnum as seen here and in the original 1971 version of Vanishing point was capable of covering a quarter mile in 13.8 seconds by which time it would be touching 102 mph, the 440 Magnum was only listed for the 1970 model year though it was available as a special order in 1971.

When Kowolski approached the point of no return at the end of Vanishing Point he had a choice to turn back and see what the tomorrow would bring or to keep going further and faster into oblivion, giving up the struggle of life, forgetting not to let a few bad moments spoil a bunch of good ones and disappear into the end of time. I guess if you don’t know what happened next you’ll just have to see the film for your self to find out.

Thanks for joining me on this “Tomorrow Or The End Of Time” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you’ll join me for Ferrari Friday tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now.

Wolly Bulli – Volkswagen Type 2 (T2)

2 Replies

In the Autumn turn of 1982 twenty odd college class mates and I made our way from the Untied Kingdom to Paderborn University for the first half of the third year of our European Business Studies course. I overslept on the train and ended up a hundred kilometers further east than intended in Kassel having missed my stop, but I digress.

Once in Paderborn we soon made friends with our fellow German students some of whom had banded funds together to buy a late bay VW Type 2 (T2b) Kombi seen above, in Germany these vehicles are known locally as “Bulli”. The Type T2 (T2) was first seen in 1967, it was wider and longer than it predecessor the Type 2 (T1) which I looked at last week. The motor was slightly larger starting at 47 hp wich increased to 70 hp by the mid 1970’s, but the real improvements were in low end torque which helped this heavy vehicle keep pace with the rest of the traffic.

Above I can be seen sitting at the wheel of my friends Type 2 wrapped in a blanket in the middle of February as I was about to return from Wolsburg where I had a placement at Volkswagen to Paderborn. To reduce the intake of exhaust fumes, because the heat exchangers were breaking up, the heating pipes were blocked up and the windows were kept open hence the blanket was necessary to keep warm in the well ventilated unheated bus.

Type 2s went through three distinctive body developments from ’67 to ’71 the early bay T2a was characterised by low front indicators and rear light clusters inherited from the Type 2 (T1), from ’71 to the early 1990’s the late bay Type 2 (T2b) is characterised by high front indicators and larger vertical oblong rear light clusters. By the early 1990’s production in Mexico and Brazil moved to the Type 2 (T2c) which has a raised roof and the latest models now built only in Brazil have duel fuel water cooled engines which run on petrol or ethanol.

Chris Maddog Antell’s VW Type 2 camper van seen above at Shalespeare County Raceway is an early bay Type 2 (T2a) with low front indicators and small rounded rear light clusters he runs it with a 2276 cc / 138 cui motor of yet to be determined origin, if you know please do not hesitate to chime in below.

The Type 2 (T2c) as seen above at The Classic Motor Show is still in production in Brazil a couple of years ago they were being manufactured at a rate of 100 a day, some of these vehicles can be seen in Europe where they are often used as camper vans. The latest news courtesy of mariner at The Nostalgia Forum is that Type 2 (T2c) production is planned to come to a halt in Brazil next year.

Thanks for joining me on this “Wolly Bulli” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres”. I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

The Compact With The Split Personality – Dodge Dart Swinger

Drive With Care – Dodge Coronet Super Bee

Two Timing – Shakespeare County Raceway

1 Reply

The day before Memorial day I attended the Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic at Shakespeare County Raceway for an afternoons two timing entertainment.

Situated just outside the Shakespeare central known in the tourists guides as Stratford-upon-Avon Shakespeare County Raceway is built on the site of Long Marston Airfield which served as a Wellington Bomber base during the 1939/45 war.

Looking like it had just come off the set of “Two Lane Blacktop” was this 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air. The crew running it told me the 7.4 litre / 451 cui V8 was “misfiring all over the place”, a possible victim of cavitation in the fuel system thanks to the phenomenal weather we were experiencing.

A strong contingent of European based vehicles were present at the “Yanks and Gary’s 34th Picnic event including this first generation 103E Ford Popular Coupé rig powered by a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. The Popular was a post ’39/’45 war austerity vehicle that was only ever offered as a saloon / sedan.

There were not many cars present at Shakespeare County Raceway that could boast Farina styling, but this 1098 cc / 67 cui Austin A40 Countryman van was one of them.

Another novelty vehicle was the NC Engineering Ford V8 powered Trabant that was being given it’s first run after it’s former Cadillac motor had been replaced. interestingly everybody who was involved in the preparation of this vehicle has been invited to to drive it in competition.

Among the fabulous US vehicles running at the event was this 1932 High Boy “Roadster” which like the Popular Coupé is powered by a 5.7 litre / 347 cui V8. This car reminded me of Leonard Williams High Boy Roadster before it became the worlds first privately owned Gas Turbine Car.

From the plethora of vehicles bearing original patina was this 1948 Plymouth Special De Luxe Coupé complete with a 5.2 litre / 317 cui V8.

My undoubted “Star of the Car Park” was this 1958 Buick Special Convertible which looked, as did several other cars present, like it had just come off the golf course at a Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance.

Sporting a top of the Le Mans range 5.7 litre / 350 cui motor was this Pontiac, like many competitors present the driver was wielding his own spanners to keep this fine looking car in a top state of tune.

I did not know it when I took this photo but going on the engine size of 7457 cc / 455 cui this is a rare, though I am not at all sure exactly how rare Hurst Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme. In 1972 following a fatal accident with the Indy 500 no manufacturer was keen on providing a pace car so transmission specialists Hurst stepped in with a couple of hot 455 cui Cutlass Supremes in both Coupé and Convertible forms. The 1972 pace car became well remembered after Linda Vaughan was hired to appear on the back of one of the convertibles with an outsize Hurst Shifter on the boot / trunk.

One reason I was keen to attend this meeting was to get a photo of fellow Bristol Pegasus Motor Club member Crazy Chris Hartnell pulling a wheely in his slingshot Backdraft, his weather helmet was present, dry, casting a shadow, and not shaking but just like the last time he tried this the cameraman was too slow and will have to try again next time. Chris managed two 145+ mph practice runs on the day.

Since this was a practice day many interesting combinations of vehicles were being run, like the Caterham above which got well and truly dusted by the 425 cui Buick Nailhead powered slingshot ‘Soul Town Shaker’ driven by Keith Crampton.

After doing a lovely burn out while being watched by the driver of the, probably Rover V8 powered, Fiero Euro 427, the seen was set for a slightly more competitive run off than the previous Caterham Slingshot combination.

However all present were to be reminded of Shakespeare’s quote from King Lear “As Flies to wanton boys are we to th’ gods, they kill us for their sport” as soon after leaving the Fiero Euro 427 standing on the line the Camaro made a dramatic exit stage left,

punched straight in to the guard railing …

and eventually came to rest at the quarter mile mark. Fortunately “th’ gods’ who would kill us for their sport’ were in benevolent mood and after he had been released from the Camaro the driver was seen walking unaided to the ambulance for a precautionary medical.

The camera gods were also smiling, after the accident I foolishly took my camera strap off to stretch out on my perch in the grandstands, waiting for confirmation that there would be no further activity on track before the curfew. When the announcement finally came I forgot that I’d taken my camera strap off got up and heard the sickening thud of my camera bouncing off the grandstand decking and into the 20 foot void beneath the grandstand and eventually hit the surface below.

I went to survey the damage and amazingly although the battery had dropped out the camera was fine as demonstrated by the fine shot of the 1938 Ford V8 Pickup above.

After all the excitement it was time to head home, but there was one final surprise as I left the gate …

… a Dodge Challenger STR8 bedecked in wedding bands, a perfect car for a wedding.

Thanks for joining me on this “Two Timing” edition of “Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres” I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to come back now !

Colour Of The Advocado – Cadillac Eldorado

1 Reply

The eight generation Cadillac Eldorado was built between 1971 and 1978 receiving face lifts in 1973 and 1975.

Sharing a 126 in / 3120 mm E body platform with the Oldsmobile Tornado and Buick Riviera the Eldorado was 79.8 in / 2030 mm wide.

Under the bonnet / hood of this 1973 model lurks a honking 400 hp 8.2 litre 500 cui V8, said to be the largest production V8 when it was first introduced in the 1970 Seventh Generation Eldorado.

At 224 in / 5690 mm long the Eight Generation Eldorado’s matched the Sixth Generation Eldorado’s as the largest ever made though the Eight Generation were giving away over 6 inches in wheel base to the older model.

One thing I did not know until preparing this blog was that like the Oldsmobile Tornado the Eldorado was front wheel drive which must lead to some interesting handling characteristics, while the Buick Riviera on the same platform was rear wheel drive.

It is thought the opera window in the C panel which replaced the opening quarter window seen in earlier models was necessary to conform to roll over safety standards that came into effect in the mid 1970’s.

Until I heard the Jonathon Richman song Pablo Picaso, I’d always thought of Eldorado’s as lumpy land yachts with as much appeal as a block of flats, however once I heard Jonathon’s lyric about girls turning advocado colour as Pablo Picaso drove down the street in his Eldorado, I began to see this leviathan’s in a slightly different light.

In 1973 51,451 Eldorado’s were built just over 15% of Cadillacs total production for the year.

Thanks for joining me on this ‘Colour Of The Advocado’ edition of ‘Gettin’ a li’l psycho on tyres’, I hope you will join me again tomorrow. Don’t forget to came back now !

Gettin' A Li'l Psycho On Tyres

Art Tidesco blogs on all things motoring

Tag Archives: County

Perfect Car For A Wedding #7 – Dodge Challenger SRT/8

Tomorrow Or The End Of Time – Dodge Challenger R/T 440 Magnum

Wolly Bulli – Volkswagen Type 2 (T2)

The Compact With The Split Personality – Dodge Dart Swinger

Drive With Care – Dodge Coronet Super Bee

Two Timing – Shakespeare County Raceway

Colour Of The Advocado – Cadillac Eldorado