Shelby GT350 - Classic Motorsports

The publisher's most recent purchase and forthcoming Classic Motorsports project car is a particularly un-pristine Shelby GT350. This thing is amazing. Click on the slideshow to go to the full-size gallery, where you can see all the dirty details in their cell phone-quality glory. I love everything about this car, but I most especially love how it's aged. I'm not sure where he picked it up or what the exact plans are for it, but hot damn is it awesome. And yes, it's real. I think it's a '67.

Keep watch at ClassicMotorsports.net for details as they arrive. Go there and buy a subscription to pad my paycheck.

Update: It's officially official. 

Street sighting: Post-war Era Dodge Coupe

It's hard to believe this was a compact car at the time. This is a 1950 Dodge Wayfarer. The wicked sound is a flathead six engine running through a split manifold to two glasspacks. Very cool. That engine is mated to a three-on-the-tree manual via a fluid coupling -- like an early torque converter, without the torque multiplication. This whole thing is hotter than any metaphor I can come up with. I spotted it while exploring a state park near Sandwich, IL.

Pardon the terrible photos. Taken with a cell phone.

What follows is the owner's description, verbatim from his email, of this car's history after he bought it in 2004. I thought I'd parse it out into digestible nuggets, but I decided instead to leave all the geeky details in. Enjoy!

"It was basically all there, but with a good deal of entropy thrown in--carb in pieces (not all there) in a box, the stuck valves I mentioned, ignition scrambled (distributor inserted 180 degrees out of whack), wiring misconnected all over the place, and, of course, a good deal of rust everywhere. The left rear fender was hopeless, but I found an NOS* piece in Wisconsin."

"Gas tank contents had turned into something resembling blackstrap molasses (I eventually gave up and went with another used gas tank). Took until summer of 2008 to get things sorted out to where it would go on the road. The 4.30 rearend I mentioned came from a '55 Plymouth station wagon with overdrive. I also got the engine and transmission from it. The '55 cylinder head had a higher compression ratio (7.6 versus 7.0--some big deal!), so that went onto the Dodge engine.

"Made an adapter for the intake manifold to take a small 2-barrel unit in place of the original 1-barrel. Sent the exhaust manifold to the the guy at Kansas Kustoms, who does a beautiful job of making it into a split unit for duals (running through Smittys Glasspaks). Converted to 12 volts, with the usual GM one-wire alternator."

"The power brake and hydraulic clutch unit came from a Jeep Cherokee, Mopar disks in front installed with an adapter from Scarebird. In the rear, I put in a swaybar originally destined for a '68 Dodge Charger. The front springs were a bit 'relaxed,' so I put lowering blocks on the rear to get things in a (lower) line. Everything runs pretty well, though with the 4.30 rearend the engine is doing about 3000 rpm at 55 mph--the horsepower peak (such as it is) is at 3600, and the old-time racers generally said that the 'red line' was around 4800. I've gotten it to 4000 rpm without anything letting go, but it's probably not the best idea, since the stroke is really loooong and it only has 4 main bearings supporting the crank."

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*NOS, in the classic car world, is an abbreviation for "new old stock." This seemingly contradictory term refers to parts that are technically brand-new in that they've never been put on a car, but were originally made a long time ago. This is a distinction from new replacement parts being made today. The fashion industry calls this "dead stock."

Shelby made a pickup truck. Who knew?

What was the first rear-wheel drive thing that Carroll Shelby put his name to after the Mustangs in the '60s? It was none other than Dodge's compact truck offering, the 1989 Dakota. For most of the '80s, Shelby had been busy with turbocharging the living shit out of Dodge's little Omni penalty boxes. Those cars were dubbed GLH (its successor, GLH-S), which stood for "Goes Like Hell" ("-Som'more"). They really should've been called TSIATADAHFD (Torque Steer Into A Tree And Die A Horrible Fiery Death). After those crazy monsters, he tried his hand at useless and slow.

 

 

Seems like Dodge wanted to drum up sales of its relatively new small truck with a couple limited edition versions, including a convertible, and this here high-po Shelby Dakota with V8 power.

 

 
The regular Dakota's3.9L V6 is essentially a 318-cube (5.2L) V8 sans two cylinders; all Shelby's factory had to do was remove the V6 and massage the V8 a bit before bolting it in. The only special provision involved lopping off the crank-driven radiator fan and fitting an electric fan instead... which is apparently missing here. Good luck in traffic with this one.

 

This swap was so simple, in fact, that Dodge offered its workhorse 318 as the top-spec engine in regular Dakotas starting in 1991.

The truck received no handling upgrades to speak of, though the press release circa 1989 brags about its nitrogen gas shocks and 70-series radial tires. Oooooo, I'm all tingly. It did get the obligatory limited-slip differential and some newfangled fancy transmission, but that trans was an automatic. Boo. I guess a 4-speed overdrive slushbox was a big deal in '89.

What's especially disappointing is the fact that this truck pulls the same 0-60 time as a 1995 Neon, or a 1989 Miata. A blistering 8 seconds.

They only made 1500 of these, each with a numbered plaque affixed to the dashboard to remind you of your econo-with-a-six-foot-box exclusivity. This one's number 1202, and the current body-shop-operating owner has a big trophy in his office that it won at a car show a couple years ago. 

 

 

The trophy is in front of the window in this picture. He's selling this example, which has seen 62k miles, for a measly seven grand. I'll admit the graphics look nice, as does that styling thing over the bed. But a slow, unknown, 20-year-old truck with no street cred and a bunch of big-name badges is not worth that much money in my eyes. Maybe to the right guy wearing Mopar-tinted glasses.

 

 

The guy who was drooling all over this truck (when I stopped by this body shop for a quote on rust repair) also talked in very excited tones about the Chrysler Sebring parked next to it. Ouch. If you're interested in either one, there is no hope for y-- uh, I mean: They're for sale at Bob Schmidt Body Shop in DeKalb, Illinois.

 

 

Another Sightings Hodgepodge!

From now on, I'm going to try and post my sightings more immediately. One by one. They'll be a little more timely, and hopefully a little more detailed too. But that's for later. Right now, PREPARE FOR MEGADOOM!

Uh... I mean, "Prepare for an unnecessarily long series of photos of weird shit I've seen."

BEGIN.

Those are stock Ford Mustang 17" wheels, circa 1997. On a Dodge Caravan. I've seen this van around a few times now. They actually look pretty good, except for the leaping horse on the centercap.

On a country road. Saw this hitting the back roads on the way home after an SCCA autocross.
Keep it classy, Joliet.

What are those big-ass propellers doing underneath that weird-looking tiny car?

They belong there! It's an Amphicar! They made less than 4000 of these, in the early '60s. And I saw one on my morning commute. Definitely weird. I love the numbers on the side.

Ah, Panamera. You look good from certain angles. Not so much from others.

So, that's a weird-looking spoiler. What's going on? Somebody with lots of money and absolutely zero taste decide to put a ricer wing on a Porsche?

It was an epic downpour that day, so the license plate was hard to make out right away. But you can definitely see it's one spoiler on top of another. I thought this was incredibly stupid, until I realized...

It's a freakin' Tie Fighter! This man is no ricer. He's just an epic nerd. Props.

Handicapped spot. Farm & Fleet. What else can I say?

It's an LTD Crown Vic. Because you're not rich enough to get hauled to your grave in a Cadillac, or even a Lincoln. It's Police Cruiser With A Butt for you. You know what that means.

I'll avoid AC/DC jokes.

As long as we're on the topic of Panther platforms, check out this winner. Black Beauty indeed. That fake-gem-encrusted TV antenna is non-functional. There's no TV in that car. Trust me. The back windows aren't tinted, I could see everywhere inside it. Definitely no TV.

But goddamn does that V8 run hot. Thing's got vents all over the place.

Double the V8s, double your fuel consumption!

Well, of course it has a turbo. Only a total poseur would put a fake hood vent on his Grand Marquis if it didn't have a turbo.

Oh yeah. As though it couldn't get any more perfect. The guy must've robbed every single stick-on accessory from this place. I can't imagine any sane person actually buying all those. That's gotta be a couple hundred bucks worth of adhesive-backed plastic junk.

I really hope that's intentional.

Who are you trying to kid? The R33 wasn't even made by Suzuki, and even if it were, this car isn't even close. Though it is AWD. Maybe it's a reference to the owner's age. Yeah, I'll pretend that, even though it makes no sense.

 See, now THIS is a baby R33. Ask Alberto, he'll tell you.

Oh yeah, look at all those brand names! None of which are actually on the car! Pro tip for all you aspiring car guys: maroon and yellow are not friends.

 Obligatory wing and fart cannon.

I love the contrast of the fake wood dashboard trim and the nasty yellow aftermarket seat, steering wheel, and (for the love of...) seat belt covers! That's dedication. I suppose it carries through to the inside the yellow from the decals outside.

Think I'm going to make fun of the American Racing rims on a Japanese car? It's good for a giggle, sure, but I can't get away with that. I have AR rims on my Mazda. What you should look closely at though is that the owner even added decals to the wheels. LOBO! This man is the wolf! Ugh. He must have a buddy that does stickers. No sane person would pay for all this.

Alright, an interesting import! I couldn't get a decent photo of it, but that there is a Citroën Deux Chevaux. France's response to the Beetle. Spotted in Sycamore, and no, not on the weekend where they have that car show. Pretty neat to see, though in a really goddamned gross color combination. What did I say about yellow combined with reddish hues?

Chevrolet HHR owner loves shopping enough to get a vanity plate. Too bad s/he didn't spend more time shopping for a car. What a miserable me-too mobile. If you're gonna buy a sad, slow, retro-imitating penalty box, go all out and just buy the damned PT Cruiser already.

 Better still to skip the retro and go right to vintage. '66 Mini Cooper is mini indeed.

Sunuvabitch has 10-inch wheels. No shit.

Definitely the last thing I expected to see in the morning at work. Buh. Thankfully, he didn't hang around long.

Hipsters in an orange Gremlin. Thank you, Chicago. Did look nice in orange, though I suspect that's a respray.

Think that "X" over the rear fender means something sporty or cool? Nah, not really. Wikipedia says it was just an appearance package.

Speaking of appearance packages, what's the stupidest one of all? You guessed it: the Brabus-edition Smart Fortwo! Major price hike for some big wheels, showy center exhaust, and a lot of stickers. But zero actual performance upgrades. I can only hope the fool who bought this got it on a serious discount, salesman begging him to take it instead of the standard models on his lot.

I saw the Wienermobile again. Very weird to see it twice on the interstate.

Alright, seriously look at this. The truck has some plastic trim that is supposed to go along the edge of the running boards, but it started to come off. Instead of ripping it off -- because, judging by the rust, age, and missing trim on the front door, looks aren't exactly a priority here -- the owner decided to tie up the shitty trim! To the fuel door! Yeah! What the hell is the point?  Just tear the goddamned thing off!

A salad kit that reminds you of high-profile assassination.

A new piece on my desk. It's a gift from a guy I work with. I previously kept my pens and things in a Hormel Chili with BEANS (emphasis original). I think I prefer the chili, actually, but this is cool too.

Beer-shaped meat. I'd rather have a murder salad.

If you can't stomach the thought of beer-meat, flush it out with a Smooth Move.
I really do appreciate blunt marketing, especially for things that are normally tiptoed around. I'm still waiting for that idea to hit tampon ads.

There's something wrong here, but I'm not sure what.

Wasn't I saying something about nerds earlier?

Haha! It says anus!

END.