Jan's El Camino

Earlier, I posted a few photos of my father-in-law's '66 Chevy Impala.  Today's post will be about his other ride, a 1986 Chevy El Camino.  Sadly, Jan lost his four year battle with cancer and both cars need to find new, appreciative owners.  I'd buy the El Camino for myself but lack the required garage space.  Anyway, let's take a look.

The truck is in overall good condition with no body rot.  Jan repainted the truck himself last fall.  His efforts produced what I'd call a "ten foot" paint job, meaning that it is serviceable, protective and looks good from ten feet away.  Ultra fastidious collectors would probably want to have it repainted by a professional but I'd drive it "as is" and not worry about the inevitable nicks and paint chips that a non-trailer queen is going to acquire.

Here she is from the stern.  This truck came from Texas which probably accounts for both the lack of corrosion and also that the sun-bleached original paint needed sprucing up.

The bed is neat and tidy and features a fitted floor liner.

Classic mid-80s grill and rectangular quad headlamps.

View from the passenger's side.

The original cloth interior is still very presentable.

There are no cracks in the vinyl dash cover.

Last night I installed a new battery and she fired right up after sitting idle for several months.  Note that the 350 V/8 has good oil pressure at 1200 RPM.

Street Rod Wrap Up.

Today's post will wrap up my walk down hot rod memory lane.  This Ford is a throw back to the style of the hot rods that raced out on the dry lake beds in California during the late 30s and 40s.

Here's a shot of the cockpit.

Lake pipes.  I've heard two different stories about how this type of "cut out" exhaust got it's name.  One explanation is that the pipes were made by a company called Lake Manufacturing.  The other explanation I've heard is that this style of side exhaust was generic to and typically seen on rods which raced on the lake beds.  Maybe someone seeing this post can comment on this little mystery for me.

This "T-bucket", based on a '23 model T Ford, is another early style of street rod.

Back in high school, a friend's sister had a '56 Crown Vic like this one.

Fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror--a nostalgic touch.

Several of my high school buddies had early 50s Fords.  This is a 1950.

Some might not think of a Chevy Corvair as a hot rod, but the ones with the factory tubro-charged engines or the ones tweaked by racer Don Yenko were both quick and handled well for a rear engined car.

Here's a look at the Corvair's engine room; a working man's Porsche...

Finally, I'll leave you with a look at an iconic '57 Chevy Bel Air.  I've always been a sucker for tail fins--it must be the American in me!

Street Rods--Take Two.

Next to catch my eye was this '34 Ford coupe.

There's just something about a flame paint job...

No Street Rod gathering would be complete without a little deuce coupe,

or a GTO. 

As much as I like them for their practicality, I've got to admit--nobody writes rock 'n roll songs about Volvo station wagons.

Not all the rods had pristine paint jobs.  This Dodge Brothers pick-up is a work in progress.

This model A Ford ice cream truck was popular.  I like the row of little brass bells above the wind screen.

"She's real fine, my 409"; another car, another song.

The real deal.

"Moon Equipped"

Supercharged '40 Ford

The Ford's blower.  The Grey Marine 2-stroke diesels I worked on in the service had these same GM 671 blowers.

 That's enough eye-candy for one session.  I'll continue with a few pix in my next post.

Street Rods!

Growing up in southeastern Pennsylvania there was an oft repeated saying " If it ain't Dutch it ain't much".  I think that hot rodders must have a similar expression along the lines of "If it ain't Street it ain't neat" because this past Saturday the annual street rod gathering came to my home town and I think that just about every street rod for miles around descended on the local strip mall parking lot where the event is usually held.  This same venue hosts a Hot Rod "hang out" on most rain-free Monday evenings during the summer months but the Monday night hang-outs draw a small, local group of mostly, but not exclusively American cars--I've even taken Xenopus over to a Monday night gathering and didn't get tarred, feathered and run out of town, so the Hot Rodders are an accommodating crowd.  As is my usual trend, I took too many pix for one post so check back in a few days if you're inclined to look at stuff like this.

First up was this very pretty '69 Z/28 Camaro.  Back when these cars were new they were the main competition for the 302 engined Ford Mustangs in the Trans-Am racing series.  Why exactly 302 cubic inches for the engine displacement?  It was because that size came closest to the 5 liter maximum engine size permitted by the racing rules governing those races.  The 302 v8 was a specially designed engine.  The more common Chevy engines from this era were the 307 and the 350.  Chevrolet made just enough of the Z/28 with the expensive to build 302 v8 to satisfy the homologation rule: the Trans-Am series was supposedly for "production" cars rather than high priced racers but both GM and Ford built cars to win no matter what--so much for rules keeping down the cost of racing.  Back in '69 I almost bought a Z28.  The local dealer had a beautiful dark green one with the white stripes on the show room floor.  We came to within $60.00 on the purchase price but neither of us would budge further.  I walked out the door and kept my '66 Mustang for another year.

This '59 Buick Electra was nicely turned out.  Note the art work on the inside of the hood.

Next up was this '36 Ford pick-up.

This was one of only a handful of rods to retain a flat head v8.

This blog spot has become wonky for some reason so I'll stop here and continue later.

Morfars '66 Impala

Morfar is Swedish for grandfather, more specifically one's mother's father.  Recently our children's maternal GP lashed out and bought himself a nicely preserved 1966 Chevy Impala from an ebay seller way up in Minnetonka, Minnesota.  Apologies in advance for date/time stamps.  I was borrowing Mother-in-law's camera.

An imposing beast by today's standards with lots of leg room for both front and rear seat occupants.

This car has the well known 283 cubic inch v8 and 2-speed power glide automatic gearbox.

Love that speedometer!  138,000 miles on the "clock".

Quad headlights were all the rage back in the '60s.

Every proper turnpike cruiser needs a 37 acre trunk.  I remember when my mother's luggage included a hat box and small cosmetics case which matched, but were separate from the normal sized suit cases.  Somehow travel seemed more elegant and unhurried then even if cars generally lacked modern day "must haves" such as air conditioning and power windows.

You're a long way from your old home...

The metallic blue suits the car.

Vroom, Vroom!