A Legend Passes

Boyd Coddington passed away early February 27th, 2008. When I read the news, it froze me inside. How could someone larger than life suddenly go away like that? It doesn't seem possible. Many of us only know Mr. Coddington from the wildly successful cable shows and his hectic appearances at car shows across North America. In fact he was to appear at Performance World 2008 in March in Mississauga, Ontario. I'd like to mention that what you saw on television is only a small part of the Coddington experience and persona. Television is not "reality" no matter how the pr dudes and hacks sell it. Coddington had a family life and a thousand other real world concerns that bother everyone else including you and me. He was a human being and his sudden passing means big changes for his family. Rat rods, classic hot rods, customs, full out fat fender cars and a general healthy street rod scene can be partially attributed to Boyd's life long passion. A hobby he did during his off hours as a machinist blossomed into the remarkable career we saw on television. His flame was short compared to George Barris, but man was it bright! Sleep warm buddy.

Show versus Project cars..who has more fun?

Some cars are just too difficult to bring back to show standards. In a way, this relieves a lot of pressure on the owner. We have long ago lost the innocent era where good driving big blocks were ten thousand dollar cars and an excellent one touched $22,000, tops. Intense pressure is forced upon hobbyists to put a car back to original as close as possible. Trouble is, some cars are never going to able to meet that. A good case in point is Hemmings Muscle Machines' March 2008 cover car. Here is a meticulously restored 1970 Hemi Charger with enough documentation to justify the current national debt. Fabulous colors, great options, build sheet, dealer invoices, the list goes on. Small problem though, the original engine grenaded on an interstate highway in 1976. Steve Segal got really lucky finding what turned out to be the very next hemi engine on the assembly line. It's about as close as it'll ever get to numbers matching. Steve enjoys his car and doesn't worry about getting it a little sideways once in awhile. He's a lucky man, the stress is off. My way of viewing the hobby is a little different from most people. We are never going to see an age like the 1960s again for performance. The really good ones that are solid, numbers matching desirable cars are eventually going to be too risky to drive like we used to. I see cars with missing drivelines as opportunities to go back 20 years and build a car up the way tou want it to be without stress, guilt and expense where you didn't want to spend money in the first place. I don't hate clones, they have a place in our hobby. I hate people who deliberately mis represent their cars for profit, but not the cars. The cars are victims.Now, just look at this little beauty for example. A 1972 GTO 455HO car in Lucerne Blue with buckets. It has no engine or transmission and the front end is rough, rough, rough. Looks like a great place to start a driver project doesn't it? You could weld up the frame rails and make it a boxed chassis for strength and then drop in a nice 468 and built TH400. The possibilities are endless.

1975-1982 Corvette buying tips

I get letters, emails and phone calls around this time of year from all sorts of people. Many of them are planning their first Corvette purchase. I've met a number of couples excited about buying a Stingray. Some were clueless about sorting good cars from pigs. The market has changed a bit and vettes that were formerly in the price doldrums are moving smartly upwards. My analysis is we're seeing the thin edge of a big price increase wedge for 1975-1982 era vettes.The next five years will be strong for "post bumper" C3 vettes. We're no longer on the ground floor for super bargains, but the escalator is just beginning to rise. You can still pull a good car for easy money. Do you know how to spot a good one?
By 1975 Corvette had changed in significant ways in order to survive. Ironically, those changes are helping them climb the appreciation curve. 1975 was the last year for the convertible and the first for cat converters, HEI ignition and single exhaust. 1976 was the first year Joe Average could get N90 aluminum mags. 1978 was the year of 25th Anniversary and Indy Pace Car.1981 was the last year for manual transmissions and 1982 offered the Collector's Edition. Something for everyone you might say.
Market activity for 1975-82 vettes has been encouraging. Recorded sales since 2003 have shown appreciation with highest gains going to pace cars, Silver Anns and L-82 cars. In 1994, the average price for a healthy stock '75 vette was $6,000 USD. Add a grand for a high horse model and two grand for a ragtop. Today you're looking at $18,500 for an average T-Top car. A convertible is serious money now. Expect anywhere from $33,600 for a driver to $51,500 for a great example.Few were made and survivors fall either into unmolested or restored with nothing in between.
It's a similar tale with 1980 cars. In 1994 you could nab one for $8,000 in good condition. $12,000 netted you a 230 hp model. Today, expect to pay $18,800 for cars decent cars and anywhere from $31,000 to $33,000 for nicer ones with the cool options. If you want NCRS quality, Top Flight or Bloomington example vettes, expect to pay a lot more.
What do you have to look for on these cars? I spend 80 percent of my time checking the frame and bodywork and the remaining percent on the drivetrain and interior. Corvette frames have problems with rust especially just before the axle kick ups. Inspect the boxed ends in front of the rear wheel arches by hand.Poke around and check the top part of the frame not visible to the eye. You want it to be solid. Inspect it on a lift to be sure. Also check the IRS and be sure the bushings, differential support and leaf springs are good.Some model years have metal floor pans, check them for rust of course. Check the body to frame mounts for signs of deterioration, tears and misalignment. The main rails must be straight and free of corrosion. The front frame section holds the engine and is best inspected from underneath by hoist. Look for scratches and weld marks. This section is so thick, any frame repairs there will be from welding. The headlamps should open and close in unision without delay. Vacuum leaks usually account for delays. Sometimes, the pods hang up on the fascias caused by misalignment or shoddy replacement fascias. Either could be a sign of accident damage. If you're a "numbers match" guy, bring your note book along and check out the codes. I check them when a customer asks but it takes time. If it passes all this, you probably have a good one. Check the interior out for missing parts. This is a problem on older vettes and the 1975 is the one that causes trouble here. Lots of one year only trim and replacing worn seats and door panels can get pricey. The other years are all right but you don't want to be replacing an entire pace car interior! If dash gauages aren't working, inquire further. They aren't too expensive to buy but it's a warning flag. Spotty electrics on a fiberglass car raises questions about accident repair. Any issues that can be tied to body off repairs should be inspected. This leads us to checking the panels for fit and signs of repair. Corvette bodies are fiberglass and molded in sections, held together by bonding strips. Check the wheel wells, inner fenders, fuel tank door and chassis mounts for signs of removal. A restored car will have new rubber mounts of course. It's replacement patches or panels you're looking for. Some of the cheap panels aren't even molded on the inside, leaving rough fiber. The bonding strips won't be in the correct places. Your test drive may also reveal frame damage by inconsistent handling. Rest assured that 90 percent of the cars are going to be pretty good. It's the ten percent you don't want.

a rare winter time blast

Normally you don't see classic muscle cars being driven in the dead of winter. Especially with the crazy snowfalls we've beeen experiencing. I'm content to store my babies until April or May. This time something weird came up. My storage place suddenly went on the real estate market with pending renovations and what not happening. Basically, it meant my slot was gone. I frantically called around looking for storage but in this neck of the woods, everything good is filled up. Fortunately, my sister has a garage and she generously offered it to me. I took it of course! Next was arranging a shot gun rider to come along and help take the GTO to the garage and shuttle me back home. It was a 3 and a half hour journey all told plus a final drive to home. Ray stepped up to the plate and cheerfully helped out. We were blessed with good weather today and managed to pull into town, dry and safe. I washed the body off with soap and rinsed it before storage to remove any salt dust. Once we closed the door, it was entombed in a wood lined garage.Perfect for sucking out excess moisture. The GTO rode like a champ and had plenty of power to spare. I suspect the rear axle is a 3.55 ratio or lower because even with massive 15 inch radius by 27 1/2 tall tires out back, at 60 mph she revs around 2,400 rpm. If I change the tires to the proper size, it'll pick up revs and become a traffic light terror. The high fives and envious stares on the 401 were priceless. I'm looking forward to showing this bad boy off comne spring!

1972 Chevelle LS5 ragtop registry

Those gnarly big block Chevelle SS cars from the 1960s really made memories for the lucky owners who bought them. No one knew it at the time, but 1972 was the curtain call for the factory big block convertible Chevelle.It was the last year for the classic A body shell, a design so successful, it carried GM for five years. Unprecedented for a mainline intermediate. Sure one of those years was due to a UAW strike in 1971, but the design was good enough to be updated and please buyers used to 2 year turnarounds.
Today the Chevelle is a classic design and Stan Kryla in New Jersey is starting a registry to track down any and all known LS5 SS 454 Chevelle convertibles from 1972.To date, 19 cars have been accounted for out of the 70 examples believed to have been produced. Three of them are in Canada. Stan would love to hear from other LS5 rag top owners, be they project cars, restored or original owners. Just in case you forgot, we have included a pic or two of these sunshine machines. The beautiful showboat at the bottom is Troy Brey's ride. He also supplied the picture of two of the 3 known Canadian survivors, drag racing in Calgary for this blog which is great since you don't see one of these every day!Troy also had some neat facts in his letter, 99 Yenko Chevelles were made and only 36 known survivors are listed.
In 1970, Chevy made 95 LS6 Chevelle ragtops but only 26 known survivors are accounted for. For 1972, it gets grim, 70 believed to have been made, only 19 found so far. Check out Stan's thread at www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread/php?t=201785