Tag Archives: classic cars

How to Identify an L88 Corvette

Identifying a car can be a difficult task, and an L88 Corvette is no accept ion, the very first thing you have to look at, is the price of the car, in this day and age an L88 Corvette can easily run 100,000 dollars or more, and if you’ve located an Corvette for sale and the person selling the car is representing it as an L88, and the price is low “BEWARE” of a scam right up front, these are very rare and hard to find cars, and even a wrecked one can run 30,000 dollars or more. Now down to the brass tacks, the first thing that I would look at is the engine codes, such as the RPO code and casting numbers to make sure that the engine is an L88, there are however some tell tail signs, keep in mind that not every L88 had the 3X2 carburetor option installed on it, this was an add on known as the L71 tri-power option, now an L88 is a 427 CID engine, that normally came with a single Holley 850 double pumper carburetor, so just because you don’t see a tri-power set-up on the car does not mean that it’s not an L88 427 car. A true L88 Corvette is a rare find, so you can feel lucky if you happen to find one, also available was the L89 aluminum head option, that would shave 75 pounds of the front end weight of the car, if your lucky enough that the car that you plan to buy has a build sheet with it, you can know exactly what the car came with from the factory, but again this is a rare find in the classic car world. On the engine the RPO code is located on a machined pad in front of the passenger side head, the RPO will tell you what year the engine was built, what engine it is, and usually what transmission was attached to the engine, it will also reveal what manufacturing plant built the engine, the casting number will also tell you what year the engine is, how many main caps it has and the horsepower of the engine, with the pro code you need to look closely because people have been known to machine and re-stamp these numbers, if the RPO code does not match the casting number in any way, be very leery of the deal that your about to make, ask a lot of questions. When deciphering the RPO code on the front of the engine it helps to know how to read the stampings this is a typical reading for a 1957 – 69 RPO code.

1) The first digit represents the plant that the engine was built at 2) The next two digits represent the month that the engine was built 3) The next two represent the day that the engine was built 4) The last two are the suffix code The suffix code is what will tell you what engine is in the car, and what options it has, below you’ll find a list of the codes for the 427 Engine. Horsepower Transmission, Options Suffix Code 390 4-Speed, Hydraulic Lifters, Special Cam, 4BBL Carburetor IL 390 4-Speed, Hydraulic Lifters, Special Cam, 4BBL Carburetor, AIR IM 390 Powerglide, Hydraulic Lifters, Special Cam, 4BBL IQ 390 Powerglide, Hydraulic Lifters, Special Cam, 4BBL, AIR IR 400 4-Speed, L36 Engine, 3X2 Carburetors JC 400 Powerglide, L36 Engine, 3X2 Carburetors JD 400 4-Speed, L36 Engine, 3X2 Carburetors, AIR JF 400 Powerglide, L36 Engine, 3X2 Carburetors, AIR JG 430 M22 4-Speed, 4BBL, Special high performance cam IT 435 4-Speed, 3X2 Carbs, L71 Engine, Aluminum Heads IU 435 4-Speed, Mechanical Lifters, 3X2 Carbs, AIR JA 435 4-Speed, Mechanical Lifters, 3X2 Carbs JE 435 4-Speed, L71 Engine, 3X2 Carbs, Aluminum Heads, AIR JH These codes are for the 1967 year, if you need codes for another year, please send an email to blogmaster@muscle-car-resto.com and let us know what you need, we want to help you make an educated decision about your Corvette purchase.

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The Old Timers Way

I was chatting with this old boy about the L88 Corvette, and the ZL1 Camaro, he gave me a call from over 2000 miles away, to ask about an article that I had written, and this phone call spawned a new idea for another web site, but that’s a topic for later, we got talking about the differences between the old and the new, and all the changes that have taken place in cars over the years. Some of them were advances, and some not what they bragged them up to be, form my point of view, I think the single biggest advance is in the machining processes that they have these days, a lot of people would disagree, saying that computers and electronics are the biggest advances, so as you see, there are at least two ways of thinking on this issue. I’m not stupid enough to think that the computer hasn’t played a huge role in the way that new cars perform, but without the engine, the car in useless, even with the computer, oh and without a transmission the car won’t move, point made, the machining processes have allowed us to squeeze more power out of the engine it’s self, and then after that the computers and electronics will do an awesome job of doing the fine tuning of the engine and transmission. The machining processes have made it so we can run 10W30 oil in a transmission, rather then 90 weight gear oil, and this is a huge step in the right direction, in the old days, if we had dumped 10W30 weight oil in a transmission, it would have ran out of it like water from your kitchen sink, but these days we can put those light weight oils in a transmission and it works great. You can bet that when I find the right 1967 Corvette to buy, the first upgrade it will get is a new 5 or 6 speed Keisler transmission installed in it, not only do I get the extra gear or two, but I don’t have to run 90 weight gear oil in the transmission, it will shift smoother, and handle more torque and horsepower, I don’t discount the computers and electronics, and what they have done for car, I just like to give credit where it’s due. Electronics have defiantly made it easier to make the horsepower these days, anybody can have a fuel injection on their engine these days, and it’s not a hard installation, the worse part is the wiring, in the old days it wasn’t easy for just anybody to have a fuel injection system on their car, in those days you seen them on the race track, rather then the street, because we didn’t have electronic fuel management, it was all done by the fuel pump, and this meant a lot of work to keep it running, you not only had to be sure that your spark timing was right, but the timing that the fuel pump that delivered the fuel to each injector, we don’t have to worry about those things any more, it’s all done behind the seens in the computer.

I’ve been in the automotive business for about 20 or 25 years, I have worked in all facets of the industry, from parts to restoration, all different makes and models, I just want to keep people interested in the old cars because it’s where my heart is.

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Body Work & Metal Shaping; Part 3

Ok boys and girls, now that you have the filler put in the car, and finished to 180 grit sand paper, it’s time to shoot the primer to the body work areas, and the first thing that you want to do is make sure that your spray gun is 100% clean, you don’t want to aim the gun and spray a bunch of crap on the car, this one the best ways that I can think of to make your job harder when it comes time to sand the primer, smooth primer is a basic necessity for a good out come on your paint job. After you make sure that your gun is clean, you can begin to mix the primer, I recommend that you use a urethane or epoxy based primer for the best results, now when it come to missing that primer, you’ll need to follow that instructions on the can of primer that you buy, or ask the people at the store where you purchase the primer what the mixing ratios are for the particular brand that you bought, and also if you’ve never mixed paint or primer before, you may want to ask them to show you how to read the mixing cup, as this can be just a bit confusing to t first time painter. When mixing the primer the first thing that you want to do is, get out the mixing cup, and read the ratios on the side of it, be sure that you understand how these work, if you don’t, then do yourself a favor and drive back to your local paint store and ask again, these guys really do know their products, and their usually glad to help you, some will have a 4:1:1 mixing ratio and others will have a 2:1:1 ratio depending on the manufacture, in a nut shell this is how that ratios work, for this article let’s say that the product paint mixing ratio is 4:1:1, this would mean that in the mixing cup, you’d first pour the primer, and on the mixing cup find the 4:1:1 ratio, make sure that you pay close attention here, now that you have located the correct ratio, you can add the primer to the mixing cup. Depending on how big the spots that you need to prime are you can mix as much as you need, so let’s say for this article that you just have some small spots, let’s say three of them about 6 inches wide by 6 inches tall, so you take a look at the mixing cup, the area is relatively small, so you pour the primer in to the mixing cup, until it reaches the second mark on the 4:1:1 ratio this means that you have your 4 parts of primer that the manufacture calls for, now you’ll add the reducer to the mix, remember that the mix is 4:1:1 so it works out to a ¼ mix, this would mean that you add the reducer up to the next mark in the 1 column and then max it with a stir stick, and last but not least add the hardener to the mix, and it will also be up to the next line in the 1 column, and then stir it until every thing is mixed correctly. Ok now get your spray gun, and put a paint filter in the top of it, and pour the primer in to the gun, once the primer is in the gun, plug the gun in to your air source, and pull the trigger to the first setting, where just air is coming out of the gun, and look at the pressure gauge on the gun, this should be set at 30 – 35 psi for proper paint flow, next you’ll want a piece of masking paper, or something that you can do a test spray of the gun on, you’ll want to hold the gun from 4 – 6 inches from the spot that your spraying, now that you have the gun at about the right distance, you can pull the trigger, what you’ll be looking for is a spray pattern about 6 inches wide that has full coverage, or no bare spot in the middle of the spray pattern, ok now that you have this done, you can begin to spray the spots that have body work done on them, I usually get 3 coats of primer on the spots that I have worked before spraying the entire car with 3 coats of primer, when you spray the primer you’ll want to wait about 15 minutes between coats of primer, so it will get the correct adhesion between coats, don’t think for a minute that spraying paint or primer is easy, you will run it on your first try, until you figure out the speed that you need to move the gun along the car at, if you move to slow, you’ll get runs, to fast and you won’t get enough product on the car, now that you have your body work areas under primer, you’ll need to wait for the primer to tack up, and then you can primer the entire car, with no less then three coats of primer. Ok now that you have the entire car under primer, you can spray the guide coat on the primer, basically guide coat is just a special black paint that makes it easier for you to the how level and smooth the paint is, what the guide coat will do is, after the primer has dried for 24 hours, and it’s time to sand, you’ll bust out a hand sanding block, usually these are made out of wood, and they come in a range of sizes, your going to load the block with 180 grit sand paper, and sane the car in an “X” pattern to assure smoothness, now that you have the sanding block loaded, you begin to sand the primer, and you will go through the primer on the first sanding of the car, so don’t worry about it, what you’ll notice first of all is that some of the guide coat is not coming off of the car. That is because the guide coat is staying in the low spots, if these areas won’t sand out, then you’ll have to add some more metal glaze those areas, and again, don’t worry about this, you will be adding more primer to the car, once you have gotten the whole car sanded, and there is no guide coat left, your ready for your final prime, and if your looking for a ultra smooth paint job, you need to pay close attention to how smooth the car is before you do the final prime on it, this will make all the difference to how your paint looks, you can’t spend to much time on this part of the process, good prep means good paint. Learn How To Restore Your Car Muscle Car Information Project Cars For Sale

I’ve been in the automotive business for about 20 or 25 years, I have worked in all facets of the industry, from parts to restoration, all different makes and models, I just want to keep people interested in the old cars because it’s where my heart is.

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Classic Car History - The 1959 Cadillac Series 62

The 1959 Cadillac was the brainchild of Designer Harley Earl, who drew on the inspiration of American space travel and rockets for his design. The 59 Cadillac was the pinnacle of the American auto design excess. With tail fins that rose a full 42 inches off the ground, rocket flare tail lights, quad headlights and massive chrome bumpers, a body length of over 20 ft, this was the ultimate Cadillac for grabbing attention. The ’59’s outrageous fins are accentuated by its very low profile, which is 3 inches lower that the ‘58 model’s already low profile.

Harley Earl was directly responsible for the design of 50 million vehicles and completely changed the face of the American automobile in the 1950’s. No single man has had such an impact on the shape of American auto design and no one man has been guilty of so many design excesses. Included in his space-themed design were other images such as chrome denture like grilles, dashboards that looked like they belonged to jet fighters with dozens of switches and controls, bumpers protrusions known as “Dagmars”, hood ornaments which looked like missile launchers.

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Is a Classic Car Right For You?

A vintage or classic car can bring you great joy, but it may also be painfully expensive. The truth is vintage car ownership can sometimes be an illusion because not everyone is suited to the hobby, financially or otherwise. The good news is that by using these tips with caution you could soon be at the wheel of the car of your dreams. Some of which may be as old as the car you’re about to buy.

Ask yourself if you can really afford a vintage or classic, remembering that if something breaks it could end up costing a small fortune in repairs. This is especially true of rare or exotic vehicles. Parts may be hard to find, thus the car could be out of service for a lengthy period. Can you handle repairs on your own? Got the talent and experience for restoration? Great… but if not, be prepared to dig deep.

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Road Trip - Vintage Car Auction

I might be running 33 years late but I’m certainly making up for lost time. I am undergoing a most demanding induction course into the automobilia world and steering me unflinchingly, while barely peering over the dashboard, is my eight year old son. Whisper it softly but I do vaguely recall a passing infatuation with cars at that age. The passing soon passed, however, and I became deeply immersed in footballing ephemera instead. It wasn’t enough for me to simply play or even, from time to time, attend a big match. I can remember still the pinch of excitement as I opened my new packets of football stickers, sharing joy and pain with my friends, concocting shady transfer deals behind closed doors and wondering if I was ever going to see George Best again. This was but a prelude to a more sinister development, whereby I started recording the results of imaginary matches in my exercise books, complete with scorers, half times, crowds and league positions, if appropriate. Oh, I did things properly. If they’d handed out prizes for footballing obsession, I’d have hoovered up every time.

There is often a thin dividing line between passion and obsession and my son is already starting to exhibit some disturbing parallels with his father. My relationship with cars hitherto has been strictly of the A to B variety. In other words, as long as I can reach my destination safely, securely and speedily, I’m a pretty happy bunny. I am strangely unmoved by upholstery, sound systems, alloy wheels and other delights. I have never spent an afternoon washing my car. My son, however, spent an hour painstakingly polishing and sprucing his car yesterday. And as for the remote control, glad you asked, a solid ten minutes checking the electrics.

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American Classic Cars I Have Owned

Some of the Detroit Iron manufactured after WWII until about 1980 can be considered Rolling Art. Several Companies like Packard, Hudson and Studebaker ceased building cars for one reason or another during the early part of this span, but they and the traditional big 3, Ford, GM and Chrysler did turn out some masterpieces.

As a kid just old enough to think about getting a drivers license, I would sit in my tree house and fantasize about the latest crop of finned behemoths pictured in the car magazines of the time. After careful consideration I would rank them according to style and features that I could really relate to and desired to possess. Always decisions. Should I have twin rear antennas and dual spotlights or would one of each do. Wire wheels were really neat as were the two and three tone paint jobs. I ended up choosing the most streamlined and elegant looking as my favorites always deferring to clean rather than clutter. I wasn’t one for fuzzy dice hanging from the rear view mirror, instead preferring power windows and air conditioning. Of course I always opted for the biggest V8 option and always dual exhaust both for easy engine breathing and the sound.

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The Auto Writer, Part IV

Ford’s Slow Selling Hybrids

It looks as if consumers are agreeing with my stance regarding hybrid cars: they just aren’t worth the premium price. Only the $21,000 Toyota Prius is selling fairly well with sales for all hybrid models dropping across the board.

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What Is The Best Car To Restore?

I got asked a question the other day, really quite a ridiculous one if you think about it, one of the people who knows me, and knows what a car freak I really am posed the question, what is the best car to restore, this question really has no answer to it. The best car to restore is all up to you, are you looking for a cheap car to restore, possibly a car that is easy to get parts for, like a Mustang , Camaro, or a Chevelle, or GTO, are you looking for a car that doesn’t have a lot of work to do to get it restored, maybe you don’t care if it takes 10 or 15 years to restore, because your just doing it for the fun and pleasure of building your own car. A good place to start, is to think about what your favorite car is, and start there, look for your favorite year, make , and model, once you have found that, that you can begin locating one that’s in the condition that your looking for, but keep this in mind, if your looking for cheap, and by cheap I mean $10,000 or less, you should not be looking for perfect either, there is a compromise here, between condition and price, a car will jump thousands of dollars going from number 3 condition to number 2. A number 2 car is described as a car that’s not perfect, but has very few flaws, and most of the factory installed options are still on the car, such as, the original engine is still there, transmission, most of the interior, and the paint is in fair to good condition, whereas a number 3 car would have a bit rougher body, with maybe even faded paint, and a little rust here and there, and it may not have the original engine, transmission, or interior still in the car. What you should think about is what your going to do with the car, are you a purest, who has to have everything as it was from the factory, or do you want to hot rod your newly found love of your life, if your going to hot rod the car, you certain should not be paying the extra money for a number 1, or number 2 condition car, look for a 3 or lower for a project like this, you can save oodles of cash just by shopping smart. But if you’re a purest looking for a factory perfect restore, then it could be a very wise idea to look for a car that is in very good shape to begin with, it will make the restoration of the car cost a lot less, especially in parts and labor, these areas are where a restoration can sky rocket in cost, so this really all boils down to what you want to do with the car, if it’s a show car, then you will be spending a grundle of cash on it any way, if you want to win a show with it, you’re more then likely not going to win a lot of shows with a daily driver, and that poses yet another choice. Do you want to drive the car, or show it, usually a street driver does not make a good show car, if you think about it, that daily driver gets parked in parking lots, and gets door dings, scratches and other anomalies that will happen just because you drive the car, whereas a show car, will never see a door ding, rock chip or any other nastiness that may happen to your daily driver, so think about what’s more fun for you, and your personality, and that is the best way to decide what car to buy.

I’ve been in the automotive business for about 20 or 25 years, I have worked in all facets of the industry, from parts to restoration, all different makes and models, I just want to keep people interested in the old cars because it’s where my heart is.

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The Whole Story

I’ve been around cars for a long time, I started playing with them at age 12, and have never quit, well I guess I tried a couple of times, but it’s really not possible, once you have the bug, you’re done, I though at one time, that I would give up the whole idea of building custom cars and go in to electronics, and then after that it was computers, but I always end up back with cars. I love them, I love everything about them, but mostly I love the old ones, the custom paint, and body work, cars still fascinate me to this very day, I still turn my head when a cool car drives by, I go to all the show that I can, I try to keep up on all the latest technology and events in the car world, and to help other people learn about them, and learn to love them gives me a great joy and satisfaction. I will continue to do this as long as I live, I mean just look at what the car companies are doing these days, the 2006 ZO6 corvette is a good example of what technology has done for cars, I used to hate the whole idea of a computer in a car, but I seen the 505 HP 427 CID small block Chevy in the corvette, and I was aw stricken with what Chevy had done, and things can only get better, with the advent of new fuels to run our cars on, we could see a lot of changes in the next a few years, this is an every day driver, and that alone is an amazing feat. I run about eight web sites that help to educate people about the old, and the new cars, and that combined with the regular job is a large task, that is done in an effort to create more interest the cars for the younger people, as well as the older people, a car is one of the best ways to express who you are, and what you like, it will show people your creativity, and let them know who you are, a car will give you a deep sense of satisfaction in life, to this point in time, I haven’t found a single drawback to the love of my car. This is what I aim to inspire in other people who read my articles, or visit my web sites, the love of cars is a deep seated need to express self by turning your car in to a real work of art, it takes a lot of time and patients to build a car, it takes a love for yourself and your car, it shows people that you have the drive to follow through on a large project, and complete it with pride and accuracy, it shows them who you are. Learn how to restore your car Muscle cars muscle car restroation

I’ve been in the automotive business for about 20 or 25 years, I have worked in all facets of the industry, from parts to restoration, all different makes and models, I just want to keep people interested in the old cars because it’s where my heart is.

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The Manual Drive 541S Jensen British Classic Car

Values A phenomenal amount of interest in classic cars a few years ago, caused much to be published and prices to escalate beyond belief.

This was at a time when an Aston Martin Zagato, racing car (that never won a race), sold for over a million and a half pounds. An ‘E’ type Jaguar commanded as much as £90,000 for what was a mass produced car (and so many were made in the 12 years of production). It is not so surprising that many enthusiasts were unable to afford an interesting classic. Since those heady days the situation has changed dramatically, the recession, resulted in more sensible prices for most classic cars.

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Tips On Creating A Personalized Show Board - Part 1

Over the years I have learned a lot about how car owners add that personal touch to their car and I have to thank the many owners that helped me to better understand the desires of these enthusiasts. The car enthusiast is a proud group that often has many unique ideas that would differentiate their car, but they may not be sure how to accomplish it. Examples include the idea of having small circular photographs of the owners car that can be inserted in the center of wheels, to having custom step magnets for placement on the running boards of that custom coupe to keep people from stepping to get a better look. By collecting all of this information it is obvious that it is the subtle points that distinguish two almost identical cars

The owners that have taken their car show display to the next level have incorporated show boards into their display. The main intent of this board is to provide the viewer with information that the owner considers to be key about the car. The information ranges from the year, make and model, to more specific details about the engine, drive train and chassis. The next major element of the show board is tying it to the car, which is often a picture or pictures. Many boards have a standard layout of a front quarter view on the top, and a rear quarter view on the bottom, or other key element.

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The Top 3 Ways to Look For A Classic Car Online

It’s annoying, I know, but it certainly is effective. The time and energy doing the research might seem annoying but it’s always worth it in the end. Imagine being 3 clicks from the find of your life. That’s the way the classic car market works online. I must admit to being a little bit of a classic car enthusiast myself. Furthermore, I must admit to being a diligent researcher. So, when I’m looking to either buy or examine the collection of classic cars for sale, it’s not too tough. So, I’m going to give you a couple of hints of where to start looking (hint, it’s not the mighty Google. Though, Google is fantastic for a whole bunch of reasons- a high stock price not being last on the list!).

1)Forums. This tip is generally only known to people in the know. There are a ton of forums (basically online community discussion boards) for just about any hobby that you can think of. This certainly includes classic cars. There are probably dozens, if not hundreds, of classic car forums that you can find. And the best part is that a lot of these forums allow the forum members to post live links. The links can either link back to their own sites or interesting listings that they’ve found. Face it: if you search for ‘classic car’ on Google, a few sites will pop up in the top 10. And, from what I’ve seen, they don’t change much over time. But a forum allows a much greater user base to post links to places on the internet that probably aren’t the same as the top 10 listings.

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An Engineering Tour De Force

The 1970 Buick GS was one of the wildest of all Buicks on paper. Its 455 cubic inch mill was derived from the earlier 430 cid V8 and produced around 350 HP @ 4600 rpm. The torque output was a very strong 510 ft-lb @ 2800 rpm. It featured a 10:1 compression ratio and a Rochester 4-barrell carburetor; this engine could push the 3800 pound car down the ¼ mile in about 14.20 seconds @ 105 mph, and would perform a 0-60 run in 6.5 seconds.

Enter the Buick GS stage 1, which was an “engineering tour de force” according to Motor Trend magazine, the stage 1 upgrade would cost a very low $199.95, and for this price it was one of the best high performance engine packages you could get from any motor company, the stage 1 package included extra large nickel chrome stellite steel valves; big port cylinder heads with special machining and valve relieving; stronger valve springs; a high lift cam; a carburetor with richer jetting; blueprinted pistons notched for valve clearance, and an advanced performance distributor.

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How To Run A Car Show - Event Organizers Guide To Car Shows

1. Introduction

If this is the first car show event that you have coordinated, or you are a seasoned promoter, the information contained here will be helpful to ensure that you do not overlook anything at your next show. Depending upon the type of car show there are a variety of things to consider. Car shows fall into many different categories depending upon the show promoter and theme. General car shows are open to any and all makes of cars as well as years making it a bit more challenging given the diversity of possible classes. Often at the open shows there are many classes to help categorize the vehicles. The classes may include; Antique, Unrestored, Modified, 1975 and Older Stock/Modified, Motorcycle, Modified Truck, etc. and the list goes on. The next common type of show is a manufacturer specific show, such as “All Chevrolets”. These targeted shows help to narrow the category variables down a bit, and often have many classes as well. It can still be difficult selecting a best in show between a 1955 Bel Air and a 2006 Corvette Z06. To narrow the focus even more, regional clubs tend to have shows based upon their membership, such as pre-1950 only, Model-T only, and even Mustangs only.

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