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Archive for October, 2007
October 11th, 2007 by Dave
Here’s the good news: today the Chrysler fleet people are dropping off a Caliber SRT-4, which will be with us until Monday.
Here’s the bad news: I’m going to be spending much of the day today getting tests and one day next week, at the moment not yet scheduled, in the hospital having some undesirable growths removed. The prognosis is currently good so all should be well, but what with going in and out of medical offices this week, work on the site has been slowed down. This will probably have an impact that shows up next week or the week after, but I thought you should be aware that if I’m not as responsive as usual, and if the updates aren’t as extensive, there’s a reason behind it.
In the meantime, site administration is being handled by the usual crew of extremely competent and helpful volunteers, including Stratuscaster and Bob O’Neill, and my Toolpack staff - all of her - will be on hand; and the web technical stuff is being handled by the insanely good support of Liquidweb.
By the way, we are building up a nice set of videos, and will be posting roughly one or two per week. Coming up next week, I hope - if I have time to edit - will be the Caliber SRT-4. Following that, we will have the A-100, delayed by one week; Bob O’Neill on budget restoration; and then if all else fails, we’ll go to the 300M and PT Cruiser GT. Along the way we have historical videos that we’re going to be posting.
October 10th, 2007 by Dave
Think the union negotiations are scary? This in from Gene Yetter:
Spotted in New England on Monday (Oct. 8, 2007), the little-known Mopar “Halloween” prototype, still on the road and chugging, the lucky owners hail and hearty. Wait until this one shows up at the Barrett-Jackson auction in Phoenix. Bill Gates, get out your checkbook! Only kidding. This Mopar is an attention-getter at “Paul & Sandy’s Too,” a sprawling garden center along Rte. 66 in East Hampton, CT. The center offers plants, hardware, mulch and stone, and, of course, pumpkins during the Autumn season. It also features a fanciful pumpkin village to amuse the kids. See the Web site at www.pumpkintown.com.
October 9th, 2007 by Dave
Some of our more observant readers may have recently noticed the new standard page headers, used on most of our pages. These are going to be spread further if nobody objects. Here are the main advantages:
1. They have a more modern look
2. They stand out more against all the other page clutter
3. By integrating the car-buttons, they save about an inch of screen space
4. They are more consistent with the trucks, weblogs, forums, and news headers
5. They fit into the color scheme
6. They eliminate all those e-mails I’ve gotten about the two-door Charger in the old picture
7. The non-clickable truck and two-door Charger are eliminated, ending another source of confusion
Let me know your thoughts. There are still lots of pages, including the Mopar Engines page, without the new design.
October 8th, 2007 by Dave
Normally, we have quick reporting after a meet, and updates on Mondays. This time, we’re going through lots of video footage and distilling it down to one eight minute clip, as well as dealing with photos and the usual writeup, so it’ll take a little more time. We had a great show, with 33 cars registered - I’m told that’s about double the usual turnout for this event, and Allpar has definitely been invited back for next year. Thanks to everyone who came, in particular those who went for the T-shirt deal, and hope to see you next year. We should have photos, video, and news later today or tomorrow.
Update: Here’s the writeup and pictures!
October 3rd, 2007 by Dave
Today was a busy day for me as a coder. I fixed two long-standing problems on the Allpar and PT sites: the links systems, and the dealer-review system. Both had been plagued by spam and I left them essentially visible for existing links and reviews, but not available for additions. If the spam fixes don’t work out, I’ll have to take them down again until I get something better in place. It’s unfortunate that the sleazy have been so energetic… I mean, how many driving school links do you need? After the first several hundred, you’d think they’d stop hitting the same site.
October 3rd, 2007 by Dave
Jim Pepe did a marvelous job of preserving this 1984 Chrysler Fifth Avenue (click on the big image to play the video). The underhood area of Jim’s car looks factory fresh, with nothing out of place. Indeed, it looks better than factory fresh, yet it doesn’t look “restoration-perfect.” The paint has signs of age but is clearly original and nearly perfectly preserved. The interior looks factory fresh.
The Fifth was an interesting vehicle for Chrysler. It sold for a small fortune in its day - this one cost $18,000, a hefty price tag for what was, at its core, a dolled-up Volare (which was, itself, a next-generation Valiant). The 318 engine was making about as little power as it ever would, choked by a combination of smog equipment and corporate underfinancing; it needed multiple port fuel injection, which was already standard on some economy cars (e.g. VW Rabbit), but instead it got Lean Burn, a system that rarely seemed to work as it was supposed to. The Lean Burn on this car was designed to run 1,600 rpm for a minute and a half, then settle down to 800 rpm; presumably that was to light up the catalytic converter, which was then still not quite as close to the engine as in modern times. This car has always had problems with the Lean Burn system, and if it’s left for a few days, it gets terribly hard to start. It also kept on raising the idle while I was there, and Jim would whack the Lean Burn unit to make it settle down. Everything’s been checked and nothing is wrong, yet there you have it. It also recently started getting 6 mpg, the last straw for Jim, though it’s just two years from reaching the Classic status that drops insurance down to $100 a year (if you get the special registration and agree to drive it just a thousand or two miles a year).
The interior was very nice and cozy, with plush soft-leather seats that provided good support, feeling like the seats of the 300M but with more padding. The number of switches would make gadget freaks happy, though they weren’t necessarily ergonomically or intelligently placed (e.g. grouped in sets as in modern vehicles). Like the powertrain and suspension, the interior was an interim design, coming between the barely featured cars of the 1970s and the gadget-laden cars of the 1990s. The Fifth Avenue was recognized as an anachronism even when it was being made, but the basic body style died in 1989, despite having a massive market share among the police.
The styling had, oddly, reverted back to the last of the Valiant models in the rear and along the sides; the trunk was pure Valiant, except for the tire being taken out of the well and shoved back under the package shelf. The interior was completely different in trim, identical in proportion. Side by side with a 1974 Valiant, the Fifth Avenue would be instantly recognizable.
In motion, the Fifth Avenue looked terribly elegant parading down the street, a shining jewel making its way among economy cars and delivery trucks. The ride is not luxury-car plush, and sound insulation could be better, but it looks every inch a luxury car.
Thank you, Jim, for sharing your car.
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