Sights and Scenes of the BBC Town Independence Day Auto Show!

This Independence Day weekend (U.S.), there were a lot of car shows of all types. Predictably,  we entered the Shelby in one of them. Behold the junk stuff shoved into the trunk for this momentous event:

The black bag is my dad's camera, the light blue bag is one of two folding chairs, the blue box contains last-minute cleaning supplies, and the green bag is mine, containing, among other junk, the camera used to take these pictures. It all fit very easily with plenty of room to spare. In fact, not only did it all fit well, but it was easy to put in also. Look up a picture of the trunk opening of the new Camaro and you'll see what I mean.

This is where we were parked. There's a tree to the left of the car, but you can't see it. We were grateful for its shade, however. Later, we got a row of three rice burners next to us, one of which eventually got the People's Choice award (for the record, my votes went to a nice red '66 Mustang and a yellow Pontiac Solstice). How that guy got his pile of trash piece of junk ugly Super Slow Cobalt with an icky red bottom half/black top half paint job to win is beyond my comprehension, except for the crowds of people that appeared to have been brought to the show for the sole purpose of voting for his little bucket of bolts.

We've seen this Solstice around town before, but this was my first chance to get a really good look at it. Unfortunately, the gnats were just as impressed as I was, rewarding (?) the car with the immense and highly-coveted prize of being covered in gnats on the shaded side. Wonderful.

Note the "Holman-Moody" front license plate on this Comet. Holman-Moody was a speed shop that assisted in the development of Ford's drag cars, as well as the creation of their race motors. This Comet likely has some period accessories from that company.

Note the likely larger-than-stock air cleaner, as well as the heads. These are the sorts of things that H&M made and marketed to the public for greater performance on both street and strip.

The fire extinguisher is most likely a modern addition, but the T-handle shifter probably isn't. Also note the non-branded steering wheel with unusually short diameter; that was not the sort of thing Ford installed in their cars. The bucket seats are a sporty touch.

This Mustang looked spectacular. One thing that isn't so great is the wheels; I've never been a fan of this particular style of Weld-esque wheel. They look better when they're spinning. Rapidly. While the rest of the car is sitting still.

Note 3-speed auto, it's interesting that it hasn't been swapped out for a four-speed manual at some point in its lifetime. The steering wheel cover doesn't help the inherent awkwardness of the Ford-installed padded steering wheel, which I have had the honor of holding. I expect the '65-'66 steering wheel would feel a bit better - it looks miles better. The local brochures on the seat are a more recent addition ("recent" here meaning "added roughly 15 minutes before I took the picture"), as is the white bubble.

This is essentially the best paint scheme I saw on one of these Mustangs that day. I thought it might be a Shelby clone at first, but a quick check of the side stripes convinced me otherwise (even the least competent cloners remember to put "G.T. 500" on the side).

Dual four-barrel! Yay! Also notice the chrome heads and fluid reservoir caps, as well as the strut-tower brace.

I am honestly not sure whether this car was powered by an honest-to-goodness "427" (425, actually) or a 428 with the 427 emblems on it. Whichever it is, it certainly looks good, and goes pretty nicely as well.

Toploader? Maybe not, but definitely a 4-speed with awesome-looking Hurst shifter. Lap belts and a padded steering wheel were about as good as it got for safety in this year of Mustang. Also notice the Shelby-style tachometer mounted on the lower gauge pod, which also houses oil-pressure and water temperature gauges. There's also a radio, which would also have been something you'd likely have from the factory in a G.T. 500. It's very easy to tell where the inspiration for the modern Mustang's gauge cluster came from when you look at the cluster in this car.

Now we jump back a few years. This is a 1931 Ford Coupe with the original four-cylinder engine in it, assuming the owner is correct. Continuing to assume the veracity of the owner's statements, the car is all original with the exception of the alternator. This car might also have had the leaping greyhound hood ornament, which actually came before Jaguar's leaping cat. Edsel Ford chose the greyhound for the company emblem because it had the qualities of speed, strength, and stamina. This would prove appropriate when the flathead V8 came out in 1932, but that was in the future when this car was built.

The pinstriping is a very neat touch, as well as the whitewall tires and matching wheels. Notice also the rumble seat. In a frontal impact accident, the occupants of that seat could very easily be decapitated. It's very easy to see where the belief that it was better not to wear your seat belt came from, since supposedly it was better to be "thrown clear" of an accident than to remain in the car. It's a terrible idea nowadays, now that even our subcompacts are built like tanks compared to the older iron, but it might actually have been true at that time that it was a good idea to exit the vehicle in whatever manner possible prior to an accident, including through the air.

No company today is insane enough to make a 3.3L 4-cylinder engine, but that's precisely what you see here. The motor produced all of 40 horsepower, which was enough for 27ish MPG and a top speed of 65 MPH. Cruising speed is more like 45 to 50 MPH. Sign me up! Oh, wait...

Before you ask, that isn't a fuel cell screwed to the grill, that's a coolant overflow container. That said, this thing is awesome. It's another 1931 Ford, but this one is powered by a big-block Chevrolet engine (the "Rat", in other words) that is equipped with numerous little bits of awesome, including individual-pipe headers. The exhaust is a 3-inch X-pipe with mufflers, but it doesn't sound or smell like it (and that's what makes it awesome). Notice that the flames on the grill surround are cut out of the metal as well as painted; the owner assures me it's a one-off part.

That, my friend, is a steel interior. What's it made of? Road signs. Banjo steering wheels work well in old-school rods like this, especially with the typical long-arm shifter... wait. What in the world...

To this day, I have no idea what this is.

Those are all the pictures that I have accompanying information for. There were plenty more cars there, including one very nice '99-'04 Mustang that makes regular visits to the track. Sure sounded like it too. Unfortunately, I don't have any good pictures of it. Overall, although we didn't win (I think the Shelby is still too new for that), we had a good time, and I got to see some really neat cars! That's a no-lose situation as far as I'm concerned.

P.S. Apologies for the late posting. I only just now got around to finishing this, even though the show occurred in early July. Oops.

What AM I doing after all?

Since it's been a while since I last posted, I thought I'd give an update.

During basement excavation, I took a fancy to a C128 that I'd known was down there for a while, but it only now occurred to me that it could be useful after my dad started it. "Copyright Microsoft Corporation 1977". Wow. It's complete with two 5.25" disk drives and a 1902 monitor which, I've read, is a sight better than the usual monitor found on the 128. I plan to use it for learning very elementary C, just so I can say I know how. That, and it's interesting.

I have not been to any car shows lately, since it simply hasn't been on anyone's mind and Shelby is dirty. Hopefully my dad and I will get it cleaned up and take it to the 4th of July weekend show in the mall parking lot (which is huge, but not smooth enough for burnouts/achieving time-travel velocity. Darn).

Certain individuals (not me) will be of full-license age soon, and an automobile purchase is being considered for this person to use for driving to class and back, as well as a general family vehicle. Some vehicles were ruled out during our search, such as the Mazda3 (lousy MPG), Mazda2 (lousy MPG and scummy sales guys), and the 2012 Hyundai Accent (no road grip during switchback maneuvering). The top two at the moment are the Hyundai Elantra and the Ford Fiesta. Not directly comparable, but the Fiesta is a magenta SES with leather and the works, including the voice command system. The local dealer has had it on their lot forever, and they can't sell it.

In stark contrast, it's getting hard to find any Elantras at all, simply because they sell so well. No specific car is in mind, but it would probably be ordered instead of picked from dealer stock anyway. Nonnegotiable points are an automatic transmission and a visible color (i.e. no silver, no gray, no white, no black). The prospective primary driver hates red on cars, so that's out. This essentially leaves the 2012 Indigo Night, as the equivalent blue for 2011 is too dark.

You can tell we're very specific.

In any event, I can't root for either car. The Elantra is by far the more spacious car, with enough interior room for me to stretch my legs out in the rear seat when the front is pulled forward. It also obtains superior fuel economy, at 29/40 versus 28/38 for the Fiesta in question. It also allows the seats to fold flat, creating a disturbing amount of space. However, the Fiesta is much sportier, and I prefer the interior even with the lack of seat room. I imagine the Fiesta's size might prove to its advantage in city traffic, but the Elantra Limited with the Technology Package has a rearview camera, which could balance that out during parking. Even without the camera, the Elantra's rear visibility is average, whereas with the headrests up, the Fiesta may as well not even have a rear window.

Enough of my ranting, however. One of these days I'll buy a 40-pack of AA batteries and start taking pictures again. Until then, I'll have to sign off.