By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

Day two of our trip to Detroit started early, as we wanted to get started on the Henry Ford Museum and Rouge factory tour as quick as possible. After a quick Dunkin’ Donuts stop and a Starbucks run for Steph, we headed north to Dearborn, but within a few miles of driving, we noticed something strange, like out of a Twilight Zone episode. There were no foreign cars on the road. Not one. After several miles,  we finally spotted one older beater Accord. But needless to say, we were feeling a bit of culture shock. Where we live in NY, it seems like 7 out of every 10 cars you see are imports, and most of the domestics are 5 years old or older. But in the Detroit area, you’re not doing your civic duty unless you’re running a newer American machine. This, we thought, was American pride at its finest, and what better place to see it than in Motor City? For more on our trip to the Henry Ford Museum follow the jump.

Continue reading "Journey to Detroit, Day Two: The Henry Ford Museum" »

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

The iconic Woodward Dream Cruise is one of the top automotive events of the year, sponsored by several of the Detroit-area towns that Woodward Ave runs through–vendors, manufacturers, and droves of people line the street to watch up to 40,000 vehicles of all kinds parade by during several days worth of festivities. This year, I wanted to be part of this iconic automotive event, but it was going to be no small feat, being that I live 650 miles from Detroit. Sounded like the perfect reason for a summer road trip. Continue reading after the jump…

Continue reading "Journey to Detroit, Day One: Woodward Or Bust" »

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Dave and Stephanie, along with Dave’s grandfather, are driving from New York to the Motor City in Pops’ 1970 LeSabre for the phenomenal Woodward Dream Cruise. They’ll also be hitting some car-buff points of interest like the Henry Ford Museum and the Ford Rouge assembly plant along the way. The trek has been going well so far–last I heard, they’ve made it to Ohio, and that was yesterday. Expect some great pics and blogs next week from one of the greatest gearhead events of the year!

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

Cars today pretty much run themselves. Outfitted with an army of computers, they take any chance for bench top tuning out of your hands and make you rely on chip manufacturers or professionals with laptops. Either way, you can’t just pop the hood, make some tweaks and go racing. Well, I’m not here to talk about those cars. Quite a few of you on here still run a good old carburetor and distributor with infinite options for hands-on tuning. So today I’m going to teach you how to time your distributor-equipped engine using the most popular engine out there: a Chevy 350. Hit the jump for the complete tutorial.

Continue reading "Introduction to Ignition Timing" »

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

Word on the street is that Chrysler is interested in selling more minivans to men. To most families, the minivan is the point of no return after exhausting the categories of smaller-cargo-capacity “cute utes” and massive SUV’s that are simply not necessary for normal-sized families. While the details of Mopar’s proposed man-van are sketchy, Dodge did tease a Caravan R/T back in 2008 at the Detroit Auto show. Sporting a “Rumble bee” type hood, a blacked-out grille and wheels that look just like the Challenger SRT’s burly 5 spokes, it does indeed look manlier than its beige monotone counterpart. But Dodge must know that looks alone will not sell a minivan to men. Being that the 3.8L V6 and 4.0L V6 drivetrains have plenty of room under the hood, I think a nice roots-style supercharger should be on the menu as well. Add some thicker sway bars, 18-20in rubber, and some vintage-style wild Mopar colors, and it’d probably be enough the blow the doors off the armada of beige, white, and silver baby carriers clogging the roads. Could Chrysler rekindle another minivan war with Honda and Toyota? Could the Caravan R/T do for minivans what the Magnum did for station wagons?  If Chrysler does decide to make an R/T Carvan, what would they have to do to make you want one ?

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

Last summer came big news for my hometown of Malta. We heard that an extremely large company known as Global Foundries was going to build a state-of-the-art-computer chip manufacturing plant right in the heart of our sleepy little town and bring with it 2300 jobs and highly skilled workers looking for homes, potentially bringing an end to the town’s financial woes. Amidst all the celebration, however, there’s one seemingly small but pressing problem for the town’s gearhead and race fan communities: the company’s arrival may spell the end of the local dirt track. Hit the jump to see how it turned out.

Continue reading "Home Track Stays, But At a Cost" »

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

The other night I had to break the bad news to my Grandfather: Mercury is dead. He was a little surprised. For an 81-year-old man whose owned a 1952 Club coupe, 1963 Monterey, 1965 Monteclair, 2001 Grand Marquis, and a 2006 Grand Marquis, he can definitely say he was a fan. Although he may have strayed over the years, his loyalty was always with this storied brand. His biggest gripe though isn’t so much that the brand is soon to be gone, (he hated all their current model cars except for the Grand Marquis), it’s that there are now no affordable, V8, rear-wheel drive, long-wheelbase cars left. I for one agree with him. With Ford’s “Panther” chassis going the way of the dodo, what other car being made fills that niche? We both conceded to the fact that the Lincoln Town Car, albeit overpriced and unattractive, will more than likely be the last car he will buy. On the other hand he is open to suggestions. What new car would you suggest older people like my Grandfather should buy now that the Grand Marquis is gone?

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

It sucks when perfectionism denies you any sense of accomplishment in a project. I’ve tried pretty hard to make my cars as perfect as they can realistically be. My Caprice, however, has other ideas. Some of you may be familiar with the complications I’ve endured just trying to get a set of headers onto my this car–it was one of those deals where whatever could go wrong, did. First came modifying multiple accessory brackets to bolt the headers on. Then came a car that refused to go into gear, requiring a custom shift linkage to clear the headers. Then came the saga of the crossmember–the later-model Caprice one that everyone said would fit but didn’t, the botched fab-shop butchery of my original crossmember, the cutting into the header that that in turn necessitated. In the end, the exhaust guy did wind up doing a good job except for one pipe that I feel could have been better. But then, as the icing on the cake, on the way home from the exhaust shop my throttle linkage broke at the carburator. All in all, this project was a nightmare, but the important thing is that it’s done. So am I happy? No. Does it work? Yes. Does it sound good? It sounds great. So really other than getting my perfectionism subjected to an extreme trial, everything did work out in the end. So I guess I should be happy–or should I? More pictures after the jump.

Continue reading "Does It Work? Yes. Am I Happy? No." »

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

When it comes to building cars, these two simple words put together illustrate a depressing picture of hope and failure. But without trial and error, none of us would learn anything when it comes to building a car. I have experienced many trials and what feels like many errors in the course of working on my Caprice. Trying to adapt non-factory parts not specifically designed for your application is always an adventure. My current error comes in the form of a 1994-1996 crossmember. One that everyone from online forum blow-hards to a supposed “B body guru” absolutely swore would fit my ’84. Well, I’m here to tell you that every single one of them was very wrong. But without trial and error, I never would’ve figured out the correct answer. Luckily my error didn’t cost too much, and now I’ve decided to send my original crossmember to a local roll cage fabricator for a little cosmetic re-shaping. Here’s hoping that the “error” part is behind me for now. How about you? What notable trials and errors have you been through in your projects, and what wisdom did you come away with?

By David Clarke

highspeedhijinks

One thing I’ve seen time and time again in my 15 years going to regular car shows is that people have no concept of money or what things are worth, and the car corral at the recent Rhinebeck show was proof-positive of that once again. Like many years before it, the corral was filled with clone cars asking real car prices, Grandmas’ low miles daily drivers, and rotted-out hulks of metal that used to be cars. The latter category is what I would call highway robbery to anyone even thinking of making a purchase. How someone can slap a multi-thousand dollar price on something I can see through is beyond me. Take this 1970 Impala convertible–it’s a mess.  The seller’s statement of “Doesn’t run, Needs work” is an understatement if I’ve ever heard one. With a broken right front spring and flat tire on the same wheel, almost worn-through paint, no actual metal left behind the rear wheel and a top that hasn’t come up since the Regan administration, it looks like a wounded junk yark dog. What may you ask is this car worth to someone like me? About 200 dollars as a parts car. What the seller wants is a far cry from that–follow the jump to see his well-placed ad.

Continue reading "Are You Serious…?" »