In Soviet Russia
Dec. 24th, 2012 06:21 pmGraphics Widget Customizes YOU
Ford Focus Coupe version (which I don't think we get in the U.S. for some reason).
PS: Oh, hay--it's the convertable version. Hmmph. Lexus can build theirs for the American market but Ford can't? Highly illogical.
Ford Focus Coupe version (which I don't think we get in the U.S. for some reason).
PS: Oh, hay--it's the convertable version. Hmmph. Lexus can build theirs for the American market but Ford can't? Highly illogical.
Stevie's Stable
Oct. 7th, 2012 12:02 am
Rumor has it that Ford's Mustang Customizer contest ends today/Sunday so I copied my 21 ponycar designs to disk and compiled them here. The green one on the bottom left corner is the one I've entered to win, though I expect I didn't generate enough entry points to be a real contender.
MORE TO COME (I hope)
The Alchemy of the Iron Chef Premise
Jun. 7th, 2012 04:55 pmOver the weekend was the drawing for a sweepstakes I had entered online (and of course, did not win)...it was from Ford Racing and the prize was a 7-liter V8 race car engine of the latest version.
I had no ready use for such a thing, but it was fun to brainstorm possibilities. What WOULD I do with such an engine? Did I have a tasty recipie for the Secret Ingredient?
Upgrading an existing vehicle is the most basic idea, of course. Mustang, T-Bird, Taurus, Crown Vic, Pickup, Lincoln Mark #, Cougar, whatevs. Sure. Plenty of project cars to be had. Heck, that Mach 1 across the street is still theoretically available.
Early Thirties "rat rod"? I know a local shop that can build one in their sleep.
Replica Cobra roadster or Shelby Mustang? That's practically a cliché for current kit cars. Repro bodies-in-white for Sixties Mustangs are almost a phone call away.
Spec racer? Late model? Road-legal NASCAR stocker? I know where to look for those too.
So where did I wind up going on my train of thought? GTs. Ford had two from my lifetime that I was interested in: the GT70 and the Mustang GTP. The former was a possible follow-on to the GT40 that Ford developed at the end of the Sixties but never put on the track. The latter was run in IMSA in the early 1980s...but never built with a V8 engine, although Roush Racing wanted to build such a machine. A replica of something that never was? A rewrite of motorsports history? Could I have gotten away with it?
I had no ready use for such a thing, but it was fun to brainstorm possibilities. What WOULD I do with such an engine? Did I have a tasty recipie for the Secret Ingredient?
Upgrading an existing vehicle is the most basic idea, of course. Mustang, T-Bird, Taurus, Crown Vic, Pickup, Lincoln Mark #, Cougar, whatevs. Sure. Plenty of project cars to be had. Heck, that Mach 1 across the street is still theoretically available.
Early Thirties "rat rod"? I know a local shop that can build one in their sleep.
Replica Cobra roadster or Shelby Mustang? That's practically a cliché for current kit cars. Repro bodies-in-white for Sixties Mustangs are almost a phone call away.
Spec racer? Late model? Road-legal NASCAR stocker? I know where to look for those too.
So where did I wind up going on my train of thought? GTs. Ford had two from my lifetime that I was interested in: the GT70 and the Mustang GTP. The former was a possible follow-on to the GT40 that Ford developed at the end of the Sixties but never put on the track. The latter was run in IMSA in the early 1980s...but never built with a V8 engine, although Roush Racing wanted to build such a machine. A replica of something that never was? A rewrite of motorsports history? Could I have gotten away with it?
Stupf Lust Strikes Again
Mar. 16th, 2012 02:29 pm
1/6 scale authentic Lincoln Continental styling model in a museum collection. My buddy Paul Francis will be making molds of this for reproduction models. I'm going to try to get one of the prototypes for my own...and a little project from that.
Update On Sunday's Content
Mar. 6th, 2012 02:30 pmThere has been a steady stream of potential buyers for the neighbor's Mustang Mach 1 today, including one from a dealership (so I noticed from the dealer license plates on his white, last year's model van).
A friend-of-a-friend name of Chris is selling this car. Contact details and further information are available for serious inquiries. It's in the shape I expect a forty-year-old toy to be in, especially for East Tennessee.
Coming back to the idea spawned by my nostalgia for my Dad's Capri and this object:
Which is available from These People, whose website isn't helpful enough yet.
Leaving aside the internal workings of a car for a moment to concentrate on the styling...if I got the AR Bodies Mustang shell to play with and lay on a chassis, how could I make the result more Capri-esque for my taste? Poking around Wikipedia overnight gave me the answers:
1) Ford Flex headlamp and front turn signal units
2) Mercury Milan grille, or possibly Mercury Mariner grille if that works better
3) Mercury Milan tail lamps, and possibly an adaptation of trunklid geometry to incorporate
4) rear BUBBLE glass ala post-1978 Corvette, Seventies/Eighties/Nineties Camaro/Firebird, Mercury LN7...and of course the Eighties American Capri...to replace the rear windshield/quarter windows arrangement on the Mustang.
For street legality sake, the result would likely need off-the-shelf bumpers. Probably Milan or Marquis units...or even Mercury SUV ones. Depends on what fits.
Wish I had the tools to explore this thought to its fill extent.
Which is available from These People, whose website isn't helpful enough yet.
Leaving aside the internal workings of a car for a moment to concentrate on the styling...if I got the AR Bodies Mustang shell to play with and lay on a chassis, how could I make the result more Capri-esque for my taste? Poking around Wikipedia overnight gave me the answers:
1) Ford Flex headlamp and front turn signal units
2) Mercury Milan grille, or possibly Mercury Mariner grille if that works better
3) Mercury Milan tail lamps, and possibly an adaptation of trunklid geometry to incorporate
4) rear BUBBLE glass ala post-1978 Corvette, Seventies/Eighties/Nineties Camaro/Firebird, Mercury LN7...and of course the Eighties American Capri...to replace the rear windshield/quarter windows arrangement on the Mustang.
For street legality sake, the result would likely need off-the-shelf bumpers. Probably Milan or Marquis units...or even Mercury SUV ones. Depends on what fits.
Wish I had the tools to explore this thought to its fill extent.
Sports Other Than Football
Feb. 6th, 2011 02:59 pmStill going through my research addiction on racing sports cars and GTs and kit cars and so on. Latest question running through my mind: "What are the ultimate racing cars built by the marques that are/were cars my family owned?"
* Oldsmobile. The final racing Oldmobiles were mainly in IMSA's last years before the reorganization to American LeMans. In addition to Olds-engined WSC cars (the Riley & Scott, Spice, and Courage chief among them), race-configured Aurora sedans were competing in the GT3/GTS-1 classes.
* Chevy. Well, the Corvette and Camaro programs are on-going of course, as well as ongoing NASCAR ubiquity.
* Ford. Mustangs, NASCAR, GT40, Probe GTP--take your pick.
* Pontiac. The final version GTO saw action in GrandAm just before the marque's demise. There was also a Drift/GT-configured Solstice or two. And Pontiac-powered prototype racers in ALMS.
* Buick. NASCAR (up to twenty years ago), dragsters, GTP cars, but not much lately. Buick is sponsoring Holden race cars for Asian circuits, but it's not the same.
* Dodge. The Viper WAS the ultimate racing Dodge, but 2010 was the final year for the car. Can the Challenger pick up where the Viper left off?
* MG. There is a new MG LeMans car? Hmm. Need to find out more about it.
* Toyota. NASCAR, Formula, tuners, drift--they're all over the place.
* Nissan. Z Cars in GT, of course, plus prototypes, touring, drift, some Formula.
* Audi. Dominating P1 in ALMS for years. Plus running in GT, touring, drift, and so on.
* AMC. Well, when I got my Concord, they had already faded from the pale, got acquired by Renault and then Chrysler, and had become Eagle. Their ultimate racers were and always will be the Javelin/AMX family.
Have I left anything out? Must come back to this later.
PS: As a matter of fact, I left out:
* Mercury. NASCAR, hot rod dragsters, Cougars and Capris in IMSA...but not much after 1990.
* Oldsmobile. The final racing Oldmobiles were mainly in IMSA's last years before the reorganization to American LeMans. In addition to Olds-engined WSC cars (the Riley & Scott, Spice, and Courage chief among them), race-configured Aurora sedans were competing in the GT3/GTS-1 classes.
* Chevy. Well, the Corvette and Camaro programs are on-going of course, as well as ongoing NASCAR ubiquity.
* Ford. Mustangs, NASCAR, GT40, Probe GTP--take your pick.
* Pontiac. The final version GTO saw action in GrandAm just before the marque's demise. There was also a Drift/GT-configured Solstice or two. And Pontiac-powered prototype racers in ALMS.
* Buick. NASCAR (up to twenty years ago), dragsters, GTP cars, but not much lately. Buick is sponsoring Holden race cars for Asian circuits, but it's not the same.
* Dodge. The Viper WAS the ultimate racing Dodge, but 2010 was the final year for the car. Can the Challenger pick up where the Viper left off?
* MG. There is a new MG LeMans car? Hmm. Need to find out more about it.
* Toyota. NASCAR, Formula, tuners, drift--they're all over the place.
* Nissan. Z Cars in GT, of course, plus prototypes, touring, drift, some Formula.
* Audi. Dominating P1 in ALMS for years. Plus running in GT, touring, drift, and so on.
* AMC. Well, when I got my Concord, they had already faded from the pale, got acquired by Renault and then Chrysler, and had become Eagle. Their ultimate racers were and always will be the Javelin/AMX family.
Have I left anything out? Must come back to this later.
PS: As a matter of fact, I left out:
* Mercury. NASCAR, hot rod dragsters, Cougars and Capris in IMSA...but not much after 1990.
Death Of A Dream
Jun. 20th, 2010 08:25 pmI just read the news about Ford closing the Mercury marque at the end of this year.
So much for my pipe dream of them reviving the Capri as a more refined ponycar versus the Mustang.
I suppose I can realize this dream some other way...my own way.
So much for my pipe dream of them reviving the Capri as a more refined ponycar versus the Mustang.
I suppose I can realize this dream some other way...my own way.
Vending This In Honor Of ![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
kiffie
Apr. 10th, 2010 05:56 pm
( Don't Let The Crown Vics And Chargers Of The World Get You Down )And in the interest of full disclosure, at the Turn of the Nineties I drove a Crown Vic. Used to belong to my mermaid aunt, and we bought it from her when she couldn't drive as my mom's car, and when my mom couldn't drive I took it over. Second worst car I ever had.
Pipe, Meet Dream
Sep. 11th, 2009 02:57 amAn Old Theme Of Mine and I want to revisit it again.
If there were such a thing as a Capri today from Mercury it would have to be based on the Milan; the Milan is the smallest car they make and the choice of powerplants nearly matches in spirit what was available in the Capri. The Milan's wheelbase is about half a foot longer than the Capri's so that will have to be altered, but that can be done between the aft corners of the front door frame and the rear window/rear fender front line.
Since we are going from a four-door to a two-door configuration, the flanks of the cabin can be reinforced on the sides for better rigidity and stability. We might even expand the engine compartment a little for more powerful drivetrain hardware.
You could accuse me of reinventing the Mustang--and you'd be partly right. But it's relatively easy to just rebadge a Mustang. It was tried TWICE by Mercury, and neither time was particularly successful. I want to take the sports coupe concept in a direction that I know would work.
Of course, my own sandbox is too small to play in. Born in the Week of the Titan. Hmmph.
If there were such a thing as a Capri today from Mercury it would have to be based on the Milan; the Milan is the smallest car they make and the choice of powerplants nearly matches in spirit what was available in the Capri. The Milan's wheelbase is about half a foot longer than the Capri's so that will have to be altered, but that can be done between the aft corners of the front door frame and the rear window/rear fender front line.
Since we are going from a four-door to a two-door configuration, the flanks of the cabin can be reinforced on the sides for better rigidity and stability. We might even expand the engine compartment a little for more powerful drivetrain hardware.
You could accuse me of reinventing the Mustang--and you'd be partly right. But it's relatively easy to just rebadge a Mustang. It was tried TWICE by Mercury, and neither time was particularly successful. I want to take the sports coupe concept in a direction that I know would work.
Of course, my own sandbox is too small to play in. Born in the Week of the Titan. Hmmph.
For This I'll Bust Dead Hour
Sep. 3rd, 2009 07:01 pmHave some NASCAR race car photos.
( More Behind HERE )
This is a genuine Ford quasi-Taurus/Thunderbird NASCAR Cup racer, from circa 2000. The livery is for Hut Stricklin/Stavola Brothers Racing. It's parked outside an Auctioneer's hall along I-81 just before the White Pine exit going North (#8). Seems to be complete or very close. I saw a FOR SALE sign laying on the floor behind the seat with a price of $30,000 quoted. But I didn't ask the people at the auction house about that because I don't exactly have thirty grand at the moment.
MORE TO COME.
( More Behind HERE )This is a genuine Ford quasi-Taurus/Thunderbird NASCAR Cup racer, from circa 2000. The livery is for Hut Stricklin/Stavola Brothers Racing. It's parked outside an Auctioneer's hall along I-81 just before the White Pine exit going North (#8). Seems to be complete or very close. I saw a FOR SALE sign laying on the floor behind the seat with a price of $30,000 quoted. But I didn't ask the people at the auction house about that because I don't exactly have thirty grand at the moment.
MORE TO COME.
