A Horse With No Name

Where's 68 when you need him? Chris

Meant so say "Fox body (1979-1992) Mustangs. ...and no offense Moltar, still like yours. But for the most part they leave me cold. Chris

For me: Love vintage Mustangs...but the last Mustangs I would really want to own left Ford in the summer of 1970 when they re-tooled for the '71 models. Really dislike fix body Mustangs anymore... Also dislike the Japanese "supercars" of the early 1990's...Supra, FD RX-7, 3000GT Mitsu, 300ZX, et al. But I do like the NSX. Almost anything Lincoln between thbe 60's suicide door cars and the current models. Like the Suicide door cars and the latest and greatest...but the Town Cars, 70's Lincolns...ughhh....yuck... So what do you dislike? Chris

I'm the misfit here. British Racing Green! Chris Although after that I would say blue, then white. And I'm with Cubical, I like dark metallic grey, it looks good on everything. Chris

Awesome! Chris

Looks like we've got the local people, SA, Z06, me, etc. I'll be PMing some people who have shown interest. PM me if interested. Chris

I've got two local SCCA guys who have the money and skill to pull this off...and Z06 seems to have the money and determination to pull this off. That makes four of us. Will keep you posted, but it looks like we will be running at Gingerman, which is a tight, technical track, should be actually good for newbie drivers. Chris

If we run the 'bird as a LeMons car, we'll just run it as an autotrajic. Finishing the race is far more important than outright speed. Chris

Thanks-I agree a third gen car would be better. I'm going to start working behind the scenes and let Z06 kind of take over from here- He will probably be leading our effort. Still have one more frame guy to talk to on Whitenight's bird. Chris

Since the dragstrip is closed for the season...GO RUN THE Z 71 THROUGH SOME MUD! Happy birthday, Daryl. Chris

Off topic a little bit...but a bunch of the Vintage Utes are cool. Would be awesome to have a couple of modern utes and a set of vintage utes. Chris

Camino-Do you like the "real" race car idea??? Let's brain storm about where this could take us. Here is the 4-1-1 at the moment. Showed white nights 'bird pics to a few really, really good frame and body guys. The news...it's gonna need some serious time on a frame rack to bring it back. Calling in favors, it's gonna run me $750 or so to do it if I'm lucky. Can get the rest of the parts to put the nose back together for about $250... Figure a hundred for a balljoint and an alignment and your at $1100. I can get paint and supplies and get the nose painted and still be under $1500 for the repair. Thus I could repair the car correctly and we could do drivers schools and open track days events with it and so forth. But a correct or safe repair would put us over LeMons budget. Wouldn't repair it that well for a LeMons car...but...two ayem on a rainy night with a newbie driver is NOT the time to figure out that the car hasn't been made straight correctly. Don't know If I've said this before, but a LeMons legal cage will cost us about a grand...the autopower rollcage kit is the DOM steel approved and we'd need to add an extra door bar for LeMons. Checked out a third gen today after I got the news from my body guys about the shock tower on Whitenights 'bird...but that car was a no-go. Need to find some way to bring everyone together on this. Chris

Nice to know both the Tahoe and driver are safe! Chris

Actually if this does go through...all of the other guys are big. I am 5'11 or so, and about 250 lbs. The other three guys locally who are interested in doing this are larger than I am. Thinking if we do follow through with this and take the 'bird I may just leave the autotrajic in it with fresh fluid and a cooler. Chris

Dude... If you just want this painted so it doesn't rust...and it doesn't have to be pretty...can get this done almost free for you. Have friends with paint guns. May not look perfect...more of a Cavi level fix than a Coblat level fix...but... Your overthinking things. Easy fix from either GM Warrenty, Bodyshop, or a back ally quickie. Enjoy your cars...with your family. Your wife is still young and good looking, you have a son who is growing up. AWESOME! Chris

Good luck...remember anything mechanical will break. Got some good contacts in the autobody biz down here, so if you need it fixed right/cheap or whatever, let me know. Also, post pics for 'blu. He will REALLY know what to do with this... Chris

I've been around/helped with autotrajic to manual swaps in vintage mustangs and late model VW TDI Diesels. Before I jump in, I need to know what is involved. Remember, we need to keep this under $500. Also, I am going to try to meet with a few guys that have done LeMons, and ask them about using the car as is with the autotrajic. Chris

Biggest issue right now isn't condition or cost, or even fixing accident damage. Biggest issue is automatic transmission. Trying to figure out if an auto is a deal breaker or not, or how hard it is to switch to a manual. Chris

Not even really planning on putting much of a doghouse back on the car if this is the car we run. Have one other driver who has raced before, who is 95 percent for sure. Another guy is interested...this third guy has a race car that we might be able to "borrow" a race seat and harness from. SA, how large are you...ht/wt? You can PM me if you want...but one of the guys who may be doing this with us is heavyset and one is 6'5. Another question-I have another potential co-driver who has shown interest who is female. Does this present a problem for any of you guys? IF so, PM me. Chris

How hard is it to switch a 4th gen V6 F Body from autotrajic to row your own? Think we all know where this is going... Also...how weak are the rear ends on these cars? What other common failure points do they have? Chris

Trying to work things out for a LeMons car...I'll post more later. I'm going to hook up with an SCCA tech guy who is going to teach me about rollcages... I have a POSSIBLE source for some used safety equipment. Said Possible, don't get your hopes up yet. But possible. Checking out problems/issues with running an autotrajic in a race like this. Speeds at LeMons are a good bit slower than a typical SCCA/NASA type race, so I am much less worried about things than I was the last time I posted. Tend to be a guy who worries about and over analyzes everything....however...that has served well for the 44 years I've been on the planet. Looking into cages if we do run the 'Bird...Jegs has a cage kit...$299...I can has friends welder and friend is certified welder...can has cage maybe? Would need to add to cage structure. Also talked to a guy from Mt. Vernon Ohio who drag races a 10 Second V8 Vega and got to take a GOOD long look at the cage in the Vega. NICE work...if any of the other cage buys fall through, I may have another source. Showing pics of the "bird to a frame guy so I can get an honest opinion on repair. Checking out a couple of people I know with frame racks...going to see if I can get it done "free" so we save $$ and keep it under $500. Sadly, every 'bird and Camaro that was 4th gen and in a local yard seems to have been crushed within the last couple of weeks. One yard had 12 good parts cars...all gone Nearest Race to Columbus next year is Gingerman, which is 6 or 7 hours away. In 8 or 9 hours I could be at Road Atlanta, even towing a race car. So once we know who all is ready to do this we can pick a track and a date. Thinking if this happens this will happen later next year, as it will take me time to get car, get it put together, have it teched by local SCCA guys so we know it will pass LeMons Tech. Not sure we can pull this off...but I am working towards the goal. Wanted to talk to some of my SCCA friends at today's Rallycross but the Rallycross got cancelled because our racetrack...errr...ummm...the field we race in was wayyy to wet to race. Don't shoot me, but also thinking that the 'bird might be worth making into a real race car, one we could all enjoy several times...but don't worry, LeMons is still in my blood and still sounds like fun. Need help right now with creativity more than anything. Got any catchy team names, car decorating ideas, color schemes, themes, promotional ideas, sponsership ideas, et al...BRING IT! Next weekend I'm cleaning out my garage, so I've got room to work IF we get a car. Didn't want you guys to think that I had forgotten you. Not sure yet if it is the 'Bird...but trying to put together everything. PM me any thoughts or ideas, or feel free to post in this thread. Also have two local guys who MIGHT be interested in trying this...and the kind of people who would follow through. One is an SCCA guy who has run endurance races before, and another is a guy who has run an event like LeMons, only it was about 3 hours rather than 24. Experience can't hurt us. Meeting with one again in a couple hours and the other guy I'm meeting with again tomorrow. At this point, I am going to keep the discussion light until after the first of the year. If your thinking about this, you don't need to give me a quick YES or NO. I'd rather you think hard and give me an honest answer rather than telling me YES and then dropping out. Also...we could do this or something like it multiple times, so if you say NO this time it doesn't mean it's always NO. Thank you very much for your interest so far. Chris

Fixing the Firebird to run in LeMons is not the problem...assuming we choose the 'bird. Which seems somewhat logical. Getting a team together is the real part...who does what, etc. Chris

We need to start another thread on how we are actually going to do this-who will be in charge, how we will organize things, etc. NEED input from you guys! Like I said, I can do logistics but I cannot be the "ringleader" of the group. We need some kind of president/leader, a book keeper, etc. So Somebody figure out how we move forward...or help me figure it out. Chris

Where do you live in KY? How much of a Drive is Cinncinnati from you? To all of you guys-I don't care which car we race-I just want a GM car so we can all get together and do something cool. A V8 would be great, I just want us to be realisitic about the costs of fueling a V8 during a 24 hour race. If you guys are down for it, I am down for it. How do you guys want to "organize" our effort? ...and I'm not trying to sell anybody's abilities short by saying we need training or development to drive. I would say the same for myself as well. Chris

Perhaps, but a manual will work out much better IMHO. Thinking we need to think seriously about a lot of spares. Chris