I've been looking forward to this show for awhile now, it usually is the kick in the ass that gets me back wrenching on my cars, at least until the warm weather breaks out and summer arrives. This year wasn't the same, I can't really put a finger on what it was, but I think I've just come to the realization that I've seem most of it before. The high dollar engines aren't that impressive anymore, as more and more people seem to be installing them without blinking an eye. Hemi's are no longer a rarity amongst the Mopar crowd. Over in Chevyland, 502 cubic inches seems to be more of the standard than the long time king of the hill 454. I even managed to see the 502 EFI Ram Jet in a Chevelle Wagon. At first I thought that was the $17,000 engine, but later relized that was the ZL1 crate engine I was thinking of. This 502 was only a $10,000 engine....chump change.
I have to admit, looking through my pictures, there really was a lot of cool shit there. In fact, I'm enjoying the show more so the second time around looking through the pictures. I have to say that with each year the cars at the show get better and better. As recent as 5 years ago I spotted many cars that had real shitty paint jobs on them. So bad that they looked like a few $100 Maaco job. The standard seems to have been raised, as the quality any more is on par with what you would see in a museum, in fact, often exceeding museum paint jobs, as if a musuem is going for an original look, they would spend countless hours blocking, sanding, and wet sanding the car because thats not how there were original. As for original, you can shove that right up your ass. I have about 0 tolerance for all stock, all original rides. I mean come on, what's the point? Are you trying to prove you are a preservationist by keeping it just the way it rolled off the assembly line? Come on, documenting where the paint dots/marks were from factory so that you can put them in the appropriate places during restoration? Yeah, have fun with that, I'd rather be sending stone chips down the 1/4 panels of a fresh paint job. Within days my fresh paint job had stone chips because it rides so low. Within a week or two I had stress cracks in the pillars from stressing the body from the horsepower. When I dropped the big block in, those stress cracks found their way to all four pillars. Screw it, I was having fun. Since then I've had the car cut up and a full 12 point roll cage installed. That made some people sick, can't believe I cut such a nice car up. Well, it was either that or twist the car up even more when I built a more powerful engine.
Ok, so maybe Autorama did light a fire under my ass. Maybe my blood is warming up and the desire is growing. Today, the garage begins to get wired up. In following weeks I should have the garage in shape for the work to begin. I've been dragging my feet on this blog for awhile, that's because I simply haven't done any work. Well that's about to change.
It can't go without saying that my view of the concept Camaro from the North American Auto Show has changed significantly. Before I had said that the Challenger concept was top notch, that it invoked the type of passion that would get me to sell my original to replace it with the new version. Well, while I still totally dig the Challenger, I'm starting to give the nod to the Camaro. Why the change of heart? Well, after seeing it on the cover of most every car magazine these past few months, as well as seeing it in a color other than the silver they had at the show, it's grown on me. Yesterday they had the red version of the car at the Detroit Autorama. They did a great job capturing the body lines of the classic 69, though giving the car an updated appearance. At first I didn't like the Cadillac edginess they added, but now I find it fuckin' awesome! The Challenger is basically a 1970 Challenger that was refined. While still sweet looking, you're only gonna appeal to the crowd that liked the old cars. The Camaro on the other hand has razor edge body lines that will appeal to a larger crowd. I can only hope they have the cajones to build this baby, as it could possibly be enough to do something I said I'd never do, buy a brand new car of the lot.
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