E N D L E S S R O A D
Road Chatter XLIV
P.O. Box 655
Falling Waters, WV 25419
Shop: 304-274-5074
FAX: 304-274-5076
endlssroad@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
THIS ISSUE
* Car Trivia Questions
* Cars DVD Pre-Order
* Gift Certificate Give Away
* Formula 1
* Bits and Pieces
* Car Trivia Answers
* 10% Off Purchases For Your Trivia Questions
==================== ** ====================
Car Trivia (answers are later in this email)
1) Jenson Button is the only British driver in F1 right now, and he is out
of the hunt for winning this year's Championship. At one time, the British
and other English-speaking drivers won the Formula 1 championship for 12
years straight. Care to guess when that was and who the drivers were?
2) In the Muscle Car days, Chevy put out their mighty 409. It was
available
with one or two four-barrel carbs. In its second year, it put out 409 HP,
equaling 1 HP per cubic inch, quite a feat at the time. It later reached
425
HP, with solid lifters and two-fours. You may remember it by the Beach
Boys
hit '409'. OK, Muscle Car Lovers, what years was the 409 engine available?
3) We haven't done a Henry Ford question lately. So, here's one now. In
1939, Mr. Ford said 'Every time I see an ------------, I take my hat off'.
What marque was he speaking of?
4) And another question from the Ford family history: What automotive flop
was named after Henry Ford's only son?
5) Pit Lane, Pit Stop, Pit Strategy. Every form of auto racing has pits,
although drag-racers could call their area the paddock. But, when and
where
did the word PIT come into use?
--- Retreads ---
These next three questions are from over two years ago. If you remember
them
from before, consider this a memory test.
6) In what year did General Motors first use the name 'Super-Sport'?
7) American entries in Formula 1 are very scarce, but one of these select
few was Don Nichols and his Shadow cars. What was the team's logo, and
what
was its inspiration?
8) His first contact with cars was when he went to an auto dealership near
his home. They carried Ferrari, Mercedes, Rolls, Maserati - a wonderland
for
a car-crazy kid. He applied for a job and was promptly turned down. Not
one
to take NO for an answer, he showed up the next morning and announced that
he was the new guy. They put him to work, washing and preparing the new
cars
to be picked up by the customers. After a few days, the boss that had
turned
him down was surprised to see him working there. The mechanics said he was
doing a great job, so he got to stay. Who was the kid with so much
chutzpah?
And the last two are from four years ago.
9) Speaking of logo's, do you know where Chevrolet got the idea for their
famous 'Bow Tie' logo?
10) Juan Manuel Fangio is on many people's 'Top Drivers of All Time' list.
He only raced once in America. What track was that? Who won?
(I'll give you that one. He did.)
==================== ** ====================
*Cars on DVD
Cars: The animated film about Cars for Car Guys by Car Guys. If you have
read anything about this film, you know it is full of neat stuff and the
voices of some automotive greats:
Paul Newman as Doc Hudson
They copied the Hudson color from a Hudson Mfg. paint chip.
Richard Petty as the Dodge Charger Daytona
As it should be in Petty Blue
Larry the Cable Guy as the tow truck, Mater
George Carlin as Filmore, the Hippy Dippy VW van
The Filmore was a theatre where many great bands of the 60's performed.
Cheech Marin as the '59 Chevy Impala Low Rider
Darrell Waltrip as the race announcer
Mario Andretti has a cameo as his old Ford stock car.
Every time you watch it, you will pick up more details and insider lines.
There is no sign on the horizon as to when it will come out on DVD. But
when
it does, we will have it at a low introductory price. We will take
pre-orders just as soon as we have a date and a price.
We did this with the Grand Prix DVD at about a 30% discount and shipped
them
to arrive on its release date, the first day they were on sale to the
public.
==================== ** ====================
* Gift Certificate Give Away
Our regulars know that every month, we give away a $30 Gift Certificate
from
Endless Road to one of our regular Road Chatter readers. We are happy to
say
the winner this month was Thomas from Prince Frederick, MD. Nice to see
'Tomahawke', one of our old customers from the shop, as the winner.
Again this month, for every purchase our regular Road Chatter Newsletter
recipients make, we will put their names in our drawing, and the person
whose name is drawn will receive a $30 Gift Certificate from Endless Road.
Good Luck.
==================== ** ====================
Formula 1
This year, the Super Aguri team was added, greatly increasing the odds
that
other lower-tier drivers would not finish dead last.
In 2008, there will be another new team on the track, Prodrive. F1
followers
will recognize the driving force of Prodrive, David Richards. He was the
former boss of British American Racing (BAR) till Honda bought the team
and
pushed him out. Richards is hoping that he can assemble a team depending
on
customer engines, possibly complete cars, from other F1 teams. He has
approached McLaren about such a deal. At the same time, he hopes to have
his
cars as showcases for new technology from his other Prodrive customers.
David Richards first tasted competition watching RAC Rallying in the late
60's. Starting at the age of 16, he went on to win a World Rally
Championship. And that was the beginning of his career winning
championships
for himself and his sponsors. He was the first to convince Rothmans to
enter
automotive competition, leading to wins in rallying, sportscar racing, and
endurance racing for years.
You know Prodrive from their blue Subaru #555 Rally cars and their Aston
Martins at Le Mans. Consider the cars that David Richards has driven or
managed: Ford, British Leyland, Nissan, Lancia, Fiat, Porsche, BMW, and
Subaru in Rallying; BMW, Alfa and Honda in BTTC; Porsche and Aston Martin
in
endurance racing; Renault, BAR and Benetton in F1; and Ferrari in The
American Le Mans Series.
Pretty good for a guy who studied for a degree in accounting.
2006 Schedule
August 6 Hungary
August 27 Turkey
Sept. 10 Italy
Sept. 17 Belgium
Oct. 1 China
Oct. 8 Japan
Oct. 22 Brazil
==================== ** ====================
* Bits and Pieces
Do not get rid of your VHS machines; there are many great racing videos
that
are available on VHS tape and not scheduled to be put on DVD. And for
those
of you finding it difficult to find new blank tapes, we carry the Maxell
tapes.
***
The last several months, we have had a MY FAVORITE CAR story here from one
of our readers. If you have fond memories of one of your fine machines and
would like to tell us about it, send us your story, and, when we use it,
you
will have your pick of any one item we have on our web.
***
Last month, Bob sent this note about a movie he was looking for.
........
Do you know the movie that was about a guy who had a race one car hidden
under the floor because cars were forbidden? The story took place in the
future. He had a pump, so that when he would go to an abandoned gas
station,
he would pump the gas out of the main tank. Please help me identify this
movie.
........
Within days, three readers sent us notes that the movie was 'The Last
Chase'
with Lee Majors and Burgess Meredith from 1981. The car was a Porsche Can
Am
car.
***
For those of you that frequented our shop in Savage Mill, you will be glad
to hear that Detour Dave is now writing articles for DiecastX magazine.
You
can still see his ramblings on his site:
http://www.detoursdiecast.com.
***
This is floating around on the web:
Senior Carjacking
This is a true account as recorded in the Police Log of Sarasota, Florida.
An elderly Florida lady did her shopping and, upon returning to her car,
found four males in the act of leaving with her vehicle.
She dropped her shopping bags and drew her handgun, proceeding to scream
at
the top of her voice, 'I have a gun, and I know how to use it! Get out of
the car!'
The four men didn't wait for a second invitation. They got out and ran
like
mad. The lady, somewhat shaken, then proceeded to load her shopping bags
into the back of the car and got into the driver's seat. She was so shaken
that she could not get her key into the ignition. She tried and tried, and
then it dawned on her that there was a football, a Frisbee and two 12
packs
of beer in the front seat!
A few minutes later, she found her own car parked four or five spaces
farther down. She loaded her bags into the car and drove to the police
station to report her mistake. The sergeant to whom she told the story
couldn't stop laughing. He pointed to the other end of the counter, where
four pale men were reporting a carjacking by a mad, elderly woman
described
as white, less than five feet tall, glasses, curly white hair, and
carrying
a large handgun.
No charges were filed.
If you're going to have a Senior Moment, make it a memorable one.
***
Almost Heaven
We no longer have our shop in Historic Savage Mill. We have moved to West
Virginia. No more Washington Beltway. No more 95 / 395 / 495 interchange
traveling south in Virginia. No more five minutes to drive two miles past
strip malls.
Things are a bit different here. The highway speed limit in WV is 70 MPH.
So
much nicer than the 55, 60, or max 65 in Maryland and Virginia. Yes, there
are states that have 75 MPH, and Texas is toying with 80 MPH, but for now,
we are happy with what we can get.
There is a winding, hilly, two-lane road with plenty of blind corners and
reverse banks a few miles from here, leading to Berkeley Springs. The
speed
limit is 55 MPH. It's almost not so much a limit as a goal.
Looking at our Maryland road map, there's our Governor in a suit and tie.
The WV road map has its governor and his wife in their leathers, astride
their touring motorcycle.
And, we are less than half an hour from Summit Point Raceway!
***
There is a closed flea market a few miles from here. We assume the two
lines
on the marquee are not related to each other, but who knows? It reads:
Perhaps Jesus Will Come Today
Flea Market Closed
***
West Virginia has up to eight letters on a tag.
That opens up so much more to the License Tag Novelist.
Two of our favorite license tags this month are both eight letters:
- A Mini John Cooper Special reminding us that John was a New Zealander:
MINIKIWI
- A Barracuda 440: ICAUGHT1
==================== ** ====================
Car Trivia Answers
1) The English-speaking F1 champions for 12 years straight were:
1958 Mike Hawthorne - English
1959 Jack Brabham - Australian
1960 Jack Brabham again
1961 Phil Hill - American
1962 Graham Hill - English (London actually)
1963 Jim Clark - Scottish, of course
1964 John Surtees - English
1965 Jim Clark again
1966 Jack Brabham for the third time
1967 Denny Hulme - New Zealand
1968 Graham Hill once again
1969 Jackie Stewart - Scottish
(Thanks to our friend, Jeff, for this one.)
2) Chevy's Mighty 409 was available from 1961 to mid 1965.
3) When Henry Ford said 'Every time I see an Alfa Romeo, I take my hat
off',
he was expressing his respect for the highly regarded favorite of Europe's
elite for decades. Alfa has been away from our shores since the early
90's.
It was a great affordable Italian beauty, with quite a rabid following.
And
now, Alfa is making noises (again) about coming back to The States. This
time, they are discussing bringing in a $200K Competition coupe. That will
be followed by their Alfa Romeo Brera Q4 with a GM based 3.2 litre 256 HP
V6, Alfa designed heads, cam, and a purely Alfa exhaust note. The sound
alone should make it worth waiting for.
4) The automotive flop that was named after Henry Ford's only son was the
Edsel. It is said that they are still plentiful in Cuba. Maybe that is
what
Ford did with them after the car bombed here.
5) In the beginning, racers would just pull over to the side of the track
for fueling and repairs. The area was called the Service Depot. But then,
this would often block the view of the paying customers in the stands. So
a
trench was dug, running along between the stands and the track. The track
would be a bit wider there with a row of railroad ties to define the edge
of
the track. There was a length of wood flooring resembling a narrow
boardwalk
between the railroad ties and the trench or 'pit'. Areas of the pit would
be
divided by chicken wire for the individual teams. All the spares, tires,
fuel and mechanics would be in the pit. The example we found, and possibly
the first to do this, was at the 1908 Grand Prix at Dieppe, France.
(Thanks very much to our friend, Jeff, for this one, too.)
--- Retreads ---
6) When did General Motors first use the name 'Super Sport'? You may
remember the 1961 Chevy Super Sport, but Oldsmobile used it in 1922! From
CHEVY SUPER SPORTS 1961 - 1976 by Terry V. Boyce:
'One of the earliest applications of the Super-Sport name to an automobile
was made by Oldsmobile in 1922. That Super-Sport was a four-passenger
sport
touring outfitted with numerous special features. It was described as 'The
smartest of smart cars,' as Oldsmobile modestly declared that it sparkled
with originality. It had cycle fenders, disc wheels, step plates, a nickel
radiator shell and, believe it or not, a V8.'
(Thanks to our friend, Warren.)
7) In 1973, after his outrageous entry in Can Am, Don Nichols entered F1
with his car designed by Tony Southgate, who also designed for BRM. The
Shadow's logo was a silhouette of a man in hat and cloak, with the word
Shadow in the foreground. The inspiration was 'The Shadow', as in 'The
Shadow Knows' from radio and earlier pulp fiction books.
(Thanks again to our friend, Jeff, for this one.)
8) The new kid on the job, Jay Leno, probably has more exotics now than
were
in the shop the day he lied his way into the job.
9) What Chevrolet is calling a BOW-TIE was, in fact, the design on the
wallpaper in a hotel in Chicago, IL, where Louis Chevrolet stayed. The
background of the wallpaper was black, and the 'Bow-Tie' was white. It is
said that he tore off a sample to show the boys at GM.
(Thanks for this new and improved answer from our friend, Richard C.)
10) Fangio ran at Sebring in 1957 in a Maserati 450S. That car was back at
Sebring in 2002 as part of their 50th Anniversary Celebration.
==================== ** ====================
10% Off Purchases For Your Trivia Questions
To Jeff M, Warren M, and Richard C, thanks for the trivia questions.
Remember, you all will receive 10% discounts on your next orders.
Send us an interesting fact on just about anything on wheels: cars,
trucks,
F1, Drags, Muscle Cars, weird obsolete car thingies, whatever, and, when
we
use it, you get 10% off all purchases on everything on your next order.
***
Thanks,
Dave Payne
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