A Tree Falling in the Forest

Exhibit four: "The Charity Case"

This experiment actually began as a repair project for a young man that is entering the Marines in about a month. His name is Joe... I call him Fonzie. So Fonzie was at a stop sign in his Mazda when he did a very teenage thing... he dumped the clutch and caused terminal damage to his transmission. I removed the tranny hoping it was something inexpensive, such as the center of the clutch, but alas the differential in the transmission was shattered. A used transmission was about $500, which is about $300 more than he paid for the car. I offered to buy the car for $250, which is about $100 more than it was worth. He's a good kid in a tough family situation, so I wanted to do what I could to help.

The flywheel and clutch were less than a month old, and are a perfect fit for my Mazda powered Ford Probe. For the sake of the experiment, let's say that is worth about $150. I also removed the CD player and speakers, which included a nice set of Polk Audio rear speakers and tweeters. These may find there way into my Mustang. I sold the wheels for $80 to a very nice, very large man (think bouncer) with a Honda Civic. I saved the radiator as a spare for my Probe (a direct match) and cut off the catalytic converter to add to my growing collection. The remainder of the car went to the shredder where I received $200.


Exhibit five: "The Crossfire Z28"

I bought this car off Craigslist for $250 from a nice young woman and her girlfriend. She was too busy driving cross country in her truck (with her girlfriend) to have the time to restore it as she had planned. (Sidebar: as you may have surmised, she intimidated me more than the bouncer.) She originally wanted $400 for the car. I employed the "keep your mouth shut" strategy and she talked herself down to $250 while I stood staring at the gutted interior of the car. I removed the crossfire injection manifold, throttle bodies, distributor, the t-tops, hood, rear spoiler, and the wheels and tires. The rest of the car went to the shredder for about $200. So far, I have only sold the hood, wheels and tires, for which I received $200.


This is not the Camaro, but it is the Camaro that received the hood, tires and wheels.

I recently purchased a Miller Mig Welder for a few projects I have under way... Things like my Ford Probe race car and some minor repairs to the ramp truck.



Today, was the inaugural project. I had to repair my ATV trailer... one of the welds on the ramp broke, so I did a little repair. I should have taken a picture before I applied the paint, but alas. I was very pleased with the result. Looks much better (and hopefully stronger) than the prior weld.

As most of my friends know, for most of my life my father was in the junk business. He would tear down buildings, cut up tanks, bale metal, and crush cars - all in the name of earning a living.

Growing up I spent most of my summers working for him. Dad was old school in his approach to the business, no Internet, little if any advertising, just hard work doing the dirty jobs most others wouldn't.

For years, I've wondered how Dad's business would work with an injection of the information age. Partly to satisfy my curiosity, partly to hang on to the special memories I have of my dad, and partly to make some new memories with my own son, I have been conducting some small "economic experiments" with the help of Craigslist and Dad's ramp truck.

Exhibit one: "The Volvo"

More specifically, a 93 Volvo 940 Turbo. Blown head gasket. Purchase price $150. Two of the original wheels sold on eBay for $50 (net). The other two wheels sold for $20 for scrap. The rest of the car sold for $280 at the shredder. The best part was the look on OBB's face when the frontend loader busted out the windows to lift the car off the ramp truck.


Exhibit two: "The Camaro"

More specifically, an 86 IROC Z skeleton. No nose, no doors, no interior. Unfortunately, I forgot to get a picture. Purchase price $75. There wasn't much left, but I made the best of what remained. The intake plenum and valve body sold on eBay for $50 (net). The instrument cluster sold on eBay for $85 (net). The remainder of the car sold for $200.


Exhibit three: "The Ranger"

More specifically, an 86 Ford Ranger. Bad clutch and some front end damage. Purchase price $200. Really I was interested in this one for the wheels and tires it had on it. The tires fit nicely on my Ford Probe (aka my wanna be racecar.) I felt bad about junking this truck. It was the only Ford Ranger I have ever seen with dual fuel tanks. On the other hand, I found a small portion of a certain controlled substance in the ash tray that smelled like Otto's jacket. So, I didn't waste anytime getting this one to the shredder where I received $270.


I am not making any judgements about my grand experiment yet. A couple more are in the process of being "monitized." An 84 Z28 Camaro and a 93 Mazda Protege. Right now I am in the "hole" on these two. We'll have to wait and see how I do.

For the last month or so I have been working on Dad's ramp truck. Working on this truck is a little like working on a jigsaw puzzle, which, as my lovely wife will tell you, brings out the obsessive side of my personality. The complexity of working on a big Diesel truck is enough of a challenge, but it becomes even more interesting when it has been owned (and wired) by my father for about a decade.

First up was changing out a bad brake line. Brake lines are always a pain, but when it wraps around the front of the motor and is more than 8 feet long it turns into an all day project. The truck has "air over hydraulic" brakes... another learning opportunity. All turned out well. To bleed the brakes by myself I made a one man brake bleeder with a cleaned out spaghetti sauce jar. Works great!


Next was the drivers seat replacement. I was surprised to find so few options for black bucket seats at the local salvage yard. If you want tan or light gray, no problem. Went through a few hundred cars... no black. I settled for charcoal gray. I fabricated new seat mounts and installed a new seat belt buckle. Another all day project.

A few months ago, the Mustang developed a very annoying rattle in the exhaust. A baffle in the left muffler broke. So for my birthday my lovely wife (MLW) bought me a new set of 409 Stainless Steel JBA mufflers with 4" double walled tips.

To illustrate, I created a brief video for your viewing pleasure. (The smoke from the exhaust is evidence of the cold weather in Richmond today.) The first clip is the death rattle Flowmaster exhaust. The second clip is muffler free... I was just wondering what it would sound like... MLW wouldn't approve of a muffler delete package. The final clip is the new JBA mufflers. Enjoy!

10. (2000) Gone in Sixty Seconds arrives in theaters. 75 seconds later it heads for DVD. Robert Duvall, Nick Cage, Angelina Jolie... the real star was Eleanor a 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500 designed by Chip Foose. Not since the General Lee has a character car been made into so many clones.
9. (2001) The loss of Dale Earnhardt opened the eyes of many to the color and drama of NASCAR. Sadly, since his passing, the sport has become more and more dull.

8. (2002) The death of the mighty Camaro. What killed it? Probably the SUV. It gets blamed for everything in this decade. But seriously, Government Motors was so busy trying to find places to build SUVs they killed off their rear wheel drive cars to make more room on the assembly lines. I think we all know how that worked out.



7. (2003-2007) Ford decides to get into the supercar business with the Ford GT. Internet billionaires and real estate moguls rejoice. Car guys like me get a good chuckle when we read newspaper stories about said weenies driving their 550 hp supercharged racers into guardrails and ditches.


6. (2004) The rise of the Mustang. Restyled for the 2005 model year, the Mustang went back to its roots and its late sixties style. The reborn Challenger and Camaro would follow suit, but the Mustang blazed the way for tasteful retrostyle.
5. (2005) Danica Patrick won Rookie of the Year for IndyCar's 2005 Season. She is to Indy car racing what Tiger Woods is to golf... except all the winning and extra-marital affairs. After Dale Earnhardt Jr., she is probably the biggest brand in racing.

4. (2006) Cars (the Pixar Movie) hits theaters. Each pixel is turned into a diecast vehicle and sold to little kids. In the age of video games and iPods, another generation of kids gets turned on to playing with simple cars. (At about $4 a pop.)

3. (~2007) The Speed Channel finds a winner in the Barrett Jackson Collector Car auctions. Here, the rich guys responsible for the derivatives debacle and hedge funds buy up all the best muscle cars for $100K and up. Hemi Cudas, Shelby Mustangs, and Yenko Camaros are added to collections like vintage wines. The beer and burger crowds are left with 318 Dusters and 4-door Chevelles for $15 grand a piece.