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| The TopCarBrand.com News: |
Need a paint job? $50 will do it.
I'm a big fan of the flat-black rat rod scene. A 1930s-era Ford with minimal aesthetic improvements contrasted with a beautifully-tuned flathead is my kind of thing. That said, however, there are some collector cars that truly need that glossy sheen to look their best. And as part owner of a 1965 Mustang in dire need of paint, I know how much it can add to the cost of a restoration.
The guys at Jalopy Journal also know about pricey paint, which is why they too were impressed by this guys' ability to paint his 1966 Corvair in his driveway for $50. The ingredients include two quarts of Rustoleum, mineral spirts, and instead of an expensive spray system, foam rollers.
Yup. Dude painted his Corvair with paint rollers. In his driveway. He said at first he worried about the bugs fatally stuck in each of the seven coats, but sanding took 'em right out. Step-by-step instructions encourage others to do the same.
The final product looks good in pictures, and an eight-month update from the owner shows the paint smooth and shiny even without the first coat of wax.
If anyone tries their own DIY paint job, let me know how it works out. The Mustang's red paint gets closer to pink and the bank account closer to red every day.
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2007 Camaro SuperFest.
If you're a fan of the General Motors F-body cars, particularly the ones with a bow-tie, Ypsilanti was the place to be this weekend. 2007 marks the 40th anniversary of Chevrolet's response to the Mustang with the introduction of the Camaro. Actually, the original 1967 Camaro debuted in September of 1966, but let's not quibble over details. On another sunny summer weekend, the annual Camaro Super Fest returned to Ypsilanti, MI with plenty of reason to celebrate, especially knowing that a new model is finally coming in two years. All manner of each of the four Camaro generations turned up at Riverside Park, with first generation models being particularly well represented.
The attendees ranged from original unrestored examples to first gen F-bodies that look better than they did when new. One example of the former category was a rather sad looking brown 1977 base model complete with generic Chevy hubcaps and sheepskin seat covers. Modified units ranged from drag racers to wild flame paint jobs and many other variations. Relegated to a distant corner were a handful of Firebirds including a 1980 Turbo Trans-Am with a hood slathered with the ultimate screaming chicken and even one lonely Pontiac G5. There was even a portable hoist set up with a 2005 GTO up in the air. The announcer was advertising this as a preview of the '09 Camaro chassis, but I didn't have the heart to tell them that the new Zeta platform is all new and doesn't have the old GTO suspension.
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No foam for you: WRC banning run-flat tire foam, electronics filling the void
For two decades, participants in the World Rally Championship haven't been bothered with flat tires due to the expanding foam that quickly inflates when air pressure is lost. Since the system was instituted, it wasn't uncommon for drivers to win races – sometimes setting record times – on foam-infused tires. However, new FIA regulations have mandated that the gooey compound are to be nixed for the 2008 season in an effort to keep costs in check.
As such, teams are looking to employ new tire-monitoring systems that can give drivers real-time data on inflation and temperature, to let them know when a tire should be changed. BERU F1 Systems is just such a supplier, having proven its wares in everything from LeMans to F1 racing.
It strikes us as odd that the FIA's decision to eliminate foam was hailed as a cost-saving measure, considering that this new tire-monitoring system will likely increase the cost of campaigning a WRC vehicle. We'll have to wait until next year to see how the new regs will be implemented and how it will affect the outcome of some of the more grueling races.
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Extreme Restraint: Novitec tunes the Maserati Quattroporte
It takes a special kind of customer to take their exotic Italian supercar to Novitec. Starting off with some of the all-around best-performing automobiles ever to grace God's green earth, Novitec rips them apart in an effort to try and make them "more perfect". So what's such a customer to do when he needs to take the family along? If their mods to the Alfa Romeo 159 weren't enough, Novitec has now turned their attention to the sublime Maserati Quattroporte.
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Continental takes world speed record
 Continental has entered the Guinness Book of World Records with a top speed of 242 mph (388 km/h). We're definitely not talking about the behemoth Bentley, as powerful as it is. The record now officially belongs to Continental Tires for its ContiSportContact Vmax, which has been officially certified by those stout-chugging judges as the world's fastest production road tire.
The rubber was tested on the 9ff-modified Porsche 911 that took the world record for the fastest street-legal road car. A custom 9ff cabrio also took the record for the world's fastest convertible with a high end of 237.8 mph (380.5 km/h). Both cars are owned by 9ff chief Jan Fatthauer, and the top speed runs were certified by Guinness.
If you're thinking that the Bugatti Veyron (and the purpose-made Michelin rubber on its wheels) can hit a higher speed, you may be right, but the Veyron has yet to try for the official record, and its tires were specially made for the Bugatti, while the Continentals are offered to the public as standard production road tires. As much as the car's own capabilities, how it makes contact with the road (i.e., its tires) often dictates a car's limits. Just keeping the tires from melting (as they do on the Veyron after just 12 minutes at its 253-mph top speed) is a feat in and of itself.
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