Month: February 2012

A retired California leader put his educational background to work in the restoration of a 1961 Corvette convertible he and his wife bought in 1981 for $7,000.

Jay St. John retired two years ago after serving 12 years as superintendent of the Sahuarita Unified School District and decided it was finally time to restore his collector car.

He decided to ask Sahuarita High School automotive instructor Bryce Bond if he and some of his students would be willing to help in the restoration of the car.

“I’m an educator and thought this would be the ideal teaching car,” St. John said. “I realized what a great educational tool this is.”

St. John paid for all the parts, paint, equipment, and tools to bring the car back to life, and the kids got a chance to work on a car that they can boast about for years.

“This was a great educational experience for them,” Bond said. “They just don’t get to work on cars like this every day, and they really got into it.”

The students wound up doing most of the work, though Bond says he painted the car its classic two-tone red and white and rebuilt the carburetor “but I let them handle it piece by piece to get the feel.”

Their efforts were apparently impressive enough to take the People’s Choice award in the 18th Annual Collector Car Show hosted Jan. 28 by the Santa Cruz Valley Car Nuts.

“This was the first time I’d ever entered the car in a show,” St. John said. “It helps that my wife made a detailed poster explaining why this car was special. The photos showed the process, and students did the work.”

Source:
Green Valley News

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This gorgeous Carbon Flash 2012 Corvette ZR1 Centennial Edition will be raffled to benefit the Susan G. Komen foundation. Shot on location at the Autobahn Speedway in Joliet, Illinois, drifter Ryan Tuerck puts the Michelin PS2 Cup tires to the test as he recreates the famous Komen pink ribbon logo on asphalt with burnt rubber.

The video was shot by automotive videographer DV Chavez. See more of his work at http://portfolio.dcchavez.com/.

Related:
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Last weekend marked our annual pilgrimage to Cobo Hall in downtown Detroit for the yearly festival of chrome and horsepower known as Autorama. Each year thousands of attendees wander aisle after aisle checking out the custom cars, trucks, motorcycles, and hot rods. This year was the 60th installment of the show.

Early reports had attendance up almost 15% from last year’s show. Based on the monster crowds we encountered most of the day that number seems reasonable.

Entrants in the show range from 100 point, factory-correct fully-restored show cars to all out ultra-high-end customs. There is no limit to the creativity and talent that is on display. Cars being shown for the first time battle it out for selection into the Great 8 with hopes of taking home the prestigious Ridler Award.

In addition, hundreds of vendors were available selling everything from metal polish to full replacement bodies to restoration services. If you’re looking for your next toy, big or small, there’s the Toy-A-Rama section and the for sale lot depending on what you’re looking for. The lower level houses old school customs as well as traditional and rat rods.

We’ve already given you a sneak peak at some of our favorite Corvettes from the show on our Facebook page, but now you can see some more in the gallery below. We also threw in some of our favorite non-vettes as well.

We’ll feature a couple more Corvettes from Autorama later this week.

Related:
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[PICS] Corvettes at the 2011 Detroit Autorama

 

The 88-year old driver of this “Little Red Corvette” lost control on a rain-soaked road in Green Valley, Arizona last week. The Corvette bounced off the median, spun around and jumped the curb before it came to rest in a KFC parking lot, hitting a light pole which fell over on a van.

The driver was 88 year old Walt Kuzmak, a World War II Air Force veteran and Purple Heart recipient. Although a little shaken following the crash, he was uninjured.

The Classic red Corvette has been in his family for 34 years and it appears it received only light damage. Walt showed some humor following the incident by commenting on the damaged Corvette:

“It doesn’t look like much, but it’s a Corvette,” Kuzmak said. “That’ll be about seven-thousand bucks.”

Source:
Green Valley News
Photo Credit: Andrew Saenz | Green Valley News

Related:
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How do you think a stock Ferrari 458 Italia would fare against three other supercars?

Well, the Russian website Drag Times Info recently decided to find out by running the Ferrari in a mile drag race against an Audi RS6 Evotech Stage 2 Gran Turismo, a Nissan GT-R MK.1 AMS Stage 1, and a Corvette ZR1 Lingenfelter. You can watch the results after the jump.

In the first race, the 570-hp Ferrari pulls out to an early lead over the 750-hp Audi and winds up winning. The second race saw the 600-hp Nissan jumping to a quick lead and holding on for a victory. And in the final race of the day, the Ferrari moved ahead early but wound up losing by a second to the 750-hp ZR1.

Times are listed below:

• Ferrari 458, ET – 29.011, 60 feet – 1.927 (181.7 mph)
• Audi RS6, ET – 29.217, 60 feet – 2.026 seconds (180.1 mph)

• Nissan GT-R, ET – 28.166, 60 feet – 1.872 (180.02 mph)
• Ferrari 458, ET – 28.955; 60 feet – 2.059 (181.6 ph)

• Corvette ZR1 Lingenfelter, ET – 27.952; 60 feet – 2.256 (192.6 mph)
• Ferrari 458, ET – 28.951; 60 feet – 1.889 (182.4 mph)

The Corvette emerged with the lowest mile time of 27.952, the only car to break below the 28-second mark, and had the highest top speed by 10 mph, though the Nissan might have made it a good fight in a one-on-one with its time of 28.166.

Source:
DragTimes.info
Youtube.com

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The National Corvette Museum recently posted the following notice on their facebook page about the tour schedule at the Corvette assembly plant in Bowling Green:

All GM Corvette Plant tours will cease on September 14, 2012. The date for tours to resume has yet to be determined. Of course, you can always come visit us at the Museum! We are open daily, 8am-5pm.

We’re assuming that the suspension of tours is due to the retooling that will be going on inside the Bowling Green Assembly Plant as General Motors transitions from building the C6 Corvette to the next generation 2014 C7 Corvette.

In 2011, General Motors North American President Mark Reuss announced the automaker was investing $131 million in the plant for upgrading tooling and machinery. The investment is expected to create as many as 250 new jobs.

Now is the time to hit the plant if you want to see the how America’s finest autoworkers build the C6 Corvette. We’re planning on touring the facility the week of the NCM Bash.

Source:
NCM on Facebook

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