Leaderboard

This past weekend, a group of friends who are car enthusiasts took a short Fall Cruise down a stretch of Historic Route 66 between Dwight and Pontiac, IL. It was a gorgeous, sunny and blue sky October day. We had 10 people in 9 cars. I was the sole Z, and sole import for that matter in the group. One guy had an awesome 8K mile 1970 Superbird that was really mint. Other cars included: Factory Five Cobra, '66 Mustang, '71 Torino,'74 Grand Am, '76 Trans Am, '67 Camaro convertible, and a 2015 Mustang. The new Mustang was designated chase car in case someone broke down. Fortunately we did not need to press it into duty. The first stop was an old Texaco Gas Station that was built in 1933. It was the longest operating gas station along Route 66 until 1999. Next stop was a Standard Oil Gas Station built in 1932 and operated until 1975. Both had been restored back to their original condition. We met people from all over. At the Standard Station I met a father and son from Oregon. They were really excited to see my Z and talk about Z's. The son has a '72 Z that was handed down form his aunt, who was the original owner. It was his first car, at the age of 15! Lucky guy. We had lunch at the Old Log Cabin Restaurant which was built in 1926, the year Route 66 opened. The food is really good too. Unfortunately I did not get a picture of it. We ended the tour in Pontiac, IL. We saw the Route 66 Hall of Fame and Museum, along with multiple other museums. Lastly we saw the Oakland-Pontiac Automobile Museum. They had some beautiful cars on display. They have 51 cars in the collection. Eighteen at a time are on display and they rotate them periodically. If you are in the area and have the chance, it is well worth the time to take the tour. The Texaco Station had a map of the World, with push pins stuck in it, which showed where where visitors had come from. There was as many visitors from abroad as there were from the U.S. Route 66 clearly has a special place the hearts of travelers and car people from around the globe.

Wishing all of our good friends in Canada a most Happy Thanksgiving!

This is on a miniature bowling alley. Patcon, it's for you!

Got a couple made up and one sent out to a member Degreased, sand blasted, machined and drilled, copper bearing weld thru primer applied (all I had for primer handy, looks real 70's). Includes a 4.5" x 3/8 NC GR 8 bolt and plated hardware including two nice thin spacer washers to get the pulley alignment just right. $35 USD + price of a stamp.

IMHO, the Centerforce pressure plate with those weights is a POS. The increase in release pressure at higher rpm caused by those weights put a lot of load on the thrust bearing in the engine and the added mass of that pressure plate puts a bigger load on the transmission synchros. A number of us who raced in ITS years ago wouldn't run those things even when Centerforce gave them to us for free. I guess if you just putt around and the street they would be OK.