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The Original Parts Group "Cruise
to Vegas"
The 2010
Super Chevy Show series kicks off with the season
opener at The Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 20
21. Cruisers from Los Angeles, however, will start the celebration
a day earlier with the Original Parts Group "Cruise to
Vegas" event on March 19.
Between
50-100 hot rods and specialty vehicles are expected to be
joined by fans, vendors, sponsors and racers in a massive
caravan that will travel from Los Angeles to Las Vegas to
help kick off the official opening of the 30th anniversary
season of the Super Chevy Show series. “
We are very excited to sponsor the opening Super Chevy Show
event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway and to launch the 'Cruise
to Vegas' leading to the event," Original Parts Group,
Inc., Marketing Manager Gus Stewart said. "OPGI is ready
to hit the road with some great people and great cars.”
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will meet at Original Parts Group in Seal Beach at 10 a.m. on Friday,
March 19 and will depart Southern California in time to be at the
track in Las Vegas by 4:30 p.m. that afternoon, giving participants
the chance to race down the track during the test-n-tune, set up
for the car show or just enjoy an evening out on The Strip.
Some of the most anxious participants of the cruise will be Super
Chevy magazine staff members.
“I can’t think of a cooler way to kick off the 30th
anniversary Super Chevy Show season than with a cruise from Original
Parts Group in Southern California to Las Vegas,” Editor of
Super Chevy magazine, Jim Campisano, said. “Super Chevy and
its sister publications will be out in force and plan on doing the
cruise from beginning to end.
"Original Parts Group has been a huge supporter of the magazine
and this hobby for many years and we are thrilled that it has stepped
up to do something so exciting.”
The Original Parts Group "Cruise to Vegas" event might
be the first – but not last – cruise of the Super Chevy
Show season. Super Chevy Show owners, SCSW, Inc., is working with
Forward Sports Marketing on event promotion and has already heard
a buzz about other cruise events in other national event sites.
"Original Parts Group has always brought a tremendous amount
of promotional support to the Super Chevy Show series, and we couldn’t
think of a better sponsor and promotion to kick off the season the
way they have planned it with the cruise from L.A. to Vegas,”
Forward Sports Marketing's Haas said. “We have already received
inquiries from sponsors in other markets asking about doing cruises
to series races from nearby metropolitan areas, so I think you will
see more great promotions like this during the 30th anniversary
season."
This will be the first time Las Vegas Motor Speedway has hosted
a Super Chevy Show event since November 2003. Chris Blair, Las Vegas
Motor Speedway's Vice President of Racing Operations, said the cruise
seems like the perfect way to re-introduce the city of Las Vegas
to such a storied event.
"We think the cruise from L.A. to Las Vegas will not only kick
off a great event at Las Vegas Motor Speedway but it's a great way
to jump start an exciting new chapter for the 30th year of the Super
Chevy Show," Blair said. "The excitement just keeps building
as we get closer to the opening date and the cruise adds another
element to this amazing event."
Cruise participants will receive a gift bag from Original Parts
Group and its suppliers. They also will have the opportunity to
register for the weekend's events early, allowing for early entry
on Saturday morning.
Departure location:
Friday, March 19 (meet at 10 a.m., depart 11 a.m.)
Original Parts Group (OPG)
1770 Saturn Way
Seal Beach, CA 90740
Cruise Destination:
Friday, March 19 (estimated arrival is 4:30 p.m.)
Las Vegas Motor Speedway
7000 Las Vegas Blvd. N.
Las Vegas, NV 89115 |
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DETAILS,
DETAILS…
A look at concours details
on an Olds 442 chassis
By Barry Kluczyk and John Kryta
based on a story that appeared previously
in Musclecar Enthusiast
James and John Kryta founded restoration parts manufacturer
Inline Tube (inlinetube.com) – an OPGI supplier –
to satisfy their eye for detail. The twin brothers are big A-body
fans, with James preferring 442s and John leaning towards GTOs.
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One
of their most recent projects was a rare, one-of-772 1972 442
W-30 car – a muscle car holdout in the low-compression
era, with a 455 engine generated 410 lb.-ft. of torque. With
the assistance of Nyle Wing at Wing’s Auto art (wingsautoart.com),
James and John left no bolt unturned or unpainted in the quest
to restore it to a standard that exceeds the factory fit and
finish. They performed much of the detail work themselves, too,
and a quick look at the chassis reveals that commitment to painstaking
authenticity – from the crayon marks to the varied colors
of the body mounts and line clips, it appears brand-new.
The chassis also is a great reference not only for ’72
442s, but other model years, as well. Many of the paint finishes,
components and other details are shared with many other models
and model years. Most of the larger, original parts were media-blasted
and painted to duplicate the original finish, while other pieces
of hardware and fasteners were re-plated with the original finish.
Wherever possible, the correct finish is described in the accompanying
photo captions.
Below are 10 important details of the chassis: |
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1.
The power steering gearbox is a cast finish with aluminum cover
and black phosphate bolts. The Inline Tube-produced power steering
hoses have the correct tin-coated tube and gold or yellow zinc
fittings. The hoses also have the correct pinch clamps and red
stripe. Many hoses on these cars have ribs in the rubber or
stripes to keep the routing clear for the line workers.
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2.
The engine frame brackets are phosphate and the bolts are black
phosphate. The motor mount bolt is also phosphate and the lock
nut is silver zinc. Because the frame was used with several
different engines, it was punched to accept several different
motor mounts. The frame was white-marked prior to assembly to
indicate which holes to use. The white marks extend beneath
the mounts.
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3.
Here, the control arm is black, but many were also bare steel
and painted after the frame was assembled and black-out painted
to cover any bare parts to inhibit rust. The cross shaft is
cast grey or bare, the large shaft washers are phosphate and
the nuts are silver zinc. The shock hardware is silver zinc.
The disc brake caliper bracket is gold zinc, the backing plate
is silver zinc and the caliper is black. It is typical for calipers
and master cylinders to be cast and dipped in black paint before
the machine work was performed on the casting. The correct detailing
involves painting all machined surfaces a bare-steel color,
then masking off and painting the casting black.
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4.
From the factory the frame was dipped in a black dye-like paint;
it was the only method to ensure complete coverage inside and
out. On very low-mile cars, drips and runs in the paint are
evident. Many of the brackets and parts were dipped, not sprayed,
as it was faster and better for the worker and the environment.
The “256” marking is a frame number that was on
the car when it was taken apart. Currently, we don’t know
its meaning. It could be a factory unit number or a simple code
to the guy at the next station to get two burgers and five drinks,
because the break was in six minutes.
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5.
When the fames were manufactured they were used on a variety
of A-bodies, including the GTO, Chevelle, Skylark and the Cutlass.
This is a 1972 frame for all Oldsmobile series 4400 cars, which
the base car or platform is the F-85. This platform includes
the F-85, Cutlass, Cutlass-S, Cutlass supreme and 442. The “CR”
is the two-letter code on the build sheet, and before it is
the part number for the frame. “J57” is the Cutlass
Supreme Hardtop code, “G77” is the Cutlass S Club
coupe or (post coupe) and “G87” is the Hardtop coupe
(non-post). This number would be different on a four-door frame
or a convertible frame.
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6.
The Krytas have found many original, low-mile cars with bare-steel
transmission cross members. This is duplicated with steel-color
paint, as there is no way to duplicate the finish of a new,
freshly stamped part. It is another item that was blacked out
when the chassis was complete, too. There is a page in the assembly
manual focused on the black-out details, including which parts
to spray and what to avoid. All bare-steel parts were to be
sprayed, avoiding the brakes and moving assemblies. That’s
why some parts appear to be black on one side or end.
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7.
This is the driver-side, front-to-rear brake line running in
and out of the frame; and since this is now 1⁄4-in. tubing,
the line clip color changes to yellow again to guide the line
worker. The body mounts are also color-coded by size and location
– and not all mounts are the same. All A-bodies have similarly
shaped mounts, but Oldsmobiles had a much softer mount than
the Chevelle or GTO. So, this color-coded mount is specific
to Olds.
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8.
Here are different-colored body mounts for different locations
on the frame. The differences are called out in the assembly
manuals and are easily seen on low-mile cars. The black mount
does not get a bolt; it is simply a resting pad. Also, the fuel
lines have the correct cloth wrappings as they exit the frame
and are Olds-specific. The fuel lines are two pieces for easy
installation and they’re joined by a small rubber hose
that is marked “1⁄4 return” and “3/8”
for fuel. The clips are different colors for placement identification.
The colors are standard on all 1964-72 fuel hoses.
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9.
In 1970 an all-aluminum rear axle was offered, but it was discontinued
for 1971 – leaving only the sporty cover available that
year and for ’72. It is an aluminum cover with cooling
fins. It is reproduced, but the fins are much thicker than the
originals. W-27 was the option code for the rear end or the
cover. “W” was the letter for high-performance Olds
options. W-25 was the ram air hood; W-35 was the deck lid spoiler;
W-26 was the dual gate shifter and W-30 was the engine option.
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10.
The rear sway bar is cast color. As with other parts, the coded
tag matches the build sheet and carried the bar’s part
number. The tag was intended to last as long as it took to get
the piece from the factory to the assembly line. Many of these
tags fell off in the first year or were painted over in the
black-out process
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RESTORATION PROJECT TIPS
Four ways ensure a better
restoration before you start
By Barry Kluczyk
based on a story previously seen in Musclecar Enthusiast
Nyle Wing, the owner of Michigan-based Wing’s Auto Art
(wingsautoart.com), has been restoring muscle cars for 20 years.
His roster of jobs includes some of the rarest cars ever to
come out of Detroit, with many taking top awards once their
proud owners begin showing them off. |
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Recently,
a new customer brought him a GTO that was fresh from another
resto shop. As full restorations go, the price the customer
paid seemed to be a comparative bargain, but he soon learned
the hard way what is meant by the axiom “you get what
you pay for.
”At a glance, the car looked fine, but upon closer inspection,
the underlying bodywork was terrible and other details were
just plain wrong. By the time the owner tried to do something
about it, the shady resto shop had closed its doors. The car
owner was out some serious money and saddled with a GTO that
simply wasn’t up to snuff. Exasperated, he brought the
car to Wing’s shop, where his crew will do what they can
to fix the other shop’s mistakes. It will be a costly
adventure for the understandably frustrated owner.
Unfortunately, that enthusiast’s experience is all too
common. The good word of a smooth-talking shop owner should
never be enough to win the business of your restoration investment.
“Just like a big medical procedure, you definitely want
a second opinion,” says Wing. “You can’t just
take the shop owner’s word for it – you’ve
got to get the opinions from others who’ve had cars restored
at the shop.”
And while nobody wants to spend more than is necessary, Wing
advises those contemplating a full, concours-style resto should
be prepared for a sizeable bill. The cost boils down to time,
because that’s what the shop is charging for. A body-on
paint job and no additional work may take a few weeks, but the
painstaking disassembly, reconditioning and reassembly procedures
that comprise a concours-level restoration – those typically
involving stripping the car to its sheet metal shell and mounting
it on a rotisserie – take many months.
“To do a car to the first-class, concours-ready quality
most people want these days takes about 1,500-2,000 labor hours,
with maybe a year or so in the shop,” he says. “Anybody
who says they can do it for, say, half that, is cutting corners
or not giving the full treatment to your car.”
Most shops charge anywhere from $60 to $85 per hour –
or more – and that doesn’t include the cost of parts.
Do the math – and be prepared to pay in installments as
the work progresses.
There are other considerations that first-timers should weigh
before handing over the keys and a sizeable chunk of their savings
to a resto shop. Here are four of the most important:
1. Decide whether you want a show car or a driver
“I hear it all the time from new customers who initially
tell us they want a nice car, but not necessarily a concours
car – then they change their mind halfway through the
process and it costs them even more, because we have re-do things,”
says Wing. His advice: Be honest with yourself before you drop
the car off at the shop.
“For a driver-quality car, we can simply powder-coat a
lot of the chassis and suspension parts, rather than priming
and painting them to concours quality. It takes less time, so
it costs less,” he says. “The really expensive part
comes if you later decide that you want to win a Best in Show
trophy, because we’ve already done the job one way and
then we go back and do it another.”
2. Restored or over-restored?
A car restored to concours quality, using the best methods and
priming/painting techniques on the chassis, would still show
production-line imperfections unless you decide to correct them.
That includes things like notoriously imperfect gaps between
body panels, visible stamping and pinch-weld sheet metal distortions,
less-than-perfect alignment of trim pieces and paint with visible
orange peel. “These cars just weren’t built with
the attention to detail seen in the new cars of today,”
says Wing.
Again, time is involved in improving the fit and finish of a
vehicle over the factory standards. If you want a perfect-looking
muscle car, it will cost more.
3. Be prepared for surprises
A 40-year-old muscle car can hold many secrets beneath its skin
– everything from previous accident repairs to rust that
was unseen prior to disassembly. Wing says he warns his customers
to expect the unexpected as the car is torn down.
“Many rusted-out parts of a car are located in areas that
are difficult to see until the car is disassembled,” he
says. “In fact, many cars thought of as rust-free can
hide some nasty surprises. A good shop will take that into account
on their estimate, but we are constantly surprised at the things
we find that weren’t planned for.”
4. Find your own parts
The more time the shop spends searching for NOS hose clamps
and radio knobs, the more it’s going to cost you. Let
the shop spend its time block-sanding the body, while you spend
your lunch hour on eBay or the OPGI Web site scanning for the
elusive parts. Also, when it comes to used original parts, you
are the ultimate judge on whether a part’s condition is
satisfactory, so don’t leave it up to the shop.
“If you go into the project thinking you’ll make
money, you’ll probably be disappointed,” says Wing.
“The simple truth is most cars aren’t worth what
a full restoration costs.”
In other words, do the resto because it’s your dream car,
not because you’ll make a small fortune on it. You won’t.
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