Recently Sold!!

From time to time we will pick up a car as an investment, in other words just to turn and make some profit on. My good friend Uncle Jerry told me about a neighbor of his that has a Triumph stored in her garage for 16 years and wanted to sell it. So off we went to check it out. Come to find out it was a very rare Triumph Stag with a matching numbers drive train including a V8 engine, there were only 2800 of these cars imported into the U.S. between 71 and 74. I am not a huge fan of european sports cars unless they are the ones I cannot afford. We picked this car up for a deal and doubled our money in less than a month without any more money invested. Not big dollars but great return. Here are some pictures of the old piece....

Fare Well....Hopefully someone has enough money and desire to restore her to her original beauty.

Bye Bye Hugger Orange and say hello to............

Bye Bye Girl. She has been traded for a 68 Camaro RS Convertible. All original car with a matching numbers 327 and 3 speed manual transmission. She will be completed with all new chrome and stainless, black interior and black top. The car came with over $14k in brand new parts. Cowl hood and all new sheet metal. The motor is freshly built along with suspension and brakes. The last few months she has had a new floor installed and a new passenger quarter panel. Hopefully she will be on the road by the end of the year.

This of course is the after picture of the new quarter on the car. Light body work is needed and she is ready for paint!! I can't wait to see this girl on the road. I know my bro is anxious going from a running car to a year long project. I also can't wait to have my garage back, one whole side is storage for the 2 camaro projects.

Mourning a loss......

So after the road runner crash Cody and I needed some heartache relief!! Searching tempest.com one night around midnight, thanks to Uncle Paul.....this is the easiest way to search the country on craigslist!!! Time saver and gets to the search in multiple cities and states. Anyway I found a 1958 Chevy Apache for sale in Miami. I called Cody immediately and he called the owner. Yes at midnight. After a few days of negotiating over the phone we took a drive. We liked it but wasn't as clean as in photos but was worth the investment. 4 hours later we had it in Orlando!!! Welcome home......

This old lady had the original 6 cylinder and 4 speed manual with no power. Good looking truck that we were planning on restoring into a nasty custom big block truck. But of course we got distracted and went a different direction. more towards a project that will be a keeper. We had fun with this truck, went to a few shows and Cody cruised in it around town quite a bit.

she went to another bowtie truck lover in upstate new york.....we were happy to see her go to a new home plus she helped finance the 67 camaro interior and the next project that will be posted........68 first generation convertible camaro.....can't wait to see that beauty finished



Mopar discouragement turns into Bowtie passion!!!!!

So I mentioned earlier that my love was for first gen camaros, we searched while looking for the Chevelle and the prices were just too high, everything we found was well over $20k and was not perfect or to our taste. One day on my way home Uncle Paul called and said he had just picked up a 69 Camaro and he needed to move his 67 Camaro that was a driver but needed restoration. It was a 67 RS with a 350/350 in it from California so the body was very nice.

SO she came in LeMans Blue with a different color deck lid and in overall rough shape but for $11,500 I was not complaining. She ran and pretty quick I may say. Had a full interior in black that was good enough to deal with, no rust and a straight body except for one quarter. First stop was to the body shape. My plan was a twilight blue pearl off a 760li BMW.

That is exactly what was laid down! It was perfect as far as I was concerned. No stripe just clean with RS badging because she was going full blown restomod including a LS1 from a 2001 Corvette.

We had to cut off the passenger rear quarter because of previous accidents and bondo work. We also replaced the hood with a 2" steel cowl hood, added front spoiler and rear spoiler. We refinished all stainless trim and replaced all chrome, felt and rubber along with front and rear windshields.

She got the royal treatment.....inner fenders painted to match, radiator support and under side of hood. She looks black most of the time but in good light you can see violet and blue pearl radiating from the black. She is a real beauty. I broke this build down into four major parts. Some people say I am an idiot but it has allowed me to enjoy the car quite a bit over the 2 years of restoration. That's what it is all about to me is enjoying these priceless pieces of history!

Part 1- Body and Paint(all girls deserve to look hot)

Part 2- Suspension and brakes(gotta stop and handle as good as she looks)

Part 3- Interior(modern but retain factory look)

Part 4- LS1 conversion(most expensive and 350 runs strong)

Part 2- Suspension and Brakes

I decided to not go air ride but to do tubular a arms and coil overs along with 4 wheel disc brakes.

I started with poly bushings, Global West A ARMS upper and lower, Q1A shocks, hotchkis over size sway bars and front & rear sport springs. 13" brakes with stainless lines, polished vented rotors and powder coated calibers. Now she stops and handles like a dream. I also added power steering and a 13" mahogany wheel. Replaced pittman arm, tie rod ends etc. so the steering is all new.

Now she has the stance and look like a real protouring car.

Now we are in the process of Protouring the interior with.....
Procar Rally Seats Front and rear
new console with side saddle console on top
new carpet with Dynomat under it
new front and rear door panels
new visors and hardware
custom rs floormats
all new door sills and rubber
new stainless hardware
all metal and dash matching twilight pearl blue paint
JVC stereo DVD and ipod/ipad hook up, 6.5" JBL kick panel, custom package tray dressed with 2 JBL 6x9s and a port for the solo baric Kicker 10" all driven by a 5 channel 750 watt kicker amp. This was profesional installed and built by SikWhips in Orlando FL. Video below

http://www.youtube.com/user/sikwhipsmotorsports#p/u/0/l-yZP_YXe3w

next posting of camaro will have interior pictures and video......

What next?? We figured we should even out the numbers......

At this point in time the Roadie was completely finished and we had Mopar fever! With the new Challenger out we were looking for an e body to restore into a restomod, that is a restoration with modern components like a new 6.1L Hemi from an SRT Challenger.

A picture is worth a 1000 word right!!!

Now we just need a car.....easier said than done. These babies are not for the faint of heart. E bodies are the most desired of mopars and they do not come cheap. So I was off on another goose chase to find a dream car. After searching for a solid month I found what I thought to be the right car. We purchased it sight unseen from Boston with the assurance that the body and frame were in great condition. It was a 340 matching numbers car with the incorrect striped on her. B5 blue automatic with black interior. Sounded perfect and for $15000 I thought she would be. Here a picture is worth $15000 but not the car. Lesson learned don't ever buy a car without seeing it with your own 2 eyes or someone you trust seeing it!!

I know you are probably saying if I had an extra $15k laying around I would have gotten burned too. Let me remind you that I took these pictures once the car arrived so to the untrained eye she still looked great. The bottom was covered in undercoating and the recent paint job covered up rust on the exterior. She was a 7 from 15 feet away. The entire frame was rotten and the body had been welded and filled everywhere. She was a matching numbers car with plenty of documentation. I found a guy, Cuda John on ebay who grew up around the corner from the car knew its history and purchased it from me. I could not afford to rebuild the car with all the damage it had and future needs. I was fortunate to get out of the car and motor with a break even and no loss. Shipping and tranny rebuild killed me on this deal, luckily I was able to return the suspension I purchased for $4000 to go on the car.

The hobby is fun but you always have to watch out for people that are making money scamming others...

The motor went in a 69 charger in Switzerland so it went to good use. Those Swiss guys love MOPARS too.



Every cloud has a silver lining....or should I say "Hugger Orange"

While home from college in the summer of 2008 my brother Cody had a serious car accident in a 1993 Jeep Wrangler that was fully tricked out. Suspension lift, 33" tires, independent wheel travel, lockers, different rear end, exhaust, air intake, rally seats, 5 point harness etc. The front wheel spindle broke as he was exiting I-4 onto the Universal Studios off ramp. A large off ramp in Orlando. The passenger front tire seared from the vehicle and left my brother along for the ride without any control of the Jeep. He missed a concrete light pole and landed in the Universal Studios entrance sign. He was not injured but the Jeep was totalled. I will look for some pictures in perfect shape and wrecked. We were relieved to know he was not hurt, sad about the jeep. Here comes the silver lining......

With the insurance money he replaced the jeep with a 73 Camaro Z28. Hugger Orange, black interior. This car was set up real nice and had plenty of money spent on her by the previous owner. Fully built Edlebrock motor with aluminum 430 kit, turbo 400 w/ 3800 stall. Gear to gear drive, Marsh pulleys, 4:11 gears Ultra lite gauges, aluminum radiator along with aluminum torque thrust rims. This car is a real neck breaker and head turner. This rocket was always a pleasure to drive. She presently resides in our buddy or as he likes to be called "Uncle Paul"s garage. Now that guy needs a blog to showcase his collection and hobby. He is more addicted to cars than me or my family.

We didn't have to do much to this camaro except run her hard! We fix the spoiler and front end so the split bumper looked correct, touched up some paint, switched tranny to 700r4 for an over drive, ipod
connector to the awesome stereo and sealed up leaks in the motor.

Check out this fun rocket!

And then there were two.......

I felt like the title was appropriate since our second child was born on 4/30/11, Jitterbug. Her mom doesn't know yet but she is going to be the greatest female race car driver ever. Also this post is about our second addition to the collection, the Roadie!
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While I was out traveling for work in 2008 I ran across a classic car shop in Haines City, Florida M&J Motors. They had some attractive first generation Camaros out front so I pulled in. First Gens are my true love in cars. Once on site I noticed that they were all clones and not that great BUT....on the inside showroom sat a beautiful 1972 sassy grass green bird. It was superbly dressed with a grabber hood, go fast wing, 440 big block. 4 speed wood pistol grip. 8 3/4" rear end 18" COYs and more.....

We were told she was 90% restored and ready to go. In the end we replaced the suspension, tubular a arms, all new bushings, new linkage, rebuilt tranny, radiator, ignition, rear seat cover OH don't let me forget about the $14k on the engine build. All the way down to the crank, forged pistons, roller rockers, hydraulic cam, quick fuel carb. Now she runs like a champ!!!! Up until November of 2010 when she was involved in a collision with a guard rail. No bodily injuries to anyone but a few months of reconstruction is needed. I will update you on that project when it begins.

Here are some awesome pictures of the 1972 Road Runner 440!! We have taken her to many car shows and receive rave reviews and even some best of shows.....


Here is a YouTube clip of her roaring before she wins runner up for Best of Show LNO 2009

http://www.youtube.com/user/sikwhipsmotorsports#p/u/16/BL9PwiR7CFg