The Amazo Effect

16 April 2012

1967 Dodge Charger - This Old Man, He Goes Fast

The First Generation Dodge Charger, a car unfairly overlooked due to the fame of it's successor's visibility in Bullitt and the Dukes of Hazzard respectively. But lets backtrack over that broken bridge jump and up that San Francisco hill to the First Gen car; this Charger is a looker that need not make excuses for it's existence. Seth Wagner thinks so too; bored of the late model cars he uses at track days (at the legendary Road America race track no less), he decided to have a '67 Charger built with pro-touring inspired underpinnings and a honking 651bhp, 521ci Hemi under the bonnet. And the best thing is, not only does he drives the chrome doorhandles offa that sucka, he's 72, an age where a lot of people are content to suck their dinner through a straw while watching Murder She Wrote re-runs. We at TAE salute you.
Charge on over to here for the lowdown.

Sodium Express

13 April 2012

The World's Largest Mustang Scrapyard?

DISCLAIMER: Mustang fans may want to press the 'back' button right now. If you scroll down, weeping might occur.

From here; probably the world's largest Mustang scrapyard in Colorado, as run by Colorado Mustang Specialists. It's a sight for sore eyes (and teary ones, too) but at least parts (and project base material) are available rather than a bunch of cubed cars.
The last time I saw this amount of deceased equines in one place, there was a glue factory next to them.
- Mr F

Eenie, Meenie, Miney, Mo

11 April 2012

1967 Imperial Crown Coupé - Mint Imperial

It's a little-known fact that Amazo Towers is actually an ex-MI5 building; not only does that make it a bugger to break into, it also means that there are some cool secret entrance/exits for cars. Amazo-san knew this when he bought the building and has been looking for an excuse to buy an appropriate vehicle to drive to work through one. Then this bee-yoooty of a Chrysler Imperial turns up on eBay.
Why the secret agent connection? Well, the car used by Britt Reid in the Green Hornet is a 1965 four-door version, very similar in looks to the '67 two door you see here. The 1967 model was the first to use unitary construction and the last to have styling unique to the model. This particular example has only 41,000 miles under it's white band tyres and has a svelte elegance to our eyes that makes a contemporary Cadillac look a tad tacky in comparison.
At time of press, its up to $9,000 with 3 hours to go, so if Amazo-san is succesful, all he needs to do is import it, get it fully valeted, bullet-proof it and add rocket launchers behind the grill and he'll be all set for London's traffic jams...

Intimidated

9 April 2012

Wheels Day 2012

The first 'name' show of the year (with respect to Whitewebbs Autojumble), the 38th Annual Wheels day was held as usual at Rushmoor Arena in Aldershot. After a few years of indifferent weather (and a near-washout in 2010), this year's show was a classic, with perfect spring weather bringing out a variety of cars. We were through the doors early; believe us, you need all the time available to get through it all, what with cars coming and going throughout the day.
Onto the pics...

The 'Belch' Beer Truck was one of many outrageous customs from the Pip Biddlecombe stable, in the late 1970's; it finished to a high standard that was usual for all of his creations. It disappeared with out trace in the 90's, only to resurface on Ebay in 2009, where it was quickly snapped up and once again disappeared, only to resurface in outsatnding restored form.

'32 hiboy on the Trimania stand; a great advert for their services:

Originally customised in the 70's and sympathetically restored recently, this E-type probably gave Sir William Lyons some sleepless nights; must have been like his favourite daughter getting a boob job. This feline has some front.

Another old custom refreshed? Not sure, but it looks the part:

We followed this Galaxie all the way down to the show from London; who needs BBC6 Music with the soundtrack from this?

What a great use of cast iron tractor seats, you might wanna use a blowtorch on 'em on a winter's day:

A princely Minor:

Austin Metropolitan:

Bodywork maestro Rob from The Bunker owns this Corsair; soon to have a Zetec transplant and banded Rostyles:

Just the thing for when the snow next falls:

Like the Capri earlier, the question is: original or homage? This was detail-perfect, from the knobbly BF Goodrich tyres to the sidepipes to the fantastic paintjob and Motown-inspired murals, we couldn't pull ourselves away from it.

Mint green, painted steelies and Guide headlamps; a lovely combo:

Falcon wagon didn't need a thing; perfect:

1932 Packard 900:

Photos don't convey the lushness of the paintjob on this '32 pickup:

The '32s just kept a-coming:

Chevy Thriftmaster panel van packed a blown small block punch:

Chevy C10 panel van:

Loving the light guards on this Bug:

Hudson Model 58 pick-up:

Freaky blown Rover-powered Volvo Amazon:

As seen here: another Rover V8 hiding in the 'CHOPT' FX4 taxi:

Late '40s Chevrolet 3100 pick-up:

Bet no-one expects to see a Ford Modular V8 when the bonnet goes up on this Granada:

MKI Scirocco with quiff-tastic backdrop:

Gorgeous '55 Chevy Task Force pick-up:

Innocent-looking Thames 400E has a Chevy V8 stuffed in it's belly; would be nice to see it go down the 1/4 mile against the Lexus V8-powered camper version thats being built:

It seems all manner of 50's British Fords are being force-fed a V8 diet; this one has a small-block Ford lump:

Super-rare Corvair Greenbrier Sportswagon. For when a Type 2 camper is just too gauche, dahling:

Not as much Japanese tin as we'd have like at Wheels day, but it was definitely a case of quality over quantity, as this super-clean KP60 Starlet shows:

Unusual but fetching treatment on this Seicento:

Well executed beetle based Nova kit car:

Wiiide Rover 16:

Originally a Jaguar MKIX:

Subaru 360:

Rims n' stance on this Bora-fronted Golf wagon looked just right:

THAT Panhard:

But not THAT Tempo:

The odd couple. If only cars and vans looked like this now:

Minty MKII Transit:

And now a couple for you military phreaks. An ex-US Air Force Coleman G40 aircraft tug; 7 tons in weight, 4WD, 4WS, 383ci Chrysler V8 - and 30mph. the want factor is high for this one:

Steyr-Puch Pinzgauer armoured vehicle; 2.7 litre air-cooled straight-four engine and all the usual army goodies, like 24v electrics and off-roading ability to dream of:

Super-sano Mazda RX4 with super-shiny Cragar mags:

Carbon wrapped Charger courtesy of the London Motor Museum:

Time to hyperventilate; a replica (?) of the Sox & Martin Plymouth Superbird. the question mark is due to the fact that the original is MIA - unless its hiding in plain sight...