One Three One Three

European Formula 2 Trophy, Nürburgring Südschleife, Adenau, Germany, April 23 1967

Jacky Ickx at the Ring. The FIA introduced the European Formula Two Championship in 1967 and Ickx, driving a Cosworth FVA-powered Matra MS5 won the inaugural championship by 11 points from the Australian Frank Gardner.

Hidden Treasure - A Scrapyard In London, 2013

The scrapyard is dead, long live the scrapyard. The days of climbing over teetering piles of decaying cars are gone; victim of European safety laws, but the smarter ones survive. This particular yard, a regular haunt of mine for many years, has a regular input of untaxed cars as the business also deals with the DVLA (boo hiss) and now has the cars stacked on purpose-built holders. You want a part from the car at the top? No problem; along comes the fork lift driver and brings the car down for your perusal. The surprising thing is that in amongst the familiar late-model chod are some eyebrow-raising finds; like a Triumph Stag, a 205GTI and a 50's 100E Anglia.

The scrapyard is dead, long live the scrapyard. Huzzah!

More below and here.

- Amazosan

Austin 1300, looking good enough to save:

Ford Anglia 100E:

Toyota MR2:

Range Rover Vogue:

Australian-market Mitsubishi Pajero Exceed:

Triumph Stag is a long-term resident; has been there at least 8 years:

Peugeot 205 GTI 1.6; still lots of parts left to donate to the cause:

W114-shape Mercedes coupés:

What were once £80k brand new; W140 Merc S-Class and CL, the latter still has it's 408bhp V12:

Jags, Jags, Jags; The rear axle in the XJ6 is much sought-after by hot rod builders:

This had quite literally arrived minutes before; Rover P6:

Polo, no real holes in it:

And last, but by no means least, a barely recognisable Talbot Solara en route to being shredded:

Top Trumps car Of The Day - KAMEI Mercedes-Benz 190E

Low Porsche 997 Turbo On Red HRE P40SC Wheels

We'd like to make an admission here. The eagle-eyed amongst you would have noticed that we only posted two days last week; there a reason for that. Big changes are afoot for The Amazo Effect; don't worry, the blog is going nowhere but we're working on ways and ideas to improve it, which naturally eats more than a little time up. There will be a little less output for a while, but once you see the end result, we reckon you'll agree it was worth it.
So, we're cheating a little today, we're basically doing what we hate the most; posting pictures of a cool car with not much in the way of narration. Luckily it doesn't have many hidden facets that we all don't know about already; it's a 997-model 911 Turbo in slate grey metallic with a very nice set of HRE P40SC wheels in red, And that's about it, not that it's a bad thing; it's perfection as it is and we've spent a lot of time drooling over the pics so it's definitely hitting all of the right buttons. We hope you enjoy them as much as we have.
Right, we're off back to the top secret project, mwa ha ha.

MTGGLF

Rush Hour

1979 Camaro Z28 - More Than Skin Deep

Is there such a thing as a late 70's muscle car? We're talking about a post-EPA emissions era, between about 1975-1980, where mighty legends were reduced to neutered shadows of their once glorious selves. The fourth generation Dodge Charger that looked like a boxer that had fought one bout too many, the Mustang II that Ford initially launched with a weedy 2.3 four before hurriedly refitting a 302ci V8 coughing out a snivelling 140bhp. Chevrolet was little better in the horsepower stakes; the 350ci small block fitted to the C3 Corvette pushed out all of 185 asthmatic bhp. The fastest American car you could buy in 1979 (for example) wasn't even a car; it was the limited edition Lil' Red Express version of the humble Dodge D-150 pick-up truck, that was able to be equipped with a decent 225bhp because of a loophole in the EPA regulations. The shame.
But while performance had for the large part become a subject best not talked about, some cars from the golden era had kept their looks, even if they weren't quite able to back it up, like the Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 seen here.
The second generation Camaro lived a long and varied life from 1970-1981; it sported a variety of engines, from a full fat 396ci L78 big block rated at 375bhp to the skinny latté 350ci in this car, plus three different fronts, two different rears and two different rear windows. Phew. The second-gen Camaro and sister Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am enjoyed record sales in later years, due in part to the fact that nearly all of the 'pony car' competition had fallen by the wayside.
Now to this particular example; a matching numbers Z28 (Z/28 up to 1972 for the pedants) with (drum roll) 3191 miles on the clock and the subject of a restoration to better-than-new condition. That black paint looks flawless, set off by those oh-so correct Z28 stripes and gorgeous factory fresh GM turbine wheels. It may not win a traffic light grand prix with a '70 396 example, but it will probably lose it in the the corners, as the 'Z28' moniker isn't just for show. According to this Camaro's build sheet, it's equipped with the Z28-specific F41 special suspension, which for 1979 added higher rate springs, stiffer valved dampers, and a thick rear anti roll bar.
I can't go any further without mentioning that interior. It is- #looks over top of glasses# hmm. It is- #sniffs air#
It is red.
More red than the Kremlin, circa 1980. More red than Simply Red, circa 1986. More red than- well, you get the point. Now, I'd love to get some 80's Recaro electric seats, re-trim the interior in black leather with houndstooth cloth inserts, or even tartan, like they used to have in certain 1970's sports cars, but that very red interior does kinda grow on you after a while. The car has grown on me, that's for sure; RK Motors in Charlotte, Carolina have a couple more Z28's in stock and apparently prices are rising for the late 70's F-body. No surprise to me; it's an overlooked classic that deserves anyone's attention.

- Amazosan

Belgian GP, Circuit de Spa-Francorchamps, June 5, 1955

Moss (Maserati 250F) and Fangio (Mercedes W196) up front. Mike Hawthorn (40) in the Vanwall VW55.  No. 28 is the Maserati of Louis Rosier.
Eugenio Castellotti set pole position, but Fangio won the race and set the fastest lap.

2002 Peterbilt 379 - Outlaw Trucking

A big rig on The Effect? Well hold your horses good buddies; we always said we don't always tread the same ol' path some of the other web establishments do. We can guess that some people's perception of articulated trucks, lorries whatever you wanna call them resides somewhere between Kris Kristofferson utopia and Dennis Weaver nightmare, with no doubt a lot of chrome and a bucketload of sidelights in between  But allow us to change your thinking just a little; here's a 2002 Peterbilt 379 given a hot rod-style makover, and to us it looks as mean as hell.
Built as a promotional tool by Denver-based Outlaw Customs for Training Day, a sports nutrition company, they have purposely steered clear of the usual truck bling in favour of something entirely more stealthy; custom body parts have been fitted along with a host of other custom touches, topped with a monotone paint job and blacked-out chrome. The interior had also had a custom makeover and definitely looks the sort of place you could make a long journey in. Running gear appears to be unchanged, but seeing as the 379 boasts a Cummins ISX as standard, an 11.9 litre, straight-six turbodiesel producing some 600bhp and a torque curve which is more of a vertical line, there appears to be little to improve anyway.
Form a convoy to here for more info. And no, it doesn't turn into Optimus Prime...

With fifth wheel coupling