<VV> Turbo engine removal

[Tony Underwood]

At 10:54 hours 05/09/2006, Guus de Haan wrote:

>There's a big difference between the US and Holland as automotive
>stuff is concerned. The US market is simply that much bigger so a
>company can make a living. Last saturday I went to two automotive
>stores to see what kind of timing lights they had (my old one is a
>bit unreliable). I was done quickly, they had none! With modern cars
>needing much less maintenance, these shops have all shifted to audio
>and wash and shine stuff it seems. Of course I can get a new one, but
>not in the regular shops anymore. The Times They Are A-Chanin' (B.
>Dylan ;-)




They sure are.

However, changes are starting to regress, it seems.    There's a 
growing trend here "stateside" towards rescuing older cars from the 
'60s and '70s, particularly cars with a performance image, to the 
point that people are today going to old junkyards and pulling out 
cars that 5 years ago they looked at before and decided it wasn't 
worth it...  today they're going back and pulling those same cars out 
after an additional 5 years of weathering and *paying more* for the 
privilege.

Today on the way to work I saw a rollback transporting a '71 Dodge 
Charger, dirty, dull paint sprinkled with a patina of surface rust, 
still had weeds sticking to the bumpers and rocker trim where it had 
been sitting long enough to have become overgrown with all manner of 
bushes and vines.    Another vintage car rescued from oblivion.

However...  It's getting harder to turn up older cars these days from 
the "regular" sources because most of them have already been snapped 
up.   Corvairs are included in this mix.    And, of course, the 
source is finite.   Eventually there's gonna be a dry-up of 
restoration projects because they'll either have been junked/scrapped 
or already rescued, and the few remaining viable projects still 
available will increase steadily in value as they become more and 
more scarce.

The 150 buck Corvair bargain is rapidly becoming a thing of the 
past.   If you wanna rescue an older car these days you're gonna have 
to pay.   And people will pay.

More and more of these old cars are showing up on the highways on 
weekends.    They're becoming trendy again... and along with the 
ongoing interests here for restoring or refurbishing a vintage car, 
the aftermarket and hotrod shops are starting to stock "older style" 
performance stuff again...  the Auto Zone down the road from me is 
selling chromed valve covers for most Fords and big block Chrysler 
engines, and the venerable Carter AFB 4xbbl carb has been resurrected 
for many years now, marketed by Weber, Edelbrock, etc.    There are 
even performance parts showing back up for other less well 
established vintage muscle cars like Buick and Olds and AMC (rather 
than just the smallblock Chevy) as well as Chrysler performance 
stuff.  It's been a long time since I've seen such for sale in any 
FLAPS but it's starting to come back.   I'm gonna be stopping in and 
picking up a pair of those chrome valve covers for the '66 Plymouth 
Satellite.    (I can't help but wonder if they're made in China...;) )


Pity the US musclecar enthusiasts in Europe (there *are* musclecar 
gearheads in places like France, Britain, Germany etc) who have to 
"worship from afar" and end up ordering parts from the USA to support 
their habit.      And *we* here stateside complain about the costs of 
parts.   They have to endure not only the increasing expense but 
shipping across the pond as well.    Of course, it costs as much to 
ship a Corvair starter across the ocean is it costs to ship a starter 
for a Dodge Challenger R/T.

I bet Thomas and Guus and Phillipe (among others) can testify to the 
expense they have to deal with when chasing down Corvair parts.


There's another fellow in France (on another list) who owns a 
"tweaked" Plymouth GTX 440 6-Pak (where he found it is a mystery to 
me) who has had some interesting experiences not only with 
maintaining the car but with the attention that a beast like that GTX 
attracts when he drives it anywhere...  11 miles per gallon which in 
France costs about twice what we're paying here.


I compare such people in those distant places to the guys here in the 
USA who attempt to become involved with Austin Minis and rear 
engine'd Fiats and small exotics like Lotus or older 
Porsches...  trying to find parts becomes a bit of an adventure.


I could only imagine what a Corvair owner in Finland would have to 
deal with if he needed, for instance, something as simple as a carb 
overhaul kit unless he had some connections with US vendors... and if 
he didn't speak English he'd have even more issues to deal with.

I don't speak Italian; without some connections I cultivated via the 
Internet I'd never have managed to turn up a ton (literally) of Fiat 
600 (and a few 850 Fiat) parts.


I'd imagine that this list is a considerable connection for guys 
across the big pond, as far as the sources for Corvair parts are 
concerned.   For that matter, I tend to associate the boom in 
rescuing older US cars with the Internet being able to provide 
resources and locations to multitudes of available cars and parts 
which *will* sell, providing their availability is made known to 
enough people...  like the Ebay ferrets who will scan daily Ebay 
Motors looking for a deal on one thing or another.

...I'm one of them.    ;)



tony..