CLUNKBUCKET » Performance

Slicing into a Sixties Charger

Mike Bumbeck — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 22:07:26 +0000

Most folks think of automobiles comprised of parts that are fitted together with no imperfections or miscarved lines to ruin the illusion of perfection. While this may be somewhat true of a car or truck made in the last ten years or so, it is certainly not the case of an automobile manufactured as recently as the eighties. Dip back into the sixties and things get even more agricultural. Getting a car straight at the robot-free factory circa 1969 meant people using hammers, shims, and spreaders full of molten lead. Bringing a fusty old Mopar that rolled off the assembly line fortysomething years ago back into line again after an accident involves drastic measures.

This 1969 Dodge Charger owned and maintained by Frank Kozik of the Chiselers SF needed its coke bottle curves smoothed back to jet age perfection after getting rear-ended. While some of us might be able to fashion up some sort of near facsimile of a Dodge body panel with a gallon of Bondo and a potato masher, the end result won’t look better than it did when it came from the factory. Kozik decided new rear quarter panels were the way to go. Ace custom and body man Rolfe Brittain took on the job, and let us peer into the process from the first cut. Slicing through forty years of Mopar is not a task for the ill-equipped. Check out the gallery for the beginning of the work. Head on over to Rolfe’s for the ongoing saga of getting the lead out and put back in again.

More: Rolfe James Brittain Customizing

Return of Bluebird

Mike Bumbeck — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 18:15:55 +0000

For 1966, Datsun went to 11. The durable and Pininfarina-styled Datusn P410 was stepped up with more engine and became the Datsun P411. In 2004 Pete Peterson found this 1967 Datsun RL411 Bluebird SSS wearing various shades of blue and surface rust, and woke it up from a 20-year junkyard slumber. The chronicle of the this Datsun is one of two cars, forty years, and a meandering riverbed road.

Pete nabbed the Datsun out of a junkyard with the intent of driving the car to a family reunion. After a global search for a replacement version of the same car his family once owned turned up with this 1967 SSS version, Pete forked over a thousand bucks and got to work bringing the genie back out of the lamp. New brakes, a front windshield, and the usual restification work, and the car was back from its two decade nap in a Sacramento boneyard.

“Mostly, it was just cleaning it up”, said Pete.

The work paid off. Pete’s plan to show up at a family reunion in a Bluebird like the one that at one time ended up sunk in the Yuba River was a success, and a reminder to always watch the road. The original family Datsun had at one time almost taken a swim with the fishes. While taking the usual route through the normally shallow water, the original family Bluebird ended up floating down river like Phil Silver’s 1948 Ford in the movie It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World.

Everyone bailed out of the floating Datsun OK, but the car ended up downriver sunk up to the roofline. River extraction, an oil change, and some other water removal methods brought the Datsun back to land use after its rafting expedition. The family car soldiered on for another ten years through traffic hits and repaints, not always in that order, before eventually being sold.

“Every time it got painted, it got hit!”, said Pete.

Today Pete drives this second family Datsun to as many car shows and gatherings as he can. He’s even thinking about repainting the car. Maybe in blue.

Budget Motoring Five and Dime

Mike Bumbeck — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:46:09 +0000

From the driving a work in progress department comes this 1973 Datsun 510. Dan Carney woke up the coupe from a longish and stationary nap. Over the course of a year he’s enjoyed his lot as builder and test pilot of this poor man’s BMW. On the way to roadworthy Dan stepped up the mechanicals beyond the usual resurrection process of swapping out rotten hydraulic hoses and spongy fuel lines. The suspension underneath the green road patina employs the finest in junkyard engineering and swap meet scores to keep the car on corner line and give it the right stance. The slot mags? All that is known of the mystery brand of 14-inch aluminum magnesium alloy hoops is that they came with the 510 by way of a Datsun Z-car.

Dan’s Datsun was sold to him already equipped with the 1600cc engine that currently huffs air and fuel into the cylinders through a Weber 32/36 carburetor. Once the powerplant was making power again, Dan converted a pair of boneyard Nissan 280SX struts into adjustable coilovers, and swapped them in along with some other trick front suspension bits. Eventually Dan wants to swap in a fuel injected but still naturally aspirated twin-cam Nissan SR20 engine and five-speed transmission. More secret weapons in the battle for stylish and entertaining budget motoring include a limited-slip rear differential from a Subaru for improved rear wheel traction from the independent rear suspension. Building and driving a car at the same time isn’t the easiest way to go about the process, but it’s certainly the most fun. Just ask Dan.

Disclaimer: The Clunkbucket editorial and photography staff is easily influenced by slot mags.

Datsun by Nissan

Mike Bumbeck — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 23:39:48 +0000

One of the more amazing things about moving to the west coast in the eighties was seeing 20-something year old cars driving around that looked as if they had rolled off the assembly line only a week before. No road salt? No rust! Original hubcaps. Shining paint. Occasional Malibus and Novas were then punctuated by an odd Barracuda or similar economical yet stylish choice from the 1968 model lineup. Fast forward twenty years, and the phenomenon is just as incredible. Case in point is this 1982 Datsun 200SX by Nissan, owned and driven by Maria since she bought the sport coupe brand new.

Clunkbucket ran into Maria on the way to Santa Clara, when she inquired why some goofball was taking pictures of her car. After an assurance that our goofball credentials were of the highest clearance, Maria told us that she was in fact the original owner, and that even though her sons and daughters drive BMW’s and Mercedes, she maintains her Datsun is a better car. She also said there are no plans whatsoever for selling or cashing in the coupe. The Nissan 200SX was also known as the Nissan Silvia. An 1800 LSE-X Silvia featured 135hp in 1979, and was an early player in a trend of rear-wheel drive and turbo boost that ran through the turbocharger era of the eighties and early nineties.

The Silvia turbo was not available stateside, but was a popular car in Japan for most of the same reasons as the Ford Mustang Maria used to own on the way to her Nissan 200SX. Rear wheel drive. Relative light weight. Reasonably low cost. Add a turbocharger or a V8, and this simple but fun to drive formula just can’t lose. Reliability over the course of 27 years of operation is an added bonus. “It’s a good car, and doesn’t give me any trouble”, said Maria.

LeMon of the Week III

Jonny Lieberman — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 19:34:42 +0000

Back to France in just two short weeks? Is Nicolas Sarkozy’s wife double-barrel smoking hot? And why you ask? Because this week our LeMon is a rusty 1973 Citroen SM. According to some of those car cognesceti types (hi mom!), the Citroen SM is one of the very greatest cars ever made. If not the greatest. To more rational, reasonable and logic-based types, the Sport Maserati by Citroen is a five-alarm fire from which you must run, run, run! Maybe it’s one of the three timing chains that need to be tuned every 5,000 feet miles, or the fact that you’re getting a mix of French hydropneumatic suspension and late 60s Italian engine technology. But never mind any of that. Just think of all the advantages such a fine piece of machinery offers your LeMons team.

First of all, speaking for myself and fellow LeMons Supreme Court Justice Martin, the judges will love you. Like seriously fawn and coo as if little babies all over you. Showing up with a rollcage ready SM proves that not only do you “get it,” but that you’re one of us. In fact, we’d probably just look the other way rather than fret about this SM’s $750 purchase price. Why so pricey? Well, this baby doesn’t have the wimpy old 170 hp 2.7-liter 90-degree V6 shared with the Maserati Merek. No siree, Francois! This particular belle has a muscular 180 hp 3.0-liter 90-degree V6 shared with… uh… a Ligier JS2! One of very few downsides we can think of is the ad says the engine is seized. But that’s nothing that nine thousand lifetimes of going to Pick-n-Pull couldn’t remedy .

Also, the transmission is not currently in the car. What’s one more lifetime weekend? No big whoop. Just think of how that lightweight aircraft aluminum hood and self-centering DIRAVI steering will crush those boring old Fox Mustangs and whatever other dull, non-European Gran Turismo crap cars the lesser teams bring to the race. Makes your heart flutter, non? Now, in the interest of full disclosure I should mention that the tres beautiful mustard car pictured above at the 2007 France and Italy show should be thought of as a best case scenario after case. The actual car in question…needs a makeover. And there are one or two other issues that are plaguing this SM like locusts standing between you and eternal French racing glory:

The windshield is cracked.
It’s been stored outside since approximately Reagan’s first term.
France and Italy together in one car, connected by multiple timing chains and hydropneumatics.

But that’s it. Er, that’s it besides the hydraulic components, some of which (the tell-tale green spheres) seem to be absent. Can you taste the nickels yet?

Disclaimer: A mild mannered motoring journalist by day, Jonny Lieberman dons the robe and econo-barrister wig as Judge Jonny on the 24 Hours of LeMons racing circuit. Together with Justice Murilee Martin they comprise the LeMons Supreme Court.

Mark of Excellence

Mike Bumbeck — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 19:15:17 +0000

From the we’re not fooling department comes this 1971 Lincoln Continental Mark III. This embodiment of American luxury and style was purchased at a Goodguys car corral for the princely sum of 500 dollars by one Brad Walker. “For 500 bucks, it’s got some good bones”, said a smiling Brad out on the lawn. While the sled came stock with a 460 cubic inch V-8, Brad just happens to already have a 429 Ford Cobra jet engine out in his garage that might soon have a new home. 1971 was the last year for the big Mark III, which sent 365 horsepower through the three-speed automatic trans. We also solved a mystery for which fellow FoMoCo driver Steve McGarrett already knew the answer to. The War of the Worlds looking sensor located to port of the mighty Continental bridge is the AutoLamp, which senses oncoming headlamps, and automatically adjusts the Lincoln’s lamps accordingly. We were hoping that the Lincoln automatically charged and fired its laser if the other driver didn’t drop their high beams, but this would have likely been too expensive an option for 1971.

Pinto Squire Wagon

Mike Bumbeck — Mon, 30 Mar 2009 17:53:52 +0000

Proving that finding a classic and driving it to a car show doesn’t require a federal bailout are Steve and Tina Lencioni of Pacifica, California and their 1973 Ford Pinto Squire station wagon. Steve has owned this top-tier optioned Pinto longroof for a little over a year now after spying it in a garage as part of his travels as a roofing contractor. The previous owner wanted the car gone, and told Steve to come and get it. After a 18-year garage nap, the wagon is back on the road as the result of a deal that was essentially better than free. The Pinto has 73K original miles, features a roof rack, acres of brown vinyl and carpeting, and a set of factory aluminum slot mags for sporty style. The Pinto was a budget standout in a sea of entries, and stands as the Clunkbucket Choice from last weekend’s Goodguys Rod & Custom bonanza.

More: Goodguys Rod & Custom Association

LeMon of the Week

Jonny Lieberman — Thu, 26 Mar 2009 17:51:55 +0000

Last week we explored the infinite joy inherent to all French LeMons race cars. Today we hop the Chunnel and head to the land of boiled monkfish, Joe Lucas, and the birthplace of this 1969 Triumph GT6 MkII – jolly old England. Known to hopeless, bloody knuckled types the world round as the “poor man’s E-type,” the MkII was able to cough up a stunning 104 hp for the 12 days between leaving the dealer and it’s first scheduled maintenance. We figure that this particular British racing green little devil will make substantially less. But that’s OK, because you’ll be lightening the GT6 for the race, right? The good news is the Triumph is way ahead of you. “There is rust in the floorboards really bad and on the passenger side you can see the ground”, claims the current owner. Plus, is there a man alive that doesn’t love SU carburetors? Fun fact: SU stands for Skinner Union, and before they started making carbs they made… toilets! [flush that - those are Strombergs. See correction from Jay Lamm below - ed] And the Triumph’s price couldn’t be righter — just $500. Do you smell what Judge Jonny smells? A sure fire winner! Cheers to the miscreants heroic racers that make up the 24 Hours of LeMons forum (and their leader, Loren) for finding this future nickels-winning treasure.

Disclaimer: A mild mannered motoring journalist by day, Jonny Lieberman dons the robe and econo-barrister wig as Judge Jonny on the 24 Hours of LeMons racing circuit. Together with Justice Murilee Martin they comprise the LeMons Supreme Court.

Correction from Chief Perp Lamm:

Those carbs are Strombergs, not SUs. You can tell because Stromberg took many years and billions of dollars of development to come up with a way to make the SU design even less reliable than it already was. The dashpot bowls are tall like Campbell’s Soup cans in SUs, because they contain a sliding aluminum piston. On Strombergs they’re flat and dumpy, like a kreplach, because the company replaced the aluminum piston with a flat rubber diaphragm that could be dissolved by–you guessed it–gasoline. Brilliant!

Long Roof is Long

Mike Bumbeck — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 21:01:37 +0000

From the flagship of the fleet department comes the finest in American family wagons. Why? Because we really don’t know of anyone else who tears into the absolute largest of fusty old Mopar station wagons and transforms them into ridiculously fast drag machines at a more alarming rate than Gaffo Jones from Wagons of Steel. Mr. Jones has been up to this sort of mayhem for a while – from the original Mighty Josephine in the mid-nineties up to a NHRA Division 6 Plymouth Belvedere long roof currently on nationwide tour. For more of exactly what it takes to get heavies like this monster moving down the quarter mile in the 10-second range head on over to Wagons of Steel, or read on Gaffo’s ramblings over at Mopar Max.

So Neat They Are

Jonny Lieberman — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 21:46:14 +0000

When most folks hear “Saab Sonett,” their thoughts immediately turn to handsomely awkward fiberglass FWD coupes racing to 60 mph in 12.5 seconds flat thanks to a Ford sourced V4 engine. But that’s the mid-60s Sonett II. This friends, is the OG Swede racer aka the Sonett I. Desinged in a barn near Trollhättan by four guys named Rolf, Sven, Gotta and Olle (really), the Sonett was firt shown to the world in March of 1956 at the Stockholm Bilsalong (auto show). The plan called for 2,000 Sonetts in 1957. Sadly, the world at large wasn’t ready for a 1,300 pound Swedish roadster powered by a 57 hp two-stroke 748 cc three-banger, as only six Sonett I roadsters were ever built. But at least there were six. The Sonett’s name came from the Swedish, “Så nätt den är.” So neat they are, indeed. [photo Martin Bergstrand]