Vintage Collector Car Winterizing and Maintenance

As I am writing this, it's 93 degrees out and it hasn't rained in over a month. That doesn't mean you shouldn't start thinking about putting your vintage american muscle car or collector away for the winter. Maybe there are some repairs or upgrades you were thinking about doing to your muscle car. Blad Boys has a highly trained crew of guys that can do anything you hearts desired to your collector car.

From paint and body work, engine rebuilding and upgrading, electrical, suspension, you name it Blad Boys can handle it. We are a full service, restoration and custom fabrication shop in Dayton, Ohio.

Winter Tips

The off season for any vintage and collector cars can be rough. The constant sitting around reaks havoc on these old cars. The perfect scenario would have the car in a climate controlled environment but most of us do not have that luxury. Here are a few tips for the winter.

Battery

It is best to disconnect the battery during the off season or prolonged periods of non use. Another simple and cheap fix is a trickle charger that plugs in the wall and connects to the battery. These can be picked up at the local car store for around 15-20 dollars.

Fuel

Fuel will turn to varnish over time and will cause you major troubles in very long periods of non use. Once the fuel turns to varnish it will turn into a very gummy liqud that kills everything in the fuel system. From Carburetor, fuel lines, fuel tank and sending unit could have to be rebuilt or replaced. This happens more than you think. The best thing to do is to make sure that the fuel level is as low as it can be before you put it away and buy some fuel stablizer. For very long periods of sitting you should also drain all the fuel out of the carburetor and fuel lines.

Tire Protection

It is a good idea to put the car on jack stands during the winter. This will prevent the tires from getting squared or flat sided from sitting all winter or longer.

Monthly Starting

It is best that you start the car atleast one a month and let it run for 10-15 minutes. This prevents any rust building up on the cylinder wall and keeps everything lubed properly. Engines do get a little condensation in them during the winter because of the cold air and it is important to run it a little bit. I even suggest once or twice on a dry day to drive them around the block a few times before shutting it off.

Well, these are Nick's tips of the day. I hope that if anyone needs a reputable place to work on their vintage american muscle car or collector that Blad Boys Muscle Cars is the choice you make. I promise we will not disappoint you or your hot rod. log onto bladboys.com for more information.

Until next time, keep blowing the tires off of her.

Nick

The sky was the limit for the Blad Boys 69 Camaro the other day. As you can see in the picture the only thing dad could see when he left the line was sky.  It felt good to get her to hook up but man, this is a little too much. At the Gathering of the Geezers event held at Kil Kare dragway on the 1st of August dad put the car on the rear bumper. It was cool and all but my mother was not as enthusiastic as I was.  She came to me after the run and said"is there anything you can do so it doesn't do THAT again"? Don't worry mother, we'll get it ironed out.

After he yanked third gear and it was still in the air, the old man could feel it moving over to the other lane and almost giving Dean Karns 59 Corvette a little kiss, but don't worry he got her straightened out. Dean was quoted as saying afterwards that " I looked over and all I saw was the bottom of Joe's front tire".  It's all good Dean. By the way the old man was clearly around you by the time the front wheels landed. Better luck next time. In all seriousness, it was really cool to see dad and Dean lining up next to one of another considering it had been over 30 years since the last time.

We will running the car again on August 21st at Edgewater Dragway in Cleves, Ohio running in the UMTR Pro Stick class. I hope to capture some really good HD video of it so stay tuned.

Well til next time, Keep Blad Boys in mind if you need any work done on your vintage muscle or collector car.

Thanks,
Nick

In this industry, there is one word that is by far the most overused phrase in the business. "Restore".

Websters dictionaries definition of restore is the following:" Return to it's original or useable and functioning condition". That is what we call in the industry as Concourse restored.

When I am roaming the internet highway for potential cars to purchase, it's amazing how many collector cars I see that throw the restored phrase into their ads.  How about the phrase rebuilt or renovated? Those are words that would describe alot of these so called restored cars more accurately.

Let's take this car for example. This 69 Camaro is claimed in it's ad to be "rotisserie restored".  Don't get me wrong, this looks like a nicely built car from it's gallery of pictures but restored is the wrong phrase to describe it.  This car is highly modified inside out and should be better described as a modified built car or restomod.

Let's move onto this car .  This is the kind of ad that drives me bonkers. This car is not even remotely close to being restored.  Essentially this car has had some painted slapped on it , a few things rebuilt on it and its called that overused phrase. It is clearly stated as restored.  Oh, but it needs some patch work on the floors and all kinds of other crap that the owner didn't mention.  Cars like these should be called what they really are.  Highly misrepresented.

OK, let's move onto something that's a little bit closer to the definition of restored.  Although I would not call this car Concourse restored, it only lacks complete NOS Ford parts to qualify it as concourse.  This car was completely disassembled and pain stakingly put back together while every nut, bolt, washer,clip is either replaced or restored to new.  This is the definition of restored.

Hey, I'm not here to bash people or their cars. Everyone has a different level of what a cars appearance is of good quality.  I just wanted to try to help people who are interested in the collector car industry a little education on something that is very wrong in the business.

The next time you are in the market for a muscle car, street rod or whatever, please keep this information in mind. If you have any questions or comments, send me a line or give me a call.

Til next time,

Nick

I would like to start this by asking you a question.  How is that 401k doing? Why do I ask that? Well, with the economy in the tank and our government standing around doing practically nothing to help, maybe you should think about investing your hard earned money in a collector car. I know, I know, you are saying " Hey Nick, the bottom has dropped out on muscle cars also".  This is where the perception in the industry is completely false.

In the industry, we grade cars on a scale of 1-6, 1 being the best and 6 being a car you should send to the scrap heap.  Go here, and scroll to the bottom of the page to explain.  #1 cars are the smallest amount of collector cars but are the most desireable.  They are also the most expensive. Most of the collector cars available that you see on the web fall in the 2-5. Now, I'm not going to tell you that buying a 4 or 5 is going to hold their value or make money.  I will say that cars that are in the 2-3 range can definately be a good investment over time.  Put it this way, if I buy a 1-3 car tomorrow, 6 months from now it will not tank like your 401k did during the same period.

Here is an example of the perception problem that I get all the time.  Let's use this car as an example.  This car is a solid 3 leaning more towards a 2 than a 4.  It's highly optioned , big block , 4 speed, 12 bolt, etc.  The paint work is fresh and beautiful and drives awesome. Plus, this car is NOT what I like to call "edgy", meaning that there aren't a bunch of little issues all over the car.  I will have guys that will call me and say " I can get 69 camaros all day long for 20-25 thousand". Well,  you probably can but chances are it will come with a bunch of issues which makes it "edgy".

There are alot of 69 camaros out there that can be had for that kind of money. A majority of those have been built saying they are "restored" and are selling for 20-25k. Restored in their minds are they bought a car to fix up, slapped some paint on them, bought some new tires and wheels and bam, they are restored. Reality is they bought the car for 10k, painted the car stuck the wheels and tires on it but didn't fix all of the edgy problems. This makes it a #4 or 5 car making it worth 20k.  In my area alone I know of a couple of guys who buy cars just like this  so they can turn a profit. I have had a couple in my shop and I can pick them apart as they are pulling in the bay.  By the time the guy buys a project, puts a jacked up paint job on it , makes the car driveable and presentable, he already has 18-20 in it. If he were to do it the way we restore cars he would be so barried in it he would go broke after the first car. Trust me, there are more cars out in world like this than I want to even think about.

I hope you are getting the picture.  Cars like these are a terrible investment and will cost you more money to straighten out all of the problems than it's worth. Obviously a #1 car is the best investment you can make in a collector car.  Are you going to drive such a large investment? I would be too scared that I would scratch it or even worse wreck it.  A solid 2 or 3 car will be much more affordable and will go up in value over time.  Hey, you also can drive these cars and enjoy them like they should be. Just maintain the car thru the years, don't drive it in the rain or snow and keep it inside.

Do your own homework.  Look what's out there and I think, no , I know that you will find out that what I am saying is the reality.  Quality collector cars are a solid investment and are alot safer than any stock or mutual fund.

Man my hands hurt from typing.  I'll finish by saying that I am a car guy. I love this industry and I want to do it for the rest of my life. I wrote this hoping that atleast one person will read it and get the picture.  At Blad Boys we are successful because we are honest hard working people just like you and reputation is all we have.  If any of you have any questions even if you are not purchasing or having a car restored by us, shoot me an email and I will gladly help you.

Til next time,

Nick

Here's something you don't see everyday. Daniel O'Brien of Medina, Ohio  was passing thru Dayton a few months back and liked what he saw at Blad Boys and decided to have his 1966 Sunbeam Tiger shipped to us for a little TLC.  This late 65 built Tiger is completely in tact and is very impressive in it's originality.  Daniel is just wanting us to get her up and running again after a 4 year squat in a garage.  Hopefully this will turn into a complete restoration at some point (get the hint Daniel).  Anyways, here at Blad Boys we have worked on and restored every brand of American Muscle Car so we aren't scared of "no stinking Tiger" (excuse my Blazing Sattles paraphrasing).  Since going over the car, it's in amazing shape for being original and the 260 Ford in it purrs like , well, a Tiger.  These cars are really fast and they have been called the "poor mans Cobra".  If you want to have more history on the Sunbeam Tiger go to classic tiger for some good info.  Til next time, Happy Hot Rodding.

Blad Boys Muscle Cars would like to thank Randy Williams of Lebanon, Ohio for bringing his 1969 Nova to us for a  little TLC.  This Nova is not going to look quite like the picture you see now.  Randy has always wanted a Hot Rod Nova and Blad Boys is going to give it to him.  The blue on blue theme is going out the window for a red exterior and black interior.  We are stripping some of the chrome and trim to give it a more modern  look  while not getting too extreme with a bunch of body modifications.  I will give updates about the car as we go along. Again, thanks Randy for giving us a solid car to bring back to life.

Blad Boys Muscle Cars would like to introduce Tom Harting to the Blad Boys Team.  Tom is in charge of sales and has an extensive background in vintage cars.  Along with years of sales experience, Tom is a fellow motor head that raced alcohol funny cars for Ten years back in the eighties.  Tom fits right in with the team because of his firm belief in customer service and satisfaction. Drop in an introduce yourself to Tom or give him a call if you are interested in one of our awesome rides.  If you do not have what you are looking for , Tom has no problem using some of his numerous resources to find the car of your dreams.

Years of planning has gone into this project.  My dad Joe was a modified eliminator racer back in the 70's and early eighties and I have to say he was pretty successful.  I spent most of my childhood traveling with him to tracks all over the south and midwest including Florida, New Jersey, Atlanta and so on.  In 1981 with his 1959 Corvette he was one of the fastest modified eliminator cars in the country and went on to finish 2nd in his division and 6th in the country on the NHRA circuit.  Boy those were the days.  Well those days are gone but not forgotten.  In the pictures provided is a few shots of our new (old) modified eliminator nostalgic 1969 Camaro and also a few others of the vette.

Modified eliminator consisted of high winding small displacement small block engines with 4 or 5 Speed manual transmissions that would rev up to over 11,000 RPM's when leaving the starting line.  In the day dad ran a 277 cubic inch small block chevy with a Doug Nash Five Speed and would wind that vette to 11,500 RPM's when he dropped the clutch. Quarter mile times would range in the 9.90 to 10.00 second area at about 130 mph. Talk about awesome. It was a sight to behold and would grab everybody's attention at any track.  It wasn't just dad's car. There would be around 100 of the same type of car at the big NHRA events and it was a fan favorite I assure you.  After the 1981 season modified eliminator was banished from the NHRA and racing to dad was just never the same.

Back to our new car. Almost 30 years later he is getting behind the wheel again with a 69 Camaro that was built to replicate almost everything from the 70's and early 80's.  With a 323 cubic inch small block , Doug Nash 5 Speed, Ladder Bars, Tunnel Ram with 2 four barrel carbs we made sure everything was era correct.  This car was even built with old school cast iron cylinder heads that have over 100 hours of machine time to get them where they have to be to rev these things to the rpm levels we are exceeding.

We are running this car in exhibition fashion and will be at a few events locally at Kil Kare Raceway in Xenia and Edgewater Raceway in Cleves Ohio.  We will run in a circuit called the United Manual Transmission Racers Association  (UMTR) which is a great organization that strictly runs manually shifted cars. No automatics, no electric boxes etc.  We will be running  with the UMTR at Thompson Raceway near Clevelend on July 3rd in a nostalgic event  with a dozen or so similar cars.  It should be a great time and I am really looking forward to it.  Take a look at some of the pictures and I will add some more in the future.

God brought us beautiful weather and a large group of great people with awesome hot rots. 115 cars were on display and it goes to show how many great vintage rides are in and around the Dayton, Ohio area.  We felt this was a great place to have a car show and I want to thank everyone involved for helping me and my family put on a great show. I would like to thank my sponsors which include Autozone, Metal Brite, Thumpers Glass, Craftmasters Truck Accessories, Daddy Katz and Ohio Auto Color.  Thanks guys for helping out.  Jeff Burges from One More Chance Rescue and Adoption for all of your donations. We raised over one thousand dollars and I'm sure Jeff can put that to good use helping his adoptable dogs. Judging these shows can be a challenge and it's always tough to pick the best but this years Best Of Show winner went to Michael Karns of Beavercreek, Ohio with his awesome 57 Chevy Convertible. It truly was a work of art.

I would like to thank all of you once again for coming out and being apart of our car show and hope you will come back next year.  Make sure to tell your friends and drop me a line to tell me how you like it or how we can make it better.  Below is a list of the other class winners.   Thanks,  Nick

Best of Show Michael Karns     57 Chevy Belair Convertible

Best Paint Stretch                 51 Henry J

Best Engine Dwayne Rankin  55 Chevy Belair

Best Interior Glen Morgan       57 Chevy Nomad

Pure Stock Glen Morgan      59 Corvette

Street Rod Mark Jaynes        40 Mercury Convertible

Specialty Dave Servey       96 Pontiac Trans Am

Rat Rod Doug McWain      39 Ford PU

Truck Dustin Holcomb   55 Chevy PU

Low Rider Tim Hamby           83 Buick Regal

Muscle Car Tammy Pierson   71 Chevell Chevelle

Donk Mike Dillon             90 GMC Sierra

On Saturday, May 15, Blad Boys Muscle Cars will proudly host the “First Annual Blad Boys Muscle Cars Cruise In and Car Show.” A ten dollar registration fee is required and all proceeds help the One More Chance Rescue and Adoption, a non-euthanizing, non-profit organization helping dogs.