Frosty

Yeah, the Hockey Hall of Fame use to be a bank and all the trophies are stored in the vault. I doubt that this is coincidence.

Sounds like serious and damn expensive repair Havoc. If things are as bad as you've described them, I suspect you are in for more parts replacement once you've got it torn apart and had a chance to inspect things. I think you may have had a serious critical failure on your hands and more than the bearing might have failed. Its been my experience that when a bearing fails, it often takes other important parts with it. Bearings and bushing are suppose to work with some sort lubricate to prevent metal to metal contact. When they fail, grind occurs and that is never a good thing. I am glad you are planning ahead with safety in mind. Renting heavy duty equipment might be a necessary evil to support the front weight of the tractor like you've described. So unless you plan to purchase heavy duty gear, I suggest you start shopping around for places that will rent this stuff to you and see what they charge. That way you know where to go come spring and you won't waste any time hunting around for it.

Check your sanctioning body rules first GoatBoy. A bolt-in cage may not be acceptable to some racing groups for fear that the bolts will shear in a roll over. While I agree with JUSTA on the price of insurance, a bolt-in cage has the potential to limit the sanction groups or classes of races you can run in. Just saying....do your homework and then make you decision of cost vs. benefit.

Yup, Lord Stanley's Cup has a real shot of returning to Toronto this year.

Strange game at the Air Canada Centre the other night. The Edmonton Oilers and the Toronto Maple Leafs were scheduled to play. Due to some transportation issues, Edmonton did not show up. The referee explained that if this is to be an official game he must drop the puck and a goal has to be scored. The Maple Leafs took to the ice and were credited with a 1-0 win when Phil Kessel scored with 2:10 left in the third period.

Prices are up to $2.359 a gallon post-blizzard here for regular. More snow today and more expected for this weekend too.

Ah sh*t ! Any idea how bad yet?

Gas prices jumped up to $2.139 for regular just before the Super Bowl Sunday blizzard here.

>https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lG6gSBm-GQ

Yes the 442 and GSXs are making a strong showing for sure, and I do love the Lansing and Flint iron. I agree that the authentic documented '69 TA convertible would do well since there are so few of them, but I don't see them breaking the million dollar mark either. Yes, the three '72 GTO wagons are documented as being factory built cars. Jim Wagners has confirmed that three GTO wagons were built at the Framington Mass plant before plant management caught onto the gag.

True since the 13 '71 GTO Judge convertibles have not rung that bell yet. The only rarer production car that I can possibly think of is the 3 '72 GTO station wagons that were built as a lark by some mischievous line workers at the Farmington Mass. assembly plant. I have yet to even see a picture of one of these babies.

It still comes down to exclusiveness, low production numbers, and what someone is willing to pay. Frankly stratman, I really thought if any Pontiac was going to sell for close to $1 million, I would have thought the restored Stan Antcoler's '63 SD Lemans (a 1-of-12 purpose built race cars) would have done it, but it didn't break $300k sweat at Mecum last January. So, yes, stratman, I agree with you, Pontiacs, Olds, and even Buicks are not getting the respect of mega dollar prices that certain Chevy, Dodge, Ford, and Plymouth cars seem to enjoy.

I suspect some of you might have missed the sale of one of three-built silver '69 Firebird Trans Am prototype cars. These were Firebirds that were pulled off the line and then modified by Pontiac Engineering and car customizer Gene Winfield. This car is not part of the 669 production figures either. It is certified by PHS and well documented in many of the car magazines of the day. It was restored by Scott Tiemann's Suerpcar Specialities shop in Portland, Michigan. The car has a Ram Air IV engine, 400 THM, and Palladium Silver. It sold for $285.000.00 Clearly this is an important piece of Pontiac performance history. http://www.barrett-jackson.com/Archive/Event/Item/1969-PONTIAC-FIREBIRD-TRANS-AM-2-DOOR-HARDTOP-180191

I hear you Ringo. I think you got into your Camaro fairly early in the 5th gen release, so the General did not have not time to "mature" or advance the MSRP, nor had the convertible, ZL-1 or Z-28, 1LE packages been released. I am happy that you were able to get it for that little coin too. It shows that deals are out there. Did you buy it new off the dealer lot or order it, or was it used? Just going to Chevrolet.com right now and selecting a Camaro SS/RS coupe with no other selected options I am already at $39,650 (this is a 6.2L and manual tranny). Still way too much money because you know that is not what else this car is going to be built with. Furthermore, the Chevy SS base price shows as $48,040, a 2WD Tahoe LS base price is $47,240, and a 2WD Suburban LS base price is $49,445. I just went to Dodge.com and priced out a Challenger with the R/T Plus model with the the 5.7 Hemi, automatic tranny, the Technolgy Group, the Driver Convenience Group, and Super Track Pack (which includes paddle shifters), and a R/T hood stripe is showing $37.670. If I select the Challenger with the basic R/T model and pick the same options, it prices out for $36,075. So it is clear (to me at least) that Dodge is doing a lot of things right for new car buyers to make performance cars (more) affordable than the General right now. So if this appears to Pontiac enthusiasts in the future new car purchases, I think stratman's case is valid. Gandi and JUSTA - I could not agree more about wanting to stay faithful to the arrowhead and the Tin Indians. That said, if you had to buy a new car today and it could be a performance car (and not a wife/soccer mom crossover/SUV), what would it be? The Corvette still remains the best supercar for the money to be sure, but it is a Chevy and it starts at $54,995. I still love the GTO, the Firebird, the G8, the Solstice, etc. I will keep the faith as such. Still, I would at some point in time like to own a modern muscle car too. Dodge may be my choice.

Well, for my money, I vote for the Ute SS since GM has not built or sold a domestic El Camino-like vehicle since the end of G-body platform in '87, even though GM teased us with the Pontiac G8 ST.

I have to admit stratman, I have become a closet Mopar man in the absence of any new Pontiacs. The thing that upsets me most about GM is that anything with a performance V8 starts at around $45,000 and goes north from there. Let's face it, the Camaro SS, ZL-1, Z-28, any Corvette, or the Chevy SS all start at that price range and go up. The Cadillac CTS-V, same thing. A fully loaded Silverado, Tahoe, or Suburban again is also priced into the stratosphere. Frankly, in my opinion, GM marketing has once again missed the mark and certainly ignored the purpose (and pricing) of the pony cars of the 60s and 70s. Now look at Dodge, a moderately equipped Charger or Challenger R/T with the 5.7 Hemi is under $40k (between $37-38 in the packages I've played with). So I see a ton of Chargers on the road, and not just in police trim. There are a lot of Chrysler 300s out there too, off the same platform. The SRT8 and Hellcat packages are just icing on the cake to keep up with the ZL-1/Z-28 packages. I test drove several used 300s before I ended up with my '08 Envoy Denali. I even drove a used Challenger R/T, and used several Cadillac CTS too. I found myself liking the 300s and the Challenger especially. The Charger and the Challenger were rather indistinguishable interior wise. The Hemi was very responsive, braking was very good and the interiors were comfortable. I found the console and dash of the CTS very uncomfortable for my legs since it is V-shaped and it hit my right leg close to the knee. The 300 is very roomy on the inside. So yes, I think GM should be worried that Dodge could very well draw former Pontiac customers away from GM based on price/value for a performance vehicle if they stay the course price wise on performance RWD cars like the Challenger R/T and Charger R/Ts and perhaps bring back something like the Magnum wagon.

This guy has some big kahoneys for asking that much money for an ROS part like this. I wonder if eBay will ban him or keep him around for entertainment purposes only.

Gotta admit - its an accurate description....although, I think the words "Red Neck" should be in front of it. Jedi is a lucky man to have a large enough driveway for such a P.O.S.

Actually Ringo, this is true. While I worked at AC Spark Plug, we built cruise control systems for GM, so I know a little history here. Google the name Ralph Teetor. Primitive cruise systems existed on cars using governors dating back to the turn of the 19th century. The modern (electro-mechanical) cruise system Teetor invented and patented in 1945 was named the "speedostat". It measured the speed of the driveshaft, and through the use of a bi-direction electric motor connected to the throttle, managed the speed of the vehicle. He installed it commercially for the first time on the '58 Chrysler Imperial. Teetor was blind since age 5 but he was inspired to build the speedostat since his lawyer had this tendency to speed up and slow down a lot in the cars of the 1930s and 1940s. Teetor was a gifted mechanical and automotive engineer, inventor, and business man. He is even in the Automotive Hall of Fame. -------------------- The one statement that I am not certain I believe is the last one, about modern engines being so quite that they have to simulate noise through the radio. I would argue that any running, internal combustion engine will make some level of audible noise despite how well it is muffled, dampened, and sound insulated. Making an engine 100% quiet is just cost prohibitive in my opinion. I will agree with this statement with an electric or hybrid vehicle running on the batteries only. I know this since a fellow Widetracker is a lead engineer on the Volt/Ampera program at GM. He has told me that they had to simulate noises, especially at start-up, to let the driver know the car is on and ready to roll.

Glad I can help. Safety is a must these days. Check the rule books. They might even state how and/or where the extinguisher(s) have to be mounted.

Sharp C4.

Stratman I will take a hard look at those tire sizes. I definitely don't want to re-calibrate my speedometer although I have a shop near me that can do it for about $100-120.

See - it is important to get your beer open when you want it !!!

If I had to guess - my first guess would be GM - SUV's roof line looks like a Traverse/Enclave/Acadia to me minus a roof rack (my wife drives a Traverse). The GM Milford Proving Grounds is about 60 miles south of this picture - near Indymanjoe's place. US-23 and I-75 merge north of Flint (where these pictures were taken) and split south of Flint. So M-59/US-23 is the closest exit to the GM Proving Grounds. I agree with you Ringo that the car could be Buick too, leading more credence that these might be GM test/prototype vehicles. My second guess might by Chrysler only because Chrysler HQ is 65 miles south on I-75 in Auburn Hills and their proving grounds is in Chelsea, near US-23 and I-94, about 80 miles south of this picture.

GoatBoy - looking good. I am glad you did some brake work. One last safety suggestion - a fire extinguisher - somewhere close to you - say on the passenger side of the console, within arms reach. I suspect that some racing sanctioning bodies require it too. Check the rule books for any racing associations you plan to run in. I can't wait to see this Goat run.