• Brad Kernick
• Debbie Jones

KEARNEY — It’s not completed, but it’s open for business.

Classic Car Collection leadership decided not to wait for agrand opening to let people tour the facility.

“It’s not totally completed yet, but we wanted to get it open,”Brad Kernick said. “Substantially, it is completed, and lots ofpeople have been asking if they can come out. We thought we owed itto the community to get it open.”

Kernick is the chairman of the Kearney Visitors Bureau Board ofDirectors, which also is the board of directors for the Classic CarCollection, and is on the Cruise Nite Steering Committee.

The collection opened at 5 a.m. Friday.

It was the first day for volunteer Debbie Jones. she said she’svery excited about the cars.

“I think it gives the community another aspect of history,”Jones said. “It’s like the arch. It’s wonderful how the communityhas come together to make this happen. I think it’s awesome.” 

All of the 132 cars are on display. Music plays from overheadspeakers. There are still some electronic and other improvements inthe building plan.

Kernick said he hasn’t met any visitor who hasn’t been impressedwith the collection.

“The response has been really solid,” he said. 

The first event planned is a private business Christmas party.the grand opening won’t be until after the new Year.

“We want to have it all finished before we open,” Kernick said.“It’s been a lot of work that’s gone into this. We’re prettyexcited.”

The cars are valued at $3.5 million. the collection will be ondisplay on the east side of Cabela’s at 3600 E. Highway 30. Thebuilding, a former factory, was cleaned, painted and decorated.

The Kearney Visitors Bureau paid to remodel 50,000 square feetto hold the collection and a small gift shop.

The collection belonged to construction and real estatebusinessman Bernie Taulborg and his wife, Janice, of Elkhorn. TheTaulborgs have been collecting cars since 1970. they donated thecollection through the Kearney Area Community Foundation.

First visitors are impressed with Classic Car Collection – KearneyHub.com – Kearney, NE

J.L. Schmidt, director of the museum, said he needs more peopleto lead tours and help in other ways.

Corinne Howe was one of more than 20 volunteers gathered at theClassic Car Museum Tuesday for tours and an orientation. She saidvoluntarism has always been an important part of her life.

“The museum won’t succeed without volunteers,” Howe said. “Ijust hope we can get the city of Kearney and the surrounding areasas enthusiastic about the car museum as my husband and I are.

“Everybody has ridden in a car. Everybody’s grandfather had acar. the streets are full of cars. This is history, and I lovehistory. What a tradition, and we’re so fortunate to be able toshare this with everybody.”

Howe said volunteering is a two-way street. “Volunteering keepsme young and active and healthy. That’s why I got intovolunteering.”

She said she used to be worried about what she would do with hertime after she retired.

“I’m certainly an advocate of volunteering,” she said. “I thinkthe world runs on volunteers. I’ve always loved cars, and this isanother place to serve.”

She said people shouldn’t sit around and feel sorry forthemselves. “You get out and get involved with something.”

Howe also volunteers at her church and as a storyteller atnursing homes.

Her husband, Russell, also volunteers at the museum. he restoresclassic cars, especially Model A Fords that were built between 1927and 1931. he has restored more than 100 Model as.

Russell, 88, has been helping positioning cars and putting themup on jack stands.

There are 132 antique cars valued at $3.5 million in the museum.the renovations to the museum building are almost complete.

The collection will be on display on the east side of Cabela’sat 3600 E. Highway 30. the building, a former factory, was cleaned,painted and decorated.

The Kearney Visitors Bureau paid to remodel 50,000 square feetof the former factory to hold the collection and a small giftshop.

The collection belonged to construction and real estatebusinessman Bernie Taulborg and his wife, Janice, of Elkhorn. TheTaulborgs have been collecting cars since 1970 and had 157. TheTaulborgs donated the collection through the Kearney Area CommunityFoundation.

Volunteers revved, but more needed for classic car museum – KearneyHub.com – Kearney, NE

Mustang Joins 200 mph Club – HispanicBusiness.com

You are probably asking yourself What are the modern Hot Rods? well before I get to which cars could actually be considered the modern I want to go over how I determined which cars are the modern Hot Rods.

First thing is Cost: The cost to buy the car and cost of parts.

Second Thing is Mods: What mods are available and how common parts are.

Most of these cars are getting close to 30 years old, kind of like the 32 Fords in the 60s. most of these cars stock only have around 200 HP but a lot can be done to them for cheap.

Ford F-150, 1980-1986 Cost: $800-$2000

A highly over looked car that can be made into a Hot Rod. these cars are usually just thought of as more of a basic cheap truck or a rednecks toy to go mudding with. However these cars will most likely contain either a 302W or a 351W that parts are easy to find (jegs or summit racing) ad can be built to make some serious power

Ford Bronco, 1980-1986 Cost: $800-$3000

This full Size SUV is easy to find and can be found for super cheap. usually more thought of as a Mud Bogger or a car to make into a Monster Truck. these Ford can be cheaply made into a great Hot Rod. Though it only has about 210 Horsepower stock these trucks will come with a 302W, a 351W or a 351M (the 351Ms aka the Cleveland’s are rare though) so they can be made to have some serious power

Dodge Mirada, 1980-1983, Cost: $500-$2000

The Forgotten Mopar from the early 80s. This was a short lived car at a time when MOPAR was having Financial Troubles (kind of like. we heard all of the Mopar economy jokes) and it was suppose to be a luxury car. However it did not sell as well as the Monte Carlo or Thunderbird and the car has become forgotten over the years.which is great It’s great because I have seen ones that run go for around $700, and these cars come with a 318 stock but you can swap in a 340 or a 360 LA for some series power

Dodge Aspen, 1976-1980 Cost: $900-$3000

Mopar’s late 70s compact/ mid size car. The car did win car of the year for 1976 (though that didn’t help the value today) and these cars can be found for dirt cheap in good condition. The Aspen was meant to be a low powered Sport Coupe or an affordable family Sedan; the car even had an R/T package to it. most Aspens will have the 318 in them but you can get the R/Ts with the 360. You can also find a used 360 for cheap to swap in if you don’t like the 318.

Chevy Caprice, 1977-1990 Cost: $2000-$4000

Another over looked car which can be made into a great Hot Rod. The Caprice is usually more seen as a low-rider or a car with big rims but these cars are great platforms for Hot Rods. The 77-79 Models came with the famous Small Block Chevy 350, though only stock rated at 170 HP it can be modified like any other 350 for series horsepower. The later models came with the Chevy 305 which can be built up for power as well but you can also found a used 350 for cheap and swap that into the Caprice.

Chevy Malibu, 1978-1983 Cost: $2000-$4000

Usually thought of as an ugly early 80s car, sometimes even considered a Guido car. The Malibu has actually in the past few years become more popular among drag racers Mainly do to its straight axle rear wheel drive set up, and you can easily fit in a 350 or something bigger such as a 427 or 454.

Chevy Monte Carlo, 1978-1988 Cost: $2000- $4500

One of the cars from its era that has performance that wasn’t the Trans Am, Camaro, or the Mustang. The Monte Carlo is easy to find, it’s a bit pricier than the other cars on the list but if you have the money it’s worth it most Monte Carlos will have either a V6 or the 305 in it, however some actually have a diesel V8. If you don’t know anything about diesels I recommend going with a V6 or 305 Carlo than getting a used 350 to swap into it. they can make great drag cars or if you are more into pro-touring they can be pro-touring as well.

Chevy S10, 1985-1993 Cost: $700-$3000

The small compact Pick up Truck from Chevy. these trucks are a great example of a modern day hot rod, it the 85 through 98 models come stock with a 4.3l (262) V6 which is basically a Chevy 350 missing Cylinders 3 and 6 Performance parts for your 350 such as pistons, rockers, values, and the Edelbrock performer manifold will work on the 4.3l engine. However if you want something with more power you can of course do the 350 swap but others have done 427s and even 454s into this truck. even though this truck is cheap and not thought of as a Hot Rod by most, there has been Pro Mod S10s Making this one of the best Hot Rods

Even though many people don’t know about it or don’t believe there is, there are more than a few platforms to build a modern Hot Rod and do it on a cheap budget All of these cars are commonly found on craigslist, and in other used car adds, mods are cheap and parts are affordable and easy to find

I will do a build article on a few of these rods, but tells use your thoughts on these cars, leave it as a comment below.

Modern Hot Rods: Build on a Budget

Some clubs are dedicated to a certain cars, others to cars of a certain make, others still care not at all. Many have restrictions on age – that is, of cars that are too young. Young is an elastic term, and in some cases can stretch to mean anything produced before 1948. Banned, just like that.

Speaking of age, enthusiasm for transportation of decades past tends to be shared by those who can remember them. most members of these clubs belong to certain generations, and X and Y aren’t among them.

The west coast (especially the south end) has supposedly always been the center of car culture in general and hot rodding specifically. here are some of the many organizations in Southern California alone, whose very names often paint a telling picture of what to expect:

- Sultans of Long Beach

- Ventura Vintage Rods

Hot Rod Car Clubs, What They’re Doing, Current Events

Figueroa said it’s also unclear whether the exporter, a private owner, knew the car was stolen. It was being shipped to someone in the Netherlands.

With its engine, the Porsche would be worth more than $70,000, according to an agency appraiser, Figueroa said.

Every day, between 500 and 1,000 cars are exported abroad from the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach.

Officials have increased scrutiny of cargo in the last few years with random physical checks, as well as X-rays of containers, Figueroa said.

In the 10 months ending in August, inspectors seized 51 vehicles and another 49 engines heading overseas.

Of those, 24 were stolen, 63 were undeclared, seven were undervalued and six had fraudulent documents.

“The more we look, the more we find,” Figueroa said.

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 – Sam Quinones

twitter.com/samquinones7

Photo: a classic Porsche stolen 23 years ago was seized Tuesday at the L.a./Long Beach Seaport. Credit: U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Classic Porsche stolen 23 years ago seized at port

“Phoenix is going be a challenge, but it’s going to be achallenge for everybody. We’re going to show up to a new racetrack.It’s newly repaved and reconfigured. They’ve made a lot ofadjustments to the racing surface. I’m sure it’s going to beexciting for the drivers and for the fans.

“the plan for our 88 team is just to continue to improve overthese final two races. It would be great to finish in the top-three inpoints, but right now the team’s focus is to get better. We’renot happy running where we’ve been running the past couple weeks.It’s important to this entire Suave Men team to finish the season ona strong note in preparation for 2012.”

Danica Patrick no. 7 GoDaddy.com Chevrolet

“I’ve said all along how much fun it is to drive in NASCAR.I have the most fun racing these cars and I have high hopes heading intothis race. We’ve ran well at mile-and-a-halfs this year, but shorttrack racing is a different animal. I need to make sure that I still keepexpectation levels in check, so I’m not disappointed. Thisisn’t a time for me to start creating false expectations for myselfand feeling like I haven’t lived up to it. this is the time tocontinue on the path I’ve been going and to set goals for myself.

“Phoenix is a little bit different for everybody now. for me,it’s probably not the worst thing in the world that everyone willhave to start relearning the track. It will be my third time there.That’s always a comforting feeling. I think the short track stuff iscoming along. I feel like I’ve had the most trouble with it, andstruggled with it. I think it’s gone a lot better thisyear.”

JR MOTORSPORTS NOTEBOOK –

SHORT TRACK MUSCLE – Almirola flexed his short track muscle thisseason in the form of three top-five and six top-10 finishes at the 10short track races to date. He is averaging a finish of 9.9 in those events.in short track races from July through September this season (Lucas OilRaceway at Indianapolis, Iowa Speedway, Bristol Motor Speedway and RichmondInternational Raceway), Almirola never finished worse than seventh.

ALMIROLA AT PHOENIX – in four Nationwide Series starts at thefacility, Almirola’s best finish is sixth, coming last fall in theNo. 88 Chevrolet. He also owns three starts in the Camping World TruckSeries, securing two top-five finishes and leading 52 laps in thoseevents.

PATRICK’S MEDIA AVAILABILITY – Danica Patrick will beavailable to members of the NASCAR media at 1 p.m. local time on Friday,Nov. 11 in the Phoenix International Raceway media center deadlineroom.

PATRICK AND SHORT TRACKS – Patrick owns two starts at Phoenix,finishing a best of 17th in this season’s spring event, marking thebest short track finish of her Nationwide Series career. her sixth-placeeffort at Dover International Speedway in the fall of 2010 became her topstock car finish at a short track. Additionally, she finished 15th in heronly start at Phoenix in the IndyCar Series.

NO. 7 SEASON STATS – Every driver of the no. 7 this season hasscored a top-10 finish. the list includes Dale Earnhardt Jr., Ron Fellows,Jimmie Johnson, Kasey Kahne, Jamie McMurray, Patrick and Josh Wise. the no.7 team holds six top-five and 12 top-10 finishes in 2011. the team occupiesthe 11th position in owner points, sitting 36 points outside thetop-10.

NO. 88 SEASON STATS – the no. 88 team’s season tally now stands atseven top-five and 17 top-10 finishes. the no. 88 Chevrolet is tied foreighth in owner points. Almirola is currently tied for third inchampionship points with Justin Allgaier. the pair sits 82 points behindsecond place, Elliott Sadler.

ALMIROLA AUTOGRAPH SIGNINGS – Fans will have three opportunitiesto meet JR Motorsports driver Aric Almirola this weekend at Phoenix.

]]> http://tonysrodshop.com/nationwide-series-jrm-preview-phoenix/feed/ 0 http://tonysrodshop.com/9-rides-truly-wired-gearheads-should-love/ http://tonysrodshop.com/9-rides-truly-wired-gearheads-should-love/#comments Fri, 11 Nov 2011 21:40:12 +0000 admin http://tonysrodshop.com/9-rides-truly-wired-gearheads-should-love/ The problem with loving machinery is twofold. first, machinery cannot love you back. no car or airplane will ever crawl into bed with you at night, nor will it send you a really nice card on your birthday. second, machines cost money. This is not so much a problem if you are Bill Gates and you want a Porsche 959. It is more of an issue if you are bill Gates’ gardener and you want a Porsche 959. as with people, some affections are destined to be unrequited.

What, then, to make of our dreams? The answer is easy — love them for what they are, and keep dreaming. To that end, we have gathered a few of our favorite things. Some we’ve experienced, some we haven’t. But all are worthy of our affection, and yours. This is the kind of stuff that keeps us up nights. It’s what makes the life mechanical worth living, but more important, it’s what Wired is all about: The intersection of tech and emotion, speed and seduction.

You’re going to disagree with us. That’s fine. This is our list. Tell us what’s on yours and we’ll compile another one.

There are cars, and then there are muscle cars.

The genre is filled with throwbacks, outdated shapes that pluck your heartstrings but don’t make much sense for modern life. Most of these machines — chiefly, the Chevrolet Camaro and the Dodge Challenger — are too big, too fat and too thirsty. They recall much-loved bygone eras without reminding us why we liked them in the first place.

This is the exception. The Mustang Boss 302 is Ford swinging for the fences, updating its live-axle Mustang into a beast to be reckoned with. It’s loud. It looks obnoxious. Its name references the Boss 302 Mustangs of the late 1960s and early 1970s, track-racing specials that were deeply flawed but still enormously cool.

The ’12 Boss isn’t flawed. It’s a nice, well-rounded performance car. It makes you feel things deep in your gut, even if you’re not a muscle-car nerd. It cranks out performance numbers similar to those of a BMW M3 or Mercedes-Benz C63 but at half the price. The point here is the benchmark: This is what a raw, simple and utterly charming car feels like. We can’t forget.

Photo: Sam Smith/Wired.com

9 Rides Truly Wired Gearheads Should Love

“It’s a beautiful car, built for a beautiful lady,” the Lynn Valley resident says of the four-door sedan. Six months after he started on the weekend and evening hobby project, his wife – Patricia J. London – was diagnosed with multiple myeloma, cancer of the plasma cells in bone marrow.

Throughout her fi ght with the disease, he continued to work on the car, and renamed it the “Special PJ,” in her honour.

She didn’t live to see it fi nished.

“It was one of her biggest regrets. When it was fi nished we were going to drive Route 66 together,” he says, referring to the historic highway that runs from LA to Chicago.

Patricia passed away a year ago; Dan got his “boulevard cruiser” on the road for the fi rst time earlier this month.

Along with an expected 170 custom-built and restored cars from Vancouver Island, the Interior and all over the lower Mainland, the Special PJ will appear at this weekend’s Hot Rod Saturday in the Village at Park Royal.

This marks the fi fth annual show and it’s grown exponentially, says Dan, who is one of the event’s organizers. In 2007, the streets of the outdoor shopping centre were closed to showcase about 65 sparkling cars. Initially, a few of the merchants were concerned about the lack of parking for shoppers, but the turnout was terrifi c . . . and it’s only gotten better.

This year’s much larger contingent means the village’s parking spaces will be chock full of fabulous cars for visitors to admire.

“When it fi rst started it was a lot of the hobby purists who came, but now we get a pretty eclectic mix of people to see it.”

The show is set up differently than others of its ilk, with cars not grouped by make or model, but instead spread randomly throughout the village.

“You’ve got the village atmosphere – it’s all contained within these meandering streets. We really have everything, from old cars that have been fully restored, to some that are so customized, I would call them a rolling work of art.”

Where other hot rod shows give out awards in various categories, Hot Rod Saturday is not a competition, with a few exceptions, including the People’s choice Award, sponsored by the North Shore News.

The band Tom and the Tomcats will play rock ‘n’ roll, and if all goes according to plan, a dragster will be trailered in.

“A lot of people don’t know what 4,000 to 5,000 horsepower sounds like.” It’s likely to only run for a few minutes though; the nitromethane fuel used to power it costs about $250 gallon.

“We really try to set it up as an event for the public to enjoy.”

Their strategy seems to be working. last year, Dan was walking through the village behind a mother and her son.

“The young fellow was about seven or eight years old. the mother asked him if he had seen enough and did he want to go for ice cream, and he said ‘But mom, hot rods are better than ice cream!’ “

The best way to enjoy the show, says Dan, is to walk around and enjoy viewing the cars, and to ask lots of questions of the owners, who will be wearing Hot Rod Saturday T-shirts. Just as with his Special PJ, there are many great stories to be told. “People love to talk about their cars.”

Planning is also underway for 2012, when the hot rods will be showcased to a much bigger crowd. on Aug. 10, 2012, the fi rst Rolling Thunder against Cancer will start in Vancouver. up to 300 hot rods will drive four days through Osoyoos, Kelowna and Kamloops, with stops along the way in more than 20 small communities. the aim is to raise $1 million towards cancer research in British Columbia.

Of course, the cars will return in plenty of time for Hot Rod Saturday. We wouldn’t want it any other way.

For more information, visit bchra.org or shopparkroyal.com.

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Every hot rod tells a story