Spring Cleaning Springs Swinger

Although it's difficult to imagine storing away your muscle car for the winter like a squirrel storing his prized nuts, residents of virtually any northern state above the sunshine state reach a time of year when they must put away their toys until the first green leaf of spring.

Well, spring has sprung and so are muscle cars in the snowy region!
This article, which appeared in the Worchester Telegram & Gazette in Massachusetts, profiles that coveted time of year.

For owners of classic, antique and exotic cars, this time of year is when their prized vehicles get back on the road. New England winters, marked by icy, snowy and sandy roads, are no place for fancy cars. Wise owners, at least those with the means to have seasonal vehicles, put their prized possessions in hibernation each fall. About this time of year, when the weather clears, the nice wheels reappear.

Many owners struggle with storing a car over the winter and getting it started back up again in the spring, seeing it as a complicated, product-laden affair. There are many techniques used to keep the car fresh and running, just short of freezing them in time, that northerners like to utilize.

George DiGregorio of Milford, president of the Bay State Corvette Club, in Massachusetts said he puts out mothballs in the engine bay to deter mice, which can make quick work tearing up a $5,000 wiring harness, but said he does'nt get too fussy. He said the 1998 Corvette is too new and too common to be considered an investment.

Southboro’s Bruce Ledoux said one piece of advice he would give to car owners who store their vehicles over the winter is to have the brake fluid changed at the start of the season, because letting it sit all winter allows moisture to build up in the braking system.

Fuddruckers Finale!

I know I've been missing out on this Wednesday night car show quite a bit these past few months but I finally had a night off and here's what I got - enjoy!



1958 Chevrolet Impala refurbished in white rippled leather - even the trunk is lined! According to the owner this car was originally painted fire engine red - but the current color was exclusive to a 1994 Corvette.



I think Chevy made a wise exception - don't you?



1974 Lincoln Continental



1970 Pontiac GTO convertible



Remember the movie Gremlins?


Well this little demon isn't like the evil ones from the 1984 film. This is a 1974 American Motors Corporation (AMC) Gremlin - featured this past Sunday on the front page of the Palm Beach Post as one of the cars "people love to hate". This one's nickname - 'The Misfit'.



1950 Ford Custom Convertible
This cruiser looks like one of those banana and chocolate flavored ice creams you used to buy from the ice cream truck. What an artful combination!



Two comebacks. 1966 Pontiac GTO from Feb. 6 post. And do you remember the 1957 Belair owned by Lenny and Debby from Kobosko's with the Elvis mural painted on the spare tire cover?



Here it is again - this time the King himself makes an appearance!



mid 1960s Pontiac GTO/Lemans? I've never seen one this boxy around the windows before and the owner's were camped out in the front of the car so I was not able to catch a glimpse of the infamous GTO grill.

It says it's a GTO but it's unlike any I've seen before.

It's very common for people to put the GTO emblems on a Lemans because during the 1965-1968 model years they were essentially the same car - only the Lemans is the less expensive model.



1950s Chevrolet Corvette



1950s Chevrolet Corvette (obviously two different model years)

No Muscle on the Market this time around! But I do have some news - there's a new show in town also on Wednesday nights near Fratelli's. This car show is at Anthony's sub shop (not sure about the name of the business but you'll know it when you get there), located on 441 (State Road 7) just south of Southern Blvd. You can see this place from the road - its hard to miss next to the Original Pancake House.

Zeo may be the Hero!

Dodge recently debuted its "Green Muscle Car" which personally I think is an oxymoron. How can a car have intense power and still be energy efficient and power-conscious?

But Business Week covered it and here's what they had to say - you be the judge.

They said that "it's one of the first serious sports-focused battery-electric concepts we've seen from any of the major auto manufacturers."

Are the big car manufacturers catching on to battery cars as the way of the future?

Major auto manufacturers appear to be tentatively making steps to break away from their ties with big oil. Oil companies have a vested interest in pushing hydrogen fuel cells as the next generation auto fuel, due to the fact that hydrogen, like petrol, requires a distribution and dealership network that the oil companies are excellently positioned to provide.

Oh no! A 4-cylinder Camaro?

Taking into consideration rising fuel prices, Chevrolet is seriously considering making the 2009/2010 Chevrolet Camaro a 4-cylinder!
Read more here...
The base model Mustang would blow it out of the water with its 6-cylinder engine.

But GM vice-chairman Bob Lutz says if the Camaro is mass produced as also V8 and a V6package, the average motorhead will get their money's worth.

"Back in the old days, if you wanted a muscle car, to get a decent one, you had to buy the V8," said Lutz.

"And if you bought the V6, you got a fairly rough, unrefined pushrod engine with low horsepower and weasely performance.

"This time, the V6 in its own right is a very fast, very legitimate car."

Lutz says the lighter V6 gives the Camaro a nearly perfect 50-50 weight distribution. "With the V6, it is not a heavy car. The Camaro will be a lively and engaging car," he said.

It sounds very promising, but I still can't imagine sitting at a red light next to a 4-cylinder Camaro just to hear it "Meow" at the take-off!

How Stuff Works

In my travels throughout the World Wide Web I found a great search engine called How Stuff Works.

When I searched for muscle cars, a plethora of information popped up on the subject, including a right-on-target definition of the term:

Classic Muscle Cars are typically defined as high-performance vehicles with powerful engines, most made between 1964 and 1975.
Learn about more than 100 of our favorites, including Chevelles, Chargers, Mustangs, Road Runners and GTOs.




(1969 Dodge Dart Swinger. I took this picture while I was at the grocery store)

So if you ever wondered "How Stuff Works" or what something means, but never knew where to look, this site is for you!

The only real drawback is you have to learn to weed through the Sponsored Results.

But the information seems credible enough - the results posted on this particular subject are produced by The Auto Editors of Consumer Guide, a branch of HowStuffWorks, Inc. under Content© Publications International, Ltd.


I just thought this advertisement for the 1969 Dodge Dart Swinger 340 was kind of cool.

It certainly would've sold me the car better than today's TV commercial of Snoop Dogg trying to sell a Dodge Magnum from what looks like the front of the Trump Towers.