Downtown Manchester, NH closed off the streets to traffic a few weeks ago to show off all the local cars. I was lucky enough to be in the area, and stopped by to snap a few pictures. Although not as many as I would hope for, several of these cars actually see the public roads every day. I tip my hat to the owners of classics who are dedicated enough to keep their cars from becoming garage queens.

Downtown Shelburne Falls, MA. Photo courtesy of JohnElderRobison

We weathered the hurricane/tropical-storm here without too much massive damage, and everyone is safe. All photo shoots have been postponed a week, so please bear with us while we pick up the pieces and get back into a normal posting routine. In the meantime, volunteer a little time or donate to areas less fortunate than you (I consider myself fortunate to only need to drive an hour to get to electricity and internet, and to be able to work on a Monday).

Whenever a pack of old cars rumble past me in the same day, my ears perk up and my alertness levels skyrocket. The hair on the back of my neck stands up:

Somewhere nearby, car people are getting together.

This past weekend, the rumbling of a herd of v8′s in the distance caught my attention, and I hopped online to see if I could find any news of what was happening. Sure enough, there was a car show going on right down the street from where I was, in Manchester NH. This was the third annual Union Leader Show N’ Shine Car & Motorcycle Show, and I was just in time to make it down to see what all the commotion was about.

The Show

At the show, there was an excellent mix of different breeds of cars.

From traditional hot rods

To the modern electric Tesla Roadster.

From British roadsters like this Alfa

To american muscle, like this Cobra.

The Parking Lot

I’ve always loved the variety of cars that come to shows, and the comraderie that’s displayed (often even more than the cars that are displayed). For me though, the real fun is out in the visitor’s parking lot. These are the people who aren’t interested in showing off, or displaying their hard work, but just love putting rubber to the pavement as much as possible.

This Plymouth Fury was my favorite vehicle at the show, and I was lucky enough to meet the owner in the parking lot before he fired it up and chugged out of the parking lot. This is his daily driver, and he considers it completely finished.

It’s covered with the scars and badges of a long life, but all the important parts are in good working order. The tires are fresh, the gas tank is full, and the lights all work.

It starts when I ask it to, I can roll the windows with a wrench, and the heater works. What more do I need?

Nothing I can think of could possibly improve this vehicle. It’s a pure no-nonsense example of a Daily Driver.

Just before I left the show, I heard the distinct gurgle of a turbocharged flat-4, and had to wait to see what the tailpipe was attached to.

A trio of matching blue go-fast-machines turned in together, and I snapped a few shots before heading back home.

This was the icing atop the cake of an excellent car show.

This holiday weekend, I took a 6-hour trip to central New York to check out a “project” turbo 280z, which turned out to be just a pile of parts held together with some bits of rust and fiberglass.  The price was absolutely right, but it wasn’t worth spending all the extra time restoring the shell just to have a reasonable daily driver.

The drive wasn’t a complete loss though.  On the way up, I took rt 30 through Vermont, and it might very well be the most beautiful drive I’ve ever been on.  Winding roads up and down mountainsides followed by grassy fields and forests on both sides of the road.  It was lush and peaceful, but with enjoyable speed limits and plenty of other spirited drivers out on the roads.  The other great advantage is that if you do get stuck behind a slowpoke, VT allows for passing over double solid lines (I think it’s a leftover law from when many people had horses and buggies).  I ended up with a light misting of rubber behind the rear wheelwells and a dire need for some new tires.

The drive back along i90 was so bad that I switched my GPS over to “No Highways” and took back roads the rest of the way.  Also quite pleasant, nowhere near as nice as VT 30 was (also, I had a bad taste in my mouth left over from seeing the 280z in such bad condition).

I’ve always been a big fan of simple cars that are easy for owners to maintain.  Older cars with carburettors and distributors are wonderful first cars to work on, since they don’t have any complicated electronics to work on.  A test light and timing light is all that’s needed to test the electronics for owners, and the mechanical tools you’d need really aren’t required.

I have to agree with Kenwood Tire (a local tire/repair shop) when they say that shadetree mechanics are a dying breed though.  Pretty much any vehicle made after the obd2 standard was created requires special scanners (many obd1 cars also require specialized tools).  It’s more important than ever to go with an old car to keep the tradition of working on cars by hand alive.  They’re less expensive to buy, less expensive to own/maintain, and offer a special kind of class that newer, more complicated cars can’t offer.

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

I had an awesome early 4th celebration last night, we lit off a bunch of fireworks over the lake and enjoyed the night.  Nothing car-related happened at all.  Sometimes that’s a nice change of pace for a little while.

I’m not a fan of this whole drift movement.

That being said, I love this video:

off seasons from Drift Alliance on Vimeo.

It was posted on Jalopnik a few months back, and I tried really hard not to like it but failed completely. I still drop by to watch it from time to time. The setting is beautiful, they put in some EXCELLENT shots, and it’s amazingly graceful.

My only real complaint is that it sounds like he’s bouncing off the redline a lot. In my experience, I don’t have trouble breaking the rear tires loose without redlining (being closer to the torque peak is what does it), but I’m no drift specialist. I am in love with this video, though. Anybody know of some more?

I’ve been driving my e36 BMW around a bit lately, and ended up parking next to a Civic today.  They had similar paint colors, and I realized how close the styling of the two cars are from the rear.  I’m considering debadging the rear of my BMW, since I’m not a huge fan of how pretentious that logo makes me feel.  For years, Honda owners have been replacing their H’s with BMW badges, but I’d do the opposite for my car (if I ended up with any badges at all).  There are a number of technical merits the 325is has, but its reputation isn’t winning me over.

Anyway, I snatched a couple images of the two vehicles, and I’d like to get a side-by-side comparison sometime soon.  If I end up parked next to a Civic again with my camera, I’ll be sure to get some shots.

Hey guys,

Thanks for making Forza 3 such an amazing game.  There are other driving games that I also enjoy, but you guys took the pole position on this one.  However, I’m a bit frustrated.  My Datsun 240z is an obscenely powerful car, making over 500whp and tq, but it’s limited to 225-series tires.  I’ve consulted some other Zcar enthusiasts, and confirmed that ZG overfenders are commonplace and a great idea.  An s30 with 315-series tires is a much better balanced machine than with 225-series tires.

While you’re at it, bolt-on fenders fit … ummm pretty much everything.  Please, offer a DLC that lets me add overfenders to cars.  All cars.  Give me the ability to stuff wider, meaner, stickier rubber under the cars I’ve come to know and love.  There’s no point in having these awesome, lightweight cars without appropriately wide wheels and tires.  Please, I’m begging you, give us overfenders.

Sincerely,

Irish

Guest post from Nodus, in response to my previous post about owning fewer tools.

I own a lot more tools than Jesse, to the point where he is constantly borrowing at least something from me. He often is stopped by his lack of tools. I am stopped rarely these days, because when i have needed something, I bought it. So while owning fewer tools makes you all warm and fuzzy when looking at your garage and thinking about what you have done with such a small amount of tools, I don’t agree with the premise. For instance he is waiting on me to bring down my jumbo socket set, borrowing my tap and die kit. stole one of my body hammers and dollys and put a whole project on hold while 3 other people and I went to my house to get my spring compressor. Tools are the grease of this hobby. Sure, you can do without them, but god damn can they make everything easier. That is not to say you should open up a credit line with snap on and accept that you are a wage slave.  But tools bought on a sliding quality scale according to how much a fuck up would cost you and how offten you use them, can result in a wide range of tools for a reasonable price.

Also the dude who writes unclutterer is a philosophic weenie who doesn’t do much of anything, and as such he doesn’t need tools.

Now if you want to talk organization to avoid clutter, that is a subject for another day.