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1966 Chevy C-20 Custom Pickup Rescued From Mojave Desert

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1966 Chevrolet C-20 Custom pick-up. Found in a wrecking yard in the Mojave Desert by the author.

Lloyd’s 66 Chevy C-20 Custom is the epitome of the classic story of finding a sweet ride, a diamond in the rough. Just tucked away somewhere conspicuous collecting dust down south. I found this truck in a wrecking yard in the Mojave Desert being neglected for over 12 years. Imagine the looks on the guys faces that walked by this old truck in the yard if they could see what it turned into now. (funny enough, this is the same yard in which I found my own personal truck of the same body style over 25 years ago.)

I went to California and worked on this truck for 3 weeks to get it running and road worthy before making the epic over 2500 mile trip back to WC Kustoms in Windham Centre. First thing was the engine. I took that dirty, tired, old 350 and swapped it out with a fresh Crane Cams build-up 60 over 350. I gave it a nice shiny new classic Chevy orange paint job and topped it off with everything chrome (edelbrock endurashine carb, high-rise intake, and Mr. Gasket chrome dress-up kit.) To make sure that you really know when it’s passing you, I added some Flo-tec headers and sold him a Magnaflow Stainless dual exhaust kit (the kit was installed by Queensway Garage in Simcoe.)

For outside looks, this sweet 66 got a stock, two-tone custom, color scheme using two 2011 factory Chevrolet colors. A wicked combination of Metallic Blue and Silver to make this truck as colorful as the character that owns it. Inside it also received a blue, back-lit Equus tach and gauge set. In pure Lloyd style one of the first additions was blue street-glow lighting. Deleye’s in Simcoe also installed a chrome custom trim kit, painted grille and front bumper, and a rear roll pan bumper that looks really good. This truck is a vast contrast from the old farm trucks that many would attribute this body style to.

If you’re a  retro gamer and Grand Theft Auto (San Adreas) fan, you should consider changing up the default tow-truck with the ’66 Chevy C-20 pickup.

For the Silo, by Robb Price.

WC Kustoms in Windham Centre, Ontario can be reached at 519-410-8308. 

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Digital Blessings For Auto Restoration And Repair

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CarForumMemeOne of the biggest influences that the internet and social media has on the automotive industry is the now ease of finding hard-to-find parts and procedures. Go on Google, type in your year, make, and model, followed by the part  or procedure you are looking for, and in the results you are bound to find (at the very least) a forum, web group, or page dedicated to your vehicle specifically. What this means to you is that now you can discuss (with others who love the same vehicle as you) parts, repair procedures, styling, or just why you love your vehicle so much! What this also means is that you now can draw from a vast pool of knowledge from others who share your same interest.

So be it a complicated repair or common problem, you can usually chat with someone who has already been there and done that. (a majority of the time) and a lot of the forums usually have step by step procedures with pictures.  This came in handy for me last month when a certain silver Smart car I know had starting issues. The  first problem? Where is the starter? This may sound dumb but, Look under the bonnet (hood under the trunk) and you tell me where the starter is. I would bet 5 bucks that you could not, even from underneath. Unless, you have messed with one, prior. The next Issue, where the heck is this starter supposed to fit out? Lastly, How  do you even get to the bolts that hold it in?

 

Let's say you need a part for an old Edsel- just plug in the parameter in your fave search engine (give bing.com a try) and voila: related links CP

Luckily for me, there are many Smart car pages based out of the U.K. and one really good one I found, had many members who were very knowledgeable in this topic, this page also had step by step  detailed instructions along with very clear pictures. This is substantial considering that one cannot even get a repair manual for these cars, almost nobody has parts listings OR interchanges for any of these cars  with a model year prior to 2008 (this car being a 2006). Who knew that to change this starter there was insane procedure including dropping the engine and removing the intercooler system.  A bunch of people on this page had already been through this and had come up with a very efficient shortcut. This saved me hours of time.  All this from a free membership.   Here are a few Facebook pages that I follow:

corvettesyndicate

“Restoring Old Cars” – a lot of classic car posts,  “Lifted Trucks USA”- lots of pics of lifted trucks lol, “Chevy Chevelle”- Lots of Chevelle pics, ”Chevy Militia”- jacked up Chevy truck pics, and my two favorite ones “Bow-tie Society”- for everything Chevrolet, also where Ford and Dodge Trollers come to get put back in their respective places.  And “Black Crow Car Education System” –this guy posts all kinds of cool classic auto industry pics, vintage, and artistic mechanical pics. All of these pages are very cool. Check em out by searching them on Facebook. Till next time. For the Silo, Robb Price, WC Kustoms.

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Ontario Drivers Suckered With Unfair Insurance Rates

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image: www.lestdarknessfall.com

As an avid automotive enthusiast, one thing that really broils me is the amount of money I pay for insurance in Ontario. Also, it seems that in this province the insurance companies have the industry and us, (the consumer) in a strangle-hold, a sort of death grip that we can’t do anything about.

Why is it that I can insure a vehicle in Georgia, with the same amount of liability as required in Ontario, for a fraction of the price? At one point I had a 1969 Chevy shortbox insured in Georgia and paid only 28$ a month. I also had a 1966 Chevy C-20 insured in California for 6 months at only 50$ a month. I want to point out that at this time on similar vehicles in Ontario (due to my younger and more “adventurous” driving days) I was getting quoted, like, 1300-1400$ a month!

What really gets me is the company my wife has her car insured through (we have our house and shop insured with them too) has made me sign an exclusion form for the last 5 years stating that I will not drive her vehicle. They tell me that when my (young and foolish) driving record is wiped clean, meaning that I do not get a single ticket or demerit point for 4 years, I won’t have to sign this form anymore. Well, I have my full G licence, and I now have a clean driving record. I have proof of prior insurance, and I have the house and shop insured there. They still send my wife an exclusion form. I call them and let them know that I now have a clean record and a full licence, and that I am looking to get insurance on my own vehicle. As well, I let them know that I’m not going to sign the exclusion form because I now don’t have to. So I get an insurance quote from them for my own vehicle. It seems high considering that I get multiple policy discounts due to our other accounts with them.

 

[ United Kingdom car insurance rant? Yep, they’re not happy “across the pond” : http://happyasamonkey.wordpress.com/2010/08/26/the-promised-rant-about-car-insurance/ CP ]

 

So, I call around. Most other companies were cheaper even without said discounts. I end up going with a family run business in Port Dover, Ontario. They are not the enemy, rather a middleman. As a broker, they talk to different companies and find you the best price and coverage. The co-owner was the nicest and most helpful person I talked to, and they had good policies available for classic and secondary vehicles. This company has been great.

So, back to the main point: my original and local insurance company. After informing them that I didn’t have to sign that form anymore, they checked into it and it didn’t seem like a problem. Then my wife got her next bill. Even though I don’t drive her car and I now hold my own policy that covers me, and my own vehicle, her bill went up 48$ a month. Which is more than I payed per month as a high risk client in the United States. The company justified this, telling me that because I am one insurance bracket down from my wife, her record is bumped down as well. Unless I sign the exclusion form. I explain that I now carried my own policy. They told me that because I didn’t get it through them, they can’t prove that I keep up my own policy, and therefore they assume that I’m driving her car….

 

 

I don’t know about you, but this to me is crazy. Guess what? I can’t do anything about it. They make their own rules. I told them that I would write about it. Well, here it is. As much as I would like to tell you who this company is, I won’t. I will just use them as my example of what is wrong with insurance in this province. Why do we pay more than EVERYBODY else? It just isn’t fair, but I guess, in this life, what is? This is something that infuriates me. Just like everybody else I hate getting ripped off. I figured that I had not written a rant yet, so why not? It’s a topic that really ticks me off so it’s quite easy to vent about. All I can say is that it is good to call around, and brokers seem to be a good idea.  For the Silo, Robb Price.

Supplemental– http://www.ontariofishing.net/news/april2005-3.html

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Our Horse Powered Past And The Mother Of Current Auto Tech

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Where did auto tech start? A horse and buggy. Excellent horse-power huh? People got tired of the nurturing it took to take care of a work horse. People wanted more and as with anything the need for something better fuels the spark for innovation. How about something to do work, but doesn’t need rest? Doesn’t need medication? Doesn’t need someone to shovel up its crap? Take this formula and you get the steam engine, not a crazy engine, but an engine none-the-less. Suddenly the glowing aura of potential is perceivable, right on the horizon. Now we can have multiple horse-power without the care. Still needed someone to shovel though.

Enter, the mother of current automotive technology today, the oil industry. Instead of burning coal, why not find some ways to refine oil to be used as fuel sources to run things on? Who knows, we could have been running advanced versions of steam engines today? (They actually can be made to be fairly efficient and clean using current technology.) Silo Direct Link to the 1918 Stanley 735B Steam Car

Then the internal combustion engine enters the scene the oil companies love this, and a mass marketed engine that is completely dependent on oil is born. Just think, this is awesome for business, these engines need oil for fuel and lubrication. Then all the different designs start flowing. (Off the top of my head and in no chronological order) The single cylinder, then 2, then 4, then 6, then the flathead V8. Now this is where we start to see major horse-power and design improvements. The trusty ol’ inline 6’s, the small block eating slant 6’s,The overhead valve V engine, big blocks, small blocks, hemi’s. There are pancake engines, W engines, rotary engines, v-tecs, and many, many more. (Not to mention all of the different fuel delivery systems!)

The cylinder and valves and crankshaft of the Internal Combustion Engine

The one thing that really makes me scratch my head is the fact that we are just in the last few years getting hybrids, smart-cars, electric cars, and hydrogen cars that are actually worth looking at and driving. I mean, why is it that I can take a full size 2008 Chevrolet Silverado with a 5.3 L vortec engine, put: a cold air intake, a magnaflow exhaust system, and a good edge products programmer, and I can get an average of over 36miles per gallon, with the same horse-power? Why is it that I (not being an automotive engineer) can do this, but you can’t just buy one with those numbers from the manufacturer?
Not to mention brown-gas converters that have been tested on most common engine types that can take, mineral water, and a reaction from current between two electrified plates (similar to a car battery) and create a safe amount of hydrogen gas as a by-product which can make your car run the same on half the amount of fuel. The thing that boggles me is that most people have never even heard of these. You can buy the plans off the internet (not as complicated as it sounds) or I can even get ready to install ones from my performance part supplier. I just find it strange that automotive technology and fuel sources have taken this long to start to veer just slightly away from oil (or as ‘ol Jed calls it “Texas tea”).

At one point we bridged the gap from a horse and buggy to a steam engine, and then to internal combustion. With the technology we have now, we should have much higher mpg’s and horse-power or an extremely viable alternative. It really makes me wonder where we might be now if this technology was steered in a different direction from the start. It’s now been almost 100 years now of improving the same technology using more or less the same fuel source. There are guys in the states who run their own garage refined deep fryer grease to power their small pickups and VW buses. There are guys who run pickups off wood-fire smoke. Just something to think about.  For the Silo, Robb Price.

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Loving The Carrera S 911 Porsche

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all photos- Robb Price

A metallic silver bullet, 300+ km/h roaring blur on the Autobahn. 6th gear, 355+ HP, 3.8L-6cylinder, variable timing at full advance, breathing in through a K&N filter system and exhaling out of a Fabspeed Max-Flo exhaust. Automatically adjusting shock absorbers stiffening as you pass and corner. Porsche’s PSM stability control system controlling the power to the wheels, keeping you on the road as you throttle and shift. Signature auto adjusting spoiler in the up position. If you need to stop in a hurry, having full confidence in Porsche’s best-in-the-biz 4 channel ABS and huge cross drilled rotors.
These are the type of thoughts I get just looking at this beefy, wide stanced, Carrera S (911). As sleek as it is fast, these cars actually keep a “Low Emissions Vehicle” status, and family car class fuel economy. (This is a pretty cool way to be green if you ask me!)
These cars really pay homage to the saying, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!” in the sense that they (Porsche) have used a lot of the same body lines, and same rear-engine design, in the 911’s over 40 years of production. Being of rear-engine design though, makes these cars hard to master driving, truly making the driver conform to it.
By constantly improving on something that has worked since day one, Porsche has kept the focus where it really counts, on the suspension and drive-line.


Marshall Thompson, owner of Thompson Chiropractic (Simcoe and Waterford) and this sweet car, says that he was really drawn to this particular model for a few reasons:
1) He really wanted the signature Porsche model, the 911.
2) He really liked that in 2006 they went back to the traditional 911, oval headlight shape (Porsche had gone away from this for a few years, using a headlight similar to their Boxster model)
3) The wide body style of the ’06 Carrera S and the impressive much improved interior. This car touting a very stylish and ergonomic, leather interior, navi-system, uber sporty gauge package, and Bose 13 speaker sound system. Unheard of in older 911’s as they were more like a streetable race car than a luxury car.
Don’t be fooled by its good looks though. This 911 is just as wicked as its predecessors. This one apparently easily breaking the 250km/h in 5th gear with a full 6th gear still at the ready.


You might catch this car in the Simcoe or Waterford areas but only on sunny days. Good luck actually catching up to this one. Robb Price is a regular automotive writer for The Silo and owns and operates WC Kustoms in Windham Centre.

[Much like the 911, the seminal electronic band Kraftwerk innovated and pushed the boundaries of form and function. Recommended listening for Porsche owners when you’re ripping through gears CP] Update- Silo Direct Link 2012 911 Porsche makes North American Debut