BSYAWYD: Second Printing

As most of you know, the first printing of Beltsville Shell: You Are What You Drive was sold out in March, 2015.

At last the book is available again -  the 2nd printing was released on September17, 2015.

For details about buying the book go to:

Buy Beltsville Shell: You Are What You Drive

Or for those of you who prefer Amazon:

Buy BSYAWYD from Amazon

This is also a good opportunity to report on "The Brotherhood of the Traveling Book"

Cary's book travels the Globe!

Thomas Payne, of the The Restored 1930's Auto Shop fame gives us this update on the traveling copy of Beltsville Shell:

That's fantastic news Cary, congratulations!

I've posted your email information about the book on my shop Garage Journal web site:

 http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=51567&page=444  , see post # 8869

and I also posted an announcement on the Corvette Forum:

http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/c1-and-c2-corvettes/3712221-beltsville-shell-you-are-what-you-drive-is-now-available-in-a-second-printing.html

Here's an update of the status of the "Traveling Beltsville Shell Copy" on my garage web site. It's had over 40 readers so far, it's toured Europe, the UK and Scandinavia  as well as New Zealand. I've attached a picture of the inside cover of it with the NZ readers circled. The Australia fan club is chomping at the bit to get  it send down there once it returns from the UK where it is presently. You're a big hit with my guys Cary!

 

 That's it for now, best of luck with the new printing. As you know, I'm your biggest fan!!

Thomas  

The Fox Kart

Chapter 2 of Beltsville Shell: You Are What You Drive lays the foundation that go karts played in the formative years for me and all my buddies in Beltsville.  

Over the years I owned a few nice karts, but the ultimate was a 1962 Fox MAK Kart that I purchased from Dan Holbrook.  It had the McCulloch MAC 8 100cc engine.  It had a "Candy" blue paint job, satellite seat, the "swing" engine mount with the engine centered for good balance, Le Mans magnesium wheels, Bendix drum brakes and a Max-Torque clutch.

I loved that kart so much!  As I said in the book, karting was the season of my life that afforded me my greatest (childhood) joys!  (I suppose you can tell that from from my smile!)

I didn't realize at the time, but the Fox Kart was an international success.  In 1961, at the International Kart Championships in Nassau, Bahamas, the Fox brand won 1st place in three different classes.  Manufactured in Janesville, Wisconsin, Fox Karts won more International Champion titles than almost all other brands combined!

For years I have searched high and low to try to find a kart like the one pictured above with no success.

Nan had more success.  She was working hard to surprise me with a Fox Kart this Father's day and she struck gold.  Through perseverance she located a few people in the vintage karting circles, and in particular Randy Gryczkowski, also of Wisconsin.  Randy has a hobby of finding and restoring vintage karts.  When Nan approached Randy to explore building a replica of my old Fox Kart  she was unsure of which options Randy offered.  So she encouraged me to reach out to Randy directly.  After phone calls and email exchanges I discovered that Randy had recently sold the exact kart I wanted to a collector in Hilton Head South Carolina.  I had missed out!

But then a few weeks later I noticed a kart for sale on the internet by a guy named Tracy Schooler that looked exactly like the kart Randy had restored.  

Here is the video describing the kart that was for sale:
      1962 Fox Kart

You guessed it, Tracy had purchased Randy's restoration and it was now for sale.  Tracy and I quickly sealed a deal and Tracy threw in a treasure trove of karting memorabilia.  

The Fox Kart arrived in Carlsbad today.  But I'm not allowed to play with it until my birthday!

I love that go kart!

Passing of two Corvette Legends

Within the span of less than a week we learned of the passing of two Corvette Legends.

Dick Guldstrand

No one deserves the title of Corvette Racing Legend more than Dick Guldstrand.  In the early days of racing, before the engineers had come up with race-worthy designs, Dick was enthusiastically using Chevy’s finest marque to compete with cars from the best racing heritages.  With guts and bravado, Dick used his mechanical skills to squeeze every ounce of performance out of a Corvette and his driving skills to beat the competition.  Dick was one of the first inductees into the National Corvette Museum Hall of Fame.

In recent years Dick was a leading Corvette celebrity attending racing events everywhere Corvettes were found, autographing anything people brought him.  I met him a few times at Long Beach and Road America races, and Dick was one of the most interesting stops on the National Corvette Museum’s “Jay Leno Tour” in 2004.   When the NCM guests visited Dick’s shop in Burbank, California we each received autographed copies of “Corvette Thunder”, the autobiography of Dick’s escapades.  The photo below is Dick with my buddy, Don Kingery, at the IMSA race in Laguna Seca.  Don tells many stories of Dick’s enthusiasm and friendliness, including the time Dick tossed him the keys to a rare and wild Corvette and said, “take it for a spin”!

Motor Trend Article 

Martin Milner

Perhaps no actor has done more to convey the mystique of the Corvette in its early years than Martin Milner, co-star of the TV show, “Route 66”.   With George Maharis, who played Buz Murdock, Milner, who played Tod Stiles,  brought the joy of cruising across America in a Corvette to our living rooms for four seasons (116 episodes) beginning in 1960.  Each year Chevrolet would offer up a new model Corvette.  In the first episode we learn that Tod’s father died and left him the Corvette.  Later in that episode, Tod is asked why he is dedicated to “. . . just a car”.  Tod’s reply is my motto about Corvettes, “It’s more than a car to me!”  Buz was an employee of Tod’s dad.  The two of them decide to set out across America to find themselves and adventure.

 

Route 66 -- Wikipedia Article 

Like many Corvette fans, Milner lived in Carlsbad, California!

White Stingray Coupes keep appearing in my garage!

By now word has leaked out that I sold the White 1967 427 Coupe.  Hopefully the next time we see it will be in its fully-restored splendor!

But wait -- what's that in my garage?  Another white Stingray Coupe!?

It is the 1965 Corvette Coupe belonging to Ric Fogel of Cincinnati Ohio!  It has the 327 365 HP high performance engine.

I was introduced to Ric in 2014 by my neighbor Carl Streicher the day after Ric purchased the Stingray in San Diego.  Now a year later Ric needed a place to store the car for a while.  We are happy to have a visitor in Cary's Garage!

Independence Day 2015: Corvette Party

What better, more American, way can you celebrate Independence Day than with a Corvette Party?

13 Corvettes and 50 friends and neighbors helped us celebrate Independence Day # 239 and Corvette Anniversary # 62 on July 5, 2015.

Three of our four Corvettes set the stage before the guests arrived

Then we set out the food and the anniversary cake

Then we lined up all the Corvettes

Everyone was happy

Then someone noticed that there were two guys named Bill, each of whom owned a black 1957 Corvette (Bill Connelly and Bill Hatch [who is the original owner of his 57 Corvette])

While we were eating, Kevin Anderson cranked up his drone for some aerial shots

Which revealed that two young women dressed in white were trying to steal the Blue 1956 Corvette

But Herod's new 2015 Stingray blocked their escape, and then we talked them into joining the party and everything ended happily ever-after!

Final count:  We had at least one copy of each of the seven generations of Corvette, with the exception of a C3 car (and next time Mark Yamanaka will bring his 1968 coupe and we will have a "full house")!

Corvette Dominates GTE Pro Class at 24 Hours of Le Mans

With a light rain falling, the Corvette Garage filled with anticipation, American flags waving from the stands, and Corvette fans around the world tweeting with joy, the #64 Corvette C7R crossed the finish line in Le Mans, France five laps (42 miles!) ahead of the nearest competitor.  Oliver Gavin, Tommy Milner, and Jordan Taylor drove a perfect race to win the most famous endurance race in all of automotive competition.

It was a joyous end to a week that was, at times, tense and scary.  Jan Magnussen suffered a mechanical failure in  testing which led to an accident.  Thankfully he was not seriously injured.  The #63 car could not be immediately repaired and it was withdrawn from the race.  It was the first time in history of Corvette at Le Mans that a car had been withdrawn.  A single American car was left to compete against teams of cars from Ferrari, Porsche, and Aston Martin.  The Corvette covered 2,854 miles during the race -- the equivalent of a drive across America in 24 hours. 

2015 is the 16th consecutive season that Corvette Racing has competed on the world stage.  Corvette has won the race eight times in this era,more than any competitor.  Last year the C7R Corvettes finished 2nd and 4th.

(The guys in red on either side of the Corvette Drivers are Ferrari guys --they finished 2nd and 3rd)

So far in the 2015 season, Corvette has won every endurance race -- 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, and now 24 Hours of Le Mans.

BMW and Viper did not compete in the GTE Pro class at LeMans this year.

Sandi's 1963 Corvette Stingray

The High Point High School Class of 1965 had many cute girls.  We had a few “car girls” (girls who appreciated cars as much as boys did).  And we had one especially memorable Cute-Car-Girl – Sandi Johnson Watt.

At High Point Sandi drove a Mercury Comet convertible with bucket seats, a very nice car.  She cruised to the Mighty Mo with the top down occasionally rat-racing with the boys.  Tanguay (of Beltsville Shell fame) was secretly in love with Sandi, but she knew to keep her distance from boys who hung out at Beltsville Shell!

Fast forward to 1969.  Sandi had graduated from High Point but was still deeply in love with cars.  She had just purchased a dark green, limited edition Dan Gurney Mercury Cougar.  One of her close friends was Don Paterson.  Sandi hung out with Don and many of his friends.  One of Sandi’s girlfriends owned a red 1964 Corvette, and Sandi vowed that if she ever got a chance to own a Corvette, she would.  Don owned a 1963 Corvette convertible.  When the State of Maryland passed the mandatory insurance laws Don was unable to afford the State insurance.  He offered the car to Sandi for $2,500.  Even though she loved her Cougar, Sandi decided that she had to have the Corvette.  Even her mother approved of the car!

After acquiring the car and driving it for a few years, Sandi decided to have it restored to original condition.  She chose one of the finest Corvette Shops in Maryland (or anywhere, for that matter), Tony’s Corvette Shop.  Tony’s guys restored the car to pristine condition.  Here are some photos of the car taken during the weekend of the HPHS 50^th Reunion, May 2015.