August 2016 « Classic Jalopy

Ad of the week: 300SL Velvet Glove or Male Fist

This is a great ad for the 300SL roadster. It would probably be seen as Sexist today but it tries to cover the softer personality of the 300SL in roadster form but still the maintenance of the Gullwing’s performance. The Velvet Glove or Male Fist caption and some of the wording in the ad invokes powerful imagery. Unlike most of the bland ads you see today – one is great.

Velvet Glove or Male Fist… Drive as you will. But remember this; the 300SL cam “kicks in” with a tremendous wallop at over 4000 rpm. Beneath this line of […]

Favorites of the 2016 British Car Show

The British car show has such a selection of cars that its hard to pick favorites, but these represent the standout cars for me on the day.

Healey Elliott

I found this to be a really striking car and not one I had seen before. Apparently it has the 2.5 liter Riley engine and was capable of 100mph, quite a feat at the time for a four seat car.

Bentley S2 Continental

These cars are incredibly rare and valuable, so not a car I aspire to own due to the cost, but I think the pick of the post […]

2016 British Car Show

In my view, the British car show is probably the pick of the Sydney car shows each year. It might not be as big as the Eastern Creek show, but it has a broader range of really interesting cars, and there is always something new you’ve never seen before. This year the new one for me was a 1948 Healey Elliott. Quite a striking shape and not a car I had ever seen before. Donald Healey is always associated with the Austin-Healey but had a number of other ventures throughout the years.

For the 2016 British car show, I brought […]

Ad of the week: Pennzoil Jaguar

This weeks Ad is a Pennzoil ad that ties their engine oil to the high performance XK engine and its over inflated performance specs. Still the ad had a great cutaway of the engine and the triple carburettor setup. The Jaguar E-Type had a lot of suppliers trying to associate with it during the early 60s.

This is the power plant built for the Jaguar XK-E. It deserves Pennzoil “Protection Reserve”

This is a beautiful, precision-tooled instrument of power. It’s built to deliver smooth, responsive performance for a lifetime. And the man who owns one takes exception pride in […]

Traction engine troubleshooting

Today I started troubleshooting a potential engine issue in my Traction Avant. When the engine is hot, it will sometimes smoke out of the valve cover and there is a single pulse of black exhaust like it is being caused by one cylinder.

My first test was to check the compression of the engine, quite easy on a traction engine as the spark plugs are easily accessible and there is a starter button in the engine compartment. A compression check is always a good check to run on an engine to understand its health.

I found that #1, #3 and […]

Ad of the week: Citroen DS power

This weeks ad is interesting that it tries to take the biggest weakness of the DS – the engine and try and turn it into a strength. I prefer the other ads that focus on its real strengths like the economy, suspension etc. In sales trying to turn a weakness into a strength can work well, but not sure if this approach did. Later on the ad does discuss the virtues of Front-wheel drive and air-oil suspension. Both of these are Citroen characteristics.

Plenty of pull when you need it.

First thing you sense when you slide behind the […]

2016 Shannons Eastern Creek Car Show

Late August means its time again for the 2016 Shannons Eastern Creek car show, which is organized by the CMC and sponsored by Shannons. It’s probably the biggest car show in Australia and has a small selection of cars from each club affiliated with the CMC. Normally the selection is more everyday enthusiast cars rather than high end, but it is nice to see all the niche models that are rarely seen on the road. They also have vintage fire trucks, police pursuit vehicles and so on.

What was interesting to see was how popular the new classic rego […]

M272 Balance Shaft Issues – E350

I went to look at an 2006 E350 W211 Estate today and had learned on the Topklasse forum that the M272 engine manufactured from 2005-2007 suffers from a potential defect. From what I understand as this engine is a 90 degree V6, there were additional components required to make it run smoothly and these and the timing gear can suffer from premature wear. More information can be found here. The part is called the Balance Shaft. The ideal angle for a V6 is 60 degrees. The M272 is 90 degrees so it can be built alongside a V8. 90 degrees […]

Ad of the week: 1955 300SL Gullwing

In 1955 direct fuel injection was a big deal, and I believe the 300SL was the first production car to have it. It certainly provided fearsome performance out of only 3 liters. This weeks ad focuses on the 300SL and in particular the direct fuel injection.

The Peterson Museum

I had the opportunity for a short visit to the Peterson Museum, after my flight out of Los Angeles was canceled. I had always wanted to go to see the museum after seeing a few of the cars featured on Jay Leno’s Garage (for example Steve McQueen’s XKSS).

The museum has two parts, the public exhibits over three floors and three basements with cars not in the current collection. You can do a tour of the basement for an extra charge, although for some reason photography is prohibited. Despite that, the tour is well worth it and you’ll see a […]

Classic Jalopy

General

Classic Jalopies

Previous Jalopies

Recent Posts

Ad of the week: 300SL Velvet Glove or Male Fist

Favorites of the 2016 British Car Show

2016 British Car Show

Ad of the week: Pennzoil Jaguar

Traction engine troubleshooting

Ad of the week: Citroen DS power

2016 Shannons Eastern Creek Car Show

M272 Balance Shaft Issues – E350

Ad of the week: 1955 300SL Gullwing

The Peterson Museum

Categories

Archives

Thank you

General

Classic Jalopies

Previous Jalopies

Recent Posts

Popular Posts

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Categories

Tags

Archives

Thank you