Monte Carlo Time

I wrote that my brother picked up a 1971 Monte Carlo at our local swap meet. So he's had the car a little over a week and so far so good.  He dropped a battery in it and re-installed the wiring harness under the hood.  He reconnected all the ignition wires, installed a new coil and points and she started up!  He also performed a very quick primer job to get rid of the grandma green (and other various colors).  Now calories are being spent researching and planning where to go from here....and installing an aluminum intake and 4 barrel Holley which was already sitting in his garage.

before

grandma green gone

Swap Meet Sunday!

Yesterday my brother and I had a difficult decision to make.  Should we go to Caffeine & Carburetors show, the Spring Swap Meet held by the Connecticut Street Rod Association or a VW/Audi specific car show? I personally was leaning towards Caffeine & Carburetors since my brother didn't attended the first event.  I also like the C&C event since it gives me an opportunity to photograph some interesting subjects. The VW show was appealing because it would give me a chance to do some research on parts (especially wheel/tire and suspension combinations) for my GTI.   However, we ended up going to the swap meet. 

Why the swap meet? As I mentioned, the swap meet wasn't my preferred choice. We always go and look around and end up complaining about the ridiculous asking prices on the project cars and parts. We end up buying something stupid in an effort to justify the admission fee. So why did we go? Maybe because it was the closest of all three events? But more realistically, I think we enjoy to possibility of  finding something. Car shows are spectator events.  Swap meets are a participatory event. So how did this event go?

 First and foremost the event was massive. We had to park in an overflow lot that was up on top of a huge sand pit. Here's a view from the truck:

As soon as we hopped out of the truck we were greeted with this spectacle in the parking lot:

Good omen?

The meet featured the same junk for sale.  If you were in the market for a chainsaw or snow blower you were int he right place. The project cars for sale were outrageously over priced or rusted beyond reasonable repair.  There was a cool AMC AMX and a rusty V8 4 speed Barracuda that were showed some promise. This patina-licous truck caught my eye but was already sold by time we reached it:

SOLD!

In the second the last row of the meet we found this:

Full Monte

A 1971 Chevy Monte Carlo that at first glance it looked like every other rough project here. However, upon further inspection we realized the following: 1) It was basically rust free! The body was straight and it already had new quarter panels installed (and done really well). 2) It had a complete small block Chevy drive drain. 3) And despite the multi-color and stripped appearance the car was fairly complete including a trunk full of trim and hardware.  My brother has always had a soft spot for '71 Monte Carlo's.  How does a person develop such a specific preference for a car, especially when the object of affection is somewhat atypical? It stems from the fact that his first car was an '83 Monte Carlo and his birth year is 1971. So he traded info with the owner and plans to complete a deal later in the day.....by yesterday evening the Monte was sitting in his driveway and he was taking inventory of all the parts in the trunk.

So stay tuned for developments with the Monte.

My MK6 GTI

I've written about my daily commute but so far I've only made passing comments about my daily driver....my 2011 Mk6 VW GTI.  About 4 years ago my office was consolidated with our corporate head quarters which meant my morning commute stretched from 35 miles to roughly 65 miles (in each direction).  At the time I was driving a 2003 Jaguar X-Type Sport.  I went with the 'practical' 4 door, 6 cylinder, AWD sedan in a moment of weakness when I traded in my Mustang GT shortly before my first son was born. It even had an automatic transmission which ended up being the worst thing about that car.  It was sloppy, unresponsive and apparently un-serviceable. However, the blacked out baby Jag looked good and the AWD was phenomenal for New England..but as I racked up the miles the car showed its age.

An Accord or Camry  would have provided years of problem free commuting....but I needed something a little more interesting....hence the Jag.   When the time approached to replace the Ford Mondeo based Jaguar I knew I wanted something practical AND fun.  It had to get acceptable fuel economy, allow me to bring my boys to soccer practice (coaching gear in tow) and still make me smile when I matted the pedal on a curvy road. The automatic in the Jaguar really left a bad taste in my mouth so I swore to go back to a manual transmission....even in the face of daily NYC bound gridlock.

I did some research at the time and my choice became clear....the best bang for the buck was the then fairly new MK6 GTI.  I've always been a VW guy.  Prior to this GTI my wife and I have owned 2 Foxes, 2 Corrado G60's (which were fantastic!) and a MK4 GTI.

My United Grey GTI has been perfect.  In three years I've logged over 90,000 miles with nothing but basic maintenance.  What I love about the car is how it does everything well.  Scenic road trips into New Hampshire and Vermont or romps into mid-town Manhattan or Boston.  I've had the hatch stuffed to the gills with luggage, illegal fireworks, and just about everything available from Home Depot.

There have been days in which I have left my home at 4:00 AM with the car loaded with luggage to drop friends off at JFK airport. After the drop off, I escaped New York before the morning congestion became a factor and slipped up the Merritt Parkway on my way to the office as the sun rose.  As I parked the car and walked into the office I just smiled as I considered how many other sub-30k cars on the market could have made that mundane morning enjoyable.

More to come soon on the GTI as I have been planning a series of 'improvements' to reward my hot hatch for it's faithful services as it approaches the 100k mile mark.