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Category: Parts

Get a 1958 price on an oil change today

Dreading that car trip Up North because of the skyrocketing price of gas? Well, at least you can get a break on a pre-trip oil change as part of a 50th anniversary special.

WMUZ the Light 103.5 FM is celebrating its 50th year in Christian broadcasting by offering the 1958 price on an oil change at Fix N Go Auto Repair Center today from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

Oil changes will be $8.95, and there will be free brake inspections, hot dogs and games.

Fix N Go is located at 2245 Stephenson Highway in Troy just south of the Rochester Road exit off I-75.

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Category: Events

Muscle cars, Cadillacs highlight RM's Motor City auction at Novi

Cars from two significant collections -- one full of muscle cars and the other chocked with Cadillacs -- will be featured this month at the Classic Car Auction of Michigan, staged by the well-respected RM Auctions on April 26-27 at the Rock Financial Show Place in Novi.

More than 300 classic cars will be offered, including many from the Bud Mick and Edwin Oberhaus collections.

"The difference with Bud's cars is that the collection grew well beyond nostalgia, and his passion and enthusiasm for all things automotive led the collection in many different directions," RM`s Mike Fairbairn says of the Ypsilanti-based Mick collection. "The diversity of the collection means it has something to cater for every automotive taste and we are thrilled to have been entrusted by the Mick family with the task of selling the collection at auction."

Those cars included a Hemi-powered 1967 Plymouth GTX convertible, a 1962 Chevrolet SS 409 coupe, a 1965 Chevy Impala SS 396 convertible, a 1958 Pontiac Bonneville, as well as a 1934 Bugatti Type 57 Galibier sedan, 1938 Packard Twelve Brunn Landalet and a 1930 Pierce-Arrow Model A convertible coupe.

Meanwhile, Edwin and Alyce Oberhaus kept their cars in their own Oberhaus Enterprises' Cars and Collectibles antique museum in Archibold, Ohio. The museum closed earlier this year and thus the auction includes vehicles such as a 1959 Cadillac Series 62 hardtop, 1972 Cadillac Eldorado wagon (one of only eight built), 1939 LaSalle touring sedan and 1970 Cadillac limousine former owned by singer Johnny Paycheck and equipped with gold velour interior and shag carpeting.

Admission to the auction is $10. For more information, see www.rmauctions.com.

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Category: Events

Reception marks 'Carnivora -The Dark Art Of The Automobile'

Here's an interesting car-related event you might be interested in this weekend:

(C)POP Gallery in Detroit is having a reception for the closing of the popular exhibit and accompanying book "Carnivora -The Dark Art Of The Automobile" on Saturday 1-7 p.m.

"Carnivora: The Dark Art of the Automobile" takes you on a chilling joyride powered by the automotive age's hottest artists.

The closing reception will feature book signings by the five Detroit artists featured in the exhibit and book: Glenn Barr, Topher Crowder, Chris Dean, Niagara and Tom Thewes.

More than 80 internationally known post-Pop artists contributed artwork to the book and exhibit. The book and exhibit features an incredible array of some of the most well-known, Comic Expressionists, Post-Pop painters and Kustom Kulture renegades, all celebrating Detroit's gift to the human race. Detroit is well represented in both the book and exhibit with Niagara, Glenn Barr, Tom Thewes, Camilo Pardo, Chris Dean & Topher Crowder. Other notable artists include Robert Crumb, HR Giger, Robert Williams, Marshall Arisman, Stanley Mouse, Joe Coleman & Mark Mothersbaugh of DEVO.

Curated by NY Artist Super agent, Les Barany, Carnivora is a shadowy realm where flesh and machine coalesce into humanity's greatest technical achievement -- the Automobile. Indispensable extensions of our nervous systems, cars are metallic monsters as dark and destructive as the men and women who drive them.

You can find lots of car club and auto-related events in The Detroit News' online events site, http://events.detnews.com

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It's Autorama weekend in Detroit!

America's greatest hot rod show is in Detroit this weekend! Autorama features more than 1,000 exhibits of customized cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles and more. If you're a gear head and like the North American International Show, you know you've love Autorama at Cobo Center.

This is a family event, too, with lots of cool vehicles to ooh and aah over, plus live band performances and celeb appearances (where else would you see Spongebob Squarepants, Dora the Explorer, Detroit Tigers pitcher Joel Zumaya and auto legend Chip Foose all in the same place?).

We'll have plenty of coverage here at detnews.com and in Joyrides, but we want to hear from you, too. Tell us about what you love about hot rods, customizing your wheels as well as all about the Autorama show. You can send us your comments by clicking on "comment" here and share your photos in the Joyrides ReaderPix gallery, too.

Have fun!

Funny-Car and street rod artist John Buttera dies

John Buttera, who left his stamp on the drag racing world in the 1970s by building a series of winning Funny Cars and dragsters and created some of the most beautiful street rods of the 1980s and 1990s, died March 2 at age 67 after a long battle with cancer, according to the National Hot Rod Association (NHRA).

Buttera brought the high-tech, billet era to street rodding and was the first to manufacture his own wheels and independent suspensions from machined aluminum.

Buttera's death comes just four days after the death of his colleague Boyd Coddington.

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Car-building legend Boyd Coddington dies

From the Associated Press:

Car-building legend Boyd Coddington, whose testosterone-injected cable TV reality show "American Hot Rod" introduced the nation to the West Coast hot rod guru, has died. He was 63.

Coddington, who started building cars when he was 13 and once operated a gas station in Utah, set a standard for his workmanship and creativity, with his popular "Cadzilla" creation considered a design masterpiece. The customized car based on a 1950s Cadillac was built for rocker Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top.

Read more about Coddington here.

So you`re planning a car show...

It may be winter back in Michigan, but wildflowers and car shows are blooming here in sunny Arizona.

I went to a local show this morning and have a few of thoughts for those of you who are planning such events this spring and summer back in the Midwest.

1. Please group the cars for display. You can use make and model or decades or create your own categories--cars owned by the same family since new; cars from companies no longer in business, station wagons, cars with two or fewer seats. Have some fun with it, but some sense of organization can make the show more interesting for participants and spectators.

2. Please be sure that every car has a sign that indicates its year, make and model. I`d encourage that the car owner`s name be included, and either a city of residence or the car club affiliation. (Speaking of car clubs, one show I go to every year gives a special award to the club with the most cars present.) Since owners don`t always stay with their cars (they like to see the show, too), it is helpful if the car`s ID card includes room to indicate, for example, that this Ford-based hot rod actually has a Chevy big block engine.

3. Don`t ask too much of the car owners. For example, the show I attended this morning ran from 9 a.m. until 5 p.m. Unless there`s a really compelling reason (and bringing in a crowd for vendors selling stuff is not a compelling reason), that`s a long time to ask people to have their cars on display, especially if you want people from outside the immediate area to drive over and participate.

4. Do something special. The show I attended this morning included some 200 vehicles, and was held for a good cause: proceeds go to My Sisters` Place, a domestic violence shelter. There was entertainment, a raffle, and--here`s the something special--if you bought and wore the $15 souvenir T-shirt, you got a 10-percent discount at local restaurants.

Goodbye gas caps

I read an Associated Press article the other day that said Ford Motor Co. is fixing to phase out gas caps. What a great idea. No more wondering where the heck your gas cap went and no more smelly hands from touching the caps (or that old rag you stuff in as a replacement).

Granted, there has been some advancement in gas cap technology, like the convenient gas cap holder installed on the side of the fueling door or that little bit of plastic that attaches the gas cap to the filling area. Those features are nice but I think Ford liberating their lineup of caps is just what might keep them in the lead, or bring them ahead of Toyota, depending on who you're talking to in the auto industry.

The EasyFuel system is on the 2008 Ford Explorer SUV and will be utilized in the 2009 Lincoln MKS luxury and F-150, Ford's top-selling rig. Ford says it will make capless refueling systems standard across the entire lineup.

The system came from a NASCAR experience when it first appeared on a 2003 Ford GT sports car. The design concept seems simple enough: two small spring-loaded tabs pull back a flap inside the fuel filler as the gas nozzle hits them. When you pull the nozzle out, the flap shuts tight. How convenient is that?

I'm not sure all the gas cap suppliers in the world are happy about the capless concept, but I can imagine how much time the world will save from not having to 1) try to get a too tight cap off, 2) putting a cap back on then washing your hands several times throughout the day or 3) hunting around in the side road ditches trying to find the cap that flew away. The change also will help protect the environment by preventing gas fumes from escaping from a loosely screwed-on gas cap, Ford says. Way to go Ford.

The countdown is over

The Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale started a couple nights ago and I was one of the first 9,000+ Fantasy bidders. By the end of the night I heard that close to 40,000 people e-mailed or texted in their bids. This year the stakes are high: They're giving away a very cool World Class Driving Experience in Las Vegas. Don't think I'll win as I've been off price about $1,000-$2,000 on each of my bids so far but I feel pretty good that I'm pretty close to the amount of the winning bids.

On the opening night of the auction, Tuesday, I skipped my homework. I suffered some in class Wednesday but it was worth it all. The Monster Garage cars were auctioned and it was so dang funny to watch the "regulars," Spanky Assiter (Hall of Fame auctioneer), Craig Jackson, Barrett-Jackson CEO, and my favorite announcer, Steve Magnante, laugh when these funky cars rolled onto the auction stage.

It was interesting, too, to see what sorts of people bid on those cars. I imagined the old boy who bought the Milk Wagon truck that had a cow milking machine engineered inside. I didn't see a lady sitting near him but can only imagine what his wife might say when he got it home!

Speaking of my favorite, Steve Magnante, this year he's got an itty-bitty video cam strapped to his index finger. Why?, you ask. So he can stick it up close to read/decipher/televise the auction cars' VIN numbers! Told ya he was a car nut!

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A market correction for collector cars?

Drew Alcazar has some advice for those who want to buy a classic car: `Buy the car you like,` says the head of the Russo and Steele auction, one of seven taking place this week and next here in Arizona`s Valley of the Sun.

And, he adds: `Buy the best car you can afford and enjoy the heck out of it.`

If that all sounds obvious, it isn`t. Too often, Alcazar fears, people buy classic cars as investments to be locked away in a garage in anticipation of a big payoff a few years down the road. Instead, he says, they should be asking themselves: `If the car`s worth five bucks tomorrow, do I like it just the same? If yes,` he says, `then you have the right car.`

The Arizona auctions open a collector car `season` that runs through a similar multi-auction week late each August on California`s Monterey Peninsula. `They`re nice bookends,` says Alcazar, whose company participates in both venues, and this year adds a third auction to its calendar, March 27-29 at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Like the economy as a whole, Alcazar sees collector car values going through a correction this season. In the last couple of years, the prices bid for American muscle cars have escalated. Alcazar uses the word `exponentially.` But, he argues, `Everyone with half a million bucks who wanted a Hemi `Cuda has one by now.`

`What excites me the most about this weekend is getting the market figured out,` he says. `There`s a lot of trepidation about `what`s it worth?` This weekend we`ll find out. We`ll get a lot of lines drawn in the sand and that`s good for the hobby.`