Proper Procrastination

I had been planning to go for a few years now, but I was not planning to go anywhere. It was a long weekend and there were no solid plans. Perfect for making some progress on projects on the garage list and watching the Monaco Grand Prix. Then I got the email. It said that a procrastinating set of BMW 2002 pilots were making a dash for the Vintage at the Vineyards event in North Carolina. Well I can accept many different kinds of defeat but I will not be out-procrastinated by this bunch of worthy competitors. Suddenly, I had 3 hours to get ready and get on the road. It was 11:40am

So what do you do with three hours to prepare a 40-year-old car that had not been driven in several months for trip of 1000 miles? You change the oil, take the car off the trickle charger, and check the tire pressures. The last time I let the car sit for this long, the clutch plate stuck, but not this time. The forecast suggested that I would be encountering rain somewhere on this journey, so I applied some Rain-X to the windshield. 2002 wipers are more uuhhmm....thoughtful in their operation than efficient. Then I threw the toolbag in the trunk, grabbed a bunch of audio CDs (remember them?) topped up the tank with premium, and got on the road. It was 3:00pm. Late already.

I was forced to set a pretty blistering pace (relatively speaking) right off the bat in order to make the rendezvous point in Maryland. Fortunately, the law-enforcement gods were smiling on me this day and the tii was thrilled to be able to clear its lungs after the long winter siesta. It was all interstate and the speedometer hovered between 80 and 90 for almost the entire segment to the Maryland rest area. I should mention that the speedometer in this car is relatively accurate and not optimistic as many are. That, combined with a four-cylinder four-speed non-overdrive car, made that a true test very early on in the trip.

The convoy was made up of another 2002, a heavily modified 320i, and a 633 CSI. Gustav (name changed to protect the guilty), the other 2002 pilot, pulled me aside and whispered that we should stick together if the other two got crazy. I said fine, being more concerned about cops than anything else. If I were a cop, I would be interested in the badass blacked out 320i even if it was doing nothing wrong. Once we got underway, we were fine for the first couple of hours. The 633 was out front and set the cruise control at 75mph. Then we stopped for gas and Gustav took point for an hour or so. Then the 320i could contain itself no longer and leapt up front. I thought Gustav would let him go as per the plan, but he gave it some welly instead. The 633 followed, and I brought up the rear. Into the night we went covering great distance relative to time, if you know what I mean. Triple digits were not uncommon. At the next gas stop, Gustav emerged grinning ear to ear. "We were hauling butt back there!" . I was going to ask him what happened to the plan, but I know that grin.

It was my turn on point, and the 320i gave me his Passport radar-laser detector. In Virginia. I continued the pace anyway, and soon we got off I-81 and onto 581/220. This is one of those bizarre roads that has 55mph highway that can suddenly turn into a town complete with a traffic light. In between it is a wonderful undulating twisting pathway into North Carolina. There is something pretty magical about driving a car at or near the limits of its headlights, on a road you've never been on before, that has elevation changes and curves. It is exhilarating if not crazy. The 320i and I traded point position and often occupied both lanes side-by-side as we danced along this barely visible ribbon in the night. There was nobody on the road at 10:30pm, and the absence of lighting made it all the more exciting. The 320i boosted horse power was of no advantage here, but his H.I.D headlights were. At some point in North Carolina we stopped at a light, and realized that there was no sign of Gustav or the 633. No answer from the cell phone. We waited for five minutes, and then decided to press on as we were not far from the hotel.

At the hotel we called again, and found out that they were only about 15 minutes behind us and that all was well. It was close to midnight, and I was shot.

At breakfast, we regaled each other with stories that had already become prone to hyperbole. The triple digit speeds were now 110mph+, and Rte 220 had become the Nurburgring. Then we had coffee!

It turns out that there was a large vintage event in town for BMWs!! I attended the very first vintage at the vineyards event around 2004 or 2005. In any case, the event at that time was mostly a gathering of BMW 2002s at the vinyard home of fellow 2002 enthusiast Scott Sturdy. It was a wonderful gathering of a few dozen 2002s along with a smattering of other cars such as Bavarias and 633's. The next year it grew larger, and was quickly exceeding the capacity of the venue. In subsequent years it had to move to a larger vinyard venue, and continue to grow. Eventually, it outgrew the expanded location and moved to downtown Winston-Salem, where it takes over the historic Old Salem district. The vinyard word is now dropped from the name, but the spirit is largely intact. I missed many of the most recent years, as it always tended to coincide with other activities.

The best thing about the Vintage at the Vineyards event, is that it forces a whole bunch of us to get our cars in shape for a relatively lengthy journey to North Carolina. There are many stories of roadside repairs and misadventures getting to and from this event over the years. Including my own, when a throttle return spring sidelined me temporarily somewhere in southwest Virginia. A small and easily fixed matter compared to some, but it serves as a reminder that driving 30-year-old (now 40-year-old) cars several hundred miles nonstop cannot be taken for granted....

I am going to resist trying to describe the show and the vehicles there. Words cannot do justice to the quaint setting of old Salem juxtaposed with machines ranging from mild to mad. I will simply let the pictures speak. Highlights included reconnecting with old friend Mike Pugh and a conversation with Ray Korman (yes, that Korman). While there, Bo, Ben, Mike, and others convinced me that I need to make the Mid-America event. That was in Arkansas this year. Did I mention that BMW 2002 owners like to drive their cars ? By the way, besides North Carolina and Virginia, I think Pennsylvania had the largest contingent.

Question: What's better than a vintage vehicle event? Answer: A roadtrip in a vintage vehicle to a vintage vehicle event.

Need even more Pics ? Click here for a more complete event album.

Carlisle Import 2012

The beautiful thing about the Carlisle Import event is that it's very eclectic. If you are a regular reader, then you know it always has been. The best evidence of that shows up in the for sale car corral. A stroll through that area this year presents a Ferrari 308, A Land Rover Series II, a Nissan GTR, a Morris Minor, a Volvo P1800, a beach buggy, a Rolls-Royce, a Citroen 2CV, a Porsche 356 replica, and an E class Mercedes. You just can't get much more eclectic than that. It is a tribute to this event, that all of those sellers believe that they will be able to find a buyer. And I am sure that many did.

Truth be told, attendance seemed down from last year, both in vendors and in attendees. However, enthusiasm is never down at this event. That is perhaps particularly true if you're a fan of one of the Swedish marques. This event represents one of the largest gatherings I know of for Volvo and Saab automobiles. Even within those marques, there is an eclectic blend of the old and the new. A Volvo PV444 next to a hot rod XC90. I am not sure what it is about Volvo station wagons that make them attractive to tuners, but they were out in force. How about a 2 stroke Saab 95 next to a Viggen 9-3 in that distinctive blue color. I am sure that those cars, along with the flock of Sonnets just got a lot more valuable since Saab is no more.

The French contingent is always out in force as well. If you want to compare a nice example of a Citroen SM with a CX with a DS and then with a GS, this would be the place to do it. Curious about how the 2CV evolved? View examples from the 1950s to the 1970s. Did you know that there is a thriving Renault Alliance community? Remember the Renault Fuego? Seen a Renault 4CV lately? How about a Renault 5 Turbo. Carlisle is the place to see them and to meet their owners and fans.

Unfortunately, the swap meet has been dwindling every year. It is now mostly vendors with a few private individuals sprinkled about. It is still very much worth a stroll through the aisles, but don't expect to find rare and hard-to-find parts spread upon a blanket. There are however, a fair number of parts cars stuck behind stalls and still on trailers off to the side. Prices were often reasonable and the good ones sold quickly. I bought a few books and returned to the car show.

Vintage Japanese automobiles are on the rise in terms of popularity, and the Toyota, Mazda,and Nissan/Datsun fans were there as evidence. I liked the white Mazda RX2, and the clean 1976 Toyota Corolla station wagon. Of course, the Datsun Z armada was present as well.

Fiat may have just returned to the US with new cars, but it never went away at Carlisle. Fiat 124s, 131s, and spiders shared space with the new Fiat 500. There was a lone Maserati Bora near to a De Tomaso Mangusta. Jumping from Italy to England, there was a large section of the showfield reserved for cars from the British Empire. Although I left early this year, I heard that there was a fleet of thirty something minis on their way to the show field. That must've been quite the sight on the nearby roads. Triumph always has a strong showing with spitfires and every version of TR you can imagine. I really liked the dark green Rover 3 litre with tan leather.

Perhaps because there are many other dedicated shows, the Carlisle import show tends not to be the strongest for the German contingent. The BMW 2002 crowd usually has a good presence and there were some nice Mercedes on hand including a beautiful 600 Pullman car. There is usually a small Porsche contingent, but this show is really a strong one for the Porsche replica crowd. No matter what your take is on replica/kit cars, some of these machines are very nicely done. There is similarly a decent VW contingent, it is dwarfed by any modest VW show. The exceptions for the German crowd are Opel, and Audi. This show brings out a stellar group of cars for these brands. It is always good to see examples of models I have recently covered, and there were several nice Opel Kadetts, an Audi 100, and a stunning DKW 1000. This was in addition to a group of Quattros and more modern Audis. It was also in addition to Opel Mantas, GTs, and a nice Ascona.

For $8, you would be hard pressed to find a more entertaining and informative vintage auto show.

Jousting With Jetlag

It is my own fault of course. I could have been smitten with modern machines sporting fuel injection and even more modern techniques where the molecules of fuel are individually measured into a perfect chamber in a perfect mixture with air to form a perfect explosion. i hear that there is a system in develop that will just scare gasoline into energy directly taking all of the moving parts out of the equation. The drawback is that it causes fuel delivery trucks to vanish into a black hole outside the milky way. But I digress. The new fuel systems are incredibly more efficient and effective, but I am enamored of machines with these things called carburetors.

The basic premise of the carburetor is that you mix up the fuel and the air in this contraption, and then send the mixture into the combustion chamber where it meets electricity and goes bang. Sort of like a twisted dating game for chemistry and physics...
"Hey Gasser, wanna get together? I know a cool roller coaster ride we could try"
"I'm always up for a ride with you Ariel. Let's go."
"Cool, we can meet Sparky afterward, he's a blast."
The trouble with carburetors is that they are relatively imprecise. They slurp fuel and gulp air. In fact, part of the appeal of the carburetor is that you can hear it slurping and gulping. It is a glorious sound, particularly if you have open bellmouths on Webers. The more you open the throttle, the more menacing the sound, as butterfly valves open and a more voracious appetite is unleashed. But I digress.

The BMW /2 (slash two) series of motorcycles generally do not have open bellmouth carburetors, or a menacing growl from the intake. But they do have carburetors. Bing Carburetors. Bing does not sound like a menacing beast, but it can be just that. The Bings on the /2 are slide carburetors, which use a combination of fuel at the right level in a chamber, and air utilizing the venturi effect to create the right mixture. In order to perform this magic trick, they use jets. Jets come in all shapes and sizes, but the best example is the needle valve that you use to pump up a basketball or soccer ball. It is hollow, and allows a gas or liquid to pass through it in a controlled fashion.

Bings, like other carburetors, have a variety of jets in them to handle idling speed, air, fuel, etc. On the one hand, it is amazing that these devices still work at all 50 years later. On the other hand, small passages in jets are susceptible to even the smallest debris or chemical buildup. People muck about with them to get better performance or to fix other problems. Most old /2s pulled out of a barn will run with the jets out of kilter, but not well. Which brings me to how I spent two entire days getting two /2s to run right.

The R50 did not idle well, while the R60 did not like the throttle open more than about halfway. I suspected carbs needed a good cleaning. I took them apart, and removed the floats and jets. The floats looked new. I left the jets to soak in a chemical bath, and made myself a rum and coke...or perhaps I have that reversed. Next day, I blew everything out with the compressor, and declared them ready for service. Installed back in the bikes, the R50 now had a steady idle. I used the Twinmaster to check the balance of the carbs and all seemed well. I took it for a ride and it seemed to be the soothest that I had ever known it to be, but that could be more in my head that in the bike. I returned victorious.

The R60 was not so easy. The jets looked just as good, the floats were sound, but the wide open throttle issue remained. I ran out of time and decided to order new jets. The very good news is that the Bing Agency exists and you can get most of the parts for these ancient Bing carbs. A few days later they arrive and it seems wrong to pay so much for such a small package, but I wanted this factor off the table. I installed the jets, and it was obvious once the bike started that the problem was solved. To look at them, I had removed perfectly good jets that seemed to pass air through their passages, but the reality is that the new ones have transformed the bike. I have not installed the new idle jets as there is no issue with idle on the R60. Methinks tonight I will raise a chalice to Bing, God of Fuel Delivery, and joust with those jets on the morrow...

Volkswagen Fastback

In 1961, Volkswagen introduced the Type 3 line with the Notchback (See VW Notchback), and the Type 34 Karmann Ghia. The cars were also known as the VW 1500 series. They were intended to help VW get into the growing middle class who were buying BMW 1500/1800s and Opel Kadetts, In 1962, they followed with the Variant (Squareback in the USA) which was essentially a station wagon version. The type 3 did well, but was nothing like the Beetle in sales numbers. Seeking to bolster sales, in 1965 Volkswagen introduced the Fastback. It coincided with the new 1600 engine, giving the Type 3 cars a needed boost.

The Fastback was, as the name implies, a two door type 3 which was the same as the notchback up front, but had a continuous slope from the roofline to the rear bumper. It looked both roomy and sporty. The car used the same body on frame setup of the other Type3s, and torsion bar suspension front and rear. It had a trunk front and rear, but they were rather shallow. Of course the engine was the same low profile air-cooled horizontally opposed 4 cylinder that served all of the Type 3 cars.IT used a 4 speed manual, although it was joined in the late sixties by an automatic. It appeared that VW had found another way to leverage the platform.

Although you have to put the performance into perspective for the time, the Fastback was not fast. It was light at around 1900 lbs, but it only had 44 bhp, and meandered from 0 to 60 in around 25 seconds. It had a top speed of about 80 mph. For what it was intended, a family car with more room than the Beetle, it was not bad. That was the premise of the TV commercial above featuring a young Dustin Hoffman. The car managed about 27 mpg, which was not great, but not bad either. It also had the same poor heating system that plagued the Beetle, so overall it was not the great successor that Europe had been eagerly awaiting.

 

In the US, the Beetle was still a very hot selling car, and Volkswagen, which was also facing capacity issues as it brought the new Emden plant online, delayed plans to import the Type 3. Many of the early cars that made there way to the US were gray market cars. In 1966, the Fastbacks arrived, and they did so into a market that seemed to be in love with the fastback concept. Mustangs, Corvettes, and Barracudas were all sporting fastback variations. It is fair to say that the VW was more Slowback than Fastback. In 1968 and 1969, three important upgrades were introduced, an automatic transmission, independent rear suspension, and Bosch D-Jetronic fuel injection. This is considered to be the first use of fuel injection in a volume production vehicle. These changes were popular in the US. In 1970 the fastback got some modest revisions to the nose, and then stayed in production until 1973 when the Dasher was introduced.

Oh Oley

The event season is officially underway, with something every weekend, and more than one thing on many. Among the rites of spring is The annual Antique Motorcycle Club of America (AMCA) meet which takes place in Oley, PA not far from Velocity HQ.  It has been covered here before (see Only at Oley) but it is a delight every year. The great thing about AMCA is that the centerpiece of all their events is what they call the show field. The concept is about as far from the show field at the Hershey Porsche show the preceding week as it is possible to get. The show field IS the swap meet, and while there are plenty of concours quality bikes around, it is mostly about the peculiar, the parts and the projects. And that's just the people ;-)

To begin with, the parking lot is an interesting place. It is an area where a Vespa and a Vincent may be side by side, one rusty one concours-ready. It is where I saw a nice pair of Moto Guzzi Ambassadors, and a Ciccolo. A Wes Cooley replica Suzuki, and a WWII military Harley. All ridden to the event. Speaking of Harleys, the event is mostly centered around American brands like, Harley-Davidson, Indian, and Excelsior-Henderson, but there is plenty of other stuff as well. Nearby is the for sale corral, and there is always something in that area that you wish you could take home. I liked a Hodaka this time around. Elsewhere, I really liked a Victoria Bergmeister only recently featured in in this blog (see The Victoria Ventures)

Oley covers a fairly large area, so one of the other distinctive features is the variety of ways to get around that are used. Small motorcycles, mopeds, and scooters are mixed with large singles and singular oddities. I spied two Honda Trails welded together so that they formed a sort of motorcycle Catamaran. It had been carefully engineered with both clutches operated with the left-most handlebar, and both throttles with the right. Winters are often long and boring in the Northeast. Large men on mini-bikes, and trikes operated by a tiller are also popular.

There is more corrosion per square foot at Oley, than in most junk recycle yards, but in many cases it is attached to very valuable remaing metal. You do not want to judge prices here by the condition of the item. There is a dwindling supply of authentic vintage parts and they are highly valued in this marketplace. I have purchased entire running motorcycles (maybe even cars) for less than the price of a dented old headlight bucket that I saw. However, there were also good bargains to be had. A nice Honda CL175, a BMW R90/6, and more. 

The ultra-rare, the bargains, the eccentric, the crazy, the cool, the collectible. They are all gathered at the AMCA meet in Oley, PA every spring.