As I am writing this, I have much in mind for today’s post. Of course, I wanted to use an alliterative title, like Strenuous Saturday, but think I am overdoing the alliteration.
Where do I start? Yesterday, in response to my post about the 100th anniversary of my mother’s birth, I received a comment asking why I crossed out the word Nazi. Something about that comment incensed me so much that I deleted it without publication and blocked the email address of the person who submitted it. Maybe that was an overreaction and maybe I shouldn’t assume that everyone knows why I write the word Nazi that way. Of course, it is a gesture of contempt, which is not a strong enough word to describe my feelings. Once again, not all value systems are equally valid and I DO NOT have to respect or to tolerate all paradigms.
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From the Twitter feed of Dennie Edwards, a former auto tech with Saturn/GM, comes this article about Tesla asking people who live in Texas to avoid charging their cars during peak use periods because of the current heat wave. Edwards points out that maybe 5% of cars in Texas are electric vehicles with the implied question of what will happen to the electrical grid if/when substantially more people drive EVs.
The US electrical grid will not be able to handle 50,000,000 or 100,000,000 electric cars for decades. To me, the people worshiping at the altar of EVs are like lemmings being led off the cliff. I’ll write this again: EVs are not the answer; eFuels/synthetic fuels are. We will be pushed too far down the EV path before we’re ready (if we’re ever truly ready) and when that realization hits we will be in deep trouble. By the way, how will people who live in dwellings without a garage, like apartments, have access to charging stations for their EVs? Oh, public charging stations are often vandalized for their copper content.
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I have written about my personal version of Murphy’s Law that I call The Johnny Astro Syndrome. Here is a picture of the Johnny Astro toy:
I don’t know why I am compelled to show this. I also have no idea how popular the toy was.
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As further proof that I have really become obsessed with rain here in the desert, I offer this video.
Yep, it is ten seconds of rain from Thursday. OCD can have many manifestations.
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Although it is not, and never will be, an Ultimate Garage car (I’m not saying if it will appear in the Hall of Very Good Cars series because, honestly, I don’t know), I have always liked the looks of the Volvo P1800. This MotorTrend article is about, basically, a restomod P1800. Here is a photo:
Here is the first paragraph of the piece:
“I can’t buy a Volvo P1800 anymore. The dream is dead. It sucks, because I’ve wanted a P1800 for years. Maybe it’s because I watched reruns of The Saint with my mom as a kid, or because I’m just innately drawn to underappreciated cars. It doesn’t matter. No P1800 I buy and restore or modify will ever drive like the Volvo P1800 Cyan I’m reviewing here, and I can’t afford one of those.”
Only about ten of these cars will be produced annually at a cost starting at $700,000. I have often thought about restomodding cars like this and the Saab 96. I can’t pay three-quarters of a million dollars for any restomod, no matter how appealing, without doing serious damage to my net worth.
Not surprisingly, many cars offered for sale on sites like restomod.com are Corvettes, Chevelles, Camaros, Mustangs, etc. Except for a C2 Corvette, I would much prefer to restomod something out of the ordinary, like a Volvo P1800. We didn’t win the Mega Millions drawing yesterday (no one did), so my restomod dreams will remain unfulfilled.
Do any of you have any “oddball” restomod projects in mind? We would like to read about them.
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Disaffected Musings 
“Do any of you have any “oddball” restomod projects in mind?”
I have HAD a few over the years. I mentioned the 1973 Datsun with the Buick 215 aluminum V8 a few posts back. I also had a 1985 Dodge Charger 2.2 that got built up over time and eventually turned into a drag race car (sold about 25 years ago). I had a super low mileage 1979 Impala “crew cab” that I bought from a friends parents in 1994, IIRC, that got a 454, Turbo 400 and 12″ posi with 3.73 gears installed in it. Body and interior were left as I bought it, both ugly green; I suppose those might be more correctly classified as hot rods as opposed to resto mods. I had toyed with the idea of installing a modern Hemi in that 67 AMC I recently parted with, so that might have qualified.
Of the current stable, I guess my long roof Belvedere would be the closest to a resto mod. Later model 360 engine with around 400 hp, 4 wheel disc brakes, semi custom interior, old school chrome reverse wheels with baby moon hub caps but no body mods.
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DDM, this blog would be much less rich without your contributions. I was quite intrigued when you first mentioned the ’73 Datsun with the Buick 215 cubic inch aluminum V8. A build like that sounds very interesting to me.
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It was a challenge to build, same as it would have been in the 50’s. No internet meant you had to depend on “local” knowledge and support, and a LOT of trial and error. As that was in the beginning of the proliferation of Japanese cars, there wasn’t any info on a swap like that, at least locally. There might have been in California, but that was 2500 miles away so not much help. These days I could just shovel money at a project like that and have a running driving vehicle in less than 12 months. Still to this day I do 90% of the work in my own shop. Usually the only thing I pay someone else to do is the upholstery. And I do buy more parts that I had to make/modify myself back then.
It’s still enjoyable to “build my own,” it just takes me a bit longer these days due to slowing down with age. I can’t survive on 4 hours sleep like I did way back when and I’m not in my shop 4-5 nights a week. Weekends are a lot “fuller” these days, between drag racing as often as I can and other non automotive interests. For instance, last weekend a non profit organization I belong to had our annual fundraiser. I have been “volunteered” to be the head chef for the last 12-14 years. This year I smoked 100 pounds of pork for BBQ, 200 pounds of chicken, 200 pounds of grilled pork chops, 15 gallons of my “often imitated, never duplicated” cowboy beans and 25 pounds of my Cajun rice. I did have help on the grills as I’m sooner or later gonna be feeding the buzzards and someone needs to be able to step up and man the grills. It wears you out spending a full day cooking, not to mention making the rice and beans a couple day before. It was a good day financially as preliminary accounting shows that over $20,000 was raised.
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Wow! Many thanks for sharing more of your amazing life, DDM.
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I guess you could call my 1948 Ford F-1 truck project a “restomod”. The body will be stock with the entire chassis improved, with a Ford 427 Windsor V-8, 4R70 automatic transmission, Ford 9 inch rear end with a Detroit Trutrac differential, Wilwood disk brakes front and rear, Dodge Dakota independent front suspension, EFI for the engine as well as ProM Racing computer system. The interior will feature Dodge Dakota 60-40 bench seat, Dakota Digital instrumentation and for safety bear claw latches on the doors, Vintage Air AC system with their Front Runner serpentine belt drive system. Oh, yes, I added the 1998 Explorer 5.0L oil cooler. All the mods and parts are listed in the 40+ page spread sheet to keep track of everything.
My son-in-law’s addition of an LS-3 to his 2006 Solstice could also be classed as an oddball restomod. I still have not seen nor been offered a ride in this street beast. Maybe he will offer me one for my birthday.
Having spent 17 years of my engineering career in the electric power industry, I understand the need for a robust transmission/distribution system. Currently there is no way the distribution system will support the demand of the number of electric cars the proponents of the New Green Deal demand. In addition, these idiots, er proponents, want to eliminate fossil fuel generated power stations. So where do they propose the electric power will come from to charge all of those electric cars. The potential for solar and wind power will not support their demands. Also the way the politicians vilify the electric utilities, especially in California, prevents any improvements to the transmission/distribution grid.
All residents of Arizona are obsessed with rain and its observation.
Many people on the internet are ignorant of the history of World War II and therefore, would not understand your feelings, nor mine about those “people” who were responsible for the Holocaust. I shall limit my comments for the need to control my blood pressure.
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Thanks again, Philip. Do you have an ETC for the Ford F-1 project?
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I might be one to be inclined to buy an electric car for commuting if I were working, didn’t have to drive far, and didn’t live in a condo where the community garage wouldn’t support charging stations, and… yes, I could probably find other reasons, so for now, I’ll stick with my hybrids. >grin<
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Thanks, JS.
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