Motorsports Club Stuttgart / ADAC Racing at Hockenheim

Saturday afternoon, I dropped by Hockenheim to catch some German grassroots motorsports. The MCS and ADAC (kind of like AAA in the US, but still sanctions motorsports) put on the event, their third at Hockenheim this year.  For 10 euros entry fee, one can wander the stands, pits, and paddock all day. Lots of pictures after the jump.

Beat on the French Street: Renault 19 Cabriolet

Admittedly, I'm no expert on French automobiles so I'm using my time in Europe to educate myself on French motoring. This (I've learned) is a 1992 model and actually rather rare as the first year for the cabrio was the last year before a re-fresh that changed the front and rear styling. For a car styled by Giugiaro with a Karmann drop-top, the looks are a bit underwhelming but not objectionable.

BeaterBlog Recommended Attraction: Musée national de l’automobile, Collection Schlumpf

Growing up in Detroit exposed me to almost zero French cars. By the time I was ten none were available new and I went years without seeing one on the road. They were like Russian cars that existed only in books. Since then, I've rode in and even driven a few but my understanding of French motoring was lacking. The Musée national de l’automobile (French National Automobile Museum) has opened my eyes.

24 Hours of Nürburgring Photo Gallery

So far this year, Spring in Germany has been a season filled with cold and rain. Perfect weather for a 24 hour endurance race around the Nordschleife's hundreds of turns. I rolled in on Monday afternoon to catch the final hours of the race and snap some pictures. What I found was a bunch of AMG SLS's and BMW Z4's trying to run down the leading Aston which they eventually did. Also on hand were another seventy or so race cars, huge piles of empty beer bottles, and thousands of weary Germans neatly tidying camp sites and taking down home made viewing platforms as the race ground down to the final minutes. Lots of pictures after the jump.

New Trade - Simca 1204 Parts Car for Another Tan Ute!

I was thinking that it would be impossible to own just one Simca 1204, however, it turns out that's not the case if the same stuff is broken on both cars. Rather than have my parts car hang around here and take up space that I'd rather fill with Vauxhalls and AMCs, I traded it to someone who can appreciate it; Soggy. For those of you who don't know Soggy, he's the guy who runs the Simca 1204, Henry, in LeMons. It took a lot of coaxing for me to get rid of one of my old French Dodges but he offered me a slightly wrecked up, rusted, and non running VW Caddy Diesel. And of course I couldn't resist having two skin colored utes. Tandemonium.

After a couple of weekends, the status of the Caddy is not looking so bad. The battery is all charged up, it's got a new timing belt and tensioner, a perfectly adjusted injection pump, new air filter, and the interior was vigorously pressure washed and vacuumed about 4 times. It runs and drives but the rear brake lines are rusted off, which caused a slight incident while tow-starting it with the Roo Chaser. Basically, the car started at about 10mph the noise that it created sounded like it threw all 4 rods. For future reference, this is Rabbit Diesel clatter and can be ignored. Anyway, this caused me to hit the brakes in the Falcon which in turn required that Jon, the driver of the chase car, to swerve left and wrap the tow strap around the axle and pop the tire off of the sidewall. All of this happened while a realtor was showing a house across the street. Welcome to the 'hood.

Is this the best parts house in the world? Possibly.

Park's Auto Parts is a staple of motoring in Charleston. There are a couple dozen across the lowcountry but the original is on North Charleston's Rivers Avenue, or the 'daul lane' as the old timers call it. The minicipality of North Charleston was a byproduct of the Naval Yard on the Cooper River that was started at the turn of the century and boomed throughout the Cold War period. At some point in the 80's, someone got the idea that if the bridge over the Charleston Harbor was taken out, the Naval forces would be immobilized...so they pulled the base and the town crashed in spectacular fashion. However, in it's heyday, North Charleston's dual lane was the Woodward Avenue of the South with car sales, machine shops, and other outlets for men in uniform to spend their money. Park's would certainly have seen a lot of that disposable income. Luckily, they've managed to retain all of that knowledge and experience and to this day have staff that knows what they are doing (!), have a Speed Shop, and even hard to find parts in stock.

Marketplace Feature - Indonesian Obscurity

I went on eBay Australia right quick to check out some old Mitsubishis when I happened up this hot mess.

It's Suzuki Marvia, an Indonesian-built retro car based on some kind of Suzuki intended for sale in Bali. I thought I knew my obscure cars but I've just been humbled. If I had to guess, I would say that it's a Suzuki LJ80 (I see a leaf spring perch poking out of the front and a big 5 lug pattern on the spare) with a bizarre, somewhat Dekotora style body draped over the top of it. It's absolutely fascinating and I can't seem to find any more information on it in a language that I can decipher.

It's really not my cup of whatever they drink in Indonensia, Milo I guess, but I've got admire that the current Aussie owner liked it enough to bring it back from Bali and it's a shame that he can't work on it any more.

Here is the ad:
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Very-Rare-Suzuki-Marvia-Sports-Car-/321105468099?pt=AU_Cars&hash=item4ac3609ac3&_uhb=1#ht_500wt_1203

Beat on the Texas Street: Pick-ups of West Texas

Chevrolet Task Force

Texas is the undisputed capitol of Truck Country. Fortunately, the dry climate of West Texas preserves what the heat and sun doesn't melt or fade.  I particularly like the patina on this late '50s Chevy.  Hit the jump for the best Dodge and Ford I could find in Marfa, Texas and a bonus Cadillac hearse/ambulance.

Beat on the Street - 1965 Rambler Classic 770

Found on the streets of downtown Charleston, SC is this beautiful Rambler Classic sedan. Slotted between the American and the Ambassador, the Classic was the middle child of the most conservative car company around at the time, making it quite a boring option in '65. In a marketing effort centered around safety, American Motors even claimed that the only race that they cared about was the human race. Certainly they sensed the collective eye roll of every car buyer in the US got back to racing in the late 60's, however, at the time AMC had a serious reputation problem that would seriously hurt their competent performers like the Rebel Machine, S/CRambler, and AMX.

Stranded Dauphine

What started as either a cruel prank or some poorly thought out advertising for a used car lot ended up with a Renault Dauphine being stranded atop an abandoned service station turned buy-here-pay-here lot in North Carolina's Robeson county. I'm not sure what's more amazing; the fact that the car hasn't rusted away or the miracle that it hasn't been stolen for scrap.