From Halloween to Christine: The Plymouth Fury

Happy Halloween!  To celebrate, I thought I’d feature a scary car for today’s post.  Sure, I’ve got all kinds of pictures of rat rods with skulls and spiders on them, and we’ve already covered the Ghostbuster’s car and a few hearses last week.  Yeah, those are kind of creepy cars, but today’s car is scarier than all of them because today’s car is vindictive, angry, possessive, murderous, and wrathful -one might even say, furious.  I’m talking about the Plymouth Fury, of course.  The most famous of these is the 1958 Fury featured in the book Christine by Stephen King, and the movie based on the book that was made by John Carpenter (who, of course, made the movie, Halloween -how appropriate!).  As a quick side note, for those of you who like to play 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon, it is said that he was originally offered the role of main character (aside from the car, that is) Arnie, but turned it down to star in Footloose, instead.

What do we know about Furies?  Roman mythology tells us that the furies are first and foremost, definitely female.  They are supreme beings that embody vengeance, the divine manifestation of the rage of the dead, according to some.  You know that saying “hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”, that’s dead on when we’re talking about Christine.  In short, you don’t mess with a fury.  In automotive terms, a fury is a car that Plymouth first introduced for the 1956 model year.

The first Furies, 1956-1958 were derived from the Plymouth Belvedere, which I have a 1957 example of pictured here in white.  They’re really the same car with different badges, because the Fury was initially more of a trim package available on the Belvedere rather than a stand alone model.  That is why, but for some of the trim and badges, this Belvedere looks nearly identical to what a Fury of the same year would look like, and also, very much like the 1958 Plymouth Fury that Christine was.

In fact, it looks like this Belvedere is channeling a bit of fury itself.  Check out those flames on the front.

The movie took a slightly different approach to Christine than King’s book.  For starters, Christine went from being a sedan in the book to being a 2-door in the movie -which I think is a good move considering that it makes the idea of having a Christine replica that much more appealing for collectors, who nearly always prize a coupe over a sedan.  Instead of being possessed by the vengeful spirit of Mr. Lebay, Christine’s previous owner, Christine is instead born/assembled an evil car.  In the movie, we see Christine smash one of the assembly line worker’s hands in her hood, and later, off another employee who makes the mistake of smoking inside the car while it’s on the assembly line.

If you watch the movie, you’ll note that Christine is the only Fury coming down the assembly line that isn’t white.  That’s because all Furies from 1956-1958 were offered only in beige or off-white with gold trim.  This tells us that either Christine was just conceived by some magical, mythical evil that preferred red over beige, or that she was a custom order.

In the book, it is explained that Christine was custom car ordered to be painted Ford red -which might also account for why, later in the movie, the detective (who drives a late 70’s model Fury himself -they were popular as cop cars back then) confronts Arnie, Christine’s new owner, about how rare his paint color is when trying to question him about the grisly death of one of Arnie’s enemies.  If you didn’t know about the beige thing, you might be wondering how on earth somebody could call red a rare color for that car, because it seems like a typical offering from a car manufacturer.

A 1958 Fury was available with either a 318 cu in. V8 with 230 HP and 340 lb-ft of  torque (260 HP if it had a 4-barrel carburetor), or a 350 V8 with 305 HP and 370 lb-ft of torque.  I would bet that Christine had the 350.  Throughout the movie, we see Christine go through transformation after transformation.  She starts out in really rough shape when Arnie first buys her from the brother of her deceased original owner, though in the book, Arnie buys direct from the owner who then dies.  Arnie fixes her up like new, and from there, Christine goes on a murderous rampage, continually wrecking and rebuilding herself.

In the movie, it is said that Christine was the setting for the deaths of her original owner’s daughter, wife, and the owner himself.  Of course, we see the maiming of the plant worker and the death of another worker at the beginning of the film, then the deaths of several people who have angered Christine throughout the movie, the most notable of which was the main bad guy, Buddy, who dies in a flaming heap on the road after being run down by Christine in fireball form.

I like to think of it like Christine was possessed by an actual ancient Roman Fury and bathed in the red rage of that deity from the get-go.  Anyway, that’s just my wishful back story, and I’m in no way criticizing the direction in which Stephen King took his story, though my personal preference favors the movie adaptation’s version of events.

So, I don’t actually have a ‘58 Plymouth Fury for us to look at today from my personal photo files.  The ’57 Belvedere is about as close as it gets, and really, you ought to be thankful that I didn’t take that in a different direction where I compared and contrasted the ’57 Plymouth Belvedere to the 80’s sitcom, Mr. Belvedere -just sayin’.

What I do have is this one measly photo of what I believe is a ’68 Plymouth Fury III convertible.  So, 10 years newer than Christine.  This one was at Ellingson Classic Cars a few months ago, but I don’t think they have it anymore.  I don’t know the exact specs on this car, though there were a few options available on the Fury in 1968.  First, buyers had their choice of several engines, starting with the economical 225 cu in slant-6 engine with 145 HP (I discussed the merits of the slant-6 in a post months ago about the Plymouth Valiant, if I’m not mistaken).  An improvement over that was the 318 V8 with 230 HP.  Then, there was the 383 cu in. “Commando” V8 with a 2-barrel carburetor and 270 HP.  A step up from that would get the same Commando V8 with a 4-barrel and 330 HP.  Above all of those was the 440 cu in. Commando V8 with a 4-barrel carburetor and 375 HP, which could provide plenty of fury for driving excitement.  This being a Fury III, if I recall correctly, I believe it would have the 383 or the 440 under its hood rather than the slant-6 or the 318.  By 1968, that whole “exclusively beige and gold” thing was long gone and more colors were available to buyers.  I’m certain this paint isn’t original, but it’s entirely possible that this color, or one similar to it was an option at the time.

So, my dear readers, have a wonderful Halloween, and try not to anger the furies.

From Hearses to Jaguar E-types and back around to BMW coupes with Harold and Maude. A post dedicated to my friend, Aesop.

Today's post is dedicated to my wonderful and beloved dog, Aesop, who died yesterday morning.  I wasn't going to write anything today, but found myself awake and brooding around the house in the wee hours of the morning and thought I ought to at least try to be productive.  This is the first post I've ever sat down at home to write where I haven't been able to look over and see Aesop snoozing and snoring on the couch just a few feet away.  The quiet in the house makes my heart ache, and I miss my good boy, Aesop.

You may recall that my last post featured an Ecto-1 replica built from an old Cadillac Hearse.  Oddly fitting, in view of the death I'm dealing with in my personal life -though I don't believe the blog had anything to do with my dog's passing -advanced age (10.5 years -which is ancient for a 170 lb Great Dane) and Addison's disease is what caused the onset of symptoms that ultimately lead to his departure.  -Today’s post picks up where that left off with hearses and Hollywood, and a vehicle that’s neither, but derived from both.

There are a few movies I really love, and one of them is a film from 1971 called Harold and Maude.  It was written by Collin Higgins and directed by Hal Ashby, whose other work I am also fond of -most notably, Being There, starring Peter Sellers of the Pink Panther movies.  If you haven’t seen Harold and Maude, then you should find some way to watch it.  I’ll try not to make too much mention of the plot so I don’t spoil it for those of you who haven’t seen it, but I am going to talk about a couple of the cars from the film in order to lead up to the vehicle I’m actually featuring today.

In Harold and Maude, the main character, Harold (played by Bud Cort), buys a 1959 Cadillac hearse from a junk yard and shines it up to use as his daily driver.  You’ll recall that the Ecto-1 hearse-ambulance/ghost busting mobile from the last post here was built on a 1959 Cadillac Chassis as well.  The Harold and Maude hearse was not a Miller-Meteor modification like the Ecto-1.  Instead, Harold’s hearse was customized by a company called Superior.  As hearses of 1959 go, this was a more expensive builder to buy from than Miller Meteor.  If you want the specs on a 1959 Cadillac, go check out the Ecto-1 post -it never hurts to do more reading, after all, and besides, I don’t want to rehash it so soon after presenting it, anyway.

Harold’s mother finds his chosen means of conveyance unacceptable and has it towed off.  She replaces his hearse with a gorgeous 1971 Jaguar XKE roadster.  The Jaguar E-Type is one of the most beautiful and gracefully designed cars in the history of automotives.  Throughout its production run, they could be had as roadsters, 2 seat coupes, and 2+2 coupes.   They were built from 1962-1974.  Any E-Type would be lovely to have, though the earliest ones are the most valuable and desirable among collectors and aficionados.  Those would be the 1961-1964 models, of which right around 15,500 were made that featured a 3.8L I6 engine with triple SU carburetors capable of producing 265 HP and 260 lb ft of torque.  The very first 500 are the most sought after of these, and they can be told apart from their E-type siblings by their external hood latches.

1965-1967 E-types fall into what’s called Series 1 XKEs.  They were powered by a 4.2L I6 that would be featured in various stages of tuning and detuning to meet environmental standards up through 1971.  The 4.2L I6 came with dual overhead cams and was capable of 265 HP and 283 lb-ft of torque.  The late 1967-1968 models are sometimes called series 1.5’s because they are a mish-mash of modifications made to accommodate evolving safety and emmission standards, and the ‘68s feature looks of a series 1 with interiors of a series 2 (most notably, toggle switches that were deemed dangerous to smack against in the event of a crash were changed to a less poke-your-eye-out variety of switches and controllers).

From the late 1968 E-types on forward, the most immediately noticeable outward difference is the lack of glass cover over the headlights (safety standards).  1969-1971 E-types were considered series 2 and were subject to even stricter emission standards than the series 1.5 -as such, they are the least desirable E-types to have.  1971-1974 was the time for Series 3 E-types, and they featured 5.3L V12 engines that produced 314 HP  and 349 lb-ft of torque.  You can tell the V12 E-types easily by looking at their tail end.  If there are 4 exhaust ports, then it’s a V12, but if there are 2, then it’s an I6 -and if it‘s got 2 exhaust ports AND is a 1971 model year, then technically, it is considered a series 2 in spite of its model year.

1971 was the only year when an E-type could be had with either the I6 or the V12, and in Harold and Maude, the E-type roadster Harold’s mother presents him with is the I6, judging by its dual exhaust ports rather than quad exhaust.  These 1971 I6 E-types are (aside from the first 500 E-types ever made) the rarest of E-types out there, but that doesn’t add much to their value in the eyes of collectors.

Not that any E-type is a bad thing.  I can’t imagine anybody being presented with an XKE of any year not finding it a desirable car….  Unless we’re talking about Harold from Harold and Maude.  After his mother leaves, Harold takes it upon himself to modify his gorgeous new E-type, and one can’t help but feel just a slight bit terrified at the thought of taking an oxy-acetylene cutting torch to such a gorgeous car, as Harold does in the film -by the way, I do not recommend welding while wearing polyester or any type of man-made material that is not flame resistant while operating a welding or cutting torch of any kind -bad example to set for folks, Harold!.

Rest assured, the beautiful roadster that was shown in the film did not actually feel the burn of Harold’s cutting torch…. Another E-type did, though.  Later on in the film, we see the results of Harold’s customization efforts in this form.

Harold turned his E-type into a hearse.  Though it’s not actually built from that lovely little roadster from earlier in the film.  The car used to build the E-Hearse is a series 1 XKE, rather than a series 2, from what I can tell.  A guess would be that it’s a 1968, so it could possibly be a series 1.5, even.

Harold’s hearse-building handiwork is not bad, actually, though there’s a reason you don’t see people converting their E-types into this movie car the way you see folks with old Miller Meteor hearses making Ecto-1 replicas, or people with 1969 Chargers turning them into General Lee wannabes.  An E-type is such a thing of beauty, that, in spite of how cool the E-hearse from Harold and Maude may look, nobody would dream of sullying the purity of the E-type’s form in such a way.  Of course, now that I’ve written that, I’m sure somebody will take up the challenge (not sure how I feel about that -I love the E-hearse, but I love the E-type in its intended form, too).

You might be wondering what ever happened to the E-hearse from Harold and Maude.  It’s gone.  The scene at the end when it sails over a cliff is for real.  They only had the one E-hearse, and they did that scene in one take -during which one of the cameras that was filming at the time froze up, so the footage is grainy and freezes in the movie at one point.  That beautiful custom E-type was destroyed for real and was not salvageable for rebuilding.

So, nobody can have Harold’s E-hearse unless they custom build it and defile the epitome of automotive beauty in the process….  Or can we?  Well, turns out, we can -kind of.  That brings us to today’s real featured vehicle -one I spotted cruising down the interstate this past summer.

Say hello to the BMW Z3 M Coupe.  The designers of this little coupe openly admit that this car’s appearance was inspired by the Harold and Maude E-Type hearse.   These odd little ducklings were available from 1998-2002, and while they may look bizarre outwardly to those not enchanted by the Harold and Maude E-hearse, it is said that their driving characteristics can charm even the harshest critics.

These M coupes carried sticker prices right around $45,000 when they were brand new, and they are sought after enough that pristine examples can command upwards of $30,000 even now, over 10 years after their production run.  They have a 0-60 time of 5.1 seconds courtesy of the gutsy little 3.2L I6 (an I6 under the hood -yet another thing in common with the E-hearse) with 315 HP and 251 lb-ft of torque (European versions have more power, yet).  This one today is even painted black like Harold’s E-hearse.  You can definitely see the similarities between the two vehicles.

I would urge anybody who might be contemplating a custom conversion of an E-type to match the Harold and Maude car to consider instead tracking down and buying a BMW Z3 M Coupe.  They’re both cool in a most peculiar sense of the word.     

Ghostbustin' in the 1959 Cadillac Miller-Meteor hearse: Ecto-1

Yesterday’s post made mention of today’s car, and it seemed only appropriate to move along to this vehicle after that.  So, who ya gonna call?

Ghostbusters!  Of course.  Like yesterday’s Batmobile, today’s vehicle is a mere replica  -of the Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1.  This one was spied at a car show at the fairgrounds this past summer.  The original Ecto-1 was based on a 1959 Cadillac ambulance/hearse built by a company called Miller-Meteor using a Cadillac Fleetwood Chassis.  Regular readers of this blog may recall a feature from a few months ago involving a ’69 Fleetwood that had been converted into a Monster Cadillac via a home-made lift kit.  So, now we’re up to two customized Cadillac Fleetwoods on this blog.

In the Ghostbusters movie, Ray buys the old Caddy ambulance/hearse for $4,800 and fixes it up, then outfits it with all the neat Ghostbuster equipment.  We have Dan Aykroyd to thank for Ghostbusters in general, but also their sweet ride, the Ecto-1.  The whole works was his idea.  It is said that originally, Aykroyd intended for the Ecto-1 to be black and feature black-light accents.  After it was determined that the black Ecto-1 would not show up well in the scenes in which it would be featured due to the night-time setting, a new design direction was set that included a primarily white color scheme.  The Ecto-1 design and build was handled by a guy named Steven Dane, though, George Barris did make a replica after the fact, so again, he can say he built an Ecto-1, just not THE Ecto-1.

What are the specs on the 1959 Cadillac Miller Meteor hearse/ambulance?  Under its hood sits a 390 cu in V8 with 325 HP and 430 lb-ft of torque.  It has a top speed of 120 MPH (though I’d be surprised to see anybody actually testing that figure in such a rig), and weighs in at 6,000 lbs.  -and that’s before you add stuff like proton packs and P.K.E. Meters.

An original 1959 Miller-Meteor Cadillac hearse came with an MSRP of around $10,500 on up to around $12,000.  I found one for sale online that was in pristine condition, though not dressed up to look like the Ecto-1 for $125,000.  You could buy a Batmobile (replica) for that kind of money!  I’m sure prices on these hearses are a little higher than they would be if there had never been an Ecto-1, but I’m sure one could find an example that’s not so perfect for considerably less money.  An online search found that the original Ecto-1 was offered for sale a few years back for the sum of $150,000, which doesn’t seem too bad considering that the guy who bought the original Batmobile paid $4.6 million for it.  To bring it back again to George Barris from yesterday’s post, a replica of the Ecto-1 built by Barris sold to an auto museum in Florida in 2003 for $55,000.  

But, what about the Ecto-1A?  You know, the one from Ghostbusters 2?  Yes, there was a 2nd movie car, and this one has a pretty interesting story.  Just recently, a group of Ghostbusters fans discovered that the Ecto-1A was sitting abandoned and decaying in the back of some studio lot.  They’re trying to get the studio to sell it to them for scrap value so they can restore it to its full glory.  I say, if that studio doesn’t have any definite plans to fix it up themselves, they should sell it before it falls further into disrepair.  So, there you have it. The Ecto-1 (replica); a hearse outfitted to handle haunting here for us all to oogle in plenty of time for Halloween!

Holy Lincoln Futura, Batman! It's the Batmobile!

Halloween is fast approaching, and for any of you thinking of dressing up as the caped crusader, today’s post may just feature the ultimate accessory to your Batman costume.

You’re probably thinking, “hey, didn’t she already show us a Batmobile?  What gives?”  Well, yes, I did showcase a Batmobile that had been made from a Mitsubishi Lancer, which I dubbed “The Batmobitsi”.  Today’s car…. Today’s car is so much more hard core that the cutesy little yellow crime fighting mobile I saw in the Haaf ramp weeks ago.  Today’s car is the real deal -well almost.

Ta-dah!  It’s a replica of the 1966 Batmobile from the Batman TV show!

This one is actually built on a 1977 Lincoln continental chassis using body panels cast from molds taken from the original TV series car.  Wanna guess where it is?  Ellingson Classic Cars in Rogers, of course (I LOVE that place!).  This one can be yours for a mere $125,000 (gasp!).  It comes complete with auxiliary bat controls, and even a bat phone mounted on the transmission hump.  It might as well be the original TV series Batmobile, because it sure as heck looks like it.  Sing it with me now, “nah nah nah nah nah nah nah nah, Batman!”   Oh, and the personalized plate that reads “KAPOW”

This is a cool looking car, but don’t let its looks trick you into thinking it’s some type of road-raging super car.  At its core, this one is a ‘77 Lincoln.  That means it’s a rear wheel drive (fine -good, in fact) car with what is probably a 402 cubic inch V8 under its hood, paired up with a 3 speed automatic transmission for 182 HP and 331 lb-ft of torque, a top speed of 110 MPH, and a 0-60 time of about 13 seconds (and that’s before you pile on the weight of all that Bat-gear).  Good thing its corny heritage and good looks make up for all that underwhelming technical detail.

You might be wondering what the original Batmobile was based on.  The answer to that is the Lincoln Futura.  Never heard of it?  That’s because the Lincoln Futura was a concept car that was hand built by Ghia Body Works in Turin, Italy in 1955.  There was only just the one; it cost Lincoln $250,000 to turn the idea into a reality that sat upon a Lincoln Mk II chassis.  It was an actual, functional car; not just an empty shell of pretty sheet metal like so many other concept cars that make their way to auto shows.  Under its hood was a 389 cu in V8 with a 4 barrel carburetor that supposedly whipped up 330 HP according to the specs I can find online.

You might find it interesting to know that the car that would become the original Batmobile started out its life painted white.   Not just white, actually, but pearlescent white.  In fact, the Futura featured paint that was mixed with ground pearls -a novel concept at the time, and was one of the first cars to wear such a concoction.

After its time on the auto show circuit was finished, the Futura’s pearlescent paint was covered over with cherry red and it was featured in a movie called It Started With A Kiss in 1959.  In 1960, the now red Futura was sold to a car customizer named George Barris for the price of $1.  What a steal, eh?  Well, kind of.  The car couldn’t be insured because it never had a title, so for the most part, Barris had bought a vehicle he couldn’t really drive.  Lucky for us and the Futura that it was sold to him, though, because a lot of concept cars back then got sent to the scrap heap to be recycled.  At least the Futura survived.

1966 rolled around, and the studio producing the Batman TV show needed a Batmobile ASAP.  Barris took over the role of custom car builder from the guy originally hired to handle the matter in order to meet the time constraint.  It just so happened that Barris still had the old Futura sitting in the lot at his shop, and it also just so happened that the Futura had just the look that Barris needed to create the Batmobile.

Lincoln had done most of the heavy lifting design-wise, so Barris really didn’t have to change all that much about the car.  Most noticeable aside from the paint is probably the fascia, which went from a grille that consisted of a broad, open baring of grille teeth to being bisected with sheet metal elements that echoed the newly elongated hood scoop that streaked down the length of the hood.  Lines were sharpened a bit, bright work was stripped off in favor of a more sinister look, and this was further accented with the contrasting red trim lines along certain parts of the body panel edges, and planar breaks and shifts.  The fins were tweaked, and the wheel wells were extended to accommodate larger wheels and tires.  Some aggressive looking vertical exhaust pipes were added, protruding from the top rear plane of the car like splines along the spine of a lionfish.  

The interior was outfitted with all manner of bat accouterments, and this is the condition in which the Futura sits today.  Barris no longer owns the car -he leased it to the studio for the filming of the TV show, and then had it in his collection for many years before he sold it at a Barrett-Jackson auction for $4.6 million early this year.  Of course, he made some replicas (6 were used for the show) from the molds he pulled from the first.  But, in this whole wide world, there is only one Batmobile that is really a Lincoln Futura wearing a Batmobile costume, and it’s now owned by a businessman from Arizona  who apparently, just had to have it.  Well, he did get a car that was in a bunch of car shows, a movie, a TV show, and whose original paint job was somewhat of a breakthrough for automotive finishes of its day -how many other cars can the same be said of?

Good for the guy who owns THE Batmobile, I say.  Though, if I had 4.6 million dollars to spend on a Batmobile, I’d probably just buy the replica Batmobile from Ellingson for $125,000 and keep the change, but that’s just me.

George Barris may be credited with creating the Batmobile, but at least some credit should go to the Lincoln designers who came up with the Futura.  We have Barris to thank for the Munster Koach from the Musters, though, and he is often credited with creating other movie and TV cars, even when he didn’t, which has some people, including other custom car builders, pretty irked.

It’s not that Barris is actively claiming credit for work he didn’t do, it’s just that he doesn’t go out of his way to disabuse others of the notion that he did design those cars…. And which cars are we talking about?  Well, there’s K.I.T.T. (Knight Industries Two Thousand) from Knight Rider (a car that I loved so much as a child that when I got a black Trans Am matchbox car for my 5th birthday, I painted a red stripe on the front to simulate red scanner laser light bar that KITT had (my first custom car, I guess).  The General Lee from the Dukes of Hazzard is another (Barris may have been peripherally involved in its build, but certainly not the head honcho).  The Monkey Mobile -a Pontiac GTO at its core, which was actually done by Dean Jeffries, who also designed the Green Hornet’s Black Beauty, and who, sadly, died earlier this year.  There’s also the Ghostbuster’s Ecto-1 hearse, and, of course, the Back to the Future Delorean.  To be fair, Barris probably did at least build replicas of many, if not all of these cars, so to say that he built a K.I.T.T, a General Lee, or a Monkee Mobile is not entirely untrue -it’s just that he didn’t build THE K.I.T.T, THE General Lee, or THE Monkee Mobile.

Whatever anybody might think of Barris, this getting credit for stuff, intentional or mere oversight on his part, has worked.  He’s often credited with designs that aren’t really his by people who assume they are based on how synonymous Barris’ name is with Hollywood custom cars.  I’d bet that a lot more people who don’t necessarily care so much about cars would sooner recognize Barris’ name than Jeffries, or any other car customizer for that matter.  And even though Lincoln and its designers did a great big chunk of the work that would eventually become THE Batmobile, Barris still deserves credit for what he did and I still admire him -because he saved the Futura from becoming a cube of crushed steel…. And because, Batmobile!  

The fog light debacle and an Isuzu VehiCROSS

Today’s post is a small tutorial coupled with an interesting vehicle profile.  Brace yourselves to learn something relatively simple and something interesting….  Or, if you happen to already know the stuff I’m writing about today, then I suppose you could brace yourself to be bored.  Either way,  here we go.

This past weekend, I realized that one of the bulbs in my Mustang’s fog lamp array was burned out.  While I was out running errands, I stopped by an auto parts store where the guy working behind the counter grabbed the bulbs I would need to replace them.  I decided to go ahead and do both fog lights at the same time because if one had worn out, the other would probably soon follow.

I got home and assembled my tools, then got to work.  Here’s how you change the fog light bulbs on a Mustang.  Step one is to pop the hood of the car.

Step 2 involves removal of some plastic anchor bolts that hold the cowl in place over the area where the grille meets up with the engine bay and hood.  You’ll have to unfasten this piece of plastic to access the area where the fog lights reside.

It helps to use this special tool that looks like a heavy-duty two-prong cocktail fork that’s been flattened on the end.  You’ll break far fewer of those plastic anchor bolts by using the right tool as opposed to just picking at it with a flathead screwdriver.  The tool costs around $10 and can be found at most auto parts stores.

So, now we have the plastic cover removed, but there isn't room enough to reach back behind the grille and grab the fog light sockets.

We’re going to have to tilt the grille ahead.  To do that, you’ll need a 10mm wrench to unfasten the bolts on either side of the grille.  In addition to that, along each side of the grille, there are plastic clips that snap the grille into place next to the small body pillar on either side of it.  These things are a huge pain to get to let loose, but the plastics are flexible enough (if it’s not too cold out when you’re doing this) that you can get them freed up without snapping off any bits and parts.  I had a picture of these clips, but it didn't turn out well.

So, here we have one end of the grille unfastened at the top and side.  It’s still affixed along the bottom, but there’s ample flexibility to tilt it forward far enough to reach back behind it.

When we reach behind the tilted grille, we see the back side of the fog light enclosure and the socket.

You grab the socket that’s attached to the back of the enclosure and give it a twist to align the tabs with the negative spaces along the socket’s collar, then pull it free, lift it up so you can see what you’re doing now that it’s detached from the enclosure, and voila, we’re almost there!

Except that we’re not.  As bad luck would have it, the kid at the auto parts store sold me the wrong bulbs (apparently when he looked them up in his computer, he read the wrong line or something).  This is a misstep I discovered while trying to fit a new bulb into the socket -it didn't match up.  I wasn't going to reassemble the whole works just so I could go through all these steps again, so I shoved the pieces back into place, put the plastic cowl inside my car, gathered my tools and the various anchors and bolts I’d removed from the vehicle, and drove back to the auto parts store to exchange the bulbs.

Bad luck again, because this auto parts store didn't have the right bulbs.  They did, however, show some in stock at another of their stores that was just a couple miles away, so I drove there to make the exchange.

I got the right bulbs, and they even had to refund about $10 to me because the bulbs I really needed were cheaper than the first set they sold me.  I wasn't about to drive home to try again, on the off chance that these bulbs were incorrect also, so I set up shop in the parking lot at O’Reilly.  

I changed the bulbs out with no problem now that I had the ones I needed.  Just pop them into place in the socket, then position it back behind the enclosure, align the tabs, and twist them back into place all snug and secure.  Do a quick check to make sure the lights are working (they were) before moving on to the next step.

After snapping the grille back into its plastic clips along the sides, I put the bolts back into place along the body pillars in the fascia.

Then, the plastic cowl goes back in place and is secured with the plastic anchors (if you lose one or two somewhere along the way like I did, you can buy more at the auto parts store for a few dollars).  Then, you’re all done.

Now, for today’s vehicle profile.  It’s a good thing that the first place I went to didn't have the right bulbs, or I wouldn't have ended up at the second store, where I spotted today’s little rig.  I present to you, the Isuzu VehiCROSS.

I've always found these to be interesting little SUVs…. Actually, one could argue that they are the original crossover vehicle.  It used to be that Isuzu had a whole lineup of vehicles from cars to trucks, to SUVs…. And of course, they built big trucks and diesel engines for those big trucks and various other applications as well.  General Motors bought into Isuzu, and eventually owned a controlling portion of the brand.  That’s where things started to go wrong.  Isuzu never did have the big bucks to spend on updating and developing their vehicles and marketing like some other brands did.  Considering what they had to work with, they did about as well as they could for about as long as they could before withdrawing from the US marketplace in 2009.  General Motors more or less put Isuzu in a stranglehold in terms of investment in the brand’s products and development, and that’s ultimately what killed it.  Isuzu went from having cars and compact trucks and SUVs to specializing in SUVs exclusively.  It worked okay for a little while, when SUVs had their heyday, but then, the lack of development, diversity, and investment caught up with the brand and started to sink the ship.

The VehiCROSS is interesting not just for its looks and capabilities, but also because I think it is a vehicle that could have saved the brand, or at least kept it afloat for a bit longer.  VehiCROSS sales were never huge, and the production numbers were tiny in the grand scheme of things, but the idea of this vehicle, and the direction it pointed toward in the marketplace was one that would later prove to be an important segment -crossovers.  Had Isuzu shifted their focus from SUVs just a slight bit and broke more ground with the notion of crossovers, they might have cornered the market on what is now one of the hottest segments in the auto industry and perhaps garnered the proper attention and care they needed from their controlling investor, GM.

An SUV is typically a wagon body mounted on a truck frame or some derived version of a truck frame.  A crossover is typically a wagon mounted on a car chassis.  Both will often feature 4x4 or AWD, but an SUV is usually heftier and less efficient, but also more capable when it comes to off road applications or towing/hauling.  A crossover can do those things to a lesser extent, but does so more efficiently where fuel is concerned, and generally has a more car-like ride and feel to it than an SUV.  The VehiCROSS wasn't exactly based on a car chassis.  It shared many parts in common with the Isuzu Trooper, in fact, but it did point the way toward what we see bustling about on the streets and roadways now; the compact crossover.

The VehiCROSS was a presence in the US auto market from 1999-2001, and in Japan, where Isuzu is based, from 1997-1999.  It was a vehicle before its time.  Its styling was considered futuristic over 10 years ago, and that same term can still be applied to the vehicle today.  All VehiCROSSes were 2 door vehicles with an aggressive outward appearance.  This one that I spotted in the O’Reilly parking lot has been outfitted with a lift kit, aftermarket rims and tires, and some minor alterations.  The grille of the VehiCROSS typically displays what can best be described as fangs.  On today’s vehicle, the fangs have been removed along with the Isuzu nameplate for a more custom look, but you can see the vertical structure pieces in the grille where the fangs had been.  Designers included some distinct but not overdone strakes along the doors of the vehicle to add an interesting element to its side profile.  The VehiCROSS also featured extensive lower body cladding, all done in black plastic.  Normally, I shun unpainted plastic cladding on a vehicle, but the VehiCROSS wears it well, as though it donned a special outfit to handle its off-road duties.  The black body cladding is coordinated with a matching black hood insert, which is just enough to tie the whole look together.

The VehiCROSS was not just some pretty, mean-looking little rig.  It was a serious off road contender.  All the models sold for the US market featured a 3.5L V6 with 215 HP and 230 lb-ft of torque.  That was coupled with a 4 speed automatic transmission and a 4WD/AWD system that was primarily driven by the rear wheels.  This system was computer controlled and featured 12 different sensors to detect loss of traction and direct torque to wheels that could get control and propel the vehicle properly.  On top of this, the VehiCROSS also featured a low gear with a locking differential for off road driving.  Other goodies included vented disc brakes front and back and Recaro seats.

Brand new, a VehiCROSS had a starting MSRP of around $29,000.  These days, most of the specimens you’ll find will be priced between $7,000-$10,000 depending on miles and condition (and most of the ones that fall in this range have between 90-130K miles on their odometers).  A glance at completed listings on Ebay displays an average selling price of around $6,000, but you’re taking your chances there and usually there’s some shipping or traveling costs involved with actually getting the vehicle you've bought without first seeing it or test driving it in person into your possession.  Still, for SUVs over 10 years old, most of which have over 100,000 miles ticked away on their odometers, that’s not a bad residual value.

If you can find a VehiCROSS that runs strong and is in good shape, I’d say it’s not a bad deal to consider spending $8,000-$10,000 on one.  I predict these vehicles will have  collectible value that will increase over time.  The styling and capabilities alone might justify my standpoint on this issue, but there’s also the matter of scarcity.  Just under 6,000 VehiCROSS’s were ever made, and just over 4,000 of them were for the US market.  In the past decade or so, it’s fair to say that at least a few of them have been wrecked or totaled, so the number will dwindle.  It’s uncommon to see these vehicles, and it will only get more uncommon as time passes.  Parts shouldn't be too hard to come by for now, given how many are shared in common with the trooper, but Isuzu’s withdraw from the US market  may mean that in the future, it’s not going to be easy to find pieces needed for repair -and when repair costs go up, more people throw in the towel with their vehicles and send them off to the scrap yard or part them out, which means a bigger dearth of VehiCROSS crossovers available to choose from for those seeking such a vehicle.  Personally, I would love to have one in my garage, and if the opportunity strikes just right when I cross paths with one that’s for sale, I would definitely consider buying it.

Neighborhood beautification and some cars spotted along the way.

Lately, I've been experiencing connectivity issues around my house, so I've been unable to upload blog posts well from my netbook.  My wireless provider, after well over a month of going back and forth with me on this matter, finally admitted that there’s something wrong with some part of their wireless infrastructure, and the problem did not actually lie with my router, modem, or any of my wireless devices.  Not that they've fixed the problem, they've just opened up a repair ticket for it and who knows how long that will take.  In the meantime, if you are reading any of this, know that it only made its way to the internet via a painstaking uploading process that likely took a very long time.   Minneapolis citywide wi-fi is not all it’s cracked up to be, but it’s still the cheapest game in town, though I suppose one gets what one pays for in this case.

Speaking of Minneapolis, this past Sunday, I gathered with a few people I know from a Northside Facebook group to help pretty up an area of North Minneapolis that’s just a few blocks from my house.  We scoured the alleyways and streets picking up garbage and trash because, well, somebody has to.  Besides, I often feel guilty about driving a car that‘s not exactly fuel efficient, so I do try to take steps to mitigate the carbon footprint of my leaden accelerator foot.  Most of the trash gathered consisted of discarded cigarette packs -I’m not a smoker, but apparently, the brand to smoke if you’re a litterbug rollin' over North is Newport Menthols.  We picked up dozens of those and one non-mentholated pack. In addition to that, booze bottles, both large and small were gathered in bulk as well as candy wrappers, Cheetos wrappers, assorted snack food packages, dirty discarded diapers (yuck!), some articles of clothing, and a few car parts here and there….  Here’s a small automotive find I plucked out of the bushes along the alleyway, a used oil filter flung carelessly aside by some jackass.

But, there were other automotive discoveries along the way.  Here’s one.  

This is in my estimation, a 1972 Cadillac coupe Deville -of course, being over North, it’s gotta have expired tabs and a mashed up front end to achieve that special blend of tawdry sleaze and deteriorating hauteur that only a crapped-out Cadillac in an alleyway can command.  I hope they fix it up soon before somebody comes along, hauls it off to strip it out in some vacant and unsecured garage (of which there are plenty just in a 2 block radius of where this car was) then leaves its gutted car carcass along the road to get hauled off to impound like a certain other Cadillac that was recently blogged about here. 

In another alleyway, I spotted this 1956 Dodge truck.  It turns out, this vehicle is owned by a guy I know named Wayne who came driving up in his other truck all suspecting-like and concerned that I was taking a picture of his old truck before he recognized who I was.  Wayne is a Vietnam Vet who is one of those jack of all trades types of guys.  I met him several years ago when he was reconstructing, restoring, and installing a built-in buffet at my sister’s house.  Wayne is a big believer in astrology, and insisted that it was impossible that my sister and I could share the same astrological sign and only slightly more likely that my sister and I are in fact, related at all.  My personality, apparently, meshes with what a Virgo’s traits should be, whatever that is…. My sister, on the other hand, does not, according to Wayne.  His theory is that because my sister’s birthday lands close to the beginning of the calendar time that Virgo covers, she was probably switched at birth with some other kid who was born under the previous astrological sign.  This, he says, also accounts for the fact that my sister and I look nothing alike.  To Wayne, this seems a much more plausible explanation than the notion that astrology might be bullshit, and that individuals aren't necessarily governed down to our very personalities by the heavenly bodies.  Well, he’s entitled to his opinion.  I suppose it doesn't really matter who’s right or wrong even though I’m pretty sure he’s wrong. 

So, Wayne’s truck is one of the “C” series Dodge trucks that were built between 1954-1960.  1956 has the unfortunate distinction of being the last model year before the 6 volt electrical system was upgraded to a 12 volt.  This means that if anybody bought and decided to restore Wayne’s truck, that would be one of the first things they’d want to spend some money on to upgrade.  It’s kind of a neat truck, though.  In 1956, one could get these trucks with a V8, but Wayne’s has a 230 cubic inch inline 6 cylinder (also called an L-6 - “L” as in longitudinal, which means the same as inline).  This engine produces 110 HP and, according to Wayne, still runs strong.  I have a soft spot for inline 6 cylinders because for years, I had a Jeep Cherokee that was powered by a 4.0L inline 6 and I dearly loved that little rig.  That engine was practically bullet proof, and the nice thing about inlines is that they are inherently balanced.

This isn't a bad looking truck…. Well, it looks bad now, but it’s got good bones, as they say -or as I say, anyway.  Fixed up, it would be a decent looking vehicle, and the cool thing about these trucks is that they had fantastic visibility because they featured a huge rear window that wraps around the sides of the cab slightly.  The C series trucks also featured bodies that were positioned lower on the frame than previous models had been to cut down on the top-heaviness that would have otherwise been an issue with the trucks.  In addition, the frame rails on these trucks were designed to curve inward at the front to accommodate a tighter turning radius.  

If anybody is interested, Wayne is willing to part with the truck for not too much money.  I asked him how much he would want and he told me “Well, I’d have to get a bit more than what I could scrap it out for… I don’t know, probably at least $700”.  If you’re interested in a restoration project that runs but needs some electrical and aesthetic attention, let me know, and I’ll pass your information on to Wayne.    

Lest you think we’re done, I assure you, there’s more to see from Sunday’s clean-up walk.  Just up the block from Wayne’s truck was a garage that sat open while an older gentleman tinkered around on a 1947 (I’m guessing) Chevy Fleetline coupe.  I stopped to chat him up a bit and he showed me his cars.  He had just sold the old Chevy coupe to some guy and was getting it ready for delivery when I crossed his path.  

For starters, I've profiled a Chevy Fleetline coupe before in my blog, so we won’t go into specs (I think the previous one was a ‘48, though).  You might be noticing the paint job on this old Chevy we’re looking at today.  Certainly, matte finish paint jobs are becoming more popular these days as you can pay extra to order a vehicle straight from the factory with Matte finish -it’s expensive and requires a lot of upkeep to maintain its good looks.  This car today has perhaps more of a satin finish to it, but it’s close enough to matte for my tastes.  This paint job, however, is much lower maintenance than a Matte finish.  What you’re seeing is black primer sprayed over with clear coat.  You can treat it like any other paint job when you wash or wax it.  

The vehicle that the guy in the garage showcased for me the most was this 1992 Mustang that he had sitting out in his driveway.  This is a clean car.  The gentleman told me he purchased this ‘Stang from its original owner for his 19 year old grandson, who didn't like it and returned it after removing the original factory radio and replacing it with something else.  Grandpa wasn't too happy about the kid’s meddling with the vehicle, nor was he thrilled that his 19 year old grandson turned his nose up at a free Mustang, so he's looking to unload it.  

In the grandson’s defense, it’s not like this Mustang is performance oriented.  This is a 1992 Mustang LX convertible with a 2.3L 4 cylinder engine and 4 speed automatic transmission that only produces 105 HP, so it’s not like it is just aching to be souped up.  It’s far too tame already, and hardly worth all the effort that would be needed just to get it to the starting off level that a 5.0 Mustang of the same year would be at.  What this Mustang has going for it -aside from being a fun little drop-top -is that it’s practically in showroom condition with only 50,000 miles on its odometer.  

Back in 1992, the starting MSRP for a 4 cylinder Mustang was just over $10,000.  MSRP for a convertible started at just under $17,000, and a GT (non-convertible) with a 5.0L V8 had a starting MSRP of around $15,000.  The 4 cylinder Mustangs, in particular, are not worth anywhere near their original MSRP today.  

The guy who has this Mustang is actively trying to sell it.  He’s even got it posted for sale on Craigslist.  His price is a bit high, if you ask me, though I’m sure he’d tell you that its condition justifies it -I’m not sure it does.  He’s asking $7,500 for it, though I’d say a more realistic figure for this car would be right around $5,000.  I didn’t tell him that, though.  During the course of our conversation, I became aware that this guy was armed.  It wasn’t anything menacing, after all, I believe he has a conceal and carry permit and probably is a responsible gun owner for the most part.  I had noticed a bulge at his waistband and caught a metallic glint as he shifted around a bit before having a seat on the couch he had in his garage.  I assumed he had a pistol of some sort and wasn’t about to insult his car or his idea of a fair price for the vehicle just on the off chance that he’d take it the wrong way.  He was really a friendly guy, so I doubt he would have up and shot me, but I try not to tempt the fates too much.  Eventually, one of the guys from the cleanup group came back to fetch me because they were moving along to another alleyway and didn’t want me to lose track of them.  I’d been hanging back, chatting about cars with the Mustang’s owner for a few minutes, so I did need to catch up and help out some more.  At this point, the car owner stood up to introduce himself to the guy who had just joined us, and it was then that his pistol fell from his waistband and clattered on the floor of his garage - I’m not a gun expert by any means, but it looked to me like a 9mm pistol -I did go to a gun range once where they let you rent a gun to shoot at targets, and a 9mm is one of the weapons I rented -it was fun, but spendy.  

I cringed instantly as I envisioned the fallen gun firing off a round on impact, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.  The gun was in a holster, but the holster wasn’t attached to anything, thus its quick descent to the garage floor.  Probably not the most responsible way to tote a gun around, but no harm was done, and I can’t blame the guy for wanting to arm himself.  My neighborhood can get a bit crazy and violent sometimes, and most of the gun violence we see is perpetrated by people who aren’t in possession of their firearms through legal means, and usually are barred from possessing weapons by court order.  I don’t consider this slightly reckless gun owner/car enthusiast to be much of a threat to Northside tranquility unless you mess with his cars, I suppose.  

Anyway, there you have it; a total of 4 cars to make up for the lack of postings lately -about the same number of cars as the number of garbage bags I filled up while picking up trash in the alleyways that day.