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.
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