Taillight Tuesday

      A lot of the cars I like best have very good looking taillights. Some of the favorite cars I have owned, even in the last few years, have had some very nice taillights. The 2014 Dodge Charger was one of my favorites. I loved that car for many reasons, but the taillights at night were spectacular.  

     Anyone who follows my blog will know that the 1967 Shelby GT 500 Mustangs are my favorite cars of all time.  The taillights on those cars are among the many styling features that make them so special. That is the detail that I want to feature today. After all, it is  " Taillight Tuesday ".

     Anyone who may be interested can find my book, follow this link: Grab Some Gears

          The 1967 Shelby GT  ( Twitter photo )

Shelby Saturday

      On Twitter, you find something for almost every day of the week, so today is “Shelby Saturday”. We often try to find the best photos from our collection to post, and it’s the same with me. Sometimes it’s just a little hard to choose from so many beautiful examples, but here is my pick for today.  Hope everyone has a great “ Shelby Saturday “ , and a wonderful weekend. 

           ( Twitter photo)

  

Never Enough

      As a life-long car guy, there is no end to the number of cars I adore. Some of them very old, some of them brand new, from pure stock to very customized, and everything in between. I just love cars.

     Most readers of my blog, or my book, will know that I often will single out one particular model as my all time favorite. That would be the 1967 Shelby GT 500 Mustangs that I have loved since I saw the first ones at a Ford dealership in 1967, when I was 17 years old.  For me, I can never get enough.

     The always awesome  1967 Shelby GT 500    ( Twitter photo )
 

All in the Details

      When you see a car that really catches your eye, on the street, or maybe at a car show, there is something about it that makes it different from the rest. Maybe you really like that model of car, or the paint color, and it could be that it's extra well cleaned and polished. Sometimes, it's all of the above.    When I'm cleaning and polishing my car for a car show, I pay special attention to the details.

     The interior has to be clean and free from extra stuff setting around. The glass has to be clean, inside and out. The wheels and tires are an important part. The tires need to be clean and freshly treated with tire shine. When every thing is as perfect as can be, people will notice. It's all in the details.

     Anyone interested can find my book,  just follow this link: Grab Some Gears 

 My 1999 Mustang GT  ,  from over 20 years ago.

Drag Strip Days

      During the 40 years of street racing I talk about in my book, for a ten year period of time, between 1987 and 1997, I also ran a few of my cars on the legal drag strip.  I ran bracket racing in the street legal classes. I ran many runs in my black 87 Mustang LX 5.0 , and a few in my 1970 Torino Cobra. But the last runs I made were in my 1996 Mustang Cobra.

     The red 96 Cobra was mostly factory stock, with only minor tuning tricks, and a set of drag radials on the rear wheels. It ran very well, but on my last day at the track, a few things happened that had me re-thinking running my street cars on the track.

     The Cobra was an awesome performer, but the sticky drag radials put a lot of extra stress on the drive train. The car was pretty new and still under warranty, but any damage from running on a drag strip would void the warranty.  Also, when I was waiting near the start line between rounds, I over-heard the track officials call the street legal bracket racers "garbage cars" .  That just spoiled the whole experience for me. All they cared about was the pro cars, dragsters and funny cars, and such.  That was the last time I ever ran a street car on the drag strip. 

My 1996 Mustang Cobra , on my last day at the drag strip in 1997.

My Book

       A few years ago, when I first got onto Facebook and Twitter, the main reason was to get some exposure for my book.  Facebook was a way to let family and friends know about the book, and I thought Twitter would be a great way to reach other car enthusiasts around the world. Over the past few years, I have found other reasons to keep using Facebook and Twitter, but the book is always a secondary reason.

     I haven't sold very many books in the past few years, but I like to still keep promoting it from time to time. I always get great reviews and feedback from car enthusiasts who have read it. Thank you to those who have let me know.

    Anyone who may be interested can find it by following this link: Grab Some Gears

                      The cover of my book.

Picture Perfect

    Over the years, I've owned many great cars, most of them good performance cars, and three of them were exceptional performers. But, only one was a Shelby Mustang. I owned my 2007 Shelby GT 500 for six years, but only put 12,000 miles on it during that time. It sat covered in the garage most of the time, always perfectly clean and detailed, and ready for the next car show. Always Picture Perfect.

     During those six years, I had it in many car shows, and it won plenty of awards at those shows.  It always attracted a lot of attention, and I enjoyed showing it and answering plenty of questions.  I've always enjoyed driving all of my cars, but the Shelby was a collectors item, and I felt I should try to keep the miles down on that one. That was the main reason I finally sold it after six years, I like driving my performance cars.

     Now, I kind of wish I could own a new Shelby GT 500. But the new ones cost twice as much as my 2007 model, and gas prices are over twice as much as they were back then. I don't think another one is in my future.

     Any new followers of my blog, who may be interested, can check out my book, and read sample pages, just follow this link: Grab Some Gears  

   My 2007 Shelby GT 500 ,  from 10 years ago.