General Lee vs. The Bandit

Two of the most iconic muscle cars [and arguably characaters] or all time square off in a little back roads racin' rally. If you don't know where these two cars come from, then I have to admit that I feel slightly sorry for you. There are really only two words that come to mind when watching this most awesome of videos: AMERICA, and YEEEEEHAWWWW! Watch it now, thank me later. Enjoy, and best of luck weathering out the tropical storm/hurricane this weekend!

[General Lee v. The Bandit]

Milestone Pt. 2!

2.5 years back I made this post about my car hitting the 100,000 mile mark on my way to work that morning [early 2009.] Well two and a half years later, August 19th 2011, on my way up to visit my friend in NJ this weekend I hit the 150,000 mile mark. And yes, I was totally prepared yet again.

Since Feb 4th 2009, 927 days have passed giving me an average of 53.9 miles a day driving, or 22,248 hours, which translates to roughly 2.24 miles per hour. In that time though, I've also owned two motorcycles and bought another car [but you all already knew that], so I wonder how much more driving I would've done in the Galant and how much sooner I would've hit the mark had I not gotten the other modes of transportation? Orrr, had I not bought the Challenger, would I even still have the Galant? [Probably not.] Either way, it continues to be a fantastically reliable mode of transportation, and whenever the time does come, I will be sad to see it go.

Couple interesting things about the video, [yes we have video this time!] I was actually right in the middle of the Delaware Memorial Bridge when it happened, so I was actually over water, and not land at all. Also,  if you listen closely to the background song, there's a cymbal crash right when the odometer clicks to 150k, not that I planned that at all, but I noticed it on the video afterwards and thought it was cool. Well that's about all I can write about a car hitting 150,000 miles, so on with the obligatory before/after pics, and video. Thank you Galant, for all the many miles of trustworthy service!

Almost......

THERE!

[Rolling Over 150k Miles]

Track Mom

The driver in the video below has a track-prepped Corvette and is taking his mom for a little ride around the world famous Laguna Seca race track out in Monterey, California. I would LOVE to be able to do something like this with my car, and my mom riding shotgun. I can only imagine the screams that she would let out. Of course I'd have to have the GoPro camera rolling as well, to capture it all. In the meantime though, this mom/son combo will have to do, until I can make the track day happen. It's quite hilarious, and the mom has some really funny one-liners in there as well. [Oh and she didn't know the cameras were rolling!] Enjoy!

[Laguna Seca With Mom]

Das Auto

It appears as though some folks on the other side of the pond really do know good automotive style when they see it! Sehr gut!

[Chromjuwelen]

Some Old Ford

I found this great little video/story today about a man, and his car. He had it parked outside for 10 or so years, then brought into his warehouse, and finally decided to fire it up and take it for a spin. The man in the video mentions how some turbo charged modern daily driver car would "blow it to the weeds" but that doesn't mean that old ford doesn't have more character.

I don't ever plan on letting my Challenger end up a rust bucket like that Galaxy, but I do imagine that in another 30-40 years, I'll probably have some 'ol hoopty in my possession from 'back when engines ran on gasoline' and I'll get to fire it up in the driveway and have to explain to a bunch of the neighborhood kids what the heck the car actually is. That'll be a fun day. Enjoy the video!

Some Old Ford from Ben Pender-Cudlip on Vimeo.

A Non-Awesome Snow Morning: Counter-Post

This post is purely to help me recover from this morning's unwanted adventures. Right now I'm listening to some good 'ol fashioned rock and roll, and daydreaming about cruising around in my car during the summer months. Sunglasses, shorts, ice cream, coca-cola classic, a summer breeze and open windows are running wildly through my head.

And for good measure....

A Non-Awesome Snow Morning

Yesterday, just before noon, the office of personnel management [OPM] made a very smart move by excusing federal employees 2 hours early from their normal work day. I get to work very early in the mornings, which allowed me to take off and head home about 1:00 in the afternoon. I'm very, very thankful I was able to do that, because I've heard nothing but horror stories of people being stranded on their normal commutes home, taking 8, 10, or even 12 hours. No human being should ever be subject to that kind of roadway torture.  I made it home yesterday before any precipitation began to fall from the sky. Once the snow did start falling hard, I walked over to the store and got ingredients to make chili at home. It was delicious, and you can find the recipe here. Moving on.

My guess is that we got about 8-9 inches of snow last night. I was up late checking the OPM website to see if there were any updates on today's operating status. With no updates late at night, I had no choice but to get to bed in case I had to come into work today. I woke up at 3:00am and there was still no update, when I checked again at 5:00am, I was not so happy with what I saw: 2 hour delayed opening. Usually when I see this, I just head in at my normal time, because it means there will be less traffic on the roads. So I went outside and started the car, came in and got ready, and then headed back out to get all the snow off the car. Once the car was cleared off, I backed out of my driveway, made it about 20 feet, aaaaaand stuck. My car simply cannot make it through anything more than 4 inches of snow. I tried rocking it, and clearing a path little by little, but it was useless. I had no choice, I had to go wake up my roommate. 

He got up, got dressed, and came out to help. At first he just tried pushing but we quickly realized that wasn't going to cut it. So we went and got his Explorer from the driveway, and he just pulled out and drove right around me. I was thinking to myself, 'you gotta be kidding me.' I swear, my next daily driver WILL either be an SUV with 4 wheel drive, or at the least another car with AWD capability. Anyways, he drives right around my stuck car, and backs it up. We attached a tow rope to the front of my car and he pulled me through the remaining 40 or so feet out to a more cleared out area, and it was off to work I go. 

If I wasn't trying to save all my vacation time right now for my upcoming trip to Colorado, I would've just taken unscheduled leave today and skipped work all-together. But Colorado is worth a morning of frustration here. Below are two pictures of my car stuck directly in front of my house. Man, I hope a plow makes it through our neighborhood today. 

Stuck.

View from front door. Yea, I made it real far. 

Oh, and as I was about 5 minutes away from arriving at work, I realized I forgot my dress shirt at home. So yea, I look real professional today. Super. And yes, I wrote this post while at work, because there is no one else in my building, and it appears as though I'm the only one crazy enough to actually attempt going to work today. 

The Colonel And I: 1 Year Anniversary

Holy canoli! Can you believe it's been one full year since the Colonel finally arrived home? Actually it's been 1 year and 1 day, because the actual date was yesterdaty, but I was real busy. Anyway, this car has taken me on a heck of a lot of adventures, and led to some great friendships with fellow owners. It's sparked a lot of conversations with total strangers, thumbs ups from admirer's, and brought more smiles to little kids' wide eyes on the highway than anything else I've ever seen. This is a truly special car, and I can only wait with wonderment and anticipation of where the miles ahead will take us. Here's to 1 year!!! 

9/21/09 - The day I picked it up

Oct, 2009 - Meeting up with some friends before heading down to Oceana

Jenroe's Meet & Greet, VA Beach

October, 2009 - Took some of my favorite pictures of the car with the fall colors

November, 2009 - Skyline Drive cruise with friends

Glad my Dad was able to join me on that adventure

January, 2010 - North Carolina BBQ Road Trip

June, 2009 - Gatlinburg, TN Mopar Meet In The Mountains

July, 2010 - New 'Dogtags' For The Colonel

August 2010 - NOVA Challenger Meet Up Night

9/11 Ride For Pride

This past Saturday on the 9th anniversary of September 11th, I participated in a 'Ride for Pride' [although it was more of a drive.] I gathered down in Woodbridge with a whole bunch of other American muscle car owners and we drove flags waving all the way up 395 to the north parking lot of the Pentagon. I took a bunch of video which I'm still editing together, but here's some pictures from the event. Look for the video in a couple of days. Never Forget.

The Colonel during our mini car show at the gathering area. 

Decked out and ready to roll.

I met another Challenger owner who had Old Glory riding shotgun. Remind you of anything?

One of the trucks had these mounted in the bed.

Pentagon North Parking.

Here's a ZO6 Corvette looking about as American as you can get. 

Last but not least, I met this guy who owned a 1972 Road Runner, in Hemi Orange nonetheless. We made sure to grab a couple photos.

The Colonel Hits The Dyno!

I had been waiting for a while to get the Challenger onto the dyno ever since I put the first mods on, and when a couple local folks from the Challenger Z set up a group rate/dyno day for this past Saturday, I couldn't let it pass on by.

For those who don't know, a dyno machine is basically a machine with rollers in the ground that you strap your car to, and it measures the horsepower and torque numbers that actually make it to the wheels. When you see a car advertised on TV, it will ALWAYS ALWAYS display the horsepower rating of the motor itself, and not the true numbers at the wheels [which is where it actually counts.] For instance, my car from the factory was rated at 376hp [at the motor] and would probably make around 330-335 at the wheels.

To date, all I've added in terms of performance is the Mopar Cold Air Intake and a tune from the diablsosport predator tuner [which basically remaps the car's computer and advances the timing to draw more power out of the motor.] With those added, I'm very pleased to report that The Colonel put down 345.7 horsepower and 372.4 foot pounds of torque at the wheels, pretty respectable numbers. I was also very happy to see that the air/fuel ratio was spot on, meaning the car [and tune] is running/working exactly as it should! [You can see the results in the picture up at the top] If I decide to add a catback exhaust system in the future, I'll more than likely pay to get some more dyno time and a custom tune made specifically for me by a tune shop, to ensure that everything is still running properly and safely while squeezing out as much power as possible from the engine. Enough jibber jabber though, on with the video and pics! Enjoy!

My friend Pat's R/T on the dyno

The Colonel & 1BADRT (owned by my friend Troy)

Al, Troy, and some of the other cars

My friend Tim's R/T

The Colonel all strapped down and ready to go!

It was an exhausting morning of hanging out in the sun, eating donuts and listening to muscle cars roar! Thank goodness for that 4 point harness!

The Colonel Goes For A Drive, In HD!

So as I mentioned here, I ordered a new HD video camera since my old one [footage seen here] wasn't not the greatest quality. And boy oh boy did I make an upgrade! The new camera arrived on Saturday, and I spent all night tinkering with it, figuring out all the settings, and yesterday I couldn't wait any longer, so I went out for a 'spirited' drive to test it out! The following video is the result.

I mounted it to the roof, just above the windshield to start, and then later on moved the camera to the passenger side door, about a foot behind the wheel well. I also mounted it on the inside of the windshield to get some footage of my driving as well, but for some reason it decided to just snap a picture instead. So I got that sweet picture [above] of me looking like an idiot. But hey, at least I know the field of vision is good, and that the camera can capture the light inside the 'cockpit' rather well. Bottom line, I am very happy with the results, it was well worth the money, the quality is really good [when viewed in HD], and be on the lookout for many more videos to come once the weather gets nicer!!

Is it bad that I'm thinking about buying a second one, so I can mount two cameras at once, and get 4 times the viewing angles?! Anyways, enjoy the awesome!

[Shot at 720p@30 frames per second. Next time I'll try shooting in full 1080p.]

Gas Station Mishap

So the other day I stop at the gas station to fill up the tank on my way home from work the station is right around the corner from my house, so it's pretty convenient, and literally on my route home. I pull into one row of 3 pumps and go to the farthest one so people can pull in behind me. I start the pump, and while it's going, I take my time to wash all my windows to rid them of all the road spray that's out there right now. While I'm doing this a woman probably in her 50's pull in behind me in a small SUV, and she seems quite hurried. [Who would've thought, someone in a hurry, in northern Virginia?! Noooooo.]

Anyway, my pump stopped before hers did, but we got back into our cars about the same time, cause I washed my windows....and they definitely needed it. I hop back into my car and start it back up, and then pull up a nifty iPhone app I have that allows me to keep track of all my gas purchases and log them. It's a great little app, but it does run kind of slow. As I'm entering all the info from the transaction and my mileage, I can see the woman behind me starting to inch up a tad waiting for me to pull out so she can too. Well, I wasn't quite done yet and she lost her patience so she decided to pull out around me. She begins to angrily take off, when all of a sudden, BOOM! I hear a huge bang. I look up as the woman screeches to a stop right next to me trying to figure out what happened. [Can you tell where I'm going with this one??] I look up, and see none other than the gas pump hose/handle still attached to her car, and ripped off of the pump. Idiot.

She still can't figure out what was wrong and begins to back up her car back into the spot, she definitely catches me looking directly at her just shaking my head from side to side. Now, my first reaction was to see if there was any gas pouring out, and if there was I was gonna make a dash for the emergency shut off switch. Fortunately that was not the case. She gets out of her car, see's what she did and goes running into the little office to get someone. They come out and take a look and inspect the scene.....while I whip out the camera and take a picture. [C'mon, it's not everyday you see that happen!]

This lady is going bezerk at this point. She keeps smacking herself on the forehead and yelling at herself, stressed beyond belief, still in a hurry, and with higher blood pressure than any human should probably have. The clerks make sure everything is alright and that nothing is broken, and are asking her if she's alright. They take the hose out of her car and say it's alright as long as no one got hurt. She couldn't have cared less that they were making sure she was alright and that there was no damage. Her main goal was now two-fold. 1) Making sure to keep smacking herself on her head I guess as a self punishment, and 2) to get the heck out of there as fast as she could. She hopped back in her car and took off like a bandit, still in a hurry with pretty much no regard for her surroundings or safety. The clerks calmly surveyed the scene and started working on putting the pump back together.

How the heck are these people still on the road, and don't you think they'd learn their lessons?! She was in such a hurry to get around me that she yanked out the gas pump, [luckily avoiding a major fire] and yet she still peeled out of the station angrier than ever. The streets would be safer if she didn't have a license, this I promise you.

Here's the picture I managed to snap real quick. If you see a small SUV that looks like this on the road, STAY AWAY!! Chances are, that there's a disgruntled, angry, stressed out woman driving it without much driving skill.

Muscle Cars Forever

Boy this winter is just dragging on isn't it?! How about something to warm your hearts.....and your tires! QUE THE FACE MELTING, RUBBER BURNING AWESOMENESS!!!

[muscle cars forever]

New Camera

Well it was about time, I ordered a new toy. I found a really great deal on the GoPro HD Hero, Motorsports Package and had to take advantage of it before it passed me by. I bought a used helmet camera about 2 years ago from a friend for cheap, but the video quality was not the greatest, and the sound was essentially non-existant. That was the camera that I mounted to my handlebars when I raced at Blue Mountain last month.

As you can see from the video below, the quality of the new camera will be worlds better. It will allow me to shoot in either 1080p or 720p hd video, with the option of shooting at 30fps [frames per second] or 60fps [better for slow motion shots] in 720p mode. It comes will all kinds of mounts [seen above], so I can place in anywhere on my car [inside or out], on other vehicles, or a helmet. I can't wait to start playing with it, so look for some fun 'speedy' videos in the future!

American Graffiti

Man sometimes I really feel like I grew up in the wrong era full of political correctness and EPA standards. Anyone else? No? Well enjoy anyway! Drive Ins, Hot Rods, and Rock 'n Roll? Sign me up.

[youtube]

Pick Your 4x4

Boy all this snow sure has made the thought of picking up something with good ground clearence and 4 wheel drive tempting. But it's not really necessary for 98% percent of the year. Still, it is tempting. If you were able to choose any 4x4 vehicle, what would you choose? Me? I'd pick up the new SVT Raptor from Ford. Simply put, the truck is bad ass. Not much more to it than that. Check out the video below for a peak of the Raptor's capabilites, and let me know [with links] what vehicle you'd pick.

For The Ladies

I know I talk about muscle cars all the time, but the ladies can certainly enjoy them too! I believe her Charger would look great parked next to my Challenger in the garage! In fact maybe that's where she's headed right now...to help me get away from this snow! Hehe, enjoy ladies!

[youtube]

Making Of The Dodge Challenger

Just found this incredibly cool video of a behind the scenes look at the Brampton assembly plant where the Dodge Challenger is built. This video was clearly made after mine came through the line, because the Detonator Yellow color only became available in the last month or two. But it's the exact same plant, the exact same line, and exact same people who put the same love into building mine! Thanks guys! On with the awesomeness!!!

Tyler's Fiero

Okay, it's Christmas Eve Eve, and I decided the previous post cannot be the only post for today, and we need to turn it around. It's the Christmas season which tends to really bring out the goodhearted-ness in people [unless you live in philly] and I just found this pretty incredible story about a young man with a form of terminal cancer who got a pretty incredible gift from a bunch of total strangers. I said it before in the Toys For Tots post, but the car community and true gearheads across the globe really are about the best people around. It's still a sad story, but it can't help but warm your heart and bring a tear to your eye to see a group of people come together to do something memorable and life changing for another human being. Here's to you Fiero.com members who helped on this project, thank you.

Engine Cover Customization

So last night I officially finished a project I had been working on for the past 2 weeks. Customizing the engine cover on the Challenger. I wanted to do this mostly because of that fact that the stock engine cover is pretty darn bland and when I pop the hood unfortunately there hasn't been a ton to look at. Well not anymore! The pictures will do most of the talking, but just wanted to note that while extremely time consuming the end result of this project was well worth it. I've shared these pictures and project write up on the Challenger Forum already, and plenty of people have already made requests for me to do the same to their engine covers [just use the color scheme that would match their car.]

I can't take all the credit though. I found out about this idea probably 5 or 6 months ago while I was still waiting for The Colonel to arrive, and had planned on doing it once the winter months hit. The guy who originally did the write up is named 'Speedy' and here's his awesome site. I followed his guide to the 'T' and it ended up coming out pretty good. There are a few minor imperfections here and there, but nothing terrible. I do plan on trying to touch some of them up in the next few weeks. Overall I'm satisfied, esp for tackling a project of this magnitude without any real prior experience to any of the stuff you see in this article. Anyways, as the pictures will dictate, the cover made quite the transition and was worth it in the end. Now when I go to a meet & greet or car show, I'll be very anxious to pop the hood so everyone can start checking it out with jealousy in their minds! On with the pictures, enjoy!

Stock cover and most of the supplies

I drilled holes in the corners, then drew my connecting lines with a sharpie, and then cut out this section using a dremel tool

Sanded down all the edges

Expanded aluminum insert trimmed, primed and painted semi gloss black

Masking off the HEMI lettering. This was a very difficult step. Cutting the tape to match the edges was a painstakingly slow process.

Outsides masked off, center primed and ready for paint

Painted semi gloss black [same as insert]

Center masked off, outsides prepped for paint

Spraying the Hemi Orange engine enamel. If I were to do this over again, I probably would have tried to lay the color in a better lit area than our garage. It got a couple paint runs cause I couldn't see well enough and ended up overdoing it a tad. Slow and gradual is the way to go with this one.

Recreating how the cover is held together from the factory. Using JB Weld to fasten back together in the spots that 6 posts used to be...before I cut them off.

Held together for drying with some quick clamps.

After I unmasked the HEMI lettering to reveal the silver, and applying the pinstriping, I threw down an entire can of clear coat. After that died I added the silver lettering of the 5.7L V8 by hand [also a slow process]

Set aside to dry again overnight.

Finally done, and reinstalled on the car! The reason I decided to add the aluminum mesh area was to allow heat to more easily escape off the engine to help keep the engine temperatures down. This combined with my functional hood scoops [which help bring in colder air into the engine bay] should make things run better in the long run. Plus you can still see the engine...which is nice!