November 7, 1965

Green Monster sets new speed record

In 1964, Art Arfons, a drag racer from Ohio, built a land-speed racer in his backyard using a military surplus J79 jet aircraft engine with an afterburner. Arfons christened the vehicle Green Monster, and in September took the racer to the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah to join in the race to set a new land- speed record. On October 5, the Green Monster jet powered to 434.022–a new land-speed record. However, Arfons’ record would only stand for six days, for on October 13, Craig Breedlove set his second land-speed record when he reached 468.719 in his jet-powered Spirit of America. In 1965, Arfons returned to the Bonneville Salt Flats in a revamped Green Monster, and on this day shattered Breedlove’s record from the previous year, when he raced to 576.553mph across the one-mile course.

A bit late on the Halloween Pinup but I was out of town at a Family Reunion.  Yeah I know…Who has a family reunion on Halloween?!  Apparently my wife’s side of the family…Go Figure!

Well the last 6 months were pure hell and ultimately ended with me being unemployed.  I have never worked for a company that aided in it’s own destruction.

Anyway I have found myself with more time lately and hope to get back to posting in M3 again.  I actually attended a car show last weekend and brought home a Spectators Choice Award.  It felt good to get out and drive the Camaro.  I had actually forgotten how much I really enjoyed that car.

Don’t know what happened with the formatting of the Mafia Blog here but something has definitely gone wrong with WP.  I lost all of my links…hell everything in the right margin for that matter.

Well I’m glad to be back and you will be hearing from me more often now.

Another great Pinup from David Perry.  Check out his work at davidperrystudio.com

July 25, 1945

Kaiser-Frazer is born

Henry Kaiser and Joseph Frazer announced plans to form a corporation to manufacture automobiles on this day in 1945. The two men formed an unlikely pair. Kaiser, raised in modest circumstances, was a true American self-made man. By 1945, he sat atop an empire of shipbuilding, cement, steel, and other basic building businesses, and had amassed a considerable fortune. His company’s shipbuilding feats had made him a media favorite during World War II, with reporters labeling him “the Miracle Man.” By contrast, Frazer was a direct descendant of Martha Washington, and he’d attended Hotchkiss and Yale. Frazer never finished his studies at Yale, opting to take a manual labor job at Packard. At Packard he rose steadily through the management structure, becoming by the mid-1940s a solid, respectable executive. The two men first encountered one another when in 1942 Kaiser urged car companies to plan ahead for postwar production; Frazer answered on behalf of Packard, labeling the suggestion “half-baked” and “stupid.” The men met again in 1945 in San Francisco, and two weeks later Kaiser-Frazer was born. With Frazer’s contacts in the auto industry, and Kaiser’s capital and experience with huge government contracts, the two men were optimistic about their chances. In addition, labor groups were encouraging competition to the Big Three and had announced a willingness to cooperate with any new entries into Detroit. Kaiser and Frazer had to generate enough capital to acquire and build full production facilities. They had to find reliable sources for raw materials and negotiate labor contracts, and they had to do it all before the Big Three could convert back from wartime production if they were to have a chance at surviving. Amazingly, they pulled it off, leasing the Ford Willow Run Plant and producing 11,000 cars in 1946. Unfortunately, their financiers gave them trouble: while losses were anticipated during their first year, the two men didn’t expect to be punished so severely by squeamish investors. The company lost $19 million, and their stock plummeted. A year later, however, Willow Run produced 100,000 cars and Kaiser-Frazer recorded $19 million in profit. Success was within their grasp, and the next year they made $10 million–but the downturn in profits and the impending release of Big Three postwar models caused the company’s stock to slip. Without money Kaiser-Frazer couldn’t afford to come up with new models, and consumers turned away from them. In 1949, the company lost $30 million and was poised to endure the fate of so many other independents after the war. The differences between the two partners manifested themselves during the bad times, and management failed to respond positively to the difficulties. Frazer left the business, and Kaiser presided until 1953 when he sold out to Willys-Overland. Ironically, in Kaiser’s last year the company turned out a few remarkable cars including, arguably, America’s first compact car.

Since I took over an office in Jackson, MS the last 3 months have been a blur.  Needless to say I haven’t been to any car shows much less had time to look at the Camaro.

I was at one time considering selling the ‘71 Z28 because I just didn’t have time for it anymore and there are things the house needs that I just don’t have time to do myself.

Time has always been my enemy.  Never enough time to get things done and never enough time to take a break.

I’m just hoping things ease up at work.

Of course M3 has also been neglected as I have started a private blog for my technicians.  I hope to get back on top of this also and go forward with plans I made when we turned a year old.

So for the time being I will be posting the occasional Pinup and History post and try to mix it up when I can.  Thanks.

Weekend before last  the ‘94 Silverado decided to give me attitude.  The wife, sister-n-law and I were heading to my mother-n-laws place to do some repairs on her house and catch up the lawn in Creston, LA.

The trip was about 2 and half hours one way and we made it all the way to Natchitoches, LA (almost there) when the Truck just shut down and coasted to a stop on the shoulder of the interstate.  After several minutes of trying to start the truck it finally cranked but was running rough and I had to stay in the gas to keep it running.  We managed to get to a gas station and then all of the sudden it decided to idle and run like nothing was wrong.  We pressed on with no problem.

On the way back I looked down checking my gages and noticed the odometer was on 99999.  I brought this to everyone’s attention in the truck and would you know it at 100030 we were back on the side of the road again.  I finally got it running and managed to make it to my sister-n-laws house were I had to leave it till the next day.

I thought the truck had a fuel starvation problem so I checked the injectors (both sprayed well), replaced the Fuel pressure regulator (no change) then I moved on to ignition.  I replaced plugs (looked rough) and did everything I thought could be a factor.

Well I was completely WRONG!  I now HATE Throttle Body Injection and ECUs.  I think I will stay Ole Skool.  After popping a battery and discovering the air/fuel module was bad (and replacing) I then discovered that the truck’s problem was it was drowning in fuel.  That’s right it was getting too much fuel!  You could unplug one of the injectors and it ran like a top!  GO FIGURE!  Wish I would have known sooner!

Needless to say I now have to replace the the ECU.  I guess it is still cheaper to do that than go with a new manifold and carb.

I just find it ironic that I just rolled over 100K miles and everything goes to shit.

If it wasn’t for bad luck…I wouldn’t have any luck at all!