Cars - for those who love them

The sedan is rather nice too. Nice to see Alpha back in the game.

Totally off topic but thought you guys might like this. When Jane and I rented a home down in Dallas, the rain gutters were completely buggered up due to poor design (downpipes uphill), some settling of the house, and a "repair" job where a prior owner had drilled holes all along the bottom of the gutters over the entryway. Lots of rot I had to fix as a consequence. I had to jack up a portion of the roof left of this photo then put in new gutters. Also didn't want downpipes at the entry. This was my solution.

I remember this photo - I liked it then and still like it now.

People back in Humboldt County could be pretty inventive like this too (miss that place).

Totally cool solution. You put that much work & talent into a place you were renting?

We were considering buying but... yeah, I do get carried away. I like that sort of work and I find it pleasing to make the places where I live/work more attractive. At the store we had in Manhattan and then the second in Portland, I left them looking far better than when I arrived. All our apartments as well. I've never been a prudent person.

I have a lead to a Bugeye Sprite. Ive gotta go and sit in it to see whether I even fit.
Owner wants 10K for it and I have no idea whether its able to turn over. Its sitting in (HONEST TO CHRIST), AMish Barn near the "Witness" farm up near STrasburg Pa. Anybody so inclined, think thats a decent price? It will probably need a major rebuild but I cn see re-doing the engine nd storing it but outfitting the car with a teeny turbo nissan .

Ooooh, great barnfind. The turbo Nissan would be nice in the Bugeye. I have a friend near here with a Mazda rotary powered Bugeye. Goes like stink!

No idea what a pre-restored one goes for though

OH MAN, I would loove to find a Wankel. That configuration would probablyrequire a "bubble" on the Sprites hood but oh man , that car would HISSSS like a snake and go like crotch rocket.
I never thought about a wankel. Now I gotta see ifn it can be done (Input shafts are made with differing tolernces qnd metal torsions).

Since I poted this, I found 3 ankels on Crigslist. All are really visully perfect. ALL are in Fla.

ROADTRIP!!

Yeah, the stock intake manifold is a mile high. There are aftermarket manifolds with a much lower profile. Check Mazdatrix and Racing Beat and of course Ebay & Craigslist. The Racing Beat catalog/ Tech manual is very handy for getting up to speed on Mazda rotaries.

Go for it

PS: You will want a rotary configured with the automatic transmission counterweight. The manual trans flywheel can be swapped out for the auto trans CW and a racing flywheel if you end up with one though. Makes engine swaps much easier.

I'd donate a serviceable 13B engine to the cause if you were up for it. It's in pieces though so you'd have to buy a gasket kit, and reassemble.

wait. Im having a guy go look at body integrity (remember, its British nd their contribution to cr designs ere
1rust and corrosion and

2leaks (both inward nd outward.

I lready know that the sprite hs a devil of a windhield leak into the firewall. (You can see the rusty drip line )

My days with reduced weight flywheels is over. I dont like the instant acceleration any longer. That was merely a racing thing

Hope it's a cherry

I ran across this picture of Tom Mix and his car today. I don't know if it's the same one he got killed in. He was driving at a high rate of speed when he hit a deep dip in the road. He was flung against the roof and broke his neck.

He should'a had the top down that day.

I may have seen that car. It was in a movie museum somewhere in CA, at least they said it was his. It was painted red though. Said he or someone jumped over it with a horse in some movie

McLaren 720S ‘Velocity’ is One of Five MSO Variants

well, I bought it. I got it for 6200 (I was hoping for like 5 but , well, its a cute little sucker).
Now we start body work. Im makin a space in the new building where I was building a kayak and have a home-made currach that I built several yrs ago. Ill hang em up in th barn. Im going to take the whole sprite apart and document the body parts . I need to make measurements of the engine compartment . SO, my idea is to have one of my GI subcontractors bring a LIDAR camera over and make a "point map" of the engine space. Then I can compare what space I need (I am perfectly serious about stuffing a Wankel in there-youre a genius .Ive already got several offers for that engine but the only thing I need to do is make a point map of that and then try to piece em together in the puter so we can figure out whether engine mounting will need something special.

THis is NOT gonna be a Concourse SPrite. Its gonna be a bit on the rat rod side (for now)

cool Picture. I wonder where the Wisnoskie Body Works was?? It sounds like it oughta be in Pa, his birthplace.

The old Flaugh museum of Tom Mix **** was in the Town of Driftwood Pa, but the museum and park suffered from a lck of interest in"the King of the Cowboys" that he closed i down and now its an RV campground. Theres a couple of gas well pads in the hills nearby.

Tempus fugits and fugits.

Aw Right! Screw Concourse, make it functional!

6200 doesn't sound too bad if it's still good enough to look cute. I've made TurboCAD drawings of the bare block that are good enough for engine bay fitting if it'd help. Let me know. Can export to most formats including DXF. They do not show stock exh. & intake manifolds since I wasn't using them, but you probably won't either. Also have CAD/CAM accurate drawing of bellhousing end with bolt pattern and crank centerline if you need to make an adapter for trans. but using a stock Mazda bellhousing & trans would probably be best for expediting the project.
Complete freebie engine in a basket is available but would have to pick up. Packing for shipment is a PITA.

Have fun!

The picture was taken in Houston, Texas.

hes coming over on Tues with the LIDQR. I suppose Cd i the way to go, but the LIDQR point map will calculate and show were any overlqps are(even with the hood down
I think Im gonna need a new input shaft for the trqns but that shouldnt be hqrd if I get the specs. There aare so mqny competition mqchining shops up in Reading Pa (home of Pennske racing) I shouldnt have any trouble with anything including the tensile metal needed. Im assuming the torque differences will be somewhat grosser.

I saw a picture of a Bugeye in a Google images spreqad and it was done as a rat rod (the only thing that looked stupid was the supercharger sticking out the top like a printing press

<still following - want to know more about the bug eye as things progress>