What I Saw Today

Earlier today, an old friend dropped by the shop to show off his newest ride. That's him, RJ, in the above image alongside thejeepjunkie.



It is a continuation car of the Cobra variety.



Apparently, several years ago, Carroll Shelby found some long forgotten Cobra bodies in a warehouse and built them for sale.



RJ picked this one up for a just over a 100K.



Yeah, RJ owns this one along with a vintage 68 Corvette ragtop, a 2006 Corvette Z06 and his daily driver Porsche Boxster.



This olelongrooffan would love to have his toy budget.





This olelongrooffan mentioned it was a nice ride but the top just wasn't long enough.



We all got a chuckle out of that and thejeepjunkie and I look forward to seeing him out at the Rolex 24 at the Daytona International Speedway this weekend. Look for us by the west horseshoe.

My Hoonmas Score

I suspect those of you who have been Counting Along With Me know this olelongrooffan also does some blogging over in the Hooniverse.

For the past couple Christmas's, a group of us over there have participated in a gift exchange program basically sending some Hoonworthy stuff to total Hoon strangers chosen for us by the Hooniverse Overlords.

Late last week, I received a cool group of stuff from my Secret Santa.  Included was this orange longroof seen on the above shelf along with the busted up bearing standing in front of it.



I also got a framed print of a 66 Chevy longroof that Santa took at a car show a couple years ago and a bottle of R-134 air conditioning recharging solution.

Should I ever install air in my ole beater Jeep Comanche!

Hope your Holidays are as much fun as mine.

Generally Speaking

I'd have to say this is not going to turn out well for someone.

What I Saw Today

In 1964, Sonny's Auto Sales affixed this sticker to the rear of a 1949 Crosley pickup truck. 46 years later, this olelongrooffan spotted it on that truck and here is the story.

In 1965, Rick Delvecchio was living on a farm just outside Vineland, New Jersey when his father gave this compact pickup truck to him for his 14th birthday.

And Rick has kept it to this day. Yesterday while this olelongrooffan was out and about, I saw this behind the RME Automotive building. Of course, you know I had to stop and get a couple images and the story, if I could.

While this olelongrooffan was examining this sweet, rare old beauty Rick came out back and we started chatting it up. I asked him if he was going to restore it. "Nope, just get it puttering around, paint my logo on the side and that's it," was his response. Mine? "Yeah, they're only original once." He gave me an approving grin and took this olelongrooffan into his shop and showed me the one engine, of the three Crosley engines he has, that he is going to install.
It turns out he acquired this motor back in 1983 shortly after moving to Daytona Beach. The man who gave it to him drove up in a Crosley wagon and told Rick the motor in that longroof was his but he had to come get it after the man drove back to New Symrna Beach. Well Rick did and he now, nearly 30 years later, has found the time to put it in his old pickup truck.

I asked why it had taken so long for him to get around to it. Well he took me into the front room of his establishment and pointed out four near concours level Alfa Romeos and his father's 1970 MG Midget, bought new by his dad. "I guess I had a few other things that had a higher priority," he commented. On the way back to the work area, he pointed out a couple other Alfas that were awaiting his attention and a bunch of parts for an original Fiat 500. He mentioned that the body shell was due back from the paint shop anytime now.

" I need to get moving on this Crosley or else it will be another 20 years before I get to it."

Good Luck Rick and I can't wait to share the completed projects with those of you Counting Along With Me.

And know a post about the shiny and not so shiny cars in the interior of that shop will be coming along shortly.

And finding cool old sh*t like this and meeting cool ole dudes such as Rick really allows this olelongrooffan to

Celebrate Life.

Required For All Car Guys

Thanks to TheKenMan for this link courtesy of CarCraft. Click on the image to embiggen and then click one more time on it.