Grateful Bug

The SPEEDWAGEN stable has a new addition. This Bug is a retired concert car. We gave the previous owner visitation rights on the weekends. This ride will be the shop car. Nothing generates more "Bug Talk" than driving one around. Check out the vintage "Grateful Bug" decal on the back of this new member.

Got More Tin

Jim and I dug another Bug out of the dirt. We drug it onto the trailer and hauled it back to the shop. This is another study in corrosion,but some replacement pan parts came with it. We need some suggestions on what to name this yellow bug!--What do the millions of you who monitor this blog suggest? And by the way the new clutch in the tow truck worked well. Our old stock car trailer is a little wide for bug haulin, but we make do with some 2x12 spacers.

Snowmobile or Saltcar

The weather in Indiana can always give you a surprize. Spring greeted us with a rush hour snow storm.The snow in front of the shop looked like a mini-salt flat. Hopefully this white stuff will be gone by the weekend so we can go pull another bug out of a barn lot. Jim has rounded up a set of 4 lug wheels to put on the carcuss, so we can drag it onto the trailer. There is a big car parts swap meet in Indy this Sunday at the Fairgrounds, so more gearhead fun to be had this weekend.

Need TALL tires

This is a vintage sprint on the salt with a TALL set of Hoosier tires on the back. We have been looking at RPM/Final drive ratio & tire diameter to get the "speed we need". It would be nice for the SPEEDWAGEN to have Hoosiers on the outside, as well as the Hoosiers at the wheel. --Many stories are passed around about what is a Hoosier? A Hoosier is what you call the guy that is faster than you. And now you know the rest of the story.

Got Sign!

Express Graphics whipped out our new sign for the front of the shop. This is the start of something FAST!

GM gets salt fever

http://www.hhrclub.org/news/hhr-news-08-15-2005.php Here is an interesting read on GM at Bonneville. The Ecotec must be a little screamer.

Another SPEEDWAGEN Ride

This is another of the projects from the SPEEDWAGEN stable. Its a street legal sprint car! It started life as an Edmunds 4 bar supermodified, but was turned into a sprinter for a shot at the little 500 back in the 70's. It needs to get some finishing touches done to it before it hits the street, but the paper work and title stuff is all done. Check out the NOS double diamond rear Firestones.

CCVW club

http://ccvw.org Jim and I joined the Circle City Volkswagen Club today. Came home with a T-shirt and a window sticker. It will be good to have a local club sticker on the ride we run at Bonneville. Had a good time meeting some of the crew, and looking forward to getting to know them. Now all I have to do is try to cram my new T-shirt in my "car shirt" drawer. Am I the only one who never throws a car shirt away?------- T-shirt Hoarding, could be a topic for Ophrah.

Ford axle and suspension drawings

Turn up your speakers !!!!!!!!!http://www.vanpeltsales.com/FH_web/flathead_partsdrawings_links.htm SPEEDWAGEN is going to have a 4 inch dropped ford axle with the spring behind the axle. We are looking at Chevy spindles, disc brakes, and hubs drilled to fit wide 5 or ARCA wheels.

Things to know about Speed Racing

Picture is just for interest. The real Salt Lake racing information is found here,http://www.saltflats.com/ this is a good place to start if you want to find out more about the last bastion of the true American Hot Rodder

NEVER MIND

I know I promised more information on the "Secret Pan" and the sunroof top. But I am sorry to report that the deal we had made to buy a whole stash of California parts and 2 cars--- fell apart. So the quest for the SPEEDWAGEN tin continues.

new brake shoes

We rolled the Ziebart Flyer off the trailer today. I got some new brake "shoes" from Flintstone racing products . They start to fade at 10 MPH, no good for the SPEEDWAGEN

Don't try this with a dial-up connection

http://www-harwell.ansys.com/demoroom/zoom.php?id=14

Trick top & secret pan, spy photo

Found a bug lid with the hole in it for a roll back sun roof. This will make a nice hole for the escape hatch on the top of the SPEEDWAGEN. WE might even be able to incorporate a NASCAR flap as well. Don't look at the pan underneath, that's a secret. MORE surprise updates to come soon.

rust never sleeps

Jim and I have been looking at a lot of Bugs in our search for the Speedwagen donor car. You can tell from the picture that the salt in Indiana has not been kind to most Bugs that are still on the road. I fell through the floor in a 1961 bug a few years ago. The piece of pan and the seat with me in it were cheerfully skidding down the road.

Gasoline Alley Crew

Here is the head instigator of the "lets all go to Bonneville" chant. This is the often imitated, but never duplicated Terry Engle. Terry belongs to the Indy Hi-winders car club. That's where I first hooked up with him in 1965. Terry can be found holding court daily on Gasoline Alley at Jim Linders shop. Check out this link to the story of the Gasoline Alley Bonneville ride! http://www.lindertech.com/gas/

The Welcome BUG

The SPEEDWAGEN shop has a "glass bug" in the front window to welcome visitors. There is an art studio in the shop where all kinds of cool stuff is done. As you might guess, stained glass is one of the skills on hand. Along with Industrial Design,automotive illustrations, graphic design,custom wood turning and carving, metal sculpture, whimsical furniture painting, children's book writing and illustration and what ever else comes our way. The shop is an interesting cross roads of Engineering, Design, Art and Fabrication. The more creative stuff the better! It's never boring at the SPEEDWAGEN shop.

Ready For Laser Scan

The scale model of a Bug Body is ready for laser scanning to create a point cloud that we can use in Solidworks. Larry Egelhoff at Artistic Mold in Indianapolis does this scan for us. He also does rapid proto types, along with some fine machine and router work. After we get the 3-D files we can use CFD software to simulate the airflow to play with the contour of the car. We have to make sure this sled doesn't try to leave the ground at about 140 mph. The model had to be flat black so the laser could get a good look at the profile. This is a way to get a picture of the car on the computer screen that we can make it roll around on the screen like it is a real car. Then you can have the computer act like its blowing air past the car so you can get a picture of what the air currents are doing at different speeds with different shapes.

Fully Loaded II

Need to talk to Disney and see if they want to get on board with SPEEDWAGEN for the rights to our "Bug Adventure". I'll need to have my people call their people.

Team Speedwagen's machinist,fabricator

This is a mug shot of Team SPEEDWAGEN'S machinist/fabricator. We had DNA testing done to confirm this is the original VERNE TRESTER, not one of the cheap copies they sell on e-bay. He is one of the "old school" race guys from West 16 th Street . He had his machine shop just east of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for many years. Verne has been making parts for Jim and I since the 60's. If Verne can't make it, you don't need it. FYI Verne is also a World Class Gun Smith http://www.firearmexpertwitness.com/

SUBARAMA

This is a Subaru motor made into a mid engine car. I saw it in Kit Car mag. Its a car called Blast www.blastautomotive.com This might be worth thinking over for the SPEEDWAGEN. Now the hunt is on for a SUBIE. or as we will call it "THE SUBARAMA." That Sounds better than Subie.

Got Tig TOO !

I picked up a tig welder and a welder cart. Still need an Argon Bottle, but that will come out of next weeks lunch money. I have been enjoying the acquisition of equipment for the shop. I've gotten tired of talking about what I used to build, and am glad to be back in the shop. I've tried to kick this habit a couple of times in my life, but once you get "Motor Head" there is no cure.

Bug Hunt

--Well this proves that we are out in the trees with our Speedwagen project. Jim and I went on a Saturday"Bug Hunt" and looked at several cars, and meet a lot of nice folks in our journey. This Bug On A Stick, shown in the Pic is the Marque at a shop called Buggy Works. They were very helpful with our questions today, and offered some good advice. These are the kind of people you enjoy doing business with. Don in the shop even gave us a peek at his latest monster motor that he has stashed away. Speedwagen is getting closer every day

Long Bug

I found this pic of a long chassis bug. I think this is about the lenght we will shoot for. This car is set up for a front motor monster car. If the Subaru motor doesn't show up, we could do a front motor with a set back of 50 % of the wheel base. GM did this with an HHR that they had chopped and lengthened. They made it rear wheel drive with a Quick Change rear end. The Ecotec they ran had a blower on it with a gazillon speed tranny. Well thats enough motor mouth for the night, time to hit the hay. With maw in her night shirt and me in my fire suit we all settled down for a long winters nap.

Migs,Logo's & Tires--Oh my!

Things have been moving along. We have a new Mig welder in the shop. Now we need to get an Argon tank and cart for it. The Speedwagen Logo has been sent off for trademark registration. Jim has some freshly blasted and painted wheels at the tire store, getting tires put on them. We needed some fresh rubber to roll our Rust Bug around on. I think we will name this first car the ZIEBART FLYER. Here is the Speedwagen Logo!