Midway Car Cruise June 5th

We finally made it to the World Famous Midway Bar & Grill car cruise.  I can not remember making it there at all last year.  It's held every other Wednesday during the summer months.  So this was the first time that our Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang was there.  Mike drove the General Lee & I drove the Saleen Mustang.  We questioned taking the Mustang there since it's all cleaned & detailed to go to the All-Ford Nationals in Carlisle this weekend, but I wanted to get it out & drive it.  It's too fun a car to just sit in the garage looking clean.

We got to the cruise a little late & was told at first that there was no room at the cruise.  However they made room for the Saleen Mustang & the General Lee.  The guys that run the cruise are great.  We really appreciated them making room for us.  The minute we pull in, people start coming up to the Saleen.  Most people think it is a Boss 302 because of the stickers on the side.  Most do not realize what it truly is which is way I have a sign on the car explaining that it is a Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang.  But the first person up to look at the car actually knew what it was.  Very nice to talk to someone who knows the car. 

And of course, the General Lee is the star of the car cruise.  So many people taking pictures of it & surrounding it.

It was a perfect evening for a car cruise, not too hot & not cold at all.  Walked around & enjoyed all the nice Hot Rods that were there.  They have a very nice set up at the cruise.  Different food to choose from.  Pizza, hot dogs, & Italian Sausage sandwiches were the most popular.

I hope that we can make it to another car cruise at the World Famous Midway Bar & Grill.  We've always enjoyed the cruises there.  Great cars, great people, & great atmosphere.  One of the best cruises around.

For more pictures of the car cruise find us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/2FastCars?ref=hl

Next blog will be on the All-Ford Nationals in Carlisle, PA

Memorial Day Weekend

We finally made it to our first car cruise of the season.  Unfortunately this Memorial Day weekend was one of the coldest in recent memory.  But it was sunny & no rain in the forecast so we took the Saleen up to Quaker Steak & Lube in Cranberry for the cruise.  We got there early & there was not a lot of cars there yet.  I think that the colder weather kept a lot of the cars at home.

There were some nice cars there, but even as the day progressed, there still was not a lot of cars showing up.  So we didn't stay too long, but we do plan on going back as they usually have nice cruises there.  The cruise in Cranberry takes place every Saturday starting at 5pm.  And they give you a discount on their food there which is an added bonus, especially if you are in the mood for wings.

Then on Memorial Day, the Viper was in our local Memorial Day parade.  Friends of ours asked us if their daughter, who was the Poppy Princess, could ride in the Viper & wave to the crowd.  We were more than happy to help out.  So the Viper got cleaned up & ready for its Memorial Day parade.  And it was a huge success.  Lots of people loved seeing a little Poppy Princess in an awesome car waving to the crowd. 

The rest of the weekend was spent washing & waxing the Saleen Mustang, getting it ready for the All-Ford Nationals in Carlisle.  That will be taking place on June 7-9.  Really looking forward to heading there.  The biggest reason is Steve Saleen will be there.  Can't wait to meet him!  Hoping to have him sign our car under the hood since his signature along with Parnelli Jones is on our dashboard.  But I will tell you all about that weekend after it happens.

I wish that the weather would have been better for some more car fun, but it happens.  We will be back out & about with the cars this weekend so look for another blog about the fun we have this coming weekend. 

For more pictures of the cruise & the parade, please check us out on Facebook at 2FastCars.

The General Lee



My all time favorite tv show growing up was the Dukes of Hazzard.  I loved to watch the Duke boys tear up the road of Hazzard County in their General Lee.  It was the coolest car on tv back then & still to this day.  And now, we own a General Lee of our own.  Pretty cool!

The Dukes of Hazzard debuted on CBS-Tv in January 1979 & ran for seven seasons.  During the seven seasons, the real star of the show continued to be the General Lee.  The General Lee was the Duke boys race car, a 1969 Dodge Charger.  It was hemi orange with a Confederate flag on the roof & the number 01 on the side.  The license plate was CNH 320. The original General Lee on the show had a 440-cubic inch big block engine along with the famous Dixie horn.



As they were writing the script for the Dukes of Hazzard, they were going to call the Duke boys race car Traveller, which is the name of General Robert E. Lee’s horse.  “Do you realized how few people in America would know that?” Madleker asked.  “Let’s just name it General Lee.”  And that is how the General Lee got its name.

But can you imagine the General Lee as a Pontiac Firebird or a Ford Mustang?  The first choose considered for the General Lee was the Pontiac Firebird.  But since the Firebird had been used before in the movie, Smokey and the Bandit, along with other tv shows, they vetoed that.  Then the Ford Mustang was considered.  The Mustang was cool enough, but not very big & wouldn’t work as a stock car.  So the Dodge Charger was chosen.  Back in 1969 the Dodge Charger entered 54 NASCAR races & won 22 of them so it was the perfect stock car.  And in my opinion, I just can’t picture another car being the General Lee.  It was the perfect choice.

And how about that horn?  The Dixie horn.  Did you know that the horn was added by accident.  The folks of the Dukes of Hazzard heard the horn as they drove down a Georgia highway from a car going the opposite way.  So they turned around & followed the car.  They offered the driver $300 for the horn & that horn was placed into the General Lee.



How did the General Lee become part of the Duke family?  In episode #129 Happy Birthday General Lee, they explained how the General Lee was born.  The Duke boys wanted to race in the Hazzard Road Race Championship & they needed a race car.  So they went to the Chickasaw County junkyard & found a black 1969 beat up Dodge Charger, that had just been used in a bank robbery.  They bought it & took it to Cooter’s garage.  With help from Cooter, Uncle Jesse, & Daisy they made the beat up Charger into the General Lee.  They welded the doors shut like all race cars & painted it orange with a Confederate Flag & the number 01 on the side.  Any idea why the color orange?  It was the only color of paint that Cooter had in his garage.  And who named the General Lee?  Uncle Jesse was the one who suggested General Lee. 

In episode #2, Daisy’s song, the first hood slide across the General Lee took place.  That hood slide was a mistake & was not in the original script.  Tom Wopat, Luke Duke, tripped, hit the fender & his foot slipped out from under him & across the hood he went.  And as he slid across the hood, he opened a four-inch gash on his arm.  But the hood slide was born & became part of the show.

 

The General Lee was able to jump anything.  But it required some modifications.  They had a steel box that would carry a varying amount of weight depending on the length of the jump that was welded into the back of the General Lee to help balance it during the jumps.

The General Lee that was driven by the Duke boys was a “first unit” car.  But the “second unit” cars were the ones used for the jumps and other stunts.  The “second unit” cars required extensive modification to keep the stunt drivers safe. 

The highest jump that the General Lee ever did was on the episode #85 The New Dukes & the car was equipped with nitrous oxide.  The longest jump was over a large gully that was used in several episodes, including “Happy Birthday General Lee”.

While none of the cast of the Dukes of Hazzard ever jumped the General Lee,  but they did perform some of the other stunts like the take-offs, spins & stops.

Owning a General Lee is a childhood dream come true.  Everyone wants a picture with the General Lee.  And it brings smiles to everyone who sees it & remembers the tv show The Dukes of Hazzard.  So in the words of the Dukes, “Keep it between the ditches!”

 

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World of Wheels Pittsburgh 2013

This past weekend we went to the Pittsburgh World of Wheels.  It seemed to me that there were more cars there this year than last year.  Very nice turn out of cars considering the weather outside.  It had been a very cold & snowy beginning to the weekend & we lot that perhaps a lot of cars would not make it to the show.  But they proved us wrong. 

 

They have two floors of cars.  We headed to the first floor after purchasing our tickets.  The prices weren't too bad.  As we walked along the first floor, though, the lights went off.  Not sure exactly what happened, but we waited for a few minutes & the lights did eventually come back on.  Once the lights came back on, we headed over to were they had the Batmobiles displayed.  The original Batmobile sold at the Barrett-Jackson auction a few weekends ago for $4.2 million.  It was probably the highlight of the auction.

A lot of the cars really had some very nice displays.  The owners of those cars really took a lot of time & energy to display their cars.  The cars at the show were just excellent.  Not only were the displays well done, but the cars were immaculate.  The bodies of the cars shined, but so did the under-carriage & the engines.

The only thing that bothered us was the fact that other people just didn't seem to understand how much time & money go into these cars.  They are behind chains & ropes for a reason.  So that people can see but not touch.  Unfortunately we saw people touching.  A huge pet peeve of ours.  The first thing that we've taught our children, is to look at the cars & enjoy them, but never to touch. 

Overall, it was a very nice car show.  They had a lot of cars there & something for everyone.  The one thing that this show did was to make us hope that winter goes away soon so that we can take our cars out.  Spring-time, hurry up!

To see more pictures from The World of Wheels Pittsburgh 2013, please visit our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/#!/2FastCars

First Generation Vipers

Back in 1989 the concept for the Viper was debuted at the Detroit Auto Show by Carroll Shelby & Bob Lutz.  They presented an insane V-10 roadster & suggested that it may be built as a Dodge.  There were a lot of skeptics who figured that this insane car would never happen.

But in 1991, it was born.  One of the most incredible supercars.  The Dodge Viper. 

Lamborghini was responsible for the 8.0 liter pushrod cast-iron V-10 engine.  This engine has 400 horsepower with 450 ft. lbs of torque under its long fiberglass hood.  It was able to go 0-60 in 4.4 seconds and completed the ¼ mile in 13.1 seconds.  And the top speed was 164 mph.  Very impressive.

What made it all the more impressive was that it was a very basic car, a driver’s car.  No ABS, no electronic aids.  And the radio, not really worth mentioning since you can’t really hear it above the roar of the engine.  What the Viper is great at, is pure & simple, go as fast as you dare fun.

The first generation Viper RT/10 is from 1991-1995.  The second generation started in 1996 when they added the GTS coupe to the line up.  And the second generation had 415 horsepower with 488 ft. lbs of torque in its V-10 engine.  It went 0-60 in 4.0 seconds with a top speed of 185 mph.  The Viper was proving to be quite a car.

But the creators of the Viper knew that it had to be raced.  It was what it had been born to do.  And race it did.  The Viper won the GT class of the FIA GT championship in Europe from 1997-1999, 2001 & 2002.

The third generation Viper, 2003-2008, came out with a new body style, thanks in part to SRT (Street & Racing Technology).  It lost the roundness & huge one piece hood for a more conventional hood.  The engine also went through some changes.  It was beefed up to a 8.3 liter V-10 that produced an incredible 504 horsepower with 525 ft. lbs of torque.  It could now go 0-60 in 3.8 seconds with a top speed of 190 mph.  And there was still no electronic aids other than ABS.

The fourth generation Viper, 2008-2010,  increased the engine to an 8.4 liter V-10 that produced in insane 600 horsepower with 560 ft. lbs of torque.  It could go from 0-60 in 3.4 seconds with a top speed of 202 mph.  And once again, no electronic aids.

After 2010, the Viper went out of production.  Was that to be the end of what was an incredible supercar?  Nope.  The Viper has returned in 2012. 

The Viper that we own is a 1994, first generation Viper.  And it is just incredible.  There is so much power in the first generation Viper that it is hard to imagine how driving one of the newer Vipers feel.  Will there ever be another car like the first generations of Vipers?  No, never again.  The main reason is that they were very simple.  No drivers aids, just hit the gas & go.  You have to really drive one of these cars.  I’m sure that the new Viper is just as incredible but it has the electronic aids due to changes in the laws.

 

I think that in describing the Viper from 1991-2010, Tanner Foust said it best on Top Gear.  “It feels like it’s trying to kill you.”  But if you love just pure speed, then the Viper is the car for you.

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Reflections

Sitting here listening to the weather tell us about the possibility of snow this weekend & next week.  Bummer!  Had been hoping to get the cars out to one final car cruise this Saturday.  But I don’t think that it will be happening.  Time to winterize the cars & put them away until next spring.

 

 



So I will take a look back on one of our most fun years with cars.  I think one of the main reasons it was so much fun was we did it as a family.  The kids enjoyed it as much as we do.  And they are learning their cars.  Now they will point out cars they see on the road & tell us what they are.  But I also think the other reason was because of the Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang we purchased last year.  We were finally able to go to some of the cruises all together in the same car. 

 

But let’s take a look back at some of the cruises we attended & the fun we had, shall we?  The most memorable cruise & moment this past summer had to be at the All Ford National show in Carlisle, PA were we took 1^st place in our division.  First time there & we do hope to be back.  We had a lot of fun at the show & winning just made it all the more special.  At that moment, I was beginning to realize what a special car we truly had.

The other cruises we attended were just as fun.  We spent time talking to other car enthusiasts & began to truly introduce our kids to the car crazy world.  Our son began his picture taking career by taking his camera with him to every car cruise. 

We ended to car crazy season with a fabulous Pony Trail with our Mustang club.  It was a great way to end the season with our Mustang.

 

But now we must winterize our cars & put them away in the garage until next spring.  The thought makes me very sad.  Number one, I am not a fan of winter or snow.  And number two, I truly enjoy driving my Mustang.  Now all I will be able to do is to go down to our garage & look at it.  L 

We will be back cruising with our cars the first nice spring day in 2013. 

 

 

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PONY TRAIL DRIVE FALL 2012

Sitting here & I can not believe how cold & damp it is.  This past weekend was gorgeous!  The perfect weekend for a cruise looking at the leaves changing colors.  And that is exactly what our Mustang Club did.  Several Mustangs & their owners got together for an 85 mile drive.

After a little bit of a rough start at home, our General Lee which was blocking the Mustang didn't want to start, we headed out to meet our Mustang Club for the Pony Trail.  It was an absolutely wonderful time.  We took our Parnelli Jones Saleen Mustang & my dad drove his Saleen Mustang.  There were about 14 Mustangs in all.  It must have been quit a sight to see all these Mustangs cruising along together.  We saw several people stop & stare as we all drove by. 

As we drove along though, I couldn't help but wish that my dad had his co-pilot with him.  My mom, who passed away a little over a year ago, would have loved the cruise & the beautiful weather.  She loved that Saleen Mustang. 

We had left around 10 in the morning for the cruise & finished around 1ish that afternoon.  We made one pit stop along the way, which was good since we had the kids with us.  We also stopped along the roads a few times to make sure that we didn't lose anyone.  After the wonderful cruise, we had a great lunch at a restaurant called Pizzazz.  The service was a little slow because they only had one waitress but she was great.  She really did the best that she could.  And the food was excellent.

So as I sit here watching the changing weather, I wonder if that will be the last time that we have the Mustang out.  I certainly hope not.  I would love to take it out a few more times before old man winter comes. 

To see more pictures from our Mustang club's Pony Trail, please go to our Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/2FastCars?ref=hl