Lawrenceville Day At The Strip Autocross, 2009
The New Fab Shop...
The new building is nearing completion, so the boss decided to christen it by bringing Velocity in and running a big smoky burnout from one end to the other. (For more pics and info on Velocity, our kick-ass '68 Camaro, see our website at www.ridetech.com) Damn, I love this place! LOL :) The stairs to the left of the car and the door above leads to my new lair; supposed to be moving in any day now. It's roughly 4 times the size of my current room and I whined enough to get my own bathroom! No more cleaning up after the boys! They also gave me plenty of windows to peer out and overlook the whole shop, although the boys swear they're going to weld the door shut and remove the stairs once I'm up there :)
Project Impala is on the road!
Thanks to some long ours and hard work from John, Beau, Dennis, Brit, and some of the other guys, they got it done on time to go to Joliet. The 307 did surprisingly well! We're going to keep going on it on Wednesdays (kind of like a poker night, lol), but now we'll have plenty of time to do whatever we need to do. It'll be an ongoing thing; Bret says it still belongs to us and we can do whatever we want to it. If he wants to do another Impala, he'll buy a different one. He also said we could get another one and do a high-class build like we're known for, but the guys are pretty worn out after this car. :)
World's longest Nova?
I had to include this pic just 'cause I think it's hilarious. Looks like a Nova Limo in there! But it's just our Nova and the SuperNova (the car we built for this year's Goodguys Giveaway Car) on our new trailer, they just happen to be the same color.
Just a swingin'
Snaps, Dave, and Vaal take a break after welding up the basic framework on the swingset they're building for Sharon. Beau designed and drew it, and these three are bending it all out of stainless tubing on our CNC bender and welding it up. It also uses some of our rod ends and TigerCage components, so that's pretty cool. It's not even close to finished here though. I'd hate to see what the final cost would be if it were for sale, lol! There aren't any seat slats on it yet, so these guys are sitting with bars up their cracks or with their butts wedged in between the bars. I couldn't resist snapping the pic :)
The Oil Spill
A few months ago before we went to the autocross at Lawrenceville, I had Nathan change my oil so she'd be fresh for the track. He changed it Friday evening in the driveway. Saturday morning while he was working, I backed her out to pull in the yard and finish waxing her. When I got out, I noticed this trail; all of my $9-a-quart oil, tracked out behind the car! I was so pissed it's a wonder the oil didn't ignite from my temper. Turned out we had been sold the wrong filter (my fault, I should've checked it, and Nate should have noticed when he put it on). I called Advance and they were nice enough to meet me halfway with a replacement filter and free oil, and we got on the road just in time to meet up with the dozen or so of our other cars and run with the pack.
Friggin' Sweet!
It's a good thing I was slowing down to turn in my driveway when I spotted this beaut sitting in the electric company parking lot, because I jammed on the brakes as my jaw dropped. I've been waiting to see one of these for months! It's a 2009 Dodge Challenger; I think they're gorgeous. Can't wait until the Camaro comes back next year; according to the concept pics, it's going to be just as nice. So anyway, I chalked up my brakes and hopped out to get some pics. The guys were in the shop and the one who owns it came out to show it off; he was grouching a little, saying that he couldn't even get gas without ten people stopping him to talk about it, and that people were even showing up at his house when it was in the driveway. Dude, you buy a car like this (probably $50k or higher), and you've gotta expect attention!
Another Challenger
Wouldn't you know it, a week or so after seeing the orange one, this one shows up at work. This one was being driven by the guys from Afco who were setting it up for someone's SEMA exhibit. They let Bret take it for a spin and he asked me to go along; of course I did! He put it through it's paces. They're heavy, pushy in the corners, but quieter than I thought they'd be (engine-wise). It did get up and go before you knew it, though. Bret was really fond of the transmission, it was the kind that's automatic when you want it to be, or you can make it behave like a stick. Would take some getting used to if you weren't used to it, I think. Bret says we've ordered one that should be in this fall, but he hasn't decided if we're going to take delivery of it or not. I think he should; with the Mustang, the Challenger, and the Camaro coming back, I think there will be a good market for this "muscle car revolution" and we'd be smart to have it all figured out and ready to sell.
Another Metallica Car
Flipping through an old issue of Street Rodder magazine at lunch, and noticed an editorial on a sweet '36 Ford Coupe owned by Kirk Hammett...nice car, and in the facts & figures list: it has our Shockwaves! Now, considering the mag is from March of '07 and who knows how much earlier the build was done, they're probably not my shocks in them, but it's still cool.
Firebird in the clouds
Can you see it? Is it a sign? :)
The Air Ride Impala
As a 'team building' project, the boss has given us a '62 Impala to restore after hours. We're designing it in the vintage NASCAR style, and several of us are pitching in and learning how to do body work, etc. I'll post more pictures as the project progresses. We have to be done by mid-September for the Joliet show, so we should have a finished product soon. :)
James Hetfield's shock!
Here's a shock I built for a car owned by James Hetfield of Metallica. One of my proudest moments, lol!
I'm in Hot Rod Magazine!
May have to click to enlarge the article. Not the most flattering pictures, but it's better than some of the others he took; Bret and Peg were chatting and I got bored, so I started posing. I can't keep my composure around cameras anymore, I don't know why. But the photographer loved it and took several shots of my air guitar and Vanna White poses; luckily, they didn't make it on the cover. :)
Street Challenge 2006
My first year at Air Ride, we rented Putnam Park Road Course and took several of our cars up as well as inviting the media and some customer cars. We had a couple professional drivers there to put our stuff through its paces; that's me in the middle pic with NASCAR driver Boris Said. I fell madly in love with the red T/A (surprise), and the driver took me for a few laps around the entire course at what felt like mach 4 or so. My handprint is permanently imbedded in the door brace now.
