Cruise Night, Classics and TTV Photography

We have a bunch of photos from the most recent Dunkin Donuts cruise night in Tonawanda, NY up on our Flickr page here http://www.flickr.com/photos/gear4gearheads/sets/72157624122712678/ including some in the newly popular TTV style. They are NOT photoshopped (it is possible to use Photoshop to create an effect somewhat similar to this), but these are true TTV, taken with a digital camera and an Argoflex EM TLR. I did do a little photoshop editing, mainly to "flip" the photos as they show up as a mirror image on the TLR and any with words or symbols would look pretty strange if I didn't edit them! TTV, or Through the Viewfinder, is a technique that uses an old TLR (Twin Lens Reflex) camera, usually from the 40's or 50's (ours is from 1948) to produce a nostalgic and unique effect. We hope to have some of these that are not identifiable brands available for sale soon as well.

We didn't make it with Eleanor. We were wrong on the source of the noise, and are continuing to trouble shoot. We'll post updates as we have them. "They are never done". Truer words have never been spoken in regards to the restoration of classics and hot rods!!

Coffee And Cars At Panera Bread

A local Panera Bread location is playing host to cruise MORNINGS. Yes, that is right, a cruise morning! It runs on Saturdays and is a nice change from cruise nights. Especially earlier in the show season! It might be hard to make if we're going to a further show, but for a close by show, it's a nice stop on the way. We took some photos at the one that ran this past weekend and hosted them on our Flickr page http://www.flickr.com/photos/gear4gearheads/sets/72157624074847358/ if you would like to check them out.

We did manage to take Eleanor (our 1973 Mustang Mach 1) this time. We replaced the grommet that protected the brake line and think we found the source of the squeek that disrupted our last trip. We'll have to shake her down to be sure, but since it's raining it won't be tonight! Just so I don't jinx it, I'll post another time what it was, if it was what we suspect. It wasn't the suspension!

Dunkin Donuts Cruise Night

Just got home from the cruise night and got the pics uploaded into an album on Facebook. We started off with Eleanor (our 1973 Mach 1 Mustang), but she seems to have decided to lose a grommet along the way. The grommet that protects the brake line where it passes through the inner fender apron. We decided we don't want that to rub (being important and all), so we took the daily driver. Nice night, nice people, glad that spring has sprung and brought cruise nights and car show season back with it! My personal favorite was a lovely Fairlane, with all kinds of great options, but the blue Cougar was pretty nice too! And, the tangerine orange Mustang is always a favorite. A friend of ours had a beautiful tangerine stang, built the day before Halloween (he called it the Great Pumpkin) so I always like to see those.

Check out the photographs from the cruise here: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=15144&id=108290459194830&saved

Au De Exhaust

What is au de exhaust? It's the lovely scent you will be wearing after taking a nice long drive in a classic car that has no floor pan plugs! How do I know? Because I'm wearing it right now. Yup, we just took Eleanor out for a drive, and we still don't have pan plugs and the exhaust sneaks in a little. Ok, a little more than a little, but it's nice out so the windows were all the way down. We took a short video on the ride http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cwy5zDmXxD8 .

Ah, spring time.

Gear 4 Gearheads goes Facebook!

That's right, we have a new fan page on Facebook! You can find us here http://www.facebook.com/Gear4Gearheads on Facebook now in addition to Twitter, Youtube and of course, our blog. We plan on using it to provide updates on new additions, projects, and of course, Eleanor (our 73 Mach 1 project). We'd also love to hear YOUR stories! Gear 4 Gearheads is all about the hobby, so we enjoy reading your resto stories, your latest off roading adventures, or the cool show you just went to. We also plan to launch exclusive Facebook Fan specials in the future, so keep an eye on the site for those.

If the mud aint flyin

I mentioned in the blog post about how Gear 4 Gearheads got started back in 2006 with our original saying "if the mud ain't flyin, you ain't tryin". We decided to add it to the general section on the site instead of waiting to get the mudding and off roading section up. We love that saying and want to get it back on the site. Tearing a whole site apart, switching from using an outside vendor, and building a whole new site is a lot of work! We didn't want to keep waiting to get it back up, as the site is taking a bit longer to tweek and build than we thought. So, it's BACK! Gear 4 Gearheads is proud to offer our first saying, back and better than ever! To get your own mudding tee, visit http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/mudaintflying4x4.html or http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/mudaintflyingskull.html .

Here's the original photo that inspired the saying, which is available here http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/mud.html as wallpaper:

And the original post with the whole story is here: http://gear4gearheads.blogspot.com/2009/09/how-gear-4-gearheads-got-started.html

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

Just about everyone has heard the phrase "beauty is in the eye of the beholder". For those that have bought a resto project, it's doubtful anything could hold as true.

Spring has sprung here in New York. There's still a bit of salt on the roads, so we haven't driven Eleanor yet. But we sure did start her up and warm her up! While I was standing in the garage, waiting for her to heat up, I was admiring her rear. Yup, her rear. She's got a nice one-now! I was actually on the drivers side, which didn't have a big dent but we still had to replace the skin. I just can't get over how great she looks now, and how I didn't really think she looked bad at all when we bought her.

I got to thinking other gearheads out there must feel the same about the projects they bring home. Isn't it funny how they don't look THAT bad when you pick them up? Even as we went through the process, she seemed bad, but not basket case bad. And then, we went and looked back at the photos from the beginning to now. And I started to question our sanity! I mean really, what were we thinking?! I guess we were thinking she looked beautiful to us, and it's probably a good thing too.

Here's to project cars and the beauty we all see in them!

Gearhead Greetings!

Introducing our newest product, greeting cards! While there have been companies around that offered Christmas cards for lovers of all things motorized, we're taking it to a new level with our cards. We are offering everything from Christmas and 4th of July to birthdays and anniversaries. These cards are being printed by another company for us to save costs (they are printed in the USA), and we are offering them for $3.79 with free shipping (free shipping applies only to the cards). Please bear with us while we build this part of our site, as it takes some time to add each card. But in the mean time, swing by and check out what we have to offer so far. We're pretty sure you're not going to find too many Tractor Easter Cards, Motorcycle 4th of July cards or Muscle Car Thanksgiving cards out there! you can find the greeting cards here on our site: http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/greetingcards.html

Spring must be coming

We've had a very long standing joke between us regarding how to tell if spring was coming. We don't worry about the ground hog or the robins. Nope, there's one sure way to tell here. We look for the first Chevelle of spring! Sure, we could make it the first muscle car of spring, or the first hot rod of spring, but somehow, those Chevelles always know. This past week, every day at lunch, a nice red Chevelle with black racing stripes has passed us headed in the opposite direction. I cringe a little when I see it, because there's still a touch of white on the roads (salt). And just recently, a blue one with black racing stripes was spotted out from under it's winter car cover. Sure enough, it seems our favorite predictor of the springtime season hasn't failed us. Spring weather is certainly on it's way, we've seen the first Chevelle of spring! If you're a Chevelle fan, stop by our wallpaper page (http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/wallpaper.html ) for a bigger version of the photo you see in this blog post!

Long time, no post!

Well, it's been a typically long winter here in New York. The cars are still tucked away, because there's still some salt left on the roads, so there hasn't been much to report on that front. We've been busy behind the scenes, working on new designs for the shop. I even dug out a CD of my favorite cruising tunes and grooved along as I designed. Nothing like a little "Still cruisin after all of these years" and "Little Duece Coupe" to get you in the car mood even while the snow falls! "Still cruisin" is my absolute favorite cruising tune. I remember one local DJ used to always start shows with that one. Good times!

Gas Mileage Is For Daily Drivers

These shirts http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/dailydrivers.html came from a comment that came to mind while reading a message board for cruisers where we live. I was reading a post about a show that stated they had lowered the entrance fee, so you could buy an extra gallon of gas to drive there (it was tongue in cheek). My immediate reply was “gas mileage is for daily drivers, summer is too short to worry about that with your cruiser!”. Then I thought “hmm…gas mileage IS for daily drivers!” and designed shirts for those that agree with us. We already had these shirts http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/gasmileage.html (and we do wear them) that had come up from a conversation with a spectator at a show saying that our classic must get pretty poor gas mileage. Honestly, we have no idea, it hasn’t been driven enough to know, due to various problems that have kept it in the garage more-such is the fun of a restoration. However, we told the gentleman in a very nice way that we didn’t build it for the gas mileage. In keeping with the gas mileage/gas prices theme, we also added these http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/letscruise.html and these http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/buygas.html because we can’t let gas mileage keep our cars garage bound. Snow and breakage will do that for us!

My other car is being restored

This was a tongue in cheek design, made because our little never ending restoration project was beginning to the be the stuff of legend. People we knew from out of state had never seen the car, and began to tease us that it really didn't exist. We tried several times to get it into drivable condition to make events, but as restorations go, this one has been fairly typical in taking WAY too long and being filled with endless surprises and part searching expeditions. We have later model cars that we can (and do) take to events, but that classic never seemed to make it. We decided that other people must have the same "problem" and decided we would make a shirt for all of us out there with one of those forever restorations. So, we came up with the simple saying, my other car is being restored.

Forget Diamonds!

This is another favorite of mine. I'm not a diamonds and dresses kind of girl, and I'd much rather get things for my car that jewelry for the holidays. Most people that know me aren't surprised by this at all, but Mike used to get some funny looks when he bought me microfiber towels as a birthday gift! So anyway, around the holiday season one year some commercial for a jeweler came on, talking about how every woman wants diamonds as a gift. I said, forget diamonds, I want CHROME! And then I promptly logged in to create that shirt, which I frequently wear to car shows. It gets a lot of comments! I have to say, it's the PERFECT shirt for anyone like me that couldn't care less about carats but insists on triple dipped chrome! You can find these shirts here on our website: http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/diamonds.html

How Gear 4 Gearheads Got Started

Did you ever wonder what exactly started a company? Well, let me tell you what one event started Gear 4 Gearheads! Surprisingly, although Eleanor is a regular "contributor" to our sayings, she wasn't the that vehicle that started the shop. We don't own the one that started it all anymore, it was our daily driver at the time.

A few years ago, we had a Subaru Baja (ok, I know, it's an import, but Ford won't bring the Falcon Ute over here and we wanted better gas mileage than our Bronco was getting us). Surprisingly, it was REALLY capable off road. It's small size and well refined AWD system made it nearly unstoppable as long as ground clearance wasn't an issue. It could slog through mud like no other truck we ever owned.

One day while we were driving around, we found this great "seasonal use highway" that was full of mud and water. I had just gotten a new DSLR camera and thought it would be fun to get a photo of the Baja flinging mud. So, we made a low speed pass to check for rocks, a second higher speed pass for the fun or it, then another higher speed pass for the photo opp. That photo can actually be found on our wallpaper page, right here http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/mud.html .

I made that photo my computer wallpaper I liked it so much. Then one day while I was thinking how fun it was to send the mud flying up into the air like that and I thought "if the mud ain't flyin, you ain't tryin". Hm. You know, I thought, that would make an AWESOME shirt. So our very first shirt was "born" and so was Gear 4 Gearheads. Look for that shirt soon, as we add "off roading and mudding" to the website (we are completly changing the site, so we only have a few of the 30 or so sections up at this time-pardon the bondo, but the final result will be a lot better than before, with the added bonus of Made in the USA shirts being added as we go).

Eleanor, our 1973 Mustang Mach 1

This is the story of how we came to own our '73 Mustang and why her name is Eleanor. Back in 2002, we were looking for a classic Mustang. We had a Ford Falcon Futura station wagon, but although it was a cool classic car, it just wasn't us. We really wanted an early Mustang. We searched and scoured the ads and leads. We just weren't finding the "one". One day an ad appeared for a 1973 Mach 1, and it just so happened that we actually had to drive past the owner's house on the way home from work! The owner said the car ran, but it needed some work and she didn't have the time or money to do it. We decided we'd take a look, since it was within our budget.

The car was sitting behind the house when we went to look, so we couldn't see her from the road. We walked to the backyard and saw a faded yellow Mustang with a HUGE dent in the passenger rear quarter. Although we could tell the car was clearly beyond our ability, we still decided to have a look. In addition to the faded paint and dent (which we would later learn happened when the barn she was stored in fell down in a windstorm), there was rust everywhere and the bottom 3-4" of the passenger door skin was cut off. The yellow color looked more like Marhyde primer than actual paint, and she was covered in a patchwork of primer spots. We had discussed doing some body work, but it was clear this car was going to need a lot more than "some" work! We took the vin and door codes and told the owner we would let her know.

The vin and door codes confirmed she really was a Mach (the lack of the NASA hood and base interior had us wondering if she was really a Mach 1 or a Sportsroof), and her DSO explained her rough shape-she was an original New York car. While we were fascinated, we decided she was too much for us and called the owner to let her know we wouldn't be buying the car.

A few weeks later, she moved the car. Now everyday, twice a day, we drove past the car on our way to and from work. After a few weeks, we decided that maybe we over reacted and took a second look. Nope, we even missed some things, like the fact that the radiator support had been welded in the middle. We passed on the car again, and continued to look for the "one".

Then came the fateful night in November. We were on our way home from somewhere at about 10pm when we saw the car up on a trailer. Uh-oh, someone BOUGHT OUR MUSTANG! We had to know. Even though it was late, we stopped and knocked on the door. The owner's boyfriend answered and told us that no, the car wasn't sold, the city gave them a summons for an unlicensed vehicle and since the trailer was licensed, he put it up on the trailer so they couldn't bother them. That did it. We knew we were buying that faded yellow Mustang that night. We made the deal, which included the boyfriend trailering the car to our house. A few days later, right around Thanksgiving, we had a 1973 Mustang parked in our driveway.

When we bought her, we had never heard of the original Gone in 60 Seconds movie, the one that starred a 1973 Mustang named Eleanor. But as we researched the car, we found the movie. Our original plan of painting her Ivy Green Metallic or Grabber Green was replaced. We would repaint her in her original color of yellow, and build her into a clone of that infamous Eleanor. Because the more we learned about that car, the more respect we had for her and Toby Halicki, the writer, producer, director and other star of Gone In 60 Seconds. The fact that ONE car could do all that Eleanor did and still run and drive afterwords was impressive to say the least.

That's just the very beginning of our Eleanor's long and twisting saga. She was in much worse shape than we had anticipated, and at this point, the only major components that remain from the original body are: roof, a-pillers, frame rails, driver's side shock tower, driver's side inner wheelhouse, transmission hump, rear seat platforms, some interior bracing and firewall. Nearly every other piece of sheetmetal has been replaced, and many pieces came from donor cars. We lost count around 45 (some were minor, like headlight bezels, some were major, like the entire passenger side quarter panel). We have some photos here http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/about.html on our website and a slideshow of photos on our you tube channel here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFU-MaoaLkU so everyone can see what we got ourselves into!

Even now, she's not done (not that any classic car, muscle car or hot rod build is ever really done). But she's come a long way and is clearly recognizable as looking an awful lot like the "before" version of Eleanor in the 1974 version of Gone In 60 Seconds!

A Very Special Photo

Back in 1989, Toby Halicki Started to film Gone In 60 Seconds II, the sequal to the film he produced in 1974, Gone In 60 Seconds. Part of that movie was filmed around his home town of Dunkirk, New York. You can see parts of Jamestown as well as an industrial complex in Kemore New York. Sadly he was killed while filming the movie and never finished the film. However, his widow had the film digitally remastered and released it in 2000. We were lucky enough to find the warehouse complex where the film was made and took Eleanor there. This is actually where the filming took place, and where he drove the semi truck he had stolen in and where the Slicer was hidden. This is one of a few special places we want to take our Eleanor to. You can tell she isn't finished yet, but she's getting close! You can see a larger photo and also download it as free wallpaper on our website here http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/wallpaper.html We'll be blogging shortly about our Eleanor's story and how we came to buy a 1973 Mustang Mach 1 and build a clone from a movie that was produced over 25 years before the time we bought the car.

Happy Retirement Nancy J!

Well, we found out this Saturday at WNY's biggest car show (over 1000 cars this year) that a local legend and car show DJ was retiring. Nancy J is one of the best known DJ's here in western NY, carrying on the business for five years after the passing of her husband Stevie J (of Stevie J's Rock N Roll Revival). When we fisrt started going to shows, they were among the first to welcome us to the "family". We'll miss you spinnin' the tunes Nancy!

Anyone that's been through a restoration process really knows the meaning of these t-shirts! It can seem like a never ending process, where the light at the end of the tunnel might turn out to be a freight train instead of the actual end of the tunnel! From the hard work and late nights to scouring the internet and junkyards for the right parts to the surprises and of course, the cost (which is NEVER what you intended to spend-it's always more), restoring a car can be a real frustration. But in the end,it is all worth it when you get into the car, sit down in the seat (that's even attached to the floor pans), turn the key and that motor roars to life as you hit the open road. All the aggravation, exhaustion (I've taken to calling ours "project sleep deprivation"), time and of course, money, just fades away as the asphalt disappears under your wheels. Ah yes, in the end, it's worth every damn penny! This shirt is dedicated to our own experiance driving our project, which certainly was worth every damn penny! Want to see our project? check out our "about us" page for some photos: http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/about.html

Photos From Ford Proving Grounds Mustang Alley Friday

http://mustangalley2009.shutterfly.com/19

What this is all about:About two weeks before woodward, we got an email because we were registered for Mustang Alley. The offer? A day at Ford's Dearborn proving grounds. We meet, caravan up with a police escort, then make a parade lap on the low speed track. Then we park and take a van over to the conference center. Then, a meet and greet with some Ford folks, a track tour, a chance to drive some of their cars (Fiesta, 2010 Mustangs and an AWD Fusion) on the steering track. Finally, the ultimate. HOT LAPS on the suspenion and steering track with pro drivers. Cars? Ford GT's, Mustangs and a Fiesta (the one guy broke the V8 Focus). The Fiesta was very surprising, it really handled. The GT was everything they are meant to be. SO much fun!

About us

We just added some photos to our about us page (http://www.gear4gearheads.biz/about.html ) on our website. We're waiting on a good one of us from the special Friday Mustang Alley event at the Ford Proving Grounds in Dearborn to be posted by the photographers that were allowed to have cameras at the event. In the mean time, we thought you might like to see that we really do have our own restoration project, and see just how much work she's been so far. That way, when we tell you that she inspired shirts like "I love the smell of bondo in the morning", you can see why! Check it out when you get a chance, and see how our Eleanor has progressed from start to now!