Muckenthaler Car Festival

There was a very good showing at the annual Muckenthaler Motor Car Festival, maybe 150 for Sunday’s concours. It was beastly hot though. I got out of there before noon and it was already about 94 degrees!

The LA Jaguar club did not disappoint. There were eight or nine E-types! Unfortunately the earliest was 1964 and none had aluminum-faced interiors. I’ve got more pics than I’m showing here. These are just the highlights. I did closely examine a top-condition 1964 OTS though.

Check out the super-clean engine. Hey, he polished up his bright bits too!

I even rolled around on the ground.

Here are a couple of others in the same group —

I even got to chat up some of the owners. The cross-section of people was interesting. That black ’64 I crawled around was supposedly restored by a team of three pros working for over a year. I don’t imagine restos get much more expensive than that. At the other end of the scale, that green FHC’s owner did most of his own work and we chatted about part suppliers, rechroming, 5-speed trannies and such. He dove into it without really researching anything. He had learned only recently that the Amco bars were not original Coventry items. His end result still looks bitchin’.

Overall I’d say the owners were my age or older, with just a couple of younger guys.

Here are some of my other favorites from the show, in no particular order. How about an orange Z28? I don’t think I captured this retina-burning color well enough.

This here is a Shelby GT500, the real deal. Not one of those kit cars or the embarassingly expensive and incapable new model.

Here is a Group 4 Pantera. You have no idea how much I lusted after the similar Group 5’s back in the day!

Here’s a nice group of classic Datsun Z-cars, known as Fairlady Z’s overseas.

This Porsche 917 looked a little out of place, too close to public streets! I’d still like to take it for a spin.

How about a hard core Mini Cooper? Check out the spare tires on the roof rack and the rally lights up front. Not one of those yuppie Mini’s now produced by BMW. This one has hair on its chest!

Here’s a gorgeous Packard Custom 180. I have no idea if that was the original model or if that means it was customized. But this one stood out from a gaggle of other art deco cars.

This ’59 Caddy El Dorado was as big as a whale! Lanes must have been wider back then?

And the obligatory gaggle of vettes —

There was so much more to see and the rolling hills of the museum grounds were great. Check it out next year!

Here’s another bright spot since my last post. My stepson Brian passed the California Bar exam! It was his second attempt but I wasn’t worried. I got him Lamy’s understated yet exotic Dialog 2 pen in anticipation of his passing. Ordinarily he’d get sworn-in in a group ceremony but the law firm he’s working for needed an esquire ASAP so they arranged a ceremony during a superior court session. The judge was nice and allowed photos —

Back in my garage, I did promise you some polishing and I always deliver. Here is the left side valve cover and I think I’m done.

No, it is not perfect. Especially compared to those show cars I just saw. But these are easy parts to revisit later if I decide to refine my work.

By the way, Joe and Bob both agreed the best solution to the cracks in the valve cover is probably to have it welded on the top side and then grind it back to proper shape. I’ll probably do that down the road. Patrick’s comment on my last post must be correct that whoever cracked it just didn’t use new copper washers. They are difficult to re-use without leaking. I need new acorn nuts in addition to the washers. I cleaned the rust off my nuts but they appear to be chrome plated. The missing and pitted chrome is obvious.

I may or may not get more work done this holiday weekend so we’ll post this as-is because those cars sure stand on their own! See you next time.