Rock Hill Cars and Coffee

Two Lamborghinis and a dog. I think that's the lyrics for the 12 days of Christmas song. 

Bottom line up front: I live in Rock Hill. There is a monthly Cars and Coffee held at Knowledge Perk. I went. I bought a coffee. Here's the cars. The end. 

Nissan Figaro. Only sold in Japan, they're now old enough to be imported.

No idea!

Shelby Mustang signed by Carroll Shelby. He must have spent half his life signing cars!

Ford Victoria

BMW M8, only 617 horsepower. Starts at $138,800.

Nissan Nismo 370Z. "Z" you later!

Red Cobra, so of course, Red Venom.

OK, you can read this one I know. 

1972 DATSUN 240Z with the original window sticker, one owner car! $4,248 original price. Somebody get me a time machine and a bunch of money, because I'm going back and getting a couple of these. 

Ford truck #1

SPOILER ALERT!

Pontiac GTO

Ford truck #2

Porsche 911 Carrera Turbo. We call this color M&M blue.

Modified Camaro

Mach 1 Mustang

Jeeps, and I'm sure you already know they have 7 slots in the grill.

Plymouth Sport Fury- must be related to Nick Fury.

Subaru Brat

Plymouth Sport Fury, 4 speed 383.

I honestly thought this was a Cadillac with these fins, but it's a Plymouth Belvedere.

Seldom Seen

Any guesses?
Is this a 6 pack of energy drink?
Half a dozen hand grenades?
Nope, try pistons inside an AC condenser.
What a pain to take this apart and put back together. 

Instead of saying “Here’s something you don’t see every day," let’s call this set of photos Seldom Seen. 

 

Here is a Vehicle Emission Control Information or VECI label. Besides emissions info, if you are really stuck and don’t know what year model car you’re looking at, this label will tell you. This is a 2020 MY (model year.)

Used and new Thermal Expansion Valve or TEV. It takes high temp liquid AC refrigerant and turns it to cooler lower pressure before it goes to the evaporator to cool your cabin. 

What is this plastic gizmo in the trunk of a 1991 BMW?

It's a tool kit! With no tools!  

Just the oil pan on my Maverick. You’ll only see this view if you remove the underbody cover. 

NMS-South Appears in Lemons Race Video!

Screen Shot of The Dodgesons from the video

"The Dodgesons" screen shot
Here's the video on YouTube:  LEMONS AT CMP

Brian (AKA NMS-South) and his friends in the Bunch of Idiots racing team were in a recent Lemons race here in South Carolina, and the final video from the official 24 Hours of Lemons folks has hit YouTube.  To see these drivers and hear what they're up to, go to 8:00 minutes into the video and you'll see the hosts talking about the big purple Dodge, themed as "THE DODGESONS", and then the video goes to our friends "THE DIRTSUNS" in their Datsun 510! Just a crazy family reunion at the race you know!

Later, as the video lists the race prize winners, look closely, and you'll see that the footage is from inside the Coronet with NMS-South (Brian) driving! Hey, I don't know about you, but I think that's pretty cool! 

The Bunch of Idiots video screen shot

Besides the Bunch of Idiots, I think this video gives you a great idea of what Lemons racing is all about, which is mostly having fun with cars, and doing crazy stuff at the same time, all while being safe on track. Oh, but it's not ALL on the track, because the race here in South Carolina features a unique Friday Night Block Party in downtown Camden, and there's plenty of scenes from there also (like the photo above.) The video also includes a lot of quick references to the Dodgesons and Dirtsuns "Family" theme, as in from the Fast and Furious films, so that's kind of extra cool too. 

That's NMS-S (Brian) in-car camera for the video trophy section. 

Car Questions

You want people to know what you're driving!

I went to the Lake Wylie Cars and Coffee (new to me) recently, and enjoyed seeing some old, new, and in between cars. Since I'm in air conditioning class right now, I started looking at how the AC systems were set up on various cars, so that was some good experience. One thing that really stuck out was that old cars either with or without AC generally have a lot less pulleys and accessories attached to the serpentine belt. Some of them looked like there was the crankshaft, and a belt that only went to the alternator. 

Mustang

Anyway, in the midst of looking at AC stuff, I also noticed on an old Plymouth Valiant a brake master cylinder with only one brake line, so from my brake class this told me it was old enough (1960s) that back then some cars just had one brake line for all 4 wheels. The reason you can't make a car like that anymore is the safety requirement to have at least 2 brake lines. This comes in handy if you ever lose brake pressure or fluid, because with the one-line system to all 4 wheels you'd then lose brakes on ALL 4 wheels. Not good unless you apply the Fred Flintstone driving method.

Ford

Along the way, as I was looking at all the cool cars, I thought of a few questions, so I'll throw some of those questions with the appropriate photo below also. Thanks for reading. 

Classic Monte Carlo badge, who doesn't love that?

Chevy Bel Air. Why don't they make this again?

Charger with fake side ports. It still looks cool, huh?

Porsche, why do they call it a slant nose?

Plymouth Valiant Signet.  As Gunnery Sgt Hartmann in Full Metal Jacket said, "Are you royalty?" Signet has a nice ring to it. 

Here ya go, Plymouth Valiant with one brake line for all 4 wheels. The owner stated that sure enough he lost all his brakes one time on the Interstate. Cars are now required to have more than one brake line. 

Nissan GTR. These are great fast cars, but do you even know anyone that owns one?

This was a nice display on this Chevy. How do you like the yellow?

When was the last time you saw a car with timing marks on it?

SPOILER ALERT: Doesn't everyone want a new Corvette?

Corvette interior. 

Corvette tubeless rear tire, 345 width is a HUGE tire. How much does this tire cost? I looked it up and saw $446 for one rear tire. 

I have no questions on one of the coolest logos ever! Carry on!

2009 Porsche Cayman. You didn't think I'd leave out my own car did you?

Shelby Cobra. Should I have moved over 1 step, so that it looked like the snake was eating my head? Maybe next time. 

Plastic head cover. Am I the only one worried about this?

Mid-sixties engine bay. How do you like all that space in there?

Late model engine bay. Where'd all the room go?

Ford Oil Bath and StratoStar labels. Who doesn't need more labels on their car?

Ford Victoria. Don't you love having your name on your car? I'm not sure how many people named Victoria bought this car for that reason, but you never know!

I like a good vanity license plate. If enough people pay extra for them, don't you think the rest of us should get free ones?

Ford 5.0 liter Coyote engine. Not a bad name, but how about "Werewolves of London 5.0?"

Roush is another Ford performance company. This logo is OK, but I still like the Coyote more, how about you?