Gen Interest Articles

Tom Overton and his wife Johanna had a day to remember at the Goodguys 22nd Autumn Get-Together. They drove to today’s event together but happily drove home in separate cars as Tom won the 1969 Chevelle SS 396 Giveaway car presented by J Rockcliff Realtors, CBS 5 and radio station KITS FM, known locally in the bay area as “Live 105.”

Overton, a retired San Leandro, CA police officer couldn’t believe his luck. “I had an SS 396 El Camino but it was stolen and never recovered. Today’s my lucky day” he said with a large grin. A resident of nearby Dublin, CA, who's also an avid motorcyclist Overton plans to bring the car right back to the Pleasanton Fairgrounds for next year’s events. “I’m gonna keep it and cruise it,” he said. “Maybe even do a burnout!”

Renowned custom car designer Chip Foose was in Cleveland, Ohio for the 2nd annual I-X Piston Power Show on October 1, 2011. Prior to his arrival, we offered fans an opportunity to ask Chip questions through the Lincoln Electric Facebook page about his approach to building, tech tips, or anything else they wanted to know.

Chip was kind enough to sit down with us and address some of these questions.

Dana Mecum, president of The Mecum Auction Company, and Ryan Friedlinghaus, founder and CEO of West Coast Customs(r), have joined forces to offer a custom 2011 Chevrolet Camaro convertible to raise funds for Operation Mend.

Operation Mend is a partnership between Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center, Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, and the Veterans Administration-Greater Los Angeles Healthcare System established to help treat U.S. military personnel severely wounded during service in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The crew at the West Coast Customs® (WCC) garage will exclusively use welding equipment and consumables from Lincoln Electric when restyling luxury autos on the Discovery HD Theater network’s TV show, Inside West Coast Customs. Check out Inside West Coast Customs, Sunday at 9 p.m. EST on Discovery Channel's HD Theater. The team at WCC, renowned for their ability to transform vehicles from everyday autos to functional works of art at their high-end shop in Corona, Calif., has named Lincoln Electric as its exclusive supplier of welding products and personal protection gear, on-screen and off.

The most highly attended class we offer is called EFI 101.
EFI 101 consists of a total of 1½ days and focuses mainly on classroom discussions followed by an actual live tuning demonstration on a dynomometer. This class begins with a general overview of the basic functions and theory involved in controlling an engine using electronic fuel injection.
In depth discussions about each sensor and actuator used, and their functions are held throughout the session with emphasis on interaction between students and instructors to ensure that everyone understands each concept before progressing to the next.
Once the entire EFI system and its components have been discussed, the class moves into discussions on the basic concepts of how the engine operates and the methods used to actually tune the calibration. Specific attention is paid to understanding how the process of computing the correct engine control is accomplished and the common methods of progression through the tuning process from beginning to end.

The ultimate car building television showdown is coming back for season 2 - and it will be bigger than ever. Starting NOW, the Car Warriors casting department is seeking submissions for new challenge teams from across the country. We are recruiting teams with crazy talent who are eager to show the world their skills. If you are enthusiastic and passionate about building cars---and if you can prove it, we want to hear from you! If you are competitive and opinionated and not afraid to show it... If you know of 6 people that can build a car from top to bottom, and can have fun doing it... If you are up to the challenge of putting your skills to the test under the craziest car building schedule ever...

Carroll Shelby was born on January 11, 1923 in Leesburg, Texas. When Shelby was ten years old his family decided to move to Dallas, Texas. While growing up in Dallas, Shelby participated in his share of street racing. However, World War II soon took him from the driver's seat of a car into an airplane cockpit as a flight instructor. Although Shelby didn’t have his heart set on being a race car driver and designer, he soon gravitated toward the field after a number of other ventures proved unsatisfactory. In 1954, Shelby won his first professional prize of $2,000 for finishing fifth place at Monza. After a four race tour of Europe, Shelby returned to the United States to set records at Bonneville Salt Flats, Utah in an Austin-Healey sports car. During 1957, Shelby won nineteen races straight, won his first National SCCA Championship, and was featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated Magazine as “Driver of the year”.

If you’ve ever owned or played with a Hot Wheels car, you owe Elliot Handler a debt of gratitude. Handler, the “el” in Mattel and creator of Hot Wheels, died Thursday in his Southern California home. He was 95.

In 1945, Handler, his wife Ruth, and friend Harold “Matt” Matson founded Mattel (named for Matt and Elliot); Matson was quickly bought out. Starting with picture frames, Handler started a side business building doll houses using scrap wood. The Handlers were a formidable team: With Elliot’s ability to create fun toys and Ruth’s marketing savvy, including turning to the new medium of television to get the word out, Mattel quickly grew. Their first blockbuster hit was Barbie, in 1959, which almost single-handledly landed Mattel on the Fortune 500.

The automobile age and Hollywood’s fantasyland crossed paths more than 70 years ago in Camden, NJ when the first drive-in theater opened in 1933. It changed the way Americans dated and created a place for parents to go to the movies without hiring a babysitter. “There are families with children too small to be taken along to an indoor movie, as their crying may disturb the other patrons. Here they may cry as loud as they wish as the other patrons will not be disturbed. It doesn’t matter whether it is rainy or dry, as the patron remains seated in his own automobile during the performance with the windows of his car open or closed, as he pleases….patrons like the idea of dressing informally, lounging in their cars, smoking and taking refreshments while watching a picture.” By 1958 there were more than 5,000 drive-ins in the United States. In some drive-ins, the ushers had so far to patrol they used bicycles to get around.