Tag Archive for Auto Restoration

Car Tips – Keeping the Car Clean in Winter…

February 18, 2014 / / One comment

844-DENT 411  / 844-336-8411

Winter is going to be over in a month, which means that we’re going to start having nice days in Portland and throughout The Gorge.  Before we get too worried about dents and dings, there are other things to attend to.

What do you do now that most of the snow from the last storm has melted, and your car looks like it’s been rolling around in the mud and sand?  Some of you are going to risk being blamed for the next week of rainfall and wash the car!!!

If you are the type of person that has people to handle such things – I applaud you.  If not, and you’re going it alone, read on…

Having somebody else wash the car for you...

Having somebody else wash the car for you…

Here’s the tip – if the car has sand, rock and grit clinging to it, you must give it a good rinse before you touch it with a wash rag and soap.

I’m lazy, so I take it to the local pressure wash style car wash place, and blow the grit and grime off with a pressure wash wand, before I take it home for a bath.  This does an excellent job of reducing the amount of scratching that a hand wash can cause.

Other Tips:

  • Use automobile specific wash soap (Auto Parts Store, Wal-Mart)
  • Use different wash rags / mitts for the car and wheels
  • A waxed car sheds dirt more easily (Spring Project, or Auto Detail Company)

Here are some more tips for keeping your car clean.  Clean Car Tips

Category: Car Tips, CARS, DENT REPAIR / Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Why Porsche’s are Called Carrera’s

January 22, 2014 / / Comments Off on Why Porsche’s are Called Carrera’s

844-DENT 411  / 844-336-8411

Everybody has seen a Porsche Carrera.  What does that mean?  Why are they called Carrera’s?

1973-74 911 RS – The First 911 Based “Carrera”

This is how I remember it…  When I was a kid, I liked Porsche’s – a lot.  They were hand made, they were brilliantly elegant in their simplicity, they were fun, and they were cool – Steve McQueen cool.

I loved those cars from an early age, but it took a while for me to appreciate the importance of Porsche.  Now, I believe that not having Porsche in sports car racing would be like not having both the New York Yankees and Boston Red Sox, no Babe Ruth, no Hank Aaron.  It would be as if there was no Green Bay Packers, no San Francisco 49ers, no Vince Lombardi, no Joe Namath.  You get the point…

With my Dad and “The Speedster”

The first cars I loved were the 356’s (the un-enlightened referred to them as bathtubs).  They included Speedsters, Coupes, Cabriolets and once in a while you would see the most beautiful Porsche of all, a 550. A 550 is famous as the type of car James Dean died in.  The 550 was ages ahead of its time.  It appeared in the early 1950’s as a mid-engine sports car with a small 4 cam motor (dual overhead cams, times two), and it was fast!!!  The 550 had great success in a most prestigious road race, La Carrera Panamericana.  This is how, and why, the name Carrera found its way into Porsche nomenclature.

Originally, the Carrera name appeared to be reserved for those cars that had the little 4 cam motors – they were mostly the 356’s and carried the “Carrera” badge that is now so closely associated with Porsche.  This is also why sometimes you will see an old guy wearing a t-shirt that says “Real Carrera’s have 4 Cams”. When I was young, that was the kind of thing that seemed clever to me.  Now, I’m more impressed by genuinely clever people – like those making the Porsches, and deciding that the coolest ones (4 cams, or not) get to be called a Carrera…

Anyway.., I had recently noted that there are some good replica cars driving around.  I saw several of them recently at a car event, and one of them was a 550 (Genesis for Carrera’s).  The reason this is cool, is that these cars are another way for us to recall important automotive history – and a way to afford (like the original Porsches) fun cars.

So, while I had always considered the 550 to be a Carrera (because of the 4 cam motor), the first car to be called a Carrera without having a 4 cam motor, was the 906.  The 906 was also known as the Carrera 6 and had a version of the 911 flat six motor.

I enjoyed seeing both of these cars, as they reminded me of some Porsche history that I learned as a teenager, and brought me to love sports car racing.  They also rekindled memories of my two favorite “Carrera’s”, the 4 cam 904’s (Carrera GTS) and the 718’s (RSK’s) – I was fortunate to have regular access to both of those cars as a teenager.  I was a lucky kid, and I look forward to seeing examples of them sometime soon.

disclaimer: I’m not an expert about these cars.  The reason I believe the 550 is a reproduction is that the motor and wheels don’t look right, to me.  There are also some 906 reproductions out there, but I don’t think this was one of them.

Category: Auto Racing, CARS, Fun Stuff, Motorsport, Supercars / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
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