"500 or more words on what possessed you, your plan, and when your first race will be. Plus 1-2 photos, preferable one with both of you in the photo."
The Blitz is an Opel Magazine that (I believe) is funded by Opel GT Source and Mike is the editor. I'm kinda flattered that he wants to tell our story. That's all for today. No work on the car; no costs to report.
::Below is a copy of the article I wrote for The Blitz::
Infancy of an Opel LeMon
by Robert Ferris
Our little project began two or three years ago with a bottle of brandy, a box of cigars, and an argument. “Which car would be the most fun to make into a track toy at the lowest cost?” A little background first:
Michael and I both love cars with equal zeal. However, one could make a comfortable living taking two to one odds that the car I find wonderful is one that he finds deplorable. While Michael loves the gurgle of huge American Muscle, I love the buzz of tiny European Sports Cars. Hence the need for a bottle of brandy and a box of cigars; this was going to take a while. For every Trans-Am or C4 Corvette he suggested I countered with an Alfa Spider or MG-B. As the evening progressed we both started giving more and more leeway to our original ideas until he made a suggestion that I’m embarrassed I did not come up with myself. “What’s that small car that looks like a toy Corvette?” A consensus was reached. The Opel GT was our answer and finally the evening (or indeed morning by that time) could come to a close.
The issue was forgotten for almost a year until I learned about the 24 hours of LeMons which brought the topic back to the forefront of our minds. Immediately Michael jumped onto Craigslist and kept the search up until he found a good runner. It was too much money for LeMons, but it didn’t stop me from buying it for my own personal use. That is where I caught my Opel Bug, but I digress. Michael kept looking for another properly priced GT for LeMons, but life got in the way. My funds dried up, and I became too busy with school to think about racing. I thought the whole idea would be tabled for at least the three remaining years of my academic career. Another year went by without talk of Opels nor LeMons. However, shortly after my 30th birthday Michael called me up and told me to get down to his place because he had a surprise for me. He did the whole blind fold thing and had me walk around and finally revealed the 1971 Opel GT that we’re going to use. Becoming a co-owner of a race car is a hell of a birthday gift let me tell you.
As this car is LeMons priced, it’s not running at the moment. The history of the car is hazy at best, but it’s obvious that there was an engine fire. The good news is that the more we work on it the more we realize how much this car was loved by its previous owner. Little clues abound, like the electronic ignition system and the electric fuel pump (which we suspect might be the cause of the fire). It also has a lowered suspension, a quad-tip exhaust, and remnants of an Opel Club sticker on the rear window. Because of these little clues we’re confident that this car was well maintained before the fire. Since we were (and still are) very much in our infancy when it came to transforming our car into something that we could run in LeMons we felt in over our heads, but we were able to find some guidance.
As I mentioned earlier, I bought an Opel GT about a year and a half ago and with that, I also became a member of the NorCal Opelers which gave me a great contact for this project: Mike and Alan from team TinyVette. Michael and I had a meeting with the TinyVette crew and they gave us some great direction. We now know which brakes we should get. We know that sway bars are a great thing to buy right away. We know what kind of budget we should set for the roll cage and other safety equipment and where we should have it done. With their advice we no longer feel out of our depth, but it also shows us precisely how much work there is to be done.
Because Michael and I have almost exactly opposing schedules at this point in our lives, this work is probably not going to go as quickly as we’d like. We want to be as realistic about this adventure as we can be, which is why we’re aiming for an entry in the Thunderhill event of 2014. With over a year to prep the car, we can be sure to tick all the required boxes without the stress of looming deadlines. And with the help of the TinyVette crew, we can make sure that we know what all those boxes are. So keep an eye out for us in 2014.
::Below are the photos I submitted for this article::
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1 comment:
Dang. I (Tinyvette Mike) never received this story. I've got room for it in an upcoming issue.
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