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Registered Member
Join Date: Feb 2011
Posts: 2
Country: United States
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Self Intro
My name is Geoff M. Stead, I live just outside a town called Orillia, which is about 85 miles due N. of Toronto, Ont., Canada. I am male (if you can't tell from my first name) have been married (to the same woman) for just over 50 years and am 71 years old. Ever since I can remember, I have been nuts over anything with an engine in it, although as the years have gone by, have become a bit more discerning. For example, gasoline lawn mowers don't turn my crank a whole lot any more (push types never did) yet just bought a new yard tractor a couple of weeks ago. Has a grass bagging system - great for removing fallen leaves. She who must be obeyed actually thinks I raked them up. I'll be for it when she finds out the truth.
Quite a few years back, I wound up in charge of a fleet of tractor-trailers even though I knew almost nothing about them. This changed pretty quickly, as my thoughts were along the line of "where have these things been all my life"? Imagine what fun you can have with a 20 speed transmission.
Just in case some of you young guys are worried about getting older etc., don't..it's not that bad, and once a hot rodder, it never goes away. You can also afford better rods, etc., as a rule.
Just a couple of months ago, I had reason to count up the number of cars I have owned. It came out around 48, and I probably missed a couple or so.
Some of the more exciting cars that I have owned would be:-
1966 MGB:- Blue, with genuine knock-off wire wheels.It had a self-made dual exhaust system, with twin chrome pipes on each side. Head was planed .060 and it would rev. to just over 7K. Until one day one of the valves bent, and I got to learn how to rebuild an MGB engine.
1957 Chevy convertible:- Teal blue with a blue top and blue leather seats and dash. It smoked through the exhaust between gears, so I used this as an excuse to "rebuild" the engine. 283 c.i. became 301, through a 1/8" bore, and a set of pop-up forged aluminum pistons got the C.R. up to 11.5/1. (Back then, you could buy Sunoco 260 for about 35 cents a gallon). Guess what kind of exhaust system it had. This car is the only one of its type I have ever seen with a manual transmission with shifter of the floor. The body was mint except for a small dent in the driver's fender where some dolt ran into it in a parking lot. That car I sold for $750.00. Don't forget it wasn't a classic yet, but I still wake up some nights thinking about how much it would be worth today.
1966 Jaguar XJS V12:- British racing green with tan leather interior, I still have it but don't drive it any more. Poor thing needs work. Never really warmed to this car because they were only made with automatic 3-speed transmissions. Boring! (Did get it up to just under 120+ mph once...the road does get pretty narrow at that speed. That car did have great brakes though, with 4 wheel discs, the back ones inboard.
1979 Camero Berlinetta:- 350 automatic and with N2O kit installed, 4.56 rear gears and it didn't take long to get to 100 mph., but wouldn't go much higher than that. Guess what kind of exhaust system it had? T-bar roof and a killer sound system (but not one of those where you can hear the bass 10 blocks away).
1989 Toyota Celica GTS:- Bought this car for $18,000.00 with only 6K miles on it. Some guy got caught cheating on his wife, so he bought her the car. She took it to the local Chevy dealer, traded it in for a Corvette, then left him. The dealer happened to be going broke when I was looking for another car, so for cash, got a real bargain. A four-banger with 5-speed standard. Not a rocket, but sometimes fun to drive.
Next followed a series of pick-up trucks, as by then, I owned a contracting business. Am retired now, and driving a 2001 bergundy metallic GMC flare-side, with 4.8 liter V8. Here is where the tale really starts, as this truck only gets about 14 mpg on average. You folks South of the border need to remember that Canadian (imperial) gallons are 20% bigger that those in the States. The truck has a cat-back dual exhaust system (guess what sticks out from under the rear bumber) with 3" pipes back from the C.C. Also has a K & N cold air intake system, the front has been lowered 2" and the back 4". Not a bad looking truck, goes not too badly, but the gas consumption is something else. Just tonight, ordered (internet) a chip which is supposed to to solve the gas consumption thing. We'll see - I will try to keep you all up to date.
Oh yes, almost forgot.
1971 Chevy shortbox stepside:- 350 c.i., standard transmission, with 3 on the tree. Even though the body is in great shape, it needs to be completely rebuilt/painted, but it's still my dream truck. If my plans work out, and the boss (wife) doesn't catch on, it will fly when I'm done with it.
Well, I was invited to introduce myself, but the moderator probably didn't mean for me to write a book. Sorry for being so long-winded, but I do so like to talk about things with engines in them.
Anyone with any ideas about how to improve the gas mileage on my GMC (other than parking it) would be very pleased to hear from them.
Best regares to all,
Geoff M. Stead
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