Chef Forum banner

Chefs Rides

5K views 61 replies 16 participants last post by  lagom 
#1 · (Edited)
Thought it would be fun to see what other people in the industry are driving daily or put up for cruising.



I use the JH to go to work, the 59 Rambler around town (beer run) and the Synergy Camaro to go to the casino and things of that nature.
 
#6 · (Edited)
I just got my license at 19, and im considering a little buggy or a little beetle painted maybe orange or red. 

My father had offered me his moped, but i have a fear of falling off two wheeled vehicles, don´t even know why i got my license to drive cars and cycles. 
 
#8 ·
I was searching my computer for a recipe when I ran across this picture of my ride when I lived in the Caribbean


yeah it was hellish commute, but somebody had to do it :)

God I love this industry! I may not be monetarily rich but I am in so many other ways, not mention the perks are outstanding!
 
#9 · (Edited)

Right now I don't have a picture of the daily driver but it's a 2013 denim blue Beetle with the sunroof and will eventually go the the DD in the next year or so. Above is a pic of my true daily driver. It's a 1966 F100 but has been in restoration mode since May of 2013. It's been completely disassembled since then and currently, it's in the process of being painted and should hopefully be finished in a few more days or maybe a week or two. It's been almost a complete, full frame-off restoration and why it's taken some time. Plus, all the body parts have been painted separately and will be re-hung is why the uncertainly of when it'll be complete.

During the restoration, few body panels needed replacing but the cab was in poor shape. Given the age..........new floor pans, cab corners, door lowers, both pillars, jambs, radiator support and frame mounts for the support were a must. It's also had a disc brake upgrade, the interior is being completely redone to include carpeting and full trim, new window mechs, all new chrome items, a wood bed will replace the steel deck and some other slight mods.

The engine is a 300c.i.d. 6cyl with a full dual exhaust header and a dual plane Offy manifold and Holley 4bbl carb. The rear is a ford 9inch 3:73 posi and with the torque of the 300, you could pull a house! There were plans to have a 351, stroked to a 405 but that was shelved because of costs, mileage and a last minute decision to keep the drive line more original. Basically, I had a hard time finding a 4 or 5spd trans to replace the 3spd and in the end it was more realistic to keep the uniqueness of the 3 on a tree shifter. Eventually it will have a 351 but it'll be a low build with only headers, a 4bbl and a nostalgia cam.

Here's a picture of the bed (sitting on a dolly) and a truck I found on-line to give a exact representation of what the color scheme will be when it's completed. I have different wheels and tires and also no side moulding. Plans to add the moulding are in the works. Just need to locate a complete set. Finally, the colors chosen were Wimbledon white over 1966 Mustang signal flare red.


 
#10 ·
@cheflayne nice dresser you have there. I havent been on a bike since 89, too old and brittle now to start again. A question, why in gods name would you move away from somewhere that you took your morning commute in a lovely boat like that. Must have been paradice.

@ Panini. What is that delisious looking red car?
 
#15 ·
My wife refers to my collection of cars as "oh those things"

I try to tell her about the appreciation on my cars is better then the bank, but she won't have it. If she only knew what I pay for storageLOL.

cheflayne,

It's a toss up between the boat and the bagger.

Lagom.

The little red car is a Jensen Healey. English, hand tooled, 903 aluminum Lotus engine. Blast to drive but Lucas electrical.

You could be doing 90, hit the blinker and the horn may go off and the lights flash.LOL
 
#17 ·
Panini, I have always loved those Jensen Healeys. Great little "go fasts", but I know what you mean about the Lucas electrical. I had a 1968 Triumph (motorcycle) with Lucas. I was continually trying to tack down some electrical boogie.

Also I have recently culled my collection "those things":). The 1968 Porsche Targa and 1980 Jeep CJ7 are gone. Next on the block is the 1971 VW squareback.
 
#19 · (Edited)
Back in the 70's I had a 1958 356A. Sweet car, other than being white which  made it look like an upside down claw foot bathtub. Unfortunately it got hit in the front end and clips where impossible to come by even back then. Might actually be easier to find one today with the wonders of the internet. Definitely cost prohibitive though.

My dream has always been a 904.

Is that a rambler in the middle picture? What year?
 
#20 · (Edited)
cheflayne,

OMGosh the Porsche? That's the closest thing to my dream. an original 356
That's a cool dream. Ya'll with your European cars. Yup, I'd take one of those for sure but my dream for almost 40 years is a simple slice of good old American muscle........a 1967 AC Cobra 427 side-oiler. I gotta say......Thank God for that old Texan Carroll Shelby...rest his soul. He set out to prove something and came up with a car that kicked everyone's butt on the circuit, from Porsche to Chevy....especially Ferrari. We've got a replicar '68 428SC rolling around town here but it's built to original specs. That car is the only one that still gives me goose-bumps when I see it. In fact the only "A" I ever received in High School English was on a paper I wrote about that car.

Sadly, I've come to the realization that I'll never have an original because of the cost but we'll see yet on the replicar. I'm almost positive I can get my hands on a 427 side-oiler and have it rebuilt to year specs by a friend but then I keep thinking since it's a replicar, I wonder if the same friend will part with one the 20 or so Boss 429 engines he has laying around. I wonder if it'd be okay shoe-horning one of those into that car. It was already a car on the edge with the 427.

I feel for you guys so I hate to say it but the the DW is actually on board for that or even a '66/'69 Mustang fastback to do a replica '66 Shelby GT 350, '69 Boss 302/429 or maybe another old truck. Know where there's a '51 F-3 and that's still a possibility if it hasn't gone yet. I keep thinking it'd be great to use the '66 to pull any one of those behind to a show or track.
 
#21 ·
cheflayne,

Yes that's a 59 Rambler. I went to the fancy food show in NY one year and stopped by to visit an aunt. She was sad that her neighbor had passed. She told me they had a car to get rid of. Needless to say, I drove that Rambler from NY to Texas, 33k original, interior cherry. I call it my no car, no AC, no PS, no rear view mirrors, no PB etc. OH no oil filter! a change every 3000 miles.

oldschool1982,

One of my cars is a 66 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT pace car. I sometimes drove it to the bakery. I had the great privilege of meeting Mr. Shelby .He lived close by. He was such a down to earth guy. He was all over my car and actually drove it. At that time I had no idea of the icon he was. Early 2000s he was involved with a couple of guys in my town Farmers Branch. I enjoyed having him come in for coffee.

oldschool, definitely not into European cars but just love a tight machine. I've got the Merc. in storage alone with some others. I have a first gen Camaro 396SS but the Synergy Camaro is superbly better. I bought if off the floor at Le Sima. 1 of 500 , 1 of 3 manual in my color. LS3, hotskis set up, I've tweeked it a little and is pushing 500 at the wheels. I've had it very steady at 132 but had no TP with me.lol

Maybe someday you will get your Shelby. There is a Boss 429 in our neighborhood. drool
 
#23 · (Edited)
@panini, I've maybe seen one of those Cyclone GT's, ever, and that was back in the very early 80's. What a car to have in your collection! That's really cool you met Carroll Shelby. Been a huge fixture in m automotive world for a very long time. The man could build.........and drive!

Hearing of the others, I'm the one drooling now. Hehehe I've been working in the yard today thinking I need to give that friend of mine with the engines a call. We talked about a Coyote crate engine for the F100 once, maybe I need to talk to him again. From what I understand, those engines get 30+ mpg and have close to 500 at the wheels. DANG! Not sure if I would have my license long if that was my daily driver. I know one thing, the upgrade to PS and PB we did during the resto/mod would definitely be needed plus maye I need to think more seriously about adding discs to the other two corners.

I need to share my first car.....1966 Mustang Notchback but we shoe-horned in a 351W out of a '69 Mach1. I never could get headers in it because of how tight the engine was squeezed in and it would've helped since the guy who sold me the engine wouldn't include the heads. No problem though, I ended up putting my 289 heads on the engine and what a huge difference that made. Brought the compression ration from 10:1 to around 13.5:1 and in street trim, with no headers, full exhaust hooked up and a base 3.23 8" open rear........my best ET was 13.011. Heck, I swear I could jump on it at 45mph and make a smoke screen like nothing else. Just wish I could get it to hook-up and go. It was a tire smoker for sure. Then again, 13 sec in a 1/4 is not sitting still for a street car. Funny, it was about 3 years after I did that, CarCraft or Hotrod, can't remember who, came out with a swap to do just that. Sure wish I'd seen it when I still had the car.....would've cleared up that overheating issue.

Speaking of ultra rare American Muscle, I remember seeing these sometime back around '80 in a town close to where I grew up. First was a '69 Torino Talladega that was 100% original from what I could tell. The second was a '65 Galaxy 500 GTA with a Factory equipped tri-power 427 side-oiler. A friend had a completely original sheet metal '57 Bel Air that has a very sound 331 vette engine. 12 seconds in street trim on the same track as my 13's. I failed the $100 bill test in that more times than I care to admit.

Everything from Yenko Camaro's to Hemi 'Cuda's, Daytona's and ever Railers were on the street back then. We even had a couple Cosworth Vega's running around and a couple of these guy's had them tweeked to almost 400hp. Not bad considering base was just over 260. Imagine all that out've a fricken naturally aspirated 4cyl Vega. Makes some of the rice burners of today sound sorta tame. There were certainly a ton of motor heads in my area......me being one of them. It was great growing up in the Chicago area during the 60's and 70's. From Skips to Dukes and everything in between, like our grounds Lake Street in Addison IL, Saturday night was "Cruising night" for sure and everywhere saw its share of action.

I really can't wait to share pics of my finished daily driver.

Later

Oh yea....the 59 was that Nash or AMC. I ask because my oldest friend and his Father collected old Nash's. I remember they had a beautiful 48 convertible. Funny though........I swear it really did like most people said.......an upside down bathtub.
 
#24 · (Edited)
.oldschool1982.

The Merc is about a week away from a trade. The biggest problem is that there are no other comps, very slow appreciation.. None have come up so the books keep it low in cost. I have found someone with a pretty nice trade who appreciates the merc. I will post the trade if it goes through. The trader is here for Meachum show. I don't want to jinx the deal.

I love classics but I still view them as an investment.

I hope you get that truck up and running soon.

The 59 Rambler is right at the cross over time with Nash. They wanted Rambler to produce a compact car. Can you believe that. compactLOL

I guess I'm a little strange. I only have original cars. Not saying they are drivers, some of them are 9.5s. I am not a big fan of resto-mods even frame offs. It's nuts now, you can have a couple of Camaro 1/4s

and build the whole car out of a catalog. I think when the whole classic car thing is done it will come back to original survivors. Hope I'm still alive LOL.
 
#25 ·

I grew up on two wheels. It was the thing to do after the war. I bought this in 09. I drove it to a doctors appointment where I got some news. After surgery they suggested I didn't ride any more.

It's stupid, but I always knew growing up that I had my bike . This has been collecting dust in my garage for years. It has 73 miles, no not 73k, 73. I think I'm ready to pass it on to someone that can appreciate it. Not a good neighborhood bike, the Rhineharts Bubbs make it pretty loud. It's blacked out. It's on a trickle and gets trailored to HD every year for check up. This is not a sales pitch at all.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top