Gettin’ Girlie at Viva Las Vegas

So I know ya’ll are dyin’ to hear what the ladies were up to during Viva Las Vegas 12. If you had the privilege of being present, you already know that Viva Las Vegas was swarming with some of the purdiest ladies you ever did see. While you fellas might’ve been out merely lookin’ for ladies – I was lookin’ for fellow Grease Girls.

Being that the car show at VLV draws one of the biggest grouping of home-built cool traditionals, customs, and rat-rods – I was hoping I’d find a few of those “builders” who also happened to be ladies. As Stude (my own 1955 Studebaker Champion) and I arrived on the lot Thursday evening, many other cars had already arrived, but we were the only girl-owned car so far.
By the time Saturday rolled around the entire lot reserved for the VLV 12 Shifters Car Show was full, with ample stragglers in The Orleans parking lot.

As soon as I showed up on the scene Saturday morning, I wholeheartedly began my search for fellow car ladies. You’d think finding other lady car owners wouldn’t be too much work – but with so many people, things to do, and pin-up models mulling around – finding anybody is a challenge! The first couple of ladies I encountered were local Las Vegans. One had a Metropolitan Nash – who even though she’d owned it for 17 years had never needed to do any work on it – she did tell me she’d managed to stuff all of her young grandchildren (11 I think) in there at once! Another was a 61 Mercury Meteor Mama, while she was a pro at pin-up girl hair as she coiffed her daughters goldy-locks, it sounded like she hadn’t gotten too greasy under the hood of her ride.

The day was beginning to pass by and I still hadn’t found another woman who did any work on her car. I did hear elusive rumors of the presence of a couple girls car clubs – The Vixens and The Fender Skirts – but never managed to nail down any of them OR whether they had cars present!

Just when I was losing all hope, I ran into not just another lady – but another Studebaker owner! Pinkie drives a 1958 “Pink” Studebaker Wagon. She spent 2 years restoring this baby which rolls with the original Studebaker V-8 engine. Just like me, she didn’t know much about cars when she got into this and has kind of learned along the way. But she learned enough to do the needed body and engine work – with some help from friends. She’s had the Stude for 12 years now and enjoys going to various car shows, sometimes with her fellow members of the Sequoia Chapter of the Studebaker Drivers Club, where she loves to see people’s reactions and delight in response to her bright pink baby!

Glad to have found at least one fellow Grease Girl, I headed over to catch up with the Pin-Up Angels (article’s on the way!) when I ran into Becky Sue and her not just one car, but two! The first car, a 1952 Packard, was her VLV 11 project. Her first classic, she got it just a month before the show last year. Within that time, she and boyfriend Matt of Department of Customz(matt@docustomz.com), completely restored the Packard to a nice and clean (with some fun details) classic. The only thing they didn’t get to within that tight time-frame was the headliner. In it’s place they painted the interior roof white and leave it open for new friends to leave their mark with Sharpies (myself included!)

As if the Packard wasn’t enough, Becky Sue’s car for this year is a 1963 Comet. This one didn’t require too much work from them – as it’s in super-terrific original condition as-is. What I love about Becky Sue and her car’s is that they’re fun, driven often, done with style, originality, and her own hard-earned sweat.

I was glad to meet the ladies I did – and hope that next year more will come out of the woodwork – I mean, er, engine grease. Who knows…since Becky Sue and I are both in So Cal there’s already been mention of a car club forming. Whose name is exactly what I pondered as I made the drive back across the desert to home sweet home.

This year’s Viva stood up to it’s reputations. Cool Cars. Purdy Women. Plenty of Pabst and Lots of Music. Stude and I will be back next year – and ladies, I’m planning on there being more Grease Girls represented – so start gettin’ your hands dirty now! If I missed any fellow Grease Girls at Viva – leave me a comment and let me know about your ride. All you ladies out there who call So Cal home, drop me a line, I’d love to set up a gathering! Viva la Grease Girl!

greasegirl@myrideisme.com
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Grease Girl Talks: Air Filters 101

Now – I know that this is totally basic – but I wanted to take the opportunity to show you the air filter that came off my car today. Generally when I think of basic, routine car maintenance, I think “oil, tire pressure, transmission fluid, and is anything leaking.”
As I was at the shop today (P.S. I got the headliner completely finished and the new tranny in!…check back soon for those articles) I popped the hood to show off my engine (which is horribly dirty still from when the radiator blew…it was pointed out to me that a guy wouldn’t stand for the dirty-looking engine.)
Sitting there shootin’ the breeze, someone noticed my air filter, so we unscrewed the top and took it out. Evidently, the way to check if you need a new air filter is by holding it up to the light and seeing if any of the light shines through. Not counting the spots where there were holes in mine, there was absolutely no sunlight shining through this sucker. Handy to be offered not one, but two air filters (I love my shop guys!)…we exchanged the dirty one for a clean one. Changing this thing out is as simple as unscrewing a bolt.

Since I don’t know how often these things need changed, I looked it up and found a helpful article online. It says to change it every 20,000 to 30,000 miles (or when dirty). Although I’ve logged thousands of miles during Stude’s first year on the road – her mileage is much closer to 10,000 than 20,000. Something tells me that between the extra exhaust my engine spouts out combined with what I’m guessing is probably increased air intake due to increased engine size – my car’s air filter will need to be changed more often than the average car. Thank goodness my car’s not average!
Tommy likened a dirty air filter to someone putting a cloth up to your mouth and telling you to breath. It would be hard. And the extra work makes for less-efficient fuel mileage – which I had been experiencing…AH-HAH…hopefully now I can get that extra 3-4 mpg back!
So there it is ladies and gents…the low-down on air filters!
Happy Trails!

-Grease Girl

Pin Up? Mechanic? Say Hello to Grease Girl.

Many of you wrenchin’ around have been doing it since you had a baby bottle in your mouth. When you were out in the garage learning what a radiator was I was over at Miss Sally’s ballet class turning pirouettes. That’s right, I’m a girl – and not exactly your average grease monkey. I know lots of you fellas think ladies are only around to look pretty – and while I may not be too hard on the eyes – I’m not coming around just to pose on your shiny (or primered) hood. I’m here to get under it.

Sparkin’ my under-hood adventures is my 1955 Studebaker Champion. After wanting a classic car for years, I finally leaped in a couple of years ago during a move from car-less San Francisco to car-necessary Los Angeles. Now I don’t know about you, but it’s my opinion that you shouldn’t drive a classic if you don’t want to work on it. And I wanted to…the only thing standing in my way was the fact that the only thing I’d ever done to a car was change a tire (and even that somewhat unsuccessfully).

When I picked “Stude” up in Utah she had an original Studebaker V8 engine. My very first job was to put back together the Carter carburetor that had already been taken apart. After puzzling it around for awhile I ended up picking up a new Edelbrock instead. Next up was installing a new fuel pump, which seemed to go smoothly until I found out later that the gasket had gotten twisted when I put the pump in.

Now that I have ya’ll thinking I’m a complete idiot – I’ll let you in on something. Ready?! Not everyone was born working in a garage! Not everyone knows what a manifold is or even the difference between a V6 and V8! Crazy, huh!?

Regardless of my ignorance, “Stude” eventually did get on the road – although not without a little help (okay a LOT of help – that original engine had to come out and was replaced by a 383 Chevy.) In fact she was driven for the first time mere hours before taking off alone on a cross-desert trip to last years Viva Las Vegas. (Keep an eye out for us at this year’s Viva!)

I’ve come a long way from changing a tire – and am learning new things all the time. I’m making it my job to share those new things with the rest of you. Because we weren’t all born with wrenches in our hands – and heck, if I can save some of your male egos by keeping you from looking like knuckleheads well then that’s great. And if I can recruit a few other ladies to the garage you wouldn’t mind that would ya fellas?!

So now that ya’ll know me stop by my garage or blog and say “howdy” – and watch for my upcoming articles on MyRideisMe.com. You’ll be able to learn along with me and see things from my viewpoint (or just see me!) All you old pros can keep me in line and make sure I’m not doing anything stupid. All the rest of you might be able to learn a thing or two…even it if it is from a girl.

510 Cubic Reasons to Dig this Studebaker

When Kevin Nichols sets up to build his first street car (he’s been primarily a drag racer) he doesn’t mess around! I ran into Kevin a few weeks ago at the 83rd Ave. show up in Peoria. This car’s under construction, but there’s still a ton to see. Plus, sometimes cars that aren’t quite finished yet tell a better story than a finished car.

The first thing that jumps out of this bad Stude is the engine. How’s 510 cubic inches for ya? If it was only a blown Chevy big block, that’d be cool, but this engine’s from Kevin’s Super Eliminator and Advanced E.T. At NHRA events it ran 6.70’s! A sub 7 second E.T. digger that’s been his passion for years suddenly lost sponsorship and went down the road. The engine’s electronic fuel injection will push pump gas through the 8-71 blower and it’ll have power steering, and A/C! This will be a driver.

Like most projects, the timeline for the Stude’s slightly blown. Alright, it’s been thrown out the window! 3 years into the build Kevin’s proud to say he’s done almost all the work himself. Robert Nurez helped with tin work and chassis, but other then that, you can count this one as HOME BUILT.

The car started as a running and driving flat 6 cherry with the 6 volt system still there and working. For this project, only the body stayed. Everything else was stripped off and sold. The body was so nice, all that’s been done to it, besides the subtle body mods, is a good sanding to take off the original paint. That’s a nice find, but it might make the Studebaker purists a little salty!

As the car nears completion, the plan is to get it running, shake it down a bit, then pull it all back apart for paint. With the professional looking work I’ve seen first hand, I don’t think he’ll find any major problems.

Since meeting, Kevin’s joined MyRideisMe.com. Here’s a link to his garage: “54STUD” is his name. CLICK HERE. Kevin’s loaded about 30 pictures showing the build progress. When you see what’s been done, 3 years won’t sound like much time. That’s Kevin in the red shirt behind the car. When you see him, be sure to say hi.

Look for more info about this car as it get’s closer to being finished. How’d you like to see a first hand video of a bonzai run?

Kevin… let’s get it done!

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