By all accounts, it was the most exciting Index Of Effluency battle in LeMons history. The Corvair proved so reliable that Toyota teams were feeling envious- yeah, we sure as hell didn't expect that from the oldest car ever to run in LeMons- but its lap times were on the slow side and its funky handling characteristics resulted in frequent visits to the Penalty Box. In the end, however, the much faster Saab just couldn't stay in one piece for long, and the trophy that LeMons insiders consider to be the most prestigious goes to the team captained by our own UDMan. Well done, Team Trailing Throttle Oversteer, and may this serve as an inspiration for future LeMons teams trying to decide on the right car!
Image source: Ron Vickers, SmokeyBurnout

Mostly you see the good ol' small-block-Chevy-powered Corvair, but why do that when the engine/transaxle assembly of the front-wheel-drive Olds Toronado (or, heh heh, its Cadillac Eldorado cousin) is better suited for placement in a rear-engined car? Corvair racer UDMan has found a very nicely done Corvair/Toronado swap and written up a review over on Automotive Traveler.

[Automotive Traveler]

Of course you did! Why, everyone at the track was scared to death in awe of the first-ever 24 Hours Of LeMons Corvair… and now you East Coasters have a shot at inspiring the same sort of dread respect from members of teams running humdrum RX-7s and yawnworthy E30s at the New England 24 Hours Of LeMons. That's right, the Powerglide-equipped 1963 Chevrolet Corvair 700 four-door being race-prepped by UDMAn is running fine, UDMan is starting to assemble an all-star team to drive it… and two openings remain on the roster! If you've got more guts than brains, know your way around a race track, and have sufficient greenbackage to pay your share of race expenses, UDMan wants to hear from you. Write your "I Think Ralph Nader Is The Devil - Sign Me Up!" essay in a comment below, comment in UDMan's CarDomain Blog post, or email me with a suitable rant and I'll forward it to UDMan. Index Of Effluency, here you come!

And we love those cars, no doubt about it, but looking at one is much like hearing the same classic-rock song for the millionth time. Sure, "Satisfaction" is a good tune (especially when performed by The Residents), but ennui sets in eventually. But there were plenty of vehicles built that can be classed as muscle cars, yet never attained truly iconic status. I'm a big fan of some of the less common machines, and UDMan truly loves them. He's put together a regular Obscure Muscle Car Parking Lot series over on CarDomain, where you'll be able to see obsessively documented and illustrated studies of such greats as the 1958 Packard Hawk, 1970 Mercury Marauder X-100, 1957 Rambler Rebel, and 1977 Pontiac LeMans Can Am. We say check it out!
[CarDomain Blog]

[CarDomain]

Callaway Cars held their first annual open house on the second weekend of October at the company’s headquarters located in bucolic Old Lyme Connecticut. Saturday was a spectacular, New England autumn day, bright, sunny, and warmer than normal, just right to showcase some of the rarest automotive creations that were ever made. This was also a chance to take in the essence of an organization, which grew from a one man business that was conducted in a garage in his home, to a well respected engineering and production company with three locations worldwide. I knew I would feel a little out of place, milling about between the owners of these rare cars and the cars themselves, until I came across one of the earliest Callaway Scirocco.

This 1982 Volkswagen Scirocco was not a show car by any means. The Black finish doesn’t shine as brightly as it did when it was new, the front and rear bumpers have taken on a silver gray hue from years of sitting outside, and the interior took on an aged, and weathered look, with the many wrinkles and cracks that are easily covered up on an aging Hollywood starlets face, but are proudly worn as a badge of honor on this car. You see, this car still has the Callaway Turbo window decal still in place, along with the set of Centro Wheels that were standard equipment with the package, and while it may not be a concourse winner any time in the future, it is a historical tribute to the Callaway name. And there it sat, among all those beautiful Stock, and Callaway modified Corvettes, commanding attention, almost as if the car was saying “Hell yea, I belong here too”. And it did.

The car is owned by John Kulp from Malvern Pennsylvania. While the car probably doesn’t produce anywhere near the 117 HP it once produced when it left the Callaway location all those years ago, it will get out of its own way. The car traversed to Old Lyme from PA, and according to John, it was comfortable, quick, and economical, just the way he imagined it would be all those many years ago when the car of his dreams was introduced in the early 80’s. John always wanted a Callaway equipped Scirocco, but could never afford one. That all changed when this car popped up on an Ebay Auction from a Connecticut Saab dealer, and soon enough, he was the owner of a well worn, but still hugely relevant VW Scirocco by Callaway.

To coin a phrase from Hemmings, this is a “Drivable Dream”. There is over 80,000 miles showing on the odometer, and it needs a great deal of work to become show worthy. The biggest problem John discovered is how pervasive the rust problem is. While the car s relatively rust free from the “B” pillar forward, almost everything back has the dreaded tin worm. One problem can be traced to the aftermarket electric sunroof installed by the original dealer, in which the drain holes never seemed to work correctly, collecting water within the roof panel, and support structure. The other problem was neglect, as if the car was parked in the mud, because the rear chassis and lower body is almost nonexistent. The one good thing about owning a unique vehicle based on a corresponding production one is that there are plenty of cheap, spare parts to replace components such as doors, fenders, and chassis parts, and this type of surgery is slated in the future for John’s car.

I asked John how he felt being the only participant to bring an early Callaway Scirocco into an event dominated by so many factory and modified Corvettes, and he said it was what he expected, except that instead of feeling like an outcast, he was totally embraced into the Callaway Family. So, as I bid farewell to John Kulp, and took the last set of images of his newly found pride and joy, maybe I shouldn’t feel out of place in which there is such a gathering of historical and ground breaking cars. And from that point, I didn’t.