Car customizer, engineer and stunt driver Dean Jeffries died in his sleep recently at the age of 80.
Die hards will recognize both his name and his cars. Dean might not have had the greatest publicist,  but he was a renaissance man when it came to cars.
Of course his customs done for Hollywood are instantly recognizable. The Monkeemobile, the Green Hornet and the Beach Boy’s cover car from their Little Deuce Coupe album were all his handiwork.
He started out as a painter- striper and worked with Von Dutch. He added the script to James Dean’s Porsche Spyder – Little Bastard. He moved over to George Barris’s shop and honed his metal working skills. He painted the first Shelby Cobra for Carroll Shelby.
For the recent past, Corvettes came out of Detroit with Goodyear Run Flats. The stiff sidewall helped carry the tire in the event of no air pressure but also contributed to a stiff ride. many owners derisively referred to them as run craps.
Many owners actually used regular speed rated tires and risked a flat tire or carried a small portable compressor and a patch kit. Some switched to Michelin’s version of the run flats – the ZP – Zero Pressure
For 2014 the Corvette Stingray (the C7 generation) will sport Michelin’s Pilot Super Sport ZP. These tires will have the same size but should offer a smoother ride. It’ll be interesting to see what the new owners say, and why Goodyear was dropped.
We first saw this stretched out hearse at the SEMA show in 2012. It was done by Bryan Fuller of Fuller Hot Rods in Atlanta. At the 2011 SEMA show Bryan was the spokesperson/celebrity for Gear Wrench.
This weekend marked the 29th annual National Hot Rod Association (NHRA) meet at Phoenix’s Firebird Raceway. But is it the end? The dragstrip is on leased land owned by the Gila River Indian Community and was once out in the middle of nowhere on the southeast edge of the Phoenix area. The 30 year lease expires at the end of March, 2013 and while the president of NHRA is optimistic, one can only hope that a new management team can keep NHRA coming back in 2014.
Phoenix is blessed with not only being the site of all four major sports – baseball, football, basketball and hockey – but also hosts two NASACR races and the Arizona Nationals for the NHRA.
Hopefully we’ll see NHRA back for more action like Erica Enders-Stevens’ win this past week. What do you think?
When you see this bus, you just have to smile. 21 window vans (or buses) are just neat and this color scheme just screams fun! I’m sure a purist would shudder at taking the originality off of this vehicle but it was a big hit at the 2013 Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale. It sold for $110,000 with fierce bidding between the final two bidders.
The 7 refers to this Corvette model being the 7th generation (or styling change) for the Corvette. Since 1953 the Corvette car has gone through seven changes with this version becoming available in 2014. The C6 model lasted from 2005 to now. This version is now road ready and sports a stingray emblem behind the front wheels. Many folks have mixed feelings about the rear end and the lights, but I like the look! Especially when the lights are on.
C7 Emblem
Image 1 of 10
From classics to muscle cars – everything automotive
