Sunday 20 July 2014 at 5:35 pm
Jim Garner passed away yesterday @ 86 years of age. He spent the last 40 years of his life as an avid motorsports fan & tough participant at many events. After he made the movie Grand Prix in the mid-60's, he found that the racing bug was firmly entrenched in his psyche. His friends & family knew that Jim would often be found at various race events, hanging out with his pal Paul Newman & other like minded guys.
In the late 60's Garner started his own race team, "American International Racers". AIR fielded cars at Le Mans, Daytona, and Sebring, & competed in the 1969 Baja 500 flying the AMC colors. His team built ten 1969 SC/Ramblers for the Baja 500 race, finishing with 3 cars in the top 5 spots for the Sedan Class!
Garner proudly paced the Indy 500 multiple times. He drove a Buick in 1975, an Olds in '77, & again in '85.
GodSpeed Jim, we loved your passion for life, all types of racing, & we dug you movies too.
Sunday 20 July 2014 at 12:14 pm
One of the GREATEST custom shops of the 50's & 60's, was located right here in the metro Detroit area. The talented hands & fertile imaginations of Mike & Larry Alexander produced a legion of the coolest custom rides in the country. All of their cars had the flavor & attention to detail that one would expect to come from the Studios of the "Big 3". Their Deora custom was one of the 1st models that I ever built as a kid & it's always spoken to me thru its grace & elegance.
Sadly, Mike Alexander passed away around 10am Friday morning. I quickly got the bad news from Hiser, who was tight with Larry, who passed away a few years ago. Mike was always present at the Detroit Autorama & reveled in being with the local gearheads all weekend long . The Autorama tribute that was held for the A-Bros customs seemed to be so much better than the others that have come after it. Much like the cars & truck they created.
Mike & Larry have joined the ever-growing ranks of heavenly hot rodders & we will miss them a lot.
GodSpeed Mike.
Wednesday 02 July 2014 at 9:31 pm
For months now, our buddy Don Christ has been chasing around from Dr to Dr treating his prostate cancer. That SUCKS. Even though he's going to be OK, this commotion in his life hasn't left a lot of time to play with his old cars. So his wife Judith & his sons, Jon & Jeff, cooked up a plan to re-energize him & make some serious headway on his 66 Shelby clone project. Their scheme is that we all show up in Franktown, CO on Sunday, build the car from the ground up & fire up the engine on the following Friday.
The whole Singlefinger crew has noticed that Jon & Jeff always seem to be helping others on their projects. So when they asked me to join in on this Colorado misadventure, there was no way I'd say no. I think it's going to be a freaking blast helping move Don's 66 Stang project forward. What could possibly go wrong?
On Monday the 30th, we started from a bare, painted body shell, not all of the parts have been accounted for, but we have credit cards & overnight delivery.
So will we or won't we get the engine to fire up by Friday?
PLACE YOUR BETS, LADIES & GENTLEMEN... and follow our progress in the FORUM.
