Not Letting Life Pass Me By...

Lexington North Carolina. BBQ Captiol of the world, more BBQ joints per capita then any other city. 21 BBQ joints, 21,000 residents, or 1 BBq joint per 1,000 people. That’s my kind of town. And like any great small town, there is a rivalry. Lexington #1 or Speedy’s. This is my 3rd trip to Lexington, and I’ve never eaten the same place twice. While the wife doesn’t understand my affection for carolina BBQ, I don’t care to try and explain. It’s just good. I like my slaw on my Q.

Lexington #1 was a little hard to find, but once we got there, it’s obvious this place was popular.It’s a big joint, with alot of smoke. Drive up eating was an interesting site as well. I liked it so much, I had 2!

I’m probably the worst BBQ critic. I like it all, and I’ve always said, I’ve never had bad BBQ, just different BBQ. Well, that’s changed. It was bound to happen! I got here to Jimbo’s a little early for lunch, and was highly dissapointed. Meat was tough, suace litterally sucked, fries undercooked, and what’s the deal with the pickled peppers? Seriously? No thank you. Surprised they’ve been in business since 1964.

We had to make a trip out to denver again, this time in March. What beautiful country! We saw alot of snow, something my father (who joined us) hadn’t seen in many many years. Damn it was cold. It got down to 8 degrees in the mountains. Apparently, we landed in the middle of a massive snowstorm, that allowed locals to have a “Snow Day”. being the stupid tourists, we had no idea, and were trotting around town. That’s all it takes for a snow day? Whimps!

deep into brandon, and off the beaten trail for me, is Jaymer-Que Southern BBQ. Some good BBQ, but I couldn’t get babyback ribs during the first visit, as they only make them on certain days, and then they only make so many, so be sure to come early. We actually returned that weekend to try the ribs, and even though the had no dry-rub available, we pciked up the sauced versions. Of course, we got 3 full racks, which by 7pm on a Saturday, cleaned them out. took some freinds as well. They enjoyed it. Good BBQ, but a little out of the way for us. Jaymer was actually there during my first visit. Had a great talk with him. I reccomend if your in the area!

Hot Rod Deluxe did a wonderful performance article on the Cadillac 390 a few years ago, Unfortunately, the magazine sold out and is impossible to get. Well, I got a scanned copy of the article. Enjoy!

I am so sore! It took everything I had in me to make it through this weekend. We started early in the a.m. on friday to finalize things, and then reset the area for Saturday night’s festivities. Then we spent most of Sunday taking it all down. Alot of work, but well worth it. Expect bigger and better next year. To view the gallery: Halloween Gallery

 

By now, you have received your invitation, and you are just dieing to find out more information. Well, here it is!

The Town of Necropolis is a small town, which happens to be located in my backyard. The town has opened it’s gates, for the special evening, and your invited to walk among the dead. This party is hosted mostly outside, between the cemetery and the city dump. There will be a DJ, mixing the beats, and we will have “The Rocky Horror Picture Show”, on a 15 foot high screen. If that’s not enough, the keg will be flowing as we judge for the costume party, and pretty much get drunk. We will be going till the wee hours of the morning. Please leave the TOTS at home, we wouldn’t want them to get eaten.

What do you need to bring?

1. Costume (hello, it’s a costume party!)
2. Snacks (something munch on while drinking the libations)
3. Toe tags (Your tickets to the other side!)
4. Rotten attitude and poor sense of humor.

Address to event is included with your invitation package that you should have received.

You can RSVP by emailing us at: Sendmemymail@gmail.com

So with no sleep, and running on empty, we arrive at the Charlotte AuotFair. This is a father and son outing, but not that ‘Father and Son’. It’s backwards this time. This time, I am the son, and I am here with MY FATHER. First off, wow…is this show big. I can’t imagine trying to make it through the April event, wich is much larger. Dad brought his little scooter, and with it’s 17volt battery, they claim it will run for about 15 miles. By the time we left at 2:30pm, we were basically pushing it to the truck. 15 miles? Did we walk that much? probably!

Obviously, I drove all the way up here to get some cadillac parts. Sometimes I wish I had bought a camaro or mustang, as I would have found every part I needed in the first 2 aisles, but alas, I took the road less traveled, and by the look of things, I felt alone. I figured with 7,000 vendors, I might find something. As I walked past all of the non-cadillac parts, I kept reminding myself that it only took ’1′ booth to make the trip worthwhile. I continued to hunt, scrounge, and pick through the booths, with my mission in mind.

It was about 1:45pm, and my legs were hurting, my stomach growling, and I was questioning whether this trip was going to be a bust or not as I wlked up on a booth that had an beat up and tattered Oldsmoible Rocket with a J2 intake on an engine stand. As I got closer, I noticed all the intake manifolds on the ground. I quickly scanned them over, oldsmobile, oldsmobile, oldsmobile, cadillac. CADILLAC?!?! Oh my…I found a cadillac manifold! I quickly swooped in to get a closer look, still lost in bewilderment. As I got closer, it was as if the sun reflected the casting number, like a beacon of hope. I read it…CD-693. I took a double take, yep…CD-693. Okay, seriously, I was excited. I looked over at dad, and was like “I FOUND IT!”. Not only did I find A Manifold, I had found THE MANIFOLD. The manifold I had been looking for, for 3 years! An edelbrock 3×2 cd-693 cadillac manifold. Now the question was, how much?

Typically,  this manifold has sold, and sold rather successfully on ebay and the HAMB for close to $1000. I wanted the manifold, but I didn’t want to know the price, but I had to ask. ”How mcuh for this one”, I asked. “$400″ he replied. I am not sure he caught the look on my face, but my jaw dropped to the ground. This price was too good to be true. There had to be a catch. I picked up the maniold to give a closer inspection. I thought to myself, what could be wrong with it? As I started looking it over, I began to get paranoid. Other people were coming into the booth, inquiring about the other manifolds. I was scared they would see the CD-693, and ask about it. Iwasn’t letting this one go. I repositioned myself so nobody else could see what I was inspecting. This one was mine and all the other vultures would have to find their own.

My dad was like, offer  him $300. What?!? I had found a rembrandt at a bargian basement price, and you wanted me to low-ball him? Good thinking! I made the offer of $300, which he pondered, and he came back at $350. SOLD!!!! I wasn’t going to push my luck. My face lit up, as I ha beat out the vultures! (In retrospect, I realized that most people probably didn’t know what it was, and probably had no interest in it, but whatever).

So I packed up my prize, and continued on my hunt for a little bit more. We packed it in when the scooter started to die around 2:30. The lack of sleep was setting in. I needed to rest, as I still had 1/2 of the swap meet left. Saturday will be a busy day!

So I decided another road trip was in order. This time it was going to be a little shorter, only a 9 1/2 hour drive to Charlotte North Carolina. Twice a year, Charlotte holds the AutoFair, the southeast largest swap meet. Since I am going to rebuild the 1951 Convertible, it seems only fitting that I go looking for parts. To maximize time, we decided to late thursday evening, so that we could be at the gates first thing Friday morning. Pretty uneventful trip, that was, until we pulled into a rest stop in South Carolina for a ‘break’. Instantly,  my eyes were behold upon this. Apparently, people in these parts do things ‘a bit differently’.  

Yes, my 1953 Cadillac Coupe is ALIVE!!! and she is spitting fire! I don’t care what everybody else has to say about big Cadillacs and Big Blocks, this little 5.3l really moves! This was definetly worth the wait. Of Course, A/C is not finished yet (part of infinite backorder), but I haven’t had A/C till now, no big fuss. I have to give a shout-out to Jared at Current Performance Wiring for making this happen. The fabrication work and attention to detail is top-notch.

So…on to the details… Her new heart is a 2008 GM 5.3l LY5 Vortec fuel Injected motor with a 4l60e transmission putting out 315hp and 338ft/lb TQ. Pretty impressive numbers for a cruiser! I am surprised how quickly she moves, and also how smooth she runs. finally a car that I should be able to take on the 2010 Hot Rod Power Tour!

Anyways…. here’s a picture of the engine!