Eckler's Camaro World

Just when I thought GM was making headway towards righting the ship another potential blow may be dealt. Delphi Corp is expected to ask a federal judge to cancel its union contracts today following months of trying to reach an agreement with General Motors Corp. and its unions to lower workers’ wages. Delphi wants to lower the wages of nearly 34,000 U.S. hourly workers from $27 an hour to $16.50 an hour in 2007. If the bankruptcy judge allows this as a part of restructuring then it’s almost certain that the International Union of Electronics Workers-Communications Workers of America would strike. Since GM depends heavily on Delphi parts this would have a devastating effect on GM’s production. I for one hope these problems are solved and GM continues to forge ahead!

A Pro-Hobbyist Street Rod and Customer Vehicle Bill will be considered by Florida State Senate Committees

SEMA model legislation (S.B. 2248) introduced in the Florida State Legislature by Senator Bill Posey to amend the vehicle titling and registration classifications for street rods and creates a classification for custom vehicles will be considered by the Senate Transportation committee and the Community Affairs Committee. S.B. 2248 defines a street rod as an altered vehicle manufactured before 1949 and a customer as an altered vehicle at least 25 years old and manufactured after 1948. Under the bill, kit cars and replica vehicles will be assigned a certificate of title bearing the same model year designation as the production vehicle they most closely resemble. The bill mirrors model legislation created by SEMA and recently enacted in Illinois, Missouri, Rhode Island, Montana and Maine.

Many Camaro enthusiasts who own 1st generation Camaro will be interested in this bill since it will exempt custom vehicles from a range of standard equipment requirements. You can view the entire bill on the web site using this address; posey.bill.web@flsenate.gov.

The worst thing a company wants is a high return rate. With shipping cost continuing to rise each quarter the cost of shipping and returns affects the company’s bottom line. Having been involved in the parts industry for a number of years I understand why companies put so much emphasis on getting the correct part shipped the first time. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve called the large performance companies for parts, provided them with the part number needed and paid for special shipping such as 2nd day air, only to receive the incorrect part. Normally this is not the salesman’s fault it’s a pulling error. For this reason many companies have gone to the bar code method of shipping, which the computer scans the bar code and if it’s wrong the part cannot ship. Another reason parts are returned is communication errors between the sales representative and the customer. Example: “I’m looking for the tube looking things that goes between the springs”. My first thought as a sales representative would be a shock absorber, but after asking the customer is the part they’re seeking filled with gas or oil, the answer comes back as “no it’s hollow”. Now I’m about to ask all sorts of questions, and I determine that the customer is looking for a hollow sway bar that goes between the springs. Calls like these come into the sales room daily, and it takes a special sales representative with patience to ask questions and ensure that he or she understands the customer’s needs. Many car guys don’t understand the training that each and every sales representative receives each month just to keep them appraised of new parts on the market. They automatically assume that since they’re speaking to a female sales rep she can’t give them the information required. Our system is designed to provide immediate parts information to the sales rep, and through experience of doing the same job day in and day out our sales reps both male and female quickly understands the customer’s needs. So the next time you speak to one of our friendly sales representatives you can rest assure that they will do everything humanly possible to ensure you received the correct part for your pride and joy and not have to return it.

Last night while in a deep sleep, well that’s not totally true since I’m a light sleeper due to by prior military background; I heard fire trucks around my neighborhood. I decided to get up and take a quick look around just to make sure that they were not responding to my place. A quick check of the interior of the house was done then I went out to the garage area to make sure that a battery charger had not caught fire (I keep my batteries on a trickle charger). I then looked down the street and saw the smoke and went down to watch the firemen at work. Now I’m no genius but I can tell you that my second order of business after getting everyone out is to move my car out of harms way. When I saw the firemen at work working both on top of the garage and on the roof, knowing that the neighbors car was still in the garage I knew that the firemen could car less about the vehicle at that time. Debris was falling everywhere and water was flowing so you always multiply the damages done by the fire times the number of firemen with hand held fire fighting equipment and this gives you a damage assessment. Now I will be the first one to tell you how great these men and women are and how dangerous their jobs are, but in my case the insurance will take care of the house and contents but my 1994 Camaro is a different story. I don’t have specialty insurance, so I would be given a replacement value of $3,500 to $4,000 for a value of the Camaro. Those of you that know me know that my 502 big block engine in the car could not be repurchased for this amount and there are many one off parts that were fabricated specifically for this car. So this entire incident makes me rethink my insurance needs, and I’m now shopping for Specialty Insurance, i.e. Hagerty (800-922-4050) this morning. Last night event was too close to home and this gave me a true wake up call. You should follow my lead if you don’t already have Specialty Insurance, on your pride and joy, now’s the time to act before it’s too late!

You’ve purchased the Camaro of your dreams and it is fully loaded including a Bose stereo system, a powerful LS1 engine and beautiful chrome wheels. What do you think is the first change this owner will make to his car? You’re correct, the exhaust system! This owner wants a more aggressive sound when he pushes the accelerator pedal as well as more power. I’ve counted more than 10 major exhaust companies that sell high performance exhaust systems for Camaros making a customer’s purchase decision extremely difficult. One suggestion that I always make when asked which exhaust system is the best is to suggest the Camaro owner attend a car show and find a good sounding vehicle. Ask the owner what type of system he has on his car and purchase the same system. Exhaust kits come in various forms from a simple cat-back kit to a complete system which includes headers. Speaking of headers this is the best performance upgrade a Camaro owner can make to his vehicle. The factory exhaust manifolds don’t come close to making the power that aftermarket headers do. If you keep in mind that your engine is just a big air pump, air in and air out, and you address these issues your Camaro will perform much more efficiently.

I recently received a letter from a former club member expressing his displeasure concerning the membership program for Worldwide Camaro Club. One of his issues was the Camaro magazine and he felt it should be much larger. This is an issue that I agree with in part, but we don’t try to be a Hot Rod, Car Craft or any other type of monthly car magazine. What we do is to bring as much information directly relating to Camaros as possible be it new parts, upcoming show information and my favorite part the Member Pride section. Worldwide Camaro Club is a national club whose main purpose is to assist local Camaro chapters throughout the country with membership drives, shows and events and other club needs. One of the best examples of assistance is insurance for Camaro events. Worldwide Camaro can offer one to four million dollars worth of insurance to local Camaro clubs for $150.00 which no one can match. Worldwide Camaro Club also assists clubs with announcements of their events through our web site and magazine articles. Many club members both local and WCC members attend events without fully understanding the work necessary to ensure the success of these events. Its human nature to ask what someone can do for you, but the small percentage of you that do what’s required to help your club, do it because of the passion you have for Camaros. I can’t you the number of positive comments we’ve received about out magazine, both the articles and photos which have really improved during the past year. Heart warming stories like the Colton Camaro rebuild which required a reprint of more than 1,500 copies continue to move WCC forward and that’s our goal. So in closing I say to all Camaro enthusiasts don’t let negative people drag you down, Life’s Too Short!

Although the calendar says it’s the first day of spring, we all know from watching the weather report that in most parts of the country it is either snowing or raining so much that flooding occurs. For those of you that live in the cold climates it won’t be long before you’ll be able once again to drive your pride and joy without worrying about getting road salt on the undercarriage of your Camaros. If it seems like I know about the cold climate you are correct. Having lived in Kansas City all of my young adult life, I can’t count the number of times that I shoveled snow or chipped ice. I lived on a emergency route which meant that you could not park on the street during a snow storm or your car was towed. Now this makes sense if you’re aware that a storm is coming but sometimes you can be caught off guard like I was and a storm occurred during the night while sleeping. The next morning fearing that my car was stolen, I was wrong; it was towed by the city without notice. I had a $95.00 lesson about Emergency Snow Routes. To add insult to injury, I shoveled my driveway which lead directly to the street went back inside to change cloths to go to work and I heard the snow plows outside. I then saw the mound of snow plowed in front of my driveway blocking me from leaving in my company vehicle. Now I had two options, shovel the snow away from the driveway once again or call in sick. Which option do you think I took? Your guess is correct, I called in sick and went back to bed my day was already going down hill fast and my best bet would be to stay home.

Once the snow ended, and I could now drive my pride and joy which was housed in the garage for five months, I felt like a survivor! In fact I was a survivor of another cold Missouri winter. Now I was not the smartest one in the family that credit goes to my sister who moved to California long before I moved to Florida. I made up my mind that I would rather be hot and wear shorts than cold and wear long johns and this decision was one of the best lifetime decisions I ever made. Sure we have our bugs, heat, rainy season, hurricanes and other minor problems but it sure is nice to be able to drive my Camaro during those mostly sunny days and cool nights. Yes, there will be no returning to my home town except to visit during the summer months.
So hang in there my Camaro enthusiasts warm weather is near.

Well my fellow car enthusiast, I’ve just returned from the most spectacular drag racing event I’ve witnessed in a long time. The Gatornationals gets better and better each year, and the weather was beautiful the entire weekend. Since I’m a previous Stock Class racer, I made sure that I arrived early so I could watch the Stock and Super Stock classes run. Of course the air was great and these cars ran well below the national standards, but the one thing that impressed me more than anything was the quality of these cars. You could walk around any of these vehicles and look inside and under the hood and these cars are super clean and well maintained. There were numerous early model Camaros present and although they were repainted, these cars had high dollar paint jobs that made them show vehicles during the off season. Although many of these Stock Class vehicle owners own businesses and can afford to maintain these vehicles, many of the Camaro owners work at their 9 to 5 jobs and their cars are of high quality also. One of the professional racers that I’ve follow his successes is Warren Johnson, and I spoke with him on Saturday morning reminding him about the Summer Nationals Drag race held in Kansas City where we both were in the finals, and he lost to Wally Booth and I won Stock. He couldn’t believe my memory and said “man that was so many years ago, I’m really getting old”. A friend of mine took my photo shaking hands with Warren Johnson and that was pretty cool. There are other instances where big names racer and I cross paths during my racing career and its great seeing these guys succeed. One of the best things about going to a national event is vendor’s row where every high performance vendor has a display trailer on site. You can really get good deals on high performance parts as well as great technical advice. If you want to witness a great drag racing event go to NHRA.com and check the race schedule maybe there’s one near you.

For those of us that love the sport of drag racing, today is the start of the biggest crowd drawing drag racing event in Florida, “The Gatornationals.”
If you live on the East Coast and you have a chance to get away, head to Gainesville Florida. John Force, Larry Dixon, Warren Johnson, Kurt Johnson, and every other big name in the sport will be there this weekend. The weather is supposed to be great for a record setting event and most people consider this event as a must win for points. Last year a Pro Stock motorcycle set the national ET record at 6.98 seconds and folks that’s flying on two wheels. I personally like to walk down vendor’s row where there are high performance vendors from all parts of the US, providing product information and selling parts at a discount. I’ve participated in national drag racing events as well as attended as a spectator and the excitement never ends for me. When I return I will provide you with my personal observations of this great event. Hope to see you there!

Many of you read my BLOG as well as others and I’m sure you’re asking the question “how can he find so much to say each day?” Well it’s easy when you’ve been involved with cars for as long as I have. We’ve all watched the TV series called “Car Crazy”, and in my opinion if you work on cars twice a week because you like to make modifications, you’re a car nut. If you wash and wax your car each week, you’re a car nut, and if you think about the next change or modification you’re going to make to your car, you’re a true car nut. I can’t count the number of times I’ve said “I’m tired to drag racing and I’m not going to do it anymore” then I meet someone in their 70’s that’s still racing and this inspires me to continue. I confess that cars have been a way of life for me and each day I try to learn something new about them. I also pick up a little information about trucks, because I use my truck to tow my Camaro to the race track so I feel it’s important to know about truck also. One tip I will pass on about the “Bowties” anti-freeze (the 100,000 mile red stuff), found in new vehicles; flush out your cooling system and refill with Prestone Anti-Freeze. The “Bowtie anti-freeze destroys intake manifold gaskets and this is one expense you don’t need. No one will ever tell you about this stuff until it’s too late and you’re faced with a bill for $300-$500 for repairs. I make this statement from personal observations as well as information provided by ASE certified mechanics. If I can save one car guy or lady money by providing them with information, I will because I would rather they spend their hard earned dollars on enhancements not repairs.

The chatter continues regarding the Concept Camaro and one of the more interesting points Mr. Ed Welburn, GM vice president, Global Design made was the fact that this car would change very little once it goes into production. While concept cars often have little similarity to what gets manufactured. Welburn says that they paid attention to engineering and manufacturing issues when developing the model. He stated: “The absolute best vehicles are the ones where design and engineering work in collaboration as true partners.” According to Mr. Welburn “there was a lot of thought put into the development of this concept. We knew, I knew it was going to get a good reaction. We certainly wouldn’t want to get that good reaction then disappoint people with a vehicle that didn’t measure up. “It’s a lot more than that car. It’s a statement about General Motors and General Motors Design. Yes it is the Camaro and people love the Camaro and to nail it with that design is a big deal. But it does say something about the company, the company that put the faith in me and my team to develop the vehicle, to give us the approval to go head. If you miss, if you disappointed people, if you brought those classic, iconic Camaros driving through here and the new concept comes out and isn’t as good …There is some risk. You’ve got to take risks. *Comments obtained from the Automotive Design and Production magazine.

We as car guys and ladies hear acronyms or letters that carry a particular meaning referencing car products, Camaro types or company names. Now I know that it’s Monday and many of you have not fully recovered from the weekend, but I would like to test your knowledge about automotive and product acronyms. Here is a small list; lets just see how good your car knowledge is: Good Luck!

1) NOS 2 Possible Meanings

2) CAD

3) A/C

4) SSBC

5) RS

6) TPI

7) HI-PO

8) VIN

9) PG

10) IROC

Note: A Prize awaits the first one with the correct answers.

As automotive enthusiast we have the opportunity to read various car magazines on the book shelves. How often have you picked up a magazine and saw a car just like yours but in your opinion yours performed better and had better paint but has never been in a magazine? As a Camaro enthusiast you have a great opportunity to show your pride and joy to the world simply by taking high resolution digital photos and writing a brief story about your car. Although we encourage you to become and member of Worldwide Camaro Club, this is not a prerequisite to publishing the photos and story of your Camaro. If you feel that your writing abilities are not that sharp, give us the information and we will be happy to assist you. I’ve attended car shows for years and read car magazines for more than 30 years and nothing puts a smile on a car guys face like seeing his car in a national magazine. One word of advice, please don’t expect your Camaro article to be printed in the very next issue of Camaro World. It normally takes two months for each article to appear in the magazine. So clean your pride and joy and get that camera out take approximately 10 photos and write a brief story and send it to the address below:

Camaro World Magazine
5130 South Washington Ave.
Titusville, Florida 32780

If you have any questions please call 800-456-1957 and ask for Ron Wolf at extension 447.

Each week I received calls inquiring about the value of a certain Camaro and the caller proceeds to tell me how long the car has been in the family. My first question to the caller is “why are you selling it”? since I personally feel that a car that’s been in the family since it was new or for more than 20 years should stay in the family. Now I understand that certain financial situations warrant selling the vehicle but for the most part people sell their cars after watching auto auctions on TV thinking that their cars are worth just as much as the ones on TV. There’s a lot of history in older cars, such as a soldier purchasing a Camaro prior to going to Vietnam and never returning and the car remained garaged for years, or the Camaro owner met his wife while owning the vehicle and never sold it. Just the other day a lady called from Daytona Beach with a 1967 Camaro one owner with 51,000 original miles that wants to sell it but has no idea of its value. I’m sure to her this car is worth a lot due to the years of emotional ties but to the non Camaro enthusiast who’s just looking to make a quick buck he could care less. To many of us, Camaros are more than mechanical machines, they are vehicles of passion. I can’t tell you the number of times I witness Camaros driven by owners that refuse to wash the brake dust from the wheels or simply wash their cars. No passion here just a lazy owner who should be driving a Honda. The good news is there’s always some young kid with the desire to own a Camaro and once that lazy driver sells his or hers a new Camaro enthusiast is born. I, like most of you could never recoup the number of hours I’ve spent working on my Camaro into the selling price of the car. But the good thing is that I can be very selective as to whom the new owner will be and my sons will always have priority just to keep the car in the family. What’s your Camaros value to you?

For those of use that live in Florida this is our favorite time of the year. With temperatures in the mid 70’s the weekends are usually filled with car shows and racing. This weekend I attended a car show held in Apopka Florida a small city outside of Orlando. This car show had approximately 130 cars in attendance and it was held at a church with plenty of grass parking. Everything about this show was splendid from the food, the more than 80 trophy awards, small tool sets, and the ten, $100 cash prizes given away every 15 minutes. This show also had nice mixture of vehicles, from street rods, classics, to late model Mustangs and Camaros. Shows like these really help the community with fund raising, and show sponsors really supported this event. People that may not understand or like these types of events have a change of heart once they see the pride we have for our cars. Car guys understand that every part they purchase these days are usually $100 or more and we spend money to enhance our vehicles performance and appearance for others to also enjoy. I’ve watched older ladies smile while looking inside vehicles, knowing that they’re thinking back to the good old days when they had cars like the ones on display. This is the fun part of our hobby, just having a nice to relax with family, friends and our vehicles. So if you don’t live here, and you’re planning to visit Florida during the next few months, stop by any 7/11 store and pick up a Cruising News for show listings.

Being a car guy for more than 30 years, you would think that after all these years I of all people would be the first to open a box and read the instructions. Recently, I decided to change my shifter to a ratchet style shifter just to eliminate the necessity to squeeze the handle when going to high gear. Things happen pretty quickly the faster you travel down the quarter mile and I felt eliminating another motion would be better. After opening the box containing my new shifter I surveyed the parts removed the old shifter, mounted the new shifter and attempted to install the shifter cable. Having installed several shifters during my lifetime this replacement should go as smooth as butter so I thought. While installing the shifter cable I noticed that the slot located on the shifter was smaller than the cable and after several attempts to force the cable into the slot I decided to read the instructions. Guess what? I was trying to install the wrong end of the shifter cable onto the shifter, I felt so stupid! After removing the shifter cable and installing the correct end through the transmission tunnel it was smooth sailing from this point forward. Now I will be the first to tell anyone who would listen that I don’t know everything there is to know about cars, but after racing one for 15 years, you learn just from the maintenance alone. So the next time you receive a part, take a moment to read the entire instruction sheet just to become familiar with the procedures, it will make your install much simpler.

Everyone knows that word of mouth spreads faster than wild fire and at our recent Winter Nationals held in Kissimmee Florida I had the opportunity to speak with many Camaro enthusiasts. The one thing that struck me was how common everyone’s goals are regarding to their cars. As I spoke to individuals I inquired about the reason they chose to attend our show when Super Chevy was also holding their event on the same weekend. Their immediate response was “you guys cater to the whole family and treat everyone alike”. Now I thought about this for a moment and I understood what they meant since we don’t have any class favorites because we don’t participate in the judging. When you have diverse member judging you avoid picking the same vehicles as high points cars. Our clubs are bound by one creed, “everyone is required to have fun” and to that extent we put forth every effort to ensure this happens. Now I’m not going to say that every show we sponsor runs as smooth as silk, but I will go on record as saying we do our utmost to please the participants because we want you to spread the word about our shows. It would be sad to hear that a family spent their hard earned money traveling to our show, paying for lodging and meals, only to say that they will never return. One participant at last years show was not happy with me because I assigned her to the Trailered Class, because although she trailered her car to our show, she informed me that she drives her Camaro on the street. I simply advised her that this is how the classes are structured to ensure that it’s fair for those that drive their cars to our show. After this was explained she joined in the festivities for the remainder of the weekend. Our clubs continue to grow and our shows are larger than ever, and each member of the show team is experienced and trained to ensure YOU have a good time at our shows.