I've been challenged by a very nice 1987 IROC and need all my friends to come check it out. Vote for who you honestly think is the best car...but watch for a few new pictures! :)

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Hal Renninger's wife, Georgeanne, informed TFFN that Hal, owner of "Cobralcon" passed away at 3:15 a.m. today. He stopped breathing in the middle of the night and died in his sleep.

His wife posted this:

"I am Georgeanne Mintner, Hal Renninger's wife. I am posting this message in hopes that all of you who know Hal will see it. My dear Hal died last night in his sleep. It happened about 3:15 a.m. while we were in bed. I woke up because he started breathing very loudly, as he sometimes does. I didn't try to wake him up because he usually just settles back down into his regular breathing pattern. However, this time he just stopped breathing. It took me a while to realize that he wasn't breathing. I just sat with him alone for a long time and called a friend in the morning. I am so sorry to send you all this news. He talks about all of you, and I cannot accurately express how much you and the Falcon groups have meant to him over the years.
Hal left this website open, I am thinking because he knew he wasn't feeling right. Not that he has for years, but I am thinking that he would want me to put out this post. Thank you for everything you have done for my Hal. You can email me at gmintner@rocketmail.com if you would like to do so. I am afraid to rely on this board only because I am not familiar with it and don't know how to log in if it goes off.

Georgeanne"

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MY little V6 Firebird DAILY DRIVER as the Featured Car on Motortopia...how 'bout that?

Naturally, I snagged a Screen Capture of it, just because it's THAT cool to me...I've only had the car for a week and she's already gaining attention.

I wonder, actually, how they pick the featured cars...anyone have any idea?? Either way, it's pretty freakin' cool! What a way to start the week!! :D

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Saturday, Sept. 26th, was the Hope Mills Cruzers' Jesse's Dream Show. Jesse was the founder of the Hope Mills Cruzer and it was named in his honor.

The day started out dreary, wet, and cold, and although the rain stopped, it was still fairly cool. It started raining again at days' end, but it wasn't a horrible day for a show. Once the rain stopped, it was actually quite nice. The show went on with probably 200 cars, maybe more or less, but a good turnout for a damp day none-the-less. I did a showing with Fayetteville F-body and had quite a nice time. Our club showed 22 cars when all was said and done, along with some new members.

Nearly everyone in our club got a trophy (they did Top 40 for '86-older and Top 20 for '87-Newer) and we had quite a nice showing.

If you look on the right, you'll see two '69 Camaros (one yellow, one blue) and a yellow 2010. All three belong to one guy's family...he took a trophy for each one. And he's the man that replaced my transmission and the ONLY reason I was able to have Emma in the show at all! ...and you'll see that Emma did QUITE well for herself!! :D

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If you've been to any Car Shows on the East Coast lately, you know that beautiful white 4th gen with the red dragons on the side and the custom bird on the Ram Air hood. It's unmistakable and stunningly beautiful...and now it's gone.

Michael Holley was involved in an accident on his way home from Trans Am Nationals on Sunday afternoon...you can read about the story here.

Image from Dayton Daily News:


Michael Holley's Trans Am Accident

Michael, our thoughts are with you...we're glad you're okay!!

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I can handle a lot of cars being killed with this Cash for Clunkers program, but this just literally made me SICK.

'89 GTA, one of 819...killed under the C4C program.
http://www.ho...&posted=1

This car is absolutely gorgeous and he could have sold it for much, much more than C4C gave him in the condition it's in. The worst part: he traded it for a MINI COOPER.

Thank GOD this program ends Monday!! Not a moment too soon!

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Those of you who know me know that Emma needed a bit of work done before I could drive her again. Well, today was the day for that work. I had a friend over who knows LOADS about these cars and is experienced in all things Third Gen. We spent the day working on her electricals and her underhood issues.

Here we go...

Step 1: Let Jon in door
Step 2: Show Jon garage (after being greeted/lovingly mauled by dogs and children)
Step 3: Pop hood, hatch, open doors
Step 4: Stand back and watch Jon expose all under-dash wiring, radio wiring harness, and rear hatch panel. All by 10:30.
Step 5: Stand back and drop jaw at how AWFUL radio wiring has been done. You thought the paint job was bad, you should have seen the radio!! No wonder it quit!

Step 6: Trouble-shoot and repair hatch-pop mechanism with splicing. Try not to breathe flux stench. Turn purple.
Step 7: Blow interior lights fuse by handing wires to inexperienced assistant, thereby losing speedometer and odometer (which you find out much later when you test drive the car...).
Step 8: Finish repairing hatch-popper.
Step 9: Clip off all ghetto radio wiring.
Step 10: Re-do ALL radio wiring...(where does that red wire attach again?)
Step 11: Answer every question from inexperienced assistant, pausing to explain wiring diagrams along the way

Lunch break.

Step 12: Assemble worm gear into hatch motor and place in hatch.
Step 13: Answer more stupid questions
Step 14: Reinstall rear hatch panel. Test hatch motor and watch inexperienced owner dance around like idiot because her hatch pulldown finally works.

Drink break.

Step 15: Go to engine bay. Remove marshmallow evap lines and marvel at how the car has not exploded.
Step 16: Remove evap lines and vacuum line for cruise.
Step 17: Break tee for vacuum line for cruise.
Step 18: Go to parts house and buy vacuum line, heater hose, and new tee in Jon's car.
Step 19: Replace tee, vacuum lines, evap lines.
Step 20: Remove heater control valve and quickly plug open line with thumb while inexperienced assistant opens package for plug.
Step 21: Insert plug and ghetto bypass, thereby discovering that the ball valve was pointless because it was AFTER the junction instead of before!
Step 22: Replace heater hose, using Jon's spit as a lubricant to insert hose

Test drive car.

Step 23: Go back to parts house to get replacement fuse because... Hey, you didn't know that fuse controlled the speedometer and odometer! Replace fuse and marvel at GM's logic. Return to house.

Step 24: Test headlight module currently on car. Find it is somewhat unreliable.
Step 25: Test "known good" donor headlight module from Jon's GTA, only to find out it's no longer good.
Step 26: Replace both modules with very-recently-tested-good module from Third Gen Ranch ($15 shipped!!) and hope for the best.
Step 27: Watch retard owner do the happy dance because her headlights work again!
Step 28: Cruise to bank to get money to pay Jon his VERY, VERY reasonable fee for putting up with the now-slightly-more-experienced assistant, also learning that the transmission is nearly toast in the process. Continue cruising for a while, then go home to relieve frazzled husband.

What a day!!!

A BIG thank you to Jon for all the work we accomplished today!! Now Emma runs as good as she looks!

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Apparently, my GTA has been getting much more attention than I realized. I'm on several forums, including American Muscle Registry (http://americanmuscleregistry.com/ ) and as any proud car owner, I've been posting pictures. I posted a thread about the repainting that was done and all the work I've done.

I logged into AMR this afternoon and went into the Car/Truck of the Month forum, which I rarely visit only because I never think my car is going to be nominated. Well, lo and behold, there she is. Someone had nominated Emma, MY GTA, for Car of the Month running!! Not only that, but it had been nominated by someone with a 550+ hp Z06 that is THE sexiest car on the site. I sent him a message telling him thank you and he said he nominated it because of the love, time, work, and money that went into the car and that I deserved it.

Honestly, I never thought about it. I simply did what I wanted to get done with the car. I never thought she would garner that much attention. Thanks to everyone who's spent time looking at Emma! :)

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After 11 weeks of body work, and a long, arduous process of getting out ALL the dents and removing what rust was there, she's finally ready! They're putting her back together and I'll have her back by the end of the week!

Keep an eye on my garage...I'll be unveiling her sooooon!!!

For now...here's a little preview. :)

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I've been to visit Emma twice this week...Monday and Thursday (today). WOW---WHAT A CHANGE!! It has been absolutely crazy how fast they're moving on her now. They're doing a final block and sand before primer now...next, the windshield comes out so we can do the A-pillars. After that, the FINAL PRIMER, BLOCK, AND SAND! Everything is just moving so fast and it's so amazing to watch her transform! The hood is straight and smooth, the suspension is finished, she's rust-free, and working on being dent-free. The shop she's in is just amazing...I can't speak highly enough of them. Yes, it took them some time to get going, but now Emma is their primary project and I am very happy with the quality of the work.

I am actually able to visualize the finished product in my head...I know what the final color is going to be and I have no doubt they can do it. It's been a long road, but now the end is in sight and I'm SO excited!!!

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Okay, Emma is in the body shop and has been for a month (WOW...has it been that long?!). Things move in spurts...last week was a good bit of work on the suspension. This past week...nada. Nothing. Zip. They're waiting on the mechanic to finish the other side of the suspension so they can get going on the body work. We figured out the rubbing was due to a rear wheel mounted on the front. What a mess...

I made a trip to Hawks Third Gen yesterday and picked up a replacement fiberglass spoiler and a Wonderbar. The spoiler is perfect in appearance...we'll see how it looks ON the car. The Wonderbar is something I'll have to put on when she gets home, thanks to BigNuttyPaul for the pics on that.

So, we'll see how things keep going. They're moving along, so I can't really complain.

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