Tag Archives: Mr. Wolf

A great car needs a great video

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The handful of readers who followed my Land Rover adventure will recall Grayson Wolf was the young man who found the Series III Rover that has been my daily driver for the last few years.

Based in the Bay Area, Grayson works on high performance vehicles for the well-heeled and finds buyers and sellers for just about any thing on four wheels. He’s been working with a friend to produce videos used to show and sell. I was particularly impressed with the music in these videos, original compositions by Grayson’s buddy. [2000 Ferrari 360 Modena, 1967 Jaguar E-Type, 2001 BMW Z8 Roadster]

Toyota Land Cruiser FJ55

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Mr. Wolf is still out there finding, buying/selling, restoring vintage automobiles. This week he shared some photos of an FJ55:

“FJ55s were rare to begin with and had zero rust prevention, so they all evaporated. When you do see them they are usually a collection of rusty parts held together with Bondo. So an original paint 55 is a rare sight. That one now has fuel injection, a 5 speed, disc brakes, AC, beefier axles, lockers, etc.”“Original paint with heavy patina, so we did a satin clear coat on it.”

Road rot? Where?

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When I purchased my 1977 Ford F150 pickup truck it was comparatively rust-free, having spent it’s life in Colorado where — I’m told — they add corrosion inhibitors to the salt they put on their highways. Had the truck spent those same 40+ years on Missouri highways, it would have rusted away long ago. But my truck did have (does have) some rust spots which I’ve successfully ignored. But the two holes in floor of the cab are getting bigger and sucking some cold air in.

My buddy George Tergin — the master of the automotive hack — suggested I patch these using old license plates, silicone, and self-tapping screws. Before and after photos below.

Hadn’t planned to do much about the other rust spots until Mr. Wolf pointed me to POR-15, a rust preventative coating that I can “glop on the other rust spots. Like so many things in my life now, the pickup only has to last as long as I do.

Bay Area, 2:30 p.m.

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You’ve seen all of the fire photos. This one is from my friend Mr. Wolf. “Now we’re wearing masks to filter out the ash. Everything looks like it has a very light dusting of snow. Our AQI fluctuates between 80 and 250. 250 is world class bad, like Mumbai etc. But because it’s all fairly heavy particulate just staying indoors with everything closed up is very effective.

Social distancing California style

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My buddy Grayson Wolf and his wife Larisa loaded up his 1967 Unimog 404 and drove up into the Sierras for a little break from the pandemic. (More photos here)

Two things in the photo below caught my eye: the well-stocked bar and what looks like a picnic table in the back of the vehicle. Grayson explains:

“It is essential to make six-ingredient cocktails when you’re camping next to a three ton military truck, right?

And that “picnic table?”

A German beer hall table, to be precise, and it is bolted to the bed. Nice place to eat our meals.”

Okay, three things. Grayson has brought back the mohawk.

Life goes on!

Another vintage race car for Mr. Wolf

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From Mr. Wolf: “It is a 1949 Lincoln Club Coupe built to race in the 1950 La Carrera Panamericana, driven by Jimmy Hicks. Rediscovered sometime around 1999 in a junk yard in San Jose, it was restored and raced in the 2006 & 2007 Panamericana. It is currently powered by a warmed-over Ford FE 390, and since the T10 4-speed manual blew up a few days ago (right smack-dab in the middle of downtown Palo Alto, in the middle of the road, at rush hour, in front of a high end open-air restaurant. With my wife in the car.) I am in the process of swapping in a 5-speed. Turns out the shop that installed the powertrain put in a driveshaft that was a few inches too long, which caused the mainshaft/output shaft to snap right in half. Oops! Hey, if you’re going to break down and cause a massive traffic problem, you might as well do it in style, right? As soon as I am able to get it to a point where it stops blowing up every time I drive it, it will be out on the racetrack!”