mod@tech

There has been somewhat of a roller skate revival in recent years with people of all ages strapping skates to their feet in fleeting moments of freedom and fun. For some, rolling on eight wheels is nostalgic, bringing back the good ol’ days of the roller rinks which were popular in the ‘70s and ‘80s. One of those skating rinks, Rollercade in Longview, Texas, featured a roller skate car perched high on a pole along Longview’s U.S. Highway 259 for several years to draw in crowds. Removed in 2014 for restoration, the giant four-wheeled boot is now fully functional thanks to an art teacher’s partnership with a Virginia car collector group.

The car began its restoration at Longview High School after art teacher Jeff Hull used a crane to get the skate down to the ground. Hull’s students worked together to restore the roller skate, including carefully sanding it to reveal the original blue and yellow lettering that had been covered. It reportedly made its first debut in the Houston Art Car Parade last year.

Longview High School art students begin restoration on the Rollercade skate car.Zak Wellerman/ KYTX CBS 19

Aaron Lawyer, owner of a unique private car collection in Virginia Beach, recalls seeing the partially finished roller skate in the parade. “It caught our eye just from seeing it,” he said to the local CBS 19 news channel, “Multiple people were telling us about it and tagging us on Instagram. It felt like something we needed in our collection.”

After exchanging a few emails, Lawyer met Hull in Houston to see the car solidify the partnership needed to lace up the skate’s restoration. Hull had tried to find a closer restoration shop, but the places he checked didn’t have the special touch that such a unique project needed. Lawyer expressed his thankfulness for the honor of not only restoring the historic icon, but also for housing the skate car in his collection once it was completed.

“We just had really limited resources. We had limited pockets, and he had unlimited pockets,” Hull said. “He kept it exactly the same and kept the name the same. He matched everything exactly the way it was.”

Lawyer’s crew rebuilt everything they could to the original specifications, including the engine and transmission, all the wiring, and exterior details. The only different detail is the interior, as there were no records of what it may have looked like. It now features ‘70s shag carpeting to pay homage to its roots. The skate also rolls on brand new wheels. The project took around three months to complete.

Rollercade historic photo

“We really tried to restore this iconic piece to its original condition,” Lawyer said to CBS. “It’s our first roller skate, I’ll tell you that. We do a lot of theme cars, and we recondition some original movie cars.”

The fully functional and driving street legal roller skate was officially revealed at the Coastal Virginia Auto Show in November 2022.

Although Virginia Beach is now where the skate car resides, Lawyer has plans to take the icon back to Longview for a homecoming visit soon. “It’s been a part of Longview for a long time. And it’s got to come back to Longview for a little while,” Lawyer told CBS.

In addition to making an appearance at its hometown, Lawyer and his crew are making plans to drive the roller skate from Chicago to California via Route 66 sometime this summer or early fall. “We want to put this roller skate on the worldwide map, not just one place. It’s so unique,” Lawyer said.

As he came of age in the nation of Lebanon in the 1970s, Habib Chababi knew about American muscle cars — the sight, the sound, the smell, the feel. “In my last years there, there were older boys in my neighborhood who had American muscle cars. One had a black Charger — I didn’t know enough then to know whether it was a ’68, ’69, or ’70. Others had GTOs and Chevelles. One guy who had a Buick Skylark would do donuts in the church yard.” Such hoonery made a lasting impression.

First thing first, however. “My mother, five siblings, and I arrived in the States in 1981 as war refugees. My aunt sponsored us, and we came to the States for a better life. At first, we lived near her in upstate New York. I was still in survival mode when I finished high school,” Habib recalls, “and I was more interested in working. The economy was down in New York at the time, and that winter of 1981-’82 … I mean, we got snow in Lebanon, but in New York I didn’t see the town I was living in until the snow melted in April or May.” The terrible irony? Now that Habib was in the land that built the cars he loved, owning one never felt further from his reach.

At the tender age of 19, Habib made a beeline for California, got a construction job, worked his way up over the years, and eventually came to own a land surveying company that afforded him the opportunity to settle in a quiet cul-de-sac in the Santa Clarita Valley. Only then could he buy the ’69 Charger of his dreams.

But, you rightly say, the car in these pictures is not a Charger. It is very clearly a 1967 Chevrolet Malibu. What gives?

“Honestly, the Malibu fell in my lap,” Habib says, still slightly incredulous after all this time. “I’d take the Charger out for a drive or a wash, and the neighbors would see. One day a couple knocked on my door. I only knew them just to say hi, and they asked, ‘Have you seen what’s in our driveway?’” Lo and behold, this 1967 Chevy Malibu appeared. Factory Emerald Turquoise metallic with matching interior and the original 195-horse 283/Powerglide combo; it was all original down to its California black license plates. “They told me that it was willed to them by an elderly friend who had passed. It came with all of the paperwork from new — he was the original owner. It was so clean! I knew it had no rust or body damage. And it was all original — the seats, carpet, headliner… They had no idea what to do with it.” But Habib did.

The first step, shortly after Habib became the Malibu’s second owner, was to install a ZZ4 crate engine and a TH400 to replace the factory driveline. Over time, “I fell more and more in love with its style — really it was never on my radar beforehand,” Habib says. “It was a drivable car for a while, and I liked taking my wife and kids out in it, but work on it just… stopped. My restorer/helper was killed in a bike wreck, and I lost motivation.”

Not long after came the local commentariat — the needling, the unhealthy influences. “Some of my motorhead friends in the San Fernando Valley mocked me because of the color, as it wasn’t black; between their comments and reading magazines, I was considering stepping up to LS power and a completely new chassis.”

Research and geography led Habib to meet with Steve Strope at Pure Vision Design. Regular readers of HMM— and those who pay attention to car culture at large — will know Steve and his Simi Valley, California shop. He’s been spitting out arresting, clever, can’t-take-my-eyes-off-them builds for a quarter century now. The shapes are clean but not anodyne; they frequently use Detroit’s sheetmetal to its best advantage by simply leaving it be. The rest is fair game, however, and he’s often happy to pitch his wild build ideas to his customers. A NASCAR-flavored, street-driven ’69 Charger? A what-if-Chevy-made-a-Z/28-flavored-Nova concept? A Euro-themed, right-hand-drive Mopar, cobbled together by an imaginary independent Continental supercar mechanic from leftover race car parts? All his doing. Steve thinks big. So you can imagine our surprise when we asked Mr. Ultra Double Throwdown Showcar Builder about this Malibu’s theme and he told us, “There is no theme.”

Sorry, what?

Habib verbally sketched things out. He didn’t want the headache of a carburetor: He’d rather get out there and eat up the miles, or else enjoy his cars-and-coffee mornings, than fiddle around under the hood for half the day. He also thought that the standard chassis might not be enough for whatever power the driveline would dish out. “The chassis talk was short with Steve,” Habib says, laughing. “He said no.” The LS talk didn’t last much longer.

“I didn’t sit and design this car,” Steve says. “Habib wanted a straight-forward Malibu. How do I give him what he wants and still make it a showstopper?” The answer lies around what Steve calls “two-percenting,” which boils down to attention to detail. “It means not going full-bore psycho show car, but just making everything fit and work that little bit better. Just an extra two percent in effort, or time, or material, when dealing with fit-and-finish or follow-through,” Steve explains, citing some examples: “Paint that’s a little nicer than normal — and in the original factory hue. The panel gaps are a little more even. The wiring is tucked in. The brake lines are hand-bent rather than ordered. Things that demand a little more attention to detail, but which aren’t drain-the-bank expensive for the owner. That two percent here and there adds up — suddenly it’s a nicer car, a better result.”

It also remains, at first glance, eerily stock. All is clean and correct: There is nothing of-the-moment beyond 17-inch wheels and four-wheel-disc brakes, which have been part of the Pro Touring movement over the last 30 years, so… how of-the-moment are they, really? Then you start looking, and you can see that this is more than a mere restoration: picture-perfect panel gaps and flawless mile-deep factory-esque basecoat/clearcoat Emerald Turquoise paint applied by Mick’s Paint in Pomona, which rivals the shine from the full complement of replacement Year One brightwork. Pop that flat steel hood and there’s a big orange bored-and-stroked 454 big-block, now displacing 511 cubic inches, with Billet Specialties’ Tru-Trac pulley system that could fool a neophyte into thinking it’s something newer. And it’s topped with… good grief, are those Weber carburetors?

They are: a quartet of race-friendly, no-choke 48IDA Webers, one throat fully tunable for every cylinder, attached to a Borla intake manifold intended for fuel injection and milled for clearance. An eye-opener, this, for an owner requiring street-drivability. The key to taming the Weber for street use, Steve learned through engine builder Steve Sanett at Penta Motorsports in Moorpark, is that Webers don’t like a lot of camshaft overlap.

“Pump it once and vroom,” Steve tells us. “No chokes, and it runs beautifully. The throttle response is head-snapping and it simply annihilates the tires.” There’s also a near-factory-smooth idle, which leads Steve to call this his “Teddy Roosevelt” engine. “It speaks softly but carries a big stick,” he explains. How big? Its dyno session is scheduled shortly after we go to press, but Steve tells us that his guesstimate is 600 horsepower and 600 lb-ft of torque.

Along with the bigger wheels, tires, and brakes (all of which seem prudent considering the engine’s power), Steve scheduled a suite of mechanical upgrades that manage to improve drivability and style, with no compromise to speak of. He used a selection of Detroit Speed suspension parts — front A-arms and rear trailing arms, mostly, along with a splined front anti-sway bar. Rather than conventional springs and shocks, Steve chose JRI coilovers all around. The rear wheel tubs have not been altered — the wheel/tire choice fits just fine as is. The steering box is from an ’87 Monte Carlo SS — Steve describes it as “quicker than stock, but not twitchy” — and is a change he swears will be added to every GM A-body build he does from now on.

Look inside: The most modern thing about this Malibu is now its interior, and even half of that is hidden. The Tremec TKO five-speed stick, a conversion kit from American Powertrain, required a hole cut in the floor for the shifter but looks very much like it belongs. The factory gauge cluster is replaced by a Dakota Digital RTX arrangement. The seats are pale cream leather but were given color-matched cloth inserts using fabric intended for a ’64 Dodge Polara; the material was sourced from Relicate and the last bit was used up for this build. The cloth is near enough to the paint color and adds a textured brocade effect.

A Flaming River tilt column allows for adjustability. The cabin has a full Kicker sound system (a 660-watt five-way amp with two speakers in the doors, two in the parcel shelf, and a 10- inch subwoofer hiding in the trunk), Bluetooth connectivity, and Vintage Air A/C for those warm summer SoCal days. Gabe’s Custom Interiors in San Bernardino handled the execution of Steve’s interior concept. “It’s one of my favorite interiors I’ve done — it’s contemporary but doesn’t look slick-modern,” Steve tells us. And Dynamat was used liberally throughout, which is how it ended up in that company’s booth at SEMA in 2022.

Though no awards were forthcoming, as Steve describes it, “There were 1,200-horse twin-turbo cars on 22s all around us and no one cared — because they’ve become blasé.” No flares, no carbon fiber, no electronic overload here. The simplicity of the approach worked, judging by the foot-traffic attention it received. It garnered more accolades at the Grand National Roadster Show this past January in Pomona, where it took home top prize in the 1965-’69 Hardtop category.

It is the definition of the American dream — an international refugee fleeing his war-torn homeland, starting with nothing but ambition and a family’s love, working hard, becoming his own boss, gambling on himself and winning. The results — a loving wife and kids, a home in the ’burbs, and owning the car you always wanted — speak for themselves. Having another one turn up on your doorstep, making it into something uniquely your own, seeing it become a star in the show-car world, and having 600 donut-spinning horsepower at your beck and call? If that’s not the American dream, we don’t know what is.

Specifications–1967 Chevrolet Chevelle Malibu

ENGINE

Block type: Chevrolet Mark IV “big-block” OHV V-8, cast-iron

Cylinder heads: Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum OHV, Cometic HLS gaskets

Displacement: 511 cubic inches

Bore x stroke: 4.310 x 4.375 inches

Compression ratio: 10.04:1

Pistons: Autotec flat-top

Connecting rods: SCAT forged steel

Horsepower: 600 (est.)

Torque: 600 (est.)

Camshaft type: Isky hydraulic roller

Duration: 228/238 degrees intake/exhaust (at .050-inch lift)

Lift: .553/.578-inch, intake/exhaust

Valvetrain: 2.19/1.88-inch valves, intake/exhaust, Speedmaster 1.7:1 ratio roller rocker arms

Fuel system: Weber 48IDA twin-throat downdraft carburetors (x4) with height-trimmed velocity stacks; Borla aluminum intake

Lubrication system: Melling high-pressure, high-volume oil pump; Milodon oil pick-up; Milodon stock-look pan

Ignition system: MSD Ready-to-Run distributor, heavy-duty marine coil, and wires

Exhaust system: Thermo-coated Sanderson long-tube headers, H-pipe, Flowmaster 3-inch stainless exhaust kit with Series 50 mufflers, polished stainless tailpipes

Original engine: Chevrolet 283-cu.in. “small-block” V-8

TRANSMISSION

Type: Tremec TKO five-speed manual conversion by American Powertrain; Centerforce clutch. Flywheel and pressure plate supplied with kit. Malwood USA hydraulic clutch pedal

Ratios: 1st/2.87:1 … 2nd/1.90:1 … 3rd/1.34:1 … 4th/1.00:1 … 5th/0.68:1

DIFFERENTIAL

Type: GM 10-bolt with Positraction limited-slip

Ratio: 3.08:1

STEERING

Type: GM power-assisted recirulating ball with ’87 Monte Carlo SS steering box

Ratio: 12.7:1

BRAKES

Type: Wilwood four-wheel disc

Front: Forged Narrow Superlite 6R with 13-in cross-drilled rotors

Rear: Forged Narrow Superlite 4R with 13-in cross-drilled rotors

SUSPENSION

Front: Detroit Speed & Engineering upper and lower A-arms and 1.5-inch splined front anti-sway bar; JRI adjustable coil-over shocks

Rear: Detroit Speed & Engineering upper and lower trailing arms; JRI adjustable coil-over shocks

WHEELS & TIRES

Wheels: ET Wheels Team III polished five-spoke cast aluminum-alloy

Front: 17 x 7 inches

Rear: 17 x 9.5 inches

Tires: Nitto NT555 G2 steel-belted radial

Front: 225/50R17

Rear: 275/50R17

Businessman Adrian Portelli brought one of the 75 production McLaren Senna GTR models to new heights when he purchased the supercar for $2 million and hired a team to hoist it up to the 57^th floor of his luxury penthouse apartment.

According to 9 News, a crew with a crane carefully guided Portelli’s McLaren Senna GTR up to the 57th floor of the Sapphire by the Gardens building in Melbourne, Australia. “It’s just a race car, so you can’t register on the street,” Portelli said, also noting, “It was just sitting in a factory anyway, so I might as well, you know, give it the title it deserves.” The video shows a significant crowd gathering to see the spectacle unfold. Fortunately, all went smoothly.

The penthouse, which happens to be the most expensive penthouse in Melbourne with a price tag of $39 million, was a spontaneous purchase for 34-year-old Portelli, mostly to be used on weekends. The apartment is still under construction inside, and the exterior will need repairs after the ordeal. The side of the building required removal for the car to be parked inside. The building is scheduled to be finished within 12 to 18 months. The For now, the Senna is staged on the concrete floor.

“The car is going to sit in the lounge room, it will be the centerpiece,” Portelli told 9 News.

Crane lifts McLaren up 57 floors into $39m penthouse in Melbourne | 9 News Australia

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Always the underdog, American Motors didn’t have the advertising budget to go toe-to-toe with Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. What it did have was a ton of chutzpah, and a belief that putting its products on the track and the strip was a cost-conscious way of proving to buyers that it could build something besides the fuel-stingy sedans it was known for. In 1969 alone, the automaker participated in no fewer than seven racing programs.

For 1970, the Independent pulled off one of the most storied coups in American motorsports, luring team owner Roger Penske and his star driver, Mark Donohue, away from Chevrolet to run its Javelin Trans-Am efforts. Introduced for 1968, the Javelin was AMC’s entry into the pony car field, offering a variety of six- and eight-cylinder engines, handsome styling by Dick Teague, capable handling, and an affordable price tag. Like its rivals, AMC saved costs by basing its pony car on a production compact, in its case the Rambler American.

Donohue, recognizing the Javelin’s potential for development, turned his attention to its aerodynamics. The holder of a bachelor’s degree in engineering, he had designed a decklid spoiler for the Trans-Am Camaros that he felt hadn’t been tall enough to be effective. Applying those lessons to the AMC, he created a tall ducktail spoiler that would help keep the Javelin’s back end planted at speed.

Needing to homologate the spoiler for competition, AMC announced a special Mark Donohue edition, taking out full-page ads that focused as much on the new alliance as on the coupe itself. “Mark Donohue and Roger Penske, the most successful driver-manager team in road racing, recently signed a three-year contract with American Motors,” the ads announced. “Together they’ve won two straight Trans-Am championships. They’ll go for a third with the Javelin.”

Under SCCA rules, AMC needed to produce 2,500 Javelins with Donohue’s spoiler. A special edition SST was created, loaded up with dual exhausts; power front disc brakes; E70 x 14 white-letter, wide-profile tires; 14 x 6 wheels; a handling package; and an AMX hood with a functional ram-air induction system. Buyers were given a choice of two four-barrel V-8s, a 360 and a 390, as well as a Borg-Warner three-speed automatic or a Hurst-shifted Borg-Warner T10 four-speed. The Donohue package added about $1,100 to a base V-8 SST, pushing sticker prices over the $4,000 line. By April 1970, AMC reported that precisely 2,501 examples had emerged from its Kenosha, Wisconsin, factory.

The 360-cu.in. engine was new for AMC in 1970. Essentially a stroked version of the 343, it incorporated a cast crankshaft and a pair of cylinder heads that incorporated dogleg exhaust ports designed to help exhaust flow. With 10.0:1 compression and a ram-air system feeding the four-barrel Autolite 4300 carburetor, it was rated at 290 hp at 4,800 rpm, and 395 lb-ft of torque at a low 3,200 rpm.

The 390, introduced in 1968, was fortified with a forged crankshaft, forged connecting rods, and meaty 2.250-inch rod bearings. It, too, had a 10.0:1 compression ratio, and belted out 325 hp at 5,000 rpm and 420 lb-ft of torque at 3,200 rpm. Today, the Mark Donohue Edition is a highly prized collectable from AMC’s performance years. Unfortunately, documenting an original Donohue car is difficult, because there’s no way to confirm its authenticity other than the window sticker and other dealer paperwork. Some AMC experts claim that a number 4 typed in the “ASC” (Automatic Speed Control) box on the build sheet is a sure sign of the Donohue package, because the 1970 Javelin wasn’t offered with ASC, but that has never been verified. The signed Donohue spoiler was offered as a $58.30 option on the SST, and was available over the counter, too, with dealers encouraged to create their own special editions. That can confuse matters.

Prices for documented Donohue Edition cars, which had been running around $20,000 as recently as 2015, seem to have taken a swing upwards recently. The example shown on this page, equipped with the 390 and four-speed, sold for $82,500 at Mecum’s Kissimmee, Florida, auction in January, while another traded hands for $77,000 at Barrett-Jackson’s Scottsdale auction the same month. Classic.com puts the average value at $23,900, but that’s for all SSTs, not just the genuine Donohue cars. Over the past three years, 16 ads for 1970 Javelins have appeared on Hemmings.com, with an average asking price of $52,446.

Specifications

Engine: OHV V-8, 360-cu.in., Autolite four-barrel carburetor, 290 hp at 4,800 rpm, 395 lb-ft at 3,200 rpm / OHV V-8, 390-cu.in., Autolite four-barrel carburetor, 325 hp at 5,000 rpm, 420 lb-ft at 3,200 rpm

Transmission: Four-speed manual / three-speed automatic

Suspension: Front, independent, twin ball joint design with coil springs, anti-sway bar; Rear, live axle, semi-elliptical leaf springs

Brakes: Front, 11-inch discs; Rear, 10-inch drums

Wheelbase: 109.0 inches

Shipping weight: 3,340 pounds

Price new: $2,848 (for Javelin SST)

Value today: $25,000 to $85,000

Cristin Elliott’s story has a happy ending, but it began with heartbreak and led to a 13-year-long rollercoaster of emotions while she tracked down her stolen 1971 Nova SS and struggled through a seemingly flawed system to rightfully reclaim what was hers.

Oregon Live outlined the story on May 10, 2023. Elliott parked the car at a friend’s house before leaving for a treatment facility back in September 2010. The car disappeared two months later. She immediately began her search for the Nova when she got home. Her scouring of car listings continued until 2019, when she finally found her Nova listed in an ad. She notified the police, but it would take another four years before she and the Nova would be reunited.

Cristin Elliot’s Facebook post pleading for her stolen car’s return.Oregon Live

The Chevy Nova was in the hands of a dealer who reportedly thought he bought the car legally, free and clear. He did admit that the seller claimed to have lost the car’s title while it was in storage for 10 years, but when the dealer and presumed car thief went to the DMV together, a new title was issued without hassle. How is that possible? The Oregon DMV apparently purges its stolen car database every few years. Elliot’s Nova hadn’t been in the system since at least 2015, so registering the muscle car’s VIN number threw no red flags.

There is a safeguard in place, but it’s not all that effective. The Police are alerted when the state is planning to purge its stolen car database so any vehicles that are still missing can be left in the system. In Elliot’s case, the Nova was never mentioned as missing, so it was removed from the list of stolen vehicles.

Dana MacDonald, Northwest regional director of the National Insurance Crime Bureau, told Oregon Live that the lack of record keeping allows thieves to easily steal cars, and store them until they are undetectable. “The records are purged, and it’s a problem and it’s not being addressed,” she said.

According to a DMV employee, that office was also partially at fault. “If the transaction had come to me for review, I would have required a new possessory lien form because it was not dated at the bottom,” the anonymous employee told a detective. But there’s more: The DMV reportedly didn’t review the records that were required from the previous owner, like how he obtained the car, and basically all the other documents you’re supposed to have before you can get a new title.

During a final court appearance, Elliott showed the actual vehicle’s title with the Nova SS obviously registered in her name. The court ruled in her favor, and she and the Nova are finally reunited. The original seller was arrested, but because a public defender wasn’t available, the judge dismissed the charges, and he was released a month later. Charges couldn’t be refiled as the statute of limitations had already passed.

This is the short version of Elliott’s story. The full version is still available on Oregonlive.com.

Described as “like new” apart from minor wear on interior components, this fully restored 1967 Amphicar 770 Convertible is one of 3,878 produced during the model’s seven-year run. When it made its splash in the ‘60s, the amphibious drop-top filled a unique void in the automotive market by combining road going capabilities with water crossings. It’s one vehicle that allows its owners to live the boat life while also experiencing classic car nostalgia.

Instead of the more common crossover built for road driving and off-road capabilities, the Amphicar is arguably the ultimate crossover vehicle, providing transportation across roads and water without requiring the driver or occupants to leave their seats. Anyone who has ridden in or driven an Amphicar will relish in the “oohs” and “ahhs” echoing from passersby, especially at the boat launch.

With a top speed of 70 mph on land and 7 knots in water, the Amphicar was never built to be fast and furious. It’s best fitted to the relaxed driver looking for the best scenic route, whether on lake or pavement. This example, fittingly finished in Lagoon Blue, is powered by what is believed to be the factory original 1,147-cc inline-four engine, rated at a whopping 43-horsepower when new. The rear-mounted engine is matched with a four-speed transmission. According to the seller, the car has been restored, and the restoration included new propellers. The car is said to start and run well, and there are no reported issues.

Photos show what appears to be an exceptional amphibious vehicle that is ready for the road, lake, or classic car and boat shows. The auction is estimated to end just eight days from this writing. Cruise to the auction listing for more information and over a hundred photos.