Chevy Colorado Accessories

I am 31 and father of three kids: Mike, Andrew and Trevor. I love them more than everything else so I want to spend my time with them as often as possible. I am a Finance Manger at a very big company in California, so it is not easy for me to get free time. That means that each second with them is very precious and I want to do something special in this few days we have. Last spring we went on vacation to Colorado to go skiing and snowboarding and the kids loved it.

To handle the travel with three kids and a lovely wife you need a big car. Therefore I purchased a Chevy Silverado last year but even if you have such a big car, you won’t have enough space to store all your stuff. Mike wants to get all his sport stuff; Andrew needs his guitar and Trevor his new toys. Beside that we bought everyone snowboards last spring, so there is no way to carry them all without a hitch. So I bought a hitch, but what is a hitch without a trailer hitch. And there begins the problem. I am not an expert on cars so how can I get a good trailer hitch that is easy to install and fits my car? After a little research I recognized that there is no reason to worry about this problem. On the internet there are so many offers it is unbelievable. From the Hidden Hitch products to the Draw Tite Hitches, you will find everything you need. After a short discussion with my boys, who want to be involved in each matter, I decided to buy the Draw Tite fifth wheel. And seriously it works:

You can draw up to 24,000 lbs safely, securely and stably on your Draw Tite Fifth-Wheel Hitch without any problems. Another benefit from Draw Tite Fifth-Wheel Hitch is that it handles the heaviest hauls with ease like gigantic RVs or colossal boats to horse trailers. So if I want to surprise the boys with a small boat trip, no problems will result. Or I can buy little horses for me and my wife to show the world that Clint Eastwood is a joke in comparison to me. I think these are enough advantages to convince you of the necessity to purchase a trailer hitch, when you have a big family and want to go on vacation often with all of your toys. So listen to my advice, buy a trailer in combination with a very good trailer hitch and make your life easy.

In March 1964 Ford debuted as one the most popular cars ever built. It was the car that started the pony car craze and gave us a peek into what the world would know as the muscle car era. Although it was built in 1964 it was designated as a 1965. The ones built from March until July 31, 1964 are known as 1964 1/2 Mustangs and were some what different from the ones built from August 1 and later. Most of the differences were internal and the body were identical except for the hood being rolled under in the later ones. It was basically a Falcon with a new body and bucket seats. The ones built after July are known as 1965’s and were a little more updated with such things as an alternator,adjustable passenger seat and a number of other engineering refinements. The pony interior with the running horses was offered also.

The Mustang probably had the biggest debut of any car ever made as it was introduced at the New York’s World Fair and was the pace car for the Indianapolis 500. Over 4 million people visited the showrooms and 22,000 were ordered the 1st day. It sold 417,000 the first year which broke all previous automobile sales records.

The body styles were the coupe and convertible. No fastbacks were built until the 1965’s came out in August. The engines were the U code 170 CI 6 cylinder, F code 260 V8 and the D code 289 V8 with 210 Horsepower. The GT came out in April 1965 and was offered in all 3 body styles. You had a choice of the A code 225 HP or K code 271 HP V8. The 271 HP almost qualified it as a muscle car. The 1st Shelby Mustangs, all fastbacks, came out in 1965 and was really a hotrod with no backseat and hopped up to 306 HP.

1966 didn’t see a lot of changes in the body except for the pony in the grill, side trim and restyled gas cap. The G.T. 350 came out in 1966 and Hertz ordered 1,001 of them for rental cars or “Rent-a Racers” as they were known as. Many Sundays they could be found at the dragstrip or road race course. There was a rumour at the time that a number of them were rented and the engines swapped with the renter’s engine and returned to the dealer. True or not it makes a heck of a story. This was also the first year for the High Country Special sold in Colorado and Wyoming. The Shelby GT350 was available with a 289cid that put out 390hp and likely qualified it as a muscle car. In 1967 the Mustang had the 1st body redesign, although it wasn’t a major one, mostly trim and grill. The biggest change was on the fastback where the top went all the way to the rear of the car. The convertible had a glass rear window for the 1st time.

It was the last year for 289 Hi-Po and the first year for the 390cid and 428cid engines. The GT350 had the 289cid Hi-Po while the GT500 got the 428cid. The 390cid could be had in all 3 body styles. This was the only year for the GTA which had an automatic transmission and could be had with the 289 or 390 in all 3 body styles. Only 400 High Country Specials were build in 1967.

The Chevy Camaro, Mercury Cougar, Pontiac Firebird and Plymouth Barracuda were all in the same class as the Mustang and cut into their sales, but they still outsold their nearest competitor, the Cougar by a three to one margin.

The 1968 was little changed in appearance from the 1967. The 427cid of Cobra fame came out in he GT’s. Equipped With disc brakes, racing tires and heavy duty suspension it was race ready right off the showroom floor. Mustang racer Bob Tasca efforts to build the 428 Cobra Jet was rewarded by Ford building 2,817 instead of the just 50 intial run he asked for. This was the last year for the High Country Special and a California Special was available for this year only. All the Specials were coupes.

In 1969 things really changed, the engine line had 7 different size engines and although the body had the same look it was 4 inches longer and a little wider. The engines ranged from the 2 little 6 cylinders, a regular and a Boss 302cid, 2 different 351cid, the 390cid, the Cobra Jet and Cobra Jet-R 428cid all the way up to the monster, Boss 429. The original body styles were still around, but now they were joined by the Mach 1, the Boss and the Grande. This was the last year for the GT.

The Mach 1 was basically a fastback GT with upgrades. It came with 351cid, 390cid or the Cobra Jet 428.The Grande was for the luxury buyer, with many upgrades. The Boss 302 was built to race in the TransAm series where the Camaro had beat them in 1968. They almost won it in 1969. This was the year of the Boss 429 debut, which was the Nascar version engine.

1970 was a happier year for Ford as the Boss 302 won the Trans-Am Series. Very few changes were made to the cars. The Boss 429cid came out with a hemi-head that required suspension modifications so it would fit.The 390cid was done away with. Ford built 2 1970 Boss 429 Lawmen Mustangs to tour with the U.S. troops. Only 1 of the 1,200-horsepower monsters survives today and is owned by wrestler Bill Goldberg.

In 1971 the Mustang gained one inch in wheelbase and every other dimension grew. The Mach 1 could now be had with the 429cid although the 302cid was standard. The Boss 302 and Boss 429 were both dropped in favor of the Boss 351. Like 1970 there wasn’t too much exciting happening in the Ford camp. It was like they knew the end was near.

1972 saw the end of the Mustangs wild ride. The pony had grown into a stallion, but like the stallions of the old West it’s end was near. The 429cid engine was dropped which meant that the largest engine was now the 351cid. Although the High Output version put out a respectable 275hp it was a far cry from the advertised 376hp (reputed to be much higher) the Boss 429 put out. In my estimation this was the last year for the Ford muscle cars although in reality it was 1970 as the engine cubic inches and horsepwer went the way of the dodo bird in the 1971 models.

I hate to even mention the 1973 because of the hatchet job that was done on the Mustang and other muscle cars. This was even the last year for the convertible. The 351cid was down to a wimpy 266hp. The Mustang with any kind of muscle was dead and would not really get revived until recently.

Due to the short but rich history of the real Mustangs we need to keep on restoring or preserving them so that the kids of today can have a chance to own a piece of history that will never come around again. Remember, restore them don’t crush them.

A TV is an inanimate object that provides entertainment. A can opener is an inanimate object that provides accessibility to food. A train is an inanimate object that moves large groups of people. And so it would follow that a car is an inanimate object that provides individual transportation. No way. Insofar as its relationship to people is concerned a car is in a class by itself.
Marshall McLuhan certainly had some understanding of this back in 1964, when he wrote in “Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man” “…the car has become an article of dress without which we feel uncertain, unclad, and incomplete in the urban compound.” It is certainly arguable that the person who does not own a car, who walks, bikes or takes the bus, feels uncertain, unclad, and incomplete. At the same time, for people who own them, cars do provide an emotional balm unrelated to their function of transportation.
And this is reflected in car purchases. People do choose the cars they buy for practical reasons such as fuel economy, safety, and price. At the same time, emotional factors such as vanity desires play a strong part in car selection. A car is personalized. People name their cars. People attribute emotions to their cars such as obstinacy when they refuse to start. And now there is even some scientific research to support the fact that people personalize their cars.
Vanderbilt University and the University of Colorado at Boulder conducted a study as to how our brains process faces and pictures of cars. It was found that people view cars with the same area of their brains that they view other people’s faces.
And if they have to identify cars and faces at the same time they experience a conflict.
Another study was conducted at the University of Vienna to determine how people view cars. They found that one third of the study participants linked a human or animal face with ninety percent of the cars. People who looked at the Classic 1957 Chevy Bel Air perceived the headlights as eyes and the air intake/grille as a mouth. When given emotions and characteristics such as powerful, arrogant, angry, masculine, and dominant, the participants agreed overall as to the cars that had these traits.
The study also found that the most popular cars exuded power and were described as angry, arrogant, masculine, dominant, and mature by both men and women.
And it is not just the car that arouses emotional responses but also some parts of the car. One important part is cup holders. According to a professor at Duke University and a cultural anthropologist, we experience the interior of our automobile on a subconscious level. Therefore, how a car feels to us is important. Cup holders evoke a feeling of comfort and this can be the first item that prospective buyers look for. Plus prospective buyers can be positively influenced by the number of cup holders the car has.
So characteristics such as color, power, overall appearance, styling, and performance are important not for their intrinsic value but for the overall feeling they give the driver/buyer. And quite often, this feeling will over-ride such practical considerations as fuel economy, durability and safety.

The city of Burbank, California will take part in a pilot program to test a new zero-emissions, ultra-quiet prototype bus that uses a hydrogen fuel cell instead of a diesel or gasoline engine. The groundbreaking vehicle will be unveiled in a Spring 2009 Downtown Burbank function and then go into prompt service on diverse routes within the City’s BurbankBus network. Designed and fabricated by Colorado-based Proterra, the radical vehicle can journey 250 miles before needing to be recharged, runs at double the fuel efficiency of a diesel bus and releases nothing but water from the engine exhaust. In addition to being created and assembled in this nation, it relies on energy that is completely derived from American sources, thereby reducing dependency on foreign sources of energy. The vehicle features several world-firsts for public transportation: –  It is the first-ever light-weight composite bus that is purpose-built to be a plug-in hybrid, offering the advantage of super fuel efficiency. –  It is the first to apply mass-produced smaller output (< 50 kW or < 67 HP) automotive fuel cells as range extension to a plug-in hybrid bus, and as such substantially reduces vehicle and lifetime operating costs. --  And it offers the world's first fast-charge battery technology, which is capable of fully recharging the battery in a record 6 minutes. This allows buses to re-power during driver rest breaks.If the technology sounds familiar then you are correct, as it is very similar to that to be used beginning in 2010 with several next-generation plug-in hybrid vehicles, such as the Chevy Volt. On-board computers regulate the electrical needs of the engine by alternating between power fed by Proterra's TerraVolt energy storage system, and power derived from the hydrogen fuel cells developed by Hydrogenics Corporation. These cells are fed by pressure tanks located on the vehicle's roof, and transform hydrogen and oxygen into water vapor and electricity to charge the batteries. The vehicle may also be recharged by plugging into readily available wall outlets, like many of the new hybrid cars.Source: City of Burbank