The wheel tubs really look awesome. The trunk spring reinforcements fit on the passenger side tub with no problem. The driver's side needed to bridged .5". The wheel houses were split so that a foot wide section could be added. This part was nicely done and is nearly complete.


Machuga Chassis finished most of the rear seat sheet metal fab work. They still have to do some minor finishing here. The 32 Gal. fuel cell is in place and the floor reinforcements were done a few weeks ago. The cell just drops into through the reinforced well in the floor and onto the brackets made in the frame.

Work on making an enclosure for the Gear Vendors Overdrive began this weekend. The tunnel for the Electra is very small so the transmission and propeller shaft fit very tightly. I suppose Buick intended that the tunnel be of minimum impact to the passengers so I think the Electra tunnel is smaller than most cars you would put a GV into. Dave cut out a piece of tunnel up near the transmission where it widens and brought it back about a foot. A foot long half tube will bridge it. Dave and Bruce are really great metal men and I admire their skills. Bruce studied under Dave for several years and is building his first oval track racecar while we work on the Faithful Pursuit.

God Speed,

I selected this trick Corvette ignition system from the 60's called "Magna Pulse" It has been enhanced by J & C's Part's Buick Ignition expert Mr. Carmen Faso in Tonawanda, New York 716-693-4090. He says that that the accuracy of spark delivery in terms of timing is hard to beat. He set it up to run with the MSD 6AL and Blaster 2 coil.

I really liked the quality of the set up as the internal components were a lot more robust than the pertronics set up that burned out a few weeks ago. The Pertronics "halo" is not level and is a little wavy. This could throw off the geometry enough to cause a variance in the timing of the spark. This set up was clean, properly lubricated and you could even feel a slight magnetic detent at every spark point within 360 degrees of rotation. Nicely done, thanks Carmen!

All,

Last Wednesday I invited three Road Racers, Don Hopings, Roy Hopkins, and Chris Wightman to the shop. Roy Hopkins races internationally and both Roy and Chris are BMW club members. They all gave me tips on sponsorship and will help me get onto Watkins Glen International Raceway in the Spring. We discussed the rules of the Silver State Classic. Roy encouraged me to try the "One Lap of America", that he races in with Brock Yates annually. I know retired Air Force Col. Jim Atwell who was with Brock back in the early '70s when they were doing the no holds barred coast to coast race. Col. Jim runs the "legalized" One Lap of America and I have talked about that possibility for a few years now. Brock Yated, Jr. and I have also talked about it. I think we can do that but the main target is the Silver State race in Nevada in 2005.

The racers were impressed with the seriousness of the racing chassis fabrication. Dave is a real serious race car builder and had more than 10 champion chassis come out of his shop. I fired the 455 STAGE I for the men. It became clear that we crossed the line from street machine to race car when Dave said,"You dont think you can actually drive this on the street do you? "The cops will arrest you the moment you drive into town!" Perhaps 3.5" x 3.5" straight mufflers are too loud for the street? Naw!!!

After the shop tour we went to The Stone House retaurant and talked over cooler placement issues, aerodynamics, and some tricks the Porsche guys use to cool their oil. I never knew they took air in at the nose and had the oil cooler attached to the wheel well and exhausted it into the wheel house. Chris told me that the spray you see billowing out of the front wheel wells are caused in part by air that the tire carries with it impacting air currents coming at it from the front of the car. This causes turbulence and forces air out of the wheel wells. The draft can be used to positive advantage.

There has been much work done over the past month and I have been too busy to get back on here.

Buick Wildcat racer and record holder Tom Wagner visited the shop and lent his expertise to tuning the Pee Gee Performance INTIMIDATOR about two weeks ago. Tom has a sharp black 1969 455 STAGE I Wildcat that runs 11.7 sec. in the 1/4. (No Nitrous)He gave the following recommendations. We worked at the magna pulse ignition from Carmen Faso, 6AL and 8.8mm wires and chrome Blaster 2 coil. We saved the NGK plugs for the trial runs. The motor sounded great!!! What a beastie!!!

Tom suggested the following additions for ultimate reliability:
a. Get roller rockers from TA Performance. They are the best. Initially
we opted for a very stock look and thought good shafts and new
rockers could do it. We need ultra reliability for our serious
racer .
b. Get a Romack harmonic balancer. If your 6AL goes into shut
down mode at the rev limit, you may "ring" the block. Essentially,
the block hits a resonant frequency and starts to vibrate violently
causing freezout plugs to pop out and balancers to break down.

Tom Wagner just returned from Bonneville salt flats where his buddy ran a 1996 or so Firebird with a Buick 455. They ran it to 141 mph, with lots more potential to go faster. He showed me pix of a '66 Olds Cutlass that had gone 202mph at the flats. It had some kind of long short fins accross the roofline and a rear spoiler, very stock looking. They cruised up Pikes Peak too but the 'Bird's suspension could not handle the rough parts too well. Tom said he is up for a Nevada road trip! Tom Wagner and Scotty Guadagno have more time 100+ in a big Buick than perhaps anyone else other than perhaps Jim Bell and the late great Pop Kennedy of Kenne-Bell fame.

Wheel tubs are finally done! Dave welded the whole wheel tub, back seat bulkhead and floor assy. Its quite an achievement. It is super rigid. We figured that the cage can come on after the car is assembled again. Yes, every thing has to come apart for underside paint, chrome, weld check, and plumbing. I cannot tell you how many times the body has come on and off this car! This will make about 4 I think! In any case, all the work and re-work will have been worth it! She will be totally awsome!

There has been a lot of activity on the business end of the project. First, I had some discussion with an organization called the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc. New York chapter president and original Tuskegee Airman, Lt. Colonel Clayton Lawrence said he liked the idea of the Tuskegee Airmen paint scheme. I mailed him a drawing of the car with 99th Pursuit squadron insignia. As you may know, the Tuskegee Airmen were the only group to never lose an allied bomber in combat during WWII. They also had a BOMBER GROUP being trained in the US for the Pacific. Col. Lawrence was part of that 477th composite group which struggled in the US for freedoms like being able to go to officer's clubs reserved for "whites only". Get this...they paid dues too but could not use the facilities, how wrong was that! Once, 101 officers were arrested for pushing past the guard and going into the an officers club at Freeman Field. They were all arrested and one was court marshalled, Roger "Bill" Terry. His record was finally cleared back in 1995 after 50 years! Anyway I am happy that the Tuskegee Airmen seem to like the idea because it shares their contribution to American history and freedom with younger Americans interested in motorsports, which is the #1 American past time.


Until next time, may God Speed you on your way...in a Buick,

Michael, you've come a long way very fast this year! Alot further than you thought you would get, I bet. Maybe I can stop by again at Christmas and check it out! Keep up the pace and we surely do appreciate the updates!

Roberta,

Yes, it is hard to believe that one year ago you saw the basically bare frame with just the rear suspension and a cobbed up front end. You are right we have come a long way, and have a long way to go yet!

It would be great to have you visit again! Maybe we can get Tom Wagner up as well. When Tom visited two weeks ago, he showed me a few "Left wheel up" pix of his 11.7 sec. 1969 Black Wildcat. He loves to talk Buick!

Let me know when you would like to meet, as the time approaches, and I'll coordinate a flexible get together.

God Speed,

Hi,

We worked on the electrical bus for the powered accesories. ie, fuel pump, waterpump, radiator fan, ignition, and starter. Dave used some really nice .030 Stainless Steel for brackets for the bus. I drilled out the holes for the switch panel and bent the plate. We made a series of five point jumper wire for the hot side of the bus. Later in the week we will start wiring the accesories into it.

Dave cut through the body floor to locate the main hoop for the cage. There will be the main hoop, forward hoop and tubes through the firewall to tie into the chassis up front. Similarly, tube will go out over the shoulder of the rear passenger and into the trunk to tie into the frame below the floor. The main hoop will be done over the weekend.

We are planning a sort of unvieling at the National Warplane Museum, to be renamed Wings of Eagles, in Coring/Elmira airport. I met with the head of the Museum yesterday and he seemed enthusiastic about having a fundraiser program there in May/June of next year. There will be a lot of activities there. I will pass on details as we develop that fund raising side of this Silver State Classic racer.

God Speed,

Pics??

Sounds way cool...would love to see it

Smartin,

Thanks for your inquiry. There are pictures in the "attachment" section of past messages. There appear to limitations on the size of the photos and therefore my attachements are limited. I will provide more photos in the future.

If you need assistance in posting multiple pictures, feel free to email me anything you would like to see posted and I'll do it.

adamm@buickpartsdirectory.com

Here are 3 shots of Faithful Pursuit! More to come later...

Martin,

Thanks for your help here. The photos show the rear end of the Electra GSX with the 3" SS exhaust, 2x4 tube chassis supporting the 32 Gallon JAZ fuel cell, and widened stock wheel tubs. You can see the red Energy Suspension, Inc. polyurethane bushings.

The rear quarter view shows the Pirelli P-ZERO 335/35-17 Y rated (189 mph) tires. 4 wheel disks.

The cockpit rear floor was removed and a new section welded in using .050 steel. Lots and lots of form fitting and welding by Machuga Chassis owner, Dave Machuga.

The cage is being fabricated now, some shots to follow in another week or so.

Thanks man!

Faithful Pursuit

Our way secured through faith;
Our goal acquired by grace;
We go at flank speed;
Through Force 10 seas;
In Faithful Pursuit of God?s face!

M. A. Joseph, II

The rollcage is complete. Dave Machuga and his people did a great piece of hand crafting that offers the rigidity that the car needs. The double hoop cage connects directly to the frame at 6 points and is removable. Its going to be quite a trick to keep the luxury car feel while the cage is inplace, especially since it makes it more difficult to get into the back seat. The car is large to begin with so that helps. I know lots of tubbed and caged cars lose the rear seats in the process. Many cars lose that added dimension of being able to drive with a few people and show them what you have built. I think that with a lot of work we will have functional rear seats with 4point harnesses. Rememebr that the new 4 link suspension comes up through the floor about 6 inches and the car is also lowered to 7" sothe rear seat area is very limited.

There was a lot of work associated with going through the floor and tieing in the chassis. First the chassis rails had to be located, reinforced, and the roll bars bent and flanges attached top and bottom. We had our share of problems too. There are a pair of roll cage brackets that connect to the rear chassis that now retrict bumper placement. Today Dave and I worked out a strategy to keep the gusseted perch in place and allow the bumper bracket to be retained in its current form. All this and the racing seats have not come yet!

We wired in a temporary under hood control panel for the radiator fans, fuel pump, ignition, and water pump. Dave had some nice sheet stainless that I cut and bent on his brake. We can now run the car from under the hood without the Christmas tree jury rig we have been using.

The car has been on stands for the last few weeks and is really coming together. I showed to my mom who was visiting us from Virginia during Thanksgiving. She had not seen the car in about 21 or so years. She told Dave about how she remembered it and how I saved for it with my old passbook account she started for me in 1968.

With the nose on it at least look like a car again, even if it all has to come apart again for weld check, and finishing. The Allison torque converter will be installed over the next couple of weeks and we will set up the temporary brakes and run it. Baer says the 13.5" ALCAN units are around $6,000 but thats what I'll need to slow 4000+lbs down from around 200mph! The 4 wheel disk setup it has now id big Lincoln in the rear and the super rare 1969 Electra disks. These will do untill we can raise the money for the BAER setup. Perhaps over the Christmas holidays we can get the car in driveable condition while Roberta V. is in town.

I came into the shop today while Dave was at dinner. His mean dog, Rebock, was there and growled at me until I pet him. First he put the bite on me now its extortion, I get it. Its like "Buddy, scratch my back or I'll bite you." He will nose my hand up and over his head to make me pet him. Yeah so I pet him and then he put his head on my leg and followed me around. I was thinking that this dog might have an accident one of these days but hey there is no better watchdog for the place. I watched the dog climb a ladder, open and close doors on command. Dave would have him welding if he had hands.

[pollstart]
[polltitle=Are 4 seats in a road racer cool or what?]
[polloption=Yes, sweeet!]
[polloption=No, dont bother!]
[pollstop]

Michael,

I didn't receive your pictures you said you sent me today!

Can you send them again to:

adamm@buickpartsdirectory.com

Thanks!!!

Smartin:

The photos were a couple of MEG so you may not have gotten them a few days ago. I sent them to your alternate address this time and there was no error report so you should have received them. If not, we will try one at a time.

Also, I just came back from Machuga Chassis. We need to install the ALLISON torque converter. This is the last item for the driveline other than the electrical hookup for the Gear Vendors Over/Underdrive and the cooling lines and cooler.

I removed the "H" exhaust system after jacking the car up an additional 4 or so inches. Removed all except the top two bolts to the transmission, Turbo 375. Tomorrow we will jack the trans, pull out the crossmember, block under the motor, and slide the trans back. Attach the converter and bolt it all back together.

Last night we worked till midnight fabricating the new bracket assembly for the rear bumper. The 3" SS exhaust and the roll cage gussets that I discussed earlier both interfere with the existing bracket placement on the rear bumper. We made the decision to move the brackets so that they will now bolt to the inside of the chassis rails instead of the outside.

As you may know the stock Electra 225 rear rails are boxed "over the hump" only, unless you have a convertible chassis. In any case the rear rails are never boxed. We replaced the the old wimpy rails with boxed steel to support the JAZ 32 Gallon fuel cell. This also allows us to move the brackets to the inside. The old carriage type bumper bolts were pretty beaten up and were replaced today.

Last night we carefully drilled out the spotwelds on the bumper plates and knocked the plates off. I hammered them flat, because they were contoured to the bumper and now will be moved inward 2.5" inches where the contact surfaces are now flat. Dave Machuga tacked them in place to check the fit.

We have come a long way but it seems like we still have a long way to go as interior and exterior finish and paint details still need to be done. May 2004 for roll out, shakedown and ready to run in Nevada by 2005. T minus 6 months and counting till launch!

Details details details! Der Teufel steckt en den einselhieten! (The Devil is in the details!)

God Speed!

Updated Pics!!

The Faithful Pursuit features the insignia of the Tuskegee Airmen, a winged panther, on the quarter panels in the car's 1982 original paint scheme. I thought it would be a nice idea to ask the Tuskegee Airmen what they thought about that . Well, today I gave them a presentation at their meeting in NYC. (570 miles round trip ) They are mostly about 80 something but still pretty spry . One of them told me about how he drag raced a '40 or so Buick while driving a '37 Olds in his youth. Airmen Alton Burton said "You are not going to drag race that Buick are you?" I said sure we will take it to the strip, but we built it for sustained high speed not drag racing. It was really neat to talk to them and show them the pictures of the car and the artist renditions with the 99th Pursuit Squadron insignia on the car. Here is a copy of a letter I emailed to General Hall who runs the local air museum. He will host my fundraiser at his museum next year and he said that he liked the idea of the car too, especially the tie in to the Tuskegee Airmen, "real American heroes!"



M. Gen. Michael Hall, USAF Ret.
Executive Director
National Warplane Museum
Corning/Elmira Regional Airport

13 December 2003

Dear General Hall,

I am pleased to inform you that the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., Claude B. Govan Chapter has accepted my proposal to support the "Faithful Pursuit" effort and will attend our fund raiser in the spring of 2004.

Today, I drove into NYC for their annual Christmas meeting and was given some time during their business session to discuss the Buick Electra GSX Road Racer and some of its history. Al Johnson, member of the office of the CTO for Corning, Inc. drove down with me and we had a great time meeting the Tuskegee Airmen and their families.

Tuskegee Airmen President, Col. Clayton Lawrence told me that the Tuskegee Airmen would be happy to visit Corning and participate in our fundraising effort in the spring of 2004.

This fund raising activity will be used to raise awareness about America's great heroes and help raise money for the Tuskegee Airmen Scholarship Fund and the racing effort.


Best regards,


Michael A. Joseph, II
President
Joseph GS Touring

Worked on connecting the ALLISON six point torque converter. It is about 2,000 rpm stall which is well suited to top end. The JW Performance flexplate "The Wheel" required some 3/16" spacers that a buddy of mine machined for me out of steel. The grade 8 equivalent metric bolts were a bit tough to find but Corning Building Company had them.

4" Spicer "white NASCAR" driveshaft went back in as well. The exhaust will require some re-bending now that the body is on. The earlier photos show the super sexy stainless steel exhaust when the body was off. We needed to get the exhaust in early to help develop the suspension and identify problems with clearance before the body went on. The penalty is that the tubes were not perfectly aligned to the body or the exhaust tip N-225 "exit strategy".

The car will go back to Carl Julian for a refit of the exhaust in a couple of weeks.

The painter, Bobby, at Bumper to Bumper says he is ready when we are. He noted that the interior can be done first if we like. The body will take his men two solid weeks of constant effort. Bobby is THE BEST IN THE AREA and he will make the car look "factory" again, restoring the proper color and fit and finish of the body panels. I told him that it must look like a stock Buick Electra, not a "show car". I want orange peel where it belongs and the body panels to have the same quirky factory look. It should have the feel of a factory Electra GSX when we are done.

Things are shaping up for the fundraiser in the spring. The Airmen and the Warplane museum are on board. I had a nice talk with General Hall on Sunday evening, he sent me a message earlier that day in response to my midnight e-mail after talking to the Tuskegee Airmen in NYC last Saturday.


Michael: Thanks for e-mailing me. I got your VM late and wasn't able to get back to
you before leaving. Could I give you a call to discuss this great news and a couple of
other subjects? Since I don't have your phone number in my Ithaca office, could you
please send it to me? Thanks. Best wishes to you and your family this Holiday
Season. VR, Mike


So, it looks like things are shaping up. Would you believe the original drawings of this concept, including 17" rims low profile tires, 4 wheel disks, and fuel cell were 21 years old this year? I took all the hot Indy/Ferrari stuff from the '70s and integrated it into the Electra GSX design from 1979 to 1982 when the final artist concept was completed. Now everyone has larger than 15" rims, racing inspired seats, and even drilled rotors are common on the street! Anyway I am glad to finally be getting this high speed racer design done!

God Speed,

I am hopefully going to see the Faithful Pursuit next week in person, if anyone has any details they would like to see, I will have my digital camera and will be more than willing to take some pictures as long as Michael will let me, and I'm sure he will! Let me know!

Roberta, fill up your camera...this car is too cool

Please fill up your camera! :-) I'd love to put a section on my budding electra site just for this car!!!

http://www.electra225.com

And this is not an ad for the site for sure! I just know I was frustarted trying to find information on the 70 electra when I first got it so I decided to put up a site! It's still pretty new and I have some updates to do but I know I love this Electra GSX! I'd love to see it smoke folks at the track! To go by sitting in Buick comfort and style! woohoo!

Roberta,

It is hard to believe that one whole year has gone by since you visited Machuga Chassis last. I am looking forward to showing you where we are on this project. I will be around all this week so there is no problem, just call me and we will connect.
The Machuga Chassis number is (607) 527 - 6607. These days I spend a lot of nights and weekends there.

Now I know why people in this area call Dave Machuga the best metal man around! I worked with him tonite on some repairs to the hood of the car and watched Dave stitch in a piece of steel to the hood more expertly than I have seen it done before. He really knows metal in my opinion. Ofcourse, here's a a guy who has an English Wheel in his shop so why am I surprised!

There has been lots of good progress over the past week as we are driving to get the car in shape to move it to my garage for some more detailing before it gets paint. I expect the paint to be done in January/March. There will be interior work and lots more electrical stuff to do too.

I am also excited about Smartin putting photos of the Faithful Pursuit on this site as well as getting my car onto the [color:\\"red\\"] [/color] Electra Site Electra Site too! (I liked the sound of that...Electra Site!)

Have a safe trip,Merry Christmas and God Speed,

Here are a few photos of Michael's visit to NYC with the Tuskegee Airmen!

Smartin,

Thanks for posting these photos for me. Thats me up top with the Faithful Pursuit still at Machuga Chassis. You can see the rare "Star Wars" aircleaner from a '67 GS that I found at Hershey one year.

Below that is Professor Alton Burton with the green and red tie. He was trained as bombadier/navigator in the 477th composite group. This was the part of the Tuskegee Airmen that did not get deployed during WWII. Alton is the Airmen who told me about his '37 Olds and the racing that he did years ago. He was a professor at Pratt Institute in the construction management department and was the lead planning engineer for the World Trade Center project in the '60s. He completed tower one I believe.

Below Alton is Airman Whittier English, a very successful realtor in New Jersey and has a fabulous black V-12 S-600 Mercedes. The New York Airmen typically have parties at his home in the summer. I went to one there nearly 16 years ago when my son was just a newborn.

The president of the Tuskegee Airmen Chapter, Lt. Col. Clayton Lawrence, USAF Ret., and I are holding up a drawing of the Faithful Pursuit. If you look closely you will see a panther with wings. This is the symbol of the first combat organization, the 99th Pursuit Squadron.

You will also note that there are more modern aircraft in the background. North American XB-70 Valkyrie, of which only two were built. There is absolutely no connection between the Tuskegee Airmen and the XB-70. However, a machinist that did some recent custom work on Faithful Pursuit worked on the XB-70 program back in the '60s.

The Electra GSX is the rolling equivalent of the WWII era P-47 Thunderbolt, the "Jug". An aircraft so big and heavy that many people thought they could not be good fighter planes. They were all proved wrong and the Nazis found out the hard way. Many people think that the Electra is too big to be a racecar. They have been proved wrong for many decades in drag racing and we are about to prove them wrong again!

Merry Christmas!

All,

About four years ago I built an 1969 Electra GS prototype. It was developed to help finalize design details for the Faithful Pursuit.

This was purely a design exercise. No photos were ever released, until now. Shortly, Smartin will show elements of the Electra GS .

The Faithful Pursuit car is an experimental vehicle, as you well know, hence the appropriate GSX designation .

(PS: The Electra GS prototype is actually a stock 15.3 sec. @ 90mph Electra 225 Custom Convertible with the original 430, points, 2.73 posi, V-Rated Pursuit tires, and rally rims)