- 10/4/2023
Owning a business that’s located at Sonoma Raceway in Northern California does have its benefits. Aside from having access to some of the greatest race cars ever created
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MotorTranscript
00:00 Automotive enthusiasts tend to get their inspiration from what surrounds them.
00:04 Now Ryan Kurtz is a fabricator who also happens to own a shop here at Sonoma Raceway.
00:09 Now a raceway means, well, race cars, which kind of explains the look of the 1964 Galaxy Starliner you see beside me.
00:18 [Engine Revving]
00:21 The car is kind of just environmental in that we're here at the racetrack, which is one of the last two road race NASCAR tracks.
00:43 And we happen to have a couple shops out here that host vintage NASCARs.
00:47 And seeing them on track days, seeing them drive by, and as I'm watching the car go by, and then I see my car, and it just kind of clicked.
00:54 That we needed to do that.
00:56 When he got this car, it had a 352 cubic inch Ford.
01:09 The motor was tired, and he said he drove it like that for a while, but then it developed a rod knock.
01:15 And so he's like, "Alright, let me pull it, I'm going to shelve that."
01:18 And that was it.
01:20 He also got kind of tired of the original mag wheels that were on the car.
01:24 And as opposed to just dumping money into the body, he said, "Let me just have a little fun."
01:28 Put a 390 into it, out of a Thunderbird.
01:33 Tuned it up. It's got three two-barrel Rochester carbs on it.
01:37 And you know what? It's pretty good.
01:40 Like, you jump on it, and you get this thing to rev a little bit.
01:43 Get it to open up.
01:47 And it sounds like, "Yo, that's proper!"
01:53 Like, that sounds proper!
01:57 And it's just cool!
01:59 We bought it from a guy out towards the coast who wasn't doing anything with it.
02:05 He was a painter, he wanted to paint it, he loved the car, but just wasn't able to...
02:09 didn't have the time, space, or money, whatever's required to get the project done.
02:13 So we took it off at his hands and began the mechanical restoration.
02:21 We put air ride suspension throughout.
02:23 Mechanically pulled the car apart completely.
02:26 Every part of the engine's new. Transmission's all gone through.
02:31 Rear axle's rebuilt with a posi.
02:33 Four-wheel power disc brakes on the car.
02:35 Some things that just make it drive a little nicer.
02:38 It's all brand new lines, painted and plated, everything underneath the car.
02:41 One of the coolest features of the car, I think, is the side exhaust.
02:45 I read a swap meet and picked up some old Hot Rod magazines from 1963.
02:50 And it documented how a Bill Strop, the Mercury NASCARs of the day,
02:54 ran the exhaust through the frame rails, for obvious reasons.
02:58 Shorter exhaust, getting it through the frame rail,
03:00 eliminated it scraping on the ground that could run the car lower.
03:03 We had seen one of those at some of the vintage races.
03:05 I really just wanted to duplicate that.
03:07 So the exhaust comes through the frame rail and then out the side of the body.
03:10 This was originally a column shift. It was a three on the tree.
03:20 Now, I don't know if many of you guys, at least the younger guys, know what that is.
03:24 But that was an actual manual transmission where it was like first, second, third, whatever the case is.
03:29 And it took a little while to get used to, but your shifter was here, not here.
03:34 So aside from upgrading the brakes to four-wheel discs,
03:38 Ryan also upgraded the wheels and tires.
03:41 He's running big 17x8 steelies on the front, 17x9s on the back,
03:46 with a new set of Continental Extreme Contacts 4 tires.
03:50 The bonus of upgrading wheels and tires on an old car like this is,
03:53 obviously, one, you can fit a little bit of brake under that,
03:56 but two, you do get that extra grip.
03:59 And on something that's, well, 19 feet long, not a bad thing to have.
04:04 The look of the car is ruined with the windows up.
04:17 Like, I love this thin roofline, two-door hardtop, no pillar.
04:23 It's just a very open feeling.
04:25 We decided on putting bucket seats and a roll cage in it,
04:27 but I think that kind of ruined the car.
04:28 I think that would make you not want to drive it. It would be less comfortable.
04:31 So we opted for the bench seat and a low back at that even.
04:35 So it just keeps a really open design, very free feeling.
04:38 The interior of the car is just cool, right?
04:44 Four speeds in the perfect spot.
04:46 Ryan did this beautiful bench seat.
04:48 Another thing that's super cool, I want you to look at these door panels,
04:51 because at first glance, you'll look at them and you'll be like,
04:54 "Oh, those are really nice leather-covered door panels."
04:56 No, they're not leather-covered door panels.
04:59 These are actually aluminum.
05:01 Ryan took a sheet of textured aluminum, painted them,
05:05 and then put them on his roller so it would look like a padded panel.
05:09 That's the type of crap you can do when you're a fabricator,
05:12 because you know why?
05:13 Fabricators make sure that you can see.
05:16 He can do that.
05:18 The door panels on the car, when we got it, they were just terrible.
05:21 They were sitting out in the sun and just weathered and all that.
05:24 Typically, the NASCARs of the day, they ran this textured aluminum
05:27 for the door panels and other features on the car,
05:29 like bumper fairings and instrument block-offs.
05:32 So we were able to get some of that, and I just bead-rolled some lines in it
05:35 to simulate what the original interior looked like.
05:38 And then we painted the top and bottom red and had the aluminum just stand out.
05:42 Really long lines that connect with the exterior features of the car.
05:47 [engine revving]
05:50 This is Ford's big old full-size for 1960.
05:55 It's a 1960 Ford Galaxy Starliner.
05:58 And think of that name--Starliner.
06:00 Where do you want to go? I want to go to the stars.
06:02 Are you really going to get there? No.
06:05 It's fine.
06:07 [engine revving]
06:09 This car right here, this is no lightweight.
06:12 The Starliner weighs about 3,600 to 3,800 pounds.
06:15 It sits on a 119-inch wheelbase.
06:18 And with this massive bubble top,
06:20 it makes you feel like you came right out of the Jetsons.
06:23 This is just--[imitates engine revving]
06:25 Pretty cool. And it actually kind of sounds like that.
06:28 [engine revving]
06:31 I love this thing.
06:33 [upbeat music]
06:44 So the exterior of this car is a sight to behold.
06:47 It looks like a badass NASCAR that was just found in a barn and pulled out.
06:51 Plus the fact that it is a Starliner is cool.
06:54 Look at the headlights and how they're kind of recessed into the grille.
06:58 Look at the fins on the back.
07:00 They're not vertical fins like you'd see on a '59 Caddy.
07:03 They're actually horizontal fins that are splayed out,
07:06 you know, almost like a '59 Batwing.
07:09 The taillights are half-moon-shaped.
07:12 You've got these little details and these nuances
07:15 that really take it to the next level.
07:17 [engine revving]
07:20 We do have the ancillary gauge pod,
07:23 but all the controls are actually very cool.
07:25 I mean, we have these kind of large switches and knobs here
07:28 that are very correct for the time period.
07:31 This is what automotive styling was.
07:33 It's almost like the designers would look at science fiction,
07:39 and they would get ideas for these cars,
07:41 and then they would come back and they would incorporate them into the interiors.
07:45 And it looks great.
07:47 I mean, even on the front of the car,
07:49 we have these little markers on the ends of the front fenders
07:52 that are like these little bullseye.
07:54 [engine revving]
07:57 Old steering is, well, just old steering, right?
08:01 So if I go like this, check it out.
08:04 See the car moving back and forth?
08:06 No. You know why?
08:08 It ain't moving back and forth.
08:10 You get used to this, believe it or not.
08:12 I mean, as somebody who drives old stuff for a living,
08:15 every time you make an input, you're just like,
08:18 "Well, I know I'm going to turn the wheel at least an eighth of a turn
08:21 in every direction before anything happens."
08:24 You just kind of factor it in. It's what you do.
08:27 [music]
08:30 What's cool is that Ryan is a fabricator,
08:34 but more so than that, he's also a pilot.
08:36 So having a car that kind of represents his love for aviation
08:40 and for anything that goes up is kind of neat
08:42 because he was able to craft something
08:44 that is just meant to stay on the ground and go forward.
08:48 I am a pilot. I was always in love with airplanes.
08:51 My father was a pilot growing up, just fascinated with flying.
08:56 This car really, to me, represents aviation.
08:59 It was a design change in 1960 for Ford.
09:02 I think car design, it doesn't happen in a vacuum.
09:04 It reflects what's happening in the culture at large.
09:07 A few years earlier, Sputnik had orbited the Earth,
09:10 and I think everyone's eyes were on the moon.
09:12 We were in the Cold War.
09:13 So the car designers try to connect with that,
09:16 with these highlight lines, this very long line that runs down the car,
09:19 and theme it towards aviation and jets.
09:22 [music]
09:32 I was very fortunate to have wood shop, auto shop, metal shop,
09:35 and drafting all at the high school that I went to.
09:37 Very fortunate for that.
09:39 I think without those skills to be another tech guy or something like that,
09:42 whatever, the schools were force-feeding you at the time.
09:45 We kind of went the other way.
09:46 I was like, "No, this is cool. Welding sparks."
09:49 Yeah. Go fast. Do burnouts. Right?
09:54 [engine revving]
09:58 This car, and everything that went into it, is a product of vocational education.
10:03 The beautiful welds, the mechanics, and the metal fabrication
10:07 are skills acquired by utilizing your hands, eyes, and other senses,
10:11 and not just by sitting in a massive lecture hall.
10:14 Vocational education has sparked the imagination of millions upon millions of young minds
10:20 and encouraged them to follow the road less traveled.
10:23 It led to business owners, technicians, and craftsmen
10:26 who have turned out some of the greatest creations we've ever seen.
10:30 It leaves me wondering why programs like this are going away.
10:35 And although I'm not sure what the answer is,
10:38 I do know men like Ryan, they're going to be busy for quite some time.
10:43 Got my first job out at the racetrack building race cars, and just fell in love with it.
10:50 I was basically working 8 to 10 hours a day at one job.
10:53 I was able to get some shop space and started buying tools and equipment,
10:56 and then working nights and weekends, realized that I was making a lot more money down there
11:00 than at the real job.
11:02 So, just eventually got the confidence and broke off and did my own thing.
11:07 Yeah, we do see some projects that come in that are less than quality.
11:11 I don't really think we're in competition with them, we're in competition with ourselves.
11:14 So every project that we do, we try to do better.
11:16 We've had some roll cages came in with some welds that just wouldn't pass tech,
11:20 and it's kind of sad, like it's a safety thing.
11:22 People try to save money on building roll cages, and you really shouldn't.
11:25 That's where you should spend the money.
11:28 Everything mechanically has been gone through in this car to the point where,
11:33 turn the key, start it, drive it wherever you're going to go.
11:37 It's not going to overheat, it's not going to do anything funky, it's just going to run.
11:43 We did a mechanical restoration on it, because that's the stuff that we focus on.
11:48 The car needs to be on the racetrack, it needs to finish the race,
11:52 and those are the things that are important to us.
11:54 The look of the body, the car kind of sells itself.
11:57 Sure, it's weathered and all that, but I think that the look is unique.
12:01 The looks of this car, it's pretty cool.
12:09 And I go back and forth with a lot of people in regards to where you should put your money.
12:14 Should you put your money back into paint and body, should you put your money into mechanics?
12:20 First and foremost, get your car to run correctly,
12:24 because you can have the greatest paint job in the world,
12:27 but if you're broken down on the side of the road, well, have fun with that.
12:31 The only thing that's going to happen is people are going to look at you and be like,
12:34 "Wow, that's a really nice car, not moving with smoke coming out of it.
12:38 He's not having a good day."
12:41 How do I know that?
12:43 Well, years ago, when I first bought my Charger,
12:45 I was more concerned with the way it looked than the way it ran.
12:48 Paint and body were flawless.
12:51 I remember one day going out to East Hampton,
12:54 and my wife and I were sitting on the side of the road after the car vapor locked and just, well, basically stopped.
13:01 Traffic going out to the Hamptons was huge,
13:04 and the license plate on that car back in the day said "Mr. Angry."
13:08 And I just remember this one woman driving by with her window down and going,
13:13 "I bet she's angry now."
13:15 I'll never forgot that.
13:17 Since that day, my main concern is mechanics.
13:21 Make the car run correctly.
13:24 Spend the money.
13:25 Get the right carburetor.
13:27 Get the right fuel injection.
13:28 Do whatever you have to do to make it proper.
13:30 People ask me, "Why do you drive a '70 Monte every day?"
13:36 One is because I can. I live in a place where it's allowable.
13:40 The weather lets us do that.
13:42 Two, it makes me feel special.
13:44 Three, when you pull up to something like this, at a gas station or at a supermarket or at a light,
13:49 or wherever you go, people want to know.
13:52 People want to talk to you.
13:53 They want to ask you questions about the car.
13:56 They want to ask you questions about what you do for a living.
13:59 It's a massive engagement piece.
14:02 And because of that, you know, because of that, it just makes you feel good.
14:08 And there's nothing wrong with feeling good, right?
14:12 Have the best day in the world.
14:14 You get in this thing, hear the side pipes roar, lay into the pedal,
14:20 bounce through the gears.
14:23 Man, this is the way it's supposed to be.
14:25 If you look hard enough, you can find fault in anything.
14:29 And sometimes I think that's just what people do.
14:32 Take this old Ford, for example.
14:34 To some, it's just a kind of a rusty old body with red wheels and some faded paint.
14:38 But to others, it's a source of inspiration.
14:41 For me, personally, I'm glad somebody decided to save it and give it a new lease on life.
14:47 Because in the end, isn't that what this hobby's all about?
14:50 Look at the steering wheel.
14:54 That's amazing.
14:57 Oh, manual steering!
14:59 People were tough back in the day.
15:02 Not a bunch of hipsters like they are today.
15:04 Okay, come on. Crank you big son of a...
15:07 [Music]
15:09 [car engine revving]
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