There are several studies that show more children are hit by vehicles on Halloween night than any other night of the year, four times more likely. It is sad such a joyous, candy indulged holiday can be so deadly.

As driving safely & sharing the road with pedestrians should be a priority every single day, let’s make sure this Halloween we take extra precautions to protect children on the street. Every child (or adult-child) should come home to sort through that large pillow case of sweets & odd treats the neighbors gave out.

It‘s the law but still so many people (and TEENS) do not & will not abide by it;

Don’t Drink & Drive!

Even JUST that one drink can cause drivers to become less aware, slower to respond & more easily distracted, which can be a fatal cocktail when children dart out into the street.

*If you suspect drunk driving call 911 immediately.

Slow down, there is no better advice on this night or terror. Drive well below the speed limit, leave early if you need to be somewhere so you are not rushed and do not feel inclined to drive faster. There will probably be idiots on the road that will speed, honk if they are behind you or try and pass you while you are driving cautiously, don’t be that idiot. Remain calm and do not engage in any “road rage” if there is a conflict with another driver. If you have a short temper or just don’t like idiots on the road remember 1-2-3…. 10 then react.

When you see a stopped vehicle on the side of the road, or a vehicle that didn’t quite make it to the side before stopping, slow down pay attention because it is most likely someone dropping off kids or getting out of their vehicle. Again, slow down.

When you’re the one dropping of kids or parking your vehicle be sure to keep your lights on or even better turn on your hazard lights so it make yourself more visible to other driver & hopefully they will slow it down.

Remember that the kids are candied-out of their minds, even if you think they saw you be cautious , kids will be crazy, not look before running into the street or even have impaired vision due to costume attire.

Valley Collision Center would like to wish everyone a safe & Happy Halloween, please remember to follow these tips to keep everyone safe this year!

It has been reported that women are three more likely to sustain serious injuries or be killed in a head on collision than the average size male. With women being smaller and atomically different, they are more at risk in certain front end crashes, which does not mean that men are greatly less at risk, but with the safety features based solely on the anatomy of a male. For example the air bag is designed to hit the occupant in the upper chest, but with a women or smaller person it will most likely hit them in the face or chin causing head & neck injuries. The safety advocates have argued for years that this is a posed risk for smaller occupants, as auto makers continued to use dummies modeled after the average male, they have maintained that the average sized dummy is applicable to 95% of the driving population & the development of a smaller dummy would be too costly and time consuming.

Under new requirements, car companies must use a smaller female crash dummies in front end collision tests for 2011 model year vehicles and beyond. The long-overdue introduction of female-proportioned dummies “is the product of a long-held cultural resistance to considering gender differences in design.”

“Curves like these inspire poetry.”

The 1947 Buick Streamliner is truly and simply a beautiful design. This vehicle was born in the 1940′s when curves of women & cars were most desirable in the eyes of men. The attraction of this vehicle is as pleasing to the eye as it was 70 years ago, it is so rare to ever see these cars in auction or on the road, these owners don’t pass them up….

When this vehicle was originally designed & built it took over two years and and $10,000 to complete the steel chassis and the aluminum body. Norman Timbs is the mastermind behind this, he worked as an Indy 500 desinger, he designed the Blue Crown Specials which won the Indy several times… Times was no doubt the design was inspired by 1937 Auto Union Typ C Stromlinie & the 1937 Mercedes-Benz W25 Avus Stromlinie which ran the 1937 Avus GP, the fastest race of all time nearing speeds of 248.40MPH.

This baby is long & low with a complete underbelly panel, the engine occupying the rear of the chassis, with one large rear panel that open hydraulically to reveal the entire rear end, & the cockpit is pushed forward with no door cut outs.

At first the Streamliner was only used on the show circuit until a man named Jim Davis bought it in 1952 and drove it around Manhattan Beach California. Fifty years later it was found in the desert mostly intact, it was bought at auction and restored by Custom Auto, Inc for owners Gary and Diane Cerveny in Malibu Califonia. The restoration was described as “complete and exacting,” it debuted at the 2010 Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

Literally a one-of-a-kind vehicle is the 1968 Lamborghini Miura Roadster. It was built as a promotional model for Lamborghini but never went into production. The Miura was first featured at the 1968 Brussels Auto Show and was also exhibited at several other auto shows, before being sold to International Lead Zinc Research Organization (ILZRO) who turned the vehicle into a display vehicle that showcased the possibilities of using zinc alloys in cars.

In 2006, the Lamborghini was purchased by a New York real estate developer named Adam Gordon and restored by Bobilff Motorcars in San Diego California. It was first show cased in 2008 at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance. As far as I was able to find Gordan now has the vehicle for sale.

The 1934′s BMW R7 is one of the most talked-about and most-loved motorcycles of the 1930′s, yet it was never put into production and never left the factory for 70 years, it was known only through a single mystery photo. The design was believed to be done by Alfred Böning, this prototype R7 is elegant, simple and perfectly balanced of curves and style.
The R7 was dismantled but never destroyed, it remained at the factory strapped to a wooden palette in the basement. In the 1980′s the idea of bringing back to life the R7 it wasn’t until 2005 that the task was handed to two legendary restorers; Armin Frey, who undertook the mechanical aspect of the restoration and Hans Keckeisen who flawlessly restored the sheet metal.

If any picture was worth a thousand words…

Credit to
http://thevintagent.blogspot.com/2011/03/best-bike-bmw-never-made.html
for all the great info.

The 1950 Ferrari 166MM Barchetta became the timeless face of Ferrari in the 1950′s, only a mere three years after Ferrari started producing cars. There is only 25 of these built with a 2-liter V12 Motor, with many of them still in existence.

Nearly 50 years ago in Europe this Ferrari was purchased(for somewhere between $5,000-$8,000) and shipped to Port of Long Beach California for an Arizona native named Reg Lee Litton. Litton knew something about Ferrari’s and had friends he raced with. Eventually somehting had broke on the Ferrari and it was put to its grave in Litton’s backyard, at one point covered with rugs, plastic and two by fours, and over the years became uncovered and sat under the desert sky. It sat there until Litton passed on.

Litton’s children then spread the word of this rare car, and eventually caught the eye of Del Arroz and was sold for more than $1 million dollars. Arroz was intrigued by the integrity of the originality of the vehicel, he came to discover that the car had raced very famous races such as Le Mans, Silverstone, Targa Florio and even more undiscovered… During a complete mechanical rebuild a hand chiseled date was found on the motor: “6/9/49,” which emabled them to figure that the car had been raced by Juan Manuel Fangio.

This car was featured at the Palo Alto on June 24th last year.

Below are pictures…

Valley Collision Center is locally known for restoring cars with accident damage to its prime condition. Quickly and efficiently, with parts readily available these vehicles don’t even look like they have been in an accident.

But what about restoring true Classic vehicles? A favorite for me, and with the Victorville hosting the 2012 Route 66 Festival this weekend what better blog topic to discuss than this!

Over the next couple weeks we will be looking at old, very old, Classic cars restored to Luxury condition, I will be digging deep to find the history of how these once beautiful vehicles came back to life. I hope it is enjoyed!

The first Classic we are looking at is a rare Bugatti. This 1937 Bugatti Type 57S Atlante, there were only 17 ever made. The original owner was Earl Howe, the first president of the British Racing Drivers Club, after changing ownership a few times, it finally ended up belonging to Dr. Harold Carr when he purchased it in 1955. A short while later in 1960 it was garaged, to sit in its grave for 48 long years, until the Doctor passed in 2007 leaving his dusty garage to family members for them to discover and bring to life this beauty.
Today Bugatti produces the fastest and most expensive production vehicles in the world, but there is no comparison to the auctioned price of this one: $4.4 Million Dollars. It was sold at Paris Bonhams Retromobile auction on February 7th, 2009. The new owner is undisclosed.