SEMA Young & Old and Inspiration for all.

You might have had a booth here for decades. Perhaps this event is on your bucket list. You might be a race equipment provider. Or the owner of a small speed shop with big dreams. Maybe your a cooperate guy who's just on a business trip. No matter who you are and what you do for a living, SEMA is an amazing show. 

Why? Because it's built on passion and creativity. Yes, it's big business too, but without passion there would be nothing to show. SEMA is as well to the point. It's all about products, performance and not the least, a fighting spirit.

Since creativity is the base, it attracts all car communities. From the once I do understand to those I don´t understand. Does it matter? Nope. It's all about moving forward with one agenda, coexist with current and future society while continuously fighting for our freedom to create and drive our dream cars.

So what have we seen at SEMA?

We've meet a young girl who had a really strong passion for cars, engines, workshops, and transmissions. Her spirit and obvious talent gave us all a boost. Did you work on torque converters at her age? Did you learn weld with a TIG machine before you turned 10? She was with Boss Hog transmissions. 

Approximately 90 years older and as well one of the founders of SEMA back in 1963...Ed Iskenderian. Yes, he was there signing autographs at the age 102. A honor to meet him. The picture? A tribute to his T-Roadster.

Ford. We'll liked their booth. New super cool Mustang. Amazing 50 state legal crate engines for those in search for big power. Crate engine names? Megazilla. Aluminator. I think it's time to look at what Ford are up to 

you´re a car guy or girl.

Toyota had a really cool gigantic booth too. How about this inspirational vehicle? Love it. On top of that, Toyota had invited Lexus and Toyota builders to their booth. That shows a strong company self esteem and as well a good connection with the car (off road, race and on road) community.   

In addition, the mix of vehicles at SEMA is fantastic. From high performance (race) turbo vehicles like this...

...to amazing custom vehicles like this Y-job inspired Buick -49.

Keep going. Build something. Never stop dreaming.

Winter is approaching. Are you prepared?

The winter is approaching. Dark clouds will cover the sky. Make no mistake. Hard wind will howl and rain will make you wet and cold. 

Have no fear. There's a solution. A way to find comfort when times get rough. Take our advice and to start a project based on passion. 

Do we live as we preach? I'd say yes. Below you see why.

Carina & I will build a kind of roadster/racer/special based on our Ardun engine

Magnus is thinking; -How would a -1965 Ford Rachnero NASCAR racer have looked like if it existed? We all want to know. Don't we?

Meanwhile Anders continue to create a Ford -34 coupe from what was once a four door without future.

How about Carina? Beside all car and bike projects she's working with a 100 year old lawnmower. Why? Because she can and she like it.

 

Are we all to ourselves? Don't we care about others? 

We do. 

Call us if you dream about turbos, transmission and superchargers.

Because we can make those dreams come real.

If you have the fuel, we have the spark to help you through the wet cold winter.

Longer shadows. No sun. It's soon time to seek shelter.

I remember a song on the radio when I was a kid. It was about remembering the wonderful September in November. Took me some years to really understand the essence of that song. When August turn in to September at latitude 57 you're getting concerned about the summer end. But outside the grass is still green and the trees are green too. In November the situation is different. Very different. Endless cold rain and darkness. In November you think about the amazing warm September.

So...take my advice and drive, dream and have fun in the sun while you can because those long shadows and heavy rain clouds are approaching in a couple of months. But while your having fun in the setting sun you should of course start to plan winter activates. 

Ask yourself if you have; a proper project, all tools needed, a warm garage and a too long ToDo list. If any of these four prerequisite are not in place it's time to take action. Because  being busy will keep you healthy and annoyingly happy during the long winter gloom. 

It's not Lucky Luke. It's Magnus. He's a good example. When winter arrives, Magnus always have a project (-s), tools and a couple of warm garages. 

Carina and I have a winter project too. We need to build a Special/Roadster for our Ardun V8, so fired up the engine today. Just to make sure that it's ready to leave the engine test stand...

Even though Magnus is ready for indoor activities when to cold wind howls, he's in search of a new fresh project. Understandable. You don't want to to be  without projects, parts and dreams when November comes around.

Salt Slush are trying to support our customers dreams and schemes and therefore we're making our self ready for your winter requests. Related to turbos, transmission, clutches and superchargers, that is. 

The warm garage and the project is up to you!

 

Bonneville Speed Week 2023. A successful failure.

If you're an impatient person who want fast results and have your home in Europe or Asia, take my advice and don't start to participate in landspeed racing (LSR) at Bonneville and El Mirage in US. Technical issues, time, money and not the least mother nature and pandemic's will empty you pockets but as well make you stoic. 

After Speed Week 2019 (rained out), 2020 (pandemic, could not enter US), 2021 (same as 2020), 2022 (cancelled, rained out) we were really eager to test our Amazon to see if the Ohlin rear end update would make our race car more stable and solve the handling issue that we've experienced. We needed as well to update our LSR licenses, since these had been downgraded automatically year after year.

 So what happened?

 

First the success, we were able to test our race car properly on perfect surface at the El Mirage Desert.

 This time we took things serious and used full safety equipment and built our own test track at El Mirage. Magnus and I made four 125mph test laps each in a totally in a totally empty desert, with only Magnus, myself and Carina and some perhaps sidewinders as audience.

We measured all test and logged all test data. Analysis is still ongoing. 

Feels good!

  

But how about Bonneville Speed Week? Well...we all (Salt Slush, A-Bombers)  met at the Scandinavian Street Rods workshop (Erik and Ruth) in Orange, California. And yes, It was really nice to met this group of people again! But suddenly there were bad news...Bonneville Speed week was postponed due to rain, from Friday to Saturday, and from Saturday to Sunday....and on top of that, Nisse had fuel and performance problems (pictured) while Erik & Ruth's tow truck suffered a severe transmission issue.

 

Our car was as ready as it could be. Not tested, but prepared for race over and over again. Picture: Magnus and Cina package the parachute.

Other than that?  Our old Chevy Suburban did not feel really cold anymore when the ambient temperature was between 35 to 45 deg C. So we went to a workshop in Gardena where a mechanic analyzed, sealed and filled up our AC. We did change cooling hoses too after a minor incident outside a U-haul office...

Eventually, we left L.A and drove the 1000km up to Wendover and Bonneville Salt Flats. We stayed as usually in Ely, a small western town in the middle of nowhere. We like it there. A nice cool place in Nevada.

We arrived at the Salt...the wet salt. It felt like 2019...water everywhere and only one track open. Long waiting time between each race and we had to drive 3 lap each to again qualify for speeds above 200mph. Our licenses had as mentioned expired. It was Tuesday noon...and we did could not see that we would get in total 6 laps + fast laps.

So we packed our stuff and drove back to L.A area again...

 

...but all good that ends good...and on our way to Orange, CA, we stopped at El Mirage dry lake and could, as mentioned, test the race car properly. Which felt really good. We learned that the chassis modification that we've made was successful, but we learned as well that we need to tune the front end as well to make the car stable and controllable at high speeds.  

 

We consider to race at El Mirage as well in the future, but more on that topic later...

Drive it like you love it!

When you're in love, all you care only about is the one you're in love with. You want to spend all available time together. All problems can be solved. A strange behavior is just charming. For real. Or a later topic. When you're in love.

 

The sun is always shining. There are no clouds in the sky. When you're in love.

If you feel a small grain of sand in your shoe you're sure that it can easily be removed. Effortlessly. When you're in love.

 

I'm talking about shakedowns, test drives, check-ups and the first long haul after some years of build/restoration/recreation. When the rubber meets the road. 

Here's what; you pretend to be cool.

-What could possibly go wrong? 

You dress up in clean clothes. At least not garage gear. Then you fill up the trunk with tools. Just in case of. Will not be needed. Just in case of.

 

First hour; On the surface, a polite and cool conversation. In your mind: Oil pressure, Coolant temperature, Air-Fuel-Ratio, Charge voltage...

- What's that noise?

- Now it's gone! or is it?

Third hour: Your mind is at ease. Philosophical discussion possible. The rattle from somewhere in the back seems to be normal. Perhaps unbalance. Meanwhile a todo list is created. The anxious love has now grown something else. Still love, but more to the topic.  

What?

 

Here's what; Carina and I took the Olds Rocket 88 for a long test drive this Saturday-Sunday after 3 years of get-together actives in the Salt Slush Speed shop. We've given Olds Bertha from Wendover a new lease on life because we love here shape and heritage.

The love seems to be mutual. But like in any relation, there are a few topics that we need to take care of. I guess that means that reached a deeper relationship.

 

The moral of this story: Get out there. Drive your stuff. Get to know you ride. Hope for the best, prepare for the worst.

Road side repair = New friends

 

We're taking our Amazon to the 75th Bonneville Speed Week!

We started 2014 to build a land speed racer. We based it on a Volvo Amazon station wagon. In 2017 we shipped the vehicle to US, we got it approved and drove our rookie runs at El Mirage same autumn. In 2018 we took our Amazon to Bonneville Speed Week. Our first visit at Bonneville. What an experience! Amazing and an over all success. We went back to Speed Week 2019 with full enthusiasm...but the salt was too wet and soggy to make speed dreams come true.

Then there was this pandemic in 2020 and 2021...the racing at Bonneville Speed Week was good since the salt was dry and hard. But we couldn't enter US of A so we were idling back home in Sweden. 

In 2022 we were better prepared that ever before. With a set of new of Ohlin rear shocks and loads of positive energy. But there was rain on our parade. Or should we say a lake on our parade?

Another year has past and it's now 2023. So we've bought flights tickets, hotels and prepared ourselves mentally to attend the 75th Bonneville Speed Week. Will Lady Luck support our speed attempt? We don't know...

...but this is what we hope for. The absolutely mind blowing moment when the track is yours and you, your race car and this wide open salt track are formed to a magic unit of speed dreams and hope.

At Bonneville Speed Week, the speed is high but the pace is slow.
There's a lot of  slow towing and waiting.
I hate waiting and I hate queues but Speed Week is a social event and there's a feeling of excitement that hovers over the white salt under the blue skies. Keep you sharp and in shape.

 

Shopping & Shipping!

If you're neighbor to a Speed Shop with an endless stock and in comfort can drive over a get your stuff, you will not understand this post. For most of us this luxury does not exist. Hence we needs someway or the other to get involved in Global Shipping.Over time we learn about logistics and we're getting more informed. Not that we wanted to get informed about this world. all we wanted was to get our boxes or dispatch our packages.

In addition, global shipping has taught us how to cope with frustration, anger and happiness in its purest form.

As receiver, you might get a mail with a tracking number and when google this long code you can see how your stuff travel around the world and get to see interesting places. How your transmission, turbos or superchargers is getting well-traveled. Your pallet might spend some time in Denver, Frankfurt or Malmö and it seems like number of days spent in a certain place can vary.

 

While the pallets is on tour, we at Salt Slush are talking to our customers. They want to know when they get what they've ordered and they have very limited interest of our frustration.

But then, suddenly after a series of SMS and mails the package arrives. No matter who's the end customer it pure happiness. Like being 5 years old and it's finally Christmas. Every time.

As sender there's another type of stress. You're in command. You can do it. Or at least that's what you think. You just have to fill in a web based system at respective forwarder (UPS, DHL, Schenker etc) and print the labels. If you're shipping stuff between US and EU you might want to be in a very harmonic, because you will go through IT rage, laugh out loud sessions when to read custom tariffs and run procedure on average 2 times.If you're not a logistic wizard.

 

The film above? During summer there always racers who needs a turbo NOW which means that a daredevil drive to DHL is needed, with the vehicle that happens to sit outside our speed shop.

I think Brian Reagan capture the frustration from both the sender and the forwarder in this stand-up. Love it.