Norwood

[Sieg]

I've been around here far to long without starting a thread about my car. Partly because it's nothing special and it lacks the financial resources to become a modern day PT car.

Norwood does have a lot of sentimental value though as my best friend Bob Abel located the car in '89 and convinced me that I needed it since he knew when I was in high school in 74-76 that I idolized a buddy's red and black '69 Z/28.

I first met Bob in the early 80's. Bob built the Cooler Tavern in '67 which was located a couple of blocks from the University of Oregon's current football stadium, Autzen Stadium which the U of O played their first game at in '68. The stadium is still an icon today.

I really got to know Bob when I was a judge at The Village Green Concours. I was judging the Corvette's and Cobra's and Bob happened to have a pristine 289 trailer queen and a very good '66 427 driver. The ensuing party after the concourse at his house resulted in the creation of the Alpo Open which would be held at the Cooler Tavern. The rules were pretty simple, eight contestants were seated at two picnic benches on the stage, hands tied behind them, dog dishes filled with premium Alpo dog food in front of them, first empty bowl wins. Top three went to the finals two weeks later.

Bob was the best man in my first wedding in '88 and adopted me as a room mate in "Abel's Home for Wayward Men" in Oct. of '94 when I filed for divorce. Since he divorced in '92 we were enjoying life until Feb. of '95 when he was diagnosed with cancer and died at a young 53 years old, my current age. Sadly he didn't make a repeat performance as best man when I was married again to my current wife in Nov. of '96. I can honestly say there haven't been many days since his death that I haven't thought of him and still miss his friendship dearly.

Godspeed my friend.......


So.........Norwood is nothing special as a car but it's much more than a car in so many ways.

Norwood started life as a '69 Super Sport X11 Fathom Green vinyl top car. When Bob drove it down from Portland and I took delivery at another good gearhead friend of our's house it looked pretty much like this even though this picture is taken in '06.



The suspension and interior was all stock, the motor was a 355 built by a builder know for his circle track motors at the now erased Portland Riverside Speedway when I took delivery. It's kind of a sneaker buget build as it uses mostly old school GM performance parts but runs respectable and has never let me down to this day though I've only put about 9K miles on it since '89. The paint and badging is as delivered in '89.

In the first few years I added Koni front shocks and firmer/lower front springs, de-arched the stock rear springs, installed a set of Recarro front seats and Simpson lap belts, and Momo steering wheel purchased at Wine Country Motorsports during a trip with Bob to the Jim Davis Memorial Drags at Sears Point.

So.........the kids are now 10 and 13 and I'm realizing their future impact on earnings potential so late last summer I decided to sell a motorcycle invest some money in Norwood and rekindle the now 23 year old relationship. Two things I never liked about the car were the automatic transmission and wheels. I've also never been a vinyl top fan either but on this car it doesn't bother me enough to take money away from performance mods that improve the driving experience. So the money from the motorcycle went towards Vintage Wheel Works V40's and a close-ratio Tremec T56 Magnum.

Here's how Norwood sat at last fall.


So.......if I'm not black-balled from Lat-G for being so negligent I'll be able to update recent progress without mini thread-jacks going forward.

To the numerous contributing members and moderators here I can't tell you how much I appreciate the wealth of information this forum delivers and the overall caliber of the participants and vendors.