I saw the Bronze Brick on TV just now

[Z48LT1]

The Bronze Brick of long time fame owned by Old Bob was on Motor Trend TV's Faster with Finnegan show at 8PM on the east coast to this Spectrum subscriber. Finnegan borrowed the 406 from the cherished engine bay, apparently untouched since Bob sold his precious 9C1, and put it into a shitcan Mustang convertible to race some unknown racer in a fully built street legal nitrous small block early 80's Malibu. Many favorable things were said about Bob's jewel, and the racers beat on it without touching any of Bob's settings. The plugs were textbook examples of perfect readings for a perfectly tuned engine after a high speed run and abrupt shut off according to the host. The engine was treated badly but performed without a hiccup. No particular kudos to those responsible for the show, but it was an honest depiction of the strength of the old 406 in the Bronze Brick.

 

[mclellan83]

I thought that looked familiar, hahaha

 

[vanrah]

Greetings Guys; Ya I watched it again, at least the screen was bigger! SAD end to a Fine Unusual Outomibile (subjective of course). Little contact with second owner since. Seems senseless what he did?? When ya see the heart of your creation ripped out by a bunch of Clowns it's not a pleasant experience. My wife didn't see it on the computer a few weeks ago so it was her first viewing. She keep talking when I wanted to listen, part of staying married a LOoong time. I haven't seen what the second owner did with the body after the murder, but now knowing his mechanical skills it either sets or he has sent it on to someone else? I've been ridin' this space ship earth for near 75 laps around the sun now & for people that have the talent to make money easy, they just don't place much value in HOURS of labor! What took me 40 years to build was dismantled in a few minutes. Second owner either has bad memory or didn't listen when I told what he was buying? Plus he had the book with everything done to it with the directions. The Clowns didn't have any idea what they had, crane cam, BULL s__t. As many here that read the write ups I posted know it had a Comp valve train. 10.25 compression not 9 to 1 as stated. No Chevy parts except the block, every fastener & part was aftermarket. The strongest & best I could buy. No wonder it didn't BLOW when they let the the b*st*rd try & burn it down. I did notice that the TV version they shortened the burn down, ran out of time. Anyway To all you True G Car guys, Thanks for the many conversations & info, keep on Keepin' on, Ole' Bob.
Ps: The engine looked filthily on the big screen I would guess that second owner never cleaned it?

 

[08Malibu]

Greetings Guys; Ya I watched it again, at least the screen was bigger! SAD end to a Fine Unusual Outomibile (subjective of course). Little contact with second owner since. Seems senseless what he did?? When ya see the heart of your creation ripped out by a bunch of Clowns it's not a pleasant experience. My wife didn't see it on the computer a few weeks ago so it was her first viewing. She keep talking when I wanted to listen, part of staying married a LOoong time. I haven't seen what the second owner did with the body after the murder, but now knowing his mechanical skills it either sets or he has sent it on to someone else? I've been ridin' this space ship earth for near 75 laps around the sun now & for people that have the talent to make money easy, they just don't place much value in HOURS of labor! What took me 40 years to build was dismantled in a few minutes. Second owner either has bad memory or didn't listen when I told what he was buying? Plus he had the book with everything done to it with the directions. The Clowns didn't have any idea what they had, crane cam, BULL s__t. As many here that read the write ups I posted know it had a Comp valve train. 10.25 compression not 9 to 1 as stated. No Chevy parts except the block, every fastener & part was aftermarket. The strongest & best I could buy. No wonder it didn't BLOW when they let the the b*st*rd try & burn it down. I did notice that the TV version they shortened the burn down, ran out of time. Anyway To all you True G Car guys, Thanks for the many conversations & info, keep on Keepin' on, Ole' Bob.
Ps: The engine looked filthily on the big screen I would guess that second owner never cleaned it?

Was the engine bolted in or welded? Engines can be removed and reinstalled in a car. You did just that. I understand you’re not happy that they pulled it, but it didn’t look like they destroyed the car.

 

[vanrah]

Hi Mr.08 & all; I agree that they didn't do bad to the roller - body. And I had sacrificed the OE block long ago (1984) as it was a thin wall casting. Lm-1 350 & the main webs weren't in a line so it was eating itself. Ran Hot & had little power for a 350". Since it was a thin wall cast (Non Halo car) I thought it would be a good idea to add cubes - Power & TORQUE. A 400" SB was the answer, but theirs's nothing inside them worth tryin' to Hot Rod. Hence JE pistons, Calies crank, Eagle rods & Main caps, AFR heads on & on. So to me the engine was the heart & the body was just a unusual way to get an Super Sport type under body (Anti sway bars- extra gusseting) & heavy duty everything. One step above F-41 so to say. And being an engine man ya hate to see your baby Beat on. They buzzed it to the 7500 RPM rev limiter they had installed & put go juice on top. Any one with 400 SBC experience knows that boost on a GM 400 block will destroy the decks. That's why if we that wanted to get years of use, we only used them in the N/A form. And even then keeping the compression under 10.5 to 1 after about 30,000 miles the decks would be used up. I had built that engine to rev 6500 all day not 7500. So you tell me how much damage they did to the valve train & decks? For laughs they took years of fun from someone that would of been happy with 530 Lbs. ft. of Torque. Eric the second owner could of purchased any other nice roller, I thought he was after the unusual fact that it was a 9C1with all original bolt centers, no cutting, welding, no rust-body damage, only missing the OE engine & front seat. Every other OE part was included for this ONE last 9C1 Two door Malibu. Even the trans was the OE case! OK the diff was out of a Buick. Anyway the car did still have a 9C1 theme (subjective of course). So that in a Nut shell is why It made me Un happy, plus that was the last hand ported heads I did! Ole' Bob.

 

[64nailhead]

I've been ridin' this space ship earth for near 75 laps around the sun now & for people that have the talent to make money easy, they just don't place much value in HOURS of labor!

You’ve described the ‘easy money’ part of our society. No one in that society is ever going to appreciate what you built and what it took to build it. Shameful, but truthful (I think.)

But here’s to another 10-15 years of fun trips around the sun to you.

Really hope to see you this summer - Jim

 

[Z48LT1]

Ole Bob, I made my 75 laps the end of last year and let me be the first to welcome you to the club. I saw the show and was taken by surprise when I saw Finnegan sitting on the Brick's fender and figuring out that they were going to cannibalize it of its heart that you so lovingly built and cared for over all those years. I'm a reluctant fan of MT's car shows because they're among the few real smell of hot oil and sound of loud noise car shows but I hate them for their casual attitude toward damaging perfectly functional hardware just for the amusement value. So I tend to cringe at every gratuitous burnout. So when Fin offered his frenemy/race opponent the opportunity to do the outro burnout on your engine, I was immediately struck with the hypothetical "would you lend him your wife" question. Like everyone else, condolences on your loss, Remember the good times but especially the nuisance times when you start to feel nostalgic! ;-/

 

[Ribbedroof]

Spoiled morons with too much money, IMO. Not just Bob's car...pretty much everything they do is the trend of the moment