AUTOFIX.COM.AU

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 Two Melbourne businessmen have paid a record $1 million for a pair of rare Ford Falcon GT sedans.

 Friends and business associates Leo Khouri and Steve Dellidis this week took delivery of a 1967 XR GT Falcon in original condition with 34,000 genuine miles on the clock and a restored 1970 GT Falcon that had travelled just 72,000 miles. The $400,000 and $600,000 paid for the respective cars are believed to be records for those models.

 The 1967 GT is regarded as the best example of its type, having won three concourse events, and the 1970 model is also a multiple trophy winner.

 In recent years baby boomers (those born before 1960) have been pushing the prices of muscle cars to record highs. But now younger collectors are joining in the craze and many others are using their personal superannuation funds as a tool to buy muscle cars.

 Among a collection of bikes and other rare cars Khouri, 42, and Dellidis, 34, now have a total of 16 immaculate GT Falcons, said to be the largest private collection in Australia.

 Khouri, a mechanic by trade, started out stripping old Toyota Landcruiser four-wheel-drives in the backyard of his home in Melbourne’s western suburbs, then selling the parts. But he became tired of that and, about eight years ago, bought a computer and started taking an interest in the sharemarket. He then moved his money-making operations from the backyard into the loungeroom. “I just had a taste for it,” he says.

 A short time after he was diagnosed with bowel cancer and told by doctors he had three months to live. He fought it and won.

 ”My missus bought me a photo of a GT Falcon and I put it on the wall and vowed that I would own one one day,” Khouri says. “I looked at that photo every day and honestly I think it helped me get through things.”

 Khouri says in 2002 he didn’t even own a car, now he has a collection that’s estimated to be worth more than $5 million.

 ”When things started going well for me a few years ago I paid $230,000 for a Phase III GT Falcon. People thought I was crazy but today that car is worth $800,000. Not a bad investment.”

 Dellidis says Khouri treats his car collection like a stockbroking firm. “It’s business but at the same time it’s also a passion for him. When he paid $230,000 for a GT he wasn’t concerned if he was going to lose money on it, he was just in love with the car.”

 Khouri says it was one of his lifelong dreams to own a GT Falcon. He never imagined he would own 16 of the best examples in Australia.

Source: yahoo.drive.com.au

 This little snippet of information I find both amusing and in a way bloody annoying.

 My sister-in-law recently had trouble with her VT Commodore. It has been stalling on the odd occasion and starting again straight away. I checked the computer for fault codes and it gave us a code 49, indicating a fault in the Crank Angle Sensor or Cam Angle Sensor. Seeing as though the symptoms pointed to a faulty Crank Angle Sensor I suggested she have it replaced. With two slipped discs in my back I wasn’t going to put my hand up for this job.

 I went down and bought the part for her from our local Repco and she started ringing around to see if she could get it done that day. First of all she rang the Holden dealerships around our area. We have two within around 20km of each other and they are both owned by the same person.

 Dealership number one wanted fifty dollars but couldn’t do it until the following Tuesday - it was a Friday and she didn’t want her weekend ruined by a dodgy car. Dealership number two, remember this is owned by the same person, wanted eighty five dollars and could do it as soon as she could get the car there!! When quizzed about the price difference the reason given was that this particular dealership was losing money and needed to charge more!

 I’ll tell you why they are losing money, they just bought the block of land across the road and turned it into a Used Car lot and the old Used Car lot now has a nice new showroom going up on it. Losing money my butt, spending money more like it and of course it’s the end consumer that foots the bill. I felt some satisfaction in knowing that they were obviously not very busy as they could do the car straight away, maybe word is getting around and before they know it they will be losing money, for no other reason than their own greed.

 By the way she did get her car fixed that day, at a small local Auto Electrician for the grand total of fourty dollars. I realise that getting upset over fourty-five dollars is a bit petty, but what has happened to customer satisfaction and charging a reasonable amount for the work that is done? Is it right that the customer bears the brunt of changes in a business or is it right that the customer pays the going rate for the job they are getting done?

 My way of thinking is to keep the customers happy and keep them coming back, save up your pennies and expand when you can afford it. We will never use that particular dealership again and I know of several other people that have spent big dollars down there and will never go back. Maybe they are just too big to care and the amount they may lose from less cars in the workshop is a pittance compared to what they will make out of the new car sales areas but again I have to say ‘what about keeping your customers happy’, does anyone care about this these days?

 Anyway that feels better now! I have had my rant for the day. If you too have a problem with the way business is done these days please feel free to leave a comment, I’m sure that I am not the only one in this world that thinks things are going to the dogs!

Craig

 If you’re wondering why we are doing a post on this subject please read our post on why it is soooo important to correctly torque the balancer bolt on these engines.

 The tool I have made suits a ‘99 model Challenger with the 3.0 24 valve engine however with a simple modification it should suit any model Mitsubishi V6. The Challenger has two holes in the balancer that aren’t threaded so it was necessary to weld the two bolts on the tool, however the earlier model Pajero’s and the like have threaded holes I believe so it won’t be necessary to weld the bolts, just use the correct bolt and screw them into the balancer to achieve the same result.

 The tool is made from a flat length of steel, two bolts of different length ( to allow for the thickness of the steel ), and a bolt,nut and spring washer. Without being rude, this is what my tool looks like and it’s dimensions should you want to make one like mine!

The two bolts had to be welded in place for the Challenger as the balancers holes aren’t threaded, however check to see if your balancer has threaded holes or not before doing any welding.

The arm of the tool passes under the A/C compressor and rests of the chassis rail and holds well even with 180Nm of torque on the bolt.

Craig