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My recent Blitz kart purchased
#1
Hi All,

Does anyone have any thoughts on what I should do restoration wise on this kart. Should I leave it as is and just freshen everything to keep it very original or strip and completely redo. I an guessing they were black originally but do not know. I have never owned or been close to one of these before. I am sure some of you have owned or do own these today. Any help with my decisions would be appreciated. 
Thanks Mike
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#2
Photos would help.

Lots of ways to go, and they all make sense one way or another.

The only thing I don't like is trailer queens - with a few exceptions.
Jim Waltz, West Sacramento, CA
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#3
pictures on e-bay under recently sold Blitz kart. I have not taken pictures yet.
Thanks Mike
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#4
Trailer queens are the fist phase of Vintage karting...

phase 2 is trying to prove that you are faster now than you were  in 65.70.75,80...rarely proves to be true...

phase..3...is to show up at the track and talk to your friends for a couple days...maybe get some riding time in....

in other words ,,build it like you like it..and have a Redds when done...

gw
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#5
Gary,

You are a man after my own heart.

Redds is good, but as you no doubt realize, I tend to bring another sort of refreshment to share with my buds at vintage events.

Oh, and I do all my "am I as fast as I used to be?" testing at Blue Max racing modern karts.  It's quite a bit harder on the old bod (3 G's in the turns), but it does kind of "tune me up" for vintage events.

I drive like hell at vintage events, but never aggressively.  I love it when I can get on the track with a comparable kart & driver and run hard together, like with Johnny Law or Rob Caldeira.  Apparently the bystanders enjoyed Rob and I doing sessions together in single SAE's at the last vintage event at Blue Max.

Everyone should build it like they like, but it can be fun to listen to suggestions.  I was going to put my O'Hara/Mendoza 91A on my original and perfect Sears Orange Krate until I was encouraged to keep that kart 100% original.

Ciao!
Jim Waltz, West Sacramento, CA
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#6
Here's some pics.......

Given the level of corrosion and rust, a clean up would still result in an ugly kart.

You could show it as an "original, unrestored" and maybe take a trophy home, then do a resto.

I'd be inclined to do a moderately nice restoration, but keep it essentially as-is by sprucing up what is on the kart now, so it would race again like it did in the day, but without lots of chrome, etc.

My 2 cents........., for your consideration.


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Jim Waltz, West Sacramento, CA
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#7
I like Jim Waltz's idea. I thought the Blitz karts usually came black as well. You should ask JoAnn Beres Hertzig, she has a Blitz kart and I believe her dad was a Blitz Kart dealer back in. the days? I'm not sure if she is on this forum, but I'll get a message off to her.
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#8
James....

you gotta remember..I watched you at Riverside a couple years ago...and yep...you can still wheel that SAE,,,,,those things are so wicked to drive , rarely do they have 2 wheels on the ground at one time....

and lets see..I do remember some different type of refreshment..

gw
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#9
It's so rare these days to find a Vintage machine still intact as raced .

I would just refresh it for phase one.

I think you'll be seeing more and more Vintage Karts being run just cleaned up enough to be runners, since we already have trailer queens......that are just too nice to compete with .

Notice Terry Ives is competing with a runner Dart Kart......across the nation this summer.....that's what you would see back in time.....they weren't pretty, but they were raced until they were worn out......it's amazing to find a true Vintage kart that spent a lot of time at races.

Most we find were not raced if at all or very little since many of the early tracks were on land that had more value when built on..... so with few tracks available the old karts saw little use . The old two strokes didn't run when the next user came along, so the fix was a running four stroke ...so then we had a yard cart runner.....

So back to the question.....freshen or restore ?   It all comes down to what is the most fun for the person that acquires these old machines.....for some it more fun to make them beautiful and for others it's getting them out to an event and running.......or .....  for some it's both Big Grin


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#10
I like Jim Waltz's idea. I thought the Blitz karts usually came black as well. You should ask JoAnn Beres Hertzig, she has a Blitz kart and I believe her dad was a Blitz Kart dealer back in. the days? I'm not sure if she is on this forum, but I'll get a message off to her.
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