Indholdsfortegnelse for August 1984 i Hot Rod

This month we begin a new series intended to illustrate the way to design and construct your own street machine, from buying the raw car all the way through to painting and finishing the project. We’re going to use as many photos as possible in order to make the story easier to understand and, hopefully, more fun to read. The project was started in response to reader letters, comments from people we talk with every day, and verbal tomatoes we’ve dodged in conversations with event participants. Basically, the comments are about building a car the average person can afford—relatively simple, fast in the HOT ROD tradition, and nice to look at. The approach you’ll see here is a complete, frame-to-roof rebuild. This car is going to make the rounds on…

The strength of HOT ROD Magazine has always been its staff, a random collection of individuals who shared one common interest—a lasting love affair with a thing called a “hot rod.” Also called everything from “mother’s worry” to “souped up gow (“gow,” an ancient term for acceleration) jobs,” hot rods are nothing more than cars that have been personalized by their owners for better appearance and/or performance. And to inform hot rodders how to personalize their cars for improved looks and better performance in an accurate and entertaining manner has been HOT ROD’S goal these past 37 years. It began in January 1948, when Robert “Pete” E. Petersen hired a hot rodder by the name of Wally Parks to edit a monthly magazine that Pete called HOT ROD. “From the…

Vans are back! This time around they’re the right size, better looking, and fuel efficient, and if you are looking for a play/utility vehicle, you would be hard pressed to beat the Dodge T-115. Feast your eyes on this HOT ROD Wrangler version for instance. It was lowered 3 inches all around by spacing the struts upward in the front and building spring boxes into the floor in the rear. Denny Nish stitched up the wild Wrangler denim interior bordered with gray velour. A set of recessed hold-downs secure the matching yellow Yamaha Tri-Motor 3-wheeler. Rob Spoon applied the Wrangler graphics and fabricated a set of headlight, covers out of ⅛-inch-thick smoked plexiglass. Hayashi Racing wheels mounting Firestone S/S radials round out the appearance group and add that extra bit…

Building on the initial success of the first Super Run held in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1983, this year’s event promises to be even bigger and better in its new location—the Washoe County Rancho San Rafael Park in Reno, Nevada. The proximity of Harrah’s famous auto museum with more than 1100 classic cars, Lake Tahoe, and Virginia City (the West’s most famous ghost town) makes Reno an ideal location for an event that promises to become one of the best and most exciting automotive gatherings of the year. And just like last year, the 2nd Annual Super Run will be open to street machines, street rods, antiques, trucks, kit cars, VW’s—virtually any type of hot rod imaginable. Super Run ’84 will be held August 3, 4, 5, 1984, so get…

Editor’s Note: For reasons as yet undecipherable to us, the true identity of the low-buck nostalgia rodder who rebuilt the old-time Altered roadster shown here cannot be divulged. We wouldn’t go so far as to call him innocent, but let’s just say he must be protected. Therefore we will call him Floyd Lippencotte III, the perhaps illegitimate offspring of one Bob Muravez, a.k.a. Floyd G. Lippencotte, Jr., who piloted the wild “Freight Train” dragster under false pretenses during the 1960s. So when we say “Floyd did this,” or “Floyd did that,” remember we don’t really mean Floyd. It’s the guy with the bag over his head. For the time being, think of him as the Unknown Rodder. The only thing worth less than a 15-year-old Cadillac is a 15-year-old race…

Like the guy said the other day, “Now I know why they call it drag racing.” Watching today’s professionals is about as much fun as observing whales mate. Our current crop of Top Fuelers and floppers are so efficient that they leave the starting line like slot cars or diesel locomotives. And it’s been that way since clutch science made tire-frying, baloney-boiling, meatmasticating, slick-sizzling, rubber-laying, hide-hazing, smoked-in passes … passe. But fear not, fellow bang-shifting clutch artists, the memories of times past are alive and well at a place called Baylands, a new name for the old Fremont, California dragstrip. And for the past four years a couple of troglodytes by the names of Tom “Power King” Prufer and smooth-talking partner Brian Burnett continue to stage what they call the…

Chevy Water Pumps: The Long and Short of It Life is full of compromises. That’s certainly true of Chevy water pumps. Prior to 1969, Chevy pumps all had “short” noses and cast impellers. After 1969, passenger cars transitioned to a long-nose pump with stamped impeller, and the shaft was moved up in relation to the water outlet holes to gain pulley clearance. Additionally, the new pump’s right-hand water passage was necked down to provide clearance for the new alternator bracket mounting bolt bosses. Result: reduced pump efficiency and uneven cooling in a high-performance engine, with the right-hand side of the motor now tending to run hotter than the left. The solution? As of right now, if forced to run the long pump, it pays to adopt the early cast iron…

Mild Customs Forever I’ve subscribed to HOT ROD for more than 18 years, and I have all the issues from the past 25 years. At this time, our rods are still as popular as ever. The “slang” has changed some: heap, wheels, rods, custom, street rods, and leadsleds. Anyway, I’ve had a number of cars or rods that I have loved, but my ’49 Olds coupe is probably my favorite. Nothing unusual, but I think it’s clean: coil spring ride and shaved hood with shaved electric trunk. Do you remember these cars? They don’t sit down in back when they come off the line—the whole car raises up and then is “gone.” By the way, my tags say GOTTAGO. Keep up the great work. I’m going for a 50-year collection…

JJ., Victor, and the Sheik…Part 2 Remember when the Countach was pulled over by a woman cop, Jack Elam was a rear admiral looking for a “case to probe,” and Burt Reynolds (J.J.) and Dom DeLuise (Victor) thrashed an ambulance across country? They’re all back in Cannonball Run II, a sequel to the insane first edition of Hal Needham’s account of the Cannonball Sea-to-Shining-Sea Memorial Trophy Dash, named after distance racer Cannonball Baker and unofficiallly happening once a year between the coasts. One of the more amazing stunts in this version is the one in which Bigfoot III is staged behind an unlucky Porsche 928 (it only had a few thousand miles on it, in case you’re interested in whether or not it was real). When the Porsche has trouble…

You gotta hand it to Team Tur-U lock, better known as the brothers Fernandes, because their Mooneyham-stuffed, alky-inhaling, 470-inch, Jimmy-jammed ’83 S-15 GMC pickup has a lot of pull. The California-based, 6000-pound, flipped up, two-wheel driven, Super Modified Pickup puller has won 90 percent of the pulls it was entered in at events located in the USA and Canada. “We started the project by building our own frame so we could stretch the S-15’s wheelbase to 128 inches, which meant we had to lengthen the body 2 feet to give the GMC better proportions.” “Odyssey Il’s” rearend, a Rockwell SLHD, was the hardest part to put together, and Tailman brake system had to be specially made because of the narrow gap between the disc brake rotors and the rear wheels.…

All right, all you vociferous let-here-writing readers out there, here is proof positive that we not only peruse each of your requests and comments, but that we sometimes even act on them. Every month our mailbags are stuffed with missives asking that we devote entire issues—or at least a page or two—to Buicks, Oldsmobiles, AMCs, Pontiacs, Studebakers, Hupmobiles … you name it, as long as it’s something other than a Chevy or Ford. Now we all know (we have reams of tabulated, calculated proof) that at least 125 percent of you own Chevys, and the remaining 121/2 percent drive Fords. But that isn’t going to stop us from listening to, and catering to, the small—though certainly not silent—minorities among our audience who happen to drive one of the Overlooked Motors.…

Winning a single “special award’’ at a national event is often enough to turn a disastrous weekend into a memorable one for most racers, but for Gfeg and Karen Lulloff, this year’s NHRA Gatornationals will always be particularly memorable. Even though their brand-new Super Gas Corvette was a first round loser on a sub-index 9.88, on Sunday afternoon they became the first racers to ever pick up two major awards at a single event when they were presented with both the Best Appearing and Best Engineered car trophies. The Lulloff’s immaculate Corvette was built by B&B Race Cars, with brothers “Beans” and Bobby Coggeshall having produced what may very well be the finest Super Gas machine ever assembled. From the Strange Engineering strut front end to the Koni coil-over-suspended Strange…

“I never saw a car before that grabbed my interest like this highboy roadster, so I owned it a month later.” So sayeth Darrel Turner, a Snap On tool dealer from West Chester, Ohio, when he first confronted Johnny Bright’s fender-free Ford back in ’81. “I first noticed his car in a three-car collage which featured Bright’s roadster, my hammered ’29, and another car … after one look I decided I had to have it.” But Turner isn’t the type to let well enough alone. “I flamed it for the ’82 rod run season, then dismantled the entire roadster and rebuilt it last year using i very few of the parts that originally j came with the highboy.” Essentially, the roadster is based on a California Street Rod-fabricated chassis employing…

The 1984 super-bikes pursue the art of terminal velocity with ruthless dedication. In recent years two or three machines could blast 10-second quarter-miles; now there are six. It used to be that a top speed of 130 mph made you shudder, and wonder if you could ride such a projectile; these six go 150. It used to be that flimsy frames and insufficient horsepower held lap times to 1:43 at Willow Springs; the “Super Six” have 100 horsepower and run under 1:42! And one of them is best of all. Actually, two. The Yamaha FJ1100, our champ, and the Kawasaki Ninja are head and shoulders above the rest as over-all high-performance machines. This conclusion comes from a massive shootout conducted by our sister publication, Motorcyclist, and attended by HOT ROD.…

SELL-1970 Chevelle SS, 454 L56 new motor (factory replacement), rebuilt automatic, cowl induction, suspension, and brakes gone through. All factory and excellent shape. $6250. Tim Brewster, 111 Sutton St., Clay Center, NE 68933. (402) 762-3671, evenings. SELL—Cosworth Vega. Original twincam, fuel-injected engine. 5-speed. Asking $5000 or will take best offer. Dale Ford, P.O. Box 852, Muskogee, OK 74402, or call (918) 682-1232. WANTED—The Mustang Club International is the Mustang Club for all Mustang Owners. Stock, street, modified, restored, 1964-’84 all welcomed into our corral. Mustang Owners Club International, 2829 Cagua Dr. N.E., Albuquerque, NM 87110. (501) 881-2715. SELL—’73 Buick Regal, silver with burgundy interior. New tires, brakes & muffler. All fully powered, tilt steering wheel, AM/FM/8-track, air conditioning, low mileage. Immaculate condition. $1200 o.b.o. (213) 776-4722, leave message. WANTED—Complete ’67…

Will the real 200 mph street car please roll forward? Although many lay claim to that magical number, few even come close. Just look at the record books for production cars at Bonneville or the Lakes, no more than a handful of 200 mph contenders, and they’re all-out competition cars. Now, within the span of two months two major car magazines claim their project street cars have broken the 200 mph barrier. Can this be true? In HOT ROD’s case there can be little doubt, as the SCTA has made it official that our Camaro set the AA/GT record at 200.03, little speculation left here. What about the Car and Driver Trans Am? According to their radar gun and mathematical calculations their TA went 204 … but I wonder. The…

In Part 1 of “How To Build a Super Stocker” in the June issue we took you through the philosophical reasoning of how and why you select a certain car and engine combination. Our particular car, a Buick Regal with a 257-c.i.d. Stage II V6, looked like a real contender on paper. This particular class SS/X. for V6-powered cars was relatively new, and the class record and index were “soft” to entice some participation. But being a contender on paper is quite different from the reality of being on the dragstrip. And as we mentioned in Part 1, the car was thrashed together in less than one month and totally untested before the Winternationals. Not only was the equipment untested, but the rookie driver, Albert Fudpucker, had never faced national…

No one has ever been able JM to positively prove that successes on the racetrack sell new cars in the dealer show rooms, but a lot of people, including some very highly placed auto executives, seem to think that winning in NASCAR’s Winston Cup Series improves the customer’s perceived value of their products. Never mind that a NASCAR stocker has absolutely nothing in common with a show room-stock vehicle. As long as the salesman has a model to point to when a potential customer comes through the door shouting, “I want one of those Regals just like Bobby Allison drove at Daytona!” Consequently, after NASCAR Grand National stockers draped with meticulously massaged Regal sheetmetal brought home the Winston Cup in ’81, ’82, and ’83, along with the coveted Manufacturer’s Cup…

Richard Nimmo of Delta, British Columbia, lists his occupation as heavy equipment operator. One look at his 6-71 huffed, 427-shoved, ’67 Fairlane will verify-that fact. Other talents he could obviously add to his resume include expert craftsman and meticulous detailer. You can probably tell this candy apple red acrylic enamel ground-shaker wasn’t thrown together in a fortnight. As a matter of fact, Rick started with a cherry, one-owner, 27,000-mile original and then spent six years turning it into this monster. Richard built the motor even before he got the car. It is a ’67 side-oiler with a steel “crank, LeMans rods, TRW pistons, and Cam Dynamics solid-lifter cam, topped by a 6-71 Jimmy on a converted Offy intake. The carbs are BDS-prepped 850 Holleys, the oil pan is a Moroso…

One day while cruising my neighborhood, I saw a little boy standing by his mother. When I drove by, he pulled at his mother’s dress, pointed at my car, and said ’Mommy, mommy, look at that jet’.’ “And that in a nutshell describes John and Marilyn Mattei’s love affair with their rare ’57 Plymouth “Batmobile.” The West Sacramento, California, residents were looking for something “different” from the typical street machine hordes, and one day John saw it, sitting on a used car lot… $600 and the one-owner car was his. “It was in decent shape,” recalls John, “so I decided to fix the old girl up. I was fascinated with the tail fins, and knew it was one of a kind. Little did I know that trying to find parts…

Flatheads Forever I am rebuilding a 1953 Ford V8 flathead and would like to know what I can do to make this a high-performance engine, and where I can get high-performance parts. Chester D. GodinWasilla, Alaska The same basic hop-up tricks apply to this engine as any other-bore, stroke, compression, cam, port, induction. Taking these in order, your stock bore and stroke are 31/16 x 33/4, for a total of 221 cubic inches. Flatheads are thick-wall castings, and as such can safely be bored to 33/8 inches! ’49-’53 Merc cranks have a ¼-inch-longer stroke than your standard Ford crank and will drop right in. They can be offset ground to gain another ⅜ inch of stroke. With the bore and stroke now 33/8 x 41/8you’ll end up with 295 cubic…