Indholdsfortegnelse for June 1987 i Hot Rod

Nostalgia In … Angelo ’s Out The Orange County, California, area has been hit with another blow to hot rodding. Ever since the demise of Orange County International Raceway, the spirit of performance just hasn’t been up to par. However, there was one established hangout for diehard racers to talk shop—Angelo’s Hamburgers in Anaheim. We say that in past tense because Angelo’s recently experienced an ownership change. Unfortunately, the new proprietor folded under pressure from area residents and elected to shut down the restaurant early on the first Friday of every month which was the designated cruise night. On the other side of town, however, a new old-time service station has opened up on Lincoln Avenue near the inter-section of Anaheim Boulevard. Billy’s Service Station features a wide array of…

The controversy will probably go on as long as there are two musclecar fans left in the world. The question of the 12 best musclecars of all time is much like the question of creation—the answer depends upon your perspective and beliefs. Unanswerable questions notwithstanding, the HOT ROD staff decided we should at least go on record with our choices for the 12 best musclecars ever built, chosen from the humble beginnings of 1964 to the present high-tech 1987 performers. We chose 1964 as our cut-off point for these 12 disciples of speed because of the acknowledged position of the 1964 GTO as the originator of the “true” musclecar era. Obviously there are numerous examples of heavy-metal performance cars that predate the 1964 Goat, but we decided to keep this…

To most musclecar purists, the thought of building a fake GTO—Z/28, GT 350, or Hemi ’Cuda is sacrilegious. Counterfeiting a rare classic car of any kind for profit—that is, to sell it as the real thing—is not only deceitful and immoral, but it just might be illegal, as well. (Several states now have harsh penalties against just turning back an odometer to try to increase the perceived value of a vehicle at time of sale.) Altering engine, chassis, or body numbers to make them “correct” on a clone car is not only unjust, but it’s a total waste of effort in my opinion. It doesn’t make the car run any faster or look any better, does it? However, there are at least two good reasons to “clone” musclecars for fun—though…

If you are a blue-blooded Ford-natic, you’ve heard of Alan Root, because the man from Ventura, California, has been manufacturing his own line of all-alloy Boss 429 blocks and cylinder heads since 1982. But Alan is also a businessman and, as you can imagine, the market for these mighty hemis is limited. So about two years ago, Root had a better idea. Why not offer a street-style, lightweight, relatively inexpensive, aluminum cylinder head for the small-block Fords? After all, FoMoCo has been producing these thin-wall V8’s since 1963 and, until now, no one has produced a modern alloy casting for the 289/302/351 Windsor family of Fords. But thanks to Root, that’s all changed since he began producing his “PRO 1” cylinder head for thin-wall Henrys. Technically, these heads are cast…

Here’s a classic case. We’re focusing attention this month on building and collecting musclecars. The big question involved in the purchase of any 15 to 20-year-old vehicle is: “Is this a sound investment?’’ By “sound” we often mean, “Is there solid sheetmetal under the paint?” If there is rust or damage (or improper prior body-work) under the skin, can it be repaired? It just so happens that the Norton Company, makers of abrasives and other autobody and refinishing products, is giving away a classic ’57 Thunderbird—a pristine show-winner purchased in rust-free Texas. But to answer the questions above, to show the use of their products, and to keynote their contest, Norton located a much less likely T-Bird from the rusty roads of New York and delivered it to metalman Stew…

Doug Mosch’s Dana Red Ford Vicky is a fine blend of high-tech trendiness and down ’n’ dirty hot rod. This hauler from Marshall, Minnesota, features a 2¼-inch chopped and filled top, solid hood sides, and a cleanly shaven body compliments of Gregg Fleury. Marshall Broshears slicked on Nancy Dana’s favorite shade of red lacquer, while Dan Drumm of Sacramento hand-built the interior and trimmed it in glove tan leather. Underneath, a traditional dropped axle and a cushy Jag independent rear hang on a boxed repop frame. To make it scoot, there’s a Racing Head Service 355-inch Mouse with a calliope of chromed Inglese Webers and Fleury-crafted headers and valve covers. Gregg also carved the custom taillights and the two-piece billet aluminum grille, while Boyd turned the wheels for the trad…

Bike Test Harley made big news when it introduced the loss-leader Evolution Sportster. Suddenly you could buy a new, high-tech, all-aluminum Harley, and pay about as much as you would for one of the Japanese V-twin clones. The 883 is a spare, no-frills model—you only get one mirror, one instrument (the speedo), and one seat, but you had a Harley, b’gosh, and they couldn’t take that away from you. The stock 883, though, is on the underwhelming side in performance. The new (as of ’85) mill is slick-looking, oil-tight, and very durable, but a powerhouse it’s not; 44 horsepower is all it can muster, less than a good Japanese 450 twin. Help was needed, and fast. Enter Joe Minton, Motorcyclist Magazine’s resident hop-up artist, and Jerry Branch, the mad genius…

DRAG RACING June 6-7—Great Lakes Dragway Pontiac, Olds & Buick Day, Union Grove, Wisconsin June 11-14—NHRA 23rd Annual Budweiser Springnationals, Columbus, Ohio June 13-14—Great Lakes Dragway Chevy Day, Union Grove, Wisconsin June 20—UDRA Summer Nationals, Cordova Dragway, Moline, Illinois June 21—UDRA Hawkeye Nationals, Cedar Falls Dragway, Cedar Falls, Iowa June 26-28—NHRA 17th Annual Grandnational-Molson, Montreal, Quebec, Canada June 27—UDRA Hoosier Nationals, Muncie Dragway,-Muncie, Indiana ROAD RACING June 6-7—SCCA Bendix Trans-Am, Portland, Oregon June 13-14—Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship Watkins Glen 24-hour, Watkins Glen, New York June 20-21—SCCA Bendix Trans-Am of Palm Beach, West Palm Beach, Florida June 27—Firestone Firehawk Endurance Championship, Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia June 28—IMSA Camel GT, Road Atlanta, Braselton, Georgia CIRCLE TRACK June 1—World of Outlaws-Copenhagen/Skoal Shootout, Lebanon Valley Speedway, W. Lebanon, New York June 2—World of Outlaws-Copenhagen/Skoal…

COPY CHEVROLET Thanks, HOT ROD, for the automakers’ addresses. A copy of this just went to Chevrolet: “Chevy! You let one slip through your hands. Miss U.S.A. 1987 won a Mazda as part of her prize package. A MAZDA! Is this what Miss U.S.A, should be seen representing our country in? Is this another infiltration of American tradition? Give America’s most beautiful woman America’s most beautiful car! I suggest a “to the hilt” Corvette. Looks like an opportunity to me!” I hope, with other readers, that this might stir up some action at Chevy. Everybody, dig out the March ’87 issue with the Chevy address, and write! P.S. I don’t hate import cars; an ’87 Honda Accord made in Ohio is parked next to my ’68 Chevelle Malibu you guys…

Cobra! Even the name sounds downright nasty—as well it should, especially when you’re talking about a Shelby-developed GT350 like this ragtop owned by actor Bill Bryant. Most musclecar fanatics are aware of the big-block GT500 and GT500KR thumpers; the 250-horse 289 small-block in this red rider is no slouch in the asphalt wars either. While 1968 marked the second year for this particular body style, these cars did feature a few production firsts. For instance, both the GT350 and GT500 were offered with an optional soft top that included a padded roll bar. This was also the first time these cars weren’t manufactured at Shelby’s Los Angeles, California-based plant. Instead, they were constructed closer to Dearborn at the A.O. Smith factory in Ionia, Michigan. And finally, the ’68 GT’s were…

Top Fuel, and its companion Funny Car Eliminator, is motor racing’s last vestige of “formula libre,” or in the vernacular of the Southern doorslammers, “run what ya brung.” True these Fuelers are saddled with minimum weight, maximum displacement, and certain fuel restrictions, but these restraints don’t seem to hinder the raw performance of Bud’s latest kickers, Kenny Bernstein and Darrell Gwynn. LOOKING OVER THE LONG HAULER Since 1981, when Jerry Gwynn realized that his son Darrell was truly a chip off the old aluminum block, “Junior” has become one of professional drag racing’s fastest-moving, second-generation racers. “I started driving Dad’s Double-A Altered roadster, and after I turned a 6.74 e.t. at over 205 mph in ’Baby Huey,’ he chipped in and helped me build a Top Alcohol dragster.” From 1981…

You’ve undoubtedly seen shortened Chevys and other ’’novelty” cars before, but here’s one nobody’s ever tried—and it looks darn good! Ron Falck of Bradenton, Florida, started with a $100 6-cylinder ’69 Camaro six years ago, sliced it through the middle, removed 8 inches, grafted part of the rear quarter panels to the doors, and tied the frame K. together with 2x3 steel tubing. He hung a 4.88 Dana 60 on coil-overs at the rear, tucking big McCrearys on Center Lines under the rear fenders. In the aluminum-paneled engine room he dropped a ’69 375-horse 396 hopped up with 11.5:1 TRW’s, Crane cam, a shortened Edelbrock tunnel ram with dual Holley 600’s, and backed it with a Muncie 4-gear. Inside are a pair of Alston buckets and a six-point cage. This…

To the psychologist, extrasensory perception is the ability to gain in-sight or knowledge from an un known source. Many a race car tuner has wished for such divine wisdom when faced with a baffling tuning question. However, with the predominance of computers in the 1980s, it was only a matter of time before enterprising racers were mating the extrasensory perception of strategically placed on-board sensors to their race cars to allow them to determine the solutions to their performance problems. Ron Armstrong and Spencer Eisen barth were two such racers who faced significant problems while building Can-Am engines and racing Ron’s unlimited hydro boat. They were simply trying to determine at what rpm their engine was spending the most time in order to develop that particular powerband. They tried everything,…

CAR & TRUCKS ’49 ANGLIA. “Street Freak.” Appeared in several magazinès. Chopped and channeled. Fresh 454, appraised, $27,000. Complete description on request. Best offer takes it. Kevin W. Johnson, 685 Burritt Rd., Hilton, NY 14468, (716) 392-5008. 48 ANGLIA. Original all steel complete car, no rust ever. 20 years dry storage, titled $4750. Cary Weisner, (612) 4264461, Minnesota ALA KART. Original, unrestored Barris Kustom. $70,000. Nick, (602) 890-0712. 86 BUICK REGAL T-TYPE. Grand National package, loaded. $18,500, firm. Pete Schoelzel, 7018 S.W. 17th PI., Gainsville, FL 32607, (904) 332-8884. ’69 RS Z/28 CAMARO. Fresh DZ 302, M22, cowl, console gauges, much more. $8500. Mike Blexins, 296 Balmayne, Porterville, CA 93257, (209) 784-8941. ’701/s Z/28 CAMARO. New 370-hp LT-1, 4-speed. Well maintained, in stock condition since new. Excellent condition. $4900. Carl…

FLEXI FLOPPER Kenny Bernstein was definitely under pressure at Firebird Raceway’s season-opening Super Bowl of Drag Racing. During their winter thrash, the Bud team experienced a major drawback when their Kevlar Buick Le-Sabre body refused to come out of the mold in one piece. Consequently, a regular fiberglass replacement had to be readied in a hurry. Deadlines were eventually met, allowing Kenny to lay an incredible 5.69/253.52 first pass that left everyone, including Kenny, stunned. What no one but Kenny noticed, however, was that the Buick’s roof caved in as the car was flying through the traps, leaving cave man Kenny with zero forward vision! The ’glass skin obviously lacked some webbing, and reinforcements were in order. Official Bud Team Tin Man Steve Davis glassed in some tube bracing on…

The Pre-Luber The Pre-Luber pressurizes your engine’s lubrication system up to 50 psi before starting to prevent wear occurring during high-rpm, choke-controlled cold starts. The kits are easily installed on virtually any car. For further information, send $3 to Lubrication Research, Inc., Dept. HR-06, 2894 Aiello Dr., San Jose, CA 95111, (800) 323-5823 in California; or (800) 722-2992. Instant Horsepower Instant Horsepower: The Nitrous Oxide Book, written by Michael D. Norcia, is a detailed 80-page manual. Component operation, nitrous engine building tips, and five complete photo installations are covered. Instant Horsepower is available for $5.95 from ICE, Dept. HR-06, 201 Business Park Blvd., Columbia, SC 29203, (800) 845-2383; in South Carolina call (803) 788-6034. Strikin’ Riken Riken-America has released their new RTX 65 Series steel belted radial tires and RTX…

The ultimate musclecar has never been clearly defined. Concensus has it, however, that the good ones are all V8-powered and run the quarter-mile in 13 to 15 seconds. The better ones generally have bigger motors, solid lifters, and more than one carburetor, while the fringe elements tag along with juice lifters, tape stripes, and cute names lifted from cartoon characters and all God’s creatures. When designers were serious about musclecars, they gave them code names like Z/28, GTO, Boss 429, and COPO. This gave them credibility because it sounded technical and very serious. When they were frivolous about musclecars, they let the marketing types toss in names like Scamp, Road Runner, and Super Bee. This ultimately led to a massive identity crisis wherein nobody really knew what a musclecar was,…

Back in the good old days when cars had real frames, real back seats, separate trunks, doors you could lean against, and cubic inches to the max, a car was judged solely on its ability to traverse 1320 feet as fast as possible. “Radials” were engines found on old World War II fighters. A “disc” was something you screwed up in your lower back trying to lift that bigblock engine out of the real trunk. The very epitome of the classic firebreathing musclecar was the 1964-72 GM intermediate chassis. Collectively known as the “A-body,” they included the Chevy Chevelle and El Camino; Buick Special and Skylark; Pontiac Tempest, LeMans, and GTO; GMC Sprint; and Olds F85, Cutlass, and 442. In their big-inch versions, they ran like stink, but handling and…

Much like drag racers, the Pro Street crowd tends to gravitate towards some cars more than others. There are more than enough Camaros and Vegas in Pro Street, and we’ve recently been treated to a wave of the very latest Detroit models sweeping through the ranks. But Ken Juricic’s ’84 Olds Cutlass strikes a different chord with its early Eighties styling and big-block Chevy motivation. Beginning with a rolling tube chassis, he modified it so the Olds body panels he selected would fit properly. A full tube chrome-moly frame from Hogar Engineering features a four-link rear suspension and home-built tubular control arms in the front. The rearend is a ’71 Ford 9-inch hung with Koni shocks and disc brakes from an ’84 Trans Am. Up front, the suspension utilizes ’75…

Behind the inconspicuous banner of Labe’s Radiator & Welding in Dayton, Ohio, Labe and Jody Guirino have been secretly practicing Pro Street rod and machine construction since the inception of this mechanical art form. Their third creation—this slippery Pro Street ’76 Chevette—created quite a commotion upon its maiden cruise, generating thousands of “Wows!” Then a single “Hi, my name’s Gray Baskerville. How’d you like to be in HOT ROD Magazine?” got all of Jody’s attention. Beneath the Chevette’s stock-appearing steel and ’glass (front end, bumpers) shell lies a combination of ingenuity and craftsmanship. Upon a basic 2x3-inch tube chassis, augmented by a round-tubing roll cage, Jody anchored homemade front and rear suspensions. The front struts, pirated off a ’76 Toyota, were shortened 6 inches and fit with threaded sleeves and…

The Jeep story is one of those American legends that refuses to die—and in fact has enjoyed some measure of success of late. Jeep’s trademark has centered around a rugged, utility-styled vehicle that was both fun to drive and highly functional. For 1987, Jeep combined their previous heritage with an improved engine selection. This ultimately transformed the overlooked Comanche pickup into a highly attractive hot rod with a bed attached. Tagged with an amazingly low base price of $6495, this prairie bandit is prime pickin’s for any truck-minded enthusiast. For an additional charge of $512, you can upgrade from the Comanche’s base 2.5L L4 engine to the new-for-’87 AMC-built 4.0L L6. The inline-six option (which AMC officials expect will outfit 80 percent of the model run) is rated at 173…

Building a budget-minded, horsepower-bound street bruiser has always been the hot rodder’s ultimate challenge. Forethought was Bob Pike’s advantage when he constructed this prime ’64 Ford Fairlane for under $4000. With a mere down payment of $400, Bob embarked on a project which would not only give him fun-to-drive transportation for the streets of Suisun City, California, but also allow him to compete with the local Pro-built cars. The engine in Bob’s FoMo-Co intermediate is a 289 small-block assembled with all the right parts. Most impressive is the induction system featuring a Weiand tunnel ram and a pair of Predator carburetors. Specialty internal components include 10.5:1 compression TRW forged pistons, a Crane hydraulic bumpstick, and a pair of ported cylinder heads. Bob backed up his strong arm with a Hurst-shifted…

Continuing our look at late-model heads as a solution to lowering compression and making your motor compatible with today’s gasolines, this month we’ll cover the big-block Chevy. There are two different basic styles of big-block heads: oval port and high-performance rectangular port. Intake manifolds must match the port configuration. Substituting open-chamber rectangular port heads (approximately 117cc when cc’ed to spec) for closed chamber rectangular-port heads (usually 107 to 109cc) will drop compression about 1 to 11/2 points while adding about 15 hp, but the open-chamber heads (iron, cast: 3994026, 6258723, 6272990; aluminum, cast: 3946074, 14011077) are hard to find in the junkyards. Far more common are the various low-performance “oval” intake port heads. Most ’70 and earlier oval port heads displace between 101 and 107cc’s. The 1971-up chamber sizes vary…

Paint Protector Killing bugs and catching rocks is generally an unfortunate byproduct of having fun with your rod, and it can kill a costly paint job. Consequently, Juliano’s Interior Products is now offering a high-quality, vinyl, soft polyester-backed rod bra which keeps road kills from fouling your fenders. Rod bras are available for ’28-’34 and ’39-’41 Fords, and can be purchased by contacting Juliano’s Interior Products, Dept. HR-06, 17 Florence Ave., Vernon, CT 06066, (203) 872-1932. Pygmy Power Owners of T’s, A’s, and ’32s know what packaging problems are all about when it comes to battery size, punch, and placement. Well, Pulsar’s 5O-percent lighter, 50-percent smaller, and spill-proof Power Pack has the poop to end it all. Available in three sizes, the largest is 95/8 inches long, 8 inches deep,…