Indholdsfortegnelse for January 1988 i Hot Rod

It’s been said that there is no greater force than an idea whose time has come. That may be the best description for the set of circumstances that spawned a fledgling publication in January 1948 entitled HOT ROD Magazine. This issue marks the 40th year of publication for this title and with it, an occurrence that ranks among the milestones in the history of high-performance automobiles. While you must give credit to Robert E. Petersen’s drive to make this magazine the almost overnight success it quickly became, there are also a dozen gentlemen who have willingly assumed the responsibility for not only the editorial direction of HOT ROD but also, to a certain extent, the direction of our industry as a whole. Wally Parks was the first official editor of…

Performance Meets Emissions Ed Hamburger, a longtime hot rodder and performance parts manufacturer, has embarked on a new business venture christened Street Legal Performance (SLP) Engineering. The new company, located at 1501 Industrial Way North, Toms River, NJ 08753, (201) 240-3696, employs Ed’s performance hardware expertise along with the combined knowledge of a newly hired engineering team to develop emissions-legal aftermarket parts. These pieces are designed to be in full compliance with all federal and state emissions regulations and will be legal for use on street vehicles. SLP Engineering is putting the finishing touches on their first product, an emissions-legal performance package for late-model Camaros and Firebirds equipped with the tuned port-injected, 5.0-liter V8. Extensively developed over a period of two years, this package will consist of modifications to the…

Reviewing the past 40 years of hot rodding’s history naturally leads us into the next century, and the temptation to predict the future of our sport beyond 1999. Where will hot rodding stand 15 years from now? What kind of rods will we be building and driving? Using the sport’s history for a base, and gathering the opinions of hot rod and race car builders and drivers, as well as automotive designers, we’ll go out on a limb to elaborate HOT ROD Magazine’s concept of rodding in the year 2000. In only four decades hot rodding has grown from a marginal automotive activity to a worldwide hobby/lifestyle/industry. Hot rod technology, performance, and aesthetics have progressed by leaps and bounds, even more so in the last 10 years than in the…

Guy Ruchonnet extracted this ’34 Ford from a chicken coop in his hometown of Livermore, California. It was at night, the owner needed bail money, Guy was only 15, and the primered rust bucket looked impressive in the dark with its 4-inch top chop. Guy spent the first five years learning from his mistakes. Then, having landed a job in a body shop, he started from scratch again. He fabricated a 118-inch-wheelbase, 2x3-inch tube frame and built his own Koni-suspended four-link tube axle front end. He installed a 5.13-geared 9-inch Ford rear, stuffed with spool-driven 40-spline axles, via an Alston ladder bar/trac-locator combo. Airheart and Mark Williams J four-wheel disc brakes mount 15x3½ and 16x13 Hali-brand mags shod respectively in M&H front runners and 33.5x17x16 Goodyear slicks. Guy built his…

Probably the best way to describe Rick Worthington’s chrome-yellow ’69 Camaro from Citrus Heights, California, is to quote directly from his tech sheet, which reads like a well-written mini-novel about his eight-year affair with this, his first car. “The car was purchased from my father, who owned it since new, with the promise that all I would do is put on a set of headers, rims, and tires. Well, I guess I shot that promise all to hell. Anyway, he likes the car better now.” To the question, “Did you build your car in stages?” Rick answered: “Yes, little mods, more mods, radical mods. The car was built as a moderate street machine, then the motor was beefed for speed, then the car was given the full Pro Street treatment.”…

If the sticker price of a shiny new IROC Camaro or Trans Am GTA sends you straight into tire shake, you’re not alone. GM F-bodies continue to sell well, thanks primarily to their smashing good looks and superb handling, but spiraling prices and staggering insurance premiums have combined to dampen their appeal for the average hot rodder who is struggling to make ends meet. Costs for both models can easily exceed 20 grand without even counting the four or five grand in interest fees and a few thousand dollars in insurance premiums. Still, the F-body is overwhelmingly attractive, especially when you unearth the existence of less expensive alternatives that offer genuine supercar potential without adding severe financial hardship. For the cost-conscious hot rodder and street machiner, Pontiac and Chevrolet have…

Eric Buell is not an ordinary man. He is an ex-road racer who drove the awesome two-stroke Yamaha TZ750, and an ex-Harley engineer responsible for chassis development for Harley’s latest generation of street bikes. He is also, as the head of the Buell Motor Company, the only man in recent memory to start up a new American motorcycle company. Buell is an American chauvinist; he wants to see American motorcycles competing, in production-based Superbike racing, against the best Japan and Italy can send his way. By using Harley-Davidson engines he can make all-American machines—and by making fifty of them, all completely street legal, he can get his bikes qualified against the 750cc four-strokes that dominate U.S. racing. Four-stroke twins are allowed to displace 1000cc in AMA Superbike races; the RR1000…

If you were out in your garage working on your car on Saturday, December 6, 1941, but didn’t live in Southern California at that precise moment, the term “hot rod” would have been about as obscure as the vehicle that it would eventually describe. That obscurity ended the next day. The attack on Pearl Harbor did more than get us into another world war: It also eventually transformed what was an ignored Southern California phenomenon into the multi-million-dollar automotive performance industry that it is today. And it all started with a pair of Bobs, a print order of 10,000 copies, and an outlaw-image title.…

HOT ROD continued to maintain a high profile throughout the ’70s by inspiring the sport, rather than just reporting on it. A total of six editors carved and sculptured the appearance and involvement of HOT ROD in this decade. Don Evans was a carry-over shoe-in from the previous decade until he relinquished his position to A.B. Shuman. After Arnold completed the March ’72 issue, Terry Cook took charge for over two years before leading Jim McCraw to the hot seat. John Dianna picked up where Jim left off in February ’76 and continued to climb the corporate ladder, opening the door for the decade’s final editor, Lee Kelley. Among the many topics featured in the ’70s was a host of editorials designed to provoke reader response over increasing governmental regulation,…

Chuck Loeffler of Grayslake, Illinois, started this classy ’32 coupe project eight years ago with one of the few TSR ’glass bodies made. But it wasn’t until a couple of months before completion that he came up with the subtle yet striking two-tone paint scheme of dove gray and gloss black. Then Chuck designed the unique gray corduroy and leather interior, which was sewn by Tom Durban. Together they give this smooth, slick, chopped three-window a “formal” look: all dressed up to go.…

On the surface, GM’s Tuned Port Injection had everything going for it: style, good looks, and superior breeding (resulting, as it did, from the marriage between Rochester Products and Chevrolet Engineering). Unfortunately, it was also bothered by several chronic ailments; namely, bad breathing and an inflexible computerized upbringing. These problems made “TPI” (as friends nicknamed her) too shy to associate with most swinging hot smallblocks. Fortunately, such problems were not new to Dr. John Lingenfelter, and he went about developing a much-needed behavior-modification program. According to the Doctor, “What we had to do was increase the fuel/air flow through the entire system, yet not get into expensive computer mods. After extensive research, I have developed a system of ‘assertiveness training’ for the previously mild-mannered TPI that retains its superior idle…

With their brute power having already peaked in 1969 and 1970, Detroit’s 1971 musclecars had rolled past their prime. Corporate cutbacks in the factory financing of all performance-related areas combined with insurance underwriters’ increasing premiums and the government’s clean air mandates detuned most of Motown’s mass-produced speed machines. Inside of one short model year, the entire decade-long line of milestone musclecars was on the veritable brink of extinction. Although Ford had dropped almost all their performance programs after 1970, they introduced the Boss 351 Mustang at the Detroit auto show in November 1971. But instead of debuting the car as the star headliner that it should have been, the Boss 351 took the stage as little more than a followup closing act. Fortunately, this last blast in a breed of…

Are you ready for the hottest new happening of the 1987 rodding season? Here comes the 1st Annual Valve Cover Nationals—held at the hand-built “Rockerplex” in Pleasanton, California, during Sir “Goodguy” Meadors’ inaugural West Coast Nationals. Once held responsible for the introduction of the wild and crazy motorized creeper races at some NSRA events (the races went by the wayside when they became too serious to be fun), Gary Meadors came up with the idea of racing valve covers down a gravity track while he was bench racing with pals Andy Brizio, Don Specht, Joe Cardoza, and Rick Stees. Their idea was to create a form of participant entertainment that combined creativity, competition, craftsmanship, low cost, and tons of fun, too. Valve cover races were the answer. Built by Cardoza,…

Racing not only improves the breed, but—in the case of automobile manufacturing and sales—if successfully executed, it also garners public attention and acceptance for the product, places that product in a position of superiority regardless of (or despite) its price level in the market, and creates excitement for that product, both on and off the track. Henry Ford perhaps knew this better than any other auto manufacturer, and the Ford Motor Company has continued to follow his exciting, successful lead. As a special tribute in this anniversary issue, on the following pages we will see not only how hot rodding started with Fords, but how Ford got its start through hot rodding, and built a lasting, exciting, pioneering reputation through continued participation in our favorite sport. IN THE BEGINNING Henry…

ODDING AT RANDOM The format of HOT ROD’S 40th anniversary issue this month called for a special edition of “Finish Line.” In addition to the innovative advances in racing, there has also always been the “alternative lifestyle” racers who march to a different drummer. The following are some of racing’s most bizarre and fun moments. Lions Drag Strip, 1967.Jim Miles discovers the true meaning of grenading the engine! Note the oil pan by the rear tire and the crank, complete with the flexplate, under the car! This must have been the engine blowup/oil-down of the century. Riverside Raceway, 1965. The Drag-u-la, from the TV series “The Munsters,” takes off like a bat. The George Barris creation featured a fiberglass casket “resting” on a tube frame, with a 350-hp Mustang V8…

The serenity of a barren, dry lakebed in the high desert north of Los Angeles is struck by the staccato sound of a straining flathead engine. The bark of the roadster’s exhaust note belies its efforts to gain an advantage against an invisible aerodv-namic force that prevents greater speed. Ahead of the highboy, a solitary blue-jeans-clad figure stands apart from the approaching race car. The man focuses his camera intently on the crude projectile, tripping the shutter at the precise moment to record the deed for his small band of subscribers. The man is Robert E. Petersen, and his publication is HOT ROD Magazine. “HOT ROD is published to inform and entertain those interested in automobiles whose bodies and engines have been rebuilt in quest of better performance and appearance.”…

Even though we had two years of publishing HOT ROD Magazine under our collective belts and there were 24 separate issues of “The Automotive ’HOW-TO-DO-IT’ Magazine” in our library, HRM was still a regional publication. However, two major events would totally transform this 36-page collection of track roadster, dry lake, and reliability run coverage, mixed with Stromberg carb mods and Rex Burnett cutaways, into a 124-page package filled with the latest Super Stock tests, national drag racing coverage, 23 pages of “ro-to”-section car features, 400-plus-mph tires, go-karts, engine overviews, mags, Mr. Eliminators, and a guy called Edd “Kookie” Burns. HOT ROD Magazine became everybody’s automotive magazine because of the two big Ds: the drags and Detroit. HRM AND THE NHRA Although the first organized, non-clandestine drag race was conducted in…

The most amazing thing about the current decade is that it’s nearly complete. Suddenly it is 1988, and the year 2000 is just around the corner. Some of us surely thought the automobile would be as outmoded as the horse by now, and motorsports would be akin to antique collecting. Of course, just the opposite is true. Despite relatively high-priced gasoline, smog controls, CAFE standards, and complicated electronically controlled new cars, hot rodding has branched, blossomed, and grown wild in the ’80s. Detroit finally got their act together and put excitement back on the road. The aftermarket industry is booming. “Big show” professional drag and circle track racing have spawned numerous offshoots and alternatives for enthusiastic participants. You can build a complete reproduction rod in dozens of body styles. The…

With the Pro Street movement following the same path as the pro race car scene, cookie-cutter Pro Street cars have become a dime a dozen. The real trick in Pro Street these days is to find a comfortable niche where you can build a low-dollar car using a type of body that will stand out in the crowd. With generous help from Pro Street alumni Rich and Jacklyn Gebhardt and girlfriend Barb Logsdon, Jim Weishaar 1 has transferred his ’78 Chevy Nova from a low-buck 6-cylinder beater to a Pro Stormer for the outrageously low sum of $5500. The rear suspension of the car was modified by 2x3-inch frame rails moved inboard for tire clearance, and a 9-inch Ford rearend hung with Chassis Engineering springs and shocks. The front suspension…

In Los Angeles there’s a radio station that employs a traffic-reporting helicopter named “Yellow Thunder.” While separated by 3000 miles of airspace, Frank Cerutti of Bethalto, Illinois, drives his own version of this highly tactical bird: a brightly painted Pro Street 1955 Chevy. Like the ’copter, Frank’s Chevy is painted yellow, emits a loud operational note, and has the abilitv to leave commuters behind in search of fast-paced blacktop travel. This yellow shoebox is finished in yellow Ditzler enamel accented with red, orange, and green graphics. While barely visible through the smoked exterior glass, a host of interior modifications have been performed. Most notable is the custom aluminum dash insert along with a collection of Stewart-Warner and Auto Meter gauges. The front seats are of Camaro origin reupholstered by Bill…

Ever since that day when a doctor told me how medical school expenses had kept him from owning the roadster he had always wanted, I began to realize how many rod projects are really trips down memory lane. And Howard Anderson’s “rat nice” track roadster aptly illustrates our point. “This is a car that my friend, Howard Anderson, and I have been talking about and bench-building since we were kids in San Jose, California, during the mid-’50s,” said car builder Tom Chambliss. “Our initial lack of finances eventually gave way to kids and careers, so when our kids and careers grew up we returned to point A.” In the case of Anderson and Chambliss, they combined talent and legal tender to finally fashion the rod of their dreams—one very red…

STAGGERING IDEA Q I own a 1965 Chevelle with a 400-hp 350, 4-speed, and 4.11 rear gears. Will staggering the rear shocks improve handling? I know the early Camaros were this way. John WilliamsLovilia, Iowa A GM staggered the rear shocks on leaf-sprung Camaros and Firebirds to alleviate those cars’ wheelhopping tendencies under hard acceleration, not to improve cornering ability. To upgrade handling on GM intermediates, see HOT ROD’S June ’87 “Knuckle Sandwich,” pp. 44-46, 51. As for off-the-line “wheelhop,” Editor Jeff Smith brought his old ’66 Chevelle’s problem under control on his otherwise stock suspension by using softer shocks. His car had the typical “hot rod” fore-and-aft rake with a sky-high rearend, which puts the instant center ahead of the rear axle, causing potential loss of traction. The lower…