Indholdsfortegnelse for September 2009 i Hot Rod

MUSCLE TRUCK, 1955 STYLE In the July and Aug. ’09 issues we built, road-tripped, and raced a ’74 Chevy Stepside beater we call the Muscle Truck, as it’s built for performance over pulchritude. We’ve subsequently been blown away by the large volume of email we’ve had in support of that project. Yet racing trucks is not new. Our archives begin in 1955 (thereby skipping everything back to 1948 when HRM was founded), so the earliest photographic evidence of the magazine editorializing fast pickups is seen in this outtake photo from Eric Rickman’s coverage of the SCTA drag races at Morrow Field in Colton, California, in winter 1954. Here you can see Chuck Porter’s shop truck in action, seemingly getting the leap on a ’32 Tudor. The ’49 Ford custom was…

Long Minnesota winters give a man time to ponder—sometimes too much time, as Greg and Linda Peterson found out. What began as a driver mushroomed into a full-blown buildup. Jason Rushforth doodled an idea for the ’64 Buick Sportswagon, and Greg decided it would make an excellent calling card for his company, Extreme Powder Coating (www.extremepowdercoating.net). His next three winters were occupied stripping the chassis and powdercoating a few hundred parts. The car was shaved of handles and trim and dropped with Heidts 2-inch-drop spindles and a complete Air Ride system with Strong Arms and RidePro controls. Perhaps inspired by those frigid winter days, the color palette is an icy ’67 Ford Brittany Blue with snowy ’07 Lexus Pearl White capping the roof.…

You are looking at the first hot rod powered by the LS9 V-8 crate engine sold by GM Performance Parts, the same supercharged, 6.2L mill used in the latest ZR1 Corvette. But while the engine choice is really cool, don’t be fooled; this ’69 Camaro is about way more than just an engine. It came together under the guidance of well-known Pro Touring car builder Mark Stielow. Unlike the other 35 or so cars Mark has built, this one started in the mind of his friend Charley Lillard. As a direct descendent of the killer ’69 Camaro that Mark unveiled back in 2003, which was called the Mule, Charley decided to simply call this ride Jackass. The name is somewhat misleading. The Mule represented a huge step forward in the…

You know those chrome, wrought-iron license plate frames you see on some cars? We hate those—same with the ones with overused sayings like, “Get In, Sit Down, Shut Up, and Hang On.” Please, people, enough already. But nearly every car needs a plate frame, so you might as well get a good one. Billet Frames offers billet aluminum plate frames that can be custom-engraved to say anything you want—within reason, of course. We had the company do up a pair of HOT ROD test car frames, one polished and one black anodized, to see what they look like. The website shows the various styles of frames, a few examples of engraving, the different text colors available, and even a tab with informative buyer’s tips. The best thing is they’re only…

Welcome to the Hot Rods section of the mag, where all the car features live. Know of a great ride that should be here? Got killer photos of cars in action along with details about them? Tip us off: email HOTROD@hotrod.com or mail to HOT ROD Hot Rods, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048. Everyone says they want something different, but no one does anything about it. Then there’s this guy. Yannick Sire is a 38-year-old West Los Angeles hot rodder who had a hot rodding youth drenched in the earliest days of the handling-muscle-car resurgence. He blasted corners at Willow Springs International Raceway with his ’68 Chevelle while working for Ted Toki at Westside Performance and developed a fondness for drysumps and short-stroke Rat motors that matured into…

Even among early Shelbys, John Levitz’s ’66 G.T. 350 is a standout, but that hasn’t stopped him from driving and making memories in it for the past 31 years. What makes it unique? John’s car has long been rumored to be one of three in-house presentation cars built by Shelby American in late 1966 to show Ford execs some of the changes the company had in mind for the ’67 models—such as the hoodscoop. Afterward, the cars were sold to the public. Years later, two Shelby aficionados, Larry Lapatka and Craig Beshore, purchased it. They kept it long enough to get a write-up in the Feb. ’78 issue of Car Craft, then sent it to the Kruse auction in Phoenix, where John’s dad found it. It wasn’t long before 17-year-old…

Pontiac is dead. Wait, this is a good thing: Its being killed so General Motors can live. Its not being hacked off like a gangrenous limb; its just that the worlds former number one automaker has too many brands, divisions, and models to be competitive. GM’s multilayered, all-encompassing marketing structure worked just fine when the automaker had 51 percent of the North American car market locked up. But today it has a tenuous grip on less than half that market share, and some chopping is long overdue. Except for the low-volume Solstice and G8, the current Pontiac lineup is a virtual carbon copy of Chevrolet’s. GM no longer needs and cannot afford two divisions that sell essentially the same cars, and naturally, it’s Pontiac that must go. There’s some irony…

OK, we’ll admit it. As much as it’s cool to see over-the-top cars with IndyCar suspension and Pro Stock power, after a while it just gets repetitive. Where are the bolt-on cars? What about guys who actually have real blue-collar jobs and drive their muscle cars on a regular basis? We know you’re out there and actually realize 99 percent of you fit into that category, so here’s a story for you. Instead of displaying the latest million-dollar suspension system, we’re going to take a big boat of a car and add simple bolt-on suspension parts to it, one at a time, testing along the way to see how effective each part is in improving handling. We called on the good folks at Hotchkis Suspension to help us out, and…

SOLID ROLLER LIFTERS ON HYDRAULIC ROLLER CAM I have a ’69 Chevelle with a 454, Air Flow Research 305 heads, a Weiand Stealth intake, a Holley 950 HP carb, a five-speed, and 3.90:1 gears. The current cam is a Comp custom—245/252 degrees at 0.050, 0.650/0.650-inch valve lift, 110-degree lobe-separation angle (LSA)—that will pull 6,600-plus, which I know is pretty good for a hydraulic roller (HR) cam. I attribute this to the 175/450-pound valvespring pressure, titanium retainers, good Crane lifters, and roller rockers. Before shelling out about $1,200 for a new cam kit and a weekend, I’d like to know what I’m giving up in power with this cam due to valvetrain stability issues that are commonplace with HR cams, including valve bounce and/or lifter bleed-down. A lot of boat guys…

WORLD’S FASTEST MUSTANG When we were at Bonneville last year following noted Ford collector and certified wild man Brent Hajek and his Danny Thompson-driven, Rockett Brand E85-powered, FR500C Mustang on its 251-mph speed record, Brent told us his next act would be to take the car to Talladega Super Speedway in Alabama for a closed course speed record. The idea was to have Bill Elliott drive, since Bill still holds the record for the fastest qualifying time in NASCAR history, 212.809 mph, set in 1987 at Talladega. The Mustang went into the wind tunnel several times and had a few minor things changed (such as a NASCAR Car of Tomorrow wing and front splitter) but ran in essentially the same trim as it did at Bonneville. They got to the…

This ’63 Ford Thunderbird was redone as a bone-stock resto in the late ’90s, but Bob and Robin Collier of Tacoma, Washington, eventually got bored with that. That’s when they installed Air Ride suspension, four-wheel disc brakes, a narrowed 9-inch, and ET Classics wheels. Under the hood is nothing crazy, just a re-creation of a mid-’60s, Mercury-only, 410ci version of the vintage Ford FE mill. The straightforward combo results from the simple marriage of a 428 crank to the T-bird’s original 390 block and is greatly enhanced by Edelbrock’s heads and intake, a Crane hydraulic cam, and FPA headers. Obviously, the Colliers’ 2-ton Dearborn beauty has never been about hard-core performance. Rather, it’s a sweet street machine for those with a bent for the nontraditional.…

Back in the ’50s, HOT ROD’s ’49 Ford F-1 Panel served the staff well. Rickman drove it to Bonneville, it was shared with our sister publications, and while it was never a hot rod itself, it did the job. Six decades later, Ford approached HOT ROD and three of our sister publications to get our takes on the Ford Flex as it fits with each of our magazine brands. Rather than build an urban cruiser with 22s and a 48-inch video screen, we decided to create a modern vehicle that would meet the needs of the staff for photo shoots, running errands, and even the outside chance that we would need to make a cross-country haul to a HOT ROD event. Tavis Highlander of Highlander Concept Rendering designed the retro-inspired,…

When you’re looking for true individuality with common cars, it’s time to start considering uncommon customizations—the stuff no one has dared to try or just hasn’t dared to do right. This story is a collection of rethinks of the accepted alterations for some of the most common Chevy muscle cars. We’ve got a little parts swapping between generations, some custom body kit creation, and even a little genre bending that brings together a second-gen Camaro and a Ferrari Scaglietti. Sounds ludicrous, we know—but the result is a perfect marriage. This collection began as unrelated ideas Steve Stanford sketched out for his own amusement and to keep the creative juices flowing, but stuff this good can’t just be filed away from the eyes of hot rodders hungry for inspiration. ’69 CAMARO…

SHAKER HOOD FOR ’08+ CHALLENGERS Classic Design Concepts (CDC) 866/624-7997 www.classicdesignconcepts.com We’re big fans of the Challenger’s aesthetics as is, but CDC managed to create the perfect add-on: a vintage-style Shaker hood. Based on the original ’70 to ’71 hood, CDC’s Shaker works with the late-model’s stock twin-scoop hood or the company’s new flat composite hood for a more traditional muscle car look. Either way, the scoop connects to the factory airbox on R/T and SRT8 cars. It is available in black powdercoat or unpainted and includes all mounting hardware, ductwork, a cutting template, and detailed instructions. CDC says installation should take three hours or less with basic tools. Price: $985.00 for the Shaker system, $1,595.00 for the flat hood PROSTYLE BILLET SHIFTER Twist Machine 631/610-4186 www.twistmachine.com Modern five- and…

Long before Detroit experienced any of its current financial woes, the city was home to the country’s most spectacular collection of abandoned manufacturing locales. Many marques have fallen over the years, lots of them leaving behind the detritus of former empires in concrete and glass. Some of these remnants still stand, and in next month’s issue, HOT ROD’S Bill McGuire explores them with images you won’t want to miss. An example is this shot of the old paint booth on the top floor of the Fisher Body 21 plant, first built in 1919. SEE THIS AND MUCH MORE IN THE OCT. ’09 HOT ROD MAGAZINE On Sale August 18, 2009 Meanwhile, Get Your Car Fix at HOTROD.com HOT ROD (ISSN 0018-6031), September 2009; Vol. 62, No. 9. Copyright 2009 by…