Indholdsfortegnelse for May 2007 i Hot Rod

1965 AIR LANDY As you read in this month’s Starting Line column, drag-racing legend Dandy Dick Landy died January 11, 2007, due to kidney failure. In tribute, we present this radical shot of his ’65 match-race car that HOT ROD’s June ’65 issue called, “the most controversial Stocker ever built.” It’s seen here at the American Hot Rod Association event at Lions Drag Strip in 1965. Landy started small, running Fords at San Fernando Drag Strip until he got his first Mopar—a Plymouth—in 1963. But he’d become famous for his long line of Dodges, starting with a ’64 426 Wedge car and then a ’64 Hemi. In late 1964, Landy added a Dodge van solid front axle and drastically altered the wheelbase, moving the front and rear axles forward in…

GETTING BACK INTO IT After a hot-rod hiatus due to home, family, and kids that resulted in the sale of his ’67 Shelby, ’69 Trans Am, ’63 Corvette, ’55 Chevy sedan delivery, and ’66 and ’67 big-block Corvettes, Tom Lilla of Naperville, Illinois, is ready to get back on track. Since the prices of most of his previous rides have gone far north of crazy, Tom picked up a couple of off-the-radar projects. An ’86 Pontiac Grand Prix 2+2 will be a mild street cruiser perfect for Power Tour(r) ’07, while the ’30 Olds three-window coupe is a long-term project that will eventually become the chopped and channeled vintage Bonneville racer Tom says he’s dreamt about since 1966. The drivetrain will remain Olds, with a ’57 371ci with the J-2…

We’re living in a time unlike any other in the history of hot-rodding, when the variety of quality bolt-on parts and the sheer numbers of pro builders are at an all-time high. And in these days of musclecar mania, it’s no surprise that those parts and professionals have a tunnel-vision focus on the musclecars of the late ’60s through the early ’70s. Camaros, Chevelles, Mustangs, ’Cudas, and Challengers are hot commodities, and they’re even hotter when they’ve had a full complement of modern, high-performance parts thrown at them. It’s as if nobody does a chalk-mark restoration anymore unless it’s on a real Hemi or rare big-block car. Unique Performance has emerged as one of the leaders, if not the leader, in the realm of pro builders cranking out custom, turnkey…

When you see “your” car for the first time, you just know it. There’s a moment of connection when you identify with it followed quickly by the annoying feeling that someone else owns it. That inspirational moment is even more significant when you realize you’re neither looking for a project nor are you even aware you’re a hot rodder. That’s pretty much how it happened to Ray Dunham, as he strolled through the Donut Derelicts car gathering in Huntington Beach, California, early one Saturday morning about three years ago. Ray had a real appreciation for vintage style, particularly ’50s-era cruisers, but it had been a while since he’d built anything. Vintage, two-toned VW Beetles had been his thing in high school until he made the pragmatic choice after graduation to…

This 12.3-second, 113-mph race car started out as the stripped shell of an ’84 Camaro that was donated by local hot rodders Josh and Neil Shannon. The students welded up the holes in the body, trimmed the rear wheel openings to accommodate slicks, fabricated a cold-air intake system from 4-inch home-dryer ducting, installed Harwood’s 6-inch cowl-induction hood, and sprayed the donated blue-and-silver paint. The 350-inch small-block arrived in a used-up delivery van donated by Sonora Florist, and the long-block was transplanted into the Camaro as is. “We removed the heads, cam, lifters, pushrods, and oil pump,” Chris recalls. “Dave Maxwell at Crane contributed the roller cam and complete valvetrain. We bought a new oil pump. Edelbrock gave us a deal on a set of 2.02-inch Performer aluminum heads. We didn’t…

Here’s the biggest challenge with our F-Bomb project ’73 Camaro: suspension. We want too much. The car’s life is predicted to include street driving, drag racing, and topspeed racing. We’d be happy if we could squeeze in some open-track time while we’re at it. No single chassis setup is gonna do all that perfectly, especially considering the fact that we can crank up 1,500 hp at the flywheel. So what’d we do? We left it stock. Sorta. We thought long and hard about a custom four link setup out back, which would be ideal for drag racing, and with a Watt’s link or Panhard bar, could work for handling and land-speed racing. But it would be harsh on the street, all the Heim joints would be loud and might wear…

THE BIG MOVE HOT ROD Television is moving to ESPN2 starting March 31, 2007. In addition to reaching millions more people, we’re celebrating the fact that HOT ROD Television is the longest-running automotive performance program on network television. But we didn’t stop there. Now produced by the creators of Overhaulin’ and Rides, HOT ROD Television’s HD broadcasts will bring you closer to the roots, trends, and performance of America’s baddest hot rods. We kick off our season as Reggie Jackson, Mister October himself, gears up for the greatest October event in the automotive universe: SEMA. As gearheads know, Reggie’s a car guy with a fleet of rides that rivals any major-league collection you could throw a fastball at, but his latest car might top them all. His new toy is…

We agonized over what kind of paint job to put on the F-bomb Camaro, but in the end, Freiburger chose an Army-green look complete with WWII-inspired nose art. We knew it would have a polarizing effect on people, so we asked for opinions in the caption on page 83 of the Mar. ’07 issue. You folks sure weren’t shy about giving them, and that’s a good thing. More of you liked it than hated it, but we have a feeling that those who were flat-out confused by the deal just didn’t know what to say and therefore never wrote us. —ROB KINNAN OLIVE DRAB PJS The F-Bomb is right on. The Olive Drab green is bitchin’, but I’m a retired command sergeant major, so I like women in Olive Drab…

PROFILE:FRITZ KAYL Detroit—the amazing thing about this town is its people. The auto industry here has had its ups and downs in recent years, but it sure hasn’t been for lack of talent. In both depth and numbers, the Detroit area has a pool of skilled car people that is unmatched any-where—not just within the manufacturers, but also in the scores of companies that supply them with specialized expertise in everything from research and development to body and paint. There is nothing to do with cars these engineers and artisans can’t do, and Detroit has an army of them. When you see how many talented car people there are in this town, the range of skills they possess, and the incredible work they can do, it sort of blows your…

MICKEY THOMPSON’S KILLER CONVICTED On the morning of March 16, 1988, Mickey and Trudy Thompson were murdered in front of their home in California’s San Gabriel Mountains. The double murder went unsolved for 18 years until January 4, 2007, when Thompson’s ex-business partner, Michael Goodwin, was convicted of the killings. In 1978, Thompson partnered with Goodwin to bring outdoor racing indoors. The partnership, however, quickly grew sour, and legal battles over allegedly stolen money ruined their relationship. Goodwin was a prime suspect in the murders from the beginning. After 14 years, no arrests had been made in the case, but Thompson’s sister, Collene Campbell, was determined to see the case solved and never gave up her quest to bring the killer to justice. A major breakthrough in the case occurred…

“This is the car I would have offered in 1968 had this technology existed.”—Mr. Norm Kraus Military combat strategy is based mainly on firm objectives, troop strength, terrain command, maneuverability, and supply. But when Motown automakers fought the musclecar wars back during mid-last century, their tactics boiled down to a fundamental matter of power-to-weight. The factory packing maximum twist into minimum mass—the most horsepower in the lightest car—would theoretically dominate whatever acceleration skirmishes they engaged in. Armed with this elementary hot-rodding scheme as its front line, quarter-mile battle plan, Chrysler rolled out its prime offensive asset for 1968: the A-Body Hemicars. Though those wars were fought in new-car dealerships as well as on racetracks, few if any of those 426 Hemi Darts (or their Barracuda sister ships) ever reflected fluorescents…

“Growing up, a Hemi in a ’32 was the cool thing to do. For me, the new one is like the spirited successor paying homage to the old ones.”—Matt Markstaller The ’32 Ford is a canvas that automotive artists have been painting on for 75 years now, which of course means there aren’t many things that haven’t already been done to one. However, a look doesn’t have to be totally different from the bottom up to garner attention; sometimes it just takes a bit of a twist on standard streetrod style to create something unique. That’s precisely what Matt Markstaller was going for with this ’32 roadster. The idea was to build a car that combined street-rod style with memories of his youth. The catalyst that fueled Matt’s imagination to…

LATE-MODEL ENGINE SWAPS PG.92 Wanna stick a new LS1 in a Camaro or a 5.7L Hemi crate motor in a Charger? How ‘bout a Modular Ford in an older Mustang? We sent Marlan in search of everything you need to know. THE F-BOMB, PART 3 PG.108 For this month’s installment on the ultimate street Camaro, we get into the details of a suspension that can handle both 1,500 hp and daily-driver durability. BOLT-ON RACK-AND-PINION KITS PG.118 There are a ton of bolt-on rack-and-pinion steering kits for older musclecars. Here’s who has them, what they fit, and one example of how to install and test one. TEST AND TUNE PG.134 Barry Grant’s brand-new inline four-barrel carburetor setup, plus a Quick Test on some grunge-removal goo. MARLAN DAVIS’ PIT STOP PG.138 Need…

Nothing makes a classic car feel like an old tank more than ancient suspension and handling characteristics. Jump out of a stock ’60s musclecar and into a late-model performance car, and one of the first things you notice is the steering. New cars have nice, tight, responsive steering, whereas most early cars had slow steering boxes that were anything but responsive, and the power-assisted setups were often over-boosted to the point of killing any semblance of road feel. Those docile setups just don’t play well when combined with today’s assortment of bolt-on handling hardware. But once again, the aftermarket has a fix. With the rise in interest of Pro Touring-type cars, it’s no surprise that several companies have developed plug-and-play rack-and-pinion conversion kits for early musclecars. Many are claimed to…

THE $5.5 MILLION COBRA There’s brand loyalty and then there’s brand loyalty. In the automotive world, few brands have the lasting hold of Shelby, as in Carroll Shelby. Anything with a history linked to Shelby is snapped up and highly coveted, and nowhere was that proved more than at the January ’07 Barrett-Jackson auction in Scottsdale, Arizona. Forty hours of the auction were broadcast live on the Speed network, and the highlight was when Shelby’s personal Cobra Super Snake, CSX 3015, went on the block. One of only 23 427 competition roadsters built, CSX 3015 was hot rodded by Shelby in 1967, fitted with a pair of ball-drive Paxton superchargers on a dual-quad 427 and backed with an automatic transmission. There were two built—Bill Cosby got the other one but…

A RAT! ’53 Chevrolet pickup Zeb Folse Lockport, LA This rat-rod ’53 Chevy five-window pickup is a father-and-son project for 24-year-old Zeb Folse and his dad. So far, it has a TCI Mustang II front suspension with an Art Morrison four-bar in the rear attached to a Currie 9-inch. The chassis is homemade, and there are numerous body mods, including a 4-inch chopped top, custom running boards, and a raised bed. As for the final stance, Zeb didn’t specify if it would be sprung or bagged, but he did say he believes a hot rod shouldn’t be more than chest high. STINKIN’ GOAT ’72 Pontiac LeMans Gary Pavao North Kingstown, RI Well, it’s actually a ’72 Pontiac LeMans with a GTO nose that’s been a three-year project for Gary, who…

B&M BUYS HURST When you think shifter, particularly for a stick trans, the first name that comes to mind is Hurst (followed soon after by Linda Vaughn). Hurst has been a supplier of performance shifters, manual and automatic, to the OEs and aftermarket since the ’60s and has been a division of Mr. Gasket since 1987. But that all changed in mid-January when the B&M companies (www.bmracing.com) purchased Hurst. It’s sorta fitting, actually, since B&M has been making shifters even longer than Hurst has, starting with automatic gear-stirrers way back in 1953. The buyout of Hurst follows on the heels of B&M’s acquisition of McLeod some time ago, setting the stage for global domination of the transmission-shifter and accessory market. B&M says that both companies are committed to making the…

In Detroit this year, the Nort h American International Auto Show recorded its 100th anniversary, and the city joined in on the celebration as the domestic automakers hogged the spotlight. General Motors won both the Car and Truck of the Year awards with the Saturn Aura and Chevrolet Silverado—the first time in history that one manufacturer swept both categories. Ford and Chrysler generated plenty of attention with their new hardware as well. It was a very good show for Detroit, in Detroit. Naturally, the mainstream media focused on Detroit’s leading-edge efforts in hybrid, electric, alternative-fuel, and high-mileage vehicles. But the same green technologies that have boosted efficiency and reduced emissions have spun off an additional benefit just for us: lots of horsepower. While only a few years ago, 500 hp…

“I tend to be a stickler for steering and brakes, and this car does both well. It’s very well balanced.”—John Devine Here’s a trend we’re seeing more and more among pro car builders: building a car using the nicest starting point available. Remember Rod Saboury’s original Pro Street ’63 Corvette from the early ’80s? Rod was barbecued relentlessly for buying a 100-point Bloomington Gold show car and then cutting it up, even though the end result was one of the finer show cars of the decade. His reasoning was that it’s easier to start with a perfect car so you don’t have to deal with repairs before getting into the fun stuff. Back then, that was an uncommon way to build a car. Today, it seems to be the norm.…

Imagine you’re a 16-year-old gearhead in one of California’s lowest-income regions. Your parents may or may not own reliable transportation. Your bus ride takes as long as 90 minutes each way on tight mountain roads. You might have dropped out like so many of your pals were it not for the auto-shop class that makes you look forward to high school. If you maintain good grades and contribute extra hours to the class project, you get to travel to a dragstrip on the edge of a big city that you may have seen only in pictures. You get to climb over the sidebar of a serious rollcage then plop your skinny butt into the driver’s seat. Your shop teacher belts you in, shuts the door, and points you toward the…

Face it: GM Gen III/IV smallblocks, Ford Modular motors, and new Chrysler Hemis have rejuvenated production cars, and now they’re poised to revolutionize hot-rodding. Overhead cams, forced induction, aluminum heads, and even aluminum blocks are no longer exotic rarities. Engine life is now measured in hundreds of thousands of miles. Fast-burn combustion chambers and heads that flow on a par with old-school big-blocks offer growth potential old-school small-block owners could only dream of. Combine the new engine designs with an overdrive trans, and you can have your cake and eat it too—economical highway cruising with big horsepower. A whole new industry has arisen for hopping them up, supplying them, and even installing them in classic musclecars—that bundle of snakes under the hood notwithstanding. No doubt, traditionalists shy away from the…

THE BADMAN Demon Carburetor 706/864-8544 www.barrygrant.com Remember the old Autolite inline four-barrel carburetors used on some ’60s Ford race engines? Introduced at the ’06 SEMA show, Barry Grant’s new BadMan harkens back to that time with a truly unique [in today’s world) carb setup. The Demonbased design is combined with a Triple-D Aero-ram intake manifold. According to Barry Grant, it should improve low-speed idle, part-throttle driveability, and fuel efficiency. The BadMan also has no gaskets under the float level and has only three adjustments—two idle-mixture screws and one idle-speed screw—so it should be easy to tune. Interchangeable venturi sleeves can adjust airflow from around 500 to over 1,000 cfm. Price: $1,799.99 for small-block Chevy GM AUTOMATIC TRANSCONTROL BOX GMCOPO 248/275-5828 www.gmcopo.com GMCOPO has developed an interesting product that could make…