Indholdsfortegnelse for June 2007 i Hot Rod

PICK A PROJECT: THE RESULTS In the March issue my life’s dilemma was served up for your dissection: I’ve got less time than ever and way too many abandoned cars. I spelled out my top 12 ideas for priority projects and asked readers to tell me where to focus and where to unload. Many jumped to lend opinions—like 1,300 in the www.hotrod.com poll and nearly 400 via e-mail. There were message-board discussions, a handful of phone calls, and a guy at the swap meet who just yelled out, “Do the Bee!” One way or another, I got the message. I listened not just to the poll numbers, but also to directives to alter my plans for some of the cars. Here’s how it played out. In the lead by a…

FOUR-WIDE Check out this picture of my buddy’s ’63 Impala 409 [in the background) racing at Rockford, Illinois, in the early ’60s. His name is Wes Weslowkowski (driving the 409 called Ragamuffin). The ’57 was campaigned by the Messino Brothers out of Chicago. I don’t know who the other guys were, but it sure looks like fun! Don Turner Via e-mail Running four-wide was a regular deal at Rockford Dragway (now known as Byron Dragway) back in the day. Track owner and promoter Ron Leek likes to put on a show even today, as witnessed by the World Wheelstanding Competition. See Finish Line in the March ’07 issue of HOT ROD, or check out www.byrondragway.com for the insanity.…

FOUR-DOOR GTO It may have too many doors to be a proper musclecar, but the new Pontiac G8 does have the right mechanical stuff to stand in for the discontinued GTO: an LS2 V-8 and rear-wheel drive. Unveiled at the Chicago Auto Show as an ’08 model, the G8 is essentially a left-hand-drive version of the Holden VE Commodore with Pontiac badges and styling cues, including a traditional twin-nostril grille. Like the ’09 Camaro and the next-generation Impala, the G8 is based on GM’s global rear-drive (aka Zeta) platform. Reportedly, initial G8 production will take place in Australia before moving to a GM plant in Oshawa, Ontario, Canada, alongside the Camaro. The G8 could not have been produced “without the shared investment of developing them for global markets,” says GM…

THE GNRS We still have slightly mixed feelings about static car shows filled with megadollar show cars, but there are a number of them worth attending just to stare slack-jawed at the level of craftsmanship involved in the cars. “The granddaddy of them all,” the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) in Pomona, California, is the oldest running indoor show, and as home of the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) award it always draws an impressive array of work. If you missed the 58th annual event this past January, you not only missed out on automotive creations that border upon art including Kevin and Karen Alstott’s impressive ’35 Ford Roadster that took home the AMBR (and last year’s Ridler Award), but also the huge display of the 75 Most Influential ’32…

Joe and Jason Kennedy were raised around old Fords. Their father, Bob Kennedy, is a member of the Early Ford V-8 Club, and took them to shows and on regular flathead-motivated road trips. Though Dad is more into the restoration end of things, Joe, 40, and Jason, 35, were always fascinated by hot rods. Joe says, “We built a lot of model kits and read a lot of custom-car magazines. We’d always build the models to look like the hot rods instead of the stockers. If they had mag wheels and a lot of modifications, we liked them best.” But the ones that really stuck in the Kennedys’ young minds were the traditional hot rods that appeared in HOT ROD magazine between 1948 and 1968. Working out of a sprawling…

In case you haven’t noticed, Jay Leno is a certified car nut. His automotive affliction extends into his act, but unlike most other big-time personalities who claim to be car guys, Leno’s passion is legit. It’s also incredibly diverse and very eclectic, ranging from odd European sports cars you’ve never heard of to steam engines, American musclecars, race cars, exotics, motorcycles (he has a lot of bikes), and all sorts of other mechanical mayhem. There is also a handful of custom cars, most notably the ’05 HOT ROD of the Year, his twin turbo ’66 Toronado built with help from General Motors Performance Division. But his latest toy is no doubt the wildest horse in the stable, and it comes with heaping helpings of design work from GM. What began…

Not only has the new-tech 5.7L Hemi revitalized Chrysler’s new cars and trucks, it also is demonstrating great potential as a reanimator for tired old musclecars. Chrysler’s performance parts division, Mopar Performance (MP), is well aware of this and has released 5.7L carbureted (PN P4510594) and EFI (PN P4510593) crate engines, as well as detailed instructions and additional components needed to install the crate engines into earlier classic musclecars. In fact, MP sponsored one of the very first new-Hemi-into-old-car swaps, having JT Automotive and Glendora Dodge transplant a crate EFI 5.7L engine and A-518 four-speed automatic overdrive transmission into a ’70 Duster previously equipped with a 318 small-block and A-904 trans. The basic swap info presented here applies to any ’67-’76 Dodge or Plymouth A-body chassis. Unlike a production Hemi,…

LOW-BUCK SALT FEVER? Every true hot rodder must make it to a meet at the Bonneville Salt Flats at least once in their life, and thankfully there are a few ways to do it. The SCTA’s Speed Week is the big show with the fastest cars, but for a less hard-core, anything-goes atmosphere, the Utah Salt Flats Racing Association (USFRA) is the place to go if you just want to floor the throttle on your street car for as long as possible, and do it for minimal expense. Lenny Sperry sent us this photo from last year’s USFRA World of Speed event, proving that you don’t need a lot of cash to have a ton of fun racing on the Salt. A self-described “old guy,” Lenny runs a daily driver…

THE SKIP SCHOOL One of the best perks of this job is that every now and then an advertiser will provide us with the opportunity to do something really fun and without an expectation of editorial coverage. That happened in late February, as Freiburger and I were invited to attend a two-day session at the Skip Barber Racing School at Phoenix International Raceway. The invite came from our new best friend Josh Russell, the director of marketing for Peak Antifreeze. Peak ran a contest last year for its customers and dealers, and the winners (about 20 of them) got an all-expense-paid trip to the Skip school. A corporate-sponsored arrangement like that usually leaves a few seats open for corporate bigwigs or as swag for select VIPs. For some reason, Josh…

DAMN SHAME We got this one via e-mail from a guy named Mike (who didn’t give his last name or where he’s from—c’mon people!) who tells us a gentleman by the name of Rick Baker bought this original big-block ’68 Camaro SS from his neighbor back in the early ’70s and drove it for about a year before he blew the engine. When the engine was pulled for a rebuild, Rick bought new wheels and tires for the Camaro and parked it out behind the garage. Unfortunately, the car never saw the street again. Rick had always planned on restoring it but just never seemed to get around to it. Rick passed away a few years back, and Mike was able to purchase the car from his brother Gary. Mike…

THE NEW SLICKS For years Goodyear, Mickey Thompson, and M&H have been the big players in the work of competitive drag slicks, but they have some competition nipping at their heels now. As with Toyota’s entrance into NASCAR’s big league, the new drag slick competition is coming from Japan. At the Car Quest Auto Parts NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, California, on February 8-11, Team Toyo’s Gary Forkner made it to the sixth round in his ’06 GTO Super Comp car, running on 33x16-15 Toyo Proxes Drag Slicks. With Nitto’s heavy involvement and testing of new slicks in the NMRA series, it looks like there will be two new players to this small but incredibly competitive market. —ROB KINNAN HOW THEY MAKE IT:STAINLESS STEEL BRAKE CALIPERS For a huge segment of…

Go ahead and blush, hot rodders. You have been handed an embarrassment of riches. Not quite three years ago HOT ROD gave you the word: ’69 Camaro convertible replace bodies were on the way—brand new ones, straight from the crate. As the hobby collectively held its breath, this miracle in blue steel actually came to pass. And as it turned out, ’69 convertibles in virgin sheetmetal were just the start. Now there are ’69 Camaro coupes, and ’67 coupes and convertibles, and here comes a ’67 Mustang fastback. And there’s more, including a ’57 Chevy convertible body in steel and a Camaro Gen I/Gen IV hybrid. And there will surely be more to come. “We know this translates into sales of new cars. The people restoring old Mustangs are the…

We told you it was coming. Whether you credit the current wave of popularity in musclecars or the stagnation in the street rod market, there’s no denying that the fodder deemed acceptable for building a high-end street rod has quietly crept into the musclecar era. Street rod builders are turning to where the customers (and the money) are, and while well-done checkbook-breaking musclecars certainly aren’t news nowadays, the shift in how some of the cars are being built is. A street rod is by definition a hot-rodded or customized pre-’49 vehicle, but the line between those and today’s crop of custom-built musclecars is blurring. Witness Bobby Alloway’s latest creation, this ’67 Mustang fastback built for George Lange. Though each of his previous builds was radical in its own right, Bobby…

CAMARO CLIPS PG.88 There’s a ton of complete, bolt-on front subframe and suspension systems for early Camaros and Firebirds (and a few for second-gen cars too). Here’s who they are, what they cost, and all the options. HEMI ENGINE SWAP PG.102 All you need to know to drop a new 5.7L Mopar Hemi PO.102and an A-518 automatic into a ’70 Duster. ALLABOUT A/C PG.108 It doesn’t make your car any faster, but an aftermarket air. conditioning system will make it far more comfortable to drive, especially on a hot day! PROJECT F-BOMB PG.122 We head to Mississippi to see how TCI builds a Power glide strong enough to withstand the brutal horsepower in the F-Bomb Camaro. Back home, we build an extra beefy Strange rearend for the same purpose. TEST…

There are two firmly entrenched and opposing schools of thought when it comes to air conditioning: that less is best and A/C should never be intentionally added to a hot rod, and that power and comfort can coexist harmoniously. Thanks to the growing trend of bringing hot rods up to new-car specs for comfortable daily driving or long-distance road tripping (Power Tour(r), anyone?), that second group has been growing substantially, and the aftermarket has responded with a quality array of systems for almost every car. There are basically seven major aftermarket A/C companies that cater specifically to hot rods: Vintage Air, Hot Rod Air, Classic Auto Air, and Southern Air (by Southern Rods and Parts), Old Air Products, Nostalgic Air Parts, and Air-Tique. We spoke with all of them to…

VORTECH SUPERCHARGER FOR ’07 MUSTANGS Vortech Engineering 805/247-0226 www.vortechsuperchargers.com Vortech claims the V-2 SQ S-Trim supercharger will kick the power in new ’07 Mustangs from 300 hp to 462 hp, with torque going from 320 lb-ft to 419 lb-ft at 10 psi. The kit includes a front-mounted air-to-water intercooler and everything needed to bolt the system to a stock Mustang, such as aluminum mounting brackets, fuel system upgrades, DiabloSport handheld programmer, supercharger oil feed and drain, compressor bypass valve, and required fasteners. Plus the kit comes with a three-year limited warranty on the supercharger and is 50-state smog legal under C.A.R.B. EO# D-213-25. Price: $4,995.95 LSI SWAP HEADERS FOR FIRST-GEN CAMAROS Stainless Works 800/878-3635 www.stainlessworks.net Remember the LS1-powered “Fuel” Camaro from the March ’07 issue (Built to Order, page 74)?…

One steady indicator that we’re all moving into the modern world is the change in the way reader mail is sent to HOT ROD. Whereas our snail mailbox used to overflow on a daily basis, now it’s the HOT ROD e-mail system that requires a thorough cleaning every evening before we leave. We still get letters sent the old-fashioned way but not nearly as many as before, since the keyboard has all but replaced the mighty government-issued stamp, making it both quicker and cheaper to yell at us, heap praise, and offer suggestions. So do that, won’t you? Look at the address at the top of this page, and let us know what’s up.—ROB KINNAN STILL HAS THE COOLEST JOB Reading Bill’s article about my experiences with GM throughout the…

1992 FIRST TO 300 In the 10 Great Engines story (page 54),we feature the Hemi that pushed Eddie Hill’s digger to the first-ever four-second pass in NHRA competition. But the Hemi in Kenny Bernstein’s first-to-300-mph Fueler should also be mentioned. Kenny did the deed in 1992, while qualifying for the NHRA Gatornationals, and took home the extra $50,000 bonus that Slick 50 put up for the first 300-mph pass. The engine in the Bud King was Hemi du jour for 1992, but this one was perfected by Dale Armstrong and tuned by crewchief Wes Cerny. It not only was the first to 300, but it stomped the record by nearly 10 mph, running 301.70. The pass was done in 4.823 seconds, setting the ET record as well. Longtime drag-racing journalist…

GROUND ZERO T-BIRD Classic Restoration Enterprises (www.classicresto.com) has begun restoring a ’55 T-bird for New York Port Authority Police Sergeant John McLoughlin. If the name sounds familiar, McLoughlin was one of the first rescue officers on the scene of the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and he’s also the inspiration for the central character played by Nicolas Cage in Oliver Stone’s movie World Trade Center. One of the last survivors extracted from Ground Zero, McLoughlin barely survived after being buried under 30 feet of rubble from Tower Two for 22 hours. Once rescued, he was placed in a medically induced coma for six weeks and underwent 27 surgeries. Rather than allow doctors to amputate his legs, McLoughlin fought to walk and has to date endured 25 additional surgeries.…

When the hot rod was invented, one of the first steps in the process was to tear off the hood and throw it behind the barn. Easy and open access to the powerplant was required at all times. And of course there was also the need to show off the engine to everyone else on the street. It doesn’t take a doctorate in psychology to figure this one out: Since day one, hot rodders have been all about engines and going fast. With our roots firmly planted in horsepower, HOT ROD thought it was important to recognize some of the great engines in the history of hot rodding. What defines a great hot rod engine? Here are the criteria we used: First, it needs to contain American parts. Next, it…

As you’ve already read earlier in this issue, building a brand new ’60s musclecar is now possible, and we’re not just talking about sheetmetal. Thanks to the surge in musclecar popularity, especially with the Camaro and Mustang, you can build a brand-new ’69 Camaro without using a single ’69-vintage part. As evidence, witness the plethora of bolt-on front subframe/suspension kits the aftermarket has made available for the first-gen Camaro. Most fit similar-vintage Firebirds and Novas as well as the Camaro. Nearly all accept stock sheetmetal, bumpers, and radiators. Just about everyone supports the big and small-block Chevy and late GM LS-series motors; a few have (or will soon have) real Pontiac mounts. But what’s really trick is the latest OEM and racing suspension and design technology available in some of…

Perhaps you’ve been following the saga of the F-Bomb, our mold-green ’73 Camaro that we keep writing about in farcical language like “twin turbos with 1,500 hp” and “we’re gonna drive it every day, plus drag and top-speed race it.” You probably wonder how we think we’re going to do that without spitting parts, or how we’re going to make it drag optimized and street drivable at the same time. Us too. We’ve always planned for compromises, and one of them is that the car will start out in street/strip configuration before the suspension and trans are tweaked and the engine is detuned for other games. Along the way we’ve also introduced you to the characters who’ve influenced this crazy project. This month we reveal the tutelage of Tony Akins…

THE POWER SIDEKICK All-in-one-type devices often mean that the product is a compromise on all fronts, so we were skeptical when the Power Sidekick arrived in the office. The Power Sidekick is basically a handheld electric motor with a rechargeable battery pack that accepts several different attachments, allowing you to give your car a quick cleanup, from washing to buffing and waxing to vacuuming the interior, with just one gadget. Not a bad idea, especially for those who want to take better care of their cars but aren’t likely to buy the tools separately. We tested the Power Sidekick on one of our many grimy cars and it performed well, but we experienced pretty short battery life, so an extra battery pack or two would be a wise addition. The…

7TH ANNUAL MIRAMAR CAR SHOW In partnership with JB West, HOT ROD continues on with our Military Tour for the seventh straight year with the annual car show at Miramar Air Base on June 16. Last year’s show was a great success with $3,015 raised to buy tools and automotive equipment for the base Auto Skills Center, and we hope to do as well again this year. Bring your cars and come hungry, because just like last year the $20 entry fee gets a free lunch for the driver and all passengers, as well as plenty of free soft drinks and water. The show runs from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on the Miramar Air Base Soccer Field. To register, go to www.thecarsarecoming.com or call 800/375-4599. Come on out and…