Indholdsfortegnelse for December 1997 i Hot Rod

You remember the heyday of the Funny Cars in the early 70s: half-track burnouts, fire burnouts, wheels-up down the quarter-mile—great stuff, never to be seen again. Jungle Jim Liberman and his Camaro, and Lew Arrington with his Brutus Mustang, were two of the top guys making the scene back in the day. A dramatic new print from world-renowned automotive portrait artist James Ibusuki captures Jim and Lew smokin’ the balonies in a night match race at beautiful Maple Grove Park. Just 950 of these museum-quality 14x31 lithographs (hand-signed by the author) will be made available, and at $90 each (plus $6 postage), they’re sure to go fast. You can order by calling 818/362-9899, or you can send a check or credit card number to Ibusuki at P.O. Box 923184, Dept.…

Dan Paolini’s ’66 Chevy Nova Race cars are built on the basic principle that form follows function. If it doesn’t make power or satisfy a rules requirement, it doesn’t belong on the car. Hence, many race cars and fast Streeters are less than good-looking. All you’re gonna see is their taillights anyway, so why bother? Dan Paolini’s Nova is different. It’ll still show its backside to many unsuspecting Streeters and full-on race cars, but the little Chevy II would be as at home in the roped-off show car area as it would be in the pits of a HOT ROD race. When we spotted the car at Gateway, it looked too nice to be racing. Then Paolini pulled into the water, lit ‘em up, and ripped off a run in…

What happens when you carry a theme just a little too far? In the case of the Pavement Pounder, the result is an immense understatement. We’re reminded of this each time someone lays a compliment on our finely restored ’57, quickly followed with a question about “those bars” on the inside. Alia! Confirmation that we achieved our original goals: a stock-appearing, brutally quick but streetable machine. If you’ve followed the rebirth of this car, you know its history includes a total restoration that began by separating body from frame. The PPG Cool Orange paint, a few deleted trim pieces, and timeless Halibrand Sprint wheels are the only obvious exterior deviations from a Stocker. We took great pains to retain every piece of equipment that didn’t have to be updated for…

Typical Winning e.t. and mph: 4.70s at 155 What began five years ago as a handful of back-half street racers has progressed into a gaggle of tube-framed wonders that defy the laws of physics—and common sense, as well. A low-8 in the quarter-mile used to be the stuff of legend, but that may not even get you in the program today. These Pro Streeters are knocking on the 6-second door (at legal weight), and are capable of running 200 mph in the quarter. In the eighth, they’re crowding 160 mph!…

Typical Winning e.t. and mph: 6.20s at 110 Of the four classes, Real Street has the most realistic “street” cars. Running on DOT-approved tires and without nitrous oxide or other power adders, Real Streeters don’t launch as hard or run as quick as the cars in the other classes (though they run right with H/S cars at the big end), but they’re still brutally fast, and a lot of of them are true Streeters. The metal hacking condoned in the other classes is verboten in R/S, the framerails and wheelwells must be virginal, and the front and rear suspensions must be stock. Weight breaks are based on engine family. Small-blocks (up to 410 ci) weigh 3,100 pounds, over-410 small-blocks 3,400 pounds, and bigblockers weigh 3,700 pounds. The rules allow four-…

Made in the suede. Prime movers. Suede on parade. Primed passenger cars and trucks, their gutted interiors softened by Zolatone, were every bit as traditional as the gleaming, wonderfully detailed, multicarbed engines that inevitably lurked under their flat-black hoods. My first hottie was a ’30 A/V-8 coupe engulfed in baby blue suede, because lacquer was a luxury. Moreover, paint jobs were for wimpy tail-draggers. Consequently, we po’ boys spent our dwindling dough on horsepressure—and jeered those who candy-coated their rides. One of the reasons I eschew golf carts and hoof it around rod parks is my desire to become a part of the happenings. During these sojourns, I’ve noticed a growing number of prime evils—essentially finished but unpainted rods. The sight of these suede runners enchanted me, so I began…

Headers are one of the most basic hot rod hop-ups you lay on your engine. Letting your engine evacuate helps it breathe more freely and run stronger—which means better e.t.’s, more responsive street performance, and maybe, just maybe, better gas mileage. Beyond those qualities, headers contribute to a thoroughly bitchin’ sound at full throttle. Automotive Engineered Products These ’92-and-up LT1 Corvette headers are bolt-on replacements for the stock exhaust manifolds. They feature l¾-inch primary tubes, 14-gauge mandrel-bent steel tubing, and an industrial nickel plating to guard against corrosion. Ceramic coating is available., JBA headers are covered by a lifetime warranty, and are 50-state legal. Contact: Automotive Engineered Products, Dept. HR12, 7149 Mission Gorge Rd., Ste. C, San Diego, CA 92120, 619/229-7797. Arizona Speed & Marine Arizona Speed & Marine’s (ASM)…

When the powerplant is meager by design, the amount of mass it must service becomes the critical factor in the equation. Reducing weight and streamlining the envelope has the same effect as adding horsepower. The idea is to provide as much strength and longevity as possible in the lightest, most economical package available. Al Ackerman embraces this philosophy. He’s a compact individual, not too big, not too small, perhaps the obvious average form. Ackerman, the man, is far from average. Ackerman is a gonzo skier and a true wacko, therefore quite worthy of closer inspection. Though virtually indistinguishable in appearance from the rest of us mugs, Ackerman thinks a skier’s subjective, pragmatic thoughts as he chutes nearly straight down from 2½ miles up in Utah’s Wasatch Mountain Range. When he…

On Tour My son and I recently participated in the HOT ROD Power Tour and wish to thank you and your sponsors. We were especially grateful for the assistance of the Baer Racing group when our electric fuel pump went out on 1-15. Baer had a spare pump, but the fittings were not the same, so they loaded us up and took us to Barstow, California, where we could get adapters. When talking about the Power Tour, most car owners expressed desires to go, but didn’t do so because of concerns over being stranded by a breakdown. Thanks to the efforts of Baer Racing and Ford Motorsports (who also stopped to see if they could help), rodders can feel much more comfortable on the Power Tour. Marty KruegerSanta Ynez, CA…

When too much is never enough, you need a Hennessey-tweaked Dodge Viper. By the time you read this, Hennessey’s Venom 600 should be in production. This American alternative to European supercars (such as the BMW-powered McLaren F1, the Ferrari F50, and the Porsche GT1) will run you a cool $150K, but for that money you get a 203-mph top speed, a zero-60 time of 3.5 seconds, and a zero-100-zero time in 13.5 seconds—or about how long it takes a new Corvette to cover the quarter-mile. The stroker 514-cube (8.4L) V-10 pumps out 602 hp and features a 3/36 warranty. If you want your own, call Hennessey Motorsports at 281/579-2223.…

We know it’s almost too late, but if you’re in the Southern California area on November I 5-16, you’ll wanna check out the Musclecar Mania show at Irvine Meadows Amphitheater. Chevy, Ford, and Mopar from the ’50s to the modern era will be represented. Musclecars, music, prizes, contests, and lots of family fun are to be had. Just when it’s getting cold across the country, sunny Southern California is the right place to warm up! Call the Musclecar Mania hotline at 714/699-5323 for directions and info.…

From our Dare to be Different file: Ken “Posie” Fenical gets funky and chooses a yellow ’63 Studebaker Avanti. Owner Ryan O’Hanley is 18 years old and hails from Mokena, Illinois. His rude Stude features a 327 Chevy blowing through Cherry Bomb mufflers for that cruisin’ sound. For the other sounds, Ryan’s relyin’ on a Kenwood head unit, Sony amp, and Kicker woofers. BFGoodrich rubber rides on a set of Kelsey-Hayes knockoffs. If you’d like Posie to consider your car for this section, send a photo of it and a letter of description to Posie’s Pick, 219 N. Duke St., Hummelstown, PA 17036.…

Chevy Cavalier Z24 Admit it: If this cor was rear-wheel drive and J^skcalled Chevelle or Nova, you’d be falling all over yourselves to buy one. Alas, it’s not. It’s a front-drive four-banger. But before you roll your eyes and mutter “I don’t care,” listen up. It’s an all-American four-banger well worth a look—and a drive. For once, here’s a small car that doesn’t suffer from “cute.” It’s plenty attractive and manages to look both lithe and solid—not an easy combo to pull off. All that hurts the look is the space between the tire and the wheel opening—you can fit Mike Tyson’s fist in the gap. And the Cavalier is assembled with a solidity that still eludes a few class competitors. Of course, performance is paramount. The former Quad 4…

When the NHRA introduced Pro Stock nearly 30 years ago, the class was populated by full-bodied cars and engines that were built according to a weight-to-cubic-inch formula. In theory, Pro Stocks were supposed to be racing versions of legal street cars. They used narrow 10.5-inch-wide tires, modified OEM transmissions, and modified stock engines to produce e.t.s and speeds in the 9.90/140-mph range. Perhaps the most important thing was that the average rodder could identify with them as hotted-up versions of what he or she was driving daily. That scenario changed completely in 1972 when Bill Jenkins introduced a tube-frame, Lenco-equipped Vega Pro Stocker powered by a Chevrolet small-block engine. That auspicious debut changed Pro Stock from modified street cars to purpose-built race cars. Jenkins’s innovation was soon followed by a…

Typical Winning e.t. and mph: 5.20s at 135 Five years ago, if someone had said you could run high 7s (in the quarter) at over 170 mph on a 10.5-inch tire, they would have been laughed out of town on the end of a pointy stick, but that’s the state of the art in Super Street. With an induction combo deemed illegal for the HOT ROD races, but on Mickey Thompson 29x 10.5-15W tires, while we refer to them as 10½ inch, they have a contact patch of approximately 11⅜ inches. Chuck Samuel’s Camaro has run back-to-back 7.95 and 7.96 passes at 173 mph! In HOT ROD-legal trim, the car is capable of running 8.20s. Of all the classes, Super Street is the most fun to watch. Monster wheelstands and…

Take a look around. The new-car performance scene is as bright as can be; some would even say it is brighter than ever. Camaros are running 13s off the showroom floor, Mustangs are available with six-bolt mains, and certain Mopars have 10 cylinders. How’d it happen? How did the industry recover to create the awesome performers we have today? The answer can be summarized in three words: electronic fuel injection (EFI). Certainly, numerous other technological advances helped get us where we are, but we can credit EFI with giving us more power, greater fuel efficiency, and fewer pollutants than any smogged-out Quadrajet or Thermoquad carburetor could ever hope to deliver. One question remains. If EFI has done so much to restore the potency of factory musclecars, then why, oh why,…

Here at HOT ROD, project cars are a way of life. They’re important to our visibility, they can advance the state of the art, and they’re a surefire way of seeing for ourselves if the magic parts work as they should. They’re big, fun science-fair projects—do the experiment, isolate and eliminate variables, record the results. Sometimes we forget that folks with real jobs, small budgets, and severe time constraints have to use the resources available to them. From these physical limitations come real projects—experiments, what-ifs. Will this combo work? Can something be done to use all these spare parts laying about the place? If we build it, will they come? Making a car from parts in your garage is one thing—using the abused, origin-unknown leftovers from high-school shop class is…

People always want to know if a car is “real” or not. When the curious, the well-meaning, and the just plain nosy ask if it’s real, they’re wondering if it rolled off the assembly line like that. Or if you built it yourself to look and act like one because you couldn’t find or pony up for the real deal. In that light, this is not a real car. Yet here it stands before you, all gleaming red metal and fat tires and scoops and attitude, looking as if it wants to bite your head off where you stand. Go ahead, you ask if it’s real or not. Luckily for us, no one at HOT ROD cares about the date-coded hose clamps or apocryphal firewall-scribbled codes that are the bane…

Owners of late-model Chevy and GMC pickups will be pleased to know about a new performance-improvement package available from Jones Electronic Technologies GET). This is not to say that these trucks are slow or down on power, especially when equipped with the optional 5.7L Vortec V-8 (255 hp at 4,600 rpm, 330 lb-ft at 2,800 rpm). It’s just that the factory has to make compromises in the way the computer controls ignition timing, air/fuel ratio, and transmissionshift firmness, to appeal to the broad market. The problem is that if these things were maximized for all-out performance, 8 out of 10 owners wouldn’t know or care that 89-octane-or-better gasoline must be used to prevent damaging spark knock. The guy pulling his fully loaded camper up a mountain pass on a tankful…

In 1907, the first and only Peking-to-Paris race was green-flagged; it took 60 days to cover 17,000 gruelling miles. Politics and other petty disagreements (like communism) kept a second rally from being run…until now. And when better rallies are run, vintage Buicks will run them—in this case, a ’48 Buick Special and the car shown here, a ’49 Buick Super Woodie wagon owned by Patrick and Mary Brooks of Marshalltown, Iowa. Fewer than 100 of these cars still exist. This one was rebuilt to stock specification, including the 248-cube straight-8 putting out 110 hp at 3,600 rpm. Perhaps not coincidentally, GM will start producing Buick sedans for the growing Chinese car market about the time you read this. Dozens of other vintage machines, from a 1914 Vauxhall to a 1967…

Woodward Avenue rolls out of Detroit, Michigan, through the suburbs, and winds up in a loop around the city of Pontiac. Woodward was the cruise capital in the ’60s, where musclecars were put to the test against rival manufacturers, where honor via horsepower was won and lost, and where everyone in the neighboring towns gathered on the weekends. Though the cars, people, and surroundings have changed, fond memories of Woodward live on. On August 16, these recollections were brought back to life in a run rightfully called the Dream Cruise. The cruise moved slowly over 15 miles of Woodward, and brought the cities of Ferndale, Pleasant Ridge, Huntington Woods, Berkley, Royal Oak, Birmingham, and Pontiac together. Each city had different car shows and events, including live performances by Motown originals…

Barbarians at the Gate Seems like every month we write “the action is heating up…” in HOT ROD’s World’s Quickest Street Car Drag Racing Series, but this time we mean business. After five of eight events, the end is near, and the racers are stepping it up for a chance to finish in the big-money points at the finals in Atlanta on October 4-5. Due to magazine lead time, however, the whole thing will have been decided by the time you read this. Did Billy Glidden rack up enough points to win the Super Street title? Has Noel Davis continued his rip through the Hot Street class, and left everyone bleeding in his dust? Did anyone seriously challenge David Henninger in Real Street? And who came out on top of…

A couple of years ago, Ford SVT (the kind folks who brought us the Cobra Mustang, the Lightning, and now the Contour SVT) were tinkering with the notion of a blown 4.6 T-bird. Only 5,000 units were planned, but Ford wanted something it could sell nationwide, and while these would go gangbusters in the 2NASCAR-crazy South, Northeast dealers imagined buyers looking at a car like this and walking out when they discovered they’d have to shift it themselves. The project was stillborn, and now, of course, the Thunderbird is on hiatus until the turn of the millennium. An Eaton blower sits atop a Lincoln Mark VIII 32-valve 4.6L, giving off the merest hum. Acceleration is smooth in each gear, and the huffer really punches up the low end on this…

DRAG RACING SERIES For the past year, our discussion on the state of affairs in the HOT ROD World’s Quickest Street Car Drag Racing Series (HR Series, for short) has involved four classes—Pro Street (P/S), Super Street (S/S), Hot Street (H/S), and Real Street (R/S). It occurred to us that the differences between these levels of competition may not be obvious to those of you new to the scene, so we’ve provided a breakdown of the classes, using a representative vehicle from each. From Pro Street to Real Street, the HR Series has something everyone can relate to. Next year, the truck guys will have something to shoot for, as well, when we introduce the Super Truck class. Details about that later. Though the classes are different, they all share…

Typical Winning e.t. and mph: 6.10s at 112 This was the first year for Hot Street, and it was even more successful than we’d hoped. Designed as a place for old race cars to live, Hot Street allows back-halved (tubbed) cars, but the tire can be no bigger than the 10.5-incher used in S/S. The H/S field is a diverse group, from tubbed cars to near-stockers. Engines are limited to small-blocks with a maximum displacement of 385 ci. Clutchless manual trannies are allowed, but power additives (nitrous, blowers, turbo) are forbidden.…

Aaah, four-valve cylinder heads for the small-block Chevy. We’ve been here before, haven’t we? Long-time HOT ROD readers no doubt remember several attempts to double the number of valves in America’s Favorite Engine. Harvey Crane and Richard Moser developed overhead-cam four-valve heads for the little Chev in 1972, and a few years later came the Weslake configuration. Unfortunately, such designs required extremely complicated cam-drive systems, and by the time the conversion was finished, the only original part remaining was the cylinder block. Everything else—including the intake manifold and exhaust headers—had to be fabricated, and that made the whole deal obscenely expensive. A few companies tried to market four-valve heads that retained the conventional camshaft location and pushrod design, but custom manifolds were still required, and a prohibitive bottom line doomed…

One of the stellar ideas HOT ROD magazine brought to the table during the ’90s was daring our readers to be different. It worked. CadZZilla was different. Bulletnose Studebakers were different. Kaisers and ’Bird-in-box hybrids were different, too. It was our way of showing how a neglected make, model, or year could be transformed—via the hot rodder’s touch—into a thing of interest, if not beauty. Troy Trepanier, whose four-wheel work has been known to HRM’s readership since the early ’90s, has based his career on the unusual, as illustrated by his imaginative series of early and late Chevies, augmented by his mighty multicolored Buford and his equally nasty Nash wagon. However, the act of finishing and driving Dan Jacobs’s “Predatory” ’39 Chebby on HRM’s Power Tour changed Troy’s car-building direction…

The last El Camino rolled off the line in 1987. Ever since, concept vehicles have attempted to recreate the El Camino on a production platform, but they have remained just concepts. Bernt Karlsson of Classics By Bernt in Stanton, California, has figured out how to do it right. His El Camaro is a fourth-generation Camaro with lumberhauling capability. And unlike most concepts, it has pleasing proportions and impeccable workmanship. El Camaro began life as lines on paper, and took form after Bernt located a much-rear-ranged ’94 Z28. Bernt perfected his craft in Sweden, a land where handwork is still very much the order of the day. He straightened the whacked Camaro, cut it in two, then added 16.5 inches between the doors and the rear wheel openings. Heavily modified quarter-panels…