Indholdsfortegnelse for June 1999 i Hot Rod

Trans-Am Reunion Petersen Automotive Museum Hosts One-Night-Only Musclecar Gala Hundreds gathered at the Petersen Automotive Museum to raise their glasses in honor of the brave pilots and magnificent machines that were the SCCA Trans-Am series. Past stars, including Dan Gurney, George Follmer, Parnelli Jones, Jim Hall, Milt Minter, and Dick Guldstrand, mingled with modern-era race heros, such as Tommy Kendall, in a celebration of the greatness that was the Trans-Am series’ prime years: 1966 to 1972. More than a dozen steel warriors were in attendance at the Petersen Museum—two Roger Penske Camaros; Sam Posey’s lime-green Challenger; Dan Gurney’s one-year-only Cougar; the ex-Smokey Yunick black-and-gold Camaro now owned by Edelbrock; the BFGoodrich “Tire-Bird;” both Follmer’s and Jones’ Boss Mustangs; a red, white, and blue Javelin; and plenty more with miles of…

Is Death Once Again on the Horizon? The Plymouth division of Daimler Chrysler—once a hotbed of Mopar performance activity with the Road Runner, Duster, and GTX, and more recently with the retro-roadster Prowler—may once again be headed for demise. Insiders are whispering that management at DaimlerChrysler sees no particular identity for Plymouth, due largely to model redundancies with the other brands, and sees this as a key factor in that division’s current situation. Most of Plymouth’s models are variants of Dodge vehicles; its only exclusive model—the Prowler—will be given a Chrysler nameplate. Another hint: While the forthcoming Neon-based sport/utility PT Cruiser was a Plymouth show car, the production version—which looks an awful lot like a ’40 Ford, by the way—will be badged as a Chrysler. If Plymouth does disappear, it…

As a part of Classic Chevy International’s (CCI) 25th anniversary, it is embarking mi a coast to coast tour of the United States, starting on June 3, 1999! CCI’s tour truck and trailer will be making evening stops at a city near you, and three cities will host CCI conventions! Bring your 1955-1972 classic car or truck out to meet the staff of CCI and to get a good look at the the 1999 Giveaway car-who knows, you just might be the lucky one to win this beautiful 1957 two-door sedan! 1999 Anniversary Tour Schedule…

We’ve all heard that an engine is an air pump; the more air it can pump, the higher its output will be. Airflow is one of the keys to power; in theory, measuring airflow should establish potential output. The basis of the performance industry is founded on maximizing an engine through the use of individual components that will enhance the whole. In conversation and advertisements, it is commonplace to reference airflow numbers when discussing cylinder heads. Documented gains in airflow should produce predictable results in power production. The problem lies in how to decipher this information. If you are like most of us, you work under the assumption that the more flow, the better. But that may not always be true. The industry standard for quantifying the amount of air…

LOS ANGELES — News travels fast in the world of hot rodding. But nothing has traveled faster than tales about a new club for serious hot rodders. If true, these guys are the envy of all of us. Early word came from Knoxville that a local hot rodder was getting big discounts on custom parts, lubricants and fluids of all kinds. Then similar stories started to flood in from Reno, Indianapolis, Riverside, Tampa, Ft. Worth, Chicago, El Paso, Portland, Charlotte, and Burbank. They were stories about hot rod and custom car insurance at low rates. About big savings on car financing, emergency roadside service and special treatment by the biggest suppliers in the business. It was happening all over the country, but only for certain people. Our investigation led to…

Initiated for the ’99 season, the MSD Lightning Round occurs during the second round of Super Street qualifying. The four quickest cars split $2,000, and though track conditions presented a challenge at Moroso, these cats were goin’ for the money. 1. Billy Glidden: 8.074/174.08—$1,000 2. Scott Merkel: 8.159/171.78—5500 3. Matt Scranton: 8.297/173.01-$300 4. Ray Sanchez: 8.611/160.51—$200…

We cherish the brutal dragstrip launch that deep rear-axle gears can provide, but we tend to bitch once we hit the open road and find the tach wagging at 4,500 rpm just to keep up with traffic. Obviously, an overdrive transmission is the solution, but they cost bucks. And we ain’t got bucks, see? For those with a bread-and-butter three-speed automatic transmission, a viable alternative to steep rear cogs is more aggressive Low- and Second-gear ratios in the transmission that boost torque multiplication before it reaches the rear axle. This way, the car performs like it has a higher numerical ring-and-pinion—until it’s shifted into Drive. Thence, the stock one-to-one direct ratio combines with sensible axle gearing to produce acceptable engine speed and enhanced fuel economy during cruise mode. It’s a…

For too many years, hot rodding has suffered form-over-function blues. Don’t get us wrong, aesthetic appeal is every bit as important as honker-pedal tenacity, but when cars are built specifically for the show field or just to be ogled, things get boring in a hurry. In the old days, they’d say, “If it don’t go, chrome it,” and that was not a compliment. If you want the polar opposite, then look no further than what the street racers are up to. Because these enthusiasts do most of their running on dimly lit access roads, nobody cares about appearances. Nobody’s gonna see your gold-plated carburetors, and the wine glasses and picnic kit in the mirrored and velour-lined trunk are just deadweight. For street survival, the less the car looks, the better.…

If you own a 1968-’93 carbureted or EFI Ford 5.0L and want 17 more horses, here’s the ticket for a lazy Saturday afternoon. It’s an easy, low-cost modification that really works and does not hurt emissions compliance. The job is to rid your engine of non-adjustable rocker arms and replace them with adjustable, roller-tip rocker arms—a truly affordable modification. These steel roller-tip units aren’t as sexy as some of the aluminum full-roller designs, but those are considerably more expensive, and the extra performance gains they afford are negligible below 6,000 rpm. The biggest reasons for the improved performance using stock-ratio roller rocker arms are less friction, more precise ratios, and ensuring that the valves don’t hang open when they should be closed. These are common problems after an engine rebuild.…

Being at HRM during Detroit’s performance purgatory in the ’70s was a bittersweet experience. MoTown’s design, quality, and dependability got caught way short when the gas crunch descended. When the factory-built hot rods disappeared, we discovered owner-commissioned street rods. Meanwhile, Detroit’s stumbling high-mileage, low-emissions, quality-searching downsizing led to a number of dead ends—but not completely. Twenty-four-year old Chris Brown, a native of Sandusky, Ohio, and a third-year transportation major at Art Center College of Design (Pasadena, California), takes a different tack. He views that 10-year span as a dirt-cheap, kind-of-neat opportunity. “The ’70s,” says Brown, “produced some really good stuff, and I have responded by using the steel from the days of polyester, butterfly collars, gas shortages, and disco as my canvas.” He’s right. The classifieds are full of good…

Caddy Gears Up for Vette-Based Flagship Cadillac has the go-ahead for the sporty two-seat Evoq, previously introduced in drawings at Pebble Beach, California, last summer, and in the flesh at the Detroit Auto Show this past winter. It will be the first rear-drive V-8 Cadillac since the Fleetwood, went away at the end of 1996. The sporty flagship is scheduled for a 20012002 introduction. The new car will utilize Corvette suspension components, although the chassis itself will be unique. A version of the popular Cadillac Northstar V-8 will be used for motivation. Styling will be based on the sharply creased show car. It will not be built side by side with the Corvette in Bowling Green, Kentucky, however. The Lansing Tech Center in Michigan where GM is currently (no pun…

Well, Power Tour is off and running as you read these words—but it’s barely March as I write them. That leaves a big, fat hole in Power Tour News since, well, the news is happening as you read this. If you swing by any of our stops, you’ll see the following cars making their way across the country: Holley will be taking no less than three cars this year: a ’48 Caddy convertible, a ’57 Chevy fuelie raggie, and its stunning ’32, which debuted on last year’s Tour. The Caddy features a fuel-injected 454/425 with a Turbo 400 tranny, 17 inch Weld rims with BFGoodrich Comp T/As, and a ton more cool details; it wears Mercedes dark-blue paint. The ’57 started life as a gennie fuelie car, but now it…

Jim Fettling founded his research and development company, Feuling Engineering, in 1974; from that rude beginning came hundreds of ideas and an equal number of United States patents. Feuling’s work has included development projects for Chevrolet, Oldsmobile, Ford, Chrysler, Nissan, John Deere, Harley-Davidson, and several aircraft companies, Cessna and Mooney among them. It was during this prolific period that Feuling forged his own ideas about cylinder-head design, valve configuration, and combustion-chamber architecture. His concepts ranged from building cylinder heads with four and five valves per cylinder to building a two-valve combustion chamber with a unique figure-eight shape. He also commenced work on a three-valve chamber that combines fast-burn theories with port design and exotic valve shapes. In 1986, Oldsmobile Engineering wanted to apprise the public of the new Quad 4…

Ed is exhausted. Another long bout at the plant, boss on his nerves, traffic snarled, the sky hung low with thick, gray clouds all day, and now he gets to go home to his dark apartment to microwave something for dinner. No one to talk to except the TV and his cats. Even the mailbox brings bad tidings: bill, bill, bill… aah, Ed’s new issue of HOT ROD. Always a fun read, and a single ray of light in an otherwise bleak day, Ed drops his bills like they were on fire and heads to the john with the issue of HRM. Flipping through, he reads about the HOT ROD Power Club that they’ve been hyping for nearly a year now. He’d seen the ads before, and read them, but…

The NMCA Comp Cams Street Car Drag Racing Series season opener at Moroso Motorsports Park was a great race by anyone’s standard. Records were set, seriously quick cars were the order of the day, and there was plenty of controversy simmering in the mix. The only thing this bash lacked was who the class whiners, oops, winners were—a rainstorm late on Sunday caused the final rounds to be postponed until the Rockingham, North Carolina, event. Though Super Street, Outlaw Street, and Pro Street runoffs never happened, the capacity crowd witnessed excellent drag racing. A number of exclusive occurrences included the first turbocharged small-block—powered car in the final round of Pro Street in NMCA history, the first 7.70 pass in Super Street (Gliddens 7.78), and the first Hot Street car to…

There are car stories, and then there are car stories. Many of our rides have been rescued from mediocrity and turned into something better, and that’s fine. But some don’t need intricate tales woven around them. Some have lived in the trenches, fought the good fight, lived a life. Some just ooze history and have a story to tell—if anyone is listening. Those, it is said, are the stories that write themselves. This is one of those cars and one of those tales. Set down a spell, and lemme tell ya a little about this baby. This ’57 Ford Custom Sedan was purchased in 1957 by the late Fred Fiala, owner of Fiala Crushed Stone in Camp Hill, Pennsylvania. It had barely turned 100 miles when it was brought to…

It’s not a muscle truck, and it’s not a serious tow vehicle, so what good is it to hot rodders? I’ll admit, my own enthusiasm for the Silverado could have been read in millivolts. I’m a member of a dying breed that feels trucks are utilitarian devices, not playthings to be enjoyed. Still, I tried to keep an open mind, but I’d perused the press info before, and although I was psyched to check out the new iron GEN III engines, I was downright annoyed at the choices. Why is the biggest ½-ton motor limited to 5.3 liters (327 ci)? It reminded me of the mid-’80s when ½-ton Chevys were briefly limited to 5.0L power. That was the last time I asked, “Why no 5.7?” I didn’t dare ask for…

Quick Stop Stainless Steel Brakes Want to achieve the ultimate in brake performance and upgrade the appearance of your Chevy or GMC S-10/S-15 pickup, Blazer, or Jimmy? Stainless Steel Brakes’ rear-disc-brake conversion kits make it easy for you to gain improved stopping power, as well as a high-tech appearance. Information: Stainless Steel Brakes, Dept. HR06, 11470 Main Rd., Clarence, NY 14031, 716/759-8666, www.stainlesssteelbrakes.com. Sittin’ Pretty Corbeau USA Corbeau’s Sport Seat is durable, of high quality, and includes a powder-coated tubular-steel frame, injection-molded foam cushions, an adjustable head rest, and a double locking mechanism. Furthermore, seat-back rake is infinitely adjustable. Information: Corbeau Seats, Dept. HR06, 9503 S. 560 W., Sandy, UT 84070, 801/255-3737, www.corbeau.com. Cover Up Canton Racing Products Personalize your engine with Canton Racing Products’ new small-block Ford Aluminum Valve…

One of the most irritating things about building or modifying a hot rod is cleaning up after the previous owner(s). Your pride and joy has probably been through a long chain of title holders, many of whom drilled umpteen dozens of holes in, on, and around the body. While holes in heavy-gauge steel are fairly simple to weld shut, perforations in thin-gauge sheetmetal are another thing altogether. It takes a skilled hand to fill them correctly; if done without care, it is easy to do more harm than good. Dale Kutsch of El Monte, California, recently turned us on to a neat little trick that greatly reduces the risk of welding wafer-thin metal.…

Mopar Whispering About Winston Cup? More evidence that DaimlerChrysler is contemplating a return to NASCAR competition has come bubbling to the surface. DaimlerChrysler Vice President of Motorsports Operations Lou Patane recently told us about a new small-block Mopar aluminum cylinder head that is “intended for racing where canted-valve small-block engines are legal Draw your own conclusions.” Our conclusion is that Mother Mopar is closer than ever to returning to the ultracompetitive NASCAR arena. At the same meeting, Patane announced that new 8¾-inch rear axles (including an aluminum center section) and the double-tough automotive Dana 60 rear (with enough meat for a pinion snubber) were coming soon as well. The strategic march toward Mopar’s potential return to NASCAR has been inching forth for several years now. The Dodge Ram trucks in…

Two Views, 38 Years Later In Jim Wangers’ memoir Glory Days: When Horsepower and Passion Ruled Detroit (see review below), he describes a 1961 promotion where Hurst, Pontiac Motor Division, and Royal Pontiac awarded a prepped ’61 Super Duty Catalina to the 1961 NHRA Top Stock World Points Champion. Wangers called winner Bruce Morgan an “arrogant young racer… He was cool to the fact that it was a Pontiac, let alone a blueprinted race car. He sold it almost immediately. I felt it was a real insult… a two-barrel Catalina would have been a better prize.” The March ’62 HRM covered Morgan setting a track record in Inyokern, California, with that car. We asked Morgan (father of April cover subject Mike Morgan) to tell his side. “I drove my ’57…

Our first event of the season, at Moroso Motorsports Park in sunny West Palm Beach, Florida, tends to set the tone for the rest of the season: If a good time is had by all here, then things will be looking up for the rest of the year throughout our Power Fest events. So how did we do? A tempting mix of new and old, show and scoot, custom and restored, greeted record crowds who came to see both the show-’n’-shine cars and the racing. (See page 93 for race news.) Better than 200 cars showed up for the two-day show-’n’-shine portion of our event. Tons of former HRM feature vehicles made it out to the show field, and with this year’s crowds more than double those in ’98, more…

Desire motivates. Knowledge empowers. Combining the two often results in a reaction similar to that of acid and base. Sometimes violent consequences yield positive results—in chemistry and in hot rodding. Witness Heinrich Gerhardt. His knowledge is the cumulative product of years of formal engineering education and practical application in the aerospace technologies industry. His desire stems from an ingrained lust for vintage muscle, particularly of Pontiac design. Heinrich, with help from brother Helmar, set about creating his own Frankenstein, mixing up-to-the-minute technology with that of the past 30-something years. The spawn of such activity is what you see before you—a cohesive mix of high-tech engineering with keen junkyard savvy. It began in 1990 when the Gerhardts purchased this ’66 Goat from its original owner—a scenario that wasn’t nearly as opportune…

Traveling for work comes off as glamorous to some. “Where are you off to this week?” “Oh, West Palm Beach—and I just got back from New York, you know!” Doesn’t sound too bad, right? I’m here to tell you: It’s all relative. For those whose work doesn’t afford them such opportunities, it sounds like a spoiled kid griping that he didn’t get all 50 things he asked for for Christmas—just 47 of them. But the truth, for those who live the life, is not quite so alluring as one might think: airport food, reading maps, surly attendants, crowded airports, delayed flights, junky rental cars, and jet lag. Two consecutive weekends away from home spells a 19-day workweek without a break, and it can make someone who isn’t totally in love…

For 1999, the NMCA sanctioned turbocharged engines in Pro Street and Outlaw Street, though most racers and fans didn’t give that rule much thought until the ’gates opened at Moroso and a couple of turbocharged Pro Street entries rolled through. Mike Ragusa drove a ’96 Ford Probe powered by a 388-inch turbocharged small-block Ford, and former Super Street world champion Chuck Samuel debuted his Chevy S-10 pickup powered by a twin-turbo 445ci Rat motor. Samuel’s truck was an unknown quantity, but Ragusa, driving “Racin’ Jason” Betwarda’s Probe, wasn’t. The best Samuel could muster was a 8.74/179. Not bad for a chassis and engine combination that hadn’t turned a wheel until it got to Moroso. But the flat-hood Probe, which had run 6.70s last season, ran a 6.964/203 to qualify second…

There is little doubt that hot rodding is a passionate avocation—our legions wouldn’t toil so if this were not the case. The hardships we endure—financial deprivation, annoyed spouses, friendships lost to lonely hours laboring in the garage—all are the price that many or us pay. Still, some rodders who get the bug must continue building and driving and showing and cruising no matter how difficult the hurdle, no matter how stiff the odds. Irrational? Perhaps. But you do it because you love it, and because, deep in your heart, you know you have to do it. Sam Fletcher of Jensen Beach, Florida, is one of those people. In WWII, Fletcher put a promising law career on hold to enlist as a naval pilot, and when a P38 training mission went…

Hot rodding’s most significant year could well have been 1949. A number of firsts occurred during that period, one of which was the shoebox Ford. By virtue of its A-arm independent front suspension and lack of running boards, it defined the difference between early-model and late-model cars. Another first was the creation of the Bonneville speed trials. Wally Parks became HOT ROD magazine’s first editor, and an obscure Bay Area couple—Al and Mary Slonaker—held the inaugural of what would become the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) in Oakland, California. During the ensuing 50 years, the Oakland Roadster Show grew from a collection of Late Models and sporty cars—augmented by a booked-in show of hot rods and customs—under the direction of its new owner Dan Cyr—to become the Grand International Roadster…

Open-Top Power Tourin’ What better way to see the wide-open vistas of America than with the top down? There is none, so Jason Stritesky of Oak Creek, Wisconsin, hopped in his ’65 Skylark convertible and cruised with us to Mt. Clemens a couple of seasons back. This California car features a 98,000-mile 300-cube nailhead, and the only things that have been updated are the wheels (polished American Racing Torq-Thrust IIs) and the paint (Ford Toreador Red). Jason spotted the gas station (in the photo) on the way to the Power Tour finale and decided it was “too pretty to pass up.” Young Stuff Some people want cars when they graduate high school…. Twenty-two-year-old Jason Waltz built one for himself! Jason has owned his ’68 Sky-lark since he was 15; he…