Indholdsfortegnelse for December 1961 i Hot Rod

That was Buck Baker talking. He had just taken his first drive in a 1962 Dodge Dart 440. The place was Utica Proving Grounds in Michigan. The time: July 27, 1961. We asked Buck to test Dart 440 and give us his reactions. Buck calmly stepped into the car. Started it up. (Dart 440’s new, quiet high-speed starter kicks over an engine about as fast as you can snap on an electric light.) Buck tromped on it. Dart 440 dug out. Socked Buck back in his seat as it leaped off the line. Even an experienced driver like Buck Baker, twice champ on the hot NASCAR circuit, was astonished. “I had no idea it would accelerate like that,” he said. But Buck’s a goer. After a couple of orientation laps,…

FIRST ONE YEAR SUBSCRIPTION OR YOUR OWN $ 5 EACH ADDITIONAL SUBSCRIPTION ONLY $4 Neither snow nor sleet nor Officer O’Reilly will prevent Santa from bringing your gifts of HOT ROD to their destination. No wonder old Kris K. is so eager to deliver HOT ROD to your car-minded buddies —he’s read it for himself —and flipped! Your friends will, too, no matter what their tastes in cars —HOT ROD’s got something automotive for everyone. Already the top magazine in the car field, HOT ROD promises to become even better in the coming year. Future issues will include more technical features, more stories on today’s best rods, customs, dragsters, lakesters. THESE SPECIAL HOLIDAY RATES SAVE YOU MONEY . . . You may include your own new or renewal subscription at…

One horsepower per cubic inch per pound has long been a dream of automotive engineers and hot rodders the world over. The aviation industry has reached this goal and the new small aluminum V8’s — when highly modified — can sometimes approach it. A production line stock automobile engine light enough to reach this goal was envisioned by Lloyd Taylor over twenty years ago when he first began the development of the Crosley engine. Lightweight aluminum castings of sufficient strength were non-existent in those days. His dream was of a stamped (brazed together) sheet metal engine. Two decades ago there were no processes available to produce a brazed engine in sufficient quantities and at a price that was economically practical. The advent of the jet age, and subsequently the space…

Toledo, Ohio…

Silver Hill, Maryland…

San Diego, California…

Not all of the action, excitement and drama of the ’61 Nationals at Indianapolis was restricted to that city’s quarter-mile strip; in the nearby Murat Shrine Temple 100 top show machines were rolled up to another starting line, the beginning of the third annual National Championship Custom Car Show. To ensure peak competition the Dobeckmun Company, manufacturers of Metalflake custom paint, had set the stage by donating several thousands of dollars worth of trophies for all classes, including some 200 tiny model car entries. Behind the scenes, National Hot Rod Association Show Director Ron Miller was busily coaxing his 23rd show promotion to life, handling the thousand and one details that plague the coordinator of a really big show. It was Ron who reassured Bill Zahora that he should rebuild…

Word on the ‘62 Winternationals has recently been announced by the National Hot Rod Association, with two big weekends slated for the double-header season’s opener. The kick-off is on Thursday, February 1, when the second annual Winternationals Rod & Custom Show opens its doors at its new location, the vast Great Western Exhibit Center, on Santa Ana Freeway, in Los Angeles. The show will run four days, through Sunday, February 4, and promises to be the most exciting automotive exposition presented in the West. 100,000 square feet of floor space has been reserved for this gala affair which will feature the absolute best in street rods, drag racing machines, custom creations, Bonneville speed trials cars, motorcycles, race cars, powerboats, sports cars, model cars, and a horde of ultra-outstanding show specialties.…

Housman, Wisconsin, isn’t a very large town, population-wise. But hospitality-wise it’s as big as all outdoors. When the top karters from all over the country showed up for the North American Karting Association’s second annual Road Racing National Championships, they found the local townspeople really going all out to make their visit a pleasant one. The NAKA officials were right in there pitching, too, with many long hours, days and weeks of planning and work behind them to make the finale of the National Championship Circuit the most memorable event of the year. Utica Raceway, located just outside of town, had received a fresh new asphalt surface and the-mile road course offered a rugged challenge to all comers. The NAKA planners had figured on everything (well, almost everything — they…

IT’S IN THE BOOK Dear Sir: Enclosed you will find what I believe should be proof for A/2C Don Werenko who questioned in your October 1961 issue the existence of a V8 Chevrolet engine manufactured prior to 1955. You will notice that this engine was first produced in 1917. It may also be interesting to note the 1923 4 cylinder air cooled engine in the adjoining photograph — grandfather of the Corvair engine. The engine was discontinued almost immediately due to patent infringements. Congratulations on a great magazine. R. W. ConoverDanville, Illinois THERE’S ONE IN TOWN Dear Sir: While reading my latest edition of HOT ROD, I came upon the question of when Chevrolet made their pre-’fifty-five V8. A local resident owns a restored 1917 Chevy V8. It has an…

Coming out of the chute or going in for show, your sharpest entry for ‘62 is the Grand Prix! From a quarter mile off you can see it’s one of a kind. Special grille and rear trim treatment set it apart. There’s a minimum of brightwork. And that “channeled” look is real. (The Grand Prix sits a full inch lower.) A long, low whistle describes the interior. Five solid colors. High-wing buckets to make you feel like you belong. The console can take either Hydra-Mafic or 4-speed stick shift controls (extra-cost options). (Also holds the standard “tach”, so you can watch the engine wind.) Standard “G.P.” engine is the fabulous 303 h.p. Trophy V-8 with four barrel carburetor and duals. Cam, lifters and special performance axle to match. There’s no…

The V6 cylinder layout for an automobile engine has several important advantages over the usual in-line 4 or 6 or the V8. It’s shorter in overall length than any of them. It’s smoother than the 4. It’s potentially lighter and lower than the 6. It’s cheaper than the V8. The one big bug has always been the balance problem. To get theoretically-perfect balance in a V6 you need an auxiliary counter-weight shaft rotating opposite to the crankshaft at twice crank speed. The cost and complication of this balance shaft scared Detroit away from the V6 for 10 years. Finally GM took the bull by the horns and started experimenting with V6 engines without the balance shaft but with very soft rubber engine mounts to soak up the vibration. It worked.…

Toledo, Ohio…

Burbank, California…

Vancouver, B. C.…

Almost every weekend, from September to April, trials are held throughout the length and breadth of Ireland. The majority of these events are known as Tests Trails. These, as the name implies, are made up of a series of driving tests, usually about eight to twelve, packed into one or sometimes two laps of a marked course. These tests are held at quiet crossroads, T junctions, etc., and over mixed surfaces of tarred, gravel, dirt, and concreted roads. Tests vary considerably, some being fast and open, others being tight maneuverability tests. Pylons made from broom handles or other light sticks are used to mark out figure 8, box, circular and other shaped tests. The trials driver is expected to complete an event in zero time. The number of seconds that…

Build your own working model Slant Six! Look for this display at your nearby store! Chrysler Corporation PLYMOUTH • VALIANT • DODGE • DART LANCER • CHRYSLER • IMPERIAL…

Six for Savings—V for Voom. It was natural that it came from Buick. Natural that Buick developed the successor to the in-line six-cylinder engine... the V-6! A V-6 you can now get in the new 1962 Buick Special (in convertible, sedan or station wagon models). A V-6 that has 140 to 179 pounds less weight than inline sixes of comparable power. A V-6 that gives you the V-smooth, V-lively Voom of big cars plus gas economy that challenges the compacts. AV-6 with the shortest, most rigid block and crankshaft in any American 6-cylinder car. Why is it natural that this great engine should come from Buick? Because it was Buick which also developed an aluminum V-8 which you can also get in the Buick Special. This is the V-8 that…

The World’s International Kart Association (“TWIKA”) is the newest of the four major national karting clubs, having been formed just last Spring. However, it’s also one of the hardest-charging groups insofar as becoming a closely-knit and well-organized operation. To show the karting public just how well they could get things done on a large scale, they announced in mid-summer that they were going to have a race of championship caliber at their home track, which is located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, about 100 miles south of St. Louis. Although this was almost the first inkling of their existence to the “outside world” of karters, their plans and ideas seemed pretty ambitious, even for one of the older organizations. But their claims of having the world’s most beautiful track were too…

The roar which classically begins as a sound at the “500” each year is subsequently heard ‘round the world in the form of performance facts and figures. Statistically, the roar continues to help shape the course of automotive progress at other major USAC and NASCAR events throughout the year. We, at Perfect Circle, utilize the performance results of the important races in our constant quest for product improvement. Proof of the value of this practice can best be summed up with a look at the record. PC-equipped cars have won 27 of the past 34 meets at Indianapolis—all of the other USAC Championship Class events to date this year—plus seven majors in the NASCAR Grand National schedule beginning with the Daytona Beach 500 miler in February through the exciting Weaverville…

We didn’t name it that. Its reputation did! Here’s the 1962 Chrysler that caught fire from seven 300 champion predecessors... a breed that inspired an exciting history of its heritage in a three-part, book-length article with this title. Apt title? You know it is when you trigger the H. 380 hot-blooded horses under its hood are eager for a whiplash getaway. You can hear the power unleashed in a deep-throated growl—feel it in the surge of spine-tingling acceleration. The H takes to your choice of road with easy stride. Torsion-bar suspension teams with precise power steering—makes you feel you’re cornering a two-seater instead of a full-size Chrysler. And lest you think Chrysler’s newest 300 is all performance, sample its four individual bucket seats... its supple leathers... its thoughtful cluster of…

Bonneville Salt Flats. August 26. Autolite spark plugs set as many new records as all other makes of spark plugs combined: Class A competition Gas Coupe & Sedan—230.587 mph. Class A Modified Roadster—220.251. Class A sports Racing—219.898. Class BX supercharged Gas Coupe & Sedan—186.869. Class B Modified Gas Coupe & Sedan—173.159. Class C Modified Gas Coupe & Sedan—169.531. Class BX Modified Gas Coupe & Sedan—166.795. Class G Streamliner—147.564. Class F Grand Touring Sports-119.326. And 600 cc. Streamliner motorcycle—179.309. Feel like doing some record salting of your own? Then try a set of Autolite spark plugs yourself. It’s the next best thing to that Bonneville feel—whether you live in Biloxi, Boise, or Wilkes-Barre. AUTOLITE SPARK PLUGS • BATTERIES • SERVICE PARTS…

For the thirteenth straight year, hot rodders from throughout the country made their late summer pilgrimage to Utah’s famous Bonneville Salt Flats. Here, annually, they test the results of speed secrets they have conceived during, the previous 51 weeks. Although the remote location of this flat, chunk of salt on the western edge”: of Utah and limited. fixst-class hotel accommodations have kept the Bonneville National Speed Triajs from becoming a booming success in terms of entrants or Spectators, to a. group of several hundred people this is the mecca for amateur high spect racing. During the week a Augerst 20 to 26, 1961, one hundred and nineteen automotive entries and nine motor-cycles punctuated the normal silence of the Great Salt Lake Desert with a variety of exhaust noises as twenty…

Atlanta, Georgia…

Seattle, Washington…

Hamilton, Ontario…

Torrance, California…