Indholdsfortegnelse for January 1963 i Hot Rod

Of the many phases of competition contributing to the betterment and safety of the general automotive scene, hot rodding, drags in particular, has accounted for more than its share. The popular quarter-mile has encouraged the rapid development of an admittedly already tough piece of machinery, the Detroit sedan, into an even tougher and more versatile vehicle. As the hot rodder has explored the ultimate challenge of the big, heavy sedan, we have seen elapsed times plummet from the fourteens and thirteens of just a year or so ago down into the amazing eleven-second e.t.'s of today. To do it took clever improvisation on the part of the hot rodder, fast following design modifications by factory engineers, and real “beef” where it counts in a car. Nowadays, for example, we rarely…

That's one of our new Le Mans convertibles that Cindy's moping on. Wish you could see her face; she's cute. She's also slightly cracked, doing her moping back there on the trunk. If it were us, we'd be taking advantage of the splendid bucket-type seats all the while the tears drip. Talking about it doesn't do justice to the interior of either Le Mans (there's a coupe, too). How can mere words get across the message transmitted by yards and yards of lush carpeting and carefully pleated Morrokide, or white-on-black round dials that are so easy to decipher, or floor-mounted shift levers for both the manual and automatic* boxes? Pontiac Motor Division General Motors Corporation Could be Cindy's only faking it, of course, and is just sitting there getting a…

All sports have their degrees of complexity and refinement, and most assuredly, all sports may be placed at some point on the scale of sheer excitement. As far as the drag racing world is concerned, the aquatic cousins to the asphalt chargers undeniably hold complete rein as the wildest, most thrilling sprint spectacle ever to come down the pike. Drag boats take over where their automotive counterparts leave off, when even the most calloused drag racing enthusiast can't help but feel the thrill of expectation when one of the big boys prepares for a slippery run or two of the SK's tangle in a go-for-broke encounter. Generally speaking, the boat drags have become the polo of acceleration contests. Already tabbed the most spectacular drag racing around, sprinting boats are…

Where will your present car be thirty years from now? Odds are it will wind up in the junk heap along with most of the current models. But cars created with TLC* by Henry Ford 30 odd years ago will still be running as many years in the future, at age 60 Witness the transcontinental trek of a score of vintage Fords from New York City to San Francisco for the second national convention of the Model A Ford Club of America. About 200 cars from all over the USA participated. The caravan from New York, a distance of 3085 miles, took nine days, all of them fun according to participants, despite usual 'A' problems with fan blades that inadvertently engage radiator cores. Built from 1928 to 1931, the Model…

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Back in the early 1950's when dragracing was really an infant and about the only truly national get-together of hot rodders was at the Bonneville National Speed Trials, the Cheyenne, Wyoming, area was always well represented. From the old Cheyenne Roadster Club through individual participants, the boys from the stampede territory made their mark in the hot rod annals. And now they're back, only this time it is on the drag strip. The friendliness that the rodders from the Great Plains are famous for abounds at the new Cheyenne drag strip and accounts a great deal for why the strip draws rodders from throughout the plains and Intermountain states. At the recent Regionals, the pits were jammed with 205 cars all waiting their turn at each other and the National…

Snow and freezing weather couldn't stop Western rodders from taking a fling at National records Westerners on their way home from the National Championship Drags were treated to a slam-bang drag-ging holiday at the Continental Divide Raceways quarter when the strip scheduled its first National High Altitude Championships and NHRA Record Meet. A natural stop-off for many western states rodders (CDR is but 30 miles south of Denver, Colorado) this particular meet happened to draw several top machines from Texas, too. Snow begins to fall at this mile-migh altitude rather early in the fall, and this weekend was no exception. However, by the time the strip was ready to run on Sunday two inches of snow had melted and the sun was out. It even got clear up to 42…

Drag racing's 1963 rule books are now available, either through the NHRA office at 1171 North Vermont Ave., Los Angeles 29, California, or from any of NHRA's Division Directors in the field, and at speed shops and drag strips. The 50 cent price hasn't been changed, but there are several major modifications in class and safety requirements. In the Stock classes for example, “Super Super/Stock” (SS/S) has been deleted and reverts back to S/S or “Super Stock” as the top class. Class breakdowns, using the advertised horsepower to shipping weight ratio are as follows: S/S — 0.00 to 8.69 pounds A/S — 8.70 to 9.49 pounds B/S — 9.50 to 10.59 pounds C/S — 10.60 to 11.29 pounds D/S — 11.30 to 11.88 pounds E/S — 11.89 to 12.49 pounds…

NOW WE KNOW Dear Sir: In your Nov., '62 issue of HRM is a letter from a Mr. Kenneth E. Hiler who reported having seen a '62 Chev in BFX mopping up 'Vettes and ram-inducted Dodges, with a “fuelie” insignia on its fenders. You stated that the car in question ran a 327 fuelie mill, which is not so. The owner of said Chev got the car with a 409 power plant. He put this mill in a 'Vette and put the 'Vette in the Chev, also installing the Corvette “fuelie” emblem. The 'Vette mill was soon afterward installed in the original car, and the Chev got its 409 again. But the owner left its “fuelie” insignia on, thus creating an illusion. Please correct this misunderstanding for all concerned and…

Stock car racing is the ultimate measure of a car's capabilities. And the '63 Dodge has been doing very well, thank you. Fact is, it's chewing up competition on tracks all over the country. We aren't the least bit surprised. Racing takes raw power and Dodge has it. Racing takes control. Dodge has that, too. Experts call its torsionbar suspension the best in the business. Racing demands toughness. Dodge's unitized body is welded, one piece. Tough, tight. As rattle-free as can be. What's best is this: All the things that make Dodge such a wolf on the tracks make it a model of deportment for your everyday driving. Performance? You've got it—with a wide choice of prize-winning V8 power. You've got a lot more going for you, too. Maneuverability, money-saving…

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With alarming speed (or disappointing slowness), the HRM experimental six cylinder street roadster is taking shape. Following our original intention of building what we consider to be a modern hot rod available to any pocket book, the XR-6 is nearing the final stage of construction. As we mentioned in our October report, the only deviation from standard is different body panels ahead of the 'T' cowl and behind the kicked up rear section of the bucket. Designer Steve Swaja has spent several hours poring over the design, trying to make the finished product as sleek and ultra-functional as possible. Result, we just may have a show winner on our hands. We aren't going to give away the final design until the car is completely finished, but until then we'll be…

Rodders from Yankee-land invaded the South in force to wrest trophies and National records from the boys in grey. At Covington, Ohio's Gordon Collett blasted through the opposition at Newton County Drag Strip with an e.t. of 9.12 and a top end of 174.04 mph for Top Eliminator while up at Sturgis, it was Kelly Luscombe of Warren, Ohio who took home the goodies. Three National records were broken at Sturgis despite 25 mph head winds. Milton Potter's A/Street Roadster picked up an e.t. marker at 11.02 and the Lickliter Brothers' A/C from Virginia tabbed both ends of its challenge at 9.77 e.t. and 157.34 mph…

Strictly amateur and strictly for fun—that’s the secret behind Jack McAfee’s continuing and ever broadening automotive enthusiasm that spread from a teenager’s fascination with a Model A street roadster to dirt track competition with this double overhead cam HAL and on to international sports car fame. While competing for points in the Hollywood Throttlers club, Jack used SCTA’s Muroc meets to "dyno" his three-quarter track roadster with IJO-mph desert runs. Model B Ford conversion was bored to 4’4 for 220 cubic inches, had dry sump oil system, Bosch mag, JFm-field cam. Today, seasoned from rugged campaigns in the Mexican Road Race, Sebring, the drags, etc., this So-Cal Porsche dealer's name on an entry blank still spells trouble for the troops.…

THIS IS A TOUGH ONE Dear Don: Yes, I have another one of those swaps for you; please see what you can do for me on installing a 283 Chevy in a '55 Kaiser. [Note: '51-'55 will be the same]. Doug Myers Aspen, Colorado There aren't too many swaps involving Kaisers, however, I've turned over a few rocks and found the following info under one: Hoosier Machine or Transdapt make a bell housing to adapt the Chevy engine to the Kaiser transmission. Frame mounts in front are probably best taken care of by welding 2-inch steel tubes (make them tall enough to enable the engine to clear the tie rod and fuel pump) to the Kaiser front crossmember in such a manner that they will accept 191+9-50 Willys Jeep front…

UNDER-HOOD BATTERY CHARGER Mounts on firewall or near other accessories and hooks into generator circuit. Just plug it into an AC outlet for a quick charge or switch it for trickle to keep your battery in top condition. Charger has black enamel finish, looks like original equipment. $14.95 complete. Specify 6 or 12 volt. Order from the Bulin Company, Dept. HR, 17 E. Chestnut St., Chicago 10, Illinois. M/T RADER WHEELS Five-spoke chrome wheels of magnesium aluminum alloy chrome plated and polished. Available to dress up almost any car, in 13, 14, and 15 inch diameters, four and five bolt patterns. Rim widths from 4 to 6 inches. List price $59.50 each, minimum order two. From M/T dealers, or send 50 cents for M/T Catalog to Mickey Thompson Equipment Co.,…

The Detroit product as delivered to the customer is designed to do a certain job and do it well, with plenty of safety margin. But when the hot rodder gets his hands on one of these cars, he immediately demands much more of the car than the engineers ever anticipated. As a consequence, problems crop up with engines that would never arise in normal usage. It's quite a testimonial to Detroit's far-sighted engineering that there aren't more problems than there are. During the 1959-60 NHRA National Drags in Detroit, the pits and grandstands were full of engineers saying: “But you just can't do that, the engine wasn't designed for those stresses!” Hot rodders, being a great deal like the classic bumble bee who doesn't know that, aerodynamically, he can't fly,…

Westmont, Illinois…

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute How much do you know about the heart of your car? No, I don't mean the engine, I mean that lit-tle black box, the battery. Most of us water it whenever we get a chance (every two or three months) and then buy a new one when the car won't start. In between times we know everything is O.K. because the little red light doesn't come on. Considering the minimum of maintenance it gets, the storage battery in our car has to be a pretty tough customer and most of us are pretty happy when it lasts two or three years, depending on the winters' severity. Did you know a storage battery can last a lot longer than two or three years? For example, lead-acid storage batteries…

In 1956, the Coachmen Auto Club of South Bend, Indiana, was formed. From the very beginning, their motto has been the ideal presented in the subtitle above, and the results after six years of very active organization speak graphically for the success of the club's original determination. One of the pioneer clubs in Indiana, the Coachmen received their NHRA charter in April of 1957 and have been a strong and powerful supporter of organized hot rodding ever since. In the six years of its existence, the club has carried out practically every form of automotive activity in addition to those community projects so necessary for a progressive group. Probably noted more for their fine custom shows than anything else, the club has sponsored four shows, one each in 1957, '58,…

Athorough survey of the junk yards (pardon us, automotive wreckers), will convince you that you just can't find any bucket seats second hand. The prices they want for used buckets seem high and new seats are even more costly. We had our hearts set on a pair for our Comet so we decided to keep trying. Falcon Country Squire red rugs and T-Bird rubber mats, a '62 Bird rearview mirror cemented to the windshield, plus a Cragar steering wheel were already installed, and the interior would be brought completely up to date with the new seats. The engine compartment had already been updated by the addition of a Buick Special aluminum V8 (July '62 HRM). The seats that finally filled the bill are made by Trim Line Products of Arcadia,…

HOT ROD MART Requirements: 25 word limit per od. not including name and address. We reserve right to edt copy or refuse ads While not responsible lof accuracy of description, we will reject misleading statements. No ods from commercial firms Only one cor may be listed in any ore od. this limitation rot to apply to ports or equip ment, however. $5 per ad must accompany eoch insertion. When photo is included, the rote will be increased to $8 per each insertion. Due to normal delay in publication, allow at least two months from time ad is received until it is printed. SELL — For 283, 327 Chev. Special competition Latham supercharger, pulleys, belts and special manifolds. 4 side draft carbs and fuel injection. Crane competition cam & kit, Chev…