Innehållsförteckning för September 2020 från Hot Rod

Editor-in-Chief @john.mcgann I received a press release a few days ago that sparked an interesting line of thought. Holley recently announced a new line of products for Gen III Hemi swaps into older vehicles, namely D100/D150 pickups and 1966 to 1972 B–Body cars. The products include engine and transmission-mount adapters, headers, and exhaust and fuel systems. These parts are in addition to their various stand-alone engine management systems that can control the engine, should you wish to keep it running on EFI. A friend who works at Holley says the company is going “all in” on the Gen III Hemi-swap stuff, so expect a lot more parts to be rolling out of Bowling Green, Kentucky, soon. That got me thinking—with the backing of Holley and their massive catalog of parts,…

The big news at the Grand National Roadster Show (GNRS) in January was the revamped Slonaker Award. Named for the man who established the GNRS back in 1949, the Al Slonaker Memorial Award has been presented to the professionally judged best non-roadster at the GNRS ever since 1974. Previously, this prestigious award hasn’t received as much attention as the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster (AMBR) award, but with a new trophy, new sponsor, and a big cash prize, that’s changing. Like the AMBR award, the Slonaker Award involves a regular-sized trophy presented to the winner, and a larger perpetual award that will feature the names of all winners. Automotive Racing Products is the new sponsor of AMBR and the Slonaker Award. Both awards now include a prize purse of $12,500. The…

As an ancient proverb states, every journey begins with a single step, and Monday is when we take that step in our CPP Super Chevy Week To Wicked Presented by Golden Star Classic Auto Parts. This time around we built a sweet “1955” Chevy. Why the quotes? Well, our ’55 body was crafted out of new sheetmetal from Golden Star and sits on an aftermarket chassis provided by CPP. Add in all of the other aftermarket bits from companies such as American Legend, Bowler, Covercraft, Dakota Digital, Danchuk, Eaton, E-Stopp, Falken Tires, Gandrud Chevrolet, Hot Rods by Dean, Old Air Products, Painless, TMI, and United Pacific, and the end result is a 1955 created from 100 percent new parts! No rust and no damage from time or Mother Nature—just a…

In the first installment of the build of this 1934 Ford Coupe for the 2020 Lokar Street Rodder Road Tour, Precision Hot Rods and Fabrication, in Macedonia, Ohio, began construction of the new car by custom-building the frame, supports, and crossmembers. They added front suspension components from Pete & Jake’s along with a Flaming River steering box. In the rear is a Pete & Jake’s triangulated four-bar locating a John’s Industries 9-inch Ford axle housing with QA1 coilovers. Now, with the chassis completed and the Ford Windsor small-block and Gearstar transmission mounted, it was time to drop the body in place. Redneck’s ’34 Ford body comes with a host of standard features, and the doors are hung with DOT safety latches and adjustable strikers. Dozens of hours were spent fitting…

Roadkill@davidfreiburger Too many cars are overpriced, and I’m here to do something about it. I’ve picked my top ten most ridiculously overvalued old vehicles, and if we stop buying them for six months to a year, demand will evaporate and prices will plummet. Are you with me? The auctions and general demand for older muscle cars have inflated the value of everything American made, rear-wheel drive, and more than 40 years old. You know what I mean: every schmoe with a ’73 Pontiac Catalina four-door says “I know what I’ve got,” and expects $5,000 for it because “it has the Trans Am engine.” Right? But that’s not what I’m addressing here. This is a list of ten year/make/model categories that are fetching top dollars, and that, IMO, have far exceeded…

It was a bold move to put a primered car on the cover of HOT ROD in 1982. That prime piece of car magazine real estate was supposed to be reserved for the hobby’s brightest, most pristine stars. Cars with nice paint, anyway—like a 1972 ’Cuda with a retina-sizzling color combination. But check out the other car on HRM’s cover from November 1982. There it is in the back—the Eastwood & Barakat 1932 Ford sedan, sucking up light with its flat red oxide primer finish. The main cover blurb says “Graffiti Nights,” but it could have said “Primered Low-Dollar Deuce Gets More Attention Than Wildly Painted Mopar.” To be fair, those people in the picture are models, posing the way the photographer told them to. And Allen Owens’ ’Cuda deserved…

It started as most projects do, a simple to-do list of some bodywork, paint, and a mild 350 engine. Then everything changed. The mild got mean, and this little 1963 Chevy II was soon on the fast track to Pro Touring, supercharged, LS madness. Jason Scudellari, Motor Trend’s long-time tech center manager, is no stranger to building cars. This car is the end result of years of wrenching, welding, metal working, and every other skill honed as our go-to fabricator in the heart of the magazine world. The Nova had a tumultuous life before finding its way into Jason’s welcoming arms. It was purchased out of a field by a former Super Chevy editor, and it was equal parts climbing vines and car. Once in a garage, it was stripped…

Pontiacs don’t really pop up on a computer search for the most popular pre-muscle car hot rods. Chevys dominate in a mid-1950s popularity contest, but a 1955 Pontiac has the same potential for coolness—if not more—because of the “something different” status. Likewise, when we think of West Coast hot-rodding spots, the places that come to mind right away are Pomona, Burbank, Bakersfield, Pasadena, and a few others. But if you go up the coast about 50 miles from Los Angeles, you’ll find a lot of activity in Ventura County. There is a lot of really nice iron in the shops and garages of Ventura, Oxnard, and Camarillo, including this 1955 Pontiac Chieftain belonging to Charlie Utts. When the new Pontiacs were introduced for the 1955 model year, they—like their cousins…

New engines on the dyno and regularly refreshed race engines run OK with higher static compression ratios compared to otherwise similar, regularly driven, identically-fueled street engines. As miles pile up on a street engine, combustion chambers accumulate deposits that increase the engine’s need for higher-octane gas by raising the effective compression ratio as well as inner cylinder-wall temperatures. These deposits cause audible spark “pinging” or “knocking” to increase. Engineers refer to this syndrome as “octane creep.” Severe knock can shorten engine life. To a point, slower-burning, higher-octane gas reduces audible spark knock. Octane creep is more readily apparent on an old engine with a distributor and carburetor, but it also affects late-model, electronically managed, computer-controlled EFI engines. You just aren’t as aware of it because the engine computer crutches the…

The ’80s Pro Street look is making a resurgence. The subculture of fat tires and big burnouts share one common adjective: ridiculous. Then there’s the meshing of cars explicitly built for events like Power Tour—slim on excuses and big on driving. Jeremy Hart’s ’78 Mercury Zephyr is the perfect meshing of both: a Pro Street build that’s meant to drive. When Jeremy turned 14, his dad said it was time for a father-son project. “I just wanted a Fox-body Mustang,” said Jeremy. “Like every 14-year-old kid.” Then his dad showed him a Ford Fairmont. “I told him it was the ugliest car I’d ever seen.” Despite his protest, his parents purchased the Zephyr and gifted it to Jeremy on Christmas Day, 1993. For those unfamiliar, the Fairmont and Zephyr share…

Like many good ideas, it started out of boredom. It was early April, and the shelter-in-place order for the COVID-19 virus was just starting, but people were already getting cabin fever. MotorTrend tech center manager Jason Scudellari and Hek Valdez were cruising their trucks on a Sunday in Huntington Beach, California. As Jason told us, “After we parked, Patrick Wagenbrenner started shooting our trucks, while telling us to move out of the way. He was with Keystone Automotive Operations making social media content. After some discussion, they decided to organize a cruise the next Sunday in an effort to draw a few more cars. Well, that first “official” cruise drew 35 cars and trucks. What had become known as the Quarantine Cruise has grown organically over social media. With additional…

Q: I just bought a 1987 Grand Marquis with 48,000 miles for cheap! I plan on putting the 5.0 engine and AOD trans in my 1962 Comet. I will be using the TCI [Total Coast Involved] frontend and already have an 8.8 rearend with 3.55s. [See “TCI Suspension Upgrade—Get a Handle on It” on HOTROD.com for a complete TCI IFS early Falcon installation. —Editor.] What are the main mistakes made when doing a swap like this? Also, (plug ears) I would like to get rid of all emissions stuff without ruining the engine. A: Excellent question, Redharry. There are at least 25 mistakes or fallacies commonly made when retrofitting mid-’80s to mid-’90s Ford 302 EFI V8 engines into earlier Ford muscle cars, including “wives’ tales” that some think are mistakes…

In the Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) list of Bonneville LSR (land speed racing) record book, the Speed Demon Blown Fuel Streamliner (BFS) driven by George Poteet holds virtually all the top V8 speed records using Ken Duttweiler-built small-block Chevy or LS V8 engines, as well as a couple of outliers with four-cylinder engines. As of April 2020, the record list includes A/BFS, B/BFS, C/BFS, D/BFS, F/BFS (with a Dodge four-cylinder), and X/BFS (with a Ford flathead). However, AA/BFS—the top, and theoretically fastest “unlimited” wheel-driven, piston-engined class—is one record the team has never held, because it mandates a 501ci or larger engine or engines, which the team has never run. That’s big-block territory, and the record has been stuck at 417 mph since 2004 when it was last set by…