Innehållsförteckning för April 2008 från Hot Rod

As expected, our cover story on the Top 100 Most Influential Hot Rods of All Time in the Jan. ’08 issue elicited a ton of responses both positive and negative. We knew that would happen, and even invited the comments in the introduction to the. HOT ROD readers didn’t disappoint. Last month we ran a bunch of the letters, but we had so many we’re doing it again this month. With any list such as this, you’re bound to have armchair editors second-guess the items on the list, especially when it does not include their specific, favorite examples of the breed. So we got a lot of letters saying “what about …” and “how could you forget.…” and “What’s the matter with you? “Here are some of the better ones.…

11S AND 10 TONS One of the hottest growth areas in hot rodding is the diesel market, which is covered in depth by our sister magazine Diesel Power. The magazine holds an annual event called the Diesel Power Challenge, which consists of various performance tests to determine who has the baddest diesel-powered truck around. The’07 event was won by Michael Tomac in his single-turbocharged, nitrous-injected,’02 Chevy 2500 HD, and he laid down some pretty impressive numbers. After making 750 rwhp and 1,300 rwtq (good for Third) on the chassis dyno, Tomac placed First at the drags with an 11.55 at 122 mph on BFG All-Terrain tires. Even more impressive was his eighth-mile speed of 72 mph while hooked to this trailer carrying a John Deere loader for a combined weight…

This story actually began two years ago in snowy old Detroit at the ’06 North American International Auto Show. Chrysler shoved its Challenger Concept out in front of the assembled mob at Cobo Hall and coyly asked, “Hey, think we ought to build some of these?” Needless to say, the crowd went mad for the new/old unit. Fast-forward to 2008 and here we are: The retro-futuristic Challenger is now going into production. Dodge dealers officially started taking deposits early in December, racking up over 4,300 confirmed orders on the first day. Remember back when retro was the latest thing? In recent times the automakers have given us the New Beetle, the New Mini, the ’05 Ford Mustang, the Ford GT… all efforts to hearken back to past glories while also…

At first glance you thought it was an early-’80s Malibu, didn’t you? At second glance you realized it was a Fairmont, but you were probably still wondering what an ugly ‘78 Fairmont is doing in HOT ROD magazine. Well, if you’d been in attendance for Drag Week™ ’07, you’d know exactly why. There’s a lot more to this blase beige Ford than meets the eye, and it begins with that odd black bump poking through the hood. Don’t look at the grille, though; that’ll spoil the surprise. We know you already looked, so here’s why someone would mix a perfectly good LS engine with a perfectly awful Fairmont. Jim Neuenfeldt was fascinated with the television show Pinks—more accurately, he was fascinated by the types of competitors he saw on the…

Chrysler unceremoniously unveiled the 360ci (5.9L) LA-series small-block V-8 in 1971 as a low-compression engine with only a two-barrel carburetor. The 4.00-inch-bore-by-3.58-inch-stroke powerplant was originally designed to provide an economical alternative to the popular 383 two-barrel big block, while the shorter-stroke and larger-bore (4.04x3.31) 340-cube engine carried the performance banner. With the cancellation of the 340 engine option after the ’73 model run, there were a few performance variants of the 360 in the early and mid-’70s, though these were all low-compression engines with the further disadvantage of add-on smog-control equipment. There really was no love for the 360 engine in the early years, which developed an unflattering reputation as a low-performance “smog motor.” It took decades for this impression to lose its hold. Eventually the 360 earned acceptance from…

LS TRU TRAC Billet Specialties800/245-5382www.billetspecialties.com Billet Specialties’ LS Tru Trac kits are designed to be all-inclusive bolt-on deals with everything needed to go from blasé stock front dress to envy-inducing shine in one kit. All components from the 105-amp one-wire alternator to the pulleys are polished to match the bracketry, and systems can be configured with or without A/C and power steering. Kits for small- and big-block Fords and Mopars are available as well. Price: $1,745.00-$2,495.00 depending on configuration CLUTCHES FOR BOOSTED ECOTECS Centerforce928/771-8422www.centerforce.com The new DFX clutch assembly for supercharged’05-’06 Chevrolet Cobalt SS and Saturn Ions replaces the stock clutch and flywheel with a higher-holding-capacity pressure plate perfect for modified cars, plus a flywheel that’s more than 5 pounds lighter than stock for faster revs. It won’t punish your…

HOT ROD’s editors consider it a victory when a story elicits comments. We don’t necessarily try to provoke people, but it is a by-product of compelling stories to make each issue of HOT ROD unique. Comments, positive or otherwise, mean that people are paying attention, and that a story struck a chord. Generally, it’s an irritation that makes someone write in; human nature makes us more compelled to vent than to congratulate, but feel free to do either. If it’s a well-worded letter or you have something interesting to say, we may publish it in Bench Racing. Send the missives to the addresses at the top of this page and we’ll listen. —ROB KINNAN SCHOOL BUREAUCRATS I am a student at Lake Washington High School in Kirkland, Washington. We used…

ANYBODY SEEN MY GOAT? ’65 Pontiac GTO Pete Pranzo Mount Sanai, NY That’s what Pete wants to know. After saving all his pennies from cutting lawns and pumping gas to plop down $2,875 for a’65 389ci Tri-power, four-speed GTO, he took it straight home and began making it his own—to his father’s chagrin. A ’64 Econoline straight axle with blocked leaves and Chevy truck shocks went in to put the nose in the air, and the rear quarters were radiused to clear M&H Racemaster slicks with grooves cut in them to satisfy the man. With a custom-built, candy-painted, hoodscoop and a set of hand-fabbed fenderwell headers with motorcycle baffles, Pete proudly drove the Goat and gathered attention and trophies. Of course, he had to let it go years back, but…

Dateline: Kenosha, Wisconsin: It has been revealed that American Motors will return as a full-line, full-service car company to do battle with the domestics and imports in the highly competitive North American marketplace. Complete details of this shocking news story remain sketchy, but leave it to HOT ROD magazine to dig deep beneath the surface to unearth all kinds of surprises for anyone who digs cars. Sometimes a scoop just falls into your lap. Let’s start at the beginning. Roughly 10 years ago, a multimillionaire vintage AMC enthusiast tried to acquire one of the six remaining AMX/3 mid-engine prototype sports cars for his personal collection. He was told none were for sale at any price, so our mystery mogul decided to do the next best thing—he built his own. In…

This is a tale of two hot rods. They aren’t formally related, but they do share some interesting connections—their city of origin and the tools and methods used to build them. While the two rods came out as different as night and day, once you look beyond the sheetmetal you begin to discover some striking similarities. These are Detroit-built hot rods, and they represent the factory approach to making one-off vehicles. They are hot rod concept cars, crafted by the Motor City’s most talented artisans. And like most concept cars, both these rods were created to serve as marketing and promotional tools. Let’s start with the green, black, and silver ’34 Chevy coupe: It was assembled in-house by General Motors Performance Division at the GM Technical Center in Warren, Michigan,…

For several years HOT ROD has built what we call Junkyard Jewels: engines scrounged out of the junkyard and upgraded with bolt-ons in a step-by-step fashion in an effort to make good power on a realistic budget. We’ve covered most of the popular, traditional engines but haven’t spent much time giving the Jewel treatment to late-model mills. This month we have two late-models: the 360 Magnum Mopar on page 96 and this one, an early 4.6L two-valve Ford mod motor. We know some of you just cheered while others groaned. Modular Fords are polarizing engines even among Ford fans. Some love their smooth and high-winding overhead-cam ways, while others detest their lack of low-end torque and yearn for the familiar grunt and easy modification of the traditional Ford pushrod small-blocks.…

HOT ROD TV: NOW ON SPEED SPEED Channel and HOT ROD are proud to announce the ’08 season debut of HOT ROD Television on Saturday, February 23, 2008, at 9:30 a.m. Eastern. We’ll kick off the new season, presented by Mothers Polishes Waxes Cleaners, with the most famous project car of all time, but it isn’t HOT ROD’S—it’s our sister title Popular Hot Rodding’s Project X. It’s been the subject of more than 90 magazine articles, it starred in Hollywood Knights, it does wheelies, and it was in dire need of a makeover prior to the ’07 SEMA show. With the help of GM Performance Division and GM Performance Parts, the ultimate makeover was completed in a scant six weeks. So join HOT ROD TV as we go inside the…

WE SCREWED THAT ONE UP The story on page 135 of the Feb. ’08 issue (Finish Line) is correct, but the photo is not. The Randy Walls Nostalgia Funny Car that burned down at the California Hot Rod Reunion on October 13,2007, is/was a ’69 Nova-bodied car—certainly not the flopper in the photo. Bob Shawgo Auburn, WA Yup, blame it on a combination of cut-and-paste and brain-fade, but we used the wrong photo for Jim Sorenson’s account of Randy Walls’ bad fire at the CHRR. Here is the correct photo. The one that appeared in Finish Line in February was actually Bob Bode’s flopper on fire at the U.S. Nationals, shot by V.A. Atkins. Sorry for the mix-up.…

FINALLY: THE LS9/ZR1 CORVETTE IS HERE After years of rumors, leaks, and hoaxes, the Corvette LS9 engine has finally arrived to power a high-end model of America’s sports car carrying the ZR1 badge. As expected, the Mega-Vette motor employs a positive-displacement blower and integral charge cooler. But how much power does it make? Not even GM knows yet, at least officially. As HOT ROD went to press, the engine was still undergoing SAE dyno testing. However, GM is confident the rating will be at least 620 hp with around GOO Ib-ft of torque, which makes this the most powerful engine ever offered in a factory Corvette, or in any American production car for that matter. At 6.2 liters, the blower motor uses a smaller, 103.25mm bore diameter than the 7.0L…

’07 SS AND A/FX RACERS REUNION The 3rd annual Super Stock A/FX Racers Reunion flared up at Greg and Kathy Mosley’s private museum in September near Moline, Illinois, where a bunch of grizzled veteran drivers got together to kick tires and tell stories about the way it was on the dragstrip in the’60s. The racers reunion is put on by the Mosleys along with former UDRA drag racer Larry Griffith and his wife, Pat. Griffith won the Midwest-based UDRA Super Stock championship three years in a row, from 1968 to 1970, in a four-speed’68 Hemi Dart (now owned by recently retired Mopar Global Service VP Joe Hilger). The invitation-only gathering focuses on Mopar drivers and cars that ran in the central U.S., and the spotlight is on racers who might…

After the rousing success and good times at our last Q Collegiate Challenge (“The Q Collegiate Power Challenge,” July ’06) we couldn’t wait to team up once again with Universal Technical Institute and Quaker State to see what the best and brightest students and their devoted faculty comprising UTTs HOT ROD U program could do when put to the test. Just like last time, the students and instructors were champing at the bit for the opportunity to build a car to compete against their peers among all UTI campuses. Of course, in the real world, you have to do it on a budget and on time, so in order to accomplish that task, support came from the top at UTI. “The Q Collegiate Challenge gives UTI students and instructors the…

“This will never catch on, you know.”—Jack Williams, late track operator, in the jam-packed Famoso Grove, circa 2001 There’s no good reason why the Bakersfield March Meet survived to celebrate its golden anniversary this year, other than civic pride and long memories. Forty-nine years after the Smokers car club lured Don Garlits into an ambush, other major independent events are either extinct or glorified match races for bought-in performers. Only Bakersfield is alive and well and threatening to break attendance records that have stood for more than four decades, now that the slingshots are back in town. That’s not to say that this event or the dragstrip it supports has enjoyed half a century of smooth sailing, burning rubber, and happy campers, as the photos on these pages might suggest.…

In these days of monster engines, the 450 ci just doesn’t cut it. It seems everyone and his uncle is stroking old-school bigblocks to 500 ci and beyond. But there was one stock production engine that came standard with 500 cubes: the ’70-’76 500ci Caddy. Admittedly this engine will never win Pro Stock, but with available aftermarket parts you can have a torque monster equally at home in your tow vehicle or dare-to-be-different rod. New aftermarket Bulldog heads (marketed by Maximum Torque Specialties) have the potential to really wake up GM’s biggest engine. Cores are not that hard to find. You can pick up a rebuildable 500ci Cadillac for under $500 in many areas of the country, but be careful: Externally, the Cadillac 472 appears identical—the two engines share the…

The day that California started taking Don Garlits seriously was March 15, 1959. Kingdom Drag Strip (in Lodi, California) was the second stop on the unprecedented, three-race, $4,500 package deal that lured Garlits out from Florida. Two weeks after breaking both of his normally aspirated Chryslers at Bakersfield, Garlits showed up at Lodi with a GMC 6-71 supercharger and promptly ran off the end of the short airport runway. Salvaging what he could of the body, he came back to set Top Speed (165.74 mph) and score a final-round upset of Tony Waters (the March Meet runner-up). On his way home, Garlits knocked off another legendary Californian, Jack Chrisman, in Chandler, Arizona, and decided to quit his day job. The stranglehold that Californians had enjoyed since inventing fuel dragsters was…