Innholdsfortegnelse for July 2005 i Hot Rod

COLLECTING LIFE I have 25 cars, but I’m not a car collector. I’m a hoarder of that which they can never sell at Barrett-Jackson: I’m a collector of experience, and to me, each of my derelict projects represents an episode lived or one yet to be. They remind me of Power Tour™, the Bonneville 200 MPH Club, or of surviving a 3,000-mile road trip in a 55-year-old jeep. They represent the victory of knocking off a tenth or two, of tales ever-gloriously retold, and of friends and times gone by. Many others sit in wait for the adventure to come. The bulk of them are three-figure buys (as in under $1,000). Few cost more than $2,000, only one is a collectible musclecar and that was by chance, and they’re all…

AUTOMOTIVE AFTERMARKET GROWTH IN 2004 With the price of classic cars and gasoline going through the roof, you would think sales of hot rod parts would be down, but that’s not the case. The Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) recently let us know that the automotive aftermarket actually grew 9.1 percent in 2004 compared to a total U.S. economy that grew 3.5 percent, and wages and salaries that went up 2.4 percent. The chart tracks the 18-year history of specialty-automotive-equipment market growth at the manufacturer level. As you can see, the ’80s were great years, and both Gulf Wars (1991 and 2002) hurt, but business is going strong again. HOW THEY MAKE IT: WEIAND INTAKES The intake manifold design, development, and manufacturing process has evolved from the old cut-and-try wooden…

MOTORSPORT OF THE MONTH USHRA MONSTER TRUCK RACING In Three Words: Big-time air The Gist: Don’t discount them as staples of hillbilly entertainment just yet. Monster trucks are genuine hot rods that pack six tons of technology and put on a show more thrilling than a full season of Pro Stock. Towering 11 feet tall and stretching 12 feet wide, monster trucks can hit 100 mph in extremely short distances. Run both indoors and outdoors, trucks square off two at a time from a standstill drag race start. The more exciting tracks then squeeze trucks through a tight hairpin, after which they launch 25 feet in the air over 115 feet. The landings are brutal, and rollovers and dislodged wheels are commonplace. The USHRA started life in 1977 as a…

Where were all the bugs? After one of the wettest winters ever, the deserts in California and Arizona have bloomed, and that in turn has produced an insect population explosion. Long-haul semis have been coming offI-10 into L.A. with their grilles creamed over with dead aphids, grasshoppers, and butterflies. When Bill Wiemann let us ride along as he drove the world’s most valuable muscle-car 400 miles back from April’s Mopar Spring Fling show in Van Nuys to his house in Phoenix, we figured several thousand juicy flying pests would experience glorious deaths against the ’71 Hemi ’Cuda convertible’s segmented grille. At least we’d get a cool, if gruesome, photo out of it. But our strike count was modest. Maybe even the insects were scared about damaging a car that’s worth,…

When Ford Motor Company goes racing, it means business. And in these days of tight purse strings and heavily scrutinized bottom lines, racing activities need to make especially good business sense. So when Ford Racing set out to build a competition version of the ’05 Mustang GT, it wasn’t just because it was after glory on the race track. The program, initially dubbed Boy Racer and now officially known as the FR500C, was designed as a performance parts program with the goal of developing and marketing street performance parts for the all-new Mustang. “It’s a parts program in a thinly disguised cloak,” says Ford Racing program manager Primo Goffi, who was charged with launching a line of street and racing performance parts for the new Mustang using the competition version…

For the past 50-plus years the quarter-mile has been the ultimate yardstick for quantifying the one aspect of performance enthusiasts care about most: acceleration. It’s where horsepower theory triumphs or falters, and where egos achieve glory or suffer devastation. Best of all, coughing up $15 lets just about anyone get in on the action at the local test-and-tune night. However, perhaps your nearest track isn’t too near, you just can’t wait to test out your newest mod, or most likely, that stretch of desolate roadway ahead has you thinking naughty thoughts. Accordingly, the past few years have witnessed an influx of windshield-mounted accelerometers that simulate dragstrip performance in addition to measuring braking distances and lateral acceleration. The concept of an accelerometer is quite simple. By measuring the amount of g’s…

When Ford invited us to drive the new Mustang convertible a few months ago, the weather didn’t cooperate. The chosen route, a 10-mile loop starting on Pacific Coast Highway and snaking though the mountains of Malibu, was beautiful, but persistent rain made top-down trips shorter than we wanted. But all was not lost—J. Bittle had brought out his hardtop ’05 Steeda Q Mustang and he threw the keys at us. A quick blast around the loop had us impressed with the effectiveness of pretty minor bolt-ons. When J said he was working with Vortech to develop a blower kit for it, and that Vortech would be the first with a tuned, driveable supercharger kit for the ’05 Mustang, we wanted to see what was involved. JBA Racing has a deal…

By the time you read this, we'll be on Power Tour™, so log onto HOTROD.com and click on the link for the Power Tour™ Mini Site. There you'll find live coverage as well as our schedule and links to the local hotels where we'll be staying should you decide to join us along the way. We've also posted some of the more memorable stories from our archives in the new Best of HOT ROD section, and our message board has been fully revamped. To see these stories and more, click on this month's cover on HOTROD.com. PLUS! • Subscribe Online • Street Machines • Forums • HOT ROD Project Cars • Events • Technical Articles • Race Results • Back Issues • Dyno Charts • Dragstrip Action • Pit Stop…

Lots of great mail this month about a litany of subjects, and we dig it. And you folks have also been really good about sending us a ton of good old-timey race photos, so keep it up. We actually nave more of those than we can even show, but we’re stocking ’em up for when it runs dry, if that ever happens. In case you’re new to HOT ROD, Bench Racing is your department, and it needs your input. This is the space we give you to tell us what you like, what you think sucks, and what you want to see. It’s also the avenue to glorify your latest vehicular escapade. Got a good road trip, cruising, or racing tale to tell? Go ahead, and while you’re at it…

Today’s Funny Cars and Fuel Dragsters look almost exactly like those of 15 years ago, and mechanically there’s not a lot of difference either. That wasn’t the case in the early years of the Funny Car. Mickey Thompson’s Pinto F/C shared our March ’71 cover with the Huff & Sanders Vega Funny Car and the blurb, “The New Micros—Will They Be the Quickest and Fastest Funnies?” Like most of his creations, Thompson’s Pinto was different from the status quo, using a titanium tube chassis created by the legendary Woody Gilmore, much like the Mach I Mustang he built a year earlier (which was also on the cover of HOT ROD). This outtake shows the blown fuel Boss 429 in the ti chassis. The chassis may have also been used in…

RETRO RIDER Year One’s latest project is this ’67 Mustang fastback, but it’s not a company project. Rather, this one is being built for customer Rick Hudson. It’s Rick’s 50th birthday gift from his wife. Other than a Thunderbolt-style hoodscoop, the body is thankfully being left stock, but the drivetrain is not. This one will have a Cobra 4.6 with a Kenne Bell blower and FAST electronics, and the trans is a T56. The underpinnings include a Martz front suspension with tubular A-arms and a rack and pinion, and a Martz four-link in back with Stainless Steel Brakes all the way around. The interior is said to be “stock feeling” with subtle mods and a partially hidden six-point rollbar. —ROB KINNAN RESURRECTED RACER Our buddy Mike Galimi (a staffer at…

Great Race 2005 Washington D.C. to Tacoma, WA June 25-July 9 Claimed to be the oldest vintage race in America, the Great Race is open to vehicles at least 45 years old, and it spans across the entire country. Cash purses this year total $250,000. Contact: 800/989-RACE; www.greatrace.com New England Summer Nationals Worcester, MA June 30-July 3 It’s one of the biggest car events on the East Coast, with live ’50s music, burnout contests, beauty pageants, swap meets, and lots of cool cars. American Graffiti stars Bo Hopkins and Candy Clark will be there to sign autographs. Contact: 508/987-3375; www.summernationals.com Musclecar Madness Show York Fairgrounds, York, PA July 8-9 Come join legends of drag racing such as Buddy Martin, Ronnie Sox, Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins, and Joe Jacono and their famed…

“Right now this is the strongest indoor show in the country.”—Chip Foose, host of TV’s Overhaulin’ Detroit is the ultimate car town, so it’s no surprise The Motor City is also home to some of the country’s ultimate car events. That list includes the North American International Auto Show, the Woodward Dream Cruise, Meadowbrook Hall Concours d’Elegance, and the annual Autorama at Cobo Hall, one of the biggest and arguably the most influential indoor car show in the country. Since its debut in 1953, Autorama has kicked off the street machine season for Motown’s gearheads and hot rodders, and for decades, the Ridler Award, named for the show’s original promoter, Don Ridler, has vied with the America’s Most Beautiful Roadster award given by the West Coast’s Oakland Roadster show as…

We teased you last month with the announcement of HOT ROD’s Drag Week, and now we’ve got the dates and venues nailed down with the exception of one track, so clear the calendar, sign up, and come get it on. Drag Week puts competitors’ vehicles to the test at five dragstrips on five consecutive days in five different states, and the lowest average e.t. wins. The kicker is that all vehicles must drive from track to track with no trailers or support vehicles allowed, so over-the-road dependability will be just as important as brute acceleration. And unlike Pump Gas Drags and heads-up drag racing classes, there are very few rules and you can do whatever you want to the car at any time, so long as it doesn’t involve a…

GEN III COIL PACK MSD 915/857-5200 www.msdignition.com Does your Gen III small-block's ignition need some more juice? Check out MSD's new coil-pack kit. It replaces all eight factory coils with MSD high-voltage pieces for more efficient combustion. It also features a separate harness to simplify connecting it to other aftermarket ignition ancillaries. T56 FOR THE HEMI Keisler Engineering 865/609-8187 www.keislerauto.com Like the rest of the hot rodding world, Keisler is anticipating massive retrofitting of the new Hemi once it becomes readily available. The company has already developed a bolt-in T56 six-speed assembly using beefy Viper internals. In addition to the standard rear-mount shifter location, the tranny is available in a front-mount shifter configuration, which allows for easy installation into musclecars, trucks, and street rods. Keisler bundles everything needed for installation,…

Exactly one year into the complete redesign of HOT ROD, we've learned a couple of things. Maintaining the precedent of quality we established last July each month is a brain-numbing affair, but more importantly, you readers really dig the new format. Overall newsstand sales are up more than 24 percent, which makes the corporate guys really happy. And when they're happy, readers get more pages. Last month's issue went to press with 172 pages, 58 more pages than the Ju ne '04 issue. Thanks for making us look good.…

GERMAN RATS Here in Germany it’s more the show-’n’-shine scene, but not everybody likes billet. That’s why I’m sending you this photo of a group of enthusiastic guys from the south of Germany who built a ’31 Chevy rat rod from bare rails to smokin’ rubber in 49 hours (actually, it was moving in 29 hours, but “49er” sounds better than “29er”). It’s not the fastest rod for sure, but as far as I know it’s the fastest built, and it’s reliable enough to be daily transportation if the German laws would allow it. The car features some interesting gimmicks, like Offy marine headers, cheater slicks, tractor seats, a channeled and sectioned body (lots of rust forccd us to go that way) and a Chevy 305 with a TH350 and…

NEW YORK STATE OF MIND Despite high gas prices and the sneering scorn of concerned citizens, V-8 rear-drive performance machines were prominent at March’s New York Auto Show. Hey, the dinosaurs are already dead and oil is still cheaper per gallon than milk or mouthwash, so let’s have fun. ’06 DODGE CHARGER SRT8 Controversial as much for its looks as for being the first Dodge carrying the name along with four doors, the ’06 Charger was bound to come in SRT8 form using the same drivetrain as the Chrysler 300C SRT8. Here it is with scoops and spoilers to go along with the 425hp 6.1L Hemi V-8 under its hood feeding a shiftable five-speed automatic. The Brembo brakes are big, the 20-inch five-spoke wheels are even bigger, and Dodge is…

If you skipped right over this story to read about Bill Wiemann’s multimilliondollar Hemi ’Cuda convertible and his collection of rare musclecars, you’re no doubt crying in your oatmeal right about now. That level of private spending for pre-’72 Detroit muscle, as well as the feeding frenzy that is the Barrett-Jackson auctions, has helped drive the price ofsemirare musclecars into a league that 99.9 percent of the population can no longer afford. We reported on this, and the overall return of the musclecar as once again “The Big Thing,” a year ago (“Musclecar Boom,” July ’04), and it has only gotten bigger. The huge popularity of musclecars is a good thing, but an unfortunate side effect is that now everyone with a clapped-out ’72 Mustang coupe thinks it’s worth 10…

Do you wonder who the guys are thrashing on Top Fuelers in the pits between rounds at an NHRA national event? It seems inconceivable that a nitroburning Hemi can be overhauled in less than 75 minutes, but the pros do it round after round, sometimes up to four times in a single afternoon. It’s an insane thrash performed in a ballet-like display of mechanical coordination. Where did those guys come from and how did they learn to work on a 4-second, 330-mph Fueler? Believe it or not, they mostly started out as regular gearheads just like us, busting knuckles in the driveway and beating their heads against a wall trying to make their own junk faster. During a recent trip to Prudhomme Racing’s Indianapolis race shop to meet the crew…

In stock form, our ’04 Pontiac GTO does everything right on paper and pleases the senses, but it lacks the soul and visceral lust of a machine banking on its consecrated heritage. Still, it’s a fine-driving, fast car—it’s just charismatically challenged. Our battle plan called for building on its talents instead of re-engineering it and risk ending up with a bastardized heap of Australian steel. More power, big nasty brakes, and flatter cornering were all in order, and we asked for your input on how to add some visual pop to our Goat and help differentiate it from your average Enterprise rental car. Automotive illustrators Chris Hickman, Steve Stanford, Thom Taylor, Gaston Gardeazabal, Murray Pfaff, Chris Brown, Kahren Arakelyan, and Duane Kuchar each submitted renderings of what they thought a…

Snow in April at Mid-Ohio was not part of the plan. But then, very little has gone according to the original plan since I began my quest to build a budget road race car nearly two years ago. The road racing bug bit me after I attended the Bondurant and Bragg-Smith driving schools and a couple of open-track programs several years ago, but it took a few more before I decided to build a wheel-to-wheel car for racing. I initially considered NASA’s American Iron series but opted instead for the entry-level Camaro-Mustang Challenge series with its budget-friendly format that pits lightly modified’79-’04 Mustangs against ’82- ’97 Camaros and Firebirds. Like American Iron, CMC features V-8 powered Ponycars duking it out on the track, but the cars are closer to stock,…

JESEL 1.8:1 LSI ROLLER ROCKERS Jesel has long touted the enhanced high-rpm stability benefits of shaft-mounted rocker systems for racing. Now it has developed a line of more affordable bolt-on Sportsman shaft systems, including a kit for GM Gen III engines. Available in 1.70:1, 1.75:1, and 1.80:1 ratios, the kits come with long shaft supports that attach using the stock rocker-stud mounting holes. In turn, shafts for each intake and exhaust rocker pair bolt to the support. Unlike competitive Gen III necked-down single-rocker-stud conversions, the shafts and supports spread the load instead of concentrating it at each individual stud neck-down point. Jesel's setup usually requires aftermarket tall valve covers to clear the beefier shaft assemblies, plus custom-length pushrods. Even if you're not upgrading the cam, higher-ratio rockers by themselves can…

TOYO TIRES' GIVEAWAY '05 MUSTANG In a move that will most certainly give domestic drift cars more street cred, Toyo Tires has partnered with Ford Racing Performance Parts to campaign an '05 Mustang drifter, piloted by Ken Gushi. Various Primedia publications will pitch in to help build a replica of the sideways 'Stang as part of Toyo's Catch Our Drift Sweepstakes, and Toyo is giving the car away. Log onto www.toyosweeps.com between June 1 and December 31, 2005. The Mustang will get graphics like the actual drift machine, Konig 18-inch wheels wearing Toyo Proxes T1R tires, and some power and handling tweaks. HOT RODS IN 1/10 SCALE I've never been into the whole RC car thing, so when this 1/10-scale hot rod from Hobby Products International (949/753-1099, www.hpiracing.com) was dropped…

David Baca was beating Larry Dixon Jr. during the first round of Top Fuel eliminations at the NHRA Mac Tools Gatornationals at Gainesville Raceway when his dragster lit up at the 1,000-foot mark. Dixon snuck by for the win with a slower 4.712 at 309 mph to Baca's 4.693 at only 287. It didn't get any better; this was Baca's second oildown of the weekend, which got him slapped with a $500 fine and a deduction of 10 points in the NHRA Powerade standings. Check out the distortion on the tire.…