Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2007 i Hot Rod

R.I.P. LACR By the time you read this, Los Angeles County Raceway will have closed forever, having held its Last Drag Race on July 27-29. It’s not the first or the last dragstrip to fold, but it’s more important to us than most. It’s our home track. The place opened in October 1964 and has gone by the names Palmdale International Raceway, Antelope Valley Raceway, and Los Angeles County Raceway. It’s been owned by Bernie Longjohn since 1983, a date that coincided with the closing of Orange County International Raceway. Most magazine testing subsequently shifted to LACR, and it can be seen in countless stories from SoCal titles. Such timeless HRM tales as “Caddyhack” in the ’80s and “Cheap Thrills” in the ’90s occurred at LACR. We’ve spent many months…

POWER TOUR™SCHEDULE FOR 2008 DATE CITY June 7 Little Rock, AR June 8 Springfield, MO June 9 Topeka, KS June 10 Lincoln, NE June 11 Ames, IA June 12 Rochester, MN June 13-14 Madison, WI For information, stay tuned to www.hotrod.com.…

A REAL UNCLE DANIEL We had so much good stuff from last month’s “Barn Finds” story that we decided to carry it over and do Part Two this month, as promised. In the next 10 pages you’ll find a bunch of really cool old cars plucked out of the boonies and brought back to life. Hopefully, this will spur you all on to unearth these hidden treasures and save them from extinction. And when you do, make sure to take lots of photos and send them to us, ’cause we never get tired of this stuff. That’s how the feature on this Model A was titled way back in the Sept. ’55 issue of HOT ROD magazine, when the car was owned by Southern California’s Kurt Wiese. The ’28 A…

As he closed the hood to the ’70 Maverick, readying the car for its last pass of the day, Chad Reynolds of Spectre Performance waved to the puny 200ci six and bid it adieu. With nothin’ but rings holding together a piston or two, Reynolds suspected that the 175hp nitrous shot (along with “a little more timing” and “a little less fuel”) was gonna be a Dr. Kevorkian elixir for the six’s pain. And a glorious end it was. Piston vapor is a power adder like no other, and in the few milliseconds before flatlining, the 200-incher gave its full measure, launching the Ford like a Pro Stocker, delivering massive tire spin, then barfing half the coldair kit through the grille. With a shotgun crack, our testing was over; so…

IN THE WALL HARD…

We may have created a monster. In my column in the August issue, I lamented about how NASCAR’s Nextel Cup cars have no connection to production cars and how, for me anyway, that takes a lot of the excitement out of it. The readers agreed en masse, and it has us thinking some dirty thoughts. Like Hmmm, maybe we could promote an actual Stock Car race based around brand-new production cars. Not like we need more magazine-sponsored events, but this idea has some teeth to it, don’t you think? Stay tuned. —ROB KINNAN LAUGHABLE NASCAR is so far removed from “stock” that to call it Stock Car racing is laughable. HOT ROD sponsors Power Tour® and drag racing events, so how about a Stock Car race? Safety equipment and driver…

FORD LAUNCHES ITS ’08 LINE New car model-year introductions aren’t what they used to be—nowadays the manufacturers prefer to spread their vehicle launches across the entire calendar. There’s far less hype and drama each fall this way, but the idea is to sustain consumer and media interest all year long. Ford has been especially aggressive in pushing forward its announcements recently, as it seeks to demonstrate to investors, business partners, and customers that the company’s restructuring is on the fast track. So there wasn’t a whole lot that was brand-new in Ford’s recent ’08 rollout event in Dearborn, Michigan, since we’ve already seen most of it. The biggest news on the performance side, the Shelby GT500KR “King of the Road,” was formally uncorked at the New York Auto Show this…

GOODWOOD FESTIVAL OF SPEED It couldn’t compare with driving my own car, the Thacker and Shine Bonneville Roadster, in the hillclimb in 2005. But this year’s edition of the Goodwood Festival of Speed, subtitled Spark of Genius, was nevertheless an amazing event. Hosted by the Earl of March and centered around a hillclimb up a 1.16-mile stretch of his lordship’s driveway, the festival, in its 15th year, is a gathering of some 350 historic race cars and almost as many legendary drivers. I spied everyone from the new “Formula One-derkind” Lewis Hamilton to Nick Mason of Pink Floyd. They’re an eclectic group, to be sure, and they’re driving everything from pre-World War II Brooklands record breakers to the Chaparral “Sucker Car” to Pikes Peak legends to American Stock Cars to…

Low-buck and Dare to Be Different often go hand in hand. When it comes to finding a low-buck project, always look toward the road less traveled—especially at cars that need real vision to bring out their potential. Pacers have long suffered the slings and arrows of the automotive community, frequently referred to as fishbowls, moonbuggies, and pregnant roller skates, along with a few other choice monikers that shall go unspoken. Though “automotive oddity” is often the highest recognition that the Pacer gets for its contribution to history, Harrel Lamkin saw potential in the little rolling greenhouse, mainly as a serious drag car. Harrel had campaigned a Monza and a Vega previously, so he was no stranger to stuffing large engines into cheap little cars, but for his next project he…

It’s hard to believe that the Summers Brothers’ (Bob and Bill) Goldenrod holds the FIA record to this day as the fastest naturally aspirated, piston engine-powered, wheel-driven car at 409.277 mph (with one pass at 425 mph). That the record has stood for 41 years and counting is reason enough to have preserved the car from the beginning. But that’s hind-sight. The fact is, the car wasn’t cared for—it was neglected and left to the elements to corrode with an occasional coat of paint for promotional appearances. You saw it in its pre-restored condition in the May ’05 issue (“American Treasure,” page 76)—but why restore it now? We asked Mike Cook, owner of Cook Motorsports and project manager for the restoration effort, this question. Waxing philosophical for a moment, he…

With maturity, short-term goals give way to long-term plans and foresight—at least that’s the excuse and rationalization that legitimizes the long and drawn-out history of this Mopar 383 big-block. It was back in the late ’80s when the original 383 powerplant was pulled from Musclecar Classics magazine’s giveaway Challenger project to make way for a replacement mill. The 383 sat abandoned for several years in a lonely corner of the HOT ROD shop, until then-HOT ROD Editor Jeff Smith determined sufficient time had passed to unceremoniously transfer the tired Mopar to the nearest Dumpster. A reprieve came when then-Feature Editor David Freiburger intervened. The 383 spent the next 12 years in Freiburger’s garage, contributing to the impressive collection of potentially useful junk—a hot rodder’s foresight at its best. Freiburger and…

Whether you own a race car or a musclecar, if you’re reading this it means you just gotta find out how to make it run better, faster, and stronger. Sounds like the aerospace industry’s credo, right? Well, not exactly. At least we hot rodders have to get the job done on time and within budget. That’s where Pit Stop comes in, helping make your project go a little easier. Whether it’s locating a hard-to-find part or solving a pesky technical conundrum, we’ll answer as many questions as we have room for. So drop us a line, and (if e-mailing) don’t forget to include “Pit Stop” in the subject line, as well as your real full name and hometown or military unit, base, or ship in the message. If you have…

Just when you begin to think that the days of paper letters and envelopes are nearly gone, we get inundated with snail mail. As go to press, we’re right on top of the deadline for submissions to our grandiose Homebuilt Heros™ program, and the volume of mail is so huge that the Primedia mailroom folks are sending us death threats. Poor Campbell is buried (literally) under all the mail. Which leads one to wonder why the vast majority of Bench Racing letters come via email, not the U.S. Post Office. I propose that the act of sitting down with a pen and paper and composing thoughts, maybe adding a photo or two, is a far more thought-provoking way of communicating. So let’s see more regular mail from you folks. The…

PURPLE HEART NOVA ’72 Chevy Rally Nova • Sgt. Damon Coates West Linn, OR A domestic disturbance call on January 9, 2003, changed Clackamas County Police Sgt. Coates’ life when he was shot in the face by a mentally ill teen with a .45 pistol. The trauma from the wound led to a stroke and paralysis of Coates’ left side, leaving him wheelchair-bound. Though he received a Purple Heart for his injuries, the completion of his ’72 Nova project by concerned fellow officers and citizens of West Linn especially touched him. The Purple Heart Nova, as it’s known, has a copy of Sgt. Coates’ badge and commendation airbrushed on the front fenders. The license plate reads “KODE 4,” which is the police radio code an officer sends to let others…

PRESTOLITE ACQUIRES MR. GASKET The Prestolite Wire Corporation and Mr. Gasket Inc. have announced that Prestolite Wire has acquired the business and assets of Mr. Gasket. Prestolite is one of the oldest names in the auto industry, dating back to 1911, while Mr. Gasket is one of the most familiar brands in the performance aftermarket. Founded in 1964 by Cleveland drag racer Joe Hrudka, who hawked his homemade header gaskets from the trunk of his car, Mr. Gasket eventually grew into one of the giants of the speed equipment industry. Mr. Gasket will continue to produce and market its ACCEL, Hays, Mallory, Lakewood, and Jacobs Electronics brands under the Prestolite corporate umbrella, along with its Mr. Gasket product line. Mr. Gasket’s current Vice President Dennis Rogers will head up Prestolite’s…

Humongous! Ginormous! Pick your overstatement of choice, ’cause there’s just no way to deny that Power Tour®—presented by GM Performance Division and co-sponsored by Flowmaster—is just plain hankin’. There we go again. Let’s get down to numbers: 4,551 registered cars overall, 1,323 cars and 2,350 people driving the entire 1,425 miles, and 68,000 spectators coming out to see the 15th running of the Power Tour® in the last 13 years. Enough for ya? It’s just big. Do the math and you’ll see that it’s the biggest ever. With all that legacy it’d be hard to believe that you have no idea what we’re talking about, but here’s a lesson for the cave dwellers. Power Tour® started in 1995 as a simple staff road trip, and we invited readers to tag…

Hot rodders have always been fascinated with sleepers. More than just about anyone, we have a special appreciation for the car that looks like junk but goes like stink. Somehow going fast just seems more special in a car that looks slow. Ha ha, fooled you—you lose, pal. Sleepers and sandbagging are woven into hot rod mythology: Recall the little Nash Rambler, the hot rod Lincoln, the little old lady from Pasadena. She’s my little Deuce coupe, you don’t know what I got. So maybe it’s just our shady background, lurking in the back alleys of the motoring world as we do, but hot rodders love to see the rat sneak in and steal the cheese. All this was driven home to us once again by the reader reaction to…

“If you were my students, I’d give you a B for this work.”—Jerry Sievers It’s nearly impossible for a legit hot rodder to pass up a screamin’ deal on a car, especially when unencumbered by certain relationship and financial responsibilities. When you find a deal you need to act fast, and without the reservations posed by a significant other, there’s really nothing holding you back. So it was that we came into possession of a ’69 Pontiac Firebird. The ad on Craigslist said it was a 400, four-speed ’Bird and they wanted three grand. If you’ve priced any first-gen F-body, you realize that’s a pretty good deal, assuming the car is all there. Turns out the car was a lien sale at a body shop, a project that had been…

Last month HOT ROD, in conjunction with Duttweiler Engineering, began evaluating the performance potential of the widely available 6.0L LS-series truck engine. We were able to raise output from the stock observed baseline of355 hp and 396 lb-ft of torque to about 426 hp and 442 lb-ft with basic boltons—Dynatech headers and cats, a FAST intake manifold and 90mm throttle body, and Crane’s 1.8:1 adjustable rockerarm conversion kit—plus recalibrating the stock ECU using HP Tuners’VCM Suite, unique Windows-compatible software that permits hacking any table in the stock computer. Throughout this entire first phase, the heads and cam remained stock. We remedied that this month. Engine tech Ed Taylor bolted on GM’s new L92 cylinder heads and then shoved cam after cam into the motor. If that weren’t enough, we finished…