A few musclecars in movies that I missed...

After the last post some people told me about a few musclecars and movies they appeared in that i missed. #1. 1963-65 Buick Riviera. Patrick Swayze drove two of these in "Road House" a red one and a white one-because he didn't want his 380SEC Mercedes trashed. It's kind of a running joke through the film. Nicholas Cage drove a primer black one in the opening of "Drive Angry".  #2. 1967-68 Mercury Cougar. Mickey Rourke and friends drove one of these in "Desparate Hours"-a stinker about a hostage situation. The high point of the film is Rourke's escape from the courthouse when his attorney / lover-the smokin' hot Kelly Lynch-with her hands hancuffed behind her back loses her fur coat and gets her blouse ripped-exposing her awesome breasts on the courthouse lawn. Except for a brief scene of a barefoot Mimi Rogers in a skimpy bathrobe-the rest of the movie sucks. The action is tepid and dialogue overlong as they try to show what an evil genius Rourke is, and how equally smart Anthony Hopkins ( Rogers' estranged husband ) is. Ho-Hum. And they drove the nice Cougar into the lake.  George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino drove one in "From Dusk til Dawn". An action / horror flick about prison escapees who run into a coven of vampires on their way to mexico. Tarantino's buddy Robert Rodriguez- "Desparado" "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" directed-but you definitely see QT's influence. Over the top action, laugh out loud one-liners and a bikini-clad Salma Hayek "forcing" QT to drink tequila off her bare foot are some of the highlights. Great fun for a mindless action / horror / black comedy. # 3. 1969 Ford Torino. Aaron Paul-the worst actor on the planet-I don't know how he got his breakout gig on "Breaking Bad"-plays an auto customizer / race car driver who goes to prison when someone dies in an illegal street race-and he WASN'T driving the car!!!  One of many plot holes that you can drive a semi through in "Need for Speed". Anyhow in an early 4-way street race with other musclecars he drives a nice '69 Torino Cobra. The movie sucks ass-and his totally wooden performance doesn't help. He shows more emotion running on the treadmill in the ads he does for "Vitamin Water". Seriously.  Jason Statham drives one in "Wildcard" a stinker-about a professional bodyguard who goes on a rampage of vengenance after gangsters rape and nearly kill his hooker friend. It's a stinker because it's a remake of "Heat" which was made in 1986 and starred Burt Reynolds as the bodyguard, and it was a stinker. The Torino GT is cool however.  # 4. 1969 Nova. Kurt Russel drove one in "Death Proof". ( The early part of the film; the '69 Charger came later ). I can't remember the actor's name-but a gorgeous black '69 Nova SS gets wrecked in "Final Destination". Or Final Destination 2. One of the horror flicks about teens who get off a plane that crashes and then die gruesomely in later accidents. The Nova and the smokin' hot Ali Larter are the highlights. # 5. 1973 Charger. Ray Liotta drives one in "Unlawful Entry" a stupid stalker flick about a cop who gets obsessed with a married woman. Madeline Stowe is definitely worth obsessing over-but the plot is stupid, and the usually reliable Kurt Russel-this is Snake Plissken-from "Escape from New York" and "Cash" from "Tango&Cash", and Wyatt Fucking Earp for god's sake- "Tombstone" remember-is awful as her pussy husband-who provokes Liotta's psycho cop unnecessarily to set the whole mess off.  The Charger is cool though. It's a TV show-but USA Network's spy series "Burn Notice" has Jeffrey Donovan driving a black '73 Charger with Cragar S/S mags on it.  Thanks to the people who pointed these out and send more if you think of them. Mastermind

The Musclecar with the most movie appearances.....Hard to say...

Had someone ask me which musclecar had the most movie appearances, whether or not their was a chase scene. I gave it some thought decided that there were  3 or 4 that had many appearances, and the rest are sporadic. I'd have to say I think '70-81 Pontiac Trans-Am's have the most appearances. Besides the two "Smokey and the Bandits"  ( There was a 3rd one without Burt Reynolds, but no one really counts that ). John Wayne drove a T/A in "McQ", Chuck Norris drove one in "An Eye for an Eye", Steve McQueen drove one briefly in "The Hunter", there was an awesome chase in a parking garage with a T/A in the Micheal Douglas legal thriller "The Star Chamber", Roy Scheider drove one in "Blue Thunder", Bruce Willis got chased by one in "Color of Night", Chuck Norris got chased by one in "The Octagon". Ryan O 'Neal chased one in the finale of "The Driver". I'm sure I missed a few, but that's all I could think of off the top of my head. Right with the T/A's or perhaps more prevalent-if people think of more-are the iconic '68-70 Dodge Chargers. Besides "Bullitt"-the grandaddy of them all-and the Fast&Furious flicks-theres "Dirty Mary,Crazy Larry", Wesley Snipes drove one in the "Blade" vampire movies, Nicolas Cage and Amber Heard drove one in "Drive Angry", Kurt Russel drove one in "Death Proof", of course there's the "Dukes of Hazzard movie and TV series. I'd say next would be Mustangs. "Bullitt" of course-"Diamonds are Forever", the Original "Mechanic" ( with Charles Bronson and Jan-Michael Vincent, not the stinker remake with Jason Statham and Ben Foster. ) both versions of "Gone in 60 Seconds", Steven Seagal drove one in "Marked for Death", Jeff Bridges drove one in "The Last American Hero", ( bio of racing legend Junior Johnson ) Micheal Douglas drove one in "Basic Instinct". You get Challengers in the classic "Vanishing Point" and the vomit-inducing remake, Tracie Thoms drove one ( with stuntwoman / action star Zoe Bell strapped to the hood ) in "Death Proof", John Saxon drove one in "Moonshine County Express". This flick also had Maureen McCormack braless in a tank top and denim cutoffs tied up in a barn with a bomb ticking at her feet. If you were a teenage boy in the '70s-you'll appreciate this. If Marcia Brady in bondage won't help get your freak on, then I don't know what will. Sorry-back to the cars. NCIS and NCIS: Los Angeles have both featured Challengers old and new. Don Johnson drove a 'Cuda convertible on Nash Bridges-it's a Mopar E-Body-so that should count, but it's technically not a Challenger. That's all I can think of. If anyone wants to chime in with more of these cars appearances or others please do. But it's really hard to say what car has the most appearances. Mastermind  

If you don't know, ask someone who does!!!....

A pet peeve of mine-I mean one that really gripes my ass is when famous authors or movie directors make collossal mistakes about cars and other stuff and it gets totally missed by proofreaders and quality control people and gets left in the book or the film. Often for me-it just ruins the story. Here's a few that really pissed me off lately. # 1. "The Dark Half " This was a Stephen King best-seller and a movie about a writer whose bad-ass character comes to life and starts killing people after the writer "retires" the character. Overall it's a good story-but what screwed it for me is the killer drives a black '67 Toronado with a bumper sticker that says "A High Toned Son of a Bitch". That's a cool enough description of a gangster ride. However King goes on to talk about it having a 4-speed  with a Hurst shifter and him smoking the rear tires. Except Toronados are all automatics, and are all Front-wheel drive!!!  Arrrrrrggghhhh!!!  He could have left out the comment about the 4-speed and had the guy driving a '67 Riviera. They have the same bodystyle as the Toro-( cleaner and better looking I think ) and their rear-wheel drive. Or like he said if a "Macho Man" like George Stark HAD to have a 4-speed- Why didn't he give the guy a 60's or '70s Pontiac Gran Prix? Gran Prix's had a lot of power,were rear-wheel drive, and you could get a 4-speed in one well into the '70's.  Or he could have just said he "spun the tires". With 425 cubes under that long hood-my aunt had a '66 Toro-they would easily smoke the front tires. Just leave it at that. If your going to be specific-make sure your right. # 2. "Message from Vietnam". This is a Danielle Steel novel about some young men that-duh-get sent to Viet Nam and their experiences. It's set in 1965. One of the guys wants a Camaro. Ugh!!  We all know that Camaros weren't introduced until 1967. The kid should have wanted a Mustang or a GTO-both of which were introduced in 1964 and were selling like hot cakes again in '65. How hard would that have been?  Doesn't she have someone on her staff that could say-"Hey Boss-Camaros weren't introduced until 1967" "The "It" cars in '65 were the Ford Mustang and the Pontiac GTO".  And she was an adult herself in 1965-how could she not know that???  # 3. The Shawshank Redemption." Another Stephen King story about an accountant who killed his cheating wife and her lover and gets sent to a brutal prison. The movie starred Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman.  He manipulates the system and the crooked warden and the crooked guards and evetually escapes with the warden's stolen money. The story spans 19 years from 1947-1966. Except when they show him out of prison at the end happily cruising down the road-he's driving a 1969 GTO convertible!!!  For God's sake they couldn't find a '66?  Or a '67 model if it was supposed to be late '66??  At least that was at the very end so it didn't ruin it while I was watching it. But it still pissed me off.  # 4. "The Butcher". This one starred Eric Roberts as an ex-boxer turned mob enforcer. It was alright for a mindless action flick-except for one very annoying thing. Everyone he met kept talking about his badass '69 Dodge Charger and offering to buy it. Except the car he was driving in the movie was a '73!!!  If they'd had a '68 or a '70 model-I'd have forgiven the filmmaker-their at least the same bodystyle except for minor trim changes-but the '71-74 models are totally different. There's no way anyone would mistake one of those for the famous '68-70 "Bullitt / Dukes of Hazzard ( and now Fast&Furious and Drive Angry ) model!!  # 5. "Basic Instinct". Sharon Stone's "Beaver Shot" in the police station got all the attention when this flick came out. Personally I thought the scene where Micheal Douglas bends Jeanne Tripplehorn over the couch and rips her clothes off was sexier than anything he did with Sharon. But I digress. Anyhow-when the IAD prick that he had a fight with turns up dead he's called to the scene. The Coroner's there and says they recovered the bullet and it's from a .38 revolver. The captian says "Give me your gun, Nick. " Douglas hands over a Glock 19-which is a 9mm automatic!!! And worse yet-the captain smells it-like he's checking to see if it was fired recently!!!  Ugh! The director should have had Douglas hand him a Smith&Wesson or Colt or Ruger .357 Magnum-which will also chamber and fire .38 Special ammo. Or-when he handed over the Glock-the Captian should have said-"Let me see your back-up". Even though police agencies nationwide made the big switch from revolvers to autos in the '80's and '90's-a lot of cops carry 5-shot .38 snubbies as a back-up weapon in addition to their dept issued 9mm, 40 S&W, or .45 ACP autoloaders. THAT would have been realistic. But the way it came off-I was like "Is the captain a moron?" He doesn't know a revolver from a semi-automatic??!!  Ugh. #6. "Waterworld". This overlong sci-fi stinker about how global warming caused the polar ice caps to melt and put 90% of the world under water starred Kevin Costner as mutant who had gills-he could breathe under water without any scuba equipment. Anyhow he ends up with the too-sexy Jeanne Tripplehorn and a little girl who has a map tattoed on her back. The evil "Smokers" led by an eyepatch wearing Dennis Hopper want the kid because they think the map leads to "Dry Land" and tons of treasure. Tripplehorn spends the entire movie barefoot in a ripped up leather-like dress that shows her smokin' body nicely. Except for the scene where she takes it off and stands nude before Costner-offering herself to him so he won't kill the kid. ( I know. It's a weird convoluted story. And Jeanne isn't the kid's mother, or aunt or sister,So why is she so protective of the brat that she's willing to fuck a mutant to save her? This is one of many plot holes you can drive a truck through.  ) Anyhow-the one that irked the shit out of me was after much trouble and mayhem Costner and Tripplehorn and the little girl and a bunch of other nice people finally make it to "Dry Land." Now apparently "Dry Land" had a Macy's or a Nordstrom's or at least a Wal-Mart. Because in this dark-post-apocalyptic future where everything is under water and people are killing each other for stuff like food and water and toilet paper-like I said Jeanne spent the whole movie barefoot in a ripped up dress-don't get me wrong-I much prefer her this way as opposed to the staid pant-suits she wore on "Criminal Minds"- but anyway-Costner is getting his boat ready to leave-and her comes Jeanne dressed in a clean white sweater, clean jeans, and wearing white sandals!!  Where did all these clean clothes come from?  Like I said did this Island at the end of the world have a Wal-Mart?  Of all the stupid shit they wanted you to swallow in this movie- her being perfectly dressed with no explanation where she got the clothes or a shower to clean up in before putting on the clean clothes-this one irked me the most. Ok the 2nd most-I was really pissed when Costner didn't screw Jeanne when she took her dress off. Guess he's a politically correct killer-mutant. They had said he had gills-maybe they omitted that he didn't have any balls. Or brains.  # 7 "Law&Order SVU". I don't have the title of the episode-but Stabler and Benson ( Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay ) are investigating a crime scene in a warehouse. Stabler finds Benson unconcious on the floor and then keeps searching and eventually points his gun at a guy who says he's another cop. Stabler says "What did you do my partner?" The guy answers "Gently put her to sleep." "She'll be fine in a couple minutes."  Back at the station Stabler and the guy are talking in an interview room and Benson walks in,holding an Ice-pack on her head and sneers "Nice sleeperhold, asshole". The guy quips "Glad you liked it". Except- a sleeperhold is a choke-hold!! If he choked her out, and gently laid her down-which he apparently did-since Stabler didn't hear her scream or hear her body or gun hitting the floor-why would she have a bump on her head that required Ice??  He didn't hit her in the head with a nightstick!! Anyhow she holds the ice on her head through the whole interview. Stupid. Anybody that's observant is going to catch stuff like this-so why don't the proof readers or the film editors??  Mastermind          

Heed Smokey Robinson's advice....

"Pretty girls come a dime a dozen, make sure you find one that'll give you good lovin'" "My mama told me-"You better shop around".  R&B singer Smokey Robinson had a huge hit back in the '60s with "Shop Around"  It definitely applies when searching for a musclecar. I've seen an alarming trend lately-a lot of low mileage,-and I mean low-like less than 10,000 miles "survivors". Some of these cars lived their entire lives in storage and were never driven. Who does that? Who buys a car and never, ever drives it not even on a sunny weekend in the hopes that 20 or 30 years down the road it'll be worth 10 times what you paid for it?  And what if it doesn't appreciate?  Some of these are nice "Time Capsules" but even if I won last weeks powerball jackpot-759 million bucks-I wouldn't buy them. Why-because their's way better deals out there. Here's a few  perfect examples. # 1. 1979 Trans-Ams. These two really killed me. One was a black SE model with 65 miles on it. That's right-65 miles. It had spent it's entire life in storage. The asking price was $180,000!!!  And it was a 403 Olds / TH350 model!!!  The other one was 10th Anniversary, 400,4-speed model that the owner claimed was THE car that paced the 1979 Daytona 500. Asking price for it was $85,000.  By contrast on the internet I found a pristine, unrestored, but spectacularly maintained 1978 WS6, 400, 4-speed model with 27,000 original miles for $30,000!!!  I also found a restored, documented and verified by Dennis Mecham  '78 "Macho T/A" for $29,995!!! And to go-"Apples to Apples" I found an 8,000 mile, 400, 4-speed, 10th Anniversary "Pace Car" model for $43,000! Literally half the price, for the very same car with identical equipment.  Further-I also found a restored 1974 SD-455 T/A-one of 731 built with a TH400-for $79,000 and a 1972 455HO model-one of 1,286 built-for $59,000!!  Now any serious T/A afficianado will tell you that he'd much rather have a 400, 4-speed model or a "Macho" over a 403 Olds / automatic model, regardless of price. But the better optioned, more desirable car is $150,000 CHEAPER???!!!!  The coveted 455HO and SD-455 models are 100K cheaper??  As for the "Pace Car"-I found an identical one for half the price-and the other disco-era models I mentioned were a better deal.  # 2. 1978 L82 "Pace Car" Corvette. This one had 40 miles on it. It apparently had sat in a Chevy Dealer's showroom unsold for more than 30 years. A few years ago when GM restructured and closed a bunch of dealers they decreed that all cars like this had to be sold immediately or you'd lose your franchise. So the car was sold to a collector who later sold it to this musclecar dealer in Florida who now was trying to sell it for 150K. 1st off-it is an L82 model which makes it worth more than an L48-but it's an automatic, not a 4-speed. By contrast-I found a pristine, 1968 400 hp,Tri-Power, 427, 4-speed Stingray for $52,000!!!  I also found a pristine, restored 1969 435 hp Tri-Power 427, 4-speed model for $84,000. I also saw a documented, Bloomington Gold certified 1971 LS6 454 / Th400 model for $139,000. I also found a restored 454, 4-speed '72 model for $45,000!!  '78 Corvettes aren't anything special-nor are the Pace Cars. Back in '78 GM said they had to build one car for every dealer. Chevrolet had over 7,700 dealers then. So their not exactly a moon rock. And when your asking MORE than the price of a 427 or 454 model-you know your sniffing glue!!  To go "Apples to Apples"-disco era C3s-I found an L82 / TH350 1980 model for $22,000, an L81 / 4-speed '81 model with 47,000 original miles on it for $26,500, and a 1977 L82 / 4-speed model that ran fine, but needed paint and some other minor work for $4,500!!  I found a rough, but running L82 / Th350 "Pace Car" for $6,000!!  So like I've said before-"Rare" doesn't always equate to "Valuable". Even if you have Floyd Mayweather's bank account-it would behoove you to do a little research before forking over a pile of cash. And these late '70's T/A and 'Vette owners aren't the only offenders. I've seen people asking $150K for 351W "Eleanor" clones-the Mustang driven by Nicholas Cage in the awful "Gone in 60 Seconds" remake,and I've seen documented, pristine 428 powered "Real" GT500 Shelbys for less!! I've seen documented, restored, "Boss 302s"  for half that!! Take a minute and think-would you rather have a for-real Boss 302 or a for-real Shelby GT500-or a generic, '67 Mustang fastback that a shop in L.A. did some bodywork on and threw a 351W crate engine in??!! And remember this isn't THE CAR that was in the movie-it's a COPY of the car that was in the movie-which everyone knows was a "clone" to begin with-the movie car wasn't a "real" Shelby!!!  A 150K for a clone of a clone???  Arrrggghhhh!!  I've seen people asking 100K for CLONE LS6 454 / TH400 Chevelles-and on the same website-a pristine, documented, numbers matching, L78, 4-speed, positraction SS396 for $59,000!!!  Nearly half !!  The worst was the Barret-Jackson auction here at Hot August Nights a few years ago. Some idiot paid $32,000 for a 1970 Challenger T/A clone ( 318 model that some fool threw a 360 crate motor with tri-power on it into and gussied up ) and later that same day-a for real, documented, numbers-matching 340 Six-Pack Challenger T/A sold for $24,000!!!  That's right-the numbers matching, real deal went for $8,000 LESS than the fake!!!  So do some research and look around before laying out your hard-earned cash.  Mastermind            

Tuning and testing is a lost art....

This past Hot August Nights I saw a bunch of musclecars that were definitely all show and no go. I've touched on it before-but I'm amazed at the number of cars I see with $5,000 paint jobs and $2,000 worth of tires and wheels that can't pull 5,000 rpm in low gear!  The owners will tell you how much money they have in the car, but they can't tell you the last time they changed the points and plugs and wires, or the fuel filter!!  Even on a bone-stock engine-bad tuning or simple neglect can cost you 40-50 hp. I see it all the time guys will have a supposedly frame-off restoration. Yet-the engine idles rough-and the car won't run properly-because the points are closing up,the vacuum advance is unplugged or inoperable, the timing is way too advanced or way too slow, the carburator is way too rich or too lean. I had a guy come into my shop once with a 396 powered '65 Impala SS that couldn't spin the tires on dry pavement. Because-I kid you not-he had all the above mentioned problems and more. I replaced the points, condenser,rotor, cap and plugs and wires. I put a new vacuum advance canister on it, and hooked it up properly. I set the timing for factory specs. He had a Carter AFB 4bbl on it-and I set the float at the proper level and leaned out the jetting ( it was way too rich ). He also had a sticky throttle linkage that wasn't allowing the 4bbl to fully open. I cleaned and re-adjusted the throttle linkage. His kick-down linkage wasn't working either-and I fixed that. When he picked up the car he was flabbergasted. Now it would literally spin the tires as long as you wanted to stay on the throttle. It would lay 30 feet of rubber on the 1-2 shift. "What the hell did you do?" he asked "Put a whole new engine in it?"  "No." I said and laughed. "I just made the one you had run the way it should." He was esctatic and tipped me 50 bucks over the price I'd quoted him and took a bunch of my cards to give to his friends. In the '80's a couple of friends-one had an LB9 IROC-Z Camaro and the other had an L98 Tuned Port Injected Corvette. They both had the same problem. The cars ran great when they were dead cold. When they got up to operating tempurature they would cough and spit, and stumble under full-throttle load. The Chevy dealer couldn't ( or wouldn't ) do anything about it under warranty. They brought the cars to me. I figures out the problem quickly. The cars had a 195 degree thermostat from the factory, and the electric fan didn't come on until 225!!  This is the way the cars were set up for smog. But they were practically vapor-locking becuase they were running so hot. I hosed down the radiators and put wet towels on the intake manifold, and then went for another drive. Cold engine-rocket ship. Hot engine-slug. Now I knew what to do. I installed a 160 degree thermostat and changed the fan switch to one that would kick the fan on at 185. No more stumbles-now they would rocket off the line-and lay 10-15 feet of rubber when the 700R4 snapped off its 1-2 shift! With the engine running at 180 instead of 220-the cooler, denser fuel charge it was now getting vastly increased performance. Another guy with a carburated L69 Trans-Am had the same problem. Same fix-change the thermostat and the fan switch-and instead of stumbling under load it now pulled hard to 5,500 rpm. I've spoken several times how changing from AC R46SZ plugs ( an .080 gap ) to R45S ( one range colder and a .040 gap ) caused my 403 Olds powered Trans-Am that previously ran out of wind at 4,700 rpm to pull hard to 5,400. A gain of 700 rpm on the top end!  So here's some advice on how to get top performance from your musclecar, even if it's stock. # 1. Do a compression test. Even an 8:1 "smog" motor will have 120 psi or so of comprssion. Higher performance engines will have 150 psi or more. The main thing is the readings should be uniform on all 8 cylinders-within 5-10 psi of each other. If one or more cylinders only has 80 psi-you could have bad rings, or burned valves or a blown head gasket. You'd be amazed at the number of musclecars limping around on 6 or 7 cylinders. # 2. Make sure you've got good wires, the timing set properly and no vacuum leaks. # 3. This is the number one offender here. Guy spends a ton of money building a killer motor. But he's so damned afraid of blowing it up that he drives it like grandma on prozac. I mean the car literally never sees the high side of 3,000 rpm. Then the second it fouls a spark plug-he starts screwing around with the carburator(s ). Pretty soon it won't even start. Here's the cure-like the GTO song says-once in a while you gotta "Turn it on, wind it up, blow it out". I'm not saying powershift at 7 grand and risk a picture window in the side of a numbers-matching block. But occasionaly running it full-throttle up a freeway on-ramp, or running it up through the gears to say 4,500 rpm once in a while-will keep carbon from building up and keep you from fouling plugs. The other option if you insist on driving like my grandmother-is go a range or two hotter on the plugs. They won't foul as quickly in low-speed driving. If you decide to take a road trip or go to the drags-changing to the colder plugs is an easy thing to do. # 4. If the car is an automatic-make sure its full of fluid-clean fluid. Make sure the vacuum modulator is hooked up and working properly. Make sure the kickdown linkage is hooked up and working properly. # 5. If it's a stick-make sure the clutch is working properly and that the shift linkage isn't binding up. These simple things can make a HUGE difference in a car's performance. Mastermind      

Building cool stuff with junk....

A friend of mine owns a junkyard and we talked about building fun stuff with junkyard parts. His "parts runner" delivery truck is a Chevy pickup with an Escalade front clip on it. You'd be surprised at the number of people that ask how many "Cadillac" pickups were built. It's a fun ride, and he just combined a pickup that had been hit in the front with the front end of an Escalade that had been badly rear-ended. We got to talking and came up with several others that you could build cheaply. # 1. GTO / 442 / GSX El Camino. You find a beater '68-72 El Camino and put a GTO, Cutlass, or Skylark front clip on it. Swapping in a 455 Pontiac or Olds or Buick engine would be easy. '73-77 models you could put a Monte Carlo or Gran Prix or Cutlass front end on them-but they wouldn't be as cool as the earlier models. # 2. 1968-72 GTO / 442 / SS454 Station Wagon. The GTO / 442 wagons would be easy to do because there are a lot of LeMans and Cutlass wagons out there that already have 400 or 455 cubes under the hood. A good number of LeMans models already have the "Endura" ( read GTO ) front end. The Chevelle SS model would be harder because most Chevelle wagons are small-block powered. You'd have to swap in a Rat-but that's relatively easy. Because of their long wheelbase and excellent weight distribution a wagon actually makes a good drag racer. # 3. 1977-79 Lincoln MK V Ranchero. In 1977 Ford moved the Ranchero from the Torino platform that it was on from 1968-76 to the LTD II platform which the downsized Lincoln MK V also shared. You could very easily put the sleek, hidden headlight MK V front clip on a Ranchero of this vintage. # 4. 1968-70 "Super Bee" wagon. Most Coronet wagons of this vintage will have 383 or 440 cubes under the hood. Phoenix Graphics sells the Super Bee graphics. You could even put a Six-Pack setup on it, or if you have more bucks to throw away-you could drop in a Mopar Performance crate Hemi. You could also do a "Road Runner" wagon off a Belvedere / Satellite wagon. # 5. 1972-74 Challenger T/A / 'Cuda AAR. Mopar fans will fight with machetes and give blood and a first-born child for the '70-71 E-Bodies but the '72 and later models are way cheaper to buy, probably becuase the Hemis and big-blocks were dropped after '71. From '72-74 the largest engine was the 340 /360. However-you can buy the Six-Pack manifold and carbs-Edelbrock made the manifold until just a couple years ago-places like PAW and Summitt still stock them. If you can live with a 4bbl-and you have or are considering buying a 318 version-I've said it before there are millions of 360 Magnums in junkyards in '92-2003 Dodge trucks and Vans and Jeep Grand Cherokees that would give you a massive power infusion for low bucks. Edelbrock makes 4bbl intakes that work with the "Magnum" heads, which breathe better than any factory head and many aftermarket ones. The graphics are easy to do. You'd have a cool high-performance, T/A style E-Body for a fraction of what a "real" one would cost. # 6. 1981-87  Grand National clone. Find a 2 dr Buick Regal of this vintage with the 307 Olds V8. A 350 or a 403 is a bolt-in swap. The black paint and trim is easy enough to do, and "Vector" style wheels are easy enough to find. Or you could use Center Lines or something else that was cool in the '80's. Or if you had a 3.8 V6 version you could get the Supercharged 240 hp 3.8 out of a wrecked '90's Bonneville SSEI, Gran Prix or Riviera and drop that in. # 7. 1978-87 Malibu / El Camino SS. Honest Charley and other places sell the '83-87 Monte Carlo SS front clips that would bolt onto the Elky / Malibu bodies. Any other cool ones I overlooked?  Mastermind.      

A "Muscle Truck" can be a fun hot rod....

While I was saddened at the lack of premium cars-i.e.-Superbirds,Thunderbolt Fairlanes,Boss 429s,409 Impalas,Super Duty Pontiacs, etc,etc at this years Hot August Nights-I did see quite a few very nice hot rod pickups. Besides the usual '53-56 Ford F100s and 1960-66 Chevy / GMC's there were a lot of other cool ones in attendance. The good thing about a truck project is they already have heavy-duty suspensions and rear ends, and their engine bays will swallow anything. Here's my list of trucks that can be very quick for relatively low bucks. # 1. 1967-79 Chevy / GMC 1/2 ton. The '67-72 models already have kind of a cult following, but you can still find them at reasonable prices if you look hard enough. Most will have 350 power which certainly isn't a bad thing. There's a million ways to build power into a small-block Chevy. 396 / 402 models will be pricier but you'll have Rat power. Chevy purists will howl-but I've seen many of these trucks with 500 inch Cadillac V8s under the hood, as well as 428 Pontiacs and 455 Olds V8s. Hey-massive torque is cool, regardless of where it comes from, right? The '73-79 models will have more luxury options and the 454 was available all years. Again most will be 350 powered, and 454 models will be pricier. The good thing is-there is a ton of suspension and brake upgrades and performance parts for these trucks out there.  # 2. 1972-78 Dodge D100 / D150. These came with everything from the 225 inch slant six to a 440 V8. 318 models make nice drivers and get good gas mileage, but are a little underpowered. Obviously the 400 and 440 models are the most desirable from a performance standpoint, but 360s can be made to really run as well. Again-if you have or are buying a 318 model and want a massive power boost-like I said in the last post-junkyards are full of Dodge trucks and vans and Jeep Grand Cherokees with 360 Magnum V8s in them. Edelbrock sells 4bbl intakes that work on the "Magnum" engines. # 3. 1967-79 Ford F100 / F150. These were available with everything from a 240 inch six to a 460. The upside is a lot of them will have 390s. Edelbrock claims 452 hp and 434 lbs of torque from the "Performer RPM" package on a 390. Obviously the later models with 460s would be the most desirable, but quite a few will have the 400M. These got a rep as "dogs" because they were saddled with 2bbl carburation, single exhaust, and a lazy cam, and in the cars at least-salt-flats gearing. ( Trucks had reasonable axle ratios like 3.25:1 ) However-a 4bbl carb and intake and headers and dual exhausts really "wakes up" a 400-and if you need serious power Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer hi-performance aluminum heads and Crane, Comp Cams, Lunati etc offer cams. Some may have 302s-which again make nice drivers and get good mileage but the trucks are too heavy to go fast with only 302 cubes. Also avoid the 360 V8s. They are an "FE" engine-but they are a small-bore design and had the dual attributes of no power and crappy gas mileage. Stock or modified they don't make anywhere as much power as a 390.  Anyhow any of these trucks would be a good base for a street machine and your limited only by your imagination and your wallet. Mastermind  

Some '70s "clunkers" that make great modern rat rods....

A lot of the buff magazines are featuring old "rat rods"- 30's, 40s and 50's cars that are ugly, but wicked fast. There's a lot of '70's iron that you can buy cheap that has a ton of potential to have major speed for low bucks. Here's a few that you may not have thought of, in no paticular order. # 1. 1971-77 Ford Maverick / Mercury Comet. ( V8 models ) These "Economy" cars make great drag racers. Their light-around 3,000 lbs, and their short wheelbase gives them good weight distribution and traction. And their are a million ways to build power into a 302 Ford. A buddy of mine with a 440 Road Runner got his doors blown off by a hot 302 Maverick. Their not sexy-but they can be lightning fast for low bucks. # 2. 1971-77 Pontiac Ventura. Pontiac's version of the Nova. Some may have small-block Chevys in them-which isn't a bad thing-you basically have a Nova-and their's more speed equipment for a small-block Chevy than anything else on the planet. The real gems are the 350 Pontiac powered models. 350 Pontiacs respond spectaculary to basic hot-rod stuff-4bbl carb and intake, headers and dual exhausts, gears and a mild cam. Or if you want to be really badass-Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. That means a 400 or 455 is a bolt-in. And any suspension parts that fit a Camaro / Firebird fit these cars so you could build a front-wheel pulling drag racer or a corner-carving "g" machine. # 3. 1973-77 Olds Omega ( Olds V8 models ). This was Oldsmobiles version of the Nova. Again-because of GM playing musical engines because of smog laws some of these may have Chevy straight sixes, or Buick V6's, or 305 Chevys. The 305 Chevy models would be ok if you wanted to swap in a 350 / 383 / 400 small-block. The ones to look for are the 350 Olds models. Edelbrock claims 397 hp and 400 lbs of torque from their "Performer RPM" package on a 350. 400 honest hp would make the light "X" body an absolute rocket. And a 403 would be a bolt-in swap-and stock or modified 53 extra cubes would be worth a sizable boost in hp and torque. Special note-some of these will have 260 inch Olds V8s. These are a lightweight "economy" motor that wheeze out about 120 hp. Their only good use would be as a boat anchor. However-the motor mounts and all the tin-i.e. valve covers, oil pan, etc, and the accesories-p/s pump, alternator, water pump, fuel pump, etc-do interchange with a 350. This means a 350 or a 403 would be a bolt-in swap. # 4. 1975-77 Chevy Monza ( California Emissions Model ). The Monza was built from 1975-1980 and most had 4 cylinders, 3.8 V6s, and 305 Chevy V8s. However-the real gems are the '75-77 "California" V8 models. For some reason-the 305 wasn't certified for California-so if you got a V8 Monza with California emissions it had a 350!!  The buff magazines called these the "Factory V8 Vega ". They weren't rockets because they had single exhausts, 2bbl carburation and salt-flats gearing. However-those are easy fixes-some dual exhausts, a factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake and swapping the 2.29:1 gears for some 3.42:1s will have you showing your taillights to those smug late '80s / early '90's "5.0" Mustang owners.  # 5. 1975-79 Ford Granada / Mercury Monarch. ( V8 models )  These cars were marketed as compact luxury cars. Again-like a lot of '70's Fords-2bbl carburation, single exhaust and salt-flats gearing made them dogs. However-they have great potential. Some had 302s and some had 351Ws under the hood, and they had 9 inch rear ends-some with rear disc brakes. Their light-about 3,300 lbs-and theres a ton of speed equipment for Small-Block Fords. Their not sexy-but with the right equipment could be very quick. # 6. 1975-79 Dodge Aspen / Plymouth Volare. ( V8 models ) These were supposed to replace the Duster and the Dart. Their light-around 3,000 lbs-and the 318 models can be made to run strong. The real trick would be find a 318 model, and go to a junkyard and find a '92-2003 360 Magnum out of a Dodge Truck or Jeep Cherokee. Their's millions of them out there. "Magnum" heads breathe better than any factory head and many aftermarket ones. Edelbrock sells 4bbl "Magnum" compatible intakes. You'd have big power for very low bucks. # 7. 1975-78 Ford Mustang II. ( 302 models ) Even a young Farrah-Fawcett-Majors, braless and barefoot in shorts and a tank-top on the hood of one of these ( Ford shamelessly used promo shots for "Charlie's Angels" in their ads ) couldn't make them cool. Again-with a 2bbl carb and salt-flats gearing they couldn't break out of the 17s in the 1/4. However-with very little work-intake, exhaust and an axle-ratio change-these light-around 2,700 lbs "Factory V8 Pintos " can really rock. # 8. 1975-78 Plymouth Sport Fury / Dodge Monaco ( 400 and 440  models ). For those who want to live out your Elwood Blues fantasies-it's got cop tires, cop shocks,....Seriously-the 2 door models are even nice-looking, and their's a ton of speed equipment available for B / RB Mopar engines. If your short on cash this may be the only way you can experience big-block Mopar thunder-definitely way cheaper than any Road Runner or Charger you'd see. None of these cars are sexy-but they can all be wicked fast for low bucks. Mastermind      

Where did all the cool cars go? Or are their owners sick of the way we treat tourists?

Hot August Nights is here again, and for the third or fourth year in a row I feel the same way. The big hotel-casinos all have their Show-n-Shines and other events. But it's dull. The GM section is all Camaros and Chevelles, with a few GTOs thrown in. No 409 Impalas, no 421 Catalinas, no 442s or Hurst / Olds, no Buick GSX's or Rivieras, no 427 'Vettes. A few '55-57 Chevys-but all those were "Just as it left the factory"-with hubcaps and big whitewalls and ugly colors like turqouise, and six-cylinder or 265/ 283 / Powerglide motivation. No badasses like the "Two-Lane Blacktop / American Graffiti" car. No "Gassers" with the front bumpers removed and radiused rear wheelwells, and a snarling 327 small-block with a 4-speed or a 396 or 427 Rat Motor.  Hell I'd even settle for seeing a nice small-block Nova or a "Bandit" Trans-Am! Nope. The Ford section is all Mustangs. Generic Mustangs. I've seen one Boss 302, no Boss 429s, no Shelby GT350s or 500s. No T-Birds, no Thunderbolt Fairlanes,no Torinos. I've seen a few '67-70 Cougars. No Cobras-real or replicars, no Mercury Cyclones or Marauders. At this rate I'd rejoice if I saw a Maverick "Grabber" or a 289 Falcon!!  Same for the Mopar camps. All '68-70 Chargers and Road Runners. I saw one Superbird. Very few Challengers and 'Cudas-and most of them 340 and 383 models. No Hemis or 440 Six-Packs, no Challenger T/A's or 'Cuda AARs. No Max Wedge cars, no Super Bees. No 50's Hemi 300s, no '58 Furys-( "Christine" ,and the cop car from "California Kid" were both '58 Furys ). No '70s Sport Furys. I'd jump for joy if I saw a 340 Duster. Not happening. Where have all the cool cars gone?  Sadly,I think it's the way the Reno City Management screws everyone during HAN. Last week any motel or Hotel-Casino in town would rent you a room for $29.95. Now they all want $150-300 per night. And I'm not talking a "honeymoon suite" at the Atlantis-this is Motel 6!!  The highway patrol had a bunch of cars out by Boomtown-which is 7 miles west of Reno just before the California state line-writing tickets left and right!!  Yeah that's a good way to greet people coming to town to spend money and have a good time-here have a $200 ticket-and if you don't want to pay it you have to come back a month from now to go to court and fight it. You have a nice day now. And the entertainment sucks. We used to get people like Jerry Lee Lewis and Bill Medley, and John Kay from Steppenwolf, John Fogerty, Paul Revere and the Raiders, and Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, the Guess Who,Three Dog Night and the Beach Boys. You know-people that had hits on the radio in the '60's and '70's and that people actually want to see. No more-now it's all a bunch of people you never heard of and don't care about if you did. Now were lucky to get "Rain"-a group of local guys who impersonate the Beatles. And 1/16 mile drag races in a Casino parking lot? Really? The big-block cars spin the tires farther than that!! I could be grand champion in my Subaru-and it's not a WRX STI!! I mean who wants to see cars race for 330 feet??!!! What do they get up to? 35-40 mph? Puhleeze.  Used to they'd have real 1/4 mile drag races at the Old Stead airport. If that's not available Reno-Fernley Raceway-that's 29 miles from Reno has a for-real dragstrip as well as a circle-track. Why not use that?  Because the casino owners and managers are a bunch of cheap bastards, that want to soak the tourists for as much as possible, while spending as little as possible. So I answered my own question-if I had a $100,000+ Hemi 'Cuda or Boss 429 or L88 'Vette-I'm not going to drive or tow it to Reno to pay $250 a night to stay at a Days Inn and see shitty entertainment and and get a ticket every time I start the car. If I want to drink and gamble big bucks- I'll leave the car at home go to Vegas and see Celine Dion or Elton John or some other real star-and be treated like a king at the Bellagio or Mandalay Bay. Maybe if the city fathers would try to make it a fun thing like it used to be instead of just seeing a cash cow-the high-rollers will come back. If not, greed will kill another golden goose. Sad. Mastermind  

More cool cars that were nixed before they made production...

Here's some more cool rides the manufacturers thought about, and then never built. Too bad, they'd have been fun. # 1. 1971 Charger Daytona / Plymouth Superbird. Chrysler considered offering the slope-nose and big rear wing on the redesigned '71 Charger and Road Runner. However-like I said in the last post-Ford cut way back on their racing programs, and Chrysler knew with ever-tightening emissions laws that the Hemi's days were numbered and that they wouldn't be seriously competing in NASCAR-Richard Petty and other big names would get some back-door stuff-but their wouldn't be officially factory backed teams. Ultimately they decided it wasn't worth the effort to produce a limited run of cars with special bodywork, especially if they didn't have to sell a certain number to homologate them for racing. Too bad they would have been cool. # 2. 1971 Challenger T/A / 'Cuda AAR. This package and the 340 Six-Pack engine was listed in early '71 sales literature, and I even saw advertisements for the Challenger T/A in Car Life and Motor Trend. However the "ad car" was a '70 model with the '71 grille airbrushed in. For whatever reason-emission standards, or Chrysler pulling out of Trans-Am racing, the car's never made production, leaving 1970 the only model year. Too bad-if Chrysler hadn't given up on the E-bodies-they might have made a huge comeback in the later '70's like the Camaro and Firebird did. The 340 Six-Pack would have fell by the wayside because of smog laws-but the 400 and 440 V8s were available in the big cars through '78. Think a 440, 4-speed, Challenger T/A could have competed with the Trans-Am and Z/28?  Does a bear crap in the woods?  # 3. 1971-73 429 Mercury Cougar. Since you could get a 454 in a Monte Carlo and a 455 in a Pontiac Gran Prix-GM's top-selling "Personal Luxury / Performance" coupes-Ford engineers thought it might be a good idea to offer the 429 in the Cougar. The bean counters nixed the idea-saying that the Thunderbird was the competitior for the Monte Carlo and the GP, not the Cougar. The largest engine available in the Cougar was a 351C.  Huh? We all know that in a drag race or the twisties all a big, heavy Lincoln MKIV based T-Bird-429 / 460 power aside-would see of the much lighter 454 and 455 GM A-bodies ( Chevelle / LeMans based ) would be the taillights!!  Ford engineers knew this-and a 429 Cougar would have been awesome. But it wasn't allowed. Cougars did get a 460 in 1974-but this was after the sister Mustang was downsized to a gussied-up Pinto / Capri-and the Cougar was now based on the much heavier and uglier Lincoln MKIV platform. Even a pre-"Charlies Angels" Farrah-Fawcett-Majors advertising them barefoot in a bikini couldn't sell them. # 4. 1974 Pontiac GTO. Initially-the '74 GTO was going to still be LeMans based-and offered with the SD-455 that had made such a splash with the buff magazines in the Trans-Am in '73. Pontiac hoped this would re-energize sales. Then the engineers got the idea to put the name on the X-body platform ( read Nova ) Ventura. They even discussed putting the L78 400 that was standard in the Trans-Am into the Ventura based GTO ( Pontiac engines are externally identical and the 350 V8 was already available in the Ventura; so it would have been a bolt-in. )  and since the X-bodys shared underpinnings with the F-body Camaro / Firebird they could have put a T/A style suspension on it and revived the "Judge" nameplate as a special performance package. However the bean counters nixed that. The T/A was now the flagship-and even with an SD-455 under the hood-the 3,800 lb T/A would have got it's lunch eaten by a 400 powered, 3,200 lb Ventura. So instead the Ventura / GTO got a T/A style shaker hood and a 7.6:1 350 V8 that wheezed out 200 hp. And they wondered why they didn't sell. The 400 / Judge idea would have been great. I know-I put the 400 out of my wrecked '77 T/A into a '71 Ventura and it was really quick. With disc brakes and a WS6 suspension-the proposed factory version would have been totally badass. But I guess-like the LS6 Nova-GM couldn't have anything that cool out there. # 5. 1987 Fiero GT Turbo. Even with the 140 hp 2.8 liter V6-the light, mid-engine ( 2,600 lbs ) Fiero scooted pretty good. Pontiac engineers discussed putting a Turbo on it. GM had the technology-the blisteringly fast Buick Grand Nationals proved that. They even discussed putting the GN powerplant in the Fiero. 3.8 Buick V6s are not that much larger than the Chevy 2.8s. It was feasible. Once again-Chevrolet brass threw a tantrum. A Turbo Fiero would hurt Corvette sales. Pontiac engineers fought hard. Ok-scrap the Grand National engine swap-that probably would have been too much work anyway-we were just bench racing. But turbocharging the 2.8 that was already in the car would be easy, and that would make the Fiero a competitior of the Mazda RX-7, the Nissan 300ZX ,the Toyota Supra and the Porsche 944, not the Corvette. Were RX-7s cutting into 'Vette sales?  Would the upcoming Mazda Miata hurt 'Vette sales? Chevrolet brass wouldn't back down an inch, and like always-the other divisions toed the line and the project was nixed. Too bad. It would have been a fun little car. I know a guy who put the Supercharged 3.8 out of his wifes wrecked Bonneville SSEI into a Fiero. It will literally spin the tires as long as you want to stay on the throttle, and run off from just about anything but a Hellcat Charger or a Z06 'Vette. Now we know what the GN engined version would have done!  Thankfully-the big 3 seemed to have learned. Chrysler is ballsy enough to release the Hellcat and the Demon, GM has the Z06 'Vette and ZL1 Camaro, and Ford has the GT350 Mustang. Too bad they didn't learn 30 or 40 years ago. Mastermind          

Cool cars that were killed before they were launched....

There are a lot of cool rides that manufacturers considered and then, for whatever reason-fear of insurance and safety nazis, resistance from bean counters, whatever-caused them to change their mind at the last minute, which denied enthusiasts of some really cool stuff.  #1. Pontiac Banshee. In 1966 Pontiac was developing a two-seat sports car code-named XP-833 that closely resembled the Mako Shark show car-which basically became the 1968 Corvette. Two prototypes were built one with the 230 inch overhead cam six that was later available in the Firebird and one with a 326 V8. The one with the 326 was noteworthy because Pontiac V8s are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. This means they could have easily dropped in the mighty 421 into the light fiberglass roadster-which would certainly have been a competitor for the 427 Corvette, and would have undoubtedly cut into 'Vette sales. Chevrolet brass howled to the high heavens, and the project was killed. One good thing that came from this-when work began on the Mustang fighter-i.e. the Camaro-John DeLorean-then president of Pontiac- loudly protested and said since Pontiac had been screwed on the XP-833 / Banshee-that they damn sure should have a piece of the Camaro program. The Firebird was born-and the rest is history. If the XP-833 hadn't been killed, we might never have had the Trans-Am. Still, a 421 powered two seat Poncho sportster would have been cool.... # 2. 1970 LS6 Camaro SS and Nova SS. Initially the mighty 450 hp LS6 454 was slated to be optional in the Nova SS and the Camaro SS as well as the Chevelle. Since both cars already had the 396 as an option-it would have been a bolt-in. Development got so far as production LS6 Chevelles had a flat intake manifold designed to clear the low hood of the new for 1970 Camaro. Fuel actually had to flow uphill from the carb to the intake ports. The taller 1966-69 396 / 427 manifold is said to be worth 15-20 hp more than the low-rise LS6 intake. Also-Zora-Arkus Duntov-chief Corvette engineer-fully expected the much more radical LS7-( 12.25:1 compression, ultra-hot L88 cam, etc ) to make production as the 'Vette's top option, so he saw no need to offer the LS6. At the last minute, the brass decided to cut down on "model proliferation"-whatever that means-and the LS7 was nixed. It was sold as a crate engine over the counter to racers and enthusiasts for years. They also killed the LS6 for the Camaro and Nova, leaving only the Chevelle SS and and a Few El Caminos with the LS6. Oddly-things were reversed in 1971-the LS6 now rated at 425 hp with 9:01 compression instead of 450 and 11:1-was only available in the Corvette. It was listed in early 1971 Chevelle sales literature but never made production. Anyhow-since a Nova weighs 600 lbs less than a Chevelle-how badass would an LS6 Nova have been? Can you say 12s off the showroom floor?  11s with headers and slicks? Sadly-we'll never know. # 3. 1971 Boss 429 Mustang. 1969-70 Boss 429s were actually 428 models that were converted by Kar Kraft and Ford lost money on every one. The larger 1971 Mustang was designed to swallow a 429. The Boss Nine would have fit easily and could have been built on Ford Production lines. However-Ford decided to cut back on it's racing programs-both in Trans-Am and NASCAR. With no need to sell cars to the public to homologate the engines for racing-the Boss 302 and 429 were killed. Since you could get a 426 Hemi or a 440 in a Challenger or 'Cuda, and a 455 in a Firebird Formula and Trans-Am, Ford offered the "regular" 429 CJ in the '71 Mustang-but very few were built. For '72 the largest engine in a Mach 1 was the 351C. Too bad. The larger, longer, better balanced '71-73 Mustang would have awesome with a Boss 429. Damn.  # 4. 1977 AMX. By 1975-the GTO and Chevelle SS were no more, the 'Cuda and Challenger were gone, the Road Runner was an apperance option on the large Sport Fury, the Charger was a re-badged Chrysler Cordoba-yuk-and the Mustang was more Pinto than Mustang. The Javelin was no more-which was a mystery-like Pontiac did with the T/A-the Javelin could have continued unchanged until 1979-with a 401 V8 and a 4-speed or an auto and no competition!! But AMC stepped on their dick twice-once in 1975 when they dropped the Javelin and again in 1977 when they nixed a T/A fighter that would have succeeded. The largest engine available in a Corvette was a 350-and the Z/28 took a 2 1/2 year hiatus from 1974-77. Musclecar buyers didn't magically go away after 1974-the manufacturers stopped making cars that they wanted to buy. This was why Pontiac Trans-Am sales doubled or tripled every year since 1973. They sold 50,000 in 1976-and 68,000 in 1977-and that was BEFORE "Smokey and the Bandit" which was released in May 1977-it's impact on sales wouldn't be felt until the 1978 model year when they sold 93,000 units. Anyhow in April 1977-Chevrolet quickly resurected the Z/28 Camaro-with T/A style graphics and spoilers and a 350 V8 and a 4-speed with 3.73:1 gears or a TH350 with 3.42:1 gears to fight back. 1978 was actually a record year for Camaro sales.  Every automaker was scrambling to find a Trans-Am fighter. AMC came out with a handling and appearance package on the compact Hornet. Since AMC engines are like Pontiacs-externally identical from a 290 to a 401-the engineers got a brilliant idea-the 304 was available in the Hornet. The 401 was available in big cars like the Ambassador and Jeep Pickups and Waggonneers. If they stuffed the 401 into the compact Hornet-which weighed about 3,000 lbs-it would have blown the doors off a 400 powered Trans-Am that weighed about 3,800. It wouldn't have been sexy-but like the '68 Road Runner-it would have been a badass, stripped down street fighter. The AMC brass nixed it-saying the public only cared about appearance. The Hornet AMX was released with cool graphics and a great heandling chassis and a 258 inch six cylinder or a 2bbl 304 V8 that wheezed out about 120 hp. There wasn't even a manual transmission option. And they were perplexed that they didn't sell. Decisions like this are why AMC went bankrupt. #5. 1977 Hurst /Olds. A prototype was actually built with a 403 V8, a TH350 with a 2,400 rpm converter, 3.42:1 gears,NASCAR inspired styling-ala Richard Petty's Cutlass-and Trans-Am front and rear sway bars, and a killer silver and black paint job recalling the legendary '68 model. The buff magazines raved-saying it was faster and better handling than a T/A or a Z/28. Sadly- for whatever reason-it was never released by Oldsmobile.  # 5. 1989 Buick Reatta. Buick engineers wanted to make the swoopy Reatta rear-wheel drive and put the badass Turbo GN powerplant-which lived on in the 20th Anniversary T/A in it. Again-Chevrolet brass lost their mind-that would certainly hurt Corvette sales. The GM brass caved and killed it.  And again-like Delorean griped in 1966-the public lost. The Reatta was released as a front wheel drive two-seater with a normally aspirated 3.8 V6 that wheezed out about 140 hp. And they wondered why they didn't sell.  Anyhow-too bad ome of these cool cars didn't come to market. Mastermind            

More on avoiding the hard way.....

I thought I'd share some more stories of people who almost dove into impossible projects, mainly because their simply uninformed. One guy had a 1981 Turbo Trans-Am that he wanted more power out of. I suggested that he buy a 400 or 455 Pontiac for an instant power infusion. The motor mounts are in the same place, and all the tin and accesories would fit provided the bigger engine was a 1970 or later model. ( '69 and earlier use different motor mounts).  This would be the easiest and cheapest way. The 2nd easiest way would be go to a junkyard and get a supercharged 3.8 V6 out of a wrecked Bonneville SSEI or Gran Prix or Riviera. Get the wiring harness, and the fuel pump, and you'd be good to go. These engines had 240 hp stock-more than the ill-fated 301 he was replacing-and could easily be upped by changing the pulleys on the Roots-type supercharger. Of course he asked about hopping up the 301. 1st off- they were a lightweight "economy" motor that other than external dimensions and the valve covers, oil pan, and timing cover-absolutely nothing interchanges with a traditional-i.e.-326-455 Pontiac V8. There is zero aftermarket parts available for these engines. I mean nothing-no heads, intakes, headers, cams- nothing. He said why couldn't you just turn up the boost?  If they wouldn't hold up to seven lbs of boost when they were new-how is one 36 years old going to hold up to 15 lbs or more?  There's no forged pistons available, no heavy duty rods, nothing you could do to beef one up to handle a large amount of boost. My other suggestion was if he didn't like the first two-he'd have to get a Chevy bolt-pattern transmission-was drop a small or big block Chevy crate motor into it. I also suggested that if he absolutely had to have a Turbocharged engine that he buy a fuel-injected 3800 V6 and the wiring harness out of a late-model Buick Lesabre or Olds or Pontiac and contact Kenne-Bell or T/A performance. Both companies do extensive work with Buick Grand Nationals and could probably set him up with a Turbo setup fairly easily. I also suggested contacting Gale Banks-he's had great success Turbocharging big-block Chevys. What about turbocharging a 400 Pontiac? Part of the reason the 301 Turbo was a dog-as were pre-'85 Buick Regal T-Types-was it was nearly impossible to make the turbos work with a carburator and avoid detonation on cheap gas. Grand Nationals only got badass when Multi-Port Fuel Injection was adopted in 1985. It's much easier to map a Turbo fuel curve with electronic fuel injection than it is with a carburator. I might as well have been talking to the wall. "There's got to be a way to turbo a "real" Pontiac engine." Like there was a way for Harrah to put a Ferarri engine in a Jeep....The other guy I think I mentioned in an earlier post-wanted to buy his neighbors pristine 4-cylinder '89 Mustang and hop that up, by putting a V8 in it. I told him it would be much easier to just go buy a "5.0" Mustang. There's millions of them out there at reasonable prices-and swapping the 4-banger for a V8 would be a huge hassle and expensive-much more expensive than just buying a car with a V8 already in it!  Then he asks about turbocharging the 4-banger. Again-the easy way would be just go buy an '84-86 SVO Mustang that already has a turbocharged 4 in it-with between 175 and 205 hp depending on year-and you could turn the boost up and get 100 more easily. The 2.3 Ford 4-banger has a bulletproof bottom end and can handle it. So why couldn't he Turbo the normally aspirated '89? Because the myriad of parts you'd have to chase down-again the time and cost factor would be so prohibitive-plus-again this guys is not a dealership mechanic-he's a grocery clerk-who has no Idea how to map a fuel curve or set up a knock sensor-etc- would be better off just buying an SVO. Why he was obsessed with taking on this project I don't know-I have over 30 years experience as a mechanic and service manager-and If I wanted to play with a Fox Mustang, I would just go buy a "5.0" or an SVO!!!  Why amateurs want to attempt things that would make a pro cringe, I don't know. Like I said-I sometimes think sports-car guys are smarter-If they want a Datsun Z or a Porsche 944 with a Turbo-they scour the want ads and the internet and go buy one!! They don't buy a normally aspirated one and try to "convert" it!!  If they want a 6-cylinder 911 or a 914 / 6-they pay the price. They don't buy a 4-banger 912 or 914 and try to "build their own"!!  That's all I'm saying-don't bring untold frustration and financial disaster into your life when you don't have to. Mastermind        

I always suggest the easy way, not the hard way....

I was talking to some guys who had mid-80's GM "G" bodies. One was an '85 Pontiac Grand Prix and the other was an '86 Buick Regal. They asked my opinion on what I would do for more power. I told the GP owner to swap in a 350 or a 350-based 383 stroker Chevy and the Regal owner to swap in a 350 or 403 Olds. The reason for this is the GP had a 305 Chevy under the hood and the Buick had a 307 Olds. Both of these would be literally bolt-ins. Of course, they had to ask the questions of why didn't I recommend a 400 Pontiac or a 455 Buick. Because returning these cars to "real" Pontiac and Buick power would be more trouble and time than it would be worth. 1st off-Chevy and BOP engines have a different bellhousing bolt-pattern, so the GP owner would need a new transmission as well. Secondly-none of the accessories would interchange-a Pontiac engine uses a different starter,fuel pump, and water pump. The brackets for the alternator, power steering pump and a/c compressor are totally different. So is the oil pan, timing cover, valve covers, etc. Trying to chase all that stuff down through junkyards or parts stores would be expensive and almost impossible. Remember-the last 400 Pontiac was built in November 1977-40 years ago. ( They were stockpiled for use in 1978-79 Trans-Ams ) If he was dead set on "Real" Pontiac power-he'd have to find a car with a running Pontiac engine and get EVERYTHING. Except any decent '60's or '70's Pontiac is going to be fairly pricey. And I'm not just talking about GTO's and Firebirds. Anything from Say-a '67 Catalina to a '77 Gran Prix-is going to be fairly pricey if it's in any kind of drivable condition. So your going to spend anywhere from 5 to 10 grand on up so you can remove the engine and tranny and stuff it your '84 Gran Prix that's worth maybe 3 grand if it's nice??  Wouldn't it be a lot easier and cheaper to just buy a 350 Chevy crate motor and bolt it in in like 4 hrs and use all the accesories that are already on the 305 that's in the car?  As for the Buick guy-he wouldn't need a different tranny-the car already has a BOP bolt-pattern  trans. But otherwise he's in the same boat. A 455 Buick's accesories-the fuel pump, starter, water pump oil pan, valve covers, power steering and alternator brakcets, etc are completely different from the 307 Olds. However-the 350 / 403 Olds engines, are externally identical-and can use everything off their little brother.      And again-he's going to do what-buy a '60's or '70's Century or Riviera or LeSabre for major bucks-and then dump the motor into your worthless '80's Regal?  I mean seriously-who want's a non-Grand National '80s Regal?  I was simply telling them to take the path of least resistance, both financially and in terms of mechanical grief.  It's funny-people who come up with these ideas are never mechanics by trade. An experienced mechanic would know not to attempt it!  Another one is people see something in a magazine and want to copy it. Yes it's possible to put a 460 into a Fox-Bodied Mustang. But why? I know guys that are running 11s with 302s!! Besides being horribly expensive-again nothing from a 302 interchanges with anything on a 460, including the transmission-it's not going to run any faster than you could with a hot 302 / 347, and it's going to be nose-heavy and ill-handling. So why do it?  I don't mean to be cynical all the time-but I do try save people from taking on projects that are much beyond their mechanical abilities-stuff that would be hard for a professional mechanic in a state of the art shop-you definitely don't want to attempt in your home garage or driveway. Casino Magnate Bill Harrah once put a Ferarri engine in a Jeep Wagonneer. Yes, anything is possible-but it's almost never cheap or easy!!  I try to always recommend the path of least resistance in terms of both money and grief. I'm trying to help. Really. Mastermind  

"Rare" doesn't always mean "Valuable"....Some cars aren't collectible, just weird....

I get all kinds of emails from people asking me what I think think their "Ultra-Rare" car is worth. 99% of the time I have to disappoint them and tell them that their car is not collectible, it's just weird. This problem stemmed from the big three-( GM, Ford & Chrysler ) having huge options lists and many overlapping models, and dealers ordering "Price Leaders"-i.e. strippy models with weird option combinations. For example-you hardly ever see one-but the standard drivetrain on a Monte Carlo in the '70s was a 250 inch straight six and a 3-speed manual trans with a column shifter. I remember my dad worked at EZ Daivies Chevrolet in Redwood City, California in 1972-and Al Davies-the owner-bought a bunch of these strippy Monte Carlos from Chevrolet and sold them for $2999!!  Now who but a complete mooch wants a Monte Carlo with a six and a manual trans, and no A/C, no radio, etc??  He sold every one they had!!  A guy I knew bought a '72 Formula 350 Firebird off an old man back in the early '80's. It had no guages, no a/c, no radio, and dog-dish hubcaps on steel wheels. It had a 350 V8 with a 2bbl, and a 3-speed manual trans. Turns out the old guy wanted a "Sports Car" back in '72-and loved the look of the twin-scooped hood that Formula Firebirds had. He wanted a strippy base-model Firebird-and would have took one with the standard 250 inch six. The salesman told him-correctly-that the scooped hood was not available on base-model or Esprit Firebirds, and if he had to have it-he'd have to step up to the Formula line. The salesman tried to sell him a nice Formula 400 that he had on the lot-that had guages, a/c, an automatic, etc. Nope. Cheap old bastard ordered a strippy Formula 350-because they were cheaper than the 400 models by a couple hundred bucks-and would not order any options whatsoever-not even an am radio!! He kept it ten years, put very low miles on it-and then sold it to my pal when he failed his driver's test. My buddy swapped in a 400 and a 4-speed and had a nice, lightweight drag racer. One of the few times in my life I've ever seen a car with not a single extra-cost option, not even floor mats!  For some odd reason-back in 1967-68-the height of the musclecar era when gas was 30 cents a gallon some genius decided that replacing the GTO's and 442's 350 hp 400 4bbl engines with 265hp 2bbl models and swapping the standard 3.36:1 axle for 2.93:1 was a great idea. They called them "Turnpike" specials and lowered the price a couple hundred bucks. They were shocked when they didn't sell. Duh!!  No one wanted a GTO or 442 that didn't have any balls and got 16 mpg instead of 12!!  If you run across one today-they aren't worth anything-other than being a clean GTO or 442 body. And putting a 4bbl carb and intake on it, and changing the gears isn't going to "harm" it's value!!  For some odd reason-while GM and Ford were putting front disc brakes and power steering on nearly all their musclecars-if it wasn't standard-it was a low-cost option-like $42-Chrysler didn't. You see all kinds of GTX's with a 440 and a Torqueflite-with no power steering and 4-wheel drum brakes!! Ditto for Chargers and Road Runners. Why would you sell a 4,000 lb car with a 375 hp engine, and NOT have power steering or power brakes??  I spoke to a guy once who had a 1966 Corvette with the 390 hp 427 and a Powerglide!!  Now what moronic dealer ordered that?? And what was Chevrolet thinking in even offereing that combo?  From 1965 on in an Impala you got the excellent TH400 with the 327 or the 396 or 427. Yet the awful 2-speed "Powerslide" was the only auto you could get, even in a 396 Chevelle or the mighty 'Vette. The TH400 wasn't available in a Chevelle til 1967 or a 'Vette until 1968!!  Anyhow-when I suggested to this guy that swapping in a TH350 would be easy and would greatly increase the car's performance-he was aghast. "And ruin it's value??!!!"  Sorry pal-true, it has some value just being a 427 Stingray-but it's not worth anywhere near what a 4-speed, L68,L71,L72,or L88 or L89 model is, and it's not worth anywhere near what you think it is. I've had this argument with Mustang and Charger owners. No one cares about your 2bbl 351C or 2bbl 390 coupe, or your 2bbl 383 or 400 Charger that's "rare". Shut up and put a f&*%ing 4bbl on it!!  This crap continued up until the '80's. I've argued with people that their 301 powered Trans-Ams and 305 powered Corvettes, while admittedly rare, are not worth anywhere near what their 400 and 350 brothers are !!!  So let's be clear-two-speed automatics and 3-speed sticks,column-shifted bucket seat cars,4-speed bench seat cars, two-barrel step-down engines,radio and heater delete cars, etc are not cool, their just weird. If you have one or can buy one cheap and want to play with it-good for you. But it's not an "Investment". Mastermind      

I miss low-budget engine swaps and home-built nasty hot rods.....

It seems that people can't get enough of megabuck projects-if you believe the buff magazines-even Street Rodder who always clung to "old school" hot rodding is doing more and more features on high-dollar stuff. I get that they have to do what's popular to stay in business and please their advertisers but the same-old cookie-cutter cars every month gets old. I remember back in the '80's a lot of guys built low-buck hot rods that were really quick. I built a V8 Vega and I knew a girl who had a V8 Pinto. My cousin had an SPL311-The Datsun 2-seat convertible that looks like an MGB-that someone had put a 215 inch aluminum Buick V8 and a Muncie 4-speed into. It had homebuilt, fenderwell exit headers, and a 600 Holley on an Offenhauser intake. It sounded badass, and it was blisteringly quick. And, since the aluminum V8 only weighed about 20 lbs more than the 4-banger it replaced, it handled good too. Another guy we knew had a '65 GMC pickup with a 389 Pontiac under the hood that was really quick. Sometimes guys would just stuff an engine they had into a car they had. One guy I knew stuffed a 472 inch Cadillac V8 into an '81 Firebird. It was fast. Another guy put a 440 Chrysler into a '73 Javelin. AMC's used Torqueflite transmissions anyway-so he didn't have to swap trannys-it was relatively easy and the car was a LOT faster than it was with the 360 AMC that spun a bearing. I saw a Camaro with a 455 Olds under the hood, and an El Camino with a 455 Buick in it. If I remember correctly the 455 Buick powered Elky won the burnout contest at Hot August Nights one year. Another guy I worked with had a 2wd '78 Chevy Stepside pickup that was lowered and looked mean. With a 500 inch Cadillac V8 under the hood, it was mean. People might say these cars were "bastardized" but they were unique and a lot of fun to see, drive and drag race and bench race with. And who or what did we hurt? It's not like we cut up the trunk of a Hemi 'Cuda for wheel tubs, or chopped up a '63 Split-Window Stingray. Someone stuffed a Cad V8 into a Chevy pickup-who cares?  Carroll Shelby did it when he stuffed a 260 Ford V8 into an AC Ace and made the first Cobra. Plenty of guys my dad knew had 327 Chevys in Austin-Healey 3000s. The buff magazines called them "The Poor Man's Cobra".  I'd like to see more homebuilt engineering like this. Just a thought. Mastermind    

I miss Light,and lightning fast hot rods....

All the buff magazine lately seem to be embracing the "Bigger is Better" theory. Every car that is featured has a 500+ inch stroker motor. The "small-block" cars are 392 and 427 inch Fords based on 351Ws, 383,400,and 427 and 454 inch small block Chevys, 410 inch Chrysler "LA" engines, and 350 inch Olds engines stroked to 440 inches. Just because something is possible, doesn't mean it's worth doing. If you want a 454 inch Chevy-there's millions of them in junkyards in 80's and '90's trucks, as well as GMPP selling them as crate engines. Why bore and stroke a 350 to get 454 inches? Rather than getting a 350 Olds Diesel block and and spending bookoo bucks on machine work and cutting down a 425 crank, and using special rods and custom pistons to get 440 inches-I'd just buy a 455. They were used in every Olds model from 1968-76, so their not exactly a moon rock. The point I'm trying to make is I remember a lot of guys who had lightweight cars with small or medium sized engines that were blisteringly fast. My cousin had a '63 Nova that had a 283 bored to 301 inches that had a 4-speed and 4.56:1 gears that was an absolute rocket. He showed his taillights to many big-block cars. Another guy had a '64 Falcon with a 289 that was badass. A buddy of mine that had a restored 440 Road Runner got his doors blown off by a hot 302 powered '72 Maverick one night. I had 2 Pontiac Venturas ( Pontiac's version of the Nova ) that were great street racers. Venturas only weighed about 3,100 lbs. About 700 lbs less than most '70's Firebirds.  One was a '73 Hatchback with a 350 Pontiac. Dual exhausts and an Edelbrock P4B manifold and a rebuilt Q-Jet, and a shift kit in the trans made everyone think I dropped in a 400. I blew the doors off a buddy's '70 Chevelle that had a 300 hp 350 in it, and another buddys '66 Chevelle that had a 327 and a 4-speed. Because of the power to weight ratio, it was deceptively quick. I totally shocked a guy with a 351C powered '72 Mustang. The other one was a '71 model that had been a six-cylinder model. This one was really light-it had no power steering, no power brakes,no a/c and had small bumpers-the heavy 5mph bumpers weren't introduced until 1973. This one weighed about 2,900 lbs. I dropped the 400 and TH350 out of my wrecked Trans-Am in it. Weighing 900 lbs less than the T/A-( which weighed about 3,800 ) it was quite the pocket rocket. Many a challenger who thought they were up against a small-block Nova got quite a surprise.  Speaking of small-block Novas-another friend bought a little-old lady, pristine, six-cylinder / 3-speed '66 Nova. He swapped in the 350 out of his wrecked El Camino and a Saginaw 4-speed. With 3.31:1 gears and the 3.11 1st gear and 2.02 2nd-it was a rocket off the line. I did the math once-the torque multiplication was equivalent to having a 2.20 low Rock-Crusher and 4.88:1!s  And once he got 2 or 3 car lengths on you off the line-unless you had a really strong big-block-you weren't getting it back. Another friend of mine had a 1970 340 Dart Swinger that was really quick. He gave quite a few 396 Chevelles, 383 Chargers, and 389 GTOs runs for the money they never forgot, if he didn't win outright. His brother had a '64 Barracuda with a pumped-up 273 V8 and a 4-speed that was brutally quick. Don't get me wrong-I love big-block torque-I loved my GTO Judge, I loved my T/A's and I loved my Hurst / Olds. I always wanted a 427 Stingray. But I also appreciate a lightweight contender that can run with the big dogs. I'd like to see the buff mags feature a really quick '66 Mustang with a hot 289 or a '68 Nova with a 327,or a 340 Duster- rather than another Chevelle with a 572 inch Rat or a Charger with a 528 Hemi!!  Just once in a while. Mastermind        

Still more on budget building....

I hate to keep harping on the same point, but I thought of some more people who built cool cars for very low bucks. One guy bought a '71 Camaro that was a six-cylinder / 3-speed model. He dropped a 350 V8 in it, that a buddy had taken out of a wrecked "Hobby Stock" race car. It had headers and a hotter than stock cam, and because of the class rules, had a 2bbl carb!  He kept the 3-speed, but did add a Hurst shifter. We always joked that he could say he had an automatic with a high-stall converter and a manual valve body. It worked great-he could pop the clutch about 3,500 rpm and get the car moving with just enough wheelspin to get the engine up on its torque curve, yet not fry the tires too much, and then he'd shift about 5,800 rpm. It would lay 10-15 feet of rubber into 2nd,and really start pulling. The car was fast and fun. He never did change to a 4bbl carb or a 4-speed trans, because it was so much fun the way it was!  Another friend bought a '66 LeMans Convertible with the 326 / ST300 powertrain. He bought GTO emblems and trim from Year One. He also got the 400 and TH350 out of a '77 Trans-Am. Since Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455 the engine swap was a no-brainer. Since a TH350 is the exact same length and uses the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke as a Powerglide / ST300,the tranny swap was cake too. He even used the stock shifter, although he couldn't manually engage low gear. With his excellent TransGo shift kit that would automatically kick down to low gear below 15 or 20 mph, this wasn't an issue. He found a Tri-Power setup at a swap meet. The car was a great cruiser and fast enough to back up the image. Everywhere he went, people "oohed" and "ahhed" over his "GTO" ragtop. Another guy bought a '69 Camaro at an auction for $900. It was a 307 / Powerglide model. He bought a $699 "Long Block" 350 from a Pep Boys store, and added headers and an Edelbrock Torker II intake and a 625 cfm Carter AFB that he bought from a buddy. He bought a rebuilt TH350 from a local tranny shop, and got the proper "Horseshoe" shifter and console from Year One. He also bought a cowl induction hood and Z/28 emblems and painted it blue with white stripes and added Wheel Vintiques 15" rally wheels shod with BFG T/A radials. Total investment-$4,500, and everyone "oohs" and "ahhs" over his "Z/28". Even though "real" '69 Z/28's were only available with a 302 and a 4-speed, not a 350 and a slushbox. It's still a nice car, that's fun to drive and turns heads wherever he goes, that he built for a fraction of what a "real" Z/28 that needed restoration would cost!!  Another guy I know had a '73 Duster with the 318 / 3-speed powertrain. He went and got a 360 out of a wrecked police car. Through "Direct Connection" ( That's what Mopar Performance was called back then ) he bought the original 340 cam, lifters and springs, and the Edelbrock 340 "Six-Pack" manifold and 3 holley carbs, and throttle linkage and air cleaner. He also swapped the 3.21:1 gears for some 3.91:1s. This "360 Six-Pack" Duster was blisteringly fast. It would spin the tires most of low gear, but when it hit 2nd with those end carbs opened up, it pulled like a freight train. He always intended to put in a 4-speed, but I don't think he ever did. It was so freakin' quick the way it was, there was no need to.  Anyhow-those are the kinds of builds I'd like to see more of, not 100K trailer queens.  Mastermind    

More on budget customizing.....

In the last post I talked about customizing your car with junkyard parts. The other thing my friends and I did back in the '70's and '80's was adapt cool stuff-even if it came from another manufacturer. Some examples a guy I knew had a Firebird that had a "Pistol Grip" Hurst shifter ala "Vanishing Point". The stick would bolt up to any Hurst linkage, so it was pretty easy. It looked cool in the Firebird interior. Another guy had a Pontiac GTO / Firebird style Hood Tach on his Nova, and inside had a '70's T/A style console with a Hurst Dual / Gate shifter in it, and the T/A's "Formula" steering wheel. A guy I went to school with had swivel bucket seats out of a Cutlass in his '74 Challenger. Another guy bought a wrecked '72 El Camino and put a LeMans / GTO "Endura" front end on it, and dropped in the 400 Pontiac and TH400 out of the donor LeMans. He even transplanted the Pontiac dash and bucket seats and had a "GTO" Elky. It was unique, and cool and fast. And cheap to build. A Ford guy did the same thing with a '68 Ranchero. He put a '68 Cougar front clip on it with the hidden headlights and everything. It looked mean, and with a warmed-over 390 under the hood it was mean. I knew two guys-one had a '64 LeMans with a stompin' 425 Olds V8 under the hood-which had a Thunderbolt-style teardrop scoop on it-and a sinister black paint job and Cragar SST wheels, while the other guy had a '65 Cutlass with a tunnel-rammed 454 in it that was definitely Jules' wallet from Pulp Fiction!  A neighbor had a '61 Impala that was originally a 283 / 3-speed car. He swapped in a 396 and a 4-speed. It was seriously quick. Then there was the kid that had a 304 V8 Gremlin X. Since AMC engines are like Pontiacs-their all externally identical-putting in a 401 V8 out of a wrecked Matador Police car was a bolt-in swap. With it's short wheelbase and good weight distribution, it made a great drag racer. He shocked many supposedly badass Camaro,Chevelle, Firebird, Charger and Mustang drivers!! One guy built the slickest Ford Torino I've ever seen. It was a '70 or '71 model with the hidden headlights. He removed all the chrome trim and filled the holes in, and blacked out the bumpers and window moldings. He removed the chrome door handles and installed flush-fitting, body-colored Honda Accord door handles. They looked like they grew there. He installed a Pontiac Fiero GT rear wing-which was exactly the right width and looked like it belonged. It was jet-black and had black modular wheels and fat tires and a 'Cuda AAR-style side-exit exhaust that sounded wicked. With a pumped up 351C under that long hood-it could back up the image. The car was subtle, yet totally badass. I thought it was cooler looking than Mel Gibsons Falcon XB Interceptor from "Mad Max" and "The Road Warrior". The point I'm making is something doesn't have to cost a gazillion dollars to be cool. I groan every time I read a magazine and they say the guy's invested a 100 grand in the car their featuring. If you can afford that-good for you. But a lot of us dont' have an extra 30 grand on up to spend on a toy-that is probably a 3rd or 4th or 5th car in a household-especially if you have teenagers or college-age kids. Let's work to keep low-budget hot rodding going for the next generation. Mastermind          

Cheap Customizing is getting to be a lost art....

When I was younger a lot of "Do it Yourself" guys modified their cars and not always with conventional speed parts. Often we found stuff in Junkyards that really improved a cars performance. The Hollander Interchange Manual-the "Bible" that Junkyards use to know which parts interchange and fit different models was an invaluable tool. I've said it before-but I get sick of every magazine project car getting a custom Currie-built 9 inch Ford rear end and Wildwood or Brembo 4-wheel disc brake system worthy of a NASCAR racer, and Rack&Pinion steering, etc. I'm all for improving handling and stopping power,but we didn't do it by writing big checks. A buddy of mine had a '65 GTO that was really fast with a warmed over 421. However we all know the 9.5 inch drum brakes were woefully inadequate, and they weren't super handlers. He used '70's Firebird spindles-which will fit '60's and '70's "A" bodys-as well as the 11" rotors,calipers,booster and master cylinder. He now had the braking power of a '70's Trans-Am. He also installed front and rear stabilizer bars from the donor 'Bird, and used the "quick ratio" power steering box off an '80's WS6 T/A. It had a 12.7:1 ratio-which is even quicker than the 14:1 of '70's T/A's and way better than the 17.5:1 of a '65 GTO. This steering box will fit all GM "A", "F", and "G" bodies from 1964-1987. With Junkyard parts he made a '65 GTO into a corner carver that could challenge Corvettes and Porsches in the twisties as well as in a drag race. Another friend had a '69 Nova that he did in Trans-Am style-'60's SCCA racing style. Since anything that fits a Camaro or Firebird will fit the "X" bodies-Nova, Ventura, Omega, etc-it was easy. He used the sway bars from a '78 Z/28 Camaro and the disc-braked posi rear end from an '81 T/A. Another guy built an 12 second '72 Nova drag racer / street machine for peanuts that was originally a six-cylinder / 3-speed car. He found that a '70 Cougar uses a 9 inch Ford rearend-and that it's the same width and the multi-leaf springs are in the same place as the weak GM unit with monoleaf springs. It was practically a bolt-in,and eliminated any chance of axle breakage and wheel hop. He swapped the Saginaw 3-speed for a Saginaw 4-speed out of a '77 Vega. ( They are exactly the same length and use the same rear trans mount and driveshaft yoke ) These had a 3.11 1st gear ratio and a 2.02 second which really helped it rocket out off the line. The 350 he built used 58cc '81-86 305 heads-which bumped compression from 8.2:1 to about 9.7:1. He used the old "350hp" 327 cam and a used Edelbrock Scorpion intake and a 750 Holley, along with some used Hooker headers. With drag radials it ripped of a string of 12.40s with a best of 12.24. He had $3,500 in the car-including it's $850 purchase price. Even by '80's dollars-that was remarkably cheap. I knew another guy who built a V8 Pinto. The 302, C4 tranny and 8 inch rear end came out of a Maverick that had a front-end collision. The Maverick rear was an exact bolt-in, and was obviously much tougher than the Pinto unit. I had previously mentioned a couple guys who had hot rod '53-56 Ford F100s. The one guy infuriated Ford Purists-he used a Chevelle front clip-which allowed him to have modern power steering and front disc brakes-and install a stompin' 427 Chevy backed by a TH400. This truck was seriously quick. The other guy stuck with Ford stuff-using the front disc brakes and rack&pinion steering from a Mustang II as well as the 302 / C4 combo. It wasn't as fast as the Rat-Powered one, but it was a really nice cruiser. A couple guys built Cadillac-powered hot rods cheaply. One stuffed a 500 inch Cadillac V8 into an '81 Firebird. The other guy put a 472 Cad V8 into a '78 Buick Regal. Both were seriously fast for very low bucks. Another guy I knew put a 350 V8 into a Chevy LUV pickup that was brutally quick. The point I'm making is magazines used to feature stuff like that that regular guys built in their driveways. Now it's all megabuck stuff. Yes, guys like Boyd Coddington and Troy Trepainer are undeniably talented, and the cars they build are way cool. But I think it's much cooler for a young man or an old one-to scour boneyards and do research and build something cool on a tight budget than it is to just write a big check and polish your new trophy. I'd like to see the mags feature an old Falcon or Maverick done in '70's Pro Stock style or a '60's Olds or Pontiac done in Nascar style. Instead of another old Mustang with a Coyote or Camaro with an LS engine or a Charger with an SRT8 Hemi, and a DSE subframe and rack&pinion steering, and 4-wheel discs...please, no more. So pass on your knowledge to your sons and daughters so grassroots hot-rodding stays alive. Mastermind      

Some "Smog Dogs" that can really run with the right stuff....

There's a lot of '70's and '80's cars out there that have a reputation as "Dogs", that actually have a ton of potential. Here's a few "Diamonds in the rough" that could really rock with very little work and expense. # 1. 1971-73 Mustang / Cougar, 1971-74 Torino / Montego.  Almost all of these have 351C power under the hood. The problem is most of them were saddled with 2bbl carburation,single exhaust, and salt-flats gearing like 2.80:1. Edelbrock offers 4bbl intakes that are compatible with 2V heads. The 2V heads are much better for low-end torque than the 4V heads anyway. A 4bbl carb and intake, headers and dual exhaust ( or even just duals behind the stock manifolds ) will make a huge difference in performance. So will a simple axle-ratio swap. Changing the 2.80:1 gears for something in the 3.25:1-3.50:1 range will cut as much as 1/2 a second off your 0-60 and 1/4 mile time without hurting drivability or freeway cruising rpm too much. These simple mods will make your kitten into a tiger.  If you want to get really badass Edelbrock and Trick Flow offer high-performance aluminum heads, and Crane, Lunati, Comp Cams and others offer cams,springs, roller rockers,etc. # 2. 1971-1980 Camaro / Type LT / Berlinetta. There are millions of base-model ( i.e.-non-Z/28 / SS models ) Camaros out there from the '70s. Almost all of them have the workhorse L48 350 small-block in them, that was considered a "dog", mainly because they were saddled with 8:1 compression, a lazy cam, and 2.56:1 or 2.73:1 gearing. The upside is there's more speed equipment for a small-block Chevy than anything else on the planet. Scoggin-Dickey offers complete, brand-new Iron Vortec heads for $650 a pair. Vortec heads breathe better than any other factory head and many aftermarket ones. Their 64cc combustion chambers ( most '70's 350's are 76cc ) will bump compression from 8.2:1 to about 9.5:1. The compression boost, and the increased breathing will easily give you 40-50 more hp. You'll need a Vortec style intake manifold, but you were going to have to replace the stocker anyway-so that's a no-brainer. Edelbrock and Weiand offer performance Vortec-4bbl intakes for about $200. GMPP still sells the L46 / L82 cam-which has 224 duration ( @ .050 ) and .450 / .460 lift. This cam pulls hard to 6,000 rpm and will work with a stock torque converter and power accesories. Headers and dual exhausts will complete the package-and you'll have an honest 375 hp and 400+ lbs of torque with a good idle and great drivability. Swapping the 2.56:1 gears for something in the 3.23:1-3.73:1 range will help you put all that power to the ground. With drag radials or some sticky street tires these simple changes will have you running very low 13s or very high 12s in the 1/4 for very low bucks. # 3. 1971-77 Firebird. T/A's and Formula 400s get all the glory, but the fact is there are hundreds of thousands of base-model and Esprit Firebirds out there with 350 Pontiac motivation. The tune is the same-they were saddled with 2bbl carburation, single exhausts, and salt-flats gearing like 2.56:1. A factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake and headers and /or dual exhausts will make a huge difference in performance. A mild cam upgrade-the Edelbrock Performer grind works great in a low-compression Pontiac and will really "wake up" a 350. The factory "068" cam works nicely too. Swap the 2.56:1 gears for some 3.23:1-3.42:1s and people who drove or rode in the car before will ask you if you swapped in a 400 or 455!!  The improvement will be that immense. # 4. 1977-79 Firebird Formula / Trans-Am. A lot of these cars had 403 Olds motivation. They got a bad rap. The L78 400 / 4-speed "real" Pontiac models that the buff magazines worshipped also had 3.23:1 or 3.42:1 gears. The L80 403 models had TH350's and 2.41:1 gears!!  Think that'll make a difference in acceleration?  I had a 403 powered Trans-Am that really rocked with a few simple mods. An Edelbrock Performer intake and headers and dual exhausts will really wake up some ponies. You'll have to re-jet the carb to compensate for the increased breathing-I'd start by going .003 richer on the primary jets and the secondary metering rods and go from there. Edelbrock and Summit sell Q-jet parts and accessories. The other thing is change the plugs. They come with R46SZ AC plugs which have an .080 gap. Even GM's mighty HEI can't bridge that at high rpm. My T/A had headers and a Holley Street Dominator single-plane intake and it would not rev past 4,700 rpm. Simply switching to R45S plugs ( one range colder and a .040 gap ) caused it to pull hard to 5,400 rpm!! A gain of 700 rpm on the top end. Switch the 2.41:1 gears for some 3.23:1-3.42:1s and hang on!  # 5. 1982-87 Camaro / Firebird. The L69 / LB9 / L98 Z/28's, IROC-Z's and Formula and T/A models are sought after, but the fact is there are millions of base-model Camaros and Firebirds of this vintage out there that have the ubiquitous LG4 305 Chevy V8 that wheezed out about 165 hp. Most people's first instinct is to simply swap in a stompin' 350 or 383. You can certainly do that-it's a bolt-in swap-but many people don't have the money or the ability to do an engine swap. And some may not want a huge power infusion, but would like a little more oomph-just enough to not have to take crap from little boys in Honda Civics and soccer moms in Hemi Cherokees. For those I've got just the ticket. An Edelbrock Performer intake and matching cam will give you a huge boost in power and torque all through the range. Some shorty headers and a cat-back exhaust will really help. 5-speed models usually had 3.23:1-3.73:1 gears which is perfect. Automatics had 2.73:1s which isn't. Swap to some 3.42:1s. The other thing for automatics is they tend to stick in 2nd and 3rd gear under hard acceleration. B&M and TransGo offer kits ( it's usually a valve-body plate and some governor springs ) that will allow automatic kickdown to low gear at speeds less than 15 mph and full-throttle upshifts, especially from 2nd to 3rd to 4th. These simple changes will allow you to show your taillights to those smug '80's and '90's "5.0" Mustang owners. So if you have or want to buy one of the cars on this list-you now know you can put some hair on it's chest pretty easily and cheaply. Mastermind