It has to be about the cash......

I've written several letters to the editors of every enthusiast mag out there asking this question-and none of them has responded. I don't like to make unfounded accusations-but I can't see any other reason than advertising money for the current state of affairs. I realize they have to showcase and recommend their advertiser's products to stay in business. But the writers-especially if the reader is a newbie to the hobby with no experience-make it sound like your car will fall apart like the Dodge at the end of the "Blues Brothers" if you don't have all this state-of-the-art stuff.  Here's what I'm talking about --# 1. Why does every single project car need a custom 9 inch Ford rear end?  Hot Rod's "Project Disco" -a 1979 Z /28 Camaro is a perfect example of everything that's wrong with Magazine Project Cars today. 1979 Z/28s came stock with GM's excellent 8.5 inch 10 bolt positraction rear end with either 3.42:1 or 3.73:1 gears!!  You couldn't ask for a better rear end for a street / strip machine!! And their tough-I have owned 400, 4-speed Trans-Ams ( They use the same rear end ) that I drag-raced and dropped the clutch at 4,000 rpm incessantly on for 5 years and I never had a problem. Ditto for Mopar guys-forget a Dana 60, I know a guy running a 505 stroker with nitrous and slicks in a Duster, and he's never had an ounce of trouble with the 8 3/4 rear. Try to keep a straight face while telling me that extra .25 or .50 diameter on the ring gear makes a big difference in durability!!  As I read the article on "Project Disco" no one alluded to any problem with the rear end. Even if it did need a rebuild-a Currie 9 inch setup with GM mounting points retails for $3,500!!  Any competent driveline shop can re-furbish a GM 10 bolt for a lot less than $3,500!!  # 2. Why does every single Project car have to have a Wildwood or Brembo aftermarket 4-wheel disc brake setup worthy of a NASCAR Nextel Cup Racer?  Are the writers saying that the front disc / rear drum setup that came on most '70's and '80's cars isn't adequate to stop the car in daily driving or on the occasional weekend trip to the drags?  Puhleeze. Again-they did this to Project Disco. And again-I had 3 '70's vintage Trans-Ams that use the same brake system as the Z/28-and I drove like a madman, drag-raced them and autocrossed them. Yes, you could make the brakes fade if you ran five or six dragstrip passes back to back to back without stopping for a minute, or if you ran two or more autocross or slalom events back to back without stopping, or if you blasted up a curvy mountain road at 100 mph for 20 minutes. However-I learned that if you used Bendix or Ferodo GM "Police Spec" D52 pads and Dot 5 brake fluid-you couldn't fade them if you tried. The "Cop Brakes" as Elwood Blues would say-actually worked better when they got hot, and the major problem was the Dot 3 fluid breaking down under this abuse. If the car sat for even five minutes between runs, you were fine. I have raced Camaros and Firebirds in 2 eight lap heat races, and a 35 lap main event on a 1/4 mile or 1/2 mile oval tracks, with generic parts store brake pads and the brakes held up as long as we used Dot 5 fluid. So I can't fathom what you'd have to do to actually "Need" a $3,000 Brembo brake setup! Don't get me wrong-I'm all for safety-and I wouldn't put a 500 hp engine in say-a '68 Chevelle that had 9 inch 4-wheel drum brakes either. But even then-you can go to a junkyard and get all the parts to put front disc brakes on it from a later-model GM "A" or "F" body. And Summitt racing and Just Brakes sell factory style systems for under a grand. Unless your racing in Vintage car races at Laguna Seca-I can't see where you'd "Need" a Wildwood or Brembo setup. # 3. Why does every single project car need a 4 or 5 thousand dollar six-speed manual or automatic overdrive conversion? To me-600 less rpm on the freeway is not worth 5 grand. Again-Project Disco came with a TH350-a stellar trans that will stand up to 500 hp easily. This tranny would have bolted up to their hot rod LS engine and with the proper converter and a shift kit-worked flawlessly. Instead they converted it to a stick-at a cost of  about 5 grand. # 4. The modern fuelie engine that cost about nine grand. Something called "Project Disco" I would assume would be done in late '70's style-like a "Macho T/A", or with flared fenders and Minilite or Center Line wheels, and maybe even sidepipes. And last time I checked '79 Camaros didn't have fuel-injected LS motors. I would have thought they'd have went with a 400 small block or Rat. I understand they were showcasing the "E-Rod" emission-legal package that Edelbrock and GM collaborated on and they had to put it in something-but why not an '80's 'Vette or a '90's Firebird or Camaro that had a fuelie engine from the start, and is laden with emission controls? Could be worse, I guess they could have chose a '55 Chevy or a '64 GTO, which would have been really offensive.  While were on the subject of engines-PHR's "Project Talledega" -a 1975 Laguna done up to look like a Nascar stocker-they built a 560 hp 408 inch solid-roller cammed small-block-to showcase Dart's new replacement block and top-end package. By the time it was done, they had something like 35 grand invested in the car. Now their talking about putting a Rat in it. Why? Even with a Rat-your going to be hard-pressed to make more than 560 hp and keep it remotely streetable-I mean how fast do you guys need to go?  Or do you just want to eventually have a race car with liscence plates instead of a street machine?  It just irks me because the neophyte hot-rod enthusiast that's not a mechanic might read these articles and think that all this stuff is a neccessity, when in reality he could build a cool, fast car for many thousands less. Magazines used to tell you how to go fast on the cheap, as well as promoting new stuff. Now it's all this state of the art stuff. Just had to vent that. Or someone correct me if I'm wrong, and it's not about advertising dollars. Mastermind