The fastest wearing rear suspension part on 1963-’82 Corvettes is the strut rod bushing. The rubber A-arm bushings in the front suspension last longer because they only deal with rotation about their axis. In comparison, the small rubber bushing in the strut rod deals with both rotation and twisting as the suspension moves up and down. Wear in these inexpensive bushings is not much of a safety issue but it does change the rear wheel alignment, which could cause excessive wear on those very expensive tires.

The strut rods and the halfshafts are the two rear suspension members that determine how the tires contact the road. As the bushings wear, the bottom of the tire extends farther out with respect to the top of the tire. This negative camber causes premature wear on the tires’ inner tread.

Although this article focuses on how to replace strut rods on C2s and C3s, the procedure is similar for most other generation Corvettes. The parts options are also similar and include rubber or polyurethane bushings and adjustable strut rods. Zip Products joined with us on this article as they offer a full range of stock and performance parts for all generations of Corvettes.

Strut rod replacement is relatively easy to do. No expensive special tools are needed. This repair requires only the removal of three nuts per side (or one more nut if the spring is disconnected). And it can be done without a lift. Just be sure that the car is securely supported by jack stands when it’s raised because a degree of pushing, prying and hammering may be required, particularly on the shock mount. Follow along as we get down and slightly dirty repairing one of the prime trouble spots in Corvette’s independent rear suspension. Vette

The post Installing Strut Rods on 1963-’82 Corvettes appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

The vastness of a show like the Yokohama Hot Rod Custom Show is far too great to cram into one group of pictures. What’s probably the most fascinating about this show is that it features the many facets of old-school California car culture with such accuracy that it nearly exceeds those carrying on the traditions in SoCal. Take a break from your one of many family gatherings this holiday season with some more of the best American classics that Japan has to offer.

If you’ve missed some other coverage from the show, check out our load-in gallery and part 1 below!

Mooneyes Japan 2018 Load-in Gallery
2018 Mooneyes Japan Car Show Part 1

The post 2018 Mooneyes Japan Car Show Part 2 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Each year, the PRI show amazes us at the amount of horsepower it brings to the table. It’s impossible to see it all in one day, so you have to come in with a plan. A lot of PRI attendees divide it into sections, while others are more specific, making a list of manufacturers they need to visit. For us content types, we basically have to go up and down each aisle, searching out Mustangs and other Fords, and the parts that make them fast. After a quick get-together with RevAuto’s Adam Browne and Shawn Cooper, we hit the halls again to bring you this gallery from Thursday afternoon.

The post Wrapping Up The First Day Of The 2018 PRI Show #MTGPRI18 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

HOT ROD generally focuses on cars that have perfect paint and interior, but in recent years we have seen a massive surge in the popularity of patina at shows all across the nation. The Mooneyes XMAS show in Iwindale, California always attracts an interesting variety of cars and tons of vehicles that proudly wear their age. Seeing how years of use and exposure to the elements has weathered these cars and given them so much character really is quite mesmerizing. Every sun baked spot, rusty dent, and patch of worn off paint has a story to tell and really makes these cars so interesting to look at.

Yes, cars painted by mother earth herself might not appeal to everyone – we get that – but one could look at these vehicles a million times and still notice something new with every glance. Whether it is real patina with original paint, faux patina that has been slathered on, bare metal left to rust, or even flap-disc-induced patina – it all fits in at a show like this. Perhaps best of all, the owners don’t even have to worry about their cars getting scratched anymore. So click through this gallery of all the patina cars and trucks we could find at the show and bask in the beauty that is hidden behind the rusty and battled scarred body panels of these vintage pieces of iron.

The post Patina O’Plenty at the 2018 Mooneyes XMAS Party! appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

There isn’t much that hasn’t been done to the venerable F-100 platform. We’ve seen them done up as impractical show trucks, lifted off-road machines, drag trucks, and just about everything in between. One thing we haven’t seen is a nicely patina’d F-100 with vintage commercial wheels, a slammed stance, and power from a Cummins 4BT turbo diesel engine. Drayton Hales is the proud owner of the creative pickup, and spent a great deal of time building the truck alongside his father, James.

The father-son duo handled nearly every aspect of the build in their Harrison, Tennessee, garage, and threw the kitchen sink at this worn and weathered Ford. The project started in 2011, with a 1955 F-100 body and plenty of ideas. With an initial investment of $1,200, Drayton had a blank canvas to build upon, but didn’t have a huge budget for the project. Many parts were sourced from other vehicles in an effort to keep the truck affordable and fun. Drayton and James did just that, and two years of work resulted in a very cool pickup with lots of personality.

Underneath, Drayton and James boxed the original framerails and began laying out the plans for a unique suspension setup. Rather than using stock equipment or converting the truck to independent front suspension, Drayton and James utilized a solid front axle from a 2-ton pickup. The heavy-duty axle is narrowed and dropped to achieve the appropriate stance and track width for the 1955 F-100 body. Parallel leaf springs attach to the modified axle, while a rack-and-pinion steering setup gets rid of the sloppy steering box and linkage. Two-ton drum brakes roll on either end of the front axle and feature a giant six-lug bolt pattern.

The wheels started life as two-piece 1957 Chevy dump truck wheels, which originally featured a lock ring. Drayton and James cut out the centers and machined them to the correct size. Then, they welded new hoops to the centers, which allowed them to place the backspacing exactly where it needs to be for perfect fitment. Notice the extreme backspacing in the front wheels to bring the front tires in for plenty of turning clearance, while the rear wheel centersections are positioned for a deep-dish look. The front wheels measure 20×9 and feature Toyo 275/45R20 tires while the rears come in at 20×10 and mount to 275/60R20 Goodyear tires.

And while the front suspension is built from hefty 2-ton equipment, it was a no-brainer to stick with conventional parts for the rearend and suspension. Leaf springs offer the right amount of cushion for the F-100, and a 9-inch rearend is a simple solution for putting power to the ground. The rearend has been narrowed 6 inches overall and features a 2.76:1 gear set, a locker differential, and Moser axles.

Underhood is a Cummins 4BT (inline four-cylinder) turbo diesel engine, which is all stock, and displaces 3.9 liters. It features a 60mm turbocharger that cranks out about 15 pounds of boost, but Drayton has plans of turning it up a bit in the future. Drayton hasn’t dyno-tested the diesel engine yet, but in stock form these engines crank out about 105 hp at 2,300 rpm and 265 lb-ft of torque at 1,600 rpm. More boost and more fuel and this little diesel should blow black smoke out of the pipe and white smoke from the tires. Behind the Cummins diesel engine is a General Motors TH400 automatic transmission, which features a custom adapter to fit. Drayton and James modified the transmission and also built a custom driveshaft to hook it all together.

As for the body, it was a bit too rough to leave completely untouched, so they patched the areas that needed it the most. The truck had great patina, with several layers of weathered paint, so Drayton and James did what they could to preserve it. Once all of the metalwork was complete, they sprayed the body with Axalta matte clear to protect the vintage steel and keep the satin look. Drayton retained the original badges and added a set of West Coast mirrors to add to the commercial truck theme. In the bed, a huge tank was sliced and fit into a major hump to clear the bigger tires, and it also provides plenty of room for the exhaust to travel up and over the rearend.

Inside, you’ll find even more vintage flavor, with homemade bucket seats, built out of cut-down 30-gallon barrels. Don’s Trim Shop in Hixson, Tennessee, covered the barrel bomber seats with black leather. Drayton and James built a support bar out of round tubing and attached a set of Simpson five-point harnesses to it for added safety. The steering column and steering wheel is from a 1965 Ford but the dash and instrument panel is stock. A few auxiliary gauges hang below the dash and keep Drayton up to date on the diesel engine’s vital signs, while a vintage B&M shifter controls the three-speed automatic transmission.

When the project was said and done, the father-son duo put the truck to the test by stretching its legs on a portion of the Hot Rod Power Tour. The truck did very well and continues to turn lots of heads at local car shows and cruise-in events in Southeast Tennessee. They built a unique pickup with a blend of commercial truck details on a 1/2-ton platform, and that certainly grabbed our attention. In a sea of classic F-100 pickups there is no doubt that this hefty 1/2-ton stands out of the crowd.

1955 Ford F-100
Drayton Hales

CHASSIS
Frame: Stock
Modifications: Boxed
Rearend: Narrowed (6 inches) Ford 9-inch, 2.76:1 gears, Moser axles
Rear Suspension: Leaf springs, moved inboard
Rear Brakes: Drum
Front Suspension: Dropped 2-ton solid axle, parallel leaf springs
Front Brakes: Drums
Steering: Rack-and-pinion
Front Wheels: Chevy Dump Truck, Re-hooped to 20×9
Rear Wheels: Chevy Dump Truck, Re-hooped to 20×10
Front Tires: Toyo 275/45R20
Rear Tires: Goodyear 275/60R20
Gas Tank: Custom aluminum

DRIVETRAIN
Engine: Cummins 4BT diesel, 3.9-liter
Head: Stock
Turbo: Stock 60mm turbo
Exhaust: 3-inch, no muffler
Radiator: Humvee
Transmission: GM TH400 automatic
Shifter: B&M

BODY
Style: F-100
Fenders Front: Stock
Hood: Stock
Grille: Stock
Bed: Custom wood floor with single wheeltub
Bodywork and Paint by: Drayton and James Hales
Paint Type/Color: Axalta eggshell clearcoat over original patina
Headlights/Taillights: Stock replacement
Outside Mirrors: West Coast
Bumpers: Stock

INTERIOR
Dashboard: Stock F-100
Gauges: Stock cluster with AutoMeter auxiliary gauges
Air Conditioning: None
Stereo: Turbo whistle
Steering Wheel: 1965 Ford
Steering Column: 1965 Ford
Seats: Custom buckets made from 30-gallon barrels
Upholstery by: Don’s Trim Shop
Material/Color: Black leather

The post This Diesel-Powered Ford F-100 is a Mixed Bag of Awesome appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Gateway Bronco [www.gatewaybronco.com] has made quite a name for itself screwing together first generation Ford Broncos for discerning customers all over the globe. These Broncos are built off of original bodies/frames and get the best of everything, including all-new suspension, brakes, drivetrain, and more. With options such as full leather interiors, 5.0L Coyote V-8s with Raptor-sourced six-speed automatics, and much more it isn’t surprising that sticker on these fresh first gens hits six figures. Now, thanks to a new agreement recently signed by Gateway Bronco, it is now fully licensed by Ford Motor Company to build these turn-key 1966-1977 Broncos via the Low Volume Motor Vehicle Manufacturers Act of 2015.

“We’re honored to be recognized by Ford Motor Company and consider this license agreement a tremendous privilege,” said Seth Burgett, CEO of Gateway Bronco. “We will work diligently to serve and protect the Ford brand. Our proprietary, exclusive solutions to re-condition and manufacture the first-generation Ford Bronco has led to incredible growth of our company. Deepening our relationship with Ford will help us better serve our customers who want the ultimate classic Ford Bronco with modern performance.”

Gateway Bronco offers three models of the first-generation Bronco ranging from $120,000 to $180,000. All Gateway Broncos are backed by an industry-leading, bumper-to-bumper warranty through innovation and strict quality standards. The company protects each off-road vehicle from rust and deterioration using proprietary solutions, as well as modern chassis components and tuning know-how to make the ride smoother and more comfortable. One of the largest restorers of the first-generation Bronco, Gateway is capable of producing between two and four vehicles a month and meets the Certified Reconditioned Vehicle standards established by Ford.

The post Gateway Bronco Signs Licensing Agreement with Ford appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

During the annual Mooneyes XMAS Party, a little bit of everything flocks to the Irwindale Event Center parking lot. Among those vehicles are a whole lot of pickup trucks. We at HOT ROD have always loved trucks—many of them are essentially muscle cars with a more utilitarian body, making them both practical and fun to drive. What’s not to love? You can have a rumbling V8 under the hood, your dog beside you in the cab, and a few yards of lumber in the bed—or you can just let more friends ride in the back if that’s more your speed.

From patina’d-out trucks that looked like they were straight off the farm, to trucks that might be more at home at an indoor car show under the lights—there was something for every truck enthusiast to gawk at. That’s part of the beauty of the Mooneyes XMAS Party—the variety at this event makes you keep your head on a swivel wondering what you might see next. Country music artist, Kip Moore, perhaps said it best, “There’s somethin’ ‘bout a truck.” So take a look through this gallery of pickups from the 2018 Irwindale Mooneyes Party and stay tuned for more coverage!

The post Tons o’ Trucks at the 2018 Mooneyes XMAS Party! appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Typically when we attend a show, we look for the coolest coupes in the parking lot, but the annual Mooneyes XMAS Party at the Irwindale Event Center isn’t exactly your typical show. The parking lot was absolutely packed with people-movers scattered among the rows of coupes and single-cab pickups. While most shows have just a handful of wagons and four-door cars scattered among the more desirable models, this event had more than we could count. It has been very interesting to see the resurgence of the popularity with these “crew cab” models as their two door counterparts have steadily increased in value, and we would be hard pressed to say we’re upset about it.

Anything that’s getting more people into our great hobby, especially younger individuals, is something that we are thrilled to see. These lower price point cars with their extra doors serve as a sort of gateway drug to the life-long addiction that is the classic car hobby, and that’s one substance abuse problem we can get on board with. Sure, coupes are always going to be the most sought after models, but who’s to say one of these alternative rides can’t be cool too? Think about it: you can fit some extra buddies in the car without any complaints about legroom, and one of the best parts about cars has always been the people one meets along the journey anyway. So maybe these old four doors deserve a double take as the hot rodding hobby evolves in our ever-changing industry. Just take a look through this gallery of sedans, wagons, and vans and let us know if this is a trend you think should continue to grow.

The post Wagons, More Doors, and Vans: The People Movers of the 2018 Mooneyes XMAS Party appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Christmas shopping for a loved one can be a difficult proposition. For us guys, we’re totally lost until a last minute premonition clears up the confusion. Sometimes we’re successful at picking out the right gift, yet other times, we fail miserably. For the ladies in the audience, as guys, we’re pretty easy to please; we just want something for our Mustang. Do not get us socks or underwear; that’s the equivalent of us getting you a vacuum cleaner. For the men out there with a Mustang girl as a significant other, we just made things a lot easier for you.

Whether it’s new wheels, upgraded brakes, a new supercharger or turbo, or a billet Coyote intake, this gallery will fill your Christmas list with the gifts your Mustang enthusiast wants and needs. Merry Christmas!!!

The post Hump day Halloween is in the books at SEMA 2018 #MTSEMA18 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

How often does a car build start with a simple conversation? We’re willing to bet more often than not, and in the case of Scott VanBuskirk’s stunning El Camino, that’s exactly what happened.

“It all started on Easter of 2017 when a friend of mine, Louis Marquez, approached me after Easter service and told me that he would be moving. He had a 1968 El Camino that he had taken apart to restore, but had never gotten around to it. He knew where I worked and knew I could get it back together. The car was a basket case,” he says. “Louis said if I wanted it, it was mine. I thanked him and did not give it much thought at the time because I was so busy. Later, I talked to my wife and after talking to her I had told her I did not think I was going to get it because it was such a large undertaking.”

As the Purchasing Manager at TMI Products, a manufacturer of aftermarket upholstery kits and more, VanBuskirk is in a unique position in the automotive aftermarket. So when his co-workers found out this car was available they began to push him to get it, and you can guess where the story goes. TMI has a monstrous SEMA presence every year and was in need of a fifth car for their 2017 display right when this car came available.

“I went back to Louis and asked him more about the car. He told me that he had gotten it around 1982 and drove it until 1990 when it stopped running. It was at that time he completely dismantled the car with the intention of restoring it,” says VanBuskirk.
And there it sat, pieces piled in boxes, until Scott showed up with a trailer on April 29, 2017. He towed the car in to the shop at TMI for everyone to look it over, and they determined it was in good shape, with a clean, straight body and no visible rot. At some point the roof had rotted out so a new roof had been dropped onto the chassis, but not welded into place.

“I took the car back home and started to sort through all of the totes and piles of car parts that were given to me, to begin to make a plan of what I could use and what needed to be replaced. I put together a checklist of what I had to purchase, such as a motor, transmission, wheels, tires, brakes, and so on,” he says.

It was at that point that paranoia set in as he realized just how many things could and would go wrong with the build. Ultimately, though, he has just one regret: not building a bigger engine. And what enthusiast among us can say they haven’t had the same thought after the completion of a project?

The frame-off restoration blends in a stock, 2002-vintage LS1 engine with FiTech fuel injection on top, sucking fuel from the Tanks Inc. fuel tank. With the severely limited timeframe to get the car completed, the decision was made to limit the underhood modifications to prevent any unexpected issues.

With the exception of appearance and update items, the engine was left mostly stock, save for the Holley sheetmetal intake manifold, CFR oil pan, LS coils from Sultans of Spark, and the aforementioned FiTech system. Headers from Doug’s were ceramic-coated and combined with a set of 2.5-inch Flowmaster mufflers in the custom-built exhaust system. To make all of the pieces work with the late-model engine and early-model chassis, a harness kit from Painless Wiring was set into place.

An engine oil cooler from CFR; a Champion Cooling three-row, dual-pass aluminum radiator; and AFE air cleaner were also employed in the engine compartment. The complete All American Billet serpentine accessory drive system was installed to dress up the engine’s appearance, and Lokar dipsticks installed for both engine and transmission oil.

Speaking of the transmission, the stock 4L60E remains behind the engine and is quite adequate for the requirements of the mostly stock engine. An aluminum driveshaft from Inland Empire Driveline Service sends the power back to the DiffWorks-built 10-bolt rear.
The Right Stuff’s big-brake power disc conversion kit was installed, which includes everything to make the swap possible: 2-inch drop spindles, four calipers, drilled and slotted rotors, stainless steel hoses, all of the CNC-machined forged brackets and hardware, and even the forged aluminum hubs. In the rear of the Elky, Eibach springs were set into place to drop the car an identical 2 inches to match the front’s drop. US Mags Down Draft 18-inch wheels are wrapped in Continental ExtremeContact Sport tires measuring 225/40ZR18 and 255/35ZR18, respectively.

Of course, since TMI was heavily involved in the build, it only stands to reason that the company’s complete catalog was touched to make this car come to life. The company’s grey-and-black Pro Series Low Back GT seats with blue accents cradle the driver and passenger, with TMI’s door panels upholstered to match and TMI black carpet on the floor. A Forever Sharp steering wheel was wrapped to match by TMI, with a custom headliner and floor mats also created by the TMI team. New glass from Original Parts Group and Dakota Digital gauges finish off the interior.

And that stunning exterior? The Subaru World Rally Blue pigment was applied by Raul Zuniga Paint & Body, with powdercoating of all of the critical components completed by Seven S Powder Coating.

Gabe, Ron, and Albert of RnG Customs, Classics and Fabrication completed the wiring, exhaust, fuel tank, and fuel system plumbing. Dylan VanBuskirk did most of the metalwork, replacing the roof, removing and welding up the driprail area, split and welded the firewall and transmission housing area back together to work with the LS and 4L60E, and replaced portions of the floor. Brian Reno modified and upgraded the windows to one-piece units, doing away with the vent windows and streamlining the appearance. Other assembly work and assistance was given by Brandon VanBuskirk, Bud Dosher, and Don Lee.

It was a massive amount of work, but given what we’ve seen from the TMI team previously, we’re not surprised that they pulled it off. There were large stumbling blocks, not the least of which was the meniscus tear Scott suffered on June 2nd, with surgery taking place on September 2nd, just as they really started to drop the hammer on getting the build finished. Then the body didn’t want to fit back onto the chassis because of interference with the engine and transmission, but the team came together and ultimately took the car from the initial buckets of bolts to a completed, in-the-trailer-on-the-way-to-SEMA build in the span of six months to the day, as the car left for the 2017 SEMA Show on October 29, 2017.

“I had a great support team and I was back up with the car working on it the day after surgery, not able to do much but still moving forward. The memories and the bonds of friendships will not be forgotten and were so appreciated during this time of possible discouragement,” he says.

The post A Pile of Loose Parts Took 25 Years to Become This Amazing 1968 El Camino appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

Q. I talked with you at one of the shows and asked what type of tungsten electrode you normally use for TIG welding. I bought the one you recommended, but it’s time to reorder and I can’t remember the type or brand you use. I’ve been using 3/32-inch diameter for mild steel, stainless, and aluminum. I’m not a pro welder but I want to use the proper setup.

Hope you can you help.

John
Via the Internet

 A. I use a 3/32 2 percent Ceriated tungsten for virtually all my welding. It works with all of the metals I use in my shop, and is good for both thin sheetmetal and heavy plate. Some welders use Lanthanated, or “Rare Earth” tungsten, which are also good “all-purpose” choices.

The 3/32 diameter is robust enough to weld even heavy metals. (Half-inch thickness is my definition for “heavy” plate, but of course I’m not in the business of building ships or reactor vessels.) If you ever need to weld super-thin metals, you may find that you will get a bit less arc wandering at low-amperage settings with a smaller-diameter tungsten (you can go as small as 0.040) but 20-gauge is about the thinnest metal I normally weld, and 3/32 diameter works well for me, even with metal that thin.

I have had good results with all the brands I have tried, so I don’t think you need to specify a particular manufacturer.

 Q. I am doing rust repairs on the lower body panels of my 1952 Chevrolet truck, and I need to make patch panels. I need to know if the new metal that I buy from my local supply house is compatible with the metal on my old truck. I’m told that newer trucks are using special steels, and I want to be sure that when I buy metal there won’t be any issues when welding patches into my old body, and that the possibly dissimilar metals won’t break down at the joints over time.

Fred Spencer
Via the Internet

A. Metallurgy is a very active field now that manufacturers of new cars and trucks are working feverishly to reduce the weight of vehicles. They do this with the goal of getting better gas mileage, which can enhance their position in the marketplace. There is a bewildering array of new materials which have been developed, including TRIP steel, Boron steel, Interstitial-Free steel, Duplex steel, Micro-alloyed steel, and Bake-hardening steel. Fortunately for you, your truck is old enough that it is made from “regular old” Cold Rolled Steel (usually abbreviated CRS), although some panels on cars and trucks of the era were made from a special version of CRS called “Killed” steel, or Drawing-Quality steel (DQ) and sometimes Deep Drawing steel (DDS) and even Extra Deep Drawing steel (EDDS). You aren’t likely to find any of these special materials at your local metal supply house, but as long as you select CRS you will get material that you can easily work and it will weld to the older metal with no problems. You can sleep soundly, knowing the new and old metals will be compatible over the long term.

On newer trucks, there are some structural panels that lose their strength if welded (such as door intrusion beams), so the whole panel must be replaced to make a sound repair. Fortunately for us who like classic trucks, you won’t find any of these high-tech materials on any truck made more than 30 years ago.

 You can email your questions to Professor Hammer – covell@cruzio.com – or mail a letter to Covell Creative Metalworking, 106 Airport Blvd., Suite 105, Freedom CA 95019. You will receive a personal reply. Ron Covell has made many videos on metalworking, and they can now be STREAMED or DOWNLOADED from his website! Check these out at covell.biz, along with his ongoing series of workshops held across the nation, or call for a current schedule of workshops and a free catalog of DVDs. Phone (831) 768-0705. Also, check out Ron’s YouTube channel – www.youtube.com/user/covellron

The post Professor Hammer’s Metalworking Tips: Tungsten Electrodes appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

When physics teacher Graeme Thompson sat down at Little Brothers Ford in Weston, Ontario, just north of Toronto, to order his 1965 Falcon Futura, salesperson Ole Sorensen told him, “I’ll place the order, but I don’t think they’re going to build it.”

That’s because Thompson had opted for a little-known performance package that included the 271hp 289 Hi-Po engine, Top Loader four-speed gearbox, and Traction Lok–equipped 9-inch rear axle. That would be the K-code engine package in Mustang or Fairlane terms (minus the Traction Lok), but for the Falcon, it was simply conveyed as code 992. And it was only offered in Canada. No American-built Falcons were built with the package, and the K-code was never officially available with it north of the border.

As with other factory high-performance packages of the day, the intent was to make the car legal in NHRA Stock Eliminator racing. Problem was, only seven of the cars were built by Ford at the Oakville, Ontario, assembly plant: three pillared coupes and four hardtops, like this one. NHRA demanded at least 50 to qualify for a Stock Eliminator class. As a result, they were relegated to the Factory Experimental (FX) class.

Knowing the cars would go straight to the strip, Ford truncated the normal two-year/ 24,000-mile warranty to 90 days/4,000 miles.

Racing the car was the very reason Thompson ordered the Hi-Po Falcon. He wasted little time in attaching a tow bar and pulling it to dragstrips around Ontario, often bringing home trophies for his weekend’s work. For the first couple of years, Thompson was sponsored by a local shop named Weston Race and Custom. When the sponsorship money dried up, he dubbed the car Teacher’s Pet and soldiered on independently.

All told, Thompson campaigned Teacher’s Pet for about eight years, typically running in the mid- and low-13s. He even worked his way through a 24-car class field, including a 390-powered Galaxie in the final round, to win the Niagara Gold Cup Nationals in 1969 at Niagara Dragway. It was one of 30 trophies the car earned in its eight years on the strip.

It’s no surprise Thompson was able to drive around so many competitors. With a curb weight of right around 2,800 pounds, the car had a strong power-to-weight ratio of around 10.7:1. The 1965 Nova SS, by comparison, tipped the scales nearly 200 pounds heavier, and its 327 engine was down 20 hp to the 289 Hi-Po.

As it did many racers of the day, the advent of bracket racing prompted Thompson to put away his helmet. He sold Teacher’s Pet in 1973, and it changed hands a number of times before Nick Brouwer acquired it in 2003. More than a fan of the factory Hi-Po Falcons, however, Brouwer was a fan of the racecar.

“Starting around 1967 and for the next couple of years, I would walk past the car every day on my way to school,” says Brouwer. “Graeme worked on the car in his driveway. I don’t think the rest of his neighbors appreciated that, but I sure did.”

Brouwer even saw the car run at Golden Horseshoe Dragway (later renamed Toronto International Dragway), then watched it drive around his hometown after Thompson sold it, as a succession of his friends traded ownership. Although the car stayed local for a while, it eventually moved away. But not too far. Brouwer recognized it immediately when it popped up in a local trader publication in 2003.

He says, “It had been painted black from the original Prairie Bronze, and the Palomino interior had also been changed to black, but it was definitely the Teacher’s Pet. I was thrilled to buy it. What it really deserved was to be restored to its original racing condition.”

Fortunately, the car’s early years as a dedicated track tool kept it off the street in the salted months, helping preserve the body. The miles were comparatively low, too. To date, the odometer shows 54,800 miles, the first few thousand, as it is said, racked up a quarter-mile at a time. The original color was resprayed, and temporary reproduction “Teacher’s Pet” graphics were added to the sides. They were ultimately removed, and discreet versions of the racecar name now reside on the rear quarter-windows. It’s a subtle but knowing tribute to the car’s heritage.

The car also rolls on updated wheels and tires, but it carries that classic big-and-little dragstrip stance. With a deep oil pan and a set of CalTrac bars out back, the effect is a nice blend of restomod and vintage drag car. Frankly, we just don’t see many Falcons with such a look, and it’s refreshing.

Like so many dedicated racecars of that golden era, the original 289 Hi-Po engine had expired long before, and a replacement engine was nestled between the shock towers. Brouwer had a correct replacement build featuring all of the 271hp goodies, including a solid-lifter camshaft, heads with smaller chambers that supported a 10.5:1 compression ratio, a dual-points distributor, the appropriate crankshaft, and more. It was all to enable 6,000-rpm engine speeds, and it was a potent combination.

Externally, the engine varies slightly today, with an Edelbrock Victor Jr. aluminum intake, a Quick Fuel 750-cfm Holley, finned valve covers, and a few other bolt-on items.

After the restoration was complete, Teacher’s Pet was displayed at the 2008 Speed-O-Rama in Toronto, as well as the Toronto Performance World Car Show, where Brouwer reunited it with Thompson for the first time in decades.

“It was a great moment,” he says. “And after the show, I took the car over to Graeme’s house. He still lived in the same one I walked by more than 40 years earlier. He and his son took the car out for a few blasts down the street. It was just like 1967 again.”

Brouwer has accumulated copious documentation on the car, including photos and notes of Thompson rebuilding the engine in his living room, a letter from NHRA indicating the low production excluded the car from Stock Eliminator classes, and, curiously, a copy of the original dealer invoice, which was shown in the Jan. 2002 issue of MCR. It was part of a story on another of the seven don’t-call-it-a-K-Code Hi-Po Falcons.

“I’m not sure how the invoice for my specific car ended up in the story, because it wasn’t for the car in the story,” Brouwer says. “But there it was, which prompted my contact to the magazine.”

For the record, we don’t know, either. It’s an MCR mystery dating back to the days when photo shoots involved a brick of Fujichrome slide film and when flip phones were still a thing.

Today, the car is part of Brouwer’s enviable muscle car collection. To be honest, his true penchant is for Mopars, but the Falcon is one of those cars that, like many of us, has burned into the brain: the muscle car you saw in your formative years that you just had to have one day. Brouwer made that happen, with one of the rarest high-performance Fords on either side of the U.S./Canada border.

At a Glance
1965 Falcon Hi-Po
Owned by: Nick Brouwer
Restored by: Chris’s Auto Body (ext. and int.); Autoserv 98 (engine)
Engine: 289ci/271hp Hi-Po V-8
Transmission: Top Loader close-ratio 4-speed manual
Rearend: 9-inch with Traction Lok (Detroit anti-spin) differential and 4.11 gears
Interior: Palomino vinyl bucket seats with center console and Hurst shifter
Wheels: 15-inch Cragar Street Pro five-slot
Tires: 5.60-15 front runner front, P235/60R15 Mickey Thompson ET Street R rear
Special parts: Factory performance package with 289 Hi-Po engine and driveline, including transmission; 9-inch rear axle with limited-slip differential; heavy-duty suspension; heavy-duty 10-inch drum brakes

Racing Days

The post Ultrarare 1 of 7 Canadian 1965 Ford Falcon Hi-Po Was Built for the Dragstrip appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

While the show portion of the Mooneyes XMAS Party held annually at the Irwindale Event Center attracts the most cars, we think the vintage drag racing is the most fun part to watch. Mooneyes purposely limits the year of a vehicle that can be entered to race to 1969 and earlier in an attempt to keep that vintage feel of the whole show. We at HOT ROD have always loved drag racing, and this event truly feels like a step back in time with the kinds of vehicles you’ll see here each year. There was anything from old nostalgia altered cars cackling in the pits to a host of A/FX cars laying it down on the 1/8th mile drag strip.

Whether you like gassers with the front end sky high or unique vintage dragsters, there was a little bit of something for everyone with even a few early muscle cars thrown in the mix. So take a step back in time by looking through this gallery of vintage racers from the 2018 Irwindale Mooneyes Party.

The post Vintage Racecars at the 2018 Mooneyes XMAS Party! appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

I just finished binge-watching the 3K Hooptie Challenge (3KHC) on Facebook and highly recommend it. This isn’t an endorsement for the show in any way, but it is something I think every car enthusiast should watch because it truly exemplifies the notion that hot rodding is about having fun and going fast with what you’ve got. It could be a lawnmower, electric scooter, a Japanese-imported Kei car, a thoroughbred vintage racer, or in this case, a creatively built pile or metal.

I firmly believe that you should build something for yourself, regardless of what others think. Sure, it’s good to listen to experts when it comes to getting the fundamentals right, but creatively, it is your project, so build it the way you want. The cars displayed in the 3KHC were incredible exercises of ingenuity, and the pride these builders took in their vehicles was heartwarming. Most of these cars aren’t what you’d call fast, but that doesn’t matter because they were built on the cheap just because.

As the hosts wandered the lot looking at the competitors, something was said that stuck in my mind: “Build with your brain and not your budget.” If you read some of the engine tech littered throughout the pages and website of HOT ROD, you’ll find all of the info you need to make a badass ride and still have cash to buy a tank of gas. With that in mind, get out there and build something!

The post Build with Your Brain and Not Your Budget appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

The historic “movie ranch” immolated in last fall’s firestorm twice hosted USAC stock cars on a 2-mile sports-car track in rural Agoura, California. Contemporaneous publications proclaimed it to be the first figure-eight road course in the west. Ironically and tragically, its most-notable feature—a tunnel that enabled the elevated cross traffic seen in HRM photographer Eric Rickman’s overview—became notorious for ending the lives of both the racetrack and the amateur sports-car racer who was ejected after skidding into a concrete upright. His was the second death of that final weekend in December 1957.

Most of the film and TV “Westerns” supposedly set in Southwestern badlands were really filmed much closer to Hollywood. Their dusty trails and Main Street storefronts were installed just over the hill, literally. Studio chiefs accurately calculated that reserving huge hunks of cheap land outside L.A. beat hauling talent, crew, and equipment to Tombstone and back. Paramount Studios bought these 2,700 acres on the western edge of the sleepy San Fernando Valley in 1927. In 1980, 436 acres were preserved as a national park and filming site. Western Town was rebuilt in 1984 and stayed busy with movie, TV, and commercial productions until the fire.

Race cars performed only seven times over two seasons before insurance was reportedly canceled. All were California Sports Car Club meets, except the two USAC shows depicted here: a 250-miler on Nov. 4, 1956, won by Sam Hanks in Bill Stroppe’s (15) Mercury; and the 100-mile event on Apr. 28, 1957, that saw Jimmy Reece’s (85) Pontiac finish third.

The post Paramount Movie Ranch Destroyed In California Fire Once Hosted USAC Stock Car Races appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

While the Chrysler Corporation produced some of the stoutest straight-line performance automobiles during the muscle car era, they lacked some much-desired nimbleness when it came to making production cars that could maneuver through the curves. When a corner was approached at a decent speed, the body roll was usually predictable but quite severe, and the front end tended to push (understeer, car continued to drive straight) regardless of how much steering wheel rotation was fed into the corner. To improve the ability to handle the turns, the factory may have installed a front sway bar on the performance models, or if a customer desired, a front sway bar could be ordered for many of the Mopar production vehicles. A large front bar would reduce understeer on corner entry, but could possibly make the rear of the vehicle loose (oversteer, the rear of the car wants to come around and pass the front end). A vehicle that oversteers tends to be quicker around a track, but an unskilled driver will find a less stable vehicle that’s much more difficult to control when the vehicle is enthusiastically driven. Most weekend warriors would rather not worry about pushing the limits in their classic ride but rather enjoy the stable feeling that’s provided by the sway bar while negotiating the bends in the road. We have a Dodge Dart that came from the factory minus any type of sway bars, and the body roll and understeer could be excessive in a bend in the road. In an attempt to make the Dart more comfortable and reduce body roll during cornering, we contacted Performance Suspension Technology (PST) about a pair of their G-MAX Sway Bars. The G-MAX sway bars are built from solid steel and are a great upgrade over a stock sway bar (if one is currently installed). The front sway bar (PN SWAY 596, suggested retail price $195) is a 1 1/8-inch bar, and the rear sway bar (PN SWAY 675, suggested retail price $195) is a 7/8-inch bar. The G-MAX sway bars are shipped with all the mounting hardware for most applications.

When the G-MAX sway bars arrived, the front sway bar was the first to be installed. The Dart was placed on a four-post hydraulic lift to give us access to the under chassis without lying on the shop floor, yet keep the vehicle’s weight loaded onto the suspension. The two adapter plates included in the kit were lined up to factory drilled holes on the driver and passenger sides of the K-member, and two bolts per adapter plate secured the plates to the K-member. The sway bar was passed through the factory K-member, and then it was allowed to rest in the K-member, while two bushings were positioned on the sway bar at the points that lined up with each adapter plate (one bushing per plate). A bracket was slipped over each bushing, and it was lined up with the two holes on each adapter plate. With the sway bar arms pointed to the rear of the Dart, the clearance of the sway bar and the pass-through cavity in the K-member was noted, and if the clearance wasn’t sufficient, an equal number of spacers would need to be added between each adapter plate and bushing bracket to provide additional clearance between the sway bar and the K-member. Once the proper number of shims was determined, two bolts were dropped through the adapter plate, the shims, and the bushing bracket. A washer and a lock nut were threaded on to each bolt, and the nuts were snugged but not torqued to spec at this time. Our Dart required two spacers between each adapter plate and the bushing bracket to provide an interference-free installation of the sway bar.

The instructions for the front G-MAX sway bar required each endlink to be attached to a 90-degree angled bracket and its corresponding opening in the sway bar. The orientation of the endlink bolt consisted of a washer, a bushing, the angled bracket (pointing downward), a bushing, and a washer. To complete the other end of the endlink required a spacer sleeve, a washer, a bushing, the sway bar, a bushing, a washer, and a nut to keep everything together. With each endlink properly assembled and installed on the sway bar, the sway bar was rotated to line up the 90-degree angled brackets with the lower control arms just inboard of the installed location of the strut rods. A mark was placed on the lower control arm that lined up with the hole in the angled bracket. After center punching the marks on the control arms, the lower control arms were drilled with a 3/8-inch drill bit. The sway bar was returned to its proper installed location with the sway bar arms pointed to the rear of the Dart, and the angle brackets were lined up with the drilled holes in the lower control arms. A bolt was pushed through each bracket and lower control arm, and a hex nut with nylon insert was torqued, thus tying the sway bar to the control arm. With the vehicle weight on the suspension, the sway bar bushing brackets were torqued, and the tension on the endlinks was adjusted. The last step was to lubricate the sway bar bushings via the Zerk fittings on the bushing brackets.

The previous description was for lower control arms that didn’t have the factory endlink provisions already installed on them. We deviated a bit from the installation instructions because our Dart already had lower control arms that had the factory endlink brackets in place. The endlink bolts in the kit were too short for our application, because the factory lower control arm bracket mounts extend 2 inches higher than the installed position of the 90-degree angled bracket on a non-sway bar control arm. Two bolts that were 2 inches longer were picked up along with some properly sized double-walled steel tubing that could be cut to the desired length and would fit over the new bolts. The double-walled steel would be the spacer sleeve to accurately locate the endlink between the lower control arm bracket and the sway bar. The orientation of the washers, bushings, and spacer sleeves was the same order that was used with the PST endlinks, but this time, the bolt end was pointed upward (nut at the top) rather than downward.

The rear G-Max sway bar was oriented with the arms facing the front of the Dart, and the dip in the sway bar was located downward and toward the rear. Before the installation of the bar, the bushings were installed on the sway bar. Two U-bolts were dropped over the rearend axletubes (one on each side of the differential). A baseplate was slipped onto each pair of the U-bolt legs followed by the bushing bracket wrapping around the bushing on the sway bar, and a lock nut was loosely threaded onto each leg of the U-bolts. A locking device (C-channel­–shaped support) was guided between the baseplate and the axlehousing tube, and the lock nuts on the U-bolts were lightly tightened. The endlinks were assembled into the frame bracket and then to the sway bar arms. Each frame bracket was lined up with the rear framerails. If the brackets hadn’t lined up, the rotation of the U-bolt assemblies forward or backward on the axlehousing would’ve moved the sway bar endlinks closer to the proper installation location. When lining up the endlink frame brackets, time was taken to ensure the parking brake cable, the fuel lines, and any other components wouldn’t obstruct the installation. With the brackets located against the framerails, a mark was drawn through each bracket mounting hole onto the rails to allow the installation of the frame U-bolts. The holes were carefully drilled, and a frame U-bolt was pushed through one of the holes in the framerail and then fished through the second hole. At this time, the supplied fasteners were installed to secure the frame bracket. The same procedure was performed on the other framerail. With the weight of the Dart on the axlehousing, the frame brackets and the axletube U-bolts were tightened to specifications followed by adjusting the endlinks to achieve the proper tension. The sway bar bushings were greased, and with that, the Dart was ready to hit the streets.

On our initial testdrive with the PST G-MAX sway bars installed, the steering input response of the Dart felt firmer through a corner, and the Dart seemed to remain much more level through all the curves compared to maneuvering without any sway bars. The cornering of the Dart felt much improved, but seeing this was the street and not a track, the bars weren’t pushed too hard. To test the sway bars more severely, two different small courses were designed to test the performance of the sway bars. One course was a circle, and the second was a slalom course through which the Dart would have to zigzag through pylons, and to evaluate the sway bars, the elapsed time to complete each course would be measured.

Before course testing started, the 14-inch steel wheels and 70-series tires were removed in favor of a set of 215/60R14 tires on 14×6 wheels. We didn’t want to wear out our good tires, and experience indicated the 60-series tires with shorter sidewalls would provide a bit more stability and wouldn’t roll under as considerably during the hard cornering as the 70-series tires. With the wheels mounted, the Dart was run on the circle course, and the Dart felt very stable as the speeds increased. After several runs (traveling in each direction), the Dart’s elapsed times were consistent and repeatable. To make sure the tests were valid and to eliminate any bias in our driving technique, a helper came with us to the testing, and his job was to remove (or not remove) the endlinks without informing anyone of the status of the sway bars. The Dart would then be run through the test courses again to evaluate the performance of the sway bars. Five additional runs were evaluated, and it was apparent as the speed increased which runs had the endlinks disconnected. With the endlinks removed, the Dart rolled hard in a track opposite of the direction the steering wheel was rotated, and as the speed increased, more steering wheel input was required to attempt to make the Dart turn. Without the sway bars, the Dart was slow and clumsy, and the tire wear (and noise) was increased as the Dart greatly understeered. On the runs with the endlinks attached, the Dart reached speeds that couldn’t be attained on the sway bar–less runs. Each run with the sway bars attached was substantially quicker and much more enjoyable to drive than the non-sway bar runs. Whenever the sway bars endlinks were attached, the Dart had minimal roll, and the car control was much better, but the understeer condition would arise as the tires finally were pushed beyond their limits of traction. The sway bar–equipped Dart was able to efficiently lace between the pylons while the non-sway bar ride lumbered through the cones at a much slower rate.

Did the Performance Suspension Technology G-MAX sway bars live up to our expectations? Yes, the sway bars fit perfectly, and the performance on the street was beyond our expectations. While road courses aren’t an area of specialty for everyone, the sway bars can assist in making anyone look like an expert road coarse handler. We enjoyed the very well-balanced package PST selected for us, and although the Dart will never be able to cut corners like a purpose-built race car, the Dart now handles the turns with a mild understeer condition as the front tires finally give up. If you’re looking for a more stable, neutral balanced handling package for your Mopar, give PST a call or check out their website, and they’ll set you up with all the suspension parts you need to handle any curves that lay ahead.

The post Install Peace of Mind with Performance Suspension Technology Sway Bars appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

If you were in the market for a new muscle car in the waning months of 1967, the December issue of Motor Trend was a goldmine of information. The cover promised comparisons of “all the hottest ’68s,” including the GTO, Charger, GS 400, Torino, Chevelle, Road Runner, 4-4-2, and Coronet.

Also in the issue was a story with tips for readers in the market for a used supercar. (Back then, these types of cars were called super much more often than muscle.) Buying a previously owned muscle car had its risks, noted author Michael Lamm, from higher insurance and maintenance costs to the chance that, even in those days, an unscrupulous seller could try to pass off a pedestrian model as super by swapping fender emblems or valve-cover decals. Most of Lamm’s story went over those risks and offered steps to improve your chances of getting the car of your dreams.

Adding even more value to the story were charts, reproduced here, that summarized the specifications and magazine road test data for key supercar models from 1964 to 1967. They are a fascinating review of what performance really looked like in the early days of the muscle car era.

It would also be tough to know how stock—or not—the cars were when they were being tested. Some manufacturers weren’t above giving ringers to magazines, cars that had been specially tuned or had even undergone a secret engine swap (yes, Mr. Wangers, we’re thinking of you). And while Motor Trend editors tended to make fewer trackside tuning modifications than their brothers at Hot Rod and Car Craft, we ran across more than one photo of a Motor Trend test car headed down the quarter-mile with slicks mounted. So the data do not necessarily represent cars in absolute bone-stock condition, but do certainly reflect the acceleration, braking, and fuel economy performance typical of the time.

Best/Worst
Based on the “Super Car Performance Chart” that opened the story, the quickest among the cars MT tested over those four years was a 1967 GTO with a 360hp 400 and a four-speed transmission that ran 13.1 seconds in the quarter-mile at 106.5 mph. These numbers put the GTO so far beyond its peers for the model year, and even beyond the second-fastest car of all four years covered (a Hemi-powered 1966 Satellite turning 14.5/99), that we had to find the road test to see what was up. Remember what we said about specially tuned ringers? Bingo. These numbers came from a Jan. 1967 story called “Testing 2 Tigers” whose subject was a pair of 1967 GTOs that were “personally prepared” by Milt Schornack at Royal Pontiac. That prep included a Royal Bobcat tune-up, Hurst unequal-length headers, and M&H drag tires.

A tenth of a second separated the two slowest cars in the chart, both from 1964: A 289/four-speed Ford Fairlane ran a 17.5/78, while a 283/four-speed Malibu SS was literally a tick quicker at 17.4/80.

In one of his charts, Lamm averaged the acceleration figures of all the supercars tested during this four-year period and found that “super cars are becoming faster every year. In four short years super cars have lopped more than a second off their quarter-mile time [15.40 vs. 16.49] and gained nearly 10 mph in terminal speed [93.42 vs. 84.20].”

Seventeen-second cars disappear from the chart completely after 1965, with nearly all contenders solidly in the 15s. Just the Bobcat GTO and a Chevelle 375hp SS396 were quicker than 15 seconds, and the lone 16-second car was a Fairlane GTA.

Buyer Beware
Among the caveats Lamm covered in his story:

How Do You Know It’s Super? Since it was so easy to hang badges and emblems on a normal model, “How do you know you’re really getting a super car?” Lamm asked. “How can you tell the 350hp Chevelle SS396 from the 325hp SS396? Or the GTX 440 from a 383-incher? Just because it says ‘440’ on the air cleaner doesn’t make it so. Stickers are cheap.”

One way to tell, he advised, was to check the model number on the carburetor. He illustrated the point with the differing Holley model numbers for the 325- and 350-horse versions of the 396, and the different Carter carbs used on the 440, 383, and even the “426 engine,” which, he pointed out, “looks different.”

He did admit that the “carburetor method of identifying engines isn’t infallible, of course. There’s always the chance that someone’s changed the carb, or that two different horsepower engines use the same number (some fullsize Oldsmobiles and Buicks use the same Rochester 4MV, for instance …).”

Optional Equipment “The ironic thing about a super car’s high-performance options is that they add very little to its used value,” Lamm wrote. “You won’t pay extra for the big engine, four-speed transmission, the handling package, the fast steering, the H-D wheels, or any of the rest of it. Some of this equipment actually lowers the price of the car. For example, the [Kelley] Blue Book says to deduct from $70 to $130 from the price of a 1964-1967 Cyclone if it has the four-speed. In 1965-1967 Cutlasses, the 4-4-2 package adds only $70 to their used price.”

Times have changed.

A Special Breed “Super cars constitute a special breed, and so do the people who buy them,” Lamm noted, a truism that still applies. “In this case, contrary to normal car-buying practices, you’re probably better off if you stay away from used-car lots. You’ll find a better deal and find out more about the car … if you seek out private sellers.”

Why? He wrote, “By and large super car owners make up an impetuous and unsettled group,” since so many are being called into the service, going away to college, getting married, falling behind in their payments, and so on. “In short, they very often have to sell for various reasons beyond their control … and they’re willing to part with their pet for a reasonable price.”

In a paragraph that was just a little less condescending, Lamm also said, “You can judge the car by the owner and its surroundings, not only by what he tells you but by what you can see. If there’s oil on the garage floor and a pair of cheater slicks in the corner, that means something. If the guy acts dumb or if he brags about the victims he’s dusted off in stoplight drags, take these into account, too.”

Just Used Cars
Fifty-some years later, it’s hard to picture our beloved and iconic muscle cars as just used (and maybe used-up) cars, especially if you didn’t live through the era. The final chart in Lamm’s story dispassionately illustrates that point by listing their depreciation values as per the folks at Kelley Blue Book. The numbers in boldface type are the cars’ values as used cars; the numbers below are their base prices when new. These are for two-door hardtop models with four-speed manual transmissions.

You can see that most of the 1964 models lost half, or nearly half, their value. (Wouldn’t you love to buy a Chevelle SS for $1,800 these days?) As you’d expect, that loss decreases as the time narrows between used and new; most 1967 models were worth just a few hundred dollars less.

The outlier here, as it was with the performance data, is the GTO. The 1964 models lost just over a third of their value, with the difference between used and new diminishing until there’s just a $2 difference in 1967. Were the GTOs intrinsically better cars than their competitors in those years? Or do we have Jim Wangers and his marketing team to thank, once again, for polishing the GTO’s image to the point that the public held those cars in a higher regard?

“Super cars are more than just plain cars with big engines,” Lamm concluded. “They’re a separate breed, apart but not necessarily above normal transportation. As such, they have built-in advantages and disadvantages. If you take these factors into account … there’s no reason why you can’t be happy owning a used super car.” True that!

The post Who’s Fastest? Muscle Car Road Test Data, 1964-1967 appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

When Stan Cox recently let go of his 289 Cobra, parked for 39 years, his mind drifted backed to a “clear day, not a cloud in the sky.” He recalls the exact date—October 17, 1979—when a driver ran a stop sign and “bent up” the car Cox says was “like a mistress.” He says, I dragged it back home on a hook.”

His story took on a James Dean-ish sound when he talked wistfully about “heading toward Dahlonega,” but he was not going fast, and neither was the other car.

“I saw her sitting there. There were only two cars on the road, and she saw me.”

Cox added another level of fate to this story when he said, “I hate to say this. The only time I ever drove the speed limit was the day it got hit.”

That same day Stan Cox opened his mailbox and found out he had passed the bar.

“Every day I was reminded I wasn’t working on it. I was working on cases, and finally I thought I would share it with the world and give it to somebody else.”

The car was “broken down,” Cox says. His intention was to restore it piece by piece, but he had gone to the hospital, and was “feeling bad, realizing I probably never would have the energy to put it back together.”

Word leaked out to a neighbor about the Cobra. The neighbor told a Ford collector, who called this author about this significant find.

“I don’t want any names mentioned, if we can. People get all riled up.”

With such a small production run of 998, divided between 655 leaf-spring 289 Cobras and 343 coil-spring 427 Cobras, and because there’s a detailed registry of every car produced, one would expect that every car has been accounted for.

This anonymous Ford collector did not think the Cobra would be real. Enthused, but keeping his head, the buyer called Cox, who was just getting out of the hospital that day, and set up an appointment to see the Cobra. The Cobra was in a residential neighborhood in a building behind the house.

“A garage door [rolled] up, and there it set,” said the collector. “It was completely apart,” a 1965 289 Cobra roadster, silver with black bucket seats.

“Yeah, got the top, all five wire wheels. The front bumper was missing. I never did find the little tool kit that I think comes with them. I never did see that. They changed the shifter to a Hurst. The aluminum transmission was there.”

The car is being fully restored.

The post Rare Find: 1965 Shelby 289 Cobra Hidden in Garage 39 Years appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

By now, Car Craft enthusiasts should immediately recognize this Mark VI big-block Chevy, as it appeared in two previous installments. Way back in part 1, we introduced the bone-yard big-block and managed to get it up on the dyno and make some pulls in (near) stock trim. The reason we use the phrase near stock is because we replaced the factory EFI induction system with simple carburetion. Off came the long- runner EFI intake and in its place went a dual-plane, Weiand intake, Holley 650 Brawler carburetor, and MSD billet distributor. The MSD distributor was necessary because the unit on the factory EFI system was computer controlled. Before running, we took the liberty of removing unnecessary components including motor mounts, accessories, and the stock cast-iron exhaust manifolds. It is amazing how much stuff these already hefty motors came with from the factory. Run in this carbureted condition, the big-block produced 378 hp at 4,700 rpm and 482 lb-ft of torque at 3,500 rpm. Now it was time for a cam swap.

Before getting to the cam swap, we need to examine why we think the motor needs more cam timing. The answer to this question can be found in the results of the test run with the stock cam. Take a look at the big disparity between the peak horsepower and torque outputs. The peak numbers, or rather the difference between these peak numbers, tells you a lot about the combination. This is best understood if we compare them to a couple of other big-block combinations with (among other things) different cam timing. Looking first at the results of our stock motor, we see that the big-block produced much more torque than horsepower, 482 lb-ft versus just 378 hp. When a motor makes more peak torque than peak horsepower, this is a strong indication that it is a mild combo. This is further emphasized by the fact that the peak power and torque numbers occurred at relatively low engine speeds. Equipped with the stock cam, our bone-yard big-block produced peak power at just 4,700 rpm and peak torque at 3,500 rpm. Producing peak numbers at such low engine speed means the motor was designed for grunt. This is accomplished by things like mild cam timing, reduced head flow, and of course, long-runner EFI intakes or a dual-plane carbureted unit like the one we ran.

If we compare this disparity to a combination where the peak power and torque values were similar, we see a slightly more aggressive combination. Run recently, we put together a 454 big-block equipped with RHS 320 heads, a Comp XE284H flat-tappet cam, and dual-pane intake. This big-block combo produced 528 hp and 531 lb-ft of torque, with peak hp and torque nearly equal. Not only were the peak numbers similar (we call this a square motor), but the peak values occurred higher in the rev range than our stock, mild combo. On the square motor, the peak torque occurred at 4,500 rpm, while peak power was pushed up to 5,800 rpm. As a general rule, the higher the rpm at which a motor makes peak power (and torque), the wilder the combination. This compares to an even wilder 468-inch combo (.060-over 454) equipped with a 242-/248-degree duration cam, AFR 265 oval-port heads, and a Victor Jr. intake that produced 623 hp at 6,500 rpm and 569 lb-ft of torque at 5,200 rpm. Note that both peaks occurred higher than the mild and square combos, and that the peak horsepower actually exceeded the peak torque value on this wilder combination. These two examples should make it pretty clear just how mild our junkyard big-block really was, and how it was in desperate need of (at least) wilder cam timing.

While no cam swap was going to push this big-block into the realm of either of our previous examples, it would help the motor make considerably more power. One thing to point out here is that despite the low compression, the available piston-to-valve clearance actually limited cam selection. The factory pistons feature intake valve reliefs, but nothing like you’d see in an aftermarket piston; we could not simply run a big, nasty cam and transform our slow stock into Pro Stock with a simple swap. Besides, we wanted to continue along the real-world, daily driver build for this junkyard motor, and mild cam timing is almost always better for street use. As it turned out, even the mild cam was worth some impressive power gains. In addition to the cam, we also replaced the weak, factory valve springs, as they limited both available engine speed and coil-bind clearance. There is nothing worse than running a cam that wants to rev, and having weak valve springs crash the party.

The spring upgrade on the big-block required a number of components, as the factory valvetrain featured positive-stop, bolt-down rockers, guide plates, and rotators for the stock springs. Though we retained the stock rockers, guide plates, and pushrods, replacing the thick rotators required matching the thickness to ensure proper installed height of the springs. Lucky for us, Comp Cams provided the answer in the form of rotator eliminators. These produced the desired thickness and served as the spring cup (and locator) for our beehive valvesprings (part No. 26120). It is important to note that the installed height of the intake and exhaust valves varied by roughly .050 inch, but this worked to our advantage, as it provided slightly more spring pressure on the larger intake valve. The 26120 springs were combined with Comp’s 4779-8 rotator eliminators and 795 retainers to produce a spring package worthy of our XR276HR cam profile. The Xtreme Energy cam offered .510-inch lift (intake and exhaust), a 224-/230-degree duration split, and 110-degree LSA. Run with the new cam, the power output of our big-block jumped to 427 hp and 504 lb-ft of torque. This represented a gain of nearly 50 hp and 20 lb-ft of torque over the stock cam, and more importantly, we lost zero power anywhere in the curve.

On The Dyno     

We love it when a plan comes together, and our junkyard big-block had already survived the initial testing, to say nothing of a healthy shot of nitrous (see parts 1 and 2). After running those tests, we were excited about swapping the factory cam. Equipped with the stock stick, the 454 produced 378 hp at 4,700 rpm and 482 lb-ft of torque at 3,500 rpm. With the mild stock cam, torque production exceeded 450 lb-ft from 2,500 rpm to 4,300 rpm. After installation of the XR276HR cam, the peaks jumped to 427 hp and 504 lb-ft of torque. The cam swap netted us nearly 50 hp and over 20 lb-ft of torque, without hurting torque production anywhere, even down low.

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Safety and logic are perhaps the greatest enemies of getting out and doing something worthwhile— at least that’s what I kept telling myself in a vain attempt to rationalize what I was about to do. After all, there was a chance this venture could end with me behind bars or—even worse—with my car on its roof in a ditch, but having gained approval from my superiors I pressed on regardless. A proper cannonball from the Red Ball to the Portofino is one of those bucket list type of items that is surrounded by legend making it all the more tantalizing to a collector of stories such as myself. This is the last true outlaw race there is in America and definitely the most epic—a sort of middle finger to the powers that be. The scofflaws and degenerates who have run this race before me have always been modern day folk heroes in my eyes, and the opportunity to be even remotely associated with their names was more than enough to lure me in.

After a whirlwind three week span of prepping my 1972 AMC Sportabout wagon and subsequently road tripping it across the country to HOT ROD Drag Week, I was back in Atlanta where the car and my co-drivers to be were waiting to head north for the start of a modern day cannonball record attempt. Throughout the entirety of Drag Week, sleep is a luxury that is often forgone,so saying I was tired may be an understatement, yet early in the daylight hours, friends Justin G., Lee E., and I climbed into the Hornét with an nearly 900 mile drive to New York ahead of us.

After a quick stop at a local gas station to go over the fuel stop procedure with my friends who were eyeing the whole setup suspiciously, we hit the road as I took the first leg and answered a flurry of questions from my wide-eyed counterparts. A little while later, I let Lee take the helm of the car to get a feel for it on the freeway, and we got into Virginia by early afternoon before stopping at a rest center to swap drivers and stretch our legs. That’s when Justin took over, and we experienced our first hiccup. Only about five minutes into his stint, he may or may not have blown by a well-hidden cop while doing 88 mph in a 65 mph zone. The officer was not amused with our attempt to go back in time like Marty McFly and wrote a pretty hefty ticket as a result. So at least the first run in with law enforcement was out of the way, though I feared there would be more to follow in this foolish, yet somehow necessary, endeavor.

Graciously offering to switch places so he could have some time to recover from the experience, I jumped back in the driver’s seat and drove the rest of the way, crossing the bridge onto Long Island just after midnight. There, we filled up the fuel tanks for the first time since leaving Georgia as the gas station attendant watched us warily the entire time. We arrived at the hotel where the rest of the C2C Express competitors were staying around 1:00AM, and boy was it a ragamuffin group of cars if I’d ever seen one. I chatted with Charlie Safari, the organizer of the event, for a couple hours before heading to my room to try to get a little last-minute planning in as well as a few hours of sleep. Like a kid on Christmas Eve, though, I was far too excited to sleep nearly the entire night. I was up early the next day snapping photos of the contraptions that fellow competitors had assembled. We checked over the car one last time and picked up snacks and beverages for the long trip at a local Walmart before heading to the Red Ball Garage in Manhattan after lunch.

I had decided on a 3:00PM departure time, hoping that would allow me to slip out of New York City between rush hours and land me in Los Angeles about 10:00 pm, assuming I made the journey in the amount of time I wanted. After snapping a few more photos in front of the garage, we took a minute to steel our nerves then punched a time card at exactly 2:56 pm before sprinting to the car and hitting the road. For a glorious two hundred feet we were cannonballing with the C2C Express before hitting the very first red light. Trying to sit patiently at a traffic light when racing a clock makes every agonizing second motionless feel like minutes. Getting out of the city at 3:00PM proved to be an absolute nightmare, but once we were through the Lincoln Tunnel nearly 30 minutes later,we had a much more open road in front of us.

It took a good 20 minutes or so for me to gather the nerve to lay some real speed down, but once I resolved myself, we really started laying tracks. As the traffic thinned, the average speed of my plucky little wagon steadily climbed, and we made up for any time lost leaving New York. The engine was humming, Justin was in the passenger seat with binoculars looking out for what we’ll call “smokies”, and we had the wide-open American interstate system in front of us! Across Pennsylvania we may very well have averaged triple digit speeds, and miraculously duplicated the feat through Ohio, a state that is notorious for catching speeders. Once we entered Indiana, we were coming up on our first fuel stop, and despite having gotten a ticket before the event started, Justin sounded like he was game for a go behind the wheel. Just past Indianapolis, we pulled off the freeway for the first time in over 750 miles to fill up the car. Lee and I each swiped a credit card on the front and back of a fuel pump and double-stuffed the factory tank as well as one of the fuel cells while Justin cleaned the windshield and checked the oil. Ten minutes later and 57 gallons of unleaded gasoline heavier, we were back on the road with Justin driving, Lee on lookout, and myself stretched out across the backseat completely exhausted, mentally and physically.

I had set an alarm to wake me two hours from the time we left the gas station, and when I awoke from that much needed na,p I found Justin driving at a leisurely 65 mph. Apparently that ticket spooked him than I thought. That, combined with some road construction slowdowns and narrowly-avoided speed traps made Justin loose some of his enthusiasm for the adventure. So I got him to pull over and jumped back behind the wheel, immediately hovering the needle of the speedometer back around a hundred. From there, we drove straight through the night, encountering more construction while having to play cat and mouse with several police officers. Still, the average speed continued to rise as we approached our second planned fuel stop west of Oklahoma City. Dawn broke in the rearview mirror and upon asking Lee if he was willing to drive as fast as I had been, he honestly admitted he probably wasn’t up for that inherently risky task. Luckily, I’m able to function on virtually no sleep at all, so after the second fuel, we were back on the road with me still in control of the Green Hornét.

Our next fuel stop would be the last, and we were now slated to cross Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona—wide open landscapes with laser straight asphalt where we would further be able to increase our time. Small sections were slimmed down to one lane for construction, and more than a few semis cut us off as we all jockeyed for position, but overall our progress was incredibly quick, allowing us to lay down our fastest top speed of the trip yet. The sun rose higher in the sky as we blazed across the desert, and I noticed a gradual increase in engine temperature just when our average speed hit 84 mph. I was mildly concerned, but at the same time, I figured it was a result of working the engine harder than I had before. However, by the time we made our final fuel stop, it was evident that there was a bigger issue to blame. Pulling into a truck stop just outside Flagstaff, Arizona for our final fuel stop, I could hear a strange noise coming from the front of the car. Upon further inspection, I could see that the electric fan I had installed to conserve a few precious horsepower had gotten into an altercation with the radiator, causing more than a few leaks in several rows of the core that were letting coolant drip onto the concrete below. After a few brief moments of panic, I ran inside to buy seven gallons of water and a concoction from Bar’s Leaks that optimistically promised to seal my coolant leaks while Justin and Lee filled up the fuel. I ripped the cap off, letting coolant spew everywhere, and dumped the stop leak, a hope and a prayer, and a gallon of water in the radiator, then tore out of the gas station.

That final stop took about five minutes longer than the previous two as a result of that debacle, but we were still on pace to break the classic car record of 34 hours and 17 minutes. Forgoing any sympathy I held for the poor little straight six under the hood, I pinned the throttle to the floor as we buzzed across the desert, keeping the car just shy of that triple digit barrier. As we drove, the needle of the temperature gauge steadily climbed until it was pegged on the “H”. There it remained for almost an hour until steam suddenly and violently poured from every seam of the hood, forcing my mechanical sympathy to finally take over as I pulled the tired car over to the shoulder. A quick inspection revealed a radiator with even more leaks than before, forcing us to question if the car would be able to finish the trip, even at a leisurely pace. Refusing to quit, we added four gallons of water to the almost bone-dry cooling system as the radiator bubbled and hissed in an attempt to get us to leave it alone.

We limped the car to a gas station up the road where it puked its guts out again, much to our dismay. We bought every gallon of water off their shelves and, after letting the car cool, we topped the coolant off and gingerly drove to the nearest auto parts store to decide a plan of action. Any chance of beating the record we had set out to had disappeared, much like the car’s ability to hold water, but we still wanted to finish and at least beat one of our competitors. Somehow, the stop leak took hold as we removed the broken electric fan and reinstalled the mechanical fan that I had fortuitously kept in the car, just in case. I bought the boys a high quality meal from an adjacent Burger King and let Lee take over behind the wheel, now that running all out was pointless. Once we had established that the car wasn’t going to overheat again I passed out in the back seat for a couple more hours, and woke up as we crossed into California.

A little while later, I got back behind the wheel so I could be the one to cross the finish line as LA got ever closer. We arrived at the Portofino to a warm welcome from several of the other competitors who were celebrating with some cold beverages at 12:49 am. This gave us an (alleged) overall time of 36 hours and 53 minutes from coast to coast. Nothing about it was easy, and it’s even more difficult to sum it up in a succinct and digestible way. We drove more than 2,800 miles in just over a day and a half, crossing the entire country in a 47-year-old station wagon- a feat most would never think to attempt. We didn’t quite meet the lofty goal I had laid out beforehand, but we were nevertheless able to check off one of those elusive bucket list items without kicking said bucket ourselves. We joined a short list of names that have run a proper coast-to-coast rally against the clock, gaining a very exclusive membership to a “Fraternity of Lunatics,” as the overall record holder Ed Bolian refers to it. Overall, we came in 5^th out of 16 cars that ran with the C2C Express this year, and I personally learned a lot about what I’m capable of and have an ever-growing respect for the reliability of that straight six that refuses to die. Who knows, the Green Hornt and I may just have to make another attempt at that record next year. I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

To read about this history of the Cannonball Run click here 

To read about Jacob prepping for this record attempt click here

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