Limousines are expensive. If you’re starting your own limo service, or like the dignified ride of limo luxury, but are short on cash and long on minivans, then this novel approach to satisfying your needs is one answer. Or maybe it’s just an answer to a question no one has ever asked. At any rate, the good news is that with such a long wheelbase the builder is using a six-wheel setup to help distribute the weight from 15 teens on prom night or dignitaries needing transportation to the local pub-crawl. One other interesting note is the unique front extension, which helps to re-proportion the existing Chrysler minivan styling to better fit the rather unique combo of form and function. With specifics nonexistent, we can only hope there’s some fire belching V8 throbbing somewhere within that expanse of minivan sheet metal.
This is an impressive assemblage of Top Gas dragster competitors at the almost unrecognizable Pomona dragstrip at the Los Angeles County Fairgrounds. We can’t identify many, but we can see what they’re running, so we’ll give it a try.
At the far end, barely visible, is Mickey Thompson’s four-wheel-drive, twin-Chrysler-Hemi rail, then a Ford flathead, a multi-carbed Chevy straight-six, a blown flathead, a front-blown Pontiac OHV, an injected-Ardun overhead-converted Ford flathead, then a blown flathead, the Cyr and Hopper carbed Chrysler Hemi 146-mph dragster, and finally another flathead.
From our 2017 perspective, it would seem that by mid-1958, flathead Fords were obsolete and gone, but 25 years of abundant and cheap engines don’t evaporate in spite of the overhead onslaught. Flatheads were proven, and there was much tribal knowledge as well as abundant speed equipment available, so while the learning curve was ramping up for Chrysler Hemis and the new crop of GM overhead engines, the flatheads just kept humming—and winning races. But overheads were poised to take over and would soon deem this stout assemblage of drag-race slingshots as quaint.
Wow! We’ve got a two-for-one double Freak Show Friday to close out the month of June. Many out there love the Gremlin rear end. Well, at least a couple of people do—enough so that they constructed these two totally different applications for the dynamically styled righteousness of a Gremlin hatch. The first example is based off of a mid- to late-1970s Cadillac Seville, with its neo-classic Rolls Royce-type rear styling. As you can see the Gremmie hatch only enhances the profoundly proud styling of these somewhat ignored Caddys. The other example is a mystery of mashing different styles, components and nightmares resulting in this unique assemblage of automotive art if you’re tripping out on bath salts and beryllium dust. So it’s always imaginative to conjure unique statements from such disparate components, as exemplified by these two Gremlin hatchback mashups.
We love a good combo, and this is magic! We’re in the great state of Texas for some home-brewed nitro and nitrous with Pro Mods pitted against Fuel Altereds. It doesn’t get any more drag race real than this. We’ve put together a gallery of over 100 images from Friday night’s qualifying of this two-day Fourth of July weekend, 5th Annual Pro Mod vs Fuel Altered Showdown extravaganza at North Star Dragway in Denton. This 24-car field will go head-to-head Saturday night in a heads-up format — we can’t wait. Best times in qualifying are in the high 3s in this 1/8th-mile romp. Both the Pro Mods and Altereds can get a bit out of shape with a couple of wall smackers, so 1/8th-mile is a safe bet for these sometimes squirrelly cars. But for now, check out the scene from qualifying and then check back next week for some great Dave Kommel shots of the nighttime action.
Southwest Heritage Racing Association Brings Back the Best
Nostalgia drag racing associations are continuing to organize as racers and enthusiasts look to recreate the golden age of drag racing, organizing their own special brand of period-correct cars, components, and classes. The Southwest Heritage Racing Association (SHRA) calls home base the Texas southwest and surrounding environs taking in Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Arkansas. Under the umbrella of Nostalgia Super Stock and following mostly NMCA rules, the SHRA’s Old School index racers are in their third year of racing, currently with 12 members.
We talked with SHRA member Tony Smith to get a window into the workings of the Super Stock group. He says they want to keep the cars as much like the way they raced in the Super Stock classes of the 1960s, but NHRA certified to either 8.50et with a cage or 10.00et with a roll bar. Where they deviate from NMCA is flowing more carb, and some other very minor adaptations. No trans brakes, throttle stops, or programmable MSD boxes are allowed, and a two-step for manual transmissions can only be used for staging.
The A-G/NSS Nostalgia Super Stock classes encompass 1/8th-mile 6.41et to 8.33et. The “Factory Experimental” A-C/FX class elapsed times range from 5.76et to 6.25et in the 1/8th mile. Engines must have been available when the car was new, and only big blocks need apply. 1959 to 1967 full-size bodies and NMCA-specified mid-size cars are crux of what’s competing. Though open to most makes including Pontiac, AMC and Oldsmobile, for some reason a majority of the cars are Mopars. We counted seven at this year’s Denton, Texas, gathering over the 2017 4th of July weekend. In all they race three times a year at Denton, but have seven events in total within Texas, and one in Noble, Oklahoma, all running 1/8th-mile sprints.
10-1/2-inch wide slicks are the only size allowed, which evens out the more radical back-half cars, though the majority of cars are set up conventionally with leaf spring rears and automatics. Rear ends are either Dana 60 or Ford 9-inch. Smith says most in the group run mufflers because they are street cars, but also to be able to listen for lifter ticks or other indications that something is not right. With open headers you run the risk of major damage you would otherwise be audibly warned.
This is a tight knit group where racing combined with fun is the number one agenda. Off of the track they work together, but racing always has an undercurrent. A bounty is set for the person with the lowest e.t, from the previous meet, though Smith is quick to note, “Yeah, it’s real serious—usually $10 per person.” When asked about the high percentage of Mopars, he says, “There’s a strong group of Mopar enthusiasts in Texas, and we seem to have found each other through the NSS. And there’s a few more that aren’t here, and others under construction, so we are hoping to continue to grow in the future with more than just Mopars.”
We love this type of OG index Super Stock-style racing, and look forward to hearing more from other organizations.
Here’s a quick rundown of those who participated in Denton over the 4th:
1963 Plymouth Sport Fury. James Durham, Tyler, Texas. 440-type 499ci Plymouth with automatic.
1968 Barracuda. David Ardoin Jr., Richmond, Texas. 496ci with 4-speed Jerico transmission. Bonefante clutch with a friction disc. David dumps the clutch at 5700rpm, shifts at 7600rpm, and runs 6.20s in the 1/8th mile.
1964 Plymouth Savoy. Ronnie Smith, Athens, Texas. 5.8 Barton crate Hemi with automatic.
1965 Dodge lightweight clone, Kent Morris, Ardmore, Texas. 472 crate Hemi with automatic.
Did you know there was a Funny Car curse? Known as the “Corvette Curse,” superstition runs through every form of racing, including drag racing. In the late-1960s through early 1970s, numerous Corvette-bodied Funny Cars met unceremonious ends from evil handling, contact with both walls, and cars in opposite lanes, starting with Don Cullinan and Jim Wetton’s “Mako Shark” Funny Car that crashed at Lions Drag Strip in 1969. The next year, Glenn Solarno’s “Invader,” Bob Harris’ “Super Shaker,” Vic Morse’s “Mister-T,” and Don Hampton’s twin-engine “American Bandstand,” all Vette Funnies, met quick ends blamed mostly on the curse. Orange County International Raceway (OCIR) held an all–Corvette Funny Car Invitational to capitalize on the curse and tempt fate, hoping to draw a crowd steeped in superstition, speed, and barbecued fiberglass. Gene Conway beat the odds and won the event without incident. Fire was a big part of the curse, with Don Kirby’s “Beach City” Corvette being the poster child. Gary Gabelich, Mike Snively, Pat Foster, Steve Bovan, and Ron Goodsell all took a stab at success with Beach City—without success. This shot at Lions Drag Strip in Long Beach, California, just a couple of days before Christmas 1969, features wheelie-popping Pat Foster against Tommy Grove. Beach City had numerous brushes with total destruction before finally succumbing to the curse while driven by Ron Goodsell at OCIR, again in 1970. Powering completely through the quarter-mile, Goodsell bumped through the weeds and onto the Interstate 5 freeway, where it burned completely to the ground in the slow lane. Though in reality many Corvette Funny Cars plied the quarter-mile over the years without incident, Tom McEwen gets credit for breaking the curse with his 1977 Corvette Funny Car, as well as his Coors Corvette running from 1979–1983.
The most prized, rare, and crazy designs of the muscle-car era are the Fords, Mercurys, Dodges, and Plymouths made for the NASCAR aero wars in 1969 and 1970. Starting with flush grilles and aero Band-Aids, it quickly wound out of control with the otherworldly Daytona Chargers and Plymouth Superbirds. The rules said you had to “homologate” aero-friendly iterations with a production run of 500 cars available to the public. Ford and Mercury were also on the crazy aero train track with the likes of the Mercury Cyclone above and just behind the similar Torino Talladega, neither of which made it into competition, as NASCAR put the brakes on the whole homologation wackiness. NASCAR saw that sanity was quickly giving way to aero-insanity. Many viewed the street versions of the aero-Mopars as ungainly and, well, ugly. The beaks up front and “towel racks” on the trunks of Daytonas and Superbirds had turned some of Mopar’s finest designs into cartoons.
But as we’ve seen, their outrageousness and racing roots turned weird into wonderful as time progressed. So don’t you wish the insanity never stopped? If the aero ban never happened or had been put off until, say, the mid-1970s, can you imagine what aero ugly Detroit might have wrought? And we’d also have a whole different crop of aero warriors to drool over, with different bodies and crazier ways of cheating the wind than their forbearers.
We thought we might see a new flood of aero crazy in the mid-1970s with the sloped-beak Olds 442s and again in the mid-1980s with Monte Carlos and Grand Prix 2+2s and their peculiar fastback glass, but alas, these were but ripples in the cosmic collector-car consciences.
Michael Callahan from Cincinnati, Ohio, always dreamed about going to Bonneville with a street car and getting into the 150MPH Club. Or should we say, drive a car to Bonneville, make his passes, and then drive home. A few years ago he got into the 130MPH Club with a 1999 Ford Crown Vic that was a Bondurant Driving School car set up by Jack Roush with a 1999 Mustang Cobra valve train. He got into the club with it, but he knew it couldn’t go 150mph, and you know that higher speeds are addicting. After he retired from the printing business the search for a 150mph street car commenced. He wasn’t after any specific car, with his parameters being for something he could easily modify aerodynamically, and performance-wise too. In 2015 he found the car he thought would work for sale in California, this 1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II. It hit him that this would be the perfect type of production car to make an attempt for his dream.
Cyclone Spoiler IIs were originally made to fight the aero wars in NASCAR, where a 500-production run available to the general public was necessary to homologate the cars for racing. In all 503 were said to have been built, all with 351 Windsor engines, C4 automatics, and all painted white with either blue or red accents. What made it such a perfect Bonneville car was the factory aero aids almost hidden from a standard Cyclone. The noses were extended about six-inches and lowered, and a flush grille was added. Ford Torino Talladegas were built in a similar fashion. The front bumpers were modified rear bumpers, V’d in the center, and capped to help aero. Also, the rockers were modified to roll into the frame higher; to cheat the NASCAR rules stating stock ride heights determined minimum racing heights. NASCAR measured at the rockers, so if they are higher the car can be lower, for a lower center of gravity and better aero. Get it?
Rumors over the years have speculated that actually only 351 Cyclone Spoiler IIs were built, and that Mercury assembled “503” Spoiler IIs as verification for NASCAR, with the cars further back of the assemblage actually being standard Wimbleton White Cyclones. Supposedly NASCAR didn’t notice the difference when doing a quick count.
What Michael got when he bought the Merc was a modified Spoiler, set up basically like you see it here. Painted a non-stock black, it also has a 1970 stock block 351ci Cleveland with 4bbl heads and single 750 Holley, hooked to a wide ratio Top Loader 4-speed trans. Out back a 2.75 Detroit Locker rear also got Michael a few steps closer to Bonneville. So the mods and improvements sealed the deal and he drove it home from Torrance, California, with a list of things to fix with every mile driven. Over the last two years of ownership Michael has made substantial small fixes and improvements to ready the car for its salt assault, but the mods made by previous owners proved to be well executed, saving Michael both time and money from his original plan to change out the engine and driveline for something more substantial. He lucked out.
Some ply the salt of Bonneville to build a better mousetrap in any number of classes to break that category’s top speed, and the pride and sense of accomplishment that goes with beating a standing record. But you can also choose to achieve a personal best by picking a speed and then attempting to hit it. No categories, no record breaking attempts, just setting a series of parameters and then pursuing your own private conquest. For Michael that meant driving to Bonneville, hopefully exceeding the 150mph magic mark, and then driving home. Speeds are determined by making a pass on the 2½ mile course, then making a return pass within a certain time, and averaging the two speeds.
Michael’s changes to meet SCTA specs to race the course included a 4-point roll bar, driveshaft loop, V-rated tires, 5-point harness and seat brace, and a handful of other additions. When he put it on a chassis dyno a few other changes were deemed necessary to surpass 150mph at Bonneville. Beehive valve springs with titanium retainers were added, an Edelbrock air-gap intake replaced the single plane manifold, 16-inch rear wheels were added to gain speed, an aluminum driveshaft replaced the clunky original, and many minor changes were made to the Holley. But keep in mind that this car runs a mechanical fuel pump, stock pistons, rods and bottom end. With those changes the Merc ran 168mph simulated on the chassis dyno at 5900rpm.
As for the car’s road manners, it’s been driven thousands of mile to different events including the Aero Warriors event in Talladega, Alabama. It’s tight, squeak free, and surprisingly docile on the open highway and around town. No bump and clang, squeaky urethane suspension, or microwave interior manners. It’s that perfect combo of sitting right, looking and performing well, and 4-speed fun to drive.
After all of the thrashing to prepare it for its maiden runs on the salt the 2015 Bonneville meet was rained out, so the wait began for 2016. When it finally arrived Michael drove the Spoiler 1800 miles to Bonneville. Getting there for Tech Day, he passed tech and the next day ran 154mph on his first pass, with a backup pass of 153mph, making it into the 150MPH Club no problem. This was done with windshield wipers and side mirrors, the tune he drove it to Bonneville with, and a mix of 91 octane gas the car had for the trip to Utah, and some 100 octane gas he picked up on the course. He told us the passes were exhilarating, except for the skating on the salt surface as speeds increased. For that you need some mental and physical restraint. If you don’t back off and don’t over correct, you’re positioned to complete the pass short of breaking a part. Backing off or slowing down induces the car to swap ends. If you turn the steering wheel too much one way or the other to try to correct for the skating, you can also swap ends or lose control. Your best reaction is to stay on the gas, and read the feedback the car gives to determine whether you need to correct steering or just forge ahead. Michael settled in and forged.
When he’s telling the story it seems so simple; just drive your street car to Bonneville from Cincy, go 150mph, and then drive home. Of course we know that any effort like this required plenty of planning, thought, time and money. Still, Michael got into the Cyclone really reasonably, and though he expected he might have to rebuild the engine and do other major mods, it ended up being one of those happy ending stories that greased the skids to fulfilling one of the most improbable dreams a hot rod enthusiast could have. Congrats to Michael and to his murdered out Cyclone Spoiler II.
Deception and speed were what led to the limited production, wind cheating 1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler IIs. 502 were produced to homologate them for NASCAR racing, as the sanctioning body required a minimum of 500 cars be made available to the general public to be eligible to race in the NASCAR series. Michael Callahan’s Cyclone was built for a completely different purpose.Cyclone Spoiler II noses were extended about six-inches and dropped to help increase aerodynamic flow and downforce. A flush grille was also utilized, which is the easiest way to identify these rare Cyclone’s from their more pedestrian brethren. Callahan added the spoiler below the bumper to avoid lift from air running under the bumper.All Cyclone Spoiler IIs came with small block Fords. When Callahan purchased his, it already had this stock block 1970 351ci Cleveland engine, along with a wide ratio 4-speed Top Loaders and Detroit Locker rear. All were built well and required only limited refinement to satisfy Callahan’s mission. He added an Edelbrock Air Gap intake, and made minor changes to the 750 Holley carb, along with upgrading to beehive valve springs and titanium spring retainers.Left mainly as it came from Mercury, Callahan did swap out a no-name racing seat and 5-point harness, and built a roll bar per SCTA regulations for the 150mph attempt. Callahan says reading the requirements and following them before landing at Bonneville made for an easy tech inspection. Riding in the Mercury it lacks the rattles and bangs typical of this era car, instead expressing a tight but firm attitude on the highway.From the rear it’s hard to tell this is no ordinary Cyclone. Many came with goofy rear wings for show, but Michael’s rear spoiler mimics those found on NASCAR racecars, to aid in added downforce for better traction on the oval. Cyclones shared the same basic body as 1969 Ford Torinos, and came only in white with either blue Dan Gurney stripes or red Cale Yarborough stripes. There were no options.Though a bit hard to see on a black car, another factory modification made to all Cyclone Spoiler IIs was the raised rockers, done not for an aero advantage per se, but rather done when NASCAR measured minimum heights, measured at the rockers. By raising them the car could race lower than non-Spoiler IIs and Torinos, aiding in lowering the center of gravity and also lessening potential lift.A closer look reveals a sloping hood, longer fenders, and flush grille, all modifications done by Mercury to help cheat the wind. Front bumpers were actually rear bumpers that were V’d and had their ends modified to tuck in and capped to close off the transition from bumper to sheet metal for better aero.Callahan added to roll bar per SCTA requirements for a 150mph attempt. This plus the Monte Carlo bar in the engine compartment between the shock towers make for a solid car on the highway. Mostly the interior is stock Mercury, which remains taxicab simple.
Dave Kommel captures all of the unhinged action of the mental matchup of Pro Mods vs. Fuel Altereds from North Star Dragstrip in Denton, Texas. Tons of action and enthusiastic crowds made for a perfect annual 4th of July blast of the old and the new. With a full field qualifying was Friday and Saturday afternoon, with eliminations Saturday night. Check out Dave’s great shots to see who ultimately won the match between old skool/new skool.
When 26-year-old Vic Edelbrock Jr. took over aftermarket manufacturer Edelbrock Equipment in 1962 after the untimely death of his father, Vic Sr., many in the performance industry were skeptical Vic had the chops to carry the company forward. Sure, he had worked under his father’s tutelage, graduated from the prestigious University of Southern California in business, and even flew T-33 trainers while in the ROTC, but running a company like Edelbrock—always on the leading edge of performance technology and racing—into the future would take a truly gifted person. Vic’s mother told him if the business started to slide, she would sell Edelbrock to preserve the company and her husband’s legacy.
With many of Vic Sr.’s core group staying on to help maintain the company’s development and manufacturing, Vic Jr. had to organize how the company would move forward. He chose to focus on drag racing and street performance, and that decision, combined with the flood of new engine platforms and the popularity of the small-block Chevy, sent the company on a trajectory that lasted for decades. The Edelbrock company is the lasting legacy of Vic Sr. and Vic Jr.
But there was a time in the early 1970s when it seemed that not only Edelbrock but also the whole performance aftermarket industry might go away. The one-two punches of environmental concerns and gas shortages of the late-1960s and early 1970s put performance on the verge of being outlawed by the federal government. Car manufacturers buckled under pressure from the feds, instituting quick-fix environmental controls on new cars that compromised almost everything. Starting, economy, performance, durability, and dependability flew out the window. Cars were viewed as bad, and muscle cars and performance even worse. This is one reason why the muscle-car era ended. Edelbrock needed a dramatic shift in what it manufactured, who and how it benefitted customers, and how to deal with the state and federal government dictating what they could and couldn’t make.
Here’s how Vic put it: “We looked at what was coming down and decided that instead of ignoring the California Air Resources Board [CARB], we would get to know them. When they mandated the emissions levels, the OEs only had time to lean down carburetors and put a 230-degree thermostat in it. The cars would lurch and surge—they were terrible. We came up with the Streetmaster intake—it had good distribution and eliminated the surge, plus mileage went up. You could bolt it in with the stock carb. We had to do emissions testing, so we installed an emissions lab and CARB accepted our data, and we’d get an EO [Executive Order] number.” (The EO number meant any aftermarket component carrying it was certified for use in all cars with environmental controls in all 50 states.) So this pivot meant aftermarket performance changed from being of value only to racers, to being valuable for economy and the environment, plus it helped the car run better.
But Vic’s concern and drive to help the whole aftermarket went further. Vic was also instrumental, along with HOT ROD’s founder, Robert Petersen, Dean Moon, Roy Richter, Phil Weiand and others, in creating the Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association, later changed to Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA). The industry needed a voice, and there was safety in numbers. Speed and performance was thought to represent a bad element of society in the eyes of bureaucrats and the media. With the formation of SEMA, represented by professionals, it helped change that image into a legitimate group of businessmen catering to a respectable customer base. Beginning in 1971, Vic would become both president and chairman of the organization for two terms.
In the late-1960s, Edelbrock was on the verge of participating in the many forms of evolving motorsports at that time: NHRA Super Stock, which itself evolved into Pro Stock; open wheel racing, including Indy, which was encouraging stock-block engines as a way to lessen costs and attract more teams; NASCAR; off-road racing like SCORE (Short Course Off-Road Events), and road racing’s exciting new Can-Am and Trans-Am series. Edelbrock attracted some of the key figures in these fields like Mickey Thompson, Parnelli Jones, Smokey Yunick, Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins, Sox & Martin, “Dyno” Don Nicholson, and so many others.
Into the 1970s, the company expanded its performance offerings; Edelbrock was no longer an “intake manifold” manufacturer, but instead became a performance powerhouse that offered packages of components to help take the guesswork out of performance upgrades for the enthusiast who wanted to do it himself. From the racing side, Edelbrock was still leading the field by offering components for the exploding segments of racing throughout the world. And the company grew to encompass six manufacturing buildings and an in-house foundry, employing more than 700 people, and offering a product line that numbered in the thousands by the end of the 1980s.
From the company’s perspective, we spoke with Eric Blakely, director of advertising, and Bob “Smitty” Smith, technical sales coordinator, both Edelbrock veterans. Blakely was quick to mention early profit sharing that Vic set up for employees. “This was in the early 1970s, way before this type of company benefit was common,” Blakely says. “But he would put money into your plan even if you didn’t; he was always doing things for his employees like that.” He also personally paid for a yearly scholarship to the Kansas high school his father graduated from in Augusta, Kansas.
He was also known to take criticism personally, to the extent that he’d sometimes call a customer who was experiencing trouble with an Edelbrock product. Vic welcomed racers to come to the El Segundo, California, facility, which reads like a who’s who of racing: Bill “Grumpy” Jenkins, Benny Parsons, Richard Petty, Larry Torres, Bob Glidden, Herb McCandles, and too many to remember. Says Smitty, “A lot of those racers would come out because it was snowing in the east, and we let them use our dynos and helped them, and Vic loved it.”
Vic’s enthusiasm for racing, fast cars, and continuing to offer the best components available extended to his family, with wife Nancy by his side at many events. Both went to nearly every NHRA Nationals and Daytona 500, including this year. His three girls—Camee, Christi, and Carey—were all involved in sports like horseback riding and jumping competitions, and water skiing. Vic, along with Camee and Christi, were participants in vintage road-racing events. Vic also amassed a healthy collection of historic race cars and boats, which were housed in a separate building not too far from Edelbrock’s corporate headquarters in Torrance, California, called Vic’s Garage. And he was like a kid for personal car projects, which he also used to test and promote Edelbrock products. Brizio Street Rods in South San Francisco built many personal cars, including a reproduction and then the original 1932 highboy roadster his father used to develop all of his early Ford flathead equipment in the 1930s, racing on the dry lakes of California. Vic and Nancy drove many of those hot rods on numerous HOT ROD Power Tours, which Edelbrock supported and obviously enjoyed from a pure participant perspective.
Vic and the Edelbrock family have placed a high priority on “giving back” to the industry and participants in that industry in all forms by creating the Edelbrock Foundation. Their main goal is to bring groups and individuals together to help educate and train youth to continue America’s passion and innovation in automobiles and racing. They also award donations to education groups like the Center for Learning Unlimited, which has a robotics program for middle- and high-school students.
More recently, to keep pace with OE electronic fuel-management like direct injection and more refined ignition systems, Edelbrock developed bolt-in supercharger conversions and upgrade packages, and also sells complete late-model engines with increased horsepower and dependability. Recently, when Edelbrock began to have some problems with the EPA again, Vic took up the challenge once more to educate them on the advantages of performance. Says Blakely, “He told us we did it before and we’ll do it again. He always took these issues with the feds getting into our space as a challenge, and he loved solving problems.” As Vic told HOT ROD just last year, “Edelbrock products have to do what we say they will do. We’ve always been passionate enthusiasts and a lot of our employees are car enthusiasts—it’s our lifestyle. We want to continue that forward and integrate what the next generation of enthusiast wants.”
Vic Sr. and Vic Jr.The No. 27 1959 aluminum Lister Corvette. Vic was an avid vintage road-race fan, along with his daughters, Camee and Christi, with a stable that included the Smokey Yunick–built 1967 Camaro, a pair of 1966 Mustangs, the former George Follmer Trans Am Mustang, and his No. 614 Z06 Corvette.In the late-1980s, Vic began racing his No. 614 1963 Z06 Corvette, a former Zora Arkus-Duntov development car for Chevrolet. A veteran of Bonneville and many road courses, it was also used as Chevy’s weapon to go after Shelby’s Cobras in 1962 and 1963.Offshore boat racing was another of Vic’s pursuits, as seen here in his 38-foot Scarab in the mid-1980s. The team included Camee as driver, Curt Hooker navigating, and Vic as the throttle man.HOT ROD Magazine founder Robert Petersen was given the Person of the Year award from the SEMA association in 1972, with SEMA President Vic Edelbrock on the right and National Transportation Safety Board Head Doug Thoms on the left. Vic was President of SEMA for two terms beginning in 1971.Into the 1980s, Edelbrock paired components it tested that produced optimal performance to make it easier for customers to get the most bang for their buck.Longtime Edelbrock engineer Bobby Meeks with a fiberglass prototype of the TM-1 Chevy “Tarantula” intake manifold. Going from wooden masters to fiberglass, which could be used for dyno testing, increased Edelbrock’s ability to fine-tune their intakes in the late-1960s.A young Vic Jr. on the Edelbrock dyno in 1956.Nancy and Vic receiving an award from the NHRA for their involvement with professional and sportsman drag racing. Until recently, both Nancy and Vic had attended every NHRA Nationals and Daytona 500 events.C-4B 1962: First single four-barrel, dual-plane intake manifold for the small-block Chevy. Friend Bob Joehnck suggested Vic produce this intake, but he was hesitant since Chevy already offered one. He ultimately chose to do a better one. Says Bill “Smitty” Smith, “This became a home run for us, a real milestone, because prior to that we were making intakes for racing, but this was a street manifold.”X-C8 1962: Small-block Chevy cross-ram.C-3B 1969: For small-block Chevys, sold as a package that included a Holley 950 carburetor Holley adapted for Edelbrock for the street. When tested at Irwindale Raceway in the 350ci-equipped HOT ROD 1967 Camaro, it did a 10.82 e.t. at almost 130 mph in the quarter-mile.Small-block Pro Stock tunnel ram (Chevy shown), favored by both Chevy and Mopar Pro Stock competitors in the early 1970s.Smokey Yunick SY-1 Smokey Ram two-piece intake manifold from 1974. Conceived by Smokey, Edelbrock testing indicated problems, with Vic agreeing to produce it if Smokey would include his phone number for technical assistance. Buyers ignored the “For Racing Only” warnings, which created headaches for Smokey once the avalanche of calls began.Chrysler Hemi “Rat Roaster” intake manifold. The rat to be roasted was Chevy’s big-block, known as a rat motor.Edelbrock’s first component manufactured for an OE, the three-two-barrel “Six Pack” for 440ci Mopars from 1970. Says Edelbrock publicist Eric Blakely, “To be doing a manifold for an OE was a point of pride and accomplishment for Vic. It’s hard to do, they don’t just go to any company—you really have to have your stuff together.”The 1973 “Streetmaster” for small-block Chevys was developed by Edelbrock for the emissions era.
Making a 20 litre-1200ci V-12 completely from scratch seems beyond most all of our reach, so here’s a couple of hot rodders in San Diego that have done just that. Land speed racer, Pete Aardema, and offshore boat racer, Kevin Braun, have created a number of scratch-built engines, overhead cam conversions, and crazy combos of homemade and aftermarket components. But our dynamic duo didn’t just jump into making engines, but rather eased into it when Aardema’s interest was piqued after seeing some rather exotic Pontiac Iron Duke 4-banger “Super Duty” Cosworth heads. These were aftermarket 16-valve, double overhead cam (DOHC) aluminum heads. He and Braun reconfigured them for small-block Chevy applications, and Aardema Developments (AD) was born.
Their next step was creating cam boxes to mount on stock Chevy heads, creating a SOHC Chevy small-block. Belt-driven, there have been over 50 sets produced so far. The original cam is still kept to spin the oil pump and distributor. These also have been adapted to Mopar and Ford engines.
Soon AD was adapting Porsche 928 V8 single overhead cam (SOHC) heads onto Chevy big-block engines. This morphed into AD producing their own SOHC 4-valves-per-cylinder billet heads for various mutant small-block American engines, using bucket-type lifters from Volvo engines, and adapted Nissan belt-drive. The conversion was so adaptable that V2 versions were even made for Harleys.
From here things got weird. AD adapted Subaru flat-4 heads to ancient 1928-31 Ford Model A L-head blocks, netting 300hp naturally aspirated from an engine originally producing 40hp from 103ci. Aardema says, “If there’s an engine out there, and it’s an oddball, I want to mess with it.” If you’re impressed with the almost 8-times increase in horsepower, Aardema was not. An even more powerful twin-overhead cam head with 3-valves-per-cylinder was developed netting a 201ci displacement. Aardema says that 4-valves-per-cylinder was too much to cram into the smallish heads, and that a large exhaust valve does most of the work two smaller valves would provide. With turbo-supercharger induction and on racing fuel, the bad banger made over 500hp, launching a streamliner at Bonneville to a record 240mph in 2012. Yikes!
While designing and developing engines, Aardema has also built a number of hot rods with his exotic creations—he’s going ten different directions at any one time. When we asked him where the inspiration comes from, he says, “I like to build things and like to go fast, and if someone says I can’t do something, that’s when I will do it, so I’m off on another project.”
Next up was AD’s first completely scratch-built engine, one to replace the 500hp Model A engine in the streamliner. With 3-valves per cylinder, Chevy big-block bore spacing and reciprocating components, 4.375-inch bore and 3.00-inch stroke, they christened it the Sheet Metal Engine for it’s use of heavy sheet metal to encase the billet lower crankcase and steel tubes used for cylinders in the upper. HOT ROD did a story about it in 2014 (read about it HERE). The dry- sump oil pump and twin-overhead camshafts were again belt driven. A crankcase girdle supports the block, while also incorporating one side of the five main-bearing journals. Port fuel injection with a little “100-shot” of nitrous helping the combustion, the banger is capable of 380hp spinning at 8500rpm. Numerous records at Bonneville in 2016 were set in F-Gas and F-Fuel classes.
All of these earlier developments and successes laid the groundwork for the V12. With Braun’s background in H1 Unlimited Hydroplane racing, where speeds exceed 160mph, the V12 was envisioned as a challenge to the Rolls Royce 27-liter V12 and 28-liter Allison V12. Since this is “unlimited” hydroplane racing, there are no limits to displacement or arrangement, thus Aardema and Braun had a really blank, blank sheet. Where do you start?
Interestingly, where to start came down to how long your crankshaft maker can make your crankshaft. Scat Crankshafts just down the street from HOT ROD, in Redondo Beach, was the crank manufacturer of choice, and their maximum length was 42-inches. That penciled out to be a 6.25-inch bore spacing and a 5.625-inch bore. With an estimated 7000rpm ceiling, a 4.00 stroke was deemed optimal. Why? Because the weight of 5-1/2-inch pistons is such that flinging them beyond 70-percent of the bore becomes too much inertia according to Aardema. A longer stroke could conceivably tear apart the engine.
All of this comes out to a displacement of 1192.8ci, or 19.55 liters. Though much less displacement than the popular Rolls Royce and Allison engines, their maximum rpm is around 3000rpm with a few blips hitting 4000rpm. Horsepower is much easier to produce at higher RPMs, so the AD 60-degree V12 with its higher rpm capabilities produces much more power at lower boost, provided by twin centrifugal superchargers. Scat manufactured a nitrided steel crankshaft with seven 3.0-inch diameter journals for Oldsmobile V8 main bearings. Connecting rod journals use bearings from a Chevy big-block.
Cam design was an initial problem. Says Aardema, “A V-type engine with rockers operating the titanium valves and cams rotating in the opposite directions is unfamiliar territory for cam grinders.” Eventually Schneider produced the gun-drilled hollow cam from 8620 alloy steel, actuated with convex faces acting in the same way as roller lifters in terms of valve lift profile, increasing valve-opening velocity over a conventional flat-tappet contact surface. Filing a lash cap to the desired clearance sets valve lash, much like Indy-type Offenhauser engines from the 1950s. Seven journals hold the cams, housed in a billet aluminum head with a top plate containing the valve train. An aluminum cam cover seals off the valve gear. Deck height is an even 12-inches.
The light-alloy pistons contain three rings and are hung on I-section steel rods by R&R Racing Products in Punta Gorda, Florida. Steel pins are 1 5/16-inch diameter and ride in bronze bushings. Compression is 8.5:1.
Around the rear of the V12 are two crankshaft-driven Vortech superchargers, with planetary gearing that increases their rpm capabilities from conventional belt-driven configurations. One blower feeds into an intake plenum at the left while the second blower does the same at the right. Edelbrock throttle bodies are attached to each blower, with two 4.0-inch throttle bores opening together, while the cylinder heads flow 724cfm intake and 487cfm exhaust at 0.75-inch lift.
EFI West helped piece together an Adaptronics ECU to handle the engine management system. Detonation is controlled through the ECU’s vibration-type knock sensor located on each bank, retarding ignition if a knock is detected. Two 60-lb injectors per cylinder are fed constant fuel pressure by a Waterman mechanical fuel pump.
Essentially the makeup of the AD V12 is of two straight-six engines running together in both primary and secondary balance at 60-degree even-fire intervals. Total length of this monster is 59.5-inches, 35-inches high, and 30-inches wide.
A sampling of just some of Aardema and Braun’s motor mashups and madness.
1 – 4-valve small-block Chevy with Cosworth DOHC cylinder heads.
2 – Ancient Ford flathead with billet SOHC heads.
3 – The subject of our story, the V12 with it’s turbos attached.
4 – Moser 4-valve cylinder heads on a small-block Chevy from the August 1971 HOT ROD cover. Aardema purchased all of the components from Harvey Crain of Crain Cams, who was involved with the engine along with designer Richard Moser, and built it with this single 4-bbl. Originally as seen on the cover this was injected with stacks.
5 – One of three DOHC Ford Model A conversions. This engine has set many records over the years both blown and naturally aspirated, and has gone 240mph at Bonneville.
6 – Originally cast by Mickey Thompson, this 4-cam, 2-valve Chevy conversion was never developed. Aardema finished the design, and then he and Braun machined it.
7 – This 300ci Chevy LT5 set six SCTA records its first time out last year at El Mirage and Bonneville, with a best of 225mph. Also, it has put three different drivers into the 200 MPH Club so far. Runs Scat crank and CP pistons and rods.
8 – LS3 with belt-driven LT5 4-valve heads for the street.
This is the setup for testing the naturally aspirated 1200ci monster developed by Pete Aardema and Kevin Braun for H1 Unlimited Hydroplane racing, where death-defying speeds of over 200mph push the 30-foot boats to the thin edge of control. At 7500rpm the engine is spun over twice the rpms of currently popular Rolls Royce Merlin and Allison V12s in the Unlimited category. You can see part of the gear drive with the two turbochargers removed.Overwhelmed by its wild Mickey Thompson twin-overhead cam conversions, hidden beneath the water pump adaptation and belt drive is a Chevy small-block. These raw castings were never developed. Aardema purchased them, determined what it would take to make cams and drive them, and the machining necessary to make them work, and this is the result.The engine experimentation and testing takes place in this nice-sized shop outside of San Diego.The impetus for Aardema and Braun’s journey to build and develop mutant engines started with these Cosworth aftermarket double-overhead cam heads for the Pontiac Iron Duke 4-banger. The Pontiac/Cosworth hybrid head was used in IMSA GTP-class racing, running in Fiero GTP racecars in the Camel Lights series. The rare aluminum cast blanks required a lot of machining as well as adaptation of a cam-drive belt system.Aardema Developments has successfully offered this Chevy LS SOHC head featuring 4-valves per-cylinder. These heads have been used on other American small-block engines, too. The billet aluminum heads use bucket-type lifters from a Volvo, and an adapted Nissan gear drive with Aardema’s own camshafts.Aardema’s love of land speed racing and interest in the Ford Model A L-head produced from 1928 to 1931 led to this mongrel, featuring Aardema’s own DOHC head originally developed around two Subaru flat-four heads. The Model A has an extended center-bore spacing helping to fit two heads to the deck. The 3-valve per-cylinder head with a 4-inch square bore/stroke produced over 300hp. With a supercharged turbo setup that same engine hit 500hp in 2012. Below the Model A block is a combo aluminum girdle/main bearing support and dry sump setup.Another vintage land speed overhead setup is this SOHC-configured Ford flathead V8. Starting with billet of aluminum Aardema and Braun utilize the stock flathead block—you can even make out the 24-stud bolt pattern, though some along the top were not deemed necessary.To verify the computer program for different billet components Aardema sticks wooden dummies into the mill. Much cheaper than billet aluminum, he can detect any variances or mistakes that need program corrections in this fashion.
Not all freaks are freaks from the outside. Behold this Skittles engine compartment with all of the colors of the rainbow. You could say this is detailed, and you could also say it looks like someone dumped a box of Legos onto the engine. We were somewhat disappointed that the radiator hose remains black, when there’s so many colors it could have been. We have blue, green, red, yellow, orange, turquoise and black. What, no purple? Unfortunately we don’t have shots of the interior. What are the chances it resembles the same attention to detail and determination to play with colors the way things under the hood look like?
Freaks can be found anywhere, even on a farm. Yes, this John Deer/Citroen tractor mashup looks to be a running, plowing, read deal. The questions of why and how are probably beyond anything that would make sense even in the crazy times we are living in, so we won’t even go there. These days farm equipment is getting many amenities to lessen the burden for the farmer in the field, and we assume the same for this. Maybe the trunk holds a small assortment of frozen lunches, which can be microwaved while plowing. Or maybe it holds a couple cases of ice-cold beer so the driver can get a buzz while tending to his crops. In any case this is a stylish, though random blend of function and style.
“Designed” around a C-series Mercedes coupe, this is quite a departure from any Merc we’ve ever seen, and ever hope to see. We don’t know what the chassis and running gear are, nor do we care, other than to help explain why this was created like this. Analyzing it, about the only reasons for configuring the Merc this way are A) to gain better visibility without feeling like you’re in a truck, or B) the designer likes 1940s-era fenders and running boards, and wanted to add them to his coupe creation. Neither are bad pursuits, it’s just hard to figure why this was his or her optimal final design, but to each his or her own. So we applaud your moxie for going out on a limb in your attempt to have a righteous ride self-designed.
Three men were shot dead at point blank range at Great Lakes Dragway in Union Grove, Wisconsin Sunday night around 7:00 PM. As of now the suspect has not been found, nor has a cause been determined. Two were dead at the scene and a third victim was transported to a local hospital where he died. All three victims were black men in their 30s, and from Aurora, Illinois, according to a police spokesperson. Sunday’s event was the 9th annual Larry’s Fun Fest, billed as the largest single day drag racing event in Wisconsin, with grudge racing, dubs-n-up racing, and other non-racing activities. The three victims were standing by a food vendor according to David Beth of the Kenosha Sheriffs Department, when a man approached and shot them. Friends of the victims told police they had no idea what caused the man to shoot, nor did they recognize who he was. According to a police spokesman on the scene, they only have a vague description of the shooter, a black male with short hair and cut-off jeans in his 30s. He may have been driving a black car said the spokesperson. At this time there is no identification of the suspect nor has police offered any motive. Over 100 police officers were on scene talking to participants and spectators looking for information or possible photos or surveillance tape to help in their investigation. Local fire departments were also on hand directing traffic and helping those attending to leave the drag strip.
Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was the king of crazy showcars in the 1960s, and the father of monster shirts and one of hot rodding’s favorite mascots; Rat Fink. He created wild hot rods that fueled our hot rod fantasies and was able to tap into that with hundreds of car-themed monster shirts, plastic models, and decals, hats—basically a cornucopia of car tchotchkes that defined hot rodding and the 1960s. His youngest of five sons, Darryl, was the hoarder of the Roth clan, and has amassed an amazing assortment of all things Roth. From Rat Fink key chains sold in the millions, to restoring some of his father’s seminal creations like the “Druid Princess”, “Mega Cycle”, and “Wishbone”, Darryl has stayed connected to his father, who died in 2001. We thought we’d show you just a taste of what he has amassed, and also float that he’s looking to sell the entire collection, but only whole, and not piece-by-piece. You could instantly start your own Big Daddy Roth museum, or just open a Roth retail store of original artifacts. There’s original art, hundreds of Roth’s famous fax-o-grams drawn by Big Daddy himself, and also correspondence and art from one of Ed’s closest friends, Von Dutch. It will take just the right person willing to shell out the ducats to acquire this truly gigantic horde of Roth memorabilia, but that doesn’t mean we can’t at least take a look at some of the cool stuff Darryl has hidden deep inside of the Roth Family Vault.
Power Tour has always brought out a few freaks, and we applaud that. You might get locked up anywhere else, but on Power Tour you’re just considered a little freaky. We had so many this year we decided to show you the staff’s top-five picks for your perusal, for inspiration, and also to show you what you’re up against in case you have a freak-show project festering in your garage.
Obviously based off of a Volkswagen, it’s running a small-block Ford. With the former trunk now housing an engine, this necessitated adding a trunk, with the resulting appendage out back. Chopped with suicide doors, the owner also chose to add a windshield visor to help deflect the potentially hot days of Power Tour. A Rolls Royce–type grille adds a classy touch.This S-10 Blazer from Missouri has been turned into a “Nomad” with the 1955 front clip, Nomad badges on the front fenders and tailgate, 1955 Chevy taillights added to the rear quarter-panels, and a 1955 Chevy rear bumper painted body color.This homebuilt pickup has some origins in Model A Fords with the cowl, front and rear fenders, and bumpers all coming from 1928–29 Ford cars. From there it’s homemade wooden body and bed giving a woodie type of vibe. There must have been something heavy being hauled in the bed of this Model A mashup with the rear leaning stance.Based off of a complete Viper chassis, the “Decadeuce” takes its body parts mostly from a 1932 Ford sedan, which has been widened substantially to fit the Viper chassis. From this view, it looks like it could have a couch for a bench seat, but we couldn’t see through the smoked window tint, so your guess is as good as ours. Finished—which is something rather rare for a freak—the build looks to have taken some time to blend the old and new into the Decadeuce.Starting with a 1940s Dodge cab, we don’t know how you would describe what this ended up as. A welding truck for sure, but beyond that, we’ll leave it up to you to speculate. We came across this throughout the Power Tour, blowing coal and getting Long Hauler status in the process.
Just a hazy 1967 Thanksgiving holiday evening of Funny Cars at the packed, million-dollar Orange County International Raceway (OCIR) in Irvine, California, for the first- ever Manufacturers Funny Car Championship. Known as the “Supertrack,” OCIR was just a few months old. With its magnificent, three-story tower and actual landscaping, it seemed like civilization would never encroach way out in south Orange County, guaranteeing a beautiful racing venue forever—or so everyone thought.
Gaining popularity by the day, Funny Cars still had no class of their own in the NHRA hierarchy, but that would soon change with events like this. Forty-five Funny Cars showed up for a round robin with a guaranteed $22,000 cash purse. Staging just shy of the Chrondek “eyes” are the Samson Dodge Dart out of San Jose and the SoCal Keaton’s Komet. Rick Abate’s Dart ran an injected Hemi and was driven by “Jungle” Jim Liberman for a time, though not here. Keaton’s Komet was the former Jack Chrisman door car before he switched to the flip-top Logghe architype. Now raced by Dee Keaton and still running a 427 SOHC, it was a familiar sight at Southern California tracks throughout 1967. Chevy scored the most points for this premiere event that beyond Fords, Chevys, and Dodges saw Pontiacs, Plymouths, and Mercurys.
Yes, this is a Batmobile, a well done Batmobile. It mimics all of the iconic design features of The Batmobile, but in a more economical package. If you’re on a budget, or are looking for a good project for whatever you have wasting away in the back 40, keep in mind that done well, it can convey the same sense of impact and desire as the real thing. As you probably know, the 1960s TV Batmobile was the creation of George Barris based on the Lincoln Futura showcar of the 1950s. Since there are no Lincoln Futura concept cars floating around anywhere, you either painstakingly recreate the whole car, or take a shortcut and just start with whatever. In this case “whatever” is this 1963 Ford Falcon. And it works. It won’t be mistaken for the original TV show car, yet it could be. This Batmobile gets the HOT ROD stamp of approval.
Hot rods, punk rock, and toy robots are just some of the things that inspire the internationally acclaimed House Industries in their pursuit of design, fashion, and type fonts. Yes, from Jimmy Kimmel to The New Yorker and John Mayer—House Industries’ type fonts are used by many brands for their unique way of conveying cool, and this exhibit contains much of what House designers consider cool, including hot rods. Even Ed “Big Daddy” Roth was a huge inspiration to them growing up, so naturally when they got the chance they devoted a whole collection of fonts around Roth’s hand-lettering style and art. HOT ROD has even used some of their type fonts in special projects over the years. Video games, album covers, and cereal boxes have featured House type fonts prominently. So the Henry Ford Museum put together this eclectic exhibition to show how some objects and certain people can influence design, and have displayed them together to show the creative process of inspiration and then what that inspiration developed into. The exhibit is called “House Industries: A Type of Learning” at the Henry Ford in Dearborn, Michigan, running now through September 4, 2017. If you’re in the big D you have to see it along with all of the other cool stuff, much of it cars and even hot rods as the museum features a number of high boy roadsters and even dragsters, along with their permanent transportation displays that include trains, planes, and more.
