Buy a piece of HOT ROD history, as well as an attention getter, blown mid-engine freak show, and bonafide Street Machine of the Year recipient. This mid-engine Olds 442 had it all in 1978, and it’s on the market right now. Kept in miraculous condition, including its original body stripes with matching interior, what blew everyone’s minds back in those disco days was the blown 403ci Olds hooked to a Toronado transaxle setup, making for mid-engine majesty. With the odd-even-for-1978 aero G-body you had a body configuration begging for something better to see through that big chunk of rear glass than a fuzzy maroon rear seat. Tying it all together were the widened quarter panels incorporating the ducktail. HOT ROD called it “a treat for the senses, a real pulse-pounder, and a car that can’t be driven without a mile-wide smile.” On eBay right now at $20,000 with four bids and no reserve, someone is going to be the proud new owner of this October 1978 HOT ROD cover car. Hope to see you and your Aeroback Olds at Drag Week in September!
One of the most unique Funny Cars from a period when they were becoming more homogenized, the M/T Pinto Funny Car was powered by a blown Ford Boss 429 Shotgun motor, in a titanium Woody Gilmore chassis at a cost of $6000 at a time when Funny Car chassis ran half that amount. With Dale Pulde driving and featuring numerous iterations throughout its two-year run, the Pinto had a habit of catching on fire, requiring new Pinto bodies and countless paint changes making keeping track of it challenging. It even sported a Mustang body, though it never raced with it. In spite of its penchant for fire the direct-drive Pinto won the 1971 AHRA Winternationals, and was runner-up at both the IHRA and NHRA Winternationals meets. The shotgun engine gave way to a traditional blown Chrysler Hemi, running through the 1972 season ending at Niagra Falls, New York, that summer. Pulde has said it took four fire suits to get through the 1971-1972 seasons.
If you’ve ever wondered what you would get if you crossed a Jeep with a Firebird, we would suggest committing yourself to the nearest psych ward of your local hospital. Or, you could just bonk the front end of a Jeep to the front of your Firebird and find out what those psychedelic nightmares you’ve conjured in your imagination look like in real life. If we could take a wild stab at what’s going on here we’d suggest a front end collision resulted in the owner deciding to mash his favorite front end, the iconic Jeep grille and headlight configuration, into his daily driver Firebird. Add a partial mid-1970s locomotive bumper to sort of tie the two together, and the result is this, whatever this is. As if the vertical Jeep grille wasn’t tall enough, the builder opted to add still more height with the humongous hood scoop—a fine finishing touch to an already memorable mashup.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
Tom Moore set out to spend as little as possible for a Power Tour ride, and we think he might have just set a record. He picked up this 1964 Ford F100 for $300 that was sitting in a Sieverville, Tennessee, barn for 35 years, then turned around and bought a complete but banged up 2008 Crown Vic cop car for $211 at govdeals.com. “It was ugly and hit on every corner, because it was taken out of service with 71,000 to become a police training vehicle,” says Tom. That didn’t matter to him.
Tom’s plan, and obviously a successful one, was to use every single part he needed for his truck from the Vic. That included the front and rear suspension, fly-by-wire steering, OBD2 ECU, wiring, exhaust system, radiator, wheels, tires and brake system, everything. Even the electric fuel pump was adapted to the truck gas tank. Rather than stick the body and bed onto the Vic chassis, Tom adapted the Vic components to the stock F100 frame. Besides adapting the Vic parts, some fab was necessary for mounting the steering column, and the 4-link Vic rear was pitched for a monoleaf setup.
Tom runs Hairless Rat Rods in Sieverville, so fabricating is not a problem, but the goal wasn’t to fabricate, but rather to fabricate as little as possible.
He says cutting the ABS, emissions, and body control wiring from the stock Vic harness did not affect the computer. “The lighting control module was missing, but I used a trailer control switch and the truck fired right up,” says Tom.
As soon as it fired Tom hopped in to take it for a first spin, and that’s when he found that the transmission was cooked. “So I spent a couple hundred more and now it shifts positive and fires the first time every time,” he says. Just before coming to Kansas City for the first leg of the 2017 Power Tour he purchased some new tires, “because I’m a Long Hauler so I knew I’d be putting 3000 miles on the old truck.”
What are his future plans for the cheap trick truck? “Just drive it,” says Tom.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
We get our first look at the amazing cars and trucks cueing up for the 2017 Power Tour at the registration tents, and this year looks to be the biggest and best yet. They come from all over to take in the sights, sounds, and smells of Power Tour pandemonium. Our starting point this year was our ending point last year, Kansas City, Kansas. Arrowhead Park, specifically. So for this first look we have 200 images of just a taste of the over 5000 hot rods that will be plying the highways and byways that as the 2017 HOT ROD Power Tour sponsored by Chevrolet Performance. And come back each day for the best coverage of the biggest cruise in the world.
Vic Edelbrock Jr, one of the guiding lights of the aftermarket, past president and board member of the Specialty Equipment Manufacturing Association (SEMA), and scion of the Edelbrock Company for nearly 60 years, has passed away. Born into racing royalty as the son of Vic Edelbrock Sr., one of the founders of hot rodding and the aftermarket for speed equipment, he could have taken any path, but he was bitten by hot rodding and performance just like his dad.
After the passing of Sr. in late 1962, Vic Jr. took the reins of Edelbrock at 26 years old. Through his finely tuned business, marketing and sales abilities, and with a solid team of hot rodders versed on making cars go fast, he built his father’s company to over $100 million in annual sales throughout the 2000s. When it looked like the aftermarket was dying in the early 1970s with the environmental restrictions and pollution control components killing performance, Vic Jr. started marketing his induction systems as improving clean air and also performance. He built his own testing dyno to measure carbon emissions to prove his claims. Suddenly performance was recognized as helping to both clean the environment but also make for a more efficient running engine.
Soon the smog-chocked engines available from Detroit were improved in every way with Edelbrock aftermarket components, launching the second coming of the performance industry. With his oversight of SEMA as president from 1971 to 1974 and then remaining on its board of directors for decades, he helped to guide the aftermarket with the same insight and marketing savvy he used to catapult the Edelbrock Company to new riches. Going in house with its casting operati
If you are of a certain age, the 1960s TV show Batman was a wild must-see series for a couple of years, no doubt due to the Batmobile for us car enthusiasts, but also for the campy acting of Adam West as Batman. West died June 9, 2017 in Los Angeles from leukemia–he was 88. He acted in a lot of TV westerns in the 1950s, as well as parts in early TV hits like Perry Mason and The Real McCoys, and low budget movies like the Three Stooges movie Outlaws Is Coming, Robinson Crusoe On Mars, and Mara of the Wilderness. But he will always be remembered most for his role as Batman in the TV show that ran from 1966-1968, with sidekick Robin played by Burt Ward. In 1970 he was asked to play James Bond in the movie Diamonds Are Forever, but turned it down. Being typecast due to his Batman role, he for a time made personal appearances around his Batman fame, even doing some wrestling appearances with Jerry Lawler. He was able to grab some appearances on TV shows throughout the 1970s, and by the end of the 1970s, as interest in his original Batman role gained traction, he was able to reprise his role for some acting and voiceover work. More animation and video game voiceover and acting parts came throughout the 1990s and early 2000s.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
Having a freak is neither a bad thing, nor a good thing necessarily. If it’s different, and maybe brings a smile to those who stare in amazement, then it’s a freak. We’ve assembled over 50 here for your perusal, and these are some of the best we’ve witnessed in a while. HOT ROD enthusiasts are not shy about shocking their peers with their building antics, as you’ll see below. These examples should give you both ideas but also nerve if you’re contemplating building something outlandish. See if you can out-freak some of these Power Tour freaks.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
Some go for speed, some for stance or style, while others want their cars and trucks to be extreme in another category: LOW. How low can you go? It’s a badge of honor to have the lowest of the low. Praise the lowered! So we’ve scoured the 2017 HOT ROD Power Tour to find examples that best typify slammed. The real diehards think that bags or hydraulics are cheating—that you have to drive it as low as you can go to really be part of the lowered, but anymore who cares? Low is low, and if you can get away with driving your heap reasonably low with bags, then can slam it once you’re in the fairgrounds—that’s fine with us. So you’ll see both with our 50-plus gallery of slinkin’ slammers from this year’s Power Tour.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
We’ve seen an increase at the 2017 HOT ROD Power Tour of pre-1955 heaps over previous years. Look, the older cars are not always the best for power touring—short wheelbases, cramped seating, no air cond, no tops, and on and on—it’s much easier to leave your hot rod at home and bring the GTO instead. So double kudos to those who have braved the elements, every tar strip and cement crack, and gallons of sun block, to show their allegiance to the genuine hot rod. We’ve got a gallery of over 100 images of some of the best solid gold, OG builds brought to Power Tour.
Known as the “Football” when Big John Mazmanian ran his aerodynamic Austin as his last A/Gasser, this shot from 1968 shows it in its KS Pittman iteration after he purchased it from Maz. Of course Mazmanian graduated to Funny Cars, campaigning his Candy Red ‘Cuda in 1968. Pittman, on the other hand, continued as a player in the Gasser ranks. He gained prominence with his 1933 Willys coupe, adding a 1941 Willys coupe in 1967 after crashing the ’33. The ’33 also spent some time on a European tour after it was rebuilt. Running the Football for two years, in 1970 he swapped the Austin body for an Opel GT body, with opening doors, and two seats. He continued racing in the Gasser class until 1972 when it was on life support due to the popularity of Funny Cars, replacing the Opel GT Gasser with a Vega Funny Car he ran into the mid-1970s.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
Sometimes problems arise beyond the pre-planning, planning, care, and 20-plus years of everything that could go wrong at Power Tour having already happened, when plunging over 5000 cars through small burghs and major cities in America. Such was the case in Galesburg, Illinois, when between the routes being nailed down and the beginning of the 2017 Power Tour, bridge construction forced detours to all entering Galesburg, including the Power Tour faithful. But the police department came through with every officer on duty participating in directing traffic at each detour wrapping around town getting Power Tour participants on their merry ways faster and safer than without the fine work of the department. For that we thank the city and police department of Galesburg, Illinois.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
If you think that Power Tour is just for rocking chair cruisers, think again. 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 it home. A few years ago he got into the 130MPH Club with a 1999 Crown Vic that was a Bondurant Driving School car set up by Jack Roush with a 1999 Mustang Cobra drivetrain. He got into the club with it, but he knew it couldn’t go 150mph. He retired from the printing business and the search for a 150mph street car commenced. In 2015 he found the car he thought would work in California, this 1969 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler II. These cars 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 502 were built, all with 351 Windsor engines, C4 automatics, and all in white with either blue or red accents. The noses were extended, 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 sooner, to cheat the NASCAR rules about stock ride height. NASCAR measured at the rockers, so if they are higher, then the car can be lower, for a lower center of gravity and better aero. Get it?
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 351 Cleveland with 4bbl heads and single 750 Holley, hooked to a wide ratio Top Loader 4-speed trans. Out back a 2.75 gear and Detroit Locker rear also got Michael a few steps closer to Bonneville. 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.
Changes to meet SCTA specs to race the 2-1/2 mile 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.
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 the 91 octane gas he came to Utah with, and some 100 octane gas he picked up on the course. He told us the passes were exhilarating, and that towards the top end it skated quite a bit. But if you don’t back off and over correct you’re positioned to complete the pass short of breaking a part. When Michael is 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.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
You gotta love these big, bad, behemoths, and Jan Schnur’s XL Sports Roof is one of the last and rarest. Believe it or not, Ford made these monsters in both 1969 and finally in 1970 when they switched to even larger full-size cars than in previous years. Of the over 1-million full-size Fords made in 1969 Jan’s is one of only 88 made with a 4-speed—we cant even guess how many they made in 1970. From the latter 1950s to the mid-1960s big, full-size 4-speed cars were not common, but there were plenty being produced, because there were no intermediate size cars for many years and so if you wanted to drag race and preferred a 4-speed, you bought a big, bulky sedan. By the late-1960s it made little sense when you had not only intermediates, but also Mustangs and Camaros. So the big 4-speeds soldered on for a few years until evaporating in 1970. You could also get 3-speed manual full-size cars into Fords and some GM products into the early 1970s.
As for Jan’s XL, he bought it two years ago out of Kansas City after looking for years, after seeing one that a neighbor had when he was just 16. This car was produced at the Ford plant in California, and sold through a Ford dealer in Sacramento, where it went to Texas. Jan is either the third or fourth owner. He’s cleaned it up and drives it, and loves it. It has a tick over 88,000 miles over its almost 50 years of use. These XL’s had the Sports Roof with the extended sail panels, mostly with vinyl tops—hey; it was almost the 1970s. There was also a two-door sedan in this body style, as well as the 4-door sedans, convertibles, and station wagons. These things are huge—but you can’t beat getting on a full-size American monster with a 4-speed. These throbbing beasts torque over, twist, creak and pop, making lots of noise and action, clawing for every inch of pavement.
Survivors are rare as you can imagine, but besides images of Jan’s beaut we have included a dozen other 4-speed boats spotted on the Power Tour. Where else in the world would a bunch of unicorn rarities be but at Power Tour!
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
Pontiac, Plymouth, Packard, Pierce, Peerless—all car companies that share more than the “P” in their names. All are orphan brands that at one time or another were the fastest, most luxurious, or top selling cars in their day. Now? They’re relegated to the dustbins of history, except at the HOT ROD Power Tour. Here, we honor their greatness from back in the day. We’ve got some typical orphan cars from AMC, Plymouth and Packard, as well as some real rarities like a one-of-one convertible Kaiser, and a Goggomobile—we’re not making that up. So in no particular order here’s a huge gallery of dead brands given new life from hot rodders at the 2017 Power Tour.
HOT ROD Power Tour 2017 Is Presented By Chevrolet Performance And Driven By Continental Tire
You’ve asked for them, and now we have the Top 10 Freaks of Power Tour. Some you’ve seen from our first Freaks Power Tour post but some you haven’t. Freaks are great, and we applaud anyone and everyone who has the time, talent, cha-cha, and forgiving family that allows any car to be built and run on the Power Tour—not just Freaks. Every car project represents a miracle of some sorts because what can go wrong usually does, but we hot rodders persevere. So check out the Top 10 Freaks, and we can hardly wait to see what y’all come up with next year
There’s nothing normal about his Ford Model A mongrel, not even the color. We think this started out as a 1928-29 Model A pickup, but so much of what it once was has been modified that it’s sort of “who cares, it’s weird and wild.” We have no idea what motivates this stinky pink pickup, but you can see it’s been converted to a trippy trike. Proportionally it must be mid-engine, so that along with a single front wheel must make for some interesting handling. In all it’s a wonderfully weird wheeled whacky hack perfect for a Freak Show Friday.
Stu Hilborn developed his fuel injection experiments with this car, his Bill Warth-built aluminum streamliner, in this photograph by HOT ROD founder Robert Petersen. Run by Warth on California dry lakes before WWII, Hilborn purchased the lakes racer without engine or transmission for $75 the day Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. Run a few times with a flathead Ford before racing stopped in 1942. During the war Hilborn started his experiments in fuel injection while in the service, applying his theories with the help of his race car, running 140mph in 1947 before he rolled it, landing him in the hospital. While recuperating, friend Eddie Miller Jr. banged the old racecar back into shape. Since Stu promised his mother he wouldn’t race again, he enlisted Howie Wilson to drive, becoming the first car to break 150mph on the lakes. By 1948 Hilborn Injection Company was born, and by the following year his fuel injection systems could be found on many race cars including the top Indy 500 teams.
Campaigning Pontiac Super Stocks early in the 1960s, when GM pulled the plug, Arlen Vanke switched to Mopars, becoming one of the dominant racers in the category. Arlen died June 16, 2017, at 80 years old. Hailing from Akron, Ohio, Vanke, called “Akron Arlen” by many, set NHRA A/Stock records in 1962 in his Super Duty Pontiac. A year later, when GM quit racing, Vanke purchased both a 426 wedge and 426 Hemi Plymouth, winning many races with the two Mopars. But without any support from Plymouth, Vanke was back to racing Pontiacs by 1966 with his “Tin Indian” GTO. That got Mopar’s attention. They wooed Vanke back to Chrysler, where he had many wins in Super Stock for Plymouth. He also has his name attached to dual quad Hemi RO23 intakes that were “Vanked”. He would remove dividing walls in the plenum from the front and rear carb flanges to aid in breathing throughout the RPM range, making a plenum chamber intake. His Hemi ‘Cuda won the NHRA Nationals in SS/A in 1968, setting the record for SS/A at the 1969 NHRA Winternationals. He was a member of the United States Racing Team for Pro Stock in 1971 and 1972. Vanke participated in Nostalgia drag racing in the 1990s before retiring to Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Jack Conely was a talented racer and engine builder, contributing to race teams in NASCAR, USAC, Indy, IMSA and ARCA. He died May 10 at the age of 87. A Michigan Motor Sports Hall of Fame inductee, he was known for his 434ci Chevy small block racing engines, and also for his adept driving Super Modifieds. From Brighton, Michigan, he was known as the “Brighton Bandit” because he could always be counted on to steal the attention at races he entered, flying around the ovals, and stealing the wins. He raced from 1949 to 1974, when a racing accident damaged his leg and knee. He was proprietor of both Conely’s Speed Shop and Glen Oaks Singles Bar, both located in Brighton. He was a 12-time champion at Toledo Raceway Park, and 10-time champion at Jackson Motor Speedway.
