Custom engine covers remind me of Mitch Hedberg.

"You open it...and it still ain't open!"

These cars remind me of those tiny bathing suit-wearing muscle men; they look amazing, but can't actually do anything due to being so muscle-bound.

4L60 trans...axle? Really?

@13oostedwgn: Seriously. Looks like it's powered by a large hunk of plastic (or glass, or heavily bondo-ed metal).

The large radius curves and filled-in cavities all over these high-dollar rods really turn me off. Look at the back of the "engine bay" in the lead picture. The cowl has a rounded off edge that transitions into a blank block that just sort of takes up space.

Exhibit 2: the horrble treatment the rear axle of the yellow wagon:
[jalopnik.com]
Looks like it's made from the same fiberglass construction as a Ronald-McDonald playplace statue.

It's like these people are afraid of corners. I'll take stamped steel with pinch welds over that any day.

@beercheck: 4L60E, oh how much difference a single letter can make

Hey kids! Let's play "Where's the Engine?"

Seriously, though, if you want a Nomad, buy a Nomad, and leave these old workhorses' lines alone, IMO.

I think the fancy engine cover means he ran out of cash to do anything else nice under there. It's pretty cheap to Bondo over some styrofoam to make a nice shroud.

I think that old "tri-five" Chevy wagons are cool. I think that the body mods on this particular example are relatively tasteful (although I think the paint is a bit too much), and there's no question that they're well-executed. So, hey, pretty cool. But whoever decided it would be a good idea to put a cover over the engine should be smacked in the face with a finned aluminum valve cover. I figure if I do it just right, I can leave "OFFENHAUSER" imprinted (in a mirror image) on the guy's forehead. Honestly, who the hell thinks that a so-called hot rod shouldn't be about showing off the mill?

Why the engine cover?! I feel cheated. I've seen custom engine covers before and each time it makes me think that they might be secretly ashamed of what's under there.

Also this car is orange, I can't abide the existence of orange cars.

From now on, I only want to see cars that would still look good with a little (or a lot) of road rash...

@13oostedwgn: I don't need another step between me and engine.

LS1 and 4L60E? Million dollar build and they use a $3500 drivetrain?

@badco/LoJ: I am so sick of the LSX/auto platform for hot rods these days. WTF is wrong with the tried and true, tune it with your nose, carb/manual trans combo? Too hard to throw that third pedal in there with all your fancy tools?

Again with the fugly rims. Monkey see, monkey do.

@Turboner: I'm fine with the combo in general, but spring for a new LS3 and 6L80E and spend more than 0.5% of the build cost on the drivetrain, you dumb bastards.

ok for everyone that thinks they are hiding stuff and wondering why that engine??? i was up there with the 40 ford coupe. i talked to neil and joe (builders of this car) for a while. the whole drivetrain was out of a vette as with the suspension. they did the car how THEY wanted it and it turned out great. There is NO fiberglass in this car, everything was made of sheet metal or aluminum and mostly shaped on the pullmax. they pulled the cover off for the judges up there and showed them that the engine was all smoothed up and slciked with paint and polished junk. so they werent trying to hide anything, just merely trying to make stuff look smooth. you can look at this car for days on end and keep finding new stuff they had done, first off being the wedge secitoning of the body with almost 5 inches out of the front all the way back to nothing. amazing ride!