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Hot Rod
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racing news
NHRA Testing Vibrator
If you follow gaming or home theater gadgets, you may have heard of the Guitammer ButtKicker system. The core of the system is an electromagnetic piston capable of reproducing low-range frequencies without sound, providing an immersive experience to correspond with music or on-screen action. The NHRA is testing this industrial-grade vibrator as a way to simulate the drag racing experience on the couches of fans at home. This weekend, Jeg Coughlin Jr. will be carrying the transmission system in his Chevy Cobalt drag racer and a group of test subjects will be experiencing seat-of-the-pants racing like never before. More »
custom cars
Buick Roadmaster Hot Rod Makes Flat Black Look Good
Flat black, white walls, wagon, flames. On paper, this Buick Roadmaster wagon would be a spectacular hot rod and parts hauler, but the truth is far stranger than that. Start with the first description, then chop the top off the wagon, add a vinyl liner to the back, and make those flames out of wood-grained contact paper. Oh, and put some bull horns on the hood. And rename it the Ratmaster Roadster. Intriguing. In fact, all signs point to crazy, and therefore a sick part of us really likes it. (Thanks for the pics Tinfoil)
billetproof 2008
Roadster Rods Or Kool Kustoms?
While the cars at the Billetproof show come in all sorts of old-skool flavors, there seem to be two ends of the spectrum: hot rod roadsters on one side, and kool kustoms on the other. We know the two don't always have to be mutually exclusive; after all, just look at some of the creations from Autorama Detroit. But the pure essence of each is pretty distinct. So, toward which pole does your compass point?More »
rat rod
When we brought a car with a crazy engine/transmission swap and some wild junkyard suspension mods to the 24 Hours of LeMons race, some folks thought it wouldn't last a dozen laps... but we knew better. You see, we've got the mighty Hellhammer, aka Junkyard Dave Schaible, as crew chief, and this guy can build anything. Here's one of my favorite Hellhammer projects: one of the first- if not the first- of the current generation of Northern California rat rods, built back in the early 1980s. It's a Model T body (which was found, complete with bullet holes, sitting in a Castro Valley field) on a Model A frame, powered by a '49 Cadillac 331-cubic-inch engine spinning a seriously lumpy mid-50s-vintage Isky cam. It's built entirely from stuff Dave had sitting around, including a Geo Metro back seat, '40 Ford brakes, handmade headers, etc., and I'm having a tough time thinking of any vehicle that's more fun to drive. Those of you heading to the Billetproof show in September will get to see this machine in person.
Before They Called Them Rat Rods: Hellhammer's Caddy-Powered Model T
When we brought a car with a crazy engine/transmission swap and some wild junkyard suspension mods to the 24 Hours of LeMons race, some folks thought it wouldn't last a dozen laps... but we knew better. You see, we've got the mighty Hellhammer, aka Junkyard Dave Schaible, as crew chief, and this guy can build anything. Here's one of my favorite Hellhammer projects: one of the first- if not the first- of the current generation of Northern California rat rods, built back in the early 1980s. It's a Model T body (which was found, complete with bullet holes, sitting in a Castro Valley field) on a Model A frame, powered by a '49 Cadillac 331-cubic-inch engine spinning a seriously lumpy mid-50s-vintage Isky cam. It's built entirely from stuff Dave had sitting around, including a Geo Metro back seat, '40 Ford brakes, handmade headers, etc., and I'm having a tough time thinking of any vehicle that's more fun to drive. Those of you heading to the Billetproof show in September will get to see this machine in person. 
custom cars
Would Car Nutz Customs Be Illegal In Florida?
With all the hullabaloo over Truck Nutz it's a wonder the folks at Car Nutz Customs haven't taken a cue and changed their name a bit. True, they don't specialize at installing chrome dangly bits on '71 Impalas, but with Florida legislators rebelling against all things Nutz, you'd think they might just consider it. That being said, Car Nutz Customs (CNC in brief) actually does some nice work if you're into the whole big rims and crazy stereo with a clean install kind of thing. Unfortunately they aren't into big pictures of their cars. Enjoy the tiiiiiiny gallery of their work.
novelties
Norwegian Hot Rod Slammed, Literally
Looking at this bad wipeout it's hard not to be surprised that the driver survived. Apparently, the 52-year-old driver was not wearing a seatbelt and was thrown from his car before it landed wheels-up in the ditch. Though lucky to survive, the man is in stable but serious condition in a hospital with significant chest injuries. Because of the foam it is sort of hard to get a read on what happened but there don't appear to be any visible skid marks, which makes us wonder how far it flipped before arriving in the ditch or if it came from the other side of the road. A picture of the hot rod pre-destruction below the jump. More »
custom cars
Blastolene Special Creator At It Again With "Sneaky Pete"
Some guys think big, Michael Leeds is one of those guys. The designer of the fantastically prodigious Blastolene Special has come up with another behemoth of a hot rod, and this one sips diesel. His 1950 Peterbuilt has been chopped eleven inches and dropped with a custom suspension up front and a modified air system in the back. Rowing that twelve speed transmission and 2.92 final drive, that monster six cylinder turbo diesel runs on the highway with up to 21 MPG — take that hippies.More »
choose your eternity
Well, whaddya know- an American Hell Project beat a French one in our most recent Choose Your Eternity poll, with the Malaise Corvette Limo winning by a small- yet significant- margin over the V8-ready Peugeot 404. Unprecedented! We need to honor this tremendous underdog victory by going with an all-American matchup, with a 71-year-old car taking on a 79-year-old truck. Not only that, to honor the amazing Packard Straight Eight we saw in today's Engine of the Day post, each of these projects must be viewed as the potential recipient of a supercharged Packard inline eight engine. So forget those small-block Chevy engines that come with 'em, because the Chevy is just too easy.
More »
PCH, Packard Eight Swap Edition: 1937 Pontiac Sedan or 1929 Ford Truck
Well, whaddya know- an American Hell Project beat a French one in our most recent Choose Your Eternity poll, with the Malaise Corvette Limo winning by a small- yet significant- margin over the V8-ready Peugeot 404. Unprecedented! We need to honor this tremendous underdog victory by going with an all-American matchup, with a 71-year-old car taking on a 79-year-old truck. Not only that, to honor the amazing Packard Straight Eight we saw in today's Engine of the Day post, each of these projects must be viewed as the potential recipient of a supercharged Packard inline eight engine. So forget those small-block Chevy engines that come with 'em, because the Chevy is just too easy.More »
custom cars
Details Emerge on Lakes Style Speedster
We told you what was needed to figure out the details on that sweet black lakes-style hot rod was to just sit back and let the HAMBers do their thing. Of course we were right again, as they've clawed a ton of information out in just a single day. First and foremost on the neat-o list is that engine its unbelievably a Datsun 260Z mill made to look like an old Miller/Offenhauser inline six — very trick. The car was built by a first time body man by the name of Jim Pendleton out of Texas and the build is fairly well documented across several sites. It's pretty nicely built and aside from the Datsun motor the rest of the build appears to be period correct. Jealous.[MetalShapers, Webshots, 2008 Round Up, and Jalopy Jounal]
custom cars
Mysterious Single Seat Lakes-Style Hot Rod
A very mysterious custom hot rod showed up at the Lone Star Rod & Kustom Round Up last weekend and it's caught our eye. The single seat, lakes-style inspired roadster is sleek and smooth with some very cool tricks up it's sleeve. The car is powered by an inline six sporting a straight pipe running down the side and a V12 distributor — good for a dual spark head. Not too much info out on it yet, but the folks at the HAMB are on the case, so we'll know what schedule bolts were used on the seat bracket in no time. More details and images over at Jalopy Journal.
custom cars
Nelson Supercars Chevy Camaro - The "F Bomb"
This is the Nelson Racing "F-bomb". It's a 1973 Chevy Camaro which belongs to David Freiburger, Cheif Editor at Hotrod Magazine. David's Camaro has been caged and tubbed, and a 406 cubic inch twin turbo V8 was installed. We were a little disappointed to find out the car only makes 1540 HP and 1527 lb.ft. of torque. That sounds pretty weak for a Chief Editors ride. We're not going to go braggin' er nothin' but a real Chief should be driving around in something tough and manly, like a Jeep Liberty.More »
autorama
Plymouth Rat Rod With Machine Gun Intake
A 1934 Plymouth sedan isn't a typical starting point for a hot rod, but that's just the beginning of the uniqueness of this car. It's a hodgepodge in the best sense of the term; '79 GM A-body rear suspension, 400 cubic-inches of '73 Plymouth V8 power, a custom intake manifold, and 3 Rochester 2bbl carbs. The wood headliner is actually made from a tree that was growing in the owner's yard. That machine gun styled air cleaner even utilizes the leftover portion of the shortened driveshaft. And would you take a look at that homemade hood ornament; its a "screw" flying though a "U." The best part? The owner bought the car just to get one part for another car, but ended up deciding to build this up just for fun. It's stuff like this that make us love Autorama.
autorama
Freakshow, The Custom Camino From Hello Kitty Hell
Freakshow has our noodle in a bind. There's not much left of the original '64 Chevy C-10, but it definitely says "1964 Chevy Pickup" on the placard. By all rights it should be the absolute baddest truck/car in the show hands down with a blown 354 cubic inch hemi, six Stromberg 97 carbs, the sickest custom headers we've ever seen all running through a four speed Muncie to a 9 inch Ford rear with 4:11 gears. It has a beer keg and an in-cabin tap coming out a skull mounted under a gun rack. And yet here we are torn - the car is pink, with white fur everywhere, and has a pink telephone on the dash. What. The. Hell?More »
autorama
'32 Ford Hot Rod, Now in Creamsicle Flavor
Even though we tire of high dollar '32 Fords, a cleanly done and nicely finished one still catches our eye. This example of traditional hot rodding is way cooler than the megabux toys upstairs. The white and pearlescent satin orange finish really pop and the simple clean lines just beg for a good high speed run through a summer night. The ceramic coated four-into-one headers mount up to an SBC huffing and puffing through a four barrel Holley.More »
retro
European Booth Professionals or American Hot Rod Pinups?
With all the testosteriffic talk about European Booth Professionals in Geneva yesterday, those of us in California can't help but think that real car women pose with good ol' flathead-powered machinery and aren't afraid to pick up a wrench now and then. We found a Flickr set with a pretty good selection of hot rod pinups and thought we'd share them with all you knuckle-dragging wolf-whistlers. [Flickr]
boyd coddington
There's been an outpouring of thoughts and prayers since news of Boyd Coddington's passing, especially on the Boyd Coddington obituary from earlier. And now Boyd's own site has been updated with a page for people to leave their thoughts, memories and prayers with a banner appropriately stating "Whenever there are clouds in the heavens, we'll know it's you showing God how to do a great burnout." [Boyd Coddington Official Website]
Boyd Coddington's Website Updated, Includes Forum For Final Thoughts
There's been an outpouring of thoughts and prayers since news of Boyd Coddington's passing, especially on the Boyd Coddington obituary from earlier. And now Boyd's own site has been updated with a page for people to leave their thoughts, memories and prayers with a banner appropriately stating "Whenever there are clouds in the heavens, we'll know it's you showing God how to do a great burnout." [Boyd Coddington Official Website]
retro
