nfv3u9eam1x magzus.org by Thomas Swift

TREASURE TROVE! 100-YEAR-OLD WRECKING YARD SELLS EVERYTHING

SPEED WEEK MAN VS MACHINE + SPEED AT THE BONNEVILLE SALT FLATS

JANUARY 2022

RIVERSIDE RACEWAY: ON-TRACK NASCAR ACTION FROM 1970 BUILD AN EFI-READY FUEL TANK SYSTEM

700HP LS7 TESTED ON THE DYNO

1971 DODGE SUPER BEE RESCUED FROM A BARN

0122

Contents HOTROD.COM EVERYDAY

Custom Cooling Solution Prevent Overheating With a Homemade Fan Shroud

Starting Line with John McGann

HOT ROD Archives 20, 40, and 60 Years Ago

Where It All Began 1970 Riverside Raceway

LS7 Plus 442-Cubic-Inch LS7 Stroker Makes Over 700 HP

Speed Week 2021 Excellent Conditions Made for Falling Records

1972 Pantera The Responsibility of Taking Ownership of a Person’s Pride and Joy

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Project Truck Norris Update: Making Custom Spark Plug Wires

Getting the Drop Coilover Conversion for a 1964 Chevelle

Bee in a Barn 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee Six-Pack 440 Rescued

Steering Column Install 1974 Plymouth Duster

100 Years of Parts The Third-Generation Owner of the Family-Run Wrecking Yard is Retiring With a Huge Yard Sale

EFI-Ready Ditching Your Stock Fuel Tank and Outdated Pump Setup is Easier Than You Might Think

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In the Words of Freiburger...

Q ON THE COVER: Lucky's Speed Equipment ’31 at Bonneville. Photo by Marc Gewertz HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/ 3

STARTING LINE

The C8 Corvette is the Best Car I’ve Ever Driven By John McGann Editor-in-Chief @john.mcgann

❱I was afraid to drive the 2021 Corvette after it was dropped off at the warehome. Not because I feared it’s power or performance potential, but rather, I was afraid I wouldn’t like it. After more than a year writing about the new Corvette and covering the C8.R in the IMSA WeatherTech Sportscar Championship, I was worried it would be a “never meet your heros” situation. After all the anticipation, what if the car was boring, uncomfortable, or irritating in some way? What if I didn’t like it? I waited a day, then I drove it. It was amazing. The version I received on loan from Chevrolet was a 2021 3LT dressed in electrifying Accelerate Yellow paint and sporting an $81,000 price tag. It was mine for a week, which sounds like a generous amount of time, but it wasn’t nearly long enough. In a moment of hopeless ignorance, I had to get a quick rundown on how to even operate the car. Thankfully, I knew where to look for the door handle, but how the hell does that shifter work, where are the hood and trunk release switches, and what’s with the rotary dial on the console? The rep from the delivery company didn’t make too much fun of

few days navigating Mulholland Highway in the Santa Monica Mountains, then further east on Angeles Crest Highway. The C8’s limits are far superior to my driving abilities, but I did wring it out on some mountain roads, and in that setting, the car is magic. It feels taught, poised, nimble, and utterly capable. The LT2 engine delivers its 495hp punch with velvety smoothness, and the magnetic ride suspension is worth every penny of the $1,895 it adds to the sticker price. The car feels glued to the road as those shocks work their magic over bumps and dips. The brakes felt strong and progressive, and the steering was light but

me as he patiently showed me the basics, then left me to my own devices. I took it for a drive the next day. In reality, the car is simple to operate, you just need to be familiar with where the controls are. What struck me more than anything was how low you sit—the perception is that you are mere inches off the ground, and you can see every bump, expansion joint, and pebble in the road. I took it to meet my wife at a restaurant and instantly got stuck in traffic on the infamous 405 freeway. At low speeds and infuriating traffic, the car is completely docile, quiet, and comfortable. If it weren’t for the go-kart ride height and swoopy fenders visible through the windshield, I might have guessed I was in some sedate grocery getter. The car is eerily quiet on the inside. Free from the shackles of freeway traffic, the car is sublime. I spent the next

highly communicative. There is a lot of tech in the car, and in my experience, so much electronic intervention often dilutes the driving experience, but I didn’t get that sense from the C8. Despite the electronics, the driving experience felt pure and direct, and the engineers at GM deserve a lot of praise for this. By now, all the new car magazines and online media outlets have exhaustively covered the performance specs of the C8, so I don’t have much to add beyond my anecdotal driving impressions. They can tell you weight distribution, cornering g-forces, and interior and cargo dimensions. I can only say the car felt light and responsive, impressively quick, and supremely comfortable. Visibility forward and to the sides is great, but to the rear is vague. The backup camera is essential here, and my test car was also equipped with a rear-facing camera display on the

4 HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/

rearview mirror, which was quite helpful. I don’t own a golf bag, so I couldn’t verify the unfortunate industry standard test for trunk capacity, but I could fit a week’s worth of groceries in the trunk. Being next to the engine and above the exhaust, the groceries were a bit toasty by the time I got home, so I would put the cold stuff in the “frunk”, not the trunk, so your milk won’t turn to cheese on the drive home. Do I have any gripes? I wish a real manual transmission with three pedals was available, and I’m not the only one to say this. Some people just don’t care about max-effort 0-60 mph times and would sacrifice a few tenths of a second of boastful acceleration for the extra input a clutch pedal and shift lever affords. I also wish it had round taillights, but that’s just my opinion. I love the looks of the car otherwise. Aside from that, my only other disappointment is that I don’t own one. For what it’s worth, I spent some time on Chevrolet.com optioning out a C8. For my money, I’d choose the 1LT trim package, because it has the fewest luxury (read: heavy) items, add the Z51 suspension ($6,345) supplemented with the Magnetic Selective Ride Control ($1,895), and skip nearly everything else. I’d choose Black or Hypersonic Gray Metallic paint and maybe splurge on the Midnight Gray full-length racing stripe package. That adds up to an MSRP of about $72,500—still a bit rich for my blood, but it’s something to aspire to during my time here in the salt mines of automotive journalism. I’m not a fan of new cars. They’re too big, too heavy, and full of too much crap, but the C8 broke through my biases the day it was launched, and I’ve wanted to drive one ever since. Not only did the C8 exceed my expectations, it made me want to own one, and that’s a pretty good endorsement coming from a guy who’s working very hard to keep old cars on the road.

EDITORIAL Performance Group Director Douglas R. Glad Editor-in-Chief John McGann Managing Editor Rusty Kurtz Features Editor Timothy Bernsau Technical Editor Johnny Hunkins Technical Editor Steven Rupp Staff Editor Jordon Scott Social Media Editor Cyril Soliman Video Producer Kale Eickhof HOT ROD Garage Hosts Tony Angelo Lucky Costa Tech Center Manager Calin Head Contributors Christian Arriero Steve Brule Marc Gewertz Matt Lankford Matthew Leland Jorge Nuñez Jeff Schwartz

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WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

The HOT ROD Archives 20 Years Ago January 2002: 114 pages, $3.99 Tech geeks would have loved the January 2002 issue – a collection of intake manifolds and carburetor combinations all tested on the same engine. David Freiburger oversaw this piece, and the test engine was a crate 350 from Chevrolet that had been outfitted with AFR 195 cylinder heads and a roller cam from Comp. The 9.5:1 small-block made baseline numbers of 491 hp and 436 lb-ft of torque. DF then proceeded to run it with dual quads on a dual-plane, and dual quads on a tunnel-ram. If you’re curious, the tunnel-ram and dual Dominator carburetor combo made 485 hp and 438 lb-ft. Of it, David said, “Despite the seemingly healthy power numbers, we wouldn’t use this manifold on an engine this mild. Low-end driveability would be miserable. However, the dual 4500s look so cool and the linkage kit works so well that we plan to build an engine that can actually handle them.” That’s the spirit! Elevens for $7,500 grabbed our attention now, and we’re sure, many readers back then as well. Steve Magnante wrote that article about Jo Jackson’s Nova that ran 11.30s at 116 mph with a naturally aspirated 350 engine. The engine was a swap-meet build costing a paltry $3,500 carb-to-oil pan, and the entire car (with engine) cost less than $7,500. It’s the ultimate in used parts scrounging and DIY ingenuity. Magneto also wrote a piece on making custom fiberglass parts and compared the big-name spark plug wires of the day. Features Editor Jeff Koch wrote features on a cool 1970 Maverick Grabber and a trio of ’90’s era Thunderbirds, all swapped with 32-valve 4.6 engines, which, in reality, is the engine they should have come with all along.

2002

40 Years Ago January 1982: 94 pages, $1.50 The ’57 Chevy Tribute mentioned on the cover was the result of a visit to Joe Hrudka’s personal collection of that particular year, make, and model. In 1961, Joe Hrudka set a D/Gas national record in a ’57 Chevy, and later founded Mr. Gasket with his brother Tom. By 1981, Joe was a millionaire and had amassed a large collection and a crew of technicians to restore and maintain them. Tech editor Marlan Davis penned a piece on performance brakes with the punny headline “High-Caliper Braking,” and C. J. Baker reviewed the new, third-generation Pontiac Firebird, calling it “a breath of fresh air in a world of performance cars that has stagnated for nearly a decade.” The ’41 Willys owned at the time by Mike Starcevich was the nicest car in the issue. About the car, author Gray Baskerville said, “It shook like a thousand leafs and rattled like a gross of diamondbacks, and when [owner] Mike lifted, the exhaust fumes came into the driver’s compartment just like it would after a 10-second pass down some forgotten quarter.” Who else misses writing like that?

1982

60 Years Ago The new-for-’62 Corvette was big news in the January issue, and much of the hype surrounded the new 327 block available that year. Tech Editor Ray Brock did a thorough comparison of the new 327 engine to its predecessor, the 283. Four versions of the 327 were available in the 1962 Corvette, ranging from 250 hp to a high-strung 360 hp thanks to 11.25:1 compression and a solid lifter cam. The Rochester fuel-injection system was re-tuned slightly to provide better cold-start manners. The test vehicle Brock drove had the fuel-injected 360hp engine with a four-speed and 4.11 gears. “As the only sports car manufactured in volume in this country, the Corvette is a tremendous package. It costs much less than foreign cars of comparable performance, is a snap to service, and is not temperamental in traffic.” We’re happy to report the same can still be said of the Corvette today. Other tech highlights include an article by contributor Barry Navarro, who installed a Garrett turbocharger on a 1960 Corvair. In stock form, the Powerglide-equipped Corvair sauntered to 60 mph in a coma-inducing 19 seconds. Adding only the turbocharger and necessary plumbing, Barry was able to slash that time to an astonishing 12.8 seconds. The article was as much a theory piece as it was a how-to, and Barry went into great detail contrasting the turbocharger’s operation with a Roots-style supercharger that was the go-to power-adder at the time. Eric Rickman shot the cover image, a ’29 Ford Roadster pickup built by Dean and Buzz Lowe of West Covina, California.

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1962

HOT ROD Archives

January 1962: 126 pages, 50¢

WHERE IT ALL BEGAN

NASCAR’s Hidden History:

1970 Riverside Raceway BY JOHNNY HUNKINS PHOTOGRAPHY MOTOR TREND ARCHIVES y 1970, the American automobile was undergoing a transformation at light speed, surpassed only by the technological changes in the racing world. As if to underscore that change, for the first time in the history of NASCAR’s Motor Trend 500, the magazine’s photographers would document the entire event at Riverside Raceway with color film. As an overcast sky dawned on Riverside Raceway on January 18, 1970, race teams and spectators were a million miles from the national discord, choosing instead on that day to celebrate what made America unique. A field of 44 cars from all over the country (and even one from Germany) would take the green flag at what was easily the single most difficult track on the NASCAR circuit, and in the most powerful American cars to date to ever hit a track. Riverside Raceway was brutal. Its quirky elevation changes, highspeed straightaways, diabolical esses, and gravity-defying apexes chewed through flesh like a six-year-old on a bag of gummy bears. And yet Riverside would mint kings and grant reprieves, as it had with fourtime winner Dan Gurney and, on this day, A.J. Foyt. Riverside was also a heartbreaker, and on this day, nobody knew that better than Parnelli Jones. After posting the quickest lap in qualifying using Firestone tires with a new compound (Jones was a Firestone dealer, and the brand was widely used in the Winston West series at that time), NASCAR deemed the tires illegal after Goodyear complained. Jones, along with two other cars that qualified on the same tires (Ray Elder and Jack McCoy), had to start from the back of the pack, but it hardly mattered. By lap 43, Jones had erased the entire deficit and was in the lead when he boldly gave the press box the middle finger as a gesture to NASCAR officials over the Firestone tire debacle. When his clutch failed on lap 168, it forced him to the pit, giving up the lead to Foyt. “At least we showed them who had the best tires,” Jones quipped to a reporter from the Sun-Telegram newspaper. Four years earlier, it was Jones who had come to the aid of Foyt, who experienced brake failure and a horrific crash at the entrance to Turn 9. When track doctors declared Foyt dead so that the race could continue unabated, Jones ran to Foyt’s crumpled car, finding the driver indeed alive. It must’ve been a bit ironic, then, when Foyt passed Jones on lap 169 to take the lead, which he maintained to the end of the race. The march of technology may not have been so obvious in 1970 as it is now, but it’s easier to spot the disparity between the cars of the front runners and those of the back markers when they appear side by side in these historic photos. One only needs to compare the silhouettes of the older cars—such as Dave Alonzo’s 1967 Plymouth or the 1967 Oldsmobile of Steve Froines—with the newer, factory-backed Plymouths, Dodges, Fords, and Mercurys. For all the fanfare, the winged Mopars of the group—six Plymouths and two Dodges—fared only moderately well. The Plymouth of Roger McCluskey did finish in second place, 3.5 seconds behind winner Foyt, but the biggest star running the wing was Dan Gurney in a Petty Enterprises-built Superbird. Notorious for exerting a heavy-handed approach toward crew in setting up cars, and in mutual understanding, Gurney was reined in by Petty’s shop so that he was “just” a driver (for one race), and that seemed fine for the veteran road racer as he placed the big ’bird on the pole (finishing sixth) for the model’s first-ever NASCAR outing. 10 HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY /

¶Point your phone camera here to see an amazing collection of pictures from the Motor Trend 500 at Riverside.

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JOHN MCGANN MARC GEWERTZ & MATHEW LELAND

Excellent Conditions Made for Falling Records

SPEED WEEK ou would be forgiven for thinking the meet was doomed based on the apocalyptic conditions of the first day of Speed Week. Nearby wildfires filled the sky above the Bonneville Salt Flats with a brimstone haze, while whipping wind gusts toppled canopies and stirred up salt and dust, turning an already angry sky into something looking like the end of days. The doom was short-lived, thankfully. Growing up in northeastern Ohio, we had an expression, “If you don’t like the weather, just wait a day.” Indeed, it was possible to experience an entire year’s worth of seasons in Cleveland over a period of 48 hours, and such was the case in Wendover, Utah, this year. Fire and brimstone skies gave way the next day to azure blue with fluffy white clouds and enough sunshine to immediately cure a chronic case of seasonal affective disorder. The favorable conditions remained throughout the week, giving Speed Week 2021 some of the best racing conditions in years.

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SPEED WEEK “Bonneville was as good as I can remember; the salt was tremendous,” racer Danny Thompson told us. His sentiments were echoed by all the racers we spoke with. Steve Watt, from the Speed Demon racing team, agreed. “The salt was really good,” he said, “as good as it was the year before. Lots of records were set this year.” Lots of records were set, but for the Speed Demon team, records proved elusive. The team had grand goals of running somewhere close to 500 mph, and the Speed Demon Streamliner was poised to make that happen. Loaded with a Duttweiler Performance turbocharged big-block Chevy, Speed Demon’s engine had enough power to get there, but as in all motorsports, things are different when the rubber meets the road, or salt in this case. “The engine caught fire,” Watt told us matter-offactly. “The valve cover gasket failed. Then the head gasket failed between cylinders 2 and 4.” Oil leaking from the valve cover caused a fire in the engine compartment mid-track. That, plus the head gasket failure caused the crew to abandon further attempts with the AA class big-block. They instead installed the 466-cubic-inch LS engine and ran 466 mph in a class with a 423 mph record. When attempting to back that run up, a component in the car’s safety system failed, causing the engine to shut off. 16 HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/

“George [Poteet] was pretty much done at that point,” Steve continued. He and the Speed Demon punted again and installed their third engine, a 256-cubic-inch small-block Chevy, and let team member Chris Raschke gather more seat time and step up to an unlimited license with sanctioning body, Southern California Timing Association. Qualify he did, running 390 mph with the diminutive Chevy, and that was considered a success, since the team is looking to Chris to do more of the driving in the future. George isn’t ready to retire, but he is looking to slow down a bit. Summing up the meet, Steve says, “Well, we went fast, but we didn’t set any records. We did get the HOT ROD Trophy, though, and that was great.” The HOT ROD Magazine Trophy is awarded every year to the team with the fastest speed of the event, which was Speed Demon’s 466 mph. This was the team’s tenth time winning the HOT ROD Magazine Trophy, which is an incredible accomplishment and a testament to the team. HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/ 17

SPEED WEEK “We’ve got the best guys,” Steve says of the mostly volunteer Speed Demon crew. “We work so hard and have gotten it down to a routine. We know how to get it done,” he added. Focusing on next year, Steve says they now know they need to develop a better evacuation system for the engine. At the boost levels they run, coupled with the insane loads of full throttle and maximum boost for the duration of the potentially seven-mile course, one can imagine the amount of pressure building up inside the engine and how critical the forces of windage and crankcase pressure can become. Obviously, they are enough to push past a valve cover gasket and spray enough oil to cause a fire. That’s all part of the learning curve at Bonneville. Steve explains, “When you go from 400 [mph] to 420, then from 420 to 460, you keep running into the thing that’s maxed out.” It’s a series of finding the limits of your parts and components, then adapting and overcoming each time. It’s not easy, but if it were, well, you know how the expression goes. It’s one of the reasons Speed Demon has won the HOT ROD Magazine Trophy so often.

“We’ve got the best guys,” Steve says of the mostly volunteer Speed Demon crew. “We work so hard and have gotten it down to a routine. We know how to get it done,”

Speed Demon is a collaborative effort of many people, including Steve Watt of Maxwell Industries, Chris Raschke from ARP fasteners, Ken Duttweiler of Duttweiler Performance, and owner/driver George Poteet. Speed Demon continues to hold its record as the world’s fastest Piston Driven, Wheel Driven car with a 481.576-mph top speed reached at Bonneville in 2019. Congratulations to George Poteet and the entire Speed Demon racing team for many years of accomplishment. Though their outlandish looks command the most attention, there is much more to Speed Week than just streamliners. A friend once described land speed racing as the sole remaining form of grassroots motorsports where you don’t need major sponsorship dollars or a rich uncle’s trust fund to be competitive. You can build a car on a modest budget and set records in your class and even take down the bigger dogs with deeper pockets. There are a multitude of classes to choose from, and tons of records to set your sights on at various engine displacements and engine configurations. 18 HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/

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SPEED WEEK One interesting combination was the Valley Fever streamliner built by Brad Bosworth of Fresno, California, and driven this year by Jay Meagher, of Real Street Performance in Sanford, Florida. Brad built the car at his home starting in 2009 and finishing construction in 2013. It was originally powered by a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine, but Brad quickly found the limits of that platform’s architecture. “It went 213 mph. To get more, I needed billet [engine] cases,” he says. Knowing the chassis had the potential to go 400 mph, Brad teamed with 2JZGTE engine specialist Jay Meagher. The 2JZ is the inline-six from the 1993-1998 Toyota Supra turbo, and Jay has years of success modifying them for big power. In the Valley Fever streamliner, a stock, cast-iron block engine with a rotating assembly from Brian Crower, Inc. and an 88mm Garrett turbocharger, the F Gas Blown streamliner destroyed the previous 291-mph record, running 316 mph with the 3.0L six popper. Eddie Marlen drove the #66 BMR Roadster owned by Doug Robinson. Eddie’s record run of 307 mph earned the B Fuel Roadster the title of World’s Fastest Roadster. 20 HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/

It didn’t come without a struggle, however. “We ran 305 [mph] on Saturday, but the pinion gear and bearing broke, and that caused the lower Quick Change gear to break, too. I had to overnight replacement parts and rebuild the axle in impound,” he says. They were able to run again on Friday, reaching 306 at the 4-mile marker and 311 mph through the 5-mile marker. “The car is light and has good aero. Doug designed it using a scale model he built and tested it in a homemade wind tunnel,” Eddie explains. The engine is an aluminum Keith Black Hemi with Brad Anderson cylinder heads and a homemade fuel-injection system.

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SPEED WEEK Wayne Jesel brought his 2005 Dodge Ram SRT-10 pickup this year and let several friends and fellow crewmembers take a shot at getting into the 200-mph club. The truck has run a fastest speed of 262 mph and holds 11 SCTA records. “I’ve helped 10 people get into the 200-mph club,” he says. One of those folks was Speed Demon’s Steve Watt who drove the “Red Hat Taxi” to a 241-mph average in E class. The truck is typically powered by some version of Dodge’s R5P7 NASCAR engine of varying displacements, depending on the class they want to compete in. The transmission is an air-shifted Jerico five-speed and a Ford 9-inch brings up the rear. Lucky Burton brought his ’31 Model A out to the salt this year, and it’s rakish good looks earned it a spot on this issue’s cover. Inspired by the Chrisman Coupe, Lucky built this car himself out of an amalgamation of parts he had collected over the years. The windshield surround is from a ’36 Ford, it’s blended into the cowl of a ’34 Ford, and a pair of hoods from a ’40 Ford were made to form the nose of the car. He gave the roof a severe 11½-inch chop and had to lower the driver’s seat and entire floor of the car enough to be able to see through the mail-slot windows. He races in Vintage Flathead Gas Competition Coupe (XGCC) class with his 292 Flathead backed by a TKO 600 transmission and Halibrand Quick Change axle. “I’ve gone as fast as 109 in it, but it’s a rough ride because I don’t have a rear suspension. I bent the valves on that run, too, so I’m about to take the engine out now.” He knows it’s capable of more speed than that. Lucky makes race scoops, fuel blocks, and other cool parts from his Burbank, California, shop, Lucky’s Speed Equipment.

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SPEED WEEK Danny Thompson also helped set a record this year behind the wheel of Don Ferguson’s #75 B Fuel streamliner. Powered by a non-supercharged version of a Top Fuel engine, the Ferguson streamliner ran the single-fastest time of any unblown streamliner in the history of Speed Week. Don Ferguson says, “Knowing its potential to run 400 mph, when I asked our crew ‘who wants to drive it,’ no one raised their hand!” Danny Thompson then got the nod. He continues, “Being in a different car was a different experience for me. The crew was great, though, and that made it easy.” He told us the goal was to hit 400 mph, but they fell just short, running a 385-mph average on a 349-mph record, though Danny said the car reached 399 out the back door, a 400-mph run is entirely possible next time. Summing up Speed Week, Danny says, “Bonneville is such a bitchin place. There’s not the politics of other racing [organizations]. People are there having a good time and going fast.”

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THE WENDOVER CAR SHOW ❱One of the traditions of Speed Week is the evening car show at the Wendover Nugget Hotel and Casino. A car show breaks out in the hotel parking lot nearly every evening during Speed Week, but the biggest crowds are on the first two days. The cars here are the real deal; you won’t see any billet parts or fake patina. These are real hot rods and custom cars dripping with authenticity, and most of them are still dripping salt, having just left the course. The Wendover car show is always a great mix of traditional hot rods, salt flat racers, and quirky custom builds.

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CAREFUL STEWARD The responsibility of taking ownership of a person’s pride and joy 1972 Pantera STEVEN RUPP

JORGE NUÑEZ

t was the early ’70s and American muscle cars were ruling the U.S. highways, but as evidenced by the design of the second-gen Camaros, the cars from Europe were also getting noticed. It was in this age before oil embargos and soul-crushing government mandates when anything was possible. It was just the right time for something new, different, and fast to hit the market: the De Tomaso Pantera. The Italian-American mid-engine exotic featured a gorgeous body designed by Tom Tjaarda at Ghia and a monocoque chassis engineered by Gian Paolo Dallara. The partnership with Ford brought a dealer channel in the U.S., production advice, and a great engine—the 351 Cleveland.

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Point your phone camera here to see an exquisite Pantera with a 32-valve Coyote V8.

HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/ 27

CAREFUL STEWARD Launched in 1971, in partnership with Ford, the Pantera (Italian for Panther) was a melding of Euro styling and American power. The first Pantera hit the U.S. in 1971, and production continued into the early ’90s. The heyday was from 1971 to 1975 when Ford sold around 5,500 cars in the U.S. market. Of course, gray market cars were brought over from Europe, but most of the ones in the U.S. were sold during the partnership between De Tomaso and Ford. When Ford discontinued the 351 Cleveland after 1974, De Tomaso sourced them from Australia, where they were still in production. Around 1990 that supply dried up and Panteras fielded 351 Windsor mills. Keep in mind that these cars were low production with only a few, at best, built each day at the De Tomaso factory, but the design kept getting improved and refined. In late 1972, they introduced the Pantera L model (Lusso, which is Italian for luxury), which fixed many of the shortcomings of the early models. The updates and options were enough for it to get Road Test magazine’s 1973 Import Car of The Year award, beating offerings from Maserati, Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Porsche. Other models were introduced over the years including the hard-to-find GTS version and the later GT5 variants. There was a time when you could find used Panteras for a great price, but recently the prices have been skyrocketing.

I know that money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a De Tomaso Pantera, and that’s close enough. ★★★★★

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This brings us to Vincent Palazzolo’s 1972 Pantera. As he told us, “In 2015, my neighbor drives up in a 1963 Plymouth Savoy with a big-block 426 Wedge. I stopped him and asked where he picked up the beautiful car. He told me about a lady in La Crescenta, California, that was selling her husband’s car collection due to his passing away. My neighbor proceeded to tell me that she still had several cars available. So, of course, I asked for her phone number so that I could find out what was available. When I called the owner of the car collection, she mentioned that she had a 1970 Mustang Fastback, with a 428 Cobra Jet and four-speed manual transmission, for sale.“I drove down to La Crescenta with a buddy of mine thinking I was going to purchase the Mustang, but we couldn’t come to terms on a price. As I was leaving, I saw a taillight of a red Pantera in her garage. I asked her if that car was also for sale, and she told me yes. In her two-car garage on the right, was this beautiful red Pantera. On the left was a lift sporting a black 2005 Ford GT with 1,500 original miles, and underneath the lift was a Porsche 930 Turbo Carrera.” Her late husband obviously had excellent taste.

HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/ 29

CAREFUL STEWARD It was the Pantera that captured Vincent’s heart that day. Coincidentally, it was the husband’s favorite car, by far, in his collection. He had bought the car in 1998, and the paperwork had it listed, at that time, as a GT5, so our guess is that the owner previous to him added the newer GT5-S bodywork to the ’72. The car was then completely restored to better than new status between 1998 and 2008. It’s no wonder it was the husband’s favorite, but that also meant it had the most sentimental value to his wife, and she wanted to make sure it went to a good home and not some broker or uncaring corporate entity that wouldn’t cherish it the way her husband did.

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Which brings us back to Vincent’s quest to buy this stunning Pantera. “I made her an offer to purchase the Pantera and the Mustang as a package deal, and she told me she would think about it and let me know. My buddy made an offer on an Oldsmobile Cutlass that was also in the driveway, thinking it would be a good car for his son. Needless to say, we left that day with no cars. A week later, I reached out to her to see if we had a deal, but we still couldn’t agree on a price. Now I really wanted the Pantera, and every month I would call to see if she was ready to sell, but it just wasn’t happening.

CAREFUL STEWARD “Fast-forward 11 months later, I asked my buddy to call her and make one final offer on my behalf as I was not having much luck. He explained to her that if the deal didn’t happen that night then the money was going to be used to purchase another car the next morning. I told my wife that if she didn’t accept my offer that night, even if she drops the price in half, I’m done. I went to bed that night defeated and totally disappointed.“The next morning at 7 a.m., my phone rings, and it’s my buddy telling me that she accepted my offer! I know that money can’t buy happiness, but it can buy a De Tomaso Pantera, and that’s close enough. I bought the car that day, and of course my wife Robin still makes fun of me to this day about the way I was going to hold my ground if she didn’t call that night,” recalled Vincent. “My detailer comes over and also falls in love with the car. After the detail is complete, he goes to his next customer and shares photos of the Pantera with him. This customer has an extensive collection of cars and says he wants the Pantera. My detailer then sends me a text asking me how much I want for the Pantera. I told him, ‘I just got the car, and it’s not for sale.’ Of course, he comes back with the ‘Everything is for sale, name your price’ line. I threw out a price of double what I paid for the car, knowing that was an

absurd amount. One minute later, my detailers says, ‘Done deal, bring the car over and get your cash.’ Needless to say, I turned it down, and I still have the car six years later, and love it more than ever,” continued Vincent. The 1972 “GT5” Pantera still fields its original (although rebuilt and modified including aluminum heads) 351 Cleveland engine as well as its five-speed ZF manual gearbox. It also has all the creature comforts, most likely added post purchase, such as power windows and A/C. It’s like someone took all the right parts from the various Pantera iterations and combined them together in one stunning red package. The only thing Vincent has done to the car was to have Don, at Full Throttle Panteras, fix a carburetor issue. Since the car had already won first place at the Palos Verdes Concours D’Elegance, why mess with perfection? Vincent has kept in contact with the lady that he purchased the Pantera from and considers her a friend. She was pretty excited when she heard HOT ROD did a photoshoot on her husband’s Pantera. As Vincent told us, “Her response was, ‘Oh my goodness!!! That brings tears of happiness! Yes, I’m sure he’s smiling from heaven knowing the Pantera has an owner that cares for the car the way he did.’”

TO START YOUR FREE TRIAL GO TO: MOTORTREND.COM/MYTHBUSTERS

STREAMING NOW ONLY ON

Bee in a Barn 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee Six-Pack 440 Rescued on’t hold it against him, but Jeff Schwartz isn’t a Mopar guy—he’s a car guy. He certainly wasn’t looking for another project when he happened upon this survivor 1971 Dodge Charger SixPack 440 Super Bee, but he’s in love with it now. Schwartz’s credentials as a car guy can’t be beat; not only is he the creative and engineering force behind Schwartz Performance in Woodstock, Illinois, he’s a force to be reckoned with on a road course, and he’s built a pile of insane machinery including a 1965 Pontiac Tempest, a 1971 Olds Cutlass, 1972 Chevy Vega, 1967 Ford Custom 500, and a 1981 Pontiac Trans Am—and that’s only a fraction of the cars he’s built in his garage. While a Mopar has yet to benefit from Schwartz’s deft handiwork, it’s easy to see from his previous efforts that the man does not play favorites. A wayward Mopar was bound to find its way to his garage eventually and this one is on the cusp of being saved. As the very last of the true high-performance muscle car breed, this 385hp 440 Six-Pack Super Bee is worthy of serious attention. Dodge built just 5,054 Super Bees in 1971, which was the only year of the Super Bee’s four-year history (we’re not counting the LXplatform cars) to be built as a trim level of the Dodge Charger. Previously, it was based off the Dodge Coronet body style from 1968 to 1970.

JOHNNY HUNKINS MATT LANKFORD & JEFF SCHWARTZ 34 HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/

This specific 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bee was built as a V-code Six-Pack car, but years ago the original owner swapped the tri-power setup for a single Holley 4150, setting aside the rare aluminum Edelbrock/Holley Six-Pack induction for safe keeping. Some quick checking on the interwebs indicates that this car is one-of-66 1971 Six-Pack 440 Super Bees with the 727 TorqueFlite automatic transmission, but more research will have to be done to verify its rarity. How Schwartz came to find out about the Super Bee is an interesting tale. Sometime around 1987, Jeff helped work on a friend’s 1973 Corvette road-race car. The owner of the Corvette never got around to racing it, but Jeff never forgot about it. Occasionally, Jeff would call his friend to inquire about it, hoping he could buy it. Fast forward to 2021, the 1973 Corvette owner finally relented, and Jeff found himself at a pole barn in Wauconda, Illinois, loading up his “new” L88equipped C3. The day wasn’t going well, though. Three decades of sitting on a gravel floor with no moisture barrier to protect its undercarriage left the Corvette ravaged by rust. That’s when the owner of the pole barn approached Jeff to tell him there was another car tucked away in the huge barn he might also be interested in. The barn had become an island of misfit toys that nobody seemed to want. Moreover, some car owners were late on paying storage fees and the stack of unpaid storage bills was understandably becoming a problem for the property owner. The other car in question? A 1971 Dodge Charger Six-Pack Super Bee in B5 Blue. Flat tires, rust-locked brakes, and a seized motor meant having to drag the Bee onto a fresh flatbed. Upon inspection, it became obvious that the Dodge suffered the same debilitating rust fate, but not quite

as badly as the Vette. It, too, could be saved if the price was right. This Super Bee doesn’t belong to Jeff yet. It’s still owned by its original purchaser, who had obtained it new from a Chicago-area Dodge dealer, presumably in 1971. For the first four years of its life, the Super Bee accumulated 19,532 miles, until it was dinged on the front left fender while parked. The owner feared that the paint couldn’t be matched properly by any of the Chicago-area body shops (a valid concern in 1975), so he elected HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/ 35

BEE IN A BARN to store the car until such time the paint could be handled properly. As you can see from the accompanying photo, that dent was never repaired, and the car hasn’t been used since. Now in his 70s, unable to drive the car, and needing the money, the original owner is hoping to strike the right deal with Jeff for the azure beast. It’s fortunate for the car’s owner that not only does Jeff have a far better place to store the Super Bee than a dirt-floor pole barn, but also that Jeff is likely the most over-qualified person ever to blindly stumble into a barn find like this. Few have the capability to massage a survivor car like the 1971 Dodge Charger 440 Six-Pack Super Bee back to a useable condition without destroying years of hard-won patina. In case you’re wondering why Jeff would offer to save this car from a certain slow death without first negotiating its purchase, it’s because relatively little is known about the car’s value. When and if Jeff can take possession, he

plans to put the Super Bee into running order with its original Six-Pack induction and put it back on the road with as much of its survivor flavor as practical.What we hadn’t expected is that Mopar experts we’ve spoken with don’t place a very high priority on 1971 Super Bees, even one with 440 SixPack provenance. Of the extant examples of 1971 Dodge Charger Super Bees, the Hemi cars demand the most due to the fact only 22 were ever made. Below that, Mopar experts claim the four-speed Six-Pack cars are the ones to collect, with the TorqueFlite

cars falling below that in terms of value. We were able to find a rotisserie restoration of a similar white 1971 Dodge Charger 440 Six-Pack Super Bee with a 727 automatic that was recently offered for sale at $79,999, but Jeff says the thoroughly thrashed B5 Blue barn find will need significant effort to bring it to a safe, drivable condition, a full restoration notwithstanding. Got a Mopar barn find you want to tell the world about? Send an email with a few good photos and the back story to john_hunkins@motortrend.com. HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/ 37

100 YEARS OF PARTS The third-generation owner of the family-run wrecking yard is retiring with a huge yard sale. The flyer read “Wrecking Yard sale—Secret Stash Revealed.” A family-owned automotive wrecking yard that opened almost 100 years ago has closed, and the remaining inventory and assorted parts from personal projects are in the process of being sold. On April 25, 2021, a crowd had already assembled when Ronnie Bauman and his son Rodney opened the gate onto the property of Bauman’s Auto Wrecking in Riverside, California. When Nathan Bauman, with his wife Franny, moved to Riverside and started his business, there were less than 150,000 cars and trucks registered in the United States. The Ford Model T and the Stromberg carburetor were more than a year away. The number of gas stations in the whole country could be counted on one hand with a few missing fingers. And although there were wrecked autos, there were no auto wrecking yards. “My grandmother and grandfather started a secondhand business here in Riverside in 1907,” Ronnie told us, in between selling parts. “When the business started, my grandfather used a horse and wagon to go on his morning route picking up discards from different places, to be fixed and sold.” That original business evolved into a hardware store and an auto wrecking yard. By the late ’20s, Nathan had split the two ventures, passing the hardware store to three of his children. The auto wrecking business went to his son Jack, Ronnie’s father. Ronnie and his brother Gary grew up around the wrecking yard and towing business, eventually taking over as the third generation of Baumans running the operation, which continued to grow.

TIM BERNSAU TIM BERSAU & BAUMAN FAMILY 38 HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/

QRonnie took this photo of his father Jack Bauman (right) and two employees of Bauman’s Auto Wrecking. Jack took over the business from his father, Nathan.

QThe Bauman tow trucks were given bear names. Rodney told us that the GMC in front was Yogi Bear (partially visible in the paint on the cowl). Behind it is Barney Bear. Yogi is still at the yard, awaiting a buyer. Barney is in the process of being rebuilt.

QRonnie’s Model A roadster and Gary’s T-bucket pickup were featured in Cars magazine in 1962. QFresh salvage arrives in Riverside. Jack Bauman is flanked by sons Ronnie (left) and Gary.

QThe Gerlinger forklift was a beast, Rodney remembers, capable of destroying driveshafts and rocker panels. This 1958 Ford two-door post donated its rearend to the shop truck.

HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/ 39

100 YEARS OF PARTS

“We ran out of room and came out here to Spruce Street in about 1954. We’ve been here ever since,” Ronnie said. At the time, that property was surrounded by dairy farms and orange groves and included a 1907-era bungalow house. Rodney and his sisters grew up in that house. From Rodney’s stories, it sounds like the adjacent wrecking yard—with groves of cars and parts, and mountains of iron and engines—was an unbeatable playground for an up-and-coming gearhead.

QRodney and Ronnie Bauman in April 2021, as an era ends but a new one begins.

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100 YEARS OF PARTS The business is closed now, and the April sale was a step toward selling what’s left. “The parts that are here today are left over from parts we were using for restoring street rods and older cars and for having fun,” Ronnie said. There’s an old red barn across the street where more stuff is stored, including an assortment of cars. Does that mean another yard sale in the future? We’ll find out.

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WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

Custom Cooling Solution Prevent Overheating With a Homemade Fan Shroud Tim Bernsau ❱A fan shroud does much more than just dress up the engine compartment. A properly built shroud will greatly improve the efficiency of a pull fan as it draws air through the radiator. The circular area of even a large fan is significantly smaller than the rectangular surface area of the radiator. That means the fan will cover only a portion of the radiator, possibly as little as 50 percent. That’s a lot of air that is not being pulled through the radiator at low road speeds or while the car is not in motion. In addition, a lot of air will be drawn from around the radiator, as it follows the path of least resistance. The solution is a fan shroud. Shrouds block out any air that isn’t drawn through the radiator and create a vacuum to expand the fan’s ability pull from the entire surface area of the radiator. A secondary advantage of a fan shroud is that it can help shield the radiator from heat from the engine. Another

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advantage is that a good-looking custom fan shroud provides a more finished look to the front of the engine compartment. The radiator in Richard Mikami’s big-block powered 1932 Ford coupe has a 22-inch tall core. The 14 1⁄2-inch mechanical fan is large enough to cover the width of the radiator but is unable to draw air from the upper portion of the core without some help. We were at Stone’s Metal Shop in Gardena, California, a few years ago when Brian Stone built this shroud for Mikami’s Deuce. Stone is a talented tin bender with many metalworking machines at his disposal, but a homebuilt shroud—maybe a little more basic than this one—is a project that do-it-yourself hot rodders with some sheetmetal fabrication skills and tools could potentially do themselves. The benefits of a shroud are maximized by positioning the fan properly. To optimize the flow of air, the fan should be located

Point your phone camera here to see how to build a wooden forming buck.

Source The Eastwood Company; 800.343.9353; eastwood.com

01 The first step of the build was to measure the radiator to determine the size of the shroud, and to figure out the right fan position, top to bottom. The diameter of this fan is 14 1⁄2 inches. The shroud opening will be 15 1⁄2 inches to allow half an inch of blade clearance. The first measurement is to figure out the distance from the bottom of the radiator to the bottom of that 15 1⁄2-inch opening. Horizontal measurements were also taken to determine if the fan is centered on the radiator. 02 Before any sheetmetal is cut, a two-piece wooden clamping block was built. This was used to form the shape of the aluminum shroud. 03 Instead of having sharp 90-degree breaks, the inside and outside edges of the clamping block were rounded with a router, then sanded to provide more flowing edges, making for a better-looking final piece.

04 The measurements were transferred to a flat sheet of .065-inch grade 3003-H14 aluminum, which is strong but relatively easy to shape. Brian added 3 inches around the perimeter which would become the flange of the shroud. After finding the center point of the opening, he marked out the circumference with a compass. He reduced the 15 1⁄2-inch circle by 1⁄4-inch in order to create a lip.

as close as possible to the center of the core. The blades should be located halfway into the rear opening of the shroud. If the fan is out too far, it will draw outside air. If it extends too far into the shroud, it will create turbulence and miss some of the air, which will escape around the fan. In addition, the fan should not be positioned too close to the radiator surface, to prevent the blades from hitting the radiator if they flex or in the event of any engine movement. Allow a minimum of one inch of clearance. Fan spacers can be used to locate the fan. The size of the shroud opening is another important consideration. The circumference of the opening should be large enough to avoid any chance of contact with the blades, but not too large that too much air escapes around the fan, reducing efficiency. Between 1 ⁄2-inch and one inch of clearance is generally sufficient.

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

05 The opening was cut out with a jigsaw, then finished with aviation snips and filed. 06 To create the flange for the fan opening, the inside radius needed to be stretched. Brian used a planishing hammer with a linear stretching die on the bottom to determine the shape. You can see it already taking shape. Stretching the sheetmetal now made it easier to work with later. “Just like butter,” according to Brian. 07 Sure enough, the aluminum hardly put up a fight. With the aluminum securely between the two pieces of the clamping form, Brian used several different sized soft hammers and mallets (such as rawhide, rubber, and copper) and several different wood or phenolic dollies to shape the aluminum. Brian did not use a body hammer, which is hard and would have marked up the metal. He worked slowly, moving from the top of the radius down, keeping it tight on the wooden form. By the time he finished, he’d made about 1,000 strikes. 08 At the very end, he finished this radius with an air hammer. Rubber faces of differing hardness can be used to smooth out the flange. 09 This custom tool called a shillelagh was used in the same way to form the outside flange around the shroud. The depth of the shroud was based on the position of the fan, which should be positioned approximately halfway into the opening.

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08 09

10 11 12 10 Soft hammers and plenty of patient forming was used to shape the notch for the lower radiator hose. The Eastwood Company is a good source for the metal working tools seen here. 11 Here, some welding was required on the seams. 12 The shroud is ready to do its job and the project could end at this point, but Brian decided to take it to the next level with some creative metalwork.

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

15 13 The shroud was held with Cleco fasteners into a new clamping block (wood on one side, aluminum on the other) to create a recess above the fan opening. 14 Brian repeated the process of slow hammering to create the 3⁄16-inch recess, using different styles of dollies for the various areas. Besides looking good, the indentation made the surface more rigid. 15 Once he was satisfied with the entire perimeter, he finished the area with the planishing hammer. The area was then sanded smooth.

16 17

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16-17 The plan was to fill the idented area with a screen surrounded by a piece of metal trim. Brian used the aluminum template to trace the shape onto a piece of perforated stainless screen.

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

20 21 18 The screen shape was cut out with aviation snips and test fit into the indented area. 19 The trim surround for the screen was created from a piece of 1⁄4-inch square brass carefully bent into the shape of the shroud indentation. A couple pieces of tubing were tack welded to the workbench to help shape the brass. This single photo represents a few hours of heating, hammering, bending, test fitting, and repeating the process—remembering that when the shroud gets painted and the brass trim piece gets chromed, the dimensions will change slightly. 20 When he got the shape perfect, Brian welded the two brass ends together to create a closed circumference. He has the most success welding brass by using low-heat silicone bronze welding rod. 21 Rounding the edges of the brass was a challenge. Brian mounted the router below his workbench to round the sharp outer edges of the brass. He then sanded it to remove any hammer marks and other imperfections. It’ll get sanded again before it gets chromed.

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23 24

22 After it was finished, the brass trim was drilled and tapped for the fasteners. 23 Six studs—one at each corner plus one top center and one bottom center—hold the brass trim and the mesh screen to the shroud. The pointed studs were made to mark the mounting points in the shroud so Brian could see where to drill. 24 Small mounts and lower gussets were welded to the shroud to secure it to the radiator. Once it was chromed and painted, it looked great.

COMING NEXT MONTH: HOT ROD POWER TOUR COVERAGE

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

Source Tanks Inc.; 877.596.3842; tanksinc.com

EFIREADY Ditching your old stock fuel tank and outdated pump setup is easier than you might think. Steven Rupp

ChristianArriero

❱If you’re thinking about adding fuel injection to your hot rod then you’ll need to address the car’s fuel system, specifically the tank. Yes, an inline pump from your stock tank will work, but the better route is an in-tank electric pump and a baffled fuel tank. You may be wondering if a baffled fuel tank is necessary. Technically, no, but in a practical sense, the answer is yes. With a carburetor, it doesn’t matter if the fuel pickup became uncovered for a moment. Why? Well, because the carb’s fuel bowl carries enough fuel to continue to supply the engine. With EFI, however, the system needs a constant flow of fuel, and any interruption in this will cause the engine to stutter or stall. This is why EFI tanks have internal baffles to make sure the pickup is never uncovered, even for a moment. We’ve seen people skip the baffled tank and just make sure their gas tank never got below ¼ full, but who wants to live like that? The solution is an easy EFI fuel tank upgrade.

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01 01 Here’s what we’ll be installing in our 1957 Chevy project: a tank (PN 570-CG) from Tanks Inc, their fuel pump, and universal sending unit. We also decided to replace the tank mounting straps (PN 567STS X2), upper filler neck (PN FN5003), lower fuel filler neck (PN FN5006), and the 2-inch ID fuel connecting hoses (PN GH-2) to hook them all together. When buying rubber fuel line for this project make sure to get hose rated for gasoline and that it’s rated to hold up to EFI pressures.

02 The first step is measuring for the fuel pump and return system. The goal is to end up with the fuel pump’s pickup sock just off the bottom of the tank so you can maximize the usable tank volume. 03 Here’s the math we were working with. As you can see everything keys off the tank depth (D) and the length of the pump and filter sock assembly (P).

08 10

04 With our math figured out we could measure and mark our hoses. 05 We then made the necessary cuts. Remember, measure twice, cut once. If you have a hard time getting the rigid black hose over the barb, just warm it up with a heat gun. 06 It was then time to plug in the harness pigtail. The wires run up through a pass-through hole in the top that is sealed by tightening a jam nut. We made sure not to overtighten it since that could cause a leak. 07 Here’s our pump assembly all done and ready to drop into the tank. 08 The unit barely fit through the hole, but we eventually persuaded it. We also made sure to use the included rubber gasket to ensure a tight seal. For a leak-free seal, you can also use Permatex (P/N 85420) gasket dressing and flange sealant on the gasket and screws. 09 If you look closely, you’ll see that each fastener has its own rubber gasket washer to make sure the gas stays in the tank. At this point, you can go with whatever fittings you want from push-lock to -AN style or barbed. Just make sure the hose you use is rated for EFI fuel use. The center barbed fitting is the tank’s vent. The supply is on the far right and the return on the far left. 10 This diagram shows a recommended routing for using an in-tank pump like this on a carbureted application. From the tank, fuel passes through a filter onto a bypass regulator which will send fuel at the right pressure (around 6psi) to the carburetor and the excess fuel back to the tank. EFI routing will be very similar, but of course you’ll want to use a regulator designed for EFI fuel pressures, 40-80 psi depending on the system.

11 11 With the pump done, it was time to build the sending unit. Based on this chart, a tank 8-inches deep would need a measurement of 4 inches from the flange to the pivot and 4.9 inches from the pivot to the float.

HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/ 53

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

12 14

13 12 With the numbers figured out, we could start assembling our universal 0-90 ohm sending unit. On some shallow tanks, you may end up discarding a section of the bracket and/ or cutting it down to get to the desired length.

13 It’s not rocket science to put the sending unit together, but you do need to follow the instructions and make sure to use the included isolator grommets (white) for it to function correctly. Excess wire was simply wrapped around the sending unit’s arm. 14 We then secured the rheostat to the end of the extension bracket making sure not to overtighten the screws.

15 As you can see, the sending unit for our tank is pretty short. In fact, the lower section of the bracket could be trimmed off since it’s not needed. We then used a flat-blade screwdriver to loosen the screw and removed the temporary short float rod. 16 We then installed the float rod (with the pingpong-like ball on it) to the rheostat, adjusted it to the right length from our table, tightened up the screw, and cut off the extra rod. 17 The sending unit was even harder to get through the hole than the pump, eventually we convinced it to fit. Just like the pump, we made sure to install the rubber gasket.

54 HOTROD.COM/2022/JANUARY/

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1-844-629-5291 • www.MaxJax.com ©2021 MaxJax, LLC, a subsidiary of BendPak Inc. The MaxJax is protected by one or more patents or claims of patents in the U.S. and elsewhere. PATENT NO. US 8.256.577 B2 and PATENT NO. US 9.150.395 B2.

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

18 Also like the fuel pump, each of the 5 bolts had its own small black rubber seal to ensure we would be leak free. 19 New parts just look so much better so we opted to replace the fuel filler assembly so it would be as fresh as our new tank. First up was removing the crusty old upper fuel filler neck. 20-21 We could then install the new one from Tanks Inc.

18 19

22 It was then secured with four screws. The tube running along the top is for the gas tank vent. 23 Under the Chevy, you can see the new vent hose and the larger rubber coupling hose that will help get us to the new gas tank. 24 The stainless straps from Tanks Inc came with new hardware, so the two carriage-style bolts were put in place.

23 24

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20 21

26 25 The straps hooked to the factory locations. Initially, they were left hanging out of the way. 26 We could then raise the tank into place, pull the straps around it, and lock them in place with the rear carriage bolts.

27 28

27 Tanks Inc 1957 EFI gas tank is a direct replacement for the factory tank, but it has internal baffling with an extra-large 4.8L dual tube fuel tray to prevent fuel pump starvation even under hard turns and fast stops. It has a 15.5-gallon capacity and is made from galvanized steel with a silver powdercoated exterior. It even has a fuel drain plug in the bottom. The tanks work will all Tanks Inc GPA series fuel pumps that range from 109 to 450 liters-per-hour. If you want to use a tube-style sending unit, then the length you’ll want is 6-inches.

28 With the tank secured, we could install the new lower filler tube using the two heavy rubber couplers and the supplied hose clamps. 29 Lastly, we installed the new silver-cad-plated vented gas cap (PN 3698470) from Tanks Inc. Our 1957 Chevy is now ready for an EFI upgrade, and we won’t have to worry about a stumbling engine during hard maneuvers.

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LS7 PLUS 442-Cubic-Inch LS7 Stroker Makes Over 700 HP On Pump Gas Steven Rupp

Steven Brule

❱Mauricio Morales wanted some LS7 goodness, but 427 cubic inches just wasn’t enough, so he got with engine builder Kohle Heimlich from American Heritage Performance, and the term “stroker” was added to the recipe. Starting with a seasoned LS7 block, the bores were taken to 4.130 inches. That, along with the 4.125-inch AHP forged crank, gave them a 442-cubic-inch final displacement. The rest of the rotating assembly consists of forged AHP 6.125-inch rods, CP flat top pistons (-4.6cc valve reliefs), and a set of ARP main studs (PN 234-5608) to hold it all together.

Sources American Heritage Performance; 310.326.2399; americanheritageperformance.com ARP; 800.826.3045; arp-bolts.com Brian Tooley Racing; 888.959.8865; briantooleyracing.com Cam Motion Camshafts; 225.926.6110; cammotion.com Edelbrock; 800.799.1135; edelbrock.com Holley; 866.464.6553; holley.com MSD; 866.464.6553; holley.com Westech Performance Group; 951.685.4767; westechperformance.com

❱POINT YOUR PHONE CAMERA HERE TO SEE THIS ENGINE RUNNING ON THE DYNO!

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03 01 Sticking with AHP, Mauricio went with a pair of their fully ported LS7 heads that featured 2.205inch titanium intake valves and 1.615-inch hollow stem stainless exhaust valves. The heads were topped with BTR dual valvesprings and titanium retainers along with CHE upgraded GM LS7 rockers, GM LS7 lifters, and hardened chromoly Cam Motion 7.825-inch pushrods. The AHP Stage III cam penciled out to 244/257 duration at 0.050-

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inch lift, and lift at the valves of 0.649/0.641-inch and a 115+2 LSA. The heads’ 69.5cc chamber volume netted an 11.7:1 static compression ratio (9.06:1 dynamic compression). The heads were secured with ARP LS7 head fasteners (PN 134-3610). 02 GM coils along with MSD plug wires provide the spark, and the LS7 long-block was fitted with a single-plane Edelbrock intake.

03 Big displacement along with high rpm goals meant this 442cubic-inch LS7 needed lots of air. So, the intake was topped with a Holley XP 1050-cfm Dominator carb. 04 Once the engine was on the dyno, it was filled with break-in oil and run through Westech’s break-in procedures. Timing was adjusted, jets tinkered with, and then it was time for some max effort pulls.

05 The best pull was 702 hp at 6,700 rpm and 602 lb-ft at 5,400 rpm. The torque curve was long, flat, and never below 500 lb-ft. Although peak hp was at 6,700 rpm, the engine was still making 700 hp at 7,000 rpm with zero signs of valvetrain float. We can think of all sorts of hot rods this would be a great engine for.

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TOTALLY STRUNG OUT! HOW TO MAKE A CUSTOM SPARK PLUG WIRE SET John McGann ❱For an engine family as ubiquitous as the small-block

Chevy, dozens of ignition wire sets are available, either over the counter at your local auto parts store or from the performance aftermarket. But if you seek more of a custom look and wire routing, or if you’re building an engine with limited support, you may need to make a set of plug wires. Fear not, the job is easy and can be done with a few simple hand tools. Check out how we made wires for Project Truck Norris, our 1967 C10.

01 01 In many cases, a set of stock replacement ignition wires will work just fine for most hopped-up street cars, but say you want a set of wires that fit closer to the engine or can be routed without a lot of slack. We’ve had plug wires snag on the steering linkage on different cars in the past. You can avoid that by making your own ignition wire set that is cut to fit.

Sources BluePrint Engines; 308.236.1010; blueprintengines.com MSD Ignition; 888.258.3835; holley.com Total Cost Involved; 800.984.6259; totalcostinvolved.com

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02 For our C10, we’re using MSD’s Universal Super Conductor wire set (P/N 31189). That’s a set of 8.5mm ignition wires with their multi-angle boot installed on the plug end. The distributor side is unterminated—you cut it to the desired length and add the HEI-style boot. Four different length wires are included, which we laid out in order of distance to the distributor.

03 Once you decide how you want to route the wires, mark where you want to cut the wire and indicate the orientation you want to install the boot. 04 Cut the wire to length with a pair of side cutters. The sharper the jaws are, the better, too. We have two pair here at the warehome; one is older and has seen lots of use, and it frayed the spiral-wound copper conductor inside the wire.

05 Our newer pair of side cutters cut through cleanly, however. In this cross-section of the wire, you can see the outer silicone sleeve and white glass-braid insulator. The dark-colored copper core is spiral-wound around an aramid fiber core. 06 This wire set comes with MSD’s Mini-Stripper Tool. It fits in a vise and is used as a guide to strip the correct amount of insulation from the wire. Fit the wire into the tool, set a razor blade as indicated by the tool, and twist the wire counterclockwise. The wire protrudes with enough depth to cleanly cut through the insulation without damaging the copper core.

07 Enough of the copper core needs to be exposed to fit the secondary crimp area of the terminal, as seen here. Too little can cause a bad connection, and too much will affect the fit of the terminal to the distributor.

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08 MSD’s wire stripper tool can also be used to crimp the wires, but we used MSD’s Pro-Crimp tool (PN 35051). Its jaws accommodate both the main and secondary crimp sizes for the terminal. We started by crimping the copper core.

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09 The next crimp secures the terminal to the wire. It helps to shape the legs of the terminal to fit inside the crimper jaws with a pair of needle-nose pliers. 10 Here, you can see MSD’s included stripper/crimper tool. It forms the crimp by being squeezed in a bench vise or a big pair of pliers. You don’t need to buy the dedicated Pro-Crimp tool, but it does make the job go a little quicker.

11 Once both crimps are made, you simply slide the boot over the wire and terminal. A bit of dielectric grease helps facilitate this process. 12 The silicone boots have enough flexibility to slide over the terminal and still form a good seal to the wire. Again, a touch of dielectric grease makes it easy to install the boot and serves as a barrier against dust and moisture.

13 10

13 Routing the wires is critical to prevent damage from exhaust heat, and headers can often add to the problem. The MSD multiangle spark plug boots can be safely bent to a 90-degree angle, but even still, it can be difficult to prevent contact with the exhaust on a couple cylinders. A kit with some lowerprofile 90-degree spark plug boots would be ideal, but for now a set of Accel’s spark plug boot insulators (PN 170086) should prevent damage. We also used wire separators from our local parts store to keep the routing tidy.

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Getting the Drop How to Improve Your Chevelle’s Handling with a Coilover Conversion John McGann ❱Restomods are hot right now. Modifying an older car to perform like modern cars allows enthusiasts to put modern performance into the classy looks and coolness of a car from the ’60s, and among the most popular recipients of this trend is GM’s A-body. Chevelles, Malibus, GTOs, Cutlasses, and Skylarks are among the best-looking cars of the era, and there’s no shortage of resto and performance parts available for these cars. Shock and spring manufacturer Aldan American has partnered with Performance Online to meet customer demands for a bolt-on suspension system for the A-body, and we are documenting the install on this ’64 Chevelle SS.

01 01 The kit that Aldan assembled included the springs and shocks, POL’s upper and lower A-arms, and the necessary brackets and hardware needed to install the coilovers.

Sources Aldan American; 310.421.0685; aldanamerican.com Performance Online; 888.973.5807; performanceonline.com

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06 07

02 Installing the rear coilovers is as easy as removing the stock springs and shocks and replacing them with the coilover assembly. The upper shock mounts need to be drilled for a larger diameter bolt and these brackets installed. 03 The lower shock mount is replaced with this reinforcing bracket. These upper and lower brackets are necessary because the weight of the vehicle will be transferred to the shock mounts, which in the stock configuration, aren’t strong enough to support the weight. 04 The Aldan coilovers bolt to the new shock mounts with the included hardware. We had to push the exhaust inboard to clear the new springs. 05 Work on the front suspension begins by separating the ball joints from the spindle using an air hammer. 06 The Chevelle’s stock A-arms will be replaced with new pieces from POL. We began by removing the lower arm. 07 After some massaging of the frame brackets, we installed POL’s lower A-arm.

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08 09

11 08 The coil spring isolator is removed since it’s not needed with the coilovers. POL’s A-arms work with both the stock-style suspension and coilovers. 09 The threaded nutserts that hold the stock shocks need to be ground off. The coilovers are installed with nuts and bolts through the stock shock mounts.

12 13

10 Aldan American recommends applying a light coat of copper anti-seize on the threads of the shock body prior to installing on the vehicle. 11 Torrington-style roller bearings are included with each kit. They are installed between the spring and locking spring collar and aid making ride-height adjustments a little easier. A light coat of high-pressure wheel bearing grease is recommended. 12 The front coilovers install in the same way as the stock shocks with the spring fitting inside the upper spring pocket. 13 We removed the upper A-arms by removing the cross-shaft nuts and pushing the bolts out with a pry bar. This reduces the likelihood of damaging the splines that lock the bolts securely in place. 14 POL’s control arms come with new ball joints and castle nuts. Delrin bushings retain the billet cross shafts, and the arms are reinforced for maximum strength. Their design adds two degrees of positive castor for additional straight-line stability.

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15 We replaced the alignment shims in their respective locations and installed POL’s upper A-arms. You can see that Aldan’s coilovers attach through the stock shock absorber location.

16-17 Be aware that some aftermarket control arms may not work with drum brake spindles, as was the case with this application. The lower arm collided with the drum backing plate at the ball joint boss in such a way that the spindle couldn’t be reinstalled. We anticipated this problem, and the car’s owner also purchased a front disc brake conversion kit from The Right Stuff. 18 The owner also opted for new steel wheels from Wheel Smith and redline tires from Diamond Back Classic Radials. 19 If the slammed look is your thing, this Chevelle has got you covered. After we took these pictures, we increased the ride height to better navigate driveways, speed bumps, and small pebbles on the road. The beauty of coilovers is the near infinite ride-height adjustments within the range of travel on the shock body. That, plus a better ride and handling, of course.

17 19

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How to Install a Mopar Steering Column Johnny Hunkins

Chris Arriero

❱There’s nothing particularly fragile about the factory steering column in a Mopar, but like any older machine, things start going wrong after a while. Steering wheels usually crack from the sun while shedding a sticky mystery goo, turn signals fail, ignition switches get flaky, and you may even feel inconvenienced by a lack of a tilt wheel on the factory column. If you’ve spruced up the rest of your interior like our man Chris Arriero has with his 1974 Plymouth Duster project, the incongruous homeless look of an old stock steering column and steering wheel may get you to act sooner rather than later. 01

01 Chris turned to the steering column experts at ididit and selected one of their Touch-N-Go tilt columns for 1973-74 Chrysler B-/A-Bodies (part No. 1620870051, MSRP $1,262). This model, though it’s a direct fit for Chris’s “Disco” Duster, would also work with his custom firewall and the aftermarket Reilly Motorsports AlterKtion front suspension, which features a rack and pinion steering conversion. To this, Chris opted for ididit’s hot new push-button start feature called id.PUSH. The pushbutton start kit adds another $314 to the ididit column and gets rid of the key just like so many of today’s newer cars.

02 As an alternative, you might also check out one of the Flaming River steering columns. We found Flaming River’s similar black powdercoat tilt column for Mopars (FR20006CPBK, $756.54) to have comparable features to the ididit, but they include a slipshaft extension for 1.5 inches of variation in positioning. Flaming River also offers a variety of à la carte steering components for custom installations like Chris’. In that regard, Chris ordered the company’s 18-inch stainless DD shaft in mill finish (FR1850, $63.07) and a pair of steering U-joints, one for joining the column to the DD shaft (¾-inch DD steering universal joint FR1716DD, $94.90) and one for mating the DD shaft to the AlterKtion’s rack and pinion splined input (¾-inch pyramid DD universal joint FR1789P, $144.93).

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Point your phone camera here to see how we rewired this Duster.

Sources American Autowire; 800.482.9473; americanautowire.com ididit; 517.424.0577; ididit.com Flaming River; 800.648.8022; flamingriver.com

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03 03 Chris’s 1974 Plymouth Duster is undergoing a Pro Touring makeover that includes a warmed-over 450-hp Magnum 360 small-block, complete suspension from Reilly Motorsports, larger Baer disc brakes, mini-tubs for larger rear tires, and a six-speed manual transmission. Let’s jump back into this Duster and see how Chris upgraded to an ididit steering column!

04 The ididit column for Mopar A-Bodies is compatible with the stock column and requires no fabrication to make it fit. The factory column is at the top of the image for comparison.

05 06

05 Here Chris has removed the factory steering column bracket and attached it to the ididit column so he can mock it up in the car and establish a point on his custom-built firewall to drill a hole in the toeboard. 06 With the column bolted under the dash, Chris can see where it hits the toeboard. He’ll mark the spot and select the proper size hole saw next. 07 Prior to our story, Chris fabricated a custom firewall/toeboard, and here he is using a hole saw to create the correct position for the column to pass through.

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08 The ididit column kit comes with a new interior floorboard steering column collar. Here, Chris has lined it up against the firewall and is marking the firewall with a punch to drill the five holes he will need to stabilize the column. 09 These five holes are then drilled in the firewall’s toeboard. 10 Chris used some upgraded stainless-steel button-head bolts and nuts to attach the steering column collar. The large fasteners holding the collar to the toeboard are grade-8 stainless 5⁄16-inch coarse-thread, and the smaller ones holding the outer collar are 1⁄4-inch grade-8 button head coarse-thread.

11 Here you can see the end of the ididit column and outer column collar, which has been attached to the firewall. These fasteners were the two smaller ones seen from the interior and sandwich the interior and exterior collars to the floorboard.

10 11

WRENCHIN’ @ RANDOM

12 These are double-D steering shafts and U-joints that Chris got from Flaming River. The U-joints are different: One has double-D couplers on both sides to go from the column to the shaft; the other has a double-D coupler on one end and splines on the other so it can mate the shaft to the steering rack from the Reilly Motorsports’ AlterKtion suspension kit. Only one double-D steering shaft was used. 13 Time to mate the column to the steering rack. With the splined U-joint attached to the rack, Chris mocks up the double-D steering shaft and marks the rough length he’ll need to attach the shaft to the steering column U-joint. The shaft is locked to the U-joint with a set screw. Once everything is final, you will need to retighten all the set screws using a thread-locking compound.

14 Using a chop saw, Sawzall, or cut-off wheel, cut the double-D shaft to length. The “DD” description denotes that the shaft has two parallel flat sides so that fasteners may lock the U-joint in place. 15 Back on the car, Chris mocks up the cut steering shaft to evaluate its length. Note that Chris has placed blue masking tape on the RMS AlterKtion suspension cradle and components to protect them from scratches. 16 This close-up of the double-D shaft where it inserts into the lower U-joint shows how the shaft should be flush on the inside of the U-joint before the fasteners are tightened and locked into place.

17 17 Introducing ididit’s keyless id.PUSH kit. This kit eliminates the key from your car’s steering column and starts the ignition on contact when your press the brake pedal. It is an option on most ididit steering columns. 18 Your car’s factory wiring harness has a steering column trunk connector that looks like this. (Ours is part of the American Autowire kit we installed in an earlier story.) This needs to be connected to the ididit column’s connector (right side) as shown. The keyless start is already integrated into the column’s wiring, which means we’re good to go!

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STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP As required by Title 39, Section 3685 United States Code below is the Statement of Ownership, Management, and Circulation of Hot Rod 1. Publication Title: Hot Rod 2. Publication Number: ISSN 0018-6031 3. Filing Date: 10/01/2021 4. Issue Frequency: Monthly 5. Number of Issues Published Annually: 12 6. Annual Subscription Price: $20.00 7. Complete Mailing Address of Known Office of Publication: 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 Contact Person: Matthew Paige 8. Complete Mailing Address of Headquarters or General Business Office of Publisher: The Motor Trend Group, LLC, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 9. Publisher, Matthew Boice; 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245; Editor, John McGann; 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245; Managing Editor, Rusty Kurtz; 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 10. Owner: The Motor Trend Group, LLC, 831 S. Douglas St., El Segundo, CA 90245 11. Known Bondholders, Mortgagees, and Other Security Holders Owning or Holding 1 Percent or More of Total Amount of Bonds, Mortgages or Other Securities: None 4 12. Tax Status: (For completion by nonprofit organizations authorized to mail at nonprofit rate) (Check one) The purpose, function, and nonprofit status of this organization and the exempt status for federal income tax purposes 4 Has Not Changed During Preceding 12 Months Has Changed During the Preceding 12 Months 13. Publication Title: Hot Rod 14. Issue Date for Circulation Data Below: October 2021 15. Extent and Nature of Circulation: Average No. No. of Copies of Copies Single Issue Each Issue Published During Nearest to Preceding Filing Date 12 Months a. Total number of copies 372,624 b. Paid Circulation (by mail and outside the mail) 1. Mailed Outside-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 299,659 2. Mailed In-County Paid Subscriptions Stated on PS Form 3541 0 3. Paid Distribution Outside the Mails Including Sales Through Dealers and and Carriers, Street Vendors, Counter Sales and Other Paid Distribution Outside USPS 12,705 4. Paid Distribution by Other Classes of Mail Through the USPS 0 c. Total Paid Distribution 312,364 d. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution (By Mail and Outside the Mail) 1. Free or Nominal Rate OutsideCounty Copies included on PS Form 3541 22,111 2. Free or Nominal Rate In-County Copies included on PS Form 3541 0 3. Free or Nominal Rate Copies Mailed at Other Classes Through The USPS 0 4. Free or Nominal Rate Distribution Outside the Mail 498 e. Total Free or Nominal Rate Distribution 22,608 f. Total Distribution 334,972 g. Copies not Distributed 37,652 h. Total 372,624 i. Percent Paid 93.3% 16. Extent and Nature of Circulation:

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FINISH LINE

By David Freiburger Roadkill @davidfreiburger

❱I’m frequently asked about how I got my job. Years ago, the hidden agenda in the question was “I want to work at a car magazine?” Now it’s, “How can I grow my audience as an influencer?” I’ll answer those, but first, the 15-second explanation of my job: I was a typical gearhead who became a freelance automotive writer, leading to a staff job at HOT ROD in 1991, then became the editor of various magazines, which morphed into hosting YouTube videos that grew my social-media following before my videos became cable TV shows. I was the editor of HOT ROD for about a dozen years, and now I host Roadkill, Roadkill Garage, Engine Masters, and others. How did that happen? My car-related life began with my father, Jim Freiburger, who has a small collection of European cars, all but one purchased before I was born. He took me to the occasional race around Southern California, and I recall being perhaps 7 and crying at the noise of a NASCAR race at Riverside Raceway. There was also Pomona, Ontario, and OCIR, where I made my first run down a drag strip. By the time I was 13 I rabidly collected and studied old car magazines while newer mags were cut up for photos to stick on my walls. At 15, my grandmother promised me a Honda ATC if I got good grades, but I parlayed that into the purchase of a 1970 Dodge Super Bee that I still own. My high school counselor said I was the only student she’d seen take Advanced Placement English concurrently with Auto Shop, which was discouraged. I was heavily influenced by my first auto instructor, Quentin Swan, and secondly by Tom Marshall who brought me to the Plymouth Troubleshooting Contest and to the now-defunct Pacific Automotive Show where I was named a top-ten auto student in the Western US. I went to college part-time for Automotive Production Technology, and finished those classes while ignoring general education and eventually dropping out. My professor was Ray Fausel, and like Mr. Swan, he was a treasure of an old-school vocational man with glaring standards and integrity. He died in 2019. The world needs more of his ilk. College was part-time because I’d worked at a Dodge dealership parts counter since the Monday after graduating high school. I learned the ropes from a WWII vet known to me only as Mr. Casey; he’d managed the place since the ’50s. I thought he dismissed me as a hippie, but when he retired I was quickly fired by his second-in-charge, and only then realized that Mr. Casey had been protecting me. I worked side jobs for Rich Cholakian and Larry Tadlock at Glendale Speed Center and drove there for advice after getting canned. They recommended me to Bruce Jacobson at Glendale Machine and Balance, and I started the next day cleaning his caustic-solution hot tank and disassembling engines. That didn’t last long, as I got a job from Chris Jacobs as a marketing and sales scrub at Jacobs Electronics, an aftermarket ignition manufacturer. I learned a lot about the aftermarket at Jacobs, and attended my first SEMA Show when I was 20. I got to know a number of magazine editors, and scored my first freelance story in 4WD Action magazine in 1989 via friendship with editor Kevin Wilson. I later wrote for Roland Osborne at Chrysler Power, and my clips helped me get the job at HOT ROD in 1991. That’s how I started in magazines, which is also where I learned about web content, but young guys are more interested in my Roadkill and social-media gigs. Those were spinoffs of HOT ROD. I started and built the mag’s Facebook and Instagram accounts as part of the job. When the company wanted video on its sites, staffer Mike Finnegan and I made some shows about wild road trips and backyard car rescues. At the time, YouTube was funding 100 channels, including Motor Trend, to create original, TV-quality shows. My boss Angus MacKenzie helped secure

that YouTube deal, and recognized the Freiburger/Finnegan schtick as good material, so Roadkill was born. The Motor Trend channel became the largest automotive outlet on YouTube, and Roadkill its largest show. One episode has 51 million views because YouTube promoted it relentlessly. We were the disrupters who bucked the wrench-throwing style of produced reality shows. The company that owned HOT ROD and Motor Trend soon changed hands and the new management took us off YouTube and put us on the Motor Trend subscription video platform that has evolved into today’s app called MotorTrend (now one word). Later, the company entered into a joint venture with Discovery, so the car-only cable channel formerly called Velocity is now MotorTrend and airs all the shows that I host. Through all this, I ended up with a fairly large social-media footprint. People who ask, “how do I get in?” should see two things in this story: 1) earned experience, and 2) being in the right place at the right time. I was fortunate to land a magazine job that was a very competitive gig, then it was a fluke that YouTube itself promoted my shows, which gave me a large audience. Anyone can do 1, a tiny few will get 2. Today, “influencer” is considered an actual job (and a term I’ll keep putting in quotes because it annoys me), so teens and 20-somethings ask me how to become big in the car space. My response is this: Countless people want to be “influencers” and there’s no barrier to entry, so the competition is hundreds of thousand times greater than it was back when I got that fairly exclusive magazine job. Good news: you don’t need anyone to hire you because you can launch social accounts by yourself. Bad news: only the tiniest percentile will become huge. Worse news: You’ll need more followers than you think before you’re being paid in anything but free car parts and sunglasses. Sexist news: In the auto segment, Instagram fame is exponentially more elusive if you are male. Long-term reality: you need a fallback into a real job when it doesn’t play out. Freiburger curmudgeonly view: I’m nauseated by automotive “influencers” who have managed to score popularity and income without credibility…but their success demonstrates that it can be done. I’m raw buzzkill. Yet here’s my advice. For those who want to write for auto sites and pubs, those jobs are easier than ever to get. Study the niche you want to cover, then write to the editors and include a fully formed sample story, with photos, instead of a resume, because results are more important than your background these days. If you do get an industry job, actually work it—too many young people use a staff job at an automotive company as mostly a way to post content to their personal social accounts. You’re there to work for the company, not for yourself. If “influencer” remains your goal, remember that posts and videos need to be entertaining and informative and perhaps funny or outrageous, and if you want to be famous, you’ll only get there by delivering those elements first. Content needs a hook—meaning something that gives you character or a spin that isn’t found elsewhere. Don’t fall into the cult of “me,” where you consider yourself the most compelling content on day one. Build a business or a hobby into something interesting first, then socialize it. Make social media your side hustle, not your main thing. Easy as that. If you work intently enough to live your dream, you’ll probably succeed. But to be honest, I wish our industry newcomers could once again be formed by the likes of the mentors called out by name in this column. Not one of them ever made an Instagram post.

Hot Rod (ISSN 0018-6031), January 2022 Vol. 75, No. 1. Copyright 2021 by Motor Trend Group, LLC. All Rights Reserved. Published monthly by Motor Trend Group, LLC, 831 South Douglas Street, El Segundo, CA 90245. Periodicals postage paid at Los Angeles, CA and at additional mailing offices. Subscription rates for 1 year (12 issues): U.S., APO, FPO and U.S. Possessions $20.00. Canada $32.00. All other countries $44.00 (for surface mail postage). Payment in advance, U.S. funds only. *Trademark registered. POSTMASTER: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON-POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to HOT ROD, P.O. Box 37199. Boone, IA 50037.

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