Expensive Vehicles

Holley’s line of intake manifolds for the LS engine series have been proven performers for years. The company has a whole range of them, from pancake-flat so they can hide under the hood of a Corvette or Camaro, to the bolt-upright Hi-Ram. But this year, for April Fools’ Day, they outdid themselves by taking the Hi-Ram design and lengthening the intake runners about thirty inches. They call it the Sky-Ram and no, it’s no computer rendering, this puppy exists. It’s a 3D-printed unit, made out of composites that the company uses to prototype and test parts. It’s actually two separate printings, joined together with All-Thread in the runners for strength and bonded to seal the join. Since it’s based on the Holley intake, that means the upper plenum design can use just about every upper intake possible, including Holley’s previous April Fools’ Day prank, the NOS “Moonshot” nitrous system. The second this joke was unleashed to the public, the calls came out: Dyno this beast! Well, wait no ...

It’s the 4th Annual Working Man’s Ten Grands and thanks to our friends at MotorManiaTV they are LIVE for you to watch for free. So join in and enjoy great drag racing action all day and throughout the weekend right here. Held at Kil-Kare Raceway, this is an event that has continued to grow each year and this year is no exception. There will be more cars, more money, and more fun than ever before. Check it out. The post Working Man’s Ten Grands Bracket Racing LIVE! appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/ljwhCd5 from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/TE6Zi5L

Here is our final batch of photos from the Spring Carlisle Swap Meet in Pennsylvania. Check them out! And if you missed any of our previous galleries, use the link below to check them out too. (Words and Photos by Joe Grippo)  April in Pennsylvania is a wonderful time, racetracks are opening, car shows, and cruises are starting to happen and of course swap meets! The swap meet highlight of the springtime is of course, Spring Carlisle, held annually at the massive Carlisle Fairgrounds in Carlisle Pa. Perfect weather graced the weekend, and the joint was packed. We went just Friday of the 5-day extravaganza, knowing that we wouldn’t see it all, but we did our best. It’s not what it was 20 or even 10 years ago but it was still a great time and we saw some really cool shit. Some observations… Prices are up, way up. Load up heavy. The number of seasoned citizens rolling around on handicap scooters was staggering. On one hand it’s wonderful that folks still have the desire to hit t...

(By Tom Lohnes) –  Porsche is known for many things. Their deep and impressive racing history, their record-breaking acceleration figures on some of their newer cars, and being the only sports car manufacturer to actually pull off a decent all-around SUV. But, out of all, they are known for their driver’s cars. Cars like the 911 R, GT3/GT3 Touring, and Cayman GT4. These cars aren’t the fastest, nor most efficient, or the cheapest cars in the lineup, but they deliver a joy unrivaled by the others. Well, there’s a new addition to the Porsche driver’s car fleet, and it’s called Sport Classic. Distinguished by a giant ducktail spoiler on the back and two spaced-out center exhaust tips, the Sport Classic seems to be a masterpiece of a car. Based on the Turbo S, the Sport Classic is powered by a 3.7-liter twin-turbocharged Flat-6 that is detuned top 543 horsepower for good reason. The reason? Well, unlike the heavy Turbo, the S/C is RWD, and is exclusively available with a 7-speed manua...

NHRA on FOX analyst Tony Pedregon and National Dragster Senior Editor Kevin McKenna join host Brian Lohnes for this episode of the NHRA Insider podcast. The three talk about all the wild storylines from Houston and how race day was among the most amazing thy had all seen. The storylines from each class, the upsets, the driving performances, and the mounting pressure to be good have all ratcheted up. Telling some of the behind-the-scenes stories you have not heard, these guys will have you laughing and thinking with their analysis. After a breakdown of Houston, the chat turns for Charlotte and the upcoming Circle K Four-Wide Nationals, the second and final four-wide race of the 2022 NHRA Camping World Drag Racing Season. Love it or hate it, all the racers are in the same boat and it’s a crowded one! Full fields in all pro categories will make this Charlotte contest one to remember. Fun, insightful, and informative. This quick-moving show has nuggets buried at every turn! Hit the imag...

Since today is 4/28 you probably saw this coming, well maybe not THIS coming, but at least some kind of tribute to the 428ci engine, right? Because everyone and their brother will be talking Ford 428s today (and we will too in a little while) we thought we would zig when everyone else zagged this morning. Instead of leading with the Ford, we’re going to show you some videos of the “other” 428, the large journal Pontiac engine that was a short three year hero in the company’s large car lineup. Because of the limited production run, the Pontiac 428 doesn’t have the cache or widespread respect that the Ford engine has but the 428 is an interesting mill. Perhaps the neatest thing about the 428 is that it is a direct descendant of Pontiac’s legendary 421 which was a killer on drag strips and speedways during the early 1960s. The 428 is a 421 bored out to 4.12″ and it has the same 4″ stroke that the 421 did. There were multiple versions of the engine produced each year of it manufacture. In...

The mighty Ford 428! This has been one of the most hot rodded engines in the Ford world since it hit the streets in a few different forms in the late 1960s. While only one ci larger than the 427 FE engine, there are some major differences in the block casting and the bore/stroke is also different from the only slightly smaller member of the big block FE family of engines. Like the 428 Pontiac, the 428 Ford began powering larger cars like models in the Galaxie, Thunderbird, and Mercury family. It didn’t take long for the engine to start finding its way into other cars, most famously into the Ford Mustang, first as a dealer installation at Tasca Ford called the KR-8 and then adopted by the Ford Motor Company as the legendary Mustang Cobra Jet. The bore and stroke of the engine from the factory came as 4.13×3.98. The standard cruising model 428 that was introduced in 1966 included a cast iron crank, forged rods, a cast iron intake, a single 4bbl carb and a 345hp rating. The heads were th...

The wrong racers? How can the wrong racers show up to a race? Not like the wrong racers like the cars were illegal but the wrong racers in the fact that they had the wrong names ON their cars and the fact that they came from the wrong classes. This is the story of the Rothmans 50,000 the richest motor race in Europe for the 1972 racing season. It was a race born from the marketing department of a huge tobacco company in England that played out just like one would expect when the marketing department takes the reigns on anything automotive related. That being said the plan was brilliant, it was the execution that sucked eggs. Conceptually, this race was as big a home run as everyone in the conference room the day it was conceived thought. A payout that was unprecedented at the time, rules that were literally wide open, and a race track that was one of the best known in the world meant that the biggest stars from the wide universe of motorsports globally would be there with a massive va...

Well color us happy! Most hardcore NHRA drag racing fans know that Dave McClelland has been a racer for most of his life. He competed in his Tuna Tank Fiat altered for years and his kids, like Kevin, are seasoned and accomplished racers as well. The REALLY awesome part here is that Dave McClelland got a pro stock license in the 1990s from Roy Hill’s school but he did not stop there. Nope, he actually raced a freaking pro stock car! Roy Hill, always the savvy marketeer called up Mac and asked if he wanted to try his hand in competition at the 1995 Pro Stock Superbowl in Houston. This event saw 29 of the best pro stocks in the country. Ok, it saw 8 of the best pro stocks in the country and 21 guys who were cannon fodder but the reality is that Mac was there and he was grabbing Lenco levers, trying to qualifying. We are not going to give away the results here but just know that Mac is a bad ass and always has been. This dude did not make announcers as drivers look bad and a pro stock ca...

This is the best “displacement week” of the year in our opinion. We get the click off some of the best engines the big three ever produced in this one series of days.  Other than the 426 Hemi, there is not a more mythical or vaunted cubic inch displacement than 427ci. Both Ford and Chevy slayed the competition in the 1960s with big block engines measuring out to 427ci. It would be an argument to last the ages in trying to settle which 427 is better, the Ford or the Chevy. Certainly, Ford took their platform to the technological end with the SOHC program and Chevy’s 427 has been a terror on the drag strip since the moment it rolled off of the Tonawanda assembly line in 1966. The SOHC engine that Ford built was intended for NASCAR but the sanction ankled in the rules it before ever seeing it compete. The Chevy 427 certainly lived a longer service life than the Ford variant which was phased out for the 428 by 1968. Let’s look at the Chevy first! The Mark IV 427 debuted in 1966 in C...

Here’s our first batch of high flying off-road photos from LSFest West in Vegas. With a bunch of cool long travel race trucks, pre-runners and more, there was plenty of fun to be had and to see. Check out the photos below and use the link if you missed our previous galleries. (Photos by Wes Allison) We are so stoked to be bringing you an amazing number of photos from Holley’s LSFest West in Las Vegas. While I was running around the venue announcing, Wes Allison was on hand snapping photos like a mad man. We probably put 100 miles on each of our golf carts over the weekend because LSFest West has so much going on all around the entire Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway facility. At the dirt oval on the north side was the off-road action, while the main pit area had the Donut/Burnout Pit, Car Show, Dyno Challenge, and the giant Autocross and Drifting arena. Meanwhile, there was tons of drag racing action going on over at the actual Strip. If you haven’t been to an LSFest event in Bowlin...

In this episode of the COE build, the cab is being fitted up after shortening up the wheelbase so the back of the cab and the front of the bed will come together right where they are supposed to. This isn’t rocket science, but it certainly need measuring and fitting and some thought to make this whole project actually come together. This is really easy to screw up, and Bello isn’t going to do that. There is some creative thinking going on here and we love it. Bello is the dude, that’s for sure. This is going to be a cool project and I can’t wait to see it done, but I’m sure enjoying watching the process and seeing Bello do his thing. They are entertaining, that’s for sure. Whenever I see a COE, which stands for Cab Over Engine, I wish I had one. I have always thought a COE ramp truck would be cool, or even just a slammed COE pickup. They are just cool looking since they are stubby up front and everything. So when Bello started up on this 1950 GMC COE project I was pretty stoked to se...

(By Tom Lohnes) –  The Land Rover Defender has a long history. Starting in the early 1950’s, the Defender was essentially an overseas knockoff of the Willys Jeep that carried millions of allied soldiers throughout World War II. Moving through history, it remained extremely popular in the UK, but never really caught on in the states because of the elevated price and questionable reliability on the volume V8 models. Regardless of that, there was always a convertible version somewhere in the lineup until 2018. For the 2020 model year, Land Rover brought back the Defender, but it was drastically different from what it was before. It was based on a Unibody platform, utilized electrification, and did not have a convertible model. Well, the drop top is back, just not from the factory itself. Coming from Heritage Customs, five Defender convertibles will be made for the 2022 model year. Based on the two-door Defender 90, the convertible version is quite simply a Defender with the roof repl...

(By Tom Lohnes) –  The day has come. Yesterday morning, General Motors posted a video of a prototype Chevrolet Corvette launching itself and drifting on snow pretty much silently. Yes, that’s right, an electric Corvette is confirmed. And, that is actually not a terrible thing. Here’s why. Yeah, quite a big bombshell was dropped on us this morning, and quite a few Corvette people are mad. But, the addition of a hybridized Corvette and even a full electric model in the near-ish future is a positive impact on the world, and even the Corvette community. Starting with the hybrid, this model will likely use the Grand Sport name and slot between the base Stingray and racy ZO6. It will feature the same LT2 6.2-liter V8 as in the stingray, and with a solid electric boost it will likely make somewhere in the neighborhood of 600-650 horsepower. Think of this as an indirect replacement for the dearly departed Acura NSX. This will be the first electrically assisted Corvette ever, as well as th...

When one builds a 1955 Chevy drag car, powers it with a high strung 489ci BBC, backs the motor with a Doug Nash five speed manual transmission, Bangshifts his way to nine second elapsed times, carries the left front wheel nearly the whole length of the strip, and does it at the most picturesque drag strip in the known universe, the video bears sharing. Literally everything about this is awesome. From the editing, which is well done and doesn’t leave us watching a bunch of down time, to the driver who works the shift handle like a wizard, to the left front tire that never touches the ground, this is home run stuff. Yes, we realize that tying that left front down will make the thing quicker and all of that but let’s be honest, seeing it torque over and hike that tire into the air is absolutely worth it and you know it is an E-ticket ride inside the car. The driver’s name is Scott Granus and you’ll watch him crank this shoebox into the 9.50s elapsed tie range on this pass. You’ll see...

Big Money Bracket Racing LIVE!!! That’s right, it is Spring Fling time and that means some of the hottest bracket racers in the country are going to be battling it out for big money at Galot where the Spring Fling is going on this weekend. Racing action starts today, right here and we’ll have all the action for you all the way through this event. Video Description: The tradition continues with another great event from the Fling crew, this time at the stellar Galot Motorsports Park facility just outside Dunn, NC. The Fling events have so much to offer every racer, the only way to experience all of of it, is to race it. Five days of racing action starts Tuesday at 3:00 with the Laris Motorsports Insurance 32 car shootout. The post Free Livestream: The RAD Systems Spring Fling At Galot Means Big Money Bracket Racing Is LIVE Right Here! appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/XQwulac from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/e1R4GVD

We have entered a multi-day stretch of legends here and the first two we arrive at are the vaunted 426ci Max Wedge and the 426ci Chrysler Hemi. So yeah we’re talking Max Wedge and Hemi engines today. Nothing wrong with that, right? The 426 Max Wedge engine was the top of the Chrysler heap and basically lead the company’s performance efforts until the 426 Hemi was ready to be unleashed on the world. That being said, we’ll start there first and hemi a little later. Coming off the heels of the success the company had seen with the 413ci Max Wedge engine, they wanted more so that’s exactly what they got in 1963. The company decided to increase the bore and stroke to 4.25×3.75 respectively. That was basically the only change over the 1962 version of the engine. The heads were the same and internally the materials and other things like the camshaft were tweaked but largely the same. Offered in a 415hp version that had 11.0:1 compression and a full-competition 425hp version with a titanic 13...

We are so stoked to be bringing you an amazing number of photos from Holley’s LSFest West in Las Vegas. While I was running around the venue announcing, Wes Allison was on hand snapping photos like a mad man. We probably put 100 miles on each of our golf carts over the weekend because LSFest West has so much going on all around the entire Strip at Las Vegas Motor Speedway facility. At the dirt oval on the north side was the off-road action, while the main pit area had the Donut/Burnout Pit, Car Show, Dyno Challenge, and the giant Autocross and Drifting arena. Meanwhile, there was tons of drag racing action going on over at the actual Strip. If you haven’t been to an LSFest event in Bowling Green or Las Vegas, then you are missing out on an event that truly is a spectacle. All the events are happening throughout the day, so at any given moment there are two to four things to go watch and enjoy, which makes it so unique. It really is part circus, part race, and more. We’ll have a bunch...

We have plenty of days with two engines but there are very few with three engines to highlight during the months of March and April. This is one of them and we’re talking Buick, Olds and Cadillac. There’s the stout 425ci Buick nailhead, the even badder-asser Olds 425 engine that was one of the hidden gems of the muscle car era, and the Caddy 425 that wasn’t. Three V8s that need some love. We’re going to take these three engines from the least power to the most. That means the Caddy is up first. Like many of the engines we have showed you over the last month or two, the Cadillac 425 did not have a very long shelf-life. Introduced in 1977 and discontinued in 1979 the sole purpose of the V8 was to increase fuel economy from the dismal levels delivered by the mighty 500 that preceded it. Using the same basic architecture as the 500 and the same stroke, the 425’s 4.08 bore was the part that shrunk. As a performer the engine was on the leading edge of its day in the dark edges of the late 1...

This project continues to impress and inspire and we love it! Check out all the cool stuff going down in this episode of the build, because this car just keeps getting more trick. John Reynolds is a bad ass. This is a cool project with a lot of great thought and fab work going into it and you are going to want to check it out. It’s awesome to watch and we can’t wait to see this thing hauling ass! While I’ve heard of a few drivetrain swaps that practically bolt into other makes and models, that is not going to be the case when you are trying to put an LS4 into the back of a Corvair. These engines were in a front-wheel-drive application, with struts and steering and all kinds of other stuff that just wouldn’t be right in the rear of the Corvair. But the project is really starting to take shape and I know this one is going to be a hell of a cool ride when it’s all done. V8 Corvairs are cool, and I’ve seen several built over the years. Some are front-engine, some “mid” engine, but every...

When you like something and keep buying more and more of them you might have a problem. I know how that is as I have several projects, and most of them don’t run yet. So am I alone? Apparently not, as Tommy Lee Byrd is going to share the story of one forgotten 1938 Ford that now belongs to a fellow hot rod hoarder. Video Description: Hoarders have a tendency to buy too many of the things they like. And in the case of Denny George…those things are hot rods. He has close to 100 cars all together, and he couldn’t resist the urge to drag home another one. This time, it’s a 1938 Ford Deluxe coupe, and it appears that this abandoned project car has a little bit of hot rod history. You’ll see a ’55-57 Chevy rear end, a custom gauge setup and some super cool wheels. Denny will definitely make a cool hot rod out of it, I’m sure of that. We’ll do our best to keep track of it as he swaps the rusty body over onto a different chassis and puts this neglected car back on the road again for the firs...

We love the tool tests that Project Farm always does, and the latest is all about wire strippers. I have to say that I am pretty particular about my style of wire strippers because I hate the cheap ones that you can’t use one handed, but I’m really interested in seeing what his brutal tests reveal about all these brands. Check out the testing below! Video Description: Wire Stripper Brands Tested: Knipex, Irwin, Dromild, Neiko, Klein, Craftsman, Ideal, Irwin, Capri, Kobalt, Dowell, and Mr. Pen. Wire strippers tested for wire stripper knife sharpness, force to cut through aluminum wire, screw cutter precision and sharpness, and wire insulator removal performance. Self-adjusting wire strippers also compared for performance. I always purchase all of the products tested to ensure unbiased reviews. So, thank you for supporting the channel! The post Wire Stripper Shootout: German VS US Wire Strippers Put To The Test! appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/egoE2OB from BangS...

Finnegan’s Death Metal Charger is arguably the scariest car that he and Newbern have in the fleet of fun. It is cool as hell, but it certainly isn’t easy to drive, comfortable, or reliable. That’s part of what makes it fun, but if it keeps wanting to crash then that is going to be no damn good. So Mike and Dave, with some help from KSR, got this thing whipped into much better shape and now it’s time to go thrash on it and see what these changes have really done. Video Description: Episode 192 of Mike Finnegan’s Garage is so damn good! The Death Metal 1968 Dodge Charger has been keeping it sketchy since the 1970s and now it’s mostly fixed! Thanks to Kevin Smith and some slick parts from QA1 and Wilwood, this car handles, stops and steers better than ever! By the end of this video we are doing burnouts and shaving 40ft off of our 60 mph to 0 mph stopping distance. So much win! The post FINNEGAN’S FIRST DRIVE: THE TURBO 2JZ-SWAPPED CHARGER IS FIRE!!!! THEY DID IT. appeared first on ...

This is not the first time we have talked about the dangers of tire failures in a shop or even in a work environment and it surely won’t be the last. The difference in this video is some cool slow motion photography that actually shows tires exploding and failing under pressure. The video was made in the UK so when you see the rigs that these guys are inflating with you may be a bit flummoxed. They seem to work great. Rather than use a tire cage like most of us here are used to, they use a deal that effectively clamps the tire to a truck or a structure of some type to secure it. It still can have a violent failure but it will be contained in one spot. If you work around tires in the shop, PLEASE be careful. No taking shortcuts, inflating things outside of a cage, a chain net, or other device. Yes, it takes more time to do it the right way but when you see the video below and they talk about the force that the air escapes with and how bad it can mangle a person, it should give you plen...

This latest batch of cars that Chad Ehrlich has found in South West Kansas is pretty cool! I’d totally take the 1939 Ford, and the 1968 El Camino is calling my name as well. Unfortunately for me, there are always project cars that Chad finds all over the midwest that I want to own. It’s insane because he finds such cool stuff in some really interesting spots and ALWAYS shares the details on how and where they were found. This video shows them sitting and waiting to be pulled from their resting spots and hauled to the yard. Check them out. Video Description: Lots of cool old vehicles on this video!! I have bought all of these for new inventory into the yard! This is just a quick walk around, exactly as I found these As is, Where is! It’s fun to document these old vehicles when I find them and its always kind of cool to see where they’ve spent the last several years, or sometime decades, sitting! I’ve got these vehicles hauled into the yard and I will definitely be bringing you a full...

Moparty is a party in every sense of the word, and an event like none other. THis is a race, a show, a spectacle, and more and when it invades the grounds at Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green Kentucky there is no doubt that fun is going to be had by all in attendance. This show has some special features that you won’t find anywhere else, like a great Mullet contest, General Lee jumps, a Wing Car Parade like non other, and more.  We love this event and we’re not alone. In this cool video, featuring Dylan McCool and Mike Musto, you’ll get the full tour of Moparty 2021 and don’t forget to join us in Bowling Green in September for Moparty 2022! Video Description: What is it like at Holley’s MoParty? We decided to get a couple of Mopar-minded friends of ours to show you a couple of the cars we had at the show and to let them give you their insights. Dylan McCool has been rebuilding Mopars on YouTube for a few years (and we’re big fans of his 1973 Challenger restoration) and Mi...

Which 800 Horsepower Big Block Chevy engine combo do you like most?  There are so many times that I’m at an event and someone comes up to me to talk engines and wants to know how to make a given power output. Many ask about 600 horsepower combos for their muscle car or truck, and many ask about building something with 1,000 horsepower or anything in between. In this new video series from Richard Holdener he’s going to go over different Big Block Chevrolet engine combos that make a given power number. He’s bringing us videos for 400, 500, 600, 700 etc all the way up to 1,000 horsepower. When I’m asked about these combos at an event, I laugh a lot of times and tell them that that’s a junkyard engine build nowadays and they just look at me funny. But it is true! In a lot of cases an LS engine build can be nothing more than a camshaft and headers to get there. But what if you want a good looking big block for the look, the sound, and more, but don’t need anything crazy. Then this is t...