Expensive Vehicles

Our last gallery of pro touring and autocross action from LS Fest! (Photos by Wes Allison) Holley’s LS Fest events are now spread across the country, but the one that started it all is held in Bowling Green Kentucky and has been going on for 13 years. I’ve been the voice of this event since the beginning and have seen it grow from a small little gathering to one of the biggest and baddest events on the planet over that time. We’re talking about an event that celebrates all that is the LS engine, and does so by inviting anything and everything that has LS power to come out for the show, the drags, the autocross, the road course, the off-road track, the drifting, the dyno and of course the burnout contest. Yeah, there is a lot going on at this place. And it’s insanely rad. Thankfully our intrepid photographer Wes Allison was on hand all weekend long shooting photos like a mad man and we’ve got gallery after gallery to share with you over the next week or so. We’ll have hundreds of phot

Jim Hrody is back at it with more car show photos to share with all of you! This one is the Will County Auto Rebuilders Association car show, which has become one of the bigger car shows in the greater Chicago area in recent years. He got a few galleries worth of photos, so no matter what your style you’ll find something cool to look at here. (Words and Photos by Jim Hrody) Each August, the Will County Auto Rebuliders Association puts on one of the larger car gatherings in the Chicago area. The 2022 version marked the show’s 25th anniversary. For the past several years now, Dellwood Park in Lockport, Illinois has been the host location. This venue is by far the best yet, offering a mix of pavement and grass parking for show entrants spread across a wide area. The car count is usually around 700-plus, but if you get tired of the cars, there’s plenty of swap meet selling going on too. The post Will County Auto Rebuilders Car Show Photos! appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift

The leviathan nature of early land speed record cars is the stuff of lore. The fact that took 1,000hp made from a pair of massive engines in a vehicle more than 30 feet long to achieve the first 200mph speed achieved on land is kind of amazing and almost beyond belief. The fact that it was also chain driven, rolled on massive wire wheels, and weighted 8,000lbs is also just crazy. This video is a fantastic look back at not just the numbers but the construction of the car, the thinking of where the record runs would take place, and Henry Seagrave, the man who would pilot the monster on the beach in America. That’s another thing. The longest beaches in England were thought to be too small to contain the acceleration and deceleration of the monstrous car. To make things even more creepy, while Seagrave was floating himself and his car over to the USA his friend, while piloting the Babs LSR machine was sawed into pieces by a chain that failed on a high speed run in England. It was a deadl

Pressing play on the video after the jump will probably put you in a place that you’ve never been before. That place is sitting virtually on top of three blown Hemi engines making a combined total of about 5,000hp. Those engines are mounted in line, providing the power for a hella nasty pulling tractor. The neatest thing about this video is that it really illustrates how intense a run on one of these monsters really is. You get to experience the crew lighting off the motors, the tractor hooking up to the sled and then the run itself. We watched the actual run several times because we were blown away with the speed of the tractor heading down the course. No bull, this beast is hauling some ass at mid track! The driver is working like a one legged man at a butt kicking competition all the while, too. It is a revealing look at how the tractors act in the heat of battle. It looks so easy from the sidelines, eh? The post Ride Along With a Three Engine, 5000hp Pulling Tractor! appeared

Miniature engines are absolutely fantastic and we have run lots of them here on BangShift. This small block Chevy isn’t the smallest engine we have ever run and it actually may be the biggest of the smallest engines we have ever run, if you catch our drift. We dig the fact that it has some size to it because when the older gent who built it fires the snotty little mini-mouse engine up it makes some sweet, sweet noise out of the lilliputian long tube headers on it. We also love the fact that the guy dives right in with a flathead screwdriver to tweak the carbs and the fact that the mill has a radiator, full accessory drive with water pump, a little bell housing, At one point the guy shooting the video moves the camera and a little small block head can be seen sitting on the table next to the engine. All of the little parts are one thing but the roar and crackling idle note of the engine through the headers is what sent us into the stratosphere of coolness. We want to wrap this little C

The famed “Honda K-motor” has been around since 2001 and it versatility as a platform for hot rodding has been constantly evolved. Like LS engines, the K series Honda engine has had the benefit of huge production volume, low price of entry for purchase, and massive aftermarket support for parts and pieces hot rodders want and need. Today, companies like 4 Piston Racing are showing the incredible potential of this engine by producing street and race versions that make four digit horsepower and do it with the needed reliability to be driven on the street. Yes, 1,000hp LS engines are a thing on the street but 1,000hp four cylinders are as well and frankly we find that more impressive. The guys from Weisco and Boostline worked with 4 Piston to get the rotating parts made the way they want them and the end result is a reliable engine that uses lots of factory parts and a handful of aftermarket pieces to create a engine that’s the size of a suitcase but makes power like nothing that you cou

—  The new SEMA Automotive Influencer of the Year award will be presented at the 2022 SEMA Show Industry Awards Banquet to an influencer who has made a positive impact on the automotive industry  — See a video about all the finalists below! DIAMOND BAR, Calif. (Sept. 29, 2022) –  SEMA  (Specialty Equipment Market Association) announces the finalists for its first-ever SEMA Automotive Influencer of the Year award. The new program recognizes content creators and social media influencers who have significantly supported and helped build enthusiasm for the automotive industry and car culture. The new award will be presented to one of the top-five finalists at the  2022 SEMA Show  Industry Awards Banquet to honor an influencer who has built an engaged audience and used his or her platform to positively impact car enthusiasts of all ages.   The five finalists for the 2022 SEMA Automotive Influencer of the Year award are  Larry Chen ,  ChrisFix ,  TJ Hunt ,  Adam LZ , and  Alex Taylor .

In the newest video from this series the Nova, aka Nana, makes it to the coast of California. Is this a good omen for the rest of the trip? Will it be a breeze? How much fun is it going to be driving this car down the California Coast and then on to Texas? We shall see. Does this idea scare you? I know it scares lots of people. I mean I do realize that finding a car online, talking to the seller, and deciding you think you want it is pretty standard. But this is different than just driving across town to see if it’s what you want. In this case, they are flying halfway across the country to verify it’s what they want, making the deal, and then driving it back home to Texas. But there is more to it than that. Logistically, this means flying from Texas to California, renting a car, driving to the Nova, checking out the Nova, and then driving both the Nova and the rental back to the rental’s pickup location. Then, stuffing everything they brought into the Nova to start their road trip. W

Junkyard vs Crate, this is a comparison that has been going on for a long time and people have a variety of opinions on which one is the best for a hot rod project. While both of the engines in this testing video are 454 cubic inch big block Chevrolets, there are a few differences that result in different power numbers naturally aspirated and that translates to the boosted combos as well, but not in the way you might think. Check out the video and let us know which one you’d choose for your combination. Video Description: HOW TO MAKE A 800+HP 454. WILL A JUNKYARD 454 BBC MOTOR TAKE BOOST? CRATE MOTOR VS JUNKYARD MOTOR-THEN ADD BOOST. KNOWN VS NOT KNOWN. CHEAP VS STEEP! WHAT IS THE BEST ROUTE TO MAKE OVER 800 HP? WOULD YOU CHOOSE A CHEAP, JUNKYARD 454 OR A MORE EXPENSIVE, GM CRATE MOTOR? CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO WHERE I RAN BOTH MOTORS WITH CAM UPGRADES AND CARBURETORS NA AND THEN UNDER BOOST. EACH MOTOR EASILY EXCEEDED THE 800-HP MARK, BUT THE QUESTION IS, WHICH ROUTE WOULD YOU CHOOSE?

No hype, no BS, no exaggeration, this video is friggin’ awesome. This is footage from 1928 news reels showing the construction of a massive 3,600hp locomotive in Canada. It made us want to smash our computer on the ground for the simple fact that computerized automation and design has killed lots of the skill sets used in this video. To see men building wooden bucks to come up with the actual shape of the engine, the huge boiler plates being formed, the massive connecting rods (drive rods) being forged by a press the size of a house and four brave guys, molten iron being poured into molds, the engine being literally lowered onto its axles, etc, is beyond description. It is 15-minutes of a window into a world that no longer exists and it is enthralling. We are of course romanticizing the whole thing. These jobs were probably an 11 on a 0-10 scale of awful. From the heat and dust, to the ever present danger of sudden death from huge pieces of metal swinging around, we’re not able to pla

This is not some lame history of the Ford Taurus or the SHO, instead this is the kind of really great look back at a revolutionary car that we love. It’s truthful to say that the Taurus saved Ford. The company was in an awful spot in the 1980s and all you need to do is read the incredible book The Reckoning to understand just how bad it was. Ford was pushing all of their chips to the center of the table with the Taurus and it was a gamble that paid off big time. The car was a sensation. My parents were about the first ones in town to have one. A red station wagon. They had it for 10 years. Jason Cammisa hosts this video and we love the mix of history, sidebars, and great information about the Taurus and then the SHO. Frankly we were pretty surprised how bad the SHO examples sold and we were totally out to lunch on remembering just how capable and fast they were for their time. When a Ford sedan can bury a Ferrari and run with the pony cars of the day, that’s a pretty astonishing thing

Is there anything cooler than racing history? I’m not sure that there is. Clearly I have been a freak for it over the course of my life and so many others are as well. This time we are talking about Formula One history and the tightest race in the history of the series, the 1971 Italian Grand Prix. It is pretty amazing that this race, now fifty years old still stands as the tightest wrap of them all. The margin may not phase drag racers, but .001 is wild when you think of an entire Grand Prix coming down to the wire. In this video you get the context of the time, the machines, and the people. You get an awesome blow by blow account of the race, and loads of vintage photography and information to back it all up. It’s one thing to know a stat but it is wholly another to go into depth and give all the reasoning behind it. The numbers of racing are the cold, hard, facts. Those cold hard facts are created through blood, sweat, and tears. This is the story of how the 1971 Italian Grand Pri

Ok, how does this guy keep topping himself?! Hand Tool Rescue is one of my favorite content creators on YouTube because he  not only is always working on something interesting, he’s doing it with a lot of talent, skill, and a sense of humor. The combo of the work and the subject here is magical. The thing he is laying hands on is a 100+ year old “fractal vise”. Nope, we had no idea what this thing was either until we saw it work and get ripped apart and fixed up. Think of a vise that has some 30 jaws nested into each other. All of them can move independently and that means this is a vise that can conform to just about any weird thing you put into it. From an aluminum banana, to a pen, to a glass jar and more. You can see the usefulness of this device when it is demonstrated by conforming to a wrench. This thing had to have been pretty damned expensive when it first came out and we’re guessing only machinists would have had the need for it. Mr Hand Tool does not have a ton of informati

Hot rodded tools?! Yep, what happens if you take your average cordless tools, in this case impact drivers, and you add parts from an impact wrench/gun? I have a feeling that bad things happen in some cases, but in the case of the tools being tested here I think the results might be more favorable than not. The Torque Test Channel has already tested modified tools like this in the past, but what happens when they take the best offerings from some fellow tool nut’s YouTube channels? Watch and find out. Video Description: Lifetime of updated tool rankings: https://etsy.me/3G8j3QK Check out @Man Caver Tools : http://y2u.be/mAD8Uh1TTMc and @Philly Fixed : http://y2u.be/z3eZ40R3XYI who made these tools! How goes is Milwaukee’s new Gen 4 Impact Driver 2953-20 when you swap a 1/2″ anvil into it? Or for an even smaller package, a DeWalt DCF850 for that matter? Are they better than the sum of their parts, can they take on our secret final boss? Find out on today’s TTC! The post You

More fun pro touring and autocross action from LS Fest! (Photos by Wes Allison) Holley’s LS Fest events are now spread across the country, but the one that started it all is held in Bowling Green Kentucky and has been going on for 13 years. I’ve been the voice of this event since the beginning and have seen it grow from a small little gathering to one of the biggest and baddest events on the planet over that time. We’re talking about an event that celebrates all that is the LS engine, and does so by inviting anything and everything that has LS power to come out for the show, the drags, the autocross, the road course, the off-road track, the drifting, the dyno and of course the burnout contest. Yeah, there is a lot going on at this place. And it’s insanely rad. Thankfully our intrepid photographer Wes Allison was on hand all weekend long shooting photos like a mad man and we’ve got gallery after gallery to share with you over the next week or so. We’ll have hundreds of photos to share

DIAMOND BAR, Calif. (Sept. 27, 2022) –  Five standout innovators have been selected from nearly 100 competitors to advance in the 2022 SEMA Launch Pad Competition.   Dustin Golat, co-owner of GolaTTaylor Tools; Jacob Hawksworth, CEO of Hypercraft; Susan Pieper, founder and CEO of DMOS Collective Inc.; Kevin Robinson, president of TRAC LLC; and Frank Terlep, co-founder and CEO of Auto Techcelerators LLC are headed to the 2022 SEMA Show in Las Vegas, Nev., this November, where they will pitch their ideas for a chance to win a grand-prize package valued at $92,000.   Since 2013, SEMA Launch Pad has served as the ultimate product-pitching competition for the automotive aftermarket. In addition to vying for a prize package that includes space at the world-renowned SEMA Show and promotion on national television, competitors build connections and receive support from established experts who serve as judges and mentors in the program.   The four returning judges are Chip Foose, award-win

Frank Kunkel is one of the hardest hustling video guys out there. He has been cranking video content since way before it was cool and that includes the long, lost days of 1996 and we’re thankful for that. You’ll be thankful too after seeing the video we have posted below. This is an insanely rare opportunity to see the four engine Wagon Master running with all the facets of modern video. We have showed 8mm video of the car before and that kind of thing but we had never showed it with sound trying to hustle down a drag strip. As we mentioned above, the year was 1996 and the event was the Goodguys race that was long held at IRP. Ivo was a featured player at the race with the car. Frank Kunkel was there with his camera to capture what we think is the last time that Ivo ever drove this car. Starting life as the “Showboat” in the earlier part of the 1960s, the Buick “station wagon” body was added later but the basic formula remained the same. Four Buick engines linked together and all roar

Pal of BangShift Brian Lively sent this great video over to us the other day. This was taken at the Lucas Pro Pulling League event in Bel Air, Maryland. The video gets off to a legitimately accurate “flying start” when the Radial Reactor tractor has issues on the first hook we see in the footage. The aircraft radial engine sounds awesome and clearly makes huge power. The machine gets the nose up and then moves to the left of the course. The driver pulls out all of the tricks he has at his disposal and the end result is some craziness when the bouncing tractor breaks the front end, goes on a short flight and then comes to rest having separated from the sled itself! The safety crew was right on the scene and the driver was fine. You will then see a succession of hooks made by various other 7,500lb tractors and the big fun here is the variety of power plants. Multiple V12 engines, a single alky burning Hemi with a blower, and the list goes on. The whole video is not a carnage fest just

Earlier this summer, Dylan McCool and I got to check out a treasure trove of vehicles that YouTuber Solomon Lunger (FordEra) had bought. If you are a fan of 1970s-era Ford trucks, it was your heaven, without question, but it wasn’t just Ford trucks on the property. Torinos, Mustang IIs, a couple of Dodge “tin grille” trucks (one of which I came damn close to bringing home myself)…the collection had a pretty good selection. As we walked through everything, taking photos and assessing conditions, I faintly heard the words, “There’s a ‘Cuda in the barn.” Full-stop. A ‘Cuda. Dylan and I both perked up like a puppy that heard the sound of the treat bag opening up. Sure enough, a few minutes later, we were both looking at one of the most beat-to-hell 1972 ‘Cudas that still resembled a full car. We both recognized it as the “Ravine ‘Cuda”, a car that had been dumped somewhere in Arizona abandoned, left to fend in the monsoon washes, was used for target practice, and was recovered and built t

NAPCO was a company that built 4-wheel drive conversion parts for domestic trucks and was founded in 1918. Although they made parts for Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, and Studebaker trucks, they are most well known for building parts for Chevrolet and GMC trucks. Starting in 1942 they offered full conversion kits that you could buy and have delivered so that you, or your local dealer, could do the conversion. In 1956 GM actually offered NAPCO conversion from the factory so you could order it and pick one up at your dealership. They are fairly rare to find now as many lived rough lives, but lots of folks want them. One such person is Brent from Halfass Kustoms who doesn’t care about having a real one, just something that looks like one but works better. Here’s what he’s going to do. He’s got a 1955 Chevrolet pickup that he is going to swap to a fleetside bed, swap it onto another chassis, and then make it into a nice driver that has the right look and feel. It’s not that Brent doesn’t already h

In this new episode of the Polishing Turds series from HED you are going to see the final assembly of the engine finally completed! Pete covered assembly prep and cam bearings, and other assembly tips and tricks, in the last couple videos, but they are going to finish in this assembly video. This is an ultra plain jane small block build, that has no fancy parts, but HED is going to show just how much of a power difference using the right processes, and doing them right, can make in an engine like this. It’s no wonder these things matter so much in high dollar, big power combos. Watch. learn more stuff, and if you haven’t seen all the parts in this series then use the link below to watch them all and learn something. Some of this series is of course done with tongue firmly in cheek, but the real stuff is still happening and you can learn a lot. Check it out. When Peter Harrell, owner of Harrell Engine and Dyno, decided that he was going to start up a YouTube Channel of his own, he dec

There has been so much new metal going into this build, which has been awesome, but there never seems to be an end to the rust either. In this episode, it looks like there has to be an end in sight, and the following video below also shows a LOT Of new stuff finally going together. This is one cool project, so check out the latest videos. Plus, there is a bonus video on the engine build! This is a little car, and it still has lots of little things to fix on it, but Jeff is surely knocking them out. I am really digging this one and can’t wait to see how it all turns out. I found this project on YouTube and it has been going on for a couple of years now so we need to catch up! This is Jeff, and he builds cool stuff, and he decided that he wanted to build an Alfa 105, which I have no clue about, and stuff it full of Ferrari power. Sounds like a hot rod to me, so I’m in. We’re going to share several videos at a time on this one to keep the ball rolling. Check it out. CLICK HERE IF YOU 

Derek from Vice Grip Garage has been working hard on cars and trucks of all kinds this year, but this one here is pretty special for a variety of reasons. First off, it’s a 1967 GTO that has been sitting in a garage for WAY too long. Second, the owner is a Veteran who deserves some help in making this one a runner again. So who better to take it, make it run, and then clean it up so that the owner can actually enjoy it. We approve completely and know you will too. Check out the video below and let us know what you think of Part 3 here. CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE PREVIOUS EPISODES Video Description: The Veteran owned GTO FINALLY hits the road in part 3. First, Derek’s got to tackle the fuel and brake system. The post Vice Grip Garage Pontiac GTO Project: New Fuel & Brake System (First Drive!) Part 3 appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/fGTuFBW from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/pMkGubj

If you aren’t familiar with comedian Gabriel Iglesias then you must live under a rock. What everyone might not know is that Gabriel, aka Fluffy, is a car enthusiast who has some pretty good taste as is evident by this clean 1969 Chevelle that he picked up at Barrett Jackson. What’s funny is that he wasn’t there to buy a car, but rather to sell a couple. As car guys and girls we all understand that you can’t help but want to bring something new home when you visit a place like Barrett Jackson. I of course can’t afford to buy something at Barrett Jackson, so I’m just going to live vicariously through Fluffy. This video here is from Jay Leno’s garage, and those guys clearly know how to do a car feature so we hope you enjoy it. Video Description: Gabriel Iglesias went to Barrett-Jackson to sell cars but ended up buying this cherry Chevelle. Come along for his first drive! The post Fluffy’s 1969 Chevelle SS Featured: Comedian Gabriel Iglesias Went To Barrett Jackson To Sell Cars, And

Somedays we’re at odds with the internet. Honestly, like everyone else we have days where we wonder what’s in the mind of the people who inhabit the inter web. This is not one of those days. Why? We found a video of a guy who put a bathtub on a shifter kart chassis and attacked a hillclimb. This is one of the most fun looking things we have ever seen. The kart is a drifting machine and the tub totally fits it right. This thing has a freaking motorcycle engine in it! The dual exhaust is cool but the shower head over the top of the driver is cooler. This may be the purest definition of racing fun we have ever seen. People may talk about doing stuff like this but it takes a special person to actually pull it off. This racer is that special person. The best parts of this video is when he is running insanely close to cars. Can you imagine the shame of being harassed by a guy in a damned dub during a race? He makes these people look foolish. Look, we know that this is basically a shifter k

There was a time, not so long ago, when making one horsepower per cubic inch was considered to be a good mark for a performance street engine. Now that OE technology has come so far, that is pretty standard fair for some combinations. But what about 1.6 horsepower per cubic inch? That would be pretty impressive right? Check out Richard’s latest video. These are good builds for your ride. Video Description: CAN YOU MAKE 100 HP PER LITER WITH A CHEAP, JUNKYARD LS? WILL A 4.8L MAKE 480 HP? WILL A 5.3L MAKE 530 HP? WILL A 6.0L MAKE 600 HP, ALL WITHOUT BOOST? IS IT HARDER FOR THE BIGGER MOTOR TO ACHIEVE THE SPECIFIC OUTPUT LEVEL? WHY IS IT EASIER FOR THE 4.8L TO REACH THE SPCIFIC OUTPUT LEVEL. WHAT STOPS THE MOTOR FROM KAKING EVEN MORE POWER? CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO WHERE I RAN THREE DIFFERENT MOTORS, EACH PRODUCING NEAR 100 HP PER LITER, WITH FULL DYNO RESULTS AND DESCRIPTIONS ON WHAT WAS DONE AND HOW TO MAKE THEM EVEN BETTER. The post HOW TO MAKE ALL-MOTOR JUNKYARD LS POWER. HOW MUCH A

Does this idea scare you? I know it scares lots of people. I mean I do realize that finding a car online, talking to the seller, and deciding you think you want it is pretty standard. But this is different than just driving across town to see if it’s what you want. In this case, they are flying halfway across the country to verify it’s what they want, making the deal, and then driving it back home to Texas. But there is more to it than that. Logistically, this means flying from Texas to California, renting a car, driving to the Nova, checking out the Nova, and then driving both the Nova and the rental back to the rental’s pickup location. Then, stuffing everything they brought into the Nova to start their road trip. What could possibly go wrong? Everything, that’s what. But I’m the type of guy who says roll the dice because if it runs good and stops and steers for the first 30 minutes it will probably make it the next couple of hours. And if it makes it the first few hours it will pr

There’s something awesome about Tuff Truck racing at the fair, right? Between the cobbled up trucks, cars that have no business even trying, and the attitude of drivers seeking momentary glory, all the stars are lined up to show the audience something awesome. This video is a compilation reel of some amazing runs made at The Buck Motorsports Park in Pennsylvania. There are people who don’t make it to turn one, others that don’t make it without smashing concrete, and still another group who drive as is this will be the last thing that they do on Earth. Every single one of them is fun to watch. We’ve never heard of a national Tuff Truck championship or a big money Tuff Truck event. We think that is a bummer because the demolition derby guys have all kinds of big money battles, championships, etc. Perhaps the rules of Tuff Truck racing are too spread out across the country. Perhaps it would just be a bad idea to really throw a pile of cash at these crazies and see the balls out fun they

Okay, who in the hell thinks of using a drill to power a boat? I know cordless tools are super bad ass now, but this would NOT have been on my radar before seeing this video. Of course, now all I want to do is make things that are drill powered. God help me. In this Deboss Garage video you are going to see a Milwaukee M18 Super Hawg put through its paces as the powerplant for a boat. That’s probably not what you expected to see here today on BANGshift.com, but it is what we’ve got. Cordless tools have more and more power, more and more speed, and insane features nowadays and people have been using their batteries to upgrade other electric toys and such but this is the first time I’ve seen the drill be the power. Watch.   The post Wait, What? Is This The Fastest Drill Powered Boat? Milwaukee M18 Super Hawg vs Outboard Gas appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/wvk7LAs from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/sEefCw2

The next batch of videos from the Alfarrari project starts right here. This thing is coming along like a champ, even though it has some pretty serious work that needs to be done. In fact, all the work that has been done so far is pretty serious but made to look easy by Jeff, who’s building this thing. In the videos below you are going to see the doors being fitted, the trunk coming together, and making the rear end look nice. This is a little car, and it still has lots of little things to fix on it, but Jeff is surely knocking them out. I am really digging this one and can’t wait to see how it all turns out. I found this project on YouTube and it has been going on for a couple of years now so we need to catch up! This is Jeff, and he builds cool stuff, and he decided that he wanted to build an Alfa 105, which I have no clue about, and stuff it full of Ferrari power. Sounds like a hot rod to me, so I’m in. We’re going to share several videos at a time on this one to keep the ball roll

More Burnout Contest action shots from the awesome smoke show at LS Fest in Bowling Green. (Photos by Wes Allison) Holley’s LS Fest events are now spread across the country, but the one that started it all is held in Bowling Green Kentucky and has been going on for 13 years. I’ve been the voice of this event since the beginning and have seen it grow from a small little gathering to one of the biggest and baddest events on the planet over that time. We’re talking about an event that celebrates all that is the LS engine, and does so by inviting anything and everything that has LS power to come out for the show, the drags, the autocross, the road course, the off-road track, the drifting, the dyno and of course the burnout contest. Yeah, there is a lot going on at this place. And it’s insanely rad. Thankfully our intrepid photographer Wes Allison was on hand all weekend long shooting photos like a mad man and we’ve got gallery after gallery to share with you over the next week or so. We’

Shades of the Past in Pigeon Forge Tennessee is one of the more iconic shows that goes on in the area. Pigeon Forge is known for being a stunning and cool vacation spot in the beautiful Smoky Mountains, an area southeast of Knoxville. This area is a tourist destination even without car and truck shows, but there are some great ones that attract even more folks from all over the country. The Shades of the Past show has been going on for almost 40 years but because the Dollywood parks have decided not to renew their lease of the parking lot for the show, the Shades of the Past Club members have decided they just don’t have the energy to try to relocate this whole show somewhere else. So after 39 years, they are going to retire. We weren’t there, but our friend Tommy Lee Byrd, the Hot Rod Hoarder, was on hand to enjoy this last show. He got all kinds of cool video content and is sharing it all below. Video Description: What a shame! The Shades of the Past Hot Rod Roundup has been a sta

We’re all about safety around here, and I’m a HUGE fan of head restraint systems like the NecksGen, HANS, and Simpson’s Hybrid system, just to name a few. It doesn’t matter which system you choose, it just matters that you pick one and use it so that you can be as safe as possible in a race car. I know several drivers that use the Simpson Hybrid Frontal Head Restraint, and they love them, but choosing any head and neck restraint system requires proper sizing to be as effective as possible. In this video, you’ll see how to measure yourself for one so that it works the best and is most comfortable as well. Video Description: The Simpson Hybrid Frontal Head Restraint is an ergonomically-designed head restraint system that restricts the helmet’s forward movement in a crash, keeping the head and torso in line while allowing for freedom of movement side-to-side and unrestricted vision. Follow along as we show you how to properly measure for a Hybrid Frontal Head Restraint. The post How

NAPCO was a company that built 4-wheel drive conversion parts for domestic trucks and was founded in 1918. Although they made parts for Ford, Chevrolet, GMC, and Studebaker trucks, they are most well known for building parts for Chevrolet and GMC trucks. Starting in 1942 they offered full conversion kits that you could buy and have delivered so that you, or your local dealer, could do the conversion. In 1956 GM actually offered NAPCO conversion from the factory so you could order it and pick one up at your dealership. They are fairly rare to find now as many lived rough lives, but lots of folks want them. One such person is Brent from Halfass Kustoms who doesn’t care about having a real one, just something that looks like one but works better. Here’s what he’s going to do. He’s got a 1955 Chevrolet pickup that he is going to swap to a fleetside bed, swap it onto another chassis, and then make it into a nice driver that has the right look and feel. It’s not that Brent doesn’t already h

Here’s our third gallery of photos from Jim! When Jim Hrody sent me a couple pics from the Amboy Depot Days car show I thought, man what a cool little down town show. When he told me that this show had been going on for more than 30 years and that it had a HUGE 50/50 raffle I was intrigued and super thankful for Jim’s willingness to share the photos with all of us. Check the first gallery out below, we’ve got two more coming over the next few days as well, and Jim’s been out shooting even more events too! Bit thanks again to Jim for sharing, we really do appreciate it. (Words and Photos by Jim Hrody) Amboy, IL is about 100 miles west of Chicago. Every August the town has its ‘Depot Days’, and on the last day of this festival, a car show takes place. The ‘depot’ part of the name comes from the history of the Illinois Central Railroad once being headquartered there. I haven’t seen an official count, but by my estimation, there were around 400+ cars, trucks, and motorcycles lining the s

Even more car show action from LSFest 2022! (Photos by Wes Allison) Holley’s LS Fest events are now spread across the country, but the one that started it all is held in Bowling Green Kentucky and has been going on for 13 years. I’ve been the voice of this event since the beginning and have seen it grow from a small little gathering to one of the biggest and baddest events on the planet over that time. We’re talking about an event that celebrates all that is the LS engine, and does so by inviting anything and everything that has LS power to come out for the show, the drags, the autocross, the road course, the off-road track, the drifting, the dyno and of course the burnout contest. Yeah, there is a lot going on at this place. And it’s insanely rad. Thankfully our intrepid photographer Wes Allison was on hand all weekend long shooting photos like a mad man and we’ve got gallery after gallery to share with you over the next week or so. We’ll have hundreds of photos to share, because no

Legos are among the coolest toys for kids and they have been for decades. From building the kits that the company sells to simply working with a bucket of parts to make something unique and all your own, Legos are the kinds of toys that promote creativity, experimentation, and they breed the gearheads of tomorrow. They have kits that little kids can assemble and then they have kits that big kids like us can assemble. The Technic series of kits skew toward the more experienced builder but they also often have little electric motors and the vehicles you build can do stuff. For instance, this logging truck can use its grappling arm to load the logs onto its back before you drive off the “job site”. We’re not sure why but watching this  Lego Technic logging truck assemble itself from the start of the frame rails on is pretty fun. We’re guessing it is the same gearhead nature that you all have as well in the fact that seeing how things work or how they look in the assembly phase is fascina

To answer your first question, no, that header is not painted orange. To answer your second question about how a 180ci straight six makes 1250hp, well that one is easy. Lots and lots of glorious boost! We found this video while trolling YouTube and it is pretty bad ass. The engine is a Nissan six cylinder job that is slated for installation in a blazingly fast drag car down under. With a mondo single turbo, it shrieks and screams a pretty glorious note a full song, which is somewhere around 8500rpm according to the video. Watching the header go from the normal color of stainless steel to day glow orange is super cool, especially during a couple of the pulls with the lights out in the dyno room. The other thing that is truly bitchin’ is watching what happens to the intake plumbing when the turbo spools up and starts to shove all of that atmosphere into the engine. All of the silicone unions in the plumbing expand and move, causing the intercooler itself to shift a few inches during the

There’s nothing like an old school comparison film, especially when that comparison film is complete propaganda full of insane tests and information that borders on the meaningless. In the case of this film, we’re talking 1972 Chevy trucks versus 1971 Fords. There are commercial excerpts used, there are other tests that we have never seen before or heard of ever, and there’s plenty of killer trucks to look at. We’re almost torn on which we want more in terms of coolness. The 1972 Chevys are among the best looking trucks ever made and the Fords of the early 1970s are awesome in their own right as well. As we have often talked about, 50 years ago was about the time that manufacturers started to change their pitch to customers who were looking at trucks. The pitch became more car like and not totally built on the machismo that a truck owner felt when cruising down the road. The bonus here is the video about the Chevy Blazer of the same era! These Blazers are the coolest and while way bi

We’re fascinated by old English steam trucks. The mere thought of what is basically a road-going locomotive is almost too much to handle. This video shows a guy firing up and driving one of these old monsters. The chain driven rear tires are something, as is the noise that the chain makes as it whirs around. Note that the driver is basically sitting on top of the boiler. There had to have been some gruesome deaths when these trucks were popular. Boiler explosions were not uncommon in trains back in the day, so these truck can’t be immune from them either. The thing looks like it weighs about a million pounds and when you see the driver try to steer it, your arms will get tired just watching! If you are wondering why someone thought this was a good idea, you have to look at the time that these were built and what England’s primary available fuel source was. Coal was an indigenous thing in the UK and virtually every function of life was powered by it back when this truck was new. From t

Here is Part 6 of the Gen III HEMI C10 build that Derek has dubbed the HemiHalf. It’s “together” but will it start and run so it can go to Moparty? It’s been torn apart, mocked up, torn apart, and put back together to where it’s almost a finished truck. But will it be done in time for the Moparty event that is actually going on right this minute? It’s going to be a thrash to get it done, but Derek is a man who doesn’t stop. Watch. The thought process here is that every conceivable vehicle on earth has already been LS swapped, so we need to start switching it up, and what better way to do that than to stuff a Gen III HEMI into a square body Chevrolet pickup that would have come with a small block Chevrolet most likely. After all, square-body GM trucks are prime candidates for LS swaps and it seems like it is getting harder and harder to find them with a small or big block still in them at any car shows and events. I happen to love LS engines, but I own both small block and big block

Here’s our second gallery of photos from Jim! When Jim Hrody sent me a couple pics from the Amboy Depot Days car show I thought, man what a cool little down town show. When he told me that this show had been going on for more than 30 years and that it had a HUGE 50/50 raffle I was intrigued and super thankful for Jim’s willingness to share the photos with all of us. Check the first gallery out below, we’ve got two more coming over the next few days as well, and Jim’s been out shooting even more events too! Bit thanks again to Jim for sharing, we really do appreciate it. (Words and Photos by Jim Hrody) Amboy, IL is about 100 miles west of Chicago. Every August the town has its ‘Depot Days’, and on the last day of this festival, a car show takes place. The ‘depot’ part of the name comes from the history of the Illinois Central Railroad once being headquartered there. I haven’t seen an official count, but by my estimation, there were around 400+ cars, trucks, and motorcycles lining the