Expensive Vehicles

They found plenty of broken parts inside when they took it apart, but now it’s time to put it back together. Maybe this isn’t a how-to video, but more of a how-they-did-it video. Check it out. When Emily and Aaron bought their “new” C6 Corvette a few months ago, it was rough and ready, to say the least. This thing is NOT pretty at all, but it has some of the key features they really wanted. Now it’s time to start working on this ugly duckling and that means tearing apart several things. One of those is the rear transaxle which is not the easiest removal apparently and it fights them the entire way out of the car. Was there an easier way to do this? Apparently, Emily is wondering just that! Once they got it out, they knew there were some real problems. See how they fix them. Watch. CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST VIDEO WHERE THEY BUY THIS ROUGH C6 CORVETTE Video Description: How to build a T56 transmission? Maybe not, but here’s how we did it!! Do you think our Corvette will dri...

(Photos by Wes Allison) When the Goodguys Rod and Custom Association comes to the Del Mar Fairgrounds near San Diego, it is always a great show. The fairground end right at the beach on the Pacific Ocean and the town around the fairgrounds is full of cool restaurants, bars, shops, and more. This event is quintessential Southern California in every way and draws cars, trucks, customs, and muscle cars from all over the western states. Our own Wes Allison was on hand to get some photos so that we could share them with all of you, and as you can tell the weather was just perfect for a weekend car show. Goodguys shows feature cars and trucks of every shape, size, and style which means that no matter what you like you are likely to find it at a Goodguys Show. With the autocross, car shows, cruising, and more, this is one of those shows that really feels like something special. It’s a destination show for sure with so many cars driving around town before and after the show as well. It’s a g...

(Words and Photos by Joe Grippo) The main reason for my wife and I deciding to flee the northeast winter and head to sunny Florida last month was to get in some Drag Racing. Florida in March, you may be thinking Gainesville, and you would be correct, sort of. We went to Gainesville Raceway, yes, but we went the week before the infamous Amalie Gatornationals. We choose to hit up the NHRA Division 2 Lucas Oil Drag Racing Series event better known as the Baby Gators. The Baby Gators is a regional event for the NHRA sportsman classes. Divisional categories contested include Alcohol cars down through the list to Stock Eliminator. This is my favorite type of drag racing, the Camping World Pros are cool but give me Stock and Super Stock all day, every day. The big show Gatornationals only accept around 50 each of the sportsman classes and, for example, there were over 100 Stockers racing at the Baby Gators. There were well over 600 race cars on the property at Gainesville Raceway! As I have...

(Words and Photos by Jim Hrody) The Indianapolis World of Wheels is an exceptional show to check out. The 64th annual, as in years past, took place at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. Around 500 vehicles were showcased within the confines of three buildings. The main building, as well as the one directly behind it, contained the ‘turntable cars’ as well as rows of cordoned off vehicles that you’d expect to see at an indoor show. This is also where most of the vendors were, some automotive, some not. The west building had a choice of modern trends in one room and old school technology in two others. The first room had mostly 80s-up slammed trucks, modern muscle, and insane stereo setups. However, this room did also have few older cars in place. The second and third rooms were the area for ‘Motorama 1962’. As the name suggests, this is where the traditional rods and customs gathered, though I did see a few later muscle cars in there as well. This west building seems to be a perfect fit...

Video Description: DID THE L78 375-HP 396 ACTUALLY MAKE 375 HP, OR DID IT MAKE 425 HP (RATED IN 1965)? HOW MUCH POWER DID THE SS396 REALLY MAKE? COULD THE LITTLE BIG BLOCK TAKE FULL ADVANTAGE OF THE REC-PORT, CLOSED CHAMBER, BIG-VALVE HEADS? WAS THE CAM SHARED WITH THE 425-HP L72 427 AND 450-HP LS6 454 TOO BIG FOR THE SMALLER 396? CHECK OUT THIS VIDEO WHERE I DETAILED THE FULL BUILD UP OF A REPLICA OF THE L78 396 AND WHAT HAPPENED WHEN I TRIED TO RUN IT ON THE ENGINE DYNO! The post HOW MUCH POWER DID THE 1965-70 L78 375-HP 396 REALLY MAKE PART 1? FULL 396 BBC BUILD & DYNO ATTEMPT appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/y9jpeA7 from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/cwBJWZM

The Chrysler 413 is an interesting engine because it lived a long life in multiple roles and a very wide range of equipment. Hot rodders like to think about the hot rodded Max Wedge 413 (that gave way to the Max Wedge 426) and luxury car people like to think of the powerful and smooth Imperials and other cars that were shoved along by it, and finally truck guys will tell you that the 413 was a stalwart gas power plant offered in big trucks until 1979. That is a heck of a run for a mill that showed up on the scene in 1959 and was used in cars until 1965. The videos below aren’t about floating Imperials or sneaky big Polaras. Nope, the videos below celebrate the most BangShifty application of the engine in the form of the 420hp Max Wedge 413 as offered in a small number of Plymouth and Dodge models in 1962. Combating the Pontiacs and Chevrolets, the “Super Stock Dodges” were quickly recognized in songs and popular culture. The Beach Boys talked about the cars in their song “Shut Down” w...

We here at BangShift have never been quiet about our live for the US space program and the incredible magic it produced for decades. The famed Mercury Seven were perhaps the most brave and heroic citizens of our country that have ever lived and this video celebrates the triumphs that the brought to humanity during the most important years of NASA’s history. Yes, the Russians got the jump on us but once NASA felt its might and understood its strength the balance of power in the race to the moon shifted on its axis and our country took the lead and saw the competition to its ultimate finish with the Apollo missions to the moon. That wok and those missions would never have happened without the bravery, risks, and ultimate success of the Mercury program. From Walter Cronkite calling the action to the men splashing down in the sea, it’s a highlight reel of a nation that won WWII and used the collective knowledge of its “best and brightest” to achieve things that humans had been dreaming ab...

America was booming in the middle 1960s. There were massive construction projects going on all over the country, industry was consuming resources that needed to be cut, moved, or mined out of the ground, and literally hundreds of companies supplied equipment and machinery to get the work done. The best part was that 99% of it was designed and built right here in the USA. We have a copy of Construction Methods magazine from 1966 that our grandfather gave to us way back. The magazine is filled with very cool ads for trucks and heavy equipment. One of the sad things we took away from going through all these ads is just how far General Motors has fallen. Nearly half of the stuff you’ll see in the gallery was produced by one division or another. Allison transmissions for bulldozers, GMC heavy trucks, 4×4 consumer trucks, Detroit Diesel engines, Euclid heavy dump trucks, and scads of other stuff fell under the umbrella of the General. Now they struggle to produce the freaking Aveo econ...

The guys at Iron Trap Garage started a Hot Rodding 101 series a couple of years ago that we’ve watched, but we never shared it with you guys until now. They just put up a new one today so we looked back to see how many were in the series and are going to start sharing them all. This first one in the Hot Rodding 101 series was about Ford Flathead V8 engines and the second one ] was the early Cadillac OHV engines. This latest video is about Flathead Ford ignition systems and covers everything from stock stuff to complete high end racing ignition systems. Check it out. CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED THE FIRST VIDEOS Video Description: Recently Matt took a trip to Mason Racing Ignition to pick up his freshly rebuilt magneto for the 1933 Ford 3-Window build. While there Matt thought about all the added costs that come with running rare ignition that can be overlooked. Today we are going to talk about everything you need to know about Flathead Ignition. Matt covers stock ignition, drop in elect...

Sometimes you can swap a modern set of seats into your hot rod, custom, or muscle car and they look right. Other times the size is wrong, the bolstering is too extreme, or they just don’t “fit” both physically and visually. Sometimes the best way to go is to take your stock seats and add some new foam so they are a little more bolstered but not too modern. Sometimes the best way to go is to use a modern seat but to tone down the bolstering. Whatever look you are going for, this video here will help you learn how to apply and trim foam to get the shape you want for a seat. In Part 2 we will show you how to sew the covers to make these actually into finished seats! The post Classic Car Interiors: Basic Customization Of Seat Foam – Getting The Shape You Want For Your Seats appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/bCmNXeD from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/muiePwg

You know that we love our square body, 1973-1987 Chevrolet trucks around here, and that’s not only because they look awesome but also because there is so much aftermarket support for them regardless of what you want to use them for. Lifted, lowered, race, cruiser, you name it you can do it with one. But what about those of you who have a 4×4 and want to swap a modern overdrive stick shift transmission into one? Thanks to this awesome kit from American Powertrain, that has never been easier. Check out all the info below and then hit them up and tell them BANGshift sent you and you want a free shirt. Cookeville, TN   (April 11, 2023) –  With Chevy/GMC Square Bodies all the rage, American Powertrain the nation’s leading distributor of TREMEC transmissions, is introducing a Square Body Chevy/GMC 4×4 kit for the TREMEC TR-4050 5-speed, 4WD manual transmission designed to fit 1973 – 1987 pickups and SUVs including Suburbans, Jimmys and Chevy Blazers. The new American Powertrain ...

After installing a cool Duvall windshield on their 1931 Model A Ford Roadster, Karl at Make It Kustom wanted to do a split grill shell as well. The car is running a ’32 Grill Shell, which stock has one big opening in it, but Karl wanted to make it something special and here’s how he’s going to do it. In this video, you’ll see metal shaping done to match a wire form and paper template. It is the easiest way to see what the metal needs to do in order to take the shape you want. And then Karl shows us just how to get that shape to happen. Check it out. Video Description: On this episode of Make It Kustom, Elio and I use a wire form and paper patterns to visualize and template the split grill modification on the 1931 Model A Roadster. The post Make It Kustom Designs A Custom Split 1932 Grill For A Hot Rod Roadster appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/oaBVfw9 from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/uGBbCam

If you are like us, you laugh sometimes at the tools you see on TikTok or Facebook, or even YouTube for that matter. Sometimes they are in ads, and other times they pop up as people who are just doing videos to promote or test them. There are a ton of times when I have seen some of these tools and thought “Who in their right mind would buy that?” and other times where I think they might actually be worth having and trying. Luckily for us, someone else has done the testing for us so we don’t have to be the guinea pigs. Check it out. Video Description: Our lifetime of TOOL RANKINGS : https://etsy.me/3G8j3QK A list of tools we’ve tested that don’t suck: https://www.amazon.com/shop/torquetes… Go check out @SomeGuysGarage ! Today we test a couple TikTok tool hack innovations and surprisingly, one is pretty awesome and has some design choices we feel should even find their way into modern cordless tools! The post Testing TikTok Tool Hacks: Surprisingly Amazing, Or Just Stupid? app...

Of all the stuff this guy has worked on and saved over the years, who’d have thought that a damned cheese cutter would be top five or even top three cool! This is not just a pivoting blade, though. This is an ingenious machine made by some company called International Business Machines. Maybe if they shortened it to IBM someone would have picked up on it. Hey, just our opinion. You are looking at a mechanical cheese cutting computer. Seriously. There’s the blade and a rotating wooden base. There are also two arms below that base. One of the arms sets the weight of the cheese block you are going to cut and the other one rotates the base to the right weight of cheese to hack off in order to get it right for the customer. It sounds weird and it is but when you see it work at the end you will truly appreciate this machine’s simple brilliance. We love the attention to detail shown here. If there is a singular thing we have learned from watching these videos over the years it is the fa...

The cordless impact battles between brands is a lot like the diesel truck battles that Chevrolet, Ford, and RAM are in. Tool makers are constantly throwing out new models and new specs. When one of them puts out a tool that has comparable specs with the other brands in that class, you expect them to be true. What you don’t expect is for them to be underrated. Yeah, we’re talking about being so conservatively rated that they don’t look like the leader in the class when they just might be. Welcome to the battle between Bosch and Milwaukee. Video Description: Find the new Bosch here: https://amzn.to/3KqcOfp Our lifetime of TOOL RANKINGS : https://etsy.me/3G8j3QK Today we test the new BOSCH GDS18V-330CN mid torque impact wrench and see how good it is vs it’s not so good rating from the brand. But maybe that’s a good thing in today’s inflated world of tool specs? It takes on the Milwaukee Gen 2 to find out. The post Cordless Impact Gun Tests – Bosch’s New Mid-Torque vs M18: The Mos...

Here’s our eighth, and final, gallery of photos from the NHRA Winternationals in Pomona, and it features nothing but Sportsman racing action. The weather was amazing, and we’ve got great photos from Wes Allison to share with all of you. Check them out below, as well as a link to our other galleries. (Photos by Wes Allison) Our NHRA Winternationals photo coverage continues right here with nothing but Top Alcohol dragsters and funny cars. Who doesn’t love that! We’ve got Funny Car, Pro Stock, Top Fuel, Pits photos, and more to share with you all week long so stay tuned for all of those as well. Big thanks to Wes for making it happen all weekend while standing on the wall and getting the best shots. We do appreciate it and know that you do as well. Check out all the photos in our gallery below and remember that clicking on any photo will make it bigger and open it up in our photo slideshow so you can click through them all. CLICK HERE IF YOU MISSED OUR PREVIOUS GALLERIES! The post M...

I’m not going to lie, it looks like Derek, and everyone else that was there had a great time at the Freedom 500 racing their Crown Vics around and around and around. Of course, there were shenanigans, burnouts, and even a drone show. But the race itself used up a bunch of nitrous as Derek used all he had to get the Vice Grip Garage 1776 Crown Vic into the lead of this race. Given past results, I’m not sure being in the lead is the safe or smart place to be until the last lap, but Derek seemed to handle himself okay. Watch, laugh, and cheer him on like we did in the video below.   The post Leading Laps In A Nitrous Powered Crown Vic, Burnouts, Drone Show, And More! appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/SAiVa9R from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/8QIx3Yg

Yesterday we shared Sally’s Speed Shop video, showing some cool stuff to try and bring this Charger right here back to life for the family that owns it. This is Dylan McCool’s video from this cool family-owned barn stash. I don’t want to call it a barn find, because they knew where it was the whole time, but it has been stashed for years and is awesome. Check out what it takes to make it run before they make it shine a bit and drive nice. CLICK HERE TO SEE THE NEXT VIDEO  Video Description: I had the honor of helping out this kind family bring back to life their 1968 Charger barn find! It’s been sitting for quite some time, but we’re going to do our absolute best to put this Charger back on the road where it belongs. Think it’ll run and drive after many years? The post BARN FIND 1968 CHARGER – Will It Run And Drive After Sitting for Years? appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/SAiVa9R from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/74mklRy

He’s back at it folks! Finding the most obscure and awesome collections, wrecking yards, and barn finds in the southeastern United States. This one right here is special, as Tommy visits a collection that is specifically for the savior of other hot rods and muscle cars. He’ll explain. Watch. Video Description: This collection has saved thousands of cars! Murf has more than one hundred classic cars and trucks in his yard, but he is the opposite of a hoarder. He shares parts of his collection with people all over the country, yet very few people get a chance to see the entire collection up close and personal. Murf gave me the chance to tour his yard, and he explained that 1 Parts Car can help up to 200 people restore their dream car! That really helped put it in perspective for me. I enjoyed my time at Murf’s place and if you saw a car that could help supply parts for your project, I hope that you’ll reach out to him by email (that is what he prefers). His website is www.under1981.com...

This is the story of the resurrection, the resurrection of a 1968 Dodge Charger that is, which is kind of fitting this weekend don’t you think? When Sally’s Speed Shop and Dylan McCool get together who knows what kind of shenanigans might happen. Check out this cool new video where they help a family make a family treasure shine just a bit more again. This one is fun. Video Description: Be sure to check out Dylan’s Video of us getting this car out of the barn and making it run here:     • BARN FIND 1968 CH…   This time on Sally’s Speed Shop we help out with a very special, all original 1968 Dodge Charger that is still in the hands of the man that bought it new from Music City Dodge. The one and only Dylan McCool reached out to me to help him bring this thing back to life after it sat untouched in a barn for over 15 years. Jonathan and his daughter Macy have been wanting to work together on a Dodge Charger for year’s and luckily their Aunt ...

The Street Fighter Classes at Ozark Raceway Park are finally underway for the 2023 season and everyone expects them to grow like mad this year. With great racing, at a cool track, what’s not to like? Thankfully, Urban Hillbilly Video has been on site and covering these races and now they have brought out the first Street Fighter class video of the year. Check it out and let us know what you think. Everyone knows I dig street car racing and this class has some cool examples. Older body styles, newer body styles and everything with the same attitude for going fast on a small tire. This is cool stuff. Check it out. The post Urban Hillbilly Videos: Street Car Drag Racing Video From Ozark Raceway Park appeared first on BangShift.com . https://ift.tt/b1kqemC from BangShift.com https://ift.tt/6MRknDj

Check this out! If you ride a motorcycle, and love the look of a Simpson Bandit helmet, this new limited edition Mod Bandit just might be the helmet of your dreams! Check out the Fly By Metallic Navy Blue. This sucker is rad looking. CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE GREAT PHOTOS OF THIS NEW MOD BANDIT HELMET __________________________________________ The first limited edition Mod Bandit, the Fly By! Metallic Navy Blue paint is the fifth colorway available in the popular Mod Bandit. OVERVIEW Modular function and convenience meets Simpson style and attitude. One hand modular function, communication system ready, Pinlock system compatible, and internal sun shield are highlights of the new Mod Bandit. Ready to ride across town or around the world, the Mod Bandit offers the function and style you are looking for. Helmet ships with one clear face shield installed, additional face shields may be purchased separately. Features: Limited edition metallic Navy Blue Fly By paint *optional shield s...

Here’s our fourth round of photos from Mike’s coverage of the Buffalo Motorama and we couldn’t be happier. We’re talking about some cool rides that are inspiring us to get out into the shop to work on ours and also to take them out cruising. (Photos by Mike Brooks)   Every year Mike Brooks visits the Buffalo Motorama and shoots all kinds of great photos to share with all you BANGshifters. And each and every year he finds the coolest stuff and shoots great photos that have us drooling over all these cool rides. The indoor car show scene has been off the hook this year after COVID kept folks from being able to enjoy a lot of shows over the last couple of years, and it seems like the level of cars just keeps getting better and better. In the North Eastern United States, the cold weather can hang on longer than a lot of the rest of the country, so indoor car shows are sometimes the only way for enthusiasts to get their car fix during the winter and early spring. The Buffalo Moto...

In the last installment of the three-window coupe build, Brent chopped up the door tops to make them look right on the three-window, which takes a bunch of sheet metal work. And in this video, he’s trying to make the roofline look like it might have actually started out as a 3 window . It looks exhausting and yet inspires me to cut things up. Watch, and keep in mind that this car is trying to be done in time to road trip from Canada all the way to Texas for Roundup. The original plan was to build a chopped 1935 Dodge 3 window coupe out of a sedan body that had been cut up. It was someone else’s abandoned project and boy did it look daunting, even for someone like Brent. So he decided that a new donor would be in order and that he needed to find something else he could make into his dream 3 window. You are going to want to check this out. Brent from Halfass Kustoms is one of my favorite dudes on YouTube. He’s not fancy, he’s a bit brutish sometimes, but man he gets projects done in re...

What is boost response? Well, it is the rate at which you get a turbo to spool. Think of it as the measurement of turbo lag I suppose. Some engine and turbo combos spool very quickly, and others more slowly, but it is more than just the size of the turbo and the size of the engine that determines how quickly it will come up on boost. That’s where doing boost response testing on the dyno can really help you determine which camshaft really is right for your application. Video Description: DOES A MILDER CAM HELP BOOST RESPONSE? DOES A TURBO CAM HELP BOOST RESPONSE? HOW CAN I HELP BOOST RESPONSE? I WANT IMMEDIATE SPOOL UP! HOW CAN I IMPROVE THE BOOST RESPONSE ON MY TURBO LS? THESE ARE ALL GREAT QUESTIONS, BUT THE REAL QUESTION IS, DID THE TURBO OFFER A BIG CHANGE IN LOW SPEED TORQUE REGARDLESS OF THE CAM I SELECTED? WILL I HAVE ENOUGH TRACTION WITH THE ADDED TORQUE FROM THE BOOST, EVEN WITH THE “WRONG CAM”?   The post WHAT WORKS? LS TURBO CAMS AND BOOST RESPONSE! DO YOU HAVE ENOU...

If you are swapping a late model Gen 3 HEMI into your hot rod or muscle car, you are going to need to do more than just bolt it in. When it comes to the accessory drive, there are some great options, but one thing often overlooked is the power steering pump. You see, in factory trim, these pumps operate at much higher pressures than classic muscle car steering boxes are designed for. That’s why Holley has developed a new low-pressure pump just for these swaps. It will save you time, money and headaches by having the right pump in the first place. Check it out below. Video Description: The factory power steering pump found on late model Gen III Hemi engines produces too much pressure for use with the older steering boxes on most older muscle cars & trucks. Because of that, Holley has developed these low-pressure Saginaw type II power steering pumps. They fit 2003-2008 5.7L & 2005-2010 6.1L Gen III Hemi Engines with the “Car Style” Accessory Drive and some 2009-2013 5.7L & ...

We’re all done with photos from the Chicago World of Wheels because this is our last one. They have been awesome, but if you missed any so far don’t worry because there is a link below to all of them! (Words and Photos by Jim Hrody) World of Wheels has been a Chicago-area tradition for quite some time, and 2023 marked its 60th annual showing. Having taken place in the city proper when first started, the show was moved to Rosemont, Illinois in 2010. This is one of the larger W.O.W. shows on the tour. On the main floor, 600ish cars, trucks, and motorcycles are spread around between seven rooms. On Saturday afternoon, the show grows in size and for that afternoon only there are more cars in attendance than at the Detroit Autorama. This is done by opening up the second floor to a few hundred more cars for what they call the Tuner Galleria. Mostly imports and exotics are to be found there, not to mention some very loud audio setups too. That room clears out on Saturday night but is perfe...

Here’s our second round of photos from Mike’s coverage of the Buffalo Motorama and we couldn’t be happier. We’re talking about some cool rides that are inspiring us to get out into the shop to work on ours and also to take them out cruising. (Photos by Mike Brooks)   Every year Mike Brooks visits the Buffalo Motorama and shoots all kinds of great photos to share with all you BANGshifters. And each and every year he finds the coolest stuff and shoots great photos that have us drooling over all these cool rides. The indoor car show scene has been off the hook this year after COVID kept folks from being able to enjoy a lot of shows over the last couple of years, and it seems like the level of cars just keeps getting better and better. In the North Eastern United States, the cold weather can hang on longer than a lot of the rest of the country, so indoor car shows are sometimes the only way for enthusiasts to get their car fix during the winter and early spring. The Buffalo Moto...

This is some wild mechanical history. You are going to watch “Space Age Railroad” which is the historic story of the rocket sled track at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico. Started as a 3500ft rocket sled course, by the time this film was made in the 1970s, it was already 10x that length. The film is narrated by a guy who sounds like a Disney villain and Dr John Stapp the man who became so famous for riding rocket sleds on the tracks to test the effects of wind, acceleration, and deceleration on the human body. He had massive, massive balls. This facility is still being used. In fact, we ran a video showing a 6,500mph pass down the rails recently. Back when this was made, such numbers were still science fiction but this place helped to develop airplanes, rockets, and continues to be very important in the development of rockets and weapons for the military. At this point in history, 100 different vehicles were available for the use of engineers. Tiny mono-rail machines, massive du...

Forget getting preachy or writing some kind of prose…this is a straightforward question that deserves a straightforward answer. What new 2023 model year vehicle would be worth actually buying and owning? Since “worth looking at” is subjective, this will be from my own viewpoint , but feel free to agree (or prepare the boiling tar and feathers) in the comments below. All images are raided from their respective websites after I’ve “built” my dream machine. I will be skimping obvious “ultra” brands like Aston Martin, Ferrari, Bentley, etc. because let’s face it…precious few have six or seven figures to nuke on a car payment alone. Let’s get started, shall we? Acura: I was ready to accept the Integra because of the six-speed manual transaxle, but when I went to build a copy on the website, that option was MIA. Instead, I was offered roof racks and all-weather floor mats. Pass. Alfa Romeo: Gulia Quadrifoglio is tempting…until you see a price in the low $80K range. Pass. Audi: Audi’...

There are cool historic racing videos and then there are things so sublime that you cannot believe you are actually seeing them. This video is the latter. Featuring footage from the 1970 Can-Am race from Road Atlanta you will see and hear things that you normally do not get to. Stuff like the Chaparral “sucker car”, stuff like the screaming big block Lola and McLaren machines that dominated the series. There’s also the playful mention of a small displacement underdog Porsche. While they could be laughed at in 1970 it was not long before the Porsches were absolutely slaughtering everyone that got in their way. Among the cooler parts of this video is the look at the Chaparral “sucker car”. This is the one that had the snowmobile engine powering multiple fans that were used to essentially create downforce and stick the car to the track. As you will see in this video, it looked awesome and in concept it was awesome but in execution it may have been more trouble than it was actually worth....

If you haven’t ever been to Don Garlits’ Museum of Drag Racing, you are missing out. This place is jam packed with cool stuff. Thanks to our dude Joe Grippo, we’ve got another great gallery to share with all of you. Check it out below, along with a link to any you might have missed. (Words and Photos by Joe Grippo) I guess it was early February, on a freezing afternoon and I was just going through my day working and minding my own business and my wife Stacey turns to me says. “We should go to Florida.” I said, “You don’t have to tell me twice. Where should we go?” Her reply was, “How about the Baby Gators?” I was in immediately. After some quick discussion and planning, we had booked a VRBO, a rental F150, and plane tickets. Fast forward a few weeks and there we were in sunny Jacksonville, Florida and soon heading south towards Ocala. If you don’t know what the attraction to Ocala is, you may be on the wrong website. Ocala is the home of the Don Garlits Museum of Drag Racing. This p...

We’re almost out of photos from the Chicago World of Wheels, with just one more gallery to go after this one, but if you missed any so far don’t worry because there is a link below to all of them! (Words and Photos by Jim Hrody) World of Wheels has been a Chicago-area tradition for quite some time, and 2023 marked its 60th annual showing. Having taken place in the city proper when first started, the show was moved to Rosemont, Illinois in 2010. This is one of the larger W.O.W. shows on the tour. On the main floor, 600ish cars, trucks, and motorcycles are spread around between seven rooms. On Saturday afternoon, the show grows in size and for that afternoon only there are more cars in attendance than at the Detroit Autorama. This is done by opening up the second floor to a few hundred more cars for what they call the Tuner Galleria. Mostly imports and exotics are to be found there, not to mention some very loud audio setups too. That room clears out on Saturday night but is perfect fo...