Expensive Vehicles

Interior work is one of those things that, like paint, intimidates folks and they are afraid of doing it themselves. This is why so many folks never finish the inside of their hot rods. If restoration parts are available, then putting them in or replacing what was there, can be a great way to refresh the inside of your ride. But the other option is to have a local upholstery shop redo the seats, door panels, etc and then you install them yourself. This saves a lot of money over having them do the install as well, so it might be the smart way to get the most for your money. In this video from Iron Trap, Matt and Steve install new rubber floors, insulation, and more before putting their newly covered seats back in along with all new door panels front and rear. This is a real transformation and I love the color combo with this car. They hate the fact that this 1939 Ford is so rough on the outside, with regards to paint, but the truth is I love this thing. With the nice interior in it, an...

While the two stroke diesel engine is not as common as it once was we thought it would be cool to show you some neat animation that depicts just how these things work. There’s lots of confusion out there among people who are not really into diesels about how a two stroke operates so let this clear some of that up. The biggest thing is that people think that two strokes are supercharged and the ones which are turbocharged they believe that the engines are supercharged AND turbocharged. This is not the case but it is easy to understand why. When hot rodders started mounting blowers from two stroke GMC diesel engines on their cars they became superchargers. Naturally when you see one you’d suspect that it is performing the same duty on whatever engine it happens to be bolted to. In this video you’ll get a super clear understanding of what the blower is doing and why the engine literally would not run without it. The stern sounding British guy who narrates this one is kind of funny as we...

While most people associate the distances of a quarter and eighth mile, the fact remains that there are tracks of all different lengths around the country. 100 foot drags have been held in many places and most recently on the east coast in places like Connecticut and Long Island. There were half mile drags back in the day and there are at least two tracks currently operating at a distance of 330′. That’s right, a 16th of a mile. One of those tracks is the spartanly cool Mountain Motor Dragway in Isom, Kentucky. We actually know a dude who raced there a time or two and he said it is like no other place he has ever been to for several reasons. There are a couple of in-car videos from the track on the web, taken in this very car but we decided to show you the night lap. Why? Well it gives a good indication of the lighting level at the facility which can be described as limited in the best case scenario. The actual racing surface is pretty well lit but once the drivers enter the shutdown ...

There are certain things in life that go together perfectly. A burger and fries. Beer and chocolate cake. Pizza and beer. Ok, you get the picture. There are certain things in life that HAVE TO go together perfectly and your starter and flywheel are high on that list for hot rodders and enthusiasts. How do you insure that the parts and pieces critical for the operation of your engine will do just that? Get them from the same place. Meziere starter and flex plate packages are the perfect way to do that. We look at Meziere as a high performance manufacturer but in reality when we look at their product lineup and what they actually do is precision machining. Their product line up from top to bottom is industry leading, high quality, precision made, and very well respected. When you go to a company like Meziere and get the flywheel that they manufacture in house and then mate it to their starter that they manufacture in house, you know that there is not going to be a quality control let d...

By the time the late 1970s rolled around, the Nova had transitioned from a budget small or big block muscle car to a cruiser that was supposed to be “luxurious” when totally options and taxi-cab tough reliability at the bottom end. It was still the budget car of the mid-size lineup but it was available in loads of different option packages from the four door to the hatch back to the Rallye model that was designed to please the “young at heart” with its stickers and stripes. One of the things that blew us away in the video is the fact that the pitch man tells us that the recommended oil change interval is 7,500 miles with the filter recommended to be swapped every 15,000 miles! That’s wild stuff for 1979 and maybe even wilder the 45,000 mile recommended plug change interval. Umm, no. Can you imagine how garbage the situation would have been with a carb’d engine at 45,000 miles with old plugs in it? The 1979 Malibu also gets some love here sandwiched between the Nova and the Monza. The...

  While most people associate Pontiac performance in the early part of the 1960s with the 389 there was another engine that truly proved to be the brand’s beast. The mighty Pontiac 421 was a star on the drag strip and a super nova on the Nascar tracks of the first half of the 60s. Released in 1961, the 421 was a bored and stroked 389 which sported a bore of 4.094″ and a stroke of 4.00″. The other major difference between the “typical” Pontiac engine of the time was that this one used the large journal block with the 3.25″ mains and four bolt main caps. There were production 421s and then there were the Super Duty 421s. The Super Duty engines got forged steel cranks and forged steel rods. If it was heading for NASCAR the engine got a single 4bbl carb and intake setup and if it were heading to the drag strip it got a dual 4bbl setup. It was not until the 421 street engines hit the showroom floor and they would be in production (with lesser horsepower output than the full kill versio...