V-8 Power!
'84 S-10
Chris Meyer
Patchogue, NY
Having grooved on his dad's muscular Corvettes, Camaros, and Chevelles since the age of 6, it's not unreasonable that Chris would bond with the brand and be a Chevy guy. Chris went to Spring Carlisle and found this S-10, for a part utilitarian, part go-fast, and part good-looker set of wheels. "It had a lot of little problems," said Chris. "But it ran well [the owner had driven it 10 hours to the show] and it had no rust." Twenty minutes after it was back home on Long Island, Chris had the billet grille and one of the headlight brackets out so he could TIG them back together. A bit later, he relieved the 4.3-liter of duty with a 305 turned somewhat stouter with an Edelbrock intake manifold, four-barrel carb backed by a Muncie four-speed. Clearly, his mission is to drive and be seen. To that end, a ground effects kit, Corvette Rally steelies, a lowered suspension, custom paint, and a fiberglass bed cover upped the looker quotient.
B-Body Bone Breaker
'66 Impala
Mark & Catherine Morris
East Puyallup, WA
Since at least one of us here is a sucker for '66 B-bodies, the Morris' big-trunk is like an ice-cold beer going down on a scorching afternoon. Most anyone who goes up against it will not have the same sentiment while being embarrassed by something as big as a bus. This thing is downright evil, folks. Oh it sleeps, though, how it sleeps. Mark and Catherine had the interior redone to Aqua/turquoise two-tone OE specs. Ditto on the paint; it's OE Tropic Turquoise. The Imp crouches a little closer to the pavement via Hotchkis upper and lower control arms in the rear, urethane bushings front and rear, and 2-inch lowering springs at each corners. Those Rally wheels are 15x7 and 15x8 carrying P215/70 and P275/60 rubber; the front brakes are disc. Commotion is caused by a 540ci Dart Sportsman block cradling an Eagle 4340 rotating assembly and wearing Brodix hats. Business is conducted quickly via a roller valvetrain. Grunt squeezes through a Turbo 400 transmission with a reverse valvebody to a nasty Dana 60 axle churning 4.10:1 gears. So have it, suckers!
Decidedly Decadent In Decatur
'67 Camaro RS/SS
'97 30th Anniversary Z28
2010 RS/SS
Ron & Traci DeWeese
Decatur, AL
Ron is a Sergeant at the Priceville, Alabama, Police Department and Traci works 911 for Morgan County. Just to set things straight: "The old cars are his," says Traci. "The new SS is the one I drive." The '67 has a ZZ4 crate motor, a Turbo 400 transmission, and a 12-bolt fitted with Positraction and 3.73:1 gears. Alabama blisters in the summer, so it's got Vintage Air, too. Ron offset the red with 15-inch American Torq-Thrusts. An LT1 powers the 61,500-mile T-top Anniversary car and Ron changes up with a six-speed manual. Alex Borla's finest stainless rumble beneath. The 2010 Camaro RS/SS was ordered the first day it could be back in October, 2008. The DeWeese's took delivery May 5, 2009. It's an SS order with a sunroof, polished 20s, and an RS package on top of it all. Traci, is it stick or automatic?
Workin' Man's Monte
'84 Monte Carlo
Dan Egan
Hatboro, PA
These are stories we love. They're about all-out propulsion to build and maintain a hot rod regardless of cost in man-hours, labor, and sacrifice for the golden child. This guy's had the car since he was 19. He worked two jobs 14 hours a day. He ate a lot of hot dogs. He could only work on it Fridays. At 22, he's got the rudiments down, the palette established. It had no interior when he bought it and was fraught with a tired 350 and a slipping 700-R4. He finally got enough money for a 396 and some connecting rods and then began to build his first engine. A cast crank and some 0.060-over KB pistons started him rolling. Next, a Voodoo cam and lifters, then Harland Sharp roller rockers, and aluminum heads. On went an Edelbrock Air Gap paired with a Holley 870-cfm Street Avenger carb, and lit the fuse with an MSD billet HEI distributor and wires. He installed Hookers and a 2.5-inch exhaust system. Soon he had enough jing for a used Turbo 400 and B&M Holeshot converter, but the future sees a six-speed. He's still building the bank account to finish the project. Who is this guy? He lives down the street from you.
Pure Black
'78 Camaro
Steven Kraut
Phoenix, AZ
Steve tells it: "Once my high-balance credit card and stable Internet connection were established, I filled the garage with everything I thought I'd need and all the parts I always wanted. Three years later, I pulled 'The Dark Knight' out the door to scare the neighbors and [diss] the disbelievers." Mr. Kraut commissioned a rotisserie rebuild wherein all the seams were filled and the front sheetmetal was replaced with '70 RS aftermarket pieces. The rear panel was also changed out for smooth, straight '70 RS stuff. Into the trash went the front and rear marker lights and on went the PPG Pure Black. On the power side of the equation, Steve dropped in a ZZ572 whirring with a Pete Jackson geardrive. A big Demon went on top, fed by an Aeromotive A1000 pump. The fire-starter is an MSD Pro Billet Distributor and Digital 6 box. A Billet Specialties Front Runner engine dress, Be Cool radiator, and Flex-A-Lite fans complete the power-assist and cooling scenarios. Unburned hydrocarbons pass through a 3-inch polished stainless custom exhaust. Steve ransacks the neighborhood with a Tremec TKO five-speed.
55,000-Mile Original
'62 Corvette
Don West
Fountain Valley, CA
"The '62 Corvette is completely stock except for the wheels but I have the originals in my warehouse. It's a numbers matching car with only 55K original miles on it. 327/340hp and a four-speed. It was a body-off frame restoration about 15 years ago. A very fun car to drive," so wrote Don West. Matter of fact, that's all the information he divulged. By most estimations, his car is way too valuable in its original form to be cut or undergo some kind of suspension or drivetrain transformation that would turn it into something that really would be fun to drive. Common sense and propriety, while admirable, will keep this fiberglass bucket just that. Dig it: a front suspension derived from an early '50's Chevrolet and a rather anemic solid rear axle bobbling on bundles of ox cart springs. Drum brakes all around, although sometimes equipped with sintered linings, were the epitome of stopping in those days (discs at the front didn't appear until the following year on the radical new Sting Ray). How do we know? In the day, we had a Fuelie and a 340. The 327 was the best part of the whole. Happy trails, Don. Please don't change a thing.