Hot Rod March 2019

Network Content Director @douglas.glad My first set of tools was smashed inside the trunk of my wrecked 1974 Olds Omega when I was 17. They were housed in the handheld classic red steel toolbox that I had checked out of my high school’s auto-shop tool room that morning. I also lost my red puffy Bellevue Auto Shop jacket that had to be cut off me to get at my rack of broken ribs. When I finally returned to school, Mr. Renner, the shop teacher, let me check out another complete toolbox, never questioning the fate of the original. He also bought me a new red puffy. Friends were able to pry open the car in the salvage yard and retrieve the box and return it to me. I still have all of…

Executive Editor @john.mcgann I’ll be honest, prior to this year, I wasn’t a fan of the Engine Masters Challenge. I had never been to the contest and wouldn’t have planned on going prior to joining HOT ROD. To me, it seemed to be theoretical exercise played out on a dyno stand. I wasn’t alone in that opinion; I’ve heard words to that effect from other people, too. Statements like, “You don’t race dynos!” echo from critics of an event like this or many of the engine tests we do on a dyno. Yes, that’s true, of course, but in the case of parts testing, an engine-dyno article is much more expeditious than testing the part(s) in a car at the track. It’s also a lot less expensive for us. Maybe the problem…

For some race drivers, the difference between hero status and historical footnote has been determined by surprises ranging from undetected puddles to unruly spectators. On March 1, 1959, a rare combination of those conditions conspired against Tony Waters in the most-talked-about event of organized drag racing’s first decade: the inaugural U.S. Fuel and Gas Championships presented by Tony’s club, Smokers Inc., in nitro-burning defiance of the infamous fuel ban (1957–1963). While Bakersfield’s “March Meet” was conceived to lure Don Garlits west for a California-sized spanking, that first-round loser had blown both of his unblown Chryslers and was standing among an overflow crowd that literally lined both lanes for this A/Fuel Modified Roadster’s post-sunset showdown with Art Chrisman’s highly favored “Hustler I” dragster, the West’s first 180-mph car. Unbeknownst to anyone, Chrisman…

20 YEARS AGO March 1999 (124 pages, $3.95): Foldout covers are rare because they present printers with extra production challenges that can only be met with more of the publisher’s money. HRM’s editors and art directors got a gatefold only when the ad guys were able to sell a multipage, premium ad for the backside. Copenhagen Tobacco financed this one, unfolding our package with a three-page-wide photo of Ron Capps launching Don Prudhomme’s Funny Car (shot by veteran contributor Ron “Grinder” Lewis, ad not pictured). The main cover subject is a custom ’55 Buick illustrating the primer trend recently reignited by rat rodders. 40 YEARS AGO March 1979 (132 pages, $1.25): Notice a trend in March cover themes? Editors timed annual paint-and-body issues to hit while readers were planning spring projects. HRM’s street/strip…

While on HOT ROD Power Tour®, a friend heard about a stash of cars not too far off the route, so we stopped to take a look. Right up front was a 1968 Mustang GT 390 that had been fitted with a number of Shelby parts. The current owner bought it in 1971 from King Ford, and shortly thereafter it was stolen. The owner recovered the car in 1978, but many parts were missing, so the car has been sitting ever since. In the back was a rare 1969 Ford Fairlane Cobra. It’s an original R-Code Drag Pack car with the original 428 Super Cobra Jet and 4.30 gears! Thankfully, it had been well cared for most of its life and wouldn’t need much work to get back on the road. In another…

Todd Harris of Dallas, Texas, has been searching the country for muscle cars, vintage signs, and collectibles his entire adult life. Back in 2004, Harris heard about a Tuxedo Black 1970 Chevelle SS454 LS6 that had been parked in 1980 in an old storage garage in North Richland Hills, Texas, and never moved. “I heard about the car and its whereabouts through word of mouth and decided to check it out,” Harris says. “As soon as I opened the garage door and laid eyes on the car that many consider to be the Holy Grail of all muscle cars, I immediately knew I would own it.” It seemed the current owner had acquired the car from the original owner back in the mid-1980s and had parked it in one of his storage…