Hot Rod August 2019

Network Content Director @douglas.glad Paint is expensive. Bodywork, too. Those grim facts have spawned a world of wraps and patina while elevating a truly beautiful paintjob to the level of myth. When I was the editor of Car Craft for 10 glorious years, the top-selling issues were always about paint and body. At the time, we were hands-on guys at a hands-on magazine, so we painted the cars ourselves in “the shop,” our gritty warehouse in the nearby DMZ. Not for the love of these things, but for the challenge. Classics included the $999 paintjob and the more terrifying $499 paintjob. With lots of free time, and the help of John McGann (flip the page), the gang painted a couple of decent street machines and created a lot of fun magazines.…

Executive Editor @john.mcgann Continuing with Doug’s theme from the previous page, I agree that patina has become elevated and almost fetishized lately because of “paintophobia,” or the fear of paint job. There are a number of reasons car owners would fear having their car painted. The costs are extraordinary, for one, and there are a variety of reasons for that, with material cost being primary among them. The cost of paint has increased quite a bit since the days of lacquer and enamel. That’s a good thing, though, because modern coatings are much brighter and more durable, plus there is a nearly infinite range of colors and finishes, from low-gloss flat and satin to a shimmering, three-stage glossy pearl. Of course, a paint job is much more than just the color…

Sixty years ago, with just two weeks to go before the 1959 Bonneville Nationals, the world’s first four-engine race car was ready to run. All that drag-racer Mickey Thompson lacked was enough flat earth to accelerate, then safely slow, nearly 5,000 pounds of man and machine. General Curtis LeMay, vice chief of staff of the entire U.S. Air Force and racer of Allard sports cars, offered up an historic runway for a day. The former Rogers dry lake had been closed to hot rodders since the outbreak of World War II, but this exception was made in the name of patriotism: The 394.19-mph land-speed record (LSR) that this young American determined to break belonged to Englishman John Cobb, the latest of the wealthy Europeans who’d dominated 20th-century “record racing.” The absent body…

20 YEARS AGO August 1999 (152 pages, $3.50): Steve Magnante’s signature junkyard jones might’ve first surfaced publicly in this issue’s parts-picking guide, “Doin’ The Junkyard Crawl.” Research for the article led to an overlooked 1962 Valiant whose greasy block was one of only 40,000 or so Slant Sixes cast in aluminum. “Magneto” scored the Mopararity for $135 (and still owns it). Gray Baskerville toured readers through Pomona’s newly opened museum, the last big project on Wally Parks’ bucket list. NHRA’s cofounder and HRM’s first full-time editor lived to oversee and enjoy the collection for eight more years. Since renamed in his memory, the Wally Parks NHRA Motorsports Museum now ranks among the racing world’s best. 40 YEARS AGO August 1979 (124 pages, $1.50): Missing from this cover is any clue to the hands-on,…

Back in the 1990s, Tom Nelson, owner of Nelson Racing Engines, found himself in an unusual conundrum. His early blending of turbocharger technology and American pushrod engines netted him thousands of reliable horsepower—and no one believed him. The masses weren’t ready for boost from anything other than a honking roots blower. Thankfully, that didn’t hinder him. He pushed on, determined to show the world what his form of boost could do. He took to YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook to let the planet in on the secret. It worked. The once-humble engine shop evolved into a full-blown supercar factory churning out rolling metallic masterworks and big-power engines complete with turbocharged badassery. HRM] How did you get into the engine-building business? TN] My dad’s always been into racing, but when I was a kid,…

Dan from Detroit said he knew a guy who had a salvage yard with some new vehicles and a bunch of classics, so I went to check it out. Not wanting to let those classics get crushed, the owner puts them out the way to store as future projects or to pass on to someone. In one corner was a first-generation Mustang, and a few spots down was a 1967 Camaro. There was even a burnt-out 1969 Plymouth Fury and a rusty Checker taxicab. The most peculiar piece was the ultimate towing system: an RV with a fifth-wheel, pull-along camper behind it.…