Hot Rod August 2021

I’ve heard it said by prominent psychologists and philosophers that the meaning of life is to struggle. That’s not what you’d expect to hear from someone waxing poetic on theories of why we’re here. It’s true, though. We as human beings need a mission: obstacles to overcome, hills to climb, troubled seas to navigate…pick your metaphor. Think about it—all our epic stories and religious traditions are tales of people struggling against the odds, and often to their peril. All the best movies and popular TV shows have this as a central theme. In the automotive world, entire genres of wrench-throwing car “building” shows are built upon the basic concept of struggle. Why? We can all relate, of course. Case in point: flip to the back of this issue and read David…

20 Years Ago August 2001: 130 pages, $3.99 This issue’s cover makes me want to invent a time machine just so I can go back and buy a copy in person. Even today, a 500 hp small-block Chevy is a cool build. Barry Kluczyk was the guy behind the word processor generating the copy for that piece covering the nuts and bolts of Bill Mitchell’s World Products big-inch mouse. The magical 427-inch displacement came courtesy of a 4.200-inch bore and a 3.875-inch stroke. The combo was good for 500 hp and 550 lb-ft of torque with iron heads and 10.0:1 compression. Gray Baskerville wrote a magnum opus on Tommy Ivo, the first in what was to be a series on the famous actor-turned-racer, and Smokey Yunick was eulogized in the front of…

Before there was a Camaro, before there was even a Chevy II or Nova, the Corvair was Chevrolet’s sporty compact. In this look back, Drew Hardin tells us about the efforts to turn a 1962 Corvair into a performance powerhouse. Yes, it was kind of funky looking, and yes, it had an air-cooled engine that was mounted in the “wrong” end of the car, but there were a lot of go-fast goodies offered for the Corvair in its day. Tuners ranging from old-school hot rodders like Barney Navarro to Chevy dealer/racer Don Yenko all tried their hand at making the Corvair faster through competition. In November 1961, the editors from several Petersen Publishing magazines, including HOT ROD, MotorTrend, Sports Car Graphic, Car Craft, and Rod & Custom, gathered at Riverside International Raceway…

Tied and true and traditional are the words Joe Rebozzi uses to describe the hot rods he has owned, built, driven, and been involved with. The words definitely apply to his 1932 Ford roadster. Joe has been in the hot rod hobby since the ’70s, but his taste—judging by the details of this Deuce highboy—seems to be planted in the early ’60s. We’re talking about the last years of that golden era of hot rodding between the end of World War II and the beginning of the muscle car years. Now, 20 years into the 21st century, rodders are building period-inspired roadsters like Joe’s with up-to-date advantages they didn’t have 60 years ago. Neither Roy Brizio nor Joe Rebozzi wanted radical body modifications that would move the Deuce away from the design…

Rare and desirable Mopars just don’t hide in plain sight anymore, and the days when you could drive around and find some nice cars are virtually a thing of the past. It was in that distant past that Doug Schneider found his 1972 Plymouth Road Runner GTX. Yes, you read correctly, in 1972 that was an option. Doug wasn’t looking for a car when he stumbled on the Road Runner, but that’s often how it happens. He recalls, “I found the car accidentally on a fishing trip in Idaho in 2003. I got lost in the mountains, so I pulled into a driveway to turn around, and out of the corner of my eye I saw the taillights, so I stopped and had a look. Parked next to it was also…

Steve Strope spotted this 1964 Oldsmobile while driving down the main drag in Simi Valley, California. It was parked in front of a local motorcycle dealership. Stopping to look, Steve found out the car was for sale, and ended up buying it for $3,000. He knew that the completely stock F85 Cutlass, with a 330ci engine and two-speed automatic transmission, was the perfect starting point for a simple, low-budget build-up that he had been thinking about. He already had a name in mind: Project Long Weekend. Steve had two reasons for building Project Long Weekend. The first was to have a great-looking, low-buck street machine he could be proud of and drive wherever and whenever he wanted. The second reason was to prove a point. Steve happens to own Pure Vision,…