Hot Rod January 2019

Network Content Director @douglas.glad The photo above has to be one of my favorites. It’s Tom Bailey’s 6-second, Unlimited-class, steel-body “VIN” Camaro sheltering in a parking lot during a downpour somewhere on the Drag Week™ route. The cardboard boxes over the open engine bay are from the trash heap in the background. The driver and co-pilot could be seen loitering under an awning lit by a glowing yellow Dollar General monolith. This one photo says it all. Drag Week™ is a test of all the strengths that make up a car guy. You must be willing and able to build a drag car that wants to only go straight for a few seconds at a time, then try to make it steer, cool, and be durable enough to handle hours of freeway…

Executive Editor @john.mcgann In an attempt to fix a spongy brake pedal in my 1993 GMC Sierra, I bought a new master cylinder last week at the local parts store. Wouldn’t you know it leaked worse than the one I was trying to replace? I shouldn’t be surprised; I’ve been burned before. This master cylinder is just the latest in a growing list of remanufactured parts I’ve installed in the last few years that didn’t work. Prior to the master cylinder was a power-steering pump, also for the GMC. The replacement pump had a faulty bypass valve. It was as if there was no assist at all. The pump made a bunch of noise and fluid churned about in the reservoir, but there was absolutely no power assist. When I returned…

Drag racing’s long-dead Modified Roadster and Competition Coupe classes produced countless creative combinations, though none more innovative nor entertaining than the so-called “Driverless T.” Liberal early rules required little beyond a factory-production body attached—somewhere—to the chassis of choice. Engine type and location were similarly unrestricted. St. Louis buddies Don Mitchell and Jack Karg went with a not-uncommon union of 1923 Ford body on 1932 rails, but a blown 1951 Chrysler Hemi swapped places with the driver in their unique A/MR. Mitchell sat super-low (note bellypan) and surprisingly upright in the vacated engine compartment, peering through a clear-plastic insert in the 1932 grille shell. The few negatives on file in the company archive all came from the 1958 National Drags and NHRA’s accompanying rod- and-custom show in downtown Oklahoma City. None made…

20 YEARS AGO January 1999 (124 pages, $3.50): Numbers as cover blurbs are time-honored attention-getters on newsstands, especially when attached to the word “free.” Before Steve Magnante became a big star of the small screen, our then–tech editor came through with 50 tips and one killer title: “Mo’ Go Fo’ No Dough.” His junkyard-350 buildup did not live up to the 300 horses promised for $500 (covers printed weeks before the inside pages), but “Magneto” got close: 283 hp on the dyno for $533, including a $130 long-block and a $25 swap-meet Weiand manifold. Gray Baskerville contributed an illustrated history of gasser-racer-turned-author Don Montgomery. 40 YEARS AGO January 1979 (100 pages, $1.25): A nice balance of ancient history and modern technology ranged from a career retrospective of HRM co-founder Bob Petersen and fresh…

Wade Kawasaki is a busy man, so nailing him down for a five-minute interview was a little tougher than we originally thought; he is constantly on the go, between his position as president and chief operating officer at Coker Group (parent company of Coker Tire) and his position as the SEMA chairman of the board. Technology allows him to keep up with the daily grind at his main office in Chattanooga, Tennessee, and we run into him on occasion at the SEMA Show, the MPMC Media Trade Conference, and other events all over the world. We wanted to catch up with him, because as far as we’re concerned, he eats, sleeps, and breathes the hot rod lifestyle. On second thought, we’re not convinced he actually sleeps. Wade has made his mark…

Multiple-time HOT ROD Power Tour® participant Bill Ackerman tipped us off to this unique car stuck in a garage, an original 1966 Ford 7-Litre Galaxie. Bill’s friend had started the car as a restoration project, but as time went on, the Galaxie got pushed to the back burner. Now buried in the garage after many years, its parts are everywhere after the attempted restoration. The 7-Litre wasn’t the only project he had: there was another Galaxie parts car outside under the cover and a 1950s Ford Fairlane 500. CONTACT RYAN! Want Ryan to visit your stash? Drop him a line on the cool stuff you know about, and he might go on an expedition with you! His email is TheAutoArchaeologist@yahoo.com.…