Hot Rod May 2023

Over the last two months I’ve solicited feedback from you, the readers of HOT ROD, and I’m humbled by the outpouring of responses. Thank you, first and foremost, for your feedback. I also appreciate the candor and constructive criticism expressed by many of you. Yes, I got a lot of “Nice job”, and “I like what you’re doing”, and those feel great, but I really do appreciate people saying what the want to see less of and more of in HOT ROD. A resounding no was motorcycle edit. Fine with me. Regular readers know I love riding, but I had dismissed the notion (and solicitations from some PR agencies looking to get into HRM) of putting motorcycles in the magazine. I try not to let my personal biases influence the edit…

20 Years Ago May 2003: 114 pages, $4.99 The “Corvette Handling for Any Car!” cover blurb referred to Will Handzel’s Vette suspension swap story, but Wes Allison’s moody photo shows Editor Ro McGonegal roasting the Crusher Camaro’s hides. McGonegal had been covering the Crusher’s rebirth, and this installment was about the excitement—and drama—of driving it for the first time. The Crusher had “more teething problems than a 2-year-old,” he wrote, but the thrash was on to get the car ready for a quarter-mile test planned for the next issue. Senior Technical Editor Marlan Davis had a heavy load this month: He previewed McLeod’s new modular bellhousings that could adapt late-model transmissions to early engines and vice versa (complete with a huge application chart), showed how to calibrate GM electronic speedometers with a…

Most think of Shelby’s Cobra as a sports car, but it could be argued that there’s more than a little hot rod in the heady mix that created it. Let’s start with the fact that the very first Cobra was put together at Dean Moon’s shop—a hot rodder if there ever was one. True, it used a British sports car body courtesy of the AC Car Company, but Shelby woke up the little car’s performance tremendously by swapping in a powerful—for the day, anyway—Ford V8, another hot rodding staple. Shelby, the Cobra, and Ford are forever intertwined now, but it could have been very different. When Ray Brock introduced HRM readers to the Cobra in “Tailormade Sports Car” (Dec. ’62), he noted that in the 1950s, “a few sports car enthusiasts…

We love a finely crafted show car as much as anyone, and some cars are so well done that they’ve transitioned from automobiles to art pieces. However, when we see a high-end custom that actually gets driven, our interest is most certainly piqued. Randy Johnson’s COPO-themed 1969 Camaro falls into this category for sure. Randy is the owner of D&Z Customs, and he builds his cars for function in addition to form. He knows that you can have your performance cake and chow down on it as well. Though admittedly more partial to the curvaceous lines of the earlier ’67 and ’68 Camaros, Randy describes how he came to buy a ’69, saying, “One day, a good friend of mine who had this original Hugger Orange ’69 Camaro project sitting on…

The stigma once attached to the word “clone” or “tribute” as it relates to look-alike classic muscle cars is thankfully gone. Once upon a time, a car like David Randall’s ’66 Plymouth Belvedere I Street Hemi might’ve been considered scandalous without a neon billboard stating such. These days, building a clone car is not just popular, it’s considered a sign of the owner’s good taste and nuanced knowledge of automotive history—in this case, Mopar Street Hemi history. If we rewind the clock to 1964, Chrysler’s Hemi was tearing up the race world with win after win with its 426ci Hemi, an engine that was only available over the counter—if you could even get one. The Hemi was a race-only affair and was never supposed to be available to the public, but…

The 22nd Annual Dodge Hemi Challenge was held on September 2, 2022, at the Dodge Power Brokers NHRA U.S. Nationals at Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis. The Dodge Hemi Challenge is reserved for SS/AH 1968 Barracudas and SS/AH 1968 Darts powered by the legendary 426 cubic inch Hemi engine. The event pays proper tribute to the 72 original BO29 Hemi Barracudas and the 83 original LO23 Hemi Darts that were built by Hurst Performance in 1968 for Super Stock racing. Both sticks and automatics compete together in the SS/AH class, running heads-up off a 9.45-second index. Success at the Dodge Hemi Challenge depends on both driver dominance and engine builder brilliance. In this year’s Dodge Hemi Challenge, Charlie Westcott Jr. built the Hemi engine for 5 of the 16 cars, including…