By Brett Powers

audiobahnv8sho

Everyone has a story behind what got them into cars. When I was a kid growing up in Michigan I had a very automotive-oriented family. My grandfather was high up in the Checker Motor Company, and my father was an engineer with Ford. I remember my grandpa, president of the Checker Car Club of America, driving over in his Excalibur or Checker or whatever other obscure classic he was restoring at that time. I remember him taking me to the car shows at the Gilmore Classic Car Museum in Kalamazoo, and spending hours exploring those barns and checking out all the beautiful classics they had, from Rolls-Royces to WWII Jeeps to ‘Cudas. My grandfather had many cars but the one that etched its mark in my mind was his ’65 Ford Mustang GT convertible that he stored at our home and let my dad drive. It was a 289 V8 with a full pony interior and a close-ratio four speed–at times the car seemed almost too fast for itself. My favorite memories were riding in the Mustang with my dad with the top down, dropping the hammer at every opportunity. From that time on I always wanted the fastest car I could get my hands on, and of course it always had to be a Ford, but when I got into high school my dad gave me a ’92 Ford Taurus GL. It wasn’t exactly the fastest car but I loved it anyway, and beat the crap out of it. From there I went through a few SHOs, Mustangs, a Probe GT and a Cougar LS, with no sign of slowing down anytime soon. So that’s my story–what got you into working on cars? What vehicle started that spark in you? And who influenced you?

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Matt’s ’63 Coupe DeVille is a creme puff—just look at that back seat! He’s planning “a top end rebuild on the motor with hardened valve seats so I can run unleaded gas.” I’ve been running unleaded in my Mopar with the original valve seats for years with no issue. I just put some lead subsitute in there from time to time…

By Chris Bicknell

Bick66

Many of us automotive hobbyists find ourselves asking this question only after we’ve got a restoration project well underway. Recently I decided to start the somewhat simple project of cleaning up the engine compartment of my 1966 convertible Impala. The car’s exterior was redone back in 2006 following a wreck, and the time had come to make what’s under the hood match the rest of the car. The transplant small-block 350 and Turbo 350 transmission had no major issues, and the car fired right up every time, but like a lot of old cars it leaked a little bit of everything and the engine compartment lacked visual appeal. The project started off fairly simple–pull the motor, thoroughly clean everything, replace the gaskets, paint it and put it back together. I’ve since then ended up tearing the car down to nothing but frame rails from the firewall forward. All new suspension, a power disc brake conversion, and a burly 383 stroker build are just the beginning the list of unplanned developments since the project began.

How about you–have you ever had a project where you’ve had to ask yourself, when you’re already knee-deep, “where do I stop?” And how did you decide?

Continue reading "Where Do You Stop?" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Gizmo recently completed a rat rod resto mod on this old pedal car that has been in his family for years. Check out his ride page to see the before and after pics!

By Mike Musto

RideLust.com

Yep, that’s right! This weekend I am rolling with another one of Chrysler’s big guns–this time, a Jeep Cherokee SRT-8. And let me say that right out of the box, this is one fast 4X4. Tune in early next week for a full review!

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

Late last week, I noticed that Detroit- based photographer Pat Daly’s Facebook status stated he was going to be heading out to the Detroit Autorama. I immediately pinged him to see if he could grab some snaps for Speedhunters… This is one of the world’s most important car shows, so it’s essential to get a least a bit of coverage on the site no? Thankfully, Pat agreed to send a few pics my way. Continue reading and see all the pics at Speedhunters!

By Rod Chong

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

I’ve been following Wes’ wheel project, which turned out great. Now, it’s time for mine to start. This pile of wheels and tires was dropped off on my back deck this week and includes four old 15×7 Rial basketweaves that will eventually grace my Rabbit. They need a lot of work before that can happen. I plan to go whole-hog 80s-style and color-match the centers to the planned body color of the car – Cirrus Grey Metallic. The best thing about this is that the wheels were free in return for some work I did on a friend’s BABE rallye car last year. I only got it running safely, no big deal at all….

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

How’s this for an across-the-pond barn find: a reclusive mechanic in the UK countryside who passed away recently was found to be sitting on a goldmine of rare mostly-British iron. Thirty vehicles were found stashed within a series of dilapidated out-buldings on the property, with some scattered outside in the brambles. The mouldy rides will get a new shot at life after being auctioned off April 4. See more pics below the jump, and read more at The Sun and Mail Online. Via Jalopnik.

Continue reading "Hoard Of Mossy Relics Discovered In Norfolk" »

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Owing to a small glitch with our photos, the EV Duster made an appearance in this week’s Showroom Showdown. It actually held the lead in the voting for a short period, but then the WRX took over, and it was all Subaru for the rest of the contest. Subaru had a bunch of boring pics on their site, so I decided to use this pic of Vivid Racing’s WRX. Pretty hot.

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

Ah, there’s nothing that quite compares to a peaceful residential street lit up with a scorching tower of tail-pipe flame to fill one with a sense of neighborly goodwill. No wonder SEMA has its hands full with efforts to ban scary old cars! See more pics of Paul’s awesome “Flammable” ’57 Plymouth and his other 50′s Mopars on his MySpace page.

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