By Brian Lohnes

BangShift.com

Welcome to installment one of Project Fat Lane, a 1964 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt look-a-like that is being constructed to compete in the Heavy Street class at races like the Shakedown at E-Town and The World Street Nationals in Orlando. This car will be visually close to an actual T-Bolt, but will sport a billet-block, solid-headed, F-3 ProCharged big block Chevy motor that would make the 427 in an original T-Bolt like like an Iron Duke four banger.

In terms of performance, to be ultra competitive in Heavy Street, you need a car that can run in the bottom 7s, and into the 6s consistently. The catch is that the mother will weigh well over 3,000 pounds in competition trim due to the rules. Depending on the race and the specific rules this car will be tipping the scales from 3,400 to 3,600 pouds. The body is steel from the cowl back with the exception of the trunk lid. The front will be ‘glass, but will use the factory grill and it will have working headlights.

Construction is underway at Tube Chassis Designz, the chassis shop operated by Jon Sandahl in Hanson, Massachusetts. This car will be on the track in the Spring and we are going to follow its builsup week by week.

One very cool thing? The owner of this car, actually has one of the 50 original Thunderbolts. He bleeds Ford blue, although this monster will have a billet block Dart Chevy motor in it. The car is a very cool piece and will be bitchin’ to follow from it’s early stages right on through to completion.

Stay tuned, this is going to be fun!

Click here to see the BangShift.com Project Fat Lane photo gallery.

By Ben Schaffer

The Real JDM

Happy New Year everyone! I’m excited about 2010! During my hiatus I spent some time thinking about life, cars and the future.

One thing that reoccurred a few times during my time reflecting and reading was the theme of electric cars and eco cars in general. Now if you’re like me, this probably sounds like a boring topic…but if you’re like me, you’ll give reading this a chance because you know how much I care about sports car tuning and where I’m coming from. I wanted to share the cliff notes of my thought evolution during my time off.

Continue reading after the jump!

Continue reading "Welcome To 2010 Post – A Forward Thinking Post" »

By Dan Strohl

Hemmings

I’m assuming somebody had a plan here. They didn’t just have a four-door ‘87 Lincoln Continental and decided to have at it with a Sawzall. No, they wanted to build a two-door version from the start and christen it a contemporary Zephyr. Trouble is, the ad copy for this Zephyr, currently for sale on Hemmings.com (for $14,000 out of Beaufort, South Carolina), doesn’t clue us in on the who, why, and when.

This beautifully customed Lincoln has been custom built from a 4-dr Continental into a 3-window coupe. 5.o V8.

Continue reading "Hemmings Find of the Day – 1987 Lincoln Zephyr" »

By Speedhunters

Car Culture At Large

If you live in or around Tokyo the Daikoku Parking Area is the most common place to hold meets. Over the last year we have seen RX-7 owners gather on July 7th (7-7) and AE86s meet on August 6th (8-6), which obviously gets the mind wondering. How many other date-related meetings could there be? A few weeks back Rod asked me if I had heard of any possible S13/S14/S15 gatherings being held on January 3rd, 4th and 5th. My reply was simple, I had no idea! Best thing I could do is head down to Japan’s most famous truck stop and see what was going on. So last night at around 9 pm after grabbing a very nice Okonomiyaki dinner with some friends I jumped in the car and went so see what was going down. Continue reading at Speedhunters

By Dino Dalle Carbonare

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

My buddy Austin tipped me off to this awesome junkyard in Arlee, about 15 miles off the I-90 in Montana. Kelly’s Auto Salvage is a pull-a-part lot, owned by a guy who lives right on the site. Unlike some yards in some of the more over-regulated states, they have no problem selling whole cars, and the prices are fair: the X-11 Citation below the jump can be had for $350, the Renault Dauphine for $200. The place reminds me a bit of All American Classics in Washington, in that there’s a ton of obscure old hulks that have probably been sitting there for decades, as well as some truly freakish specimens–(take a look at the sectioned two-seater Corvair below the jump–wtf?)–but unlike All American, Kelly’s fleet includes bizarro JDM and Euro stuff as well. Still, there’s more than enough Detroit steel to satisfy any red-blooded American, and almost all of it is pre-1980′s. See more pics below the jump, check out the Google view of Kelly’s here, and see the entire album on photobucket!

Continue reading "Acres of Great Junk In Arlee, MT" »

By Michael Berenis

Tampa Sports Car Examiner

Both rear wheel drive vehicles appear to handle incredibly well despite the slippery circumstances! Read more about this unusual racing at Tampa Sports Car Examiner.

By Matt Wellumson

Neuwerks

Every January for the past decade, I have had the opportunity to attend NAIAS (North American International Auto Show) in Detroit Michigan, and every year, I get the same level of excitement leading up to the event.  This year is going to be quite different than any previous, as I have been so busy with other types of photography, that I am almost completely out of tune with exactly what is going on in the Automotive Industry!

I now stand with this debate; 1) Read up on all of what has happened in the past year with regards to unveilings, and expected introductions, 2) Come into this event completely ignorant, and make it one full of surprise, and anticipation?

Please post your thoughts!

By Katherine Helmetag

Atomicalex

So you’re a regular car guy named Larry, you blog a bit, you like weird old cars, the usual. You’re chillin’ at home this week and the phone rings. OMG, IT’S JAY LENO!!! It’s also the real deal - a friend of mine from the VWVortex forums got the call last week in regard to a piece he wrote on the Doble Steam-Powered. We’ve all heard of Leno’s fondness for driving his Stanley around, so it’s no surprise he picked one of the more knowledgeable steam enthusiasts to ring. Jay Leno gets cooler every day, if that’s possible. Can you imagine getting a call from Leno? I think I’d faint.

By John Coyle

Deputy Editor

Here’s another reason why it’s smart to give drag cars a little breathing room. Just after the driver manages to plant the tires, the differential explodes and pops straight out of the car. Sucks to be the owner, but at least no pieces landed in anyone’s skull…

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

We just uploaded a bunch of pics from the January 2 Cars and Coffee in Irvine, California. I don’t know what I like more, this Coronet, or this Alfa. See the rest of the pics at cncpics.com!