0
0
June 13, 2008
Family Truckster Goes on the Power Tour
By Rob Einaudi
Editor-in-Chief
I wonder if our buddy Ryan has seen this thing on the Power Tour. Eric (AKA ls1nova71) over at LS1tech bought a 1984 Ford LTD wagon for $700 with only 97k miles. He pulled the 302 and dropped in a 5.3 out of a 2002 Silverado, then set about making it look like the famous car from Vacation. Apparently the Family Truckster just ran the quarter in 14.9 @ 94 mph during a Power Tour stop. Not too bad for a big old wagon with a ton of fake wood paneling. Oh, and Eric even tied a dog leash to the back bumper. More pics after the jump. LS1tech via Jalopnik.
Continue reading "Family Truckster Goes on the Power Tour" »
Day Four: "The Easy" Road
By Ryan Brutt
AKA HemiPwr70
Today started with a rumor that half of Iowa was washed away. So I hopped on the Hot Rod Magazine website and it was correct. They had new directions to follow to go around the washed out portions. So with the weather still looking like it is going to pour at any moment, we loaded up and headed out.
We were traveling on the Cornhusker Hwy when all of a sudden about a dozen Hot Rod Power Tour members came screaming past us in the opposite direction. The guys in front of us did a u-turn to follow them.
So I joined them and we grabbed I-80 East, cruising on the highway at around 80 or so. It was a very boring ride, though. I loved traveling through small town America, but going on a major highway wasn’t my idea of fun. Continue reading…
June 12, 2008
Day Three: Out of the Mountains We Go
By Ryan Brutt
AKA HemiPwr70
Today was to be a fairly uneventful day. We were heading out of the remainder of the Ozarks and heading into the plains of Nebraska. We got up a bit later then usual, but were on the road by 9:15 am, though. Our hotel was right off the highway, so we actually found a bagel place across from our hotel and grabbed a few for the road.
We hopped on the highway and fell right in with a group of GM cars that looked very familiar. They were the special GM Performance vehicles and their lead vehicle. I thought I had read that you can’t pass the lead vehicle so I stayed in trail. But they were going 55-60 in a 70 mph zone. And while I am all for trailing a bunch of high performance GM vehicles that put my car to shame, I decided what the hell, I’ll go the speed limit. Continue reading after the jump.
June 11, 2008
Day Two: On the Road to Topeka
By Ryan Brutt
AKA HemiPwr70
My dad and I woke up to RAIN. Lots and lots of rain. We would not be deterred! The Caprice got loaded up, and with some encouragement from some friends in a Burnt Orange Prowler, we were on our way.
The trip wasn’t as bad as the first day. We didn’t have the mountains to go through this time. So the cars on the tour had a lot easier time. My dad and I decided to leave a bit later to go with more people. And oh boy did we!
Most of the route was just two lane road. You couldn’t pass anyone, so the Tour was miles and miles long, with bumper to bumper traffic. And in the rain, everyone was a little brake happy.
We worked our way through a whole bunch of small towns where the tour was slowed down to next to nothing. But it was so much fun to see the people lining the sides of the street in the rain cheering us on. Continue reading…
June 10, 2008
Day One: The Drive North
By Ryan Brutt
AKA HemiPwr70
The beginning of a new adventure. I was about to embark on my first Hot Rod Power Tour.
My father and I were up by 7 am planning on hitting up the drivers meeting. I decided to skip that and get a jump on the driving. We got all packed up, and shot out of Little Rock around 8 am and headed north.
We weren’t the only ones who had the same idea. Heading up I-40 we were in a group of about a dozen Power Tour guys and gals. We all were cruising along at the speed limit. We passed a bunch of people, though. My dad and I could hear that they had some steep gears and were trying to keep the RPMs down. We felt bad for them as we passed by. Continue reading…
Power Tour Day 0: Getting There is Half the Battle
By Ryan Brutt
AKA HemiPwr70
Well the adventure began Saturday. At 4 am. I got up and finished loading everything up in the Caprice. After working on her the past few days she was ready to go.
I went and picked my father up and we headed out at 5 am. Leaving Chicago was quite interesting with fog and the sun just coming up. We hopped up to I-57 and headed southwest. I didn’t get much sleep the night before so I took a quick nap en route.
After an hour it got bad. The rain started coming down hard, the windshield wipers could barely keep up. We went from cruising at 75 mph down to 40 mph. that lasted for about half an hour until we drove through it. Continue reading…
Continue reading "Power Tour Day 0: Getting There is Half the Battle" »
June 5, 2008
Hot Rod Power Tour 2008!
By Ryan Brutt
AKA HemiPwr70
In the beginning I had grandiose ideas about getting my ’71 Challenger going for the Hot Rod Power Tour. That is all I could think about for weeks and weeks as my graduation neared, I was going to have time on weekends to work on the old girl. Well that fell apart real quick.
As my graduation present my parents were going to pay for the gas and the hotel accommodations for the entire tour, I just had to get a vehicle ready to go and I wanted my Challenger among all others. I had my ’88 Caprice Classic Brougham in storage that could be readied fairly quickly as a backup. Continue reading…
