hot auto review

Bitchin'! This car represents the street-rod version of an idea that more people need to latch on to: use circle-track parts to create function and character. The supply of low-buck roundy-round parts is nearly limitless and can be applied liberally for endless twists on the theme. You can build your Camaro, Chevelle, or G-body into a Street Stocker with bolt-ons or go deeper with a fabricated-chassis car like Robert's '35 Chevy Master.

After having a number of predictable street rods, Robert realized he owed a nod to the local NASCAR heritage that abounds nearby his Boones Mill, Virginia, home. It would have been pretty tempting to go with a straight 'shine runner or even a retro jalopy, but instead, an old race-car steel body was dropped off at (dig this) Groundhog Compton's Garage in Martinsville, Virginia, and once the pop-riveted doors were freed up and hammered out, it was treated to a contemporary-style dirt Modified chassis that Groundhog calls his Featherweight. It includes all the standard circle-track parts, such as the fully adjustable, late-model-style control arms and Wilwood's tandem master cylinder and four-wheel disc brakes. The rearend is from an Olds Bravada, which is essentially an S-10 Blazer.

But of course the hook is the endless rubber dominating the chopped-down '35 sheetmetal. Those are Hoosier 29x18.50-15 Pro Street radials mimicking dirt-track rubber on every corner, each engulfing legit circle-track Basset 15x14 steel wheels. Tell us you've seen that before. The theme continues with stuff like the extended S&S headers and exhaust made from Corvette side pipes and the Afco aluminum radiator behind a '35ish grille fabbed by Groundhog. The unchopped roof reminds you of jalopies piling into turn one, and the stock taillights and Harley-Davidson motorcycle-fender lights as front turn signals are nice tchotchke. Guys in Bakersfield: good luck with this one.

Robert wanted a nice driver and must have gotten it, since he's stacked 5,000-plus miles on the car since last June. Contributing to the comfort are power rack-and-pinion steering with a Heidt's adjustable pressure valve and concealed Vintage Air climate control (the condenser is hidden under the trunk so as not to detract from the bare-bones appeal). He says, "My wife thinks it's too loud, but it's about the nicest-riding rod I've had. It's like a go-kart and just draws a big crowd. People always take your picture."