hot auto review

Ron Patrick is the first to concede that his jet-powered VW is not the world's quickest street machine. In a standing-start drag race, it would get a good fight from its stable mate in Ron's two-car garage: a '65 Hemi Coronet clone. Nevertheless, from freeway speed up to about a buck-fifty, we wouldn't bet a pink slip against any 3,300-pound package blowing fireballs out its butt.

That's not to say this middle-aged, self-made-millionaire engineer with a wife and 2.0 children would indulge in such foolishness on a public highway, even between 2:30 and 3:30 a.m., "when the fewest cops seem to be around." Lacking any witness to such irresponsible exhibitions of speed, we might dismiss such claims as nothing more than the juvenile fantasies of a one-time Modified Production drag racer with an ego to feed and $400,000 to burn.

Then again, Ron's eyes sure get large as he describes the sensation of wind sucking down through the sunroof to the air intake located just over his right shoulder, the deafening roar that ricochets back from the giant "sound wall" that separates a favorite stretch of two-lane from an exclusive roadside subdivision, and the panty-bunching acceleration of an afterburner kicking in 1,300 hp, all at once.

Having heard this, plus witnessing two smoke-'n'-fire shows in a vacant parking lot, even Jet Car Bob Smith was inclined to believe this Stanford Ph.D. and former professor had actually been there and done that. Smith, 68, is the pioneering jet jockey who campaigned, crashed, and miraculously survived Untouchables I, II, and III in 1962-1964 (see the sidebar Different, Daring, Deadly on page 3).

California's Department of Motor Vehicles is less enthusiastic about such rides. Investigators have shown up unannounced at the owner's office, demanding to inspect an '00 Beetle that never seems to be available. Their alleged charges, according to Ron, range from silly (registration fraud, emissions-system tampering, storing kerosene unsafely) to serious (threat to national security!). When informed that any object overhanging the back bumper by 2 feet is illegal, Ron advised that his stainless steel tailpipe protrudes 23 inches, exactly. This being litigious California, there is now an attorney on board, of course. "My lawyer says that it'd be easier to defend me on a murder charge because the DMV keeps changing the rules."

Trailing the Beetle in traffic, Jet Car Bob pointed out that grinning, pointing, thumbs-upping fellow motorists evidently don't object to a jet car with a license plate. Its original, gas-burning, front-mounted four-banger gets Ron around Silicon Valley quietly and cleanly, returning excellent fuel economy. Unless and until the DMV presents smoking-gun evidence to the contrary, the burden is on the bureaucrats to prove that anything more exciting than "transporting an old helicopter engine" occurs under the hatch.

Ironically, the owner's high-tech company, Electronic Engine Control, supplies auto manufacturers with calibration equipment to test emissions and safety systems. After a long day at the computer, Ron unwinds by winding up to 23,000 rpm for a few seconds. He's making the most out of the months remaining until the Beetle's one-year registration comes up for renewal. He insists this homebuilt hybrid is more stable than a Stocker at speed, he never endangers other drivers, and he stays on the throttle only until the stock speedometer is pegged at 140 mph. -Dave Wallace

Daring, Different, Deadly

Not long after the first jet car stirred up a major controversy-and massive publicity-at Bonneville in 1960, three veteran dragster racers completed quarter-mile models. Ironically, Art Arfons, Walt Arfons, and Romeo Palamides all accepted the reality that no NHRA-affiliated promoter would dare let them run. In a weird, wild era that saw NHRA strictly enforce bans against both aircraft power and any fuel except pump gas, AHRA-sanctioned and unsanctioned tracks thrived on giving hungry spectators the outlaw attractions that the NHRA would not.

Alas, too many early jet cars lent credence to the NHRA's contention that military-surplus engines and hot rodders might be a deadly mix. By 1962, the first thrust-initiated fatality had been recorded: Glenn Leasher perished on the Salt in Palamides' land-speed car, Infinity*. Leasher's regular job was driving Palamides' original Untouchable, the highest-paid attraction in drag racing (as well as the heaviest, at 5,000-plus pounds). A young slingshot shoe named Bob Smith was invited to fill the vacancy.

"I thought about it for about five seconds," recalls the only jet jockey enshrined in the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame, who is more surprised than anyone to be alive at 68. "Here we'd been busting our butts to run 180 in Fuelers, and Romeo's car was going 230 without breaking parts. Fuel cars were in the 8-second range; jets were in the 6s. What drag racer wouldn't jump at the chance to pick up 50 miles an hour overnight and beat up on all the big guys?"

Unfortunately for Jet Car Bob, he was mostly booked into places built in the mid-'50s, when common knowledge held that dragsters would never exceed 150. "Going fast was never a challenge," he explains. "Getting stopped could be. All three of my crashes followed parachute failures."

His final jet blast, at Milan (Michigan) Dragway in July 1964, earned Smith eight months of hospitalization, the first two in a coma. At the lowest point, a doctor actually pronounced him dead. Adding insult to injury, Palamides stopped sending checks. When a visiting reporter asked why he was considering driving Untouchable IV upon his release, Jet Car Bob replied, "To pay the hospital bills from Untouchables I, II, and III."

Infinity Over Zero, Cole Coonce's history of thrust-powered racing, was named for this ill-fated LSR car. The book is available from www.hotrodnostalgia.com.

Sometimes you carefully plan to be different, and other times the opportunity for distinction presents itself as the pile of junk in the corner of your garage that maybe could be assembled into something. We guess that's kind of how it was in NASCAR legend Bill Elliott's shop when he bought three '51 Mercury four-doors-a decent one plus a couple of parts cars. In most parts of the country, a Merc would be a logical lead-sled custom, but around Dawsonville, Georgia, it might have a bit of a vintage, shine-running tinge to it, especially with four doors. Philosophically, that made it so much easier to do the right thing and throw a stock-car chassis under it, namely Banjo Matthews' full road-course clips at both ends.

But this was right around 1995, when Elliott was clearing the shop-perhaps in preparation for taking ownership of his own race team-and he wanted to unload the Mercs. Larry West, who operates West Signs, the supplier of lettering for the Elliott team cars, took home all three cars. He dropped the NASCAR-chassis'd project with Graeme "Rabbit" Bartils, who had also worked for Elliott, but who's now semi-retired and runs North Georgia Fabrication when he feels like it while he also races his roadster with the East Coast Timing Association. Rabbit redid much of the chassis fabrication ("Just because no race-car builder is going to like anything any other guy does," according to Larry), added a rollcage, and made mounts and headers to install the 460 Ford, which Larry had purchased used and rebuilt, and the Doug Nash five speed. The exhaust exits the righthand side, stock-car style.

The NASCAR influence and the extra doors are not the only Dare To Be Different features of the car, since D2BD can include use and not just execution. In addition to putting about 8,000 street miles on the car since it was finished a few years ago, Larry also races the Merc a few times a year at ECTA events at the Maxton Monster Mile. In the standing mile, the 5,000-pound beast has run as fast as 147 mph.

When you think of France, you think of romance, great food, fine wine, snotty waiters, and an inept military. Certainly, "car manufacturer" doesn't come to mind. But there is a segment of the population here in America, albeit very small, that is rabid about the French-built Citron. These quirky cars combine swoopy, obscure French styling with equally quirky hydraulic controls for nearly everything, including the suspension. You definitely don't see them every day, and it's often easier to fabricate parts for them than it is to find factory replacements. Seems like the perfect Dare To Be Different project, huh?

Jeff Meyer, of Windsor, California, has a thing for European cars, but he also likes his hot rods. Wanting to combine the two, he had Kevin Bradley at Kreations Auto Body (www.kreationsautobody.com) in Rio Dell, California, turn his '66 Citron ID19 into a Pro Touring car. The Citron was unique because it had all those hydraulic pumps and rams everywhere, but also because it was front-wheel drive with a Maserati four-cylinder for power. Swapping in an American V-8 was the plan, but that meant considerable fabrication. Kevin designed a frame to fit and then had Art Morrison build it based around his G-Max chassis. Opposite from most cars, this one has a narrower track width in the back than it does in the front. The suspension is Morrison's Mustang II-based independent in the front (with coilovers) and a triangulated four-link in the rear. To get the car nice and low, the body was channeled 4 inches over the frame.

Kreations got a warmed-over (410hp) LS1 from Turnkey Engine Supply (Oceanside, California) and stuck it in the car, setting it back far enough to fit under the sloping hood while leaving room for a laid-down radiator. With a 4L60E automatic bolted behind the LS1, the surrounding panels were built, giving the car a transmission tunnel where one had never existed.

The Citron's body structure was pretty flimsy, with a bolt-on fiberglass roof attached to a thin metal structure that also located the front and rear glass. To keep the stock parts but stiffen it all up, Kreations built a rollcage-like structure with 151/48-inch bars, then welded it into the A, B, and C pillars and molded everything together to make it nearly invisible inside the car. It also provided a mount for the three-point seatbelts. Kreations fabricated the steel dash and center console to Meyer's specs and stuck the stock steering wheel on the Flaming River column. "That was a three-day project making the monotube steering wheel work with a traditional column," Kevin said.

On the outside, much of the body is stock. Kreations smoothed the front lower panel and put a big hole in it to feed air to the radiator and engine. The stock bumpers were bolt-together, three-piece units, so Kreations welded them together and removed the bumperettes then had Advanced Plating in Nashville rechrome them. The rear license-plate panel required some work, and while there, Kreations added a second set of taillights to complement the C-pillar-mounted stock lights, which still work. The color is Teal Tease from DuPont's Hot Hues line, the roof is a tri-stage white with pearl thrown in, and suede paint sets off the interior and underhood panels. The final touch is Billet Specialties Stiletto wheels, 18x9s in the rear and 18x8s in the front, with 245/45-18s on all four corners.

An attorney and real estate investor, Ron Weingart has owned several sports cars, including a couple of Ferraris, a Cobra Daytona coupe, and two Austin Healeys, the second one being this '63 3000 Mk II. Years ago, he stuck a 283 Chevy in the Healey and worked on its handling, but after a buddy nearly totaled the car at the racetrack in a grisly rollover, Ron decided to make the car serious and transformed the tepid English buggy into an apex-carving animal.

Healey Masters in San Fernando, California, got the job of building the wrecked car. Ron always loved the longer lines of the 3000 model but lusted after the jaunty style and slicked-back look of a 100-4 roadster, so Healey Masters integrated the best-looking elements of both models into one Healey. The company grafted on a 100-4 rear deck, front cowl, and lay-down windshield. The old 3000 convertible doors wouldn't work, and 100-4 roadster doors were too small, so Healey Masters cut down a pair of rare, 3000 roadster doors and reworked them to fit. Once the major surgery was complete, Tri-C Engineering crafted a custom tube grille designed to emulate a 100S; built custom, extra-large fender louvers to improve engine-compartment airflow; and enlarged the hoodscoop and made it functional with a NASCAR-style airbox. Finally, a full bellypan was formed to the underside of the car, complete with air foils that improve aerodynamics and decrease lift at speed.

The mechanical modifications read like a crewchief's wish list. Power comes from a 406-inch, all-aluminum Chevy Donovan V-8 that made a dyno-certified 600-plus horsepower at 9,000 rpm. A six-speed transmission channels power to a narrowed Ford 9-inch rearend. The front suspension has been completely reworked with center-mount coilover shocks (like an IndyCar) and a custom rack-and-pinion. Ron designed the four-bar rear suspension himself, and the entire setup is attached to a full-length, chrome-moly tube subframe that ties front to rear through the rocker panels.

What truly makes this custom Healey shine, however, isn't the massive shrieking engine or the hybrid bodywork, but the finely tuned details. Beautiful, one-off Colorado Custom billet wheels cover giant Wilwood disc brakes. The dash was carved out of a single chunk of aluminum by a five-axis CNC machine. The leather Healey seats have been subtly modified for improved comfort and support. The trunk houses a custom gas tank and fully polished fire-suppression system. Every detail has been carefully tended to.

After spending two days with Ron and his hybrid Healey, we learned that to him, this is not a race car or a street car. It's not about crossing the finish line first or winning trophies at shows. The 40-year obsession that spawned this creation is all about passion and the desire to push a mechanical object to the absolute limits of logic and reason.

There is a giant misnomer out there that airbag suspension is just for silly mini-truckers who want to scrape holes in our highways and byways.  Well, to prove that airbag suspension is not just for the “crooked license plate and spinning bed crowd,” Air Ride Technologies has built a car for The Speed Channel’s up and coming mini-series/reality show called Forza Motorsports Showdown.

They’ll be going up against a bevy of high performance Camaros, Challengers, Vettes and a shedload of import-tuner types.  Being a video game guy myself (hey, it doesn’t cost me any money to wad up a virtual car on a video game), I’m interested to see how this series and how Air Ride progresses.

From Air Ride’s press release:

AIR RIDE TECHNOLOGIES TO BE FEATURED
IN SPEED CHANNEL REALITY SHOW

Air Ride Technologies was given the opportunity to compete in a four-part racing reality TV show, the Forza Motorsports Showdown, for a $100,000 winner takes all prize.

Airing on the Speed Channel Wednesday February 21st at 10pm (CST) and running four consecutive weeks (Wednesday, February 28th, Wednesday, March 7th and the finale on Wednesday, March 14th), the Forza Motorsports Showdown will showcase a diverse group of competitors in various racing styles ranging from drag racing and road courses to autocross and drifting. The competition drew racers from all over the country. The Team Air Ride 05 Mustang GT competed against other teams driving Camaro’s, Challenger’s, Corvette’s and Nissan’s

Robert Ecker, VP of Programming for the SPEED channel said, “These are real people, real crews and real cars battling it our for a very significant cash prize?It is a very dynamic production encompassing an incredible amount of drama and suspense. Each team and personality has to excel in every one of these racing categories to be competitive; there’s not much room for error”.

Forza Motorsport 2 is Microsoft Game Studios’ sequel presentation to its award-winning Forza Motorsport title, which debuted in 2003. This offering is expected to set new standards for high-definition gaming, customization, driving, physical and damage simulation. In addition, Forza Motorsport 2 allows gamers to collect more than 300 personalized racers and pursue worldwide competitions through its revolutionary Xbox Live gaming community. The Forza Motorsports Showdown will air in conjunction with Microsoft Games Studios release of their Forza Motorsports 2 video game for Xbox360.

Be sure to check your local listings for viewing times in your area on the Speed Channel.

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For more info, check out www.ridetech.com.  (Images courtesy of Air Ride Technologies.)

Wonder if they make anything for the Catalina?  Hmmm…where is my wallet?

~Craig

Too often when guys are looking outside the ordinary for the perfect hot-rod fodder they forget to consider cars produced outside the U.S. All you really need are good, strong body lines if the plan is to gut and stuff it with real hot-rod power. Bill Snow of Snow's Hot Rod Shop in Aurora, Ontario, Canada, had long been into traditional hot rods but was getting a bit jaded with the same cars coming into his shop and wanted to build something offbeat that would still have appeal to most traditional guys.

Back in his younger days, Bill was a fan of the old television show The Saint (1962-1969) starring Roger Moore, and he loved the little Volvo 1800 in the show. That, coupled with the fact that a guy in his neighborhood had one, made the car an object of fascination for Bill. Of course, as he grew older, the allure of more traditional American hot rods took sway, and the Volvo faded from mind until one day while walking around a show he ran across a nicely restored one with some mild modifications. Memory sufficiently jogged, Bill called a local Volvo restoration shop for help locating a good car to start with, and they were able to put him in touch with a man who'd given up on his restoration. When Bill picked up the Volvo, it was already stripped and mostly in boxes, which was ideal, since he planned to use very little of the stock stuff. In fact, he gave most of it away to the Volvo shop.

With little more than a bare shell, the first thing to figure out was how to cram a ZZ4 350ci Chevy crate engine into the spot where the tiny 118hp B20 four-cylinder had lived. Nose-heavy steering had plagued the 1800 in stock form, so Bill removed the entire firewall and placed the 350ci far rearward enough that the front two cylinders straddled the crossmember, creating a 51/49 weight bias. A T5 trans with a scattershield was chosen to put the power back to a shortened Ford 9-inch rear. The wheelwells were originally only intended for 4-inch-wide wheels, so minitubs were used to add 8 inches of depth.

As for the chassis, Bill opted to modify and strengthen the stock subframes rather than fabricate new ones from scratch. The rear received a custom four-link with coilovers, while the front was left close to stock but modified to lower the ride height. Even with the added heft, the car actually drives more nimbly than a stock 1800S and absolutely out-accelerates one considering it has a power-to-weight ratio similar to an A.C. Cobra.

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."

We'll bet your initial reaction was similar to ours when you first saw photos of the Lower '48: "Cool, but how could they cut up such a rare car?" Have no fear because this is not a real Tucker-in fact, there's only one original Tucker part on the entire car-but it's no kit car either. It's a completely handformed homage to the legendary Tucker 48, created from the Ida family's strong connection to the Tucker legacy.

Back in 1946, Preston Tucker decided to take on Detroit and build a high-horsepower, forward-thinking automobile to change the way safety and performance relate to production-built vehicles. Joe Ida was struck by the concept, and after meeting with Preston, he believed in the success of the proposed car enough that he invested his life savings into forming a dealership in Yonkers, New York, and then anxiously waited with the other 1,872 Tucker dealers for the concept to turn into reality. If you've seen the movie, you know the company folded on March 3, 1949, amid allegations of fraud. But Joe still believed in the cars-enough that he tried to buy one of the original 51 cars at auction, only to be outbid.

Joe's automotive enthusiasm passed on to his son Bob, who opened his own hot-rod shop in 1959, Ida Automotive, and campaigned record-winning BB/GS cars such as the "World's Fastest 409" '41 Willys and his ludicrous "Hemi Healy" Austin Healey Gasser we featured in the Sept. '06 Where It All Began column. But apparently, that Tucker never got out of the Ida bloodstream, because years later, with Bob's son Rob now working in the shop, the plan was hatched to give Joe Ida the Tucker he never got-but one that was usable as a modern driver. Neither could stomach the idea of altering one of the 47 remaining cars, so they decided they would build an exact replica. Luckily, the Idas had kept in touch with the Tucker family over the years, and after discussing the project, they were able to borrow the original Tucker blueprints from John Tucker Jr.

Armed with those blueprints, permission from Chick DeLorenzo to use his original Tucker No. 51 for measuring, and a 11/424-scale Franklin Mint model, the Idas set out on a near-two-year project to re-create the Tucker body in fiberglass. The first Tucker produced from this mold was built to look as stock as possible, but with a modern chassis and drivetrain, and was given to Joe Ida. Though he did get to see his car and he loved it, Joe died before he could slide behind the wheel.

This car, dubbed the Lower '48, is only the third body from the mold (the second is in a museum in Japan) and began as a "what if" project. Bob and Rob pondered, "What if a hot-rod shop found a nice original Tucker in a barn, completely disregarded its rarity, and built a modern rod but kept 110 percent of the integrity of the design by keeping all of its art-deco, Tuckerish charm?" Keeping the Tucker identity was important to the Idas, but what they envisioned for this project was a Tucker that had all the appearance of a classy and refined street rod with new-car-level, daily-driver functionality. Though it looks like a Tucker 48, to achieve their goal, everything on the car was hand-fabricated. The only actual Tucker part is the center section of the grille that was a gift from John Tucker Jr.

Rob fabricated the chassis from 2x4 square tubing, with the rear section incorporating the front platform from an '03 Cadillac, including the 32V Northstar engine, trans, suspension, cradle, struts, A/C, and all the other factory accessories. Rather than using the original, true, rear-engine design that placed the engine behind the rear axle and made the original Tucker a little awkward in the handling department, everything was pushed forward to create a midengine car. With some lead ballast in the front portion of the frame, the Tucker boasts a near-perfect 50/50 weight bias.

However, don't get excited and expect to call and order your own Tucker - Ida Automotive won't take orders on these cars, nor will they sell you a body. For them, it's a labor of love, and each car is built one at a time in a theme that's respectful to the original car and usually takes about a year to complete. If you want one, Rob suggests checking the Web site regularly to see if a new project has been planned and then contacting them about getting involved. But expect to open your checkbook.