Artist's Eye on a Model A Hot Rod   Which do you prefer? The real thing or Haropcat's drawing? Check out the "real thing" in the feature story I did on Voodoo Larry's Voodoo Psychosis! from the Detroit Autorama.     The engine shown was featured as a "Top 11 Hot Rod Engines of Detroit" and it was very cool to meet Larry down in the basement of the Detroit Autorama.   Check out more of Harpocat's cool drawings in his garage at MyRideisMe.com. Then, get your...

My First Land Speed Racing Friends Get Their Record If you've never heard about the kindness of folks involved in land speed racing, at Bonneville Salt Flats or at El Mirage, let me reiterate. You're bound to meet some of the greatest people on the planet. I met "Bonnieville Bob" and his son Rocky on my first trip to Bonneville in 2009.   Bob's been racing long enough to, literally, know everyone out on the salt. Like you'd expect, Bob and Rocky introduced me to everyone and now, years later, I owe most of my friendships on the salt to these guys.   Well, after years of trying, Bob and Rocky have their 200 mph hats from El Mirage with sites locked on Bonneville in August for Speed Week.   Rocky text me the good news and sent these pictures:     Then, in Rocky's words.... We got there on Friday and went through tech without any problems. Saturday morning, my dad made a run and the car ran 220.576 mph! He didn't even know he ran that fast since he couldn't see the gauges and drove by the...

Bad Blown Nova from Arizona Our good friend Glen Bolz, with his insane blown Nova, let us know he'll be in the August issue of Chevy High Performance magazine. Here's a short video to remind you why you care:   [youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W52BmkYEU1k[/youtube]     Then, here's the cover to watch for soon:...

No Keys Needed - Modern Ride Convenience for your Hot Rod Story and Install by Rob Zoller AKA: Mr. Freeze   Ok it’s got power steering , power brakes , ice cold AC, power windows, deck-less sound system, a GPS speedometer and an electronic shifter so I figured when Pikesan asked me to put another electronic gadget into my seemingly “Rat Truck” (on the outside) I figured, why not! I've been test driving new cars lately and it seems like all of them have keyless ignition. To seal the deal, I rented a car for a week that had keyless ignition. It's funny, but when I got home and drove my own car, I started thinking... what a pain to pull your keys out of your pocket!   So problem solved on my COE. Think this bad boy deserves a keyless igntion kit?   Upon my new Flaming River keyless ignition arriving I noticed that this was gonna take some time to install and once again there were a lot of new wires and another control box to contend with, but once I got into it I was pleasantly...

Custom Inspiration for your Ford Falcon Brian Stupski's got a custom eye for anything with wheels, and wouldn't ya know it? This time he turned his styled eye on one of our favorites, the Ford Falcon. I've got a 1963 Ford Falcon wagon I'm working on now. Maybe I can swing some of these custom tricks to apply to my Falcon. How about you?   For more Falcon fun, check out my own project: 1963 Ford Falcon Wagon Build   To have Problem Child Kustoms trick out your car, get in touch with Brian at ProblemChildKustoms.com Until then, drool over these great ideas for one trick Falcon! Stay tuned, we're trying to reach FineLine Kustom and Restoration in Onalaska, WI to get some periodic updates of the Falcon build. Yep! This car is under construction now.   Here's a shot of the interior Brian did... your basic two-seater...   Under the hood? Nothing special... check this out! Last, you need to see some renderings of the final car build. This is gonna be one amazing car!   To get your dream car drawn, contact Problem Child Kustoms...

Land Speed Racing: Quest for 1000 mph #2   We can't get enough of Bloodhound SSC. A quest for 1000 mph? Awesome, even to think about it. So.. when the Bloodhound gang releases a press release, I share it. Here's a few more tasty bits of info your mind to chew on... The world land speed record of 763 mph is held by Thrust SSC, a UK team lead by BLOODHOUND’s Project Director Richard Noble and driven by Andy Green. Components for BLOODHOUND SSC are being manufactured by specialists across the UK and delivered to the BLOODHOUND Technical Centre in Bristol for assembly throughout 2013. UK runway testing (up to 200 mph) will get underway early 2014 before the team decamp to the Hakskeen Pan, South Africa to begin high speed testing. The BLOODHOUND team scoured the globe to find the perfect desert to run the car on, it needed to be at least 12 miles long, two miles wide and perfectly flat. The Hakskeen Pan, Northern Cape, South Africa was selected. At full speed BLOODHOUND SSC will cover a mile in 3.6 seconds, that’s 4.5 football pitches laid...

Hot Rod Art by One of the Best!   All artwork by Brian Stupski at Problemchildkustoms.com   Brian from Problem Child Kustoms Studio is a good friend and and a great artist! Feel like learning about his style and even how to draw cars? Then check out his garage at MyRideisMe.com. You can add your own artwork and how-to's just like Brian is. Then, add him to your crew so he can see some of your work. It all starts with Joining MyRideisMe.com.   So Check out the NASCAR inspired Ford Thunderbird above, with the title An Alternate Flight - and see more in the May 2013 issue of Street Rodder.     Next up is Brian's tutorial about how to draw this Chevelle. Dude makes it look easy!!     And finally, Weaving a Tale With Cars: Hot Rod Art With a Twist - How he does it and why. (Even I learned something! So check out Brian's garage and let him know what you think. He's gifted artist and can tell a story...

Built to be Driven one off NASCAR Inspired Torino Talladega   George Poteet's Rad Rides Built Talladega At any show there might be a ride you call out as your favorite with your buddies. Something, "not to miss!" I hear that... it's fun to pick a favorite, right? But then... every once in a while, there's a jaw dropping ride that grabs your attention and holds it for not just that afternoon, but for months. For me, with George Poteet's Rad Rides built Torino Talladega, I've been lusting over this car for almost a year.   (Click any picture to see it full size)   I saw pictures of the Talladega either online or in a magazine, but at the time, it wasn't killing me to see it. I knew Poteet's style of "ALL OUT" hot rods, and I knew with Troy Trepanier and his crew doing the work, it'd be built with beyond amazing details. Still, it wasn't until the 2012 Grand National Roadster Show debut, when I finally saw it first hand... in metal.  Should an unfinished car shouldn't be your pick for "NOT TO MISS"??  ...

How do you draw the perfect car?   All artwork by Brian Stupski at Problemchildkustoms.com   How does he do it? An amazing car modified in ways to be described below, but then, in this drawing, it FLIES off the page. Love it!   As a bonus to the 45 Pictures of Poteet's Radical Torino Talladega I shared, here's the drawing that inspired the car. Brian works closely with Rad Rides by Troy to detail the lines and final shape. Rad Rides then transform the art into real metal shapes. Poetry! So here's the details on what went on... followed by some other choice drawings by Problem Child Kustoms.   (Click any picture to see it full size)   Can you pick up on a few ideas that didn't make it to the final design? I found a couple!       Well? What you think? How to draw the perfect hot rod? Let's ask Brian to put it on paper while asking George Poteet to dream up something...

Centerforce is proud to put up to $125 back in your pocket! Offer Valid from May 1st, 2013 - June 30th, 2013 only. Centerforce, manufacturer of performance clutches, announced a consumer rebate for all Centerforce products! From May 1st, 2013 - June 30th, 2013, Centerforce customers can get up to $125 back when they purchase Centerforce product. Here's the rebate details: $50 Rebate for the purchase of $500.00 - $749.99 worth of Centerforce Product. $75 Rebate for the purchase of $750.00 - $1249.99 worth of Centerforce Product. $125 Rebate for the purchase of $1,250.00 - up worth of Centerforce Product. The rebate kicks off May 1st. Purchases made prior to May 1st will not be eligible for the rebate. Highlights of the Centerforce Clutch Deal: All Centerforce Product Qualifies Three levels of rebate are available; $50, $75, and $125! Purchases must appear on a single original receipt to combine for tiered levels. Two rebate limit per household. Purchases must be made between May 1st and June 30th, 2013, and Postmarked within 30 days from the date of purchase. Please review the Official Rebate Coupon for addition terms and conditions. Check...

Building a Battery Tray for an Optima Battery   Is there anything worse than when your car cranks, but doesn't start? (overheating must be a close 2nd) That was the deal with my 1927 Ford Roadster named Bonnie. Especially when I first put the dual Weber 44 carbs on, she was a little hard to start and wasn't afraid to flood if I wasn't careful. At the time, I was using a gel-type motorcycle battery. That worked out great because I could mount it anywhere (space is precious in a roadster!) but it was TINY! And... it never lasted long enough when extra cranking was needed. After one last jump-start at a cruise-in, I decided to step up to an Optima Battery. With some help finding their smallest & lightest battery I decided on the Group 51 Yellow Top  (part number 8073-167). At 450 Cold Cranking Amps, it was double the output of the motorcycle battery I was using and will easily survive under the car and mounting on it's side. Why Yellow?  Good questions! Choosing Red Top or Yellow Top Optima is a mistake alot of people make, so I'll...

COPO Gauges for your Camaro While we might not all be able to get our hands on one of the limited edition COPO Camaros, Auto Meter is pleased to be able to offer you the COPO Camaro Gauge Pack instruments separately to help complete your latest Chevrolet project. New from Auto Meter! Official Licensed COPO Camaro Instruments Now Available! March 19, 2013, Sycamore, IL - Auto Meter is proud to be the official licensed supplier for the performance gauge pack in the new COPO Camaro. Designed to commemorate the original Central Office Production Order (COPO) system used by dealers in 1969 to offer performance models that were designed to be the quickest in NHRA Stock Eliminator and Super Stock classes. The current generation of COPO Camaros, are limited production models specially designed for NHRA competition today. When Chevrolet Performance decided to build the COPO Camaro they knew they couldn't trust just any instrument to track the vitals of the beast. So they contacted Auto Meter, manufacturer of the most trusted instruments in NHRA and NASCAR competition, to draw on our 55+ years or racing instrument experience for help putting...