Cars
Grand Spaulding Dodge in Chicago became known as the world headquarters for great deals on new Dodge performance cars. This dealership fully dyno-tuned the performance cars it sold and often equipped them, as requested by the customer, with headers, bigger carburetion and other go-fast engine modifications—all right from the dealer.
It’s a classic type of buildup: a big-block 396 in a ’66 Chevrolet El Camino, sprayed a glorious red with in-your-face yellow flames. Meticulously created by Bob Nation of Twin Falls, Idaho, like so many great builds, this one comes with a story.
Starting from the ground up, Chamberlain and his good friend Owen Hopes created a new chassis for the truck using 2X4 boxed steel tubing. Since he was intrigued with the Pro Street look, Chamberlain located some of the widest street legal tires made at the time, knowing they would set the tone for the rest of the project. Almost fat enough to qualify for separate zip codes, the 21-inch wide Mickey Thompson tires were rolled into position and Chamberlain began adjusting everything until they fit.
It’s a simple concept really. You see, when you build six-figure cars for one person, many others stand by and wish they, too, could have such a fine piece of work. Of course, all that one-off bodywork, tube frame construction and sculpted interior is just too pricey for most street rodders, and that doesn’t even consider the price of an artist concept study and subsequent drawings.
However, after spending all that time, money and effort to produce an aesthetically pleasing and award-winning design based on the venerable ’32 Ford, why not mass produce the car in fiberglass with the same great chassis and super smooth lines? That thought crossed Boyd Coddington’s mind when he did the original Boydster, a fenderless highboy roadster. The next progression was to add fenders to the car and so, being a sequential kind of guy and is good with numbers, Boyd decided to call this one the Boydster II. The car embodied all the great style of the first car, but now with fenders.
Advanced Fuel Dynamics is set to revolutionize the fuel sensor market with their new E-Sense high-flow performance-grade fuel content sensor. This sensor offers a competitively priced, top-tier alternative to the GM/Continental sensor, designed with cutting-edge technology to provide enhanced performance for high-flow fuel systems. It is an essential upgrade for enthusiasts and professionals alike.
There was a time in this country when automotive platform sharing wasn’t as blatantly obvious as it is today. Cars that shared platforms didn’t necessarily also share 90 percent of their parts and styling; for example, the difference between Fords and Mercurys was more than skin deep. So, when Mercury decided it wanted to produce its own version of Ford’s smash-hit Mustang, the company knew it had to do more than give the car a new grille. The car it created—the Cougar—became an instant classic: it shared its basic underpinnings with the Mustang, but no sheetmetal.
Camaros are nothing new for Steve Felthousen. His father is an avid car collector and counts a ’69 Pace Car among his collection. In high school, Felthousen drove a ’73 Z28, and later he built a Pro Street ’69. Just to show how diverse his interests are, he also drove a ’69 Chevelle SS 396. But he soon began looking for another Camaro, and he knew he wanted a first-generation model.
We aren’t exactly sure what draws people toward these cars. Maybe it’s their clean body lines, or maybe it’s the fact that there have been so many built over the past decade or so that you just can’t escape their presence.
Many times you can tell a true enthusiast by exactly how bad of a car they’re willing to start with in their overall quest to build a project car. Those who truly love cars get excited by the car itself, and they’re willing to start with almost nothing, as long as the car represents what they want after the build is complete.
Whether you’re in the driver’s seat or looking underneath the hood, it’s the first place enthusiasts come to find out what a car is all about. After all, without the right engine package, everything we long for in our cars would be nothing more than static displays of creative artistry.
