Manufacturers
Bully Dog Technologies, located in Aberdeen, Idaho, was established in 1999 with the intent of designing and building diesel performance parts that both improved performance and truck reliability. In the past eight years, Bully Dog has hit its target and never looked back in the diesel world, and now has expanded its business with the same quality parts for both cars and trucks.
The very concept of a V-8-powered Ford Focus isn’t as new as it is novel. In fact, we introduced Jerry Kugel’s install kit some years ago and then followed it up with the mod-motor install. But that was then, and now ASE master technician Donny Seyfer, from Wheatridge, Colorado’s Seyfer Automotive, decided to tackle the building of such a hybrid.
Back in the early ’70s, a young car nut by the name of Terry Stinehelfer picked up a ’62 Skylark to terrorize the town in, though truth be known it wasn’t much. The $200 car was all that Terry needed, however; it was powered by a small 215 V-8, and after a few months of work Terry had a cool ride. He drove it around for about a month and had a blast, until one day some poor soul felt he needed the Buick a whole lot more than Terry did, and it was gone. While at the local shopping center in Columbus, the car was stolen and was never recovered. Terry thought it would be nice if someday he could own another.
Cars and trucks are all about utilitarianism. Although vehicles have become status symbols, at the core, it’s all about getting people or things from one place to another. Through the years, Ford Motor Company has solidified its place in the annals of automotive history with its incredible lineup of consumer and commercial trucks. As the nameplate has been expanded and new options made available, Ford’s famed F-Series truly offers something for everyone.
Native American Russell Youngblood is a man you’d love to powwow with. Bloomfield, New Jersey is the home and base camp for one of the coolest late-model classic Chevys you’ll ever see. Many feel that the 1994-1996 Impala SS models are to today what the 1955-1957 models were to the ’50s. Youngblood will certainly agree. His dark green-gray metallic is custom from stem to stern—so much so that we’d consider it one of a kind.
When Tony Gonzalez says that it is his business to be cool, he really means it. Gonzalez owns an air conditioning repair and installation company, but what gets him hot in his spare time (read, winter) is to build and ride in his 1995 Chevy Silverado.
The minute you get in, turn the key, and get into gear, you know you’re in a living, fire-breathing machine, and it’s beyond doubt one of the most exciting and easiest-driving cars that I ever handled,” said Carroll Shelby in his 1965 book “The Cobra Story.”
Some decades ago, Louis Jackson was a lucky 15-year-old boy. He had his first car, and it was a ’55 Chevy, a car that was already a classic at the time. He was not lucky enough to have the funds or the skills to finish the car the way he really wanted—he was after a Pro Street-style car, but building a car like that is a tall order for someone still in high school. Though he couldn’t create his dream car that early in his life, he vowed that someday he’d have that Pro Street ’55.
When the sun is high and you want to reach for something cool, the presence of this surf-inspired ’60 Mercury station wagon is meant to provide onlookers with the next best thing to a refreshing SoBe beverage. We think the effort is successful—the Merc is a refreshing approach to vehicle personalization.
Say what you will, but function is back! We find more high-profile cars built to be driven, and driven hard. Everywhere you look, car owners and builders are searching out new ways to put the fun back into driving the wheels off the rides they build, and they’re looking to the past for their inspiration as they recreate older brands to kick the snot out of new, overpriced super cars. It’s an old technique, as aged as the hobby itself.
