Automotive customization

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.

Some car guys choose a path to automotive nirvana through the purchase of a car that someone else built or by having a shop build the car of their dreams, but Albert Alvarado is not one of those guys. Like many of us, he doesn’t mind getting grease under his fingernails and overspray in the garage. You see, Alvarado had completed this Bel Air once before. Back in 2004, it was a beautiful red-and-white car, but Alvarado was disappointed by the number of red-and-white Bel Airs he was seeing at all the shows, so he decided to make some drastic changes.

Alright, buckle up because Eddie Motorsports just dropped a bombshell in the form of their new line of high quality, billet aluminum steering wheels. Picture this: a line of wheels so slick, so badass, that your ride’s gonna scream “legendary.” Yeah, it’s that good.

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.

Here’s the deal: if you’re driving a performance car, the last thing you want is factory lag holding you back. You bought it for the thrill, the punch, that raw acceleration that gives you instant gratification. But if you’re tired of stock throttle response getting in the way, The Auto Builder has the answer. We recommend Soler Performance’s DLX Bluetooth Throttle Controller. Your first drive will be mind blowing — it transforms your car into a responsive rocket.

It seems that one of the most prevalent reasons a rodder chooses a certain vehicle to build frequently relates back to a childhood memory of a similar car. Often a single encounter will do it; other times it’s the older guy down the street with that cool car, or the fellow high-school student with the muscle car you couldn’t afford at the time. If it was not the family car, maybe an uncle had the one you dreamed about.

What Do You Do When You Want the Power and Performance of a Dodge Viper but Need the Utility and Space of a Quad-Cab Pickup? Well, you can buy a Dodge Viper and you can buy a Dodge Ram pickup, or you could buy a Dodge Ram SRT-10. The Ram SRT-10 is a limited-edition pickup that Dodge built as a regular cab from 2004 to 2006 and in a Quad Cab from 2005 to 2006. These trucks appear to be the result of some aggressive engineering, combining the racing pedigree of the Viper with a pickup truck, resulting in outstanding performance—and it works!

The name Cusco is synonymous with high-end, well-made performance parts. Even though we don’t often see Cusco parts on U.S. soil, when someone has them, people seem to recognize the parts immediately. Cusco specializes in many specific aftermarket automotive parts, but this month we’re going to get a firsthand look at the ins and outs of installing a six-point Cusco cage into a Nissan 240SX.

Christopher Keggan has done something that Ford never managed to do: build a supercharged, five-speed, mod-motor Thunderbird. He’s not exactly a stranger to these cars…