10 Cool Bow Tie Tips
March 25, 2024
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THE AUTO BUILDER
Featured
SMOKIN’ SS – Part 5
If you’ve ever built a car from scratch, then you know that getting the basic body and chassis together is not the tough part. What’s tough are all the details that eat up hours, days and weeks, but without this attention to detail, the project would suffer.
Revving Up Nostalgia
Every year, automobile enthusiasts and vintage car aficionados gather in Louisville, Kentucky, for the highly anticipated NSRA Street Rod Nationals. This event is a celebration of automotive craftsmanship, where classic car owners and builders from around the nation come together to showcase their meticulously restored and customized street rods. The show offers a unique blend of nostalgia and innovation, as attendees are treated to a mesmerizing display of vintage vehicles, creative modifications, and impressive engineering.
REALITY CHECK
Virginia Beach, Virginia, residents Ronnie and Linda Loyd have always held a special place in their hearts for classic trucks. Having owned several old trucks through the years, Loyd built a certain appreciation for early Chevy pickups, especially those of the 1967 thru 1972 era. Since Loyd already owns a ’33 Ford coupe and a ’93 454 Chevrolet SS pickup, he decided now would be the perfect time to complete his collection by getting the early ’70s truck he always wanted.
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TEXAS TRANS-AM
A Race-Inspired Street Mustang From the Lone Star State
Author
Bob McClurg
Story & Photography
Reliving Trans-Am Glory with a Mustang
Thirty-four-year-old Mustang enthusiast Dave McMillan of Dallas, Texas, may not have been old enough to remember those wild and woolly days of SCCA Trans-Am racing, but that doesn’t mean he can’t relive that glorious era each time he climbs inside his Trans-Am-style ’69 Mustang SportsRoof.
A Passion for Ford Performance
McMillan is what you would call a certifiable Ford nut, having owned quite a few noteworthy high-performance Fords over the years. The mix has included or currently includes the likes of a ’70 Mach 1, a ’93 SVT Mustang Cobra, an ’01 SVT Ford F-150 Lightning and a ’66 Sunbeam Tiger. “All my buddies give me a hard time for being a Ford man,” McMillan says. “I just tell them that anybody can drive a Chevrolet.”
The Latest Project: A Trans-Am-Inspired Mustang
However, his latest Blue Oval project (this awesome Trans Am-inspired, silver-hued ’69 Mustang SportsRoof) is probably his best effort to date. Completed just in time to enter the March 2004 Ft. Worth Rod & Custom Car & Truck Show, the silver ’69 was built to replace McMillan’s long-departed ’70 Mustang Mach 1. And he is quick to credit those who helped make the whole thing a reality. “I couldn’t have done it without the help of my girlfriend, Brook Blickenstaff, and friends Tim Roper, Trace Sullivan, Jason Wade and Ray Mitchell,” McMillan says.
Building the Mustang’s Suspension
Starting with the SportsRoof’s unibody platform, McMillan and his buddies installed a 3.50:1-geared ’79 Lincoln Versailles 9-inch disc brake rearend, which is bolted to a set of Total Control Products’ low-profile rear leaf springs. Also along for the ride is a pair of KYB gas-charged shocks. Up front, McMillan’s Trans-Am-inspired streeter utilizes a set of 1-inch relocated factory upper A-arms along with a pair of 620-in-lb Dallas Mustang Parts’ specific-rate front coil springs, a pair of ’69 Mach 1 front disc brakes and KYBs. Rolling stock on the car consists of a set of Newstalgia Magnum 500 18×8-inch front and 18×9.5-inch rear wheels rolling on 275/35×18- and 315/30×18-inch Yokohama ECSTA radial rubber.
A High-Powered Cleveland Engine
Powering this beauty is a Leonard Vasholtz-prepared, ’71-vintage Ford 351 Cleveland, now displacing 372 ci. Internally, McMillan’s 351 features a stroked 351-C crank (3.700 inches), a set of 6.00-inch Eagle connecting rods, 9.5:1 Venolia flattop pistons and a Crane cam. Also along for the ride is a set of Vasholtz-prepared Ford Motorsport B-351 cylinder heads outfitted with Crane valvetrain hardware, protected by a pair of Blue Thunder finned-aluminum valve covers. Bolted in between is a Ford Motorsport/FRT B0351 high-rise intake sporting a 750cfm Holley and an NOS shaker hood scoop. Ignition duties are handled by an MSD Pro Billet distributor, while the exhaust system consists of a set of FPA custom four-tube headers propelling the spent gases back through a Muffler King/Walker MagnaFlow 3-inch exhaust tubing. Cooling is handled by a Griffin four-core aluminum radiator.
Performance and Drivetrain Highlights
The Mustang was dyno-tested at 496 hp (6,500 rpm) and registered 485 lb-ft of torque at 5,800 rpm, and McMillan gets the power back to that 9-inch Versailles via a Ford Motorsport/BorgWarner Z-Model T-5 using a Lakewood-contained Hays clutch. The final link in the Mustang’s drivetrain is a Driveshaft King of Dallas custom-fabricated driveshaft.
A Silver Finish and Custom Interior
Credit for the outstanding DuPont ChromaBase silver paint (with semi-gloss Mach 1 blackout treatments) and bodywork goes to Ray Mitchell of Forney, Texas. On the inside, McMillan’s SportsRoof features a complete Mach 1 interior (with fold-down rear seat), a black leather-wrapped LeCarra steering wheel, JVC AM/FM radio, Auto Meter instrumentation and a Hurst shifter. You’ll also find a J&L Performance Racing-installed, 1-5/8-inch Chris Alston eight-point rollcage (with removable sidebar feature) and a pair of Flofit seats with Mach 1 seat inserts. In the trunk area is where you’ll find an Optima gel-cell battery, along with a 10-disc Alpine CD player and changer.
A Bright Future for the Mustang
Listed on our tech sheet as being “unfinished,” McMillan’s Trans-Am Slam ’69 Mustang SportsRoof is also slated for a Pro Charger street supercharger installation soon. So, although this is already one fine-looking ride with nearly 500 ponies presently on tap, we can only imagine what the impressive package will become once the ’charger is bolted on this bad boy. The Texas Slam will never be the same.
