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Archive for the ‘ Builders ’ CategoryWHEN YOU DON’T BREAK NOTHIN,’ IT’S JUST LIKE WINNIN’Friday, September 3rd, 2010
This just in from Brian Fox of King Chassis: a video of Roy Ranquist, showing exactly how to run a true nostalgia FED (front engine dragster), circa 1965, in 2010. Stance is right, driver’s not sitting too high, no goofy wings, right hoop shape, motor’s positioned correctly, perfect attitude, check. It CAN be done, folks. We just need a few more adherents… GHOST OF THE QUARTER MILEMonday, August 23rd, 2010
Brian Fox, of King Chassis, sent us this action-snap from the weekend HAMB Drags at Mokan Dragstrip in Joplin, MO. Brian is one of a handful of guys (and by handful, we mean, like, 3) who are single-handedly proving that the mid-Sixties Front Engine Dragster (FED) is still the most beautiful, graceful and monstrous style of drag racing ever conceived –– and the most entertaining, fo sho. Here he is, with a camera mounted to the front axle of his Zorba’s Ghost (you can kinda see the little guy strapped to the front-end in the righteous photo above, if you look closely there by the “passenger side” wheel) as he brings you along for the ride, bug-eye view. So, what the hell did you do this weekend?
A BIKE FOR ALL SEASONSFriday, August 20th, 2010
It’s 2010 and we couldn’t be happier that the clown-school fat-tire chopper thing has finally gone away. The groundswell movement around 60s-era custom bikes (and earlier) brings the chopper world to some sort of “correction” and things are looking up. What we particularly dig is when ideas freely swirl around and end up in a solid bike with classic proportions and actually still looks good with a rider on top (amazing how that doesn’t always happen). Enter the latest from Tim Conder’s Valley Speed in Sonoma, CA. Dig on these spy shots while we go get some more coffee… FREE BIRD IN-PROGRESSMonday, August 16th, 2010
We were at the Skoty Chops open house over the weekend in Redwood City, CA. Good little show and we got to see a few cars we hadn’t come across before. Now, this bitchin’ ‘62 Falcon Futura (yeah, yeah –– we thought it was a ‘63, too, till we realized that the grilles had been swapped) with a blown Nailhead was right up our quarter-mile alley. Chuckles Garage (here) built this little guy and it makes us feel all tingly inside for our own project-in-the-works; our ‘63 Falcon Squire woody that will soon be gasserized, too. But back to the “Strange Bird:” a Littlefield blower on a Buick Nailhead wedged into a finely cut firewall, a pair of early “San Francisco-type” American Racing magnesium spindle-mounts on either end of a clean straight-axle, a real neat subframe connector setup, pair of slicks and red headlights. The Bird is waiting for final bodywork and paint, from what we can tell, and the scheme looks period-correct. We think Conder should get the paint work, but then again, that’s just us. Dig on it and keep us posted, Chuckles…
PRT: THE FIRST 7 SECONDS WAS NOT A PUNK BANDTuesday, August 10th, 2010
This week on Product Review Tuesday, we’re bringing you either a well-worn DVD already in your collection or a brand-new mindblower film that’ll change your life the first time you watch it. “Seven Second Love Affair” is a documentary film written and directed by Robert Abel in 1965 –– the Golden Age of American drag racing. Basically, it’s the summer-in-the-life of a very young and very thin Rick “The Iceman” Stewart as he and engine wizard Gene Adams, along with assorted characters (including our very own chassis fabricator, Pete Ogden) build, race, wreck, build again their Front Engine Dragster (FED) in the pursuit of the lowest Elapsed Time (E.T.) in their class. But, more than that, “Seven Second Love Affair” is a glorious pageant of the best of FED racing ever to pound asphalt. Stewart and the boys are unforgettable in their raw delivery and they bring an authenticity to what the hell they were doing that no bullshit reality show could ever replicate these days. Furthermore, they deliver what’s painfully missing from the sport of drag racing today: speed + humanity + engineering + danger = beauty. Really now, from the opening sequence where a beehive-clad 20-something loses her shit in pure ecstasy as her man makes a quarter-mile burn to Stewart’s onboard camera-recorded, 200mph, head-over-heels explosion, this kind of human drama just can’t be replicated these days and it’s what makes this documentary so special. Rick can still be found at NHRA dragstrips these days, having survived what so many of his warrior brethren did not: a nitro-gulping, 1400hp, 200mph rail ride down a quarter-mile stretch with nothing more than asbestos underwear and a thin, 3-point hoop to protect him. “Seven Second Love Affair” needs to be owned so that we’ll never forget what drag racing was when drag racing was cool. Now, while we’d love to redesign the DVD and its case, you can buy your copy from Les Blank (the original film’s Director of Photography) in all its 16mm color glory at Flower Films (here) for around $30. Hell, yes. SLIM PICKINSMonday, July 19th, 2010
Our own Ed Fox sent these snaps from the Mooneyes summer show that was held over the weekend at Irwindale Raceway. For all y’all who follow these sorts of things, this was a makeup show from the rained-out X-Mas show last winter. Whatever. Anyhoo, Ed couldn’t get enough of Slim’s hacks and really, who doesn’t love a wheel-standing candy van or a slick-shod trike? Check Slim’s site (here) and keep an eye on this kid: if nothing else, we dig his life-affirming Successory, “Sacrifice Comfort For Style And Speed.” We can get behind that.
GOT WORD FROM KING CHASSISMonday, July 12th, 2010
Brian Fox, over at King Chassis in St. Louis, MO (here), keeps us posted with the latest true-stalgia Front Engine Dragsters (FEDs) coming out of his garage. With his “Zorba’s Ghost” FED a few years ago (the finished car above), Brian proved that a real tire-smoker, built as close in-spirit to the glorious mid-Sixties era of diggers as possible (like Jim McClennan’s Champion Speed Shop car running at Half Moon Bay circa 1964 – above), can go fast, look great and draw crowds doing it. Now, Brian has a few cars under his belt and his next one is a full ‘chute-tailed body FED that’ll be NHRA certified to 6.0 seconds in the quarter-mile. One of the neat things that Brian is doing here is making sure that the old world converges with the new in really interesting ways: the fiberglass body looks sort of oversized with Brian sitting in the mocked up car, but he’s taking into account the fact that modern helmets are much larger in overall size than their 50-year-old counterparts (and so are we). He claims that once the driver is sitting in the car with the modern-day NHRA-approved safety junk on and around him, the proportions will make sense. NEAT. Keep an eye on what guys like Brian and King Chassis are doing. There are a scant few of them out there working feverishly to renounce that “Goodguys Nostalgia Dragster” nonsense with good taste, great style and a real, working nod to the most beautiful dragsters ever built. The Gambino Sit DownSunday, July 11th, 2010
SOME STUFF FROM ONE OF OUR FAVORITE SHOPSThursday, July 8th, 2010
Our ol’ buddy Conder (you’ll see his channel off to the right over there), is in the much-appreciated habit of shooting us a camera-phone shot of whatever he happens to be working on every once and again. Now, it might be a bike he’s closing in on, Coby’s van as it materializes, Vietnam-era fighter inspiration, the list goes on. So, we thought we’d share a few snaps of what life looks like at his NorCal shop on a daily basis. Tim’s kinda like that kid in the beanie with the video camera in “American Beauty:” he sees beauty in just about everything… A CORVETTE TO GET BEHINDFriday, July 2nd, 2010
Look, we don’t spend too much of our time talking about brand new cars because, frankly, there aren’t a whole lotta new cars to get excited about. As aerodynamics push them ever-closer to an egg rollin’ on 14″s, cars like the new Challenger and Camaro really start to stand out, right? The one muscle car we’ve always thought was the best dollar-per-horsepower value has been the Corvette. Matter of fact, for the money, horsepower in a new Corvette has actually gotten cheaper per unit over the years. But here’s the thing: you’re in a new Corvette, dude. You might be a pretty smooth customer, but as soon as you leave the bar and chirp the alarm on your ‘Vette, you suddenly look like you own a condo in Cocoa Beach and decorate your swinger’s pad with airport hotel art show scores. Maybe a pair of Blu-Blockers is waiting for you in the glovebox. It just goes downhill from there. But Rossi Motor Company is here to save you from certain style death, while retaining all the cubes and torque numbers you dig from the Bowtie speedster (here).
The Rossi Sixty Six is basically a re-skinned ‘Vette with a nod to the iconic 1966 Stingray –– one of the best designed plastic fantastic models that ever came out of the Corvette stable. If Chevy (oops, sorry…”ChevroLET“) was to actually produce something like what Rossi is able to envision and produce, we’re pretty sure Corvette coulda single-handedly saved GM from their own shitstorm. But, we digress. The new Sixty Six is still gonna give you 450hp at around 6,000 rpm and stout torque numbers to kick your head back on launch –– just what you’d expect from your ‘Vette. Really, it still IS your ‘Vette –– it just looks a whole lot better and think of it this way: in your new reskinned Sixty Six, you won’t repel that hottie in the Manolo Blahniks who smells great and has her own credit cards and a college degree. On the other hand, this new breed of girl you’re suddenly gonna have to deal with has a whole lot more going on than the Palin cougars you’ve been baiting with that ‘08 Z06 parked out front of the Applebee’s… |
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