WTF Friday: Truck Ram Rod

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May 18, 2012

What’s 10 feet 2 inches long, has 480hp, and runs a 12 second quarter mile at 110 miles per hour? This Truck.

Why is that something worth talking about? It weighs almost 4000 pounds and has the aerodynamics of a flying shoe box.

Sure today throwing a ton of horsepower at something big, heavy, and square isn’t anything out of the ordinary but in ’63 when this truck was built and run it was a pretty big deal.

Built as an exhibition car this Dodge had all its factory running gear yanked from under the hood and replaced with a 413 cubic inch Ramcharger backed by a fittingly heavy duty TorqueFlite transmission.

That huge motor tossed this trucks weight distribution right out the window and even with the entire front end being replaced with fiberglass panels, and a lead tailgate, distribution was still a 70/30 split.

To help with the weight transfer this truck received the gasser treatment, high up front, lower out back.

As expected this truck chewed up and spit out parts until all the kinks were worked out and was a bit of a handful to pilot (quickly) due to their being pretty much no weight over the rear wheels.

Since it was such a handful you would think some famous quarter mile racer at the time would point this metal brick but it was actually driven by a DJ named Dick Boyton, wild.

Like all interesting racers it appears as though it vanished for awhile and then was rebuilt (or at least replicated), information about how it ended up looking like below was oddly a little scarce but as they say, legends never die.

More Info can be found in this article titled ‘The Flying Barn Door‘ and of course on The H.A.M.B where all cool things automotive seem to be documented.

Also there is a video in that classic old timey voice.

Site (Car) Updates

Some of you may have noticed this picture on the fanpage revealing that yes I finally put my car back to summer mode with a little help from the guys at Automatrix Auto Service. The new pillow ball mounts from BC are a huge improvement over the old and the new front springs really put me at a ride height I am much happier with.

Once I actually detail it I will take some new pictures but here is one from my phone.

Flashback Friday

Street Classics kicks of Saturday and I’m going to swing by with the better half and my old man. If you see me holler.

Love those shows man.

EF ya

By

DaveT

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May 17, 2012

6

With my recent obsession with the Japanese American low rider scene I almost forgot about all the awesome native builds in Japan.

Chances are pretty good I may have posted this EF sedan sometime before but even if I did it’s not like it isn’t worth seeing again.

Locally these cars usually have hazy bondo filled rear quarters so the condition of this alone is mind blowing. Never mind the stance.

efya2 — If I recall correctly there was a set of these for sale locally in the winter, wonder where they ended up

efya1 — Small detail but I have always liked when people gracefully bend their plates to match the bumper instead of moving them or leaving them straight

This car popped up on my radar(somewhat recently) thanks to JDM euro.

Horse Show

By

DaveT

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May 16, 2012

5

Mustangs two weeks in a row? What’s going on?

Though most of the Mustang crowd hates the cars posted on this site those that are into the low life sure know how to put together an eye pleasing car.

The fox body will always be a favorite of many not just for it’s looks but also for its performance, distinctive exhaust note, and huge aftermarket catalog.

This 87 notch spotted on Stance| Works is one of the better looking notches I have seen online lately.

notch4 — Eibach Prokits up front with H&R springs in the back with a coil removed all around

notch5 — I much prefer the smoked headlights to the GTs covers often found on these

notch2 — A keen observer noted that the exhaust now goes under the axle on this fox

notch1 — Perfect ride height for this car if you ask me

Specs are 18×10 + 25 XXR wheels with 255/35 tires, it’s also got a Cobra 03/04 (thanks Phil) IRS suspension out back.

I should look for some Camaros to even things out..

Theme Tuesdays: Shelby Appreciation

By

DaveT

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May 15, 2012

2

I’m pretty sure today’s Theme Tuesday theme is a surprise to no one, Carroll Shelby’s impact on our culture is tremendous and to not have done a post touching on some of it would have been disrespectful of me.

I’m not going to attempt to summarize his 89 years of life and impact on the automotive culture in this post but rather post some of the many cars he had a hand in creating, influencing, or building.

shelby12 — The fact that he even took the time to mess with this chassis is a testament to how much he loved cars

shelby2 — And then of course there were these which some report were faster round the track than the '66 Mustang GT350

shelby9gt500cr — The gt500 CR by Classic Recreations

shelby4 — and who could forget the GT500?

shelby7 — Very tastefully done fifth gen GT500 from the SpeedHunters 2012 Shelby Reunion coverage

shelby_gr1 — The GR-1 concept based on the Shelby Cobra Concept with inspiration from the Daytona Coupe

gtscoupe — I always preferred the GTS Coupe to the viper before it, and Shelby had his hands in both cars

shelby9_daytona_cobra_coupe — There is of course no omitting the Daytona Cobra Coupe which was built to put down Horses

Shelby3 — Posted this beautiful shot on the fanpage Sunday

shellby1 — Superformance Daytona Coupe with Exotic Auto Restoration wide body conversion

From The Shelby exhibit at the 2010 Toronto International Auto Show

Several Million dollars worth of racing history made its way to Toronto

shelby10csx2001 — Ollie sent this through, the first production Cobra

shelby11 — No Shelby tribute would be complete without plenty of Cobras

microshelby — Growing up my neighbor had two Micro Machines I really wanted, the SL 300, and the Cobra you see in the bottom corner

shelby8 — I think this was at the show in Kirkfield I attended

shelby5 — I need to go to a heritage racing event and see some of these in action first hand

shelby1 — The most replicated cars of all time?

If you want to read more about Caroll the NY times put out a pretty good article as did USA Today and of course there is always the Google monster.

If you want to read a completely insane story about the 4 million dollar Daytona Cobra coupe pictured below click the photo or here.

RIP Carroll Shelby.

Street Finds: Life’s a gas

By

DaveT

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May 14, 2012

2

I often think of Gassers as one of the pioneers of stance, sure getting as low as possible wasn’t their goal, but they were setting up their suspension for performance and visual appeal before myself and many reading this were born.

There is no doubt in my mind that they also faced the same criticisms about ‘ruining’ cars that modern day stance enthusiasts do today.

Coming across Gassers in Ontario is not at all common so when a few of you let me know via Facebook that this car is parked minutes from my house more often than not I made sure to swing by with my DSLR yesterday while running a few errands.

Besides the obvious fact this 49(?) Mercury is awesome and occasionally shows up at Street Classics events I know very little about it.

Lack of knowledge has never stopped me from taking pictures of something before however.

gasser_side — Look where the trunk of that Corolla lines up

gasser_rear — Interestingly enough the rear of this car was almost as high as the front

front_quarter — The exhaust setup was interesting, I wonder if it was blocked of here to be street legal?

interior — Windows were down or just plain not there

window — Billetproof is another event I want to attend some day...

Evidently the owner of this car also owns the tattoo shop on the corner where I spotted it so next time I am in the area I might stop buy, I’ve been thinking about a half sleeve anyway…

WTF Friday: Harley cars

By

DaveT

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May 11, 2012

7

During a stop over on my way to Los Angeles I purchased the May issue of Hot Rod Magazine (along with an issue of Super Street) to pass the time.

I ended up reading most of it while traveling but as I was removing it from my back pack to I noticed I skipped over an article featuring a Harley Davidson powered fiberglass 32 Ford.

I’ve seen GSXR and Hybusa motors used in small cars (smart cars), and go karts, but this was the first time I had seen a Harley Motor used in a four wheel configuration.

The car featured was built by Kick Ass Rod Shop in Hickory, North Carolina and exterior wise it’s got typical street rod modifications including being sectioned, shortened, and channeled,in addition to having a raked stance and billet wheels.

Pretty par for the course but what is behind the rad is the most interesting bit:

harley_rod_1 — The motor comes from a Harley Davidson Sportster

The motor is basically stock (other than intake and headers) and uses a transfer case out of a Legends car which all said and done yields 6 forward gears and 6 reverse gears.

What you do with 6 reverse gears I have no idea.

This car peaked my interest and before I let watching Die Hard for the hundredth time dominate my evening I started looking around for another Harley powered Hot Rod and found this T bucket.

Also Sporster powered this one uses the original transmission and has an electric reverse.

The story goes owner of this one drove the Sportster home and then tore it apart to put the motor and rear suspension into the Ford.

I really wish I could find more details of the rear suspension as it sounds interesting.

harley_rod_4 — I wonder if it ended up getting a coat of paint

Sure you could probably try and tell the owners that there are other more powerful motors that could have been swapped in with less effort but I doubt they can hear you over that Harley lope.

More info on the one found in Hot Rod Magazine can be found on their site and more info on the second is at kneeslider.com which actually has an entire section devoted to four wheel vehicles with Harley Motors including this surprisngly street legal dragster looking Rod.

harley_rod_6 — Can't imagine the turning radius

No rules to Hot Rodding.

Site Updates

Not hitting up any events this weekend and focusing on getting my car in proper shape for the season.

Cleaning the wheels, lowering it some more, and giving it a sorely needed detail, anyone want to clay bar it for me?

Flashback Friday

Now that the Juke R is somewhat of a reality can also make this real?

Maybe do something about the headlights on the hood while you are at it.

In Print: Yours To Discover

By

DaveT

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May 10, 2012

5

Over the winter Rob from Performance Improvments asked if I would be interested in doing some writing for their bi monthly Performance In Motion magazine.

The idea of having a few pages in a printed publication to do whatever I want with was very appealing and opportunity to reach a new audience was something I couldn’t turn down, so I said yes.

The article below is my first, and since the feedback on this one was so positive I am currently working on my second.

If you are having trouble reading the .jpgs above an online version of the entire magazine is available here.

If you are looking for events in the Greater Toronto area and the Event Calendar on the Stance Is Everything fanpage isn’t up to date you can check out The Toronto Car Meet Event Calendar on facebook that is updated fairly frequently.

I am always looking for new topics to write about so if you have an idea feel free to let me know.

Fat and Flush: Tracer

By

DaveT

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May 9, 2012

2

Just when you thought this category was only turning into a s2000 on Enkei wheels love fest here is a ridiculously good looking STI on 18×9.5 +22 AME Tracer wheels wrapped in 225/40/18 tires.

Beautiful at every angle there is literally nothing that should be changed on this car.

Nothing.

NASIOC thread from 2011

Theme Tuesdays: Topless

By

DaveT

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May 8, 2012

6

You can all thank long time reader (and previous featured ride owner) Phil for calling me out last week for promising a Topless Theme Tuesday and never doing it (I forgot).

I manged to pull together this post nearly entirely from other half started Theme Tuesday posts so that should give you an idea of what’s in-store eventually.

convertible15 — Gas prices be damned I would love to roll this

convertible1 — E46 with just the right amount of everything, tire, lip, drop

convertible7 — Probably the most unique looking car in today's post

convertible3 — Common e36 wheel and that is not at all a bad thing

convertible4 — I have always loved this colour

convertible11 — Does anyone know what happened to this car after the new owner got it home?

convertible18 — Dope shot of Dan rolling from his tuned life feature

convertible9 — Heat via The Chronicles...

convertible12 — Mustang drop from SEMA Tijin edition I do beleive

convertible13 — Posted this stang awhile back on the fanpage

convertible14 — I'm sure some people are very mad about this but hey.. it happens

Feel free to remind me of other ones I have yet to do…

Event Coverage: Squeaky Clean ‘Coffee’

By

DaveT

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May 7, 2012

6

In 2011 Matt ended his previous show series, Tuners Against Street Racing, to start his new endevaour Squeaky Clean.

The first Squeaky Clean event had a bit of a luke warm reception (not helped in the least the weather) so for 2012 Matt started with an event focused on the cars and the people instead of awards.

Held at Neo Motorsport in Richmond Hill ‘Coffee’ was a great excuse for GTA enthusiasts to get together on a warm spring day.

I had some running around to do in the morning so I missed a few cars but there was still quite a bit more people at the event than in these photos.

austin_healy2 — Nice to see this Healy out, a little diversity never hurt anyone

plasti_twins — These two were selling cans of Plasti Dip and were clearly fans of the product

eclipse — The owner of this car was telling me he plans to go lower and wider soon, should be interesting

vw_bora_bitch — Missed most of the Scrape Crusaders at this event

lexus_1 — If these front wheels came out a bit more (nothing crazy) this Lexus would look even cleaner

subaru_gold — It's very subtle but this Subaru has a bit of gold flake in the paint

racekor — One of Neo Motorsports sponsored track cars

mazda_steve — My friend Steve recently put on these RPF-1s, he also got a custom version of the script sticker through the affiliate store on SecheMedia.ca

mazda_miata2 — Under the hood was more reason to like it

About midway through the event this Ford pulled up with a water filled tarp in the bed and two girls sitting inside.

I honestly had no idea people actually did this and I didn’t get too close to the whole set-up because I was convinced it was part of some hidden Just For Laughs gag.