WTF Friday: Twin Motor Yugo

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Jan 15, 2016

Most of my usual sources didn’t provide much in the way of crazy cars this week so I took a look over on bangshift.com and boy did I find something that caught my attention; a twin motor Yugo.

Jim, the owner, says he likes big motors in small cars and decided since he was already starting with an uncommon platform he might as well further diffentiate himself further from the pack by running two power plants.

In the video below Jim explains a lot of the intricies of the car quite well.

Each motor can run independently of one another, s10 control arms are used with RideTech shocks front and rear and the wide body was actually created using all the factory panels pushed out roughly eight inches.

The motors are 500ci Cadillac v8s that weigh 1600 pounds resulting in a car that weighs 4100 pounds in total and makes a combined 900 HP.

Prior to the Cadillac motor being installed up front a Chrysler motor found residence under the hood.

I’m not quite sure when the switch to twin v8s was done, but presumably it was tackled when Brian Hoover did the final body work.

Unlike many twin engine cars this wasn’t built as just a talking piece, Jim drives the car competitively at Good Guys Autocross events, though he admits he ususally just uses the rear motor, especially when it is hot.

I can’t say I’ve ever wanted a Hugo before but I just might take the keys to this one!

How I Almost Went Broke at The Motor City Swap Meet

By

DaveT

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Jan 14, 2016

4

The idea behind the autmotive swap meet, or sometimes called flea market, is pretty simple; bring a large group of people together who have an excessive amount of automotive related wares to sell. I had never been to one before because parts for my previous cars vehicles were fairly easy to find and quite frankly not the target demographic of most swap meets.

With the acquisition of Project ‘Why Wait?’ that all changed. Now I have a vehicle that is exactly the target market of most of the automotive swap meets in the area.

Late last year I caught wind of a swap meet held by Oshawa’s Motor City Car Club at the International Centre in Mississauga and decided to make my first swap meet experience a father son event.

The plan was simple, my wallet was in pretty rough shape from buying a house and purchasing a chassis so my main goal was to find a new hood emblem. A small not very exciting part of the overall puzzle but important none the less.

Ash is currently at the age where anything with wheels interests him, and in hindsight I should have considered this because almost as soon as we arrived he started motioning enthusiastically at all of the toys and model cars.

Now usually when myself or my wife take Ash out we don’t buy him toys simply because he demands them but since this was a special occasion, or perhaps because it was just he and I, I decided to let him get a little something namely a slightly used Gravedigger pullback toy.

He was immediately captivated by its awesomeness and spent the next half hour or so making engine noises and jumping the truck from one side of the stroller to the other while I looked at toys for myself.

I had wrongly assumed this show would strictly 1:1 cars and car parts, in reality it was a bit of everything from vintage tools to quite a variety of toys and memorabilia. I never really grew out of toys (just out of the money for toys) so the urge to drop significant amounts of money on things I didn’t really need was pretty high.

Thankfully I thought ahead and only brought a fixed amount of cash into the venue with me and left my cards in the car. This turned out to be a rare example of great forethought because almost instantly something completely unexpected caught my eye. Can you see it?

No it’s not the grill shell, hub caps, tail lights, or GMC only parking sign.

What stopped me in my tracks was this Valterra Alley Cat Skateboard. My first board was a hand me down Jinn Demon model from the same company but my best friend at the time had an Alley Cat and this took me way back to when we were both rolling down my parents driveway with not a clue how to turn or stop.

Considering its age the board was in great condition and not overly expensive. I spent more time than I should probably admit contemplating purchase but ultimately I passed.

Proud of myself for resisting the temptation of nostalgia I made my way through the rest of the show snapping a few photos here and there while telling Ash details of a few of the more interesting items on some of the sellers tables.

The Holly Super charger belowseemed to be in pretty good shape and was priced low enough for me to mentally calculate if I had enough time to go home and come back to buy it.

Sure I don’t have a motor to bolt it to but a good deal is a good deal right?

These vintage oil cans would probably look great on a shelf for decoration but I doubted my wife would have been thrilled when I put them on the mantle over the fireplace.

While taking the picture above the two gentleman struck up conversation and once I started talking about Project Why Wait we became instant friends.

As true to pretty much anyone I’ve met in the classic car community they were intently interested in a younger person taking interest in the car hobby, and more importantly classic vehicles, because they realize if the passion doesn’t get passed down it will simply die.

After chatting at length about suspension and power plant options Ash got a little antsy and we moved on, but we only moved on about ten feet or so before a collection of Tamiya models again had me regretting only bringing such a small amount of money in with me.

All of the cars looked appealing but I’ve never assembled a rally car model before so the Fiat was calling my name. However my inner nanny reminded me that I have five unopened models sitting in the closet so I pushed on and kept looking for the emblem I came for.

Amidst a pretty random table three isles away from the Tamiya collection was a near perfect condition Advance design GMC emblem, sure it’s painted and the one on my truck should be chrome but for the $25 I paid beggars can’t be choosers and I can deal with that later.

Despite lots of temptation I managed to get exactly what I needed from the swap meet and not end up with say six more models, a supercharger and skateboard from the 80s.

I’d consider that a trip well worth it and considering how much Ash enjoyed it its safe to say this swap meet won’t be my last. I hear the outdoor ones are even better as well so next time I might have to loosen the reins on my wallet just a little bit more.

Winter Wednesday: Ghost Lake

By

DaveT

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Jan 13, 2016

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Old man winter popped his head up right in time for the morning commute yesterday frustrating Ontario drivers everywhere.

The one solace we can take from an extended commute due to snow is that it means there will be a Winter Wednesday post here, and this week I’ll be sharing photos of the Dub Dynasty‘s experience with Mike McConnell’s Subaru powered Ghia in the snow.

The ‘Dynasty dudes are still shaking this car down to get it ready for a road trip to California and what better way to do that than sideways full throttle over a frozen lake?

Almost unbelievably the car didn’t get stuck once and performed flawlessly. California ain’t ready!

Theme Tuesdays: Recently Viewed – January ’16

By

DaveT

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Jan 12, 2016

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Time to keep the Recently Viewed series rolling on into 2016. This month we’ve got a Harley Davidson Knuckle head powered car, a radial motor made of Volkswagen parts and an Aussie terror that can’t seem to keep all four wheels on the ground or make a lick of traction.

I also discovered Danny Popp’s Corvette for the first time and it’s shot up to damn near the top of my own personal list of ‘best Corvettes ever’.

WTF Friday: The Tobacco King’s Ford Galaxie 500

By

DaveT

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Jan 8, 2016

2

As I’m sure you all know I’ve had a mild obsession with Turbonique rocket pods ever since I first spotted two strapped to a vintage Fox go-kart in 2010.

It would also be fair to say that ever since I first laid eyes on the Latham ‘Axial Flow’ Supercharger going into Blair’s dodge I’ve had a similar obsession. I guess when it comes down to it I have a bit of a thing for rare, unique, unpredictable, and possibly troublesome power adders. However I never imagined my research about the two would ever intertwine.

However one night googling Latham I soon found a photo with of a Ford with a very familiar rocket pod strapped to the rear axle.

The owner of the car was Zach “Tobacco King” Reynolds, who was an heir to R.j. Reynolds tobacco money which made him wealthier beyond most of our dreams.

Like most playboys he liked to go fast, and the Turbonique method of going fast was seemingly right up his alley so he replaced the standard Galaxie differential with the 850 horsepower Rocket Drag differential from the 1967 Turbonique catalog.

To double down on ridiculous he pulled the original 390 V8 and replaced it with a 425 horse power 427 big block with a Latham supercharger on top. Rumors are this motor was good for roughly 750 horse power but there are no dyno sheets to prove these claims.

Zach died in 1967 in a plane crash (a true playboy’s death perhaps) and only about 3,700 miles were put on the car before it went into storage for quite some time.

Bouncing around the auction circuit for a brief spell as far as I can tell the car has still never been dynoed or run down the strip using the Turbonique set up so we will never quite know its full potential.

But it does look very mid sixties drag car era correct and the unique components used to build it make it one of a kind even if the rocket pod has never fired up.

More info on the car can be found here on mecumauctions.com and here on turbonique.com. There’s also this short video below:

If you want to join me down the Latham Supercharger rabbit hole the h.a.m.b is a great place to start.

Theme Tuesdays: My 10 Favourite Local Cars of 2015

By

DaveT

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Jan 5, 2016

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Traditionally I’ve avoided doing a post like this –especially after the new year has started– because of I’ve been worried about the potential backlash that might come as a result of not including shop x’s build or so and so’s car.

But at this point in my blogging career I feel pretty comfortable that people will give me a pass or two because of the sheer variety of local cars I see in a season. Choosing ten of hundreds, isn’t at all an easy task but I think I’ve pulled together a good mix that represents most of the events I went to in 2015.

This list is of course in no particular order, and not to be too biased I’ve left feature cars past and present off the list.

Francesco’s Acura EL

In a world filled with universal flares (Clinched in particular made a killing this year) there’s something to be said for those who go the distance and use metal to widen the body of their vehicle.

Frankie’s EL has always been a very well put together build but this year the addition of a few inches of fender and quarter combined with the CCW wheels (the only of this size in Canada if I recall) really took it to the next level.

Using a combination of OEM panels and custom pieces Co-Up Autobody did a great job giving this EL some hips, and they managed to keep the negative camber event and to a minimum while doing so which plays a big part in this car looking so clean overall.

Lancia Delta Integrale HF Evo

Rare cars for 1000 Alex…

Prior to seeing this example at Cars and Coffee the Delta Integrale HF EVO is a car I’ve only ever observed through video and print. Now that I’ve seen one in person I can say that the car is in no way a let down and a perfect example of when cars were flat-out awesome straight from the factory.

The owner of this car stayed for maybe 15 minutes after I arrived so I didn’t get a chance to meet him, or chat about the car, but the expression hate to see you leave but love to see you walk away really works here.

I’m told there are a few of these in the city so this year I might have to seek them out.

Tim’s 240Z

I’m not deep into the local Datsun community by any means but I feel like Tim’s 240z popped up almost out of nowhere and quickly became everyone’s favourite car of Fitted Toronto 2015 even though it wasn’t officially entered.

Tim also did a mid-season wheel swap from the SSR wheels above and RS Wantabes below.

Choosing between two iconic wheels is very difficult but I think my preference sways a little more towards the Wats, how about you?

NV Autos 2JZ Subaru

The 2JZ could be considered the Japanese LS for its effectiveness in a variety of cars and its ability to put down tons of power without skipping a beat.

Thus this motor finds its way under the hood of many a drift car but when I heard NV Auto was putting one into a Subaru they had my full attention.

Piloted by Riley Sexsmith (one of my favourite local drivers but that is a whole separate list entirely) this car looks great, works well and sounds fantastic.

Keith’s El Camino

When I saw this ’59 El Camino at the ELTA Summer Bash I thought I was transported to California for a second. I took as many photos as I could then circled back twice more to take more because I was that enamored.

I seriously couldn’t get enough of this car and through the power of the internet the owner and I are in talks to do a feature this year.

Rob’s Pontiac Laurentian

I’ve been a fan of this car since I first saw it in 2010 which is evident by the fact that it has been the subject of two separate posts. Still I don’t think enough people get to see or appreciate this car.

Built the Canadian only designation of the Pontiac Catalina this car is a unique kustom that much like the El Camino above would look just at home in California as it does here in Canada.

Like many people on this list Rob is super talented and very humble which as trivial as it sounds goes a long way in my appreciating someones build

Phuong’s RA21 Toyota Celeica

This might not be the only RA21 Celica in Ontario (but there’s a chance it could be the only one) but it’s the only one sporting a 2UZ V8 swap under the hood.

Built by Dynamotorsports, who’s know for putting out serious turbo powerhouses, I don’t think this car was every fully finished in 2015.

Still though it is a great example of a resto modded Japanese classic and I have no doubts that it will be done next year. If the past is any indication of the future it might be a quadruple digit horse power car as well.

Brad’s Mazda Miata

Lets face it, you all knew this was going to be on this list. I am a huge LS motor fan, and like most enthusiasts a pretty big Miata fan, and this car is perhaps one of the best combinations of both to ever be put together, never mind Ontario.

I was lucky enough to see this car twice throughout the season. The first time at Importfest then a week later at Northern Showdown.

Drake then saw it at CSCS after that and shortly after appearing track side the car was taken on track where it should spend a lot of next season.

An extremely detailed oriented car for both the street and track there’s no way this car could have been left off the list.

Steve’s BMW e46

Watching Steve transition from being the owner of a great SR20 powered e30 street car to a professional level driver has been awesome and the fact that this e46 looked and performed as well as it did in its first season is incredible.

Steve is really a no half measures kind of guy and for his debut year he put everything on the table and with a dedicated group behind him he really turned a lot of heads.

Like most driver’s he’ll be making improvements to his car during the off seasons which means next year it should be an even better tire slayer.

The competition should be worried.

Mike Livia’s 1936 Ford Pick Up

I was lucky enough to see Mike’s ’36 Ford Pickup at a few shows and each time I swear it got better. The black and copper color palette works exceptionally well with the traditional styling and the flat head has all the right period correct trimmings.

The recipient of a great many accolades this year Mike is as humble as ever about his truck and always willing to talk about it, or just cars in general.

He’s also not afraid to take it to shows far and wide heck he even took it to Vanfest, a venue I totally didn’t expect to see it.

For those of you in the Detroit area he will be showing it at this year’s Autorama.

That’s the list for 2015, and the last look back Theme Tuesday for roughly 360 days, looking forward to another great year as soon as this little thing called winter blows by.

Motorama Or Bust: Part 1

By

DaveT

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Jan 4, 2016

4

Late 2014 both the Taylor’d Customs ’57 Chevrolet 3100 and the ’61 Impala ended up under new ownership, with the Beetle finished and the Audi holding fast as a daily driver Blair was in a position to start a new personal project.

For about as long as I’ve known him Blair has had this 1933 Dodge Sedan body. In 2013 a loose inspirational sketch was drawn, a frame was started, the body chopped and a motor purchased before the car and its components became an almost permanent fixture in the corner of his shop.

Recently Blair pushed the project back to the center, this time with the intent that it wouldn’t wind up back in the corner.

Always a fan of a good deadline Blair picked this 2016’s Motorama Custom Car & Motorsports Expo as the venue to début the car. A show that is a mere three and change months away.

He won’t be tackling a build of this magnitude on his own his dad –who is pretty darn handy around the shop in his own right– and a number of wrench turning friends like myself will be lending a hand along the way to ensure this car makes it to the International Centre floor March 11-13.

The lion’s share of the work however still sits with Blair and he’s been quickly making significant progress.

The stock floor was cut out and left on the dolly so that the body could be channelled over the new frame because this car, like most of Blair’s others, is going to find itself sitting directly on the ground when parked.

The frame now has a four-link tacked in the rear and the plan up front is to use a straight axle. Initially only the rear was going to be bagged but as of now the front will also use air suspension.

Blair has also got a few ideas in mind for the front suspension components that will make it really slick when finished, but there will more on that in a later update.

For power the car will be using a 324 cubic-inch Oldsmobile Rocket motor, a motor that has proven plenty effective in many a hot rod. But Blair isn’t really shooting for ‘plenty effective’ with this build, he’s shooting for downright ridiculous and down right ridiculous meant forced induction.

However not just any turbo set up would do, no this build called for a supercharger that would be visible from the driver’s seat and be the focal point of the front end.

And on that note not just any ‘charger would do either, for this build forced induction will come by way of a Latham Axial Flow Super charger.

A what you say?

A Lataham, an extremely rare unit of which the first generation Florida produced versions number in less than a 600. It’s the only one I’ve ever seen, and likely the only one I’ll see for some time.

They are known for both their unique sound in operation and unique look when sitting idle thanks to the quad Carter carburetors hanging off the side.

Hard to find today this one, despite not being pictured full trimmed, has all the necessary components to make it work, something that can’t be said about the few on the market today.

The combination of motor and super will be mated to a two-speed Powerglide transmission terminating into a Ford Mustang GT rear end.

The works should be good for around 600hp to the wheels, which combined with the line locks Blair has deemed mandatory will result in ample tire smoke at the press of the skinny pedal.

But there’s still much to go before that motor barks and that progress will be documented here as I hang around the shop lending a hand when I can and staying out-of-the-way when I can’t.

Motorama or bust, here we go.

Theme Tuesdays: My Favorite Photos of 2015

By

DaveT

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Dec 29, 2015

1

Every year I tell myself that I’m going to start this Theme Tuesday earlier, and every year I find myself writing this the Tuesday of with zillions of tabs open trying to remember all the events I’ve been to and the photos I’ve taken the last three hundred and sixty some odd days.

The journey this blog has taken me on so far, and continues to take me on, has been outstanding and being able to look back at the photos year after year is a treat so without further adieu…

Peter Panned

Choosing one photo from Formula Drift Canada World Round was tough but if I had to I think it would be this shot of Alec Hohnadell laying wasted to Achilles tires.

For the longest time crisp panning shots alluded me but despite the ridiculous heat of this event I managed to snap out some of my best.

Chopped

It’s somewhat rare to come across a studio set up at a car show but that’s exactly what was at the BMW True North event.

A white floor would have really sealed the deal but hey beggars can’t be choosers, the wrap on this car really pops under the light.

The Big Leagues

Shooting the Honda Indy Toronto was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done, extremely fast cars, pouring rain, soaked gear and crowded media corners. It was a real taste of what it would be like to be paid to do this for a living and have to shoot in any weather.

Near the end of the day I got tired of jockeying for position and actually shot through the fence and the results were way better, go figure.

As Classy As It Gets

Porsche Red and BBS Gold. A timeless combination as classic as a good old Coca-Cola. Nothing too crazy about this shot, other than the fact that it could have been taken twenty years ago or twenty years in the future and still be relevant.

Golden Hour

I didn’t get the chance to personally shoot many features this year, but one I did manage to get out and shoot was Blair’s Beetle. Utilizing the highly coveted ‘Golden Hour’ we snapped these photos while waiting on my new chassis.

It was my first time shooting with a new lens and into the sun, both worked out pretty well, so well that I have a hard time deciding which of the these two photos I liked more.

Hurry Up Dad

These photos work better as a series as that’s how they were taken so choosing one of the two is impossible.

Ash and I made our first trip to Vanfest this year and he really, really, enjoyed it. Pretty sure we’ll be back together and next year his Little Shop Shirt might fit a bit better.

Here he grows impatient with me as I doddle taking photos.

You Can Almost Hear The Snap

As much as I think the term ‘Breaking Necks’ is over used sometimes you just literally catch it happening, Rob’s truck does that though.

It Came With Keys?

One of the things that surprised me most about Project Why Wait when it first arrived sight unseen was the fact it came with keys.

For whatever reason I assumed they had been lost long ago, not that they would be sitting in the ignition waiting for me.

As Real As It Gets

The E.L.T.A Sumer Bash was not only one of my favorite events of the year, but one of the highest trafficked posts of the year. The event is so genuine that it’s really hard to do a bad job capturing it, but of all the photos of the amazing cars the photo below is perhaps the best it gets.

It was a quick snap and isn’t perfect, but it literally is as real as it gets.

Project Why Wait: The Foundation

By

DaveT

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Dec 28, 2015

4

After introducing the project, the first partners, and the end vision I’ve decided to close out roughly a half-year of updates with a significant step forward in the long journey towards getting Project Why Wait road worthy.

Those subscribed to Performance Improvement‘s Performance In Motion magazine are already privy to this news, but to those of you that are not, I recently purchased a chassis built by Dave Newberry and Hitman Hot Rods fabricator Jeff Wybrow, previously intended for use under Jeff’s “Rot-box Turned Tire Roaster”.

The chassis in question is actually no stranger to the site and was heavily photographed after its initial debut at the 2014 Megaspeed car show. It’s a great chassis to start with for several reasons, but before I get too far down the road of describing its ins and outs lets rewind to how I ended up with it.

When it comes to putting a ’47-54 Chevy/GMC truck on the ground one of the more popular options is to put the cab and box on top of a long box s-10. This instantly opens up the doors to the extensive aftermarket options available for the s10 platform including the plethora of suspension options both front and rear. This swap is so popular that there are a number of companies selling conversions kits to make it as painless as possible.

Another option,one that doesn’t involve binning the factory frame, is using a front clip paired with a custom back half. For front clip options the two main schools of thought seem to be Mustang II or Camaro. Again swapping in either allows one to take advantage of the several aftermarket options available for both.

I was torn between which option to take and at the onset of this project Jeff has been one of a few sounding boards for my thoughts. During one of my 1000 question sessions Jeff strongly urged me not to go s10 or Mustang II preferring the G body front end for its wider track and altogher dismissing the s10 chassis for this application.

He also let it slip that the chassis he was building for his own project truck might be for sale. After some back and forth we both agreed that if his chassis was to go to anyone it should be me, fast forward a few months and what was his is now mine.

The build of the chassis up to this point is very well documented here and as stated previously, is an Advanced Design at its core.

The front end is G-body (Cutlass to be specific), the spring pockets have been cut out for RE7 bags, and the control arms have been de-humped and plated. Said front end has been boxed and blended into the factory AD chassis.

The back half is a one-off laser cut triangulated four link that features a unique cross member to which the link bars are creatively mounted, during the process the truck was shortened to a short box. The suspension has geometry has been measured out to work best low and it will lay running board on a 30″ tall wheel/tire.

The chassis has also come with a LSD equipped F body rear end, an unmounted transmission cross member, four RE7 bags, small block motor mounts and a few other odds and sods that made it impossible to pass up.

Those of you who were eager to see some fabrication during this build don’t worry, the chassis isn’t 100% complete at this point and it needs a few things here and there before it takes a trip to the sand blaster and paint booth.

This is just a really, really, phenomenal place to begin and I’ll be making the most of it starting in 2016 as soon as another project gets a little further along. But that is a post for another day….

Theme Tuesdays: Tis The Season – 2015

By

DaveT

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Dec 22, 2015

0

Christmas is just around the bend and with the upcoming arrival of everyone’s favourite fat guy in a ~~little~~ red coat comes another festive Theme Tuesday.

Snow might be no where in sight here in Ontario but that’s fine by me because neither is road salt!