Dreamworld
When it comes to Street. Strip. Salt. Speed! if I had a job title I guess it would be "Head Dreamer"! So what this page is all about is putting down some of those ideas on paper. I guess in a way it is a little rip off of the "Expression Session" that appears in Street Machine magazine, but hopefully they are cool with that. Be warned, sometimes I get a little out there...It's not unusual for me to be told "you are off on a tangent there!" or "your on your own with that one!", but hey, life would be boring if we couldn't dream & use our imagination! So over time we will add some ideas, and I'm more than happy to hear your feedback, or some of your own dreams...
"GoMad" '56 Chevy Nomad Gasser!
Nostalgic Gassers are certainly undergoing a revival of sorts these days, whether it is unearthed or reborn original cars from the '60's or completely new builds. Personally I think the '56 Nomad is the pick of the bunch when it comes to the tri-fives. I'm taking an influence from Mazmanian with this one and thinking something like a PPG Liquid Crystal Ruby Slippers or Cabernet paint job with ol'skool gold leaf "GoMad" lettering down the side. Motorvation? What about one of the new World Products Aluminium 409 blocks taken out to around 470 cubes, with a 6/71, twin Dominators and a DougNash 4+1 box. Mid 8's yeah?
Imagine the combination of the gorgeous 56 Chevy Nomad body with the classic Gasser look!!!
"ROCKSTAR ENERGY JUICE" CADILLAC - ANOTHER STREET STRIP SALT SPEED SPECIAL!
I have mentioned this over on my favorites page. To give it a bit more flesh however think about a early '50's Caddy, like the one below, slammed in the weeds, and painted in that magical Rockstar Energy Juice copper hue. Motorvation would be provided by a ProCharged (or twin turbo) 572ci BBC. All the chrome trim would be done in black nickel, but with a luxurious cream leather interior befitting of a Cadillac. . Wheels would also be black nickel, as would the engine highlights etc, and the wheel covers for the salt flats. The overall theme would be "blinged up nastiness"!!! With a 4sp auto with a gear vendors overdrive unit, and Vintage Air system, this cool ride would cruise to the salt flats under its own power before running a big number, and then laying down some stout times at the Mildura strip on the way home...all in total comfort!
Special K
Some say the FB/EK Holden models are scaled down, & more stylish versions of the classic 55-56-57 Chevrolets...and when you look at them side by side there is no denying the similarities. All the Aussie Holdens lack is physical presence, which the Chev's have in abundance thanks to their heftier proportions. But what if the EK Holden was blown out to the same overall proportions of the Chevy's...how would that look? I was originally going to call this concept "hung, drawn & quartered!" thinking it would simply be a matter of cutting the car in quarters, pushing the corners out and effectively welding in a cross. The reality is from a proportional perspective that simply wouldn't work! Cutting it down the centre to add width might be fine, but for length I am thinking 3 or 4 cuts would be necessary at different points on the car to get it all right, and then it may or may not need some section height added as well? Add a nice alloy headed 308ci Holden motor, stretched to 355ci with a Harrop supercharger, auto, mini-tubbs and 9" and you have the makings of one very nice Chev style package.
SHOWROOM STREAMLINER - OR THE VOLKSWAGEN FROM HELL!
I had been looking at what GM have been doing over in Bonneville over the past 10 years where they have worked with companies like the re-born So-Cal Speed Shop to take modern cars to the salt flats and set some mighty impressive times. Obviously the old tractor we will take to the salt in the next year or two is aerodynamically challenged to say the least...so you cant help but wondering what would happen if the same or a similar engine combination was put into something that well, was less of a brick!!! I grabbed the latest issue of MOTOR magazine to have a look through the new car listings at the back to see what I could come up with, & I found two very different examples that could potentially make for an interesting time.
Firstly, enter the Elfin Streamliner - and with a name like that it is just made for the Salt Flats!!! Second, you cant help but notice the trend in current vehicles towards the "four door coupe" look. Whilst Mercedes Benze is largely credited with starting the trend with their CLS (even if it was a AU Falcon ripoff!!!) a number of companies have followed, including Volkswagen and their Passat CC.
The Elfin already comes with a Chev V8 motor so it would simply be a case of slotting in a more high performance version, beefing up the drivetrain as required, and adding the necessary safety touches. Motor wise we would look at a 427ci LSX motor, force fed again by the biggest ProCharger we could fit pumping as much boost as possible...and Im pretty confident it would be a surpise how fast we could make this one go. In pump fuel I would be surprised to give 250mph a nudge, with alcohol...well who knows?
The VW Passat CC is more of a competiton concept however...think full tube chassis with that gorgeous flowing 4-door coupe figure draped over it...engine/drivetrain wise we could head in two directions. We could stick with the 3.6L V6 & AWD that comes with the car, add some serious twin turbo boost and see what it would do...or we could convert it to a more traditional inline format with RWD using a Chev or Hemi V8, or maybe something from the BMW, Mercedes or Audi catalog to retain that German flavour. Or for a 3rd approach, just in case I wasnt off on a big enough tangent already, grab the V10 TDi out of the Tourag, dont forget Audi have won LeMans with these things, turn up the wick and see what it could do.
NITRO IS FOR RACING!
Have you seen that t-shirt "Petrol is for washing parts, alcohol is for drinking, nitro is for racing!"? Good stuff... And you cant go past a car called Nitro!!! And everyone knows what Nitro means...HEMI!!! Well everyone except Chrysler itself it appears, as the Dodge Nitro sells in Australia (as below) with a 3.7L V6 or 2.4L 4 cylinder turbo diesel.. What is with that? Ok so it may be no more aerodynamic than the Memphis BelAir, but more power never hurt anything in my book. So lets transplant one of those modern Hemi motors from an SRT8 300C, throw in a stroker kit to take it to the magical 426ci, add a ProCharger, some AirBags cause lets be honest you aint going to be taking this thing off road anyway, monster rims, and to cap it all off add an awesome Hemi Orange paint job with some sort of metallic/pearl effect, and some traditionalish Dodge blackouts from the muscle-car era. Now that's much more deserving of the Nitro nameplate! Then again, wouldn't these make for one very unique DoorSlammer?
Ok, so the use of some new cars as a project base was probably somewhat surprising given the content of the remainder of this site. Put it down to the pure pursuit of speed via the aerodynamic path...everyone keeps laughing at me when I tell them I want to take my "bus" to the salt!!! Neverfear though, we are back on track and the following two projects are more befitting of our "Gasser" inspired thought process.
BUICK STRAIGHT 8... SECONDS THAT IS!
The Buick Straight 8 was an inline 8 cylinder motor that was installed in Buicks from the early '30's through to the early '50's. In the picture below you will note the long bonnet line required to fit a motor of that length. The benefit of this is heaps of usable underbonnet space...so once you fit a V8 style of motor there is plenty of room for...one of Procharger' nastier than nasty F4 Superchargers. They say it is capable of 3200hp, and requires a 900hp naturally aspirated motor as a base!!! (Yeah I know it is overkill for 8sec performances, but what the heck, you can never have too much power!!!) Inserted between the frame rails of the classic '38 Buick (for me its a toss up between the Model 46 Business Coupe or the Model 44 Two Door Streamline Sport Sedan) shape, this would be one instant weapon.We could go with a traditional look, satin black, pinstriping, whitewalls, checkered firewall ... or a jawdropping kandy brandywine with gold leaf lettering, yep that would be the look, after all you want some flash for your cash!!!
"COOPERS 62" 1962 Chevrolet Bubbletop Impala
A flat black label, with chrome & gold trim, and the moniker "62"...there was only one direction this is heading!!! Whilst the "62" on the beer is in reference to 1862 when the Coopers company was founded, to the best of my knowledge cars weren't all that great back then! So lets jump forward 100 years to 1962, and the bubbletop Chevy Impala, undoubtedly with the 409ci motor, was what ever man & boy was dreaming of owning. A pure gasser look, flat black paint, the standard chrome, the standard gold impala badges, some gold scallop work, green tinted lexan windows...its all looking very good, and very Coopers '62!!! The horsepower would be provided by a modern screw type blower with EFI to ensure performance as reliable as the flavor of a Coopers 62!
The Corvette Chevrolet should have built!!
In 1961 Chevrolet introduced the now legendary 409ci "W" motor. Its little sister, the 348c "W" had been introduced in 1958 as Chevrolet's first big block motor to cope with the ever increasing weight of Chevrolet's top line models, with the '58 Impala up around 300 pounds on the '57 Bel Air. For some reason however, customers had to wait until mid way through the 1965 model year, and the later MkIV style big block motor, in 396ci configuration, for a big block to be fitted to a Corvette. In 1961 Corvette customer's had to make do with the 327ci small block motor, and whilst it's ???hp no doubt delivered a lively and enjoyable drive, it paled in comparison to what the 425hp 409ci could have offered in the lightweight Corvette body. However, with World Products now producing aftermarket "W" motor blocks, in aluminum as well, there is nothing stopping us putting together one of these "phantoms". The overall theme would be "factoryish", but with a nod to modern technology...twin turbo, EFI, modern suspension & braking, big wheels, a 6 speed manual...and its a Corvette, so it would be red of course, and red doesn't come any better than Candy Apple!!! For those of you who think turbos do not suit our typical "Gasser" inspiration, try Googleing the "Mallicoat Brothers" and read about their extraordinary exploits with turbos back in middle of the '60's Gasser Wars.
