My wagon in Chevy Hard Core Mag...

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My G Body wagon got featured on Chevy Hard Core online mag...

Click here- Pumkinator Wagon (http://www.chevyhardcore.com/features/car-features/battle-wagon-ben-meissners-1979-olds-cutlass-cruiser/?fb_comment_id=fbc_753843841331969_754326257950394 _754326257950394#fa2f3396e1841a)

[Yelcamino]

Congrats Ben!

[jlcustomz]

Pretty cool write up Ben.

I do have to say though that your car has already become pretty well known on the internet & mentioned in at least 1 printed book.

True hot rodding started by building what you cold yourself & kicking ass with it.

[SSLance]

Congrats Ben... Nice write up.

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Thanks guys!

JL- Parts of the build were featured in the G Body Performance book by Joe Hinds. I agree- this car has been a huge learning experience- Building, driving, tuning... When I jumped into Pro Touring about 3 years ago I was a drag race guy and a bit ignorant about how to make a car handle. There's a lot of folks that have been great to help coach me along the way. I think with some changes/ upgrades planned within the next couple years I think the car will represent the pro touring and G body performance worlds well.

[Motown 454]

Sweet!

[PT Sportwagon]

Good looking wagon, but then I am biased towards wagons. LOL

Tim

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A wagon bias is a good thing Tim! Only found one pic of yours though, where can I see more?

[JAG.]

nice man, congrats! very cool build by the way

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Thanks!

[jlcustomz]

Ben, just got my g-body book back from a friend. Guess I hadn't caught it before that you worked at bulldawg for a while.
Sorry if this is a post hijack , but others here may want to know this. I got all excited about they were going to build ready fit g-body 8.8 rears from the larger suv rears, which should be cheaper than other options. Well, the posts on it went dead & the bulldawg phone number in the book didn't work when I checked early last year. Didn't get a response from pm. I put off the rear project for a while (bad U-joint, not pinion), but could still be interested in an 8.8 ready fit unit later on.
Any idea what's up with them????

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Bulldawg got caught up in the same type of financial mess as Prodigy. That's what led me to leave Georgia and go to Speedtech in Utah. Last I heard the whole crew quit and he shut down, then moved to a different facility and reopened under a new business entity, but still DBA Bulldawg. If you look for his website it had the new contact info and it's been a while since I looked at his page but he was on fb. He doesn't post on the forums anymore because a few forum members got shafted by him and I think he found it best to avoid conflict. I haven't kept in touch but as far as I know he's still in business doing local work like engine swaps and stuff like that.

I don't know if he ever followed through with the G body rear swap. In my experience when I was there Bulldawg wasn't set up for manufacturing or custom type work, and he didn't have a real good grip on suspension geometry and all, they were more suited for basic work like engine swaps and upgrades, and bolt on suspension type stuff. Project quality was like home garage level in care and execution. His occasional complete restos come out ok but he outsources paint and body work and he does the final assembly in house. Last time I looked, his facebook page would indicate that's how it still is. There is an active forum member that had Bulldawg do an 8.8 swap for his early 70s Cutlass but I'm not so sure he was happy with how it all turned out. You'll have to contact that member to get feedback first hand, PM me if you want to know who it is.

[cornfedbill]

Ben,

Awesome article! You are the man.

You and Pumkinator are getting a reputation.

You're puttin' a lot of pressure on me now. Got a bit more done this morning. Meetings the rest of the day. Tomorrow is Sunday. I'll be back at it next week playing catch-up to Ben...

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That's the idea Bill!

[jlcustomz]

Thanks Ben, guess that's all I need to know about that deal. Glad you're clear of it . I was a little skeptical myself about a small shop doing rear end conversions. Like they say, if it's too good to be true:::::
Guess we'll both have a 7.5 rear for a while more.:cheers: I just want to have a plan in mind if I break it.

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Hopefully not, lol. I lucked out and found a trac loc 9" in a junkyard Bronco several years ago and bought it for $125. It's looking like finally this year I'll be getting it narrowed and set up for the wagon. I thought long about an 8.8 swap but in the end I like the strength of the 9", parts availability, and the fact that I can set up 2 centers, one for daily/ autocross and one for drag racing. Hopefully you run into a deal like that soon too.