Letters from the edge..

[race-rodz-inc]

no place to put it... sorry. the "bed" is full of 26 gallon fuel tank, battery, drysump tank, diff cooler, and rollcage

[MuscleRodz]

You will never please everyone when you get a huge crowd of people. Someone will always be alienated and pissed about it. The mag name says it all, "Popular". How about some real "G" machines like a series on old Trans Am cars. That will consume a few months.

Mike

[Steve1968LS2]

You will never please everyone when you get a huge crowd of people. Someone will always be alienated and pissed about it. The mag name says it all, "Popular". How about some real "G" machines like a series on old Trans Am cars. That will consume a few months.

Mike

Like Biddles 'Stang? we also have a bad ass Camaro that holds several land speed records coming up soon.. I like there to be a mix of show cars, real cars and track cars.. makes it more interesting.

Keep in mind I am just the FNG copy chimp.. I make suggestions but I don't steer the boat.. maybe someday but for now I swab decks...

[MuscleRodz]

Like Biddles 'Stang? .

Biddles Mustang was cool, but not much grit in the article if I remember right. I was thinking more along the lines of the known cars. Catch them at the track and get some today's real world numbers. Although I think Road America narrowed your search field some.

Mike

[Mean 69]

There's this really neat event coming up where you can see all of the "important" Trans Am racers, in action. Just happens to be this month, at a little place called Laguna Seca. It's called the Monterey Historics, and is probably the second most important historic gathering on earth, behind the Goodwood festival in England. Cool thing is, unlike car shows, they actually race the cars on track, like they were meant to be.

They have more than just Trans Am cars too, in fact if you don't walk around there with a constant woodie, you're probably not a very diversified car guy/gal.

See you all there?
M

[vanzuuk1]

great idea, would love to see a series on the t/a cars, you get one or two for every make.

[Steve Chryssos]

Keep in mind I am just the FNG copy chimp.. I make suggestions but I don't steer the boat.. maybe someday but for now I swab decks...

That's okay. I had this same conversation with Johnny at Columbus after you guys shot that blue car--undivided attention.

Best of all, he bought the beer. That's the first time in the history of publishing that an editor bought the beer. Whatta guy!

As a result of Twist Machine, I've met some great people from around the globe that are all building balanced, functional hot rods--everything ranging from a Lexus powered 32 with real suspension to a 40 Ford with blown 4-6 mod motor and again: real suspension. The list goes on. How about a 94 RX7 with LS1 drivetrain? or a 71 Chevy short box pickup merged with a wrecked C4? Leonard Lopez builds some highly functional, but Riddler capable street rods over at Dominator in Brentwood, CA--pushrod suspension and all. Of course, we've already beat the "modern pro street" formula to death.

Point is: All of the above cars are balanced and functional, but none of them are traditional pro-touring muscle cars. So it's possible to preach the gospel of functionality while opening up the gamut of vehicles.
/Steevo

[Steve Chryssos]

Wow! That's what I'm talkin' about. Way to go Race-Rodz!!

[andrewb70]

How about a 94 RX7 with LS1 drivetrain?

/Steevo

How about an 88 RX7 with an LS6 drivetrain. I know where you can find one of those!

I might even be persuaded to bring it out for a full on thrashing. X-cross, road race, drag race, braking? You got it! Just name the time and place.

Andrew

[bnickel]

Steve, we always have a big car show that is sponsored by the local mustang club so it get's a lot of cool stangs, but basically any car can enter and there have been some pretty cool non fords there as well. i think you need an editor for the west texas area we have a ton of cool cars and some have even gotten some press, i remember an orange and black 68 that got stories in a couple of mags even PHR IIRC. might be something to check out

[YoungGun]

Stope makin funn of the ltters I send the magzine...my entire inbred family is ofended that you mok my lettr in you'r post. Make me soo mad I kiked a nother hole in the trailr...one of me kids escaped out the holl last nite..I tink the coyotees got em.

[Steve1968LS2]

There's this really neat event coming up where you can see all of the "important" Trans Am racers, in action. Just happens to be this month, at a little place called Laguna Seca. It's called the Monterey Historics, and is probably the second most important historic gathering on earth, behind the Goodwood festival in England. Cool thing is, unlike car shows, they actually race the cars on track, like they were meant to be.

They have more than just Trans Am cars too, in fact if you don't walk around there with a constant woodie, you're probably not a very diversified car guy/gal.

See you all there?
M

I will have to see about covering that.. would be super cool and we could probley pick up a nice variety of feature cars. Thanks!

[Hartz]

How about an 88 RX7 with an LS6 drivetrain. I know where you can find one of those!

I might even be persuaded to bring it out for a full on thrashing. X-cross, road race, drag race, braking? You got it! Just name the time and place.

Andrew

I think you could have a lot of fun with an April 2006 dated edition. Include the RX-7, Supra510's wagon, I'll toss my 5.0L Miata into the mix, maybe get a 240Z conversion - I'm envisioning an all import cover, and when you open up the magazine there's a picture of all the V8 conversions with the words "April Fools" on it.

Maybe I'm the only one that thinks that would be funny?

[Mean 69]

I will have to see about covering that.. would be super cool and we could probley pick up a nice variety of feature cars. Thanks!

If you do go, I'd recommend going on the Friday Practice session. There are 14 different run groups, all of them practice on Friday, but only seven of the groups practice/race on Saturday and then again on Sunday. Highlights on Saturday are the Can Am cars, which is the group David P's Lola will be running in. If you like thundering, killer fast cars, this is the ticket. On Sunday, the T/A cars will run, along with the IMSA cars, which are sick too. Scattered about are several groups with early, important cars. You really won't believe what you are looking at, and the fact that these guys actually race cars that often cost $3M or more, well, it is not an ordinary event to say the least.

Highly recommended. There is another event on Coronado down here in San Diego in October which is also really good, but not as good as the grand-daddy.

M

[kennyd]

i dont care what type of car you feature, i just want to see clean photos of the car .also make sure we have plenty of good close up shots of the mechinal areas of the car ,example ,exhaust , rear axle set up , fuel system and wiring. having built and seen plenty of cars that have been featured in different magazines( and have had 7 cars shot for features and covers) that when you get to finally see the car in person i cant believe the photos didnot include some of the techinal areas of the car .some pepole dont get to go to many big shows and see some of the cars we get to see in person so show them what you see better .
you also said you show you some cars other than camaro , at columbus ( i know you were there ) did you shoot the 61 black falcon in the parking lot ? or the white 61 buick invicta ? the red 65 chevelle l79 300 2 dr sedan ? did you see them ? or did you have your head up the guys a** in the mustang and cook in the camaro to see some ofthe other cars ?
not trying to get you pissed off just asking a question .
a builder and magazine reader .

[trapin]

I agree that Camaros are overdone...but that's not Popular Hotrodding's fault, it's the part's manufacturer's fault. Where are the suspension upgrades for the Mopars, the Buicks, Olds, Pontiacs, Fords, and AMC's. A lot of these places focus on the Camaro. Detroit Speed is almost predominately a first gen suspension company. Enough parts have been developed for Camaro...it's time they started focusing their attention on other makes. When that happens, then you'll see the numbers of these cars at shows and in magazines (such as Popular Hotrodding) start to rise.

As for too much focus on Pro-Touring....I say to these idiots, go buy Street Rodder or Hot Rod if you have a problem with it. There are so many publications that already focus on that out-dated build style, why should PHR have to follow suit? You have options....GO USE THEM AND KEEP YOUR NOSE OUT OF OUR LITTLE NECK OF THE WOODS!!!!! :rtfm:

Yeah, that's right.....take your ball and go home now, cry baby.

[ssdeuce]

I wanna see more Nova's! Just kidding my favorite magazine is PHR. I think it's right on target.

[Steve1968LS2]

i dont care what type of car you feature, i just want to see clean photos of the car .also make sure we have plenty of good close up shots of the mechinal areas of the car ,example ,exhaust , rear axle set up , fuel system and wiring. having built and seen plenty of cars that have been featured in different magazines( and have had 7 cars shot for features and covers) that when you get to finally see the car in person i cant believe the photos didnot include some of the techinal areas of the car .some pepole dont get to go to many big shows and see some of the cars we get to see in person so show them what you see better .
you also said you show you some cars other than camaro , at columbus ( i know you were there ) did you shoot the 61 black falcon in the parking lot ? or the white 61 buick invicta ? the red 65 chevelle l79 300 2 dr sedan ? did you see them ? or did you have your head up the guys a** in the mustang and cook in the camaro to see some ofthe other cars ?
not trying to get you pissed off just asking a question .
a builder and magazine reader .

Well asking me if I had "my head up the guys ass in the Mustang" is a funny way not to try and piss someone off..

We take over 5 hours to shoot a car.. we shot TWO cars at Good Guys and both were arranged ahead of time. Alloways Hemi Charger and a red Mustang Fastback with a 4.6 mod motor.. we also did some filler shots on a Camaro that I shot a while back at Hershey. We looked for cars for future shoots, found a NICE '63 Galaxie and a few others.

If you were there you would know that over 6000 cars were spread out all over creation and while I tried to see every car there were more than a few I missed.. But, I can guarantee you you that I saw more cars than most people did.

And also, all these great cars out there that you speak of. Are they too lazy to mail in some pictures or even email something or is it our responsibility to find them? I left my card on about 10 cars, you know how many have contacted me? Two.. The Galaxie and a injected LSx Camaro..

[Steve1968LS2]

I wanna see more Nova's! Just kidding my favorite magazine is PHR. I think it's right on target.

So do we

And more Falcons, Torinos, Lagunas, Cougars, Swingers, etc..

The other prob is geography. Sometimes you know where a cool car is but it is not possible to shoot it right away due to travel and costs.

[andrewb70]

I think you could have a lot of fun with an April 2006 dated edition. Include the RX-7, Supra510's wagon, I'll toss my 5.0L Miata into the mix, maybe get a 240Z conversion - I'm envisioning an all import cover, and when you open up the magazine there's a picture of all the V8 conversions with the words "April Fools" on it.

Maybe I'm the only one that thinks that would be funny?

It will never happen.

Andrew