Author Archive: Brian Lohnes
Epic Read: Let There Be Steam – The 1969 Sports Illustrated Story About Bill Lear’s Steam Powered Indy Car and Business
Yesterday we told you about Bill Lear’s crazy late 1960s dream of building steam powered passenger cars and a steam powered race car for the Indy 500. We told you about how the whole thing...
Watch Hot Rod Drag Week 2021 HERE! Live Streaming Coverage – THE LAST DAY!
Oh yes, Hot Rod Drag Week is back! With nearly 400 entries starting the crazy week of drag n’ drive competition, the first day had its fair share of oil downs and delays. Day two is when that...
Keep Yer Head On: ARP® Head Std Kit For Highly Boosted 6.7L Powerstroke V8
We don’t know much around here but we do know that boost is awesome, that diesel engines are stupidly strong these days, and that ARP makes the best fasteners in the automotive world. The...
Awesome Video: This 1967 Piece By Coca Cola Called “Pit Stop” Highlights Every Major Form Of Racing
Back in the late 1960s the United States was absolutely gaga for motorsports of all kinds. Stock car racing, drag racing, sports car racing, open wheel racing, and motorcycle competition were all...
Canadian Largess: This 1988 Peterbilt 379 Has A 4,000hp Compound Turbocharged C15 Caterpillar In It!
We love the old saying that, “there’s a fine line between hobby and mental illness,” because it kind of defines hot rodding and hot rodders in general. Take Mario Monette from...
Laughing Legends: Listen To Bobby Unser and Parnelli Jones Tell Stories About Andy Granatelli
When it comes to American racing legends, they don’t come a whole bunch bigger than the late Bobby Unser and Parnelli Jones. These are two guys who won in all the stuff that they ever drove and...
4-Stroke, 4-cylinder, 3.2 Hp And It All Fits In The Palm Of Your Hand – Check Out The Toyan FS-V400
The Toyan Engine company is a name that we had never heard before until, well, today. That’s when we stumbled upon a large group of videos showing off various miniature engines. We did some...
The Parting Shift: Ride Along In A 1955 Chevy Powered By A Rev Happy 283 Small Block
So we’re at St. Louis and then heading to No Mercy shortly after that. Boy there are some HUGE engines and HUGE power on display here. Whether we’re talking the monster motors in top...
Great Read: This 1981 Profile Of Mickey Thompson Is Informative, Wacky, Raw, and Real
Just when you think you have read all the words that anyone has ever written about the late Mickey Thompson, you find perhaps the best thing ever penned about the man. This is a 1981 Sports...
Engine Building Video: How Babbit Bearings Are Poured And Some Legit Tricks In How To Build A Model A Four Banger
A short while back we showed you the Hagerty Redline Rebuild video that was focused around the reconstruction of a Model A Ford four cylinder. This was initially an engine that was built literally at...
FBI Film: Examination Of Stolen Cars Is An Awesome Watch Full Of Neat Machines From The Late 1960s
Auto theft is still a massive problem around the country but during the late 1960s and through the 1970s it was a national plague. The mafia was in on the racket in many major cities and there were...
Watch This 505ci Stroker FE Engine Make More Than 600hp With A Cross Ram and A Magneto
Isn’t it cool when you see an engine make great power with the “wrong” parts? Take this stroker 505ci stroker FE engine built by Barry Rabotnick of Survival Motorsports. Barry is a...
This 1950s Caterpillar Video Introduces The H-Series D8 Bulldozer – So Cool!
Nothing brightens my day more than vintage footage of heavy equipment at work. Seriously, that’s not a joke. Call me names if you will but I love this old iron as much as I love fuel dragsters...
More Gearhead Americana: Buick Dealerships, Louis Chevrolet, Dodge Army Trucks, Crankshafts, More!
In today’s dispatch from the time machine known as the Library of Congress digital archives we see some of the very people who started the automotive industry in the United States. Frank Duryea...