Author Archive: Bryan McTaggart
Driving Green: It Doesn’t Look Any Better Than This Modified 1973 Plymouth ‘Cuda In The Forests!
Indulge me for a moment, I beg of you. The ultimate dream machine of mine, one that I firmly believe to be unapproachable for some time to come (at least) is a 1972-74 Plymouth ‘Cuda. It is a...
RCR Stories Covers Mickey Thompson, From The Beginning To The Brutal End And Beyond
Marion Lee Thompson was a man who lived, breathed and created speed. He raced land-speed cars, ran at Indy, off-road machines, drag racers. He created his own entertainment system that showed...
Missing That Roadtrip Life? Check Out This Movie On Drag Challenge 2017!
As the year winds down with the mercury in the thermometer, we start to approach the point where shows are done for the year, the final races are happening, and everybody starts to bed in for the...
Project Raven Imperial: The Last Piece To The Puzzle Is Always A Pain In The…
The formal name for the place I live at, far as anybody needs to know, is simply BangShift Mid-West. It is my house, my land, my domicile. Then there is the small shop right off to the side of the...
Automotive Design Master Marcello Gandini Reflects On His Time With Alejandro de Tomaso
Marcello Gandini can pen a car’s beauty without thinking twice…his lifetime’s career work is a choice list of the best cuts from Italy: the Alfa Romeo Montreal, the Bugatti EB110,...
The Bullet Holes Add Character: Check Out The Story On This Valiant Pacer!
I’ve seen them in Washington, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado, and plenty of other locations: a car that for some reason or another, was absolutely killed, stripped of any semblance of...
Classic YouTube: Student Drivers In The AMC Rebel, Proving It Can Take The Ultimate Abuse!
AMC might have been trying to shake their small, economy car image for 1969, but they knew better than to even shy away from their reputation for making anvils wearing license plates. Regardless of...
Impulse Purchase: What Would You Do With A Dirt-Cheap Checker Aerobus?
Unless you have enough cash to burn that you don’t really care what you spend it on, a car should not qualify as an “impulse purchase”. You know what does qualify? A candy bar, a...
The Jokes Write Themselves: 44,000 Pounds Of Steel Balls Flopped Out Of A Truck In Seattle
A key point for any driver to ram into the back of their brain about driving is “expect the unexpected”. Once you get comfortable behind the wheel, you get complacent. Once you get...
Morning Symphony: The Magic Of Audi’s Turbocharged Five Cylinder
Would you believe that the Audi Quattro exists purely because of the Volkswagen Thing? It’s true: in the late 1960s the German military had been trying to create a vehicle to replace many of...
The Purple People Eater: How Often Would You Drive This 1974 Chevrolet LUV?
For a section of time in the mid-1990s, my stepfather was enamored with Chevrolet LUV pickup trucks. One was slammed on it’s nuts and was a sprightly little thing, dressed in primer gray all...
BangShift Tune-Up: “My Sweet Shadow” by In Flames (2004)
The October Rush has hit BangShift Mid-West again. In one corner of the yard sits the Cadillac Limo, which has been entered in for at least one King of the Heap event at NCM Motorsports Park, which...
Forces Of Time: Does A Properly Prepared 1989 Ford Thunderbird SC Have A Draw?
Everyone always wants to make a crack about building the wrong car, until someone puts together the “wrong car” the right way. Ever notice that? Nobody liked 1973-77 Chevelles, it seemed,...
A Different Kind Of Fairmont: Paul Hamilton’s XA Ford Is A Violent Handful!
There were Ford Fairmonts before the Fox body. They look an awful lot like Mad Max’s Pursuit Special and are not common in the United States. In fact, I’ve personally only seen one, ever...