Author Archive: Bryan McTaggart
Go Big Or Break Bigger: Truck Fails For The Masses
The truck was the pinnacle of the rock-solid worker as I was growing up. The bigger the badder…you want to be the big dog, you had the big truck. That was how it worked. Whether you had the...
The Beginning Of The Endtimes: How The Pursuit Special Came To Be
I knew about the Mad Max film franchise when I was little. One of the Nintendo games that my mother had enjoyed was Mad Max (it came out in 1990) and all I could tell you about that game is that it...
Just A Small Step In The Right Direction: Giving A 1964 Galaxie A New Spark
I love the whole idea of driving your classic. They were regular cars that just managed to get old…what’s the issue with still driving them? Well…a couple of things, to be fair....
BangShift Question Of The Day: Is It Worth Trying To Make A Living Racing Anymore?
I remember it clear as a bell: I’m on my hands and knees in the hallway of my grandfather’s house, pushing a large plastic toy that’s vaguely in the shape of a G-body NASCAR racer,...
BangShift Saturday Matinee: “The Junkman”, The World Record Holder For Wrecked Vehicles!
I had to watch this entire thing twice, just so I could attempt to comprehend what was going on besides a Cadillac Eldorado getting beat on like there was no tomorrow. There’s a story, but...
Some Like It Mellow: 1976 Ford Elite, The Moderate’s Cruiser
Welcome to 1976. Muscle is out the door, personal luxury coupes are in, bumpers are now battering rams that will prove their worth at demolition derbies across the country for decades to come, and...
Unhinged: The Safety Brief That Ends With “And They Walked Away…”
Let’s play a game. It’s called “Identify That Wreck”. You are looking at the remains of a car that went off of the road during the Sandhills Open Road Challenge in Nebraska. I...
Random Car Review: The 1958-61 Kamov Sever-2 – In Soviet Russia, Anything Goes When You’re Buried In Snow
Russian creativity has to be commended. What other country could have dreamed up such an idea as the semi-aquatic, kind of boat/kind of large airplane hybrid like the Lun-class ekranoplan? Very few,...
Classic YouTube: 4WD Truck And Modified Tractor Pulling at Richmond In 1991
It’s been a minute since I was last at a truck pull, and I have to admit that I miss the violence of each run. Screaming engines under full load struggling against the weight of the trailer...
Classic YouTube: This Mazda 323GTX Overcooks A Jump At The 1993 Fenceline III SCCA Pro Rallysprint
Yes, that 1988 Mazda 323GTX is really as high up in the air as it appears. Yes, it crashed back to Earth, and yes, it hurt. This footage was taken at the 1993 Fenceline III SCCA Pro Rallysprint in...
Past Life Goals: 1978 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country In Augusta Green Sunfire And Fake Woodd
The idea of what is considered the “desirable” vehicle of the time has shifted many times since I started paying attention in the late 1980s. Front wheel drive midsize sedans. Minivans....
BangShift Question Of The Day: What Happens When You’ve Reached The End Of Your Talent?
Let’s get the basic questions out of the way now. That is a three-foot-long steel spike that is bashed through the piston of a Chrysler 400. If you go back to the Raven Imperial build, around...
Pre-Rocket Bunny: 1977 Chevrolet Monza Widebody – Can You Hear The Screaming Small-Block?
The Chevrolet Vega might have been tainted goods after the rust started to appear and the engines started to go boom, but that didn’t mean that the whole platform was bad. Chevrolet just needed...
