I love the derision I hear from younger gearheads when presented with older styles of machines. Some get it, some respect the history and the builds, but often I hear the similar train of thought: “Yeah, it was cool in 1960, but today I can go buy something off the showroom floor and smack this thing around with the air conditioning on and the radio blasting.” Okay, Junior, let’s put this into perspective for a moment: After half a century, you can dump most of what it would take to buy a modest house into one of the honestly wicked cars that are for sale. But you’re carrying more weight and you’re coddled so much more from both the outside world and yourself in the form of safety nannies. Your grand-dad did it with throwaway parts, engines raided from junkyards, and other than a brain-bucket and maybe a harness, used the warrior’s mentality on safety: if he wanted to be completely safe, he wouldn’t be in the damn car in the first place. Skill and ability separated the men from the boys on the track and if you didn’t respect the machine, it would happily kick you in the ass and remind you of your failings. But if you got the shifts right, launched like a pro and didn’t scatter the rods, you looked like a hero. As a bonus, you could take the machine out on the town later that night, where old Grand-Dad would walk up to the nearest likely challenger, call his ass out, and prepare for another round of battle by checking the tune, the pressure in the tires, the timing and everything else by hand before lining up again.
But nice Hellcat, dude.
Critics are a dime a dozen ….. There’s builders and there’s buyers . I prefer to build . Not a street rod …. a hot rod , you know ….. no heat , no air , no upholstery , no comfort , no stereo , tunes by MOPAR ! In true hot rod fashion …. A little bit o’ this ….. a little bit o’ that …… A ” real hybrid ” Don’t get me started on purists . LOL