There’s quite a trend in the hot rod industry to pair up an old car with a new engine. Most folks are doing this with 1960s or 1970s cars and modern crate engines. The guys at Rooster’s Rod Shop in Gaffney, South Carolina have taken the concept a bit further. What they’ve done is dropped a Supercharged 6.2L V8 engine from the Cadillac CTS-V into this 1930 Cadillac coupe! How’s that for a resto-mod?!
The 1973 OPEC oil crisis had a dramatic effect on the American automobile industry. An embargo with oil-exporting countries of the middle east caused a shortage of crude oil which is refined into gasoline. The shortage in turn caused gasoline prices to skyrocket and rationing to go into effect.
In response to customer demand and new Federal Emissions Standards, the “Big Three” automakers went to work building a new generation of cars that were smaller and more fuel efficient. Chevrolet introduced the Monza and Citation, while Ford debuted the Pinto and the Fiesta. Not to be outdone, Chrysler introduced their new compact, front-wheel drive model in 1978: the Dodge Omni (and its badge-engineered cousin, the Plymouth Horizon).
As one of the most iconic cars in history, the Volkswagen Beetle and its air-cooled engine are revered around the world for its utter simplicity. These cars are small, efficient, and easy to work on. But when it comes to power and acceleration, they are severely lacking.
This enterprising car owner took it upon himself to do something about it. What he’s done is removed the original flat-four engine in the back of the car and replaced it with a big American V8 in the front! From my eye, it looks to be a small block Chevy motor – probably a 305 or 350.
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Civic wagons are rare enough but the AWD version is even more of a treat. The manual cars actually came with a 6 speed transmission which had a super low gear to the left of first gear. I’m not sure why they didn’t just call the low gear “first gear” and rename the rest of the other gears to follow suit, but whatever, it’s still cool.
The reason for the low gear was because with only 100 lb-ft of torque, the D16A6 motor really didn’t have enough power to really do anything exciting at all (or get you out of a ditch, should you accidentally manage to do something exciting). I’m pretty sure the owner of this car doesn’t have much of a problem getting a little crazy though…
Yeah, someone swapped a K-series motor in there. Aside from all the obvious, well …dirt, it looks like a really clean swap too. I bet the thing is a lot of fun to drive, and it looks like the owner of the car isn’t afraid to take the car out in the desert and have some fun with it. Civic wagons in general sort of strike me as an “I really don’t give a fuck” type vehicle, and this one says it with more sincerity than any other Civic wagon you are ever likely to see, given that about 95 percent of them have been hastily converted to rusted hood, negative cambered-out dork cars.
It’s not often that you hear the words “Citroen” and “high performance” in the same sentence. The DS pictured above is most famously known for its unique styling and many technological advancements which were ahead of its time. However, there’s something special about the DS pictured above. I’ll see if you can guess what it is.
The Citroen DS was originally a front-wheel drive car, but this particular model has been converted to rear-wheel drive and its four-cylinder engine has been replaced with a Chevrolet LS1 V8 engine.
This particular car is the only known V8, rear-drive DS in existence. It was built in 2006 by Hot Rod builder Kevin Bradley’s Kreations Auto Body in Northern California. Besides the engine, the car also features an Art Morrison G-Max chassis, Wilwood brakes, and Billet Specialties wheels. The car crossed the auction block at Barrett-Jackson Scottsdale in 2011 for just $49,500.
According to the Barrett-Jackson website, the car was displayed at the 2006 SEMA show and has also been featured in the March 2007 issue of Hot Rod magazine. I ran across this blue beauty at Cars and Coffee in Scottsdale, Arizona in February 2012.
In essence, this car combines French design with American muscle in a unique combination that has both “show” and “go.” You can visit the Kreations Auto Body website for a slide show of build photos.
UPDATE: Well as it turns out, this car was built for rock legend Alice Cooper. It was listed on eBay in September 2013 with a reserve price of $115,000. The eBay listing provided a wealth of additional information, including the build cost for this one-of-a-kind car: over $300,000! The car also features:
Also included in the auction were an autographed guitar and tour photo, 2 tickets to Alice Cooper’s holiday Christmas Pudding show, and the opportunity to play a round of golf with him. The auction ended at $83,400 and the reserve price was not met.
