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?!
Imagine for a moment that the 2013 SEMA show was transformed into a high school cafeteria.
The Mustangs, Camaros, Chevelles and Novas would be the cool kids, flexing their muscles and throwing a football back and forth while the girls swooned over them. The Hyundai Genesis Coupes and the Scion FR-S/Subaru BRZs would be the geeks, wiping off their glasses as they rewire their ECUs. The Jeeps and lifted/baja/prerunner trucks would be the band geeks, a tightly-knit group who knows that all they’ve got is each other.
Then you have the DeTomaso Pantera. While it came with a big V8 engine and was sold in Ford Dealerships, this car doesn’t fit in with the rest of the crowd. It is closer to an exotic car than a muscle car. Its mid-engine layout, low production numbers, and premium price tag place it in a different social class from the other cars. At a show like SEMA, the Pantera is something of a misfit.
The year 2014 is a special one for Ford Mustang enthusiasts because it marks the 50th Anniversary of the car’s introduction. For the past 5 decades, the Mustang has been America’s pony car. But can you really improve upon a classic design? Yes, you can.
Mike and Jim Ring are brothers and co-owners of the aptly-named shop Ringbrothers. They are one of my favorite build shops right now, and I have featured a few of their cars on this site before. You may recall their Ford Fairlane 500 “Afterburner” and the Mustang Mach 1 “Dragon” I spotted at Barrett-Jackson.
There are certain vehicles which, for various reasons, are labelled as “gangster” vehicles. From the 1964 Impala to the Lincoln Continental, these cars have a definite “bad guy” image that people crave.
One car I would never have considered for a mobbed-out gangster mobile is a Studebaker. But, I suppose that’s what makes me different from the guys at Kicker Audio. Their booth at SEMA 2013 featured this evil 1950 Studebaker Champion.
When I think about the cars of the 1960s, I think about the high-performance muscle cars from the Big Three automakers: Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. But these weren’t the only players in the car game. Today I want to talk about one of the other American car companies: Rambler.
While the Big Three were making ridiculously powerful passenger cars, Rambler was off doing their own thing. They created a little compact car called the American which was focused on value and practicality. It was a compact car that was affordable yet did not look cheap. It had an inline 6 cylinder engine and offered one of the best warranties available at the time.
Just like Las Vegas itself, the SEMA show is designed to overwhelm the senses. There are literally thousands of vendors competing for your attention, and they will use any tactic they can to draw you over to their booth.
Some booths have flashing lights or sexy girls or celebrity appearances, but most vendors recognize that the way to get your attention at a car expo is to have a wicked hot rod on display. In the North Hall, I spotted this 1969 Camaro convertible at the GPSTrackIt booth and came in for a closer look.
