Saturday, July 05, 2008

I was going to post these last week...

...but didn't get around to it. On our Independence Day weekend, however, it occurred to me that there are few things so all-American as hot rods.

No self-respecting German would take so fine an example of his country's engineering prowess as a Porsche 911 and stuff in an ugly old Chevy V8 engine. But an American, knowing the Detroit motor makes more power, is less expensive to service and more reliable, will give it a try. And it works...



There is a brilliant designer and builder here in California called Chip Foose. This is one his "takes" on the classic Model "A" Ford-based hot rods. I particularly dig the nose cone on the radiator, which looks as if it was meant for a P-51 Mustang fighter plane...



Hot-rodders back in the day didn't cotton to the 1936-41 Lincoln "Zephyr" V12 engine -- it tended to overheat and didn't deliver much power -- but it sure looked right under the hood...



Foose carried the Zephyr look over to the interior, using an original Lincoln steering wheel and instrument cluster of the period. The dashboard was shaped to recall the Art Deco panel of the Zephyr, as well...



And here's me, reflected in the spotlight of a '49 Mercury that was considerably hot-rodded...

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

Very cool. I would love to drive the Porsche!

Dorrie said...

the last picture you should submit to the JS picture journal.. lightwritings. The theme this week is "reflections".

Doug said...

The Chevy/Porsche doesn't sound like an easy conversion, and wouldn't it make the car even more tail heavy?

Donnie Smith said...

I agree, hot rods are an All-American tradition. Maybe they should say, "Baseball, hotdogs and hot rods..."

Anonymous said...

I was thinking the same as dal...with that big 'ol iron block V-8 hanging off the back, I'll bet it would swap ends in the blink of an eye. :)

S

MrScribbler said...

dal and lowandslow -- Yup, that iron-block Chevy adds quite a few pounds to the 911's tail. A radiator adds some weight up front, but doesn't quite balance it out.

Wide rear tires help! Still, I would be very careful on a twisty road....

Anonymous said...

I love cars of all kinds.
Roz

Anonymous said...

I just read in the paper this morning, that a huge old timer meet took place last weekend not far from me. Darn! If I had known, I'm sure I could have gotten some great pictures. Maybe I can find info in the internet about it.

Birdie from the office

Anonymous said...

I found pictures..

http://www.echo-online.de/sub/events/galerie20080706klassiker/index.htm