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Posts Tagged: Southern California

Classic 1961 CHP Dodge Polara police car with sirens and lights.

1961 CHP Dodge Polara – Jay Leno’s Garage

by Wes

When the California Highway Patrol specified a pursuit car in 1961, the requirement was brutal: 100 miles per hour sustained for a full hour in 100-degree heat, without failure. Jay Leno’s Garage brings in a fully restored 1961 Dodge Polara built to exactly that spec, courtesy of restorers Morgan Yates and Dave Skaien of the Automobile Club of Southern California. The comments add real memories from CHP families and desert truckers who lived through that same era. Watch to see what it actually took to build a car for that job.

Classic red muscle car with flames and raised front end.

In the 1970’s, Southern California was a Breeding Ground for the Coolest Hot Rods

by Kiril

Growing up in the Pomona Valley during the early 1970s meant living down the block from people who ran real Funny Cars and Top Fuel dragsters, rock stars as far as any gearhead kid was concerned. The gasser look this 1969 Chevelle wears traces back to NHRA’s old Gas Coupe and Sedan classes, a straight-axle, nose-high style that had already faded from official competition by the time this car was built. Read on for how SoCal builders kept it alive anyway.

Classic red hot rod car with exposed engine in a garage.

Ford Model T Bucket Roadster 1923 images 350 CID V8 Automatic $23,995

by Ross Mills

This \,995 Model T bucket roadster traces its whole design language back to one car: a stripped-down T built by hot rodder Norm Grabowski in the 1950s that became famous nationwide after appearing on the TV show 77 Sunset Strip. Ford’s Model T was the perfect canvas for that idea, since millions were built between 1908 and 1927 and donor cars were cheap and everywhere. This particular build carries a modern 350 CID V8 and an automatic transmission, proof the T-bucket formula still works just fine with modern power under the hood.

Classic muscle cars parked with open hoods at a car show.

Street Machine & Muscle Car Nationals (2017) – The Show

by Wes

TwinRodders returns to the Fairplex in Pomona for the O’Reilly Auto Parts Street Machine & Muscle Car Nationals, capturing everything from a Pro Street 1968 Camaro to a blown-Hemi 1963 Dodge Polara to an Oldsmobile 442 fresh off the burnout contest. A slight chance of rain didn’t keep the fairgrounds from filling with muscle car history. Watch the full walkthrough to see what else made the cut.

Green sports car speeding on a mountainous road.

The 2017 Chevrolet Camaro 1LE Is a Track-Ready Sports-Car Bargain

by Kiril

Chevrolet actually builds two distinct 1LE track packages on the Camaro, a 335-horsepower V6 version and a 455-horsepower SS version, sharing the same Magnetic Ride Control suspension and Brembo brakes but differing underneath in ways most buyers never notice. Read on to find out how the V6 1LE holds its own against far pricier machinery on a demanding circuit like Willow Springs.

Sleek silver sports car parked on a desert road with rugged terrain.

Dodge Challenger Hellcat And The Story Of Willow Springs

by Kiril

A 707-horsepower Challenger Hellcat’s test day at Willow Springs wasn’t a random venue choice — it’s a return to a track built on a mistake. Bill Huth bought the circuit in 1962 planning to run drag racing down a straight that was too short, and spent the next five decades turning it into one of America’s most demanding road courses instead. Here’s that story, and what a Hellcat has to prove there.

Ford Mustang Shelby GT350: A Carroll Shelby Legacy

by Kiril

The 1965 Shelby GT350 only exists because SCCA rules demanded a minimum run of street cars before Ford could go racing in B Production. What Carroll Shelby handed back had no rear seat, one paint color, side-exit exhaust, and 306 horsepower from 289 cubic inches. Roughly 562 were built that first year before the formula softened. Read on for what made the first-year cars different from everything that followed.

Classic blue muscle car parked with mountains and sunset in the background.

The Ringbrothers’ G-Code Camaro is a 1,000hp Carbon Fiber and Billet Rocket

by Kiril

A 1969 Camaro making close to a thousand horsepower would normally be the headline, but on this build the supercharged 416 small-block is almost the least interesting part. Hand-laid carbon bodywork, machined billet hardware, a completely re-engineered chassis, and a six-speed manual describe a car meant to be driven hard rather than trailered. Here is what went into it, and why builds at this level change what the rest of the market can buy.

Custom matte black rat rod with oversized rear tires and exposed engine.

Hot Rod – Badass Hot Rod

by Kiril

Some cars earn the word badass through decades of backyard engineering rather than a marketing plan, and this hot rod is one of them. Its lineage runs back to the dry lake beds of Muroc and El Mirage, to Ford’s 1932 flathead V8, to Hot Rod Magazine’s 1948 debut and the NHRA’s founding in 1951. Read on to find out what separates a genuinely badass hot rod from a car that only looks the part, and why no factory has ever managed to build one.

Classic orange muscle car parked on a sunny street.

It’s Been a Crazy Winter for Muscle Car Enthusiasts this Year

by Kiril

Southern California muscle car owners are used to driving year-round, rain or shine — mostly shine. So when the winter of 2016-17 turned into the wettest stretch the region had seen in years, weekend cruise spots emptied out and garage queens stayed parked. It capped off more than five years of drought in dramatic fashion. Here’s what actually happened, and why a little rain is a bigger deal for classics than it looks.

Dodge Dart Charger 1965

by Kiril

This yellow Dodge looks like an ordinary Dart until you learn what a group of Southern California dealers did in late 1964. Frustrated by the Barracuda and Mustang pulling traffic away, they ordered a factory kit that turned a compact Dart into something wearing a name Dodge would not use on a real car for another year. Sold in one state, finished almost exclusively in one colour, and now almost impossible to find. Read on.

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