I have to agree; good work will be noticed...a slant with a lot of elbow grease would be more entertaining than a 318 covered with Taiwan chrome.

I have a slant-powered car as well as a 318-powered car (both Darts), and they both have an equal amount of pros and cons...

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I've always played the "what if...." scenario in my head where I grab a 318 or 360 drivetrain from late model junkyard complete with efi system and drop it into my duster.

I think a twin turbo V6 would be cool in a Duster... Not because it's better, but because it'd be even "more differenter". I've been tossing this idea around in my head for years - right next to the dual, inline /6's in an A-100 van with 6 two-barrel Webers and twelve zoomies out from under the driver's side rocker...

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

What Dartvader said applies not only to the /6 crowd, but also any other small crowd interested in a niche engine (V8s, too). For example, the Cadillac 472/500 V8. Really tight group.

For that matter, it applies to almost all Mopar guys. Compared to the number of Phords and Shivvys out there, all Mopar engines are "niche engines."

Sometimes I think that if I see ONE more street rod built with a Shivvy 350, I'll explode. And then one shows up with something like a Nailhead Buick or an early Hemi, or a "tricked" Mopar flathead six with twin carbs and a finned head, and renews my faith in the auto crafting hobby...

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Yeah, it's sickening. I don't even bother going to "hot rod" shows anymore, it's all the same old sh*t I've seen a billion times before. Chevy 350, Chevy 350, Chevy 350, over and over again. It's a sad fact, but everyone wants to follow the crowd and do exactly like everyone else.

Another thing that ticks me off is idiots who pay others to build their cars, engines, etc. I can understand farming out certain stuff that requires specialized knowledge and equipment, like rear ends, transmissions, exhaust, machine work, etc, but damn. You always see a bad ass hot rod in a magazine or at a car show, then the owner is there talking about "yeah, I had the chassis built by so and so, and the engine built and tuned by this guy, and such and such shop put the car together". Um, so what exactly did *you* do to build the car except write checks? Wow, I'm so impressed by your car that you paid everyone else to build.

At the car show I went this weekend there was a beautiful 1935 Dodge hotrod on display. I was expecting to see a Hemi or something, but the guy opened the hood and there was a 400 Chevy. Then he said, yeah it's a Mopar, but I said, no, its a halfbreed and he REALLY got mad.

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82 D150-225/727
02 Dakota-3.9/5 speed
87 GMC C7000-8.2 Detroit Diesel/5+2

I don't understand the whole SBC craze myself. I'll go to shows and there'll be row after row of SBC Camaros, Chevelles, Rods, etc...and everybody will be oogling over the gaudy chrome dress up kits like they're rare....It gets old. To this day I haven't owned a Chevrolet, just because I don't want to be one of [i]those[/i] guys. All I'd need then is a fanny pack and a pair of skin tight jeans pulled up higher than my elbows and I'll be allset.

Good answer, Jeb!

I was at a little show once, my '65 Belvedere got "best engine", but an old thirty-something Dodge truck with a 350 shivvy got "best Mopar"... Even some of the more principled shivvy guys there admitted that was very wrong.

I personally love "half-breeds". I'm developing one now! But the "chevy approach" in an old hot rod is the cop-out approach, the path of least resistance. It's just a "generic" motor that is stuck in because the builder or owner is too cheap or lacks a creative mind or ingenuity. They make me sick. I don't mind occasionally seeing a really well done camaro or chevelle, but if you can't be any more original than a 350 shivvy in some flashy hot rod that you could've put any number of cool driveline combinations into, I thumb my nose at you and your junk.

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

Not everyone...

D/W

P. S. - If you didn't build it, it's not really yours.

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If it ain't broke, fix it!

I go in the 12s and it is a true race car. If you want to go that fast you should look at safty to . Altho it doint seem like 105 mph is that fast a lot of things can go wrong. Keep in mind that i tied the frame rails together and put in a full roll cage i want to live to tell Bagel i beat him. It is real hard to get a street car in the 12 unless you are on joos are turbo are supercharged. Thanks Ron Parker







Hell Hath No Wrath Than A Possum Scorned

Here is the Chevy Small block 'splanation: Before the small block chevy was in production, Duntov took the plans to all the after market companies, who were making mainly Olds, Buick nail head and Ford flat head stuff, and told them they could make parts for this engine without any license from chevy. He invited them to be in on the engine from the ground up. By the time the engine saw the light of day, there were after market parts for it. For it's day, it was a wonderful engine. I know from experience trying to beat them in my old Ponticas, with the Pontiac's limited exhaust port design, and limited water jacket design. It was frustrating to try to beat those chevy guys becaue they could spend half as much on an engine that was way smaller than mine, and still beat me.

What Chevy did was kind of like what IMB did when they gave everyone the rights to write software for DOS. That made DOS, THE operating system, and IBM the standard PC, because all the software companies could write for IBM and market their product with no license.

After Chevy came out with their small block, it was ten years before Mopar came out with their great small block, and by that time Chevy was just way too far ahead to be caught. That being said, I still would never follow the crowd and do the Chevy small block thing. And not just because Mopars will run longer, and harder , and still be pulling strong long after a chev small block has eaten a valve, or thrown a rod. It's also because they are cool.

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69 Dart Swinger, 230 ci slant, t-5 five speed, intercooled turbo, 4 wheel disk brakes, tubular upper control arms.

I'll be the voice of dissention here. I'm a Mopar guy and am seriously hooked on the Slant 6 racing thing, but I appreciate all makes and approaches.

We need both the builders and the buyers. In many cases it's the buyers that keep the builders building. I wish I could do it all myself, but that just isn't realistic.

My brother-in-law has a concourse restored Shelby Mustang GT 500 that he just wrote checks for and keeps in a trailer and only drives in parades and on to the show field to win trophies. Certainly not my approach, but he loves that car as much as I love my cars. It's a beautiful car that is out there representing Musclecars and it could be the car that gets a young kid hooked on cars.

You may hate the whole low-rider thing, but have you ever put your prejudice aside and just looked at one strictly from a car crafter perspective? Again, not my approach. But the work that goes into one of those cars is amazing.

Same thing for that whole World of Wheels traveling car show thing. Mostly nothing but trailer queens, but some very nice, well-crafted trailer queens that the owners have put a lot of time, energy, and money into.

Just because someone takes a different approach than you or enjoys the hobby from a different perspective than you doesn't mean they're an idiot or that their car sucks. Geeez!

Go on, send it!... You know you want to.

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Rob

I’m Mater
The Kentucky Poser

I didn't say I don't appreciate their cars. They are beautiful, and full of lessons to learn, and excellent craftsmanship to use as inspiration. I also said very pointedly that I certainly wasn't lumping all V-8 guys into the same stew. What I did say is that I don't have much to talk about when I am around the big check book kind of car crafters, and they probably don;t have much to talk to me about. When I am with a car crafter who built his own car, we can talk all day without running out of stuff to discuss. Hence my affinity for the slant crowd. We might be building a record thread here. I think this is a topic that might not die for awhile.

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69 Dart Swinger, 230 ci slant, t-5 five speed, intercooled turbo, 4 wheel disk brakes, tubular upper control arms.

But Rob, shouldn't he give the trophies to the builders? I mean they're the one's who actually put their heart and soul into the car. Maybe they should give out a trophy for "most checks".

D/W

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If it ain't broke, fix it!