A lot of people think sheetmetal work is the hot rodding equivalent of rocket science. And forget about shrinking metal; that's alchemy. A Ph.D. in mechanical engineering or medieval chemistry would come in handy but are not necessary. In fact, heat-shrinking
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The hood of a '55 Chevy somewhat resembles a huge tarmac, so it's not surprising that the design team at GM bolted a gigantic chrome plane to it. Fifty years later, it seems almost sacrilegious to alter a stock-bodied Tri-Five Chevy, but the hood ornament has to go if you want to build a hot rod or
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Installing a GM tilt steering column in a hot rod or custom is not a new concept. New columns and installation kits have been making it easier for years. The ididit kit is easy to install and works quite well, but the lower mount needs a little help if you're
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File-Fitting Pistons for Max Performance
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Jim Aust shows us how to build your own chassis in Rod and Custom Magazine.
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1949-1952 Chevrolet Windsheild Replacement from an Oldsmobile presented by Rod and Custom Online. I wasn't planning to change the windshield in my '52 Chevy. I'd rather not talk about it. All I'll say is that if you take the hood latch to the chrome shop early in the morning, don't try to drive the
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Once upon a time hot rodders worked with the materials readily at hand to build their machines. During those formative days, one of the easiest ways to increase performance was to improve the exhaust flow, and resourceful rodders dicovered that the inner drive
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In between full-on street rodders (who love all the latest modern hardware) and hardcore purists (who staunchly demand 100-percent factory stock) exists a few subgroups of people who enjoy staying somewhere in the middle. One of the many things these "in-betwe
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After driving all the way to the L.A. Roadsters' event from Missouri, John Swander had a unfortunate mishap just three miles from the fairgrounds. The upside was that John was not injured and was already gathering pieces to repair his roadster at the swap meet
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The beginning of a model typically starts in the builder's imagination. As you have an idea for a model, you start "putting it together" in your head. Perhaps it's an available kit. It might be an out of production kit from a collector service or a swap mee
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"It's the last thing you do to a car, but it's the first thing people see." That's how Roger Ward puts it. He ought to know. He's been painting cars for 50 years. Few things can make or break a street rod or custom car like paint. The right paint color and des
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How to get a show quality paint job by color sanding your truck.
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You're Staged. Your engine's rpm climbs. The Christmas Tree begins to flash. In the wink of an eye your tires plant hard...
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One example of the way things used to be is the dual-quad carburetor setup. Theoretically, it makes sense...
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Up and down they go. Year after year, the regulators continue to position your door glass exactly where it should be...
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The Internet age has zapped the automotive performance and restoration world with classified ads and information...
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Car shows are a funny and fickle thing. Sometimes they go off without a hitch and everyone involved has a rockin' good time; other times Murphy's law rears its ugly head and any number of disasters can occur. Very rarely, however, is a show consistently excell
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Last month, we tossed around some ideas about how to build a killer '60s-style custom, and several of the illustrations suggested metalflake paint. Looking to learn a little more about how to spray the stuff, we turned to Donnie Baird at Imperial Customs in Bu
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When Sam Strube built his '23 T roadster--one of the contenders in R&C Asphalt Ego-Rama last year--he decided against running a hood. After kicking up a load of desert dust at El Mirage and across the Mojave, that extra piece of sheetmetal started to make sens
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Installing Hagan's Frenched Headlamp Kit
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Hey—hot rodding isn’t easy, and it certainly isn’t cheap.
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Although our compadres over at Hot Rod tend to focus primarily on vehicles produced in the ’60s or later, there are some staffers over there who understand the whole street rodding thing. One of them is Associate Publisher Ed Zinke. Ed’s been into
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We’ve been getting a ton of mail with questions about how and when to modify the Vortec small-block iron heads—so much mail that we decided to condense all the Vortec information into one concise story that should answer almost any question you have
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