In 1965, Argus Publishing purchased an unassuming '57 Chevy Bel Air 210 post model to use as a project car for the editors of Popular Hot Rodding magazine. Through its existence, the '57 would serve as a test bed for multiple engine combinations, suspension setups, and drivetrain enhancements. Through four decades of ownership, the editors of PHR used the car to teach several generations of hot rodders how to build cars, while an entire aftermarket industry grew up around it. Above all, the bright yellow shoebox-named Project X-became a legend in the hot rod community, arguably the most significant car in the history of the hobby.

Staying Connected
Dse Quadra-Link Rear Suspension
Don't let the hopes of ever having your second-gen Camaro handle slide away. Detroit Speed & Engineering has now made it possible to have an exclusively designed rear suspension kit. DSE has intergraded its "swivel-link" technology into the kit, which will allow the suspension to fully articulate with a smooth, solid motion and no binding.

It's The Most Fun You Can Have On Asphalt Without Getting A Ticket.To be honest, the CHP team couldn't have been more excited when we were invited to attend the annual Year One Experience at Road Atlanta. It was a no-brainer and took us all of about three nanoseconds to accept the request. We seized the chance and made our way to Braselton, Georgia, which is only a short, two-hour drive outside Atlanta. Our pilgrimage across the state landed us in the beautiful facility at Road Atlanta, which any right-minded motorhead would certainly call home.

Instant gratification. For most any true enthusiast, those two words typically aren't associated with much when it comes to building a classic truck-even less when having one built. As with anything worth having, it requires time and plenty of it to take an old truck from start to finish, even if your definition of "finished" is simply being able to drive said truck. Among the tedious, time-consuming jobs, bodywork ranks right up there at the top, if not being the most lengthy process of them all. While the actual amount of physical time spent on a vehicle varies drastically from one person/shop to another, all will testify to the abovementioned facts and agree that if you want it done right, you better have as much, if not more, time than money.

Some consider Corky Coker, president of Coker Tire, a modern-day "Indiana Jones," traveling the world in search of forgotten treasures, only in his case the bounty is not jewels, but long-lost tire molds. Now, celebrating its 50th year in business, Coker Tire Company continues its commitment to the process of uncovering these rarities and providing discriminating automobile collectors with the finest classic tires.

In this day and age, 24-year-old Riley Fanning is lucky enough to have a dad who supported and encouraged him getting into classic cars and trucks, and Bill, the elder Fanning, is lucky enough to have a son who wanted to. At 16, Riley found a clean, original '60 Ford F-100, complete with a 292 Y-block and three-speed that he would soon be the third to own. Being in high school and with a fresh license to drive, Riley was on top of the world, as was Bill-this is every father's dream, right?

What are lessons for if we don't learn from them? Mistakes. But when we do learn from them we can say "we've been there and done that," and when faced with the same situation again, hopefully it'll be an easier road. Father and son team Bill and Riley Fanning have been down a few of these aforementioned roads together with their F-100s. When Riley was in high school, they found a '60 F-100 to "learn from" (see the feature following this), and learn they did!

The last 30 years have gone by in a flash for Pat Ford and his family since he held the first F-100 Supernationals show, and in that time, it has grown beyond his wildest dreams. You would know this too if you've had the pleasure of attending or even showing your Ford truck in the event that brings people from literally far and wide. The 2008 show was no different!

When Kaufmann, Texas, car builder Jack Ellison wanted to get his 9-year-old son, Jonathan, involved with the business (Jack is the proprietor of North Texas Rod & Custom, Inc.), he went out and bought a '57 Chevrolet half-ton pickup truck that would serve as the beginnings of a father and son project. "Jonathan and I started working on the truck back around 1996 when he was just in grade school, and we finished it during his senior year in high school," says Jack.

Like many of us, Russell Post is a dyed-in-the-wool classic trucker. He eats, breathes, and drives old trucks like they were meant to be. Prior to his '55 F-100 we see here, he had two other early Effies that he literally drove into the ground until the rust, wear, and tear made them into donor trucks.

When a geezer like me reads about a young guy like Scott Albright, he gets a little wistful and a lot introspective. Here's Scott, 30 years old, top of his physical game, no wife, no kids, a livelihood that never fails to excite, good bucks, full medical, retirement plan ... and a car that runs low 9s at better than a buck-fifty. Perhaps more important than all these perquisites is his social circle, which is part close family, part close friends: irreplaceable and invaluable. Yes, Scott Albright is a lucky young man, indeed.

To each their own, or in this case, to each do as they will with their pickups...even if that means masking its true identity to a degree. In the situation of David Thompson, doing his own thing resulted in a little frontal cosmetic surgery on his '58 GMC pickup. If you hadn't already noticed, gone are the quad headlights and the very utilitarian grille and bumper ensemble-all in favor of the simpler, smoother look of a '55-56 Chevy front group. Purist Jimmy fans may undoubtedly disagree with David's particular approach, but as we're sure most readers have learned by now, so what...it's not their truck! And because of that, we'll let David himself tell the tale of how his '58 came to be.

Gas You Can Count On
The release of the new FAST Street/Strip Fuel System offers a complete kit that increases the reliability and potential of any electronic fuel injection (EFI) system up to 600 naturally aspirated horsepower. This extremely cost-effective kit makes it a snap to switch from carburetion to EFI for trucks, cars, or hot rods. The FAST Street/Strip Fuel System Kit includes everything you need, including the proper fuel pump, adjustable regulator, filter and Y-block for compatibility with just about any application you can think of from OE to custom high-performance. The high-performance fuel pump utilizes OE-type filters for easy replacement. For more information about the FAST Street/Strip Fuel System Kit or any other FAST product, call 877-334-8355, or log onto www.fuelairspark.com.

If you have a Classic Cruiser and want to see it here, e-mail at least six high-resolution photos and background info to the e-mail address above, or mail prints to: Classic Trucks, Attn: Grant Peterson, 774 S. Placentia Ave., Placentia, CA 92870.

Hobart Brothers has created the fourth in an ongoing series of free educational welding posters, addressing the 10 most common welding problems and their likely causes and solutions. Using color diagrams and concisely written explanations, the poster is a handy reference tool for both professional and educational welding environments.

Get Your Car In Chp!
E-Mail:Send photos and info to chevyhi@sourceinterlink.com. Digital photos must be 300 dpi at 5x7 inches.
Mail: CHP Rides, 6420 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90048

A lot has changed since 1967, when the Camaro came out with its particular configuration of a double A-arm suspension. Racing and technology have proven the Camaro's geometry to accept much improvement. The quality of manufacturing and the composition of materials used in the 1960s and 1970s have changed quite a bit, as time continues to test the original equipment.

Starting with GMHTP's July issue, we've been slowly feeding our readership (or, at least the open-minded portion thereof) details of a turbo system installation on our non-factory-supercharged 2007 Cobalt SS. Well, ladies and gentlemen, hunger no longer: this month, it's finally time to finish off the installation and put this little blue 4-banger through its paces!

General FeatureTo a corvette enthusiast there are few thrills greater than riding shotgun with Ron Fellows as he hot-laps Pratt & Miller's new C6RS. I had this pleasure at the Katech Track Attack back in May at the Autobahn Country Club. As we whipped through Turn 3 ("the-million-dollar corner") of the South Circuit on a set of cold tires I remember thinking: "I'd probably be sweating bullets right now in this six-figure, carbon-fiber work of art if I were behind the wheel." But with one of the most successful drivers in ALMS history minding the tiller of his all-too-familiar signature Corvette, all I had to do was sit back and feel the g-forces. As all 600 hp came alive during the series of 567- to 851-foot straightaways and the hellacious 1,850-foot back straight, it wasn't what I did feel that was so remarkable, but what I didn't. The powerband was smooth and linear, though obviously not entirely rev happy as it maxed at only 5,800 rpm due to the small, emissions-friendly cam and 4.500-inch stroke. Meanwhile, the chassis was stable, reassuring, quiet, and perfectly at ease. The C6RS feels just as at home going 140 mph as it does 30 mph. Even on the slightly bumpy 2.1-mile Autobahn course, the C6RS still rode like a Cadillac.

In GM Performance Parts' Latest endeavor to test out its products and show the world the wonders of LS power, it chose two in-house 4L60E-equipped F-bodies as the recipients of its latest and greatest crate motors. Sure the LS7-powered Goat and Camaro of last year ran like a brown bunny on crystal meth, but what happens when you bolt up one of GM's most popular four-speed automatics to an LS7 or a hopped-up 454-cube LSX motor?

Spectre's hired one of the fastest men on Earth (quite literally) to break a new land speed record in the company's new "SpeedLiner" at the famed Bonneville Salt Flats next month. Now we're not talking your 200 MPH Club type record...we're talking about being the first blown, gas-powered streamliner to break 400 mph.

The pickup truck has had a wide variety of commercial uses since it started being mass produced in the early 20th century, initially as a construction and agricultural workhorse, but also serving as our nation's earliest tow trucks, fire engines, and sweet chariots for the Good Humor man. Since being introduced in 1948, the Ford F-series models have become the best-selling vehicles in the United States for the past 23 years and the best-selling truck for more than 30. Ford F-Series: America's Pickup Truck (Universe Publishing; ISBN: 978-0-7893-9972-4; $50.00; October 2008) is the only official Ford book celebrating the 60th anniversary of the Ford F-Series.

We feel your pain when it comes to getting into a musclecar these days. The older they get, the less affordable they seem. But that's not to say that a few deals can't still be had if you're in the right place at the right time.

I was talking to a pair of legs in a motel parking lot. Midwest winter pale, they were, grease-dirty, jutting from beneath a well-worked-over orange and white '67 Mustang. But this was Colorado or maybe Kansas, sometime, somewhere on the third Hot Rod Power Tour. Those tree trunks belonged to Bret Voelkel, a man who was destined to accelerate straight and true, just not at that particular moment. One thing's for certain: Bret's piece was the only car in the PT armada that rode on air instead of steel.

Please send all letters to: rick.jensen@sourceinterlink.com, or mail to: GM High-Tech Performance, 365 West Passaic St., Rochelle Park, NJ 07662. All letters are presumed for publication and GMHTP reserves the right to edit all letters.