This month's feature : Hot Rod

Hot Rod

So what will the next generation of hot rodders be? What's going to happen when the great metal artists dissapear? What happens when the children no longer know the history behind the deuce coupe and what it's brought to the industry? Who will be around to continue telling stories about the legendary tales of a Saturday night out on Woodward ave? Let's be realistic here, it is going to be very interesting to see what will and what won't survive 10-20 years from now.

I'm in that generation almost stuck in the middle, and I'm a unique case. My first car was a gift from my father at 14, it was a 1955 Chevy Suburban. I had grown up in a hot rod family, my dad had long been restoring old cars, and I grew up with the sound of a loud V8 in my ears. I remember the first Pomona Swap Meet when I through a fit because I had finally grown to big to go around in a stroller. When it came time to start working on my first car, we got out of hand. We moved away from our initial idea of putting a small block in it and being done. We started thinking we'd just chop it and throw in a motor, clean it up and it'd be my daily driver. Well we all know how that goes, 7 years later I was starting it for the first time.

So what did I do in the meantime? Well the cool cars on the road where no longer American Iron, but Imports, anything from inline fours, to straight sixes. The thought of something with 8 cylinders, blasphemy. Yes they were still there, but they weren't where I went; just like most of those around me. I had a little 6 cyl Acura with a little nitrous kit. It was a fun car, my friends knew nothing of what I was building on the side. While I'm back to the darkside (V8's are back in my daily life with my GTO) I still miss everything I learned from the import guys. I always wondered what it would like to be to cross the breads. Well, over the years it has been obvious both industries have been learning from each other. Bottom line, we are all in the same boat; we want horsepower, we want to look good, and we are all seeking the same smile that goes down when we are in that driver seat.

I present to you a creation that I just think was to cool to not share with others. This vehicle has brought a lot of discussion around; among my friends it's made people angry and others confused. The guys down in Texas at EVS motors have created a great mix of great American iron with a Japanese legend. A 1969 Camaro powered by a 900 HP Toyota Motor (I can't imagine what many of you are thinking, the comments I've read on various forums across the internet show a wide range of ideas). But let's not kid ourselves, what was the original mindset of the first true hot rodders? Work with what you can find. So why not take a two legends and create something truly unique and they have done it to perfection. They've brought together the beauty of the lines of one of the classic muscle cars and given it complete modern technology, and great influence. I can only hope that the next generation can do the same, create uniqueness that blends what's new with what's old to only expand on the legendary vehicles that have graced the lust of the next generation to move on to create their images of "Hot Rodding" perfection.