Hey Freiburger, Buy Some Shoes!!!

The legend lives!  Thanks DF for posting the link!

You know, a pair of intercooled T76s on that 440 would . . . . lol

I'd be willing to bet that DF was a sandal-wearing hippie long before he ever met Yer Old Dad.  There was a hippie resurgence in the late '80s & I think DF was swept up in it.  LOL

If you don't know about the hose clamp deal, you need a CC history lesson.

My memory sucks & the story & photos prove it.

Photos show a young & thin DF w/o long hair, sandals or poncho.  The Dart was MoPar's small car offering at the time, not an intermediate as I stated.  I thought the Dart was a CC project, but I had forgotten all about DF's early tenure at HR.  I subscribed to both HR & CC at the time & for some reason I can't keep ~~15 yr. old articles straight.

My memory aside, the hose-clamp trans mount caught the attention of a lot of readers & DF got some mileage (good & bad) out of it.

DF is my hero...He's living my dream life.  Meanwhile I'm still stuck on the east coast w/ a wife, 3 kids,(all of whom I love dearly) payments, a very boring auto repair job, etc.  I drive a 14 year old minivan w/ woodgrain paneling.  My life is the  antithesis of Car Crafting, Hot Rodding, whatever you want to call this hobby. 

I've got all kinds of Car Crafting ideas...I'd like to build a rear-engine/RWD Northstar-powered Corvair daily driver or "real street" car, but Northstars will be cheap & Corvairs will be unobtainable by the time I'm able to commit the $ and time to the project.

A 4.3L/5 or 6 speed early Vega also interests me.  Stock "w" or "z" code 4.3L with a decent T5/T56/Tremec & a decent rear axle would be fun w/o too much trouble.

I hear you.

I think DF started at HRM, turned around Rod and Custom, remade CC and then got promoted back to HRM.

Minivan the "antithesis" of Car Crafting.  Don't bet on it! You've got to check out http://www.turbominivan.com/

http://www.gusmahon.org/html/Mini.htm

http://www.turbovan.net/van.html

http://www.turbominivan.com/members/terry/

http://www.xmission.com/~dempsey/minivan2/

http://www.concentric.net/~Stwradio/stanvan.htm

http://www.thedodgegarage.com/the_caravan.html

http://www.angelfire.com/80s/turbovan/

http://www.mustangstuff.iwarp.com/

http://hhscott.com/93tmv/project_tbi-2-tii.htm

http://www.angelfire.com/ri2/turbominivan/van.html

http://home.wi.rr.com/mk105/Cars/93%20Caravan/Index-93-Caravan.htm

One of the most memorable vehicles on the 2004 Power Tour was an Aerostar packing a 5.0.

I say start wrenching on that MINIVAN!

My minivan is the antithesis of Car Crafting.  I know there are a few quick 2.5L turbos running around, but they really don't interest me.  I wrench for a living, so the prospect of wrenching on my van isn't very appealing.

Mine is a beater w/ 200k on it.  It also has the stylish & sexy woodgrain paneling.  On the bright side, the old 3.3L gets 22 MPG on the highway.

Yeah, any FWD is a PITA to work on.  I don't blame you a bit.

Still, a turbo V6  minivan with shelf paper woodgrain on the sides would be a wicked sleeper!

all these peeps out here just keep us on our toes. pardon the pun. lol

The footgear, or lack thereof, chosen by Freiburger should be the least of your concern. If i have to put up with seeing some funky toes to get a little journalistic integrity, then so be it. I don't know about you, but his toes are a lot easier for me to stomach than some editor trying to tell me he had a set of fully ported brodix heads "lying in the garage".     It all comes down to this...B.S. or Toes? Me, I'll take the toes.  

That my freinds, is a foot fetish.  

I was just looking for the positives, man. 

Remember "the 'perfect' is the enemy of the "good."'  So it's better to be having fun with SOME KIND OF CAR than it is to only dream about ultimate rods.   At least I think that's what they were trying to tell us with McGean's primered '69 Camaro.

If I had a car load of kids and the bills to match, I think I'd score the cheapest old wagon I could find and pack it with a JY big block (some of the non-Chevy mills don't seem to require a second mortgage) and swap-meet rims.

That wheelstanding Nova in the July issue proves that wagons can be fun . . . also check out the tire-smoking Aspen and Fairmont in the "Burnout" section.   Longroofs rule!

LMAO!!!!

and on another subject, I personally dig weird street machines. I mean after all aint that what car crafting is about, scoring a ride, whatever it may be, with potential and using the minimum amount of money, along with a buttload of know-how to get it to perfom exactly how you want it? (Or in my case "Frankenstein" it so badly no one else would ever want it...) I think the real reason most guys wait for that "just right" car is that those cars have a large aftermarket following. Pick something weird who knows, you might start a whole new trend (not so sure about that minivan thing cathing like wildfire though...). Somebody had to be the first one to say "hey that civic could have something..." and look where thats led.....O.K., bad example but you get my point. Has anyone else besides me looked into swapping a SBC into a  early gm W body? they'll fit in a fiero...I'll be in the garage if yall need me.

STEVE M. FOR PRESIDENT!!!
Tree

Got any beer?  

Thanks for looking for the positives, dr511scj.

I live in the northeast, so most of the 'good' wagons in this area rotted away to nothing years ago.  That's not to say there aren't a few solid old potential project cars around here...there are.

A JY big block wagon would be cool, but I'd never be able to afford the fuel bill.  I commute 50 miles per day to work & with gas at $2.00+ per gallon a gas guzzling big block just isn't in the cards.

There are a few hot wagons running around here & some of them are very quick & well put together.  I wouldn't mind doing a wagon project or another 'oddball' project car, but mine would have to be relatively efficient.  That means EFI, a mild cam & gear, along w/ OD.  

I'd love to do a Northstar Corvair, but that's probably not feasible given the time & budget I have to work with.  On the POSITIVE side, there are a few oddball cars w/ project potential in this week's classifieds.  I need to get busy. 

Just enough to make a FWD v-8 lumina sedan seem like a good idea...wonder what the engineers at gm were drinking when they put a 5.3 in the monte carlo? bartender, another round...this is gettin' interesting.  

I thought my brothers 70 Toronado w34 torque steered bad. 400hp and fwd. What were they thinking?