I consider myself fortunate to have grown up on a dairy farm, surrounded by ample tools, a vast pile of scrap steel, and old tractor parts ripe for exploration. It was there that I honed my fabricating skills from a young age. By the time I turned 24, I had successfully constructed my first hot rod from scratch.

Shortly after I achieved that milestone, however, I encountered unexpected medical complications that rendered me unable to work or even walk for two years. Confined to my chair, I spent what felt like an eternity immersed in dreams of crafting another hot rod.

[Welcome to Homegrown—a limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Do you know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email to tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.]

Shortly after my recovery, I embraced a role as a line service technician towing and fueling aircraft at a nearby airport. Right next door to us was a vintage aircraft restoration shop called Aerometal International, and often I would watch from our ramp as they pulled their DC3s and other vintage birds out of the hangar—millions of button-head rivets protruding from polished aluminum panels, all of it twinkling in the sunshine. I loved to hear the radials fire up, and I savored the scent of burnt avgas.

I had always been an enthusiast of World War II aircraft and military vehicles, but now I had a front-row seat, and such close exposure to those lovely old machines ignited a real passion. Over time I watched as they meticulously disassembled various planes down to the frames, then reconstructed them almost like new. Although I aspired to work with those technicians, I doubted whether my skills were up to par.

One day, the owner of Aerometal noticed the hot rod I had built and we got to talking. When he offered me a job, I seized the opportunity. I began my journey there by towing aircraft and handling facility chores, then later tried my hand at sheet metal. I swiftly adapted to the craft and soon developed a vision of my next hot rod build.

I wanted to create a piece of art—something that could serve as a tribute to WWII aviation as well as the iconic Jeep. No simple task. I had a design in my head of exactly what I wanted to create and wouldn’t allow myself to cut any corners. If it required thousands of hand-shot rivets in polished aluminum panels, so be it. It didn’t matter how difficult it would be; I allowed myself zero flexibility. So began my journey building the Warbird Jeep under my new side business, Bomb’n Beauties.

I completely hand-built this machine, from the frame to the steering yokes. Although I saw it as a piece of art, the Warbird Jeep is a fully functional vehicle. I wanted more than looks; I wanted this piece to strike all of the senses.

I started by putting an old unusable Jeep body on a rotisserie. I wasn’t going to use the body, but I knew I’d be able to spin it around and pull all the measurements and angles off the Jeep and put them to paper. Knowing full well it would be difficult squeezing in a V-8, I wanted my build to match the original dimensions as best I could. I also used it as an opportunity to run tape lines everywhere I thought I might like to see stringers and rivet lines.

After deciding how the body would be built, I had a better understanding of how it would interact with my frame. I built the frame out of thick-wall rectangular tubing. I knew an aluminum-bodied car would be extremely light, so I needed to add some weight. This also made my frame more than capable of handling the V-8 I had in mind. 

I slightly modified a 1960 Ford F-100 front axle to fit my front end, with radius bars and a transverse leaf setup. I wanted a front axle that could handle the larger Jeep tires at high speeds. I used a 12-bolt Chevy axle in the rear, with a four-link suspension and coilovers.

Choosing the 350-cid crate V-8 with an automatic transmission was a decision I’d put a lot of thought into. I had considered using some kind of aircraft powerplant but ultimately decided against it. Aircraft engines require a lot of care and maintenance. They also require a mechanic with aviation expertise. Instead, I decided on something that would always operate and require less regular attention. 

Building the body was the most difficult and time-consuming part, as I wanted it to be just like that of an aircraft. That meant riveting it all together rather than welding. I utilized stringers, just like in aircraft, for structure.

Anyone who has ever attempted to shoot rivets will understand the agony I endured. Every rivet location was hand-drawn, drilled, deburred, and shot. I used standard aviation AD rivets, and they’re incredibly difficult to shoot without having an unrecoverable accident. Each time I did have an accident on a panel, I started over. I didn’t want any imperfections on this piece. By the end, I had installed more than 4500 rivets into the body. The only panel that utilized a CAD-drawn image and laser-cut was the instrument panel. Everything else was built by hand.

With everything on the exterior following an aviation appearance, I wanted the interior to feel like a cockpit. The passenger side mirrors the driver’s side, with full gauges and a functional yoke. All of the center gauges are functional vintage aviation instruments running on vacuum. Even the mag switch works as vehicle battery power. The shifter is crafted to look and feel like a throttle quadrant. A breaker panel replaces conventional fuses, while white-wire looms, neatly tied every few inches, starkly contrast the Pratt & Whitney color-matched paint adorning the drivetrain. I also hand-built the bomber seats with cushions that appear as if the operator left his parachute behind when he got out of the vehicle.

There are too many hidden features on this Jeep to list. I wanted it to keep surprising the viewer the more they looked. Subtle details are everywhere: navigation lights; recognition lights; .50-caliber gun barrels that function as turn signals; fuel tanks that are hand-made bombs hiding under a lightning hole-filled panel in the rear; stainless steel plumbing; standard aviation AN fittings . . . It’s difficult to capture all the details through photos.

I could not have completed this project without the support of my incredible wife. I personally had more than 3500 man hours in this creation over a span of three and a half years, all while maintaining a full-time job. My wife handled the house and kids, which, in my opinion, was probably more difficult than building the Warbird Jeep. I was also quite fortunate to be surrounded by a handful of incredibly skilled friends at work. I was able to tap into each friend’s personalized skill sets for help with paint, polish, wiring, sewing, and so on, so I could stay focused on design and fabrication. Their contribution was around five hundred hours, for which I am eternally grateful.

It’s an amazing feeling to see a dream come to reality. I look forward to creating more automotive masterpieces that captivate the imaginations of car and aviation enthusiasts.

***

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The post Homegrown: The Warbird Jeep appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Do you know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email to tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

The beauty of constructing a ride at home is that the builder can master his destiny from the tire patches to the roof. That’s how Hagerty member John Augelli, of Watertown, Connecticut, viewed the CORBENZ he created with his buddy Eric Strachan.

By day these two worked as police officers. In their off hours, they toiled over their homegrown ride, investing four years and $80,000 in the effort.

Augelli explains, “When this project started 25 years ago, Eric and I admired the look and feel of the Benz 280SL ‘pagoda’ but longed for the extra guts of a V-8. Simply swapping the German six for an American eight was unimaginative so we connived a more elaborate approach we christened CORBENZ.”

At age 16, Augelli began working on cars, starting with a rust-eradication effort on a ‘59 Ford Country Squire station wagon. “I needed $100 to fund a trip to the Cape so I pitched the repair job and earned the assignment,” he says. “After purchasing a bodywork reference book, a grinder, plastic filler, and steel wool, I went to work. Fortunately, the wagon was white so that my less-than-perfect finished surfaces looked fine.  My persistence yielded a great time at the Cape.”

Thirty-five years later, Augelli had all the skills needed to collaborate with his buddy, who owned the Mercedes SL. “Our donor car was a 1987 Corvette coupe we bought at a salvage auction,” Augelli says. “Most of the Vette’s bodywork was trashed but the parts we were interested in—powertrain, frame, and chassis—were all salvageable. I focused on the labor while Eric covered out-of-pocket expenses—for upholstery, an engine overhaul, chrome plating, and the outside labor that was required.

“Picking the Corvette for running gear made sense because the C4’s wheelbase and track dimensions were close to the 1969 Mercedes we started with. Once I had whacked the lower part of the SL’s unibody structure, there was no turning back. The Corvette also had an aluminum radiator, plastic leaf springs, and aluminum brake calipers, which suited our needs. Its 5.7-liter V-8 with 240 horsepower was mated to a 700R4 automatic transmission. Our goal was tuning this custom’s personality to mimic my loud and obnoxious charm!

“Several of the tasks we faced were challenging.  One was moving the V-8 engine five inches forward in the Corvette chassis. That in turn required relocating the steering linkage for clearance and adding five inches to the long aluminum beam that ties the rear of the transmission to the front of the differential. In addition, the rear wheelhouse openings had to be moved two inches to clear the 17-inch wheels and tires we added. And the original factory headlamps had to be reworked to clear our much wider engine.

“The first test drives occurred in 2004. Practically everything worked as expected with the major exception being GM’s tuned-port electronically controlled fuel injection. After struggling with it for some time, we stripped that off, replacing it with a new more readily tunable Edelbrock four-barrel carburetor and intake manifold.

“Eric enjoyed driving our creation for several years before deciding he’d rather own the 1966 Ford Mustang GT K-code in my garage. After negotiating a swap, my wife and I drove the CORBENZ for thousands of miles. It never ceases to impress enthusiasts we encounter in traffic or at the gas station.

“Entertainment celebrity Howie Mandel once noticed this sports car in Mystic, Connecticut, inquiring if it was for sale! That Cosmos Red finish never hurts.

“Some critic once asked why I messed up such a valuable classic. My answer to him was, ‘Because I could!’”

***

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The post Homegrown: The Split-Personality CORBENZ appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email to tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

Hagerty member Bill Papke of Ada, Michigan, is a master of spending his retirement years wisely: His homegrown Raazer is a creative reimagination of Elon Musk’s Cybertruck. The “Flash” project featured here is Papke’s ambitious rethink of an ’86 Pontiac Fiero he purchased on eBay, wanting to add a sports car to his fleet.

In the interests of full disclosure, Flash is a collaborative effort rather than a one-man-at-home build: while the concept and design are all Papke, the ambitious task of reskinning the Fiero was handled by MTV Concepts in Micco, Florida.

Papke explains, “My automotive passions have always focused on exotic concepts, especially those with wedge shapes and knifelike leading edges. My collection includes both a replica of the Bertone Stratos Zero and one of the rare Vector W8s built by Jerry Wiegert.

“First, I sketched front, rear, top, and side views to explore how Flash could best exploit a fresh design. Then I used 1/24th-scale Fiero models to craft the new exterior. Modeling clay helped visualize what I had in mind. Upon completion of the three-dimensional model, I created CAD [computer-aided design] files which were used with CNC [computer numerical control] tools to shape the full-scale, high-density Styrofoam plug. Molds cast over the plug were used to make the final fiberglass panels.

“I hired Mike Vetter, owner of MTV Concepts in Florida, for the hands-on effort. This firm builds TV and movie vehicles from scratch and high-quality futuristic road cars. MTV’s remarkable Extra Terrestrial Vehicles have been sold to customers in Abu Dhabi, Canada, London, Germany, and the United States. I met Mike when I purchased his Slash sports car which combines a futuristic exterior with a C6 Corvette chassis and a 600-horsepower 6.2-liter LS3 V-8.

“Vetter and crew needed only 10 months to construct the full-sized plug, body-panel molds, and new fiberglass panels. They attached the custom panels to my stripped Fiero, applied Corvette Atomic Orange paint, and reupholstered my original bucket seats. New Vors aluminum wheels are fitted with P235/45R-18 Firestone radials.

“The rebody effort was expedited by keeping the original Fiero interior, glass, roof, inner door panels, and most of the rear hatch assembly. The Fiero’s 2.8-liter V-6 and five-speed transmission remain stock. The radiator had to be mounted much lower to accommodate my knife-edge front-end configuration. The front halogen lighting elements are supported by a concealed bar. The rear LED lights are normally found on pickup truck tailgates. Vetter made the Flash nameplate, which I designed, sparkle on cue in living color.”

Beyond the $4800 spent on the donor Fiero, Papke won’t reveal what Flash cost, but he is totally satisfied with the results.

“So far I’ve only driven my creation 250 or so miles to a few shows and cars and coffee gatherings. It always prompts the same burning question:  ‘What is it?’

“I believe my Flash design with hold up long term thanks to its sound basic proportions, overall simplicity, and elegant curves. I wouldn’t change a thing on this car. In other words, I’m ready to move on to the next Homegrown project.”

***

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The post Homegrown: This Fiero-based Wedge Is No Flash in the Pan appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email to tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

The concoctions we cover in our Homegrown feature series are usually the products of simmering adulthood creativity, constructed by individuals with superfluous time and money on their hands. But, as the cliché goes, for every rule there is an exception: The “car” depicted here began as 14-year-old Deacon Fancher’s sketches. It subsequently took shape over five years of effort between Fancher and his grandpa, Bill Spadafora, aka Popops.

Deacon, now 19, is a sophomore at Oakland University in Auburn Hills, Michigan, enrolled in journalism and film studies. He not only dreams about constructing cars, he hopes to someday write about them. (Please don’t hold that against him.) His other fantasy is to add bodywork, lighting, and the equipment that will make his car eligible for plates and street driving.

The term that best fits Deacon’s vehicle is cyclecar, reflecting that it is a motorcycle/car tweener with open wheels. The cyclecar’s brief moment of glory occurred in the 1910s and early ‘20s before the versatile Ford Model T booted them in automotive history’s ditch.

Deacon explains, “To get my project rolling, I bolted an 8.5-horsepower Honda single-cylinder engine and CVT from a snowmobile in the back of a steel-tubing spaceframe bent and welded by Popops in his garage. Grandpa is retired from an engineering career at GM, Bosch, Dana, and BAE in the Detroit area so he brings the expertise I lack to this project.

“Our wheelbase is 86 inches, track widths are 49 inches, overall length is about 11 feet. While the original idea was seating for two, there’s not going to be room for a passenger once I add a shifter and the necessary control pedals.

“Various chassis parts including the rack-and-pinion steering gear, brakes, and wheel hubs came from a Yamaha Rhino 700 side-by-side utility vehicle. Our control arm suspension system is homemade from steel tubing. Here, grandpa used Suspension Analyzer on screen to refine the geometry. The Factory Spec spring-shock units were purchased new via Amazon.

“I admire pre-war cars so we selected Ford Model A wire wheels fitted with Universal 19-inch bias-ply tires. Popops machined the adapters necessary to bolt these wheels to our Yamaha hubs. So far, our investment is about $2800 just for parts. My car runs, drives, and draws smiles wherever we take it. I belong to Oakland U’s Golden Grizzlies Formula SAE racing team so there is ample advice concerning what to do next.

“A 95-horsepower 1100-cc four-cylinder engine and five-speed transmission from a Yamaha Maxim XJ motorcycle are already in hand to add speed. My car’s curb weight is below 1000 pounds so excellent acceleration and decent cornering are assured.

“We’re just starting to think about bodywork. Naturally my SAE team members suggest using molded carbon-fiber panels which would require lots of learning on my part. More realistic options are fiberglass, aluminum, and canvas.

“The current John Deere bucket seat will definitely be replaced by something with a lower hip position to drop the top of my head well below the current 4-foot-tall upper frame loop.

“I feel very lucky on two counts—my family totally supports this fantasy and working elbow-to-elbow with Popops has been amazing fun. Every break I get from school gives us the chance to advance our project another step.”

While it hasn’t been Hagerty’s habit to cover Homegrown builds in progress, with installment reports, that’s precisely what we’re up to here. We’re not only anxious to see Deacon’s car finished, we’re hoping to be near the head of the line for a test drive.

***

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The post Homegrown: Teenager’s snowmobile-powered cyclecar appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email to tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

George A. Carter III, 78, a Hagerty member residing in Athens, Texas, has enjoyed a fruitful life constructing his playthings from scratch. This started at age 11 with a hydroplane he built from Popular Mechanics plans. Carter obtained his first car at age 14, then won a Fisher Body Craftsman’s Guild award in high school.

This Homegrown genius has four significant inventions to this credit: the first commercial laser tag (Photon), a two-seat Baja racer configured for closed-track use, the first 50-mph ATV, and an Optically Paired Tactical Engagement Simulation System (OPTESS) intended for military use.

Regarding the Prototype’s design, Carter explains, “I was seeking the look and feel of a legitimate Le Mans prototype racer. One of my starting points was a die-cast model of BMW’s V12 LMR. I was also inspired by the Panoz LMP-1’s distinctive front-engined layout.

“To expedite the build, in 2010 I selected a 2002 Corvette Z06 as my donor car. Stripping away the factory bodywork, roof, doors, glass, bumpers, and interior trim dropped curb weight to 2620 pounds, a quarter-ton below that of the Z06.

“I kept the 5.7-liter LS6 V-8, boosting output from 405 to an estimated 445 horsepower with long-tube headers, aftermarket catalysts, a cold-air intake, and tuning revisions. Sliding the engine rearward eight inches within the stock 104.5-inch wheelbase improved weight distribution. This was achieved by shortening the long torque tube between the engine and the rear transaxle. I kept the six-speed gearbox, disc brakes, suspension hardware, and steering equipment with minimal changes. Except for some TIG welding provided by a friend, I did most of the work either in my garage at home or in a bay I rented at a local jet-ski repair shop.”

Simple math yields less than six pounds per horsepower. Add in the Prototype’s pointy nose, low center of gravity, rear weight bias, lack of a windshield, and functional rear wing, and you’ve got performance that is definitely locked and loaded in the motorsports category.

While the forged-aluminum Corvette suspension control arms were retained, Carter increased wheel diameters an inch by fitting CCW forged-aluminum rims made by Weld Racing. The Nitto NT05 295/35ZR-18 front and 335/30ZR-19 rear radials fill the wheel openings quite nicely. Overall body width is three inches greater than the donor Corvette. Coilover dampers from Texas-based LG Motorsports supplanted factory springs and shocks.

“A significant issue with my long front overhang was the likelihood of suffering driveway damage,” Carter adds. “To avoid that, I fit a 4-inch-diameter air bag between each front lower control arm and the frame. I fill a carbon-fiber air tank to 4500 psi, then inflate the air bags by remote control when I need to lift the nose. The tank is large enough that I can pressurize it at home for occasional use, thereby avoiding the weight and bulk of an onboard compressor.

“Keeping the complete original steering column expedited that area of the interior’s construction, though I did swap out the Corvette steering wheel. After adding square steel tubing to reinforce the factory chassis laterally, I realized that starting from scratch with an all new space frame would probably have saved me time. On the other hand, keeping the original instrument cluster and electronic controls for the anti-lock brakes and traction control was definitely a wise move. I also kept the factory 18-gallon fuel tank, though every last connection to it has been altered.”

Carter reports that constructing his racy bodywork consumed the better part of three years. Given the fact that computer-aided design technology was changing almost daily in 2010, he chose hand-drawing body sections on paper over the on-screen methodology. Although the step-in cockpit entry is certainly easier than creating hinged doors, vast amounts of urethane foam and some 50 gallons of Bondo were consumed in mold construction for the fiberglass and Kevlar body panels reinforced with vinyl-ester resin.

“To keep my nine major and several additional small body panels true with the world,” Carter says, “I used thin Masonite templates to define the surfaces. They were positioned laterally adjacent to the centerline and spaced at six-inch intervals the full length of the body. After one side was perfected with Bondo, flipping over each template made sure the opposite surface was a symmetrical duplicate.”

Carter’s gorgeous headlamps were pirated from an Infiniti G35 while the taillamps originally belonged to a Toyota Celica.

Following a 2013 paint job, Carter and a friend with racing experience transported the Prototype to a nearby road course for shakedown runs. His initial observations: “My car feels like a giant go-kart given the low seating and open cockpit. The handling and ride resemble a Corvette except for the fact there’s absolutely no body roll. The exhaust is unruly during full throttle use and while downshifting but it quiets down nicely during cruising.”

Asked if there were any hassles obtaining license plates for road use, Carter replied, “None at all.  The state of Texas thinks my Prototype is a 2002 Corvette!” That strategy has worked perfectly over the 8000 road miles Carter has enjoyed driving his car during the past decade.

“In traffic, I’m surrounded by rolling cell-phone photographers. Once, a crosswalk cop stopped me until pedestrian traffic cleared, then ordered me to ‘get on it.’ Middle-aged ladies waiting for their buses give me thumbs-up salutes. Twenty-something kids in Ford Mustangs are always game for a race (which I decline). The most infuriating question I receive is ‘did you build your car from a kit?’ My admiring family members appreciate the fact that this Prototype is much more practical than some of my other concoctions.”

What’s next on Carter’s agenda? In celebration of his very first automotive project, he’s purchased a 1953 Studebaker coupe to be fortified with a 6.2-liter GM LT1 V-8. In this Texas garage, long afternoon naps are never part of the daily game plan.

***

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The post Homegrown: Carter Prototype, the first Le Mans endurance racer qualified for Texas road use appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

Bill Papke, 76, is a retired architect residing in Ada, Michigan. Explaining what moved him to build a car at home, he notes, “I’ve always been fascinated by concept cars, especially wedge-shaped designs. I own a replica of the 1970 Bertone Stratos Zero and also a 1990 Vector W8, both of which excel in this design genre. When Elon Musk presented his Cybertruck, I realized that I could build my own wedge car defined by four flat planes. My goal was to make it look like it had been chiseled out of a solid chunk of aluminum.”

What lies beneath Papke’s Raazer is a Honda Beat, the last car design to be approved by Soichiro Honda, Japan’s Henry Ford.

Honda began by recycling small engines in a wooden shack located in Hamamatsu. In 1948, when war-torn Japan craved transportation of any kind, Honda started selling motorized bicycles. Barely a decade later, the first Honda dealership opened in America. Soon thereafter, Honda motorcycles outsold Triumphs in England and Harley-Davidsons in the states. Today, the globe’s grandest engine producer powers everything that moves, from lawn mowers to jet aircraft.

The Honda Beat was a mid-engine two-seater originally designed by Pininfarina for urban use. Known as kei cars, these machines were powered by engines whose displacements were limited to 660cc and whose output was capped at 63 horsepower. Two years ago, Papke found just the 1991 Beat he needed for sale on Bring a Trailer. He explains: “The Beat I purchased was in excellent shape with only 42,000 kilometers on its odometer. I chose that particular car because of its short wheelbase, seating locations, and convertible body style.”

The design process began with sketches, which were followed by a clay model. Papke adds, “Later I built several 1/24th scale models from my CAD drawings to match the dimensions of the Beat’s unibody chassis.

“The frame supporting my body panels is made of 1/8th-inch wall thickness aluminum extrusions cut to length on a compound miter saw. I hired a mobile welder to assemble those pieces. Another vendor used my CAD files to cut my body panels out of quarter-inch aluminum sheets with a waterjet. The flush-mounted frameless windows are 3/16-inch laminated automotive glass. The bodywork is fastened to the aluminum frame with epoxy and wrapped with titanium-colored vinyl sheeting. In addition to the $12,000 Honda Beat’s cost, I spent roughly $13,000 on materials.”

“The entire construction process took only a year. While Raazer has license plates for legal street use, I drive it only to car shows and exhibits. I’ve entered it in the sculpture category of ArtPrize, a competitive event that will occur this September in Grand Rapids, Michigan. The total prize money at stake in that event is $400,000.”

Asked what project will follow this car, which resembles one of the Great Pyramids of Giza, Papke replies: “Another wedge, of course!  This time it will be an even simpler design with just three flat planes. Fewer than that is impossible. As your article’s title predicts, my next car will be called ‘Edge’.”

***

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The post Homegrown: The Raazer’s edge appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

Like every car enthusiast, Troy Jensen, of Caldwell, Idaho, harbors fantasies of a Shelby Cobra coiled in his parking spot. What distinguishes this 54-year-old mechanical engineer from most dreamers, however, is that he successfully converted 14 years of spare time into the running, driving homegrown snake you see here. (Use your imagination to see what this sports car will look like once its fiberglass skin is finally finished.)

“From the start,” Jensen explained, “it was clear that purchasing an actual Cobra or even a Factory Five kit was beyond my means. The exhilarating growl of a big-block Ford V-8 was also out of reach. The good news is that my CAD [computer-aided design] skills allowed me to follow cost-conscious alternative paths to my goal line.

“To approach the performance of the third-generation Mazda RX-7 I’ve owned for years, I decided that simply scaling down a real Cobra made the most sense. When a 3/4th-scale design failed to accommodate my 5-foot, 11-inch build, I upped the ante to 8/10th-scale. That approach yielded a tidy 72-inch wheelbase, a length barely over 10 feet, and a 55-inch maximum width. At this juncture, my car is successful in autocross events without a hint of bodywork. Given the fact this is a lifetime project that may never reach what naysayers consider ‘finished’ status, I’m happy to enjoy my pet’s current acceleration, braking, and agility prowess.

“When a friend challenged the ‘go-kart’ descriptor I used to explain this car, I coined the more evocative ‘Rattlesnake’ name. I’m happy to add that friends and family members have supported this fantasy from its start.”

We asked Jensen to describe how he downsized a Ford V-8 to suit his 8/10th-scale predator. He responded: “The syncopated thump of a Harley-Davidson V-twin has always been music in my ears. Then, out of the blue, my close friend Jason’s Buell Cyclone, powered by an air-cooled 91-horsepower, 1203cc V-twin, was wiped out by an errant Saturn. Fortunately, he walked away from the accident with minimal injuries; after the dust settled, he bestowed his bike engine to my cause.”

That begged the question: Is this Rattlesnake a four-wheeled motorcycle? “That’s actually not a bad way to describe it,” Jensen said. “I built the spaceframe out of light, stiff 4130 chromoly tubing. Nearly all the steering, suspension, brake, and half-shaft parts are from a first-generation [NA] Mazda Miata. There’s an unholy mix of other components from Legends-series dirt-track race cars and from snowmobiles, as well as several 3D-printed parts. You wouldn’t be wrong calling my Rattlesnake a junkyard dog.

“One major challenge was adapting the Buell’s integral five-speed, no-reverse transmission. To accommodate my two-seat cockpit, I ran the Buell’s right-side power output back to the car’s centerline via chain into a transfer case providing a reverse gear. A second chain runs from that box to a Miata differential reconfigured for chain drive. Miata half shafts are shortened to provide a 44-inch rear track dimension versus 43 inches up front.

“Shopping for Cobra-esque wheels at Tire Rack, the ones I preferred were of course the most expensive. They’re 7-inch-wide, 12-spoke Enkei RPF1s fitted with Toyo R888R racing radials sized 185/60R14 in front and 225/50R14 at the rear. I found a nice tight pair of bucket seats in the Speedway Motors catalog. A friend donated a Bugeye Sprite’s windshield that I hope to use after it’s been narrowed to fit my cowl.”

One Rattlesnake oddity is what appears to be no fewer than four header pipes collected into one large exhaust pipe running down each side of the car. “I was going for the true Cobra flavor here, even though each side pipe is fed by only one cylinder,” Jensen said. “The other three pipes merging into each collector are capped off. It turns out that this arrangement causes internal reverberation, magnifying the rumble, especially at idle.”

Jensen plans to continue his scaled-down Cobra theme in the bodywork. “I have begun making the smaller inner panels out of 3D-printed parts,” he said. “The outer shell will consist of four molded-fiberglass pieces: a hinged nose section with a forward opening for engine-cooling air, a panel running down each side, and a fixed trunk compartment cover. To avoid the complexity and weight of hinged doors, the driver and passenger will simply step aboard over the side panels. While my current fuel tank holds only two gallons, I intend to install a larger capacity tank in the trunk upon completion of the fiberglass panels.”

Like other home builders, Jensen has avoided keeping detailed estimates of the time and money he’s invested. “I’d guess my parts outlay is around $7000 thus far,” he revealed. “For every hour spent actually cutting, welding, and fabricating, I probably spent 10 hours on the computer designing that aspect of the car. Hands-on construction consumed roughly 2000 hours spread over 14 years. And while I haven’t yet rolled Rattlesnake across any scales, I’d estimate it weighs only 800 pounds, without a driver, which is why its maneuverability is so exhilarating.”

Adding plates to legalize Rattlesnake for road use is another thought-provoking concern. “Thus far I’ve fine-tuned my car during quick jaunts around the neighborhood, using a trailer to attend autocross events,” he said. “I have fond hopes of visiting a road course, drag strip, and possibly the Bonneville Salt Flats to document performance.

“While there are off-road and utility-vehicle categories available for obtaining Idaho license plates once I’ve passed a safety inspection, long trips on major highways are not part of my game plan. The reason is because of the ugly squishing sounds that would result from any confrontation between my ultralight roadster and some hulking semi-tractor trailer rig.”

***

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The post Homegrown: Scaled-down Cobra has both bark and bite appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

Retirement usually means moving to some southern clime and ceremoniously pitching the alarm clock out the window. Gene Dickirson, 80, who resides in Plymouth, Michigan, only a few miles north of Hagerty’s editorial offices, turned a cold shoulder to those traditions in order to indulge his childhood fantasy—constructing a sports car from scratch.

This ambitious endeavor began in 2000 following Dickirson’s 36-year engineering career at Ford. And instead of consuming decades, his effort produced a running car in less than six years. That’s because step one was to create a miniature Ford Motor Company—minus the bureaucracy—comprised of five retirees, four colleagues still holding down day jobs, and one patient, understanding wife. “Barbara’s most notable contribution,” Dickirson notes, “was the project’s name: Gene Dickirson Team Speedster.

“Before the hands-on work started, we debated ideas during lunch-hour and evening meetings, voting on hundreds of details to achieve a consensus as to what the final design should be. My three-car garage served nicely as our base of operations. We agreed from the beginning that when our creation was finally sold, every participant would share in any profit realized.

“We selected a two-seat roadster body style to achieve an enjoyable summertime ride while avoiding the complexity of top construction. Following standard industry practice, we wrote down key product features and defined our hard points. Ford designers Larry Ronzi and Craig Sandvig sculpted our 1/8-scale clay model. Visteon engineer Keith Rogalski used non-contact scanning to digitize the dimensions before Larry Conger converted those figures to full scale using ICEM Surf industrial design software. A full-size body we made out of foam also came in quite handy.

“Dave Maran fabricated wood models and constructed our welding fixtures. Throughout this endeavor, Chuck Carlson ably served as assistant chief engineer. Once we had finalized door, hood, and deck cutlines, we transmitted our CAD data to Method Industries in Palmetto, Florida, where first molds and then body panels were made using fiberglass and Kevlar doused with vinyl-ester resin.

“Upon receipt of the exterior panels, we designed and developed door, hood, and deck hinges and latching hardware. Other projects included designing the dash, steering wheel, door trim, and an aluminum grille. Visteon engineer James Wilber guided the wiring, A/C register design, and instrumentation effort. Musa Azzouz made sure the occupant-restraint anchors had sufficient strength. Cerullo Performance in California stitched leather upholstery onto our sport seats. The leather-wrapped Lecarra steering wheel came from Lokar.

“A totaled 1994 Corvette served nicely as our organ donor. This $5682 wreck rolled into my garage in running condition but stripped of most of its body and interior parts. The 300-horse Chevy V-8 and Hydramatic 4L60E four-speed automatic ran well, requiring little more than a thorough cleaning before returning to the road.

“Instead of using the Corvette’s twisted frame, we designed and constructed our own perimeter chassis out of 1/8-inch-wall rectangular tubing. Although we farmed out the steel cutting and welding to nearby fab shops, a dozen visits were required to supervise that work. We paid a local Chevy dealer to check the final dimensions to ensure they met factory tolerances.

“Our 96.2-inch wheelbase is shared with the Corvette, along with key body-to-chassis mounting points and suspension hardware. While our Speedster is more than a foot shorter than the Corvette, it’s 3.6 inches wider. Curb weight is more than a hundred pounds lighter. By angling the windshield only 19 degrees up from horizontal, our stance is more than four inches lower than the Corvette’s. Our cut-down 2001 Jeep Cherokee windshield is supported by one-inch steel tubing running about halfway up its sides, while the upper periphery is finished with epoxy resin.

“We made our own 16-gallon fuel tank out of welded sheet aluminum. It sits just behind a luggage compartment accessible by lifting the hinged tail section. Our 18-inch Fikse aluminum wheels wear Michelin Pilot Sport performance radials.”

The team’s final tally listed approximately 2000 components, some 13,000 hours of effort, and $66,364 spent on parts and outside services. The first drive around the block occurred in 2005. “That was a thrill I’ll never forget,” Dickirson recalls. “Our car ran straight and true at highway speeds and felt as agile as any Corvette on winding roads.” Using the donor car’s VIN expedited the licensing process.

While beauty is in the eye of the beholder, the GDT Speedster has earned its share of appreciation. Car and Driver blessed this effort with an Editor’s Choice trophy at the 2006 Rolling Sculpture gathering held in Ann Arbor.

Less than 1000 miles were logged before the GDT Speedster was dispatched to auction, the game plan from the beginning. Hopes were high that a buyer willing to spend $200,000 might be found. While that fantasy wasn’t realized, the late Texas attorney John O’Quinn did add the GDT Speedster to his enormous collection in early 2007 for a gavel price of $60,000.

Dickirson believes the GDT Speedster is now in the hands of an Arkoma, Oklahoma, owner. Without further ado, he and his team promptly began designing another homebuilt two-seater, this time a coupe. Watch this space to see how that effort turns out.

***

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The post Homegrown: The GDT Speedster is the ultimate retirement special appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new, limited series about homebuilt cars and their ingenious creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Email tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read more Homegrown stories here. —Ed.

***

Before the automotive world earnestly adopted battery-electric drivetrains, amateur and professional engineers competed in recurring mile-per-gallon contests to advance the fuel-economy cause. In the 1980s, Craig Henderson, of Bellingham, Washington, teamed with three fellow car nuts to construct a car they called Avion. The 100-plus-mpg achieved by their homebuilt special on a Canada-to-Mexico border run merited a Guinness World Records entry. Just as important, Avion’s fuel efficiency may never be topped.

Henderson, now 65 and a retiree, explains: “The initial hope was selling mid-engined kit cars built around Volkswagen Rabbit mechanical bits. My friends Bill Green, Russ Moye, and Larry Graft started the project while I was working at Honeywell. Bored with my job, I quit to build the body plug needed to mold the composite body parts. Luckily, I was experienced in constructing prototypes to be tested and refined for sale to consumers.

“The late Dr. Michael Seal, a professor at Western Washington University, where I earned my degree in industrial technology, provided not only advice and encouragement, but also access to the school’s well-equipped shop. I ended up doing a majority of the work on Avion and funding the cost of most of its parts.

“To save weight, we selected aluminum for the monocoque. Steel subframes supporting the suspension, steering equipment, and powertrain enhance crash resistance. Bodywork consisting of fiberglass, carbon-fiber, and Kevlar is riveted and bonded to stiffen the assembly. Our goal was a 1500-pound curb weight, which we beat by 50 pounds. Another goal was ultra-low drag, which we achieved by designing a super-smooth exterior with minimal frontal area.

“I’d estimate the drag coefficient at 0.26. Only five or so horsepower are required to cruise our two-seat coupe at 60 mph.

“Inside, we fit Porsche 914 seats reupholstered in leather. While the roofline is low, there’s room enough for my six-foot-ten brother-in-law. Our dash panel is rosewood. The windshield came from a Toyota Celica, while the side and rear windows are hand-formed acrylic plastic. To obtain license plates, we successfully registered our prototype as a 1967 homebuilt based on [the] VW content.

“Tall tires help minimize the rpm needed on the highway. After Goodyear heard about Avion’s record-breaking efficiency, they provided $10,000 in sponsorship to cover expenses, along with a set of their ultra-low-rolling-resistance CS Fuel Max radials.”

Powered by a diesel engine and manual transmission from that Rabbit, Avon achieved a remarkable 103.7 mpg in 1986 on a two-way, border-to-border run. Switching to a three-cylinder, 800-cc diesel from a Smart ForTwo for a one-way 2010 run upped the ante to 119.1 mpg.

A volumetric fuel meter and GPS equipment ensure fuel-economy measurements are dead accurate. Avion is so efficient, Henderson says, that no refueling is necessary to make the Canada-Mexico trip.

What’s next? “With hopes of winning the $5 million Automotive XPRIZE,” Henderson says, “I began construction of a second Avion. Because that contest was not only poorly run but fraudulent, car two is currently stored. I may convert it to electric propulsion since huge batteries aren’t necessary in an ultra-light, low-drag car. Another possibility is tuning Avion two to run on renewable diesel fuel.” Fuel, in other words, made from natural fats, vegetable oils, and grease, instead of fossil fuels.

“Recently, the director of San Diego’s Air & Space Museum was highly impressed by my photos and description of the Avion. His thumbnail assessment is that [the car is] aircraft technology applied to road use. Thanks to his encouragement, I may loan Avion for display at the museum, so it can be enjoyed by the public at large.”

***

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The post Homegrown: The homebuilt 1980s hot rod with 119 mpg appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

Long-time Hagerty member Steve Heller, 77, has spent half a century selling what he calls “live edge furniture and space age artifacts” from his Fabulous Furniture shop in Boiceville, New York. In spare moments, he mustered the energy to create four wild customs, including his so-called Fintasia 2 presented here.

“In the early 2000s, I needed a long-distance cruiser to travel between my store and the American Visionary Art Museum in Baltimore where some of my sculpture became part of their collection. Since my customized ’59 Cadillac, called Fintasia, was definitely not the right vehicle for such missions, I purchased a Mercury Grand Marquis to serve my hauling needs,” recalls Heller.

“My partner in crime, Mark Karpf, and I reshaped every inch of the exterior in my shop’s driveway, including the addition of ’50s-era DeSoto tailfins. What we christened the Marquis de Soto won the New York Times Collectible Car of the Year award and subsequently best of class at Pasadena and Sacramento, California shows.

“After that custom was sold to a California buyer, I purchased a near new Dodge Magnum in 2011, drove it home, and promptly ripped into it. We called that custom Cro-Magnum. Even though it dropped jaws everywhere I went with it, that custom was a bit too subtle for my tastes, so I bought another Magnum—a 2006 R/T wagon to efficiently transport my creations—and promptly went to town on that.

“For what was soon labeled Fintasia 2, we created the biggest ’59 Cadillac tailfins we could imagine. All the modifications were made of either original 1950s sheet metal or fabricated from scratch. No Bondo was allowed.

“This custom sports a total of eight Cadillac bullet taillamps! The scallops in the paint contain 23k gold metalflake. Construction took two years and cost around $75,000.

“Fintasia 2 also won its class at the Grand National [Roadster] Show in Pomona. While visiting the west coast, I swung by Jay Leno’s garage in Burbank. Unfortunately, the place was locked tight. But just as I was leaving, I heard someone yell ‘Hey! Hey! Where ya going?  It was Jay; he spent some time inspecting my creation and sharing generous compliments.

“We recently repainted Cro-Magnum with the intention to sell it. Those proceeds will hopefully finance my next customizing adventure!”

Anyone interested in seeing Fintasia 2, visiting Heller’s studio, or purchasing his Cro-Magnum Dodge can reach him at Fabulous Furniture, 3930 Route 28 in Boiceville, New York or email him at fabfurn1@gmail.com.

***

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The post Homegrown: Fantastic “Fintasia 2” is much more than a Magnum appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

Practically every automobile and motorcycle we celebrate at Hagerty employs some form of energy conversion—an internal combustion engine, an electric motor, a turbine, or even human pedaling—to spin the drive wheel(s).

To our amazement, a competitive sport exists in which forward velocity is determined solely by gravitational forces applied on an inclined road surface. What’s known as gravity racing (GR) to a few keen participants is the supreme test of car construction creativity with no help from energy conversion.

It’s Soap Box Derby on steroids.

Doug Anderson, 66, of Fayetteville, Georgia, a retired Delta Airlines technician, built and drove this sleek “Atomic Scalpel” racer in pursuit of gravity-fed glory. Six years ago, at an event called L’Ultime Descente, in Quebec, Canada, the Scalpel became the fastest GR machine in history with a clocked speed of 101.98 mph.

As it turns out, there’s a long history of racing sans engines. Downhill competition began in 1904 near Frankfurt, Germany. The Soap Box Derby was inaugurated in 1934 by Dayton, Ohio resident Myron Scott—the very man who gave the Chevy Corvette its name. In the mid-1970s, racers competed on a 30-percent grade in Signal Hill, California (near Long Beach), where crashes were common and at least one spectator was injured by a flying skateboard. Fortunately, there were no fatalities. Gravity racing ceased at this location in 1978 over obvious safety concerns. More recently, Red Bull, the energy-drink-hawking extreme sports obsessives, started its own downhill derby series with jumps and obstacles.

“I started GR in 1999 by building what’s called a street luge—essentially a large skateboard,” Anderson explains. “Racing all over the country for three years, I became the Extreme Downhill International organization’s national amateur champion. The team I founded—Bodrodz Xtreme Gravity Racing—continued until 2006, earning several visits to the final competitive rounds.

“In 2016, we advanced to an enclosed gravity car with four wheels, brakes, streamlined bodywork, and a drag chute for slowing the car at the foot of the grade. For inspiration I visited Speed Week on the Bonneville Salt Flats along with a few reunited team members. That convinced us to build the chassis as small as possible to fit the driver with clean bodywork covering the working parts to manage airflow.

“Colleagues Jason Camp, Chris Schafer, Scott Holsenback, and John Nichols were instrumental in building and campaigning what we christened The Atomic Scalpel. Construction consumed a full year and the car was painted just-in-time for its debut at the 2017 L’Ultime Descente event in Canada.

“Our car has a mild steel belly pan to smooth under car air flow and to keep the center of gravity low. The structural space frame consists of chrome-moly steel tubing with titanium used in critical areas. The four tires are high-durometer pneumatic designs inflated to high pressure to minimize rolling resistance. Steering is by handle bars guiding the front wheels and there’s a disc brake at each corner for slowing in conjunction with a custom Deist-brand drag chute. The two-piece body with a hinged section for access to the cockpit is molded foam-cored composite material.”

Pictures do a poor job of conveying the scale. “The body is configured to tightly wrap my 5’8”, 190-pound build,” says Anderson. “Its maximum width is 31 inches over a 58 inch wheelbase. That yields a 520 square inch frontal area; lacking wind tunnel testing, my guess for the drag coefficient is 0.175.”

Scalpel, indeed.

“While the rules allow up to 550 pounds for the driver and car, our combination weighs 470 pounds. Because the course is only 1-kilometer long, adding ballast wouldn’t necessarily yield a higher trap speed.

“With absolutely no opportunity to shake down the Scalpel before competition, I made seven passes hoping for the best. On the 18-percent grade adjacent to Quebec’s St. Lawrence River, I joined the exclusive Century Club with my 101.98 mile-per-hour trap speed, only the seventh effort ever to top 100 mph.

“That record stands in part because there have been no recent gatherings of the World Gravity Speed Association. We’re working diligently to revitalize the sport and there’s a steeply graded road in the southeast U.S. with possibility. In 2022, The Atomic Scalpel was retired and donated to the Speedway Motors Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska, where it remains on display.

“I’m fortunate that my family members support this activity. I’m counting on their backing for one more assault on the world speed record with a new car currently under construction.”

When Anderson returns to the grade, we’ll bring you news of the fresh speeds he’s accomplished.

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The post Homegrown: “Atomic Scalpel” tops 100 mph with gravity alone appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity of their visionary creators. Know a car and builder that might fit the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN. Read about more Homegrown creations here. —Ed.

Constructing a car at home rarely proceeds beyond the dream stage for most enthusiasts, but Bob Elton of Ann Arbor, Michigan, has two running and driving homebuilts to his credit. Over a span of 15 years, in his spare time, this 75-year-old Hagerty member, automotive engineer, and craftsman designed and constructed the two machines shown here. Each wears fiberglass coachwork atop a steel frame, and each is powered by a General Motors V-8 driving the rear wheels through a Hydramatic transmission.

Elton has been retired for seven years, but he began his career in 1965 as a Hydramatic co-op student—a young engineer on loan to GM as part of school. In the mid-1970s, he ran an independent car-repair and fabrication shop, then earned his degree from the University of Michigan. Over a 50-year career in engineering, he worked for Chrysler, Ford, and GM, plus a few suppliers and consultants.

During that career, Elton was able to get time on manufacturer-owned CATIA computer-aided-design (CAD) software, to shape his bodywork. “The first step,” he says, “was designing a vertical cross-section every 10 inches or so, the full length of each body. In addition to accommodating the driver and passenger, my bodywork had to package the mechanical equipment while embodying the interior and exterior aesthetics I sought. After drawing sketches for years, I spent a year or so per project, advancing my concepts to CAD shapes.”

When he was satisfied with those shapes, Elton printed out the outline of each body cross-section, then glued each outline to a piece of thin plywood. After cutting each of those pieces to match, he assembled them atop a surface plate, to form a full-scale body buck. Gaps between the panels were filled with styrofoam. Pound after pound of plaster followed, to perfect surface details—first rough plaster, then patching plaster, then drywall mud. The result was sanded smooth, then painted with lacquer and polished to facilitate inspection of surface highlights. To perfect the car’s aesthetic, Elton deviated from his original CAD drawings in select places.

This was Elton’s Roadster as full-scale model. That model was handed off to a subcontractor, who created both body molds and finished fiberglass panels. The main body, including the hood and four separate fenders, was completed in 2011. The car’s steel frame, Elton says, incorporates sections from the frames of both a Chevrolet Caprice and a Chevy S-10 compact pickup. His final layout “provided a 126-inch wheelbase while supporting Chrysler power rack-and-pinion steering, front disc and rear drum brakes, and an S-10 live rear axle. The new coil-spring rear suspension I designed has anti-squat geometry.”

After the Roadster passed state inspection, earning a VIN and license plates, it was insured by Hagerty and readied for its first test drive, which came in 2012.

Elton then commenced work on his Coupe. While the Roadster incorporated the grille from a 1938 Cadillac LaSalle and pulled inspiration from Cadillac V-16s of that period, the Coupe ventured in a different aesthetic direction. “I drew inspiration from Virgil Exner’s 1952 Chrysler D’Elegance concept car and added hints of Bentley’s 2003 Continental GT,” Elton explains.

A more direct approach was used to construct the Coupe’s chassis. The 1986 Chevy El Camino possessed the 117.1-inch wheelbase, track dimensions, and coil springs that Elton sought, so he employed a frame from that car with few modifications beyond some rear-suspension refinements.

“Instead of farming out the fiberglass work,” he says, “I crafted all ten exterior-panel molds myself. The windshield and side glass came from a 2000 Ford Mustang, while the rear glass was sourced from a 2017 Chevy Corvette. My Summit Racing fuel cell holds 16 gallons. Final painting will be the responsibility of a nearby shop specializing in Corvette work.”

Prior to completion, Elton’s Coupe was test-driven near his residence sans bodywork. In March 2022, it passed inspection and was issued its VIN and plates.

Elton is hesitant to guess how many thousands of hours and “investment” dollars went into his homebuilt siblings. He does reveal, however, that farming out some of the Roadster’s work drove the car’s total cost over $100,000.

Another requirement worth mentioning is the patience of Elton’s wife, Mary, who tolerated his many late nights on the job. A reminder, then, to all the dreamers: Before you undertake anything of this scope, remember, you’re not just planning for dollars and construction hours. Add in ample moral support.

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it. 

The post Homegrown: The V-8 dream machines of a retired Big Three engineer appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Enjoy, fellow tinkerers! —Eric Weiner

Competing at the Bonneville Speedway is at the top of any speed enthusiast’s bucket list. Whether you buzz the Salt Flats west of Salt Lake City, Utah, at the wheel of your own speed machine or a rental racer matters less than simply experiencing this 30,000 acre playground given to us by Mother Nature.

Of course, storming the salt in a land speed racer of your own design is a powerful statement.

Russ Williams, 75, began working on his streamliner in 2013. “After several decades building and racing sailboats, I hoped to apply my hydrodynamic and aerodynamic expertise to speed on land,” Williams explains.

The first phase of that process was letting his thoughts gel into drawn sketches. These renderings next turned into 1/10th-scale wood models of both Williams’ chassis and body.

From there, with help from friends and the support of his family, Williams honed his speed needle in the 4000-square-foot shop at his Albion, California, residence. TIG-welded round- and oval-section steel tubing supports a Suzuki GSX-R750 motorcycle engine burning ethanol. This water-cooled inline-four slams an estimated 130 horsepower to the chain-driven rear wheels through an air-shifted six-speed transmission. Untold hours were invested making sure the Arrow was fast and safe.

By early 2018, Williams’s J-class (900-1200 cc) gas streamliner, the “Albion Arrow”, was ready for shakedown runs across a Nevada dry lake bed.

To sharpen his spear’s tip, Williams positioned two 13.5-inch billet aluminum wheels in line ahead of the narrow cockpit. “Given the smooth, straight nature of the salt flats and minimal steering requirements, I deemed front tires both unnecessary and undesirable,” Williams notes. “To provide some lateral grip up front, I machined treads directly into the outer perimeter of my compact aluminum rims. That’s right, no rubber touches the ground up front.

‘To minimize my car’s frontal area and drag coefficient, the Arrow is only 26 inches wide and 32 inches tall. Overall length is 23 feet, 5 inches, and the car’s skin is hand-formed sheet aluminum. Fueled and ready to race, it weighs barely a thousand pounds. I’m a tight fit in the cockpit and the view ahead is restricted, but this is the most entertaining ride I’ve ever had on four wheels.’

Williams took to the salt in 2018 with a target in his sights. The record he attacked was a speed of 219.884 mph, set in August of 2011 by John Wright in the Brant-Wright-Speranza Special. After fulfilling his licensing requirements during the fall Bonneville Speed Week, Williams clocked 218 mph on his first pass with an exit speed of 226 mph, proving the car was still gaining speed as it ran through the end of the course. ‘That was the great news! But my bad luck was that I shredded a rear tire at the end of that run and my speed didn’t warrant a return pass,” he explains. “The buzz and vibration scared the bejesus out of me.”

‘The rear tires we ran were rare Top Fuel Dragster rubber from the 1980s, selected to enable a full laid-back driver’s orientation. Unfortunately, they’re rated for only 200 mph so they’ll be upgraded to tires with a 250-mph rating.’

Summer storms have rendered the Bonneville Salt Flats more soggy field than dry lake bed of late. Williams and the Albion Arrow are nonetheless locked and loaded: “As soon as conditions allow resumption of Speed Week, I will be back.”

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The post Homegrown: Albion Arrow devours distance with a touch of salt appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Enjoy, fellow tinkerers! —Eric Weiner

Brian Booth, 57, has devoted 24 years, over 20,000 hours, and unmentionable dollars constructing the homebuilt he dubbed “Voo Doo.”

Booth is an artist and designer who spent 19 years at GM before becoming the chief designer at the L.A.-based firm Flyer Defense, which supplies rugged ATV personnel carriers to the U.S. Army. He’s also an instructor at the Los Angeles Art Center College of Design. His portfolio includes Chevy and Olds exteriors, Pontiac interiors, Chevy and GMC light trucks, various Opels, and the MV-1 taxicab.

Voo Doo’s propulsion system resembles something NASA might dream up. Seeking immunity from environmental/geo-political disruptions, Booth engineered his driveline to run on a wide variety of fuels, yielding what amounts to a science fair on wheels.

A 181-horsepower UQM Power Phase 135 DC electric motor drives the rear wheels through a Ford Mustang 9-inch, 5.14:1 differential. Ten LG Chem lithium-ion batteries provide 60 miles of emissions-free range for daily commuting. A Thunderstruck control unit keeps the electric propulsion system happy while an Elcon 240-volt charger sits onboard to replenish the batteries during stops.

When plugging in isn’t practical and charge is running low, a Garrett GTP 60-67 gas turbine spins a pair of ultra-light Auragen generators to energize the battery pack on the roll. “Believe it or else,” Booth explains, “I found this 60,000-rpm whistler—normally used as an auxiliary power unit—installed in a John Deere Gator side-by-side off-roader.”

“In my teen years I was inspired by the McDonnell F-101 Voodoo supersonic interceptor my father flew in the Air Force,” says Booth. “My priority here was more how I conserve energy than outrageous power and speed.”

Operating in its series-hybrid mode, Voo Doo’s range is extensive. The Garrett turbine is happy to swill gasoline, alcohol, diesel, bio fuel, or CNG.

“Thanks to my final drive ratio, low-end electric torque, and light weight, Voo Doo’s initial acceleration should be impressive. But even with an unlimited budget, I’d never want more than 500 hp in this homebuilt. I think the new generation of road-going performance must include responsible fuel consumption.”

Booth’s homebuilt mimics a C8 Corvette’s overall length and height. However, the wheelbase is longer by a foot while track and width dimensions are 4-5 inches greater, all to provide seating space for two adults plus two lucky kids. While he was timely employing an electric driveline, fitting four doors to this sports car must be considered a radical innovation.

The Voo Doo’s ten lithium-ion prismatic batteries are stacked two high inside a tubular stainless steel backbone. “A friend of mine designed the independent suspension systems employing unequal-length control arms at each corner,” Booth explains. The disc brake hardware is a mix of GM and Wilwood components. The unassisted rack-and-pinion steering gear was purchased from Unisteer Performance. Forgiato forged-aluminum wheels, 21×9.6- in front, 22×10.0-in back are fitted with ultra-low-profile Pirelli radials (245/35R-21 in front, 245/30R-22 in back).

Booth employed Alias CAD software to shape his exterior. A friend of his on the east coast milled stiff foam to create the main body mold. Booth helped lay up the fiberglass skin in the finished mold before designing and constructing his seats, instrument panel, center console, and door trim at home. The Aircraft Windshield Company helped shape the crystal clear polycarbonate windshield. Voo Doo’s side glass was custom made by Booth in his garage. In lieu of a back window, three cameras provide a comprehensive rear view.

‘The greatest challenge was a commitment to build my own fiberglass body, which cost ample time and money due to the need to mill the stiff foam used to make the mold,” says Booth. “That phase was done some twenty years ago before the advent of 3D printing. Once that technology became available, I was able to employ it to save cost and time constructing the interior components such as the roof pillar covers.

“Voo Doo has a true four-passenger interior with jump seats in back large enough to accommodate my 6-ft 1-in height. The front seat headrests came from an actual Voodoo aircraft and I installed a working AC system to maintain long-distance comfort.”

As for the weight, Booth hasn’t had a chance to put his homebuilt machine on the scale, but he’d “estimate the curb weight is about 3000 pounds.”

“Near the beginning of design and construction, a close friend counseled against trying to build a car at home. I learned so much collaborating with friends that I’m glad I ignored that advice. California assigned my VIN this August, long after I had enjoyed a few shake-down runs around the block.”

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The post Homegrown: Ex–GM designer’s “Voo Doo” magic appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Enjoy, fellow tinkerers! -Eric Weiner

Every now and again, some automaker will construct the odd twin-engine car for racing (1935 Alfa Romeo Bimotore), limited production (1958 Citroen 2CV 4×4 Sahara), or auto-show spectacle (2005 Jeep Hurricane). But a car powered by THREE engines? That’s something else.

Unbridled curiosity is part of what motivated Jim Noble of Azalia, Michigan, to spend 15 painstaking years constructing the show-grade homebuilt featured here. This retired truck fleet owner calls his creation “666,” not because he’s a devil worshipper but because the moniker most succinctly sums up what propels his rad pickup.

Introduced in 1929 as the “six for the price of a four,” Chevy’s “Stovebolt” six had a long and fruitful life. After engineers perfected its combustion process, it proudly wore a Blue Flame ID label celebrating what shot out the exhaust ports.

Noble gave his engines an 0.030-inch overbore to increase displacement from 235.5 to 239.5 cubic inches per block, achieving an awesome 718.4 cubic inch total. Fitted with dual-carburetor intake manifolds, tubular headers, and mild Isky cams, this 18-cylinder team delivers 550 horsepower by Noble’s estimate. Not to mention enough torque to rotate the Earth on its axis.

The center six stands tall, while the two outboard engines are each canted 22.5 degrees to make space for intake and exhaust manifolds. Among the premier virtues of any inline-six is the impeccable smoothness and balance inherent to its design. At idle, the Noble trio growls and whirs more like an angry electric motor than any automobile engine. Motorcycle drive chains tie the outboard engines to the center mill’s crankshaft, which spins a Hydramatic 700R4 automatic transmission. One cylinder fires every 40 degrees of center crank rotation. When the six Carter-Weber throttles are blipped, torque gushes forth like water from a fractured dam. Because stealth was not a Noble priority, his six-pack of exhaust pipes wears restrictors but no mufflers.

“My rectangular steel tubing frame provides ample torsional and bending stiffness,” Noble explains. “A step at the front accommodates rack-and-pinion steering and my unequal-length control arm suspension equipped with QA1 adjustable gas-pressure dampers. The rear axle carries a heavy-duty Dana 70HD 4.56:1 motorhome differential equipped with an Eaton E-Locker limited-slip, and there are four trailing links and a Panhard rod.”

A substantial disc brake sits at every corner. The front tires are Cooper radials size 205/65R-15, while the towering rear meats are 455/55R-22.5 Michelins originally intended for semi-truck use. Their cost: $1000 apiece.

666’s handsome grille and cab began life in the same 1954 Chevy pickup truck that contributed one engine to this cause. “I chopped six inches out of the top and four inches from the cab’s bottom to help the engines dominate my custom’s presentation,” says Noble. His homemade cargo box carries a scratch-built 24-gallon fuel cell. The massive aluminum radiator is another prime example of quality craftsmanship; Noble sprayed the Martin Senour base-coat clear-coat paint in a patriotic scheme he conceived at the beginning of this project.

Inside, comfortable bucket seats straddling a massive transmission tunnel are supported by the sheet-steel floor pan. A hinged moon roof brightens the mood and G-Force 5-point racing belts hold the driver and passenger in check.  The 2-foot-long shift lever also came from the Chevy pickup donor. The skull knob topping it a period piece from the 1950s hot-rodding era.

After warming his engine cadre, Noble brake torques 666 to light its rear tires. Because the crankshafts in these sixes are supported by only four main bearings, he’s hesitant to top 5000 rpm. Thanks to the 0.69:1 overdrive ratio in the transmission’s top gear, that modest redline is still enough to hustle this rod to a theoretical 190 mph.

The view through 666’s windshield is like peering between Manhattan skyscrapers. Noble sacrificed three windshields  to the fabrication gods before successfully trimming to fit without cracking. Given that there are only 40 miles on the odometer since departing the fabrication bay, the 666’s acceleration runs during our thrilling ride-along were limited to quarter-throttle. Following our test sprint, Noble shared his prize at the revived Meguiar’s Detroit Autorama held in March of this year.

Asked what he’s got invested in 666, Noble admits to keeping receipts for purchased parts but never adding them up. Nor did he log the thousands of hours spent here. “Thankfully my wife Cindy is all-in,” Noble emphasizes. “Maybe that’s because we’re both horse aficionados. I pursue horsepower through internal combustion and she competes in equestrian dressage with her Belgian Warmblood Adonis.”

Adonis being a figure of Greek mythology associated with death and rebirth, we pronounce this hot rod born from three Stovebolts legendary indeed.

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The post Homegrown: “666” hot rod packs triple the Stovebolt, triple the fun appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Enjoy, fellow tinkerers! -Eric Weiner

By day he worked as an engineer at the Ford Motor Company but evenings and weekends were Dave Piontek’s time to shine as a master garage builder. An American “Garagefather,” if you will.

Even before he graduated from the University of Michigan with an engineering degree, he fearlessly converted his ’62 Corvair Spyder into a daunting autocross racer. Riding on a steel tubing frame constructed from scratch and topped with a crude but light aluminum body, Piontek’s first homebuilt was so quick that the club orchestrating his events told him his participation was no longer appreciated.

He then devoted six years to bringing a 1958 Fiat Abarth 750 Zagato double-bubble coupe back from a rusty death. Piontek relined the Italian interior with upholstery he stitched on his wife’s sewing machine. The finished product was profitably sold through an ad in Hemmings. A ’64 Jag E-Type roadster purchased with the proceeds required only a year to restore and remained in his car collection for 24 years.

The Sportech Roadster

Deciding that he preferred creating cars over restoring them, Piontek began what would become his magnum opus in 1986. Inspired by SCCA Formula Ford single-seat racers, his vision was for a street-legal two-seat roadster. Various associates at FoMoCo helped out with suspension design and body construction. He remembers the whole thing like it was yesterday, so we’ll let Piontek spin the yarn from here:

“While I lacked modern design software, I did have a large drafting table at home. So, I used a 3-foot-wide by 10-foot-long roll of paper to lay out the framework constructed using 1.25-inch square steel tubing with 0.083-inch wall thickness. A friend at work contributed the differential from a Hewland transaxle which I fitted with ball bearings and inboard-mounted brake discs.

“Since this concoction would be powered by a Suzuki GSX-R 1324cc motorcycle engine and transmission, I incorporated an electric motor for reverse. My parts list also included a shortened Toyota Corolla rack-and-pinion steering gear, Koni adjustable coil-over dampers, JFZ brakes, a Suzuki hydraulic clutch, and custom-made tubular suspension control arms.

“Particle board atop sawhorses served as my surface plate during frame construction. I used MIG welding for the frame and TIG to construct the control arms. Uprights were fabricated from sheet steel and heavy gauge tubing.  Driveline bearings and half-shafts came from a VW Rabbit. I made a sequential shifter out of a simple lever operating a heavy-duty cable. Goodrich Comp T/A radial tires size 205/50R-15 in front and 225/50R-15 in back ride on 6.5 x 15-inch MSW aluminum wheels.

“Following a year of effort, I took my car to a local drag strip to shake down the finished chassis and running gear. It clocked 112 mph for the quarter-mile in 12.8 seconds. First gear was worth 50 mph!

“At this juncture, I was employed at Ford’s Design Center working on advanced concepts. We did everything from plastic body panels to 48-volt electrical systems to finished show cars. This is where I learned the design process from start to finish, including clay model construction.

“To build a body at home for what would become my Sport-Tech, (later Sportech) Roadster, I used a wooden ‘bridge’ and borrowed measuring uprights from an SCCA racing body builder. The armature was foam over wood with outer surfaces 1-2-inches below what would become the finished form. Some 2000 pounds of used but serviceable Chavant modeling clay was diverted from work to my garage for this effort.

“Ford designers Mark McChesney and Greg Miller produced a one-quarter-scale model that I measured using my Bridgeport milling machine to obtain accurate full-size section dimensions. A large turkey broiler warmed the clay to make it pliable.

“After three months of evening and weekend effort, I had a clay model to show Mark and Greg. They’d critique it for 15-20 minutes, then I’d carve the clay for 10-15 hours to implement their corrections. Once they were happy, I hired a professional clay modeler to add or remove 1/16-inch of clay here and there, including the windshield area, to achieve the final shape. Other pros made the mold and first Kevlar-reinforced body which mounted to my framework at multiple points. In addition to rocker panel attachment points, there were tubes and brackets bonded to the body and welded to my frame.

“Designing the engine cover hinge and latch arrangements consumed six months. Ducts providing air to the engine and radiator and wheel-well liners took additional time. The head and tail lamp covers are molded of acrylic plastic heated and draped over plaster molds. I used my wife’s oven for this … obviously when she wasn’t at home. The windshield was also made of acrylic. A vendor helped avoid distortion in that component.

“Greg Miller was very helpful designing the interior trim panels and bucket seats. A friend at work employed in the trim shop stitched my vinyl seat covers at home.

“Since I had already painted a dozen cars, I did the final prep work and sprayed the Sportech at home. My son, who was 12 at the time, designed the nose badge on his Mac Plus computer.

“Following two years of effort, I began driving my Sportech to work. After catching wind of this project, Ford’s Design Vice President Jack Telnack invited me to display the car next to some of the company’s clay models and show cars. Asked how much had been spent on the project, I replied, ‘about $15,000.’

“When my manager and supervisor heard that figure they were highly annoyed, given the fact our concepts cost millions to create and were at best drivable only at low speeds. Ultimately, 300 people from various supply firms viewed the car on Ford’s turntable. Unfortunately, my Ford career took a turn for the worse because of my bosses’ embarrassment.

“Shortly thereafter, Ford’s Engineering VP Neil Ressler asked me to drive the Sportech to his building. Following a 30-minute test, he noted that race driver Jackie Stewart would be in town the following week to critique some pre-production Fords. Asked if I’d be interested in Jackie’s evaluation, responded ‘Hell yes.!’

“When that day came, I had an instrument called G-Analyst installed onboard the Sportech. In every corner, Stewart reached and held 0.99 g of lateral force. Later, racing instructor Skip Barber drove my car at Lime Rock and Jay Leno tried it in California.

“Other kudos include a two-page story in Car and Driver wherein my 1234-pound car accelerated to 100 mph in 10.6-seconds, half-a-second quicker than a Lingenfelter Corvette tested in the same issue. It also earned the Design and Originality Award at Detroit’s 1989 Autorama.”

Electric Acorn: Sportech as inspiration

Alan Cocconi of AC Propulsion, the company that helped create GM’s EV1 low-volume production electric car, was intrigued by Piontek’s Sportech. The ultra-light weight, compact size, and gorgeous bodywork were perfect for a BEV in the planning stages on the west coast.

Piontek converted one Sportech to BEV operation using a 200-hp AC motor, Honda transaxle, and 28 lead-acid batteries. Renamed ‘Tzero’ this car made its debut at the 1997 Los Angeles Auto Show. Six years later, Elon Musk joined the AC Propulsion team. Impressed by the possibilities following a test drive, he raised $7.5-million of start-up capital resulting in the 2008 launch of the Tesla Roadster, using Lotus Elise chassis and body components. [For a full account of how Tesla’s towering electric oak tree grew from this little-known acorn, click here.]

Geo-based “Fun Car”

Meanwhile back at the Ford ranch, Piontek cashed out his Dearborn chips to become the American Sunroof Company’s R&D supervisor. He earned five patents in five years at that job.

Next, he moved to Ticom—a composite-plastics supplier to General Motors originally owned by Northrop Grumman. While working as a plant manager, Piontek pitched the idea of building a concept car for presentation at trade shows aimed at expanding Ticom’s business. Here’s how it came together, as told by the man himself:

“What I had in mind was a modern Jeep-like Mini Moke. We selected a Chevy Metro chassis as the substructure in hopes of re-bodying the car with a rudimentary composite body to be called ‘Fun Car.’

“I found a low-mileage wreck and had it hauled to my garage where I stripped off the sheet metal above the rockers and shock towers. To elevate the driver’s vantage, the instrument panel, steering column, and seats were raised four inches.

“My ex-Ford colleague Mark McChesney supplied a rendering of the finished product, which was handed off to Special Projects, a Detroit area show car builder. Roy Bonnett, a structural composites expert hired by Ticom, outlined the process by which the Fun Car could be manufactured using equipment already in service at Ticom. Foam cores wrapped in fiberglass would be molded in a large press. Powertrain and suspension parts would be supported by steel inserts integrated with a composite frame.

“When we presented the finished prototype at the SEMA show, lots of folks assumed it was electric. That kicked off a second edition built atop a four-door Metro floorpan powered by a Solectria AC motor and 12 lead-acid batteries. At an EV conference in Costa Rico where we showed Fun Car, the country’s president encouraged Ticom to establish a new manufacturing base capable of mass producing the car.

“Unfortunately, neither Ticom nor Northrop were interested in the considerable investment required, so only three Fun Cars were ever built. When the economy turned down, both firms said adios to the challenging automotive market.”

Necessity is the mother of invention

Luckily, Piontek landed on his feet. Jay Novak, a close associate at Ford had moved to the company’s NASCAR racing department, needed a program manager to reside in North Carolina to assist Ford teams at 26 races a year. That necessitated shutting down all garage construction operations and a full household relocation south.

Though his NASCAR assignment lasted just over three years, Piontek’s creativity never ceased. To help teams precisely set their racers’ corner weights (the vertical load carried by each wheel), he invented a tool called Scale Mat. This consists of a 4×12-foot sheet of 0.030-inch plastic that readily folds down to a 2×4-foot piece for transport. The mat shows exactly where the aluminum plates under the weighing scales must be positioned for consistent measurements. This handy device reduced the time required to accurately locate the set of four scales from half-an-hour to one minute. Eighteen years after his Ford Racing stint, Piontek still sells 30 to 40 Scale Mats per year.

Harley-powered TwinTech

Before returning from North Carolina to Michigan, Piontek hatched his next homegrown car project: a two-seat roadster powered by a Harley-Davidson V-twin driving the rear wheels through a VW transaxle.

“Jay Novak designed what we called the TwinTech in Michigan, and I constructed the exoskeleton frame in North Carolina,” Piontek explains. “We used 1.75 x 0.062-inch round tubing for the frame members, oval tubes for the control arms and CNC-machined billet aluminum for the front uprights. Start to finish, this project took but nine months.

“While the powertrain did require some development, the Twin Tech won another Design and Originality Award at the 2006 Detroit Autorama show.

“This was the best ride and handling car Jay and I had ever created thanks to its ultralight 1200-pound weight, stiff chassis, and rising rate suspension systems. There were hopes of building and selling 100 of them a year until the 2007 recession hit. Only one was ever made and it’s still in my garage.”

Formula for success

Upon his return to Michigan in 2005, Piontek turned his attention to elaborate rotisserie restorations. At least, that is, until his buddy Novak suggested converting Van Diemen Formula Fords competing in SCCA road racing to motorcycle power. Ultimately, eight kits were created and sold to enable car owners to handle such conversions on their own.

Phase two focused on the SCCA’s Formula 500 class where a rules change allowed use of 600cc motorcycle engines. Ten different cars were converted here with spectacular specs—125 horsepower driving an 875-pound (including the driver!) package. “One of our NovaBlade cars was clocked at 160 mph on the Daytona International road course while winning the SCCA’s National Championship,” says Piontek. “Another one of these open-wheelers converted to electric propulsion competed successfully at the Pikes Peak Hill Climb in 2012.”

Piontek’s most recent project was reengineering a Novak-designed SCCA D sports racer to accommodate a Suzuki Hayabusa motorcycle engine. The finished result was 200 horsepower and 125 lb-ft of torque from the 1340cc bike engine in a 1180-pound (including driver) package.

All told, Piontek constructed 30 or so cars in his garage. Factor in the scope and breadth of his creativity and you’ve got a craftsman truly deserving of the “Garagefather” appellation.

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The post Homegrown: “Garagefather” Dave Piontek has built dozens of visionary cars appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Enjoy, fellow tinkerers! -Eric Weiner

After completing a couple of projects, including a Lamborghini Countach built from a kit, Bryan Ferguson sought a machine capable of astonishing his circle of car enthusiasts. Upon discovering that a Chevy small-block was cheaper than hotting up the flat-four in his ‘72 VW Beetle, his course of action was set: in January 2019, Ferguson began constructing a V-8 “peoples’ car” in his garage.

Growing up Ferguson dreamed of becoming a professional baseball player. Knowing that such hopes seldom pan out, his wise father encouraged him to prepare Plan B. So, Ferguson followed high school with mechanics classes at a vocational school, acquiring skills he’s used ever since.

“Dad was right,” this 60-year-old craftsman confirms. “Once I became a professional mechanic, I never looked back!” Ferguson spent his career working as an automotive technician for the local Post Office. As a service to his community, he is also the current Chairperson of the Board of Police Commissioners for the city of Detroit.

Beetle hot rods are nothing new, but Ferguson’s home-built Bug is especially creative. The standard approach to marrying a V-8 to a Beetle is to erect the concoction atop a Chevy S-10 pickup frame. Knowing he could do better, Ferguson designed his own chassis from scratch. “My perimeter frame made out of 2×2- and 2×4-inch welded steel tubing keeps my engine from poking like an iceberg out of the hood,” he explains. “Casual observers don’t realize what they’re up against at until they discover my V-8 emblem or hear the rock and rumble out the back.”

Ferguson bought a wrecked ’69 Camaro to obtain the 350-cubic-inch V-8 and Turbo Hydra-Matic 350 automatic he needed. That car’s front subframe and control arm suspension integrated neatly with his tubular support structure. A GM 10-bolt rear axle with a 3.73:1 drive ratio was narrowed seven inches and secured with three trailing links and a Panhard rod. The GM recirculating-ball steering gear guiding the front wheels is power-assisted and connected to a tilt-and-telescope Camaro column and Grant flat-bottomed steering wheel. The disc/drum brake system incorporates a Toyota master cylinder and vacuum booster.

Centerline aluminum wheels carry Continental Pro Contact radials in front (size 155/60R-15) and Firestone Firehawk Indy gumballs in back (size 295/50R-15). Ferguson constructed a 3-inch exhaust system out of stainless steel.

For the bodywork, Ferguson bought his Beetle years ago in running condition. If the standard VW resembles an undersized running back, his 4-inch windshield chop with stock height rear roof pillars yield the look of a hunkered offensive lineman. The wide fenders and adjoining sills are fiberglass moldings. Modern-era BMW kidney grilles, along with a lower opening, feed air to the radiator and transmission fluid cooler. The sparkling headlamps are LED units designed for use in Jeeps while the teardrop taillamps are trailer components.

Ferguson sprayed the black urethane exterior finish at 4:00 a.m., when it was cold, to keep the insects in his garage paint booth at bay.

This master scrounger equipped his cockpit with buckets from a VW GTI, an aftermarket dash panel, and a homemade center console. Ferguson stitched the fresh upholstery, including a few red threads, to accent the black interior theme. The custom windshield and side glass are about the only components Ferguson didn’t construct personally in his garage. Start to finish, he needed just under a year to get his V-8 Beetle running. At the 2020 Detroit Autorama, Ferguson earned a first place trophy in the radical customs class.

The result is something that would definitely lift Dr. Porsche’s eyebrow a notch or two: 300 horsepower combined with an 1850-pound curb weight. “Wheelspin is never a concern,” Ferguson notes. “When I nail the throttle, the sticky rear tires are so nicely loaded they leap my car smartly into the next block.”

Behind many a sports car sorcerer you’ll find a patient spouse. Ferguson’s wife imposed only one rule. No work after 10 p.m. or on Sundays. Now that it’s done, she forbids the sale of this particular project: “Considering everything he built in our garage over the years, this VW V-8 impresses me the most.”

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The post Homegrown: V-8 Speed Beetle packs 300 Detroit horses appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Love the JS Special? Read about more Homegrown creations here. -Eric Weiner

Jerry Shuck spent over three decades designing and building his stunning sports roadster. Among this candy blue delectable’s many virtues—gorgeous design, thoughtful engineering, fastidious attention to detail—the most compelling is that it is a product of patience. Decades of it.

The seed of this stunning Homegrown machine, the JS Special, started germinating in 1989. After pondering several kit car options dating back to his high school days, Shuck, of Mendocino, California, began building his dream machine. Thirty years of inspiration, perspiration, and state-of-the-art craftsmanship yielded a sub-2000-pound, 300-horsepower, Can-Am-worthy weapon.

“My father warned me not to get too fanatical,” Shuck notes, “but I ignored that advice.”

Shuck, 66, became an automotive da Vinci by studying sculpture at the California Institute of Arts. That education paved the way to employment as an aerospace and architectural modeler at Pacific Miniatures, Dimensional Presentations, and the Ralph M. Parsons Corporation. During spare moments while on assignment in Saudi Arabia, Shuck crafted 1/10-scale models of his dream car, first in wood, then fiberglass. “Luckily I had an abundance of time available at this stage, so I was able to devote full attention to the early models,” Shuck explains.

Upon his return to the U.S., Shuck became a clay modeler at GM’s Advanced Concepts Center (ACC) in Newbury Park, California. The expansion of his skill set would prove fortuitous. After helping shape the 1992 Corvette Sting Ray III concept and GM’s EV1 electric car, he hauled home the Chevant clay from those projects as raw material for the full-scale model he was sculpting in his garage.

Before ACC closed in 1996, Shuck learned digital sculpting via Alias software, another skill that came in handy for his off-hours project. Weekend, holiday, and vacation hours over seven years were spent shaping and perfecting clay. Shortly before GM moved Shuck and his wife back to Warren, Michigan, to continue work at the Tech Center’s advanced design studios, he and two friends laid up the primary body molds from the model.

The JS Special then went on hiatus for several years while Shuck created suitable garage space at his Michigan residence. In those days, he pondered the car “on a daily basis and created many worthwhile sketches.” To polish his fabrication skills in the meantime, he took TIG welding classes at a nearby community college to prepare for the space frame construction phase.

Before race car designers adopted monocoque aluminum construction, the accepted standard was an elaborate array of welded steel tubing that combined strength and stiffness with minimal weight. Drawing inspiration from the Maserati Type 61 “Birdcage” and Lamborghini’s LP400 Countach, Shuck created his space frame out of triangulated thin-wall 1.25-inch-diameter chrome-moly steel tubing. Using modern computer aided design (CAD) technology facilitated the process. ERA Replica Automobiles of New Britain, Connecticut, helped by supplying the suspension math model for the outfit’s (now discontinued) Ford GT40 replica. To suit his needs, Shuck added one inch to ERA’s 95.5-inch wheelbase and 57.0-/58.0-inch front/rear track dimensions.

Shuck purchased unequal-length control arms, aluminum uprights, and front anti-roll bar suspension components from ERA. “Unfortunately [ERA was] difficult to work with and their prices are outrageous. Luckily, Bob Putnam, ERA’s chief engineer, did supply a floppy disc revealing suspension attachment points,” says Shuck.

The rack-and-pinion steering gear is from an MGB, with minor mods to suit this installation. Coilovers were engineered by Performance Shock of Sonoma, California. Brake calipers from a C4 Corvette grab Wilwood rotors. The aluminum 15-inch wheels cast by Phil Schmidt are accurate replicas of the circa-1965 Lola T-70 sports racer’s center-lock design. Roger Kraus Racing’s vintage Dunlop tires with appropriate tread patterns mount to the 8-inch-wide front and 10-inch rear wheels.

The JS Special’s engine began life as a 1963 Oldsmobile 215-cubic-inch V-8, selected because of its compact dimensions and aluminum block and head construction. Increasing displacement to 262 cubic inches, bolting on Buick 300 heads, and installing a quartet of Weber two-barrel carburetors yielded an estimated 300 horsepower. Phil Baker in Washington state built the engine while John Harcourt in New Zealand supplied the induction system. In Shuck’s estimation, “These experts were instrumental in my achieving a great powerplant for my car.”

Kennedy Engineered Products devised an adapter to bolt the JS Special’s V-8 to a Porsche 914 transaxle, reconfigured by Transaxle Engineering with 901 gearsets.

Shuck fabricated one five-gallon sheet-aluminum fuel tank to reside in each side sill.  He also built the exhaust system using bends and “baloney” tubing purchased from Stainless Specialties. Pipe wraps and insulation materials came from Design Engineering. Engine cooling is provided by a custom Griffin aluminum radiator.

While constructing the chassis took only a couple of years, molding body panels consumed nearly a dozen. First a rotisserie was built to facilitate dividing the body shell into 19 primary molds. A couple dozen other molds were created to make the instrument binnacle, wheel tubs, inner body panels, and bucket seats. Then each panel was laid up using eight layers of carbon-fiber cloth and Nomex honeycomb bonded with epoxy resin. Every part was vacuum-bagged and oven-cured. “A mold for every panel was necessary because of my hope to enter mass production,” explains Shuck. “They’re still consuming space in my garage awaiting their ultimate owner.”

While inspiration for the bucket seats’ design came from the Lotus Europa S2, backrest and thigh-support angles and widths were adjusted to suit this application. Shuck built a wood pattern to mold the carbon fiber and Kevlar seat forms. Foam pads of different durometers (stiffnesses) were carved to provide suitable thigh and lumbar support.

Painting the JS Special was another serious ordeal. Fortunately, Shuck’s wife Kimiko is an automotive paint chemist. Her network yielded John Zerucha at PPG in Cleveland who spent months formulating the perfect shade of candy blue before donating materials to the project. Motor City Solutions in Taylor, Michigan, spent a year applying five base coats, eleven candy mid coats, and five clear coats of paint. The result is magnificent, but it’s one of the few elements of the JS Special that did not come out to Shuck’s maximum liking. “This stage of the project was a nightmare I’d like to forget,” he recalls. “While everyone loves the color, the finish on my car is annoyingly fragile.”

After 27 years as a clay and digital sculptor, Shuck retired from GM in 2016 to focus on completing his homebuilt. With the project’s ledger showing a total investment of $85,000, full running, driving status was finally reached in 2019. Shuck’s crowning achievement was obtaining registration documents and license plates in Michigan’s “specially constructed vehicle” category. Hagerty provided appropriate insurance coverage.

Three years ago, Shuck and his wife relocated to California, where Michigan’s registration documentation was irrelevant and not recognized by state authorities. He’s currently struggling to convince the California Air Resources Board and other state agencies that his car merits their approval.  In the meantime, driving opportunities are limited. The JS Special’s odometer has yet to top two digits. “There’s gas in the tank awaiting my chance to clock lots of miles,” Shuck laments.

With a little luck, Shuck and his wife may yet clear this final tall hurdle. They’ve certainly been patient.

Check out the Hagerty Media homepage so you don’t miss a single story, or better yet, bookmark it.

The post Homegrown: The JS Special, a Can-Am racer for the road appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Enjoy, fellow tinkerers! -Ed

While Noah Webster may not concur, we’d define a serious auto enthusiast as an individual who continues fiddling with cars in the evening after a long day toiling over them at work. Garrick Zack, 47, a designer in GM’s Advanced Studio in Warren, Michigan, fits that description to a T. While Zack won’t disclose the future products he’s working on by day, we’re frankly more interested in what he’s cooking up by night, in his garage. He proudly shared with us the replica Lancia Stratos HF kit car he assembled from Lister Bell, at his home north of Detroit.

Over the years, Lister Bell (now LB Specialist Cars) has sold roughly 150 Stratos kits to customers around the world who admire the design and performance of one of history’s most legendary rally cars. Homologated for the FIA’s Group4 competition in 1974, the Lancia Stratos HF (High Fidelity) won five Tour de France competitions and the World Rally Championship from 1974 through 1976.

Zack notes, “My kit came in a box larger than a full-size van. Each of the fiberglass body pieces was wrapped separately; the space frame was assembled but no driveline components were included. The quality of the panels facilitating tight gaps and perfect alignment impressed me from the start.

“Because the white exterior color is molded into the gelcoat, no painting was required. My initial cost was around $50,000 though it’s hard to guess what it might be today due to fluctuations in the international currency exchange rate and other variables. My total investment was approximately $100,000. Initial construction took place in my mother-in-law’s one-car garage. Later, I was able to use a friend’s two-car garage.”

LB is based in Newark-on-Trent, Nottinghamshire, U.K., north of London. This enterprise isn’t currently selling its STR kits due to pandemic- and Brexit-related challenges. While Lancia originally built nearly 500 Stratos cars for homologation, LB has sold around 150 of its STR replicas to date. Factory originals bring $500,000 or more depending on their competition record in the rare instance one reaches the auction block. And then there’s MAT in Italy that charges $600,000+ (not including the cost of a Ferrari F430 donor car) to make its modern-age New Stratos.

LR’s tubular spaceframe provides engineered mounting points for all suspension and driveline components. There are control arms in front and struts in back with a dual-rate coil-over damper at each corner. This arrangement provides a pleasant ride with excellent balance and body control during the inevitable aggressive driving. The brake system includes opposed-piston calipers and slotted discs made by HiSpec in England. Compomotive “coffin spoke” aluminum wheels are shod with aggressive Michelin Course radial tires, size 215/55VR-15 in front and 335/35VR-15 in back.

While the rally pod lamps look like they’d be excellent for urging laggards out of the passing lane, Zack doesn’t use them. The pop-up fender headlamps and low-mounted fog lamps provide ample night-time illumination, he reports.

Zack’s engine is the 3.0-liter four-cam 24-valve V-6 that powered Alfa Romeo 164 sedans in the late 1990s. After suffering the failure of the first used engine he purchased, Zack found a fresh replacement still in its crate. This fuel-injected V-6 provides around 230 horsepower and is married to a five-speed manual transaxle. LB made the entire exhaust system, including mufflers, out of stainless steel.

The custom-made bucket seats are included in the kit. All the Veglia instruments are common with a Fiat 124, except for the Auto Meter fuel gauge. Door and panel latch hardware also came from Fiat parts bins.

The biggest issue Zack experienced was persuading the Italian electrical system to behave. “Thankfully, Brian Scott, an electrician I know at work got my car to start and run perfectly,” he notes.  “Also, I’d be remiss not mentioning my wife Renee’s contributions. She not only kept our two kids out of my hair when I was busy working, she pitched in repeatedly, trial fitting and removing the engine. Her support made this a totally enjoyable project.”

Since completing the project five years ago, Zack has enjoyed driving his homebuilt Stratos some 3000 miles. “It’s a time machine with roots deep in the past yet capable of drawing attention today,” he adds.

“The compact size, light weight, and quick steering make my Stratos feel like maneuvering a go-kart. My kids love taking rides.  The best part is the satisfaction I realized from assembling this car myself.”

Climbing into the driver’s seat over the guard beam that intersects the door opening is a major challenge but much easier than escaping this Stratos’s grip on my un-limber body. There’s more room and far easier entry and exit on the navigator’s side of the cockpit.

Zack demonstrated the agility he adores on a quick lap of his neighborhood. Forward visibility is excellent, especially to the sides of the car, though the view to the rear is full of black louvers. The exhaust note is just right—assertive but never oppressive or annoying to neighbors.

The designer also admires the interplay between function and form evident in his homegrown Stratos. We’d say it’s a stunning result from a serious car enthusiast burning the candle at both ends.

The post Homegrown: GM designer’s Lancia Stratos HF kit car appeared first on Hagerty Media.

Welcome to Homegrown—a new limited series about homebuilt cars and the ingenuity, diligence, and craftsmanship of their visionary creators. Know of a killer Homegrown car that fits the bill? Send us an email at tips@hagerty.com with the subject line HOMEGROWN: in all caps. Enjoy, fellow tinkerers! -Eric Weiner

Every now and again, from across the lake where I reside, the captivating sound of a Rotax aircraft engine powering a small seaplane reaches my ears. This is my cue to cease what I’m doing to witness the tidy water-and-air craft slip Earth’s surly bonds. This week I met the man behind the machine, 62-year-old retired Ford engineer John Hickey, who combined Kitfox aircraft components with floats thirty years ago.

Imagine my delight when this new neighbor friend also presented six of the eight three-wheeled HyperRocket “autocycles” he’s built at home in his pristine southeast Michigan shop.

Hickey spent 30 years at Ford specializing in fuel economy development—a worthy cause in the current moment of $5 gasoline and the industry’s transition toward electric propulsion. It was the unlikely combination of his professional expertise and his experience building the seaplane that led to his creation of the HyperRocket. Combining lightweight aircraft aerodynamics with the performance of a sport motorcycle produces what Hickey calls a “crotchless rocket,” named so because no frame or fuel tank resides between the driver’s knees.

For each HyperRocket he produces, Hickey spends approximately six months on design and analysis, followed by six months of fabrication. The gas-powered versions boast a wide front track, handlebars and controls from a Suzuki motorcycle, a single rear drive wheel, and room for the driver and one passenger. Hickey sought to optimize performance while minimizing fuel consumption, focusing on ample stability, accurate control, and light weight.

How light? One version creatively combines a Suzuki Hayabusa 1340-cc inline-four motorcycle engine with turbocharging and intercooling to achieve a phenomenal 500 horsepower in a 585-pound, ready-to-rumble package. That machine has topped 200 mph on Hickey’s secret test track.

“While my job at Ford maximizing fuel efficiency provided much of the expertise required for this project, there were significant engineering gaps that had to be filled,” Hickey explains. “The most notable was every aspect of vehicle dynamics—how the suspension design interacts with the physics of motion to determine stability. A software called Wishbone was instrumental in laying out the front suspension.

“Aerodynamics is the second performance concern. Here, JavaFoil software helped optimize drag, lift, and directional stability. A third software obtained from Performance Trends predicted engine output considering bore, stroke, and boost pressure parameters.”

The complete suite of Computer Aided Design (CAD) and physics-based analysis software helps optimize all aspects of the design including performance, fuel efficiency/range, stiffness/stress, aerodynamics, suspension dynamics, and braking ability.

“Using software to model and predict performance is standard OE car-manufacturing methodology,” says Hickey. “You start early—long before production commences—to assure that essential safety and performance goals are achieved in your final design.

The high-strength-steel chassis tubing is cut on a purpose built CNC machine to exacting tolerances. Borrowing a page from historic aircraft manufacturing procedures, Hickey covers his structures with ultralight polyester fabric drawn taut with heat. Paint and/or a wrap gives each HyperRocket constructed thus far a unique appearance. The nosepiece is made of thin fiberglass molded locally by a shop using a form created by Hickey. Two options are available to minimize the ill effects of cockpit buffeting: wear a helmet or add the optional windshield shown here. One such HyperRocket entered in the Vetters Fuel Economy Challenge achieved 140 mpg.

“My goals were light weight, low aerodynamic drag, and minimal frontal area,” explains Hickey. “What I ultimately achieved in the HyperRocket an 0.27 drag coefficient, and a frontal area below one square meter. For reference, the drag coefficient for un-faired motorcycle and rider typically tops 0.75.

“Achieving suitable stability became a development effort. My first two HyperRockets demonstrated less than perfect stability in crosswinds, gusts, and while passing other vehicles on the road. Anything this light can become a kite in certain circumstances, so I fine-tuned steering, suspension, and external shape details to remedy those issues.”

Hickey’s crowning achievement is the pearlescent-painted, fully electric tandem-seat HyperRocket featured here. Combining Tesla Model S battery cells with a Netgain HyPer9 AC motor and direct drive yields a machine that’s simultaneously zero-emission, quiet, and the arch enemy of inertia.

I know that’s true because Hickey (foolishly) allowed me to terrorize a nearby neighborhood in his stealthy electric HyperRocket. While the chain-drive noise produces a soundtrack that is louder than he’d like, the most noise I heard came from the Toyo Proxes R888 205/45ZR-17 rear tire scratching the asphalt beneath its tread. I found the three-wheeler to be an ideally quiet means of scooting to 60 mph in less than five seconds, and adjustable brake regeneration makes this a true single-pedal machine for most situations. There’s some feedback from the road through the rack-and-pinion steering that guides the Federal 14/7 low rolling resistance front tires.

The streamlined shape and 780-pound curb weight for the HyperRocket EV yields 260 miles of around-town range and 150 miles of highway range. The front seat slides fore-and-aft to accommodate various body builds, and a sleek windscreen serves nicely as a wind deflector Bringing a companion requires removal of the clear plastic cover over the second seat. Alternatively, that rear space can accommodate up to 500 pounds of cargo.

Hickey adds, “The relatively easy part of this project was achieving good correlation between simulated and real-world results. Once my engineering models were perfected, I used them to predict the performance of rockets, Teslas, and electric motorcycles … with excellent correlation.”

The mainstream auto industry’s move to BEVs should advance the home-built cause, because electric motors are easier to integrate than combustion engines with their fuel, intake, and exhaust systems. At last year’s SEMA show, Ford introduced its Eluminator crate motor, essentially the same 281-horsepower AC motor and gear reducer that drives the Mustang Mach-E. That $3900 propulsion package weighs but 205 pounds. As you might imagine, neither batteries nor electronics controls are included.

Exposure to his HyperRockets convinced me Hickey’s ambitions are practically unlimited. At present, he is examining means of integrating the electric motor within the rear wheel’s hub to provide additional seating space while also eliminating drive chain noise. A more long-view goal is to explore the feasibility of selling his homebuilt three-wheelers in higher volume, which would require a deep-pocketed backer in the Elon Musk or Henrik Fisker vein. We wish him nothing but good luck and great success.

Any reader (or investor) anxious to learn more about Hickey’s gas and electric-powered creations can reach this modern-day Orville Wright at: HyperRocket1@gmail.com

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