Jesse James might be known for his bad bikes and monster machines, but when he set his sights on the world land speed record for hydrogen powered vehicles, he didn’t take no for an answer.
After reworking the body on the Dees Milodon Engineering Davis B Streamliner and packing in a 572-cubic-inch Chevy big block, Jesse took it to the salt flats and set a new record speed of 199.7 mph. (Just shy of his goal of 200 mph.)
When asked about the project and why he didn’t just build a car from scratch, Jesse said (in a very Jesse way) “I think it’s way cooler to take an old hunk of shit that many considered useless and make it haul ass. It has built-in soul and history. Plus, it’s recycling.”
Other details include a Liberty airshifted 5-speed transmission, Winters quick-change differential, and three tanks to hold hydrogen at an impressive 5,000 PSI. In all, it makes more than 780 horsepower and 900 foot-pounds of torque.
“I’m not so blinded by the things I build that I can’t see change is needed,” he said. “I’m in love with anything with wheels and a big engine. I hope my son will be able to love the same things. They’ll just be running on a different kind of gas.”
With enough motivation (and time, money and beer), you can turn just about any car into the car of your dreams.
For Fourdin Auto Sport out of Belgium, that meant taking the 550hp, 7.0L LS7 V8 out of a Corvette Z06 and shoving it between the frame rails of a Chevy Matiz.
13 months and 1,500 man hours later, they ended up with the car you see before you, a pure-bred race car that will reach 60 mph in just 3.7 seconds on its way to a top speed of 162 mph. (For comparison, the stock Matiz takes 22 seconds to get to 60, and triple digit top speeds are out of the question without a long downhill road and a bit of a tail wind.)
Besides the engine, obvious modifications include a full roll cage, a SUPER wide-body kit, new suspension, wheels and tires, and a wing out back to keep the tail end planted on the track.
It might not be everyone’s cup of tea, but when you dare to dream, the results of that dream can often come in the strangest of packages.
In 1970, Emma Ely bought a brand new Chevy Camaro SS 350. 38 years later, she’s racked up a total of 1,104,000 miles on the well worn V8.
Assuming a purchase price of $3,500, that means Emma has paid about 3/10 of a cent per mile for the car! To put that in perspective, if you pay $30,000 for a car and then drive it for 100,000 miles, you’ll have paid 30 cents per mile, or 100 times as much as Emma!
What’s even more amazing is that the engine, transmission, and rear end are all original, and have never required a major overhaul.
According to Emma, she gets the oil changed every 3,000 miles (that’s 368 oil changes during the life of the car) and attributes the car’s longevity to her careful attention to any maintenance issues.
How do you make an ’89 Isuzu Pickup stand out from the crowd?
Easy: Shave the body, lower it to the ground, and add two extra axles!
This Isuzu, known as Triple Play, was created by Word of Mouth Customs, and features suicide doors, a sliding ragtop, 11 extra feet in the bed to accommodate the extra [...]
When you’re the Chief Editor of Hotrod Magazine, it’s not like you can just drive around in a Dodge Stratus.
However, the Nelson Racing “F-Bomb” 1973 Chevy Camaro that David Freiburger drives around might just take the opposite to the extreme.
Featuring a twin turbo, 406 cubic inch V8, it’s got 1540 HP and 1527 lb.ft. of [...]
