Shop Tour - Hardcore Drag Racing

  The 2023 Chrysler Nationals held at the Carlisle fairgrounds was a great success, with over 3,000 registered  show vehicles.  Add another 500 to 1,000 cars & trucks that spectators parked on the property, made this biggest gathering of Mopar only iron in one spot on record. There was plenty of cars to see at this event even though there were spotty showers on Friday, Saturday & Sunday, but the late afternoons afforded us some great opportunities to photograph some great cars and talk with some of the owners.  The show fields were organized into body platforms, A, B, C, F & M. There were also classes for the Plymouth Prowler, Viper, PT Cruiser  and the new TRX Ram. On the property adjacent to the highway there was a makeshift road course set-up where lucky individuals like myself were able to ride along in a 700 Horsepower Hellcat Charger & Challenger.  It was the best 70 seconds of my life ! The FCA brought out half a dozen cars and the new Demon 170 was on display! 

    Throughout the 1960’s & 1970’s Custom Vans were very popular among the show car crowd , the owner of this van was inspired by that era of cool and created this over the top street Beast.  This one of a kind Evel Knievel Tribute was built in 2018 and is powered by a 240ci 6-cylinder engine mated to a 3-speed manual transmission. It sports a roof wing, big fender flares and Vintage Mags wheels in 14- and 15-inch with staggered tires and many other custom touches. The Econoline is hand lettered and detailed in gold leaf making the graphics pop! The van also has red tinted glass throughout, The interior features front bucket seats and in the cargo area a red, white and blue L-shaped bench seat with EK metal signage throughout ! Accompanying this van is a 1971 Honda K2 Z50 mini bike named Little Evel with matching hand painted Evel graphics. Restoration was just completed on an original Honda frame.   You can be the star of any car show when you pull up in this Van!

  Quick Look  The owner of this 72’ model took this Duster to the outer limits and beyond. The Duster is show and go with perfect panel gaps and a custom pearl white paint job with airbrushed graphics.  The engine compartment is bursting with horsepower and eye appeal with a stroker small-block now stretched to 408 cubes, it was built by Big Al's Toy Box in Connecticut. It sucks in the atmosphere through an 8/71 Blower Shop billet supercharger with dual QuickFuel 650 CFM carburetors topped off with a polished Enderle injector hat. The internals are filled with the best parts and pieces like an Eagle crank, H-beam rods, forged pistons and ARP fasteners keep it screwed together. The engine is making 14 pounds of boost making close to 900 Horsepower, so a heavy-duty 727 TorqueFlite transmission with a PTC 3,500 RPM stall converter sits downstream. The narrowed Chrysler 8 ¾ rear end was filled with Moser 35-spline axles and Richmond 4.56 gears that can take the abuse with ease.   The

  In this installment of What's in The Garage  we check out Paul Kaufmann's over the top Plymouth Arrow. What was once an old street race car from Detroit, it's now a Hemi powered street-machine that looks like noting else on the road.           This one is still in the garage but its about to break free. Ten years were spent on this build spanning over four states; New Jersey, Connecticut, Georgia and now Florida.    The story is extensive and Paul has many people to thank. Paul stated that this his first EFI project and its been a blast getting together. Lots of engineering went into planning and executing the build, he had two machinists, one body guy, one chassis shop, and an engine & transmission builder, the list goes on & on !     Paul states he is still wrapping up technical issues and getting ready for the road.   Paul stated that the street tires and wheelie bars don't jive but he had the chassis shop build them for him so he can get her on the