11: Saying goodbye to trouble.

Two cars left BangShift Mid-West this year: the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze and Project Raven, the 1983 Imperial I’ve had for years now. The Imperial had finally ran, drove, and was just about done…but after years of fighting it, so was I. The Mopar is now in New Jersey and the new owner swears that there is a “Roadkill curse” associated with the car, especially after the 360 expired in dramatic fashion. The Cruze, as good a gas-sipper as it was (40MPG!) wound up costing us nearly it’s entire purchase price in parts and labor. Whoever designed the clutch setup in the six-speed cars can burn in Hell. And whoever designed things so that you have to hang the engine by a bar crossing the strut towers while EVERYTHING ELSE is removed from the engine bay? I hope you get the pineapple treatment where you’re going. The Cruze, at least, is a happier story: it’s new owner uses it to commute across state lines to go to school and has been happy with the car.

10: Brought Out Into The Light

After seeing the car sit inside of a shop for eight years, we finally got Haley’s uncle to drag out this 1989 Mustang LX from it’s resting place for a well-deserved restoration and repaint. The car isn’t finished yet but the paint is done and it’s the tedious stuff, like hardware and wiring fixes that he wanted to make, that are eating up the time. I would be surprised if this thing isn’t burning up roads around our neck of the woods by summertime.

9: Just call me Bob-freakin’-Villa.

2020 has been the year of restoration, all right. Shame that very few of the projects involved a car. Instead, in the spirit of the Year That Would Not End, I got treated to restoring the floor in BangShift Mid-West not once, but TWICE, once early on in the spring and once just before winter really hit. Combined, we’ve re-floored, from the beams to seams, 75% of the entire square footing of the house, thanks to black mold. Next time, we’re moving the furniture into storage and we’re letting the fire department use the place for a training house fire for new recruits. I’m still pulling out splinters.

8: The one sane purchase I made this year!

I’m not known for spending my money wisely. Pay attention to my automotive addictions and you’ll understand that quickly. But this year I put some money into a smart purchase. We’ve needed lawn equipment at BS Mid-West for years…the grass grows five inches every time it rains between March and mid-November. We’d been borrowing lawn mowers up until now, because the one I originally bought worked once before the engine fragged out. So not only did we get this John Deere zero-turn, but we bought enough equipment to maintain everything that comes with a lot of grassland. Thinking I’m driving a tank again while hacking through foot-tall wild garlic shoots is just a perk.

Wait. I was never licensed for a tank. Whoops…

7: The Dirty Cougar’s Improvement

Somehow, we never were able to kill the “Dirty Cougar” on our own by caning it around a racetrack. It earned my respect, but it wasn’t meant to be for me. My buddy Chris Conn, however, gave the forlorn Mercury a home and by the summer had brought the Mercury’s performance levels up from “okay for 1987” to legitimately good. Then, this year stepped in and some brake-checking little punk knocked the rest of the front clip off of the car. As of writing, Conn is parts-hunting to get the car put back into shape. If you’ve got good 1987-88 Thunderbird or Cougar sheet metal for the front end, hit me up at mctaggart@bangshift.com and I’ll pass the word along!

6: My first eBay vehicle purchase!

It wasn’t my car, but when Haley’s uncle came up asking if I had an eBay account and if I’d be willing to help him buy a car, I couldn’t say no. This 1966 Ford Fairlane 390 GTA was a fun adventure to have right when the world was going straight to hell in a handbasket. It was odd to see such a bright car in such a beautiful location when all you heard everywhere was doom and gloom. The Fairlane is currently slumbering in a garage with quite a few other hot rides that he has, in good company, and I hope to see more of it this spring.

5: Rocky Mountain Highs

Obviously, by Spring we didn’t know if our normal was going to happen or not. We had no idea what races would go on, what wouldn’t happen, and what local or state governments would do in the name of keeping local populations safe in the midst of everything. But with sheer luck, not only did we get to go on Rocky Mountain Race Week this year, but we were able to go on Race Week v2.0 when they put that together moments after Hot Rod’s Drag Week 2020 got filed into the “nope!” folder. Twice this year, Haley and I got to pile into a new truck and road-trip with friends. As an added bonus, I got to see my Colorado stomping grounds for the first time in four years. I didn’t get out much this year but these two events were worth it, hands down.

4: It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!

Out of everything I’ve had planned this year, the way our 1980 Mustang Ghia came together was almost surreal. After the world’s longest five-lug conversion program and three different wheel/tire combinations, we got the four-eyed Fox back to daily drivable and we managed to finally haul an appropriate car down to a Ratty Muscle Cars race this year. The Mustang is currently in winter hibernation, and we’re preparing for next year’s upgrades, which include the adjustable camber plates, a new brake booster and if I have my way, an overdrive automatic. And yes, all 118 furious horses are doing a burnout here…that isn’t Photoshop.

3: Speaking of Mustangs…

Who would’ve suspected that I’d drag home a 1989 Mustang? Until I did it, even I would’ve written the idea off. But with a ton of parts laying around the shop courtesy of the Pumpkin Mustang and a spare 302 just taking up space, this was a no-brainer. Work has been slower on this one than I’d like, but progress is taking place. That 302 is in the engine bay and the water-soaked four-banger is a long-gone memory. The T-5 transmission is (FINALLY) bolted up to the engine and we’re turning our attention to firing the engine off and electrical work. I’m frothing at the mouth to get this one up and going, because there’s years of violent driving that need to happen and this is the car that will do just that.

2: The Return To The Runway

I’m not sure what part of the ECTA Firecracker Mile excited me more: the land speed racing or the fleet of Delta aircraft lining up around the perimeter of the former Blytheville Air Force Base in northeastern Arkansas.

1: Finally, a summary of the whole year…

There were a lot of good things that happened this year but there is no getting around the fact that a dumpster fire with a drip feed of Jet-A wouldn’t compare to the show that 2020 has been. Even up to the last few days, every time I’ve looked at the news feed this year it’s the same reaction. This is the year that was brought to you by the letters W, T and F. Tracks shut down, shops shut down, people lost jobs and have been enduring uncertainty all year long. Whether it’s hit you at home or you know people who have been on the wrong end of this mierda-covered stick, know we’ve been right there with you and we’ve been just as affected. All we can do at this point is to put the period on the end of the story of 2020 and move into the next year. However it needs to happen, 2021 has to be better than this. It will be better than what the last twelve months has been.

The post Unhinged Top 11: McTaggart’s 2020 Year In Review appeared first on BangShift.com.

You parts guys and gals know that the #1 mantra of the phone is that you “DO NOT TRY TO DIAGNOSE OVER THE PHONE”. It’s life. You just don’t. Nothing good comes out of it for the customer, the company or your hide. But the tech advisor does just that, day in, day out. Phone calls, emails, live chats on the Internet like it’s the year 2000 and you’re in the middle of an AOL chat room. Well, maybe not exactly like that…if you’re the customer and the tech types in, “A/S/L”, you should probably try a new company. But I’ve been interacting with some of these poor souls and they are your kindred spirits. The only saving grace they have is there is no face-to-face interaction, so as a last resort, they can hang up, take the ass-chewing from the boss, and move on.

One group I deal with is involved with remote tuning of cars for customers. Building a startup tune for someone’s car to fire up and baseline off of is pretty easy…answer a few questions about the underhood combination, do some quick math, make sure everything is connected properly and you should hear some thumpity-thump goodness that you can proceed to tweak on. But some of these customers have been watching way too much street racing reality television and 1320Video clips and want that demon tweak that will earn them their meal ticket on the gravy train. There’s names for these tunes. Here’s a few that are actually legit. Some are customer-named, some are from the techs who could not believe what was being asked of them:

11. To The F***ing Moon, Alice! (radical N/A LS)

10. The Kamikaze (nitrous LS)

9. Blitzkrieg Bang (BMW S85 V-10)

8. She’s Gonna Be Pissed… (LS TT)

7. What’s Another PSI? (BB Chev with an 8-71 on alcohol)

6.  Put A Windoooow, In The Wall! (1990s GM LT-1)

5. Big Power, No Whammys! (Subaru EJ with big turbo)

4. The Foie Gras Method (this one was tuned for 58 PSI of boost on a 408 Chrysler. Damn.)

3. Seppuku (Honda K24A1, turbo, E85)

2. Recipe For Piston Soup (big-boost Toyota 1JZ)

1. The Major Tom Tweak (nitrous Ford Coyote)

The post Unknown Parts Counter Guy: Top 11 Names For That Killer Tune appeared first on BangShift.com.

In today’s society, the whole idea of “let the kid pay for it” doesn’t seem to be working out. But that doesn’t mean you have to cave to the kid’s whim…which is another subject for another day. Instead, I decided to put together a list of options for what the kid could use to putt back and forth to school or to whatever job they might get that doesn’t involve being a YouTuber.

11. “I want it to go really, really fast!”

Vehicle: 2006 Hyundai Sonata.

Why: Remember back to when some guy triggered a ton of speed cameras near Scottsdale, Arizona at high speeds? 147 MPH on the Loop 101, in a rental Sonata. The styling will put you to sleep, the safety features are modern enough and the prices should be affordable. Hey, you wanted fast, kid. 147 MPH isn’t a bad start! (I’ll also attest personally, 141 MPH in a similar vehicle in the middle of nowhere, Illinois. -ed.)

10. “Yikes. Um…maybe a big truck I could use for work?”

Vehicle: 1996 Chevrolet C1500 W/T

Why: You’ve been driving for about seven minutes. No way in hell would we cut a newbie loose in a diesel truck. They’ve probably been watching a couple of bearded dudes make some poor old Dodge belch more smoke than the first five years of the Industrial Revolution on YouTube and suddenly want that. Nah, kid. You get a 4.3L powered truck. You want to work it, fine. You want to trick it out, fine. You want to bitch about it? Okay, it’s my truck now. Moving on.

9. “It seems underpowered. What about a V8 truck?”

Why: Have you seen the YouTube video of a U-Haul rental GMC at a sideshow, ripping donuts with some guy hanging out of the bed yelling, “For $19.95 a day, you can rent this MF!” That’s why. Keep trying, kiddo.

8. “Ugh. Fine. Is there anything with a diesel I CAN have?”

Vehicle: 2015 Chevrolet Cruze Diesel

Why: You want a diesel, kid? Ok, here you go. Car and Driver managed to get 44 MPG out of it in real-world driving and it was rated at 46 MPG on the highway. They are actually pretty decent to drive, you’ll have legroom and because it turns into a marshmallow inside at the first point of impact, insuring the car should be a breeze. It’s also got all of that tech crap you kids like.

7. “Okay…I can do a front driver. How about something from Japan? I don’t trust American cars, my friend’s dad said…”

Vehicle: 2006 Scion xA

Why: One, your friend’s dad is a moron who gets frustrated when the rental car has a physical key instead of a fob. Two, you’re starting to piss me off, kid. Three: Toyota reliability packaged in a purple thing that looks like piled dog doo. Any other requests?

6. “You don’t have to be so mean about it. Okay, what about a Subaru? AWD safety, y’know.”Vehicle: 1987 Subaru XT

Why: Oh, I’m so glad you suggested a Subaru. How about a 1980s throwback that is packing all of the funky looks of the decade, 97 horsepower out of a flat-four that can turn all four wheels through a part-time four wheel drive system, and more than enough time to think up answers to questions you’ll be texted, like “WTF is that?” and “Are you still a virgin?”

5. “What IS that?! Alright…what about a Jeep?”

Why: Because a little work is needed with some of these older models.

4. “What about a Mustang?”

Vehicle: 1974 Ford Mustang II

Why: No V8, possible fuel economy, no chance in hell of you “accidentally” driving through a crowd of bystanders. You bumped them, and they were able to push you away easily. You won’t even be tempted by the idea of being fast. Besides, the guy who drew up the first Mustang loved this version. You will too!

3. “Nevermind, I want a Camaro!”

Vehicle: 1977 Chevrolet Camaro

Why: Nothing says high-performance like a straight-six, banana creme paint job with the graham cracker crust half-roof and the luggage rack, amirite?

2. “Okay, I get it, you’re a savage. How about something a few friends of mine can hop into and go places in?”

Vehicle: 1973 Dodge Tradesman

Why: *Slaps roof* …because there is so much room for activities in here! You and your friends can literally pile in here and head anywhere. I encourage that. What I don’t encourage is you turning this into a mobile Motel 6, so why not pick out something that the lovely little lady you’re dating will only get into once she’s packing enough pepper spray to put a moose down with? And that’s if her parents don’t see this thing first. I like to think of it as “rolling contraception”.

1. Alright, you’re a dick. What would you recommend for a first car?

Vehicle: 2002 Buick Regal GS

Why: If you break it, you fix it. If you get in trouble with it, your ass will be mine on a silver platter. And if you tell your mother that it’s anything other than a nice, comfortable car, I’ll kick your ass. Don’t be stupid.

The post BangShift Top 11: Best First Car Options For The Ungrateful Little Brat! appeared first on BangShift.com.

We didn’t know that there was actually a fan base for this sort of thing, but there is and at random, we swiped some of the offerings from the “Unnecessary Automobile Nose Swaps” Facebook page. Some are just…wow. The others have an appeal to them…we think. Take a look and see what you think below:

Toyota Supra and Toyota Tundra

Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SuperVeloce and Citröen 2CV

Land Rover Defender and NIssan 350Z

Lancia Stratos and Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat

Dodge Viper GTS and Toyota Camry

Lamborghini Aventador LP750-4 SuperVeloce and Chevrolet Corvette C4

1971 Ferrari 312b2 and 1948 Ford F-1

Lamborghini Miura and Pontiac Aztek

Porsche Taycan and Grumman LLV (updated nose)

Bugatti EB110 and Dodge Ram

Koenigsegg One:1 and GMC R/V Series

The post BangShift Top 11: Unnecessary Automotive Nose Swaps appeared first on BangShift.com.

The 1990s, in automotive terms, should be considered the Great Reawakening Of Horsepower. In the 1960s and first couple years of the Seventies, we were drunk on power. Then we got about fifteen years of neutered V8s choked to death with smog equipment, build quality that varied between barely acceptable and laughable, and lots of stickers but no bite. Sure, the 1982 Mustang GT 5.0 was a start, the Mustang SVO showed that there was more than V8s, Chrysler embraced hot hatches and turbocharged front-wheel-drivers, and GM’s F-car twins were still going strong, but the 1990s showcased a real horsepower war between GM and Ford that got the ball rolling. Handling wasn’t just a parlor trick, it was now expected that the car would turn as well as it could run in a straight line, and more and more imports became viable threats. This list compiles some of the highlights of the 1990s, but there are a couple of caveats: there are no Corvettes or Vipers. They could perform well above these choices from the word “go”. And there are no exotics, which shouldn’t bother anybody. In no particular order…

11. Chevrolet Camaro SS

The fourth-generation Camaro started life with 275 horsepower out of the LT-1 V8, and it bumped up to 285 in 1995, but when SLP got ahold of the car, the result of some tweaking, a new set of pipes and a swagger not seen since the early 1970s got a lot of attention…and 305 horsepower straight out of the gate. Plonked down on fat five-spoke wheels seen on the Corvette, with a a new hoodscoop, new rear wing and a noise that made old-school die-hards raise an eyebrow, the Camaro SS was like mainlining Jolt first thing in the morning.

10. Dodge Daytona IROC

If there was one K-car that Chrysler should have held onto and developed even further, the Daytona was it. For a good portion of the 1990s, this was the face of Mopar’s racing presence, from IROC racing through the Wayne County drag racing team. And while a good portion of the body looked much the same as when the G-body Chrysler debuted in 1984, the 1992 restyle looked miles ahead of the previous designs and blended well with the new crop of Chrysler products, like the Intrepid and the Stratus. Unfortunately, Chrysler decided instead to put the a new body on the base model of the next car and pass it off as “sporty”…

9. Mitsubishi Eclipse and Eagle Talon

“Got Boost?” jokes. “Crank walk” jokes. “Danger to Manifold” jokes. Go ahead and let them fly, but one thing you have to accept is that while they were temperamental, a properly set up all-wheel-drive DSM product could rewrite your definition of fast. At 210 horsepower stock for an all-wheel drive Eclipse GSX or Talon TSi, they were sporty enough, but when the tricks of the turbo game started to get used, psychotic little DSMs with wicked-up 4G63s started to appear everywhere. Your V8 might have the power, but these could put it to the ground, just like their big brothers…

8. Dodge Stealth R/T and Mitsubishi 3000GT

They were expensive, and some could be downright heavy, but the Mitsubishi 3000GT VR4 and Dodge Stealth R/T Twin Turbo were still very worthy adversaries. Packing 320hp out of the 24 valve DOHC 6G72 3.0L V6 and looks that actually menaced for a Japanese ride, these also suffered the same modification fate as the DSM twins. But most surprisingly of all was that a Stealth replaced  Trans Am for the television reboot of “Bandit”.

7. Pontiac Firebird Formula V8

No, it’s not a Trans-Am. Compared, the Firebird Formula was a stripper model, and it looked mostly like the V6 version instead of the shovel-faced T/A. If you knew how to tick the option boxes right, you would end up with a flyweight F-car that had the LT-1, six-speed, good suspension, solid roof and the only two giveaways would be the subtle but cool Ram Air hood and the “Formula V8” stickers….oh, and that noise coming from the back.

6. GMC Syclone/Typhoon

Kind of hard to talk about 1990s cars and forget GMC’s quick foray into performance with two of the most surprising offerings to come out of the General. While the Grand National had been dead for four years, someone inside Corporate didn’t get the memo, because in 1991 GMC debuted the all-wheel-drive, turbocharged V6, back-in-black Syclone pickup truck. Based on the already long in the tooth S-truck, the Syclone was made famous in a Car and Driver test where it spanked a Ferrari 348ts. The Typhoon was simply the Jimmy given the hairdryer treatment, and a few more colors.

5. Ford Mustang GTS

For 1995, Ford wanted to try a trick that had worked out pretty well for them in the 1980s with the LX model: big motor, few options, light weight. This would trim out weight, trim down the price, keep the boy-racer looks down and let the owner walk with the majesty that was the 5.0L V8, in it’s last year before being replaced by the 4.6. Basically, it was a GT on Weight Watchers: no fog lights, wing, only the V6 interior (and V6 only options list), five-spoke wheels and that was it. While I’m unable to confirm, I believe this was the last production Mustang you could radio-delete. Can anyone confirm that?

4. Honda Civic Si

I’m grinding my teeth as I put this Honda here, but if we’re talking 1990s performance, it belongs. I hate this car not because it performs, but because this was the car to shatter my concept of V8-dominated performance. Well, that, and because there was a kid in my high school that owned one, thought he was the ultimate for having one, and left me dreaming about burying him in that car. The power figure wasn’t completely great stock (160 horsepower at 7,600 RPM) but the B16A2 four-cylinder could be tuned to within an inch of it’s life. Put into a car with a 2,600 pound curb weight, and you wound up with a go-kart from hell that taught a generation the values of VTEC.

3. Chevrolet 454SS

If the Honda was the future, the Chevrolet C1500 454SS was an outright throwback to the glory days of the muscle car. The recipe was simple: take the 7.4L V8, jam it into the short-bed half-ton, back it up with a stout automatic (TH400 for 1990, 4L80E for 1991-1994), add emblems and make it visually menacing. While other colors were offered, the truck everyone pictures is the same: black exterior, red interior, and “454 SS” on the sides.

2. Dodge Dakota R/T

In the Dodge Ram SS/T, the 5.9L V8 just wasn’t enough. But jammed into the smaller Dakota pickup, and suddenly Dodge’s midsize hauler became one snotty little bastard. Deep gears (3.90!) and a lowered and tuned suspension combined with the torque-heavy mill made the Dakota R/T into an instant hooning machine, and performance modifications can really wake up the 360.

1. Chevrolet Impala SS and Caprice 9C1

The Chevrolet full-sizers were something to really behold in the mid-1990s. The LT-1 provided plenty of grunt, the awkwardness of the 1991-1992 “Orca” body had been fixed and sculpted into something much more pleasing to look at, and depending on how you were viewing one, either you loved it or hated it. By that, I’m referring to the Impala SS, another badass in black GM creation with a huge fan base, and anybody that ever saw a 9C1 Caprice with it’s very colorful lights rolling up behind them. The 9C1 was the first car to really start cracking at cop car records that had been held since 1969 by the 440-powered Dodges and Plymouths, and seemed to be in every police department in North America. This was a car that was both lusted after and feared.

The post Top 11: McTaggart’s 1990s Picks – The Cars From The Horsepower Re-Awakening! appeared first on BangShift.com.

So, to celebrate the day, I’ve put together a Top 11 list of workplace pranks that may be on the table, and I’ll give you my opinion on whether they are acceptable or not. Some are suggestions from UPCG followers on the Facebook page, others I’ve simply dredged up from the Internet. Feel free to leave your opinions in the comments section below!

11. The Wrap Job

A classic. As much Saran Wrap as it takes to turn someone’s car into an early Christmas present. Hey, it’ll stay fresher, longer!

Harm factor: low.

10. Engine First-Fire Fun

There’s having fun, and then there’s being a world-class smart ass.

Harm factor: Low…for the prank-ee. The prankster might have one coming, though.

9. Going Out Of Your Way For Vengence?

“You can ask for empty Boston creme donuts and fill them with mustard/mayo blend. One of the mechanics at the old shop thought it was egg salad donut and finished it.” -William G.

Harm Factor: Pretty sure that’s worth an ass-beating.

8. Oooh, pretty colors!

Washable acrylic colors, balanced on the wipers. Turn wiper switch on without power, wait until they leave, hope they don’t notice before they start the car.

Harm factor: …I actually wanna try this one out. Low harm.

7. Whoops. Dropped it.

Sugar glass! Not only will they hit the roof that you broke glass, but the expression on their face when you eat a shard of it will be priceless. If you can make enough into the shape of door glass or a rear-view mirror, you’re set, man.

Harm factor: none. Have a ball!

6. It’s a Blast!

The only reason you aren’t getting the video is because the resulting nudity isn’t permitted on BangShift. But trust us…you couldn’t get your own pants off faster if you had a Victoria’s Secret Angel giving you that look.

Harm factor: Low…if there are no phones around. So…medium. Your butt is gonna be on YouTube, for sure!

5. Now *THAT’S* an attention-getter!

Courtesy of Richard S.

Harm Factor: High. Nevermind the ringing in everybody’s ears, think about Bob’s pants!

4. It’s Like Hand Sanitizer, Right?

So much for your reputation. Go pour that back into your 55-gallon drum from whence it came.

Harm Factor: Extreme – Don’t mess with the hand sanitizer this year! Bad things will happen.

3. What’s That Smell?!

I’ve personally been a recipient of this nasal horror story. Could gag a maggot.

Harm factor: High, even higher if you are found to be the sprayer. Bodily injury may result, and you will be customer-free for at least the rest of that day.

2. The Veggie TrayAt least someone eats healthy around here.

Harm factor: Low, but mob rule may dictate otherwise.

1. The Unspeakable

Harm factor: GUARANTEED. And I’ll fire your ass afterwards.

The post Unknown Parts Counter Guy: A Top 11 Of Worksite April Fools’ Pranks appeared first on BangShift.com.

Email me your carnage! chad@bangshift.com

First up some 23 degree small block Chevrolet piston carnage. This poor bastard has seen much better days. Rick Steinke sent these in and told us that these guys gave it their all at Lights Out 11 in Georgia. Looks like a bit too much nitrous or timing or all of it. But at least Rick went all in, unfortunately this piston, and we’re sure a couple more, were not interested in partying at the level Rick was. It happens sometimes.

Matt Bakas sent us these photos of his fully vented Tremec transmission, along with the mess it made on the road, but with no explanation. Of course we can surmise that Matt was making a “test hit” on the street in his ’55 Chevy Gasser and that the one two shift didn’t go as planned. Clearly the giant piece of the case that fell out was optional because the car still made it down the road far enough to evacuate all the fluid. We’d say he did a great job at making sure there was no oil in it! Good job Matt!

Steve Marolda only sent one photo, but like the saying goes this one is worth 1000 words. When he submitted the photo, he said  “Here ya go Chad…. the rear end from my off road racing Nissan truck. Stock parts are ok for flat desert racing but not so good for jumps.” Well said my friend. Look at how the entire pinion came out of this bad boy. We can only imagine the landing had stuff flexing in ways it wasn’t supposed to and that made the pinion try to stop meshing with the ring gear which forced it out the side, breaking the case, the bearing race, and all the other stuff. Off-road guys know how to tear stuff up, and this is proof.

The post BANGshift Carnage Spotlight: Send Us Yours! This Week, Pistons, Transmissions, And Rearends Oh My appeared first on BangShift.com.

One last look back, then turn forward and face 2020 head-on with a wicked grin. That’s how you do things.

11. The “Dirty Cougar”

This car put me down for a week straight and just about put my friend Chris Conn in the hospital with pneumonia. We killed a full day just extracting it from the yard where it had sat for a decade unused (pissing off our wives in the process), we got it running in a couple of days, we got it driving within a week, and within a month it was in daily driver rotation. It’s not pretty, it’s not fast, but for my first legitimate revival project, I couldn’t be happier. Around the mid-summer time frame, Conn took the paperwork and as of writing, we are finishing up the prep work to get the Mercury to run at KOTH for January. If it survives this year, it might leave KOTH and graduate into a full-fledged project of his. Time will tell, but this thing was too good to let sit. I’m genuinely pleased with this car.

10. Learning To Love The Enemy

Prior to April 2019, I swore that I was not going to own some front-wheel-drive, four-banger mileage machine. It made no sense to me. Too small, wouldn’t fit, wouldn’t be happy, V8 or death, whatever. That changed when my wife green-lit the purchase of a small car to ease our gas consumption, especially on my longer road trips for race coverage. Our choice was the 2012 Chevrolet Cruze Eco. Now, whether or not that was a fully smart decision is being tested nearly every day, but what I learned to like about the little thing is what it is: a six-speed, small car that doesn’t suck to drive. I’ve got plenty of things to bitch about regarding the quality of what’s under the hood all day long, but when it’s all functioning properly, this is a neat little ride. Smaller might be the answer to a question you’ve never wanted to ask.

9. Garrett Reid’s Monte Carlo

Each year brings plenty of drama in our world. It could be racers talking smack, it could be the strange things the OEMs do, but this year this blue Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS trumped them all. Garret Reid’s machine had just been finished up…like paint still fresh done. He took it to Hot Rod Magazine’s Power Tour, and on the first night the car vanished, along with several others. After a ton of social media support reposting, the Monte wound up reappearing in a field, more or less in one piece. He got the car back around LS Fest, and to celebrate he went straight to the burnout contest and went for broke. Shitty way to make a name for yourself. a bad deal for a very cool guy, but a happy ending rules all the same.

8. Utter Destruction At It’s Slowest

This poor beast. At the beginning of 2018, Scott Renshaw and I purchased a 1980 Cadillac Fleetwood Formal for a three-digit price, limped two and a half tons of bad decision home from Bugtussle, Kentucky and proceeded to have a ball with the big barge. I used it like a truck. I used it as a parts-washing stand. I used it to till up the further end of my backyard by doing donuts and drifting this testament to bad decisions when my wife wasn’t looking. Ultimately, it survived a year of yeoman duty to make a glorious trip out onto NCM Motorsports Park’s road course, where it became the first vehicle you see in their introduction video, looking absolutely regal in the process. Unfortunately, five seconds after that clip was filmed, the Cadillac promptly shit the bed, flexed half of the Bondo out of the body, and spun a main bearing. It also gained a second neutral after I dropped it into first gear while floating the valves, and it bent like a banana when I finally dumped it at the junkyard. On the plus side: we made $200 in profit just in the scrap value of the car!

7. Carving A Pumpkin

From the “what happened to…?” files comes our project Fox Body known as the Great Pumpkin Mustang, a 1980 Ghia coupe that belongs to my wife. In it’s current form, it’s missing all of the suspension. Yeah…all of it. By early April I had everything gutted out for it’s five-lug conversion and then…well, I dropped the ball. While you’re reading “Best Of” stories, I’ll be in the shop rectifying that wrong. The Mustang needs to live again.

6. Sampling Some Of That Upper Crust

I’ve had a pretty good working relationship with some of the local dealerships in the area and have driven a fair handful of cars simply on their good graces. But most of them were in the average territory…the only two outliers being a Hellcat Charger and a Ram dually that was fully optioned out. This year, I sampled a BMW M850i and a Mercedes-AMG S63 executive sedan. These both are handily the most expensive things I’ve driven, and both impressed me in some way, shape or form. I haven’t converted to being an F1 jacket-wearing fanboy over them, but if someone tossed me the keys to another machine like these, I’m not saying no, that’s for damn sure.

5. On Location

One of the fun parts of my job is traveling to different locations and working with other people who make the grind fun. From splitting duties with Chad at the Spring Fling Million in Las Vegas, to cutting up with Damon Steinke and Ellen Eschenbacher at Mid-West Pro Mod races, to people who just check up on me while I’m at the camera to see if I need a drink, some food or some bug spray, it’s always good to get out there and enjoy some field work.

4. Holley Intergalactic Ford Fest

Every year, we heard the backlash against LS Fest. This year, Holley threw the Ford guys a bone and teamed up with the NMRA to turn their final event of the year into a full-blown party. And it was…Bigfoot 1 was on the grounds, Cleetus McFarland was going for broke in his Shelby-ized Crown Victoria, and in-between photo galleries and announcing duties, we coerced several people to cutting loose in the burnout pit, which was absolutely nuked by Tim Grillot and his mental Fairmont. It might not have had the number of people LS Fest had, but for a first-year event, it did well. We expect great things next year…and more people, too!

3. The Homecoming

This year I got a special gift: a trip to the first dragstrip I ever turned a wheel in anger at. Then known as Temple Academy, Little River Dragway was the host of the Showdown at the River nostalgia gathering that Scott Brown put together. I hadn’t seen that track since 2003 at the latest. But setting foot on it was the first time in a long time that I returned to the past without question. It was eerie making my way towards the uphill 180-degree turn that the staging lanes take towards the burnout boxes.

2. The YouTubers

Last year, I went on a revival video kick. I liked the idea of seeing absolutely derelict machines being brought back from the dead. This year was no different, but this year I got to meet several of the faces from YouTube. Kevin, Luke, Mike, Dylan, Derek, Rich, Stefan many others have been shown over the past year, and every time I talk with them, whether it’s offering Dylan some suggestions for a current project, the late-night bullshit sessions with Kevin while we both work, or the times I pop down to Uncle Tony and Kathy’s place to do a live question-and-answer video while they feed me excellent food, they all say the same thing: thank you, readers, for your support. They do what they do because of the love of the automobile and to entertain you.

1. The Learning Curve That Never Ends

Let’s talk about that silver brick that I own for a minute. This year has been probably the most testing year I’ve had with that car. Prior to, it was a rolling paperweight. Before that, it ran and drove, but the engine was dying a slow death due to a piss-poor rebuild. At the end of 2018, we got the new 367ci small-block Chrysler that I put together in and out to wake up and come to life properly, and I was over the moon…just to have the A904 automatic slam me back down to earth. Then there was the issue of the cam eccentric bolt backing out, cracking my timing cover and throwing off my fuel supply, several transmission operations to locate a missing third gear, lots of linkage work and finally, a potential rear axle issue that I need to troubleshoot and figure out. I’ve tried selling it, it won’t sell. So the Imperial project continues, come hell or high water. Each time something else packs it in, it’s an opportunity to learn something new…even if “something new” is just to have more patience with a mechanical device.

The post BangShift Top 11: McTaggart’s Highlights From 2019 appeared first on BangShift.com.

There’s always going to be a “wrong” choice, regardless of what move you make, but I decided to go after the ultimate wrong choices here. Like ’em, hate ’em, doesn’t matter. These selections bring out the worst in the keyboard fingers. Agree? Disagree? Either way, the comments section is below…

11. Jeep CJ-10Jeep CJ, good. Jeep J-truck, great. Jeep CJ-10, bad. There’s only two markets for the CJ-10: the CJ-10A aircraft tug that the US Air Force bought, and the overseas market truck that went to Australia and other locations. The biggest problem? Look at that nose and see if you can guess how fast rhinoplasty jokes come into play.

10. 1973 Pontiac GTO

The Goat started off with a bang and ended with a whisper. Like most other hot musclecars, once the insurance companies and the government started putting pressure on Detroit, Pontiac downplayed the GTO so badly that it’s death in 1974 almost seemed like a mercy killing. However, the Ventura-based ’74 could’ve carried on if Pontiac’s performance people had won whatever internal civil war was going on. The ’73, on the other hand, was uninspired, plane-jane and when parked next to a Grand Am, sad.

9. 1982 Mercury Cougar WagonYeah, the Mercury Cougar started life as a cousin of the Ford Mustang, but when Mercury downsized the Cougar onto the Fox platform, they couldn’t have screwed up any harder: they went with the plane-jane Granada body, the ultimate box on wheels, and kept the four-door and wagon versions. Sure, you could get a 302, but more likely you were getting a 4.2 V8, or you were getting an ancient straight-six.

8. 1978 Oldsmobile 442Oldsmobile was a hitmaker throughout the 1970s and did well in the 1980s, too, but consider this the equivalent of mis-stepping and slamming your pinky toe into the corner of some stout furniture. The program is good until you get to the back of the doors…everything from that point rearward is solidly horrifying. It wasn’t even a real hatchback, just a truncated trunk.

7. 1980 Plymouth Volaré Road RunnerLots of issues here. First, it’s a Volaré, not a Road Runner…the “RM21” VIN code died with the 1975 Road Runner. Second, as a Volaré, it had the Rust Runner reputation going in full swing. And finally, for 1980, it looked like Ma Mopar just shook her head, threw out tape “Road Runner” name tags, and sighed. Especially when you look back at earlier Volaré Road Runners, this was the equivalent of sighing and walking away.

6. 1974 Ford Mustang IIEverybody’s favorite whipping boy, the Mustang II was the right car for the right time…sales proved that. But that’s not why the car is here. Especially in two-door coupe form, the Mustang II was homely, and if it was a Ghia model with the diaper roof, just walk away. Funnily enough, my father had an M2 just like the one pictured above. Backfired like the fuel tank was spiked with black beans…

5. 1978 Dodge ChallengerI don’t think there’s anything more offensive to the Mopar crowd than this car, period. The rebadged Mitsubishi Galant Lambda showed up with a hemi-headed 2.6L four, period-accurate styling and a bit of sport to it. But imagine trying to park this thing next to a 1970 Challenger T/A 340 Six Pack at the Mopar Nats…I’m pretty sure mob violence would play a part within five minutes.

4. 1977 Chevrolet Monte CarloWait…why the Monte Carlo? This thing was successful in the 1970s! You’re right, but what made it good is why the car deserves to be skewered. Remember the Monte’s origin? Yeah, the Pontiac Grand Prix, a car that in the 1960s espoused luxury and performance. Key word, “performance”. Chevrolet pretty much gave that up and let the Monte become a soft, sorted big coupe. It sold well, but once they proved to be bigger and thirstier than a 1980s Caprice, they became cheap throwaways.

3. 1975 Chevrolet CamaroLet’s take a hammer to one of my sacred cows. The 1975 Camaro gets hammered for a few reasons here: first year with no Z/28 of any kind, instead being replaced by a “Gymkhana suspension package”. Catalytic converters appeared, horsepower was now a whopping 155 horsepower out of the 350. If it wasn’t for the IROC racing series using this body, it’d be difficult to see it in a positive light.

2. 1981 Pontiac FirebirdPicking a bad Firebird is like picking the Victoria’s Secret Angel you wouldn’t take out on a date. But since this is the name of the game, we’re going with 1981. Big-cube blocks were gone…you either got a Chevy 305 or the turbocharged Pontiac 301. And you’d enjoy an electronic carburetor setup on it. And if you were lucky enough to get a car built at the Van Nuys plant, you got water-based paint…which would delaminate and shed faster than a giant husky in Arizona.

1. 1978 AMC Concord AMXThis one I almost didn’t want to take on. But I will, but I’ll be up-front about it: the reality is that after the name left the Javelin-based platform, it was an AMC Hornet that was trying to mean business, and you have to respect that part. But the Hornet AMX was wild, and the Spirit AMX was a last gasp. The Concord AMX looked like a stop-gap, and it was…bright colors from the Hornet, AMX logo design that carried to the Spirit, and everything else was parts-binned. At least AMC was trying.

The post BangShift Top 11: The Ultimate Wrong Choices You Can Make, According To Everyone’s Opinion! appeared first on BangShift.com.

See if any of these strike a chord with your partner…I bet they’ll agree with a few!

11. Questionable Automotive Purchases
Sometimes, you can understand exactly why they are pleading with you for acceptance (or, if they are especially bold, begging you for forgiveness) when it comes to the newest four-wheeled device in the front yard. Other times, you really don’t understand just what misfired in the cerebral cortex to allow THAT THING to look like a solid choice. It doesn’t run, it’s as illegal as walking through the town square stark naked on a Sunday, and has dropped property values in your neighborhood by several percent.

10. eau de shitboxThe only thing that might be worse than the appearance of the “new” car is the smell of the “new” car. This could range from general age and mustiness to mildew, mold, every automotive chemical known under the sun, exhaust fumes, fuel fumes, dead rodents, and the sweat coming together to make a smell so overpoweringly awful that it could be concentrated into chemical weapons. Burn the clothes, bathe with Lava soap and hope that the smell didn’t stick to the couch cushions.

9. Taking The Old Car Instead (and the fun that comes with that.)
For this one, there’s no funny banter, but a real story that goes with that picture. This was shortly after I got the Imperial running and had exhaust put on it. I was so happy that the car was “done” that I wanted to pick up my then-fianceé with it and hit a car show. It ran great on it’s shakedown trip to Phoenix. It ran great all day long. It ran great to the car show that didn’t happen that night. Ten minutes later, I lost just about all steering ability. I got lucky enough to limp it into this parking lot, where I found that the castle nut and cotter pin that usually keeps the Pitman arm in the steering linkage had disappeared and that I was steering with the last two threads barely hanging on for dear life. Needless to say, she wasn’t amused.

8. The Thrown Wrench GarageFew things in life will infuriate a gearhead more than a shitty day in the garage. Break a bolt, crush an electrical connector, mangle each and every knuckle on one hand and forget Dr. Jekyll, it’s now Mr. Hyde and it’s gonna be quite some time before the red mist disappears and the calm, rational being returns. You want to be helpful, but you also want to keep your distance as the words flow like the water over Niagra Falls. Anger management isn’t even going to begin to touch upon what happens when the tap-and-die set and Easy-out tools become a needed commodity.

7. Clean-up detail
Nobody should be shocked to learn that working on a car is a dirty business. But some days just tend to be dirtier than others. You will soon learn to fear the moment a grease-covered gearhead comes rushing into the door asking about whether or not we have extra cat litter…and if you don’t have a cat, worry more. No matter how careful they are, if there is a fluid for a car to puke, it’s likely to come out. Think of the car as a newborn…given the chance, everything in a certain radius stands to be soiled at any given moment.

6. Laundry day!This is another real-deal story: I spent an afternoon scrubbing down this 1961 Newport that is at Mid-South Mopars. It was a pleasant way to be useful around the shop and to get out and enjoy an early fall evening. But it was a warm day, a humid day, and I had a pressure washer at full kill. By the time it got so dark that I couldn’t tell if I was helping or hurting the cause, I was coated in sweat by the gallons, paint flakes, and residue that I’d rather not think about. I was so disgusting that we actually bought new clothes at a nearby Wal-Mart for the drive back. That is just the tip of the iceberg on what to expect when it’s time to wash some clothes…

5. Is that the FedEx guy again?!Another delivery truck? With the advent of online shopping and the likelihood of a useful speed shop actually existing in your location, the easiest way to get parts from the catalog to your driveway is via a delivery truck. The UPS and FedEx guys might as well be Santa and your gearhead will return to when they were five years old at Christmas. As soon as the truck pulls up, all you’ll hear is excited happy noises.

4. The other relationship (also known as “that bitch in the garage”)This one doesn’t necessarily apply to us, but we know folks who have significant others who look at the project car with the fury of a lover scorned. That inanimate object isn’t another lover, but it’s sucking up a hell of a lot of time and money, isn’t it? You were told to treat it nicely, to respect it, and your heart burns with the fury of a thousand suns every time that thing becomes the topic of conversation. Don’t know what to tell you here except to be glad that it’s not alcohol, drugs or loose women.

3. Maybe you should call for help, sweetie.Gearheads are stubborn asses when it comes to the car. They are usually considered the subject matter experts among peers and have probably been treated that way for quite some time. That means when things aren’t going right, you’ll probably have to step in and remind them that they are fallible and that they can’t always do things by themselves. Case in point: the night I brought the Cadillac home, I sank it in the front yard. It’s only in a couple inches of slimy mud, but that three-ton brick was going nowhere except deeper into the yard. Haley suggested I leave it there and get some help to pull it out the next morning, minimizing the ruts that would have to fill in later.

2. Stay away from my car!Ok, it’s one thing to mess with the project car, but when the gearhead starts looking at every car in the driveway with that contemplative look, it’s time to step in and draw that line in the sand. This is where rational thinking must trump passion, no matter the promises made.

(I’ve promised to leave her truck alone, and to keep the Mustang’s build within reason. I’m ok!)

1. eau de voiture supreme

There’s another smell category that comes with being a gearhead: the smell of success, which smells oddly enough like roasted tire, race fuel fumes, sweat, exhaust and, if there was a post-victory celebration, maybe a little bit of barbecue and/or beer. It’s not as offensive as that “new project car smell” but it’ll seep into the couch cushions all the same!

The post Best of 2019 Top 11: Gearhead Things Your Significant Other Has Had To Tolerate! appeared first on BangShift.com.