As I write this, I'm aboard a turbo-prop puddle jumper en-route from Atlanta to Gainesville for the first NHRA's 2002 SC drag race. About 20 minutes out of Gainesville, I glance out of the window to see an eerie, captivating but ominous sight. It's raining outside and the strobe beacon lights illuminate the raindrops as they flash. The droplets look like fireflies buzzing by in the night. This is ominous because I have spent the better part of nine hours to get this far and a rainout would be devastating on many levels.
In my June column, I used my time atop the soapbox talking about compromise as it impacts the hobby of creating interesting and powerful performance cars. The central focus of the column was myself wanting a Supra and my wife wanting a classic pickup truck. My solution: a 1947 to 1953 Chevy pickup with a Supra engine under the hood.
I got a lot of feedback before that issue even left the building for the printing press. It was all positive; in fact, some thought the idea so good they wanted me to pull the piece so I wouldn't give it away. In the column, I explained how I went off at warp speed and pulled my usual war room planning session where I figure out exactly what to do and how to do it.
To glean info for my "old truck build sheet," I scoured magazines on classic trucks. I was in the position of newcomer and how I looked for information provided an insight to ways many first-time import enthusiasts approach data collection.
In my searching, I scoured the ads, especially those pertaining to chassis upgrades and I hit the reader's ride section hard to see what other owners of the 1947 to 1953 Chevy have done to address their underpinnings. Also, any issue with chassis mods blurbed on the cover was a must-have. What am I proposing? A model search of sorts. I want more and better reader's rides. The brass ring will be a feature-and possibly a cover-in a reader's ride-based issue of Turbo & High-Tech Performance.
So send in those pictures and a list of mods to Turbo & High-Tech Performance, 774 S. Placentia Ave., Placentia, CA 92870, attention Ride Mayhem.
Tim Schorn e-mailed me this link in response to the Supra Hauler column in the June issue: www.escribe.com/automotive/american/chevygmtruck/m30476.html. It's a link to a forum of other creative thinking truck conversion types.
At the SEMA International Auto Salon, no less than five people approached me concerning the Supra Hauler column. One took notice of my sternly posed picture, the other four thought the JZA-Chevy truck idea was really cool. Javier Ortega from Englishtown Raceway had a similar idea floating around his cerebral cortex. A 1960s Falcon wagon with Supra power. Sounds interesting Javier; let's build them and race down the E-Town strip to the grocery store and back. Whatta ya think? First one back in the burnout box wins...