The 5th Annual Car Craft West Coast Cruise

Brian Rock lifted wheels and ran an 11.18 at altitude. He had just finished a head-gasket thrash the night before to get to Palmdale. His best e.t is 10.85 at 125 courtesy of a 421 bored to 427 inches.

Brian's 427 Pontiac has a 4.123 bore and 4.00-inch stroke with hours of head porting work and a 248/254 at 0.050 solid roller with 0.600 lift.

Not only are Buick Rivieras cool right now, we're seeing the dropped look work with airbags. This fresh-built '63 belongs to David Thayer.

Chris Brown from ARP welcomed us by showing us the new LS1 balancer bolt and other tasty new hardware at its Ventura plant. Gary Holzapfel formed Automotive Racing Products in 1968 after watching bolts fail on his friend's race cars. The rest you know.

Steve Patillo's '85 Monte Carlo was mostly stolen when he interrupted the thieves on his way out of a movie theater. His hidden kill switch stumped 'em. Now Steve has officially decided to build the car after attending the Car Craft cruise and seeing how great the readers are. At least that's how we see it.

The list of mods on this Ford Falcon is impressive. Highlights are: 427 FE with 600 hp on the motor and another 300 hp on nitrous, runs too fast to be NHRA legal, Top Loader four-speed, and a custom handmade suspension based on an Alston ladder bar setup. It kills.

We never caught up with this guy, but we liked the Edelbrock-injected Rat and the airbags on his '41 Chevy C.O.E. (cab over engine).

Ever heard of a spinster? We hadn't until we spoke to Sal Orlando and scoped his unrestored '59 Mercury Commuter wagon that he purchased from a unmarried woman who lived alone for 25 years. Spinster is actually a legal term for someone past the "conventional" age for marrying.

Tim and Dylan O'Leary brought their '81 Turbo Trans Am Special Edition. Things that are cool: Red Recaro seats and matching red glow from the radio, every option box on the list was checked, it's a factory original.

Gil Wiley brought his '64 Plymouth Savoy Super Stock clone to SLO after building it from a six-cylinder three-speed car in four years. It has an iron-block 528ci Hemi making 630 hp, era-correct van seats, and the radio, heater, and back seat deletes.