Reader's In and Out ListIn: Tony Stewart, '02 Winston Cup ChampionIn: Ryan Newman, '02 Winston Cup Rookie of the YearOut: Jan. '03 issue of Car Craft declaring Stewart "out" and rookie Jimmie Johnson "in"Out: Three month publishing lead timesJason D. KodgerFredericktown, OHOut: Smart-ass readers
David's "Travesty," Part IILet me start off by saying that I make my living by tearing apart old cars and building street rods out of them. I love it when people like "Name Withheld" via e-mail complain about people like Mark Smith ("David's Slingshot," Oct. '02) ripping apart original cars to race 'em or rod 'em. It's people like this that ensure the possibility that my kids and their kids will someday have the chance to buy original musclecars to modify according to their own style. If we all just grabbed up every last car and gutted them and raced 'em, future car crafters would never get the chance to know what it feels like to bring home a stock SS Nova, an original and correct '55 Chevy, or a fastback Mustang and build a great personal mechanical expression out of it. When people come up to me at shows or cruises and say something like, "I can't believe you did that to a '55 Chevy," I love to respond, "What if I told you I saved it from the scrap heap and built this out of it?" They usually say that's not so bad. Then I love to come back with "Well, it wasn't. It was a freshly restored, correct car and I cut it up!"Mark UsykRome, NY
Thanks for printing my e-mail in your Jan. '03 issue. I wish I had put my name on the note. Anyway, I agree with you that the 283/Powerglide in Mark Smith's car is not as hot as the engine/tranny combo he installed. However, I submit to you that the value of Smith's morphed SS Nova is not much more than a same-year stock Nova that had the exact same work done to it. Bottom line, Mark could have done this to any Nova with the same results. The real question is how many original, complete, two-owner Super Sport Nova's are left? Hear that sound-it's our history being cut up.Terry Parsonsvia e-mail
This is a debate that is only going to get hotter as more and more baby boomers start to build the customized musclecars they've always dreamed of owning now that they have the bucks to afford them. Unlike the street rod market where it's relatively easy to build new steel and fiberglass replicas of popular body styles, ensuring that there will eventually be many more '32 Fords on the road than Henry ever built himself, the supply of musclecars (and their more pedestrian kin) is much more limited and harder to replicate. However, we'd argue that Mark didn't really do anything to the car that can't be easily reversed. It's not like he tubbed it or made a convertible out of it. Modifications that can be unbolted and returned to stock don't desecrate a car, they make it better-most of the time.
Fifty Years of TyposI wonder if any of the original readers of Honk! magazine picked up on the mistake about the bore size of the flathead in Ronnie Gerhardt's '32 coupe? ("Blast from the Past," Jan. '03). The first sentence of the third paragraph says, "The bore of the engine is a goodly sized 31/48 inch over stock, while the stroke is a standard 331/44 inches, giving a total displacement of 260 cubic inches." What was really meant was that the bore was 331/48 inches, which was 31/416 inch over stock. Those old flathead V-8s could be bored a long way, but 31/48 inch was a bit too much even for them.Brian FurmanKingston, NY
A half-century later and our mistakes are still haunting us!
Thongs a LotWe need more random updates on the availability of thongs, especially with picture examples.Benvia e-mail
You just got one step closer to combining my two favorite magazines: Car Craft and Maxim.Brad BrackelColorado Springs, CO
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