Future Car Crafters of AmericaWe recently had the pleasure of participating in the Cub Scout Pack 110 (of Sierra Madre, California) Pinewood Derby, an annual event for most packs in the Scouts. If you are not familiar with Pinewood Derby racing, it pits scout against scout (and more often than not, parent against parent) in a wicked eliminations race to determine class and overall winners. Derby-car kits are provided to each scout to create their own personal expression of automotive art. The kits come as an unfinished block of balsa wood weighing approximately 3.5 ounces, plus a wheel kit containing two axles, four wheels, and four screws. The scouts then cut, shape, assemble, and paint their racers to their liking. The pack "technician" then weighs and calibrates each car to the 5-ounce maximum weight. Many tricks are incorporated by veteran derby racers to reduce rolling resistance. Car Craft assisted Wolf Scout Mario Grabovac with the construction of a derby racer and he finished with a class win and a Second Place win overall. These kids approached the building and racing of these cars with an enthusiasm that will undoubtedly sprout into a bigger and faster projects in the future-at least we can hope. So support your local scouts to help keep our hobby alive down the road.-Marko Radielovic
Musclecar Of The Month'71 Oldsmobile 4-4-2With Oldsmobile now breathing its last breaths, let us recall the last of the truly great Oldsmobiles: the '71 4-4-2.
The 4-4-2 started as an option package on the '64 F-85 Cutlass and it became its own model-theoretically at least, not a Cutlass at all. It retained that status through '71 and then, for '72, reverted to being an option on the Cutlass. So in a nitpicking sense, it's the '71 4-4-2 that was the last 4-4-2.
As it did with most musclecars, 4-4-2 performance peaked with the '70 model year when it was available with the W-30 option package, which included a 370hp version of Olds' own 455ci V-8. In fact even the regular '70 4-4-2 packed a 10.5:1 455 rated at 365 hp. It was an impressive machine in every way.
With emissions regulations on hand, compression ratios were falling quickly throughout the automotive industry for '71, and the 4-4-2 got creamed too. A full two points were knocked off the 455's compression ratio to 8.5:1 and horsepower fell to a 340 in the regular 4-4-2. Output of the W-30 went down to 350 ponies. Not good, but not bad in context of the output nosedives taking place throughout the industry.
Still, the '71 4-4-2 was a fundamentally handsome machine with one of the best-sorted chassis of the era. In fact, many think the '71 4-4-2's deeply tunneled front grilles and twin snorkel hood made it the best looking 4-4-2-and best looking Oldsmobile-of all time.
Quick FactsProduction total: 6,285 coupes, 1,304 convertiblesEngine: 455 ci, OHV V-8, 340 hp (350 with W-20)Transmission: Four-speed manual or three-speed automaticPrice: $3,551 coupe, $3,742 convertible
Taste O' Trivia* The first organized and legal drag race, according to High Performance by Robert C. Post, took place in April 1949 in Goleta, California. The two-lane road, closed for that event by the Santa Barbara Acceleration Association in cooperation with the California Highway Patrol, is now called Ward Memorial Blvd. (CA-217) and runs between the U.S. 101 freeway and the University of California at Santa Barbara.
Also according to Post's book, that first race was between Tom Cobbs and his '29 Model A powered by a blown '34 flathead V-8 and Fran Hernandez and his '32 Ford three-window with a stroked Mercury flathead displacing 296 ci. Hernandez won.
* The '04 Cadillac XLR's $76,200 base price means it's the most expensive regular production car ever produced by GM. It bumps the '95 Corvette ZR-1, which ran $69,376, to number two.
* The most expensive '03 Corvette is the Z06 coupe at $52,235-that's $900 more than the convertible.