Drift A Goat
When Pontiac announced it would pull out of NASCAR after the 2003 season, there was speculation about what the division would do to build excitement in the future. One of those ways is by going drifting.
Drifting is the emerging motorsport that mixes rear-drive Japanese cars with figure skating and burnouts. It's a neat spectacle as cars slide through corners on the seeming edge of control, then snap over to reverse direction while the driver maintains opposite lock with the steering wheel. In other words, it's what you'd do as a kid after a snowstorm in the parking lot of Montgomery Ward.
Rhys Millen approached Pontiac to turn a new GTO into a drifting machine, and that's exactly what his crew has been doing in a Huntington Beach, California, shop. While this GTO is built in Australia, the engine is an all-American LS-1 V-8, and that V-8 roar is something drifting desperately needs. At the end of February that's just what happened, as the completed car appeared at the D1 professional drifting event at Irwindale Speedway in Southern California.
Muscle Car of the Month
'66 Mercury Comet Cyclone GT
Some musclecars have become legendary, and others, whether deservedly or not, have faded into obscurity. The Cyclone exists somewhere between those; there are a few who are passionate about it, but ask most hot rodders about the Cyclone GT and all you get is a blank stare.
The entire Comet series grew for 1966, becoming Mercury's virtual clone of the Ford Fairlane. The Cyclone GT sat atop the line as the sportiest member carrying a special grille, badging, and that twin-scoop hood to distinguish it from mere Comets or even mere Cyclones. Powerplant choices ranged from 335hp, four-barrel 390ci V-8 exhaling through dual exhausts to ... well, there were no other choices for the '66 Cyclone GT. A four-speed manual transmission was standard, but most came with a three-speed automatic, becoming (technically at least) GTA models. A '66 Cyclone GT convertible was used to pace the '66 Indianapolis 500.
Perhaps the greatest glory for the Cyclone GT came as the body covering "Dyno" Don Nicholson's "Eliminator 1" Funny Car, the first Funny Car equipped with a one-piece fiberglass reproduction body that flipped up to reveal the tube-frame race car underneath. Every Funny Car since has been built that way.
Quick Facts
Production total: 15,970 (13,812 coupes, 2,158 convertibles)
Engine: 390ci, OHV, four-barrel V-8. 330hp (std.)
Transmission: Four-speed manual (std.), Three-speed automatic (opt.).
Base price: $2,981
Vanishing Point on DVD
If you're of a certain age (let's just say nearing or just passing 40), then Vanishing Point has made an indelible imprint on your car guy soul. On the surface it's a low-budget movie about a guy downing fistfuls of amphetamines while he ferries a '70 Dodge Challenger from Denver to San Francisco. But dig deeper and it's a weird take on how the early-'70s counterculture fed a desire to seek escape-in a musclecar at 140 mph.
Vanishing Point has finally come to DVD, and it looks better than ever with a crisp, clean widescreen transfer that makes viewers feel like they're bugs squashed on the Challenger's windshield. The sound is good, too-and 33 years after the film was released, the music holds up as decent rock 'n' roll.
This is a bargain-priced DVD, so 20th Century-Fox didn't spend a lot of money loading the disc with extra features. Still it does give us two versions of the film: the U.S. release and slightly longer British version. Also on the disc are some trailers, TV spots, and a commentary track from director Richard Sarafian. He has virtually nothing to say about the cars used in the film, but his meandering reminiscences do give insight to the guerrilla tactics used in the filming.