Category: Benchracing

A Hand Me Down Camaro Gets A Fresh Spark

Installing SQR Performance Ignition in a 327 Hand me down Camaro

Installing an SQR Performance Ignition Kit on a 327 SBC. Fellow Mercifuls Car Club member Travis received his dad’s first year 327 equipped Camaro. He said this car has a checkered history for him. Every time he was there to…

Finding Cool Old Stuff

Finding Cool Old Stuff

Sometimes I feel like an archeologist. Yeah, Indiana Jones for sure. OK, maybe not that adventurous, but I sure dig finding some cool old stuff. It doesn’t take much to get me going either. I was watching a docu-drama on…

The Year: 1956

The Year 1956

I thought it would be fun to document the happenings of a particular year. I deleted most of the geo-political “news” of the day and went with entertainment and leisure activities. If you see anything missing, please feel free to…

Raymond Loewy – Industrial Design Champion

Raymond Loewy - Never Leave Well Enough Alone

A Brief History of Raymond Loewy Associates “Never Leave Well Enough Alone.” Raymond Loewy When I was studying design at Laguna College of Art & Design in the 1980’s my dad gave me a special edition magazine that featured American…

FARMHOUSE RACER

Farmhouse Racer Jerry Friedrich

When you spend your days in the field watching the lemons and avocados grow, you get to wondering. For Jerry Friedrich, that wondering got him into racing and now deep in hot rodding. We took a jaunt off the Ventura…

Hunters and Gatherers

Hunters and Gatherers, the culture of collecting.

The Culture Around Collecting It has seems like a lifetime ago when I opened Blacktop Depot, an Automobilia Store that bought and sold; “COOL OLD STUFF”. All our patrons and consigners were a community. A community that dates back to…

Riding Shotgun with Rat Fink

Rat Fink History and Discussion

Here’s something new. I call it Man on Main Street. Kinda like the old Man on the Street stuff from late night television, but it is me asking friends about a particular Blacktop Topic. This time it is all about…

A Decade of Dapper

The Distinguished Gentleman's Ride DGR Decade of Dapper.

10 Years Of The Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride A Blacktop Magazine Book Review. While I am reading this really nicely designed coffee-table book, the 12 annual Distinguished Gentleman’s Ride is happening all around the world. Wait, all around the world? Yep!…

Dad’s Time Capsule

1947 Chevy Fleetline Kustom Dorr's Time Capsule

Doug DoRr’s 1947 Chevy Fleetline Kustom Look deep. Really deep. Past the satin maroon paint. Look deeper still into the sheetmetal. Can you see it? Look past the custom fenders, skirts, side-pipes, seriously chopped top and re-worked deck lid. Look…

King of the Mill

King of the Mill

Here’s a collection of incredible engines. Can you pick out yours? Which is your favorite? Is it a dual-carb VW, an Evan’s Flathead Ford, a 440 Six-Pack, Boss 409, 302, or a Nailhead?

Benchracing With Musclecars Part 2

Musclecars

Benchracing with Jersey and T-Bone Benchracing with Jersey and T-Bone. In this Part Two episode we explore the high-performance world of Musclecars! We learn Jersey’s favorite musclecar and dig deep into the GM COPO programs of Nickey, Dana, Yenko, Mr.…

Favorite Entertaining YouTube Channels

YouTube has quickly become a great source of entertainment online and I have a drop of four of my favorite channels. Back in the early pandemic era, Billy told me about a channel that is doing some hot wheels racing.…