Home//Hot Rod/September 2014/In This Issue
Hot Rod|September 2014Better Than “Made In USA”There was a time in this country when it would have been redundant to say “Made in the USA.” That was a given—everything was made here. So to tell you where something was made, companies specified within which city limits its parts were produced. HOT ROD was born during this phenomenon in Los Angeles, and we published the address of every shop, store, and manufacturer that appeared in our pages so readers could go to them—or at least mail them a catalog request. HOT ROD still honors the legacy of knowing who you’re dealing with by printing the physical locations of the companies listed in our tech articles.But as time passed, American manufacturers moved away from stamping their stuff with the name of the municipality where it’s made. “Made in…4 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Hot Rod Anything! Small-Block Chevy Reno Air RacerThere’s an aerospace-spec, small-block Chevy nestled into “Sweet Dreams,” the Reno Air Race GP-5 of retired U.S. Air Force pilot Lee Behel. What else would you use in an Unlimited Air race class where the only restriction is the engine must displace less than 1,000 ci, with no restrictions on fuel, boost, or nitrous? Hasselgren Engineering (Hasselgren.com) got the nod for the injected 434ci Chevy, which dyno’d at 650 hp at 5,800 rpm. Getting the power to the ground, er prop, is an EPI Mark-9 PSRU offset propeller gearbox manufactured for not only most Chevys but also both generations of Chrysler Hemis, Ford Windsor and Cleveland engines, and even Jag V12s.The plane was originally designed and built by George Pereira, with mods and assist from Mountain Aire Aviation in Sonora,…3 min
Hot Rod|September 2014You’re in the Driver’s Seat What It’s Like to Take a Drag-Racing ClassDriving a dragster is undeniably cool, but unlike practicing donuts in a wet parking lot, it’s not the kind of thing you can do in your mother’s SUV. At the Frank Hawley Drag Racing School, the new Adventure program will give you the low-10-second giggles in a big-block-Chevy-powered dragster.After a quick intro, the instructors get you suited up and strapped in, then guide you into the waterbox for your burnout. Crank that wheel! It takes a couple of full turns to get a 230-inch wheelbase to change direction. The starter will give you the go-ahead to do your burnout. It’s a quickie, gas then brake. Be firm, but not panicky. You’re not in a hurry here. Before you move forward to stage, take a second to relax. Close your visor.…3 min
Hot Rod|September 2014STREET FIGHTER“Did you ever see the valve covers off my car? Did you ever see it apart? Larry’s trans was out every pass. If you have to take it apart every run, is that a street car?”—Tom BaileyWhen Tom Bailey purchased Project Sick Seconds from Denny Terzich, he was just looking for a way to speed up the completion of his 2012 racing plans by buying a car that was already set up for street/strip use. Terzich had built the car to run a 6-second average on HOT ROD Drag Week™—that crazy, weeklong, street-to-track, 1,000-mile roadtrip that we use to weed out America’s Fastest Street Cars from America’s Fastest Trailer Queens. Despite Terzich’s good intentions, he never quite made it happen in competition. Sick Seconds did run a 6-second pass in…11 min
Hot Rod|September 2014DON’T CALL IT A SLEEPERREADERS RANK ITIs this car firing on all eight? Here’s the score from a poll of HOT ROD readers, 1 piston is the worst score, 8 is the best.OVERALLFUNCTIONSTANCEENGINEEXTERIORINTERIORVote on feature cars at HOTROD.com“Sounds like as much torque as my turbodiesel. Damn!”—Jeff Blackman, via FacebookTony Bromley’s ’67 Firebird has a low-key exterior. It is bright red, and it is a Firebird, so it does hint at performance, yet there’s nothing about it to suggest it’s anything other than stock. The high-output badges on the car are for real, and although the ’bird was originally a 326ci car, Tony has at least admitted there’s more under the hood with the addition of the 400 emblem and the scooped hood. Still, it’s a 45-year-old performance car—it can’t be all that quick, right?…5 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Romeo’s DelightWhile working for Alfa Romeo’s U.S. Engineering Office, Hank Bernstein was surprised to see the company clearing out its inventory of old emissions-testing parts; the powers that be relegating several prized pieces to that great dumpster in the sky. All it took was Hank stepping up and blurting, “I’ll take that,” and a healthy ’81 2.5L GTV6 engine was his. And as a wise mechanic once said, “Don’t look gif horse(power) in the mouth” (or something to that extent). Hank knew the peculiar engine could be morphed into something rather interesting. He took the V6 home, wrapped it in plastic, and waited for the day he would figure out just what the heck to do with it.While said engine was in his possession, Hank advanced up the ladder in the…8 min
Hot Rod|September 2014SERIOUS FUNNY CAR TECHIf you want to learn anything from a Nitro Funny Car, you better be quick about it, ’cause in less than four seconds, that baby’s gone, baby. Since it’s sort of hard to write notes at 324 mph, we stopped by the Worsham Racing shop in Orange, California, to crib some ideas from the McLeod Racing Dodge Charger while it was sitting still. You might not think there’s much on a nitro-burning flopper that translates over to a street machine, but there are a bunch of good ideas under that carbon-fiber body that apply to any kind of hot rod build. Crew Chief Chuck Worsham was busy repairing windowed nostalgia Hemi blocks, but Grant Downing, car chief and occasional driver, was kind enough to walk us through the specifics.…7 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Speed (Sort of) on a BudgetJAMES AND BRIAN WARD’03 DODGE NEON // 2.0L FOUR-CYLINDER // TOP SPEED: 112.83 MPHThe father and son team of James and Brian Ward were spectators at an Ohio Mile event when ECTA Race Director Keith Turk assured the two that if they enjoyed spectating, they’d really love competing. He bet them that they couldn’t go 100 mph for less than $400. Two of Keith’s beloved ice-cold Diet co*kes were on the line.The Wards took the bet and found this Neon their friend had been trying to get back on the road. It had been parked when it was in need of an alternator and a radiator. They bought it for $300 and brought it home. The first time out the car wouldn’t shift out of Second, so their best speed…1 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Start to Finish Twin-Engine ’39 Chevy TruckTom Dietrich’s father owned a truck powered by a GMC straight-six that was a bit of a sleeper, inspiring Tom to build a unique truck of his own. His initial plan was to use a single Oldsmobile Toronado engine and transaxle in a pickup, until his friend challenged him to double the power and use two of the Toronado’s Unitized Power Packages. The hunt was soon on for the proper project vehicle that would turn into an amazing build that spanned 20 years and has improved in many stages along the way.GOT PICS?If you’ve built or restored your car and have documented it in pictures every step of the way, we might be able to use your story in HOT ROD. Contact us to find out. Mail: HOT ROD Start…3 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Daily Driver Diaries Whoever Smelt It, Dealt ItClassic-car ownership is an exercise for all the senses—OK, maybe not so much for “taste,” although I do know a dude who identifies leaks that way. I don’t recommend it. The other four senses are in high demand, though. You feel your way through sloppy shifter gates and parking lots unfriendly to non-power steering, listen for warning clinks and clanks, and hopefully, you look where you’re going. Sometimes you even feel a sort of sixth sense, warning you that the minivan turning left out of that shopping mall is totally going to do it in front of you, so start pumping the brakes now. Phew. Close call. Thank you, psychic phenomena.Now, what about smell? I can’t be the only one who’s on alert while I drive, just waiting for the…1 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Breaking News 200 MPH and On Fire at the Ohio MileHow important is a lowly vacuum pump? If you’re Tim Slone and you’ve got a turbocharged LS engine pushing you to more than 200 mph in what is without a doubt the coolest Saturn Ion ever, it’s a matter of breaking records—or being on fire—at the Ohio Mile.OK, so Saturn Ions aren’t know for being cool in the least, but when you’ve got what very well may be the world’s only turbo-charged, V8, rear-wheel-drive Saturn Ion and it put you in the ECTA’s 200-mph club, we will watch you race it. At the ECTA’s May meet, we were doing just that when things got very interesting for Slone.He was behind the wheel and was hoping to make a record-setting pass so that his son, Austin, could make his licensing runs…1 min
Hot Rod|September 2014The Perfecting of Pro TouringHot rodding has always been about improving a car’s performance and looks. When the Pro Street fad got legs in the ’80s, the phenomenon morphed building hot rods into how best to incorporate steamroller-sized rear tires and the most horsepower possible (or the appearance of it) into our cars. At some point, a little sanity had to return us back to hot rodding’s core.Enter Pro Touring. The idea behind it was something novel: improve an old car’s looks and performance. Wait! That’s what hot rodding has been from the start, right? But the new common thread running through a Pro Touring build was balance, which included suspension and brake upgrades along with the customary increase in horsepower. Sway bars, larger rotors, bigger wheels, stiffer springs, reduced ride height, wider tires,…2 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Our First Ride! 2015 Mustang ReviewHOT ROD was among the first group of journalists to sit in the all-new ’15 Mustang while it’s moving under power. We weren’t allowed to drive or to see the engine, but we took several autocross laps in the right-hand seat and pored all over the car while asking questions. The basics are well known by now: the ’15 Mustang is an all-new platform, sharing nothing with the old car, and it includes independent rear suspension for the entire Mustang line. The engine offerings will be a slightly improved version of the current 3.7L V6 as the base, a 2.3L EcoBoost turbo four-cylinder as the mid-level option, and a modified version of the current 5.0L V8 at the top end (at least until a presumed deluge of higher-performance models are…4 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Automotive Archaeology Missouri MoparsI heard rumblings about a yard in Missouri full of cool ’60s and ’70s Mopars and speed parts, so I decided to see what the hubbub was all about.From the second we arrived, there were Mopars—Road Runners, Chargers, Challengers, Dusters, and Darts—rows of cars just sitting there. Walk one row, 50 cars long, and nothing was newer than ’78.As we headed to the main barns and shop, we spotted a few old fiberglass dragster front ends for some dragsters and piles of K-members, steering components, and brakes. The owner showed us some of the nicer cars that were tucked away: a ’70 Barracuda Funny Car, an ’80s Daytona-based flopper, and even a General Lee.But the coolest memorabilia was in the main shop: the fa*g that used to fly at Chrysler’s…1 min
Hot Rod|September 2014MOUNTAIN CARVIN’ CRANKERThere’s a dark side to Bob Bauder, an irreverence he has toward car building most other hot rodders don’t have. With more than 45 ’32 Fords and 40 wedge and Hemi Mopars (plus an assortment of rare ’50s GM products) all under his belt over the last too many years to matter, he’s amassed quite the catalog of finished builds. Basically, he’s cranked out cars for the last three decades. But he has no conscience when it comes to things like factory-original paint, modifying rare parts, or preservation of hot rod history. A part is a part, and an old hot rod is what you make of it to a builder like Bauder.Take his ’32 Ford highboy, for instance. He built this roadster his way—the way he wanted it, with…11 min
Hot Rod|September 2014HOT ROD FLOG TEST RESULTSPERFORMANCE AS TESTEDRear-Wheel Horsepower: 413.2 at 5,400 rpmRear-Wheel Torque: 550.8 lb-ft at 3,400 rpmTime on Streets of Willow: 1 minute, 35.46 secondsQuarter-Mile: 12.32 at 109.75 mphHRM STAFF AVERAGE RANKING ON A SCALE OF 1–10, 10 BEING BEST:Competence in Its Intended Purpose: The car looks stock and hauls the mail. In that regard, it nailed it.Ranking: 10Performance vs. Potential: Since it’s a convertible, the Fire-bird is quicker than any NHRA-sanctioned track will allow it to go without a rollbar. That’s good enough for us. On the road course, the tall tires hurt its performance, but we won’t hold that against it too much.Ranking: 8Dares to Be Different: Even though it’s a ’67 F-body, it is a Pontiac with a Pontiac engine. The fact that it’s not an LS engine is worth…1 min
Hot Rod|September 2014TWIN-TURBO CHEVY INDYCARIndyCar racing and hot rodding once shared a similar vision. Many of the names, technologies, and advancements that were part of one participated in the other. And like hot rodding, IndyCars were a breeding ground for radical new ideas whose acceptance were based solely on track-proven success—not marketability. All that seemed to change as the needs of the automakers and IndyCar racers differed from what backyard mechanics and enthusiasts were interested in wrenching on. But perhaps those needs and interests are aligning once again—at least on the engine front.Direct-injection-gasoline engines, like the 2.2L Chevy IndyCar engines found in Dallara (Dallara.it) IndyCars, are the equalizer. Until recently, only European performance cars and fuel-efficient four-bangers could be had in the U.S. with fuel systems that injected gas “directly” into the combustion chambers…4 min
Hot Rod|September 2014TORTURE TESTOff-road desert racing isn’t beamed into living rooms nationwide and it doesn’t have the glory or sponsorship dollars of NASCAR. Yet desert racing draws serious competitors and motorsport technology to its ranks because it has so few rules. Like all endurance racing, many of the technologies developed here are applicable to our own street/strip/track cars—where power and durability are needed in equal parts.Like Bonneville, the Baja, Mexico, peninsula is a legendary proving ground where finely crafted of-road racing machines are tested and proven against their peers—or scorched, scarred, and turned into broken heaps. Some of hot rodding’s greatest builders and drivers (Mickey Tompson, Parnelli Jones, Holman Moody, and Robby Gordon) have spent time in the savage environment of the desert.We spoke with Dave Clark, renowned fabricator, protégé of Nye Frank,…4 min
Hot Rod|September 2014HOW BUICK, THE CIA, AND KURTIS STARTED LOCKHEED’S SUPERSONIC SPY PLANEIn 1956, the CIA had a problem. Its U-2 spy plane could fly at extreme altitudes and carry state-of-the-art cameras, but the Russians proved they could track it on its very first fight. High-altitude reconnaissance had promise, but it came with the risk of being shot out of the sky. The solution? Quadruple the aircraft’s speed.The CIA turned to Lockheed’s Skunk Works in Burbank, California, and tasked it to deliver a plane that would evade detection—or simply outrun anything sent to shoot it down. The result was the A-12 spy plane. Tough the SR-71 version flown by the Air Force (left) was declassified during President Johnson’s administration, the CIA’s A-12 remained classified until the ’90s.Car guys have often looked to the world of jets for the parts to go fast.…4 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Step by Step: 4L60E Overdrive Trans SwapContactsGEARSTAR PERFORMANCE TRANSMISSIONS; Akron, OH; 800.633.2353; GearStar.netMSD PERFORMANCE; El Paso, TX: 915.857.5200; MSDIgnition.comROADKILL TESTEDFinnegan and Freiburger have used Gearstar transmissions for every Road-kill build so far. One of the reasons is that Gearstar transmissions are built from start to finish by the same technician, rather than on an assembly line, keeping assembly details from slipping through the cracks. Watch an episode of Roadkill and you’re not going to see a transmission failure—and those guys beat on cars like a vending machine that won’t cough up a Moon Pie.…4 min
Hot Rod|September 2014What is the Performance Difference Between Cams with Different Advertised But the Same 0.050-inch Durations?For determining the rpm range where a performance cam makes its best power, duration at 0.050-inch tappet lift is more relevant than advertised duration. If two cams have the same 0.050 duration and both rate the advertised duration at the same lift, the cam with shorter advertised duration in comparison to 0.050 duration has more aggressive ramps. Providing it maintains stable valve motion, the aggressive profile yields better vacuum, increased responsiveness, a broader torque range, and other driveability improvements because it effectively has the opening and closing points of a smaller cam combined with the same area under the lift curve of a larger cam. Remember that not all cams’ advertised durations are rated at the same lift point. That’s important because, of the valve seat, relatively small changes in…1 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Diane Williams’ ’65 Mustang Shakes Badly at Idle. We’re Gonna Fix It.THE COMBOIn 1965, newlyweds Diane and Don Williams bought their first new car, a ’65 Ford Mustang convertible. “I had no idea what a Mustang looked like when Don brought it home and parked it in the driveway,” reminiscences Diane. “But I fell in love with it.” As their family grew, the couple had to trade up to larger Ford family cars, but they promised themselves that “one day we’d have a ’65 Mustang convertible again. The years rolled on. We kept putting it off until Don retired in 1998. Sadly, Don began to have serious health problems that forced him into a nursing home before passing away in 2002. I still had some money left and was determined to get a ’65 Mustang convertible and restore it as a…11 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Scene by ReadersSEND YOUR PHOTOSTo be included in Scene by Readers, send low-rez photos and some information about them to HOTROD@HotRod.com.If we elect to use your photo, we will email back with instructions on how to send us a high-rez photo for publication.…2 min
Hot Rod|September 201412 Amazing Things We Learned at the Corvette Assembly Plant TourSince 1981, every new Corvette in the world has come from one place: the GM assembly plant in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Surprisingly, the plant is open for public tours. You can also pay to follow your own Corvette through the assembly process, or even to assemble your own engine. We weren’t that lucky, but during the shooting of Roadkill Episode 27, we were given the chance to go a little deeper behind the scenes than you’d be able to on the tour. We were dizzied by the incredible processes executed among an eye-twisting array of neon red, orange, green, and yellow machinery, but still managed to compile this list of the 12 amazing things we learned at the Corvette Assembly Plant.01] The location started as a Chrysler Airtemp (air-conditioning) facility.…3 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Take 5 With LARRY LARSONWe’re coming up on the 10th anniversary of HOT ROD Drag Week™, that annual event where we push the definition of street-legal by pitting racers and their self-proclaimed street cars against a high-mileage roadtrip with daily dragstrip stops and no support vehicles allowed.Nobody knows the secrets of that hard-core, drag-race death match better than Larry Larson. Sheesh, he should! He’s attended all but two years and won more than half of the Drag Weeks™ ever held—and he took that quintet of wins one right after the other.Larry was at the very first Drag Week™ in 2005, running low 8s with a blown big-block in a bright-pink Chevy II. In 2008, he swapped the blower for some turbos and started his winning streak, which saw him claim the first ever 6-second…10 min
Hot Rod|September 2014HOT ROD FLOG TEST RESULTSPERFORMANCE AS TESTEDRear-Wheel Horsepower: 325 at 5,250 rpmRear-Wheel Torque: 330 at 5,200 rpmTime on Streets of Willow: 1 minute, 36.88 secondsQuarter-Mile: 13.286 seconds at 102.89 mphSpeed Through 420-Foot Slalom: 39.12 mphHRM STAFF AVERAGE RANKING ON A SCALE OF 1–10, 10 BEING BEST:Competence in Its Intended Purpose: Meant to be a hill-carver combined with decent street manners and classic Deuce highboy attitude, we’d say Bauder hit the nail on the head. But keep in mind that this effort is 25 years old and may appear street roddy in this age of rusted fathead coupes or rods executed to perfection. Bauder never wanted either when he built the car—and still doesn’t.Ranking: 9Performance vs. Potential: Again, Bauder’s highboy performs up to its advertised components—within the traditional-component limitations of an I-beam axle up front…2 min
Hot Rod|September 2014EXTRA-LEAD SLEDAs hot rodders, we all love a little DIY. After all, it’s what makes us car guys. Half the fun (maybe more for some of us) is lusting after that next part and then finally installing it on your ride. Of course, there are different levels of self-sufficiency in all of this. Some guys are comfortable bolting on parts or even putting together an engine, while others get into welding or paint. Some of us work with a little home repair kit: you know, the one with the tiny hammer for hanging pictures? Ten there’s the exception, the guy with the double-decker, deluxe, custom-painted Snap-on box. That’s Chuck Teixeira, and his ’50 Merc is rolling proof.Chuck began loading up his metaphorical skills-toolbox at a young age when he worked in…9 min
Hot Rod|September 2014TWO THOMPSONS,ONE GOAL: 500 MPHLast month, HOT ROD did “Take 5 With Danny Thompson,” giving you a rundown of the “wheres” and “whys” of this historic reimagination of his father Mickey’s Challenger II land-speed record car. There weren’t enough pages for the “what” and “how” portions of the effort, so we are giving you a rare back-to-back look at Danny Thompson’s Challenger 2.5.The Challenger II streamliner was the brainchild of the hyper-prolific and ingenious Mickey Thompson. First constructed in 1968, it was noteworthy for its unprecedented who’s-who of talent. With drag-racing fabricator and driver Pat Foster overseeing the build, Thompson hired Quin Epperly (famous IndyCar builder and fabricator) for chassis construction, Tom Jobe (from “Surfers” Top Fuel flame), and Nye Frank (the proverbial Zelig of automobile racing endeavors) handling the many aluminum panels necessary…10 min
Hot Rod|September 201412 Ways to Go Fast in the Standing MileTwo standing-mile, land-speed racing events that are both held on runways might seem very similar on the surface—merely separated by climate and time zones. However, when we visited the Mojave Mile in California for an event in late 2013 and again in the spring of 2014, we couldn’t help but realize how much different the cars and competitors were compared to the Ohio Mile events put on by the East Coast Timing Association (ECTA).Like a Southern California Timing Association (SCTA) event such as Bonneville or El Mirage, the ECTA’s events are much more driven by the class the car is in, with more competition for class records and a lot of innovation in regards to powerplants and aerodynamics that lead to interesting car choices—from Model A roadsters to ’70s luxury…22 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Spotter’s Guide Ford I-Beam AxlesA hot rod isn’t a hot rod without a dropped I-beam front axle. After a couple of engine mods, a dropped axle was the surest way to show your old Ford meant business. But it seems like there are as many types of and ways to “drop” axles as there are cat videos on the Internet.Different methods for dropping axles result in different-looking axles. Some are dropped in a big press, with and without the aid of heating the axle ends. Others like Okie Adams, who dropped axles back in the day for Blair’s Speed Shop in Pasadena, California, cut off the axle ends and welded on a flame-cut dropped axle section from steel plate. An example of an Okie axle can be seen under the late Gray Baskerville’s Deuce…4 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Project Car Update ’70 Dodge ChallengerThere’s only so much time you can spend saying you’re “building a new engine” before people start asking you, “so, how’s that new engine coming along?” and then you have to admit that by “building” you meant “lying on the couch looking at parts catalogs.”Finally, though, I can say that the new engine for the ’70 Dodge Challenger is underway. My first decision was whether to pull the current engine out and use that block, or start from scratch with a different block. Although the 440 in the car is hurt, it still runs, so rather than turn a mobile vehicle into yet another decorative element in my backyard, I decided to start with one of the other 440 blocks that have been lurking in the back of the garage.After…3 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Cheap Speed Race-Car Parts, Walmart PricesPerformance parts are an investment for everyone. Hot rodders may not have the bankroll the pros do, but we do have some major advantages over professional racers: no rulebooks, inspectors, or sponsors breathing down our necks every weekend. So when top-tier NASCAR teams can’t risk running a used part or something they’ve developed becomes outlawed, what happens to all those surplus speed parts? They end up at Roush Yates Performance Products (RoushYatesParts.com) in Mooresville, North Carolina.“Some of these race teams will only run something one time,” said James “Jimbo” Melton, Roush Yates Performance Products used parts manager. In his 40,000–square-foot showroom, you can buy parts that NAS-CAR teams have spent millions to engineer for pennies on the dollar. There are 50-foottall shelves filled with every component you can imagine, except…3 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Dennis Ray Langehennig II Asks…Can a ’95 T56 Be Upgraded to Survive Behind a 600HP Big-Block in a Road-Race ’55 Chevy?Q: I am open-road racing a ’55 Chevrolet. This year I used a 355ci Gen I small-block Chevy, a ’95 LT1 T56, and 3.08:1 gears to hit a 144.8-mph top speed at the Big Bend Open Road Race (BBORR) between Ft. Stockton and Sanderson, Texas. Next year we will be using a Mark IV big-block Chevy (600 hp) to push the car even faster. What T56 upgrades for this type of racing would you recommend, which is different than drag or circuit racing?A: Your car ran 145 mph? Not bad for a shoebox! To reliably handle a big-block’s torque and power, hard-core manual trans specialist Don Walsh, Sr., head honcho at D&D Performance, strongly recommends upgrading both the clutch and the trans; due to the LT1 Camaro’s unique production installation,…6 min
Hot Rod|September 2014Ghosts of Time and SpaceThe Monday after high school graduation in 1985, I started my first real job as the stocking and parts-delivery kid for Burbank Dodge. My boss was Mr. Casey—most likely a WWII vet, and the kind of guy who bought a new Dodge camper van in 1978 so he could get the last of the 440s. Pulling power, ya know. He was a gruff taskmaster, but soon gave me a raise. I’d shown some measure of merit, even if I still needed a damn haircut. I wasn’t on bench-racing terms with Mr. Casey, but I suspected he had stories of when the place was Joe Phillips Dodge—supposedly the first Dodge dealership in California, growing out of a family gas station. Remnants of ancient pumps were still in the car lot.By 1985,…3 min
