CLUNKBUCKET

More can be better when it comes to forced induction. The Al Lidert Golden Gator rear-engine dragster ran with Chase Knight at the wheel, a supercharger on top of the intake manifold, and not one but two turbochargers feeding the 464 cubic-inch hemi engine underneath all the plumbing. Two turbos boosting a supercharger through a Hilborn mechanical fuel injection system at 60 pounds per square inch of boost huffed a lot of alcohol – and won a lot of races. Knight and Lidert ran the Golden Gator from 1971-1982, with the car hitting the performance mark in Pro Comp at the 1973 NHRA Gatornationals. The combination worked so well that the powers took notice. Read the rest of this entry »

From the spell check has no idea what sort of word Cimarron is department comes this 1988 Cadillac Cimarron. A junkyard hoof over the holiday weekend revealed dozens of quality automobiles ready to be picked clean, and melted down into steel poles for partially solar-powered sustainable parking meters that simultaneously confuse the public and spit out squares of recycled paper. This GM J-platform car named either after a big horned wild sheep or eastern flowing river never found its way with the public as other variants of the GM J-fleet did. The cost premium for a fancy Cavalier is something the eighties Cadillac crowd never fully embraced. The Cimarron ceased to exist in 1988. The forgotten Cimarron should never be, as it is reminder exactly how disconnected the automakers can become, and how far automakers have come since the great eighties malaise.

More: Haiku Cars

Some of the more interesting cars at any car show are often found at the adjacent parking lot. Recent proof is this 1967 Sunbeam Minx DeLuxe. The car is driven daily as an around town runabout by Maggie Ware, whose father picked up the sedan only slightly used in 1968. The car has remained in the family since. This Rootes Group survivor is in original condition, soldiering on in its intended role as a practical and stylish mid-size sedan. Read the rest of this entry »

Technology and modernism were to have saved us all from mundane toil a long time ago. Postmodernism brought with it ongoing complications, leaving many pipe smokers sitting in their Eames lounge chairs puzzled, and wondering what the hell happened. Back in the time of supersonic thinking, automakers embraced a modern direction not only in design and engineering, but also in marketing. Copywriters and ad men tasked with naming these great leaps forward in technology came up with names like Twilight Sentinel, or Autronic Eye. Shown here is a still operating Autronic Eye in a 1967 Cadillac. The photon sensing eye peered forward, and dropped the headlamps to a low-beam setting as an automated courtesy to oncoming motorists, leaving the Cadillac driver to embrace a motoring experience of fully modern luxury.

From the Mitsubishi forklift engine department comes this special Engine Stand bonus how-to edition of Tool of the Week. The Engine Stand is a purposeful tool that is designed to hold an engine block for dismantling and assembly. While these stands are great to have around, they do not posses an abundance of utility when not holding up an engine. Most engine stands are often seen in their natural habitat of back yards, or sides of houses half covered by a blue tarp. Up until recently, one of the Clunkbucket engine stands was holding up a spare Toyota 4K-C engine in the garage, and the other languishing in the back yard, holding up a blue tarp. The clarion call of free parts from the internets along with a drive to the wine country has since put the spare engine stand back into useful service holding up yet another Mitsubishi G54B turbo engine block. In the processes of this engine transport excursion we not only figured out that the Starlet can carry a spare engine, but that an engine stand can be used as a fulcrum to extract an engine block from the Starlet. We also put to the test the old maxim that free is always better than good. Read on for a step-by-step guide of something that by law we absolutely cannot recommend you attempt.

Step-by-Step Economy Engine Block Transport

The best sort of car meets and shows are the kind where folks drive in, hang out, and then get back into their cars and drive off until next time. The monthly gathering of imports in Santa Clara falls directly into the category of low key and casual events where those who dig a certain kind of car can meet and greet. Bugs and dents on daily driven and budget classics speak to us far more clearly than time out dolls with their head stuck into a fender. This month’s Santa Clara gathering brought a Datsun 510 heavy crowd from the Ratsun bunch, but also attracted a few Toyotas, a couple of Mitsubishi-Chryslers, and one Swabian representative from the Audi compact station wagon division. Now if we could only convince the nearby Bombay Gardens restaurant to expertly prepare their world famous all-u-can-eat dinner buffet on a the last Thursday night of every month, we could make this deal a meet and eat.