The 1929 Ford ‘Dick Flint’ Roadster is widely considered to be one of the most famous hot rods of the era when hot rods themselves were still a new and revolutionary means of 4-wheeled self-expression for the post-war age.
Dick Flint built the roadster from 3 separate Model A Fords, he took the elements he needed from each to create his vision of what a hot rod should be. Interestingly, he spent a significant amount of time and energy on performance oriented engineering which led to the car running an impressive 143.54mph leg at El Mirage in 1950.
It is worth noting that Flint didn’t build this car on his own, it was his car but it was the product of his own work and the work of the team at Valley Custom – specifically Neil Emory and Dean Batchelor, two men who need no introduction to any fan of vintage hot rods.
Flint had a custom belly pan designed and fitted to the Roadster to maximise under-car aerodynamics, the nose was carefully built directly onto the chassis to give the car the lowest drag-coefficient possible. The windshield was designed to be removable, as were the headlights, although much of the car’s salt flat racing was actually done before it was painted and chromed – to look pretty for the magazines.
A 1940 Mercury flathead V8 was bolted in place to power the Roadster with 3 5/16 bore, 4 1/2 stroke, Edelbrock 9:1 heads and a Winfield 1A cam-shaft – sadly there are no listed horsepower figures from the engine and the current owner doesn’t seem amenable to the idea of strapping it to a Dyno, which is kind of a shame.
The Roadster first appeared in print in 1950 but it didn’t hit the big time till it was the May 1952 cover car for Hot Rod Magazine – this publicity launched the car into the hot rod zeitgeist, where it’s remained ever since.
With an estimated value of between $700,000 and $900,000 Dick Flint’s Roadster is on track to be the most expensive hot rod of all time, we won’t know for sure until the 21st of November 2013 when it’s due to be one of the headliners of the Art of the Automobile auction co-organised by RM Auctions and Sotherby’s.
Click here to visit the car’s official listing and read more detail about it’s history.
Even now, as 2013 begins to draw to a close, Audi continues to debut new models from its increasingly confusing range. This is the new A8 facelift and we’re going to tell you everything you need to know about the luxury saloon in 90 seconds…
With the emergence of the new Mercedes S-Class, Audi has retaliated with this, the new A8. By no means is this a new car, though; merely a product refresh incorporating cutting-edge technology, a raft of engine upgrades and new cosmetic features to drag the outdated saloon firmly back into the ring.
From supercharged V6 to twin-turbo V8
Whereas the V6 was never a true substitute for the big V8, the entry-level A8’s new 3-litre supercharged TFSI engine is now a fully-fledged alternative. Thanks to internal tweaking, it delivers 310HP (up from 290HP), propelling the car to 62mph in just 5.7sec and on to an electronically limited 155mph. The revered ‘Quattro’ four-wheel-drive system remains, as does the silky 8-speed automatic gearbox. At a price of €74,500, it’s an attractive proposition and easily among the best of the bunch.
For the speed freaks able to stretch their budget a little further, the €114,500 'bahn-busting S8 shouldn’t disappoint. The 520HP 4.0 TFSI engine is now Euro Six compliant, thanks to cylinder-on-demand technology. We imagine those interested in the S8, though, will prefer to fire on all eight, when the saloon will surge to 62mph in a startling 4.1sec. There are five other engines available, including a range-topping W12 and a 2-litre diesel hybrid.
A W12 makeover
The top-spec LWB Audi A8 offers immense power albeit with a slightly different approach. The 6.3-litre W12 has had a makeover, incorporating Audi’s latest cylinder-on-demand technology, a system which cuts off up to four cylinders, depending on the load on the engine. Another new feature is Active Noise Cancellation (ANC), which coupled with active air suspension and electrically adjustable massaging leather seats equates to an extremely relaxing and comfortable ride for both the driver and the slumbering passengers.
Deer in the headlights
By night, the road is perfectly illuminated thanks to the A8’s new ‘Matrix Beams’ – a highly advanced lighting system whereby certain LEDs in the lamps are automatically dimmed or turned off to avoid blinding oncoming drivers, while others stay on permanently, constantly enhancing your view. In addition, large wild animals are detected from a distance in the infrared night-view screen. Once spotted, the optional carbon-ceramic brakes should sufficiently slow the big Audi before damaging that elegant new front end.
In our new 90-second tests, we introduce new cars (and other products) in fast-forward. Just 90 seconds of your time is enough; we’ll provide everything you need to know to score points with your friends.
Josh Allison is a believer in sticking to the original philosophy behind the cafe racer. Strip it right back to basics to make it go faster. Or to use his own words, to make it “haul ass!”
Josh is from Wyoming and grew up with plenty of wide open spaces to blat around on dirt bikes. From day one he was always either fixing them or making them look better, so when the off-roading started to hurt physically and financially, he decided to train as a metal fabricator and started building and customizing vintage bikes. And so was born Build & Destroy – named because, to use his own words again, he builds “bad ass bikes to ride the shit out of and destroy whilst having fun.” We doubt the owner of this beautiful little Honda would want to destroy it, but we get the idea.
The brief was to create a brat with a low, sleek, mean look, which Josh calls ‘bad attitude’. The CB360 was striped down to the frame and the back half was remade with a kick-up to match the DCC brat seat. The bike was given a lower profile and the cats-eye tail light was tucked under the rear for smoother lines. Two DCC blinkers are tied into the rear end, keeping it sleek but still fully functional.
The frame was finished off by cutting away all unnecessary brackets, smoothing it out and spraying it with a single stage gloss black. The front fender was bobbed and cut down to hug the front wheel and the gas tank was sprayed with a custom, gun metal silver metallic.
The front end was completely re-worked with DCC aluminum clip-ons, bar-end mirrors and grips. The original upper triple clamp had all the ugly brackets cut off and underwent many hours of intensive polishing, there’s no avoiding the elbow grease when it comes to making a custom bike that looks as good as this.
A DCC LED tach keeps the front end clean and classy as does the neutral light tucked away in the headlight bucket. Stock tires were swapped for an oversized rear and an old school tread on the front. Josh made the custom two-into-one exhaust himself and assures us it’s as loud as it looks. Red K&N air filters were added and the engine was finished off with an aluminum finish and a black jug.
Josh clearly knows what he’s doing. He focuses on making things by hand while staying true to the design and the history of vintage bikes. But he’s keen to re-iterate that Build & Destroy don’t just make bikes that look good, he makes bikes that you can “ride the shit out of”. Which is exactly what we say in The Shed. Well, kind of.
Thanks for sharing Josh. Can’t wait to see what you build next. See more from Build & Destroy HERE.
Over the past few months we’ve brought you numerous feature stories from the Scandinavian region, and for very good reason. Modified and motorsport builds in this small corner of the world defy so much convention that no car can really be taken at face value.
If there was ever a machine that drove that point home more, it’s Björn Forsman Roos’ Dala Performance Volkswagen Golf R32. Purists, you have been warned…
The yellow and black VW should need no introduction to Swedish readers, or Gatebil regulars. Originally built (and completed in 2011) by Peter Steinwandt of PSW Engineering and driver Daniel Björk, over the past couple of years the mutant drift Golf has decimated tyres and competition, culminating in a convincing win of 2012′s NEZ (North European Zone ) Drift Championship. Its secret? A rear-wheel drive conversion and a hard-tuned Chevy LS1 engine swap.
When PSW began building a new car for Daniel’s 2013 drift endeavors the Golf was put up for sale, quickly finding a new home at Dala Performance. Björn hadn’t just liked what he saw the first time he witnessed it turning a wheel in anger, but more so, the potential to develop it evenfurther.
With 450hp and a relentless wall of torque ready to be unleashed with the slightest right-foot provocation, the Golf was certainly not short on grunt but as so many Gatebil builds have shown us, sensible car-building logic seems to rarely prevail in this region. As Björn so simply put it to me, “The effect without the turbo was enough, but it’s always more fun with more.”
The dry-sumped LS1 base remains in the same way it was when Peter campaigned the car last season. It’s a serious package too, featuring Wiseco forged pistons, Lunati forged rods and a forged stroker crankshaft that pushes cubic capacity out from 345ci to 383ci, or 5.7L to 6.2L for the metrically inclined.
It is however, not one, but two rather large Precision turbochargers that have really awoken the monster within. If the twins that flank the banks of the Chevy V8 don’t do it for you, I’m sure the numbers they’ve helped to generate absolutely will.
That’s because when maximum boost is dialed up through the Precision 46mm wastegates, a mind-numbing 1056hp and 1400Nm is achieved.
Four digit figures are one thing, but when you consider the Golf’s compact dimensions and 1100kg weight, it becomes very clear just how crazy this little car is. But you’d expect that with a power-to-weight ratio of almost 1:1.
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To capitalise on the forced induction generated by the turbos, a high-flow Edelbrock Pro-Flo XT EFI intake manifold featuring a large plenum chamber and tapered runners sits squarely above the engine alongside MSD coils and twin Edelbrock fuel rails.
The latter is one part of a sizeable fuel system that feeds the engine via large braided stainless fuel lines, a Nuke Performance adjustable regulator and eight Delphi 893cc injectors.
The set-up continues into a custom cavity in the rear of the car, which along with a custom alloy fuel cell, features a Barry Grant 400-series fuel pump that supplies three DeatschWerks DW301 pumps fitted inside the catch can. According to Björn there’s still plenty of untapped potential in the twin turbo LS1. If, or perhaps when, he eventually decides to find out how much, a few upgrades around the fuel system will be required before the car can go back on the Dala Performance dyno.
Although the driveline was built tough the first time around using quality gear like a Jerico WC4 four-speed dog box, it didn’t take long for weaknesses to begin showing when faced with more than double the original output of the tuned Chevy motor.
According to Bjorn, the Volvo rear end that was previously fitted “did not handle the effect”. Read into that what you will. In its place, and thus far proving reliable under all the stresses, is a Chevy 10-bolt unit courtesy of a Camaro Cup race car.
Except for some minor alterations that needed to be made when the new rear end was amalgamated into the custom four-link arrangement, the suspension tune remains largely the way it was when PSM built the car. Quite simply, there was no reason for Björn to start messing with it given the Golf’s previous winning ways.
Designed around a rallycross-style set-up, Sachs dampers are used in the custom-built front coilovers with Öhlins gear in the rear. Björn, of course, was more than happy to demonstrate the Golf’s counter-steer capabilities for us.
As you’d expect for a transverse-V6 to longitudinal-V8 and four-wheel drive to rear-wheel drive conversion, there’s a lot of engineering in this car that you just don’t see. Björn tells me that the wheelbase still remains the same as it did when the Golf rolled off VW’s production line, but the same definitely can’t be said for the track which necessitated the fitting of wide Volkswagen Motorsport fenders front and rear.
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The office is a clean and functional space. Because of the major changes made to the floorpan and firewall, the seats and controls are set deeper into the cabin. There’s nothing wrong with that low-slung seat driving position either.
Featuring Sparco Sprint V race buckets and Sandtler harnesses it’s a quality fit-out too. From this angle, you’ll see some of the work that PSM put into the chassis; specifically the new floor section and rear wheel tubs.
That pedal on the right is all that stands between Björn and more than 1050hp. Cautionshould be exercised, but I’m not sure that memo ever got through.
A speedometer is not required, but a 10,000rpm Sport-Comp tachometer and Shift-Lite absolutely is. I’m sure the other gauges from Auto Meter and the STRI 3.0kg/cm boost meter come in handy too during those rare moments the Golf isn’t being driven from the side windows.
Even though Björn has only had his hands on the car for a short period, that’s all the time he has needed to turn one of Europe’s craziest drift builds into something certifiably insane.
However, he’s quick to point out that it wouldn’t be half the car it is today if Peter Steinwandt and Daniel Björk hadn’t engineered it to such a high standard in the first place. Apparently it’s very easy to drive, but I’m going to have to take Björn’s word on that one.
During the long cold winter months ahead, Björn will be keeping himself busy improving oil cooling to keep engine temperatures in check, and negotiating sponsorship packages for the 2014 season. Where the Golf goes from there is anyone’s guess, but given what there is to work with, we’re looking forward to finding out.
