L'équipée en Himalaya - Episode 2/3

’66 Mustang + NASCAR V8 = One Crazy Afternoon

It’s late afternoon on a Thursday and I’m in Hayward, California – a working class city on the east side of the San Francisco Bay. I’m strapped into a bucket seat on the passenger side of Mike Maier’s 1966 Ford Mustang as we rumble down the street, casually passing liquor stores and elementary schools.

Other than wide tires and a dropped stance, this Mustang doesn’t look much different from the countless other Mustang coupes out there, but from the moment you hear this car approaching you know there’s something very different about it.

Mike’s Mustang isn’t just loud – it’s got an exhaust note that race fans would recognize from the pits at Bristol or Talladega. It’s also got the distinct whine of a gearbox that was built to endure double-file restarts at Darlington or the esses at Sonoma. But we aren’t waiting for the flagman to drop the green, we are cruising the rough streets of the East Bay.

It feels like Mike is doing everything can to keep the car as under the radar as possible, but it’s not easy to do when you’ve got a 750 horsepower NASCAR V8 under your right foot.

Eventually, we arrive at a freeway onramp and Mike navigates the Mustang onto Interstate 580 and finally lays into the accelerator. This is when things get crazy. I’m slammed back in my seat as the car rips onto 580 then comes the distinct sensation of the rear end swaying back and forth as the Mustang’s 315-width tires struggle for traction at highway speeds.

We are no longer attempting to join the flow traffic. Instead, the afternoon commuters are disappearing in our rear view mirror. I’ve experienced some fast cars in my time, but the force with which this Mustang accelerates is downright scary.

Not wanting to have the entire California Highway Patrol looking for a blue Mustang, Mike quickly slows the car down to cruising speed, and over the whine of the gearbox I hear him say, “That was half throttle”. Holy hell.

Now usually I’d be a little apprehensive about being a passenger in such a ridiculous machine with someone I’d just met, but Mike Maier is a guy that knows how to wheel a car. He’s been racing Mustangs for his whole life and has several SCCA national champion trophies to show for it.

1942 DODGE M 37 POWER WAGON

by Gabriel Sheffer

Photographers: Craig Perronne

The one invention we wish they'd hurry up and invent, already, is the time machine. We want to join George Washington as he crosses the Delaware. We want to meet JFK--or better yet, Marilyn Monroe, maybe jam with Jimi Hendrix. But seeing as the inventors of the world aren't getting anywhere on this one, and since we're not the most patient people in the world, maybe the individual we need to speak to is Phil Compton. He travels through time the instant he steps into this '42 Dodge WC-53 Carryall.
Compton lives in Dallas, where people still remember a time when the Cowboys were winning football games. A while ago, a local named Bill Caruth came into Phil's shop and asked him to take on a massive project: Turn a rig from the war era into a bulletproof wagon that can make it through the narrow ravines and creeks of Bill's West Texas ranch. Not surprisingly, both men become sentimental when they cruise the Lone Star State's high roads and canyon crossings in this new old truck. The Dodge WC-53 Carryal military vehicle, a classic by anyone's standards, served as a radio command car during World War II, warming up the tubes of the military's radios. After the war, demand for the trucks came mostly in the form of utility companies that needed to reach unpaved line roads. Today, however, that demand exists in people--fans, really--like Caruth.

It all started in 1999 when Bill, a photographer who travels the globe, wanted a "tough, go-anywhere vehicle with all the ride and ability of new trucks but with the looks of the 1940s." He turned to Compton, who promptly made a call to a Power Wagon guru in Colorado he knew. According to Compton, the Dodge had a solid tour of duty in someone's Ohio cornfield for about 25 or 30 years. Once found, it was trailered out to Colorado where said guru immediately removed the '42's singular U-joints (for his own needs) and then promptly sent the wagon on to the salivating 'wheelers in Texas.
The plan was simple: Put the '42 body onto a new Cab-only '98 Dodge 2500 chassis. Says Compton, "It's really the story of Texas craziness. [Caruth] wanted air conditioning, airbags, tilt wheel, ABS and all that. It's probably the only '42 that you could cruise down the highway at 95 with the cruise control and the stereo and the air on."

 Beneath the hull of an ancient '42 WC-53 lies the heart of a torque-beast: the Cummins 24-valve diesel.

To meet their goals, Compton shortened the entire chassis 19 1/2 inches by way of some heavy-duty surgery to achieve the original wheelbase and track of the '42 rig. All the components were cut, from the driveshafts, to the frame, to the brake lines to the electrical system. "After that," laughs Compton, "you just bolt the body on and rebuild it. It's a lot simpler than it looks." Right. 
The amiable craftsman fabbed up all new body mounts in order to position the old tub atop the new chassis, paying close attention to how the added weight was distributed throughout. Compton admits recreating the track was difficult. "We had to leave it the same since we were dealing with Dodge's '98 axles. So to compensate for that, we widened the frontend a little bit to make up for the width in the engine compartment." Compton also scratch-built an intercooler and radiator from T-6 aluminum. "This increased cooling capabilities greatly," notes the Texan. Then he adds amusingly, "Later, I found out that Cummins does not worry about cooling needs--even in the Deep South." As a result, Compton blocks off the radiator in the winter to help keep heat in, as you might do for a tractor-trailer.

From: http://www.fourwheeler.com

The 1978 Lancia Sibilo concept was Gandini’s Golden Brown

By 1978, a decade of wedge-shaped wonders had been brought to a close. Rather than turning to illegal substances, Bertone’s Marcello Gandini – one of the phenomenon’s patriarchs – instead chose to create a wacky final hurrah: the Lancia Sibilo…

If the early 70s was a peak in terms of automotive design, then the following half-decade was certainly a trough. By this time, the effects of skyrocketing oil prices and over-sensitive safety laws had handicapped the creative pensmiths, hence the slump into an era of rubber bumpers, cheap plastics and uninspired aesthetics. But clearly, no one had informed Gandini: he was still in Bertone’s small Turin studio drawing up impossible, wedgy concepts. Brown ones.

A good place to start

Beginning with Lancia Stratos Stradale underpinnings and the accompanying Dino-sourced V6, Gandini first set about lengthening the chassis by 100mm. Then came the drama: a hand-beaten steel body with raised, squared-off wheelarches and the nose of a platypus. The windscreens and polycarbonate side windows were fitted flush with the bodywork, as were the pop-up headlights and bumpers – the latter defined by an orange pin-stripe. Other quirks included circular side windows that retreated within, and then slid forward on runners; the single windscreen wiper also moved horizontally, rather than with the usual arcing motion. For its reveal at the 1978 Turin motor show it was painted gold ’n’ brown – perhaps the Sibilo was the true inspiration behind The Stranglers’ 1980 hit record?

Soundtrack by Maranello

Even if it was, the Lancia had no chance to boast about it, as the minimalist interior didn’t even include a cassette player. Only the most necessary auxiliary controls were included, three of which were asymmetrically integrated as buttons into the fixed-hub steering wheel.

The Sibilo remained in Bertone’s custody until 2011, when much of the coachbuilder’s dearly prized collection was auctioned off in response to the financial struggles that ultimately sealed the company’s fate last year. It now forms part of Corrado Lopresto’s gathering of super-rare Italian machinery – which we’ll feature in depth, tomorrow.

Photos: Lopresto Collection / Carr Studio

You can find many classic Lancias for sale in the Classic Driver Market.