Monday, April 11, 2016

A peek at what we might expect as the next dominating Steelers' Defense

All credit goes to Behind The Steel Curtain (BTSC) member 58Steel for this article; I found it both well researched and well written.

Who knows what dark strategies are boiling away in Steelers' Defensive Coordinator Keith Butler's mind; he certainly was well tutored by his predecessor Dick LeBeau.

Give this a read; you won't regret it.




Sunday, April 3, 2016

From Conception to Execution: The evolution and realization of a Retro Mod - Part II

Part I dealt with the genesis of the idea for a way to make the modern Challenger look more "retro".

Part II details the design and fabrication process.

PART II 

With the realization that a faux body kit side pipe was not only economically unfeasible, but also not nearly authentic enough (meaning, it had to function as intended), I went to work designing real side pipes.

I chose to design my own as opposed to buying something "off the rack" for a couple of reasons.  Foremost was the fact that of the choices out there, some were either way too small and expensive (designed for Corvettes or Shelby Cobras) or were cheap chrome knockoffs found on the back pages of parts magazines.

The other reason was, the Challenger is just plain big; from wheel well to wheel well, it measures 82 inches, of which the door itself is 51 inches.  There is nothing on the market proportioned correctly.

From Conception to Execution: The evolution and realization of a Retro Mod - Part I

PART I: The Genesis of an idea

I'm a child of the '70s, but missed participating in the first American Muscle Car era.  Sure, I had a 1969 GTO 400 ci 4 barrel....for all of three days until the engine blew up and my Dad wouldn't let me sink any more money into it (or time, or take up space in the driveway with a car on blocks).  Sure, I had a 1980 Camaro Z28, but that car was but a shadow of its predecessors.

I've always loved the "muscle car " look, and consider side pipes the quintessential component of a muscle car, but for full disclosure, I never really liked the typical MOPAR side dump look.  Growing up, most of the time it looked like (and most often was) a rusty exhaust pipe with a cheap chrome tip hung by hanger as it dangled underneath the chassis.  It looked too "red neck" for my tastes.