So last Saturday, I grabbed my wife and we headed out to Pacific Porsche and waited for a turn behind the wheel of the $119,000 S model.  This was the first I’d seen the vehicle in person and my first thought was “wow that thing is massive!” (that’s what she said).  But I guess if the intention is to steal market share from the S class  & 7 series, the vehicle has got to be big.  We started out as a 4-some: Kam the sales guy, Albert another Porsche customer, and my wife and I.  First, we had to stop and fuel up so Albert took over driving to there.  I was sitting behind the driver seat, and I was amazed at the comfort and space.  The back seats where nicer than most vehicles front seats, and held you right in place.  My only concern with the back seat is that for a guy my size (no giant) the visibility isn’t very good and passengers might feel a bit secluded back there.  Chris with his long legs would relax in comfort back there with plenty of leg & headroom.

When it was my turn behind the wheel, the first thing I noticed was the feel from the drivers seat because the vehicle felt MUCH smaller.  The visibility was good and it felt like a bigger 911, but not nearly as big as it actually is.  I quickly learned that the vehicle has massive power and awesome handling on our short test drive.  We didn’t get a chance to REALLY push it, but it was an amazing machine.  I can’t imagine how much $ you would have to make to justify the vehicle…but whatever, people spend that kinda cash on cars all the time and if I was going to drop over 100k on a 4 door sedan…it would be foolish of me not to consider the Panamara.

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My dad had run a few passes in the Pacer before hand and after red lighting the first pass and spinning the tires half way down the track on the second, we knew we were in for a challenge.

My dad had run a few passes in the Pacer before hand and after red lighting the first pass and spinning the tires half way down the track on the second, we knew we were in for a challenge. My dad had run a few passes in the Pacer before hand and after red lighting the first pass and spinning the tires half way down the track on the second, we knew we were in for a challenge.  The biggest thing is that it’s evident that the car is capable of mid 13-second passes, we just couldn’t get the power to the ground.  As in, it would not hook up.  The 440 boys did a pass or two before the showdown as well, and I could see that hooking up was not a problem for them at all.  Not to mention, their 3-speed auto made racing much easier than the 5-speed third pedal we had to row.  The handwriting was on the wall.

The nice smokey burn-out from the 440 boys at the start was an excellent foreshadowing of the next painful 14.57 seconds.  The video below tells all the story for this run, but I promise you there will be more. Hopefully, the red white and blue Pacer will be back again next year and we can continue the Pacer saga.  In the mean time, we’ll work the bugs out of the Pacer and see about getting her into the 13’s.

Sadly, that was the last day of the Power Tour, and I was on a plane on the way back west within 24 hours of shooting this video.  It was a blast and I can’t wait to do it again next year.  It’s hard to explain to people how spending a week inhaling old car exhaust, putting through traffic with a Centerforce clutch (those that have one know the pain it ensues) in 90 degree heat with pouring rain can be fun.  The thing is, if you’re into classic cars, it might be the closest to heaven you can get.

Today, unlike yesterday, was completely uneventful…which is a good thing.  We skipped the driver’s meeting again today as our hotel was on a street under construction and getting to the meeting would have been much more hassle than it was worth.  My dad reconnected with an old friend he hasn’t talked to in years driving solo in his 67 Nova Wagon, so we added one more to our crew.  A motley one at that with a 78 Pacer, 03 Mustang Mach 1, and 67 Nova Wagon.

We jumped on the turnpike and headed for Tecumseh, MI and the ididit headquarters.  Ididit was nice enough to host a lunch for us Power Tour participants, and upon our arrival there was close to a thousand local cars that showed up.  Among those was a small AMC group!  Two 70 AMX’s, a 70 and 72 Javelin, a Marlin, and a kickin’ 78 Matador…the most AMC’s we’d seen all tour!

From Tecumseh, we headed to Detroit.  Through the gorgeous Irish Hills, past Michigan International Speedway (MIS) and into town.  As we pulled in, the sheer number of cars was staggering.  If you couldn’t find a car you liked there, you’re not a car person.  Truly spectacular.  Walking around we saw some truly gnarly stuff.  A slammed 67 Rambler American (my favorite), a 37 Plymouth with a blown Hemi that the builder fit under the stock hood, another Dart Wagon, and a beautiful custom open wheel roadster.

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The guy mentioned on the phone that they were super busy, but we called at a quarter to 8 and he said that if we got there ASAP, he could squeak us in. Our 3 month-old Kumho’s were ecstatic! When we arrived, they wasted no time and threw the Pacer on a lift and went to town with lasers and computers and as true professionals knew EXACTLY what they were doing. They also even gave us tips on how to keep the suspension from slipping again, which is the first shop to do that. I implore you if you’re in the Racine, WI area or find yourself in Racine, WI and need alignment work done, go to Klamm’s. They had us on the road by nine, too late for the driver’s meeting out of Racine, but still far earlier than we expected.

With the Pacer driving straighter than she ever has, we set out on the freeway towards South Bend, IN to see if we might be able to make up some time. Right outside downtown Chicago, we passed the official Power Tour Lead car. Make up time? We were leading the thing!

We got through Chicago, and pulled off for fuel for both the car and our stomachs. Afterward, my Dad decided to hop in with our running mate Mike in his 2003 Mustang Mach 1, leaving me alone in the Pacer. With a full tank of gas, windows down, and AC/DC cranked on the freshly installed sound system I motored through Indiana waving at bystanders and causing a ruckus as I did it. I bet I looked like an idiot, but I sure had fun.

Arriving at the fair grounds in South Bend, IN it was super humid and there were looming dark clouds in the sky. As I pulled in, I was escorted towards the front as the other V-8 Pacer (really) saved a spot for me so we could have two fully restored V8 Pacers next to each other.

We walked around the fairgrounds and I snapped pictures of my usual unusual stuff: Studebaker Lark with a blown big block, chopped and sectioned 53 Buick, Triumph TR8 with a small block Chevy…I’m sure you’re starting to get used to my style. Yea, there’s a couple pictures of El Camino’s, Olds, Chevy II, or Chevelle Wagons, and maybe a sprinking of highboys, but I know when to admire nice cars when I see them.

After the fairgrounds, we headed to the hotel where in and of itself it becomes a car show. People outside cleaning off their cars, benchracing, or doing burn-outs in the parking lot…it’s all part of the Tour, and I love it. It’s really a week of eating premium fuel, breathing carburetor exhaust, and living cars…my heaven.

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We set out single file after the driver’s meeting and it was a parade as we left.  Police blocked off intersections for us and locals parked and waved as we drove by.  Our first stop was at NASCAR’s number 17 Matt Kenseth’s fan showroom just outside of Madison.  Here’s a little view of the traffic:

We set out single file after the driver’s meeting and it was a parade as we left.  Police blocked off intersections for us and locals parked and waved as we drove by.  Our first stop was at NASCAR’s number 17 Matt Kenseth’s fan showroom just outside of Madison.  Here’s a little view of the traffic:

We passed through a little town called Cambridge, WI in which we really felt like celebrities.  People lined the streets hootin’ and hollerin’, all jazzed up the tour.  Shenanigans ensued when by standers through water on the street and “convinced” drivers to “light ‘em up”.  The police put a swift end to that as we got a stern talking to from one of Cambridge’s finest (thank god he let us off with a warning).  The best part was that we didn’t even do a burn out, the Pacer’s just so friggen loud the 5-O just assumed we were up to no good.

The optional stop of the day was in Union Grove at Great Lakes Dragway.  We HAD to run the Pacer to see what she’d pull…however the biggest issue was the it had rained earlier and while they dried the track, nobody could really get their cars to hook up.  My dad’s best time today was a 14 flat, but the tires spun through 3rd, so if he could have gotten any traction it would have been much better.  With a bit more tweaking, mid to low 13’s should be easy.  We look forward to Bristol where more drag strip fun should be plentiful.  I’ll have a video up of today’s 14 run tomorrow.

Due to the popularity of the drag strip, we really got held up and didn’t make it into Racine until 4:30 or so.  By that point, things were so huge that I didn’t stand a prayer of seeing everything.  I walked around a bit, but our stomachs were growling and we had some serious bench racing to do over some steaks.  Ryan, I’m hoping you got some good stuff today, because I had too much fun at the dragstrip to get enough shots of stuff.

Now, here’s where the Power Tour gets fun.  When we parked the car in Racine, we saw that the front camber on the wheels of the Pacer was way off.  We’ve been battling this ever since we lowered the car, and it looks like we’re going to have to do something about it if we want to save the brand new Kumho’s up front.  Unfortunately, we’ll have to skip the driver’s meeting tomorrow to find a suspension shop, but it shouldn’t slow us down too much.

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We stayed in Rockford last night and made the quick drive up to Madison this morning.  The drive was smooth and easy, and we found the Pacer cruises best around 85.  Autobahn much?  Unfortunately not.  We arrived in Madison, and soon started to see muscle cars and hot rods and followed the pack to Alliant Energy Center where we registered and started checking out the power shenanigans.

The best part about the Power Tour is that people show up to drive rain or shine.  They’re predicting rain for the next few days, but it hasn’t really hampered things at all.  Tomorrow morning there should be some drag racing on the way to Racine, but it might get rained out.  Finger’s crossed the rain holds off until after we can get the Pacer down the ¼ mile a couple times.  Might even get to run the OTHER Pacer that showed up too!

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The best part about the tour is that it’s not just a week of a bunch of car shows, it’s about people that love their machines…fanatical if you will.  I’m going to be sure to have my laptop and camera in toe, so wherever my little MacBook can grab WiFi, I’ll update our twitter with happenings and every night I’ll post a Fanatics top ten to the site when I get back to rest at the hotel.  Not to mention, we’ll get some formal ¼ mile times out of the Pacer and depending on how she’s feeling after that, I might try for some autocross action.  It’s going to be a blast and I’m going to bring you all along for the ride.

Check back this Saturday as I set out on the 2009 Power Tour and watch our twitter for updates.

We all have stories.  Stories that you keep in your back pocket in case you find yourself at a party or social gathering where you need something a bit crazy to bust into the social stratosphere.  Dan has tons of stories, and it’s always fun to hear him bust one out every now and then (alright, it’s more often than that).  My stories tend to be a little more subdued and revolve around something with a motor.  Regardless, yesterday, Dan and I experienced a new story that spans both of our typical genres to add to our social arsenal and boy was it a dusey. Dan’s a better storyteller than I am, but he’s involved in his usual shenanigans so I’ll do what I can.

We’re in the works of planning a new video. As always, I’ll keep you in suspense about the details, but I can say it’s going to involve rally cars in their natural habitat. That being said, yesterday we decided to head out to the desert and scout some potential shooting locations.  Some 60 miles or so out of Irvine (Dan’s stomping ground) is a little town out east of the Inland Empire before Palm Springs called Beaumont.  According to Google Maps, It’s got some really gnarly off road stuff that seemed more than worth checking out.  So after a morning of Cars and Coffee, we jumped in Dan’s 2wd (key for later) ‘99 Toyota 4Runner and headed to the desert.

As with all stories, this one started off with everything going according to plan. The weather was beautiful, there was no traffic on the roads, and the trails were incredibly easy to find. As we drove down what was nothing worse than a rough dirt road, we crested a hill that overlooked a dry riverbed which was aesthetically ideal for our next epic production. Stoked, we drove along side the riverbed until the road ended pushing us onto what looked to be hard-packed dry dirt. Easing our way onto the riverbed we made it about 3 car lengths before the rear tires became shovels. This was no hard-packed dirt, it was loose sand/gravel/dirt. We were stuck.

I’ve been in this situation before so keeping calm, we got out to check the deal. Yep, we were stuck all right, but we stopped before getting too buried. Looking back on it now, we should have just let the air pressure way down in the tires and we probably would have been able to motor out. However with no tire pressure gauge, I was leery to get too ambitious with letting the air out. Reminiscent of Bear Grylls, we headed out scrounging for any wood planks we could find to dig under the tires for some stable traction. I was able to find an old fence post and Dan scavenged a 3 foot-long 1×6 with a rusty nail in it that he hammered out with a rock. Would this work? Sure, in theory…

Our first two attempts worked great putting us within 4 feet of the hard river edge.  However, third time was not the charm. The right rear tire just kept digging deeper and deeper until the axle was touching the sand. F’d.  Off in the distance we could see a new development of houses, so leaving the old 4Runner behind we ventured off to find a tow. How hard could it be?  I mean, we were in some pretty neat off-roading material in the middle of nowhere, there had to be someone with a truck.

After speaking with one very pleasant fellow </sarcasm> who looked at us like we might as well have been from Mars, we thought we’d give triple-A a call. Oh, not directly off the road? That’ll be $250 for the first hour and $100 every hour after. A worthless reminder of why I don’t waste my money on AAA (sorry Dan).  Soldering on, we were determined to find someone that would tug us out.  We stood at a decently busy intersection, only to be blasted past by every individual with a truck.  Deciding to split up, I left Dan on the corner while I ventured into the neighborhood.

The beacon of light was a white Ford Excursion with probably a 10″ lift and the 37″ tires.  The owner was sitting off to the side enjoying the stupidly hot desert air and I approached him.

“Dude, my buddy and I were screwing around across the street and got our truck stuck. Any chance you could pull us out?” Looking at me like was wearing a clown mask he replied

“Yea, I don’t take my truck off-road.”

“Really!?!” I retorted “what’s with the expensive lift and rolling stock?”

“Oh, I just like the way it looks.”  He replied.

“Thanks bro.”

Now, I know my 4-wheel stuff. A 10″ suspension lift for a Ford Excursion is easily 10 grand not to mention the 17″ polished aluminum wheels and massive BFG M/T’s. I bet he had 13 grand in the suspension, wheels, and tires alone  And thus, I met the first kind of car guy I hate the most:  the dude that dumps serious money into serious mods for looks alone. I’ve seen tons of people drive jacked up trucks around LA without a spec of dirt anywhere underneath, but this is the first time I’ve actually talked to someone like that. I’ll probably do another post in this though before I go off on a tangent now.

After two more encounters of the exact same type (seriously, what was it with those people?), Dan called with some awesome news. He found someone willing to tug us out!  I found a bench and took a load off while Dan rode off with our savior driving a lifted black F250 chariot. Within 15 minutes, Dan came and picked me up in his now pretty dusty 4Runner and off we went.

We beelined out of stupid Beaumont and stopped at Mickey D’s for a quick bite. The first we’d had all day and it was 1 pm. Thinking it was all for naught, Dan told me that our savior informed him that we were lucky because cops usually patrol the area on quads and impound vehicles on the spot. Hm well, at least now we know we can’t shoot there, and we can check that location off the list. With no redeeming qualities to the area, I think we’re going to avoid it there for a long time. Hopefully our next location scout will be a little more productive and a little less eventful.

As I had mentioned in my previous post, my first project car was being discussed days after exiting the womb. My dad’s a car nut, and I had no choice in the matter. It’s always been a part of me, and unlike many men, I’m proud to say it’s an AMC Pacer. Of course, it didn’t start as that. I always envisioned a boss Mustang, rad Camaro or sick Challenger. However, the thing about me is that I don’t really go for convention (yea, that and those three cars cost more than triple what the Pacer did). Having gotten the idea from Wayne’s World and finding a V8 coupe just days after it was almost fate that brought us together.

Beginning with a full rotisserie resto, we stripped our ugly grey Pacer into all of its unique AMC parts. From the beginning, my dad and I were building a car that would be a safe reliable driver for a first timer. I rebuilt my first engine (304, later to be replaced with my second built engine, a 401), and learned the ins and outs of body work, paint, suspension, wiring, you name it. It was a valuable experience, and what you see in this post and the accompanying gallery is the result. This is a fanatic job through and through considering that 99% of the work on the car was performed by us or friends in or their garages. This isn’t a 1800 hotrod. No sir, a lot of home-built blood sweat and tears are manifested in one of the most unique hot rods on the road.

So, most people thought we were crazy.  Telling people what we were working on during the resto got a lot of confused looks, but we had visions that nobody else did.  What do you think?  Did we actually build a Pacer you’d consider cool?  For further consideration, below are the technical specs of the car. While performance numbers have yet to be tested…they will be coming with this years Hot Rod Power Tour. In fact, we’ll be covering the whole tour from the Pacer this year with live updates at the end of each day! We’re hoping to both drag and autocross the Pacer as well as scout some great fanatic cars…all on a 7-day rolling car show. But that’s still a month away so for now, check out the beastly Pacer’s specs and let us know what you think.

Powertrain:

• AMC 401 V8
• Bored 30 Over
• 9.5:1 KB Pistons
• Mild Engle Cam
• Stock heads port matched on the intake side
• Edelbrock Performer Intake
• 725 Demon Carb
• GM Style HEI Distributor
• Custom headers
• Dual 3″ Mandrel Bend exhaust with 40 Series Flowmasters

Drivetrain:

• Borg Warner Z-Spec World Class T5 5-Speed
• Steeda Triax Shifter
• Centerforce Clutch
• AMC 20 with 3.50 gears and Trutrac limited slip dif

Rolling Stock:

• American Racing 200s 17×8 (Front) 17×9.5(Rear)
• Kumho Ecsta SPT KU31 Tires

Suspension:

• Front:  Stock coil springs with one coil removed
• Rear: Stock leaf springs dearched 3″ with air shocks

More pics here

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