55/22 Interior

Are you ready for a red hot edition of horsepower? Well, guess what? You've come to the right place later. We're heading to the World Street Nationals in Orlando where this year's street racer bash is hotter than ever in more ways than one.

Hell, you won't believe the action from qualifying all the way to the fantastic finals.

Meanwhile, a lot of you have been asking what's happened with the 55 Ss. Well, here it is just arrived at Paul Atkins interiors and seats in Coleman, Alabama. Now, Paul and his crew are getting ready to perform some of their interior magic. But first, how about a little flashback of what we've done so far?

We started with an art Morrison GT sport classic chassis designed with 21 ST century technology just for the shoe box,

which originally came with a frame that came up way short in the area of torsional stiffness.

Then we added a curry track nine rear end,

a strange call over suspension

will wood brakes with 13 inch rotors and six piston calibers up front

and for power, we dropped in a GM performance parts, 502 big block backed up by a TC

four L 80 E tranny.

The exhaust is a 2.5 inch Flowmaster system with hush power mufflers.

Then we made it a true roller with nostalgia GT wheels on

BFG rubber.

We added a front runner accessory drive that comes with a water cup

alternator and a mini compressor for the AC

webbed up some pure choice brake lines and ran them along the new fuel line.

Then dropped the fiberglass body onto the frame

using a special two motor hoist that John Bohannon made just for this kind of heavy lifting.

Now, the last time you saw the 55 Ss,

the body was fully prepped at Bohanan's

before several Coats of Viper red paint and clear coat.

Well, now it's Paul Atkins turn.

He's an interior artist whose work has appeared in countless car and truck magazines.

Among his many achievements, Paul's earned the coveted Riddler award that goes only to the best in his business. You don't put the same interior in every car because every car has got a,

got a personality of its own and uh and the

style of its own and uh

and you gotta do the interior to match the call.

Uh We've always said around here the best part see him leave on the trailer. But,

but

now it,

it

is the, when you're done and, and it's really

uh

you, you're looking at what you've accomplished and uh and what's turned out really good

this car also needs some wood put in the headliner.

So, so the headliner have something to attach to

garnish moldings.

They have

need to be checked and see if they're gonna fit the car or not.

We're gonna put these in place.

They're,

they fit pretty good.

They need little clearance under the bottom, but all in all pretty good.

Ok. We're back a few days later and now the shoe box is pretty well prepped and ready for this interior decorating deal. First order of business door panels,

here's what I come up with Joe for the seats and door panels for the 55 Ss project. It looks great. But how do you come up with an idea like this?

I kind of surprise myself every now and then just uh we just uh sit and draw until I come up with something I think suits the car. Every car needs something different.

Paul first must transfer his sketched out vision onto the door panel's cardboard backing.

Then his talented team can go to work in a whirlwind of cutting

gluing,

laying down foam and more of the above as the panels begin to take shape. It's an arduous process before they can finally cut the recaro

leather

and sew it to create the design

for the panel's armrest. Paul starts with a block of wood

which is cut to shape

sanded,

backed with cardboard

covered with foam and then the soft brown leather.

So how'd Marvin do. What do you think? Great. Both of you.

Ok. Here's a seat frame for the 55 Ss, Paul. Where did you get? This thing?

Iss from Fort Worth, Texas furnish these.

Sometimes you do this from scratch. Sometimes we don't need to this time. Now it comes with foam, but

I got a feeling you probably, uh, tweaked on this a little bit.

We just done some minor changes to it, but I don't know it, it, uh,

it works pretty good.

We rounded these just a little more.

They were square before. So we brought them in and sloped this off a little bit. So just to change it up,

creating seats that make a statement while making the writer comfortable is a painstaking process too. A

lot of sewing test fitting

and more sewing until the fit is perfect and the material can be glued together.

Well, talk about writing and style.

I can't wait to see the rest of the interior completed.

Well, I gotta tell you something. I'm a little bit frustrated.

You see, several weeks have passed, the interior is not finished.

It's not even at the interior shop. It's back here at Bohannon and

let's go in and find out what's up.

Well, we ran into a little problem

problem, our dash when you put the dash in to fit the cow on the car,

the, uh, tapered back to where it met the door, the trim on the door, it was sitting at an angle

and what I had to do, I had to raise the front of the dash up where it would be parallel back here. So I've had to add this much

to the dash. That's a

lot.

So it fits the contour of the windshield here and then it comes down

and runs parallel with this. The trim molding on the doors.

I'm happy with this.

Ok, here's some good news. The 50 five's exterior gets finished today. Thanks to some reproduction parts from Classic Chevy.

Check this out. These five shiny pieces go together to make a front bumper.

I can't wait to see what a difference this is gonna make

these reproduction side trim pieces also make a big difference giving the car a more real steel kind of look.

Well, I know one thing in a few weeks and we promise you will get to see the 55 shoe box finished inside and out.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for some hot times at Orlando Speed World.

We're gonna do our thing and prosecute this shit. We're gonna try to take the big boys out.

It is the hottest event out there.

It's the race that everybody comes to before they go to rest for the winter.

Everyone comes down on Thursday goes to race rock, has a few drinks, tell some more stories. Then they come here and they race. There's still pressure and it's still competition, but no matter what place you leave here. Whether it's first or last, you still had a great weekend. Carl's put on a great show here.

Uh, nothing like a warm Florida sun at a cool racetrack. But we didn't come here to catch rays. We came to catch 250 of the fastest street cars in the world.

That's right. It's the world Street Nationals. Better hang on.

Mhm.

I can't believe it. 73 Super Pro Street cars. We put out 100 10, 5 pet cards.

Uh, you know, I mean, I keep saying it's the biggest, uh, door slammer. All heads up race in the world. I, I guess I keep saying that and it is, if you're a drag racer who only competes in one of even a season, this would be it.

The rural street nationals has reigned as the ultimate annual quarter mile blowout for 12 years, running

many hundreds of cars and trucks competing for 32 qualifying spots in four classes.

Now, the baddest being Super Pro Street

where it should take a high six et qualifying run to get in the program

and competitors are using all three major power adds to make the cut

for veteran Mike Moran. His choice is turbo

charging. It is Money Carlo.

We're gonna try and set it up soft. We want to get in the field first and then worry about stepping on it later. So

generally our deal is every year is trying to set it up soft for the first one and see what we got. You know, hopefully we can get it down the track without shaking.

Then based off the information from that path, we'll try and step on it for the next one. If there is another one,

a supercharged contender in the class is Todd

Titter

who won the annual North South shootout recently with a blistering 4, 19 8 mile run. But can he lead the quarter mile pack here in Orlando?

I'm just used to run an eight mile. So

when I look up, I'm just halfway there. Just get, go along for a ride this time.

What do you think it's gonna take to make it all the way to the finals in this deal?

I don't know. Everybody says, you know, the quickest anybody's ever been here is a 61 but I expect to see somebody in the forties.

Well,

this mustang capable of that.

I don't think we are,

of course, don't forget the gas nitrous that is,

it helped Mark d'antoni win three Super Pro street crowns here in a row this time. He debuts a 41 Pro bod Willies using not only Nitrous but a trick he's got up his sleeve.

Well, the biggest trick we got up on sleeve this year and I'm only gonna tell you now because by the time you guys are watching,

I already have won the race. We put a four speed transmission in here. It's a Lenko

clutch

unit.

And, uh,

what's that? That's gonna give us the track is so bad right now that we're gonna have a bigger drop in the transmission from first to second.

And what that's gonna do is help the clutch slip a little bit more than normal. But that's what it's gonna take to get down this racetrack today.

The hot sun made for

a

Ricky track

with many racers struggling to keep the tires play.

This semi powered 54 scooter Baker had trouble keeping his wheels and tires on the car.

Yep. Here's one stoody that won't see track duty.

Sometimes

the two days of qualifying were a spectacle in themselves

and d'antoni would go on to qualify seventh after arriving late on Saturday

cutter

f pretty much in full on the quarter mile strip and his 663 was good enough for third place.

Well, the turbo guy Moran barely stayed in the hunt with a 31st position.

Well, Saturday qualifying continued into the night

as racers in all classes fought for a place in Sunday's Super Bowl of drag races.

Wow.

After three rounds of fast times and the wildest rides I've seen at this track, we're heading into eliminations. Stay tuned. We'll be right back.

Welcome back to horsepower where the racing is really hot. Right? Girl.

Yeah,

it all starts with a power party at the race rock in Orlando,

then moves on to speed world for the Supreme street race. Car competition

known throughout the globe as the World Street Nationals.

It's the most awesome thing I've ever seen.

It's my first time here and I just think it's just

the best.

One of the things I've learned to expect is the unexpected at the World Street Nashville. Yeah. Like this Elliot Thompson was number one qualifier in heavy

street heading into eliminations.

His turbocharged 91 Camaro was engulfed in flames from a tranny fire.

He was ok, but so much for his wall street trophy dreams.

The first couple of rounds of eliminations were full of upsets

like

street icon pat

going out in round one

along with our turbo powerhouse buddy, Mike Moran.

Well, with round one of the World Street national taking place here. I'm gonna tell you this is one awesome weekend.

The hot dogs are phenomenal. The parts and the accessories we found on the manufacturer's midway are awesome and the hairspray I stole out of Joe Elmore's trailer. It is just holding up to be one of the best hairsprays I've ever used. Come on back and we're gonna enjoy round number two in just a moment.

Somebody kill his mic. Please.

Southern hero Todd

Trow made it to round two before a close race. Send Hill back to his trailer

and now into the finals

in the radio tire class top qualifier, Rick head had it easy after finding his way to the big one beating Dennis Bailey with his 873. We struggled a little bit in the middle of the day, blew the tires off a couple of times. Didn't know what we were doing. We found ourselves and here we are.

I couldn't be happier. I wanna thank my crew,

Josh and Greg over there

and my wife Beth

and all the California people

in the 10, 5 outlaw class Tim Lynch, who's been here many times before posted a 729 to beat fellow Georgia boy, Mike

C.

How'd you do it?

Well, I got, I got some good Cassie guys with me helping and, uh, you know,

that really helps you got someone here that can read the track and help

the car per round, you know, and we've been changing it per round all day long since

free Turbo is more

today. I

say,

yeah,

what does that say about? That's a change for Orlando because you don't see too many Turbos down here winning and we're, we're glad to finally put one in the winner circle for 10 5. I guess you're sticking with that, huh?

Yeah,

we're not gonna change that.

And now under the heavy street

run Globo who broke a motor here last year finally got a taste of victory with this 761 184 mile an hour wind.

We uh come out here, qualify at number 10. The first pat.

Oh,

take these guys out for dinner. Oh, yeah, we're going,

we're going for crab.

All right, congratulations.

Good

job. All right, thank you.

Leading up to the Super Pro Street final, Chuck Samuel replaced a motor before knocking out d'antoni. In round two

later, he and his 2000 Mustang took out Steve King's

Piper in the semis.

Then in the final round, it's a close one but Samuel sails past Mike Steele to win his first ever world street title after many trucks. Yeah, we were just putting our runs back to back and trying to do the best we could without making mistakes and

we broke an engine in the, uh, I think it was quarterfinals. So that set us back.

So the semis

was

little draw out the straws and get the clutch right.

We made it through and then we had something to work with for the final

throughout history. The baseball World Series has been the ultimate annual competition,

but to lovers of horse power,

it's an event that happens every year in Orlando,

the World Series of street car drag racing.

If you've got a LT one powered Camaro Corvette or Firebird with a few miles on it. Well, chances are the clutch is probably trying to give you the slip. Well, now you can swap it out for the street clutch kit from Hayes. This 11 inch high performance replacement is engineered as a matched assembly and it'll fit 93 to 97 models. Now, the pressure plate is fit

with heavier springs to reduce slippage. While the disc features an aggressive friction material,

they'll work together to get you off the line quicker and with more consistency.

Now, the kit also includes a match throw up bearing and this handy little pilot shaft to help you get things lined up the price. Well, you won't feel shafted there either. It's about 250.

Here's a sound choice for your street machine. It's Edel Brock's new Sdt Chamber muffler now features a fully steel welded case on the outside and their sound deflection technology on the inside. Now, this baffle design uses no filler so there's nothing that can burn out or deteriorate.

The Illumina

finish will give you an extra long life to go with the great performance sound. Now, they're available with a variety of different offsets with pipe ranges up to three inch.

The price. Well, that'll depend on your application.

Speaking of applications, good Mark has stamped out replacement sheet metal for virtually all muscle cars and their latest is this quarter panel for Dodge Challengers years, 1970 to 74.

Now using high quality steel and state of the art stamping technology. This reproduction is accurate right down to the fiddle the door jam, the sail panel and the tail panel. Now, this could be a great way to bring your old E body back to its glory days for a price of about 500 bucks apiece.

Well, that's it for hot parts and this week's horsepower we'll see you guys next time.