Eastern Hot Rodder

With the 409" small block Chevy back from the machine shop I started to put together the engine for the '46 Chevy Shop Truck, Lil' Red. Just a few more parts and assembly and the ol' truck will be running once again.

We give you a walk around of Jeff's Amphicar he had at the Martins Creek School fundraiser car show on 11/12/2022. This boat car is crowd pleaser.

This beautiful '68 Satellite demanded our attention at the Martins Creek School fundraiser show on 11/12/22

This small block equipped '55 210 sedan had some nice features. AC, nice paint, extra chrome and a good interior.

Beautiful and subtile Ford hot rod was at the Martins Creek School fundraiser car show on 11/12/22.

The tunnel ram 409" small block is getting close to ready for install in Lil' Red, our '46 Chevy pickup shop truck. Subscribe and watch for more videos soon.

We took our kids to their first real rock concert. ZZ Top! They played on Nov. 9th 2022 at the Georgia Mountain Fairgrounds in Hiawassee, GA. This band has always been closely associated with hot rods, customs and coolness in general. Elwood is a fitting replacement of the late Dusty Hill, as he worked with them for years and has the beard to go with it.

Billy Gibbons doing the intro to 'Brown Sugar" at ZZ Top's concert in Hiawassee, GA on 11/9/22

We took my kids to their first big concert, ZZ Top in Hiawassee, GA! Here is a clip of 'My Head's In Mississippi

We visited the Blairsville Cruisers Salute the Veterans Car Show on Nov. 5th 2022 and rather than do the usual walk through I figured I'd share with you some cool things we saw on the cars there.

I get stalked by my weirdo mutt, Holley.

Hubert and Huston Platt were big names in drag racing in the southern states during the '60s and '70s. Huston was a Chevy man while Hubert got sponsored by Ford and traveled as part of the Total Performance Motor Clinic. while we were at show in Dawsonville, GA we got a chance to get up close to a few of the brothers' old drag cars.

An economical and humorous "fix" for the failing backup camera in our 2011 Dodge Charger RT

Well, first trip out and we were Found On Road Dead, like roadkill. After we towed the 1963 Thunderbird home we started to check the ignition and replace the heater hoses. Coil? No. But close, the condenser quit. Bill from Flatbroke Garage happened to have an extra Pertronix distributor. A simple upgrade got the old T-Bird back up and running. I took it to its first cruise in and came home with a Best '60s trophy.

We get the '63 Thunderbird running after a carb rebuilt, but is it road worthy? We take it out for its first real drive in many, many years. Can we make it home or will it be Found On Road Dead?

A parade, a cruise, a car show, and an air show complete with old warbirds! Wow! The 2022 Welcome Home Veterans show was a hit. Held annually at the Western North Carolina Regional Airport in Andrews, NC this was the first time it had an FAA approved air show with stunt planes. There was the 10th Annual Twin Towers/Benghazi Memorial Ride that joined forces with the Andrews Welcome Home Veterans parade to end at the airport for the show and chili cook-off. They asked that Eastern Hot Rodder get the word out that we wanted classic cars and hot rods there. We obliged. I upped the ante a bit and my students built a dozen trophies to present to various cars at the show. Trophies like Totally 80s, Most Likely to Get Pulled over, and Crowd Pleaser made it fun and lite. Everyone had a blast.

Fueling around. We swap out the fuel pump, radiator hoses and a few other things to try and get our garage find '63 Thunderbird running again. Will it run? watch and find out.

We put the brakes on the T-Bird. Literally, we replace the Thunderbird's wheel cylinders, lines and pack the bearings.

First fire up on my dad's supercharged big block Corvette gasser.

Better than a barn find! We found a '63 Thunderbird sleeping in a basement in southeast Tennessee. I bought it because my wife and kids like it. We learned it was used very little in the 29 years the family owned it. The T-bird sat motionless for the better part of a decade. Will it run? Will it start? Bad gas, dry brakes and a destroyed bushing stand in the way of highway cruising. In this Part 1 we give it a cleaning and a look over to see what we need to do. Follow along as we resurrect this 'Bird and get it road worthy once again.

The last Saturday of the month the only town square in down town Cleveland draws in hundreds of cars. They line the streets for blocks and there is a huge variety to see. We headed over to the August event to check it out.

Bill from FlatBroke Garage invited me out to help rescue a '70 Falcon from a southeastern Tennessee junkyard. His plan was to get the basics covered, you know, brakes, spark and fuel and head for the hills. Literally. There was about 10 miles of hilly mountain road standing between the yard and Bill's house. Were we able to do it? Watch and find out.

I've been busy with everything except the shop truck. I did get the tunnel ram intake cleaned up and resealed. Plus some scoop tips.

Doc Z hosted his Streetcar Shootout on July 29th 2022 and I just happened to be in town for it. It felt good to be at Lebanon Valley Dragway, my old hometown track. The cars were wicked, Ford, Chevy, Pontiac all made. a strong showing. Some cars made over 2000whp! They ran no times, but rest assured you'd have to have a mid 4 second 1/8 mile pass to compete. The best part was my daughter Liberty got to shoot video from the wall for the first time.

My good friend Chuck has a long history with this 454, 4 speed 1974 Chevelle Malibu. He owned it before he started a family, sold it, it got restored and his wife bought it back for him 18 years ago. On the first trip out with his 3 kids the big block lunched a roller lifter. The car was torn down and has been pushed around for 18 years while life got in the way. Chuck will always drop what he's doing to help friends and family. I was up visiting family in upstate NY and on my last night in town my family decided to get ahold of Chuck's son Cole and dig the car out. Chuck was at work, so this was a surpriser him. Cole, being the awesome guy he is was thrilled to get on the project. We knew we were not going to get the car running in the 2 hours I had, but we did get the radiator in and dug out a bunch of his parts he had stashed around his garage. Chuck is thrilled and promises the car will be up and going before the season is over. Mission accomplished.