| We’ll admit right off the bat that we were a bit nervous as we cranked the Next Gen Project Formula and Project Z28 early Friday morning in San Bernardino, California. It wasn’t the Z that gave us pause, though, it was the Firebird. Our nervousness stemmed from the fact that we were about to embark on a 3,000-mile cross-country trek in a car that had moved under its own power for the first time a scant seven days before. The Formula had seen a mere 150 miles or so before it was loaded on a transport and shipped to Los Angeles. And being stranded on the side of the road in the middle of the Arizona desert is usually not the best place to be diagnosing and fixing those bugs. Project Z28 had been running well for a while, so if nothing else, we thought, at least half our project cars would make the trip!
But we’re getting ahead of ourselves here. For those who are unaware, the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour is an annual event where literally hundreds of performance cars of all description caravan from one side of the country to the other. This year the Power Tour ran from San Bernardino, California, to Panama City Beach, Florida, roughly following the fabled Route 66 along the way. The kickoff party for the Power Tour was held in the city streets of San Bernardino on June 1st, and the group rolled into Panama City Beach some nine days later, road weary and sunburned. In a nutshell, the Power Tour is a week-and-a-half of hot rods, highways, car shows and assorted craziness.
Since Year One and Next Generation were again sponsors of the event, we thought it would be a good idea to take our two F-body project cars on the trip. The 1995 Z28 had been undergoing a number of performance upgrades and was fairly well sorted out when this plan was hatched, but the Formula was scattered in a thousand pieces, undergoing a host of mechanical and cosmetic upgrades. And if there’s one constant truth about any car project, it’s that it is always behind schedule. The Formula was no exception, so our plan of finishing the car early enough to allow a couple weeks worth of debugging didn’t materialize. Instead, we had about four days to ensure it ran properly. In the immortal words of Clint Eastwood, "Do you feel lucky?"
The two projects weren’t the only cars we took on the tour, however. Last year Pontiac Motor Division graciously allowed us to drive one of their show cars, and special 1999 30th Anniversary Trans Am convertible, on the East Coast Tour. Somehow we managed to convince the fine people at Pontiac to provide us with another ride for this year’s Tour, and to our delight they lent us their heavily modified Gold Rush Trans Am. The Gold Rush TA was the first Firebird produced in 1998, and it sported (among other tasty items) a 382-cubic inch LS1 V8 that made over 450 horsepower at the rear wheels! Another special car traveling with us on the 2000 Tour, and representing Year One, was Challenger X, a trick 1972 Challenger built by Steve Strope’s Pure Vision outfit. With its EFI 360 small block, six-speed transmission, huge brakes, monster wheels/tires and Year One resto bits everywhere, Challenger X represented a modern twist on the traditional muscle car theme. Another vintage mucle car that hung out with us at each stop was the gorgeous '69 Camaro of Stacy and Kyle Tucker. Think of all the engineering and work that goes into building a custom, one-off street rod, and you'll have some idea of the amount of modification done to the Tucker's pony car. We were joined in route by three more Next Gen F-bodies, a 1997 Camaro SS, a 1998 Trans Am, and a brand-new 2000 Z28. Needless to say, parking around the Next Gen/Year One tent was tight!
We’ve listed all the stops below as links. Simply click on one of the city names for the rundown on the trip to the stop and what it was like when we got there. Did the Next Generation project cars make it? Did any of us get arrested? Read on and find out!
|
