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[shakespeareanqueer]

Ms. Rhodes (One-Shot)

Summary: A game of Drunk Jenga reveals a secret Tony wasn’t keen on Rhodey knowing.

Word Count: 1,578 words 🍺My Masterlist 🍺

Contents: Drinking & drinking games, confessions of past sexual activity, “fuck”

A/N: This is for @captain-s-rogers I’ve Heard It Both Ways Challenge. Sorry this is a few days late! I had a lot of fun writing this. This whole challenge has made me want to re-watch Psych! It is one of my favorite TV shows of all time. I also tried my hand at making a header. I’ll get better if I’m motivated to keep trying. My prompt is bolded. 😊

From Christmas Eve to New Years, Tony turned the old Avengers Tower into a holiday-time full-family sleepover. Clint and Laura brought their kids, May brought Peter, all the Avengers were present with any significant others, and Rhodey brought his little sister, Missy. (Well, she wasn’t so little. She was only three years younger than Rhodey, which still put her a few years older than Tony.)

On December 25th, after Peter, Harley and his sister Mack, Morgan, Cooper, Lila and Nathaniel were all in bed, it was time for the Christmas dinner after-party at the Stark household. The adults had all been drinking since their first mimosas with breakfast, so people were feeling loose and down for just about anything. Which is how the very sober super-soldiers were easily able to convince people to play the game of Drunk Jenga they’d found from, shockingly, Bruce’s college days, so they could watch all the inebriated people make fools of themselves.

After only twenty minutes, Pepper was sitting on Bruce’s lap until her next turn, May had kissed Christine, Clint had given Laura a lap dance, and most people had taken several shots, including the body shot Rhodey had taken off of Carol. Then it was Tony’s turn.

Tony put down his beer and very carefully started poking some of the blocks in the jenga tower.

“Hey, no cheating!” May shouted.

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Stephen countered. He sounded as cool and calculating as ever, but he was slurring his words ever so slightly. “If no one used any strategy, the tower would collapse every other turn.”

Christine sided with May. “Your strategy should be your eyes.”

The argument was cut short by Tony successfully pulling a bright red block—the middle one of the third row down.

He read what was written on it aloud: “Go around the circle and kiss everyone you’ve never kissed before.”

“Oooh juicy!” Jane exclaimed. “I like this block!”

Tony’s eyes were darting around the circle.

“What’s wrong, man?” Bruce asked. “This seems like the kind of thing you’d be totally into.”

Before Tony could answer, Rhodey piped up with a refrain he’d repeated multiple times this evening, including when he was compelled to take a body shot: “Aw man, my sister is here!”

Very hastily Tony replied, “I can skip her, if you want.”

“No, no.” Rhodey sat backwards, leaning on his elbows and hands. “Play as instructed. You’re both adults.”

Tony swallowed, then walked carefully back to his spot to begin his lap around the circle.

Immediately to his right was Rhodey. College had been a crazy time. He skipped him.

Then came Pepper. Obviously, he skipped her.

Bruce. Scientific breakthroughs come with a rush of enthusiasm that can lead to an excited smack on the mouth. Skipped.

May. There had been a brief flirty thing while he was on his break with Pepper, partly so Tony could get close to Peter without May finding out about the Spider-Man thing.

“Damn, is there anyone in this circle you haven’t kissed?” Bruce teased.

There sure was.  Next he came up on Clint. He spared a guilty look at Laura. She shrugged.

“I’m just surprised you haven’t already kissed, honestly,” she said.

With a cheeky grin, Clint grabbed Tony’s face and gave him a noisy smack on the lips. Tony chuckled when he pulled away, slightly more at ease than when this started.

Next to Clint was Laura, who got a respectful peck on the lips.

Next to Laura was Missy. From across the circle, Rhodey said, “Ugh, I don’t think I can watch.” Then he changed his mind. “Nah but I gotta make sure he doesn’t pull anything,” he teased, some of his fifth(?) beer sloshing out of the bottle as he sat forward.

Tony looked pleadingly at Missy, begging her with her eyes to play along. But she was too inebriated to notice. She just giggled and said, “Move along, Tony!”

Rhodey was drunk too, but not too drunk to pick up on his sister’s meaning.

“What?!” he exclaimed. “You’ve kissed before?!”

“It was while I was getting my masters…” Tony explained, rubbing the back of his neck.

Rhodey narrowed his eyes. “Missy didn’t go to MIT.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tony sighed. He had sobered up real quick from all this. “It was when I went back to yours for Christmas break.”

“Coming up on our anniversary,” Missy giggled, completely oblivious to her brother’s genuine upset.

Rhodey scrubbed his hand down his face. Now he was completely sober as well.

“I’m gonna take a break from this game,” he mumbled.

Tony scrambled up to go after him. He followed him into the kitchen, where Rhodey grabbed a water bottle and slammed the fridge door a little more aggressively than he intended.

“Hey… Honeybear…” Tony started cautiously. Rhodey shot him a death glare. “What’s the big deal? It was years and years ago.”

Rhodey sighed and took a swig from the water bottle. Tony watched him with concern.

“At my house, over Christmas break,” Rhodey finally spoke, slowly repeating the circumstances Tony had explained. “There weren’t dumb games like this like there were at school. No scientific breakthroughs and excited, caffeine-fueled smacks like you have with Bruce or me every once in a while. So the only conclusion I can draw, is that you kissed my sister because you wanted to.”

With possibly the worst timing in the galaxy, Missy sidled up just then, still more than a little tipsy and completely not reading the room. “We did more than just kiss, Jimmy-Jam,” she slurred, then she slung her arm around Tony’s shoulders and took another swig of her beer.

Rhodey’s jaw hung open for a split second, then he stormed out of the room before he said or did anything he’d regret.

Tony pushed Missy’s arm off his shoulder. “Thanks a lot,” he mumbled and stomped to the other side of the island, needing some distance from her.

Missy’s eyes went wide then, and for the first time that evening she started to process the negative vibes around her. “Sorry…” she murmured, then slithered out of the room back towards the party. Once there, she slid into a corner and sulked.

Tony knew better than to go after Rhodey right away this time. He knew his best friend needed a little time and space; he just prayed it wasn’t too far or too long.

After even Missy seemed affected, Steve figured it was time for him to step in. He sauntered into the kitchen and leaned against the counter opposite Tony.

“So you fucked up,” he said.

“Oh don’t start with one of those government PSAs, Rogers,” Tony snarked, and Steve smirked.

“Look, Tony,” he sighed. “You’re a genius, but… Well, fooling around with your best friend’s sister certainly wasn’t your most brilliant idea.”

“No, that was the toaster alarm I invented in the third grade that woke you up by smacking you in the face with a waffle,” Tony replied. “Or maybe the Iron Man suit. They’re neck and neck.”

Steve sighed. “You’re using humor as a defense mechanism again,” he warned.

“Yeah, well,” Tony spluttered. “I’ve got a lot to defend haven’t I?!” He slumped forward against the counter, leaning his forehead against the cool granite. “He’s my best friend in the whole world, Steve.” The great Iron Man was whining now.

“I know.” Steve pat the back of his head in what he hoped was a comforting and not-too-weird gesture. “Go talk to him. He’s probably cooled down at least a little by now.”

Tony lifted his head and nodded. Steve tried to give him a reassuring smile but it might have come out more of a grimace.

Tony plodded out to the balcony where Rhodey was trying to clear his head.

“You still mad at me?” Tony asked in a small voice to his friend’s back.

Rhodey’s shoulders tensed for a moment, then slumped. “I’m not mad you slept with her, man,” he mumbled such that Tony barely made out his words. “I’m mad you didn’t tell me.”

“Would you have really wanted to know?” Tony asked. “You lived in your denial insisting Missy was a virgin until she was thirty.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Rhodey said. “I probably would have fought you, been pissed for a while, maybe not talked to you for the rest of break. But we’re supposed to be best friends right?? I always thought we told each other everything. And really in over twenty years since then you never thought to mention it?”

The crack in Rhodey’s voice that betrayed how close he was to crying sent a guilty pang through Tony’s chest.

“This is the only secret I ever kept from you,” Tony said. “Wait no. There’s one more thing I lied to you about.”

Rhodey didn’t ask what it was, just looked at Tony with round, sad eyes.

“Last week, I told you Dum-E knocked your milkshake over and I made him clean it up, but the truth is that I drank it.”

Rhodey punched Tony in the shoulder hard enough that Tony rubbed it and said, “Hey!”

“You asshole,” Rhodey muttered, but a smile was starting to creep up on his face.

“I’ll make it up to you with a present,” Tony said, his victory at cheering Rhodey up causing a smile to spread across his own face. “A toaster waffle alarm clock.”

[itsworn]

This 1969 Chevy Corvette Runs Hard and Has a Great History

Corvettes have a racing pedigree that appeals to folks who like carving corners as well as those who prefer racing in a straight line, and third-generation Corvettes are no stranger to the racetrack. The weight balance, horsepower availability and independent suspension made these cars popular for racing when they were new, but the climbing value of the cars keep most owners from turning restored original cars into dedicated racers. Jasper, Tennessee, native, Dee Hale’s long-term relationship with this 1969 Corvette has nothing to do with monetary value. It’s all about the memories and the experiences that it has provided, and converting it to a drag car is only adding to his compilation of good times with his first car. That’s right, Dee got this car as his 16th birthday present, and it’s a member of his family that is here to stay.

Rewinding the clocks to 1979, this car was 10 years old and Dee was only a few years older. Dee’s father saw it from the road, sitting under a carport in Flintstone, Georgia, and asked the owner if it was for sale. As you can probably guess, the answer was yes; he gave $2,700 for the car, a Tuxedo Black 1969 Corvette coupe with a 300-horsepower, 350ci small-block backed by an automatic transmission. After the deal was struck, Dee’s father let him drive it 40 miles home, which had to be a surreal moment for a car-crazy teenager.

Only two years later, he went on his final “first date” with a girl that would eventually become his wife. Dee and Terri share lots of memories in the Corvette from those early days, but the car mostly sat in the garage in the years leading up to its conversion into a drag car. Dee had been drag racing other types of cars for several years, and thought it would be cool to enjoy his passion with the car that started it all.

He didn’t want to make any irreversible changes to his beloved Corvette, but there were some necessary modifications to make it safe and reliable for drag racing. First was a 10-point rollcage from Rhodes Race Cars, giving Dee a safe surrounding. He and Jeff Gass installed the ’cage and then started making changes to the chassis. The biggest change involved removing the independent rear suspension in favor of a solid rear axle and four-link suspension. Dee used a kit from Autofab Race Cars, which allows fitment of four-link bars and coilover shocks to the original framerails.

While many drag racers immediately opt for a Ford 9-inch rearend, Dee used a late-model 8.8 rearend from a Ford Explorer. These rearends feature an offset pinion from the factory so Dee only narrowed one side 2.875 inches to make the housing even on both sides. Then, he added a pair of Moser 35-spline axles, a Moser spool and 4.88:1 gears for a bulletproof combination. Another advantage of the Explorer rearend is the factory disc brakes, which Dee carried over to his Corvette. Dee dials in the launch with a pair of QA1 coilovers and puts the power to the ground with a pair of Mickey Thompson 275/60R15 drag radials. He used a set of Weld Draglite wheels, and took a different approach by using 15×8 wheels on all four corners instead of the typical skinny front runners. This makes his C3 look like your average street car, but the moment the engine comes to life, that notion is crushed.

Horsepower comes from a 412ci small-block Chevy, which features a stock production 400 block, punched out to a 4.155-inch bore (0.030-inch over). It uses a Scat Pro Comp lightweight crankshaft with a 3.800-inch stroke, which slings Scat 6.000-inch connecting rods and SRP forged pistons. A 4cc dome on the pistons is combined with 62cc combustion chambers in the Pontiac 867 raised-port cylinder heads to provide a 13.5:1 compression ratio. The Pontiac heads are retired NASCAR equipment, and they have lots of custom port work—featuring 220cc intake runners—and titanium 2.100-inch intake and 1.625-inch exhaust valves. A solid roller camshaft from Comp Cams shakes the earth with 276 degrees of duration on the intake side and 284 degrees on the exhaust (measured at 0.050-inch lift), as well as 0.660-inch (intake) and 0.630-inch (exhaust) max valve lift. The camshaft is ground on a 106-degree lobe separation angle and uses Comp roller lifters, Comp pushrods and Scorpion 1.5:1 roller rockers to put the valves into motion.

Up top is an Edelbrock Super Victor intake manifold drawing fuel and air from a 750-cfm carburetor, modified by Rupert’s Alky Carbs for use with alcohol. The fuel system consists of a Baker mechanical fuel pump and a Barry Grant fuel bypass regulator, while the ignition is controlled by an MSD Pro-Billet distributor, 6AL box and Blaster 2 coil. Exhaust gasses pass through a set of Hooker Super Comp 1 3/4-inch headers and directly into a set of DynoMax bullet mufflers. Dee Hale and Buddy Gass are responsible for the engine build, and Dee tweaks the tune-up with an MSD Grid controller. Behind the small-block is an FTI Powerglide with Pro trans brake, built by Steven Farrow. The PTC torque converter stalls to 5,500 rpm on the launch, and Dee selects gears with a Hurst Quarter-Stick shifter.

In terms of its appearance, the Corvette body is mostly stock, aside from a repaint by Jack Green in Whitwell, Tennessee. When the car made its transformation into drag racing trim, Dee added to the original hood “bump” by splitting it and adding a strip of fiberglass to it. This provides additional clearance, and adds a subtle detail that only a Corvette guy would notice. Dee upgraded the interior with 1998 Corvette seats and added RaceQuip five-point harnesses. He also added a quick-disconnect steering wheel along with some auxiliary gauges and a 5-inch tachometer. A Dedenbear delay box provides consistent performance while bracket racing, as does the air-shift solenoid.

Since the car’s completion, Dee has raced regularly at his home track, Brainerd Motorsports Park in Ringgold, Georgia. He often runs in the 7.0-second eighth-mile index class, but he also bracket races so he has multiple tunes for the different setups. In all-out trim, the car ran a 6.36 at 112.9 miles per hour with a 1.32-second 60-foot time. In 2018, he started the season off with a bang with multiple wins and plans to continue racking up the hardware. With so many memories accumulated over the last 40 years, he adds to the car’s story every time he rolls into the staging beams, and he loves every minute of it. Vette

The post This 1969 Chevy Corvette Runs Hard and Has a Great History appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[itsworn]

Celebrating 50 Years of Cobra Jets at the 24th Annual Carlisle All-Ford Nationals

Ford’s Mustang was a hot seller and a good performer from the start, but by 1967 there was serious competition in the marketplace. Ford offered performance enthusiasts a 289 and along with the 390 big-block, but the FE wasn’t getting it done. Ford needed a solution, and it came from Rhode Island car dealer Bob Tasca, who paired high-flowing 427 cylinder heads with the FE 428 short-block. The combination worked, and the brass at Ford Motor Company saw the potential. They refined the package and “Cobra Jet” was born.

Ford’s strip brawler CJ packed 335hp and snappy performance. To drive the point home, Ford built 50 lightweight 428 CJ Mustangs to showcase its new powerhouse. Six of these special Mustangs were delivered to Holman Moody and Bill Stroppe in California to be prepped for the 1968 NHRA Winternationals. They featured wide-ratio four-speed transmissions, a 4.89:1 rear gear, roll bar, and Goodyear Blue Streak slicks. They also benefited from headers, and to enhance traction, the battery was moved to the trunk.

The Carlisle All-Ford Nationals celebrated 50 years of Cobra Jets and Torinos. This is Jimmy Ronzello’s 2008 convertible CJ that served as one of the original test mules for the CJ program.

“It was late 1967, and I was happily racing my 427 SOHC, fuel injected, altered-wheel base funny car when I got a call from Chuck Folger, the then-new drag race coordinator at Ford,” said drag racer Al Joniec. “Since I was a member of the Ford factory team, he asked if I would run a new car that was going to be introduced at the ’68 NHRA Winternationals,” Joniec explained. “I was curious, and said it sounds good, but could you tell me more? Folger said it’s going to be a real Mustang, one anyone can drive on the street, but it will go like hell. He added that Ford would be putting together a combination of hybrid performance parts of the 428 engine, and it’s going to be called a ‘Cobra Jet.’ I told him that was a great name and to sign me up, and that’s how I became one of the drivers of the six-car Ford team,” Joniec added.

After making the cross-country trek, Joniec took delivery of his Mustang. Before heading to Pomona, Joniec swaped the cam, which gave his Cobra Jet extra performance. At the Winternationals, Joniec was unstoppable. Driving his now-familiar Rice Holman Ford-sponsored entry, he won Super Stock/E Class runoffs followed by the very first Super Stock national victory for a Cobra Jet Mustang with a run of 11.49 at 120 mph in the final round of the eliminator.

The mill that started it all is the 428 Cobra Jet rated at 335 hp.

After the 428 CJ was retired at the end of 1970, Ford came back for 1971 with a Q-code 351 Cleveland Cobra-Jet. It had lower compression and featured open-chamber 4V heads that helped meet emission standards. Hard parts included a new intake manifold, high-lift, long-duration camshaft with hydraulic lifters, revised valve springs and dampers, a 750 cfm spread-bore 4300-D Motorcraft carburetor, dual-point distributor (with four-speed manual transmissions only), and four-bolt main bearing caps.

These engines also featured induction-hardened exhaust seats for use with low-lead and unleaded gasoline. Even with the restrictions, the 1971 version developed 280hp. The following year, Ford retarded the camshaft events by 4 degrees. The engine was rated at 266 hp (SAE net) for 1972 when installed in the Mustang, and 248 hp in the Torino and Montego. An increase in the combustion chamber size and the use of smaller valves occurred in 1973, which reduced horsepower to 246 hp for the four-barrel for the intermediate Fords, though it still retained the higher 266 hp rating in the Mustang. The 351 CJ (now referred to as the ‘351 4V’) was rated at 255 hp in 1974 (the last year for the 351 CJ) and was only installed in the Ford Ranchero, Ford Torino, Mercury Montego, and Mercury Cougar.

Al Joniec (left in the photo) poses with author Charlie Morris. Joniec scored the very first win for a Cobra Jet when he won the 1968 NHRA Winternationals. Joniec’s adventures are celebrated in a recently released book by Charlie Morris.

In addition to the 351, Ford also offered a 429 Cobra Jet and a 429 Super Cobra Jet. These engines were based off the 385-series big block and features included a 700 cfm Rochester carburetor, 2.24/1.72 valves, stout 11.3:1, and a beefed bottom end to the block. This equaled 370hp at 5,400 rpm, and 450-lb/ft. of torque at 3,400 rpm.

The Super Cobra Jet got you four-bolt mains, forged pistons, a 780 Holley, plus an oil cooler hanging. The biggest upgrade was the solid-lifter cam. A cold-air intake was optional on both engines, Ultimately, Ford offered Cobra Jet engines in the Mustang, Cougar, Torino, Galaxie, Montego/Cyclone, Ranchero and a few others models.

There were tons of classic Mustangs with 428 Cobra Jet engines in Carlisle.

New Age CJ

By 1974, strict emission standards, skyrocketing insurance costs, and high fuel prices conspired to virtually kill the American Muscle Car. The Cobra Jet, like many others, was a casualty of the times.

Thankfully, the Cobra Jet made a comeback when, in 2008, Ford Performance Parts offered a special-edition, track-only, CJ Mustang for hardcore drag racers. Not just an engine, the Cobra Jet Mustang was complete race car that hit the track for the first time at the 2009 NHRA Winternationals, nearly 40 years after Joniec’s historic victory.

Here’s a look at a 1970 428 CJ engine with Ram Air.

Ford Performance engineers combined a specially-prepped supercharged and intercooled 5.4L DOHC V8 engine with a six-speed and 9-inch rear that was installed in a lightweight, race-ready Mustang. Furthermore, the CJ Mustang was stripped of air conditioning, sound deadening, stereo, and other creature comforts. In addition, each Mustang was equipped with race shocks, springs, suspension links, gauges, roll bar and racing tires and wheels.

The result was the M-FR500-CJ—or more simply—the 2008 Cobra Jet. Though originally rated at 425 hp, a “prepped” ’08 CJ can make upwards of 1,000 ground-pounding horsepower and run deep in the 8s at nearly 160 mph. Ford built a total of 50 2008 Cobra Jet Mustangs.

Love the classic drag stickers.

Brent Hajek of Hajek Motorsports purchased the first 10 of these modern Cobra Jets. Hajek understood the significance of the 40-year Pomona Cobra Jet anniversary and he vowed to have four cars ready for competition at the ’09 NHRA Winternationals. With only two months before the big race, Hajek assembled a team who rocketed into action and fine-tuned the first four of his serialized CJs. As a tribute, Hajek honored the original drivers from the ’68 Winternationals, accurately replicating the paint schemes of Al Joniec, Hubert Platt, Randy Ritchey, and Gas Ronda.

Hajek selected NHRA racers Jim Waldo, Gary Stinnett, Jimmy Ronzello, and John Calvert as the lucky drivers. Miraculously, John Calvert, driving the Al Joniec-cloned Rice Holman Mustang (in A/Stock this time) made it to the final, where he defeated Tom Gaynor to claim the amazing victory for Ford on the 41st Anniversary of the original win.

Cobra Jet fans won’t want to miss the 50th Anniversary Cobra Jet reunion August 23-26 in Norwalk, Ohio.

Ford Performance continued refining the Cobra Jet offering 50 examples in 2008, 2010, 2012, 2013, 2014 and 2016. In total there have been 300 new Cobra Jets delivered to racers and collectors worldwide. There has also been dozens of NHRA, IHRA, NMCA and NMRA national records, event wins, and championships. Ford has also recently announced plans to built a special-edition 2018 Cobra Jet Mustang, of which 68 will be built.

Hit up any track across the country and you’re bound to see a Cobra Jet in action. New or old, they run hard, and we’ve seen winners come from all walks of life, including veteran drivers like Calvert, and young racers like 20-year-old Michelle Bongiovanni, who won a Ford Performance Cobra Jet shootout in 2017.

One of our favorites was this Competition Green 1970 Cyclone Spoiler with a 429 CJ.

Cobra Jet drivers have also won championships, set records and cracked important milestones in racing. Collector and drag racer Don Fezell became the first racer in NHRA history to record an 8-second run in Stock Eliminator, and both Roy Hill and the Candies Family CJ racing team have run 7.70s in Super Stock. Championships have also been won by Kevin Skinner in NMCA and the team of Jimmy LaRocca and Tommy Annunziata in NMRA competition.

We also spotted a few 1968 Shelby GT500s.

The car corral featured some nice cars for sale, including this 1969 R-code CJ Mustang.

This 1972 Gran Torino Sport was motivated by a 351 Cleveland CJ and backed with a four-speed.

The post Celebrating 50 Years of Cobra Jets at the 24th Annual Carlisle All-Ford Nationals appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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[itsworn]

Pro Street Is Far From Dead With This ’55 Bel Air!

The Bourikas brothers blend—and bend—Pro-Street with Pro-Mod in this wicked ’55 Chevy Bel Air.

There’s very little that hasn’t been attempted in the world of hot rodding when one takes into consideration the sheer amount of design, engineering, and creativity flowing from the minds of builders from coast to coast. Every so often, however, someone comes along with the fortitude to blend specific styles together to form something that’s been percolating in the back of their mind. Not that it’s the first time it’s been seen, but in their perspective it lends to a perfect balance of form following function.

Peter and George Bourikas of Quincy, Massachusetts, have spent plenty of time over the last 40-plus years flexing their creativity while building a number of hopped-up muscle cars, as well as spending plenty of time at the drag strip dialing them in. Growing up in the mid ‘70s, nothing spoke louder to them than an aggressive street machine with a big-block stuffed between the ‘rails. Peter’s fast to remember that: “you could hear a tough car coming from a block away as the owner squeezed the guts out of its V8, winding through the gears within an inch of its life.”   

Then it happened. Scott Sullivan’s landmark ’67 Pro-Street Nova hit the scene, being awarded HOT ROD’s Street Machine of the Year in 1979. The car fast became the standard for Pro Street with its mile-wide rear rubber, badass stance, and supercharged mill. It left the pair awestruck and full of enthusiasm to join the ranks with a back-halfed ’69 Camaro Z-28 stuffed with an 8-71—blown small-block and candy blue paint. The fuse was lit and the car gained more attention than anything they had previously owned, especially at the track. At the same time, they had opened Perfection Auto Repair, a high-line auto body shop in their town, so the Camaro also became a calling card of the shop’s work.

As years passed and the Pro-Street movement continued to evolve, the pair kept track of the scene, continuing their study of trends and watching to see where the inspiration would come from for their next build. Once again, it was Sullivan with a pair of Tri-Fives, the legendary Cheez Whiz ’55 (awarded HOT ROD’s Hot Rod of the Year in ’88) and later the jet-black ’57 Chevy which eventually led them down a road to what you see here—but with a twist. The pair still continued to stay active building cars, but two decades passed as they wove a path leading to the start of this endeavor. With the popularity growing in the Pro Mod racing class, Peter gained new incentive to reboot the inspiration by studying Sullivan’s builds, and morphing them for the future. 

After living through the original movement, Peter often wondered where its future might lie with the current blend of new design and fabrication technology. The time was right to start a search for a ’55 Bel Air to get the ball rolling. Historically, it’s known that East Coast cars suffer a terrible fate due to road salt, so finding a decent local car to start with was a chore. Luckily, one was sourced in New Hampshire that had lived through the street machine years, and a poorly attempted Pro-Street reboot. All they needed was a decent shell, so a deal was made and the teardown commenced.

The original chassis and driveline were sold off, and the body was hauled to the legendary Tube Chassis Designz (TDC) to have John Sandahl evaluate the build. Sandahl got busy by fabricating a custom 4130 chromoly double-rail Pro Mod chassis certified to 7.50, meeting SFI 25.1E specifications. A Strange Engineering 9-inch HD steel housing was packed with a 9-inch Pro Iron center, a spool spinning 4.30 gears, and linked to 40-spline gun-drilled axles. It’s suspended by a custom-fabbed TCD four-link, sway bar, and Panhard bar matched to a pair of Strange Engineering Ultra-Series Drag Race double-adjustable coilover shocks.

It’s all business up front, with Santhuff’s double-adjustable coilovers matched to TDC-fabbed chromoly lower control arms, and steering through a Strange Engineering manual rack-and-pinion unit. When it gets serious and you need to stop, a Strange Engineering dual master pushes fluid through stainless lines to Aerospace Components discs (11 ¾-inch front, 11 3/8-inch rear) with matching four-piston calipers. The TDC team then focused on the body, removing the floors and all related interior sheetmetal to integrate the shell to the new chassis. Fresh floors, firewall, and rear wheel tubs were fabricated from sheetmetal and welded in place. The chassis and related sheetmetal were then powdercoated in gloss silver by D&T Powder Coating of Pembroke. It all rolls on Radir Tri-Rib 15×4-inch wheels up front with Centerline Competition Series Vintage 15×15-inch rears, all wrapped in Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R radials.

To dial in a well-balanced combination of streetable power that could also hold its own on the track, the Bourikas brothers went to Camco Racing Engines of Weymouth to assemble a wicked big-block. Starting fresh, a Dart Big M Sportsman iron block was bored for 540ci and filled with plenty of go-fast goods. It starts with a Callies Magnum crank matched to Ultra I-beam rods, JE 11.5:1 dome pistons, and a custom-ground Comp cam setting a heavy beat. Up top, Camco warmed over a set of Brodix heads which are fed by Kinsler Fuel Injection. The team at Kinsler engineered a custom induction system from a Dart dual-quad tunnel ram that they converted to EFI with an Enderle bugcatcher flowing air specifically through only the center of the three butterflies. It’s fed by an Enderle mechanical cam-driven fuel pump for a nostalgic look, with an electric Weldon pump at the tank.

Turn the key and it all sparks to life through an MSD crank-trigger ignition linked to an MSD 7AL-2 box. Spent gasses rip through a set of one-off headers from Tubular Automotive of Rockland, then onto a TDC custom-fabbed 4-inch exhaust with Flowmaster mufflers. When tuned by Jim Reid Jr of Reid’s Automotive in Whitman, the engine made a725 hp at 6,500 rpm. Power moves rearward though a Triangle Transmission Turbo 400 with an ATI 10-inch Treemaster converter, then to a custom TDC driveshaft.

As a loaded roller with its suspension dialed in, the car had already achieved a nasty stance with plenty of attitude. It was now time to focus on breathing life back into its weathered shell. George replaced the rear quarters, rockers, and doors with fresh stock from CARS Inc. Wanting the car to have a signature look, the brothers consulted with Paul Gamache of Gamache Rod & Custom in Freetown. Well-known for his custom fabrication and vision, Gamache outlined a number of design changes. He crafted the signature hood scoop to embrace the Enderle butterflies and added the floating Corvette grille, new inner fenders, and radiator filler panel. Once back at Perfection, George metal finished the body, set all the gaps, and blended a custom House of Kolor Brandywine Kandy gloss with a mile-deep vibe.

Inside, you immediately see the custom sheetmetal dash by Gamache packed with Auto Meter Ultra-Lite carbon fiber dials, which are set into individual gauge pods by TCD. A custom steering column by TDC, a Grant steering wheel, a Hurst Pistol-Grip Quarter Stick, and Painless Performance ceiling-mounted switch panel cement the new-era Pro Street vibe. To add just the right hint of nostalgia, Carello Upholstery of Warwick, Rhode Island, hit a homerun covering a pair of Kirkey Racing seats and surrounding panels with diamond-pattern black vinyl. The finished car showcases plenty of innovation and personal style, making itself known wherever it goes.

For some, the Pro Street movement might be a thing of the past, but for the Bourikas brothers and many more, the movement that started in the late ’70s is just a jumping-off point for what comes next. By combining old-world craftsmanship with 21st-century technology, Peter and George Bourikas have taken the Pro Street and Pro Mod ethos to the next level. Perhaps the fusion of styles will serve as inspiration for the next generation of builders, just as Scott Sullivan’s work has for the Bourikas brothers. Ultimately, you are the ones who will decide that!

It’s all about proportions and balance. The ’55 nails the look from front to back, paying homage to classic original lines while infusing plenty of ferocity. The combination of Radir Tri-Rib front wheels and Centerline Competition Series Vintage rear wheels adds a classic look.

The team at Camco Racing Engines massaged a Dart Big M Sportsman iron block to 540ci and packed it with high-energy bits including a Callies Magnum crank, Ultra I-beam rods, and JE 11.5:1 domed slugs. Kinsler Fuel Injection converted the Dart dual-quad tunnel ram to EFI, topping it with an Enderle bugcatcher.

The boxed firewall and wiring harness quick disconnects are to accommodate a much more powerful 2,000hp supercharged Rodek alcohol-burning V8 that is planned for track use at a later date.

Looking down into the front of the engine bay you can see the Kinsler vapor separator tank and matching mechanical fuel pump as well as a Meziere remote electric water pump and plenty of Earl’s stainless braided lines.

Warming the massive Mickey Thompson Sportsman S/R 33x22xR15 hides for extra bite is effortless with 725hp of big-block power on tap.

Inside is an immaculate cage and sheetmetal panels from TCD. Look deeper and you’ll see a custom dash cradling Auto Meter Ultra-Lite gauges, and a traditional black diamond-pattern vinyl interior with matching black loop carpet by Carello Upholstery. Shifts fly through a Hurst Pistol-Grip Quarter Stick.

Wheelie bars protrude the tail end of a TCD custom 4130 chromoly double-rail Pro-Mod chassis. The trunk-mounted Simpson drag chute and 4-inch exhaust are just wicked.

The front is a work of art, thanks to Paul Gamache of Gamache Rod & Custom. The sculpted steel hood showcases an Enderle injector; a floating Corvette grille easily separates the car from the rest.

To deliver brute force to the street, a Strange Engineering 9-inch HD steel housing passes the goods through a matching 9-inch Pro Iron center packing spooled 4.30 gears and 40-spline gun-drilled axles.

  The post Pro Street Is Far From Dead With This ’55 Bel Air! appeared first on Hot Rod Network.

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