I took my family to a couple of Hot August Nights cruises this past week. It's a lot of fun for our kids to look at the old cars. It gets my wife worked up about them too, and then she lets me spend more money on my Barracuda. This year was a double score. She told me that after I finish the Barracuda she wants me to fix up the Valiant. (Ha!!! If only she knew what the plan$ for the Valiant are).
Anyway, while it was a lot of fun, it was also kind of borrrrrrring. If I see one more small block Chevy with a Performer (or Performer RPM) manifold and those Edelbrock valve covers with the fake removable tops (the subject of an upcoming rant) I may develop a sudden case of narcolepsy. What really gets me is that a lot of these cars are beautiful, obviously have a lot of money in them, and are only driven on a limited basis. Why, then, go so mild (copy cat, generic, borrrrrrring...) on the engine? We're not talking daily drivers here, were talking Hot Rods. If a car is driven 1500 miles a year, what difference does gas mileage make. or idle quality? I wish people would put as much passion into their engines as they put into their paint jobs.
Here are some suggestions. If you're going to build a hot rod, build it HOT. Instead of a Performer (RPM), run a Performer Dual Quad or a Victor Jr. on an engine that's built to handle it. Or you could really step outside the box and run a Weiand or Offy intake... As for those Edelbrock valve covers, just don't do it. Nothing looks stupider on a performance car than fake stuff. If you want the look of removable valve cover tops, then buy valve covers (or have them fabricated) with actual working removable tops. That would really set your engine apart.