I've never been a really big fan of Popular Hot Rodding magazine. They had an occasional good article, but overall the editorial content and quality didn't measure up to the standards of Car Craft or Hot Rod. Lately though I've changed my mind. I've been reading this magazine over the past few months and it's like a whole new magazine. In the current issue, I found this nugget of wisdom:
"By establishing a realistic purpose for the car, stuff like fuel injection, overdrive, rear disk brakes, and locking diffs are now pricey and frivolous doohickeys."
Bang, they hit the nail on the head. It's hard to build a car that does many things well, and also expensive. I know it's possible to build a car that handles well, is "bad to the bone" quick, comfortable, and even gets decent gas mileage. Actually building such a car requires a lot of knowledge, talent, time and money though. Even if you could do all the work yourself you'd need to buy a lot of (expensive) parts. That's why my Barracuda isn't a project car - I want it to be an excellent all aound car (a "G Machine" in Popular Hot Rodding's parlance). I don't have the skills to do it myself, so I'm having the work done. It's more expensive that way, but at least I know for sure that it will turn out right. Of course, that leaves me without a project car, so I'm looking for one. I just need to decide what I want - good handling or fast? Comfortable or cheap?