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Blue Mist Missile: Stephen Tucholsky’s Stick-Shift ’66 Chevy Nova
Oct 27, 2025

As a retired firefighter who now spends his time working as a machinist and welder, 59-year-old Stephen Tucholsky Jr. has been following in the footsteps of his drag racer father all his life. Now, he’s busy banging gears in a sweet stick-shift 1966 Chevrolet II Nova that’s seriously competitive in Stock and Super Stock.

Tucholsky found the second-generation Chevy for sale on AutoTrader back in 2002. “I wanted to build a Top Stocker/Stock Eliminator car,” explained the man from Richfield, Ohio.

 
 

T-Rex TVR Returns! Our Coyote-Powered TVR Project Car Is Back
Sep 23, 2025

The T-Rex RVR project car is back! Neither supply chain issues, pandemics, nor changes in Lead Content Creator could keep this dinosaur down.

There are “reality TV” programs that would have you believe a first-rate build can be accomplished in a week. On the other hand there are real-world experience that paint a very different picture. Case in point is JF Launier’s awesome Ridler-winning 1964 Buick Riviera, which is said to have taken 22,000 hours of blood, sweat and tears over a course of many years. Most builds lie somewhere in between. The T-Rex TVR falls somewhat into the latter category.

Revival Of A 1960 El Camino That’s Been Sleeping for 26 Years
May 08, 2025
Everyone dreams of acquiring a vintage car to add to their car collection. These days, finding something ready for the road is easy if you have the right resources, but pulling something out of a field and rebuilding it? That’s a different story.

Mike Finnegan of Finnegan’s Garage recently did just that when he revived a 1960 El Camino that had been dormant for 26 years. Rescued from the Georgia woods, where it sat silent since 1998, the El Camino put Finnegan through a multi-day adventure that was filled with setbacks, junkyard ingenuity, and a somewhat questionable road trip.

Adding The Man Pedal: Planning A Proper Six-Speed Swap
Aug 15, 2024
By Brian Wagner August 01, 2024

An easy way to make any vehicle a whole lot of fun to drive, is to stick a manual transmission in it. Unfortunately, manual transmission options have been slowly phased out of the OEM market, but that doesn’t mean you can’t have a man pedal in your ride. In this article, we’re going to look at what goes into a six-speed transmission swap.

Our 1994 Volvo Project Swedish Meatball didn’t come with a manual transmission from the factory. After some research, we found that people have six-speed swapped these cars with an LS engine combo like we’re putting in the Meatball. We wanted to make this process as painless as possible, so we reached out to Silver Sport Transmissions to get everything we needed for a six-speed swap.


Ford V. Ferrari Battle Of Big Bend: Part 1
Jul 17, 2024
While most vehicle features start with a brief history of a car owner and why they love cars, this one is slightly different. This story is not about a barn find, a car that was sold and found years later, or a vehicle that’s a family heirloom. No, this story starts around a somewhat hostile Thanksgiving dinner table in 2023 and ends at the Battle of Big Bend.

Ford V. Ferrari Battle Of Big Bend

So imagine this. A father in this story, Rick Lehn, and his son, Ian Lehn, are being festive while shooting the bull around the table after Thanksgiving dinner with friends and family. The pair started discussing classic cars versus modern cars. After a drink or two, maybe three, Ian mouthed off, saying he was the better driver by far, and could beat his “old man” any day of the week in an old classic. At this point, there was a lot of chest-beating, and Rick replied, “Ok, put your money where your mouth is.” Ian obliged, and the two decided to settle the somewhat restless exchange of words at the Battle of Big Bend Open Road Race in Texas. Ian would race a 1969 Mustang, and his father would drive his 2002 Ferrari Modena. A modern-day Ford V. Ferarri was born.

Improving Our Vintage Corvette With A Five-Speed Transmission
Feb 13, 2024
jmoore
By JIM MOORE FEBRUARY 10, 2024

There was a time when any “respectable” hot street car had a four-speed and at least a set of 4.10 gears with a high-revving engine under the hood. Troy Hudson lived in that era. His previous streetable rides included a 9,000-plus-rpm, dual-four-barrel, 327 cubic-inch small-block in a ’57 Chevy with a four-speed and 6.50 rear gears. Next came a 1960 283 cubic-inch, dual-four-barrel, four-speed Corvette with 4.10s. Times and technology change, and where four-speeds were once dominant, five-speed transmissions featuring overdrive are now the norm.


The Full Swap: Ditching Your MT82 For A TREMEC Magnum XL
Jan 24, 2024
There is no doubt that with a few aftermarket parts, modern Mustangs equipped with the 5.0-liter Coyote engine can generate exponentially more power. With that increase in power often come hardships down the line, specifically in the driveline of the car. Many enthusiasts have voiced complaints about the stock MT82 transmission, which comes on the 2011 and newer Ford Mustangs. Owners mention issues with the transmission not shifting smoothly, and later, that the OE-spec transmission cannot handle the additional power. The good news: there is a plug-and-play, bolt-in solution for this problem, and it is called the TREMEC Magnum XL transmission.

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