Chevy High Performance article - September 2005: Difference between revisions
Chevy High Performance article - September 2005 (view source)
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'''It's not very often that a feature car gets a''' second shot in the ''CHP'' spotlight, but it does happen—especially when there's a new story to be told. We brought you Patrick Wilson's slick and fast '67 Chevelle in our [[Chevy High Performance article - September 2004|Sept. '04 issue ("The Mojo's Workin'")]]. Wilson, drummer for the band [[Weezer]] (which just released a new album, ''[[Make Believe]]''), commissioned Hotrods to Hell (www.hotrodstohell.net) to build him a car with "big power and predictable handling," an American classic alternative to the BMW M5 he was considering. Wilson got what he wanted, and then some, as the Centerdrive Truckarm-suspended Malibu, packed with a 500-horse small-block, clicked off 12.5-second quarters and pulled 63 mph through ''Motor Trend'''s 600-foot slalom. In the months that followed, however, two other facets of Wilson's vintage ride were dramatically put to the test: its safety features and insurability. The first literally saved lives—the second saved the car. We think there are lessons to be learned from Wilson's experience—things other owners of high-performance classics can learn from. | '''It's not very often that a feature car gets a''' second shot in the ''CHP'' spotlight, but it does happen—especially when there's a new story to be told. We brought you Patrick Wilson's slick and fast '67 Chevelle in our [[Chevy High Performance article - September 2004|Sept. '04 issue ("The Mojo's Workin'")]]. Wilson, drummer for the band [[Weezer]] (which just released a new album, ''[[Make Believe]]''), commissioned Hotrods to Hell (www.hotrodstohell.net) to build him a car with "big power and predictable handling," an American classic alternative to the BMW M5 he was considering. Wilson got what he wanted, and then some, as the Centerdrive Truckarm-suspended Malibu, packed with a 500-horse small-block, clicked off 12.5-second quarters and pulled 63 mph through ''Motor Trend''<nowiki>'s</nowiki> 600-foot slalom. In the months that followed, however, two other facets of Wilson's vintage ride were dramatically put to the test: its safety features and insurability. The first literally saved lives—the second saved the car. We think there are lessons to be learned from Wilson's experience—things other owners of high-performance classics can learn from. | ||
'''It Went Off Like a Tuning Fork''' | '''It Went Off Like a Tuning Fork''' | ||
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In the end, everything has turned out well. A little extra attention in the safety department did a lot of good for the Wilson family, and getting a proper appraisal took care of the Malibu. In fact, Wilson says the car is better than ever, with a fiberglass hood and trunk, perfect body and paint—and now a fuel cell, just in case. We've revisited this car because it's cool, but also because the story illustrates a fundamental truth: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. | In the end, everything has turned out well. A little extra attention in the safety department did a lot of good for the Wilson family, and getting a proper appraisal took care of the Malibu. In fact, Wilson says the car is better than ever, with a fiberglass hood and trunk, perfect body and paint—and now a fuel cell, just in case. We've revisited this car because it's cool, but also because the story illustrates a fundamental truth: An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. | ||
==Image captions== | |||
Here's what happens when a full-sized pickup hits a '67 Chevelle at 35 mph. Thanks to a stout rollcage that extends into the truck, the accordion effect was limited and the fuel tank received just enough protection. | |||
This quarter was repairable—the left sidepiece had to be replaced, and the V'd trunk lid was replaced by a fiberglass piece. | |||
Up front, the damage looks bad, but was also limited by the snout bars of the rollcage ... as shown in this in-progress photo. This cage kept Patrick Wilson's Malibu in the land of the living; more importantly, it quite possibly did the same for his wife and then-unborn son. | |||
With the bumper and trim stripped off, we can see just how close the runaway t ruck came to pushing all the way into the Chevelle's stock fuel tank, which was damaged in the collision, though not ruptured. Credit that rollcage again. | |||
Thanks to a thorough and professional appraisal, Wilson's Malibu ended up even better than it started, with a perfect body and flawless paint, along with shaved emblems and trim. And while the rollcage protected the stock fuel tank this time, Wilson is taking no chances in the future—note the new fuel cell, visible at the rear of the car. | |||
=See also= | =See also= | ||