TMCP #473: Steve Rupp – The Life and Ever-changing Times of a Magazine Writing Superstar

This week, marks the return of Steven Rupp! You may not remember hearing Steve on this show unless you go way back to one of our very first interviews in episode 37. Back then he was working for Camaro Performer magazine and loving it! He started at Motor Trend as the Technical Editor for Popular Hot Rodding before moving to the Camaro only publication where he wrote tech articles as he built fast cars. He went on to helm Super Chevy Magazine as well as other publications and is today one of the most highly read authors on the MotorTrend family of website magazine publications. I ran into Steven again and thought it would be great to get an update on what he has been up to, and most specifically to understand how magazine for him has changed since 2010. To put it short…..nearly everything has changed except the love for cars!

TMCP #470: Pro-touring update with Larry Callahan – THE BIG EVENTS ARE ALL BACK!

Larry Callahan is back for the second quarterly Pro-Touring Update for 2021! He has the latest information directly from the pages of Pro-Touring.com and he gave me an update on his tech laden, power stuffed, cutting edge, classic muscle, home projects! The big news is that the event list for 2022 is at full force; more events are back than ever!

TMCP # 465 – Ask Rick; The Real Story of Herb Adams 1970’s Cheverra and Fire AM’s – The First Pro-Touring Muscle Cars!

Rick Schmidt is back for our ever-popular “Ask Rick” segment this week and we discussed two different “Pro-Touring” cars in the NPD warehouse that were developed and created by Pontiac engineer Herb Adams. Specifically, the “Fire Am” Firebird and the “Cheverra” Camaro. Interestingly enough though, when these cars were created….there was no such thing as the phrase “Pro-Touring” at all. That phase would not enter the lexicon for at least another 20 years or more. These cars are rare, fast, and fun….and were developed in the late 1970’s! Here’s the fully story.

TMCP #461: Pro-Touring Update with Larry Callahan – Spring Autocross and Pro-Touring Events for 2021!

Larry Callahan is back! For 2021 Larry will be joining us quarterly in a feature interview to bring the latest Pro-Touring event information straight from Pro-Touring.com. Larry is the “OG” of the Pro-Touring social media movement and a dear friend. You can take what he says to the bank!

Upcoming Events: Larry was able to get a comprehensive list of events for this quarter and I have posted it below. He also said he would be adding links to it and hosting it on the Pro-Touring.com website. It is exciting to see so many events listed including many that are brand new while some events are older established events that are going to see a huge upswing in interest due to pent up frustration. It will be very interesting to see what new vehicles emerge freshly built and ready to race as well as old familiar vehicles with new updates bursting forth from sequestering garages. People are anxious to use their cars after a completely missed summer in 2020 and this year will be the one to watch and attend.

TMCP #441: It REALLY IS Possible! Chris Holstrom Customs on How to Create a PROFITABLE and FUN Custom Car Shop! – Ask Rick, How To Choose a Catalog Cover Car

This weeks interview is with Chris Holtrom, longtime friend and many time repeat interviewee dating years back to TMCP Episode #50. Chris is also famous as the owner and namesake of Chris Holstrom Concepts and the creator of many show winning automotive creations at huge venues like SEMA. Just recently we asked him on The Kibbe and Friends Show (K&F Episode 159) to discuss the experience of his entire family contracting COVID-19! It was a remarkable insight into his realities of it all. At the end of that long interview he dropped a tiny comment about changing his entire business from a fun but (at times) consuming job into a highly profitable and life-fitting business! And then “with that bombshell, goodnight!” the show ended. I knew in that second that Chris was coming back on to explain himself. This is that show, and believe me it is amazing! If you own a shop, a business, or would like to this may just be revolutionary for you.

TMCP #428: Blake Foster, SpeedTech Performance USA; “Big Front Tire” Pro-Touring Suspension from the Ground Up!

This week our guest was Blake Foster, President of SpeedTech Performance USA. Speedtech is known for many things, but as of late I’ve noticed a LOT of their product in the field, at SEMA, and at the track. The common denominator: BIG front tires are included in the suspension packaging, even on cars where there is often no practical way to do so (such as an A-Body GM car like a Chevelle or GTO). Blake’s mottos is, “why make great suspension just to run a 245 tire?” With that said…I needed to know more!

Yes, Holley is the official EFI source for The MuscleCar Place Network! If that’s not enough, they have just announced that with the help of Prestige Motorsports, Dart, and TorqStorm, they’ve concocted a 427 cubic inch, twin-supercharged combo that is capable of sending absurd levels of good old-fashioned V8 horsepower to the pavement! The retail value of all of the components totals up to $23,364.44 and all you have to do to get a shot at winning is to SIGN UP HERE! Here is the direct link to use: https://bit.ly/KAFS-Holley-LS-Sweepstakes

TMCP #425: Larry Callahan – Twenty Years of Pro-Touring.com and Helping Make Old Cars Go Very Fast!

This week is a very special show marking a huge milestone for the Pro-Touring.com web site. It has been twenty years, this March, since Larry created the first launch the infamous site. It pre-dates nearly all of social media (Instagram, YouTube, Facebook) and even most forums! Thanks to Larry, many thousand people have visited to gain knowledge regarding go-fast-old-cars and share friendships over racing and “G’s”. Events and businesses have formed ENTIRELY around the Pro-Touring movement and the trend of Pro-Touring cars has become as mainstream as apple pie and kids taking selfies. I believe that Larry Callahan deserves the bulk of the credit for tossing gasoline on a match – and for fostering a place to take this industry from nothing to SOMETHING! This interview was a look book at how it all began.

Yes, Holley is the official EFI source for The MuscleCar Place Network! If that’s not enough, they have just announced that with the help of Prestige Motorsports, Dart, and TorqStorm, they’ve concocted a 427 cubic inch, twin-supercharged combo that is capable of sending absurd levels of good old-fashioned V8 horsepower to the pavement! The parts alone are over $20K – and all you need to do to have a shot at it is to enter the contest! Here’s the link. Go get it! https://bit.ly/KAFS-Holley-LS-Sweepstakes.

You can ALSO set up a profile for your ride in the Holley My Garage section on their website. It’s kinda like Facebook…but from your car’s perspective! Using our link helps us out BIG time! https://bit.ly/KAFS-Holley-MyGarage

TMCP #394: Mike Paul: Liquidating a Massive Buick, Olds, Pontiac Collection of Documented Rare Cars Needing Restoration – Pro-Touring Update with Larry Callahan

Liquidating a huge collection of Buick, Olds, and Pontiacs:

This week our guest was Mike Paul, the host of the Motor Madhouse Podcast and life long muscle car fanatic. His love of cars goes back to his upbringing and he has learned a lot from his father where he helped him curate a collected of Buick, Olds, and Pontiac muscle cars that were all well documented (and rare enough) to warrant a restoration. Many have highly rare option combinations, or in one case ONLY go fast options and nothing else. Mike told the details and gives some history on some of the cars which was fascinating on many levels. While they did have the chance to restore many cars, but there’s only so much time in life and the reality was they’d never see them all done. This discussion is all about liquidating the collection and moving them on to new homes!

TMCP #382: “Small” Front Tire Cars Have a Shot Again! Ed Capen on The New Rules Changes for the 2019 Good Guys Autocross!

This weeks interview is with Ed Capen, Vice President, Sales and Sponsorships for Good-guys Rod & Custom Association to talk about the new rules for the 2019 racing season. Ed has been on the show previously and we got straight into the rules. Good-guys is first and foremost a car show with an Autocross added on. The customer is the car show attendee and the goal is to make it fun and so that car owners do not have to build their cars specifically for this race series.

The new rules are very exciting and make it possible for a normal or slightly modified classic car owner to be able to compete against other similar vehicles. Classes such as Pro-X now exist but the massive tire, super lightweight, race specific cars are not competing against Joe Normal’s heavy car with smaller tires.

TMCP eBay Pick{1969 Chevrolet Camaro

One day each week we’ll list a cool project car or a nice driver for sale here from eBay Motors.  We’ll try to keep the price to a max of $20,000 for full driver cars.  For project cars, no more than $5,000. “They’re Still Out there! ’69 Camaro SS Big Block 4-speed – California Barn […]