Hotrods, Chewing gum, and Piss . . .

a retrospect by Aaron (Coach) Pagdon

An endless labyrinth of bottomless  knowledge

When I was a kid growing up in the 70s and 80s, my Dad was legendary for his wizardry with gadgetry. If it had an engine, or mechanical parts, he could figure his way around it.  If it broke, he could find a way to make it go again.  His roadside repair skills were the stuff of legend.  I was so impressed as a child hearing tale after tale from my uncles about how my Dad got them out of one jam or another with Macgyver-esque flares of genius. 

There was the time he machined a homemade Woodruff key out of a small metal rod in a gas station garage after a breakdown of his 1949 Woody. Or the time a pack of chewing gum and his own piss allowed a radiator shot full of holes to seal up long enough to get home. Whatever that type of thumb was, my Dad had it when it came to cars.

I have seen naturals around garages, like my Dad, and I am not one of them.  What I have learned has come from watching others and reading books and seeing videos.  Hot rodding is an endless labyrinth of bottomless knowledge. I am not a fanatic, like some of my friends.  I have to approach things methodically, slow and steady.  And I don’t have a lot of time nor half the resources than some of the guys I know.  I do what I can with what I have and when things get too much for me, I call an expert.

My current project is a 1966 Plymouth Fury III, 2 door hardtop.  Shortly after I got it, I decided to fully scrap the drivetrain. My friend, an expert with Mopars with a fully equipped garage helped me a year and a half during the pandemic build an engine from the raw block up. After bolting on a rebuilt year-matching upgraded spline tranny, aluminum heads, and ceramic headers, we had built one beast of a drivetrain.  Dyno tested (scoring close to 500 HP/500 ft. lbs of torque) and dropped in, I couldn’t be happier. The tires break just fine.

The interior is in great shape, minus all the split stitches on the benches (Hello, Mexican blankets!). Floor pans are a little thin, but no rust in the rockers.  Next project?  You can’t take curves at 75 mph if you can move your shocks up and down with your hands like a Super Soaker! So, suspension, for sure. I don’t plan on doing much to the body, but I suppose if money were no object, then I would get an expensive paint job.  But I love sleeper cars, so I think my primer coat may live on (at least until the East Coast climate starts eating the car). 

 But it’s a Fury, like my watch!