Dragfreak

The photo etch belts look great, where are they from?

What's the plan for body color? Call me old school but I think military olive drab green would look spectacular, whatever color you end up going with it will like awesome, keep it going

Al, I'll have an update real soon, it's real close to being finished now. Thanks mike, it's good to know that I'm doing well for my age!

While I do not wish to continue this conversation leaving the original post, I am not going to try to explain and go anywhere near the idea of how easily a car can be built to out perform a super car, I'm not sure why you are talking about the value because the builder who built it to his taste is the only one who sees the true value in the car. Cars are money pits, and once you modify them to your own taste it does not retain that value to another person with different tastes. I think the builder of that Cuda doesn't care at all about it's future value because of the satisfaction the car gives him every time he drives it, it takes his mind off of the 300k he put into it.

You also totally missed my point, When I gave the example in terms of drag racing it was exactly that, an example so none of the suspension, brakes, or tires would need to be replaced, you would build a car made to be thrown into corners and handled hard with overall better performance, like a drag car, even though its not my specialty, I'm sure a better car can be built for less money. I'm not a genius, but I would rather throw all that money into building a better car that is cheaper than something else more expensive that doesn't perform the same. Unless someone wants a car based on style or personal preference, then a super car is just a waste of your hard earned money. Your simple to follow rule doesn't quite hold it's own either, you say stick to comparing a stock car to a stock car, a modified car and a modified car. Well that doesn't work. Let me present yet another example, Let's try your rule with two modified cars. Let's take a Toyota bodied Nascar, and a Toyota bodied IHRA/NHRA Top Fuel Funnycar. These are two modified cars as they're not stock. But is there a problem here? I see that you cannot compare these two because they're made for two different types of racing. Now, let's look at two stock cars. A 2012 Camaro and a 2012 Lamborghini. I notice that one is a super car. I also notice that one is a muscle car. These two types of cars cannot be compared because they were designed to do two different things. A super is a car with high performance, style, and limited production numbers. A muscle car is a performance car powered by a v8 engine at an affordable price. you can see two very different definitions to two very different cars. They simply cannot be compared because they are to different types of cars. Now for a rule that can't be beat and is very simple to follow, comparing the same type of car that's made for the same reason is fairly simple to understand and follow. Best regards

I have red lighted -.001 before in a test and tune run, I can't even count how many -.005 red lights I've had, I had a perfect light in 2010 when I raced the junior dragster, it was during one of the dial in runs at the start of the season and its the only one I've ever had that wasn't the fastest it went, the next year I ran an 8.38 at 80 mph in the 1/8th which was pushing it since it was a very heavy mild steel chassis. The newer dragsters were Chromoly and very light. the engine on my junior would run 7.90's in the 1/8th on a chromoly car at around 85 mph. that's on route to probably a mid to low 12 second run in the quarter. that's all from a single cylinder briggs and Stratton based 5 horse. All the outside dimensions were the same as a stock lawnmower briggs but they had a forged crank, forged rod, forged piston, 3.14 inch bore it was pretty bad, mine made 79 horse power and there's more that made more When I raced it I would hold about a tenth of a second back to wheel race someone, I would dial it say 8.55 when it would actually run a .45 and then tap the brakes a little right before the line and let the other person break out. Drag racing becomes a big game when you approach the finish line, I watched the video of you, have you figured out why the car is creeping forward once you're staged? Also is it an automatic, turbo hydro 350/400? Btw I subscribed to you YouTube

Thanks John, I'm taking in every word of your advice, like my reply to Al, I'm working on changing how I look at things on my build, I know there's things that can be improved but that will take time as my skill increases. Fred, I can not THANK YOU enough for pointing this out, I don't know how I totally missed the front and rear window trim, but after I finish this I'll go pop the windows out and mask the trim off, it will be painted

Al, I'm working on changing my mindset, rather than looking at each thing wrong in each individual part, looking at everything together seems to be working

Thank you John. My favorite part of building is fabricating my own parts, everything I can make myself to make it more realistic I attempt to do. Thank you Niko, this is the first time I've ever done this as it's the newest model I've built. I surprised myself with them, the lines aren't perfectly straight but it isn't too visible with the interior in it. I'm extremely happy with the chute and mount and how it came out, I decided last minute to add it, and I'm happy I did. I was scrolling through my reference pictures for this thing and I was reminded about the battery on/off switch and to be honest, the total time it took to fabricate it and paint it was about 10 minutes. In less than 20 minutes it was complete and on the car. It's something I have somehow never thought to add before, but now I'll be making them frequently

I love the stance, real sharp Stan

I can't help but agree with Ron, the chassis looks very nice and the bolt heads are a nice touch. That sucks that you red lit, I've done that plenty of times. In fact, I went to the final round in an NHRA sanctioned wally race and wen .005 red, I have 5 Wally's but I'll never forget that race. You'll get it another day

Everything looks spot on Fred!

If done right you can build a mustang/challenger/camaro that's quite a bit faster, better handling, and have overall better performance for thousands less, maybe it's just me, but IMO, a "super car" is just an overpriced price of junk that you're paying for the name and to brag "I have a ________. " Not to mention you're comparing apples to oranges, a factory muscle car and a factory "super car." For example, the 2012 Lamborghini Aventador LP700-4 runs 10.70's I'm the quarter mile, and it cost $379,700. For a quarter of that money you can have a 8.00 second street legal car, and you could build three of them for the price of one Lamborghini. Like I said, it's overpriced junk. Sorry for getting off topic, back to the OP...

But if you think about it, if you buy any of new big 3 muscle cars and put the same amout of money into it for what say a new lambo costs, you'll have a faster car. It's just a better bang for your buck

Thanks Carl, one day I hope to have them both in the original green paint, that would be neat having a street car and race car that are very similar

Thank you, It's taken a lot of work to get here, everything you see I worked for, I had to make the money before I could progress, that's why its taken me four years and working almost everyday of my summers to buy the orange vega, but its all worth it now, not to mention I bought the green 71 for $300 out of a barn it had been sitting in since '78 and the orange vega a local racer who is a very close friend has been saving it for me for years and knocked about $11,000 off what it would cost to anyone else. So I've received a lot of support to get here

I've got a '71 panel delivery in the original lacquer forest green with patina, it's my high school project. This Saturday I'm going to pick up a tube chassis '71 panel drag car with a fiberglass 76/7 nose and bumpers I'm into both of these cars for $4800, that's not counting the drivetrain in the green '71 And my soon to be high school drag car, it'll be getting the motor and tranny from my street car I hope I'm not hijacking the thread, if I am mod feel free to delete...

The only experience I've ever had has been on a track, it's safer than any road out there and if people want to grudge race for money they can still do that, it's a win win situation

Al I'm just not building to my own expectations I guess, sure it looks okay, but it's just not good enough to me for some reason I guess you're right, I'll just continue doing what I'm doing with it and maybe I'll surprise myself in the end

Very clean model, nice work

I've been racing something since I was 4 and started drag racing at 8, I feel more safe in a drag car (or dragster) than any other car. As long as the safety equipment is being used correctly, you don't have much to worry about The funny thing is an editor wrote an article and used my video (without permission or credit) in his article

Thanks Carl, I'm trying to get it done even when my inspiration is low, I think it will look okay when it's done I appreciate the feedback on it Scott, I based the battery on/ off switch off of this fox I found on the internet.

Thank you Stan, I just feel like it must be a pretty bad build when I'm not getting much positive or negative feedback on it, I want to hear from people what they think and what I could add or do better but I'm not getting really anything Yes I made it out of some evergreen #222 rod and a small piece of flat sheet stock, the decal is from slixx

As promised, here's what I have. The chute is almost finished and ready for paint, I also scratch built a push off battery disconnect, I've learned the small details like these are what makes the most improvement on my mediocre builds. Let me know what you think...

I think you misunderstood my statement, I was meaning more to the point of the kids who think that the stuff they see in those movies is real and actually happens that way. I'm not sure what you mean by what you're saying, but yes back to the OP that's a hard blow and quite a setback, all of that can be fixed but the originality of the car will diminish and the cost to fix it right won't be cheap.