Print

Email

Rating:

Click on a thumbnail to see the full-size image

Most rodders want to be special – really special....

Your abilities as an engine builder can help cust...

A savvy engine builder needs to know what’s what ...

The Goodguys Vintage Drag Racing Association will...

What's Hot in the Street Rod Engine Market

Street rod engines have moved away from the traditional small block Chevy to just about anything that will fit into a frame and even a few that won’t. We can credit the hobby or industry, the OEMs or just plain evolution, but the market is bursting wide open and anything goes.

If there was any year that street rod engines would equate to the old days of the Wild West it’s 2008.

Street rod engines have moved away from the traditional small block Chevy to just about anything that will fit into a frame and even a few that won’t. We can credit the hobby or industry, the OEMs or just plain evolution, but the market is bursting wide open and anything goes.

The real reason might just be that the concept of what is a street rod today is also wide open. From billet-laden trailer queens to rough, bare metal traditional hot rods, the variety has never been greater. Simple street rods have been broken down to a number of categories but the engines used will jump those borders.

The biggest difference is the owner’s choice for the motor’s fuel delivery system – carburetor or fuel injection? Yet even those are not subject to hard-and-fast rules. As fast at the modern 5.7L and 6.1L Hemis came out, shops came out with new intakes that tossed the fuel injection in favor of carbs. Of course, the opposite has been true for quite some time now, with modern fuel injection going onto old engines.

So what must an engine shop do to compete in that market? Offering diversity is one method. A simple way to do just that is let the customer direct you to what he wants. A fact that can help your business is understanding that street rod owners are building their own engines far less often these days.
Goodguys Rod & Custom Association media man, John Drummond, says, “We’re not seeing a lot of owners building engines.” He says that some of his association’s members are instead leaning toward crate engines to power their rod.

  Competing with crate engines is nothing new for the average engine builder, especially if you remind customers about the attention that must be paid to the features that come with a crate engine. You can obviously offer features such as a warranty, plenty of options to customize the engine, and all the parts to make a complete purchase “drop-in.” Plug-and-play doesn’t stop at the computer in street rod engines: your ability to lower an engine into a car and get it running with a minimum amount of additional work can be paramount to a street rodder in a hurry to get his creation on the road.
One engine shop that specializes in nothing but LS engines is Turn Key Engine Supply, of Oceanside, CA. Manager Paul Headrick says this focus makes a strong sales draw. “When the customer gets our motor, all he really has to buy is the gas tank.”

But there is one more important ally to be considered when fighting the dreaded crate engine. Most rodders want to be special – really special. And for that, they will often want (and be willing to pay) more than a crate engine can offer. This mentality can be seen in the car itself. If a builder, owner or just plain buyer of a street rod wanted the same as all the others at a rod run, all the cars would look alike.

  The engines, often very much like the interiors, paint, wheels and even suspensions, will need to be different for most owners. They may, with your slight suggestions of course, see that crate engines are pretty much the same thing across the board – plain vanilla. With your shop’s help, the street rodder can have something different that stands head and shoulders above the rest of the cars.

Different can mean looks as in what engine or induction system is used. Or it can equate to power, as in just how many horses do you want in your street rod? Some builders liken it to buying a pizza. Do you want a pre-made one from the grocer’s freezer? Or do you want a fresh one with just the right ingredients that you select according to your taste? The buyer has a choice with an engine builder. Another way engine builders can sell their work is by asking, “Do you want a part number engine off the shelf or do you want to know what’s under your hood and how it will do what you want?”

A savvy engine builder needs to know what’s what in street rods today and they might as well start out at the top with the national scene. There are two big national street rod series in the U.S. these days. The oldest is the National Street Rod Association (NSRA) and their Web site says they have been, “serving street rod fanatics since 1970.” The NSRA has adopted a 30-year rule at selected events that will roll over every year. That matches up with some state requirements that cars and trucks must be at least 20 years old to wear Historical plates.

The younger association (although not exactly a babe in the woods) is the Goodguys Rod & Custom Association, who believes that just because they’re old shouldn’t indicate these cars are slow. At several Goodguys events this year, that will be made perfectly clear, when The Goodguys Vintage Drag Racing Association returns to the dragstrip after a one-year hiatus.

Goodguys will hold three premier vintage drag racing events this summer and fall throughout the Midwest beginning with the 20th Hot Rod Nationals at O’Reilly Raceway Park in Indianapolis, June 6-8. The racing action continues September 5-7 with the 7th Blue Suede Cruise at Summit Motorsports Park in Norwalk, OH. Rounding out the Goodguys 2008 vintage drag racing event lineup is the 1st Goodguys Nostalgia Nationals, October 17-19 at historic Beech Bend Raceway Park in Bowling Green, KY.

The following classes and indexes will be raced, some of which will have open fields and some will be limited numbers:

• Nostalgia Top Fuel – Open field (NHRA Nostalgia rules apply);
• Super Eliminator – 6.50 center steer, front-engine dragsters, altereds and Pre-1980 Funny Cars;
• Pro Comp I – 7.00 center steer, front-engine dragsters, altereds and pre-1980 Funny Cars;
• Pro Comp  II – 7.50 center steer, front-engine dragsters, altereds and pre-1980 Funny Cars;
• A/Gas – 7.50 left-hand steer, Pre-1973 door cars;
• B/Gas – 8.50 left-hand steer, Pre-1973 door cars;
• Nostalgia Comp – Center steer, front-engine dragsters, altereds and pre-1980 Funny Cars (8.00, 8.50, 9.00 and 9.50 indexes)
• Nostalgia Gas – left-hand steer, Pre-1973 door cars  (9.00, 9.50, 10.00, 10.50 indexes);
• Hot Rod Eliminator – All vehicles through 1972, 10.50 and slower.

Online pre-registration is open at www.good-guys.com for all three events and is available to current Goodguys members. Non-members of Goodguys are permitted to race at these events. Non-members can pre-register for each of the three events for $75 by telephone only, by calling 925-838-9876.

Both associations cater to street rods on a national level with shows across the country. It’s not uncommon for both to draw upwards of 10,000 cars and trucks at a show. In fact, last year’s NSRA Nationals drew 11,464 cars, vintage 1948 and older.

Sometimes, the shows are limited to just street rods but mostly the cars entered are from the mid- to late-1970’s and older. And that brings up another point; short of restoration engines, pretty much any vehicle at a Goodguys or NSRA show uses a street rod style engine. That usage shows how the term, “Street Rod Engine” can be evasive in this day and age. Even those lines can be foggy. Goodguys’ Drummond says of his organization, “There’s two sectors: muscle car and street rod. We see everything from Roush engines in the muscle cars to vintage flatheads in the street rods.”

Once again, the word “different” comes into play. The norm in street rods is diversity, so much that it is uncommon to see a Ford engine in a Ford street rod. Goodguys has a special award program at 21 national shows for Ford/Fords. Cars and trucks that qualify will be entered for a Giveaway Roush 427R for a Ford in a Ford special award.

Jerry Kennedy of the NSRA explains about the engines he sees at his events. “In my opinion, we have everything from traditional to state of the art. There’s nothing more popular than the small block Chevy and small block Ford. We can still find guys who will work with their friends to build one themselves. But far as the kind of guy who doesn’t want to build his own, there are more options out there.”

Street and Performance Engines, of Mena, AR, also has a presence in the NSRA with its engine award program. It’s called the “Engine Compartment,” and can be found on one of the many “Street” programs at a NSRA event. ‘Detail Drive’ is the place and the sponsor picks its favorites, who get special event dash plaques for their work on their engines.

Street and Performance’s Web site opening page shows just enough to get the average street rodder drooling. With shiny new LS engine packages complete with the latest billet accessories, they also sell related parts such as crossmembers, transmissions shifter relocaters and billet push and pull fans. Their involvement with the two groups taps into the loyalty of attendees and members of the two organizations much like NASCAR fans reading the 200 mph billboards at Daytona.

Selling LS and Small Block Chevy engines as well as Ford and Hemis, S&P is a rodder’s supermarket. Even the stray Cadillac motor finds its way through the facility. Owner Mark Campbell explains his connection with the Association: “I was a street rodder way back. In fact my NSRA number is No. 1.” He stays involved with street rods because he can still relate to the average rodder, who he says is usually the guy who’s building his car.

He started S&P by making brackets, then engines. It wasn’t long before his first customer wanted to buy his engine and that started the sequence. When engine production increased, even Detroit noticed his volume. Campbell says, “I may have been the first custom engine builder to build a crate motor.”

S&P has run the gamut as far as engine production. “For a few years, we did a bunch of big block engines with fuel injection,” he says. “Now we see the small block making the horsepower of the big block and making twice the mileage.”  

The importance of that point shouldn’t be underestimated, says Campbell, “The price of fuel is really going to change everything. People are really going to trannys with bigger gears and overdrive.”

He stokes his business by offering free DVDs on his engines and step-by-step installation, showing prospective customers just how easy it can be to drop in a finished S&P powerplant. Of course, coming up with new and innovative products never hurts. The S&P site shows its version of the 6.1L Hemi, complete with new exhaust, tail runner aluminum manifold and rear exit heater connections. In other words Campbell says he’s giving street rodders the options they are looking for in an engine.

The market may be wide open, but it’s the same old basics that keep the customers driving back.