We’ve mentioned our “SPI” program before, a closer look at our up and coming drivers and builders. Usually we’re focusing on someone who has a driver’s license, or at least doesn’t require a booster seat to ride in the car, but sometimes, you can just tell a car-guy when you see one:
Everyone at Spectre would like to congratulate Jaime and Sonia Kouk on the birth of their son, Robert Michael Kouk. We can’t wait to meet him.
As we look back over the past year, it gives us time to think about all the amazing cars we had the pleasure to see, race against, and even wrench on. In the driver’s seat of every sweet ride though, is a person, and we’d like to take some time to spotlight some of Spectre’s biggest supporters and close friends (don’t worry though, we’ll still give you car photos).
One person that is guaranteed to cheer you up no matter how bad the race weekend, Albert Melchior.
Albert comes down from Canada, where he owns Carbon Kustoms, a couple times a year to participate, and often sponsor, many of the Pro-Touring races.
It’s always a pleasure to see Albert. He has an enthusiastic attitude and it’s reflected in the cars he builds and races. We first worked with Carbon Kustoms when Albert called us with a project in mind and wanted to know what tubes he should use. We sent him a couple things and like magic a Spectre custom intake was created.
Albert spends so much time under the hood, that he’s got some help behind the wheel. Kevin Miller, co-builder of Albert’s Firebird is a young and very talented driver. He has grown up around cars with the influential help of his father and has a ‘69 Camaro of his own that he built himself. Kevin has already participated in a handful of events throughout this year and did an excellent job piloting Albert’s ‘70 Firebird. We look forward to seeing more of Albert, Kevin and the Firebird in 2012!
Brandy has been a killer on the autocross track this summer, taking win after win in the Spectre “Carbon Camaro”.
Spectre may have a “take no prisoners” attitude on the track, but we’re still going to shows to make friends, and Joliet, IL was no exception. Despite a dire weather forecast, we met up with some old friends and made some new ones at the Chicagoland Nationals.
Our show weekend started out with the now traditional Good Guys vendor karting challenge Thursday night before the show. We’d like to congratulate Keith Mac Donald from Detroit Speed for winning the Vendor Karting race Thursday night. This time, Keith took first with Ed Capen from Goodguys taking a close second. Nice Job Keith!!!
Since Joliet is hometown to many vendors including Roadster Shop and Peak Performance, the autocross track was packed. Vendors including RideTech, DSE, Gateway Classic Mustangs, RPM, Roadster Shop, Heidt’s, and many more all showing and competing. Brandy certainly had her work cut out for her on the track!
Keeping the Carbon Camaro company on the autocross course this weekend was RPM’s “Runt,” which is a 1962 Chevy Nova custom build. RPM built the car for Gerry Kerna. Curt and his crew had done some testing with “The Runt” before coming to Chicagoland Speedway, but this would be the car’s first official full weekend on a Goodguys’ autocross track. Curt ran the car Friday and Saturday, working out all the kinks and seeing how it would handle around the tight corners of the autocross. Gerry ran the car Sunday for her first official Goodguys autocross. Gerry was an autocross newbie, but she had a great line on the course and did very well. Gerry will be some great competition in the very near future.
On Sunday, Goodguys opened the car show to all American cars. We had several Camaros, a couple of Mustangs and an 1993 Nissan 240sz with an LS swap and slicks. It was good to see all years allowed into the show.
In the Spectre booth we had one of our customers, Rich Bryant, with his ’65 Chevelle featuring a Spectre Make/ Model Specific Bolt on cold air intake. The car a great addition to our booth and it received a lot of attention. Big thanks to Rich for displaying in the Spectre Booth.
At the end of the weekend came awards. Throughout the weekend Curt Ukasik, owner of RPM Hot Rods, had his daughter out at the show. Ashley rode as passenger while Curt drove the Runt around the autocross track. She also made a great motivational coach, cheering her dad and Gerry on along with all the other autocross competitors. At the end of the weekend, Brandy asked Ashley if she would help present awards. Ashley did a fantastic job, helping carry awards to the participants and even presenting Brandy with the 1st place Vendor at the Autocross. Ashley is a fantastic kid who we all hope to see behind the wheel alongside the rest of us someday. She has 8 more years before she gets her driver’s license and then she has to convince her father to build her a car. The second one shouldn’t be too hard, right?
Power Tour is a like an alternate reality where everyone drives a cool car and no one ever minds if you need to merge in to their lane.
After the Georgia stop on Sunday, we took a curving back road approach to Alabama, on Monday morning.
We keep starting sentences this way, but “One of the coolest things about Power Tour…” is how in the smaller towns, folks set up picnics on their porches, and out in their yards and just sit by the road waving at the cars going by. We felt like celebrities all the way from Georgia to Alabama.
We were welcomed to the Montgomery show by the sounds of drag cars.
After cruising the grassy show field at the Montgomery Motorsports Park, we left Alabama early Monday morning for a break-neck dash to Nashville, Tennessee in order to meet up with the Morrows and some special guests from Pep Boys who will be taking a turn behind the wheel for the next leg of the journey – up to Indianapolis.
One thing that has really been a pleasure on this trip — actually at all events, but especially on Power Tour — is meeting Spectre customers. Repeatedly we’ve been told how much people have liked the experience of working with the Spectre Team, and how Steve, or Mike, or Guy, or Brandy have gone above and beyond to help them pick out and install the perfect intake for their car. While we already know how amazing the Spectre team is, it still makes us feel really good to hear it from our customers.
Let’s have a peek at some of the customer cars we’ve seen so far while we try to remember what city we’re currently leaving (just kidding, it’s Nashville, just look at the view)
We’ll have interviews with lots of Spectre car owners up on the Products blog later next week, but for now, scroll through and imagine that it’s very, very hot where you are. Wow, it’s just like you’re here with us!
We never know where we’re going to meet a Spectre customer. At the recent Car Craft Magazine Anti-Tour, we spotted a stealthy little Dodge parked in the shade. A peek under the hood showed off a custom intake using Spectre components.
Dodge only offered the Demon for three years, and 1972 was the very last opportunity for a customer to pick up the sporty A-body. We spoke with Marc from Viau Motorsports about the car.
“The build for this car was guided by two main ideas,” Marc told us. “The first was for a road race inspired car to be used in ’spirited driving’ on-road tours, with reliability, ease of maintenance, and self support as key factors in design. The second was to use as many Mopar family parts as possible in the design and construction. This Demon was designed for the road.”
1972 Dodge Demon Specs:
We haven’t been the only people to be impressed by the Viau build. The Demon was last year’s winner of the Mopar Muscle Magazine True Street Challenge.
Nice work guys!
Although the folks in the East might disagree, for us on the west coast, winter has flown by, and we couldn’t believe it when we realized it was time for the Good Guys Season opener in Scottsdale, AZ.
Scottsdale always brings some unique cars that we don’t see anywhere else. Some of our favorites this year were Volkswagens and included a custom VW Bug made to look like a toy car, and a group of VW buses that all park together every year. Is it 1968?
The weather for the show was perfect all weekend long, and Friday was busy, with hot rods, street rods, muscle cars and classics all lined outside the entrance eager to claim their spot before heading to the vendor midway and check out the autocross. It was great to see such a big car count at what is a relatively new show on the Good Guys circuit.
We were set up in our usual spot near the back of the vendor midway next to PPG, Baer Brakes and Peak. We had a very special booth car for our demo install, Tim Kelly’s ‘67 El 442. No, that’s not a typo, it really is an El Camino/442. Definitely a one of one set up! Needless to say, the El 442 saw a lot of attention.
We love all the Good Guys events, but Brandy especially likes the stops which involve autocross, and the Arizona show started the autocross bright and early on Friday morning. Spectre’s Carbon Camaro was one of three official vendor cars, but there were lots of good friends running Spectre parts in other classes.
Despite vendor “competition” we’ve actually found the autocross to be a great place to work closely with other manufacturers. In Scottsdale, John Hotchkis, head of pro-touring suspension company, Hotchkis Performance teamed up with Brandy to work out the suspension tuning on the black Camaro.
This isn’t to say there was no competitive feeling in the crowd, Brandy was pretty thrilled to be just 8/10 of a second behind Brett Voelkel in the Ride Tech entry for a second place finish!
On Saturday, Brandy gave rides to lots of show goers, including Nicole Shumate, whose father Bill was running one of the most unusual entries in the autocross!
Nicole and her dad are building a Camaro, and she was really interested in learning about autocross. Nicole hopes to have her car done by next year so she can come out and start running the autocross. We certainly support that, and can’t wait to see Nicole and her friends on the track.
Sunday came quick and it was time to pack up. Brandy helped hand out awards and then it was off to Fort Worth, Texas. Will it be a TEXAS sized show?
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that Spectre Performance isn’t all racing. We actually have a pretty large staff devoted to designing products and supporting our distributors.
Bill Vitale, who handles sales for Pep Boys attended a recent Pep Boys Speed Shop Grand Opening in Orange, CA. Real speed shops are an endangered species and we are excited to see Pep Boys working to provide enthusiasts with a one-stop shop where they can actually see the products on shelves.
Bill represented Spectre Performance at the grand opening, bringing a pop-up with a couple displays featuring our intakes, intake components, filters and couplers. He also brought the GTO and parked it by our booth, which drew a lot of attention.
Pep Boys has started to convert several of their original stores into Speed Shops around the country. Their first Grand Opening was right here in LA about a year ago and throughout the past year, the company has incorporated several other Speed Shops into their existing stores.
Along with inviting us out, the Pep Boys Grand Opening featured a mini car show and displays from other vendors such as EBC, MSD Ignition, Auto Meter and many more. Local community enthusiasts came out, bringing their cars for the two day show. Like any good show, there was music, food, vendors, nice-looking cars and even Manny, Moe and Jack, who come out to take pictures with everyone.
These Pep Boys Speed Shops will feature a lot more of Spectre’s products than you’ll find in a regular Pep Boys Store. We will also be releasing some brand new products to the Speed Shops in the near future. Stay tuned for more updates on products available in Pep Boys Speed Shops and where the next Speed Shop Grand Opening will be. Ask your local Pep Boys if they plan a Speed Shop near you!
Spectre customers are individuals. When Brent Bellon decided to build a ‘69 Dodge Charger General Lee, he could have made a carbon copy of the TV picture car, but he wanted to stand out from the crowd, and that’s what got our attention.
We saw Brent’s General Lee videos online, and the first thing we noticed was a familiar-looking air intake coming straight out of the hood! We contacted Steven, the poster of the video, and he put us in touch with his good friend Brent, who told us all about the build.
Brent purchased the Charger in 1997 and it was a much rougher project than he expected. Most of the sheet metal had to be replaced. The floor pans and trunk were full of rust and at one point, Brent and his team seriously considered giving up on the Dodge and finding a different car. Thankfully they stuck with it.
The entire body was replaced, welded and painted to perfection. The interior was redone with a custom sheet metal dash filled with Autometer gauges and switch panels. Kirkey aluminum seats with Simpson 6 point harnesses give Brent a safe and comfortable place to sit when he’s blasting down the 1/4 mile. That full roll cage isn’t just for show. Brent is an active racer as well as a car show participant.
The go-parts include a custom Moser 60 rearend filled with chromoly Moser axles and a Detroit Tru-Trac locker with 3.73 gears. Power gets to the housing through a Brewers Performance 4 speed 833 Mopar transmission with dual force clutch and scatter proof bell housing.
The engine is a custom built 528 Indy Legend Hemi from Indy Cylinder Heads in Indianapolis which showed 737 horsepower @ 6500 rpm and 680 lbs, torque @ 5400 rpm on the dyno. That’s no slouch!
Of course, the thing which really got our attention is that big dual filter Spectre intake sitting on top of the Demon carburetor and sticking out right through the General’s orange hood, so we asked Brent about the unusual set-up.
“When I started building the car, I wanted it to stand out and be as unique as possible,” Brent told us. “Everyone in the world has a round air cleaner under the hood. The Spectre intake had a very nice look and is the perfect complement to the engine bay. Plus, it functions very well! I have had zero problems since installing it.”
That’s what we like to hear! A big thanks to Brent and Steven for the use of their photos and videos. Stay ahead of the Sheriff, Duke boys!
If your morning ritual doesn’t already involve a visit to the Speedhunters website, it’s time to add it to your bookmarks. There’s nothing like scrolling through amazing photos of automotive events and collections while drinking your daily coffee/tea/bloody mary. It’s just the right way to start the day.
What we really like about the Speedhunters crew is how diverse their interests are, and how equally enthusiastic they seem about every single featured car, whether that’s a 900 hp Honda Civic or a lace-painted altered wheelbase gasser. They love cars, and even more exciting, they love our cars!
Our newest project, the Spectre Carbon Camaro, is nominated for Speedhunters “Retro Car of the Year“. Head over to the site and vote in the comments section. If we get enough requests, maybe they’ll do a full feature on the car next year!
Winning a new product award at this year’s SEMA show isn’t really customer appreciation, more like “Business Peer Appreciation”. Whatever you call it, it feels good.
New product feedback is very important to us, and it’s good to hear we are on the right track with our new door panels and other sheet metal accessories. We’ve been getting requests for these kinds of products all year, so stay tuned for additional makes and models in 2011.
As we’ve mentioned before, the best thing about traveling the country exhibiting at car shows isn’t the scenery, or the road food, or even the racing, it’s getting to meet up with Spectre customers and see the project cars they build with our products.
At LS Fest in Bowling Green this past Spetember, we ran in to Jaime Kook and his wife, who came down from Canada with their olive green ’68 Chevelle.
We met Jaime on Power Tour 2009 while installing an intake on his car. Since then we’ve kept in touch and when he comes out to shows we are attending, we are honored that he parks his car in the Spectre booth.
Jaime’s original intake was quite a project. Spectre tech Guy Smith mocked up the intake without the car, hoping it would clear his hood. After playing around with a couple of different degree bends, Guy completed the kit with two Spectre inline filters and it fit perfectly!
Since the install, Jaime had the intake powder coated flat black and the car repainted (originally it was silver- now it’s a hip flat green). The Kooks next project is a car for Jaime’s wife so she can have her own wheels for Power Tour 2011!
At a recent Good Guys show, Bob Bell, owner of a beautiful ’56 Chevy Pick-up Truck came to us looking for a true cold air intake. We helped him install a Spectre intake and we were all pleased with the results.
Bob used a low profile 120 degree airbox with a 4 inch to 3 inch reducer. He then ran 3 inch tubing directly to his radiator support, where he already had a hole cut on each side. He used the mounting brackets and connected the tubing to the holes, drawing in true cold air.
The Kansas event was Bob’s first time attending a Good Guys event and he had some heavy competition in the truck class. He parked his car in the Truck Corral in the hopes of winning an award, but as anyone who’s attended a Good Guys show knows, there are some very impressive cars and trucks on display.
Bob didn’t go home empty handed though, on Friday evening he attended a local show in the Kansas City are and he won best overall show car at the event! Go Bob!
We hope Bob had a good time and would love for him to come out again next year with his truck and display in the Spectre booth. The ‘56 was a great addition to our display and we really enjoyed his company.
In our recap from the Goodguys Puyallup Nats, we mentioned our guest booth car, the ‘32 Ford owned by Roger and Nina Phillips.
As it turns out, the Phillips have quite a collection of customs and rods, and all of them with Spectre Cold Air Intakes.
Roger sent us and thank you note and these photos of his cherry ‘57.
Thank you, Roger!
“Thank you for your hospitality in letting our ‘32 Ford share your display at the Good Guys Nationals in Puyallup, Washington. Nina and I enjoyed talking with you and your staff. Here are pictures of the ‘57 Chevy Bel Air for your website.
Thanks again.
Roger & Nina Phillips”
We first met Karl on the 2008 power tour and he continues to impress us with the quality of his projects and his company. Karl is the proud owner of both a 1966 Corvair and a 1954 Chevy and he has joined us at numerous Good Guys shows and cruises.
Karl has been a great addition to our team and continues to meet up with us every year on Power Tour, helping answer customer questions, assisting with installs, and keeping our staff entertained. He and his wife Janet recently stopped by at the Midwestern Nats in Kansas to see about building an intake for the Corvair.
Since Karl really wanted to put a clean looking custom intake on the car, we gave him the pieces and the tools and he spent most of the day designing and installing his own intake. Karl used a single low profile plenum with a 6 inch straight tube and put one of our P5 blue cone air filters on the end to match his car.
He was so happy with the performance that he entered the Autocross, his first ever! Seeing the Corvair taking the cones with our intake on board made us very proud. We can’t wait to see Karl and Janet again. Who knows what he’ll bring out next time!
