There are good things and bad things about car people, and when we brag about being car people, we have to come clean about our flaws as well…
We have too many projects, and some are neglected.
We’d feel worse about it if we didn’t know that many of you suffer from the same issue. Hopefully you’ll have some sympathy as we introduce one of our long-ignored favorites, the Spectre Dodge Dart.
Write in and tell us if any of the following sounds familiar.
We purchased the ‘69 Swinger on Ebay in June of 2006 from a guy in AZ. Why a Dart? Why Ebay? Nobody can remember. It seemed like a good idea at the time.
As is so often the case, the Dart came to us as an all-stock running car, but nothing stays that way in the Spectre shop for long. We sent the car off to Fast Eddie’s to get a full cage in preparation for a proposed drag car project.
Over at Eddie’s the little Dodge went from stock to stripped and caged, but then we got busy with other projects and the Dart has lived like a bat in the rafters for the past five years.
Happily, the Dart has made its way back to the shop floor. Does this mean that 2012 will feature a second blue Spectre Mopar project? We may just get into drag racing…or should we build a corner carver?
Head over to our Flickr account for more Dart and other project photos.
Spectre Performance won twice at the Goodgduys Rod & Custom Nationals in Columbus, Ohio, on July 9th. The first victory came when Spectre marketing team member and company hot shoe Brandy Morrow drove the 1970 Carbon Camaro to a 1st place finish in the Street Challenge Autocross Vendor class, her second event win and first victory at the nationals.
The large black Speed by Spectre big rig with an x-ray image of the 400+mph Spectre SpeedLiner is a common site at Goodguys shows around the country, where team members show off the latest in high-performance air filters and cold air intake systems, as well as testing new products in a variety of Spectre project cars. The latest is the Carbon Camaro, a 1970 model with IMSA-style fender flares and massive Forgeline wheels. The car made its debut at the 2010 SEMA Show and has since been flogged mercilessly at autocross and road race events around the country. Morrow’s first victory in the car came at the Goodguys Colorado Nationals in early June.
Competition in the Vendor class at the Nationals was fierce, as drivers readied themselves for the sponsor shootout the following day. Morrow competed against Detroit Speed & Engineering’s brutally fast 1970 Camaro, the Optima 1967 “One Lap” Camaro, Ride Tech’s “48 Hour” 1st Gen Camaro and Mary Pozzi’s freshly rebuilt 1972 RS Camaro – all of which also run Spectre cold air intakes.
Wet weather on Friday cut in to practice time and many competitors were struggling on the big rough-asphalt course, but Brandy took the wide-body Camaro on a flawless run, netting a 32.622 and cinching 1st place in Saturday’s eliminations. This was a big win for Morrow and for the Spectre intake-equipped “Carbon Camaro” as the competition was close all weekend long.
Speed by Spectre’s winning weekend didn’t end with Brandy’s Autocross victory. The company was also honored to receive the coveted Good Guys “New Product of the Year” award for their new aluminum Cowl Air Box setup. Spectre would like to congratulate Brandy and all of the Good Guys awards winners in Columbus and the whole team is looking forward to the rest of the show season and additional competition.
We realize that in all the rush and excitement of setting up the truck and tearing it down and driving through the country and watching drag racing and eating at Cracker Barrel, we’ve forgotten our manners.
You are all probably wondering when we’ll get around to introducing the key players in this crazy adventure. You know, the main stars without whom, none of this would be possible. Well, we apologize for the wait. In no particular order, please meet…the Spectre Power Tour Cars:
The 70 Maverick – Many of you have seen this car on Speedhunters. com or at other Spectre events. The Maverick being on Power Tour has a special importance, as it was here that its original engine met a nitrous fueled demise, leading to a contest as to its rebuild.
The coolest submission was the suggestion to repower the little Ford with a 2JZ toyota supra engine, and that suggestion came from none other than Lance Peltier, who is currently piloting the car on this tour.
All the Spectre cars are fitted with Spectre air intakes, and the Maverick has custom aluminum door panels and spoilers as well as custom turbo fittings. It’s a really unusual car, and probably one of the most talked about in the Spectre fleet.
The Black ‘07 Shelby Mustang -One of the newer cars in the fleet, the Mustang is still basically stock but for a trial intake set-up. It’s being used for developing carbon fiber cold air intakes and front and rear spoilers. Keep an eye out for the quick pony at the Spectre 341 Challenge next weekend.
The Green Camaro - Our green 2nd gen is barely referred to as a ‘71 or any other description, it’s always the “Green Camaro”. One of the oldest active Spectre project cars, the Green Camaro was originally raced by Cam Douglas from Optima . He won silverstate in it and after Amir purchased it, it became one of the first cars to be campaigned at track events under the Spectre banner.
The ‘99 F250 – The only automatic in the whole Spectre stable, the Ford was purchased new as personal truck, because Amir was intrigued by the Supercharged V10. Rumor has it that this truck came in to the Rosenbaum’s family at the same time as Amir’s youngest son — and that Amir actually took a little time-out from being a labor coach to go pick it up.
The truck has been a great support and camera vehicle on this trip, as it hauls the luggage as well as just plain hauling …
The ‘05 GTO – When the GTO first became available, Amir thought it was cool, and looking at it now, it really was one of the first of the new options for modern muscle cars. Originally yellow, the Pontiac is now Spectre Signature black and the 6-liter V8 makes the perfect place to test the Spectre G8/GTO V2 intake. Other modifications include the accu-aire air bag suspension, and of course, those radical fender flares and spoilers.
The 70 1/2 Carbon Camaro -Unofficially known as “Brandy’s car” (but only by Brandy), the Carbon Camaro debuted at SEMA 2010 to extremely positive reviews. Amir wanted to the car to “look like a race car” and of course, at Spectre, we never fake it, so the car performs like a race car too. At the time of this writing, Brandy has just put the Camaro in the Good Guys winner’s circle in Colorado and she, Mike and Lisa are hoofing it across the country to meet us in Nashville . The Camaro features Anvil carbon fenders front clip and hood, an LS1 out of a 99 Trans-Am and its overall appearence is based on a mid 70’s IROC car. For more details on the Camaro check out the August 2011 issue of Hot Rod Magazine.
The ‘70 Mach 1 – Last year the blue Mustang was the primary race vehicle for Spectre events. Powered by a 351 Cleveland stroked to 408 and set up with all the Spectre aero, engine and interior products the car has a very personal importance to Amir as it was purchased from the original owner, and despite the radical Spectre modifications, it maintains some of that original feel.
The 2011 Cadillac CTSV wagon – The Caddy is the newest Spectre project. Those of you who have followed our Bonneville racing already know that Amir has a fondness for high powered Cadillac motors. You’ll also know that no new car is safe from improvement in the hands of the Spectre crew. The Cad has been deemed too chunky and is on a radical weight loss plan. To learn more about project FatCad, head over to BangShift.com.
The ‘70 El Camino – The El Camino is a mid-engine LS7 built by So Cal Speed Shop for a Hard Shine TV project. This is probably one of the most famous Spectre cars, and it certainly attracts a lot of attention going down the road and parked in front of our booth.
For more shots of the Spectre cars in action, scroll through the gallery below.
Today was the first show of the 2011 Hot Rod Power Tour. The Spectre crew was up before the sun, which we watched rise in the windshield reflections of the Spectre cars as we fortified ourselves for the day ahead.
After breakfast, it was a scavenger hunt to find a coin operated car wash, as the cars were covered in bugs and oil from the cross-country open transport from Los Angeles to Florida.
Washing eight cars in an hour might seem like an impossible task, but we worked like a well oiled assembly line, and when drying the cars seemed like it might be our downfall, a fellow Power Tourer, Gary Watson, came to our rescue with a squeegee. As we’ve come to realize, that sort of willingness to help out a stranger is the spirit of Power Tour.
We were at the show field with plenty of time to help set up the truck, and even take some beauty shots!
The show was a blast, with all kinds of cars with all kinds of engines. As always, we were pleased to see Spectre filters and intakes on a variety of interesting and beautiful builds.
We spent a lot of the day talking with customer and future customers about the Spectre product line, vehicles and events.
Tomorrow we start our journey for Valdosta, GA, and in good company!
We are always posting about fun events after they’ve happened, so here’s a little advance invite for a change!
Spectre is excited to support Pep Boys and we plan to attend all three of the upcoming Pep Boys Grand Openings. We had a great time at the Orange, CA opening and we know the upcoming East Coast shows are going to be a blast as well.
If you are in the area, have a car or just want to come hang out for some great food and fun times, stop by any of these Pep Boys Grand Openings.
Don’t forget to come say hi to the crew at the Spectre Booth.
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?
The Spectre crew was on the road early Saturday morning, heading towards Irvine for the first day of RTTC competition. Bill Howell had promised the event would go on rain or shine, but as we watched the windshield wipers on the truck window, we wondered how the forecasted heavy rain would affect the event.
El Toro is a former Marine Base and is still dotted with airplane hangers and “Keep Out” signs. Registration for RTTC was in an empty airplane hanger, and we parked the Spectre rig just outside.
While Mike and Steve set up the awning, Brandy filled up the gas can, then took the Carbon Camaro through tech. A funny thing happened on her way back in to the base, but we’ll get to that in a minute.
The Driver meeting started around 9am. The organizers divided everyone into three groups based on car number. The Camaro was part of the second group which was scheduled to hit the road course first.
The other two groups would go to the autocross and the brake stop challenge respectively, and switch stations throughout the weekend.
Bill warned everyone about the wet track, the restricted areas of the base and the dreaded “Pink Hat”, a bedazzled cowboy hat the color of Pepto Bismol, which would be the punishment for spinning out or other poor track behavior.
Sadly the pink hat already had found a home before the race even started and it was on the head of our very own Brandy Morrow. Apparently Brandy had taken out a cone on her way in from the fuel run and RTTC organizer Yancy Johns happened to see her do it…and well…rules are rules.
Brandy was a good sport about her new accessory, and she didn’t have to wear it long. The rain had stopped but the road course was very wet and cold and there were soon multiple competitors with muddy fenders vying for the sequined hat.
Steve and Mike had adjusted the Camaro to the track settings that Brandy liked best after the Willow Springs track test and sent her out on the track with a warning to watch out for puddles and not to push the car past her comfort point.
The Carbon Camaro set-up is quite different than the rest of the Spectre cars, especially the Mustang and the El Camino, which Brandy campaigned in 2010. The black Camaro not only has power steering, but also power brakes, something which takes a little getting used to.
There was enough time in the first session for three laps on the track and one cool down lap. Using the first lap as a warm-up, Brandy carefully worked her way through the puddles until she was nearly lapping the other car on the track!
After a quick break for lunch came the autocross section. Participants were meant to alternate with the Speed Stop Challenge, but there was a timer issue so they let everyone run on the autocross or the track for the remainder of the day. After running her three laps of autocross, Brandy handed the keys to Mike and so he could get in some track time as well.
Late that afternoon, Spectre customer, Brian Finch, let Yancy Johns drive his silver second gen Camaro. Yancy took out the huge orange water barrel at the hairpin turn on the very first lap! Luckily the car and Yancy were unharmed, but during the closing meeting Brandy gleefully presented the pink hat to Yancy. Revenge was sweet indeed.
As the sun went down, we packed up and grabbed some dinner with a few of the other drivers before heading home to prepare for more racing on Sunday.
Good performance on the track is almost as much about driver seat time as it is about car prep. On Jan 31st we headed out to Willow Springs Raceway in Rosemond, Ca to work on both cars and drivers.
Our new track cars for the 2011 season include the Two JZ-GTE powered ’70 Maverick and the long awaited Carbon Camaro. Both cars are high horsepower pro-touring style builds and have been up north most of this year, the Camaro at Campbell Auto Restoration and the Maverick in the capable hands of Steve Schmalz and the Performance Fabrication crew.
The guys from both Campbell and Performance Fabrication came down with the cars to get some track time and test some of the recent upgrades. Steve from Performance Fab. started the morning in the Maverick on the Streets of Willow roadcourse, while Brandy, Mike and Mark set up a mini autocross on the skid pad and practiced running the Camaro through the cones.
The black Camaro looked pretty menacing carving around the practice course, with its one-off wheel flares and beefy 345/30ZR19 rear Kumhos. That vicious stance isn’t all show either; our newest 2nd gen has more horsepower, lots of traction, and a full modern suspension with customized adjustable rear sway bar. It’s also the first Spectre car in a long time to have power steering and power brakes, two additions which make a BIG difference on the tight turns of an autocross. Brandy finished up the practice session with a lot of enthusiasm about driving the car in upcoming events.
Steve came in off the road course a little less thrilled with the Maverick. Apparently the little blue Ford was acting up with twitchy steering and unpredictable handling. It looked very cool on the autocross though, even picking up a front wheel around the corners!
Everyone had better reviews once the Camaro hit the road course. There were a few clearance issues with the wide rear tires when the car was driven hard, but some minor adjustments in the pits soon cleared up any chafing. It was funny to see so many people under the cars, discussing possible solutions to both the Maverick’s handling tendencies and the Camaro’s tire rub problem. We really have an amazing group of people working with us.
Not only are there great people wrenching on the cars, but we are lucky enough to be working with some fantastic photographers too. Larry Chen and Linhbergh Nguyen from Speedhunters joined us at the track to take some photos and make a few laps of their own.
Larry brought his roommate, Yu-Chen in an Acura RSX, and they spent almost as much time on the track as we did. Larry rode with Yu-Chen and gave him some quick tips while the Spectre team was working on the cars. Yu-Chen picked up the racing line quickly and was noticeably faster by the time lunch arrived.
Why was he so quick?
“Video games,” he told us with a grin.
After lunch, Brandy and Mike took turns on track in the Camaro while Steve and Mark discussed options for improving the Maverick’s touchy handling characteristics.
By sunset, the team had a full eight hours of driving under their belts, and a solid plan for modifications and additions to both cars. We’ll find out the results soon, as our first competitive event, Run to the Coast is coming up this weekend!
Now in its 61st year, the Sacramento Autorama is “The Kustom Capital of the World” and boasts the title of one of longest running indoor car shows in the world. The Autorama is recognized as the custom car show on the West Coast. With over 450 of the finest custom cars, hot rods, classics, motorcycles, and specialty vehicles from around the county, there’s a good reason why people have been attending this show for over 60 years.
Of course, at Spectre, everything we do is an adventure, and as we packed up for the Autorama, the process of getting out of the Spectre parking lot and on our way to Sacramento was an adventure all by itself. It was like a reality TV Show; one thing after another just kept going wrong. How hard can it be to drive to a car show?
The plan was for the Toterhome to represent us in Sacramento. It had just been wrapped with our new logos, but was only partially finished. It looked good though, so we started to pack Wednesday with hopes to get out Thursday morning. When the toter pulled into the Spectre lot Wednesday morning, we had our first hurdle. Not only was the Jake brake not working, a taillight was out and then something went wrong with the alternator!
The toter went in to the shop to get repaired late Wednesday afternoon, but it would never be done in time for a 400 mile drive! Knowing that the show started Friday at noon, we reloaded our new truck as quickly as possible and got Steve out on the road.
Steve arrived in Sacramento around 8:30 on Thursday night and parked the truck, but our troubles weren’t over, because the space for the truck was just slightly smaller than our display. After some creative maneuvering, Steve was able to park the truck although we had to move the Churro stand. Seriously, do these things happen to anyone else?
Despite the slow start, once the show started we had a blast. The attendance was great and the truck was filled with people.
Since the show is all indoors, it attracts a lot of amazing customs and builders. Trailer queens get a bad name, but some of these cars are really pieces of art!
Each section of building had a different display. We saw bicycles and children’s push cars, muscle cars, and even a boat hall. There were also tons of vintage racers, a Bonneville car, and rows of motorcycles. Outside the race car display was a tent that featured a whole rockabilly scene with cars of the 50’s and people dressed to match.
On Saturday Spectators lined the entrances waiting for 10am to come and the gates to open. The truck and trailer were consistently crowded throughout the day. People were even coming in at 7 and 8pm, just to have an hour of viewing time. There were about 100-150 participant cars outside in the car corral. There were several cars with Spectre intakes on them, which always makes us happy!
The show stayed busy all weekend and by Sunday afternoon, we were ready to pack up and head home. Even though we had a rough ride up, we think this show was a great sign for the coming months. People know who we are, they are interested in our products and it seems like the car hobby is going to have a good year.
The first Good Guys shows are in March. We can’t wait!
After a long week in LA at the MPMC Trade Conference, we headed straight to the Pomona Fairplex for the first show of 2011, the Grand National Roadster (GNR) show.
The Roadster show was established 62 years ago and is the world’s longest running indoor car show. For the last eight years, it’s been just around the corner from Spectre in Pomona.
GNR always has a theme and this year it was Route 66, which was no problem for us, we’re plenty familiar with all the highways in America! Featured celebrities included Freddie from iCarly, Courtney Hansen from Powerblock TV, Lee Reherman from Battle of the Supercars, and Bryan Fuller from Two Guys Garage and Hot Rod TV.
We started set-up for the show while Brandy and Mike were still at the MPMC conference. Steve and Campbell Automotive got the truck, El Camino and Carbon Camaro to the show, and the SpeedLiner showed up as soon as the SORC party was over.
The show was like a high school reunion. Many of the manufacturers we hadn’t seen in a couple months were out at the show. Even the Goodguys team had a booth inside and practically brought out the whole office.
Many racers and fans from Bonneville, including some of the SCTA timing and tech, stopped by our booth to check out the streamliner and watch the videos. Kenny Hoover stayed all three days to sign posters, talk about the streamliner and reconnect with old friends. As always, Kenny and the streamliner got a lot of attention. We even let someone sit in the car for a photo.
One of our favorite parts of any show is checking out the cars which have been built using Spectre product. One display car we saw had a full Spectre custom intake, which definitely caught the attention of those passing by. We saw many other cars using Spectre intakes, headlight funnels, filters and valve covers. One of our favorites was the color changing ’69 Nova, owned by Ken Ramey from Lancaster, CA, which makes good use of a Spectre intake.
On Saturday Amir and his wife, Dusanka, came out to take a look around which was fun, since the show field had filled out and the booth was packed. Many people came to look at the streamliner, but the Carbon Camaro and El Camino got a lot of attention as well.
We spent part of the day on Saturday doing a custom install on a cool old Ford. We tried multiple plenums and airboxes and finally came to a decision on one the owner really liked. Once it was decided on, he was so thrilled and thought it was the coolest thing in the world! Hopefully we will be able to feature the car in the booth at upcoming local shows.
By Sunday, the weather turned ugly. About noon it started to rain lightly, so we had to load the streamliner early before the heavier rain came. We actually got more attention loading the streamliner than we did that whole day when the streamliner sat in front of the booth!
While we were loading the displays in the truck and trailer and trying not to get everything soaked, Barry Meguiar, his wife and another friend stopped by our booth to chit chat with Kenny. We’d like to thank everyone who stopped by to hang out with us, and also offer congratulations to our friend Jason from Street Trucks, who won first in his class. Nice job, Jason!
We will be headed up to Sacramento next weekend for the Sacramento Autorama, February 11th, 12th and 13th.
At Spectre, we work closely with the Specialty Equipment Market Association (SEMA) as well as with the automotive media. We were able to catch up with both industry and editors at the 2011 MPMC Conference in El Segundo.
MPMC stands for Motorsports Parts Manufacturers Council, and they are an amazing group of people who work tirelessly to arrange time for manufacturers and journalists to meet and talk about project cars and new products without the distracting background of the SEMA show. We’ve attended the conference since 2007 and find it extremely valuable.
As always, our marketing genius, Brandy, transformed our hotel room into a complete showroom experience. The display featured some of the new 2011 Spectre parts, the Streamliner at Bonneville and photos from the Spectre 341 Challenge. Did you know an upside-down hotel couch makes an excellent product display when covered with black cloth?
During the conference, we sat in our decorated hotel suite and had meetings with automotive magazine editors, filmmakers, freelancers, TV shows, and websites. It’s fun to hear all about people’s project cars and trucks, and to tell them about our upcoming events and products.
The Spectre 341 Challenge was a popular topic during all of our meetings. Most people we spoke to either wanted to come out to the event themselves, or knew of someone they planned to invite. It’s going to be an amazing race this year.
Every year there is an afterparty mid-week. Last year we hosted at the Spectre facility but this year Source Interlink Publishing (SORC) held an open house at their new offices and workspace in El Segundo. It was a great night. Their workshop is very cool, and they had many of the legends of publishing and motorsports signing the latest SORC book, HOT ROD Magazine: All the Covers, with the profits going to charity.
SORC also invited us to display the SpeedLiner in the massive white photo bay. Amir came out and had such a good time he didn’t leave until early the next morning!
Overall, it was a very worthwhile week, and we are looking forward to getting all our magazine subscriptions this year. We know there are going to be some great stories.
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.
The Spectre team is so dedicated that we’ll even attend car shows on major holidays. While most Americans were at home justifying a 4th piece of pie, our crew was fabricating a custom intake on a Pantera on the other side of the country.
Daytona Beach, Florida hosts the annual Turkey Rod Run every Thanksgiving. It’s a well attended show despite starting on Thanksgiving day. The whole entire inner field of Daytona Beach Speedway is covered with vendors, a swap meet and show cars. This year’s show had one of the biggest car corrals we had seen all year. The show makes a great escape for folks kicked out of the kitchen, or anyone looking for a reason to do take-out instead of turkey. The reality is, you can’t keep car people away from a car show.
The display was really varied and we saw a ton of great cars. There were rat rods, race cars and exotics parked side by side, and many featured Spectre intakes and filters. We also spent some quality time with fellow vendors like Billet Specialties, who drove all the way from Arizona to be present at the Turkey Rod Run. Like us, Billet Specialties was fairly new to the Rod Run, but companies like Detroit Speed and Engineering and GM Performance had been there before and we were all impressed by the turnout and response from the folks in the South East.
The reason we spend so much time on the road is so we can be there to support our customers. We worked on custom intakes for several interesting cars. Dave Puckey wanted a custom intake fabricated for a GTO and Lenny Kronen worked with Mike Morrow on custom tubes for his Pantera. If it needs an intake, our techs will make one!
In case you find yourself at the Turkey Rod Run next year, we recommend Cracker Barrel for Thanksgiving night. While most restaurants were closed, the Spectre team was able to feast on a turkey dinner with all the trimmings and even had pumpkin pie for dessert.
Can you believe our season is over for the year? The Spectre 2011 Schedule is in the works and we’ll post it soon. We plan on twice as many events compared to last year, with two full time truck and trailers on the road. We will be all over the country, and all over the internet, so stay tuned on the blog, and let us know what cars and features you’d like to see!
