Really, the Royal Bobcat package was a set of established hot rodding tweaks. More timing, re-jetted carbs, fresh air intake, thinner head gaskets for more compression, etc. The beauty of it was that the engineering connection to Pontiac meant that the package was “factory approved” and did not mangle the warranty. It woke these things up for sure and on the streets and strip a Royal Bobcat package car could do some damage against the other muscle bound competition of the day.

We’ll let Wangers do the talking below. Fun insight into one of the neater aspects of Pontiac performance history here!

Press play below to see and hear Jim Wangers tell the Royal Bobcat story –

The post Awesome Video: The Story of The Royal Bobcat Package As Told By Jim Wangers appeared first on BangShift.com.

To us, Tuff Truck competitions far outweigh demolition derbies for raw entertainment. While it is a spectacle to see cars running into each other, it is another level to see regular Joes risk life and limb for some glory in front of a hometown crowd at a fair, an off road park, or wherever else this stuff happens. The investment is minimal, the modifications typically consist of pulling some glass out, chopping off the exhaust, and basically gluing the throttle to the floorboard.

It may be a cheap sport to buy into but if you don’t have good medical insurance to deal with the jacked up back, bleeding kidneys, and chipped teeth it could add up fast. The title of the video is “Just Send It” and frankly there is no greater collection of Tuff Truck sends that has ever been compiled. Oh, and all of this came from just last year!

We tip our cap to the daredevils, the lunatics, the wheelmen, and the factory engineers who built junk that can stand up to this…and clearly lots of stuff that cannot.

Press play below to see one of the most fun an brutal Tuff Truck videos ever made –

The post Must Watch Video: This Could Be The Greatest Tuff Truck Video Ever Made – Wild Beyond All Imagination appeared first on BangShift.com.

The car you are going to see here is a J2R with the R standing for racing. There were street and race models. This particular car has an amazing history as it was once owned by Curtis LeMay, a revolutionary thinker and tactician when it came to air war and someone who ran the US Air Force through some of the toughest days in our history. Power comes from a 331ci Cadillac and it could be the loudest Cadillac powered racing vehicle every built. This thing makes amazing noise both on and off the throttle and your speakers are definitely your friends here to get the whole experience.

Lastly, this car get driven hard with a finishing time of just over 1-minute which is stout on the hill!

Press play below to see this amazing Allard J2R take on the Goodwood hill in 1999 –

The post Crank Up The Speakers: Watching and Listening To This Allard J2R At Goodwood In 1999 Is So Awesome – Cadillac Power! appeared first on BangShift.com.

A few months ago, Derek Bieri, the man behind Vice Grip Garage and Roadworthy Rescue, gave me a call and said “I have a stupid idea and I want you to be a part of it.” My response was “Awesome, where do I need to be and when?” He laughed and the conversation quickly escalated with him asking if I wanted to know what it was we were going to do, and I said I didn’t much care because I knew that if he was doing it then it would be fun. Derek is one of the most genuine human beings you can meet. I’m not kidding. He’s the real deal, super fun and generous, and a really good human being which is what we should all strive to be. So when he did tell me that the name of it was going to be the Aztek 200 I laughed and said I was in.

Trust me, this is going to be fun to watch.

Lucky for me, Derek also said he wanted to have Adam Dorey be my co-host and that made me excited too. Adam and I have been friends for several years but have never gotten to work together like this before. It was a great time had by all. Of course how could it not be when Derek also invited our friends Alex Taylor, Tony Angelo, and Tate Morgan?

Watch, and let us know what you think of all the adventures we had at Tucson Dragway. We’ll have Part 3 before you know it!

IF YOU MISSED PART 1, CLICK HERE TO SEE ALL THE ACTION YOU MISSED

The post The Aztek 200 Part 2! O’Reilly Auto Parts, Vice Grip Garage, Tony Angelo, Alex Taylor, And Tate Morgan Drag Race Pontiac Azteks In Tucson appeared first on BangShift.com.

2,360lbs, a five speed stick, a turbocharged 1.6L four banger that made 102hp, 0-60 times in the 10-second range and quarter miles under 19-seconds meant that this weird little car was really kind of a sleeper for its day. All of those numbers would put in on a pretty even level with the heavier, V8 powered iron Detroit was barfing out.

This is a doubly interesting video because the car is being tested at the famed, and long-dead Bridgehampton race track that was located in Sag Harbor, NY and served as a mecca for American road racers from the 1950s into the 1990s when it was closed forever. Not a lot of video from the 1980s at the course so it is kind of fun to check out the background as the car is being tested. A weird car on a dead track. Two for one, kids!

Press play below to see a car you forgot about on a track that’s closed –

The post Weird Car On A Dead Track: 1985 Plymouth Colt Turbo Tested At Bridgehampton appeared first on BangShift.com.

One of the things that blew us away in the video is the fact that the pitch man tells us that the recommended oil change interval is 7,500 miles with the filter recommended to be swapped every 15,000 miles! That’s wild stuff for 1979 and maybe even wilder the 45,000 mile recommended plug change interval. Umm, no. Can you imagine how garbage the situation would have been with a carb’d engine at 45,000 miles with old plugs in it?

The 1979 Malibu also gets some love here sandwiched between the Nova and the Monza. The Malibu was a little more up market and then the Monza was a small sporty offering with a couple of engine offerings starting with the 4-banger and ending up at the “mighty” 5.0L V8 for max performance.

A fun, flute fueled look back at the state of the industry 41 years ago.

Press play  to see this promotional video from the 1979 Nova and Monza –

The post Promotional Goodness: This Chevrolet Pitch Video For The 1979 Nova and Monza Is A Fun Watch appeared first on BangShift.com.

Trust me, this is going to be fun to watch.

Lucky for me, Derek also said he wanted to have Adam Dorey be my co-host and that made me excited too. Adam and I have been friends for several years but have never gotten to work together like this before. It was a great time had by all. Of course how could it not be when Derek also invited our friends Alex Taylor, Tony Angelo, and Tate Morgan?

Watch, and let us know what you think of all the adventures we had at Tucson Dragway. We’ll have Part 2 and 3 before you know it!

The post O’Reilly Auto Parts, Vice Grip Garage, Tony Angelo, Alex Taylor, And Tate Morgan Race Pontiac Aztek’s In The Desert And Invited Us To Join Them! appeared first on BangShift.com.

We dig the selections here. Anytime we get to see vintage footage from Gumball Rally and learn that they were driven by the actors and the cars were REAL. Yes, the 427 Cobra and the Ferrari Daytona that mixed it up through the film were actually real cars and the Ferrari fans out these may cringe when the learn of some backstage, ummm, problems.

This is a fun watch.

Press play below to watch this video featuring the coolest TV and movie Ferraris

The post This Look At The Coolest Ferrari Movie and TV Cars Of All Time Is Great – 1980s Greatness and More appeared first on BangShift.com.

What’s pretty interesting is that while this is a GM film, they do not shy away from talking about Ford, not that they really could! They do take a couple of thinly veiled swipes at him, though. One is claiming that Duryea invented mass production by making 13 identical cars in one year as opposed to Henry cranking out millions is kind of funny but other than that not much jumped out as far as being a shortchange.

There is a lot of really neat stuff here and it’s not just fluff. The film does a nice job of walking people though the changes that were made. Stuff like the fact in 1938 Pontiac brought the shifter onto the column and Olds started offering automatic transmissions.

If you like good automotive history this is a film that will keep your attention for sure! Give it a watch!

Press pay below to see this cool film about the history of automotive styling –

The post History Video: The Changing Architecture Of The Automobile Is A Neat Film About Styling History Made In The 1970s appeared first on BangShift.com.

This video is cool as it comes from the British Pathe archive and clearly it was made with some fun intent. Steam traction engines were a huge part of the British world for a while and that translated into steam trucks and other vehicles. As you will hear the announcer say, this particular unit is “50 years old” which is kind of shocking in and of itself, right? In 50 years transportation had gone from that to the normal gasoline and diesel vehicles that have been incrementally improved upon ever since. Interesting stuff .

There is one number mentioned here that is kind of shocking and that is the number 16, which is claimed to be the top speed of this massive beast! Sure, 16 miles per hour is nothing in any sort of vehicle OTHER THAN THIS but trying to get the iron giant stopped, turned or not chuffing through someone’s house could be a sweat generator at 16 mph.

We love this whole scene. The color video, the good doctor having his pipe in his coveralls, and his way too excited to be on a smelly and greasy steam traction engine wife ambling to the market and back. Classic.

Press play to see this funny video about a dude cruising his traction engine

The post Back In 1960 England You Could Cruise Your Steam Traction Engine To The Store, Slowly appeared first on BangShift.com.