Johnny Cash's Psychobilly Cadillac

I know for a fact that over the years many of my readers have been brought great joy when the heard the line “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash” then the opening riff to Folsom Prison Blues.
Since this is a Hot Rod magazine who can forget Johnny Cashes humorous song One Piece at a Time about Johnny Cash “stealing” a one of a kind Psychobilly Cadillac. In honor of today being his 80th Birthday Todays article will be about the Psychobilly Cadillac.
 The Cadillac was built by a mechanic friend of Johnny’s named Bill Patch. Bill and his friends built the car by searching through scrapyards and trying to get the car as close to the one discribed in the song as they could.
Sadly I can’t find much info other than a few pictures and what the song says about the Cadillac but here are the specs. (Most of them are guessed by the songs lyrics).
As for the Psychobilly Caddillac here are the specs
Engine: Cadillac 500 Ci
Transmissioon: Hydra-Matic transmission
Exhaust: Cadillac (or GM) Exhaust between 49 and 73
Body: Well the body is a fortynine, fifty, fifty one, fifty two, fifty three, fifty four, fifty five, fifty six, fifty seven, fifty eight, fifty nine, sixty, sixty one, sixty two, sixty three, sixty four, sixty five, sixty six, sixty seven, sixty eight, sixty nine, seventy body.

Hot Rod Surf's 1928 Ford Silver Bullet Roadster

I have always been a fan of Hot Rod Surf and MWMs work, I love the traditional style rods they build. One of my favorite Rods by Hot Rod Surf is their 1928 Ford Special Silver Bullet roadster. Why do I like this Hot Rod you may ask? Why don’t I like this Hot Rod is the better question! The Silver Bullet roadster is a perfect example of a traditional style hot rod that is built to be driven and to have fun. Its low, simple silver paint job with detailed pinstriping, small block motor with zoomies, and its a roadster! Its everything a good simple hot rod should be!
The Silver Bullet features an original 1928 steel Ford body, and a Kustom hot rod surf z’ed A bone frame. Also has a kustom chopped grill.
Engine/Drivetrain: 1968 327 Small Block Chevy topped with a 650 cfm Edelbrock Carb which is hooked up to a GM TH400 transmission is hooked up to a Ford 9′ rear end. The engine is a high compression motor with double camel hump heads, so the motor needs 91 or better octain gas.
Tires/Suspension: 15 soild steel rims with new bias ply BFG tires, Ford disc break conversion was done, and a 1940 Ford front axle with reverse eye spring and split wishbones.
Interior: The interior has Kustom seats, mustang side steering wheel which has a quick release hub so it can be taken off for security reasons.
When I see a car like Hot Rod Surf’s 28 Ford Special Silver Bullet, it just makes me want to jump in it, do a burnout, drive recklessly through the streets of So-Cal while blasting Fu Manchu, then drag race other hot rods all night to get up at 6 am in the morning to go surfing! If it doesn’t make you want to do atleast half of those things, then you are either deaf, dumb and blind or not a true hot rodder!

Tommy Ivo's Wagon Master

As Many of know here at Kustoms and Choppers Magazine I love really unique Hot Rods like Street Legal Dragsters, the Purple People Eater and many more. I love doing articles and featuring any rare one of a Kind Hot Rod. My latest one of a kind hot rod is one that some of you old (I mean older) guys may remember growing up; Tommy Ivo's Wagon Master!
Tommy Ivo had already become known in the Hot Rod and Drag Racing world for his one of a kind 4 engined, 4 wheel drive Dragster Showboat which he raced for a number of years in the early 60s first competing but after the NHRA banned Tommy from racing it, it became an Expedition only car which was alright with Tommy since he enjoyed running it and it was a real crowd pleaser.
Tommy eventually sold Showboat to his friend and crew member Tom McCourry when he got the desire to race Top Fuel and Funny Car. So in 1965 Tom McCourry decided to rebuild Showboat as a Station Wagon based Dragster which became known as Wagon Master!
To built the car Tom McCourry hired master metal shaper Tom Hanna (OK whats with all the Toms?) to make a Buick Rivera Station Wagon body. The body was hand shaped out of Sheet Aluminum, this was done by shaping it around blocks of wood. The car kept some of its station wagon like features such as the hatch back design and it even had a roof rack! It is said to be the first funny car with an escape hatch.
The Wagon Master was first debuted in 1966 with its four Buick Nailhead 425 motors! One of the things the crowd loved about the car was since it was 4 wheel drive, the tires would smoke all the way down the Quarter Mile that it was like a could of smoke going by! When driving Wagon Master, Tommy couldn't even see where he was going he said when driving it  "It was all you could do to point and stab the thing, hang on and hope it went straight."
The Wagon Master eventual became probably the most popular Drag Racing Expedition Car of all time! With its reconizable black and red paint job, its all glass race trailer and the fact that it throw a ton of smoke into the crowd every pass it became a huge favorite!
Now some of you may be wondering, how does a four engined car work? Well I let Tommy Explain it to you with an old quote he us to tell the publications.
"With the tire improvements brought on by M&H, we could use more horsepower, and using two motors was one of the ways to get it. I saw Howard's 'Twin Bear' at Bakersfield in '59 and decided that a side-by-side combination would transfer more of the car's static weight on the rear tires rather than a tandem design. But I did it differently. Howard had simply turned one engine around. I reversed the engine's rotation and ran it backwards. We simply meshed double-wide starter gears on the flywheels together and use a multi-disc clutch to directly drive the car through an offset third member. The engines would torque 'outside-in' so the car would go up and down when I cracked the throttle and not torque steer when I lifted. Better yet, it ran nine-flat the first time out and then became the first gas-burning dragster to run in the eights-and the first to run 170, then 180 on gas. Best of all it handled great and was nearly bulletproof."
The Car was acquired in 2005 by America's Car Collection Museum in Nevada. Originally the Museum wanted to take Master Wagon apart and turn it back into Showboat but Tommy Convinced the museum to leave Master Wagon and build a replica of Showboat to show both cars.
You can see both cars at America's Car Collection still today.