Revving Through Texas: A Journey into the Heart of Muscle Car Culture with Local Enthusiasts

Texas Hot Rod Tour Interviews

Speaker 1 0:09

We're still out here at the Sampson's Performance Center . We're on the Hot Rod Tour of Texas , kind of winding the day down , but we ran into Ian Koch . We saw his truck this Dodge last night down on the town square , saw it over in Shiner and finally found the man himself . So we're going to ask Ian to kind of give us a little tour of your unique vehicle here .

Speaker 2 0:32

Okay , it's a 1971 D100 . I have Crown Victoria front end from a 2005 Crown Victoria 2005 Crown Victoria . It's on the original frame . It's a 5.7 liter pre-Eagle Hemi with the five speed automatic . Okay , it took me like probably I've had it like about 15 years , but most I've only been driving it for about two . I would say this that I , um my wife , we moved a bunch of times and like I was doing real good and then he was born and that just put a stop to things . But uh , strange how that works .

Speaker 2 1:15

Huh , yeah , but now you gotta help her , yeah , so , uh , once I got going on it and then just got real bogged down in body working paint , I'd say so you do most of this kind of stuff yourself . Uh , I did it all myself . That's probably why it took me so long . Very good Tires and wheels . So these tires and wheels they're just 20s , um , and these were some junk wheels that I bought to . Uh , as my brakes kept getting bigger as I was building it , I couldn't do it on time . I went from like 15s to 16s , new tires on and just run these for a while , and so you got disc brakes all the way around . I got disc brakes all the way around . They're all from a um , your mustang , mustang discs okay , okay .

Speaker 1 2:14

So let's talk about this rear suspension . I mean , there's some engineering going on here .

Speaker 2 2:18

So it's a four link , uh that I kind of just uh , designed on my own using like an online calculator or whatever with numbers , and then you know , just put it together and then this bed flips up . Because I did the frame and then later on realized that I put the tape , it goes in from the top , and I was like , how are you gonna get to it ? How am I gonna get to the fuel pump or the tank ? And so I was like , how are you going to get to it ? How am I going to get to the fuel pump or the tank ? And so I was like , well then I'll just make a frame . I just said I need to put like a bed on here , something to cover it , no money . So I just went down and got this plywood I could and just burnt it with a torch and put it up . But it looks pretty good , it looks really good .

Speaker 2 3:15

Right here , let's look at the interior real quick . So the interior we just painted it and then I originally had the seats out of a Dodge Ram , but I didn't really like them and so we got these Corbeaus . I still have the center console from the Ram in there . Tilt wheel , it's a tilt wheel , it's an aftermarket whole phone . Okay , got the air conditioning vents in the dash . I do have air conditioning . I don't want to have a car in texas . Kind of mandatory .

Speaker 1 4:04

Very unique , very clean looking . You've done a great job with it , thank you . Ok , so you're going all the way to the front . We are , oh yeah , very good , trying to hit every stop . Yeah , it's a lot of fun and that's one of the things I really like about it . It's organized , but it's not like a show where you have to be here at a certain time . It's kind of relaxed . You can get in and go on and take the time and enjoy . It's kind of a family atmosphere with the cars .

Speaker 2 4:35

That's what we really like you get down and enjoy the hot locks . It's a lot of fun . This guy's come with me like twice on the tour he came last year and he came this year and then today some guy asked me if I wanted to sell it and he's looking at me like no .

Speaker 1 4:51

So he stepped up . He's already said it . He took that question for you .

Speaker 2 4:54

Yeah , when you die , I'm taking it . So yeah , no , we're not selling it . No , no , it's just a no , just to pass it down .

Speaker 1 5:02

All right , sir , well we appreciate you taking the time to talk to us . Thank you , we'll enjoy the rest of the tour and see you in one of the days . All right , guys , be careful . Hello again , we're still out here at Samson's here in New Brunswick , samson's Performance and Restoration Center . They build race engines , they do tuning , they do lots of stuff here . Really nice facility . This is one of the stops on the hot rod tour of texas . In fact it's the last stop today before things head off to dinner and the drive-in movie that's coming up later on tonight . So joining us now is michael rez and his 69 cutlass . He's got this cut . We've saw it over in Shiner's , saw it two or three different places and it's 442 .

Speaker 4 5:49

There you go . It's a little bit better than the Cutlass .

Speaker 1 5:51

Yeah , yeah , yeah , my bad . So we're here with Michael with a lot of cars . We're here with Michael in his Oldsmobile 442 . This is a performance edition and he's going to give us a quick tour of his vehicle . So let's start up here with the engine .

Speaker 4 6:06

It's a 455 big block , so you got some headers on it . Yes , sir , it's got about 4,000 miles on the motor . It was previously built , built it maybe about two years ago I don't drive it much . When I purchased the car it only had 38,000 original miles on it . Oh , so I have about 45 right now .

Speaker 1 6:32

Yeah , it's one of those deals where you want to drive it but you don't want to drive it too much because it's still low mileage . Exactly so did you get it from the original ?

Speaker 4 6:38

owner ? I sure did . It was one owner before me , and how we found it is . We do mobile maintenance work and I used to have a 72-cub . Here's a building my brother had left me in service and I sold it . You know , long ago . I've seen it . One got away , yes , sir , and I always wanted another one . I was in the passenger seat where I was with Goldie at , and while our doors were open , he was like man , it looks like a fella . I was like turn around and I asked the gentleman do you want to sell it ? He was like let me tell you what it's going to be free . And he had 10 grand . I spent one day . Each year he goes . I know what they go for .

Speaker 1 7:23

I've been looking online , ok , and I'm giving you the car pretty much . So I called my wife up , but you got to do it today .

Speaker 4 7:31

Yes sir , yes sir , I called my wife up and she's you know , we need 10 grand for us in the Midwest . That's a good way to put it . Yes , sir , and I actually still have the drum brakes all the way around . That's how it came . A lot of people say I'm crazy for doing it .

Speaker 1 7:56

I got a lot of power and need to do it now , but not too much good for stopping it .

Speaker 4 8:00

I like the way the the fence . That's awesome . I was gonna tell you I still have the original spirit , but I took it out . It's a little ditched , but I have the original spirit . It's gonna touch the ground , and then I took it out . That's awesome . That's a hard shifter in there , isn't it ? That's beautiful .

Speaker 1 8:25

Actually , I'm gonna try and wave it . That was like my left finger's . Those look great . Those look great . I just think the idea is that we still got all the original material . We actually took it off in 2016 . We're still working on it . We're still working on it . We're still working on it . We're still working on it . We're still working on it . We're still working on it . We're still working on it . We're still working on it . We're still working on it . We actually took it off in 2016 . That's the new interior , and then we changed it to a new one , and then we used the new paint color and then we made it a little different .

Speaker 4 9:01

This one is a black interior , a skulled interior , and this one is a black one . And this one is a black one , and this one is a black one and this one is a black one and this one . It's a real hotR so it actually still has a hot rod .

Speaker 1 9:32

A real hot rod Tour of Texas . Pretty awesome . But it does have power steering , so that helps . Yeah , yeah .

Speaker 4 9:41

Yeah , she still break it in actually . So I'm kind of babying her still . Okay , okay , you going all the way to .

Speaker 1 9:47

Fredericksburg with the Tour . Yes , sir , Very good . So what are you going to do to it next ?

Speaker 4 9:54

I told them the next thing I'm going to them , I'm actually going to put some AC in it .

Speaker 1 10:00

There's an aftermarket company that makes some really nice units . That won't be real intrusive .

Speaker 4 10:04

Well , yeah , I've been walking around and I see a lot of the vintage air and a lot of these ve brights . They seem to do pretty well . I've been asking around .

Speaker 1 10:12

It looks like that's the way to go . Yeah , they're in San Antonio , so they're not that far away .

Speaker 4 10:19

But yeah , the motor , the Accent car , comes with a 400 . Okay , the gentleman I purchased for him he had a buddy that had a 69-hp Gold bike . He told him the car and they took that motor out . So that's actually a first-class motor . It's that motor that's going to cost a lot of money .

Speaker 1 10:39

Yeah , we won't tell if you want to tell us . All right , michael , we appreciate it . Yes , sir , thank you very much . Enjoy the rest of the hot rod tour of Texas Cruise .

Speaker 5 10:48

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Speaker 5 11:49

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Speaker 5 12:45

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Hot Rod Tour of Texas Interviews

Speaker 1 13:20

Well , we're here again at Samson's Performance . Now , this is their performance and the racing center it's in New Brunsles , kind of the last stop on the day for the Hot Rod Tour of Texas . We left Shiner a few hours ago and now we're over here Again . Nice place , a lot of nice cars . Now we're here . We're going to be talking with Brian Hood , that's correct . Brian Hood has got this 63 and a half Ford . It's kind of unusual and we're gonna let him kind of take us around it , okay so this is a 63 and a half Galaxy 500 .

Speaker 3 13:54

I just put the new motor in . It was actually a 390 . I stroked it to a 445 .

Speaker 1 13:59

So it's got a dyno that's a flywheel , but the dyno at the flywheel Somebody's wound up .

Speaker 3 14:11

Yeah , absolutely so . It's dyno at the flywheel of 540 horsepower and 580 foot-pounds of torque , very good , and the braking oil was taken out of it on Tuesday . Oh , so it is a fresh motor , fresh motor , fresh built , yeah , so let's probably around a thousand miles right now , okay , okay okay , and obviously it's very streetable .

Speaker 1 14:34

Now you don't have typical tube headers on it , but it looks like like a header manifold it's actually a header from a 406 Ford that they used in NASCAR for the 62s .

Speaker 3 14:47

Okay , and so Kugel Components remanufactured a replica of it for these series , so it's a new pack Works better than a tubular header setup .

Speaker 1 14:58

Well , it's a shorty , it's like a shorty header .

Speaker 3 15:02

I mean it gets around power steering and other things . Oh , that's true . On top of that I added sniper EFI on it , so it's still injected Pretty good .

Speaker 1 15:14

That's what it looks , at least from here . Kind of like a carburetor you can set up on it and everything Yep so it's .

Speaker 3 15:21

I haven't had any problems . It starts right up here . We've got the interior redone by a previous owner . It's an XL-like interior . Somebody that sees a Galaxy will notice the differences . I also added a gauge cluster in the middle of the dash . There that's custom . A guy out of Kansas City makes it out of sheet metal , so it's exhaust tubing and sheet metal made specific for the Galaxy and it's like in that . So I wanted to kind of keep that classic look to it .

Speaker 1 16:00

Okay , got the classic lines . Everything's still there . Coming back to the dual exhaust , how long have you had this ?

Speaker 3 16:11

I've had this four years and I did not initially go look for a 63 Galaxy 500 for my car . I actually was looking for a 70 Mach 1 Mustang . I went to Ohio to buy , buy it and long story short is , uh , I got there , it wasn't exactly what I wanted . I saw this beauty here and I fell in love with it and the kind of the uh , the history behind and why I , I consider my father had one when he met my mom . Okay , and they got married and he actually proposed to my mom in 63 and a half galaxy . So so when I was telling them about it , uh , they , uh , my mom , my dad was sick and uh , she told him about it and started showing him pictures and next thing , you know , you're gonna get it .

Speaker 3 16:59

I was like I don't know . He says , well , why would you get us ? Because it reminds me of you dad . The next thing , you know you're gonna get it . I was like I don't know . He says , well , why would you get us ? Because reminds me of you dad . The next thing , I know , here we are and , uh , sentimental value .

Speaker 1 17:07

Yep , so I was noticing the tires and wheels on it . I mean , obviously they're not the regular tires and wheels , but the back ones are tucked up pretty nice . Did you do something with the suspension back there ?

Speaker 3 17:18

no , I did . I think the previous owner had kind of lowered it a little bit . Probably took the leaf spring off , okay . Kind of just shortened it Right . I rebuilt the front end and I put coil overs in the front to kind of lower it a little bit . I understand . Okay , did you do the hood ?

Speaker 1 17:33

or did you come that way ? This car was like a lot . Yeah , yeah , yeah . Yeah , somebody did a nice job on it . It's all straight Looks , yeah , yeah . Yeah , somebody did a nice job on it , it's all straight , looks good five class .

Speaker 3 18:00

So is this your first hot rod tour of texas ? No , I did it last year . Last year you have this here with the other engine which I had , oil on my windshield and every wheel cylinder busted on me , and I made it the joys of a hot rod , exactly .

Speaker 1 18:11

So what are you ?

Speaker 3 18:12

going to do with it next . Well , have some brake issues . I dropped brakes and so next thing is when I get back to Dallas , I'm going to put that off and put disc brakes on . Disc brakes , yeah . And my wife wants to come on tour next year . So she kind of ended up in here . So Thursday , thursday , thursday too , so I was like I'm not going to be able to . Yeah , yeah , yeah , it's been real dependable . Have you looked at something like ?

Speaker 1 18:47

the Vintage Air . Is that kind of what you're making ? Something like that . I kind of look around .

Speaker 3 18:54

But you know CBF has some . They also have some additional pulleys on there , for at that I actually might add a more power steering to it . It's a manual drum brake right now , manual steering . No air conditioning in Texas . The only other thing would be in North Texas and the only thing that takes the task level down is automatic . So there was a stick shift also right there .

Speaker 2 19:23

Yeah , it popped out of the air , mike .

Speaker 1 19:25

Very good , alright , sir , we appreciate it . Appreciate you very much . Hope you enjoyed the rest of the tour . You're going on with the perfect car . Absolutely Very good , sir . Well , maybe we'll see you someplace else . We're still hanging out here with the Hot Rod Tour of Texas at Samson's Performance and Restoration in New Brunswick , texas . Wonderful facility making lots of room for everybody to get in here . So we've got lots of nice cars and we're going to be talking here for a minute with Ben . I ran across these guys at the hotel the other day and they've been laughing and having fun ever since they got here . Even this morning when I went outside and they were under the cars working on them because of some little issue that came up . It's kind of the heart of the Hot Rod Tour of Texas . Some guys , they're out , they're having fun in their cars . So we're going to kind of talk to Ben . He's going to kind of tell us what all they brought

Classic Car Enthusiast Discussion

Speaker 1 20:14

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Speaker 6 20:14

Let's start with this one , Absolutely so . This is my dad's 1969 Nova . We've got a 6 liter LS , little mild cam in it . It's got a TKX 5 speed and 373s in the rear end . Just pretty much all the goodies to it Hydraulic clutch , good brakes up front . It just cruises Hard to keep tires on it really .

Speaker 1 20:46

Does your dad know you got his car out ?

Speaker 6 20:48

Oh yeah , yeah , if he'll let us drive it this trip .

Speaker 1 20:52

that's really it , yeah , well it's got some nice looking stuff , some good work on it . Got the radiator got some upgraded suspension components in it .

Speaker 6 21:02

Yeah , we put it together pretty quick too . How long has your dad had this ? So this car ? Originally we got it it still had the inline six and a three on the tree , and that was probably about ten years ago , and then we started doing some work on it . This car had been hit in the back quarter panel , and so it was just the whole back quarter was crumbling , and so we , in the midst of working on that , ended up moving houses and it got parked for another seven years or so , and so we just pulled it out at the beginning of this year , in January . So Dan's a hot rodder too . Yeah , oh yeah , it's a hot rodder too . Yeah , oh yeah , it's a full family thing really , okay , okay .

Speaker 1 21:43

So let's move over here to the Camaro and see what we got . Now your buddies are sitting all back there because they're shy .

Speaker 6 21:50

They're shy . So let's see what we got here at the Camaro . Alright , so this is my 1980 Camaro . I got this when I was 15 in high school . It's my first car I've got a Summit crate motor , 5.3 , in here , with just a 4.0 , 60 and a stall , and then just 370s in the back . You'll see a theme going as we go through these cars it's automatic , right . Automatic , yes , automatic . With a stall 3-speed . No , it's a 4-speed . It's automatic , right , automatic , yes , automatic . With a stall 3-speed . No , it's the 4-speed . It's the 4LZK . So it's got overdrive . So at 70 miles an hour I'm running 2500 RPM all day . Oh , you can keep it out on the street , down the road , absolutely . Yeah , this thing . It's a highway monitor . This is where it really shines on the highway . Very good it . I've had it for 10 years . I'm only 25 . Just curious , the interior is pretty much stock .

Speaker 1 22:43

Actually , when I got this , the guy that I got it from left it in his garage and let all of his cats in it .

Speaker 6 22:51

When I got it , one of the first things I did was tear all of the interior out . There's a little joke there . What does that say ? Let all of his cats in it . And so when I got it , one of the first things I did was tear all the interior out . So there's a little joke there , but I've redone it more recently than the swap and I'm really beginning to enjoy it again .

Speaker 1 23:10

Good , good . That's kind of the whole point of this getting out and enjoying the cars . That's one of the things we really liked about it , particularly coming to someplace like Samson's work . You just park it and you go check everybody out and talk to people and meet a lot of new people . So let's talk about this . Chevy 2 .

Speaker 6 23:27

Yeah , 65 , no , and this is my uncle's car . Some more of that theme going on .

Speaker 6 23:34

Yeah some more of the theme . This is also an LS swap with a 4L60 in it , automatic 370s in the back . So this is a gen 4 clock , 5.3 with a good cam in it , and this thing , just like the rest of the mid-ditch , just cruises right along , handles good . This is a Mustang II Heights front end , so it's got rack and pinion coilovers on the front . All three of the cars have cow tracks on them as well . Mine also has coilovers . Yeah , cold air ductures and things like that .

Speaker 2 24:22

So this is kind of a like this morning when y'all were out here working on them and stuff . Your buddies were all helping you , handing you tools and things like that .

Speaker 6 24:30

You were the guy that was up there talking Well , I have , yeah , we've all touched the cars all over , but my dad and I are the ones pretty much every Saturday we're out there working on it . I think that's awesome , yeah , getting under it . I've worked at a Honda dealership for quite a few years and stuff .

Speaker 1 24:53

I like to hop right in there , I like to hop right in and get it done . Well , I think it's great that you guys kind of teamed up together .

Speaker 6 24:59

You all came down from up in the Dallas area , no , fort Worth , so Godley , south Fort Worth , Godley , and so it was about five hours or so . We drove down , we met up with some other people in Fort Worth and cruised down with them , kind of had a little free , a little compoy , yeah , a little free tour deal and just had a grand old time .

Speaker 1 25:24

Well , I think that's kind of what the Hot Rod Tour of Texas is all about . It's not real structured like a car show show where you've got to be here at this time , you've got to do this , you've got to do that . I mean , I don't know when y'all left shiner , but I mean you got ready to go you got ready to go and you left .

Speaker 6 25:41

Yeah , well , that's one of the things we love the most about the trip is it's structured , but it's not so tight that you can't go off and do you see the things you want to see or when you're ready to go you can . You can go and um , go eat where you want and see beautiful places around , but then you can also come back . People , meet people like us . Yeah , absolutely yeah , we're meeting people from last year that I never thought I'd see again , but we saw them so many times over the trip we ended up knowing their name , remembering them , and didn't know they were going to be here again this year and we're running into them again . There's always next year , always next year .

Speaker 1 26:13

Yes , all right , man . Well , thank you for taking the time to talk with us . Of course , appreciate it and we will see you on the next Hot Rod Tour of Texas .

Speaker 6 26:22

We'll see you then .

Speaker 5 26:26

The original group of Loopy Tortilla restaurants will have you telling your family and friends just what the original recipes mean when it comes to the best fajitas in Southeast Texas . Founder Stan Holt invites you to visit the original Loopy Tortilla near I-10 and Highway 6 . Here's the original house that inspired the design of all the rest and the original charm that helped make Loopy Tortilla the go-to destination for Houston Tex-Mex . Speaking of original , nothing can compete with the original lime pepper marinade . That everyone will agree makes Loopy Tortilla award-winning beef fajitas the best anywhere . Loopy Tortilla Katy is another location that gives you the same quality and service Houstonians have come to expect at Loopy's . It's located just off I-10 of the Grand Parkway . At Kingsland Boulevard in Katy . Find yourself in Aggieland Head to the Loopy Tortilla and College Station , located just around the corner from Kyle Field . It's a great place to enjoy those famous frozen margaritas before or after the game . Headed east to Louisiana , stop in at the Loopy Tortilla in Beaumont . It too's on I-10 , you can . At the Loopy Tortilla in Beaumont . It too's on I-10 . You can't miss it . The original group of Loopy Tortilla restaurants invites you in for the best Tex-Mex anywhere .

Speaker 5 27:22

Gulf Coast Auto Shield is having another Car Social Saturday morning , may 18th , from 8 to 11 . It's a car cruise in like no other . Expect Ferraris , lamborghinis , corvettes and the featured brand Porsche . Get social at this special cruise-in event . You'll also see Gulf Coast Auto Shield's private workshop and learn about their many products and services . Questions are welcomed . Gulf Coast Auto Shield is easy to get to at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway , near West Airport Boulevard , just south of the Southwest Freeway . The Car Social featuring Porsche takes place Saturday morning , may 18th , from 8 to 11 . Tell your friends and no matter what car you have , bring it and enjoy this rare opportunity to see some of Houston's finest rides In Wheel . Time will bring its car talk show there too . So join us for another Car Social at Gulf Coast Auto Shield Saturday morning , may 18th , 8 to 11 , at 11275 South Sam Houston Tollway , just south of Southwest Freeway . Visit GCAutoShieldcom to see the show flyer for more details .