The Vintage Air Tour - 2008 PPG Street Rodder

The Vintage Air Road Tour ended up at the Hot Rod Reunion in Bowling Green, KY, where a special parking area was provided for participants.

J.P. and Anita Hunter came along for the ride in their Sequoia cream Dearborn Deuce. Stretched 8 inches forward of the firewall, a custom hood with the stock louver pattern covers a 408-inch small-block Ford backed by a Tremec five-speed transmission. Wheels are Vintique wires wrapped with Coker wide-white radials.Inside is a Wise Guys seat, black leather and brocade upholstery, an AM/FM/CD player, a 7-inch DVD screen, and satellite radio. Other features include electric exhaust cutouts and Zephyr taillights.

We get quite a few interesting rides on the Road Tour. Dan Smith has some outstanding '32 Fords, but one of the most unique is his Wayne-bodied bus. Taken out of service in 1947, it now hauls Dan's street-rodding buddies instead of inmates from the real Goose Creek Penitentiary. The chassis has been updated with a Mustang II IFS and 9-inch Ford rearend on airbags. Under the hood is an EFI-equipped 454 Chevy backed by a 4L80E transmission. Marc Byers did much of the work on the super-sized Deuce.

Mopar fans Don and Liz Crockett toured in their emerald-pearl metallic'36 Plymouth four-door. The owner-built sedan uses an '04 5.7 Hemi and five-speed automatic. Front suspension is Mustang II, and a Corvette IRS resides in back. Inside is a Tea's front seat with matching upholstery throughout, while a Vintage Air heat and cool unit controls the climate. Along with performance that is superior to the 340 it replaced, the new Hemi has clicked off as many as 33 miles on a gallon of gas.

When something is said to cost an arm and a leg, Myron Griffin knows the true value-he's a prosthetist, someone who fits artificial limbs. Myron's '40 Ford pickup was a well-used farm truck when he got it; the bed looked like a gunnysack full of walnuts and the tailgate was a road-closed sign, but that was then. Now, it has a full Total Cost Involved chassis, a 350 Chevrolet engine, a Tremec five-speed, and a 9-inch Ford rear. Myron opted for a hydraulic brake booster, which he reports works very well. Inside, a Wise Guys seat replaced the original, Dakota Digital gauges fill the dash, and there's satellite radio and GPS for making those long trips comfortable. Since the original was beyond saving, a Horkey reproduction bed was mounted, then all the sheetmetal was painted a combination of Chrysler factory colors, Frost White and Argent Silver. The stock two-piece windshield has been replaced by one-piece (not V-butted) glass that dramatically improves visibility. Just in case you were wondering, according to Myron, a top-of-the-line arm and leg would cost around $125K.