'67 Crusher Camaro vs '70 Super Bee (video)

On this episode of Roadkill, it's Freiburger in the Super Bee versus Finnegan in the '67 Camaro as the guys make the trip from Los Angeles to Salt Lake City and back to go race at the Midnight Drags at Rocky Mountain Raceways in hopes of running the Bee on nitrous for the first time since the Hemi was installed. Which car will work best over 1,500 miles of mayem in three days?

The 700hp, blown Crusher Camaro is HOT ROD's longest-term project car, surviving 20 years at the magazine. David Freiburger's 675hp Hemi '70 Dodge Super Bee is his first car, having been with him 30 years. Both cars suffer from magazine-project-car syndrome: getting brief spurts of attention followed by long periods of neglect. For the first time in years, both cars were running and driving at the same time.

The Crusher Camaro is a '67 model that was purchased for $700 in 1994 during California's car-crushing program; it was rescued from the parking lot of a junkyard where it was about to be handed in for crushing. It's been through a number of engines in its time at HOT ROD magazine, and the most recent is a 489ci bi-block (4.280 bore, 4.250 stroke) with 9.3:1 compression. It has a small, 224-at-0.050 Comp hydraulic roller cam, Holley oval-port heads, and a Weiand 8-71 supercharger with two Holley 850HP carbs. The engine makes 700 hp and 720 lb-ft on 5 psi boost, but is tame enough to drive anywhere. The transmission is a Gearstar 4L85E that's really awesome, and the Ford 9-inch is loaded with 3.50 gears. The car is styled with Center Line Auto Drags and a nose-high stance to look like a street machine of the early ¹80s. It has run 10.60 at 125 in the quarter-mile in the same trim seen in this video.

Freiburger's ¹70 Dodge Super Bee is powered by a 10:0:1-compression, 484ci Hemi with ported iron cylinder heads and a Comp solid roller camshaft. It also uses a Holley Dominator carb on a custom dual-plane intake manifold by Dick Landy, whose shop built the long-block in 1995. It made 675 hp on the engine dyno, but in the car is has smaller headers, fairly restrictive exhaust, and a mechanical fan that pull it down to around 600. The trans is a Gearstar 727 Torqueflite backed by a Gear Vendors under/overdrive, and the Strange 60 rearend has 3.73 gears (a little too high for the
natuarally aspirated combo). The car weights 4,050 pounds with the driver, and has run 11.80 at 118 mph on the motor.

Roadkill appears every fourth Friday on the Motor Trend channel. http://www.youtube.com/motortrend