ow many times have you been searching Craigslist or walking the aisles in a junkyard and find what might just be the perfect score only to raise the hood and be disappointed to find a pedestrian straight-six.

Of course, over the decades, Chevrolet put a lot more sixes in vehicles than they did their much sexier V-8s. The straight-six was Chevrolet’s main engine when it was introduced in 1929, going into almost everything all the way up to the V-8’s introduction in 1954. And even after the V-8 came around, the straight-six was the base engine for practically every model. Incredibly, the straight-six was still being produced in Brazil as recently as 1988.

So, given all that history, it is pretty darn cool that somebody is finally giving the straight-six its due. Johnson’s Hot Rod Shop in Gadsden, Alabama, builds some of the coolest pieces of fuel-burning art on four wheels. They’ve built some of the most famous hot rods ever made, including a Ridler Award winner and a Goodguys Street Machine of the Year.

e were wrapping up an oil change on our ’64 Chevelle not long ago and noticed a little top-to-bottom movement in the front wheels, which we took as the wheel bearings needing adjustment. After re-packing the bearings and setting the preload on the bearings the play was still there. Upon closer inspection, we noticed that the original ball joints were the cause of the excessive movement. Updating the front suspension had been on our “eventual” upgrade list for a while, but this finding moved it a little higher in the queue.

There are no shortage of performance suspension components available for Chevelles, including tubular control arms with improved geometry or versions to accept coilovers, but this old Malibu is your basic cruiser and is going to stay a basic cruiser. We’re talking gen-one small-block, a “one-wheel-peel” 10-bolt with 15-inch rallys wrapped in BFGoodrich radials.

To keep with our basic theme, we decided a stock rebuild of the front suspension was in order and surfed over to classicperform.com to see what Classic Performance Products (CPP) offered for a rebuild. They’re known for their performance coilover swap kits and cool tubular control arms, but they also offer stock replacement ball joints and control arm bushings as well as new stamped steel control arms just like the originals. If you plan to rebuild your stock control arms, you can upgrade from rubber bushings to CPP’s PolyPlus line of polyurethane bushings. Rubber is known for a smoother ride yet polyurethane improves the handling, road feel, and will last longer.

ositive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) can easily qualify as the least interesting aspect of a gearhead’s inventory of hot rod romance parts. Many people think that this system’s only benefit is to keep oil vapors from escaping valve cover vents that create that annoying oil mist that coats your engine and permeates into the passenger compartment.

Let’s start with how a PCV valve system functions. All internal combustion engines create crankcase pressure–generally referred to as blow-by. This is formed when cylinder pressure leaks past the rings and forms a mist of oil in the crankcase. This pressure must be ventilated or the buildup will very quickly push out valve cover or pan gaskets and force oil past the front and rear main seals. All of which is annoying, leading to a never-ending task of cleaning the engine bay. Just ask the guys with rags tied around their valve cover breathers.

Before 1962 production cars employed a road draft tube that dumped this oil mist on the road. Next time you see a photograph of a Los Angeles freeway from the early ’60s, look for wide black stripes of oil oozing down the center of each lane. Just imagine how slippery those freeways were after the first rain of the season!

ith queues borrowed from drag racing cars—fat tires and power adders being the most prominent—it is hard to deny the appeal of a Pro Street vehicle. A Pro Street car will stop anyone in their tracks as soon as they see (or hear) it. If you don’t like attention, don’t buy one because you will get plenty of it—both good and bad. They usually draw the largest crowd at any show. Eavesdropping on the conversations, you’ll often hear detractors talking about how it isn’t practical; but they aren’t supposed to be.

Instead, they are the exact opposite—impractical, exaggerated, absurd, and extreme—and there’s nothing wrong with that. They are not daily drivers or grocery getters; they are weekend fun cars. Some say their sole purpose is to gain attention. The surprising part is that one would expect the owners to be maniacal egomaniacs who crave attention, but this is often the opposite. They just love watching people enjoy their creations. Such is the case of Bill Hugill from Boyd, Texas, and his ’65 Pro Street Corvette.

Bill has been a mechanic almost his entire life. Growing up with a mechanical inclination, he began by fixing other kids’ bikes. Bill’s career as an auto mechanic was born out of necessity when he bought a $600 car to drive and asked his dad for help. His dad said, “sure,” and then purchased the young lad a Chilton’s manual and told him to learn. Soon, it turned into working on friends’ vehicles, which blossomed into a lengthy, lucrative career with two shops now under his ownership. He was always tinkering, buying motorcycles and cars, fixing them up, and selling them (at one time he owned over 85 motorcycles).

or some, the repetitious task of car washing is doggone drudgery, like a mindless, mundane, monotonous chore. Others may take the very same task to higher levels as serious business. Either way, this’ll be about a wash.

No matter which car-caring category you might fall into, the safety tips we’ll offer here could take the sting out of road trip cleanups, as well as higher-level detailing procedures. At any rate, the little work party to follow must be thrown.

To ensure a dramatic effect, we’ve chosen a colorful test vehicle. With its rather bright yellow frontend, “Guardrail” Willie Martin’s flammable ’55 Chevy is a moving target for a multitude of suicidal flying insect types—including things that sting.