Paul Dodd of Surrey, England, reached out and sent us a picture of himself and his son racing their American muscle cars out of Santa Pod in England. We get a lot of interest in our Street Feature series from our readers here in the US, but to hear from a UK reader, we were excited to hear more.
Paul bought his 1972 Olds Cutlass back in 1989. “I have owned it for 27 years now,” Paul told us, “and it has been a blast!” When he got the car it ran 14s on the stock 455 cubic-inch engine, but over the years he’s been racing and “hotting” it up so that it’s capable now of getting into the 9-second region.
The new engine is also a 455 cubic-incher, but it’s been improved with a steel 425 crank, Crower rods, a Crane roller cam, and 10.5:1 Diamond pistons. The intake is an Edelbrock Victor Jr. matched with aluminum heads and a 300 horsepower NOS fogger. The transmission is a fully manual Turbo-400 with a JW 10-inch 3500rpm stall converter and a 10-bolt Detroit Locker with Moser shafts and 3.73:1 gears.
The car has changed just a little over the past few years. The first image (left) is Paul and Jason sitting on the car shortly after he bought it, the second (right) is what it looks like today.
“Over the last 20 years racing, my son Jason has been right beside me,” Paul explained. “He started crewing me from an early age helping to drop exhaust and fit the slicks and showing me into the burnout box.” It’s been a family experience from the beginning. “So it was quite surreal to find myself guiding him into the burnout when he finally got a ride of his own a few years back.”
Jason bought a 1978 Pontiac Trans-Am that ran in the 14s from the start, but he has been drag racing and building it up just like his dad. Out came the old 400 cubic-incher and in went a 496 cubic-inch big-block Chevy engine with AFR 300 cylinder heads, a Comp Cams solid roller, and a 200 shot of NOS powers his Pontiac into the low 10 range at 133 miles per hour.
The transmission in the Trans-Am is a fully manual Turbo-400 just like the Cutlass, except using a 9-inch Abruzzi 4,500 rpm stall converter. The cars also share an identical rear-end setup, and the goal for both of them is to reach into the 9-second range.
Jason’s Trans-Am features subframe connectors at the rear while Paul’s has custom upper control arms, Southside Machine no-hop bars, and Moroso trick springs all the way around. Both use drag radials for the street and slicks on the strip. The cars also have stripped interior with no carpet, and the Trans-Am has a cage, while the Cutlass does not. “My friends say I am crazy so I have promised a cage if I get into the 9s!” Paul told us.
“We love racing each other,” Paul explained, “and it does not matter who wins as long as we get back home safely after a meet.” Their cars are street driven and go the 200 mile trip to the track and back. No trailer queens can be found in their hot rod group. Paul runs a club over there called Surrey Muscle and they have been an active group for over 20 years now.
Beyond just their cars, they have quite a few American hot rods in the bunch. “Among the ranks are a low 9-second Dukes of Hazard style ‘69 Charger, an 8-second Nova, and top of the tree is a twin 88mm turbo 572 cubic-inch Hemi ‘Cuda that has already run close to the 7’s with an 8-zero @171mph,” Paul detailed. “We live and breathe muscle cars and have had some great times over the years.” Believe it or not, there is a huge following for American Muscle over in the UK. With television shows like Street Outlaws and Gas Monkey, they have seen an explosion in interest for the classic muscle cars.
What do you think about the impressive street muscle over in England? We love it! If you want your car in our Street Feature series, it’s as easy as sending an email with a couple pictures and some details. We’d love to see what you’re driving.