Auto News and Events

Proform Keeps 'Em Flyin'First Sgt. James Hamm of I Company in the U.S. Army's 4-159th Aviation Regiment is part of the largest aviation maintenance unit in Iraq servicing the helicopters that fly daily missions in support of our troops. Hamm sent an e-mail to Proform ordering an HEI distributor for a Chevy flatbed truck that his unit uses to help service the helicopters. The troops use the flatbed to move people, tools, and supplies because it has more storage capacity than their diesel Hummers. Hamm's unit inherited it from the Air Force, but because the Bow Tie truck is not part of the Army supply system, finding parts for it is a constant challenge.

The men pitched in to buy the distributor, but Proform donated a brand-new HEI instead. The guys responded with this photo. Nothing says thank you like a CH-47 Chinook helicopter.-Jeff Smith

We Already Got Grease On HerWhat can we say about these car-antenna stripper dolls except that they come in blonde, brunette, and redhead versions? They're also made of heavy-duty injection-molded plastic, just like real strippers. The downside is that our antenna is too thick for our girl Raven to slide all the way down, and the small print says she might fly off at high speeds. We'll try that one and let you know. Check it: koruptkittens.com.-Douglas R. Glad

Ford's Secret WeaponBack in the May issue, Freiburger commented on the performance potential of the Crown Vic Police Interceptor, known to cop car geeks as the P71 package, saying, "No amount of speed parts makes 281 cubic inches happy about dragging 3,800 pounds." Naturally, hate mail ensued, and now it appears a group of Ford engineers may have proven us wrong. These engineers, involved with Ford's Panther group-that's the internal designation for the full-size platform that dates back to the '79 model year-decided to build a hyper-Vic for Car & Driver magazine's One Lap of America event. Ned Nuss, Vehicle Dynamics Supervisor for the Panther Group, Dan Haakenson, a tire technical specialist for body-on-frame vehicles, along with Dev Saberwal, performance powertrain calibrator, Bill Woebkenberg, an SVT powertrain technical specialist, and Dennis Hassan, Panther ride-and-handling development engineer (the guy responsible for the Marauder suspension) set about devising a way to turn the discarded P71 engineering mule into a track monster that could also be driven from event to event, as is required by One Lap rules.

After purchasing a slightly used '04 Cobra 4.6L four-cam, supercharged, 390hp V-8, the team immediately pulled the stock Eaton blower and replaced it with a Lysholm-type from Kenne-Bell, plumbing it through a Ford Racing water-to-air intercooler. The injectors were upgraded from 39 lb/hr to 60 lb/hr fed by a pair of Cobra fuel pumps. A set of Ford Racing shorty headers now connect to a custom 2.25-inch exhaust. With custom tuning, the package now makes over 600 hp at the crank, and that's with the stock internals, including camshafts. A 4R75W trans-the same found in stock Vics and other V-8 Fords-was beefed and tuned with custom programming, fitted with a Precision Industries torque converter with a higher stall, and tied to a stock Marauder floor shifter. A Derale trans cooler designed for a trucks with 25,000-pound GVW is mounted in the trunk and has its own fans to keep it cool, venting behind the rear bumper. Making optimum use of the Ford parts bin, they employed a Town Car limousine 8.8-inch rear-axle assembly, which comes with bigger 31-spline axles (Vics have 28) and 13-inch rear discs. It still runs stock 3.27:1 gears, though mounted to a Ford Racing/Torsen differential.