Hotchkis Newsletter Issue 01 - April 2009

Fast & Furious Sets Box Office Record, Uses Hotchkis Suspension

About two years ago, the producers of The Fast and the Furious franchise made two major announcements: Paul Walker and Vin Diesel were going to return for the fourth movie and many of the “hero cars” in the new movie would be American muscle machines, rather than the import tuner cars that have dominated the first three films. A few weeks after the announcements, we received a mysterious phone call from a production company inquiring about suspension systems for a Buick Grand National, a ’70 Chevelle and a 1970 Dodge Charger.

They wouldn’t say what the parts were for at first, but explained they needed several kits for each platform and the systems would have to be incredibly durable as well as effective in the handling department. We quickly guessed that this was for F&F, and they confirmed our suspicions after a few calls to the studio. We agreed to support the movie and its promotion of Detroit iron. After all, the first movie made import culture a worldwide phenomenon; maybe the latest flick would do the same for muscle cars.

Two years and two weeks later Fast & Furious has shattered box office records, and millions of people worldwide have gone to the theaters to watch a bad black GNX, a primer grey ’70 Chevelle and a supercharged wheel-standing Charger tear across the screen. The producers and stunt drivers raved about the way our Total Vehicle Systems performed and were able to stand up to even the harshest Hollywood abuse (including dozens of accidents, burnouts and even wheel stands).

If you look closely during the scene when Walker and Diesel are in Dom’s shop, you can even see a Hotchkis banner hanging on the wall. When the Chevelle is making a desert run with a yellow late-model Mustang close on its tail, look beneath the bumper and you’ll see a Hotchkis sway bar doing its job. It may not be the most realistic racing movie on film, but it’s fun, features incredible driving and we hope it might even convince a few moviegoers that classic Detroit iron can out-perform just about anything with the right hardware.

Our first show of the season was the Goodguys Orange County Get Together in Costa Mesa, California, where Hotchkis friend and customer Mary Pozzi ran the fastest lap times of the weekend for a 1973 and earlier muscle car on the Autocross with her slick ’73 Camaro. We met thousands of fired-up gearheads who couldn’t wait to kick off the car show season and leave the doom-and-gloom of winter behind. Click here to read more about the show or to watch our video coverage…

A few weeks later we went to Mopars at the Strip, a show best described as “Woodstock for Chrysler fans.” The three-day show featured drag racing, a huge car show field, a rock concert and more. Designer/builder Steve Strope kept everyone at the show entertained by doing a live build next to the Hotchkis booth, where he transformed a stock Coronet into a killer G-Machine with a Hotchkis TVS, Wilwood Brakes, Bonspeed Wheels and Pirelli tires. The car will be raffled for charity at the 2010 MATS show. Click here to read more about the show.

Finally, the Goodguys Del Mar Nats in San Diego is one of our favorite shows. Over 3,000 cars were in attendance, and we met hundreds of enthusiastic people that believe in having fun with their hot rods. Hotshoe Mary Pozzi used our booth for pit stops at the show, and walked away with an overall win in the Street Machine class. She also set the fastest unofficial lap of the weekend in Steven Rupp’s “Bad Penny Camaro”, which recently received a Hotchkis rear bar. Click here to read more.

In the future, we’ll use this column to answer your tech questions. Since this is our first newsletter, we’re going to tackle one of the most frequently asked customer questions. To submit a question for the next newsletter, email sales@hotchkis.net and put “The Garage” in the subject line.

Q: Are solid sway bars stronger than hollow sway bars?

A: No. Sway bars work off of torsional force (twisting motion). Therefore, the material in the center of a solid bar plays little role in the resistance of torsional force. With this in mind, we have eliminated some of the center material and also moved some to the outside of the tube, where it is most effective. In turn, this produces a sway bar that is lighter in weight and just as stiff, if not stiffer than solid. For example, a 1'3/8" hollow bar is equivalent to a 1'1/4" solid. But the 1'3/8" hollow bar is 6% stiffer and 43% lighter than the 1'1/4" solid.

She’s an ASE-certified master mechanic. Her car is a home-built, leaf-sprung ’73 Camaro. A series of blistering, untouchable autocross times at the first two Goodguys events of the season have destroyed stereotypes and the competition. ..Full Story

Like free parts and apparel? Good, because we like giving it away! We’re going to give away free t-shirts every week to newsletter readers, plus we have a raffle at every car show to give away one free sway bar set and five free t-shirts. So far we’ve given away 17 T-shirts and three sway bar sets.

The sway bar winners from the first three shows of the year are:
David Hicks (Goodguys Costa Mesa, 1957 Chevy)
Barry Mickelson (Mopars at the Strip, 1966 Coronet 440)
Jacqki Leonard (Goodguys Del Mar, 1967 Chevelle)

Congratulations, and keep entering to win!

Mopar B & E Body A-Arms

Dramatically improves traction and steering response.

Lightweight yet strong tubular A-Arms improve camber curve.

Laser Cut Pick Up Point Relocation Bracket corrects excessive caster gain.

Reduced Bump Steer

Bolt In Installation

Click Here for more info.

Welcome to the very first Hotchkis Garage newsletter, and thank you for taking the time to check in. For those of you who don’t know me, I was bitten by the modification bug early in life. I couldn’t leave a bicycle or a vehicle alone. Through the years I was constantly moving from one car or truck to another and, of course, personalizing every one of them. After spending a few years on the road racing circuit as a pro driver, I founded Hotchkis Performance in 1993 with the goal of developing bolt-on suspension systems that make cars more fun to drive on the street and the track…

I believe well designed and track tested bolt-on suspension components are the best way to achieve handling perfection. There’s no need to swap out your entire chassis for a new unit that guts the soul of your classic muscle car. The same goes for modern muscle and European sports car owners: we don’t believe in changing your entire suspension setup, we believe in making your current system work better through advanced engineering and rigorous testing, and we’ve got the race wins to back it up.

The entire Hotchkis Performance team has been working overtime this year on a variety of exciting new projects. Our “E-Max” ’70 Challenger is just about finished. We recently introduced an incredible new suspension system for classic Chrysler muscle cars, plus we have new sway bars for the E36 BMW (a future classic) and the 2nd Gen Camaro (the hottest car on the autocross course right now). We even have a Total Vehicle System coming soon for the popular Chevy C10 pickup!

We have a brand new website, and it’s packed with cool content like step-by-step installation and racing videos, show coverage, car features and more. You can also track our show and race updates on Facebook and Twitter. It’s important to me that the company stays in touch with you, our friends and customers. That’s why we attend as many shows as possible every season. So far this year we’ve me some fantastic people at Mopars at the Strip in Vegas and two exciting Goodguys shows. Next month, we’ll be at the Goodguys Summer Get Together in Pleasanton, California, so if you’re in the area stop by and tell us how we’re doing.

See you on the road!

John Hotchkis