Affliction is a clothing company, not a
problem with car owner Matt Hunt. The car is a publicity machine, plain and
simple. It was built by Matt to attract attention and advertise a clothing
company with the same name.
In the past decade, reaching a youth
automotive market meant building an import car. Matt was an innovator with
Supra parts, building one of the first 1,000hp street cars back in the ‘90s. He
was also the first guy to put a full-body Supra in the 10s when the Battle of
the Imports programs were raging. As times changed, Matt became involved with a
television show as a subcontractor and noticed that as the import scene faded,
the American muscle-car culture was as strong as ever. Through the television
deal, he met an enthusiast who contracted him to build street machines for
members of the NFL and rich guys overseas. In the last 10 years, Matt’s company
evolved from Under Pressure, an import builder, to Matt Hunt Muscle Cars
(MHMC).
The
car is a publicity machine, plain and simple
This ’66 Chevelle is his latest project,
contracted by Eric Foss at Affliction Clothing. The vision came together when
John Moss (an artist for Affliction), Matt, and Eric looked to Top Fuel, early
Winston Cup cars, street machines, and even movies like Mad Max and Deathproof
for inspiration. The car is a mix of all the mediums. “I wanted the car to be a
magnet,” Matt says. “I wanted guys to crawl all over it to see what I did.”
Starting as an average ’66 Malibu with a
307 and automatic, Matt and the crew at MHMC in Westminster, California, put
the car together in less than a year. The plan was hatched to take the car on
the circuit including marketing events and trade shows, track days at Streets
of Willow, and local car shows like Donut Derelicts in Huntington Beach,
California, where we first saw the car. If you want to see this car in person,
check it out at the ’13 SEMA show in Vegas or Google “Affliction Chevelle and
Matt Hunt Muscle Cars” to see where the car will be next. This one will catch
your eye.
Tech notes
What: ’60
Chevrolet Chevelle
Where:
Westminster, CA
Engine: The
engine is a 383 stroked small-block with a Scat crank, Manley rods, and JE
9.0:1 forged pistons, built by Team C Performance in Bellflower, CA. With the blower,
it makes 680 hp and 720 lb-ft with 10 pounds of boost. The cylinder heads are
Edelbrock Victor Jr. with a bit of port work and matching to the blower
manifold. The tubes feed a NOS fogger plate but no one has opened the bottle to
see what it will do. “We are waiting for a program for the nitrous,” Matt says.
All the aluminum bits were fabricated by Matt, including the bug catcher,
brackets, and fan shroud. You can hear it through a 3-inch system from Ace
Muffler with MagnaFlow mufflers and sometimes a set of electric cutouts.
The
engine is a 383 stroked small-block with a Scat crank, Manley rods, and JE
9.0:1 forged pistons, built by Team C Performance in Bellflower, CA
Controls:
the engine uses Holley’s HP EFI with twin throttle-bodies and 86-pound
injectors. The original tune came from Holley’s Thomas Kise and was “very
close” out of the box. WOT was tweaked by Steve at Powertrain Dynamics. Spark
is controlled with an MSD 6AL box.
Extras: On
the passenger’s side, there is a Moon Eyes catch can for oil control. The lines
run from each valve cover to the tank, then down into the exhaust at a
45-degree angle to create a vacuum in the catch to relieve pressure in the
crankcase. The catch can bolted to the driver side is also from Moon Eyes and
handles radiator overflow.
Brakes: The
Chevelle uses a disc-brake kit from Wilwood that comes with rotors, calipers,
hardware, lines, and, in this case, a manual master cylinder. Front and rear
uses a Forged Dynalite kit with four-piston calipers and 11-inch discs.
Transmission: the TH350 was built by Ruben Delgato, an off-road guy who will
assemble street transmissions if asked. The shifter is a B&M Pro Ratchet.
Rearend: In
the back is a 12-bolt put together by Diff Works in Perris, CA. They added
31-spline axles and an Eaton limited-slip with 3.73:1 gears.
Interior:
There isn’t a bunch of carpet or fluff, just a lot of aluminum built by Matt
and the gang at MHMC. The seat inserts were built by the guys at Affliction,
and the steering wheel is for a MASCAR stock car built by Sparco. The steering
column is from Flaming River, the pedals are from Lokar, and the gauges are
from Auto Meter. The pinstriping is by Hot Dog (like the food). “In the
pinstriping world, everyone knows who he is,” Matt says.
The
seat inserts were built by the guys at Affliction, and the steering wheel is
for a MASCAR stock car built by Sparco
The Trunk: “
When I was thinking about people looking at this car, I wanted them to start
all over again when I opened the trunk,” Matt says, “I wasn’t going for good
fuel-system design, I wanted overkill.” On the driver side is the nitrous fuel
system with the red regulator. On the passenger side is the system for the EFI.
Both systems have two filters each. The tank was an aluminum box for a marine
application. Matt added the fittings and bungs to make it work on the street.
The gas filler uses 20 AN fittings from Earls and connects to a Moon Eyes
filler cap mounted on the sail panel. The rivets and the sheet metal work were
all performed by Matt. Makes you look, huh?
“
When I was thinking about people looking at this car, I wanted them to start
all over again when I opened the trunk,”
Wheels/Tires: The wheels are 17x8 and 17x10, D10sfrom Bogart Racing with
265/50ZR-17 Kumho and 215/50/RZ-17 Sumitomo tires for the street. For drag
racing and photo shoots, it had a set of 15x11s and 28x12.5R15 ET Street Radial
tires with a bead lock. Suspension: In the front are a pair of Chassisworks’
VariShock double-adjustable coilover shocks with Hotchkis control arms. The
front spring perch was cut to mount the coilovers. In the rear is a set of
VariShock coilovers with billet upper and lower control arms.
Body: The
car was media-blasted to bare metal and left the way for the build. The lower
patches on the quarter-panel were rough-welded on so the car would have a
certain look. The character of nicks and dings from use were left for effect.
The paint is a metal patina that was created by acid-washing the car and
staining it as you would furniture. You wipe the stain on and wipe it off; the
more you use, the darker the car becomes. “We haven’t counted the rivets. It
was a good idea until the first panel was done and then we realized we had to
do the rest of the car,” Matt says. The lettering was added by Hot Dog. The deck
wing is from Ed Quay Customs.
The
car was media-blasted to bare metal and left the way for the build.
