Getting the whole package.

If your like me you might like to hear guys talk about the good ole days when some friend or relative used to own an old beater that one day received a mega power plant and destroyed the whole town.
Stories abound from decades past of young men who met their Maker at the helms of a local legend. Usually a car or truck known for it's many defeats at stop lights and corn fields or made famous by evading the sheriff a time or two. These cars where rough and tough and full of parts that made them fly. And fly they did but in the end most of them turned up in the same locations. After an untimely slam into an immovable object that usually posted no threat to the average driver these cars would be nothing more than scrap metal.
One such story comes to mind from my younger days. Me and a friend were out rummaging through old abandoned farm houses one hot summer day, while the rest of the world was at work. The house we visited this day had been vacant for years. The former tenant was a wild man who grew up there. The family that had raised him and occupied the house for decades was long gone but they left a legacy of having been the local hooligans. I remembered the parties and the mean dogs they had when I was a kid and how they used to chase me and my friends, scaring us half to death. I never knew he had an older brother who was never around any more. This day we would stumble onto a piece of local automotive lore and misery.
Out behind the house was a barn that was barely visible through the brush. We climbed into the top of the barn and looked out the hole used for raising hay and such into the upper level. From where we stood we could see across a field and into some woods. Down in the woods not too far from where we were was a blue 64' Impala. We quickly climbed to the ground and ran out to see what we could find on the junker.
The scene at the car was typical except for one thing. The car had been in the woods for a long time. The windows gone the paint gone etc. etc. but usually in these farm towns you find a car that was sent to pasture because it was too costly to maintain and was usually not to badly damaged apart from time and weather. This car was different though. The front of the car was crushed all the way to the fire wall with the twisted metal stiking high in the air above the roof while the rest of the car was left intact. The engine was gone and the windshield was destroyed.
My friend and I thought little of the damage or the story behind it as we began to unload our pellet guns into any remaining piece of glass or plastic on the car. That night as I returned home to tell of my findings I learned the horrible story behind the car from my father.
Apparently the Impala had been one of the aforementioned autos whose performance had made a name. A name for out running the law that is. I was too young to remember the details of the engine and such but hey those parts did their job.
Story goes that a young man no older than 21 had been out east of town getting into some trouble. When he was pursued he took off down an old curvey road. The speeds did exceed 100 mph and I can tell you myself (now that I drive that same road from time to time) that 100 mph is ridiculous even in today's cars given the area he was in. It wasn't the curves that got him though. The cops where relentless this time and young William (if I recall correctly) was getting desperate. You see he had built the car to run and he was young enough to drive real stupid but he didn't consider the whole package.
With stock brakes and suspension the beast was unable to stop at a stop sign. A "T" in the road where one long straight stretch of road stops when it comes to another road. Directly past the stop sign and across the other road is a rail road track that is elevated about 20 feet from the corn field it crosses. The track formed sort of a wall crossing the big field. William's Impala launched off the road traveled 30 yards or so and hit the wall formed by the tracks so hard it killed him and destroyed the car on the spot. The officers simply had to clean up the mess and leave wondering why a young man had to die.
The car for some reason was sent to the home of the family and stuck out back for years to come rather than going to the scrap yard. Perhaps they thought there was something to be saved. Truth is alot could have been saved.
All too often I see vehicles upgraded to perform well beyond normal means when it comes to acceloration but with no regaurd to the stoping power of the brakes and suspension at all. Nowadays we see cars leave our shop with more than 600hp so much that it seems commonplace. These cars are fast and mean just like we like them but with each car we always strongly recommed upgrading the brakes as well. Many times it is as simple as a nice set of slotted rotors and some Hawk pads. Some times we may install a complete Brembo Gran Turismo kit it all depends on the car and the customers attitude towards true safety.
For the guy who really wants to have the whole package we may consider some sway bars and or drop springs aswell.
Improved braking and handeling can be a fun uprade by itself as it will make the car feel lighter and more nimble. The effect of the more nimble feel will be the perseption of a faster car. If you take it to a track you may acctually run faster lap times by making these upgrades alone.
So when you decide to spring for that supercharer or turbo; don't be stupid get the whole package.