Rick Dobbertin’s J2000

It is the pinnacle year for Pro Street. Guys are tubbing and stuffing monster rear tires under anything with four wheels, when a street machiner by the name of Rick Dobbertin tweaks everybody with the debut of his Pro Street Pontiac J2000 in 1986. The multi-hued roller features a pneumatically actuated tilt body used to reveal the fully polished stainless-steel tube chassis and a Dominator carburetor relocated to the front of the engine, feeding a pair of Roto-Master turbos. But Rick didn’t stop there; he ducted the turbo discharge tubes to a pair of Magnuson superchargers atop an all-aluminum small-block Chevy. While you’re trying to assimilate this visual assault, tech details begin to burn through. You realize the only way Rick could stuff those leviathan Firestones under the back of the diminutive J-car was to eliminate—wait for it—the rear suspension. There are no shocks and no springs. At its coming-out party, the J2000 relied strictly on sidewall deflection to tune ride quality. And, yes, given the right circumstances, it would bounce like a Top Fuel car. Later, Dobbertin added a pair of valvesprings(!) between the top of the rear-end housing and the chassis to dampen the legion of critics who howled that any car without a rear suspension was not a real street car.

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Photo Gallery: Rick Dobbertin’s J2000 – Car Craft Magazine