Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2025 i Classic American

How soon we forget. This 17-year-old concept car is perhaps the most youthful entry ever to make it into the (itals) From Here to Obscurity (end itals) canon. It is fair to say that it has been forgotten, although, assuming that anyone was aware of it to begin with. That isn’t to say that it wasn’t without worth, mind. It’s just that its arrival coincided with its maker enduring the worst year in its history, which is saying something, given the travails of Chrysler Corp over the past half a century. As such, it was certainly written about in period, but rather more ink was spilled discussing the future of the brand. The Zeo, or rather the Zero Emissions Operation to give its less catchy title, was very on point…

In the far corner of Neville Wright’s immaculate garage near Darlington, sits a very special and very rare 1965 Chevrolet Corvette Sting Ray Convertible. Ordered originally from new in 1965 by the legendary British actor Sir John Mills, this well-optioned beauty has an exclusive provenance which, under most circumstances, would be enough for a prospective buyer to cough up a considerable amount of money. However, the fact that this ’65 Corvette was one of only 112 convertibles out of the 2157 Corvettes to be ordered with the L78 396 cubic inch/425bhp Turbo Jet V8 option, of which only a handful survive, was a good enough reason for Neville Wright to buy the car: “I didn’t care who owned it, I just fell in love with the car!” This particular Corvette…

1. How’s this for a tantalising introduction to Windy Hill Auto Parts? Parked right outside the office during my visit, this 1951 Studebaker Champion, complete with 6-cylinder engine and automatic transmission, was hard to miss. A perfect taster of the treasures waiting beyond the gate. Welcome to the third and final part of my visit to one of the US’s greatest junkyards. 2. “We sell quality used auto parts, from engines, transmissions, tires, windshields, and computers to watcha-ma-call-its,” boasts the Windy Hill Auto Parts website. After spending an afternoon exploring the place, I’m not about to argue. That said, some cars have been well picked over – like this 1936 Chevrolet Master Deluxe two-door Town Sedan. 3. This 1963 Chevrolet Corvair Monza convertible is looking a little worse for wear…

Sand Draggin’ This incredible-looking thing was built by California Show Cars around 1970 and was part of a private collection and was restored some 15 years ago. The engine and gearbox were originally part of a 1969 Oldsmobile Toronado, before being fitted to this Bob Reisner creation. It runs on four Weber 48 IDA carburettors. The big block engine puts out around 670 bhp; however, as Historics point out: “It must be remembered that this is predominantly a show car the has been built to drive on sand, hence the name ‘Sand Draggin’”. It’s even signed by the legendary George Barris. The Pool Hustler What do you get when you cross a pool table with a hot rod? This! The pool table itself is thought to be around 100 years…

I’m sure many of you reading this probably look at your modern, daily driven vehicle as simply a tool to get from one place to another, unlike that Classic American icon you have in your garage, drive or storage unit. Today’s cars often seem to be designed by committees and riddled with technology features that many of us don’t understand and make the whole vehicle ownership experience unnecessarily complicated. They also seem to become ever more appliance-like and characterless with each passing year, not mention increasingly expensive. Much of that has been driven by ever more aggressive mandates forced upon vehicle manufacturers by government agencies. On this side of the pond, up until recently there was an aggressive push towards electric vehicles, firstly driven by emissions and fuel economy regulation…

Bought as a stripped shell, with bags of parts, this very rare 57 Mercury Turnpike cruiser must have been right up Jack Betts’ Street as a challenging restoration that would send many running to the hills. Often, we tend to hold a lifelong fascination with the cars we remember from when we were young. Skip back a decade or two earlier and there’s little in the way of any personal connection, which no doubt explains why many pre- war automobiles are now falling in value. Fortunately, there are petrolheads around such as 30-year-old Jack Betts who buck that trend completely: “I just have a fascination for all things retro,” he explains, “… and the Fifties is one of my favourite decades.” And it’s easy to see why. The Fifties was…

Pick-ups were designed for a multitude of roles, to help whoever owns them move things around, say for example on a farm, or to deliver goods and services around a town. But, over time, the utilitarian pick-up truck began to symbolise what America was really all about - especially rural and small-town America. However, don’t forget, there are plenty of pickups in big cities too. A pick-up has become a necessary purchase for millions of people across the US, as they chase their vision of the American dream. So, despite humble, commercial, and unsexy roots, pick-ups have their fans all over the world. Some folks adore them beaten-up and with rusty patina, others, like Steve Varden, will invest hundreds of thousands of pounds to turn out a resto-mod vision like…

This one street is just about all that is left of this town, now part of its larger neighbour Bisbee, another mining town, just 20 minutes’ drive to the Mexican border. Driving some 200 miles, each way, from our Scottsdale base might seem a bit extreme by British standards, but of course you can cover a great deal of mileage easily in this area with an early start. We had already decided that breakfast at the BBC would be a good idea, after seeing the photos of the classic cars in the street on the Visit Arizona website. Incidentally, I should explain that “BBC”, in this context, stands for the Bisbee Breakfast Club in Lowell. The route took us past the Pinal Air Park, just visible from the Freeway, a…

It’s mid-September already, as I write this, and all too soon another summer of car events is over for many. The Hot Rod Drags at Santa Pod marks the end of weekends away camping, as the evenings draw in. We can’t complain, though; whether you prefer weekends away at big car shows, local gatherings, or a trip to the strip, it has been a good summer, even if it did go by too quickly! Arriving at Santa Pod on Friday morning, it looked like the recent changeable weather had made many people think twice It was definitely quieter in and around the campsite, though there were plenty of ‘Run What Ya Brung’ entrants in the fire-up lanes by the afternoon. The pits seemed quieter too, with many of the popular…

With penultimate points on offer for round 5 of Melbourne Raceway’s exclusive American Super Stock series, nine of the Detroit’s finest fought like mad for the right to be number 1 qualifier during the track’s Mid-Summer Nationals. With series leader Craig Elliott absent without leave, could it be all change at the top?! Here’s how it went down… From five action packed qualifiers as well as the LCQ [Last Chance Qualifier], Sportsman ET racer Sara Unsworth had done enough to guide her turbo 4.6-litre modular overhead cam ’98 Mustang GT ‘Lemon Drizzle’ through to the top qualifier spot. Sticking pretty much to her nominated 7.10 dial-in, Sara ran just 2 thousandths’ over in 7.102 seconds, and that folks was achieved by late Saturday afternoon. However, there were two other racers…

The Handi-Bus was only built from 1965 to 1970; however, this one arrived in Britain in 2016 and it has acquired a superb patina over its 60-year life. When I rendezvous with owner Stewart Mann, I find him engrossed in conversation with a member of the public. This is par for the course whenever he parks, because his battle-scarred set of wheels is on the conspicuous side, and barely anyone has the faintest idea what it is. It’s a 1968 GMC Handi-Bus Custom, that’s what, and you’re unlikely to see another on British soil. GMC’s Handi models were a simple exercise in badge-engineering, released to accompany Chevrolet’s water-cooled, mid-engined G-series light van range of 1964. The Handi-Van was first on the scene and was joined in 1965 by the Handi-Bus,…

On my sixteenth birthday, my father handed me the keys to a black 1965 Mustang Convertible. He had spent months tracking down the right trim pieces and repainting them until the finish caught the light just right. When he opened the garage that morning, I didn’t just see a car. I saw love. He wiped a smudge from the fender and said, “She’s yours,” with the kind of look on his face I will never forget. I still take that Mustang out for drives when the weather is nice. Every mile feels like another thread tying me back to him… For those who know me, my love for antiques and restoration is an important part of who I am. But what many people don’t know is where this love started.…

On the previous pages I mentioned that my daughter and I accidentally stumbled upon this additional gem of Americana, during our day trip from Scottsdale to Lowell in Southern Arizona in December 2023. It seems that the story here began as long ago as 1927, when the Court was established as a place to provide trailer and camping spaces to travellers making their way along Highway 80, which stretches from Savannah, Georgia to San Diego, California. There are naturally comparisons with much better-known Route 66 here, because Highway 80 was a notable centre of travel, exploration and family getaways in the early part of the 20th century. Here you cannot miss a 1957 Valentine Diner – “Dot’s Diner” – which serves up breakfast dishes, burgers and milk shakes to those…