Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Hemmings Classic Car

Write to our Editor at mlitwin@hemmings.com and follow him on Instagram @matt.litwin.hemmings. “The trek’s name left us delving into a litany of iconic road tunes that lyrically painted pictures of endless miles and a need to get somewhere quick.” MAYBE IT’S JUST our lack of luck, but the promise of efficient commercial air travel has taken a noticeable turn for the worse this year. Successive trips to Arizona, Florida, and North Carolina were besieged by increasingly longer delays, the latter of which had us stranded first in a terminal, and then onboard a big Boeing for nearly 12 hours in total. That’s not including a connecting flight, or the required early arrival to check bags and pass through security, or the commute home from the airport. Add it all up…

I JUST FINISHED READING your June issue and the one article I really enjoyed was the restoration of the 1951 Studebaker. Then I again really enjoyed the old Frazer ad. I remember those Kaiser/Frazers being the most beautiful automobiles and would love to have one. I really like the independent automobiles. My dad had Essex/Terraplane/Hudsons until they went out of business. I barely remember his Terraplane, but well remember his 1940 Hudson. There was a doctor who bought a [new] Hudson every year. Dad had a deal with the dealer to buy the low-mileage one that the doctor turned in every other year. Dad was a salesman and put a lot of miles on a car. He kept that 1940 Hudson through World War II with over 200,00 miles on…

“The Super Six featured a new side-valve, six-cylinder engine that really was revolutionary.” IT SEEMS nowadays that companies like to announce “revolutionary new” products, many of which are simply repackaged versions of existing or far older products. During much of its history, the American automobile industry liked to trumpet “all-new cars” every model year, claiming great advances that many times were pretty minor. But there were certain years when truly ground-breaking things were introduced. Take, for instance, 1916. It was a boom year for the nascent American auto industry when vehicle production increased by something like 70 percent. The Hudson Motor Car Company—because of production capacity increases pushed through earlier, coupled with the introduction of a radical new model—actually managed to outpace even that lofty number; its production jumped a…

1. IMPROVE YOUR STAKES BRUCE HORKEY’S WOOD AND PARTS 507-831-5625 New stake pockets are now available for the Dodge lowside pickups built from 1939 through 1956. This new part will make it easier to replace the entire box of your lowside bed, which is designed to fit the 116-inch wheelbase ½-ton and the 120-inch wheelbase ¾- and 1-ton pickups. Each 16-gauge steel, die-stamped pocket is manufactured from new tooling and is laser trimmed to size to ease replacement of your damaged or rusted bed stake pockets. In addition, the rear crossmember brace is included. $93/EACH horkeyswoodandparts.com 2. NOVA UNDERGARMENTS STEELE RUBBER 800-447-0849 New heat and sound deadening sets are available for the 1966-’67 Nova and Nova SS. Each pre-cut underlayment set is tailored to the specifications of the Nova for…

“I then feel right at home with car people and enjoy their company greatly. They are usually smart, capable, successful, and friendly.” THERE WAS A TIME when every self-respecting corner service station could do a breaker-points ignition tune-up, lube wheel bearings, clean air filters, and repack universal joints. Not anymore. Modern cars can go for years, and for many miles, before they need such care. Cleaning and oiling air filters has become a lost art. Unfortunately, so are the knowledge and skills to do routine maintenance. If you are having such problems with your vintage ride, you’re not alone. Join the club. By that, I mean two things: First, that we owners of older classics are all in the same boat, and second, the best way I know of to…

THIS CAR STARTED with the opposite of previous-owner syndrome. The previous owner, the fellow who sold this 1956 Austin-Healey 100 to current owner/refurbisher Ken Gypson of Poestenkill, New York, did right by the car in his turn, but Ken’s determined to take it to the next step. “The one thing I want to be perfectly clear: It’s not a restoration, it’s a refurbishment. I don’t want to restore it to the point where I’m afraid to drive it. If I’m afraid to drive it, I can’t own it.” Ken has had several “Big Healeys” in his life, going back to his youth when they were still available in knockabout condition at entry level pricing. As such, he’s no stranger to their innards and he recognized a good foundation to build…

1957 FORD FAIRLANE 500 SKYLINER While the two-seat Thunderbird is Ford’s reigning Fifties classic, the contemporary Skyliner had even more of a wow factor with its retractable hard roof. This first-year example left the factory Inca Gold, but was repainted in Colonial White over Willow Green. While the finish was said to have some flaws, the top was shown in a video to operate properly, and the two-tone interior looked attractive. It’s not known if the 292-cu.in. V-8 was original to this car; it was rebuilt three years ago and, like the Ford-O-Matic, was said to run and drive smoothly. Some chassis work was done although cracked bushings and steering play were still present. The Skyliner offered a lot of bang for the buck. Reserve: $19,000 Selling Price: $23,258 Recent…

THE MOMENT Suzuki Motors introduced its new compact Samurai SUV to America for 1986, Jeep management began to worry. True, the Japanese four-wheeler was rather small and slow. Powered by a 1.3-liter overhead-cam four-cylinder that delivered just 63 hp, the Samurai was measured by Motor Trend as accelerating from 0-60 mph in 16.9 seconds. But on the plus side, the Samurai was fun to drive in town, and during off-roading the tough little runt seemed nearly unstoppable. However, the biggest draw—the thing that made the folks at Jeep really sweat—was its base price of $6,550. By comparison, the base price of Jeep’s Wrangler was $9,899. Sure, the all-new Wrangler was considered a 1987 model, since the 1986 CJ-7 had a very short production run—the last examples were shipped in January…

IT WAS 1950, and after years of working at a local Ford–Mercury dealer—minus time away to serve during World War II—my father built and opened a Texaco service station on State Route 29 in Galway, New York. My dad’s was your typical full-service station of the day. The building was white with a couple of green stripes to go along with Texaco’s corporate colors. It had two work bays in front, one of which had a lift, and another bay in the back perpendicular to the front bays. At first, the station had a two-pump island that was later expanded to three pumps. Two of those pumps were regular (Fire Chief) and one was premium (Sky Chief). Three underground tanks, totaling 6,000 gallons, held the fuel. I was born in…

SPONSORED BY GULLWING MOTOR CARS The story starts as it ends—with this 1964 Datsun NL320 pickup, a truck that even hardcore Japanese-car enthusiasts have a hard time picturing, and a fat stack of receipts from the no-longer-extant Bookout Datsun/Nissan of Visalia, California. Current owner Moses Thompson of Tucson, Arizona, explains, “I’m sitting on 20 pages of receipts for everything under the sun—steering wheel, door felts, visors, lenses—and they all say ‘Ralph’ on them.” Ralph is Ralph Bookout, son of the founders of the eponymous California Datsun dealership. And while the first 16 years of this NL320’s life have been lost to time, we can pick up this truck’s story in late 1980, when it was effectively restored for the first time. “The parts he ordered probably haven’t been available since…

SWAP MEETS THAT HAVE THE SIZE and stature of the AACA’s Eastern Fall Meet in Hershey, Pennsylvania, abound with seemingly endless purchasing possibilities. Whether you’re on the hunt for automotive ephemera, petroliana, or hard-to-find parts, the object that haunts your dreams just might be lurking in one of the seven—yes, seven—named fields. The same applies to the hunt for your next restoration project vehicle, as it may not be in the miles-long car corral. A perfect case study is this 1949 Buick Super convertible we happened upon somewhere in the Green Field during the latter days of the 2022 extravaganza. It probably goes without saying that 1949 was a monumental year for the domestic automobile industry, when every car-maker welcomed truly new postwar designs in earnest; or at least those…

Well-versed Blue Oval performance aficionados are keenly aware of the “Grabbers,” a wild-yet-limited color palette that was offered on select pony and intermediate cars from Ford and Mercury. But there was another “Grabber,” one billed as “A top choice for active people.” That Grabber was the upscale, V-8 equipped, full-size Ford XL, which could have been ordered mild or wild in fastback or convertible guise.…