Hemmings Muscle Machines June 2016

“...some of the lessons of that class didn’t really sink in until years later.” I couldn’t wait to get into the auto shop once I made it to high school. This was back when you could still do such things casually, without having to commit to a vocational school to get your hands dirty in class. My school had been built in the early 1960s, and was probably considered a model of the modern learning facility at that time. One of the features was a large and fully equipped auto shop, complete with engines, transmissions and even whole vehicles to train on. Twenty years later, when I showed up, it was still impressive. If you liked cars, you definitely wanted to get in there. Despite my enthusiasm for shop class,…

The GT350 and the GT350R are, at their hearts, the same car. Both run the flat-plane-crank 5.2-liter V-8, rated at 526 horsepower at 7,500 RPM, and 429 pound-feet of torque at 4,750 RPM. That’s 102 horsepower per liter, or (at 315 cubic inches) a naturally aspirated 1.67 horsepower per cubic inch. Redline on the so-called “Voodoo” V-8 is an eye-watering 8,250 RPM. Both run a Tremec six-speed transmission to a Torsen limited-slip diff. Both wear an all-new front end, with fascia, hood and fenders up to two inches lower than a comparable GT. (The fascia and fenders, in particular, really help pull the car’s appearance together, at least in our eyes—by comparison, the standard car looks as if a vintage model has been left to melt in the sun.) They…

CARLISLE FORD NATIONALS SALUTES 40 YEARS OF THE STARSKY/HUTCH GRAN TORINO Starsky & Hutch, which premiered on ABC television in April 1975, was hardly the first crime drama to feature an automobile in a starring role. It was, perhaps, the first show to spawn a limited production run of copycat cars from a major automaker, and four decades after the debut of the 1976 Starsky/Hutch Ford Gran Torinos, the cars retain their cult following. On June 3-5, the Carlisle Ford Nationals will salute 40 years of the “striped tomato” Gran Torinos with a display featuring cars from the television series and 2004 movie, along with production examples built for consumers by Ford. On February 9, 1976, after receiving numerous inquiries from fans of the show, Ford announced a limited production…

TRANS AM & FIREBIRD RESTORATION: 1970 1/2-1981 Melvin Benzaquen • www.cartechbooks.com • $29.95 Too often we find generic procedures and advice offered in restoration books dedicated to a specific model. That isn’t the case here. Author Melvin Benzaquen put this work together as a means of gathering some of the knowledge he and his crew have amassed during many years operating a restoration shop where second-generation Firebirds were a specialty. Benzaquen’s fondness for these models goes back to the black 1979 Trans Am Special Edition he bought brand new, and he’s been paying attention to them ever since. Firebirds of the 1970-’81 period have been broadly admired since they were new, but by the ’80s it was clear that they had many of their own issues that had to…

Some would hear about Greg Condra’s lot in life and think the deck was stacked against him. Graduating from high school in 1966, he attended junior college in 1967 and ’68, and by 1969, he was out of options. The government forced Greg’s hand, drafting him into the U.S. Army for mandatory service in the Vietnam conflict, and ducking service was not in the cards. It was while he was stationed in Southeast Asia that the longtime Mopar fan heard about the car that he knew he’d have to own when he got home: the new Dodge Challenger. Finally, Dodge had a pony car to call its own, replete with long-hood/ short-deck proportions, a longer/lower/wider stance and sheer aggression of styling in an era when Mustang was getting long in…

SPECIFICATIONS PRICE Base price . . . . . . . . . . . . . $3,535.00 Price as profiled . . . . . . . . $3,987.75 Options on car profiled . . . AM/8-Track radio, $201.60; console, $53.05; four-speed transmission, $198.10 ENGINE Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Chrysler B-series 90-degree OHV V-8, cast-iron block and cylinder heads Displacement . . . . . . . . . . 383 cubic inches Bore x stroke . . . . . . . . . . . 4.25 x 3.375 inches Compression ratio . . . . . . . 9.5:1 Horsepower @ RPM . . . . . 335 @ 5,200 Torque @…