Hemmings Muscle Machines September 2016

“I can’t believe how long I held on to a beat-up old Camaro that I probably should have cut loose years ago. Thank God for youthful foolishness.” opened an email letter from a reader the other day, attached was an image of a ’69 Camaro that had just been pulled forward a few feet out of the garage it had been in for 30-plus years (check it out in Backfire’s Letter of the Month on page 52). We’ve all seen these types of scenes, whether in photos or in person, but this one seemed particularly familiar to me, almost to the point of déjà vu, as I recalled my own ’69 Camaro in a similar pose. Actually, my car had emerged from multiple garages, in various locations over the course…

A VAUNTED BADGE RETURNS WITH SOME CONTEMPORARY TWISTS American automakers have displayed a long-standing tendency to periodically resurrect once-respected muscle-era brands and badges and apply them to their latest efforts at performance, in an attempt to inspire fond recollections from consumers. Buick fans have not been immune, having elements from past performers of the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s combined to yield the Regal GS, a pairing first used to somewhat disappointing effect back in the late ’80s. However, its more recent revival promises to be a bit more worthy of its name. Back around 2010, Buick showed a concept car branded as the Regal GS, a performance variant of the new Regal it was rolling out. Anyone who pays attention to such things likely noticed at the time that the…

HEADER GENIUS JERE STAHL, 1935-2016 If you’ve never heard his name, you almost certainly grew up outside the Northeast, but we bet you’re still were familiar with his products. Jere Stahl was a gifted mechanic and designer out of the York, Pennsylvania, area who came up with his own line of equal-length exhaust headers that set a firm standard of performance during his tenure. Stahl died on June 21, after a battle with cancer. Originally from Romulus, Michigan, Stahl got the idea for his headers after reading a library book on British sports-car engines while serving in the Army. In those days, most performance headers were of the tri-Y design, produced on the West Coast by the likes of Hedman, Jardine and S&S. Stahl figured he could do better, and…

LOST DRAG STRIPS II Scotty Gosson • www.cartechbooks.com • $29.95 That the need exists at all for this book is a sad testament to the number of straight-line racing facilities that are no longer in business. The fact that it’s the second volume in this series, however, represents the deep-seated respect that the author, historian Scotty Gosson, demonstrates for drag strips past. In 176 brightly written softcover pages, divided into chapters by region, Gosson lays out the facts and anecdotes behind more than 25 strips’ closings, usually for either economic or environmental reasons. A run through the list of locations makes you immediately wistful for how much has been lost over the decades. There are some very big-name tracks in this book that had rich histories: San Fernando, Fremont,…

The 1970s was a decade unlike any before it, and quite possibly since. Horsepower ratings had never been higher at the start, but within a matter of five years, the socioeconomic climate had brought the performance-car market to its knees. Times were so bleak that Ford reintroduced its Mustang as a compact. Buick dropped its Gran Sport. Oldsmobile’s 4-4-2 had been relegated to little more than a graphics and handling package. Even Chevrolet’s Z28 went away for ’75 and ’76. Pontiac, however, forged onward. As the ’70s unfolded, the Trans Am volume increased each year from 1972, and it overtook the GTO as the division’s performance flagship. Jim Carter, a 49-year-old funeral director from Lee’s Summit, Missouri, was old enough to watch the Trans Am evolve into an icon of…

Turbo Macho T/A #202 is a very unique car like none other that I have owned before. In terms of the T/A community, a person either loves the Macho T/A or hates it. When I had the car at MCACN ’15, some people would walk up and ask what it was. I think some even mistakenly thought it was an ’80 because of the “turbo” graphics. Others would share stories about a Macho T/A they knew of or saw back in the day! Neither bothers me because I can take it to any show and not worry about parking next to another. I am more than proud to be the caretaker of #202!…