Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2017 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

“ The Hellcat Challenger isn’t just brutally fast, it’s fairly luxurious and roomy, and it will purr down the highway at 1,200 RPM if that’s what you want it to do.” As I stood in the driveway, I kept trying to imagine what I would have thought if I’d had any knowledge, say, just 15 years ago, of the Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat sitting before me. But, even if the information had come from the ghost of Walter P. Chrysler himself, I’d likely have just dismissed it. A rear-drive, supercharged HEMI V-8 coupe, styled after the E-body Challenger and making 707 horsepower, waiting at a Dodge dealer near you? Yeah, right. Just in case you absolutely refuse to pay any attention to late-model cars, the Hellcat Challenger and its Hellcat…

THE DEFINITIVE FIREBIRD & TRANS AM GUIDE 1967-1969 Rocky Rotella • CarTech • 800-551-4754 • www.cartechbooks.com • $39.95 Debuting on the eve of the F-body’s 50th anniversary, Rocky Rotella’s in-depth look at Pontiac’s Firebird is the result of years’ worth of research. Rotella, a life-long Firebird enthusiast and HMM contributor, who was influenced at an early age while riding in his father’s ’70s Trans Ams, has been gathering information on these cars since long before the notion of a book arose. Once it did, the project really intensified. In addition to the useful decoding information you’d expect, this book has lots of GM factory photos and internal documents to provide insight on the backstory of the Firebird’s development and evolution, supported by interviews with key personnel involved with the…

Give Mother Mopar credit: Despite being perpetually perched on Detroit’s third podium step, she knew how to move metal during the second half of the Sixties. This at a time when sales competition ran as thick as 90-weight gear oil, and profit margins could be maximized by cramming a big-block engine into aggressively styled, liberally loaded midsized cars festooned with equally aggressive names. For a while it was a winning formula for all parties involved in the muscle car madness, but then some observant insiders within the hallowed halls of the Chrysler Corporation recognized that there was a segment of the audience eager for factory performance on a budget. They’d happily throw their hard-earned cash into performance parts, but they couldn’t afford, or simply didn’t want, much else. Long positioned…

While it never offered the marquee high-performance engines in the vein of the Street Hemi, Super Cobra Jet or Stage 1, AMC built muscle cars that were nonetheless competitive with the midrange performers from its Big Three competitors–on the street and track or with the checkbook. Special models such as the 1969 SC/Rambler and 1970 Rebel “The Machine” blended performance with the visual distinction that characterized the era. By 1971 muscle cars were declining sharply and so was AMC’s fortune. The company was betting big on segment-transforming vehicles such as the Gremlin and, later, the Pacer, so there were precious few dollars leftover for frivolous specialty performance models that added essentially zilch to the bottom line. Nevertheless, AMC had strong V-8 engines in the 360 and 401, along with a…

Chrysler Corporation had already rocked the world of stock cars twice before the late 1960s came along. First came about 15 years earlier, when Carl Kiekhaefer’s almost military-prepped fleet of Chrysler 300s utterly decimated the competition in NASCAR’s top series. Then in 1964, the second-generation Hemi put Dodges and Ply-mouths in a race by themselves for Grand National glory. You know the drill. Ford and GM went to exotic induction in the late 1950s until it was banned. Then Ford tried to have its SOHC racing engine legalized to chase the Hemi, to no avail. There were manufacturer boycotts on both sides. After 1966, though, NASCAR settled down to a somewhat shaky détente between Ford and Chrysler, and the competition stabilized. This was also the era when the Aero Wars…

“We whooped. We swooped. We spun the hoops. And we always made class before the first bell.” It was my father’s idea. He was keen to know if I had any intelligence at all beyond how to pump gas, and if I did, in what areas it might manifest. Three days of testing every human skill, talent and aberration at the Johnson O’Connor Foundation in Manhattan was the prescription. Shortly after the tests, I was deemed NOT a team player. The kid had subjective personality. It was suggested that I take up the oboe… or become a surgeon. Oh, the old man loved hearing that. As a result, I spent a couple of years in the late Fifties at a prestigious day school in northern New Jersey. I’m convinced that…

REPLACING VALVE-GUIDE SEALS Q: I have been reading HMM, your columns, and your “Ask Ray” feature for over eight years and have found them to be very interesting and informative. I am impressed with the range of car problems that you have been willing to tackle and provide potential remedies for. I have a 1969 Chevrolet Corvette with the 350-hp 350-cu.in. engine. It has 110,000 miles on it and runs very well, except that a couple of the cylinders are prone to oil fouling of the spark plugs after several thousand miles. I run one-heat-range-hotter AC R45S plugs in those problem cylinders to forestall fouling. I never run the engine for less than 10 minutes from a cold start; otherwise one of the plugs is sure to foul right away.…

I decided in the early fall of 1997 to acquire and prepare a car, drive it from my home to the starting line in Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico, and enter the race. I attended the Fall Carlisle swap meet in Pennsylvania to find a suitable car that fit my $5,000 budget. I found and purchased a 1965 Mercury Monterey. Aside from its 390 V-8, column-shift automatic and some owner modifications (four-barrel, headers and glasspacks), it was as base as could be: bench seat and manual steering. The 65,000-mile car cost $2,800. Driving 200 miles home with a pad next to me, I arrived with a fairly short list of what it would take to get the car ready. My agenda included the mandatory roll bar, driver and passenger five-point harnesses, a…

’57 MERCURY POWER-DISC-BRAKE CONVERSION Q: I’m looking for a power-disc-brake conversion for a 1957 Mercury Monterey M-335, but I still want to maintain the 5 x 5-inch bolt pattern. It could even be an independent front suspension set up, if necessary. Are there any companies I can contact that would have the complete changeover kit for this Mercury? Buddy Wenners Via Hemmings Facebook page A: The front spindles and control-arm assemblies are shared by most 1957-’64 Ford, Edsel and Mercury full-size vehicles (except Park Lane); however, the 5 x 5-inch bolt pattern is specific to 1957-’60 Mercury and 1958 Edsel. There are many complete changeover kits available for the 4.5-inch bolt pattern. Superior Automotive Products offers a kit for 1957-’67 Fords and Mercurys. Master Power Brakes offers two power-boost-assist kits…

“...I would visit these neighborhood rodders’ garages, and that’s where I think I became a ‘car guy,’ probably at around 10 or 11 years ” old.” Have you ever wondered why you are interested in muscle cars? Have you ever thought about how, all those many crew-cut years ago, you became infatuated with them? Was it the looks, the performance, or maybe just ego, wanting to be one of those cool cats cruising around in a slick new chick magnet car? Maybe it was all of the above and then some. Possibly there was something stirring your juices even before the early muscle cars. The only member of my family who worked on cars was my Uncle Pat. He wasn’t a mechanic, but he could fix almost any problem on…

WITH THIS ’RING, I THEE DOMINATE Armed with only a stock Camaro ZL1 fortified with Sparco chairs, six-point harnesses, a roll hoop and data acquisition equipment, Camaro ride-and-handling engineer Drew Cat-tell drove Germany’s legendary Nürburgring Nordschleife in 7:29.60. What does that mean? Well, that’s a whopping 11.67 seconds quicker than the previous ZL1’s fast lap, for starters—over a course that’s 12.9 miles long with literally hundreds of turns. But what does it mean? It’s quicker than a whole host of cars costing several times as much, including the Mercedes SLS AMG GT, a variety of hairy Porsche 911 variants, Lexus LFA, and a few recent Ferraris and Lamborghinis. It’s also within two seconds of the all-wheel-drive twin-turbo Nissan GTR, Lamborghini Huracan LP610-4, McLaren MP4-12C and Porsche Carrera GT around the…

The idea that a high-performance engine is best matched with a manual transmission is a point of view shared by many an ardent muscle-car enthusiast. It’s a natural pairing along the lines of peanut butter and jelly, like a burger and fries, like… well, you get the idea. With a manual transmission, the driver has complete control of the shift points, there’s no power loss through a torque convertor, and, since manual transmissions historically provide more gears than their automatic counterparts, there’s more opportunity to keep said engine in its sweet spot. Chevrolet seemed to subscribe to this ideology more than many manufacturers of the muscle era, for up until 1969, its top-dog solid-lifter engines were required to be matched with a stick shift. But as muscle cars approached their…

ENGINE The new 370-hp “Starfire” 425-cu.in. engine was standard in the Jetstar I and Starfire. No other engine was available in either model. The Starfire engine was optional in the Delta 88 and the Ninety Eight. BRAKES The Jetstar I is equipped with the same 11-inch-diameter, cast-iron, four-wheel drum brakes used in the Starfire, Dynamic 88, Delta 88 and Ninety Eight. Power assist was standard in the Starfire and Ninety Eight, but optional in the Jetstar I and 88s. TRANSMISSION Though a three-speed manual remained the standard transmission, the optional gearboxes were revised. A Muncie M20 four-speed could be ordered at extra cost, as could the new Turbo Hydra-Matic in regular M40 and heavy-duty M41 versions. INTERIOR Bucket seats were standard, as was additional interior trim and a center console…

TIME FLIES WHEN YOU’RE HAVING FUN I grew up on the east side of Cleveland, Ohio. The father of my friend, Al, owned Diene’s Service, a gas station on the corner of East 123rd and Griffing Avenue. In my senior year of high school, I worked at the station. After graduating in 1966, I enlisted in the Army for three years. Near the end of my enlistment, I ordered a 1969 Pontiac Grand Prix SJ 428 HO in Midnight Green, with black interior and vinyl top, power brakes and steering, and three-speed Hydramatic. It put out 390 horses and cost me $4,200. It was a year-round driver for only one year, then used only as a sunny day car, when it received numerous scratches from the kids’ bikes. When I…

HMM PRODUCT TEST: AUTO DEHUMIDIFIER BY ZARPAX Moisture is the enemy of any car. From oxidation to mold, mildew and some just plain funky smells, dampness can wreak havoc on an old car, particularly one that doesn’t get out much. There are several steps you can take to mitigate that moisture, but for simply keeping a covered or garaged vehicle dry, self-contained desiccant packs can often do the trick. Just think of those little silica gel packs that came with your latest pair of shoes, but supersized to keep your Dodge Charger dry instead of your size 13 Chuck Taylors. After leaving a window open for close to a week while off on a recent trip (really, save the hate mail as I am still banging my head against the…

THE NUMBERS TOTAL SALES: $50 million TOP MUSCLE CAR SALE: 1966 Ford GT40 MkI, $4,400,000 UPCOMING AUCTIONS BY MECUM DATE: January 6-15, 2017 LOCATION: Osceola Heritage Park, Kissimmee, Florida CONTACT: www.mecum.com LEGEND CONDITION: 1 = Excellent; 2 = Very Good; 3 = Average; 4 = Poor; 5 = Major Project RESERVE: Minimum price owner will accept TOP BID: The highest offer made (but vehicle did not sell) SELLING PRICE: What the vehicle sold for AVERAGE SELLING PRICE: Average market value of vehicles in similar condition How do you mea- sure an auction’s success? Is it an overall sales number? Is it a higher per-car average than last year? Is it not just surviving, but thriving by selling a wide array of driver-plus-quality classics in a high-zoot atmosphere? Is it television…

PETER BROCK RECEIVES SIMEONE’S SPIRIT OF COMPETITION AWARD The man who had a hand in developing both the Corvette and the Mustang for racing purposes has added another piece of hardware to his mantle, as the Simeone Automotive Museum has presented Peter Brock with its annual Spirit of Competition Award. Brock, who famously joined the General Motors design staff at age 19, went on to contribute to the design of the Corvette Sting Ray and then, with Shelby American, worked on the designs for both the Shelby G.T. 350 and the Shelby Cobra Daytona. He later founded Brock Racing Enterprises, dedicated to putting Toyotas and Datsuns on podiums, and he’s spent time teaching others to drive sports cars, building competitive show cars as well as covering races in the United…

Whether you are a serious racer or just a casual enthusiast, bringing a car to the Pure Stock Drags should be on your bucket list. Nestled among the potato fields in Stanton, Michigan, the Mid Michigan Motorplex has played host to the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Race for the past 22 years. No matter what your favorite car, odds are you are going to see it in action during this weekend. The formula for the race is simple enough. Friday morning begins with a tech inspection to ensure that each car meets the stringent rules of the event. At 10 a.m., the track opens for all-day qualifying runs, and then each car’s best pass from Friday goes in the books as its qualifying time. As the sun sets…

It’s been half a century since the Ford Motor Company, maker of Model Ts and pickup trucks, caught the sports car world by surprise with its GT40 program. Ford’s formula of using a large-displacement engine working at a fraction of its capabilities to outlive smaller, more clever efforts that operated on the ragged edge over a 24-hour period, worked from 1966-’69. Ferrari, the darling of the sports-car world that had spurned Ford’s advances for purchase earlier that decade, was soundly trounced at Le Mans for four years running. American car enthusiasts’ chests swelled with pride: See, we can do more than drive in counterclockwise circles. When Ford talked about Total Performance, it wasn’t kidding. Fifty-five cars started Le Mans in 1966, 13 of them Ford GT40s. A total of 15…

It was great to see that Joe Oldham is writing for HMM these days. I grew up reading Hi-Performance Cars magazine and followed many of his stories with keen interest. I really enjoyed his column in HMM #159, November 2016 (“A Z to Remember,”) recounting the 1974 Z28. Back in 1973, I was entering my senior year in high school and had decided to get a new car with the proceeds of a good-paying part-time job and some very supportive parents. After doing considerable homework about which new car was the best performer and the most cost effective, I purchased a new 1974 Z28 from Applegate Chevy in Flint, Michigan, on October 25, 1973. I paid about $4,100 out the door and with a 50-percent down payment, paid it off…

Cobras, Corvettes and Countaches: The de facto poster cars of the 1970s were widely plastered on teenage boys’ bedroom walls nationwide. (Usually adjacent to posters of Farrah and Bo.) But what sort of young guy would paper his walls with black-and-white photos of a ’57 Ford sedan, sporting the full-on gasser treatment? A lad with an interest in straight axles, uncorked headers and radiused fender wells was a little more, uh, extreme, we’d wager. Perhaps, uncommonly single-minded. That kid might’ve been so obsessed that he grew up staring at those photos every day until, at about age 50, he just said the hell with it and built that very car. Wait, “Might’ve been so obsessed?” Make that: “ Was so obsessed.” We know because we spent time…

I guess it was pre- ordained that I would grow up to be a car guy when my first ride home from the hospital was in my father’s Torino GT in the summer of 1968. When he was younger, he’d owned a ’55 Chevy and a ’62 Impala convertible, but while I was in school my parents bought nothing but mundane family haulers. When I started Passaic Valley High School, a number of older students had cool 1960s and ’70s muscle cars that certainly caught my interest. My good friend, Keith, also had a 1969 Cougar that his older sister had given to him when he turned 17. We weren’t old enough to drive just yet, but Keith would pull the car — usually with several guys stuffed in the…

CRUISING FOR DREAMS: LEAKE’S INAUGURAL MOTOR CITY AUCTION September 9-10, 2016, saw Leake Auc- tion Company’s first foray into the city of Detroit, with a sale held at the MotorCity Casino. Among the 258 lots were classics, street rods and, of course, muscle cars. What could be more appropriate to the city most closely associated with the glory days of chrome, steel and horsepower? Among the more expensive vehicles bought and sold at the auction was a Pro Street Nova custom-built by Rick Dobertin three decades ago. Considered one of the progenitors of the Pro Street movement, the blue hardtop with LS7-spec 454 brought $85,000. Finding a new owner at $52,000 was a 1970 Mercury Cyclone Boss 429. The midsize Mercury with Boss 429 power was the closest thing to…

January 1 Sumter Swap Meet Bushnell, Florida . . . . . . . . . . . 727-848-7171 January 6-15 Mecum Auctions Kissimmee, Florida . . . . . . . . . 262-275-5050 January 8 Super Sunday Indy Swap Meet Indianapolis, Indiana . . . . . . . . 317-296-0336 January 14-22 Barrett-Jackson Auction Scottsdale, Arizona . . . . . . . . . 480-421-6694 January 15 Arizona Concours d’Elegance Phoenix, Arizona . . . . . . . . . . . 602-625-9594 January 18 Worldwide Auctioneers Scottsdale, Arizona . . . . . . . . . 260-925-6789 January 18-22 Russo and Steele Auction Scottsdale, Arizona . . . . . . . . . 602-252-2697 January 19 Bonhams Auction Scottsdale, Arizona . .…