Innholdsfortegnelse for April 2017 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

“ Not only did this whole situation likely make for today’s fantasy street scenes, but it put late-model muscle cars well within reach of the average guy ”. One of the things I’ve long wished I could’ve been around for during the original muscle era was a time when these cars weren’t quite so “special.” Yes, I know—they were special from the day they rolled off the line: cooler, faster, better looking than the run-of-the-mill coupes and sedans, and so on and so forth. I’m talking about when they weren’t a bit too precious, as they tend to be today. From what I’ve read and heard from those who were there, once the era really got rolling, probably around ’67 or so, there were late-model performance cars everywhere. While rows…

TRANS-AM ERA—THE GOLDEN YEARS IN PHOTOGRAPHS: 1966-1972 Daniel Lipetz • David Bull Publishing www.bullpublishing.com • 800-831-1758 • $69.95 It’s a safe bet the SCCA’s Trans-American series was largely responsible for distracting legions of muscle-car fans from their laser focus on quarter-mile competition long enough to take a look at road racing. And much has been written about the Trans-Am series of the period from its start in 1966 until the ’72 season, but regardless of what you’ve read and viewed on the subject, this recently released book is worth a look. Trans-Am Era—The Golden Years in Photographs: 1966-1972 is a big, hardcover volume of over 200 pages that could give the impression of being yet another rehash of the same stories and images many of us have seen repeatedly,…

Once upon a time in Southern California... You’d think that the story would be a grand one from there, wouldn’t you? Ocean breezes mere minutes away, enough money floating around to follow whatever strain of the car-speed disease you happened to catch, 12 months of gorgeous weather each trip around the sun, and an increasingly anything-goes spirit. A land of possibilities unfurled before you. Multiple impromptu stoplight wars. Like a Beach Boys song come true. Except... Yeah, that’s the Hollywood scene-setting there. Life, even for those who grew up there, doesn’t always work out that way. Take the original owner of this car... It’s a factory-built ’69 Pontiac GTO Ram Air IV convertible , one of 59 (including five Judges), but rare, no matter how you slice it. It sold…

The concept was elegantly simple: Get the dozen best racing drivers in the world, regardless of discipline, and turn them loose in short races for bragging rights as to who was the best of the best. The races were so short that they could fit perfectly into a limited TV time slot. It was the 1970s, when everybody said that professional-level auto racing was going to be The Next Big Thing in televised sports. This was the International Race of Champions, and only in its first year, it was contested with very expensive Porsches, which does a lot to explain why Mark Donohue was the series’ first champion. A quantum shift occurred for IROC’s second season, in 1974 and 1975. We spoke with former IROC general manager Jay Signore, who…

It’s difficult to overstate the significance of Pontiac’s Super Duty 455 engine, which was offered in the 1973 and ’74 Firebird Trans Am and Formula models. When other manufacturers’ high-performance offerings at the time were emaciated shadows of their former selves, the Super Duty cars represented the last true vestige of the muscle car era. That the cars were built at all was somewhat remarkable, given the political climate of the day, shifting market trends and the engineering challenges automakers faced to simultaneously reduce vehicle emissions and boost fuel efficiency, but as was often the case with Detroit’s landmark performance cars, a handful of dedicated and determined engineers found a way. In the end, only a comparative handful of SD-455 cars were built — 1,296 of them — but their…

ALTERNATING QUESTION Q:I really enjoy your column. It’s great! I have a question about my alternator. It’s from my 1978 Z28, which my older brother bought new. It has 61,000 miles on it. The alternator was making some bearing noise, so I decided to rebuild it with new bearings and internals. It’s a Delco 1102394. The car was ordered with no power options at all, thus the factory-installed 37-ampere alternator. I had it tested by a reputable shop. It failed the turn-on speed test. I installed it anyway, and it works fine. It’s very quiet and shows 14 volts on the factory gauge. My question is, what is “turn-on speed,” and how is it created in the alternator? Thanks! David Via email A: The alternator in your Z28 is from…

I earn my living in a performance-based sales job, and I played competitive sports in high school, so I know and love the feeling of accomplishment you get when you win. The energy at The Race of Gentlemen (TROG) was like nothing I had experienced. Lining up to race with the ocean on one side and thousands of spectators on the other is electrifying. The visuals of TROG are like you’ve stepped back in time and are racing on a giant movie set where you’re the stunt man or woman. It’s hard work racing in the sand: Along with the excitement comes the reality of danger. First, a smooth, fast take-off is necessary. Too much throttle and you spin your tires and sink; too little throttle and you fall behind.…

CHEVROLET MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS AND BELLHOUSINGS Q: I have a 1973 Corvette, with a 350 V-8 engine and a four-speed Muncie transmission with all the correct stock linkage, shifter, etc. My question is, would a Saginaw four-speed out of a 1978 Camaro bolt into my car without any modifications? The transmission is fine in my Corvette, but I can buy this Saginaw four-speed with another bellhousing very cheaply. I just wanted to have it in the reserve as insurance. Do these two vehicles use the same bellhousing? George Van Dyke Via email A: The bellhousings are the same in 1970-’81 Corvettes and 1974-’81 Camaros with a V-8. The Saginaw will fit A-, G-, X-, H-bodies back to 1971, but I don’t show a direct interchange into Corvette. The overall length of…

“ Were the muscle cars of the ’60s really as good as the many legends would have us believe? Let’s take a look!” Storytelling can make certain things seem larger than life, whether you’re talking about people, events or even muscle cars. Yes, even muscle cars of the ’50s and ’60s have become the stuff of legends, particularly to the performance enthusiasts who grew up during those decades. Proof of this is in your hands right now. There are still many veterans of the radical ’60s, including myself, shuffling around, fighting the advancement to a larger belt size, who remember that magical era of 102-octane gas at every station to feed behemoth engines. As a member of that generation of boomer graybeards, consequently, I know the absolute, unadulterated TRUTH! Were…

DEMON: WHEN A HELLCAT JUST ISN’T ENOUGH About the time you read this, Dodge will have eclipsed its Hellcat Challenger with something new: Demon. Yes, the name has been seen before (if not for four and a half decades), but put all memory of a spunky A-body Mopar fastback out of your mind, and prepare for something that will be looking to rip your face off. The Demon (known under the codename ADR: American Drag Racer) will be a standard-issue Challenger with a few changes, the largest of which is hidden from view: a secondary A/C cooler. In the 8.4-inch U-Connect in-dash screen, there will be a button for Drag Mode. This shuts down the main air conditioning compressor, opens a solenoid, and runs A/C refrigerant through a secondary cooler…

Like thousands of other service- men of his time, young Harry Gutowski Jr. returned home from military service in 1969 and hustled down to the nearest dealership to buy a new set of wheels. Harry was a Mopar man, and nothing exemplified freedom at the time quite like a muscle car, so he didn’t hold back checking off the options while sitting at Grand Haven Chrysler-Plymouth, in western Michigan. He started with a new-for-1970 ’Cuda in Rallye Red, and had the factory shove the 440 Six-Barrel engine into it, along with the Pistol Grip-shifted four-speed transmission, console, Rallye instrumentation, Track Pack with a 3.54 axle ratio, body-color Elastomeric bumpers, fresh-air “Shaker” hood, hood pins and more. With 1,784 built—1,755 coupes and 29 convertibles—the 1970 ’Cuda was by far the highest-production…

Most of us who were lucky enough to essentially grow up with a muscle car that our parents owned can vividly recount the experience of riding in it. Our perspective, usually from the backseat, involved peering between the buckets to keep a watchful eye on Mom or Dad as they drove. When they decided to exercise the big V-8 at wide-open-throttle on occasion, we anxiously anticipated each upshift and observed in awe as our skilled parent carved through the H-pattern of the four-speed while coordinating each gear change with the smooth clutch pedal actions of the left foot in step with the accelerator pedal movements of the right (three-speeds and automatics could be fun, too, of course). We felt a rush when the induction and exhaust systems roared while the…

I was working as the lot boy at Fred Bell Chevrolet in Tujunga, Cali- fornia, in 1977. The job involved moving cars, washing cars, locking up cars and, of course, driving them to lunch . You know, a road test of sorts. I was 17 at the time and was able to drive many of the best cars from the late 60s and early 70s. They gave me a lot of freedom for a young guy. Back in those days the best muscle cars were trade-ins for new cars. I remember a 1969 Camaro SS with a 396 and a four-speed being traded in for the 1977 car of the year, the Chevrolet Caprice Classic. Amazing. Another one was the fellow who traded in his 1970 LT1 Corvette for a…

HMM PRODUCT TEST: FROST GUARD WINDSHIELD COVER This is probably not the sort of product you’re going to want to use on your muscle car, but for those of us who have to cope with winter weather for part of the year, anything that can assist with daily motoring chores is of interest. That’s where the Frost Guard makes itself useful. It’s a fabric cover for the windshield that is intended to be put in place while the car is parked, whether in your driveway overnight, the parking lot while you’re at work, or wherever. The heavy nylon cover has semi-rigid tubes sewn into the ends, to which flexible, adjustable “Fit-Fast” straps attach, which are looped around the side-view mirrors to hold the cover in place. The backing is a…

THE NUMBERS TOTAL SALES: $6,060,000 SELL-THROUGH: 305 of 510 lots sold; 59.8 percent AVERAGE SALE: $19,867 TOP MUSCLE CAR SALE: 1968 Shelby G.T. 500KR fastback, $152,250 UPCOMING AUCTIONS BY McCORMICK DATE: February 24-26 2017 LOCATION: Palm Springs, Arizona CONTACT: www.classic-carauction.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 Keith McCormick’s auction #61 saw a total of 310 cars sold out of 505 on offer. That’s a 59.8-percent sell-through, with total sales of $6.059 million—numbers that put this auction on par with other recent McCormick…

THE PETERSEN CELEBRATES GURNEY’S EAGLES Dan Gurney’s All American Racers has a more than 50-year track record of taking on the world and winning, and in recognition of this, the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles will be displaying 13 of the iconic racers in The Eagles Have Landed: Dan Gurney’s All American Racers, an exhibit that runs through January 17, 2018. Among the cars displayed will be the pair of Eagle Indy cars that saw Bobby Unser and Dan Gurney finish one-two in the 1968 Indianapolis 500, a 1970 Plymouth AAR ’Cuda Trans-Am car, the “McLeagle” Can-Am car campaigned by Gurney during the 1968 season, and the number 99 AAR Eagle Mk III GTP car, which won 8 of 11 IMSA GT Championship races during the 1993 season. One…

Of course, you know how the story of David and Goliath turned out. Goliath was a seven-foot Philistine who liked to talk some serious trash to the Israelites. While Goliath mocked him, David whipped his slingshot into a snap windup and let fly, leaving the big galoot with a deep dent in his forehead and a permanent stare. David and Goliath has become a secular metaphor for a little guy, kicked around sand-in-the-face style by a bigger bully, who then puts an unanticipated hurting on him. The bromide applies to cars — at least, some cars — as much as anything else. As an example, let’s consider the case of the lowly Dodge Omni, a rental-fleet refugee if one ever existed, and what happened once some of the go-fast guys…

After the successful launch of the 1968 AMX, sales of the two-seat performer from American Motors steadily slipped over the next two years. Meanwhile, the independent automaker’s styling department had already begun work on a next-gen Javelin platform. Some of its motivation was derived from market-trend forecasts, suggesting that buyers would be looking for longer and wider cars. But another factor was the influences that came from Roger Penske and Mark Donohue, who had been racing the Javelin in Trans-Am very successfully. The new-for-’71 model’s “humped” fenders as well as the AMX’s tall rear spoiler and mesh grille, were all based on input from Donohue. When it was unveiled, the revamped Kenosha pony sat on a 110-inch wheelbase chassis — an inch longer than the previous generation, and with no…

“Going all-out to win that race, with all the prestige and history and money that it represented, was just part of what we did.” If you look at the NHRA’s listing of great moments in drag racing that marked its 50th anniversary, they rank the Funny Car final from the 1978 U.S. Nationals at Indy as the third-greatest drag race ever. I also remember that they had some kind of a fan-voting thing where they picked the same race as the greatest final round of all time. I was in that final round, and I lost it. It’s still one of the most memorable and touching moments of my own career. This was the race where I came to the line against my former Hot Wheels teammate Tom McEwen, who…

SPECIFICATIONS ENGINE Block Type . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ford FE Cylinder Heads . . . . . . . . . . Dove aluminum high-riser, 2.09 /1.66-inch valves Displacement . . . . . . . . . . . 468-cu.in. Bore x Stroke. . . . . . . . . . . . 4.32 inches x 3.98 inches Compression Ratio . . . . . . . 13:1 Pistons . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Arias forged aluminum Connecting Rods . . . . . . . . . Ford 427 Le Mans-style forged steel Crankshaft. . . . . . . . . . . . .…

I cannot actually recall a time when I did not like cars. My first memories in life began in 1955 when I was three years old, and I know I was car crazy then. That was a pretty simple age in the automotive world, as most auto manufacturers had one basic body style and one size car. Obviously, there were two-doors, four-doors and station wagons, but you could recognize a Ford or Chevrolet at a glance. I remember receiving toy cars as gifts from that age on. My older brother and I would sit on the curb in front of our house and identify each and every car that drove down our street. My father and an uncle were employed by GMAC, so loyalty to the GM brand was ingrained…

MECUM AT KISSIMMEE It seems as though driving to Florida and buying a fun car would be an ideal way to break the winter doldrums. Mecum Auctions must agree, since it holds a multi-day sale in Kissimmee each year. A couple lots that should interest readers of this magazine wound up in the top-10 results of the January 6-15 auction. Nearly the top seller of the event, at $775,000, was a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette roadster. The Corvette was said to have the unique distinction of being the “only Tuxedo Black/Bright Blue 435-hp 1967 Corvette Convertible known to exist.” The four-speed, 4.11-geared example at Kissimmee had a long history of collector ownership and an award resume to match. Kissimmee was also a real treat for lovers of the early-1960s Super Stock…

March 31-April 2 Auctions America Fort Lauderdale, Florida . . . . . 877-906-2437 April 1-2 Columbus Spring Swap Meet Columbus, Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . 614-235-5833 April 2 Sumter Swap Meet Bushnell, Florida . . . . . . . . . . . 727-848-7171 April 6-8 Barrett-Jackson Auction Palm Beach, Florida . . . . . . . . 480-421-6694 April 6-8 Mecum Auctions Houston, Texas . . . . . . . . . . . . 262-275-5050 April 6-9 Charlotte Spring Meet AutoFair Concord, North Carolina. . . . . 704-841-1990 April 7-9 Portland Swap Meet Portland, Oregon . . . . . . . . . . 503-678-2100 April 19-23 Spring Carlisle Carlisle, Pennsylvania . . . .…