Innholdsfortegnelse for January 2018 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

“ …without the existence of an online option, I was left to books and consulting with local experts, and I can recall being sorely disappointed by both on a number of occasions ”. I was trying to figure out some issue with one of the late-model daily drivers recently, and almost instinctively jumped online to poke around in search of answers. Soon, I was weighing input from a variety of sources, filtering out some of the bad data, and, before long, the problem was handled. If you were born from about 1980 on, you truly might not know any other way of living. But those of us who’ve been around longer are also right there with you, because we don’t really remember what living without the internet was like, either.…

50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE PONTIAC FIREBIRD ColaizziDesign • www.colaizzidesign.com 937-477-5530 • $90 (signed paper proof print)/ $275 (signed limited-edition giclée print), plus s&h Officially unveiled during the 2017 Cincinnati Concours, this incredibly realistic portrait of a first-year Firebird convertible represents the latest piece of mixed-media automotive artwork to emerge from the studio of Bob Colaizzi. His tribute to a very special Firebird was commissioned by the owner of that very car, who maintains a soft spot for it after driving it to college. In his typical fashion, Colaizzi drew the car—along with a couple taking in a sleek Staggerwing Beechcraft—by hand, before scanning his illustration into Photoshop, where he rendered the Pontiac in colors that gave the finished product the polish and tone of watercolors and opaque acrylic paints. Like…

THERE’S AN APP FOR THAT Going to the auction? Get the app! There is no escaping smartphone technology. Beyond the Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter feeds that dominate their use, a smartphone can be a serious tool at an auction when you load the right software applications on it. One of the first apps that caught our attention was “Hammer Price,” a tool for both real-time and past-auction results. “Hammer Price” provides not only sold lots, but the high bid for those lots that don’t reach reserve. Other buyers’ tools built into the app include the ability to choose favorites, so that you can more easily find the specific cars you are looking for. And once you select a favorite model from any auction, you can see pricing trends, pulling data…

“After the Saturday night movie was over, the hot cars usually went for a late-night burger and some side-road action ”. Long before TV, the advent of the movie projector brought a whole new world of entertainment to the American public. In rural areas, those without a formal indoor theatre and sometimes with limited electricity, impromptu theatres were set up in park buildings with folding chairs for viewing the latest black-and-white flicks available. Eventually, this concept was expanded into what we knew as the drive-in theatre. I say “knew” because there are very few, if any, original drive-ins left across this country. The only one in my area of California was bulldozed for condos many years ago. As a youngster, going to the outdoor movies was a real treat. The…

FIRST IN, LAST OUT GM’s Australian-built full-size rear-drive performance sedan (and cop car) is gone for good With the final rear-drive Holden Commodore sedan (a red six-speed Commodore VFII Redline V8) rolling out of the Elizabeth plant last October, Australia is officially out of the car-building business. Holden built a total of 7,687,675 cars in Australia between 1948 and 2017. According to Holden boss Mike Deveraux, “Australia’s automotive industry is up against a perfect storm of negative influences, including the sustained strength of the Aussie dollar against almost all major trading currencies, the relatively high cost of production, and the relatively small scale of the local domestic market.” In the last 15 years, Australia built some of the most interesting GM cars sold on American soil: the underrated 2004-’06 Pontiac…

ENGINE A 400 was standard, and the 340 and 440 were optional. Engine revisions for emissions, combined with the use of net power ratings as a more accurate way of depicting engine output as installed in the car, resulted in lower figures than previous years. BRAKES Power assist was optional for the standard 11-inch heavy-duty drum brakes and included with the extra-cost front discs that featured single-piston calipers and 10.72-inch rotors. TRANSMISSION A floor-shifted three-speed manual was standard, and an A-833 four-speed or TorqueFlite three-speed automatic were optional. The four-speed used a Hurst Pistol Grip, and when a console was ordered with the TorqueFlite, a Slap-Stik shifter was included. INTERIOR An all-vinyl bench-seat interior was standard, and bucket seats were optional. The extra-cost Road Runner Décor Group provided custom-styled vinyl…

“I do know that the Camaro cleaned Addison’s clock twice, thus defeating the undefeatable factory car.” Detroit Dragway, where are you now? Buried under an industrial park, your ghosts forever haunting the territory marked by Sibley Road and Dix Highway, that’s where you are. Can you feel the vibrations? The Dirty D was the baby of promoter Gil Kohn, who simultaneously ran several other drag strips (Motor City Dragway and New York National included). It was a bare-bones box (Kohn wasn’t known for his extravagance) on the outlands south of the city. Under one auspice or another, the D burned rubber from 1959 to 1998. I was there one afternoon at the end of October in 1972. All these years on, this is what I am able to salvage from…

VIBRATION DIAGNOSIS Q:I am looking for help to diagnose a mild vibration. The car is a 1969 Camaro, 396 with a Muncie four-speed, with about 29,500 miles after restoration. The problem is a mild vibration between 1,600 and 2,000 rpm. It vibrates with the car stopped while revving the engine to the rpm mentioned, and also while driving at or through the same rpm range. I’ve owned the car for 20 years and the vibration started after recently replacing the throw-out and pilot bearing. The history of what I thought were throw-out bearing problems is as follows: At 11,618 miles, I replaced the clutch, pressure plate, throw-out bearing and pilot bearing because of clutch chatter. I also replaced the squealing throw-out bearing at 11,821 miles. I installed a new Centerforce…

LATE-MODEL CHEVROLET PICKUP SHEETMETAL SWAP Q: My question is, will the fenders and hood of a 1989 Chevy Suburban fit a 1981 K10 Chevrolet pickup without swapping the radiator core support? Oscar Rodriguez Via email A: Yes, 1981-’87 fenders and hoods are interchangeable between all 1981-’87 pickups, as well as 1981-’91 Blazers, Jimmys, and Suburbans. Core supports are also the same, if you stick with the same headlight arrangement (single swaps with single; dual swaps with dual). The fenders and hood from an ’89 pickup will not fit; those work with 1988-’02 pickups only. MUNCIE INTO A MONTE CARLO Q: First, I want to thank you for your time and talent with the column. It’s the first thing I read when I open the magazine. I learn so much each…

NATIONAL CORVETTE HOMECOMING FOR SALE BY CURRENT OWNER Founded in 1981 — the same year Corvette production moved from St. Louis to Bowling Green — the National Corvette Homecoming (NCH) is an annual celebration centered around Chevrolet’s premier sports car. Held in Bowling Green, Kentucky, the three-day event features car shows, a road tour, guest speakers, seminars, vendors, and exhibits, but, unless current owners Joe and Vera Pruitt can find a new buyer for the show, NCH may be no more. NCH has had several owners over the years, beginning with founders Tom Hill and Sam Hall. The Pruitts, along with a trio of partners, purchased the NCH in December of 2001, but as Joe explained, the other partners stepped down by 2004. Since then, putting on the annual show…

“This was at Connecticut Dragway, which is where we raced most of the time. Our Thunderbolt was an automatic, and we worked on it at the dealership, though we could only work on it after hours, and the owner, John Campbell, didn’t give us any money to support the effort. But we were allowed to use the company wrecker to haul the car to the tracks. There were three of us in the department who ran the car, and I drove. I recall that we ran that ’64 Ford in the other lane two or three times, but I don’t remember much about it. I think that car came out of Tasca [Ford, in Rhode Island], but I’m not sure.” “This is also Connecticut Dragway. That stripe that ran down…

CLAWS AND A COBRA JET Wow, is all I can say about the December 2017 (HMM 172) “Drop-top Cat With Claws” article. I have seen that picture plenty of times before, and I am sure I have a book or two with it in there. I was particularly excited by this article because I owned, for about 15 years, a 1969 Cougar XR7 convertible, R-code (428 Cobra Jet Ram Air), four-speed car. It is one of 31 of these cars produced with the R-code and four- speed. There were 96 automatic-equipped R-code, XR7 convertibles built in 1969 (four were built for the latest installment of the James Bond series, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service) I am sure the number of XR7 convertibles with the W-code, 4.30 axle is a very…

There’s nothing quite like the satisfaction of a job well done, especially when you’ve accomplished it yourself. A few issues back (HMM 169, September 2017, to be exact), we outlined the intricacies of rebuilding the front suspension on a GM midsize (A-body) muscle machine. It’s a task almost every owner will be faced with sooner or later, so it was a popular read for much of our audience. Any vehicle’s suspension system is a critical component when it comes to ride, handling, and, most important, safety. So, it just makes sense to ensure yours is in proper working order. The parts we’re working with are nearly a half-century old, and even though we advocate using new suspension components wherever we can, there are reasons for retaining some of the major…

January 5-7 Public Collector Car Auction and Car Show Fort Lauderdale, Florida . . . . . 561-533-7945 January 5-14 Mecum Auction Kissimmee, Florida . . . . . . . . . 262-275-5050 January 7 All Ohio Parts Spectacular Swap Meet Medina, Ohio . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 800-553-8745 January 7 Long Beach Hi Performance Swap Long Beach, California . . . . . . 800-762-9785 January 7 Sumter Swap Meet Bushnell, Florida . . . . . . . . . . . 727-848-7171 January 12-13 Mopar Super Swap XIX Melbourne, Florida . . . . . . . . . 321-480-9265 January 12-13 Tom Mack Swap Meet & Car Corral Concord, North Carolina . . . . .803-364-3322…