Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2018 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

You could probably pin the existence of the muscle car on drag racing. Muscle cars were essentially factory-built hot rods, and hot rods had been participating in acceleration contests from the time the second one was built. Not long after World War II ended, those impromptu street races were finally legitimized when the competition was organized and moved to air strips and purpose-built drag strips. By the mid-to-late ’50s, Detroit began offering extra-hot engine packages to consumers, and though many of those early efforts were spawned to help speedway racers in the NASCAR, most buyers of the street versions had no intention of driving in circles. They were arming themselves to line up next to someone else to see who could make it to the end of a quarter-mile first.…

There is only one word to describe the 13th Annual F.A.S.T. Summer Nationals: Scorching. With temperatures hovering near 100 degrees, power, traction, and shade were all in short supply for the 66 racers who came out for the second round of the 2018 F.A.S.T. season. As a reward for their effort, the racers were treated to plentiful track time and a terrific assortment of new and old muscle. F.A.S.T. (Factory Appearing/Stock Tire) rules require each car to look like an all-original model, with every visible cue correct for year and horsepower claimed. Body panels must remain steel, and full interiors must be in place. However, hiding beneath that correct air cleaner is a big-cube, high-horse, well-designed engine optimized to run on those bias-ply tires. Lightweight parts such as batteries, brackets,…

1971 CHEVY CHEVELLE SS 454 A/C INTERRUPT Q: Do you know where I can purchase the vacuum-operated A/C clutch interrupt switch? It was installed with a “piggyback”-plug blade connector with vacuum port by unplugging the stock, dual-blade, plastic connector on the A/C compressor, and plugging in the piggyback connector, with vacuum-operated disconnect valve, and connecting a rubber vacuum hose from the vacuum port into a tee spliced into the vacuum-advance hose on the distributor. I think the device was sold under the manufacture’s name “Mothers of California” back in the 1980s. The device operated as follows: If the A/C was on, and you were attempting a tight-margin passing maneuver, as soon as you hit the accelerator, the vacuum drop would activate and interrupt the electrical current to the electro-magnetic A/C…

UPCOMING: MECUM HEADED TO DALLAS AND CHICAGO; BONHAMS AND RM SOTHEBY’S IN PENNSYLVANIA At press time, still with more than two months to go before an estimated 1,000 collector cars will cross the block at Mecum’s sale at the Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center in Dallas from October 3-6, plenty of interesting muscle-car lots are already consigned. We’ll be tuning in to catch a glimpse of Lot S112, a rare 1969 Ford Mustang Boss 429, with its original engine, paint, and interior. Mecum previously sold this car for $465,000 at Indianapolis in 2015, but failed to find a new buyer in 2018 at Indy, when the bidding stalled at $380,000. Another interesting muscle machine on the docket is a 1970 Dodge Super Bee, said to be an original V-code, 440…

OCTOBER 3-6 MECUM AUCTIONS Dallas, Texas 262-275-5050 3-7 FALL CARLISLE Carlisle, Pennsylvania 717-243-7855 4-6 VICARI AUCTIONS Biloxi, Mississippi 504-264-2277 6 SILVER AUCTIONS Vancouver, Washington 800-255-4485 7 ALL OHIO PARTS SPECTACULAR Randolph, Ohio 800-553-8745 7 HI-PERFORMANCE SWAP MEET Long Beach, California 800-762-9785 7 SUMTER SWAP MEET Bushnell, Florida 727-848-7171 10-13 AACA EASTERN FALL MEET Hershey, Pennsylvania 717-534-1910 11-12 RM SOTHEBY’S AUCTION Hershey, Pennsylvania 519-352-4575 14 POMONA SWAP MEET Pomona, California 714-538-7091 18-20 CHICKASHA FALL SWAP MEET Chickasha, Oklahoma 405-224-6552 18-20 DFW SWAP MEET Grand Prairie, Texas 254-751-7958 19-20 BRANSON AUCTION Branson, Missouri 800-335-3063 21 ALL-AUTOMOTIVE SWAP MEET Stafford Springs, Connecticut 860-649-3697 25-27 MECUM AUCTIONS Chicago, Illinois 262-275-5050 25-27 NORMAN SWAP MEET Norman, Oklahoma 405-651-7927 27 SOMERNITES CRUISE-IN Somerset, Kentucky 606-872-2277…

EL MIRAGE DRY LAKE CONSIDERED FOR FIRST PERMANENT OFF-HIGHWAY VEHICLE AREA DESIGNATION On initial review, H.R.857 doesn’t appear to bring much change to how off-roaders and land-speed racers get to use public Southern California desert lands. El Mirage, along with five other Off-Highway Vehicle Areas, will remain under federal oversight and open to the public for motorized uses—including land-speed racing — as it has for nearly a century. In fact, the bill now winding its way through Congress, also known as the California Off-Road Recreation and Conservation Act, was specifically written to preserve that access by permanently designating those six areas as National Off-Highway Vehicle Recreation Areas, preventing both developers and federal officials from ever blocking access to those lands. According to background on the bill from Representative Paul Cook,…

“Every time I think the content of your fine magazine is lacking, boom, you hit one out of the park! Last month, a Buyer’s Guide on my current car, a ’68 AMX (HMM #178), and now the Mustang GT/CS (HMM #179)! My first car, purchased in 1973, was a black-on-black CS with a 390 4-V and four-speed, no less. It is apparently one of only two thus equipped. I paid a princely $650 for it, and had it not had the CS package, that might have very well been too much, as it had been well used, to put it mildly. As your readers know well, in 1973 most any of our now coveted heirlooms could be purchased for less than $2,000, at least where I lived in Northern California.…

WHEN YOU GO SHOPPING FOR AN SS 396, it’s not all that simple to determine the authenticity of a machine. Chevrolet is notorious for its lack of records with which to investigate the history of individual details. It’s easiest to look for clues that a car is not an SS 396 than to say definitively that one is, though the Nor-wood factory did give us one way to say for certain: If a car has a trim tag proclaiming “X22” or “X66,” that car is an SS 396. But not every car received an “X” code. One sign of an original big-block is a heater box with hose connections through the middle of the cover rather than the end, to clear the larger engine. ENGINE The 396-cu.in. Turbo Jet Mark…

1967 FORD FAIRLANE W-CODE 427 PRICE Base price.....................................................................................................................$2,545 Options on car profiled.....................................................................W-code engine, $1,235 ENGINE Type.................................... Ford FE-series OHV V-8; cast-iron block and cylinder heads Displacement..........................................................................................................427-cu.in. Bore x Stroke.....................................................................................................4.23 x 3.78 in Compression ratio...........................................................................................................11.6:1 Horsepower @ rpm.............................................................................................410 @ 5,600 Torque @ rpm............................................................................................476 lb-ft @ 3,400 Camshaft ................0.501-in lift (some sources indicate 0.525); 306 degrees duration Valvetrain...............................................................................Solid mechanical valve lifters Main bearings...................................................................................................................Five Fuel system............................................................Holley 710-cfm four-barrel carburetor, aluminum “medium-riser” intake, mechanical pump Ignition...........................................Autolite single-point mechanical-advance distributor with under-dash amplifier Lubrication system.....................................................................Pressure; gear-type pump Electrical system..........................................................................................................12-volt Exhaust system.................Cast-iron manifolds, dual exhaust, single transverse muffler TRANSMISSION Type.................................................Ford Toploader four-speed manual, all synchromesh Ratios.................................1st/2.32:1…2nd/1.69:1…3rd/1.29:1…4th/1.00:1…Reverse/2.32:1 DIFFERENTIAL Type.........................................................Ford 9-in “SPEC” housing with open differential Ratio.....................................................................................3.89:1 (factory); 4.11:1 (current) STEERING Type.............................................................................................................Recirculating ball Turns, lock-to-lock...........................................................................................................Five Turning circle................................................................................................................41.5-ft BRAKES Type ........................................................................Hydraulic; dual-circuit master cylinder Front..........................................................................11-in discs with single-piston calipers…

Border collies tend to go nuts if they don’t get to do some herding from time to time. It’s in their DNA. So, many owners take their pooches to farms to let them herd some sheep. Keeps them from herding the neighborhood kids, which parents tend to frown upon. It’s the same with muscle cars. They were bred for the drag strip, so it’s only natural to take them down the lane occasionally for exercise. “There’s nothing like testing the capability of your car on the drag strip,” says Dan Jensen, director of the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drag Racing series. “Even if you’re not competing, just testing, the experience is valuable and fun.” James Kryta, cofounder of Inline Tube, has been a Pure Stock racer for about 15 years…

SOME WOULD ARGUE that there’s no such thing as a coincidence, that everything happens for a specific reason rather than by chance. See what you believe after reading this article. Jim Pollina grew up in a Pontiac family. His dad purchased a new Grand Prix every few years, beginning with an inaugural 1962 model and ending with the last of the larger ones in 1977. Both of his older brothers were into Pontiacs as well, with one buying a 1961 Catalina convertible and the other a Liberty Blue 1969 GTO. Jim followed suit in 1977, when he was only 15 years old, by acquiring a Tri-Power, four-speed 1965 GTO with a service replacement 421 short-block… and he still owns that Goat. Just two years later, while still in high school,…

I GREW UP LIKING FORDS. My dad operated a Marathon gas station in Danville, Illinois, and for a short time he was also a salesman at the Ford dealership. Because of that, our family had a new 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 and then another one in 1958. In late 1959, Dad bought a 1960 Ford Galaxy, the car my two sisters and I would eventually use to learn to drive and get our licenses. The years 1963 and 1964 were influential in my desire to have a hot car. Songs about cars by the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean were playing on the radio, television ads showed Ford winning big at the 1963 Daytona 500, and seeing pictures of the ’64 Ford Fairlane Thunderbolt in car magazines really impressed…

TIRE READINGS AUTOMETER • 866-248-6356 • WWW.AUTOMETER.COM • $34.95 The Hoonigan X AutoMeter tire-pressure gauge combines function and durability with the styling of Ken Block’s “Hoonicorn” ’65 Mustang from Hoonigan Industries. The 0-60-psi gauge has a large 2.25-inch dial face for easy viewing. The stainless braided line is 13.75 inches long, and the gauge has a shock-dampening easy-grip housing. It also features a pressure release valve that allows you to hold the pressure reading. The gauge also comes with a protective case for easy storage when not in use. FUEL SYSTEM CLEANER BG PRODUCTS • 800-961-6228 • WWW.BGPROD.COM • $23.57 Pump gas is a crap shoot, with variations in fuel quality from station to station and coast to coast, so BG Products created its own solution. BG 44K…

What you’re looking at is something of a lame duck. By the time you read this, this Dodge Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody will no longer be available. There will be a 2019 Challenger SRT Hellcat Widebody, of course, but it will have found 10 more horsepower (for a total of 717). It will have a new front fascia and twin-scooped hood. And, at a starting price of $58,650 (before shipping and the gas-guzzler tax), it will be five-grand cheaper out the door, assuming you find a dealer willing to let one go for MSRP. The Widebody kit, seen here and exclusive to Hellcats and Demons last year, is available on the Challenger R/T Scat Pack for 2019. It doesn’t just look tough, it’s functional, too. The extra 3.5 inches of…

THERE ARE TWO THINGS we like to see here at HMM: old muscle cars making fast passes and vintage Super Stockers restored to their old glory. When those two stories intersect, we bring our full, undivided attention. Never titled, this 1970 Plymouth Duster has always been a race car, so why shouldn’t it still be a race car? The seventh in a series of eight cars raced as the Riddler, this Duster has had a rich history. And were it not for Dan Sukosd, intent on bringing it back, not only to its former glory, but also to a safe, capable quarter-mile killer, it might still be sitting in mid-project state, carved up and all but used up. As a younger man, Dan “ate and slept drag racing.” In 1974…

IF A TEENAGE JOHN HOFMANN had consulted a Magic 8 Ball about his future with this 1969 Dodge Super Bee, the response might’ve been: “Outlook not so good.” Of course, the thing is totally random anyway—a 20-sided chunk of plastic bobbing around in a ball full of colored liquid—so, it could’ve just as easily said: “Reply hazy try again,” or “You may rely on it.” The funny thing is, all of those responses would’ve been correct. In more than 40 years of ownership, a lot can happen between a guy and his car. Nobody knows that better than John. He’s covered the full gamut of highs, lows, and in-betweens: desperately wanting to own this Super Bee, struggling to acquire it, fretting over its upkeep, losing it, getting it back, losing…

FORD’S MIDSIZED FAIRLANE had received a fresh restyling for 1966, gaining a slicker roofline, stacked quad headlamps, and in-vogue “Coke-bottle” styling, all seeming to promise speed and aggression. But save for styled steel wheels, a couple of hood treatments, and rocker stripes, there was little to tell a six-cylinder Fairlane from something hotter. Perhaps more of an issue was the fact that even the hottest production offering was having trouble measuring up to the competition, as the muscle car wars fueled increasingly potent intermediates from other sources. So, while Ford was finally offering a 390 four-barrel-powered FE Fairlane GT, its 325-horse (or 315 with automatic) rating was well behind Chevy’s 375-hp 396, Pontiac’s 360-hp Tri-Power 389, or Mopar’s 425-hp Hemi—all of which neatly slotted into comparable midsized bodies. But this…

YOU’VE PROBABLY SEEN REFERENCES to the term “mission creep,” a military phrase used to describe a plan that slowly morphs into something much more involved than originally intended. Given that definition, it’s no surprise that mission creep has been applied to plenty of old-car projects, our most recent effort among them. If you’ve been following along with our Chevelle engine swap, you’ve seen us delve into the process of replacing the car’s factory-spec 396 and TH400 with a Chevrolet Performance ZZ427 big-block crate engine and Supermatic 4L85E overdrive automatic transmission. To this point, we’ve already had the new engine and transmission in the car to make sure it would all fit and to take measurements for a new driveshaft, while sorting some other details. We were on track to finally…

1 Bring a helmet and wear long pants (no shorts). The track may or may not require a helmet for the performance level of your car, but long pants are a must. 2 Don’t roll into the staging lanes until you’ve gone through tech and they’ve assigned a number to your car. 3 Don’t start your burnout until directed by the track official. 4 If you’re not going to do a burnout, drive around the water box to avoid pulling water up to the starting line. 5 Roll up your window. You’ll get yelled at if you don’t. 6 Look at the starting line position of the other cars. Many novices roll up too far, past the staging…

When Reliable Carriers wanted to schedule delivery of the Boppin ‘Bear,’ we decided to unload it at our nephew’s house, because we live too far back in the woods for the truck to have easy access. Our nephew had just sealed his driveway, and the day the ’64 was scheduled to arrive was the first day a car could be put on it. As soon as the Pontiac was delivered, we put it in the garage. That night, while I was working on it, a curious black bear walked down the driveway right up to the door and left its footprints in the process. It’s pretty odd that for a moment we had one bear in the garage and another just outside.…

HOLLYWOOD WHEELS is a relatively recent addition to the auction scene surrounding the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance weekend, though the company was actually founded back in 1992 as an automobile transportation business. Based in Seminole, Florida, Hollywood Wheels has since successfully transitioned into the realm of collectible and exotic cars, hosting a handful of annual events within the Sunshine State. Their biggest is arguably the Amelia Island sale, which was held on March 9-10 at the Omni Amelia Island Plantation Resort. The first day of the sale featured a heavy infusion of imports from around the world, while day two of gavel action focused primarily on boulevard cruisers and big-block bruisers from Detroit, which goes against the well-established “import/domestic balance” of the auction industry. On paper, this arrangement provides aficionados…