Hemmings Muscle Machines December 2018

I still recall a friend telling me about this big trade show he’d just returned from, summing it up by saying, “You’d lose your bleeping mind.” He wasn’t really a car guy, but I’d infected him a bit, so he knew what he’d experienced was my version of the proverbial candy store. This was back around 1993. I was in my mid-20s, and though I’d been reading Hot Rod and Car Craft since about the fourth grade, I’d never heard of this “SEMA Show.” Picking over the logoed key chains, pens, and other tchotchkes he’d grabbed at the show, it started to become clear that this was a place for the Edelbrocks and Holleys of the aftermarket world, and not some gathering for vendors of oil filters and rebuilt master…

ROGER PENSKE TO RECEIVE 2018 SIMEONE SPIRIT OF COMPETITION AWARD Roger Penske has enjoyed success as a racing driver and team owner for over five decades. On October 31, Penske will be presented with the 11th-annual Simeone Foundation Spirit of Competition Award in a ceremony taking place at the Philadelphia museum. Penske was just 16 when he began flipping used cars for income. During his time at Lehigh University, those cars included a Jaguar XK120, sold to fund a Jaguar XK120M, which in turn was flipped to buy a Mercedes-Benz 300 SL. The profit Penske realized from the sale of the Mercedes funded his first racing car, a Chevy Corvette. Penske was as adept at racing as he was at business, and in 1960 captured his first SCCA Championship. He’d…

Back in 2016, we spent some time behind the wheel of a Mustang GT/CS, and we were underwhelmed. So-so grunt. Soft ride. A too-quiet cabin. It could have been the Mercury Cougar version, if Mercury was still around: a little bit big, chock-full of toys, and just about sporty enough. But “just about sporty enough” isn’t what we want in a modern performance car: We want excess. We want whiplash when we punch the gas. We want grip (and an exhaust noise) that makes our ears bleed. We want to be in control of it, more or less. We want to feel it. In that ’16 Mustang, we did not feel it. In the two seasons since, Ford has managed to address every single issue we had with that car.…

STREETABLE SCREAMER In response to your comment about the [Chevrolet Performance] 572 being streetable, a friend and I did this exact swap in his ’69 Chevelle along with the Tremec five-speed. The 572 in the 620-hp crate motor comes with the 850 double-pumper Holley carb. When you stand on it, the 572 is a torque monster! However, the street manners are quite pleasant when driving around town and to car shows. The 572 does have a pleasing lope to it, saying to others, “Don’t mess with me!” The 572 runs cool around town with a four-core radiator and is very mild mannered on the street. The only problem encountered was finding headers for the 572, as it is a tall-deck block. After making several inquiries, my friend located a supplier…

I’m writing to relieve the fear of those in the old-car hobby who believe that the future of this hobby is in jeopardy. I can assure you that there are many among the millennial generation who have a keen interest in old cars. They, like past generations, are limited financially to feed their desire, and should look past what’s popular and focus on what’s obtainable. My 17-year-old son purchased a 1984 Firebird SE with a 305-cu.in. V-8 and a five-speed. It’s not the most desirable vehicle in the third-gen inventory, but it’s his. Not only that, how many young people can operate a carburetor and clutch simultaneously? Here is a picture of him on his first day of senior year looking proud as can be. I drove past the high-school…

CHECK OUT THE 1969 DODGE Charger on these pages. Looks fairly normal, right? Now, look closer. If you can’t tell by now, you need to look closer still. It might appear to be an ordinary Charger at first glance, but a slower, more nuanced take tells a different story. The front wheels have been moved forward 2 inches and the fenders modified to make the proportions look right. Two inches were removed from the car at the rear, the quarter panels and decklid modified to match. Can you see it now? That’s not an R/T badge on that driver’s side headlamp cover. That’s the logo for Ringbrothers, which has built some wild, fast, and often mind-blowing muscle cars out of its Spring Green, Wisconsin-based shop. While this car is neither…