Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2018 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

Ididn’t want to go nuts, I just wanted to make it powerful. And I wanted an automatic for that grand touring feel. The body changes were very minor, just making it a little cleaner. I love the way Ring Brothers came up with some suggestions, ideas, or steered me in a better direction, just based on their experience. But the interior I like the best. It looks original inside, but everything they did to it just makes it feel a bit more high end. That’s also what I see most when I drive it. I don’t see the engine or the wheels. I just feel at home. People love it. It really stands out. Especially at English classic car shows.…

cruise nights.…

SOME RESTORATIONS DRAG ON for years. Others are knocked out like clockwork in a matter of months. The timeframe for the makeover of this 1971 Buick GS? Both. Back in 1999, this car was blown apart and made stunning again in just four short months, a testament to the mad skills and work ethic of its restorer, Larry Asselin. But then-owner Mike Vogel began tweaking things, attending to the myriad of details that made this car as factory-correct as it is today — a process that was years in the making. Like so many overhauls, this one snowballed from the start. Mike intended to build a fun pleasure driver, but it’s turned into a garaged and trailered show car. “I wanted the car to be kind of a Sunday ice-cream…

AT ITS CORE, SEMA IS A trade show, which means that networking — getting noticed by other professionals — is probably the most important and long-lasting thing one can accomplish while attending. If you are a craftsman or a shop, the most effective means of getting noticed is to bring and display an example of your work. A fresh build, constructed with SEMA in mind, is a business card of unparalleled effectiveness. To that end, SEMA offers its Battle of the Builders. Nearly 300 applicants vie for the attention and recognition of attendees and those of us watching from the outside. Merely applying and being accepted as a BotB competitor isn’t enough, however. In order to be displayed, and thus judged, vehicles must also be sponsored…

WHEN WE IMPROVED THE HANDLING capabilities of our ’67 Chevelle a few issues back (“Cutting Corners,” HMM #179), we were thrilled with the results. But those upgrades quickly pointed out another shortcoming: The steering ratio of our old original box (17.5:1) left us maniacally winding the wheel as we attempted to keep up with our Chevelle’s new pavement prowess. If we wanted to take full advantage of those improvements, clearly a steering box swap was in order. Perhaps one of the greatest advantages of owning a GM product is the vast amount of parts interchangeability, not just between similar platforms in the same family, but even between the different models and brands. For instance, one of the most popular swaps for early A-bodies is the 1984-’88 Monte Carlo SS box.…

BEST IN SHOW 1970 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 Tom Leahy; Kingston, New York BEST ENGINE BAY 1968 Chevrolet Camaro Bill Brockman; Guilderland, New York BEST PAINT 1971 Plymouth ’Cuda Dean and Casey Watson Woodbury, Connecticut FAVORITE AMC 1965 Marlin Gunther Schuarz Worcester, Massachusetts 2ND PLACE AMC 1970 Rebel Machine Josh Joseph; Marcy, New York FAVORITE BUICK 1972 GSX Dan Hall; Pine Plains, New York 2ND PLACE BUICK 1987 Grand National Paul and Dorota Burton Feeding Hills, Massachusetts FAVORITE CHEVROLET 1970 Camaro Z28 Tom Leahy; Kingston, New York 2ND PLACE CHEVROLET 1970 Chevelle SS 396 McCoy Melton; Poughkeepsie, New York FAVORITE DODGE 1969 Dart Swinger 340 Raymond Hilmer; Millerton, New York 2ND PLACE DODGE 1970 Challenger R/T 440 Six Pack Joe Paluso; Enfield, Connecticut FAVORITE FORD 1970 Torino GT pace car Mike…

RM Sotheby’s will be conducting an auction at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles, California, on December 8. The museum is the perfect backdrop for this auction as it houses hundreds of rare collectible cars, making it among the best automotive museums in the world. DECEMBER–JANUARY NOVEMBER 30-DECEMBER 1 PREMIER AUCTION GROUP GULF COAST CLASSIC Punta Gorda, Florida 844-593-7355 DECEMBER 2 POMONA SWAP MEET Pomona, California 714-538-7091 DECEMBER 2 SUMTER SWAP MEET Bushnell, Florida 727-848-7171 DECEMBER 6-8 MECUM AUCTIONS Kansas City, Missouri 262-275-5050 DECEMBER 7-8 RALEIGH CLASSIC CAR AUCTIONS Raleigh, North Carolina 919-269-5271 DECEMBER 8 RM SOTHEBY’S AUCTION Los Angeles, California 310-559-4575 DECEMBER 9 HI PERFORMANCE SWAP MEET Long Beach, California 800-762-9785 JANUARY 1 NEW YEAR’S DAY AUCTION West Union, Ohio 937-544-8252 JANUARY 12-20 BARRETT-JACKSON AUCTION Scottsdale, Arizona 480-421-6694…

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…

1967 PONTIAC CATALINA 2+2 PRICE Base price .....................................................................................................................$2,951 Options ordered on car profiled ............................................................... 2+2 Sport Option; WSW 8.55 x 14 Rayon tires; four-speed manual transmission; pushbutton radio; stereo tape player; door edge guards; left-hand remote-control mirror; custom gauge cluster; 8-Lug wheels; Wonder Touch power steering; Wonder Touch power brakes; Soft Ray windshield only ENGINE Type................................................ Pontiac OHV V-8; cast-iron block and cylinder heads Displacement.........................................................................................................428-cu.in. Bore x stroke.....................................................................................................4.12 x 4.00 in Compression ratio..........................................................................................................10.5:1 Horsepower @ rpm...........................................................................................360 @ 4,600 Torque @ rpm.............................................................................................472 lb-ft @ 3,200 Camshaft.....................................273/289-degrees advertised duration, .410/.413-in lift Valvetrain ..............................Hydraulic lifters; pushrods; 2.11/1.77 valves; valve springs; 1.50:1-ratio stamped-steel rocker arms Main bearings...................................................................................................................Five Fuel system ........... Quadrajet four-barrel; cast-iron intake manifold; mechanical pump Ignition....................................................................................................Delco breaker-point Lubrication system..............................................................Full pressure; gear-type pump Electrical system..........................................................................................................12-volt Exhaust system...................Cast-iron manifolds, dual head pipes, mufflers, resonators,…

SOMETIMES, YOU JUST WANT A CAR TO DRIVE. To cruise. To go places. To see our country. And to do it in comfort, with reliability in your back pocket. Too often with street-machine builds, the temptation is to double-down on the crazy. Seven hundred horsepower is so easy these days... Why not make more? Want bigger wheels? Put 20s on there. Need a stereo? Start at a thousand watts and go from there. Suspension? How low can you go? Never mind that any of these can ruin a car’s driveability. When you own your own shop, the temptation to go bonkers, to show off, is always there. Resisting the madness, embracing relative simplicity, is a learned restraint. Steve Strope owns a shop called Pure Vision in Simi Valley California, where,…

WE’RE GETTING INTO THE DETAILS OF OUR Chevelle engine project now that the Chevrolet Performance ZZ427 has been installed, along with the CP Supermatic 4L85E transmission, sorting through the supporting elements that will hopefully allow us to fire the engine for the first time soon. One piece of the puzzle actually proved to be simpler than we’d anticipated. Previously, we had been led to believe that our GEN-VI-based big-block crate engine could not support a mechanical fuel pump, in spite of having the pump boss as part of its block casting. We’ve mentioned in earlier installments that GM’s GEN V big-block, which debuted in production trucks for 1991, didn’t have a mechanical pump boss, since GM felt it was no longer needed in the age of EFI. But, when further…

We’re generally in favor of using muscle cars for driving whenever it’s feasible, but more and more, we find that means going without some of the technologies many of us have come to rely on. Certainly GPS navigation is one of those things that can make travel a little easier, even when just searching for an unknown local address. Most people use their smartphones for this these days, rather than a built-in navigation system or even a dedicated add-on GPS. But, using a phone for guidance can be tricky when you’re the only one in the car. We recently came across the Hudway Cast, which is effectively a small heads-up display for your car, and we thought it could be handy even in a classic. If you think having navigation…

WITH ABOUT 920 VEHICLES and scads of “Road Art” on hand, all displayed in several rooms of the Pennsylvania Farm Show Complex and Expo Center, there was plenty to attract bidders and spectators at the August 2-4, 2018, Me-cum Harrisburg auction. Collections, including The North East, The Peery Family, The Berry Mountain Estate, and The Prior Barris East Coast Representatives, provided nearly 80 consignments. According to Mecum, “A 1966 Batmobile that is one of five known promotional Batmobiles created by the Barris Group [and] a 1964 Drag-U-La that was initially constructed by Dick Dean in 1964 for The Munsters TV show and debuted in the episode “Hot Rod Herman,” were some of the offerings in The Prior Barris East Coast Representative’s Collection. Those and other interesting vehicles like two “xXx”…

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.…

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…

WHEN 20-YEAR-OLD JOHN WILLIAM “BILL” SINCLAIR found himself in the market for a new car in late 1966, he was considering a Corvette, but his dad, Wesley, said, “No way!” A couple of local kids had recently met their demise in one, and his son wasn’t going to tempt fate. He suggested a Toronado instead, but Bill balked, retorting, “That’s an old man’s car!” At the time, Bill was living in Erie, Pennsylvania, and working for General Electric, but he traveled the two-plus-hours back home to Punxsutawney to see his parents frequently. Heeding his father’s advice, Bill ordered a 1967 Mariner Turquoise Catalina with Parchment interior from Merle Altman at Altman’s Garage in Punxsutawney. Bill’s dad had worked for Merle when he was a kid and knew him well, so…

ENGINE Torino GTs were to be fitted with a 210-hp 302, but according to Fairlane Club of America tech advisor Jon Huntley, a six-week strike at Ford forced the change to a 195-hp 289. Options included a 265- or 325-hp 390, and on April 1 the 335-hp 428 became available (without Ram Air). For 1969, the 302 returned as the base V-8. A 250- or 290-hp 351 was added, joining the 320-hp 390, as well as the Q-code 428CJ (without Ram Air) and R-code 428CJ (with Ram Air). The Drag Pack option triggered a Super Cobra Jet engine with heavy-duty connecting rods and an oil cooler. TRANSMISSION If you’re new to the nuances of Ford build trails, the division used two different three-speed manuals—one of which was a heavy-duty unit—a…

CHANCES ARE, IF YOU’RE INTO performance cars of some sort, you’ve heard of the SEMA show — maybe you’ve even been before. The Specialty Equipment Market Association has been holding annual conventions since 1967, but for much of that time the events were unknown to the public. These were trade shows, after all, meant for industry insiders to interact, make deals, and show off a little. The automotive press was there, but mostly to learn about new products and ventures, rather than for purposes of reporting. But that dynamic has evolved over the past couple of decades, and while the core functions of the show remain, there is much more of a consumer element to today’s SEMA convention, even if it is still not technically open to the public. With…

YOU DON’T HAVE TO BE AN industry insider to know the SEMA Show is an incredibly hot ticket. In recent years, massive exposure on television, online, and in print, has made this trade show a household name among automotive enthusiasts, and the largest of its kind in the world. The 2018 event will represent the 52nd to be officially held, and it has a curious history; read on to learn how it developed into the trend-setting occasion it now is. The prescient group of automotive performance equipment manufacturers that established the “Speed Equipment Manufacturers Association” in 1963 started something that would, over the next half-century, grow exponentially in membership, financial power, and influence. Founding speed parts companies like Iskenderian Racing Cams, Edelbrock Equipment Co., and Offenhauser Sales Corp. shared the…

LABOR DAY WEEKEND tends to be a big deal in the Northeast. It’s the unofficial end of summer — technically, there are still a few weeks of the season left by that time, but with school starting and temps cooling, most of us know that our fun in the sun is just about over for the year. That’s a great excuse to make time for a day at the drags, and our Fall Musclepalooza is just the ticket. Once again, we had a great Sunday of car show sights and quarter-mile sounds to take in at Lebanon Valley Dragway in West Lebanon, New York, for fans of American performance machinery. The recipe remains as it has been for over a decade now: We welcome all American performance cars (and even…