Hemmings Muscle Machines March 2019

“…anyone consumed with working on old cars will need to secure a place where that work gets done.” Working on this month’s “Ultimate Home Garages” Special Section really made me aware of just how much thought I’ve dedicated to finding workspaces since I started tinkering with cars. It’s inevitable, I suppose, that anyone consumed with working on old cars will need to secure a place where that work gets done. And that can be a challenge, never mind sourcing the tools and equipment. Some may have been fortunate enough to have big home garages and maybe a dad or older brother who was already elbow deep in the pursuit of mechanical things; the rest of us did the best we could with what we had. I probably fell somewhere in…

A NEW STEVE McQUEEN BARN FIND SURFACES: THE ’79 PONTIAC TRANS AM FROM THE HUNTER Steve McQueen’s final movie, The Hunter, featured a chase scene in which a 1979 Pontiac Trans Am was destroyed. Two were wrecked in filming and, when production wrapped, one went to an Indiana junkyard, while the other was gifted to an Illinois farmer. After 39 years, the latter Trans Am has emerged from hiding, with its new owner seeking information from cast and crew members. There seems to be little doubt about the car’s authenticity. Paperwork shows the car was gifted by Paramount Pictures to the former owner, who sold the wreck through a local collector to Calvin Riggs, owner of Carlyle Motors in Katy, Texas. Documentation supplied from PHS Automotive Services further supports this…

V. RARE: PEDESTAL EDITION CADILLAC SAYS GOODBYE TO THE THIRD GENERATION OF HI-PO V-SERIES We know that the current ATS and CTS are disappearing soon, but not before Cadillac says goodbye in style: The 2019 Pedestal Edition models are available as the 464-hp ATS-V Coupe and 640-hp CTS-V Super Sedan. Just 300 of the third generation of high-performance V-series Pedestal Edition Cadillacs will be built for sale in the U.S., Canada, and the Middle East. Both feature the all-new exterior color Bronze Sand Metallic, accented with Black Chrome trim and grille surround, V-series forged light-alloy wheels in After Midnight finish over red Brembo brake calipers. The Carbon Fiber Package, standard on every 2019 ATS-V Coupe, is also featured in the Pedestal Edition list of content for the CTS-V Super Sedan.…

Letter of the Month: Money for Muscle “In the early ’80s, muscle cars from the ’60s and ’70s were plentiful. My brothers and buddies and I all had high-test running through our veins, but our wallets were pretty thin, as the economy in rural Maine back then was dismal. My oldest brother ventured out to Wyoming on a break from college to work at a hotel in Jackson Hole, but soon found that the oil field was the place where you could make some serious cash. Upon graduation from high school and not quite ready to continue my education, I, along with my two brothers and a handful of my buds, ventured west and soon found jobs in the oil patch. With our new-found “wealth,” we quickly snapped up a…

THE HURST/OLDS WAS POISED to be one of the hottest performance cars of 1977, yet the promising program was quashed. After many months of development, the “1977 Hurst/Olds Prototype Proposal Car Fact Sheet” was released and it stated, “Hurst Performance, Special Vehicles Division, regretfully announces that there will not be a production Hurst/Olds for 1977. It would seem that the outstanding sales success of the Cutlass model this year has left the production facilities at Olds Division building Cutlasses to capacity and has no room for the requested 2,000 car build of special H/O Cutlass ‘S’ vehicles.” Nevertheless, this well-sorted black proposal car is evidence of how incredible the 1977 model would have been. Current owner Glen Katterson of Pittsburgh provided copies of multiple Hurst and Oldsmobile documents. Though we…

An interesting aspect of Hurst/Oldses is how they represent the productive relationship that existed between Oldsmobile and Hurst over the years. I also appreciate the fact that every year H/Os were built, they were limited-production cars. Many of the other GM muscle cars were built in much greater numbers, but the H/O remained exclusive. It was also a very capable and comfortable muscle car. Regarding my ’77, I believe that any time you get the opportunity to buy a piece of history, you should take it. Owning a 1-of-1 car is even more special. Not to mention all the history that goes with this H/O. — Glen Katterson…