Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2019 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

Letter of the Month: Dad’s Pride and Joy “It was 1972. Just me and my dad, a single father and his only child. He had a lot on his plate with raising me while making $2 an hour. Still, he managed to buy a one-of-a-kind, special-order 1972 Charger Rallye. It had a 400 with a Slap-Stik-shifted 727 TorqueFlite, concealed headlights, black louvered taillights, black canopy roof, and those horizontal louver marks on the door, which were eye level to me at the time. He ordered it just the way he wanted it, and it cost about $3,500. Eight years later, he met my stepmom and took on all her baggage, which meant he then had four kids plus my little brother on the way. He did the “right thing,” and…

IN THE EARLY 1960S, AUTO- makers were scrambling to develop powertrains to win races and also satisfy the need for speed in the budding baby-boomer market. Significant advances in vehicle performance were realized first by pushing existing engines to their limits and then by replacing them with more modern designs that integrated knowledge gained from the earlier ones. Most of GM’s Divisions had released new V-8 engine families by mid-decade, and in the Bowtie camp the aging W-series 409 was replaced with the new Mark IV canted-valve 396 in February 1965, followed by the 427 in 1966. The concept of canted valves was employed on the Mark II “mystery motor” race engine of 1963, of which precious few were built due to GM’s anti-racing edict. By placing the valves in…

1972 PONTIAC LE MANS SPORT PRICE Base price..............................................................................................................$2,850.60 Price as profiled.....................................................................................................$4,267.60 Options on car profiled.....................L78 400-cu.in. four-barrel ($215); four-speed ($231); Safe-T-Track ($66); G70-14 tires ($77); AM radio ($65); 8-track stereo ($130); body-color mirrors ($26); Rally II wheels ($87); power steering ($113); power front discs ($68); rear window defogger ($31); Endura styling option ($41); vinyl stripes ($31); ride and handling package ($9); luggage lamp ($3); dual exhaust ($30); Le Mans Sport option ($164) ENGINE Type................................................ Pontiac OHV V-8; cast-iron block and cylinder heads Displacement..................................................................400-cu.in. (currently 468-cu.in.) Bore x stroke......................................................4.12 x 3.75 in (currently 4.180 x 4.250 in) Compression ratio...........................................................................................................8.2:1 Horsepower @ rpm..................................................................................250 (net) @ 4,400 Torque @ rpm...................................................................................325 lb-ft (net) @ 3,200 Camshaft type..........................................................................................................Hydraulic Fuel delivery.......... GM mechanical pump, Rochester Quadrajet four-barrel carburetor Ignition.......................................................................................GM breaker-point type, 12 v Exhaust............................... Cast-iron manifolds…

THE FESTIVAL ATMOSPHERE was pervasive at Mecum’s annual Kissimmee, Florida, event, which the company promotes as the “World’s Largest Collector Car Auction.” While nearly 3,500 collector vehicles crossed the block at Osceola Heritage Park, play-by-play was broadcasted through the sound system so spectators, buyers, and sellers could keep up with the happenings on stage, as they strolled through the sea of consignments that covered 60-plus acres. A bustling Midway, live entertainment, and the “Dodge Thrill Ride” also enthralled attendees. Muscle cars, classics, exotics, and more were offered, thus the top-sales ranks were inhabited by multiple collector-car genres. A 2014 Ferrari La-Ferrari wearing custom-ordered Rosso Fuoco paint earned the number-one position at $3,300,000. The 1967 Shelby G.T. 500 Super Snake took number two at $2,200,000. In a dream package deal, two…

MAY 3-4 VICARI AUCTION Nocona, Texas 504-264-2277 3-5 LAWRENCE SWAP MEET Lawrence, Kansas 785-843-2222 3-5 RHINEBECK SWAP MEET & CAR SHOW Rhinebeck, New York 845-876-3554 (6-9 p.m.) 5 CLASSIC CHEVYS SOCAL ANNUAL CAR SHOW Chatsworth, California 818-360-9025 5 CLASSIC SUMTER SWAP MEET Bushnell, Florida 727-848-7171 9-11 ANNUAL SWAP MEET Chickasha, Oklahoma 405-224-6552 11 SILVER AUCTIONS Missoula, Montana 800-255-4485 12 LONG BEACH HI PERFORMANCE SWAP MEET Long Beach, California 800-762-9785 14-19 MECUM AUCTIONS Indianapolis, Indiana 262-275-5050 16 HEMMINGS CRUISE-IN Bennington, Vermont 800-227-4373 19 NORTH JERSEY AUTO SHOW Paramus, New Jersey www.northjerseyautoshow.com 24-26 SPRINGFIELD SWAP MEET & CAR SHOW Springfield, Ohio 937-376-0111 26 MUSCLEPALOOZA XXIX West Lebanon, New York 800-227-4373 29-JUNE 1 RM SOTHEBY’S AUCTION Auburn, Indiana 260-927-9797 30 HEMMINGS CRUISE-IN Bennington, Vermont 800-227-4373 30-JUNE 1 AACA GRAND NATIONAL Auburn, Indiana 717-534-1910…

IDAHO’S FIREBIRD RACEWAY LISTED ON NATIONAL REGISTER OF HISTORIC PLACES Not much has changed at Idaho’s Fire-bird Raceway since it was built in 1968. The drag strip has remained in the same family for 50 years and retains much of its original equipment as well as its hometown charm, which helped ensure the facility a spot on the National Register of Historic Places, marking the first time the list has recognized a drag strip. Founder Bill New began to scout locations for a permanent drag strip in the early ’60s. His search eventually took him to a former homestead just off Route 16 in the Treasure Valley north of Boise and Nampa. The location allowed for a north-south drag strip of a quarter-mile long with a terrain of gently sloping…

“ WE CAN NEITHER CONFIRM NOR DENY…” That phrase, now known as the “Glomar Response,” was part of the Central Intelligence Agency’s non-answer to inquiries about a top-secret ship called the Hughes Glomar Explorer. The Glomar’s stated purpose was to mine minerals from the bottom of the ocean. Its real purpose? To covertly extract a sunken Soviet submarine, that mysteriously plunged three miles to the ocean floor in March of 1968. The Glomar did its job bringing up a portion of the sub and the bodies of six of its crew. Or so the official story goes. Okay, but other than earning you points at the local pub’s trivia night, what could this piece of espionage history possibly have to do with a 1968 Yenko Super Camaro? Well, it’s the…

PRICE Base price.......................................................................................................................$3,121 Options on car profiled............................. Sure-Grip limited-slip differential; TorqueFlite automatic transmission; power steering; AM radio; Magnum 500 14-inch wheels; F70-14 whiteline tires ENGINE Type...............................Chrysler B-series OHV V-8; cast-iron block and cylinder heads (currently Chrysler 440-cu.in. RB-series OHV V-8) Displacement..................................................................383-cu.in. (currently 440-cu.in.) Bore x stroke ...................................................... 4.25 x 3.375 in (currently 4.32 x 3.75 in) Compression ratio.............................................................................10.0:1 (currently 8.2:1) Horsepower @ rpm ........................ 335 @ 5,200 (SAE gross; currently 275 hp SAE net) Torque @ rpm.............................................................................................425 lb-ft @3,400 Valvetrain...........................................................................................Hydraulic valve lifters Main bearings...................................................................................................................Five Fuel.........................Single Carter AVS (currently Thermo-Quad) four-barrel carburetor Lubrication.................................................................................Rotary pump; full pressure Electrical.............................................................................................................................12 v Ignition...........................................................................Chrysler breaker-point distributor Exhaust...........................................High-flow, cast-iron exhaust manifolds; dual outlets TRANSMISSION Type........................................................Chrysler 727 TorqueFlite three-speed automatic Ratios.............................................................................1st/2.45:1 … 2nd/1.45:1 … 3rd/1.00:1 DIFFERENTIAL Type.................Chrysler 8.75-in housing with hypoid gears and limited-slip differential Ratio................................................................................................................................3.23:1 STEERING Type..............................................................................Recirculating…

WHEN NEWLYWEDS Bob and Donna Bukoski were discussing their promising future together sometime in early 1972, Donna mentioned something to Bob that resonated loudly. The topic of Bob’s 1967 GTO had arisen — a car he bought new, he loved, and that, by 1972, had roughly 100,000 miles on the odometer. Bob chuckles today when recounting the story. “Donna said, ‘If you want to get something else like this, you better do it now.’” The translation? “We’re going to start a family before long, and if you wait much longer to get a new car, it won’t be another muscle car.” You have to remember that in the late ’60s/early ’70s, 100K was plenty of miles on a car— at least akin to 150,000 today — maybe more. To say…

PRIOR TO 1963, GM RELIED ON A GENERATOR to run its vehicles’ accessories and keep the battery charged. The subsequent charging system update, however, came in the form of an alternator carrying the “10DN” designation. Both the generator and alternator accomplish the same work, essentially converting mechanical energy into electrical. But while they both rely on the relationship between magnetism and electricity, the manner in which they accomplish the task is vastly different. A generator makes electricity by spinning an armature (basically a bundle of wire loops) inside a fixed magnetic field. An alternator, on the other hand, spins a rotor (comprised of a series of electromagnets) inside a stator made up of multiple wire loops. To manage the output of them both, a regulator is employed that controls the…

SPRING CLASSIC RETURNS TO INDY FOR ITS 32ND ANNUAL MECUM EVENT With the opening-of-the-year auction frenzy just behind us, we’re looking ahead this month, with Mecum’s big, six-day Indy event front and center on the calendar in May. (Does Mecum do anything other than “big?”) As with most Mecum events — the ones not focused on motorcycles or farm implements — Indianapolis looks to be a bonanza for muscle car enthusiasts. With a focus on unrestored originality among collectors as strong as it has been in years, we’ve got our eyes on a few cars being billed as such in the Mecum Indy catalog even as consignments were still rolling in at press time. The first to draw our glance is lot R219, an unrestored, 29,435-mile 1963 Corvette “split-window” coupe.…

DRIVERS SERIES CORVETTE GRAND SPORT: WIN A CHAMPIONSHIP, GET A CORVETTE NAMED FOR YOU! The 2019 Corvette Drivers Series celebrates the drivers responsible for Corvette’s recent successes in international road racing. Four new special-edition Corvettes will be available as you read this. The Grand Sport-based color-and-graphics Drivers Series models feature the naturally aspirated 6.2-liter LT1 V-8 engine rated at 460 horsepower, and will be available in 1LT, 2LT, and 3LT trim. Like the race cars, they feature a dry-sump oiling system designed to support high-performance track driving. They also feature an electronic limited-slip differential, Brembo brakes, functional brake cooling ducts, widened bodywork to accommodate 19 x 10-inch front and 20 x 12-inch rear wheels wrapped with Michelin Pilot Super Sport run-flat summer-only tires, and more. The Tommy Milner Edition features…

A DODGE SUPER BEE seems both an ideal and highly conspicuous machine to use in an armed robbery. After all, it is righteous quick, but also tends to stand out in the crowd—and that’s exactly what happened to Charlie Katulka’s ’69 Bee not long after he bought it new. “In 1970, it was stolen,” Charlie tells us. “My late wife, Charlotte, went to Winn-Dixie right here in Fort Lauderdale. She came out and the car wasn’t there, and there was a police officer waiting to see if she was looking for a Super Bee. They used that Super Bee to do an armed robbery right here by my house, at a Publix. “They parked it a quarter-mile away and left it running. They got in somehow through the door and…

BEFORE STUDY HALL DREAMS were based around big-block Chevelles and Hemi Chargers, for many budding hot rodders the blank canvas was one of Chevrolet’s earliest V-8 models. The so-called “Tri-Five” Chevys of 1955-’57 hit the mark with motorheads the same way the ’32 Ford had previously — the right engine, the right size, wrapped with the right style. And like the basis for any good hot rod, the factory’s work just needed a little help. A youthful speed enthusiast wouldn’t be thinking only of dragstrip performance — he’d be picturing himself making the scene on the street. Hot rod daydreams are about a machine that looks as good as it runs. One that turns heads as it rolls into the local cruise spot, while also setting the bar for the…

POOR FORD. BACK IN THE EARLY ’60S, when the Beach Boys were crooning about Chevrolet 409s and Super Stock Dodges, the company’s big 406-powered Galaxies were just a bit too portly to gain a competitive edge at the dragstrip. A weight-loss program helped for ’63’s quarter-mile Galaxies, as did the addition of a dual-quad 427, but that engine proved even more effective when wedged into a batch of intermediate Fairlanes for 1964. The trouble was the Falcon and its twin, the Mercury Comet, were too small to accommodate most of Ford’s most-powerful V-8s, and the slightly larger Fairlane shared a lot of architecture with the Falcon, so installing those big FE-series 427s ENGINE For 1966, Ford offered only the GT-exclusive S-code 390, a chrome-accented, 335-hp engine with a four-barrel, dual…

KEVIN SUYDAM’S 1968 Yenko Super Camaro is not only one of 64 specially modified by Yenko Chevrolet that year, it’s one of a kind. YS-8023 is the only ’68 Yenko in Ermine White with red interior, and it’s the only one known to have been tagged, apparently by General Motors, as a “Special Drag Car.” (Check out the story on page 16.) So, when serial Yenko collector Kevin Suydam of Kodiak, Alaska, finally decided to restore this unusual car, after nearly 30 years of ownership, he sought out the specialists at Super Car Workshop and Super Car Restoration of Latrobe and Cly-mer, Pennsylvania, respectively. The two shops coordinate on all manner of muscle car resurrections and over the years have built dozens of award-winning Yenkos. When they team up, Super…

FRANK MORRIS AND I GREW up together in a small town in Montana just north of Yellowstone Park. Livingston was where we got our interest in cars, Buicks in particular. At some point, both of us worked for the Buick/Olds/Studebaker dealer there, Olson Motors. Cars first entered the picture around 1958 when we went to the fledgling drag strip on the airport at Belgrade, Montana, outside of Bozeman. It was run by a local car club — I think they were called the Pacers. Several people we met around that time were older than us but went to college in Bozeman at MSU, and also attended the races there and became our lifelong friends. Names like George “The Bushmaster” Schreiber, Jim Waldo, LeRoi “Tex” Smith, and Gene Burkland of Bonneville…

We find that veteran mechanic types tend to dismiss “wipe”products for automotive garage use, possibly associating them with the original product of this type: baby wipes. But we’ve known for some time that garage-type heavy-duty wipes are a far cry from anything used in a nursery, and that they can be quite effective and useful in the shop, so we were intrigued when a tub of MiracleWipes for automobiles arrived. Working on cars usually generates the kind of mess that involves aged oil and grease, often mixed with road dirt and who knows what else. Wiping with paper towels alone only gets the thickest gunk, so some sort of solvent or spray product is also required. Cloth rags are the old stand-by, but they either have to be washed (we…