Hemmings Muscle Machines March 2020

“I can say with confidence that there are plenty of young people who like cars.” Over the past several years, I’ve often heard the lament from seasoned enthusiasts that today’s youth is simply not interested in cars. You’ve probably heard the same, usually followed by statements about kids today only being interested in cell phones and video games, how ride-sharing services like Uber and Lyft have made the need to drive essentially obsolete for teens, and so on. After I came to terms with the recognition that I was no longer a member of a group that could be considered “young,” I started to share these concerns. But, midlife crisis notwithstanding, I’m not worried anymore — I can say with confidence that there are plenty of young people who like…

CHEVROLET CONFIRMS C8 IS QUICKEST CORVETTE STINGRAY IN HISTORY Say “2020 Chevrolet Corvette Stingray” out loud. Unless you’re a late-night television product pitchman, it probably took between 3 and 4 seconds to get those words out of your mouth. According to Chevrolet, that’s more time than is needed to get a 2020 Corvette from 0-60 mph, making it the quickest (to 60 mph) base Stingray in the model’s history. Officially, the automaker is claiming a time of 3.0 seconds for the base C8’s 0-60 mph dash, or 2.9 seconds for 2020 Corvettes equipped with the Z51 package (under ideal circumstances, with warm tires on dry roads, of course). That’s a significant improvement over the 2019 C7 Corvette, for which Chevrolet claimed a 0-60-mph time of 3.7 seconds, but only when…

GODZILLA! FORD’S NEW PUSHROD 7.3-LITER V-8 IS COOKIN’ WITH GAS Ford has developed a brand-new, gasoline-powered, two-valve pushrod V-8 engine. It’s the first of its kind gas-powered pushrod V-8 Ford has developed in decades — not a cammer, not a diesel, none of that. It has replaced Ford’s Modular-based, 6.8-liter OHC V-10 that’s been around for a quarter century now. It’s not scheduled to show up in a Ford-built passenger car anytime soon. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know about it. The output sounds suspiciously like muscle car territory: 430 horsepower at 5,500 rpm, and 475 lb-ft of torque at 4,000 rpm. For the moment, that pips Chevy’s gas-powered 6.6-liter, rated at 401 hp and 464 lb-ft, and the 6.4-liter Hemi in a new Ram, which is rated at…

CUTAWAY CLARIFICATION A correction is due to the “Barn Find Reject” letter in the Backfire section of the January 2020 issue of HMM (#197). What Mr. Tallone reports and thinks he saw is not accurate. The “cutaway” 1953 “No. 3” Corvette is actually a cutaway build done on the original frame of the VIN #3 1953 Corvette. Records exist to document that the frame of #3 was separated from the car itself after GM testing and before the car was sold by GM. The car Mr. Tallone thinks he saw in Tulare, California, was in fact VIN #3, but with a replacement frame. At a later time, during the 1980s, 1953 Corvette VIN #3 was purchased by a partnership of three National Corvette Restoration Society members and later fully restored…

“My Trans Am affinity began in my sophomore year of high school (1973) with a ride in a new Super Duty 455. The styling and power grabbed me. Until 2012, most of my cars were family oriented. The only “sports cars” I had owned were a ’90 T/A with a 305 and a ’95 Camaro with a 3.4-liter V-6. My kids’ first cars were an ’85 Firebird, ’89 Formula 350, and ’91 Camaro RS. Nothing all that “muscular,” but we enjoyed them all nonetheless. Of greater worth was the experience I gained learning how to work on them. I didn’t grow up wrenching on cars, but over the past 20 years I’ve thoroughly enjoyed learning both mechanical and bodywork skills. Seven years ago, no longer in possession of the T/A…

GLANCE AT A 1967 MERCURY COMET sometime and you’ll see it. The stacked quad headlamps of the 1963 Pontiac were a seismic event in auto styling. But they were quickly aped by other makers, and by the 1967 model year they were diluted in a way the old Silver Streak motif never was. The overhaul of GM’s A-body fleet for the 1968 model year provided an opportunity for the GTO’s maker to visually redefine its signature product. The new styling was a clear nod to the F-body pony cars (Camaro and Firebird) that debuted for 1967 with their long-hood/short-deck proportions enlarged for the 112-inch wheelbase of the Tempest/Le Mans/GTO. Four-door models, found only in the Tempest and Tempest Le Mans series, rode a 114-inch wheelbase. While lower-ranking A-bodies came with…