Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2020 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

’VETTE RESCUE I really enjoyed the Corvette Special Section in the January issue ( HMM #197). In 1972, I bought a ’66 Corvette from a guy in Reno for $900. It was only six years old, but thoroughly abused. The last owner had started to make it into a dragster, but never finished anything. It was a 300-hp 327 that he had gotten as far as fitting with a 750 Holley, headers, and transmission scatter-shield. He’d also stripped out unnecessary wiring. The rattle-can hot rod gray primer paint job gave kind of a high-performance vibe. Being on a typical 20-something’s tight budget, I did a low-buck restoration. The hardtop had somehow caught fire and there was a 12-inch hole in it. I patched it with a Pep Boys kit and…

It was right at Halloween when we had a three-day weekend without our kids, and Darlene and I flew to Seattle to see my old car. My anticipation and emotions were running high as we pulled up in front of the owner’s house. He opened the garage door and I was staring at my long-lost high school car. It looked as good as the first time I saw it back in 1972. The Bright Yellow color with the black and chrome accents always did something for me. After all these years, I still have the same excitement when I push in the clutch and turn the key. It has always been an amazing machine to me, and it reminds me of my younger days and simpler times. We plan on…

FRED LANG IS REMEMBERED by his family for a variety of positive attributes and memorable actions in his life, but high among them is his purchase of this 1970 Plymouth GTX, in 1976. Furthermore, his desire to keep the car in the family meant that he bought it not just once, but twice, and son Cary says it’s not going anywhere else at this point. But this isn’t just any Plymouth GTX, it’s a V-code 440 Six Barrel with a four-speed, factory Rallye Red paint, and just 84,000 miles on the odometer. We can talk a lot about the great features this high-profile Mopar has going for it, but arguably one of the best is that its history is known, from start to finish. It was ordered in late 1969…

FIT AIN’T BROKE, WHY FIX IT, RIGHT? That seemed to be the logic behind Ford’s Fox-platform Mustang. Introduced in 1979, the third-gen unit-body pony’s chassis originated from the Ford Fairmont/Mercury Zephyr line unveiled a year prior, but the new Mustang used a shortened version of that chassis, with a wheelbase measuring a svelte 100.5 inches. Coupled with the standard 56.6/57.0-inch front and rear track, the revised Mustang — with a footprint larger than the outgoing Pinto-based Mustang II — had a nimbler foundation to work with. The new Mustang also benefitted from lighter weight and a sleek new body that resulted in a — reasonable for the day — 0.44 drag coefficient in fastback guise, while the notchback registered a 0.46 Cd. Other than a ceaselessly evolving series of convenience…

LOOKS CLASSIC, SOUNDS MODERN CUSTOM AUTOSOUND MANUFACTURING INC. • 714-773-1423 WWW.CUSTOMAUTOSOUNDMFG.COM • MSRP $199 Searching for better audio in your first-gen Mustang, Mustang II, or 1979-’84 Fox body, but don’t want to modify the dash or change the look of your interior? Custom Autosound has what you need, and its USA-230 radio is designed to be affordable without sacrificing quality. The unit mounts in the stock dash opening without requiring alteration or cutting. With the power off, it looks period-correct; turn the unit on, and the analog dial is replaced with a digital display, with electronic tuning and 16 station presets. The USA-230 produces 300 watts peak, but also includes four RCA pre-outs for those looking to add amplifiers. There’s an auxiliary input, too, allowing users to connect satellite…

NOT ALL BUILDUPS HAVE TO ORIGINATE WITH A rusted-out hulk, a pile of parts, and a dream. Sometimes even a finished ride can reap the benefits of a new owner’s imagination. For instance, Steve Curry of Goodyear, Arizona, craved an early 1970s Firebird for a particular purpose. “I always had the intention to create a car similar to the daily drivers I’d had from the mid-’70s into the ’90s,” he explains. “They had mostly stock engines with a few bolt-ons, though occasionally one would get a cam swap. Some cars had custom wheels and others factory ones.” “Early second-generation Formulas were an uncommon sight even back in the ’70s,” Steve continues. “The aggressive styling of the Endura nose has always been pleasing to me, and with the dual-scooped hood, Formulas…

May will be a busy month, with an increase in auctions around the country. Three events will take place in Indiana, including two from RM Sotheby’s — the first set for Elkhart on May 1-2. An early look at the consignment list shows this beautiful 1966 Shelby G.T. 350H slated to cross the block at no reserve.This “Rent a Racer”is thought to be only 1 of 85 with the four-speed, and it features a lot of period-correct details, including the impact lap belts. Delivered with radio and chrome Magnum wheels, the well-maintained and recently restored Shelby should see a lot of bidding.RM Sotheby’s second event in the Hoosier State takes place a week later in Auburn on May 8-9.Take note that it is a few weeks earlier than last year’s…

JAY LENO INDUCTED INTO AUTOMOTIVE HALL OF FAME Every car person’s favorite denim-decked comedian has a new accomplishment to add to his CV: On February 6, Jay Leno was named as a 2020 inductee into the Automotive Hall of Fame, located in Dearborn, Michigan. Jay’s lifelong passion for automobiles runs deep and wide, and among his most recent acquisitions is a restored 1968 Ford Bronco with a little something extra between the front fenders: a supercharged 5.2-liter Ford V-8, rated at 760 horsepower. The “Tonight Blue” rig was unveiled at SEMA and written up on Hemmings.com. It joins a stable of vehicles that range from Duesenbergs to exotics to custom one-offs. A frequent sight at concours d’elegance events from coast to coast, Jay is an advocate for automotive vocational education,…

The car gene that Terry McGean’s column in HMM #199 talks about is real, and is now into the fourth generation in my family. My oldest son, Jacob, is 15 and has his permit to drive in Michigan. He’s been in love with cars since birth. My wife and I joke that he was two weeks early because he heard all the muscle cars out on Woodward while we were cruising. Back then I had a Mustang LX notchback, and it caused him to want one once he became of age. Notchbacks aren’t cheap anymore, so we settled on a ’96 Mystic Cobra that was a “driveway find.” It had not run in four years and had four flats and a busted windshield. The owner practically gave us the car.…

1969 FORD MUSTANG BOSS 302 PRICE Base price.....................................................................................................................$2,740 Options on car profiled......... Boss 302 package, including special handling suspension, Magnum 500 wheels, Wide Oval belted tires, special cooling package, and functional front spoiler ($676.15); Toploader four-speed close-ratio transmission ($204.64); power steering ($94.55); power front disc brakes ($64.77); Traction-Lok differential ($63.51); AM radio ($61.40); rear spoiler ($19.48); optional axle ratio ($6.53) ENGINE Type...................Ford “Boss” small-block, OHV V-8; cast-iron block and cylinder heads Displacement..........................................................................................................302cu.in. Bore x stroke....................................................................................................4.00 x 3.00 in Compression ratio..........................................................................................................10.5:1 Horsepower@rpm...........................................................................................290 @ 5,800 Torque @ rpm............................................................................................290 lb-ft @ 4,300 Camshaft...............................................................................................................Solid-lifter Duration..........................................................................290/290degrees,intake/exhaust Lift.............................................................................................477/.477-in,intake/exhaust Valvetrain................................................................Cast-iron“Boss”canted-valve heads; 2.23/1.71-inch valves; 1.73:1 rocker arms Main bearings...................................................................................................................Five Fuel system ...Single Holley 4150C four-barrel carburetor; 780-cfm, mechanical pump Lubrication system.....................................................................Pressure, gear-type pump Electrical system..............................................................................................................12-V Exhaust system.................................................................................................Dual exhaust TRANSMISSION Type.......................................Fordclose-ratio Toploader four-speed manual, all synchro Ratios..........................1st/2.32:1 … 2nd/1.69:1…

MUSTANGS HAVE ALWAYS RUN the gamut from stylish commuter to performance car, with various levels of seriousness depending on the public’s appetite for such things. When it first arrived in April 1964, its Falcon basis was evident based on the equipment installed. The 260-cu.in., two-barrel V-8 from the Falcon Sprint was the base V-8, but to amp up its credentials, Ford turned to another engine with identical external dimensions, taken from the Fairlane series. 19641/2 - ’66 271-HP HIPO 289-CU.IN. SMALL-BLOCK The K-code (aka “HiPo”), 289-cu.in. small-block V-8 had started life as a late-year option in the 1963 Fairlane, where it has since been largely overshadowed by the FE-series big-block conversions in the 1964 Thunderbolts. The K-code was no mere carb-and-cam swap, though, as it was extensively beefed up inside…

THE CONCEPT IS BRUTALLY SIMPLE: To run quicker in the quarter-mile, you have to make more power or reduce the weight of the vehicle. Lighter is always quicker. Hidden within that concept is the idea that if we reduce the weight of the spinning components — like those in an automatic transmission — that will also unlock hidden power, and the car will run quicker. John Kilgore has been building and modifying automatic transmissions for over 50 years. He believes that the Turbo Hydra-Matic 400 is among the best automatic transmissions that GM ever built. He says the TH400 transmission has really just one flaw: It’s too heavy. He’s not talking about its static weight — the real issue is rotating weight. But Kilgore has come up with a way…

I GREW UP IN WHAT WAS THEN rural New Jersey. Most of my friends lived on family farms. Many purchased high-performance cars right after high school. Owning a car of my own was out of the question, as a college education was non-negotiable in my family. I had to be content riding shotgun in my buddies’ cars. In September 1964, I headed for college in Virginia, eight hours from home, so rides in cool cars were limited to school vacations and summers. Upon graduation in 1968, I began the search to fulfill my boyhood dream of owning a Corvette. My father agreed to cosign a loan, but he insisted on test driving every car I considered. The search was further restricted by my salary of $4,600, plus room and board.…

Anyone who works on cars is always on the lookout for the next tool to make some job easier, often thinking about a specific task that might have been painless if the right tool had been at hand.That’s sort of what was running through our minds when we came across the GearWrench Ratcheting Flare Nut Wrench set. Flare nut wrenches, sometimes referred to as line wrenches, are a necessity for anyone who encounters hardline plumbing on a motor vehicle — box-end wrenches obviously can’t fit through the tubing and open-end wrenches tend not to provide enough grip on fittings, often rounding them off.The flare nut wrench provides more fitting grip, but with an open slot to slip over tubing. But, if you’ve used one, you know that very often those…

IT WAS JANUARY. That meant the New Year’s Eve hangovers had finally dissipated and collective minds had swiveled back toward normal concerns, like cars of the past. That’s why Mecum’s first sale of 2020 was so significant. The Midwest auction giant’s opening event of the year in Kissimmee, Florida, was a chance to shake off the cobwebs and do some serious buying, this time with the whole world looking on, thanks to the presence of the actual 1968 Ford Mustang that Steve McQueen immortalized in Bullitt as the unquestioned star of the sale. That car brought more than $3.7 million, a world record for Ford Mustangs, and one of the highest amounts ever paid for a muscle car at auction. That sale price for the Bullitt car incidentally erased the…

FORD GT FRESHENED FOR 2020 Shown to the public for the first time in 2016, to mark the 50th anniversary of Ford’s victory over Ferrari at Le Mans in 1966, the Ford GT supercar debuted as a 2018 model. A think-outside-the-box halo car, the GT is powered not by a hybrid drivetrain or high-revving V-8, but instead by a 3.5-liter Eco-Boost V-6. For 2020, Ford has reworked the GT, adding more power, a new special edition, and updates to the Gulf Racing Heritage models. At launch, the GT’s 3.5-liter EcoBoost V-6 was rated at 647 horsepower and 550 lb-ft of torque. For 2020, the GT’s engine receives a bump in output to 660 hp, courtesy of revised engine calibration, new pistons with cooling galleries, higher-energy ignition coils, larger intercoolers, and…

COULD THERE BE A MORE PERFECT TIME for a car to imprint itself on a young man’s psyche than when he’s in high school? It almost doesn’t matter what that car is — it could be a hand-me-down from a relative, it could be a junker purchased with pocket change scraped out of the seat cushions. The idea that it’s yours is what’s most important. A car becomes so many things at once — a means to escape, a means of entertainment for you and the select friends of your choice, and a party trick that makes gasoline vanish in a puff of smoke, all rolled into one. It signals the disappearance of youthful indiscretion and the oncoming onslaught of adulthood, with all of the responsibilities implied therein. Jim Boyd…

FIVE YEARS AGO, WE COULDN’T believe that something like a Hellcat Charger would be unleashed on an unsuspecting America. Seven hundred and seven horses! Would buyers care? Would they pony up 70-large for a Dodge sedan? Could the enthusiasm last? The answer to all three has been an emphatic yes. And for 2020, Dodge has performed the neat trick of squeezing additional performance out of Charger Hellcat without adding horsepower, dropping weight, or fiddling with gear ratios. For 2020, all Charger SRT Hellcats come standard with a “Widebody” package similar to what appeared on the Challenger Hellcats in 2019. This includes four unsubtle fender flares that make an already-wide sedan 3½ inches wider, new front and rear fascias that help integrate the flares, and 305/35ZR20 Pirelli tires on 20 x…

1970 PLYMOUTH GTX PRICE Base price.....................................................................................................................$3,535 Options on car profiled ............................Light Package ($29.60); Track Pak ($142.85); disc brakes—front ($27.90); power brakes ($42.95); console ($54.45); 440-cu.in. Six Barrel V-8 ($119.05); tinted glass ($40.70); remote control left outside mirror ($10.45); rear window defogger ($26.25); pedal dress up ($5.45); tachometer ($68.45); Air Grabber ($65.55); solid-state AM radio ($61.55); rear seat speaker ($14.05); black vinyl roof ($95.70); performance hood paint ($18.05); Rallye road wheels ($43.10); raised white-letter F60-15 tires ($63.25) ENGINE Type............................ Chrysler RB-series OHV V-8; cast-iron block and cylinder heads Displacement.........................................................................................................440-cu.in. Bore x stroke.....................................................................................................4.32 x 3.75 in Compression ratio..........................................................................................................10.5:1 Horsepower@rpm...........................................................................................390 @ 4,700 Torque @ rpm.............................................................................................490 lb-ft @ 3200 Valvetrain..............................................................................................Hydraulic flat tappet Main bearings...................................................................................................................Five Induction system .................................................Chrysler cast-iron 3 x 2 intake manifold Fuel system ........ Three Holley 2300-series two-barrel carburetors; mechanical pump Lubrication…

YOU’VE NO DOUBT heard the oft-repeated lament about today’s youth, and how they just don’t care about cars. It’s been cited in a doomsday sense to predict the end of the car hobby, and it’s also frequently blamed for the severe lack of qualified auto technicians entering the workforce. Auto shop classes have been vanishing from schools for the better part of two decades, but did kids lose interest in auto mechanics, or is a lack of access to technical education responsible for their seeming indifference? One shop teacher in upstate New York has spent those same two decades seeking to solve this mystery, and his findings may surprise you. By introducing public high school students to the process of fixing up old cars and building hot rods, Ryan Beckley…

SHIFT HAPPENS THE BUSTED KNUCKLE GARAGE • 928-708-0897 WWW.BUSTEDKNUCKLEGARAGE.COM • $39.95 The automotive world seems to have gone fully automatic, and with it, modern life feels like it’s creeping along in drive, requiring no input and out of our control. That’s when it’s good to remember we can clutch in, grab the lever, and change our own destiny. The Busted Knuckle Garage has created a decorative sign that helps gearheads keep perspective. “Shift Happens” (item 06-BUST-081), decorated with a five-speed stick, is sized 18 x 12 inches and made in America using heavy, 24-gauge steel. It features a distressed finish with real rust, and sports brass grommets in pre-drilled holes for ease of hanging. This sign is made to order. LOST MUSCLE CAR DEALERSHIPS CARTECH • 800-551-4754 WWW.CARTECHBOOKS.COM…

The January juggernaut in the collector-car auction world that is Scottsdale has concluded with results available from several auction houses. Here is a small sampling of high-performing muscle cars that were successfully sold. Look for more in-depth “Auction Action” coverage from Scottsdale in future issues of HMM. From RM Sotheby’s, this 1970 Buick GS 455 Stage 1 Sports Coupe was a part of “The Roadmaster Collection” and had undergone a very thorough and correct restoration. It had all of the desirable features, including a four-speed with Hurst shifter, bucket seats, and air conditioning. Other highlights included the original window sticker, owner’s manuals, and Protect-O-Plate. The rare Stage 1 Buick sold at a final bid of $50,400. Also selling at RM were a pair of Shelbys, with a 1966 G.T. 350…