Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2020 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

Letter of the Month: Family Heirlooms “I have a 1976 Trans Am, 455 four-speed car that has been in a couple pictures from the past Musclepalooza event coverage features, which are always nice to see in the magazine. This car has been in the family since new, being passed to me in the mid-’90s by my brother Vince, after he purchased an ’87 Grand National brand new. I grew up with the Trans Am, having been born in 1975. Through my late Teens, 20s, and on, I’ve been a regular at car shows, and I have run the Trans Am for some time at Lebanon Valley Dragway, but it has been mostly a car show/cruise car  for some time now. Still, I keep the drag radials and shift light at…

ENGINE Block type....................................Ford “Coyote” 5.0L 32-valve DOHC supercharged V-8, custom assembled by Roush Performance Cylinderheads.......................................................................CNC-ported aluminumDOHC Displacement.........................................................................................................302-cu.in. Bore x stroke....................................................................................................3.63 x 3.65 in Compressionratio...........................................................................................................9.5:1 Pistons.............................................................................................Mahle forged aluminum Connectingrods................................................Manley Performance forged steel I-beam Crankshaft...........................................................................................................Forged steel Horsepower........................1,019 (race gas, small pulley) / 750 (pump gas, large pulley) Torque ................. 734 lb-ft (race gas, small pulley) / 600 lb-ft (pump gas, large pulley) Camshaft type..... Comp Cams Hydraulic (intake and exhaust) with phasing locked out Duration.....................................................................................................Roush proprietary Lift..............................................................................................................Roush proprietary Valvetrain......................................................................................................Hydraulic roller Induction system ............................. Whipple 4.0L positive-displacement supercharger; Super Cobra Jet oval mono-blade throttle body; twin tank-mounted Aeromotive Phantom fuel pumps; 95-lb/hr fuel injectors Lubrication system...................................Melling gerotor-type oil pump with steel gears Ignitionsystem........................................................FAST XIM with individual coil-on plug Exhaust system........Custom headers and 3-in MotoFab exhaust, Flowmaster mufflers OriginalEngine................................................................................................Ford 351W V-8 TRANSMISSION Type..................................................................................GM 4L80E…

PRICE Base price....................................................................................................................$3,034 Options on car profiled................. AM solid-state radio ($61.55); TorqueFlite automatic ($38.95); tinted windshield ($22.35); Deluxe 14-inch wheel covers ($21.30); custom sill moldings ($20.45); white accent stripe ($14.70); destination charge ($149) ENGINE Type...............................Chrysler B-series OHV V-8; cast-iron block and cylinder heads Displacement.........................................................................................................383-cu.in. Bore x stroke....................................................................................................4.25 x 3.38 in Compression ratio..........................................................................................................10.0:1 Horsepower@rpm............................................................................................335 @ 5,200 Torque @ rpm............................................................................................425 lb-ft @ 3,400 Valvetrain...........................................................................................Hydraulic valve lifters Main bearings...................................................................................................................Five Fuel system .................................................. 630-cfm Carter AVS four-barrel carburetor, vacuum secondaries; mechanical pump Lubrication system.....................................................................Pressure; gear-type pump Electrical system..............................................................................................................12-V Exhaust system.................................................................................................Dual exhaust TRANSMISSION Type.....................................................Chrysler A727 TorqueFlite three-speed automatic Ratios ................................................ 1st/2.45:1 … 2nd/1.45:1 … 3rd/1.00:1 … Reverse/2.21:1 DIFFERENTIAL Type....................................................................Chrysler8 3/4-in housing, open differential Ratio................................................................................................................................3.23:1 STEERING Type...............................................................................................Manual worm-and-sector Ratio................................................................................................................................28.8:1 Turns, lock-to-lock.............................................................................................................5.3 Turning circle...............................................................................................................42.8 ft BRAKES Type..............................................................................Hydraulic; four-wheel manual drum Front...................................................................................................................11 x 3-in drum Rear.................................................................................................................11 x 2.5-in…

DOM’S DODGE CHARGER LEGO • 800-835-4386 • WWW.LEGO.COM • $99.99 Lego fans and muscle car enthusiasts alike will thrill to the latest in the Technic line: Dom’s Dodge Charger, a you-build-it replica of the 1970 Dodge Charger driven by Vin Diesel’s character, Dominic Toretto, in the first Fast & Furious movie. It works out to around 1/13-scale, so the result is well over a foot long. Building this 3D jigsaw puzzle is only half the fun: Standard features include an opening hood, a V-8 engine with moving pistons, working suspension, low-profile tires, a pair of nitrous oxide bottles for the trunk, and a functioning “wheelie bar.” For those who aren’t up for 1,077 pieces to put together, there’s also a black ’68 Dodge Charger available in a drag-strip two-pack,…

CLEAN CARS, PRESENTED WELL, DRAW ATTENTION AND BIDS While original and restored vehicles in factory-stock condition remain popular with a great portion of the Hemmings Nation, we’re continuing to note the expanding influence the restomod segment of the muscle car hobby has on the larger collector-vehicle world. Recent Hemmings Auctions have included numerous tastefully modified American performance cars that have commanded impressive sums, including the Chevelle SS and Caprice on these pages. Ford fans will want to check out the authentic Dark Moss Green, T-5 transmission-equipped Bullitt tribute 1967 Mustang fastback restomod that sold for $84,000 (hemmings.com/auction/1967-ford-mustang). That aforementioned 1991 Caprice station wagon has automotive journalist provenance to go along with its sinister looks and verified speed. It was modified by Lingenfelter Performance at the behest of Car and Driver…

FORD MUSTANG DESIGN TEAM MEMBER GALE HALDERMAN DIES It was Ford designer Gene Halderman’s sketch, rendered in clay, that Lee Iacocca selected over the others submitted in a 1962 design exercise, laying the foundation of what would become the first Ford Mustang. On April 29, Halderman, age 87, lost his battle with liver cancer. At first, Halderman rejected the new sporty car assignment, having too much on his plate already as a design manager in the Ford studio. When his boss, studio manager Joe Oros, insisted, Halderman relented, working at home on sketches for what would eventually become the Mustang. Of the five sketches Halderman completed, three featured variations of the quarter panel air scoop, now a hallmark of Mustang design. The clay model submitted by Oros blended Halderman’s styling…

EARLY IN MAD MAX, WHEN THE TITULAR ANTI- hero is introduced to the supercharged Interceptor, he asks, “How the hell did you get all this together?” “It just happened… A piece from here and piece from there,” was the reply from the mad-scientist mechanic Barry; and the wasteland road trash would soon be sorry he put all those pieces together. Very sorry. “It just happened,” is also how Tom Brown describes the build of his own bad, black and blown Ford — a ’69 Mustang Mach 1 that he calls Instigator, which sort of sounds like Interceptor. “The car and parts just came together.” “We were sitting at the Woodward Dream Cruise a couple of years ago and I had my ’61 Cadillac convertible,” Tom told us. “My friend Brian…

DO YOU THINK THE STOCK CAR RACING aero war ended in 1970? NASCAR rules may have dealt an evolutionary death blow to the winged Mopars, and nixed Ford’s King Cobras as the prototypes emerged, but it didn’t eliminate wind cheating designs. In the ensuing decades, Detroit learned that the challenges of meeting CAFE (Corporate Average Fuel Economy) standards and increasing racetrack speeds could be served by continuing to improve aerodynamics, often with pleasing visual results. We can think of a few post “aero wars” examples, like the 1975 Chevy Chevelle Laguna S-3. Its laid-back front fascia helped lower the coupe’s drag coefficient. Buick affixed a similar design to its mid-’70s Special and Century, and Olds didn’t hesitate to lay back the front end of its Cutlass 442, though its superspeedway…

WHERE WOULD AMERICAN performance be without Ford? It was Henry’s sheer hubris, and dislike for six-cylinder engines, that encouraged him to one-up the competition with his flathead V-8 of 1932. Its 65 horsepower was only the beginning; over the course of its life, ending in American passenger cars in 1953, it reached 110 horsepower. Ford beat Chevy to the punch by an entire year, dropping an OHV V-8 into its popularly priced high-volume line; before the end of the ’50s, the Y-block was offered with multiple carburetion or supercharging. It was Ford, or rather Mercury, that offered the first 400-horsepower V-8 off a showroom floor (in 1958!), available without having to give Joe in the parts department the secret handshake. The Ford small-block V-8 arrived in 1962 and made its…

MIGHTY MEN COME from humble origins; oaks grow from mere acorns. Ford’s long-lasting, unit-bodied, rear-drive Fox chassis started as the Ford Fairmont and Mercury Zephyr, a pair of compact sedans (with coupe and wagon variants) that got the automaker in fighting shape for the ’80s. They arrived at a time when high performance was on no one’s mind, or at least, very few in Detroit. Instead, these models were created in the wake of the first oil crisis and arrived just in time for the 1979 sequel. Horsepower wasn’t Ford’s focus then. But even when sheer grunt wasn’t available, Ford hyped performance: Fox’s rack-and-pinion steering, grippy Michelin TRX tires (on special suspensions, tuned for handling), and wide availability of a four-speed (and later, five-speed) manual transmission. As circumstances allowed, output…

TRIGGERED HOLLEY PERFORMANCE PRODUCTS • 888-258-3835 WWW.HOLLEY.COM • $369.95 New MSD crank-trigger kits are now available for small- and big-block Chevys and small-block Fords. Each comes with a Hall-effect sensor, providing maximum accuracy in triggering your electronic fuel injection system. The kits are easy to install and use rigid aluminum mounting brackets and hardware that won’t flex or cause timing fluctuations. The three-wire sensors are more resistant to noise interference than traditional parts. Each kit helps ensure precise ignition, and is perfect for your EFI conversion projects. C2-STYLE STEERING WHEELS CON2R INC. • 503-626-6390 • WWW.CON2R.COM • STARTING AT $500 These “C2” Corvette-style steering wheels come in three offsets, and feature a 15-inch outside-diameter grip with a stainless-steel frame and brushed, polished, or powder-coated spokes. Different grips are…

It’s called the Mustang Cobra Jet 1400 and, yes, that number stands for 1,400 horsepower. What’s different from other recent Cobra Jets, Ford’s track-only drag racing version of the Mustang, is that this one rips down the drag strip with an electric whine instead of a thundering exhaust note. The Cobra Jet 1400 is an electric vehicle, a one-off prototype that Ford says is capable of low 8-second quarter-mile times at a trap speed of more than 170 mph. When it comes to electric vehicles in motorsports, drag racing is better suited than most. With such short distances, the overall range is less of a concern than racing an EV on a road course. And dragsters are already set up to handle the big, instantaneous torque that electric motors provide:…

BACK IN THE DAY, AN UNMOLESTED MUSCLE CAR went against the spirit of the genre. Cheap hubcaps were discarded in favor of mag wheels, dashboards and parcel shelves were hacked up to accommodate new stereos and speakers, and all manner of aftermarket trickery was pressed into service under the hood, which may or may not have had cold-air holes cut into it. Out went the factory junk, and in came the goodies that made it one’s own. Today, decades later, having a muscle car as a factory-fresh-appearing, period-correct artifact (frequently having undone half a century’s worth of mechanical misanthropy) makes a certain amount of historic — and financial — sense. It’s how they were sold off the lot, and how they were presented in the dealer brochures, road tests, and…

DISPLACEMENT AND its contribution to power production is something we don’t need to explain to anyone holding this magazine. Forced induction is one way to overcome a lack of cubic inches, but for those who prefer natural aspiration, more cubes is the only solution. With the Ford Windsor small-block, there are options: 347-cu.in. versions of the 302 block (8.2-inch-tall deck), and 408-cubic-inch (and larger) versions of the 351-style block (9.5-inch deck) are possible, but stretching the stock blocks brings inherent issues, not the least of which is pretty thin piston compression heights. That typically requires ring support rails, at the very least. Then there are the factory blocks’ comparatively thin castings, which generally require the use of a main cap “girdle” or other reinforcements to shore up their strength with…

PRODUCT TEST: TURTLE WAX HYBRID SOLUTIONS CERAMIC SPRAY COATING TURTLE WAX • 800-887-8539 • WWW.TURTLEWAX.COM • $12.95 We’re always on the lookout for our next go-to detailing product. Turtle Wax has recently come out with its new professional-grade Hybrid Solutions line designed for ease-of-use, and at a reasonable price point. Turtle Wax Hybrid Solutions Ceramic Spray Coating comes in a fruity scent, and it promises a water-repelling, high-gloss shine with a protective coating that will last up to 12 months. Since Turtle Wax uses words like “super hydrophobic” and “Si02 polymers,” we had to test the hype for ourselves. Last week at Hemmings HQ, we experienced what we hope was our last snowstorm for spring.This past weekend, we welcomed our first 80-degree day and gave our vehicles a much-needed…

THERE ARE TWO TYPES OF antique vehicle auctions that take place in Scottsdale, Arizona, each January: Those that are carefully curated with a select and limited array of exquisite cars from all corners of the global market, and sales that deal in rapid-fire volume for buyers and spectators who prefer a wider variety of options. One of the companies that falls into the latter category is Russo and Steele. Based right in downtown Scottsdale, the auction house has been a pillar of hot winter gavel action in the desert city for two decades. The new year delivered Russo and Steele’s annual sale to its old stomping grounds, located just off the Highway 101 loop at the bottom of the Scottsdale Road exit ramp. As in years past, spectators and bidders…

MONTEREY CHANGES With the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance being called off, the many auctions that accompany Monterey car week are also seeing cancellations and changes. As of press time, RM Sotheby’s will continue with its August 13-15 sale, but it will be online only, just as the firm has been holding its other auctions since the onset of the pandemic. Bonhams, which plans its sale in conjunction with “The Quail, A Motorsports Gathering,” has stated that it will schedule an alternative sale to take place in California, but will not go ahead with the original event. The official auction of the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, Gooding & Company, has cancelled this year’s sale, as has Worldwide Auctioneers, nixing this year’s Pacific Grove auction. For the latest details and up-to-the-minute information,…