Hemmings Muscle Machines November 2021

When Detroit finally started to acknowledge high performance again in the early 1980s, it was as if the hot-rodding gods were finally responding to the laments of the gearhead faithful. Those who’d been fortunate enough to live through the first muscle era were forced to see it wane to near extinction, with only a few offerings remaining as the ’70s drew to a close, all of them fairly tepid shells of their former selves. But the clouds began to part for 1982, and the performance wars between American automakers were rekindled. This is where the discussion often becomes somewhat polarized among muscle car enthusiasts. Some of us fondly recall the return of factory performance back in the ’80s, and now, all these years later, we’re feeling our own tinges of…

For all of the hand wringing over whether Camaro will make it into the electric-car era, Chevy seems determined to ride out the nameplate’s legacy as boldly, and loudly, as possible with its new quarter-mile special, the COPO Camaro, designed to compete in the NHRA’s Stock and Super Stock classes. The COPO legend traces back to a practice of working the system to make the factory produce something that it might not ordinarily offer. The Central Office Production Option (or Production Order, depending on who you ask) was intended mostly for fleet-type vehicles with specific combinations of options — think taxicabs and specially equipped trucks. But, in the late ’60s, this system was used to create performance cars that were not supposed to exist, like 427-urged Camaros. This practice yielded…

2022 ICE WHITE EDITION MUSTANG COUPE: SIGNALING THE END OF MUSTANG’S RUN? Back in the good old 1990s, Ford built some special-edition Mustang convertibles to help spark interest in what was then an old platform. For 1993, there were two of these special editions: one in yellow with chrome wheels, and one in white with white wheels. Just 1,500 triple-white Fox-body Mustang ragtops were built to help see the body style into the history books. Ford may have tipped its hand that big changes are coming soon for its iconic sports coupe, because in early 2022 you’ll be able to get your own Ice White Edition Mustang coupe. Available with EcoBoost four-cylinder or V-8 power, it will be painted Oxford White and features paint-matched 19 x 9-inch wheels with machine-surfaced…

BISCAYNE MEMORIES In reading the letters you have been getting on the Chevy 348 engine, I thought I would let you know about my ’61 Chevy Biscayne, which I bought new. It had the 348/350-hp engine, with a 3.36 Posi rear and a three-speed on the column. My best elapsed time was 14.3 seconds at 103 mph, running C/Stock at York U.S. 30 Dragway outside of York, Pennsylvania. Many of my competitors were running 4.56 gears and four-speed transmissions, and I enjoyed beating them. No one could believe I had a 3.36 rear. Part of the secret was the gearing in the three-speed transmission. After winning a couple Saturday nights at York, I went to Frederick, Maryland for the Sunday race. They tore me down before allowing me to run…

“After reading Jim McGowan’s column in the August issue, I did some quick math and realized he bought his GTO in 1983, the same year I bought my Road Runner. I was 15 years old at the time and only had my driver’s license for about a month. My older brother Dan had tried to buy the car, but the seller would not go down to $400 and said he wouldn’t take less than $500. I continued to see the car parked with a for sale sign every day when I went to work on the bus. When I saved up the money, I went and paid him $500 for it and called Dan from a pay phone to drive it home for me, as I couldn’t drive a four-speed…

AS WITH MUSIC AND OTHER CULTURAL touchstones, it’s a good bet that your automotive interests are rooted in the trends and experiences of your youth. They’re the cars on the street you started noticing before you could drive, the ones you and your buddies had in high school or shortly thereafter. Or perhaps you simply lusted after the ones that were out of reach. For most baby boomers, it was the golden age of the original muscle car movement, but for the Generation Xers who came up behind them, it was the cars of the Eighties and early Nineties. IROCs, 5-liter Mustangs, and Grand Nationals. Those were the cars that left the indelible impressions on their collective psyche. The older Gen Xers are now solidly in their 50s and they’re…