Innholdsfortegnelse for August 2023 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

“I’VE ALWAYS loved Hugger Orange and the unadorned simplicity of the base Camaro body just looked great,” says Tom Tomlinson, who recently retired as the president and CEO of Holley. “I wanted to build a car with that look, but with a modern LS7 engine, along with good brakes, air conditioning, and the other features that would make it an excellent driver.” That summation perfectly encapsulates the growing popularity of the restomod and Pro-Touring trends, where owners are increasingly opting to have their vintage Detroit steel not only restored, but also updated with modern powertrains, suspensions, and more to balance classic, emotion-evoking style with contemporary driving dynamics. “It’s the best of both worlds,” Matt Gurjack, founder of Sled Alley, says — his shop was tasked with turning Tom’s vision into…

CHEVROLET’S FULL-SIZE muscle car packages of the 1960s projected confidence through dynamic styling, powerful engines, durable drivetrains, and heavy-duty suspension systems, as is evidenced by this 1968 SS 427. Despite being the products of GM’s entry-level division, Chevy’s full-size cars of the period were never short on style, performance, or favorable driving dynamics, as reflected by their popularity. While most of us would’ve had to settle for seeing the new Chevy full-size offerings of that storied decade in dealer brochures and showrooms or in print and television ads, Don Bock didn’t. He’s the R&D manager at American Autowire, Inc. in New Jersey, today, but he recalls that when he was growing up in the southern region of the Garden State, his dad used to receive new Impala four-door hardtops as…

BONHAMS’ AND THE RM SOTHEBY’S SINGLE-DAY AUCTIONS, both of which take place in January in Scottsdale far away from floodlights and camera booms and the echo of cattle-rattle, are curious locations to find muscle cars — particularly when there are other auctions that seemingly specialize in them. Both auctions are largely known for their careful curation of cars for sale. While the bulk of the lots appear to be full Classics, European sports cars, and the like, the truth is that if a muscle car — or a hybrid featuring exotic Euro sheetmetal but a throbbing all-American engine at its core — appears at one of these houses, there has to be something extraordinary about it. Ample provenance from new and interesting history is frequently par for the course; you’re…

HEMMINGS AUCTIONS IS OUR LIVE, ONLINE AUCTION site staffed by customer service professionals ready to help bidders and sellers with any questions. A wide variety of classic and specialty vehicles from all eras are up for bid. Auctions run for two weeks, and qualified bidders place their bids electronically. Once a vehicle is accepted into the auction, the seller pays only a $99.95 listing fee. The winning bidder is responsible for a 5-percent fee on all completed auctions. The following are examples of auctions that transpired during the month leading up to press time. If you have questions, comments, or suggestions, email Director of Auction Operations Terry Shea: terryshea@hemmings.com. 1972 BUICK GS 455 RESERVE: $85,000SELLING PRICE: $94,500RECENT MARKET RANGE: $75,000-$105,500 While its power output may have been down for 1972,…

In our drive of the EcoBoost Ford Raptor (“Production Line,” July ’22), we said, “…[w]e can’t help but wonder what the suite of goodies seen here would feel like in Ford’s Ranger — a truck that’s 1,500 pounds lighter.” We can stop wondering: The newly redesigned 2024 Ford Ranger is due in showrooms any minute and there’s a heavy-breathing Raptor version available. If you’ve been paying attention to the Bronco Raptor (“Production Line,” Nov ’22), then most of this will sound vaguely familiar as Bronco and Ranger share (or shared) plenty of bits we can’t see. And those are the bits that make the Ranger Raptor of interest: Ford’s newest desert hauler will feature a twin-turbo EcoBoost V-6, rated at 405 horsepower and 430 lb-ft of torque on command. That’s…

WHEN YOU’RE OUT RACING, you know that lightening things up is free horsepower. Less weight for the engine to strain against means better acceleration, and when there’s just 1,320 feet between your starting point and the end of the line, every pound counts. This is why so many quarter-mile race cars get gutted: no interiors, fiberglass body panels, little skinny tires up front. In the world of the Pure Stock Muscle Car Drags, however, such things are frowned upon. Those racers want to show real as-stock-as-the-rules-allow muscle cars doing the thing that muscle cars were built to do: Go from stoplight to stoplight while proving their dominance over the driver sitting next to them. Choosing the right car can be crucial to your results. Meanwhile, this Pure Stock-legal 1971 Dodge…

RUST NEVER SLEEPS. It’s an adage of the automotive hobby as true as the guarantee of vapor lock when trying to start your muscle car in front of a crowd on a hot summer car-show field. A rusted floor is one of the more common areas of corrosion regardless of the make or model — but it’s almost a given for early Mustangs. Even if a car wasn’t subjected to 20 years of salted roads, water leaks were common, and at the minimum they typically led to rotted toe panels and front floorpans. For the Rust Belt pony cars, the floor often began to evaporate pretty early in their road life, and countless Mustangs were budget-patched with sheet steel and the occasional license plate to stem the cancerous spread. But…

THE AESTHETIC APPEAL of the stock-class drag-racing warriors of the 1960s is easy to understand: big cars sporting most of what Detroit had put there on the assembly line, but with more attitude, more aggression. Bulging tires in the rear, skinny rollers up front, open header collectors dangling below, clearly visible thanks to the nose-up stance that indicated forward thrust even at rest. Mike Hoyt gets it, but he wasn’t around to soak it in back when those battles first took place. In fact, not only did he miss the ’60s entirely, he also nearly missed the ’70s, too. His love of the drag cars of that golden era is a testament, then, to the powerful appeal of a relatively brief window in time — one he’d never experienced firsthand.…

PEBBLE BEACH QUAD SQUAD A foursome of auctions will take place during Pebble Beach weekend in Monterey, California, with a sampling of muscle cars for all tastes. First up, Mecum’s Monterey Auction will feature more than 600 vehicles available for bidding. Among the early consignments are two special Dodges, a 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona Hemi and a 2000 Viper RT/10 Roadster. The Hemi Daytona is thought to be one of 70 made and is said to retain its original drivetrain along with its factory sheetmetal. The numbers-matching Hemi is mated to a 727 TorqueFlite and its meticulous restoration featured date-correct NOS parts. The Viper shows just 21,474 miles on the odometer and the two-owner car was garage kept and is currently in unrestored condition. One of 840 made for the…