Innholdsfortegnelse for December 2023 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

WE LEARNED IN PART 1 that Don Martens Jr. purchased this 1969 then-rumored-to-be-a-COPO-427 Camaro in 1976 for just $1,000. It had been stolen when new and recovered but was missing its engine and other significant parts. Soon thereafter, it was fitted with a Corvette 327 and a replacement four-speed and passed through several owners on its journey to Don. He added performance mods and enjoyed the car on the streets of Cleveland before he socked it away and removed the engine in 1977. Don then began to systematically accumulate NOS parts for a future restoration, and he investigated the COPO Camaro’s history to determine whether it originally had the iron L72 427 or the aluminum ZL-1 427. A breakthrough finally materialized in the August 1981 issue of Super Chevy magazine…

AUCTION ACTION WHEN YOU’RE RUNNING an outdoor auction with no fixed abode for the sale, good weather is a must. Palm Springs, California, has a seemingly endless supply of the stuff, which helps make it the mid-century modern playground of the Southwest. Over the previous decade’s worth of McCormick’s auctions we’ve covered in these pages, the skies were wide open, with the sunshine beating down upon cars and potential buyers alike. Alas, our streak was broken in February: the sun appeared briefly on Friday, and then rained clear into Sunday morning. The weather proved an issue for local sellers who weren’t used to water falling from the sky; many backed out. Despite this, McCormick’s still brought in $4.2 million over its three-day event, proving that the buyers who remained would…

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. 2007 FORD MUSTANG SHELBY GT500 RESERVE: $35,000SELLING PRICE: $35,700RECENT MARKET RANGE: $32,500-$45,500 One of the modern muscle cars that is sure…

In the world of racing, there are two abiding classes: cars that were built to race, bound by creed and construction to the confines of the infinite road course, and cars built for the open road, later reclaimed, reconstructed, and reborn to race. Rarely is the status quo contested, yet Ford, in collaboration with Multimatic, has done just that with the newly minted Mustang GTD. Born of speed, sculpted by lap times, engineered to do battle at the ‘Ring long before the boulevard, the GTD is an anomaly. Even its nomenclature harkens to the IMSA “GTD” racing class it was built for. Purpose-built to fuel Ford’s wartime racing efforts in Europe, Mustang GTD is the road-going version of a GT3 supercar and designed to put Ford’s iconic nameplate on the…

STOCK “IT’S ONLY ORIGINAL ONCE,” the mantra goes. Really, that only matters if the car in question isn’t a rusting, immovable hunk of twisted metal: patina is one thing, but “it’s only original once” doesn’t matter if you can see the pavement through the rust in the rockers and floors, or if it’s only running on five cylinders. Originality is awesome, but it stems from having careful owners from new; having it stay nice for decades, and even avoiding the “one careful repaint in the ‘90s” syndrome, is another issue entirely. Such is the case with the 390-powered 1968 Mercury Cyclone fastback seen on these pages. It was purchased out of Townsend Lincoln-Mercury in the greater San Diego area and lived there for the bulk of its life. Its original…

*Prices shown are presumed accurate at the time of printing. Please confirm with seller prior to purchase. 2024 HEMMINGS MUSCLE MACHINES CALENDAR HEMMINGS • 800-227-4373 X 79550 • HEMMINGS.COM/STORE • $14.95 With a new year just around the corner, it’s now time to order your 2024 Hemmings Muscle Machines wall calendar. This generously sized (12 x 12 inches) organizational tool (item CM24) is printed on thick, premium paper and it’s illustrated with multiple images of a dozen of America’s most coveted performance vehicles of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s. You’ll enjoy beautifully presented photos of your favorite products from American Motors, Chrysler Corporation, Ford Motor Company, and General Motors. To help you get the most from the classic-car lifestyle, this calendar highlights more than 75 car show and auction dates,…

Letter of the Month: Father/Daughter Project Thank you for the great magazine, I’m a longtime subscriber. The no-nonsense approach you use to supply content is second to none. I thought I’d share my latest story with you. I’m a diehard GM guy, so of course, when my 13-year-old daughter got the car bug, she started asking about… Mustangs. At that point, I had to decide: Do I dig in my heels on a GM product, or do I let this path establish itself? Recently a pair of Mustangs came up for sale locally, so I told her we’d go look. We looked at both being offered: a Lime Gold ’68 notchback and a school bus yellow ’66 notchback. The ‘68 was rough, but the bones were there, and my daughter…

ON LOCATION IN CERTAIN PARTS of the United States, you can stay busy running the roads to monthly cruise-in events, community car shows and cars-and-coffee style events. It seems to be a well saturated market, but also a stale one. You may see the same cars, parked in the same place nearly every time you go. At those events, you’ll see some high-performance staples: Camaro Super Sport, Mustang Mach 1 and Dodge Charger R/T come to mind, but you’ll rarely come across true muscle car royalty out in the wild. That’s because cars like LS6 Chevelles, COPO Novas and Yenko Camaros are very valuable, and the owners rarely want to expose them to the elements. As muscle car lovers, we’ve been trained to idolize these cars and protect them from…

HARRISBURG HIGHLIGHTS Mecum finished up another successful auction this summer with hundreds of cars changing hands. Among 1964-’72 American muscle cars, more than 130 lots found new homes at a 66.3-percent sell-through with a total of more than $8.4 million in sales realized. One of the top sellers from that group was a customized 1968 Dodge Charger. The modified Mopar featured a supercharged GEN III Hemi 6.2L V-8 engine, said to be spec’d for Dodge’s Demon, mated to an eight-speed automatic transmission. The Charger was equipped with a custom roll cage, Reilly MotorSports front suspension and four-link rear suspension, and a mutated hood that was part Hellcat and part 1968 Charger. An unusual perk for the winning bidder was included — a two-day high-performance driving course at the Radford Racing…