Hemmings Muscle Machines May 2024

“All of this piqued my interest in the cars of America’s last independent automaker.” The first car I was ever able to get my hands on to really tinker with — on my own, with no one else looking over my shoulder — was an AMC product. It was a Gremlin of all things — a ’71, I think — and it was essentially abandoned in a neighbor’s backyard. It had belonged to one of the sons in the household, and when it refused to cooperate any longer, he commandeered the father’s car. I don’t think Dad ever got his car back, and the Gremlin was left to rot into the ground. By the time I came along, all concern over the clapped-out little car had vaporized, so I was…

There are fun visual reminders of the original Jeep’s mission and outline scattered about the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392: the wheel hubs, shift knob, and elsewhere display fun Easter eggs that remind you of Jeep’s rugged, small, light, open, simple, cheap past with side cutouts in lieu of doors. Of these attributes, the Wrangler Rubicon 392 really only fulfills the first part. Consider: A 118.4-inch wheelbase, 192.5-inch overall length, four doors, and 5,300-pound curb weight suggest that the Jeep Wrangler Rubicon 392 is neither small nor light. Open? You can strip the doors and roof off, but other than wind noise at freeway speeds (a combination of both the soft top and the aerodynamic profile of a suburban split-level home), you feel entirely ensconced. Simple? Not with the quantity of…

Letter of the Month: Grabbing Gears… Like a Grown-up I am now 82 years old and have been through what Jim McGowan is beginning to experience. I owned a new ’65 GTO that I bought right after graduating from college — what’s a little more debt, right? After I got married, I traded for a new ’68 GTO and then eventually those boring family cars. After I retired, I bought a restored ’65 GTO and had it for about a dozen years. I only have a daughter and two granddaughters, and none ever expressed interest in the car. As I approached 80, my mindset was similar to Jim’s, and the upkeep, maintenance, insurance costs, and so on, for such few miles every year began to wear on me. I live…

BY THE MID-’60S, the muscle car wars raged ever onward. Every year brought hotter powertrains, better traction, wilder style — all at a price that even the local grocery-store bag boy could afford. Winners and losers were determined between the lights. Everyone seemed to want to get in on the action. Everyone, that is, except for poor AMC. Formed by merging Nash and Hudson in 1954, AMC was small and prudent, chasing reliability and economy over trends. But Detroit overwhelmed Rambler’s compact-car raison d’etre, and by 1966 sales were in freefall. Cautious old management was replaced by Roy Chapin, Jr., a CEO who sought to capitalize on America’s performance awakening; Chapin’s family founded Hudson Motors, whose Twin-H-Power Hornet dominated early NASCAR tracks. He understood that racing would attract a newer,…

BRIAN COYLE OF LITITZ, PENNSYLVANIA, didn’t set out to build a barnstorming, powered-up road-course racer when he purchased his 1971 Chevelle Malibu back in August of 1989. Like most high-school car purchases, this Chevy was destined to become his daily mode of transportation and part-time local street cruiser. Little did he know this Chevy would someday turn into not only his hopped-up hot rod, but also a very capable road-course runner. “I bought this car basically to get me from point A to point B. It replaced my first car, which was a ’78 Honda Civic. When I bought it, the Malibu was painted Forest Green with gold stripes, it had a set of slot mags, Cherry Bomb mufflers, and was motivated by a tired 350 with a Saginaw four-speed.…

RARELY DID THE STREET URCHINS gather before midnight in the dark corner of the mall parking lot; their surreptitious activities were put on hold until then for the streets to clear out and tarmac trawlers to make their rounds. Suddenly, a sinister black Camaro made its presence known, and all heads swiveled in unison as it cruised past the small group. Prior to making its debut on this evening, the Camaro had been unknown, so naturally this crowd was eager for a closer look at the newcomer, and to find out if it was a player… or a poseur. It certainly seemed the part of a serious contender: The barely muffled exhaust did little to conceal a hard-hitting cam, Lakewood slapper bars were appropriately attached to the rear leaf springs,…