Innholdsfortegnelse for May 2024 i Hemmings Muscle Machines

STOCK WE ALL know the impact that the Chrysler E-body made on the automotive world when it was revealed to the masses in the fall of 1969. It combined slick, sporty looks with big power hooks, all rolled into one powered-up, air-wicking muscle machine. The styling of the new Challenger and Barracuda was alluring even to those not necessarily in the Mopar camp, as one enthusiast recalled. “Fifty years ago, on September 24th, 1973, I bought my 1971 Plymouth ’Cuda from the front line at Armory Garage in Albany, New York, when I was just 19 years old,” Don Kirsch says. “It had a 340, a column shifter due to the high-back bench seat, a white interior, black billboards, and two fender tags. But what hooked me was the color.…

AUCTION ACTION WISCONSIN-BASED Mecum Auctions played host to the first sale of 2024, held in Kissimmee, Florida, January 2-14. The annual opener seemed to indicate that the classic car markets are still strong, as this sale broke all records with 4,383 cars crossing the auction block with hundreds of ’60s-era muscle, contemporary and exotic, classics and customs, and plenty of restomods covering the 200-acre complex. Leading all the sales was a 1963 Ferrari 250 GT SWB California Spider with the 3.0L/276-hp V-12 and a four-speed. This was the last California Spider built with S/N 4137 and sold for an astounding $17.9 million. In the second spot was a 1966 Ford GT40 MkI Road Car selling for $6.93 million. The top ten sellers included six exotic imports and five American performance…

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 the Hemmings Auctions team directly: auctions@hemmings.com. 1966 DODGE CHARGER RESERVE: $114,000SELLING PRICE: $152,250RECENT MARKET RANGE: $106,000-$134,000 This one-owner, Hemi-powered 1966 Dodge Charger hit strong numbers by every metric…

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…

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.…

IF YOU’VE BEEN following along with our 1991 Mustang LX 5.0 project (see Parts 1 and 2 in HMM #247 and #248), you already know that we purchased the car as a follow up to the 1987 Camaro IROC-Z we’d “rehabbed” back in the fall of 2022. You may have even watched the video series on each of these cars that are posted to the Hemmings YouTube channel, wherein our crew is featured performing all the upgrades and then sampling the results as the cameras rolled, each time with just two weeks to get it all handled. Those time constraints are just a part of working within the schedules of a busy video crew, but it keeps us on our toes. We managed to keep everything on track, and each…

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,…

HIGHLIGHTS FROM KISSIMMEE Mecum finished its 10-day auction with $275 million in total sales. Nearly 800 of the cars offered were American muscle and other high-performance models built from 1964 to 1972, and they changed hands at a rate of 74.2 percent. Among the muscle cars crossing the block was this 1970 Hemi ’Cuda convertible, said to be one of the 14 made that year and one of the nine built with an automatic transmission. The production markings and tags of the fully documented and restored ‘Cuda were present throughout the engine bay and undercarriage. The body was stripped down to bare metal with all components used said to be NOS or original. It’s also said to be the only one finished in Lemon Twist yellow with a tan interior…