Z/28 Returns!

Rumor has it that this spring Chevrolet is going to revive the Z/28 Camaro. It will have the 556 hp supercharged 6.2l V8 out of the Cadillac CTS-V. That ought to give those arrogant Shelby Mustang owners and SRT8 Challenger owners pause. Since Ford is also reviving the Boss 302 Mustang, and the new for 2011 Charger will be available with a 460 hp 392 inch Hemi, this is as good as anytime in history to buy a new musclecar. Wonder what order time on a Charger is..... Mastermind

Never argue with an idiot, because people might not know the difference!!

I talked to a guy the other day who got so upset that I knew more than he did, that if I wasn't about 4 inches taller and 40 pounds heavier than him, I think he'd have challenged me to a fight. I never saw anyone get so spittingly hysterical about being proved wrong. The subject was SCCA Trans-Am racing, and the impact it had on production cars. This "Know-it-All" attended the Monterey Historic Car races every year. If you don't know, the Monterey Historics allow people with everything from MG-TC's to Shelby Cobras, to Datsun 510s and 240Z's to old NASCAR racers to run at Laguna Seca for a few days. It's a great event, and the only place where you can see tons of really cool vintage cars actually running, not sitting in a museum or on a trailer. Anyway, a group of guys were discussing the Trans-Am series, and how the cars evolved. All of us agreed that although they took the name of perhaps their most famous model from the series, Pontiac didn't have much success in the races. I said that was because just as Herb Adams and several other engineers were getting serious about mounting a Pontiac Trans-Am effort to compete with Ford, Chevy, and AMC -( Who by then had stolen Roger Penske and Mark Donohue from Chevrolet ) John Delorean, who was backing Adams and Co., got promoted to Genearal Manager of Chevrolet and left. DeLorean's successor cut Adams budget.  Adams had destroked a 400 Pontiac to 303 inches to meet the 305 cubic inch limit. He found that the Tunnel-Port Ram Air V heads that Arnie Beswick and other Pontiac drag racers were using with great success on the 400 and 428 engines just killed the little 303. They actually ran better with Ram Air IV or regular "D Port" Ram Air III heads. With the smaller heads, Adams got 485 hp out of the 303, between 5,000 and 8,000 rpm. This was consistent with what the racing 302 Chevys and Boss 302 Fords were putting out. However, because the cranks, rods, and pistons, were all custom-made, and the solid lifter valvetrain was a hybrid of Pontiac and Chevrolet parts, the engines were quite expensive. Chrysler was even experimenting with a 305 Hemi to have Richard Petty and company possibly mount a Trans-Am effort. Petty had the same problem as Adams. The engines were outrageously expensive to build, and the Hemi heads were just too damn big for the little motor. Chrysler cut the budget just like Pontiac did. In the end a few 303 Trans-Am Firebirds were built-Jerry Titus won a couple races before he was killed at Lime Rock. When the rare and expensive Pontiacs blew up, a lot of privateer racers just put 302 Chevys in the cars and kept racing. As for Chrysler, Richard Petty pulled out and decided to stay with NASCAR. But Sam Posey and others destroked a 340 small-block to 305 inches that was competitive. This guy started staying how stupid I was, that Pontiac never sold a 303 engined Firebird Trans-Am, and that every Challenger T/A or AAR Cuda he ever saw, had a 340 six pack, and that Mopar never had a 305 Hemi and I was the dumbest person he'd ever met. I responded that I was fully aware that Pontiac never sold the 303 in a production car, but it was built for racing purposes, and that NASCAR, as far back as 1968, because of the 200 mph plus speeds the 427 Chevys and Fords and 426 Hemi mopars were going, was considering lowering the cubic inch limit to 305 to keep speeds down and make the racing safer. That's why Richard Petty was involved, because they thought they might need a 305 inch NASCAR motor. I said I knew for a fact, that at least one 305 inch Plymouth Superbird was built and raced in the 1970 season to see if they would be competitive. When NASCAR decided to continue to allow the big-blocks, Petty lost interest and without him, Chrysler didn't really give a crap about Trans-Am and cut the funding. Thus the destroked 340s that were run by the Mopar Trans-Am racers. This guy began swearing and telling me that all Superbirds had 440s, Six-Packs, or Hemis, and that I was F-ing retarded. Neither I nor the other guys in the group could convince this moron that we weren't talking about production cars, but RACE cars, and how their development sometimes impacted what made production. He called us all more names and left, disgusted. As were the other five guys there who knew what i was talking about. As Ron White says- "You Can't Fix Stupid!"  Mastermind    

Why musclecars dominate action movies

A lot of people ask me why musclecars are so prevalent in action movies. All their theories about Tarantino and Rodriguez, and their "Homages" to Bullitt or Vanishing Point, yadda,yadda, yadda are bullshit. There's only two reasons Musclecars dominate action movies. # 1. Almost all great action flicks have a car chase. No one wants to see a chase between a Prius and a Hyundai.  # 2. The main reason-and why they don't use modern ones-is all modern cars are so laden with electronic nanny and safety devices, that you can't do a "Dukes of Hazzard" or "White Lightning" or "Smokey and the Bandit" type chase, because if you hit anything with a modern car going more than about 20 mph, the airbags trigger, and the on-board computer shuts the fuel off. That's why Nicolas Cage drove a '60's Charger and a '70's Chevelle in the new 3-D action flick "Drive Angry". Fast & Furious 4 with Vin Diesel and Paul Walker was all muscle this time instead of Imports. A fifth installment is due out this summer, and I've seen some classics in the trailers. I also saw some modern Chargers. Maybe they disabled the airbags. Anyhow, those are the reasons, not any great creative vision on the part of anyone in Hollywood.  Mastermind

If you can't buy your dream car, then build it!

I saw an article in a Mopar Enthusiast magazine the other day that made me think-"Hey, everybody should do that!" The guy in the article always wanted a Challenger T/A. Since they were only offered for one year-1970-and few were built, the problem was finding one in any condition, at any price. He gave up searching, and bought a 318 powered 1970 Challenger. Through Year One, Mancini Racing, and other companies he bought a T/A style replacement hood, spoilers, and graphics package. He couldn't find a 340, but he bought a 375 hp 360 crate motor from Blueprint engines, and bought the Edelbrock 3-2bbl manifold, Holley carbs, throttle linkage, and air cleaner from Summit Racing. Summit also supplied the replacement Rally Wheels, and a local muffler shop made him the correct-style exhaust that exited in front of the rear wheels. Unless you check the serial numbers, you have no way of telling that it's not a "Real" Challenger T/A. And it's faster than an original one, too. They were only rated at 290 hp. This is not an isolated example. I did a little checking, and it would be easy to turn a 1965-68 Mustang fastback into a Shelby GT350 clone. Tony Branda and other companies offer the body pieces and reproduction interior parts, steering wheels, even the Shelby-style mags. Practically ever Mustang built in this era has a 289, or you could buy a 302 or 347 stroker crate engine from Ford racing. Want a 1969 Trans-Am? Good luck, as only 697 were built. However, Pontiac built over 100,000 Firebirds in 1969, and almost all of them have 350 or 400 V8s under the hood. If it's got a 400, your already ahead of the game. If not, the 350 can be hopped up pretty good, or a 400 or 455 is a bolt-in swap. If you want to build a Ram Air IV style engine, Edelbrock sells Aluminum RAIV heads, and the "Performer RPM" cam has the exact same lift and duration. The Performer RPM manifold is actually a little better than the factory aluminum RAIV intake, especially above 4000 rpm. Year One and Ames sell the hood, and spoilers, stripes, and Air extractors for the fenders. Summit has reproduction Rally II wheels. You could also buy the stuff to make a "Plain" GTO into a Judge, or a Malibu into an SS model, or a Camaro into a Z/28. And I'm not just talking cosmetics. You don't have to have a base Camaro with a junkyard 350 that's painted to look like a Z/28. GMPP sells 4 inch bore, 4-bolt main new blocks designed to use 283 style small-journal cranks, and you can buy the 3.00 inch stroke cranks. Summit, Dart, Trick Flow, and many other companies sell High-Performance Iron and Aluminum heads for small-block Chevys.  Crane sells exact replicas of the original solid-lifter cam in their Blueprint Musclecar series. GMPP still sells the intake manifold in iron or aluminum, or a Holley # 300-36 is also an exact replica. Summit has 3310 780 cfm Holleys. Moser sells brand-new 12-bolt Posi rear ends, and you can find M20 or M21 Muncie or BW T10 four-speeds through Summitt or many other places. You'd have a Z/28, with a "Real" solid-lifter 302 Chevy engine!! When you powershift to second at 6,500 rpm and lay about 30 feet of rubber, are you going to be thinking about serial numbers?  This may be the way to go for a lot of people. Mastermind   

More on Dealer influence on the Musclecar Era

In the last post I talked about certain dealers across the country that offered option packages that weren't available from the Factory. Some of these packages resulted in the factories eventually offering these upgrades to the public. A couple examples would be the Hurst/Olds and the Yenko Camaros and Chevelles. For some reason, maybe pressure from insurance companies or government safety Nazis, GM had an edict that no A or F body car could have an engine over 400 cubic inches. This included Chevelles, GTOs, Cutlasses, and Camaros and Firebirds. That's why the largest optional engine in a Camaro or Chevelle was a 396, and the largest engine in a GTO or Firebird was a 400 Pontiac. Ditto for Olds and Buick. Century, Skylark and Cutlass / F85 models were limited to the 400 inch Buick and Olds engines. Meanwhile, Chrysler had no such restrictions. You could get a Road Runner, Charger or Super Bee with a 426 Hemi or a 440 V8. If their all stock, a 440 Road Runner has little to fear from a 396 Chevelle, or 389 or 400 GTO. This was not lost on the GM brass, but they didn't quite know what to do about it. George Hurst and others did. Hurst performance took the 455 out of the Toronado, added W30 heads and cam, special graphics,and a beefed up Turbo 400. Although only 515 were built in 1968, and 906 in 1969, the automotive press went wild. Don Yenko started offering 427 Corvette motors swapped into Camaros and Chevelles. Royal Pontiac got into the act by swapping 428 HO Gran Prix engines into GTOs and Firebirds. Carroll Shelby got tired of his 289 powered GT350 Mustangs getting dusted by big-block Camaros and Firebirds, so he took a 390 Mustang, and swapped in a 428 and called it the GT500.  Bob Tasca, owner of Tasca Ford, who campaigned many stock class racers in the 60s, blew everyone away by swapping a 428 Police Interceptor engine into a 68 Mustang. This caused Ford to offer the 428 as an option on 1969 Mustangs. In 1969 when Chrysler introduced the new 1970 E-bodied Challengers and Barracudas, which looked eerily like a Camaro,and were avalable with any engine up to and including the 440 Six-Pack, and 426 Hemi, GM decided to lift the ban and allow the largest engines to be put in the smaller cars. This is how the LS6 454 Chevelle, 455HO GTOs and Firbirds, and the 455 W30 442, and 455 Buick GS models came into being. If not for a few adventurous souls at the dealer level, some our most revered cars might never have been built. Mastermind       

Dealer specials! A thing of the past....

In the 1960's and 1970's many car dealers got into the performance scene, and offered special packages to their customers. Royal Pontiac in Michigan was legendary. The "Royal" treatment on a 389 GTO or 421 Catalina, or 400 GTO or Firebird included re-curving the distributor, re-jetting the carb, ( on 4-bbl models ) using thinner head gaskets to add compression, and adjusting the lifters and putting locknuts on the studs to add maybe 400-500 rpm on the top end. On Tri-Power models, besides richening the carbs, this included changing the linkage from vacuum to mechanical. Don Yenko was legendary for the 427 "Yenko" Camaros and Chevelles, as well as the "Yenko Deuce"-Since the Nova was sometimes called the "Chevy II"- this was a Nova with a 370 hp solid-lifter LT-1 Corvette motor stuffed in. "Mr. Norm's Grand Spaulding Dodge" was similar to Royal Pontiac, except they were doing it with Mopars. Challengers, Chargers, and Darts had their 340s, 383s, and 440s super-tuned before they left the dealer. Baldwin Chevrolet in New York partnered with Motion Performance, and Joel Rosen was the father of many L88 and LS6 and LS7 427 and 454 engined Camaros, Firebirds and Chevelles. Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago, as late as 1974, ( Hot Rod magazine tested one.)  offered an L88 427 Nova package.  I mentioned in an earlier post the Mecham Brothers of Mecham Pontiac in Arizona and the "Macho T/A".  I guess now, that truly is a thing of the past because of EPA and state and federal regulations. I recently drove a 2011 Charger R/T with the Hemi. In a major U.S. City, where people have a lot of money. I asked the salesman how much the dealer would charge me if they installed a K&N air filter and a Flowmaster "Cat-Back"-i.e.- after the catilytic converter, and thus emissions legal-exhaust system, and he acted like he was a Rookie Secret Service Agent and I said I wanted to kill the president. I never saw such hemming and hawing. He asked a manager, and the manager said he didn't care what was legal, under no circumstances would they modify a new car for any price. I had to quote Steve Martin from an old Saturday Night Live skit- "Wellll Excuuuussse me for asking!"  A sad state of affairs, and I hate to sound like an old fart, but I miss the "Good Old Days" when "The Customer was Always Right", and if you were willing to pay for it, you could get what you wanted on a new car. Sad. Mastermind 

The forgotten 'Cuda

Plymouth introduced the Barracuda in 1964. It was based on the Valiant platform, and the engine choices were 198 or 225 inch Slant-sixes or a 273 inch V8. I guess they thought it was going to compete with the Mustang, but it was too ugly, even in fastback form. Because they were really light ( around 2,900 lbs ) the 273 models made good drag racers, and when the SCCA started the Trans-Am series they could compete with the Mustangs. ( At least on the racetrack, if not in sales.) The Trans-Am series was immensely popular, but the only fly in the ointment in the musclecar era of "Bigger is Better" is the cubic inch limit was 305 inches. The Ford 289 and Mopar 273 did nicely. Chevrolet wasn't content to race a Nova with the old "economy" 283. They fired back with both barrels in 1967, introducing the Camaro, and putting a 283 crank in a 327 block, and adding Corvette "fuelie" heads, a "30-30" ( for the valve lash settings) cam, aluminum intake and a 780 Holley carb, and the legendary Z/28 was born. Also, the big-block 396 was optional in a Camaro, which left the Mustangs in the dust. Ford responded by offereing the 390 in the Mustang to keep up on the street, and after Chevrolet won the 1968 championship in Trans-Am with Mark Donohue driving a Z/28, they brought out the Boss 302, and offered the T-Bird / Police Interceptor 428 in the Mustang and called it the "Cobra Jet".  Mopar couldn't sit by, and let Ford and GM dominate the pony car market, so they got busy. The E-bodies that became the-now legendary Challenger and re-designed Barracuda, had several design and production delays, and didn't debut until 1970. In the interim, they had to fight back with something. The 1968 Barracuda had a much cleaner Fastback body, and was actually good-looking, although it was still light. ( About 3,200 lbs.) Further the all-new for 1968 340 V8 was a quantun leap up in performance from the 273. Besides the extra cubes, it had freer-breathing heads, 10.5:1 compression, a much hotter cam, and with a steel crank, a bullet-proof bottom end. Grossly under-rated at 275 hp, the power to weight ratio was excellent. The 340 Cudas could not only paste small-block Mustangs and Camaros, they could give the much heavier 396 Chevelles and 400 GTOs a run for the money they'd not soon forget. Mother Mopar also offered the 383 big-block in the Barracuda as well. These were a little nose-heavy and didn't handle handle as well as the 340 models, but boy were they quick in a straight line. These 68-69 models have a bit of a following of their own, but they are way cheaper to buy than a 1970 or later Cuda ./ Challenger. The good thing is, you don't have to search the galaxy for a 340 or 383 model. Buy a 318 model and a stout Mopar Performance 390 hp 360 crate motor, or a Bluprint engines 408 stroker ( based on a 360 ) will bolt right in. Or with a little work, forget a 383, stuff in a 440, or an MP 500 inch stroker!  If you want Mopar performance that's a little different from everyone else, consider the "Forgotten Cuda." Mastermind     

The "Other" Novas

The Chevy Nova has it's place in musclecar history-and rightly so. The L79 350 hp 327 SS models of the mid-60's could certainly surprise the heavier big-block offerings from the big 3. When GM redesigned the X-body in 1968, it opened up a whole new world. The front subframe was the same as a Camaro, which meant that big-blocks could now be easily installed. and for the first time, the 396 that had been previously only avaialable in Impalas and Chevelles, was now optional on the Nova SS.  Many an unsuspecting street hero that thought he was messing around with a small-block Nova got his doors blown off by a 396 model. To this day Novas have quite a following, and although they aren't as pricey as a same-year Camaro or Chevelle, they are rising in value. even for base models. However, the other GM divisions needed an economy car too, so they began offering their versions of the Nova. The best ones are the Pontiac Venturas from 1971-77. A lot of them had six-cylinder or 307 or ( 76-77 models ) 305 Chevy engines under the hood. This is not a bad thing, as that means a stout 350 or 383 Chevy is virtually a bolt-in swap. However the real sleepers to look for are the 350 Pontiac models. With very little work-intake,exhaust, and an axle-ratio change, they can really fly, or if you want to go really fast, since Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455, a 400 or 455 is a bolt in swap. After I totaled my 77 Trans-Am, I put the engine and tranny in a 72 Ventura. Since the T/A weighed 3830 lbs, and the Ventura weighed 3278 lbs,  ( a nearly 600 lb difference) the Ventura was noticeably quicker than the Firebird! I toasted many people who thought I was driving a small-block Nova. Olds and Buick didn't get in on the act until 1973. There are quite a few Omegas out there, with 350 Olds engines under the hood. There is a lot speed equipment available for the 350 Olds, and although a 455 Olds doesn't interchange with the 350 as easily as the Pontiacs, it's not too hard. You don't see many Buick Apollos around, but if you do, they were usually bought by old people, and are in really good condition, as opposed to the Novas and Venturas that have been raced, abused and wrecked. T/A performance and Edelbrock offer speed equipment for 350 Buicks, or again, a 455 would swap in pretty easily.  And, many aftermarket suspension and brake upgrades that fit a Camaro or Nova also fit these cars. If your looking for a bargain sleeper, this may be the way to go. Mastermind      

Three fewer Gorilla Mouths!

When I was a kid my dad used to say- "Don't let your Bulldog mouth overload your Canary ass."  My high school football coach said the same thing, just with slightly different lingo. His was- "Don't let your Gorilla mouth write checks that your Hummingbird ass can't cash."  People do this with cars all the time. Here's a few examples that I thought readers might find entertaining. Gorilla Mouth # 1 Drove a crewcab SRT-10 Dodge Pickup. For those of you that don't know. it's a four-door Dodge Ram pickup with a Viper motor stuffed in it. Yes, they are unbelievably fast for a truck. The key phrase being "For a truck." The engine may have 480 hp, but the truck weighs 5,700 lbs!  Anyway this Gorilla mouth was always saying his truck could beat my brother's GTO in a drag race. Without giving the whole laundry list, my brother's GTO easily has 425 hp, ( yes, we have dyno'd it, I'm not pulling that figure out of the sky ) and weighs 3731 pounds. You do the math. With almost the same amount of power, nearly a 2000 lb weight advantage, and better traction, ( try to launch a pickup with a lot of power without frying the tires )  my brother ran off and left him. The guy was destroyed. I mean you'd have thought his dog died or something.  Gorilla Mouth # 2 Had a 2008 SRT8 Hemi Charger. He bragged about all the Mustangs he'd "Eaten for lunch." The SRT8 Chargers have a 425 hp Hemi, and I don't doubt that he dusted many a 90's "5.0" ( 225 hp ) or even many 2005-2009 GT's ( 300hp.) However the Charger weighs 4140 lbs. When he arrogantly challenged a guy in a new Shelby Mustang- ( Which has 540 hp from its Supercharged 5.4 V8, and weighs about 3,500 lbs ) I knew he was in trouble. He even bet the guy in the Mustang $500 bucks. It wasn't even close. The guy in the Charger was speechless as he handed over 5 Franklins to the Mustang driver, who asked- "Didn't you ever hear that song- "You don't tug on Superman's cape..."  Gorilla Mouth # 3 had a 416 hp Lexus ISF. He Challenged a guy in a 2008 Corvette. Again, the Lexus was ungodly fast for a sedan, but it weighs about 3,800 lbs. The Vette had 428 hp, and weighed about 3,200. Do the math. Vette 1, Rice-Rocket, 0.  Like Jim Croce sang in that famous song- "Find out where it's at, not hustling people strange to you that you don't know..."  Mastermind.    

No you didn't Part 3!

I'm sorry to be so negative lately, but I've talked to a lot of people lately who amaze me with their ignorance, and their arrogance. And it's brought back some memories too. The "One Just like it." thing continues to rear it's ugly head and irritate me in new ways. I get sick of people bragging that they beat a certain model of car in a drag race or "Stoplight Gran Prix", so that means they can beat every other car of that type in the world. Here's why it's so irritating, and why I love giving these jerks a huge comeuppance.  I knew a guy that had a small-block Chevelle that he thought was badass. He was always challenging me and my Judge. and saying he "Eats Goats for breakfast." He did this because he'd beat a neighbor's 68 GTO from a light. However, the neighbor's GTO was an "Economy" model-yes they made them- with a 265hp two-barrel carburated 400, an automatic, and 2.93:1 rear end gears. One day I caught him at a light, and annihilated him, even while smoking the tires well into second gear. He couldn't understand how my GTO with a 366hp Ram Air III, a 4-speed, and 4.33:1 gears, could whomp his ass so bad after he beat "One just like it." Another blowhard had a 79 Z/28 and bragged that "Trans-Ams are dogs." Because his 3.73 geared 4-speed Camaro had beaten a 403 Olds powered, automatic, 2.41 geared T/A. When he ran into my 400 Pontiac, 4-speed, 3.42 geared WS6 model, he was shocked when I beat him by a car length and a half. He was even more stunned when my pals "Macho T/A" smoked him by about 5 car lengths.  Yet another arrogant fool in a small-block 72 El Camino challenged my buddys 67 Cougar to a drag race, because he'd smoked his brother-who-you guessed it-"Has one just like that.'  Except his brother's was a 289, and my pal's was a 390 model!!  Oops! The best one was the guy I worked with that challenged my Hurst/Olds to race his 5.0 Mustang, telling me that my "17 second" car didn't have a chance. He came to this conclusion by pulling out a road test of a 1977 442 that "looks just like that", and ran a 16.9 second 1/4.  Except the 77 442 was powered by a 350 with a catilytic converter choked single-exhaust system, and 2.56:1 gears. He was utterly aghast when my 73 model with a 455, catalyst-free dual exhaust, Hurst "Shotgun" converter, and 3.23 gears, came out of the hole with him, and then passed him at the top of second gear. Guess the one in the magazine WASN'T  "Just like mine!!"  God I get tired of hearing that phrase from people who have no Idea what their talking about. Mastermind