What happened to badasses? Baby boomers want Nav and cupholders instead of horsepower!

Remember when a musclecar was a stripped-down, snarling street fighter? The automakers build a thing of beauty whose only motivation is speed.  That's what made people want to buy them, but out of greed and searching for "Broader Appeal"  then we try to change them into a grocery getter that appeals to women and families and old men. It's happened over and over throughout history. The original '64 GTO was a badass. DeLorean, Estes, and a few other Pontiac guys had the bright idea to stuff a big motor in a light car, and made history. Like the song said-"Three deuces and a 4-speed, and a 389." "Listen to her tachin' up now, listen to her wind, gonna turn it on, wind it up, blow it out, GTO!"  Yet, almost immediately, engineers began looking for "Broader appeal." The car got heavier every year. In 1967, for the first time, they sold more automatics than 4-speeds. The redesign of 1968 was a big hit, winning Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" award. The car got bigger, and heavier, and more luxurious, and more expensive. Most GTO's were over 4 grand in sticker price by 1968. It was still a runner, and still popular, but the Plymouth Road Runner came along-basically a 2 dr Belvedere Taxi with rubber floor mats, pop-out rear windows, and a hopped up 383 V8 that ran the 1/4 in under 14 seconds and cost $2800! The Road Runner was an instant hit, and even outsold the GTO for 1969. ( Pontiac sold 72,000 GTO's, Plymouth sold 81,000 Road Runners.) Dodge responded with the Super Bee, a stripped-down Coronet coupe with some cool graphics, and the 383 Magnum V8, the 426 Hemi, or the 440 Six-Pack. They didn't even bother with hubcaps or trick wheels. Just black steel wheels and chrome lug nuts. Chrysler hit the niche that GM was missing. No more tri-power GTOs or 442s after 1966. The vaunted SS396 Chevelle got the same fate as the goat-it got larger and heavier, and although the L78 was stone-cold bad with 11:1 compression, a hot solid-lifter cam, and a 780 Holley on an aluminum intake, not many were built. 99% of them had L34s with a mild hydraulic cam and and a quadrajet on an iron intake. More of them had vinyl tops than posis. Ford and Chrysler fell into this trap too,as the Mustang and Torino got bigger and heavier, as did the Charger and the Road Runner. We all know what the gas crisis and emissions did to musclecars in the '70s, but the automakers didn't learn. At the height of it's popularity and 3 best record sales years ever, some genius at GM decided that the Trans-Am didn't need a 400 cube V8 anymore. We all know how the ill-fated 301 Turbo worked out. Ford hit it out of the park with the lean,mean "5.0" Mustang in the '80's, but it too got heavier, and more pricey before it was replaced by the 4.6 versions. Subaru fell into this trap. The original WRX was a Rally car for the street. A delightful little hot rod with great handling and a turbo motor that spooled up plenty of power and loved to rev. They sold like hot cakes. What did the brass do? Tried to "Broaden it's appeal" by softening the supension and making the motor less peaky. All they did was make them LESS fun to drive!  Car and Driver said it best-and they didn't mean to be funny, but it was. In a recent road test of a Ford F250 Diesel pickup-they complained that it's ride was too stiff and too "trucklike". Hello?! A 3/4 ton pickup that's designed to tow 15,000 pounds is a little bouncy on rough pavement when it's unloaded?  Say it isn't so!!! Now I  understand why every Camaro SS or Mustang GT I see has a moonroof and Nav, and heated and cooled seats, and heated electric mirrors, and bluetooth so you can talk on your cell-phone. We all want BMWs and Lexuses.  To me that's a waste If I want a luxury car, I'll buy a Cadillac or a Mercedes. If I want a musclecar, I want it to be evil,wicked, mean and nasty, not subdued like a Camry!. Just had to vent that. Mastermind          

Like Tom Petty says- "Stand me up at the gates of hell, and I won't back down."

Got a lot of debate on the last post on both sides, but in my opinion there's no debate. Like I said, there's enough junk out there to play with, that we don't have to cut up classics. For example-my own 1973 Hurst / Olds. It's one of 1,097 ever made. It has the H/O only custom vynil top/opera windows, white and gold two-tone paint, Hurst Dual/Gate ratchet shifter, digital tach, swivel bucket seats, F41 suspension, and the 455 / TH400 powertrain. Now, if I wanted to copy Popular Hot Rodding's "Project Talledga" Nascar tribute Laguna with a Cutlass, instead of gutting the interior on my car and installing an 8-point roll cage,and Corbeau racing buckets, painting it like Richard Petty's late '70's NASCAR racer, and installing a solid-roller Rat motor and a Tremec six-speed manual-why wouldn't I just buy one of the 3 million or so 1973-77 Cutlasses that are out there that AREN'T worth anything and butcher it? Why would I destroy a for-real, numbers-matching,excellent condition Hurst /Olds to turn it into a hot rod that no one but me thinks is cool? There's no excuse for this genocide. Yet, Hot Rod magazine did it and bragged about it!! In their October 2008 issue they had a "Crate motor shootout" where they installed 8 different GMPP engines in the same car and drag-tested them. The "test mule" in their own words was-"A for-real,numbers-matching,four-speed SS396 model in great condition." They proceeded to gut the interior and install fiberglass buckets and a 10-point cage, a custom 9-inch Ford rear ( I guess the stock 12-bolt posi wasn't up to snuff) Wildwood disc brakes all around-( Again-the stock disc/drum setup can't stop the car safely on a weekend trip to the drags? ) and a TCI built TH400 with a 4 grand converter and a transbrake. Then they swapped in each engine and drag-tested them. What their going to do with the car now, remains to be seen, but for the life of me I don't understand why they couldn't get one of the millions of beater 68-72 GM "A" bodys out there and use that. Why did it have to be a numbers-matching SS396?!  Another magazine featured a guy putting an LS7 and a six-speed in a numbers-matching GTO Judge!!  He couldn't buy a beater Tempest or LeMans that there's millions of rotting everywhere, and even put the Endura front end and Judge trim on it if he had to have the look?  No, you have to desecrate one of 3,797 classics ever made that someone else would sell their soul to have. This tells me that there's too many people out there with more money than brains. I will argue this issue until Hell Freezes over. Chevy sold over 200,000 Camaros in 1967, so you don't have to cut up one the very few remaining 602 Z/28's!!!  Play with junk you want, but please stop butchering rare classics!!  Mastermind             

There's enough junk out there to butcher....Can we please stop doing rare classics?!!

Once again I am mortally offended by a national magazine cover car. This one wins, hands down, the Hustler magazine award-"Asshole of the Month".  Once Again we have a modern  Z06 LS motor and a tremec five speed transplanted into ......A pristine Split-Window 1963 Corvette Sting Ray!!!!  This is so wrong on so many levels. # 1. General Principle. Don't desecrate an ultra-rare, one-year only classic. It would have still have been irritating, but I could understand if he did it to one of the thousands of 64-67 models out there, as long as it wasn't a 427 model. But a split-window??!!  # 2. Cost. The guy had over 100 grand in the car. For that, he could have bought a brand-new 638 hp supercharged ZR1 Corvette that will leave his hot-rodded '63 in the dust in a drag race or the twisties. Ditto for a new ZO6, and he'd still have 30 grand left in his pocket.  # 3. Ruined resale value. I hope he's going to keep the car until he dies, because he's never going to be able to sell it for anywhere near what he's got in it. And even if he is willing to take a substantial financial bath at sale time, he's still going to have a helluva time finding a buyer at any price. Think about it-if you were going to spend $50-100K on a 1963 Corvette you'd want it to be fuel-injected model,or at least a 300 or 340 hp model in perfect condition with the knock-off wheels and everything, not some hot rod with aftermarket guages, seats, wheels, suspension, and a modern LS motor!!  The cost to put it back the way it should be would be so prohibitive, that anyone with common sense will take their 50-100K and buy an already properly restored one, or buy one that needs a complete restoration for15-25K and spend the rest fixing it up. The car is sale-proof in my opinion any way you look at it.  Like I said in the title-there's still enough junk out there to play with. I have to commend another magazine for featuring the exact opposite. They featured a '66 Chevelle that someone had done up like a '60's gasser drag car. Radiused rear fenderwells, straight tube front axle, tunnel-rammed small-block, fiberglass bucket seats, the whole nine yards. I thought it was totally badass, and the guy built it for under 25K. That's because he started with a beater 2dr 1966 Malibu, that originally had a 327 and a Powerglide, of which Chevrolet sold about 400,000 of.  Now if he'd done the same to a numbers-matching four-speed SS396, we'd be storming his house with torches.  That's what I'm saying. If you want to cut up an old car and hot rod it any way you please, go do it. No one's saying you can't do what you want with your own car. But another Popular Hot Rodding cover car begged the same question. It was a 1972 Trans-Am with an LS motor, a 9 inch Ford rear, and an extensively modified interior and body. It said in the article the car was originally purchased as a "show car."  You want to pretend your Boyd Coddington or Chip Foose, fine.  You have to cut up one of the few remaining 1,286 1972 T/A's ever built??!!  You couldn't go buy one of  the about 4 million beater 1970-81 Camaros or Firebirds out there and F#$k that up?  That's all us "old-school" guys are saying. Put an SRT8 injected Hemi and five-speed german automatic in any beater 318 Challenger that you can find and enjoy it to your hearts content. But don't take a 440, 4-speed R/T model and do it, ok?  Leave the ultra-classic vintage iron for those that appreciate it. Mastermind                     

It's your car....For god's sake, do what you want! Not what's "Correct"!!

Don't take the title to this post wrong. I still firmly believe that anyone who even THINKS about cuttting up the trunk of a Hemi "Cuda for wheel tubs, or putting a modern fuel-injected Chevy LS motor in a numbers-matching Judge should be dragged out into the street and shot, after having his entrails pulled out and burned. There are some "Thou Shalt Nots." I'm not talking about that kind of butchery, I'm talking about people afraid of removing a vinyl top or changing a bench seat for buckets. Go ahead, laugh, but I talk to people all the time that say stuff like "I'd like to paint it a different color," or "I wish it had a hood tach", but I don't want to compromise the value." What value? Regardless of what any "expert" says-a car is only worth what someone's willing to pay for it. And why is everyone so damnded worried about what the car will be worth if or when they sell it? If you want a dog,have no kids, and you'd really like a pit bull, are you going to get a Golden retreiver instead, because their more kid-friendly, and might be more attractive to the next owner? Did you marry your wife because you thought she'd give you an easier divorce than the other women you dated?!  Why is everyone so fixated on if or when they get rid of the car and what the next owner might want, that they don't even build it the way THEY want it!  Trust me-if you have a '69 Super Bee and you call Summit Racing and order a complete Six-Pack setup and install it on the car-you've increased the value of it, even though it's not "Totally Original." If you add the spoiler and hood tach,and paint a '69 GTO like a Judge, it's worth more to more people than it would be if it was Original "Verduro Green" with a puke-yellow vinyl top. If you want a "Formula" ( i.e.-Trans-Am style ) steering wheel on your Firebird or GTO instead of the stock Luxury Cushion model, is the car "ruined?"  Would that actually stop someone from buying it if it was for sale?  Puhleeezzze!!  I know a guy that was in genuine pain because the '71 Road Runner he bought to restore was yellow. He told me his dream combo on this car would be B5 Blue with the black stripes, and A "Go-Wing." The car had a black interior, so it would have looked fine. ( If the interior was red, that might have been a problem.) "So buy a go wing from Year One, and paint it blue." I said. "It'll look awesome." "Yeah, but the build tag says it was originally yellow."  He replied, dead serious. "So?" "If you want to sell it to someone that anal five years from now, he can repaint it." "You hate yellow." "You only bought the car because it was too good a deal to pass up regardless of color." "I can't believe your actually thinking of painting your car a color you don't like, in case you want to sell it in the future." "Are you kidding me?" He eventually painted the car blue, and is happy. This goes beyond paint and trim as well. If you have a 1968 SS396 El Camino with 4-wheel drum brakes-( They exist-I had two of them ) and you go to the junkyard and get the spindles, rotors, calipers, and brake booster / master cylinder off a '71 Malibu and put the disc setup on your car, you have greatly increased it's resale value, even though it's not original. If you have a 1967 289 Mustang with a three-speed stick and you swap it for a 4-speed with a Hurst shifter, you've upped the car's value in anyone's eyes. If you buy a Pontiac Firebird with a 350 and swap in a stormin' 455, you've upped it's value. As long as the modifications were stuff that was optional on that car, that year, or is aftermarket "period correct" then don't fret about it. Like I said, you want a hood tach on a GTO or Firebird? Do it! A 1968 Charger with 15" Cragar S/S mags is cool. Put 20" wheels off a 2009 Charger on the '68 and it'll look stupid. A '70 350 Camaro with an Edelbrock Torker intake, 650 double-pumper Holley,headers, a Muncie 4-speed and Torq-Thrust wheels is just as cool now as it was in 1971. A '68 Camaro with a TPI 350, 700R4 automatic and 19" Enkei wheels is just wrong. See what I'm saying?  Within reason, do what the hell you want with it. It's your car!!!   Just had to vent that. Mastermind             

Cars that can have the Nascar / Trans-Am / IROC racer look....and power!!

There are a few cars out there that have great potential for handling and braking as well as straight-line acceleration if you want to torture new Mustang, Camaro, and BMW owners in drag races or the twisties. Besides this mechanical ability, they can be made to look really cool, and be bought relatively cheap. #1. 1968-79 GM "X" body.  The obvious choice is a Nova, but this also includes Pontiac Venturas, Olds Omegas, and Buick Apollos. Virtually any suspension or brake upgrades that fit the Camaro / Firebird also fit these cars, so they can be made to handle exceptionally well. I mean late-1990's Corvette skidpad numbers, exceptionally well. The obvious choice for power is a small-block Chevy, which a lot of these came with from the factory anyway-GM was playing musical engines because of smog laws for most of the '70's. However, a 400 or 455 Pontiac or a 455 Olds with aluminum heads wouldn't be much more nose-heavy than the SBC, and would certainly bring the power level you want. You could also run a big-block Chevy if you want-they'll fit easily in the engine bay-and with aluminum heads and intake, headers, etc, would still have decent front to rear weight distribution. I see one with radiused and flared fenders, monster tires, and a sinister monochromatic black paint job. # 2. 1969-76 Pontiac Gran Prix. 400 power standard all years, and a fair number of '70-76 models have 455s!  And GM engineered a great chassis all those years ago-( The basic design debuted in 1964 ). Hotchkiss, Just Suspension,Global West, H-O Racing Specialties,Herb Adams VSE, and other companies offer suspension pieces to make these "A" bodies put a Trans-Am or a 'Vette on serious notice. Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Chevelle or Monte Carlo will fit these cars,so your choices are unlimited. And they have large wheelwells that can fit huge tires without modification provided you have the right wheel offset. I picked the GP over all the other GM "A" bodies because most Chevelles and Monte Carlos have 350 cubes under the hood. Ditto for the Olds Cutlass and Buick Skylark / Regal. While 454 Montes and Chevelles are rare, 455 Cutlasses and 455 Regals are moon rocks. On the other hand, As I said, the Pontiacs had the big-blocks standard all years. GM "A" bodies were the scourge of NASCAR in the '70's and Popular Hot Rodding's "Project Talledega" a tricked up 1975 Chevelle Laguna that channel's Darrel Waltrip's racer-is a good example of the breed I'm talking about. # 3. 1967-73 Mercury Cougar. Any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Mustang also fit these cars. While some early models have 289s under the hood, most of these will have 351W or 351C motivation which is good, because there's a myriad of aftermarket support-heads, cams, intakes, stroker kits, etc to make the power to turn these kittys into tigers. A Cougar can usually be bought substantially cheaper than a same-year Mustang. The 429 / 460 has the same bellhousing bolt-pattern as the 351C, so you could go hog-wild on power if you need to. A 514, with a Tremec five-speed...... "M5 This you Yuppie Scum!"  Mastermind                 

A streetable clone of a classic race car might be cool.....

Got a lot of debate from the last post, which proves gearheads are passionate if nothing else. Didn't mean to offend anyone, but I wrote that post after talking to someone who restored one of the B.F. Goodrich "Tirebirds". In 1970-71 B.F. Goodrich campaigned 5 Pontiac Trans-Ams in the SCCA series. Afterward, they sold the cars to privateers.  A couple were used as race cars, one was sent to a museum, and this one the guy tried to make street-legal. He did it, but he said if he knew how much time and trouble and money it was going to end up costing, that he never would have done it. Chasing all the interior trim parts, light bulbs, etc was a pain enough, taking out the rollcage and bracing, and then going through many DMV safety inspections to get it registered-it was never registered originally-BFG bought the car and turned it into a racecar immediately-so even though he had a title,trying to register a 40 year old car that hadn't been registered in 40 years....Let's just say it was a nightmare.  The point I'm trying to make, is if you want the look and feel of a classic racer, it's just a hell of a lot easier to build a copy from a real car. Go buy a running,legally registered 1974 Charger, give it a Red and Blue # 43 STP paint job, put a Mopar performance crate Hemi in it, or a 360 stroked to 408, or whatever, and have a blast with your "Tribute" to Richard Petty's winningest race car. You can even put a roll cage in it if you want, but won't it be nice that all the dash lights and turn signals and headlights and windshield wipers, and heater already work, and the windows roll up and down, and you can register and insure it without an act of congress. I think a 1971-74 Javelin AMX painted red, white and blue, with Minilite style wheels, a side-exit exhaust and either a torquey 401 or a high-winding 304 with a 4 or 5-speed stick would be way cool. Mark Donohue would definitely approve. Edelbrock offers Aluminum "Cleveland"  style heads and compatible intake manifolds so you can build a mock "Boss" 302 or "Clevor" engine-i.e.-302 or 351 Windsor block, with the much freer-breathing 351 "Cleveland" heads. Turn a clunker '69-70 Mustang into a Boss 302 clone. I'm down with the race car styling and graphics and definitely down with a badass motor to back up the image, but you'll have a much easier time making a regular car that you can drive to the store safely and legally look and sound like a race car than you would trying to turn a race car into something street-legal and remotely drivable. So, if you want the vintage NASCAR or Trans-Am look and feel, go build one easily and cheaply from a running, registered car, don't spend untold thousands trying to convert a moneypit old race car. That's all I'm saying. Mastermind   

Don't buy an old race car.....unless you just want an expensive "Trophy"...

I see an alarming trend among the More-money-than-brains crowd, and it's spreading to the normal people as well. Magazines are doing big write-ups on people who buy and restore old racecars. This is not fun or cute, or profitable. Old racecars are a worse moneypit than anything else on the planet!! And when there immaculately restored, their still an obsolete piece of shit from a racecar standpoint, they can't be made street legal in any state in the union, and the only time you can drive them is in Vintage car races against other people's overpriced garage jewelry. You think I'm being cynical or jealous?  I'm not- let me break it down for you.  # 1. Obsolescence. NASCAR rules say the bodystyle can't be over 5 years old. That kills everything right there. Secondly-the cubic inch limit is 360 cubes. That eliminates all the 421 Pontiacs run by Fireball Roberts, the 426 Hemis by Richard Petty, the 427 and 429 Fords run by David Pearson and the Wood brothers, the 427 Chevys by Cale Yarborough and Junior Johnson and so on. Third, the new NASCAR cars are so light and so aerodynamioc, and so light-years ahead in handling, braking, and everything else, that even if they made an exception and allowed some gazillionaire to campaign a '60s or '70s car, it wouldn't be competetive anyway!!  So it's useless as a race car-which is what it was built for. # 2.  If you can't legally race it anywhere, what are you going to do with it?  I saw an article in High Performance Pontiac on someone who had restored Fireball Roberts 1962 Daytona winner to the nth degree. Big deal.  Like I said, he can't race it anywhere except vintage car club racing, and with a curb weight of about 3,700 lbs and no power steering and manual drum brakes, it's not that much fun to drive anyway. Further, when he does drive it, it's not like he's going balls-out, and doesn't give a shit if he wrecks it-he spent a zillion dollars chasing down a real 1962 Super Duty 421 and a Warner T85 three-speed tranny to be totally accurate. He's not going to risk blowing a rod out the side of that block. Wouldn't it have been a lot easier to just get a 389 or 400 out of a clunker and buy a used Muncie or Saginaw 4-speed for $500?  # 3. Don't get the bright idea to make it street-legal and drive it. First off, where are you going to get a title? Most race cars have no titles, as they've never been registered. That right there is a DMV nightmare you don't want. Secondly-it's a gutted race car-you think restoring a regular car is hard? How much of a pain in the ass do you think it's going to be to hook up headlights, tailllights, turn-signals, etc on a 40 or 50 year old car that never had them?  Are you going to drive it with a gutted interior or are you going to try to restore it? Do you know what a nightmare it is chasing down door panel clips, and sun visor screws, and seat and dash trim, and indicator light bulbs, etc, etc, etc,?  # 4. How in the hell do you know or even find out what is and isn't original?  It's a race car, so it was modified from day one!!  It doesn't matter what was or wasn't factory optional that year!!  Think about it-If you buy a 1969 Trans-Am Camaro that was supposedly raced by Mark Donohue-and it has a 9 inch Ford rear end under it, how do you know if it's original or not?  On the stock GM 10 or 12 bolt rear ends that Camaros came with, if you break an axle, the wheel comes off. Something a racer doesn't want to happen, especially at 155 mph!!  So how do know if, in 1969, Roger Penske didn't install a full-floating 9 inch Ford to avoid this problem? Or did Penske just put a c-clip eliminator kit in the stock GM rear end, and the 9 inch was installed by some other gear head who bought it in 1974?  How do you know if the 4-speed tranny is original?  Z/28 Camaros came with Muncies, but road racers often preferred the closer ratios of the Borg-Warner T10, which GM also used. How do you know if the engine is original? A lot of racers, did what Chevrolet engineers did-built it from parts-So it could have a 327 or 350 block, with a 283 crank and custom pistons in it-4 inch bore x 3 inch stroke equals 301 inches-it would have been legal to race-but it won't have the coveted "DZ" 4-bolt main 302 block in it. Does that make it worth more or, less?  # 5. So, What the hell are you going to do with it?  You can't drive it on the street and if you do race it in vintage car races, are you going to run on the ragged edge, ( which is what it takes to win, even in this arena ) or are you going to be so damn afraid of wrecking it or blowing the motor that you spend your life at the back of the pack being lapped by assholes in MGBs and Austin Healeys?  You buy a car because you want to drive it, not tow it around or look at it. I'd stay away from the old musclecar / race cars, unless of course you fall into the "More Money than Brains" category.  Mastermind                        

The history of the Z/28....That may continue...

In the mid '60's the SCCA had a series called "Sport Sedan Racing" or as it's more widely known, "Trans-Am Racing". ( Short for Trans-American Sport Sedan Racing Series ). It was wildly popular, and the cubic inch limit was 5 liters or 305 cubic inches, which is odd in the middle of the musclecar era, when "Big" was in. Ford did well with the Mustang and it's little 289 V8, and Chrysler raced the ugly, but light Barracuda with their 273 inch V8. Chevrolet's counter to the ultra-popular Mustang was the Camaro, introduced for 1967. Ford had dominated the series in 1966, and GM didn't want to just compete, they wanted to win. Not content to just drop a plebian 283 in, Chevy engineers went balls-out. They put a 283 crank in a 327 block to create a 302 inch V8. But they didn't stop there-they gave it 11:1 compression, Corvette "Fuelie" heads, a hot solid-lifter cam, an aluminum intake and a 780 Holley carb. This high-winding, fire-breathing little monster was grossly under-rated at 290 hp. The buff magazines put it's true output closer to 400 hp. To race them, they had to sell at least 500 to the public. They simply took the option code, and used that for the name-Z/28. 602 were built in 1967. These screamers dominated so much in 67-68, that Ford countered with the Boss 302 in 1969. They got quite a rep on the street as well. However, even with the racing success and magazine writer accolades, they were pretty much a "niche" car. The motor was peaky and made it all it's power from 4,000 rpm to 7,000, and had very little low-end torque and was only available with a 4-speed and 3.73 or 4.11 gears! Of the quarter-million Camaros sold in 1969, only 19,000 were Z/28 models. This means the majority of Camaros sold were 327,350 or 396 models which had much more low-end torque, could be had with an automatic and air conditioning, and were more street-friendly. The F-bodys were totally redesigned for 1970. This bodystyle would last until 1981. The Z/28 got the Corvette LT-1 engine to replace the 302. It still had the solid-lifter cam and all the goodies, but the bump to 350 cubes gave it quite a boost in low and mid-range torque. Rated at 360 hp this engine was much more tractable on the street and was available with an automatic as well as a 4-speed. Because of tightening emission controls and the introduction of low-lead gas, Chevrolet lowered compression ratios on all engines for 1971. This dropped the Z/28's horsepower rating to 330 gross. In 1972 the SAE switched from gross to net hp ratings which made it look like power dropped way off, but in reality was the same. The Z/28 / LT1 was rated at 255 hp for 1972, although it was identical to the '71 version. A strike at the Norwood, Ohio plant that built Camaros and Firebirds almost killed the line. 1100 unfinished cars that couldn't meet the stiffer 1973 bumper safety standards had to be scrapped. Only the efforts of Pontiac engineer Herb Adams, fighting for his beloved Trans-Am Firebird and a few Chevy guys convinced GM to continue making Camaros and Firebirds, which would prove to be extremely profitable in only a couple years. In 1973 the LT1 was replaced with the L82. The solid-lifter cam, and 780 Holley on a high-rise aluminum intake were gone, victims of ever-tightening emissions standards. The cam was now hydraulic, and the induction system was now a Rochester Quadrajet on an iron manifold. Net hp only dropped from 255 to 245. Sales more than doubled over 1971-72. Inexplicably, in early 1974, the Z/28 option was mysteriously dropped. I say inexplicably, because as I said, sales went way up for the whole Camaro line in '73, and they sold more Z/28s than any year since 1969. Further, it's cousin, the Pontiac Trans-Am,whose sales quadrupled in 1973 over 1972, doubled that total in 1974, and doubled that in 1975 and doubled that yet again in 1976, selling nearly 50,000 units. In 1977, the smash-hit Burt Reynolds car-chase classic movie "Smokey and the Bandit" was released, and T/A sales skyrocketed for the rest of the decade. In April 1977 Chevrolet realized their goof, and brought back the Z/28 option. The engine was a generic L48 350 rated at 180 hp,but you got a choice of a T10 4-speed or a TH350 automatic with 3.42 or 3.73 gears,F41 suspension with front and rear sway bars and spoilers and graphics that shamelessly copied the Trans-Am. 1978 was the Camaro's best sales year ever. Nothing changed for 1979, but in 1980 "Cowl Induction" returned-a vacuum-operated hood scoop that opened under acceleration and sounded cool. The 4-speed was still a T10, but instead of a 2.64 low gear with a 3.73 axle, the 1980 models had a 3.44 1st gear and a 2.28 2nd with a 3.08 rear axle. This actually increased acceleration through the gears and helped highway fuel economy. Automatics still got a 3.42 cog. 1981 was the last year of the body that had been around since 1970. For some reason,this year you could only get the 190hp 350 with an automatic. If you wanted a 4-speed, you got a 305 that wheezed out 145 hp. However, Canadians could still get the 350 / 4-speed combo, so you may see some around on the used market. 1982 brought an all-new body that would last another decade until 1992. Engine choices were a 305 with a 4bbl or a 305 with "Cross-Fire" injection. In 1983 the L69 "H.O." package debuted which upped horsepower from 165 to about 190, and the old 4-speed was replaced with a 5-speed manual, and the 3-speed slushbox was replaced with a 4-speed automatic, all of which greatly increased performance. In 1985 "Tuned Port Injection" debuted, which upped horsepower to 215, but was only available with an automatic this first year. If you wanted a 5-speed, you got the carburated L69. This was also the year the "IROC-Z" package debuted-commemerating the International Race Of Champions, which had used Camaros for years. Besides loud graphics, it also included 16" wheels and fat, 245/50VR16 tires. In 1986, the 5-speed was offered with TPI, and in 1987 the L98 Corvette TPI 350 was offered, but only with an automatic. This remained unchanged until 1992. 1993 brought an all-new body that would last until the demise of the line in 2002. It also brought the excellent LT1 Corvette 350 which made 300 hp in the 'Vette and 275 in the Camaro Z/28. These are sought after by enthusiasts because the horsepower can be upped by 150 pretty easily. This also brought a six-speed manual trans option. This continued through 1997. 1998 brought the introduction of the LS1 350 which was introduced in the Corvette the year before. This upped hp to 320. We all know the accolades the LS motors have gotten in the buff magazines. The 98-02 LS1 motored Camaros are a steal if your looking for a late-model performance car. However, when they were new, they were a car without a market. Car and Driver said it best when they road-tested one. "This car is absolutely coveted by people who can't afford it." "It caused a complete work stoppage at every drive-up fast-food window or gas station we stopped at."  At $37,000 in 2002 dollars for a loaded Z/28 they were right. GM just priced the car out of business. A loaded V8 Mustang GT was about 25K-a good 10-12 grand less, and Ford was still selling Mustangs like hotcakes.  20-25 year old guys couldn't afford Camaros, and the 30-45 year old guys who could were buying 'Vettes,Porsches,BMWs, and SUVs, not thirsty musclecars with a ten-year old body and a backseat fit only for midgets. As Mustang sales continued to soar, especially after the retro-body came out in 2005-( It looks like a 1968 Mustang ) Ford couldn't meet demand. GM realized the goof, and brought the Camaro back in 2009, looking a lot like the revered 1969 model. They also priced it right-the 300hp V6 model started at $22,000 and the 426 hp LS3 'Vette engined model at about 29. Sales went off the charts. Curiously, they brought back the "SS" moniker for the high-performance version instead of using the Z/28 name. Rumor had it that the Z/28 would return with a version of the Supercharged LS9 ZR1 'Vette engine, but when the car was introduced as a 2012 model with 580 hp, they called it the ZL1. Who knows, maybe they'll resurrect the name on something even cooler than that. We can only hope. Mastermind   

Be brutally honest about your abilities.....and finish your car!!

I talk to so many people who start a musclecar project, and then get disillusuioned and usually sell it for way less than they've got invested. And because of this bad experience, they don't attempt another project that may be way eaisier and less costly. I've touched on some of these things before, but I think it will help the person who is not an experienced car builder or mechanic by trade immensely. # 1. I don't care if you can prove that it's one of one owned by Elvis, a "Basket Case" with major rust damage, or water or fire damage, or missing a key component-i.e. a Hemi car without the Hemi engine-is something to stay away from. Especially body damage, or a bent frame-most competent shops charge $100 per hour or more for restoration work-that can add up to 10 grand very easily and quickly. Believe me most of the time your better off just paying more money for a better car to start with. Here's a perfect example-a friend and I went to look at two 1970 Firebirds. One was a Trans-Am, the other an Esprit. The guy wanted $500 for the T/A and $2500 for the Esprit. The T/A was an engineless, transmissionless,interiorless, gas tankless, hulk. Yes, the body was straight. But that was it. The Esprit on the other hand had some oxidized paint, and the vinyl top was peeling off, but it was all there. The interior was ok, and the 350 V8 fired right up, and it ran like a champ. The TH350 shifted smoothly, there was no rattles,and the brakes worked fine and didn't squeak. I told him to buy the Esprit. "This is a complete running car that only needs a little work." "It will cost you way more than $2500 to get that shell even into the "driver" shape that this one is in." Where are you going to get all the clips and clamps, and bulbs and a motor and a tranny, and a radiator and a dash and everything else?" "That'll cost you a ton." He agreed, that even though the Esprit's price was FIVE times what the T/A's was, it was still clearly a better deal, and a better starting point for a hot rod. # 2. It's just as easy to get the model you want, with the engine you want. I know a guy that bought a four-cylinder 1980's Mustang with the intent of swapping a V8 into it. Why? I have seen rough, but running "5.0" V8 models as low as $1000, and anything over 2 grand is usually pretty nice. And even if you could the labor yourself, it would cost a lot more than 2K to convert a 4-banger to V8 power!!  I know another guy that bought a 1971 Charger with a 318, that he was going to drop a 440 in. Like two weeks later, we run across a 1973 Charger with a factory 440, that's nicer than the one he bought, and priced less than $1500 more than the 318 model!! And again, by the time he changed the crossmember, the tranny, the engine, etc on the 318 model, he'd have a lot more than $1500 invested in the swap!! Magazines talk all the time about how "Easy" it is to swap engines, but if you've never done it before, even a simple apples-to-apples in-and-out like a small-block Chevy can be frustrating as hell, especially in your driveway with hand tools, rather than in a shop with a rack and air tools. And magazines don't talk about stuff like fuel line routing, belts and hoses, whether or not the power steering pump, water pump, fuel pump, alternator,starter etc will interchange, if the brackets will work on the other engine, if the sending units will work, and that's if your swapping something very simple like a 289 Ford for a 302, or a 305 Chevy for a 350. If you think you can take a carburated engine out and swap in a fuel-injected one easily and cheaply, like the old threat-"You've got another think coming." Engine swapping is not for the faint of heart even if you've done it 100 times like I have. If you've never done one, the best advice I can give you is don't try it. Just spend the extra money and get a car with the engine you want.   # 3. Get the transmission you want. Same deal- Magazines talk all the time about how "easy" it is to swap transmissions. It's not. For example-probably the easiest one on the planet-swapping a 2-speed Powerglide or Super Turbine 300 for a 3-speed Turbo 350 is a pain in the ass. Yes, they are the same bellhousing bolt-pattern and the same length, so you don't have to move the crossmember or alter the driveshaft. But-if you use the stock shift linkage you won't be able to manually engage low-gear. In a performance car, this can be a problem, as a lot of bracket racers shift their automatics manually at the desired rpm. The kickdown linkage may be different, and the speedometer cable may need to be different, and the speedo gear inside the tranny may need to be changed-if the cars don't have the exact same axle ratio-the speedometer could be off by as much as 30 mph! And that's the simplest one. Others-like swapping in a TH400- you may have to move the crossmember and drill holes in the frame,change the rear trans mount, shorten or lengthen the driveshaft,change the driveshaft yoke and u-joints, fabricate a kickdown linkage, and maybe change starters. If you think your going to just drop in an automatic overdrive-like a 700R4 or 4L60E with a lock-up converter and electronic controls-think again. And those are automatics being swapped for automatics,that are relatively easy-if you want to swap an automatic for a 4-speed or vice-versa-it can be a nightmare. Different bellhousings, clutch linkages,flywheels and flexplates, torque converters, is the block tapped for a clutch linkage? Is the engine internally or externally balanced?-That makes a difference on which flywheel / flexplate to use. Is the clutch linkage mechanical or hydraulic? Again, if your not a mechanic that's swapped dozens of trannys-don't do it. Just look harder for a car with the "Pistol Grip" Hurst-shifted 4-speed or whatever. # 4. Even if your building a base-model, start with a well-optioned one. By well-optioned, I don't mean power windows. Let's say your looking to buy and or build a 1968-72 Chevelle, or a 1970-74 Challenger. Believe me, it's a lot better to start with a model that had a V8, an automatic, front disc brakes, and power steering from the factory than it is to start with a drum-braked,six-cylinder,three-speed manual-trans, and manual steering strippy. Even if it's a small-block car you start with, and your planning on keeping it a small-block, albeit with more power-swapping the 318 in the Challenger for a healthy 360, or the 307 or worn-out 350 in the Chevelle for a 383-the suspension will handle the weight and power of the engine, the radiator will cool the new engine properly, the TH350 or 904 Torqueflite will stand up to anything under 450 hp. And it will have enough "Whoa!" to counter all that newfound "Go!". If you stuff a V8 in a six-cylinder car, the radiator may not have the capacity to cool the larger engine, so you have an overheating problem right off the bat, or you spring for an expensive new radiator. On the V8s-like I said earlier-all the brackets and linkages and valve covers, oil pans,etc will interchange from a 318 to a 360 or a 307 to a 350. Not so from the six to the V8. The V8 is going to have a different starter and my need a different flywheel and bellhousing than the six. The 3-speed isn't going to hold up to the V8 and you wouldn't want it if it could-that means buying a 4-speed tranny. The manual drum brakes aren't going to stop the car more than once from high speed without fading, and the suspension may wheelhop-designed for a six with maybe 130 hp-how it is it going to manage your new 400 hp monster? Yes, you can install disc brakes, power steering, heavy-duty springs, radiator, etc after the fact, but wouldn't it be nice if the car had it to begin with? And the time and money you spent on that could have been used elsewhere-like tires and wheels, paint and bodywork, or gears or nitrous or whatever? #5. Err on the conservative side the first couple times you build a car, and you'll be a lot happier. I know a guy that spent about 25 grand over and above his time and labor building an ultra-badass Camaro that he was going to "torture Turbo Porsches and Vipers" with. It had an aluminum headed 12:1, 600 hp, solid-roller 454 that shook the earth, backed up by a Richmond gear five-speed. It had an 8-point roll cage, subframe connectors, a complete "Herb Adams" VSE suspension with steel bushings throughout, and 275/40ZR17 tires on the front and like 335/35ZR17s in the rear. Was it fast? It was ungodly fast-the first time he ran it at the drags it ran something like 11.88 spinning the tires 3/4 of the way down the track with street radials and a suspension set up for handling. If it had slicks or drag radials and traction bars, I have no doubt it would have hit the 10s. And it handled like a slot car-aluminum heads, intake and water pump,battery in the trunk,the Herb Adams suspension-he could leave 'Vettes and Porsches in the dust around Reno-Fernley Raceway like they were standing still. But away from the racetrack, it was a nightmare to drive. The gutted interior was both loud and hot,it was hard to get in and out of- ( Ever clambered around an 8-point cage?) It idled about 2,000 rpm,got about 5-8 mpg on 110 octane race gas, the clutch was so stiff that your left leg would look like Arnold Schwarzennegger's after five miles, and the suspension was so stiff that it rattled your brains out on anything other than glass-smooth pavement. He drove it less than 5,000 miles and ended up selling it in less than a year for 15 grand-ten less than he had in it. He swore off musclecars and now races Mazda Miatas. He doesn't know it, but he'd have been much happier with a 400 hp engine that idled at 800 rpm and sipped pump gas, and a suspension with rubber and urethane bushings and shocks that didn't transmit every little bump into the steering column and driver's seat with crushing force. He still could have played grab-ass with the Porsches on country roads and at track days, but he'd have enjoyed driving the car a lot more. In his quest to build the "Ultimate Musclecar" he went overboard and built something that was virtually undrivable for anyone other than the most avid hard-core gearhead maniac. Don't fall into that on your first project. Mastermind