"X" might just mark the spot.....

If your looking for a cheap hot rod one that's often overlooked are the GM "X" bodies. I know '68-72 Novas have a "cult" following, but the others are largely overlooked. 1971-77 Pontiac Venturas, 1973-79 Olds Omegas and Buick Apollos can be bought dirt cheap. What makes them a great base for a street machine is the subframe and suspensions are the same as the "F" bodies. That means any factory or aftermarket suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Camaro / Firebird will fit these cars. You can build a "G" machine that corners like a Trans-Am or a Corvette, or a drag racer that will pull the front wheels on launch. The other great thing is the engine bays will accept any GM engine. The Pontiacs are the king sleepers-Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. That means a 400 or 455 will literally bolt in place of the 350. And a Ventura weighs about 600 lbs less than a Firebird / Trans-Am. If you want to stay brand loyal-a 455 Buick Apollo or a 455 Olds Omega would be a rocker. Or you could swap a small or big block Chevy into any of them, or a late-model LS motor. They have a ton of potential for very low bucks. I took the warmed-over 400 out of my '78 Trans-Am that I wrecked and put it a '72 Ventura back in the '80's. I smoked quite a few people who thought they were messing with a small-block Nova. And I had like $1,500 bucks in the whole car. A "X" body might be just the ticket for high performance for low bucks.  Mastermind  

"I like it, I love it, I want some more of it".....

      Country singer Tim McGraw was talking about sex with a new girlfriend, but I think it applies to a new batch of cars. Dodge is releasing the Hellcat Challenger that has a superhcarged Hemi with 707 hp!!  Chevy has put the 638 hp ZR1 'Vette motor in the Camaro. I was at a Ford dealer the other day and saw a Roush Mustang with a blown 5.0 with 600+ hp. Old-school guys-Listen up-even if your allowed slicks and open headers-these cars will eat the lunch of your LS6 Chevelle or Hemi 'Cuda, or L88 'Vette on street tires. Give the new ones drag radials-and it's not even close. That may be a bitter pill for some to swallow-but it's evolution. The small-block Chevy replaced the flathead Ford as "The" hotrod engine. Deride the new cars if you want-but except for electronic fuel management and ignition timing-it's still old-school hot-rodding. 11:1 compression, more cubes, more cam,putting a big motor in a light car, etc. And it's not only middle-aged rich guys who can afford a $60,000-100,000 car that can play. For 24K you can buy a Ford Mustang with a 305 hp V6 that does the 1/4 in less than 14 seconds. Ditto for a 323hp Camaro. For $27K you can buy a Subaru WRX that does the 1/4 in 13.8 seconds. A Nissan 370Z offers similar performance with it's 332hp V6 for 29K. In my mind-this is the golden age of automotive performance.  Like I've said-I'm a Pontiac guy-I'd love to buy a '78 400, 4-speed WS6 T/A to play with, or a '72 Ventura or a '69 Gran Prix. But I'd also like to have a new Mustang, or an '80's Porsche 944 or a '70's Datsun 240Z. Like Vin Diesel said-"I appreciate a fine body no matter who makes it."  Embrace these new monsters, and buy them if you can!! Keep the flame burning!  Mastermind    

Trans-Ams in movies......Besides "Smokey and the Bandit:......

After the last post espousing the Trans-Am's importance to musclecar history and survival some people asked if T/A's were featured in other movies either with or without car-chase action. Here's the list of some I remember. # 1. "McQ". John Wayne was offered "Dirty Harry" and turned it down. After it made Clint Eastwood a mega-star-( Clint was well known for the "Spaghetti Westerns" of Sergio Leone-"A Fistful of Dollars" "For a Few Dollars More" and "The Good, the Bad and The Ugly", but "Dirty Harry" really put him on the map ) he realized his mistake and decided to make a modern Cop drama. It actually had a good story about corrupt cops in Seattle and no one plays a tough guy like the Duke,but it was released at the same time as "Magnum Force"-with Clint as Dirty Harry battling corrupt cops in San Francisco. "Magnum Force" was a Mega-hit, and "McQ" got critical acclaim but didn't do much box office. It's still a good action flick and John Wayne drove a Brewster Green 1973 Trans-Am. # 2. "Thunderbolt&Lightfoot." This one featured Clint Eastwood as a Master Thief and Jeff Bridges as his younger protege'. Early on Bridges steals a white '73 T/A. Later him and Clint dump it and steal a '73 "Boat Tail" Riviera. Not one of Clint's better pics-the story dragged and was too convoluted to make sense of.  # 3 "The Star Chamber" featured Micheal Douglas as an Idealistic Judge who's seen too many murdering dirtbags go free on technicalities. His pal Hal Holbrook initiates him into a secret panel of Judges that vote and mete out the death penalty to killers who have gotten off via their personal hitman. There's a cool chase in a parking garage and the bad guys do the most awesome burnout you'll ever see on screen in a 455 powered '73 T/A.  # 4. "An Eye for an Eye". Chuck Norris Martial-Arts thriller filmed in San Francisco. Chuck kicks a lot of ass and drives a Buccaneer Red '73 T/A, but sadly no car-chase action. Chuck had a good chase in "Code of Silence" driving a beater '75 Formula 400 if your interested. # 5 "The Hunter". Steve McQueen's last movie-with the King of Cool playing real-life Bounty Hunter Ralph "Papa" Thorson. He steals a black and gold '79 T/A that gets blown up after a little chase. # 6. "Georgia Peaches". This was a CBS made for TV action flick. It's notable for some good car chase action in a '79 10th Anniversary T/A, ( Which gets blown up ) and a young Tanya Tucker has a cool bondage scene. ( Not quite as cool as Maureen McCormick's ( Marcia Brady!! ) in "Moonshine County Express" but still sexy. ) ( Call me a perv if you want-you same people who wore out your "pause" and re-wind" buttons going slo-mo on Jennifer Billingsley's VERY dirty bare feet in her scene teasing Burt Reynolds by the river. Just shut up and rent the flicks. )  # 7. "Blue Thunder" Action Thriller with Roy Schieder as a Viet Nam Vet turned Police Helicopter pilot who steals an experimental attack chopper from the Army and uncovers a conspiracy and several murders. He drives a Black and Gold T/A that in some scenes is a '79 with a "Shaker" hood and in others is an '81 Turbo Model. The only chase involves Candy Clark eluding the bad guys and the cops in a Vega while Scheider smites them from the air. ( It actually works on screen ). # 8 "Hooper" This comedy starred Burt Reynolds and Jan-Michael Vincent as rival stuntmen. In their movie within the movie they do a bunch of stunts in a rocket-powered red '78 T/A.  I'm sure there's more I missed, so feel free to write in and tell us about them. Mastermind      

The most important musclecar...

Musclecar Review asked readers to write in about what they thought was the the most important musclecar of the last 50 years. Here's what I wrote. The Pontiac Trans-Am is the most important musclecar of the last 50 years. People will argue Hemi 'Cudas, LS6 Chevelles, Boss 429s, blah,blah,blah. Think back to 1974 at the height of the Arab oil embargo. By 1975 the Charger, Road Runner,'Cuda and Challenger were no more. The Javelin AMX was no more. There were no more SS Chevelles, the Z/28 was no more,and the largest engine you could get in a Corvette was a 350, and you couldn't even get a 4-speed in California. The Mustang was more Pinto / Capri than Mustang. Yet you could still get a 455 in a Trans-Am until 1976 and a 400 was available until 1979. Gee, why did T/A sales double or triple every year after 1973? Musclecar buyers didn't go away, the carmakers stopped making cars that they wanted to buy. T/A sales went from 4,800 in 1973 to 10,000 in 1974, to 23,000 in 1975 to 46,000 in 1976 and to 68,000 in 1977.  After "Smokey and the Bandit" 1978 sales went to 93,000 and 1979 sales to 117,000. Chevy realized their mistake and resurrected the Z/28 in April 1977 and '78 was a record year. But he bottom line was-if you wanted a badass musclecar in the late '70's you had one choice-a Trans-Am. Scoff at their 6 second 0-60 times and 15 second 1/4 miles. Yes I know a V6 Toyota Camry can do that now. But in the darkest days when catalytic converters were new-they were the fastest cars available. The T/A like Buford Pusser standing up to corruption in the South, stood Janus-faced against all comers while Motor Trend and Car and Driver were espousing front-drive econoboxes-Patrick Bedard won't admit it now- but he actually raved about the Chevy Citation in 1980. If it wasn't for the Trans-Am we would'nt have had "5.0" Mustangs in the '80's, Buick Gran Nationals, or LT1 or LS1 'Vettes and Camaros or Impala SS's in the '90's. And we wouldn't have 400 hp Mustangs, Challengers and Camaros now. Next time you turn on TNT thank Burt Reynolds and Pontiac for keeping the faith and bridging the gap between the '60's and the '80's. Otherwise-like the "Cat in the Hat" Movie we'd all be driving Focuses.  Mastermind  

"Cold" August Nights......

Hot August Nights is here again and every year I get more disappointed. Maybe it's the economy and people aren't traveling from as far away anymore,or Maybe it's the city of Reno being assholes-Like the Highway Patrol writing tickets on I-80 between VerdI and Reno as you come into town. Yeah,a $200 ticket before I even get into town will make me want to come back!! And the greedy motel and casino owners raising the room prices from the-rest-of-the-year $39-$89 a night to $100-$200 a night during HAN. Yeah, that puts a good taste into people's mouth. And because some Bay Area gang-bangers started a riot 15 years ago, the Police just HAVE to restrict alchohol sales downtown and not allow cruising. And while Vegas has people like Celine Dion and Elton John and Shania Twain and Britney Spears and Toby Keith Headlining at their casinos we get Frankie Avalon and Fabian and the Beach Boys. The "I can't believe I'm not dead tour". Not Faith Hill or Beyonce' or Keith Urban, or even Jerry Lee Lewis or Eric Burdon or John Fogerty or John Kay of Steppenwolf-you know people that actually have hits on MTV and the radio now, or at least had them in the musclecar era and the last 40 years that people actually want to see!! And besides that-I don't care what the organizers say attendance is WAY down from the past few years. I can tell because you don't see any cars anymore. A few years ago-the town looked like it was transported back to 1970. There was '50's and '60s cars all over the streets. Now once in a while you'll see a classic driving around. And the "Show-n-Shines" suck too. Used to you'd see all kinds of cool stuff-Cobras,Plymouth Superbirds,Thunderbolt Fairlanes,W31`Cutlasses,428 Mustangs, 455 Trans-Ams, 396 Novas etc. Now it's cookie cutter the Chevy section is all '55-57s, and 68-72 Chevelles and 67-69 Camaros. You never see a '57 Vette, or a '63 Split Window Stingray or '69 427 Stingray-you hardly see any 'Vettes at all. And no 409 Impalas or 427 Impalas,no Nova SS's no '70's Camaros, no V8 Vegas, No Chevelles or Impalas done in "Gasser" style-radiused wheel wells, straight front axles etc. Ditto for the other makes. The Ford section is all Mustang. Very few if any Torinos,Cougars,Cyclones,Rancheros,T-Birds. Hell I'd rejoice if I saw a hot-rod Falcon!!  Same for Mopar. It's all 68-70 Chargers and Road Runners and a few '70-74 E-bodies-'Cudas and Challengers. No early '60's Max Wedge cars,no Hemi Darts,no Superbirds,no Sport Furys, no Super Bees, again-I'd cheer if I even saw a nice 340 Duster or Dodge Demon!!  It's just sad, because I remember when it was fun. And 1/8 mile drag races in parking lots?  Puhleeze. Come on you cheap bastard Casino owners pay the extra insurance premium and have real 1/4 mile races at Reno-Fernley Raceway or at the Stead Airport like they used to. An 1/8 mile elinimates all the big-block cars from winning. You know that-how many times have you had some punk in a 302 Mustang or 350 Camaro or 340 Duster jump you off the line and then about 60 mph-your 440 Road Runner, 396 Chevelle or 400 Firebird in a beautiful display of mid-range torque-catches and passes him while you giggle like a fiend. An 1/8 mile-if they'd let me enter it-I could dominate in my Subaru!!  Sorry just had to vent that. Maybe the orgainizers will wake up and stop killing the Golden Goose. Mastermind