Iron Fists, Velvet Gloves.....

I've had numerous people ask me for advice on how to make their musclecar wicked fast-but still look stock. You can do it-it just takes some creativity-you might even have to buy a 2nd engine or tranny-but here's the things that offer the most "Bang for the Buck".  #1. Increase displacement. The old saying-"There's no substitute for cubic inches, except cubic dollars" is still true. There's three ways to go about this-The easiest-if you can afford it-Is to put your-numbers-matching engine on a stand in your garage and buy a high-performance crate engine. GMPP sells the 454HO for $5995-It has aluminum heads, a roller cam and is rated at 440 hp and 500 lbs ft of torque. That's quite a jump from the 325 or 350 hp that most 396 Chevelles,Camaros, or El Caminos have. And with proper valve covers, badging etc-no one could tell the difference unless they checked the serial numbers on the block. You could also step up to ZZ502-It's duh-502 cubes-but it has 502 hp and 567 lbs ft of tire-shredding torque. Ditto for small-blocks-the ZZ383 has 425 hp and 450 lbs of torque. That's 150 hp more than the average 275 hp 327 and 125 more than the L48 300 hp 350. It's 55 more hp and 70 lbs more torque than the vaunted, 11:1 compression, solid-lifter-370 hp 1970 LT1 Corvette motor. Ford SVT, Mopar Performance and Blueprint engines offer crate engines. You can buy a 347 or 363 inch Ford engine that looks exactly like a 289 / 302- and with over 400hp-a lot more than the 271 hp of the High-Perf 289 or the 290 of the Boss 302-your "stock' looking '65-68 Mustang could whomp a lot of big-block cars. You can also buy 392 and 427 inch 351W based strokers, and a 460 based 514 with 600+ hp. Put that in your 429 Torino! Mopar Performance offers a 440 based 505 inch wedge engine with over 500 hp that could easily bolt-in place of  a 383 or 440. Blueprint engines offers a 360 based 408 incher with 375 hp and 460 lbs of torque. A lot more than the 275 hp the vaunted 340 made. The second and more economical way is to buy a second engine from a junkyard and rebuild it. A 403 Olds will bolt right in place of, and with the right parts make way more power than the 330 or 350 it's replacing. Trucks, vans and Suburbans with 454s are plentiful in junkyards-an easy upgrade from a 396. There are millions of Dodge trucks and vans and Jeep Grand Cherokees with 360 "Magnum" engines in them-that with very little work make way power than a 273, 318 or 340. The third way is with a stroker crank,rod and piston kit. It's very easy to turn a 350 Chevy into a 383, a 302 Ford into a 347, a 360 Mopar into a 408, and a 400 Pontiac into a 433 or 461. All other things being equal-the larger engine will always make more power and torque. # 2. A bigger carb(s). Because of stock class drag racing rules or just trying to look stock you may have to run a stock intake manifold but you can upgrade the carb. Even some concours show classes are going to the "Original Type" rule-they don't expect you have a 50 year old carb in perfect tune. Within those parameters their's a lot of potential for improvement. For example the Carter AFB that came on a lot of Musclecars in the '60's only flowed about 500 cfm. Edelbrock and Carter make 750 cfm versions. That would really wake up a 389 GTO or 409 Impala. Ditto for Mopars-the Carter AVS 4bbl on the legendary 383 and 440 Magnum engines offered great throttle response and drivability. However they only flowed about 585 cfm. Switching to an 800 cfm Edelbrock AVS could add as much as 40 hp to a 440. Now it can breathe-a 440 with a 585 cfm carb is like a 250 lb NFL running back trying to run while breathing through a straw. The same for dual-quad setups. A hot 409 Chevy, 421 Pontiac or 426 Chrysler Hemi could easily benefit from swapping the 625 cfm AFB's for 750 Edelbrocks. Your 427 Thunderbolt could easily use two 1050 Dominators instead of 750 Holleys. # 3. Ignition. Most-factory Point-type ignitions start to run out of steam about 4,500 rpm and are definitely all done in by 5,500. or even less-sometimes 5,200. The good news is Petronix and other companies offer electronic conversions that will fit under a point-type cap and with or without a separate MSD-type box-are good to 7,500 rpm.  # 4. A bigger cam. Except for maybe a rough-idle-no one can really tell what cam your running. Especially with an automatic trans you don't want to go overboard-but more cam is a stealthy way to hidden power. # 5. Transmission. When Chrysler introduced the Torqueflite back in 1962-they found a huge increase in performance not in the engine, but the transmission. Properly programmed the 383, and 413 and 426 Max Wedge cars with a Torqueflite were practically unbeatable at the drags. They could launch with less wheelspin than competitors with sticks, and they could shift way quicker than any human-and be consistent-they'd shift at exactly the same rpm EVERY time. It took GM and Ford years to catch up-the TH400 and the C6 weren't introduced until much later in the decade. This is escpecially true if you have a pre 1967 GM car. The two-speed Powerglide / ST300 is awful. A 1.76 1st gear and a 1.00:1 2nd?  The upside is a TH350 is a bolt-in swap. And the TH350 has a 2.52 1st gear, a 1.52 2nd and a 1:1 3rd. So whether you have a 327 Impala or a 396 Chevelle, or 389 GTO-the 3-speed TH350 with a decent shift kit will offer an astounding increase in performance over the 2-speed "Powerslide"-even with a bone-stock engine. The same goes for sticks-swapping a 3-speed for a 4-speed will give you a drastic increase in perfomance. # 6. Mechanical advantage. Swapping a 2.73 or 3.08 rear axle ratio for some 3.73's will give you a huge boost in 0-60 and 1/4 mile performance without hurting gas mileage and driveability too much. The same for a mild stall converter-a converter with 500-1000 more rpm stall speed greatly improves off the line performance without hurting drivabality much. But don't go overboard-if your stock converter stalls at 1,500 rpm, and you put in a 2000 or 2,500 rpm converter, you'll notice a marked increase in acceleration. Change to a 3,500-4,000 rpm converter-and you'll blow the tires off, and probalby go SLOWER than stock and maybe burn up the trans from excessive slippage. So err on the side of caution. # 7. Exhaust-you may not want to run headers-but even with stock exhaust manifolds-a good, free-flowing dual exhaust system can add as much as 30-40 hp. Hope this helped....Mastermind                

If it's not "Real", it doesn't have to be correct to the nth degree.....

Talked to a couple strange people at a car show they other day and the more I thought about it, the more wrong-headed and crazy I thought they were. Here's why- The one guy wanted to build a Cobra Replica. He was griping that he was having trouble finding a 427. I was aghast-I said-"The Factory Five cars run in the 11s with the powertrain out of a "5.0" Mustang. Why do you need to go faster than that?"  "If you want the look and sound of an FE engine-390's are a dime a dozen-and they are externally identical." Put some Edelbrock Heads and a Dual-Quad intake on it and it'll be great." He looked at me like I just dropped a turd in a swimming pool. "You can't have a Cobra without a 427" he sneered. "It's not correct." I laughed. "The whole Freaking car isn't "correct!" "It's a kit car"  "No matter how much money you put into it or rare parts you chase down-It's still not an original,documented Shelby Cobra." So build one for $20,000 instead of 50 or 100."  If you ever want to sell it you might be able to get 25 grand for it." "But no one's going to pay much more than that because the complete turn-key kit less engine costs $19,995." ( The base kit is $11,995) "Another 5k for an SVT 302 or 351 crate motor and your there." "If you can buy a brand-new one for $25k why would you pay 40 or 50 or more for someone elses?"  A guy who overheard our exchange interjected himself in the conversation and agreed with the other guy. He wanted to build a Yenko Camaro clone-but the search for a running or at least rebuildable L72, L88 or L89 427 had proved fruitless. "Well, Duh!!" I said. "They only made them from 1966-69 and their being hoarded by people restoring Corvettes and COPO cars, and real Yenkos." "They made 243,000 '69 Camaros-buy a nice base model for 15K and buy a 454HO crate motor from GMPP for $5995, get the stencils from Phoenix Graphics and your ready to go to for under 30K." "That wouldn't even buy you a basket-case Real Yenko."  "Or spend a little more and get the ZZ427 / 480 hp crate model if you just "Gotta" have a 427." He says-  "But those are roller-cam MKVI engines, not solid-lifter MKIV's and they won't have 1968 or '69 date codes." No shit, Sherlock!  I said again-"But the car is a F#$king Fake!!"  "Why do you need an authentic date-coded motor for a Clone??!!!"  "You don't understand". The guy said. "I don't" I agreed. "If I wanted a Hemi Challenger-I'd go buy a restored '70 or '71 383 model for $25k, and buy a Mopar Performance 426 Crate Hemi for $15K,and drop it in." "Then I'd have a pristine Hemi Challenger for $40 grand." "You can't touch an original Hemi car for under 100K, and half of those, still need work!." "That's the beauty of the clone route." "But I'd never find a 1970 Hemi engine for sale at any price."  These two left-shaking their heads, disgusted by how stupid I was. Really?- Your looking for a $40,000, 40 year old 427 side-oiler NASCAR engine to put into a $12,000 Kit Car-and I'm the dummy?  Ok. Mastermind          

Can we drop the tweed cap wearing, pipe smoking, "The Numbers don't Match" shit?...

I had this conversation with a Pontiac collector the other day. I understand the value of a numbers-matching engine block and heads. That tells you if it's a real Ram Air IV or LS6 or LT-1 or 440 / SixPack. I fully understand that. What drives me up the wall is the other parts. Like you want to buy a '67 GTO. The 400 has 1967 date codes. However-the "Expert" you've asked to look over the car tells you the Quadrajet 4bbl-while "period correct" has 1985 date codes. And the point-type distributor again-while "period correct" has 1974 date codes-it's clearly a rebuilt unit from Autozone or Napa. Are you not going to buy the car? Did you really expect a 50 year old car to have the original carburator?? And be running perfectly???  As "Mr Roarke" used to say-"Welcome to Fantasy Island." You don't think that maybe in 1970 the second or third owner didn't maybe put an Edelbrock P4b manifold and a 750 Holley on it?  Or that even if Grandma Betty owned it-when the float started sinking and the throttle shafts got warped  and it started running like shit-that her local mechanic-in the '80's wouldn't just throw a replacement Q-Jet on it from the local auto parts supplier-and take his profit-not worrying about losing the "numbers-matching" carb to save a $50 "core charge??  Ditto for the distributor-when it got old enough and the points started bouncing and it wouldn't run over 3,000 rpm-wouldn't "Joe Mechanic" taking care of a "little old lady" old car-just buy a rebuilt distributor from Napa or Autozone, et, al??  Not caring about resale value 20 years hence??  The same about transmissions. Again-Grandma buys a 1968 Olds 442 with a 400 and an automatic. In 1982 a cooling line blows and it loses all the fluid and burns up. She takes it to AAMCO and they install a replacement BOP TH400. In 1995 Grandma dies and her kids want to sell her car. Is this pristine, low-mileage 442 actually worth any less because of the numbers stamped on the TRANNY CASE???  That's why the Pure Stock drags has amended their rules to "Original Type". In other words your '70 Z/28 is legal with a replacment 3310 Holley Carb-it doesn't have to have 1970 date codes. Your '63 409 Impala can have a late-model BW T10 4-speed-it doesn't have to have 1963 date codes. And that's reasonable. So let's stop obsessing over serial numbers. Mastermind

Project "Cheap Shot"...Or "Junkyard Dog" or whatever.....Let's try to get it going...

I'm sure you are as sick as I am of reading magazine articles about some guy's cool car that he has $50,000-$100,000 invested in. I'd like to serialize the build of an 11 or 12 second car for less than $10,000-including the purchase price of the car. Maybe I can get Hot Rod or Popular Hot Rodding to follow along with several articles as we go. It sounds like a tall order-but I think it could be done pretty easy. $3,000 will buy a decent, running 70's or '80s Camaro or Firebird,or a '78-87 GM "G" body-I'm thinking Malibu, Monte Carlo ( not an SS; too expensive ) or Pontiac Gran Prix-most of these had 305 Chevys in them which makes a 350 or a 383 a bolt-in. We could also do an '83-93 "5.0" Mustang or an '83-'88 T bird. That would leave 7k for the build up. If we went the GM route-I followed an article that Super Chevy did a while back-they built a 400 hp 350 for $2,600 using all-new parts. They bought a generic 350 short-block from Autozone or Pep Boys or Napa for $599. They bought a set of 64cc Vortec Heads from Scoggin-Dickey for $650. $200 for a Vortec bolt pattern Edelbrock Performer RPM manifold, $350 for a 750cfm Edelbrock carb,$200 for a Crane Cam $199 for an HEI distributor and $200 for Heddman Headers. For $2,600 it dyno'd at like 396 hp and 410 lbs ft of torque. At this point we'd have $5,600 in the car. That would still leave $4,400 for gears, a high-stall converter, tires and wheels, suspension or brake upgrades and bodywork and paint. Ditto if we did a "5.0" Mustang or T-bird. We could freshen up the bottom end with rings and bearings and an oil pump. Holley and Trick Flow-offer top end kits for the 302 that include heads, cam kit and intake manifold that makes 375 hp and cost about $2,500. With some 3.73 gears and some drag radials that would easily put a "5.0" Mustang in the 12s. A shot of nitrous could easily get us in the 11s. I think it would a fun way to show that you can go really fast and have a cool ride without having to spend 30 or 40 grand. I suggested the late-model GM "F" and "G" bodies and the Fox Mustang because there's more cheap speed equipment out there for these cars than anything else on the planet. Anybody could duplicate what were doing. But It could also be done with a '71-77 Pontiac Ventura with a 400 V8. Or a 71-77 Ford Maverick with a 302 or a '70-76 Duster / Dart with a 318 / 360. There's a variety of combinations that could work in those parameters and dollar amounts.  I'd love to hear anyone elses Ideas on this one if they think it would fly. Mastermind

More on "Good Deals" and parts "Laying Around"....

Had a few people defending the writers of the Mopar Action article. They said-"What-your saying they shouldn't have used perfectly good parts they already had?"  I'm not saying that-I'm saying they shouldn't have wrote an article about how to build a high performance engine cheaply-and then use rare,expensive, hard to find parts that the average guy would have a hard time finding at any price,much less for free. If you say you built an engine for $2,500-"Joe Average" should be able to call Summitt or Jeg's or Autozone and buy the same stuff for roughly the same price-not $2,500 not counting $4,000 worth of stuff you had "Laying Around". That's the point I was making. Yes-I've stumbled onto some spectacular finds over the years. A friend of my dad's once gave me a complete Pontiac Tri-Power setup-manifold, carbs,linkage, air cleaners, everything for a GTO I was restoring. That set up would easily bring over $1,000 at a swap meet and I got it for free. I was managing a Pep Boys store in the mid-'80s when a woman with a 1971 Corvette had our service department install one of the $699 rebuilt long block 350 Chevys that they sold back then. After triple-checking the numbers on her "core"-I bought a tired, but rebuildable LT-1 for the $160 core charge and turned handsprings all the way home. But I didn't throw rings and bearings and an oil pump in it, stuff it in my Pontiac Ventura and write an article for Hot Rod magazine how I built a 12 second car for $600!! ( I paid $200 for the Ventura that had a blown 307 Chevy in it; my dad and I re-did the heads on the LT-1 on our own valve grinder and I had about $240 in parts in addition to the $160 I paid for the Long block. I had a TH 350, an Edelbrock Torker intake and a 750 AFB "Laying Around" ). See what I'm saying-If Hot Rod had published that article-evryone reading it would have said-"What an asshole." "You bought a 350 Chevy with 4-bolt mains,a steel crank,"Pink" rods,forged pistons,a solid-lifter cam, and "2.02" heads for $160??" "Well bully for you-how are the rest of us supposed to duplicate this "Budget Build?"  I had another Ventura that my cousin who owned a junkyard GAVE me. I stuffed the 400 and TH350 out of my wrecked '77 Trans-Am into that and had a nice daily driver / Hot Rod for nothing. But I didn't ask Popular Hot Rodding to write an article about it!!  A buddy of mine just inherited a pristine 1971 429 SCJ Ford Torino. It needs some cleaning up because it sat in his uncle's garage for about the last 10 years-but it's all there. He could probably sell it for $40k easy-but he's going to keep it and drive it on nice days. Good for him-but Musclecar Review doesn't need to write an article about how he got this $40,000 car for free-and after minor restoration-"This guy has $3,000 in a 429SCJ Torino!!" "Isn't that cool??"  NO-everyone reading it would want to throw up and be pissed that they spent $6.99 on the magazine!! That's my outrage over these "Budget Builds" who's budget?  Mastermind    

"Good Deals" or "Low-Budget" builds should be stuff the average guy can get, not "Moon Rocks!!!"

I hate to always be down on the buff magazines-but I can't help it-almost every month they print something that infuriates me or insults my intelligence. The ones I hate the most lately are the "Low-Buck" or "Budget Buildups". You've seen them-"12 seconds for $1,200". "500 hp Budget Small-Block Chevy Build" "Junkyard Jewel" etc, etc. I don't care if they say they bought an Edelbrock Manifold at a swap meet for $75 or a set of used headers for $50. We all get that stuff all the time. What drives me up the wall is in the middle of their "Low-Budget" 500 hp Small-Block Chevy article-"Hey-what about that set of ported and polished Brodix Aluminum heads that we "almost forgot we had?"  Really???  Or "Joe's brother not only gave us the disc-braked, 3.73:1 geared posi rear end out of his wrecked Trans-Am, he helped up put it in the Camaro and bought the beer!!"  Puhleeze. The two biggest offenders were Super Chevy and Mopar Action. Super Chevy ran one called "10 seconds for 10,000."  The $7,000 for a stompin' 500+ hp 383 crate motor was fine. What made my head want to explode was the "engineless" '79 Camaro they bought for $2,700 to put it in. This "engineless" Camaro had a 4.56:1 geared Currie 9 inch rear end, Competition Engineering Traction Bars,a TCI Built Powerglide with a 4,000 rpm stall converter and a Trans-Brake,an 8-point roll cage, an ATL safety fuel cell, and a set of Center Line Wheels with 7.10x15 Moroso drag front tires and 275 / 60R15 BFG Drag Radials. Gee, I'd like to buy a car with $7,000 worth of premium parts in it for $2,700!!  Like Ditka says on Monday Night Football-"Come on, Man!!" Mopar Action built a ground-pounding 440. Again-I didn't mind that they said they paid $400 for it out of a wrecked 1975 Chrysler Imperial in a Junkyard. They had it bored .030 over-standard rebuild stuff. Then they decided to use a Forged steel crank and a set of "Six-Pack" rods that they had "Laying around".  Check Summitt Racing-a 440 Mopar Forged crank from Eagle costs $1100. A set of forged Eagle rods runs $700. Then after they built it and got it to make 550+ hp with a set of Indy heads and an 850 Holley on a Performer RPM intake-"Just for "giggles" and "Nostalgia" they decided to try a "Six-Pack" induction stup that they had "Laying Around". Check Summitt or Mopar Performance. Edelbrock still sells the manifold,Holley still sells the carbs,and Mopar Performance sells the Throttle Linkage and Air cleaner. All that retails for $2,200. How nice that they had $4,000 worth of rare, premium parts "Laying Around"!!!  That's the crap that I hate. "Good Deals" should be stuff that the average Joe can find in an auto parts store or junkyard in any city in America.  That's all I'm saying. Mastermind        

Modern day "Rat Rods" you can build cheap.....

Street Rodder and other magazines often feature "Rat Rods"-beater '30s, 40's and '50s cars with monster motors. The cars may be rusty or ugly-but their wicked fast. Here's some modern-day equivalents that could be wicked fast and cheap to buy and build. # 1. 1975-78 Ford Mustang II ( V8 model ). These cars got a bad rap as "dogs" because the 302 was saddled with 2bbl carburation, single exhaust,and 2.80:1 gears. However-they don't weigh any more than a Pinto-about 2,700 lbs. And give him a 4bbl carb, a decent cam and dual exhausts and some 3.55:1 gears and you'll give those smug '80s and 90's "5.0" owners a physics lesson they'll never forget. Swap in an SVT 347 crate engine-and you can show your taillights to the new ones as well. # 2. 1975-81 Chevy Monza ( and Olds Starfire / Buick Skyhawk / Pontiac Sunbird ) V8 models. Forget the V6 models the ones to get have 305 Chevys in them-which means-duh-a stompin' 350 or 383 is a bolt in swap. Special note-some 1975-76 "California" models-had 350s from the factory. Dynamite if you can find one. Like the Mustang II they were considered "dogs" for the same reason-2bbl carburation,single exhaust and salt-flats gearing. A 4bbl and some 3.73 gears would make even a 305 model a rocket-they only weigh about 2,700 lbs. A pumped up 350 or 383 or 406 would make you King Kong.     # 3. 1975-79 GM "X" body. ( Nova, Ventura / Phoenix / Apollo / Omega ). Everyone and his brother wants a '68-74 Nova. However the '75 and later models are snubbed-and their actually a better base for a hot rod. Here's why-They have standard front disc brakes, their engine bays will swallow any GM engine,and any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a Camaro / Firebird will fit these cars-so you can build a drag racer or a corner-carving "G" machine if you want. The ones to look for are obviously the 305 / 350 Chevy models-they offer the most bang for the buck. The next best ones are 350 Pontiac models-they respond well to traditional hot rod tricks-carb and intake, cams etc-and the bonus is Pontiac engines are externally identical from a 326 to a 455. That means a 400 or 455 is a bolt-in swap. I had a 400 Ventura and it was a great sleeper. 350 Olds models have a lot of potential as well-and a 403 is a bolt-in swap. Or you could swap in a Chevy Rat Motor-these cars have almost unlimited potential. # 4. 1971-77 AMC Gremlin / 1971-80 AMC Hornet / Spirit V8 models. The ones to look for have 304 V8s. They can be made to run-but heres the great thing-like Pontiacs-AMC engines are externally identical. Which means a 360 or 401 is a bolt-in swap. And there are millions of 360s in junkyards in Jeep Grand Waggoneers. Edelbrock offers aluminum heads and cams and intakes, and with a curb weight of 2,600 lbs and a short wheelbase-these cars actually make great drag racers. # 5. 1976-80 Dodge Aspen / Plymouth Volare. These cars replaced the Duster / Dart-and Ironically-obviously because the E-bodies ( Challenger / 'Cuda ) and B-bodies ( Road Runner / Charger / Super Bee ) are so expensive- Duster and Dart prices are rising. However- you can buy an Aspen / Volare for practically nothing. Forget the six-cylinder models-the ones to get are the 318 / 360 models. With a curb weight around 3,000 lbs and tons of speed equipment for the small-block Mopar-these can be made to really run relatively cheap. And there are millions of 360 "Magnum" V8s in Dodge Trucks and Vans and Jeep Grand Cherokees in junkyards-that would give you an instant power infusion. None of these cars are sexy-but they can be major quick for minor bucks. And that's what a "Rat Rod" is all about. Mastermind

If the car is the price of a house, it better be letter-perfect!!!

I was watching an auction on TV today and they were selling a bunch of premium cars fot premium prices. A few of them really pissed me off. I mean if your asking six figures for a supposedly original car-then it should damn well be original, right?  Well these weren't!! # 1. This was a 1964 Impala SS convertible that they were trying to sell ( and did ) for $150,000. This was way to much in my mind for two reasons-One it WAS NOT a 409 / 4-speed, it was 327 / Powerglide. Secondly-the engine may or may not have been a '64 vintage 327-but  the Radial A/C compresser and the HEI distributor stood out like a sore thumb!! Like Ditka says-"Come on,Man!!" You couldn't go to Autozone and get a Reman A6 compresser and point-type distributor so it at least LOOKED "Period Correct?"  # 2. This was a 1969 Shelby GT350 Mustang. It was reasonably priced at $55,000-you can't usually touch any Shelby for under 100k-but the price was right-with the 290 hp 351W-except for the 250 hp '68 model these are lowest powered Shelby ( The 289-powered '65-67 models were rated at 306, and the 428 engined GT500s were grossly under-rated at 335-) and it was an automatic, not a 4-speed, and it had an Edelbrock carb on it, and American Racing Torq-Thrust wheels. Granted, the Autolite 4300 is the WORST carb ever built and if I wanted to drive the car at all-I'd probably put an Edelbrock or a Holley on it myself-but the original carb should have been included and it should have had the original wheels. I say this because I've seen completely original GT350s in Hemmings for $44,000-ten grand less. # 3 This one made me want to kick out the TV screen-a 1963 Split-Window Corvette that some moron had-wait for it-Put an LS motor and a six-speed in!!! And they wanted a 100K for the butchered thing. If was an original '63 Split-window with the Fuel-Injected 327 or even the carburated 340 hp version it would have been worth 100K, but not with a non-original powertrain??!! What was this guy thinking? You couldn't find a '68-82 C3 that no one cares about and cut that up, it's got to be a rare one-year only model!!  Ugh!  Anyhow-the point I'm making is if the car costs six figures-it ought to be "Right". Mastermind