The Automakers just don't learn....and history keeps repeating itself!!

As a lifelong car enthusiast I'm amazed at how in my lifetime, the automakers have made the same mistakes over and over, and don't learn from them. I touched on it a little in a past post, but it's worth discussing again. # 1. A carmaker comes up with a great idea that's a thunderous hit. Not content to sell this car like hot cakes, and rake in profits for years to come, they have to "broaden it's appeal" to try to sell even more. What happens is they ruin the car, and people stop buying them. A couple good examples-one American, one Foreign. The 1964 GTO was a smash. It was a simple old hot-rod trick-put a big motor in a light car. Pontiac had hoped to sell 10,000 units. Even though it was a mid-year option, they sold 32,450-more than triple what they planned. In 1965 they sold 75,000 units, more than double '64's total. In 1966 they sold almost 100,000. Even mighty Chevrolet, with twice the dealer network of Pontiac, could only sell 77,000 SS396 Chevelles. Then they decided to "Broaden it's appeal." The car got heavier and more expensive every year. By 1971-five short years later they only sold 10,000 units, and in 1972, half that-5,807. Yes, high insurance rates put a dent in all musclecar sales, but the brass had ruined Pontiacs biggest Cash Cow. They didn't even try to save it. All the performance efforts were now concentrated on the Firebird line. Nissan did the same thing. In the '50's and '60's the British pretty much owned the sports-car market. The 1970 Datsun 240Z was an immediate smash. It had a sexy body, a high-revving six-cylinder engine that would suck up and spit out any British sports car-including the vaunted XKE-and it was reasonably priced. To combat the power lost to the tightening emission controls of the mid-'70's they punched the engine out to 2600cc and later 2800cc-thus the 260Z and 280Z monikers as the years passed. But the basic platform stayed the same until 1978. Then, Yes-The brass decided to "broaden its appeal". The car got bigger and heavier, and more expernsive. Even with a turbocharged engine, the 1983 280ZX was nowhere near the performance car the original 240Z was. Did the brass learn? No. 1984 brought the even larger, heavier, more luxurious and much more expensive 300ZX. By 1994 a loaded ZX cost 45 grand. That's more than a Corvette was at the time.  Gee, why weren't they selling?  In 2003 they brought back the "Z". Now called the 350Z and powered by an awesome 300 hp V6 and with a swoopy two-seat body and a pricetag around $26,000 guess-what-they sold like hot cakes and the enthusiast mags raved. Now they've increased the displacement and the hp is up around the 350 mark in the 370Z, and the base price has crept up to around $32,000. However, when you consider that a loaded Toyota Camry or Honda Accord is over 30K, their still a screaming bargain. Hopefully Nissan won't screw it up again. GM did again-in the '80's and '90's. Musclecar buyers didn't magically fall off the earth in 1973, the automakers stopped making cars that they wanted to buy. That's why the Pontiac Trans-Am was the alpha dog in the late '70's. Yes it was a good car, and "Smokey and the Bandit" certainly helped sell a few-but think-if you wanted a sporty car with a big V8 after 1975-you bought a Trans-Am or nothing. Chevy brought back the Z/28, and Ford wisely scrapped the Pinto-based Mustang II platform and put a V8 in the Fox replacement. Yet, ath the Camaro / Firebird's demise in 2002 a loaded Z/28 or T/A cost almost 40 grand. The people that wanted them-young males-couldn't afford them. Yet Ford sold twice as many Mustangs every year as GM sold Camaros and Firebirds combined. Why? Because you could buy a V8 Mustang for around 25 grand not 40!! And just like the T/A in the '70's-if you wanted a rear-wheel drive sporty V8 car-you bought a Mustang or nothing.  Flash forward to 2009-the reintroduced Camaro with a 300 hp V6 and a sticker of $22,000 duh-sells like women of ill-repute in a seaport full of drunken sailors. Even the SS-comes in under 30 grand-almost 10K less than the one they were trying to sell seven years before. Shocker! It's a success. As is the Dodge Challenger that's looks like the "Vanishing Point" model. Hopefyll GM, Ford and Chrysler won't make the same mistake again and price and pork these awesome modern musclecars into oblivion. Mastermind   

The little pony that could....And did!

With the recent resurgence of the ponycar-Camaro, Mustang, and Challenger-some people have asked if there were others back in the late '60's and early '70's. (Firebird, 'Cuda,-"sister" cars- Duh! ) I thought I'd bring up a noble underdog in the ponycar wars-the AMC Javelin / AMX. The Javelin was a racy looking car that was also available as a two-seater from 1968-70 in AMX form. Optional engines included the 290 inch V8 that was used in SCCA Trans-Am racing, and larger 343 and 390 inch V8s. They were exceptional handling, well-balanced cars. The problem was, at the height of the musclecar era, they were underpowered. The top 390 only made 315 hp. By contrast-you could get a 396 in a Camaro that made 375 hp. A Ram Air 400 Firebird was rated at 345 hp; however the same engine in a GTO was rated at 370, and considered under-rated at that. You could get a 428 in a Mustang. However, in 1970-Mark Donohue and Roger Penske-who had won championships in Trans-Am for Chevrolet defected to AMC. The Javelin was given a more aerodynamic body for 1971 and the base engine was increased to 304 inches, the 343 to 360, and the 390 to 401. The new 401 was rated at 330 hp. However, you could get a 440 or 426 Hemi in a Challenger or Cuda, and Pontiac offered the 455 in Firebird Formulas and Trans-Ams. The Javelins were still underpowered when it came to street cred. However-Donohue won the SCCA Trans-Am Championship, narrowly edging Ford for the title, and AMC promoted it heavily in the buff magazines. Except for a Trans-Am or a Corvette, the AMX was about the best handling American car built. However, ever-tightening emission controls and the Arab fuel embargo was putting the hurt on Musclecars in general. By 1975 not only was the Javelin a memory, so was the Challenger and Cuda, the Z/28, and the Charger and Road Runner. The Mustang II was more Pinto / Capri than Mustang. Ironically,the Pontiac Trans-Am soared in popularity in the late '70's-partly because it was a great car-their really rising in popularity among restorers now-and partly because it was the "Last Man Standing" if you wanted a performance car with a big V8. However, as a Welterweight in the ring with Heavyweights the Javelin did pretty well. If you can find one, they still make a nice driver, but except for two-seat models they don't hold the Value that Camaros, Firebirds, Mustangs and E-body Mopars do. However, that's a good thing if you want to buy one! Mastermind

Don't try to emulate magazine project cars- You don't have the bankroll!!

A lot of us enthusiasts read car magazines and often the stuff we buy for our cars is influenced by them. But we can't copy them verbatim, because we don't have an unlimited bankroll and companies like Edelbrock or Accel aren't donating new products to be tested on our vehichles!  You have to realize a lot of these project cars aren't someone's personal ride ( although some are ) their rolling test beds for their advertisers products. A case in point-Popular Hot Rodding's "Project Talledega" a 1975 Laguna done up in '70's Nascar Style. It was finished less than a year ago. The engine they put in it was a snarling, 408 inch solid-roller small-block that pumped out 560 hp. Now they say their putting a big-block in it. Huh? I know what your thinking. 560 hp is enough for anybody, and even with a Rat they'll have a hard time making much more than that in a streetable package. So why do it?  Here's why. A couple years ago when they started the project, Dart had just introduced a new line of Small-Block Chevy high-performance short blocks. They were available in either 372 or 400 inches and with a Dart "Top end" kit-i.e.-heads, cam and intake manifold you basically had a crate engine. They wanted to showcase this engine line in a car. Now apparently, someone has a new big-block package the magaazine and the manufacturer want to showcase. This is nothing new. "Project X", their legendary '57 Chevy that served them from 1962 until it's retirement and internment at the GMPP Museum in 2008, went through numerous small-blocks, big-blocks, four-speeds, five-speeds, automatics, carburators, fuel injection systems, blowers and turbochargers over the years. There's nothing wrong with that. That's how they keep readers interested and sell their advertisers products, which keeps them in business. But "Joe Average"  can't afford to change engines or transmissions or suspensions every six months.  So take these projects with a grain of salt, and plan yours for the long-term. Mastermind

Are you as sick as I am of "Sissy" hotrods?

I get tired of reading about musclecars not only with modern fuelie engines, but with leather seats, and a/c and their owners talking about good gas mileage and idle quality and drivability. Huh? First off, research has shown that a restored musclecar is usually the fourth or fifth car in a household. So nobody's using these cars as daily transportation. Sorry to be sexist, but Idle quality and gas mileage and "drivability" shouldn't be a factor in a musclecar unless your building it for your wife or daughter as a daily driver! I can't believe how sissified the sport has become. Competition Cams actually makes a series of camshafts called "Thumper" that idle like the car has a big cam, but doesn't have reduced vacuum at idle. Companies make hydraulic clutch linkages because one wouldn't want to have to use a stiff clutch!!  Come on guys!!!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not talking about a daily driver. If I was buying a new daily driver, I'd get a Dodge Charger with the Hemi and an automatic and all the toys. If I actually wanted a classic as a daily driver-say a '70's Corvette-yes I'd use a mild 350 with a hydraulic cam and a quiet exhaust system and a TH350 or maybe even a 700R4. And It would have nice stock or aftermarket seats, and a/c and a nice CD player.  However, if I wanted a '70's Corvette as a hot rod-that I only drove on sunny weekends-It would have to be a four-speed, and the engine would either be an ultra high-revving solid-roller 372 inch Dart small-block with 11:1 compression and either a Victor Jr intake with one 800 Edelbrock carb or a Tunnel Ram with two 450 Holleys, or an earth-shaking 12:1 454 with a solid lifter cam, aluminum Dart or Brodix rectangular-port heads, a Brodix or Dart or Super Victor intake with a Demon or Dominator carb, and either engine would have Hooker headers and barely muffled chrome sidepipes. The rear axle ratio would be 4.56 or 4.88, and I'd have a Gear Vendors overdrive not for gas mileage, but for top-end speed when I'm giving Dodge Vipers and Turbo Porsches the finger!!  I wouldn't care if it only got 5-8 mpg on 104 octane race gas, idled at 2000 rpm and had a stiff  clutch!!  It would be the meanest mother in the valley, with all motor, no sissy-ass nitrous, and not for the faint of heart to drive!! That may sound extreme, but a hot rod that's strictly a hot rod should be extreme. It's not what mom drives the girls to soccer practice in, it's Jule's Wallet from "Pulp Fiction".  Drivabilty,schmrivabilty!  I want to see a 6-71 blower and two 660 Holleys sticking out the hood of a primered Chevelle, that has big meats and ladder bars, and a gutted interior and an 8 point cage, not a Vortech centrifigully blown LS fuel-injected wonder that fits under the stock hood and purrs quietly as it motors down the road ( albeit rapidly ) coddling the driver in a climate controlled, leather filled, concert hall!!  If you want a Toyota Camry, go buy one. You want a fast car with a smooth idle and heated seats and a moonroof, that's rides like a Cadillac then buy a new Chrysler 300 or a Lexus Is350, or a Cadillac CTS-V, or a BMW 5 series.  But a hot rod that's not also a daily driver should be a nasty bastard.  At least in my book. Mastermind        

Movie and Delta Blues Muscle!

Took a vacation to Tennessee a while back. Went to see Graceland, Sun studios, the usual tourist stuff. Then I went to Adamsville and toured Buford Pusser's house and museum. For those of you that live in a cave, Buford Pusser was Sheriff of McNairy County Tennesse from 1962-1970, and his life and career were immortalized in 4 movies and a TV series. Joe Don Baker, Bo Svenson, and Brian Dennehy all played Buford Pusser, although the one with Joe Don Baker is the most famous. Pusser fought hillbilly organized crime that made the Sopranos look like kindergarteners. Moonshine runners, drug dealers, pimps, murderous motel owners, illegal casinos, McNairy county had it all. He was shot several times, and his wife murdered in an attempt on his life. He died in a car wreck in 1974 when he crashed his 454 Corvette. Anyway, while touring the museum I met the current McNairy county sheriff who showed me Buford's last police interceptors. One was a pristine 1968 Ford with a solid-lifter 428, that had finned aluminum valve covers, the aluminum manifold and original 735 cfm Holley 4bbl!! He even fired it up for me, and it shook the earth! The other was a 1970 Dodge that was used in the movie that was made in 1972. I'd forgotten how good a high-compression 440 sounds! It had an unsilenced air cleaner and a chrome tab on the AVS carb said "Police Interceptor".  The sheriff said the Ford was quicker off the line, but the Mopar had an unbelievable top end. These cars were so clean, it was like I stepped in a time machine and went back to 1970. The mechanic who cared for them also showed me one of Buford's 'Vettes-( Not the one he died in ) and his own personal toy-a pristine 1968 Fairlane with a 428 and a four-speed!!  He offered to sell me one of his other cars-a really nice 390 / 4-speed 1969 Torino-for $6,500!!. The cost of shipping it back to the west coast and the ensuing probable divorce kept me from buying it, but it was a cool ride. He also told me about a guy that had a bunch of Chevys at a farm up the road, and a guy in the next town who had a ton of old Mopars. If you think all the great cars are gone, take a trip down south or through the midwest. You might find something really cool! Mastermind    

"Old School" is right for old cars! ...And your wallet!!

I see a disturbing trend in the buff magazines and it's not limited to swapping modern fuelie engines into classic iron. I see people spending tons of money on high-tech stuff that doesn't offer the performance increase to justify it's expense. # 1. Aftermarket fuel-injection systems. Edelbrock, Holley and Accel all offer aftermarket fuel-injection systems for most popular engines. The problem is most of them cost between $2,000 and $3,500 depending on application. And the sad thing is, they don't make any more power than a simple $600 carb and intake combo!! High Performance Pontiac tested a system on a stoutly built 455. With an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and an 850 Holley carb it made something like 588 hp. The 859 Holley retails for $449 through Summit Racing and the Performer RPM manifold retails for $219. Total cost $668. The injection system made 574 hp and cost $3495!! Hello?? An extra cash outlay of almost $2,900 to make 14 LESS Horsepower??!!  # 2. Overdrive Transmissions. Same deal- Mopar Muscle put a new TCI six-speed automatic in a 440 GTX project car. Yes, it was slightly quicker in the 1/4 and got better gas mileage than it did with the three-speed Torqueflite, but the conversion cost $5,500!!  To spin 500 less rpm on the freeway?!  Think what you could do with $5,500. A crate engine, a complete interior or an ultra-trick paint job. # 3. Aftermarket Brake systems. Do you really need a $4,000 Wildwood, Baer, or Brembo 4-wheel disc setup worthy of a NASCAR stocker? The factory braking system-( If it's in good condition ) on your musclecar isn't adequate to stop the car safely in daily driving or on a weekend trip to the drags? Come on guys!!  #4 Ultra-Performance tires and wheels. I understand wanting the good handling and braking of modern Radials. American Racing,Cragar,Year One and Wheel Vintiques all offer factory and classic mag style wheels in 15", 16" and 17" sizes. That will give you the classic '60's or '70's look with modern tire performance. 275/40ZR20 tires on 20X10 wheels not only looks stupid on an old musclecar, you can't use the performance anyway. Is your B-body Mopar or A-Body GM muscle car going to put fear into the hearts of any Dodge Viper, Porsche 911 or Corvette drivers on a curvy road? Puhleeze.  So save your money and do what's right for the car and your bank account. Mastermind

Make your Driver / Project run strong while your building it!

This kind of goes along with the last post but I'll talk some more about it anyway. Just because your saving up for a 600hp crate engine or whatever, doesn't mean your musclecar project has to languish in the garage or limp around with not even the power of a modern Honda Accord. # 1. Tune it up! You'd be amazed how much more power your car will have with a new set of spark plugs and wires and the timing and point gap set properly. Also adjust or replace the carburator. You'd be amazed at the cars running around with the float sinking, warped throttle shafts, and jetted way rich or way lean.  #2. Transmission. If it's an automatic, flush the fluid and the torque converter and install a shift improver kit. If it's a stick, make sure the clutch and shift linkage are adjusted properly. # 3. Exhaust. So many cars have crushed or rusted out or leaking exhaust systems. A good exhaust system will not only help your current engine, it's a good investment for that mega-hp engine your building. # 4. Brakes and suspension.  Replace the shocks or worn parts to make it safe to drive while you wait for that complete Hotchkiss or Air Ride setup. Making it nice to drive will motivate you to finish it. Mastermind

Drive your cool base model while you stockpile parts and cash to make it your dream ride!!

I see so many musclecars sitting in garages or driveways, and their owners lamenting-"When I get enough money....".  The car doesn't have to sit until it has it's killer powerplant,suspension and paint job, and is magazine cover worthy. You can drive and enjoy your project while it's "in progress".  You bought a base-model Firebird that you plan on turning into a killer Trans-Am clone? Great! If you put a 4bbl carb and intake and a good dual exhaust system on the 350, it would run way better, and guess what? The Edelbrock Performer intake and free-flowing exhaust system will also work great on the killer 400 or 455 your planning. You want it to have 17X9 Snowflakes and 275/40ZR17 Goodyear Eagle F1s for rolling stock? Fine. But you could put some inexpensive 14" or 15" inch radials on the stock Rally II wheels and drive it while you save for the killer rolling stock. Adding the air extractors, and spoilers and shaker hood is a big investment before you consider painting it. But what's stopping you from throwing a $399 Maaco or Earl Schieb quickie paint job on it for now, to make it look a lot better than it does with peeling paint and primer and preserve the body panels you are going to keep? See what I'm saying?  You can go ahead and put a 3.55 geared,12 bolt rear end and a Turbo 400 in your '69 Chevelle. Guess what-The 350 that's in the car will bolt up to and work fine with that B&M or TCI TH400 until you get that killer 454 or numbers-matching 396 built. You've got the killer suspension in place, and the snarling 383 stroker crate engine is already in the engine compartment of your Camaro. You just don't have the $2800 needed for the Tremec six-speed conversion you planned.  So? Hook up the motor to the Muncie or Saginaw or T10 4-speed, or TH350 that came in the car and have a blast driving it and working the bugs out of the rest of the car while you save for the tranny swap! Planning to drop a killer 440 into that '71 Charger you bought that has a knocking 318? Why can't you spend a few hundred bucks and a weekend installing a running 318 out of a junkyard? Now that the car's running, like I said, you can work out a million other bugs, and get the bodywork and paint and interior done and not have to have worry about some yahoo in a body shop or upholstery shop grenading your prize big-block. You'll be a lot more motivated to finish something that runs and drives than you will to work on something that you know isn't going to move for months. Trust me, you'll be a lot happier with a registered, driveable "Work in progress" than you will be with a rusting, rotting, "Someday" under a tarp.  Mastermind        

Where's the Hard-Core hot rodders with wicked fast beaters?

Maybe I'm showing my age, but nowadays it seems there's the Concours "Just as it left the factory" crowd and there's the Blown / Nitroused / Modern engine and tranny crowd, and nothing in between. There's no badass beaters around. When I was younger yes, there was the meticulously restored show car types, and there was the radical "Pro Street" type cars, both of which cost their owners many thousands of dollars even back then. But there was also the dangerous "beater" that could stomp the ass of a $30,000 ( In 1980's dollars) show car or Pro Street hero in a drag race. I'm talking about cars like my buddy's 1965 Plymouth Barracuda. Yes, the ugly Valiant model with the huge fastback window. But it was light, and it was all motor.  It was primered, and he never got around to painting it. He had crudely radiused the wheelwells on the rear to clear the soft-compound N50-15 Mickey Thompson tires that were mounted on 15X10 Center Lines, while still running E78-14 tires on stock steel wheels on the front. His crude, home-made exhaust system exited in front of the rear wheels and was excessively loud even by kid hot rod standards. But it had a very nasty solid-lifter, tunnel-rammed 340 backed by a four-speed and a 4.90 geared 8 3/4 rear end with a pinion snubber. He would pop the clutch about 4,500 rpm, and the car would just rocket off the line, and he'd shift it about 7,500. He smote everyone in biblical fashion, even expensive big-block cars. Another guy I knew had a ratty, primered, '66 El Camino with a 455 Pontiac under the hood that showed it taillights to quite a few aghast expensively restored musclecars. There was also a guy with a 383 powered Duster that kicked a lot of ass, and I took the 400 out of my wrecked Trans-Am and stuffed it in a 72 Ventura that looked like Eddie Murphy's crappy Nova in "Beverly Hills Cop".  But it smoked a lot of "Hot" cars that had pricetags 10 or 20 times what I had invested. You don't see that anymore. I mean, I'd love to see a beat up, but wicked fast '88 5.0 Mustang, or an '84 Camaro with a 383 stroker in it, or an '85 Olds Cutlass with a 403 or 455 V8 stuffed in it, or even a '90's Crown Victoria with a blower on the "Cop Car" 4.6 mod motor. All I ever see is megabuck cars whether their restored or butchered. Let's see some cheap, but quick cars, please. Mastermind    

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                             

Why the eternal flame keeps burning......

A Prius driving grad student asked me the other day why anyone "needs" a musclecar. I had to give him the answer that Harley riders have been giving for years-"If I have to explain, then you won't understand." "No, I want to understand,I have to understand, I'm writing an article for a psychology magazine."  He replied. "I'll do my best to help." I said. We sat down, and I talked and he took notes. "The first misconception is gender." I said. Stephen King said cars were all girls in his classic Horror novel "Christine" about a possesed '58 Plymouth Fury, and you see old farmers calling their truck "Betsy" and such." Cars being female may be cute for some people, but musclecars are all male. It's all about testosterone. And their not male in the good father-know-best kind of way, or the John Wayne, truth justice and the american way, no, their Jules from "Pulp Fiction". My I.D. says "Bad Mofo" on it, "I'm sorry Ringo, but this isn't the first time, some fool has challenged me to a fight." "I will strike down with great vengenance and furious anger anyone who threatens the righteous man who happens to be my driver." "Though I walk through the shadow of the valley of death, I fear no evil, for I am the meanest mother in the valley!" That's what a musclecar says. You can't drive one slow. The rumble of the exhaust, the Hurst shifter in your hand, feeling the power like a Rotweiler tugging on his leash, eager to run. Come on, you candy ass. It taunts. There's no men in blue around, open me up. Like the kid in "Christmas Story" it "Triple-Dog Dares" you. God help you if there's a pretender near-a BMW or Mercedes or Jap car that tries to pass you or looks at you disdainfully at a light. Like Denis Leary on cocaine-your subconcious taunts you-"You gonna take that shit?"  "You gonna let this arrogant yuppie scum disrespect us like that?" "Please trade me in for a Honda Civic, you pussy."  You have to put your right foot down, and then it's on. As the rest of society succumbs to political correctness and frontal lobe massaging and the ever-expanding limits of freedom of the nanny state, at the last stop before oblivion stands the archaic, throwback American Musclecar. The Camaro SS, the Boss 302 Mustang, the Hemi Challenger-and their brethren from the past that simply won't go away-stand Janus-faced, giving the finger to tweed-cap wearing,pipe-smoking, journalists and engineers that deride solid axles and pushrod V8s while singing the praise of front-and all-wheel drive, overhead cam technological wonders that can't touch the performance of an american musclecar at two or three times the price. And now their selling in record numbers. How did this happen? It happened back in the 1990's when every 40 or 50 year old stockbroker or dot.com rich guy decided that the one thing missing from his life was a badass American Musclecar. Didn't matter if he already had a Porsche or a Ferarri. He was up late one night watching Kowalski's last Ride in "Vanishing Point", or the chases in "Bullitt" or "Smokey and the Bandit" or "Two-Lane Blacktop" and decided then and there that he HAD to have a Challenger, or a Charger, or a Trans-Am, or a GTO or whatever, and he didn't care how much it cost. And his competitive buddies got in on it, and remembered their big brother's 'Cuda or Camaro or Mustang from high school, and decided if Bob so and so, could spend 40 grand on the 30 year old car of his dreams, then by God, so could they. And the renaissance caught on. And the automakers thought hey-"If horsepower makes that much money, let's rock and roll and bring back the '60s." "WE can promote Hybrids, and saving the planet, but these cars will sell themselves." Brock Yates said it about Harleys a few years ago, but it applies to musclecars as well-"If that rumble, that roar, that ultimate symbol of freedom and American brashness, that death threat to collectivism and political correctness ever goes away, then it will truly be time to turn out the lights in America." That's why the eternal flame of the Musclecar keeps burning. Mastermind        

If you want to drive it like you stole it....Crate it!!....or get a "Junkyard Jewel"

I speak to a lot of people that want to race their musclecars but are afraid of blowing a rod out the side of a rare, numbers-matching block. If that's the case, I offer two viable solutions. # 1. Get a Crate engine. GM Performance, Mopar Performance, and Ford Racing all offer awesome high-performance crate engines at reasonable prices, as do companies like Edelbrock, Smeding, and Blueprint engines. If you have say an SS396 Chevelle-GMPP's 454HO may be just the ticket. At 425 hp and 500 lbs ft of torque, that's way more power than even the vaunted solid-lifter L78 396 had ( They were rated at 375hp ). With the right style air cleaner and valve covers it would look stock, and with forged crank, rods and pistons, could even withstand a big shot of nitrous. Want to be King Kong? How about 572 inches of Chevrolet and 720 hp?!!  Don't want to risk the 440 in your Charger or Road Runner? Mopar performance offers a 505 inch ( 440 based ) wedge engine with 500 hp. Ford racing offers 351W crate motors with 385 hp-a big step up from the 290 hp that a stock '69 Mustang carries. 429 SCJ Torino? They offer a 460 based 514 stroker with 600 hp. These hi-po crate engines often come with a 3 year 50,000 mile warranty!!  # 2. The other solution is to find a similar engine in a junkyard. I wouldn't want to risk grenading a for-real Ram Air III or Ram Air IV Pontiac in my Judge or Trans-Am if I had one. However, since the 400 was used in practically every Pontiac model made from 1967-78, finding a rebuildable core shouldn't be like finding a moon rock. Take this junkyard motor from a '74 Bonneville or whatever and put a stroker crank in it to make it a 455, add some Edelbrock heads, a hot cam and some headers, and you'll have even more power than your stock engine, and you won't have an anxiety attack every time you run it over 5,000 rpm!!  If you've got an AMX you may not be able to find a 390 or 401 AMC engine to play with, but their are millions of 360s in junkyards in Jeep Grand Waggoneers.  You might not find a 327 for your '60s Corvette or Impala, but 350s are a dime a dozen, you could stroke it to 383, and really have a rockin' small-block. Having a 2nd engine isn't cheap, but if you want to race your car without the fear of grenading an irreplaceable block, it's really the only solution. And you can "downgrade" and still have racing fun. If you've got a Hemi 'Cuda, you might not want to spend another $15,000 on a Mopar Performance Crate Hemi to play at the drags, but you could build a pretty strong 360 or 383 / 400 for a couple grand that would be big fun at the track, and you wouldn't care if you missed a shift and blew it all to hell!! Ditto for a Boss 302 Mustang. You can buy or build a 302 based 347 stroker with 400 hp pretty cheap,go faster than you would have with the original engine, and keep the "Moon Rock" in a plastic bag in your garage to re-install for concours shows or when you sell it. The 455 out of my Hurst /Olds is on an engine stand right now, while I abuse the hell out of the GMPP ZZ4 crate 350 Chevy that's in the car. Changing it back to Olds power would only take about 8 hours. So stop lamenting that you can't race, and go buy or build a second motor that you don't care about blowing up!!  Mastermind