The Last of The Mohicans......

Well the first year of anything usually brings a king's ransom, often the last year can be a good buy for the sharp-eyed collector. Here's some "Last Year" bargains to look for. #1. 1973 Ford Mustang. In 1974 the awful Pinto-based Mustang II debuted and tortured us until it's demise in 1978. Yet the '73 models are like Rodney Dangerfield-a '71-72 will bring way more money at auction-although the bodystyle is identical except for the placement of the park lights in the grille, and minor trim pieces. Most have the mighty 351C for power in either 2 or 4bbl form, which isn't a bad thing, and the 302 models can be hopped up easily. If you want the last "Real" Mustang before the "5.0" era these can be a screamin' deal, and there's really nothing wrong with them.  # 2. 1974 Dodge Charger. Richard Petty won a ton of races in this bodystyle and the 400 and 440 V8s were still available. If your willing to settle for a 360 model-you can really save some money.  In '75 Chrysler desecrated the name by putting it on re-badged Cordoba. Yuk.  # 3. 1974 AMC Javelin / AMX. Ironically-they made more Javelins this year than they did any other year since '71 when this bodystyle debuted. Look for a 360 or 401 powered version; the 304's are slugs. I always thought these were a great-looking car.  Don't pay extra for something stupid like "Pierre Cardin" interior-their not collectible, their just weird.  # 4. 1974 Chrysler E-body. This was the last year for the 'Cuda / Challenger-and the glory days were gone-no more Hemis, or 440 Six-Packs, or even a 383 Magnum. Even the 340 was gone after '73-replaced by the 360.  On the upside you can buy them way cheaper than the earlier models, the 360s were decent performers, and you could always swap in a big-block.  # 5. 1979 Pontiac Trans-Am. This was the last year of the 400 cube engines. 1980-81 models had the ill-fated 301 Turbo or a 305 Chevy. However, of the 117,000 T/A's sold this year-only about 10,000 were 400 / 4-speeds. The majority of the rest had 403 Olds engines backed by a TH350. For this reason they are snubbed by Pontiac purists and can be bought way cheaper than a '77-78. On the upside-the 403 models ran surprisingly strong-the Pontiacs were quicker-but not THAT much quicker-that's how they sold so many. I had a 403 Olds T/A that I gave the Herb Adams "Fire-Am" treatment to-headers and dual exhausts, a Holley Street Dominator aluminum intake, re-curved distributor, re-jetted carb and open hood scoop, and a TransGo shift kit.  I surprised quite a few musclecars when they saw the tailligthts of my "smog dog" T/A. There's plenty of speed parts-anything that fits a 350 Olds will fit a 403.  # 6. 1980 Z/28 Camaro. For this one year only-you could get a Z/28 with a 350, a 4-speed with a 3.44 low gear and a 2.28 second, with a 3.08 rear end. These were actually faster than the '77-79 models which had 2.64 low gear T10s and 3.73 gears.  And they got better gas mileage and had more top speed.  Automatics had 3.42:1 gears which gave them a little accelerati rapidus maximus attitude too. Cowl Induction was brought back this year too-a vaccum-operated hood scoop that opened under acceleration and sounded like the "Vanishing Point" soundtrack. Inexplicably-in 1981 if you wanted a 4-speed, you got a 305 that wheezed out 145 hp. If you wanted a 350, you got an automatic. One of these "Last-year" models might be just the ticket for you. Mastermind