Compact beater fun

Long before the Arab oil embargo of 1973 American automakers made compact, fuel efficient cars. Since they were also light weight, they also made good drag racers. The Chevy Nova has a "Cult" following of its own, with even a magazine devoted solely to the restoration / hot rodding of them. My cousin had a '63 Nova with a 283 ( bored to 301 ) and a 4-speed that absolutely screamed.  Although not as desired as Camaros and Chevelles, they can be a little overpriced. If you find a good deal on a 62-67, or 68-74 Nova by all means buy it. Otherwise here's some other great choices for a "Mini-Musclecar". #1 1962-68 Ford Falcon / Mercury Comet. A lot have six-cylinder power, and a some have 289 V8 motivation. These short-wheelbase, light cars can go really fast with a mild 289 / 302. With a wilder 302 / 347, or 351W, or 351W-based stroker, you've got a real finger in the socket, load and cock it, pocket rocket. # 2. 1961-63 Pontiac Tempest. The downside is the rear-mounted independent transaxle won't stand up to any real horsepower, which means you have to install a solid 10 or 12 bolt rear and driveline out of a later GM car which will require some fabrication. The big UPSIDE is many of them have 326 V8s. Pontiac engines are all externally identical, so this means a stompin' 400 or 455 would sit in the engine bay like it grew there. With a curb weight of about 2,800 lbs, this would be a total rocket. Take the fastest GTO you ever drove or rode in, and imagine what it would run like with 1,000 less lbs!! Yeah!  # 3. 1971-77 AMC Hornet. Their, ugly, but boy can they go fast. 304 versions can make a budget screamer, but like Pontiacs, AMC V8s are all externally identical. A 360 or 401 powered, under 3,000 lb Hornet would really rock. With their short wheelbase, they actually launch extremely well, and make good drag racers. # 4. 1964-69 Dodge Dart / Plymouth Valiant / Barracuda. 273 V8 versions are nice performers, but swap in a 340 or 360 ( Or a 408 inch 360-based stroker ) and you can really scream. I've seen people put B / RB engines ( i.e.-383 / 440 ) in these cars, but it makes them really nose-heavy and ill-handling, which kind of negates the fun of any extra speed you'd get from the big-block. Trust me, with a properly prepped 340 / 360 you'll go as fast as anyone needs to. # 5. 1970-77 Ford Maverick / Mercury Comet. 302 Versions can really rock, and you can also install a 351W or 351C pretty easily. A buddy with a pretty quick 440 Road Runner got his doors blown off by a ratty-looking Maverick one night. Never under-estimate an ugly car. '70's Dusters and the "other" Novas-( Ventura, Omega ) are rising in popularity and are getting quite expensive to buy. If you find a good deal one one, by all means buy it, but I omitted them  because the other cars on this list are dirt-cheap. Build one of these and have major speed for low bucks. Mastermind      

Full-size Summer fun!

While any musclecar convertible-be it a Mustang, Camaro, Chevelle, Road Runner,etc-they bring a kings ransom, even more than their hardtop brothers because a lot less of them were built. For example-Pontiac sold almost 90,000 GTOs in 1968, but only 8800 or so were convertibles-about 10% of total production. Most of the other makes sales figures are about the same, percentage wise. Figuring in attrition over the years-some were wrecked, some just junked back when they weren't worth anything-and it's hard to find your dream machine regardless of your bankroll. However, you can still have some heavy metal open air fun. You'll just have to look for a full-size car instead of an intermediate or ponycar. # 1. Would have to be any 1965-75 full-size Buick, Olds or Pontiac drop-top. The reason is they all had TH400s for trannys,and the Pontiacs had 389,400,428 or 455 cubes under the hood. The Olds models had 425s or 455s, and the Buicks had 430 or 455 cubes, depending on the year. I have nothing against Chevys, and if you find a good deal on an Impala drop-top by all means buy it; however most of the Impalas you run across are going to be small-block powered. Any 396, 427 or 454 Impala convertible is going to be high-priced, while the BOP models all have the big-blocks as standard equipment.  # 2. 1965-72 Ford Galaxie / LTD. Most had 390 cubes under the hood, some 1970 and later models may have 351 / 400Cs, or 429s which certainly isn't a bad thing. Clint Eastwood drove a cool blue&white 1972 LTD convertible in "Magnum Force." The other cool factor is these cars were the top of the line; they usually have upgraded interiors, disc brakes, and factory air. # 3. 1965-70 Cadillac DeVille. That's not a typo, I said Cadillac. Cool styling, luxurious interiors, and 429,472 or 500 cubes of American muscle under the hood. These may be a little pricier than the others; but look at it this way-10 grand will buy you a pretty decent vintage Caddy that looks, runs, and drives great. 10 grand won't buy you a rusted, not running, basket case Challenger or Chevelle convertible. # 4. 1965-72 Chrysler C-body. Be it a Fury,Newport or Monaco, most of these had 383 or 440 cubes under the hood, and like their GM and Ford counterparts-lots of luxury options. I'd much rather cruise country roads on nice days in a big, comfortable car with 400+ cubes under the hood than I would cramped up in a 4-banger, buzzy little Mazda Miata or Honda S2000. I'll bet you agree. Mastermind      

Full-Size fun!

We all know about the Impala SS, the Pontiac 2+2, and the Mercury Marauder. However, there are a great many other full-size cars that offer great performance in stock trim, and have huge potential for anyone who wants to "Restify" them. # 1. This is a no-brainer. 1960-68 Pontiacs. While 99% of Impalas, Biscaynes and Bel Airs built during this period have small-block motivation, (Causing the 396, 409, and 427 models to be priced in the stratosphere ) Every Pontiac built from 1960-66, be it a Catalina, Bonneville, or Gran Prix, had the venerable 389 as standard equipment! A few had 421s. All 1967-68 models had 400 cubes under the long hoods, and a fair number had 428s. Manual trannys include the BW T85 3-speed, the BW T10 4-speed, and the Muncie M20 and M21 4-speeds, depending on year. As for automatics, 1965 and later models have the excellent TH400. For 1960-64 models, this is the car's only weak point-these had the old "Slim-Jim" Hydromatic. They won't upshift above about half-throttle, and no one makes shift kits or performance converters for them. The trick is to swap in a TH350 or TH400. You'll have to change the driveshaft yoke and maybe shorten it, but any competent driveline shop can do that cheaply-usually less than $100. You'll have to change the rear trans mount as well. You can use the stock shift linkage as it has the same number of detents, you just have to remember that reverse is now low. The other small problem is Slim-Jims have the starter mounted on the bellhousing, and TH350 / 400s have it mounted on the block. This isn't a big deal.  Most 1963 and later models will have the block tapped for a starter. Earlier ones can be tapped by any decent machine shop cheaply. The great thing about these cars is there are a million ways to build power into a Pontiac V8, and any aftermarket suspension or brake upgrades that fit an Impala will fit these as well. # 2. 1965-69 Olds Delta "88". These are great-looking, luxurious cars, and with 425 or 455 inches under the hood, they move pretty good too. The tranny is the bulletproof TH400, and like their Pontiac cousins, any suspension or brake upgrades that fit a full-size Chevy will work here.  # 3. 1966-69 Buick Riviera. I personally think the 1966-67 Riviera is one of the best-looking cars of all time. They had the swoopy, fastback, hidden headlight styling of the revolutionary Olds Toronado, but were still rear-wheel drive. And with 430 cubes under the hood, they could back up the image. Call me a blasphemer, but I see one jet-black with a snarling 572 inch Rat motor under that long hood. ( All you'd need is a Chevy bolt-pattern TH400 and some Chevy motor mounts.) Hey-It's not like I'm suggesting cutting up a Hemi Cuda, so chill. # 4. 1967-71 Ford Thunderbird. This is the car that caused Pontiac to down-size the Gran Prix, and Chevrolet to invent the Monte Carlo. The 1st, and in my mind still the king of the "Personal Luxury / Performance" coupes. 390, 428 or 429 cubes, cool styling-it's hard to decide which is cooler-the '67-69 with the hidden headlights or the Nascar-inspired fastback '70-71. This is the last of the muscular T-birds until the Supercharged 1989 model. 1972 and later models had 460s, but they were based on the much heavier and uglier Lincoln MKIV platform.  # 5. 1965-72 Ford Galaxie / LTD. Cool styling, luxurious interiors, and 352,390 or 428 cubes of old-fashioned Ford "FE" muscle under the hood. Some 1971-72 models may have 351 / 400C engines or 429s, but that's not a bad thing. I still think the 1972 LTD with Super Bee style black wheels, chrome lug nuts, white letter tires, and a 429 with a Hurst-shifted 4-speed driven by Burt Reynolds in "White Lightning" is one of the coolest movie cars ever. And the mini-skirted, barefoot, "Shake-a-puddin'" played by Jennifer Billingsley was the hottest leading lady Burt ever had too. At least until Rachel Ward in "Sharky's Machine" but that one had no musclecars, or car chases, so "Lightning" wins. #6.  1966-67 Dodge Charger. I know, from "Bullitt" to the "Dukes of Hazzard" to "Fast and Furious" everyone loves the 1968-70 model. Which is why their scarce and overpriced. The stunt coordinator of "F&F 4" said he paid $16,000 for a rusty beater that didn't run that they were going to wreck in the film. However, the '66-67 models are still way cool with the fastback, hidden headlight styling and 4-bucket seat interior. Hemi models are priced in the stratosphere obviously, but you can still find a good deal on a 383 model. And a Mopar Performance 505 wedge or 472 Hemi crate motor will fit in that engine bay like it was born there.  Before everyone starts griping that there's no Chevys on this list, remember what I said when I was talking about '60's Pontiacs. All of these cars have big-blocks as standard equipment, and can be bought relatively cheap. Rat-powered Impalas, etc are rare and pricey.  Mastermind            

Common Sense vs Originality......Common sense loses!

Here's some more stupidity of the "Just as it left the factory" crowd.  Idiot #1. I sold a 1966 Mustang GT a few years ago. This car had the 225 hp 289, Rally-Pac guages, factory a/c, the pony interior, and the original "California Megaphone" exhaust system with date-coded mufflers intact. It also ran terrible becuase the original Holley carb had warped throttle shafts and was bleeding over badly and the distributor had so much slop in it, that you couldn't set the points or the timing for more than five minutes. After installing an Accel aftermarket distributor and a 500 cfm Edelbrock carb with an electric choke, it started easily, and would literally spin the tires as long as you wanted to stay on the throttle. I also took off the ugly black without hubcap steel wheels and skinny tires and put on some 14X7 Chrome Reverse wheels and "Baby Moon" hubcaps and white-letter 205/70/14 tires. The guy I sold it to removed the vinyl top and painted it a gorgeous Bright Blue metallic. He sold it for an exorbitant amount of money (even for a great numbers-matching car, it was exorbitant ). The guy who bought it proceeded to chase me down, buy the original carb and distributor back, spent nearly 2 grand getting them refurbished and removed the Edelbrock carb and accel distributor and re-installed the old parts. He also stripped the gorgeous blue paint job, put another vinyl top on it, painted it the uglier, lighter original blue, and took off the cool chrome wheels and fat ties put on skinny whitewalls with hubcaps. People literally asked him what he did with the "Cool Blue Mustang". When he said that was it, and that he'd "Made it Right" they shook their head in disbelief. He could have bought a beater '65-66 Mustang for a helluva lot less and done a complete resto on that and still had less money in it, than he had in mine, but It "Wouldn't be Original".  Like the Valley girls used to say- "Gag me with a spoon."  Idiot # 2. Bought a 1969 SS396 Chevelle. This one was "Period Correct"-it had Cragar Mags on it and a set of headers, an Isky cam of undetermined specs, and an original Edelbrock Torker intake-( The one where the carb sat at an angle ) and a 780 Holley. This thing ran like the proverbial scalded cat, and just sounded badass. If you wanted to record what a musclecar idle should sound like, this was it. He removed the headers and Edelbrock intake / Holley combo and put on stock exhaust manifolds, an iron intake and a quadrajet, and pulled the Isky cam and installed a factory L34 cam to make it "Completely Original".  Then he bitched and moaned that the car wasn't nearly as fast as it was before, and didn't sound as good!!  Gee, You think?!!  Idiot # 3 Didn't buy a way underpriced 1979 Trans-Am that was not only immaculately painted like a "Macho T/A" ( although it wasn't an original DKM Macho ) that also had a killer Traco-built 500 hp 350 Chevy, a Doug Nash 5-speed, and Recaro seats, because the serial numbers said it was orignally a 301 / 4-speed car, "And it would cost too much to put it back to original".  Huh? Why would you want a non-Turbo 301 T/A at all unless you could buy it dirt-cheap and were planning to swap in a 400 / 455 Pontiac or a small or big-block Chevy for an instant, massive power infusion? If you want a 77-81 301 Firebird there's plenty of those slugs around for low prices because no one wants them. This one really puzzled me, and if I'd had the money at the time I'd have bought this car. Like Comedian Ron White says- "You can't fix stupid."  Mastermind        

What happened to common sense?

Saw a joke obituary on the internet about the death of "Common Sense". It was hilarious, but I think common sense left car restoration behind years ago. People even advertise their stupidity. Saw an ad in Hemmings for a 1971 Boss 351 Mustang, one of 1,806 built. The asking price was 59K, which I thought was a little high, since the same issue had two other pristine examples priced at $39,000 and $42,000. The guy asking 59K said in the ad that he'd paid 4 grand for a "correct" carburator. Hello? First off, the Autolite 4300 was about the worst carb ever made. They didn't work properly brand-new. The cars wouldn't start, they got horrible gas mileage, and wouldn't run worth a damn. My dad was a master Ford Tech in the '70's and if you had a new car or truck with a 351C or a 429 / 460 4bbl, and you bitched hard enough, the dealer would install a 600 Holley and the factory would warranty it. Now, wouldn't a freshly rebuilt Boss 351 run a lot better with a vacuum-secondary 780 Holley or a 750 Edelbrock carb? And, if you really, really wanted a documented, blue&silver Boss 351, is it worth 4 grand less because it had a non-original carb on it? Of course not!!  I told you about the guy that paid 3 grand for a Shelby steering wheel. The worst one was a guy that paid $14,000-that's not a typo-I said fourteen thousand, for a "Correct" rear end for a Yenko Camaro that he was selling for six figures. Are you kidding me? First off, it wasn't THE original rear end out of THAT car. So if it's a replacement anyway, would this pristine 427 / 4-speed Yenko Camaro be worth any less if it had a new Moser 12 bolt in it, or one out of say a '68 Firebird? Is a rich guy honestly going to say-"Well, the car is immaculate, and your asking price of 150K is certainly reasonable, but my mechanic says that's an "Incorrect" 12-bolt posi rear end, so I'm only offering you $136,000."  Puhleeezzze.  A friend has a pristine SS396 Chevelle. It's a 4-speed model, and it has a Hurst Competition Plus shifter. This is what we call a "Day two" modification. I.E,- so many people did it immediately after buying the car, that some people think it's standard equipment. GTO's and 442s had Hurst shifters from the factory, but Chevelles had the horrible Muncie shifter. The difference was the Hurst shifters were mounted on the trans, and had positive stops. GTO and 442 owners could powershift to their heart's content. The Muncie shifters were mounted on the body, and when the engine was under load, they would bind up. Forget  powershifting, you couldn't even shift them at all above about 4000 rpm!!  So just about everyone trashed the Muncie shifters and replaced them with a Hurst or Mr. Gasket unit. If you want a 1968-72 4-speed, big-block SS Chevelle, are you really going to pass on one ( or several ) with a Hurst shifter, and pay more for one with the crappy Muncie unit?  Of course not! Apparently, you have common sense!!  I have a 390 hp 428 HO Pontiac in my garage. My brother bought it several years ago for his GTO, but never did anything with it, instead he built a killer 400. I was recently negotiating, ( unsuccessfully, unfortunately ) to buy a 1969 Gran Prix SJ with a blown engine, but a factory 4-speed. If I had bought the GP and put that engine in it, and decided to later sell it, is it worth less because the Quadrajet carb I bought from Summit doesn't have the right serial numbers on it?  Or the Rally II wheels actually came off a '72 GP and not a '69? Get real. A hardcore Pontiac fan would give blood and a first-born child for that car, regardless of where the carb or the wheels came from!!  Think about the total package before you fall into the "It's not original" trap. Mastermind       

Bring back the Trans-Am and the Road Runner!

I've seen a few concept cars based on the new Camaro and they all look disjointed. The reason is people are trying to make them look like a "Smokey and the Bandit" '70's T/A. Forget that. The body closely resembles a 1969 Camaro, so make it look like a 1969 Trans-Am. Offer a hood tach and some 18 or 19 inch Rally II style wheels. Make the LS3 the base engine and the supercharged LS9 an option. Think that would sell like hotcakes? I do. Chrysler could do the same thing. They could put a urethane front bumper on the Challenger that resembled a '71-72 Road Runner, and even add a Superbird style rear wing. Paint it Petty blue and put some NASCAR style 20 inch wheels on it and a loud flowmaster exhaust. Make the 5.7 Hemi the base model and the 6.4 the upgrade. Or make a "Bullet" nose with hidden headlamps for the Charger, add the Daytona wing and call it the Superbird or Charger Daytona.  Like that baseball movie- "Build it, and they will come." Start e-mailing GM and Chrysler and all the buff magazines and see if public opinion means anything.  Mastermind  

No you didn't!!......Race one "Just like that"

In relation to the last post, almost as annoying are the idiots that swear they beat an ultra fast car in a drag race with either a four-cylinder import  ( and I don't mean a Subaru WRX STI ) or something else equally slow-i.e. their mother's station wagon or their dad's pickup. Apparently, "Just Like that" means either the same bodystyle or the same color to these fools. A few cases in point. Moron  #1. This clown had a 1965 Impala 4-door sedan. It had a 327 / Powerglide drivetrain. It moved ok for a big car, but not exactly a rocket. He swore up and down that he had given a "Helluva Race" to a Firebird Formula "Just like" a friend of mine's. He was aghast when my pal's car blew him away by about 15 or 20 car lengths. The difference?  The one he had the "helluva race" with belonged to a girl in his office and was a "California" model with a 2bbl 305 Chevy engine, a TH350, and a 2.56:1 axle ratio. How shocking that my pal's 400 4bbl Pontiac engined, 4-speed, 3.42 geared Formula smote him in biblical fashion!  Moron # 2. This buster claimed his 390 powered, 4-wheel drive F250 pickup outran a Dodge Challenger T/A.  Again-the same color-his victim was a "Hemi Orange" Challenger-but it was a 1973 318 2bbl model owned by a teenager in his apartment complex, and I know that the car hadn't had a tune-up or even an oil change in god-knows-when, and was probably running on 7 cylinders, because his mother was a good customer of mine, and asked me to help the brat keep it running, even though he never had any money for even the slightest repair. "Supertruck" was astounded when an acquaintances 360 / Automatic '74 Challenger blew him away by about 10 car lengths.  Moron # 3. I have personal experience with this clown not once, but twice. ( Apparently he didn't learn the first time.)  He had a 1973 Mustang Mach 1 with a 351C and an automatic and 3.25:1 gears.  He swore he blew the doors off a 442 "Just Like" my Hurst / Olds.  The one he beat was a 442, and it was white and gold, but it was a 1976 model with a 350,TH350, catilyst-choked single exhaust, and a 2.41:1 axle ratio.  He was utterly stunned when my 455 powered, real dual exhaust, 3.23:1 geared 1973 Hurst / Olds ate his lunch.  A couple weeks later he challenges my brother's 400 / built-to-RAIV / Edelbrock Performer RPM spec '69 GTO.  Huh? A heavy,7.9:1 compression 351 Mustang tugging on Superman's cape?  After little bro blew his doors off  so badly that it wasn't funny, this guy actually says-"I don't understand it-I beat a convertible like that this weekend." "Did it have the chrome front bumper and Cragar mags on it?" My brother asked "Yeah it did." We started laughing. My brother knows the guy from his GTO club, and the car is you-guessed it-a LeMans with a 350, a 2bbl, and a Powerglide!!  I swear, the next time some clown claims that his wood-sided LTD wagon out ran an LS6 Chevelle, I'm going to tazer him. Mastermind               

No you didn't, Jethro!!!

I've touched on this before, but I've heard so much of it lately that I feel I must revisit it. Nothing is more offensive than some Goober swearing on a stack of bibles that he or his best friend or brother "Had one just like that."  I've demanded that some of these people produce pictures or VIN numbers, or window stickers, or build sheets, anything to see if they really did have the "Moon Rock" that they claim to. And every single one was lying or just stupid and innocently mistaken. The innocently mistaken category usually goes to women. Not to be sexist-but I don't expect any woman-except my mother-who besides being married to my dad had 2 sons, a brother, a son-in-law,and numerous nephews, and grandkids who are all hardcore gearheads,cops,mechanics, racers and car restorers-to know what a Yenko Camaro, or a "Macho T/A" is, or what the letters "L82", "LT-1" or "L88" mean on a Corvette. For example, the nice lady that swore she had a car "Just Like" the one on the Don Johnson cop show "Nash Bridges".  Johnsons character had a 1971, 4-speed, Hemi Cuda convertible. She did have an orange Barracuda drop-top with white inteiror, but it was a 318 / Automatic!!  Not quite the same thing !!!  I'll also forgive the sexy 50 something Cougar that told me she had a Mustang that she bought brand-new that was  "Just Like" my neighbor's Boss 302. She showed me the car-it was a Hugger Orange fastback with black stripes and factory rear window louvers and Magnum 500 wheels, but it was a Mach 1 with a 351C, not a Boss 302. In her defense, the striping looks awfully close.  However, I do NOT forgive the Yahoo who swore he had one "Just Like" my one of 1,097 ever built 1973 Hurst / Olds, and produced a picture of a two-door 1977 Cutlasss Supreme. Not only was it the wrong year, It wasn't even a 442, much less an H/O!!  Or the clown that swore he had an El Camino "Exactly" like the one my buddy had. Except my pal's was a 4-speed, disc-braked, air-conditioned SS396 with the"Cowl Induction" hood. The idiot's was silver with a black vinyl top, but the similarity ended there.  His was a 307 / automatic with 4-wheel drum brakes,the flat hood, no guages and no a/c. Yeah, twins. The ultimate moron, however said he had a car "Just like" my friends ultra-rare L69 tri-power, 1966 Olds 442. Except his was a convertible! We waited a half-hour for this clown to drive home and bring his car back to the Hot August Nights event we were at, becuase while there are 1966 442 convertibles, neither of us had ever seen or heard of an L69 convertible, or seen a build sheet on one, or one featured in a magazine. The few documented examples, are all hardtops like my pals. This putz shows up in a 1967 Buick Skylark convertible with a 340 / Super Turbine 300 ( Read Powerglide ) drive train!! Not only was it the wrong year, and NOT a tri-power 442, it wasn't even an Oldsmobile!!!  So please, next time you see a Hemi Super Bee, or a pristine Ram Air IV Judge, please don't tell the owner that you had one just like it, just because you had a Purple 318 Coronet, or an orange LeMans!!  The guy may snap and pull Patrick Swayze's "Roadhouse" move-( Break your adam's apple and watch you choke to death on your own blood.)  Or he'll at least want to. Mastermind         

More on "Cloning".....

Taking a six-cylinder, 3-speed Camaro, and installing a mild 350, a 4-speed, and adding a cowl induction hood, rally stripes and Z/28 emblems isn't a sin as long as you don't try to pass it off as the real deal. If you buy a '70 Mustang and put Edelbrock or Trick Flow "Clevor" heads and intake on the 302 to make a "Boss 302" replica engine, you haven't hurt anyone or compromised the value of the car. ( How much is a 302 2bbl Sportsroof worth anyway? The bodys good if your cloning a Boss or swapping in a 428, otherwise not much ). If you buy a '69 LeMans and put a GTO front end on it, paint it like a Judge, and put Edelbrock Performer RPM Heads and cam ( They are patterned exactly after the factory RAIV stuff ) on a 400 and have a blast driving it, you haven't committed a crime. Unless you try to sell it as a real Judge to some unsuspecting fool with more money than brains. Any sharp Pontiac enthusiast would spot a fake a mile away. The point is, you can have the look and feel of an ultra-rare car at a fraction of the price as long as you don't care about serial numbers. A Mopar Performance 426 crate Hemi costs 15 grand, and you'll proabably have to pay at least 15 or 20 grand for a decent 383 Road Runner. Assuming you can do the engine swap yourself, now you've got a Hemi Road Runner for around 35-40 grand. Not Cheap, but that's a lot less than the 100K on up that "Original" Hemi cars are bringing, even in this recession. That's the beauty of the old musclecars-they were all based on a lesser model, so there's plenty of raw material out there. Now that GMPP is selling 427 crate engines, you could even build a Yenko clone or a Baldwin-Motion clone out of a base Camaro. As prices on the rare birds rise higher and higher, this might be the only way some of us can enjoy the car of our dreams. When you blast up to 5,500 rpm up an on-ramp, you won't be thinking about serial numbers. Mastermind 

"Clone" doesn't mean to the nth degree...and a zillion dollars.....

Talked to a guy the other day who claimed to have 80K in a 1968 Shelby GT500 clone. I said-"Why didn't you just buy a real one?" "I've seen some needing restoration for as low as 25K." "I saw a nice driver quality one for $44,500 in Hemmings, and I've seen concours show winners for 50-70K."  " No offense, but if I was going to drop that kind of cash, I'd want the real deal."  "None taken." "I thought I could build a clone for about 25 grand, but it just kind of snowballed." What this guy did was buy everything to make a Shelby GT500  "Just as it left the factory". Except it wasn't a Shelby, it was just a garden-variety 289 fastback Mustang that he was starting with. "Do you know how hard it was and expensive it was to find a 428 and a Top-Loader 4-speed with 1968 date codes?" "And then I had to have them rebuilt." "And I had to chase down the clutch linkage because the base car was an automatic." When I pointed out that any junkyard 390 from 1963-76 would look just like a 428, and with help from Edelbrock-( Performer RPM Heads, cam and intake ) could run like one, and that there were automatic GT500s and that using a junkyard or tranny shop C6 or FMX automatic would have been a lot easier and cheaper than the 4-speed conversion, or that he could have used a BW T10 for a lot less money if he had to have the stick, he was stunned. "But it wouldn't be right!" He wailed. "I hate to break this to you, but it's not right now." "You still don't have the Shelby serial numbers, so if you ever want to sell it, no one's going to pay 80 grand for a fake, when you can buy a real one for 50!!".  He had paid 3 grand for a real Shelby steering wheel!!  Grant and other companies sell aftermarket wheels that look just like the real deal for about $200!!. This caused me to think that I needed to address this topic. Let's say your dream car is a 1969 Pontiac Trans-Am. Only 697 were built, so unless your willing to cough up 40 grand on up, as they say in mob movies "fughetaboutit."  However, you could buy a nice 350 2bbl powered base-model 1969 Firebird of which over 110,000 were made, in really good condition for around $6,500. For a couple grand you can buy the T/A hood, fender extractors, and spoiler from Year One. 14 or 15 inch Rally II wheels are the proverbial dime a dozen at swap meets. Another grand or so for a decent Cameo white paint job, another $500 for the body shop to apply the stripes, and for 10 grand, your car looks to all but the most discerning Pontiac fan just like an ultra-rare '69 T/A. A factory or aftermarket 4bbl carb and intake, a mild cam, dual exhaust and a shift kit in the TH350 ( unless you got a 4-speed model ) will give it the balls to back up the look. And you'd be in it maybe 12 grand tops. If you wanted to be a real badass, spend another $7500 for a 550hp Butler performance 455 Pontiac "Turn-Key" crate engine, and it's way faster than anyone could ever dream, and your still under 20 large. Way better than trying to find a "real" one for 50 grand. But, if you do like the Mustang guy, and try to hunt down a for real 1969-70 Ram Air III or  Ram Air IV 400, with the correct heads, intake, carburator and exhaust manifolds and Ram Air air cleaner and ducting, dash or hood tach, original steering wheel, shifter, and a 1969 date-coded "Rock Crusher" M22 Muncie 4-speed or TH400, you'll either be severely disappointed, that you can't find the parts, or you'll have more money in it than it would cost to buy a "real" one!! See what I'm saying?  You can buy a 68-70 2dr Coronet or Satellite pretty reasonably. Any 1967-78 440 will do with a stock-type rebuild, a Mopar Performance or Crane "Blueprint" 440 Magnum cam, and Summit Racing sells the manifold, the carbs, the linkage and the air cleaner to make a Six-Pack setup for about $2,300. Depending on what you paid for the base car, you can have a "Six-Pack" Road Runner or Super Bee clone for about 15-20 grand. Less than half of what people want for the "Real" six-Pack Models!!  Again, if your hunting down a '69 vintage 440 / 6 anything, good luck. It's like the Cobra Replicars running a sideoiler 427. It's nuts, The car's a fake, everyone, especially the owner / Builder knows it;s a f ake, so why didn't these guys enjoy driving a unique car and go on with their lives Mastermind           

Not every Musclecar is "Special" so don't pay a high price for an "Average" car!

Every one whose selling a musclecar tells the buyer how unique it is, because their trying to get a high price, usually more than the car's worth. To avoid this you have to have common sense. # 1. Make sure your comparing "Apples to Apples." For example-Chevrolet produced 75,600 Impala SS coupes in 1967 and another 38,210 in 1968. ( The Bodystyle is identical ). If you were buying one of the 2,124 made with a 427, and it still had the numbers-matching 427 in it, then that would be a car worth paying premium dollars for. However if it was one of the 100,000 or so small-block models, it's not worth nearly as much, even if it's in better condition. Even "Apples to Apples" can have a wide spread. If your comparing two SS396 Chevelles-the one with bucket seats, a 4-speed, a posi rear end, front disc brakes and a factory tach is worth way more than one with bench seats, an automatic, an open rear end, four-wheel drum brakes, and standard instrumentation, even if the "strippy" is in better condition. # 2. A "Lesser" model can be a better deal. A perfect example- a 400 Pontiac, 4-speed, Firebird Formula is a better buy than a same-year Trans-Am with the 403 Olds / Automatic powertrain, if their in similar condition. It goes the other way too. I'd rather spend 15 grand on a really nice,great running, great looking, restored or at least well maintained 1969 Mach 1 Mustang with a 351W and an automatic, as opposed to a rough Boss 302 that needed another 20 grand of restoration to make it drivable. # 3. You have to evaluate how much missing components hurt the car's value, and is it worth trying to restore, or have without the missing component. For example, an ultra-premium car missing a key component- i.e.- a Hemi car without the Hemi engine is not a deal, because the cost of finding a replacement would be exorbitant. And to restore one without it-big deal-you have a 383 or 440 in a car that has Hemi serial numbers. It has no real resale value. Hemi collectors don't want it unless they can steal it because of the cost of finding a replacement Hemi, and no one else wants to pay premium dollars for a car with a non numbers-matching powertrain. And I'm not just talking Hemis or Boss 429s. A 1968 Z/28 without an engine has a severely compromised value. Yeah, you could stuff a garden-variety 350 in it and make it run. But to make it right you need a 302, that was only produced from 1967-69 in very limited numbers. Good luck finding one of those for sale, at any price. Yes, you can find a 327 or 350 block and put a custom 283 crank in it and technically have a 302, but it's still not original. # 4. Don't pony up for "Special Editions" that aren't special.  A "California Special" Mustang is not a Shelby. It has T-bird Taillights and side scoops like a Shelby, but otherwise they are a garden-variety Mustang. A black and gold "SE" 1977-79 Trans-Am is nothing special. After "Smokey and the Bandit" thousands upon thousands were built. Ditto for a "Silver Anniversary" 1978 Corvette. Except for the paint job and some emblems, they're a garden-variety Corvette. A T37 Tempest is not a Judge, and a Rallye 350 Cutlass is not a Hurst / Olds. # 5. "Rare" doesn't automatically mean "Valuable".  Two-barrel step-down engines,two-speed automatics, 3-speed sticks,column-shifted bucket seat cars, 4-speed bench seat cars, police packages, radio or heater delete cars etc, aren't collectible, their just weird, and no one but the guy trying to sell it for an inflated price thinks it's cool. # 6. Avoid cars with major problems. Unless you are a bodyman or mechanic by trade, ( and even then I still caution you ) pass on things with major rust issues, bent frames, or water or fire damage. These can turn into both a nightmare and an endless money pit. These are not a deal at any price, even free. Your better off just spending more money and starting with a better car, because you'll save a ton of money and aggravation later on.  Hope this helps everyone out. Mastermind      

Brand-New Tri-Five Chevys!

Last month's Hot Rod magazine had a great article. A guy built a '57 Chevy Gasser clone using all new parts. The rolling chassis was about 7 grand and the all new body was around 15K. With the interior and the engine and tranny-a 396 / Muncie 4-speed combo-the guy had a little over 25k in the whole car!! Now that's not chump change, but you know you can't touch a fully restored '55-57 Chevy for anywhere near 25 grand. People want 15 grand for rustbuckets that need at least another 15-20 grand in restoration. Check out this issue of Hot Rod and last month's Street Rodder-they both name the companies that sell these rolling chassis and new steel bodys. This way if, you wanted to build an ultra-badass "Two-Lane Blacktop" style '55 you wouldn't be afraid to beat on it at the drags, and if you did wreck it, it's not like you couldn't build another one!  I'm going to start saving now. I put the 455 back in the H / O, and pull the ZZ4 for the '55.....Mastermind 

When NASCAR mattered.....

The current issue of Hot Rod magazine has an article titled "When Nascar mattered" and it has great photos of drivers and race cars from the '50's through the '80's. The article laments how people are losing interest in the sport. The reason is this-all the cars look like a Honda Accord with Hot Wheel decals on them. Even if the announcer says so and so in 3rd place is driving a Ford or whatever, it doesn't register. When it started it was Stock Car Racing-what you could buy at your local dealer. That's where the slogan "Win on Sunday, sell on Monday." Came from. I grew up in the '60's and '70's and went to many races with my dad. Even though my dad was a die-hard GM man, we cheered for Richard Petty in his Charger and David Pearson in the Wood Brothers Mercury as hard as we did for Cale Yarborough in his Monte Carlo. It was cool because you could buy a Charger with a Hemi, or a Torino with a 429, or a Chevelle or Monte Carlo with a 454. ( OK, that's not a 427, but it's still a Rat Motor.) Even AMC had modest success with the slippery 1974 and later Matador coupe. Even after the big-blocks were outlawed, it was still cool. Richard Petty ran his 1974 Charger and kept winning ( The bodystyle was the same since 1971 ) until it was outlawed after 1979. The rules said bodystyles couldn't be over 5 years old. I remember the Chevy, Ford and Dodge guys all bitching when King Richard and a couple others fielded Oldsmobile Cutlasses. They did this because the 1976-77 Cutlass, with it's sloped front end and fastback rear window was way more aerodynamic than the flat-faced front end and square rear window of the 1975-77 Monte Carlo, as well as the square formal rear windowed Dodge Magnums, Chrysler Cordobas and Mercury Cougars and Montegos. The gripe was over the fact that Petty and the others were running Chevy engines in the Olds bodys. The other racers demanded that Petty and the others be forced to run 350 Olds engines, which of course would not have been nearly as powerful as the Chevys and would have negated the extra speed gained by the more aerodynamic body. Petty and his lawyers argued that they should be allowed to run any GM engine in any GM body, that Nascar wasn't restricting ( other than the 360 cubic inch limit ) what Ford engine could be run in Fords and Mercurys or what Chrysler engine could be run in Dodges and Plymouths. NASCAR ruled, correctly, that since GM was playing musical engines with every car line because of smog laws-i.e. you could get a 350 Chevy or a 403 Olds in a Pontiac Firebird if it had California or High-Altitude emissions, and since the 231 inch Buick V6 and the 305 and 350 Chevy V8 engines were offered in just about every GM model sold to the public, Petty and the other teams could run any GM engine in any GM body. The Cutlasses kicked butt. In fact, the last Daytona 500 Richard won was in a Cutlass!  Even in the '80's the Stock car spirit remained. You could buy a Monte Carlo SS with a V8 and the Aero front end at your local dealer,just like Dale Earnhardt drove, or a Ford Thunderbird with a V8 like Bill Elliot won the championship in. I really think NASCAR was killed about 1992 when the GM "G" bodys were outlawed ( Most of them ended in 1987, so the 5 yr old rule applied ). I don't understand for the life of me why the race teams didn't go with Camaros, Firebirds and Mustangs, which besides the T-Bird, were about the only V8, rear-wheel drive cars left in production. Instead, and NASCAR allowed it, they got completely away from their roots of production cars and- took a plastic body replica of four-cylinder, front-wheel drive econoboxes like the Lumina and the Taurus and put them on a tube chassis using 1965 technology. This is when they lost it. All the cars looked alike, and they had nothing, absolutely nothing in common with production cars other than they had 4 wheels and ran on gasoline. Come on guys-no overhead cams, no roller cams, no fuel injection?  When Toyota wanted to play, they couldn't run their production V8 out of the truck and Lexus line, they had to actually build a one-off pushrod V8-basically a Small-block Chevy clone. Chrysler couldn't run the new 5.7 liter Hemi, they had to run the old "LA" Small Block that dates back to 1967. Ford couldn't run their 5.4 liter modular OHC V8 , no they're running the 351 Windsor which dates back to 1969, with "Cleveland" style heads that have been out of prouction since 1974!! The dominant Chevys aren't the LS motors on the cover of every buff magazine; their the same old-school small-block that's been around since 1955!!.  The fuel injection their using for 2012 is a glorified carburator. It's a 4-barrel Holley throttle body that bolts onto an Edelbrock or Dart manifold and can use existing restrictor plates. Yeah, that's high-tech. Meanwhile, GM,& Ford  have been using Port Injection since 1985. There's only one way to bring Nascar back to prominence and that's to run the new Camaro, Mustang and Challengers with their production engines. That will generate some excitement and brand recognition. And allow to Toyota to run a Lexus with their best cammer V8-fair competition. But it won't happen, that would be too easy. Mastermind            

Were all "Car Guys" so why don't we act like grown-ups?

A musician friend told me that he can't stand talking to idiots who say things like "The Beatles Suck" or "The Rolling Stones suck", or "Country music is crap."  "These people think their being hip or cool, but they don't realize that they sound like a complete moron." "How many of the Beatles or Stones songs credit Lennon / Mcartney or Jagger / Richards as the writer?" "Almost all of them." "That means they wrote the words and the music and made it a hit." "That's a lot harder than just singing a song some great songwriter wrote with a studio band and because you had good promotion now you've got a hit." "Justin Bieber is not Little Richard or Stevie Wonder." "Kelly Clarkson and Carrie Underwood are not Loretta Lynn or Dolly Parton." "You may say you don't like Alan Jackson or Toby Keith's style, but don't say they don't have talent." "Again, they wrote the words and the music and made them hits." "Make fun of Elvis and Tom Jones and their Vegas-ness all you want, but God himself won't allow anyone else to do "My Way" or "She's a Lady." "Speaking of which, can you believe candy-ass Paul Anka wrote both of those badass songs?"  He was right, and I thought of how stupid car guys act and talk sometimes. I mean if I see one more Dodge Pickup with a decal of Calvin ( From the Comic strip "Calvin and Hobbes" ) pissing on a Chevy logo, I'm going to vomit day-glow. Ditto for a Chevy anything with a "Friends don't let friends drive Fords" bumper sticker. When you say stuff like "Chevys suck" or "Fords are junk." You sound ignorant. My dad is a gearhead and he liked Pontiacs. When I was a kid he had a Tri-Power 1959 Catalina, then later a 1964 GTO, and a 1965 Tri-Power 421 2+2.  I remember begging him to buy a Yellow 400, 4-speed 1967 Firebird convertible, but he didn't want to trade off the '65. So naturally, I liked Pontiacs. My first car was a 1969 GTO Judge. (Was my dad cool or what? ) I remember going with my dad to order his 400, 4-speed WS6 1978 Trans-Am in March 1978, and trying along with the salesman and my mom to get him to buy the DKM-prepped "Macho T/A" they had on the showroom. ( Mom had good taste in cars too.) He ordered his, his way, and waited six weeks for it. I loved Pontiacs, but I also liked my best friend's 1970 SS396 Chevelle, and my neighbor's 390 1967 Cougar,and another friend's 440 / Six-Pack Super Bee. I thought my uncle's triple white 1970 Charger R/T was awesome, and I wanted a white Challenger for years after seeing "Vanishing Point". My mom and I were both pissed when her brother sold his Hugger orange 1970 Mustang to someone else. Before we got the Judge, I had convinced my dad, a die-hard GM man, to co-sign for me to buy my dream vehicle at the time,-Gasp!- a 1979 Dodge Li'l Red Express Pickup. He was actually going to help me buy a Dodge!! Then we went on vacation, saw the Judge for sale, and the Little Red truck was forgotten. The point I'm making is, yes your entitled to your automotive preferences, but don't make fun of other peoples. I like to buy American most of the time, but if I was buying a sports car right now-I'd get a Nissan 370Z. For 32K they offer cool styling, great handling, 332 hp, and do 0-60 in like 5 seconds and the 1/4 in 13.4. Even a Porsche Boxster or Cayman at twice the price isn't any faster. A base model 'Vette is quicker, but try to buy one for under 50K. If I could find a good deal on a used one-( They don't make them anymore ) I'd also love to have a Mazda RX-8. They only have 232 hp, but they only weigh about 2,600lbs, the transmission is slick-shifting, and the motor will rev to 9 grand. They are an absolute blast to drive. My brother loves his 69 GTO and he also loves his BMW 5 series. A true gearhead appreciates great performance and engineering regardless of the nameplate on it. Yet at shows, here's the Chevy guys, the Mopar guys, the Ford guys, all separate, all glaring at each other, like that David Allan Coe classic- "You'd never come to see me in this dive." "Where bikers, stare at cowboys, who are laughing at the hippies, who are praying they'll get out here alive." Come on guys, for the sake of the sport of hot-rodding, let's quit squabbling over who's brand name is best and just appreciate the great cars, old and new. Mastermind.       

The truth sometimes hurts......Especially when it affects our cherished memories!

Read an article in a Martial-Arts magazine written by Bill Wallace. If you don't know, Bill "Superfoot" Wallace is a Martial-arts expert and former middleweight kickboxing champion. He got his nickname because his signature finishing move was a roundhouse kick that netted him many of his kos. He also appeared in some of Chuck Norris's movies and is one of the few people still living who worked out with the late Bruce Lee. He said Lee was a great friend and a great athlete, but he gets tired of the magazine articles and the internet chatter of "Could Bruce Lee have beaten Muhammed Ali?" Or Could Bruce Lee have beaten Mike Tyson?"  He goes on to say he gets tired of it because although he was superbly conditioned and greatly skilled, Bruce Lee was only 5'6" and 135-145 lbs in his prime. Never mine Ali or Tyson, or any other heavyweight, Lee would have had his hands full with "Macho Camacho" in his prime. Or Aaron Pryor or Alexis Arguello or a young Benny Urquidez, and several other lightweight and welterweight boxers and kickboxers he probably missed. Wallace goes on to say that Lee, at 5'6", probably would have been easily defeated by the 5'10" Sugar Ray Leonard or the 6'1" Thomas Hearns when they were the 147 lb Champs. Besides having equal speed and power, they'd have had too much reach advantage. Wallace took a lot of heat for that article from spittingly hysterical fanboys who watched "Enter the Dragon" too many times, but he refused to apologize for stating an irrefutable fact. I applaud his guts. It's the same way with Musclecar freaks and their memories. Not many of us owned or know someone who owned a Hemi 'Cuda, an LS6 Chevelle, a W30 442, a Ram Air IV GTO, or 428 SCJ Mustang.  There weren't many cars that could rip off a 13 second timeslip right off the showroom floor and with maybe just headers and slicks could go into the low 12s or high 11s.  The low sales figures of the ultra-premium cars of the big three ( GM, Ford and Chrysler ) bear this out. This means that most of us and our friends had "Entry Level" musclecars. I.E.- 383 Road Runners, 396 Chevelles, 389 GTOs, etc. Tales of 4th gear rubber and being pushed back in the seat seem silly when someone pulls out a yellowed, dog-eared copy of Car Life or Hot Rod and we read that the machine in question ran in the 14.60s. That's right, your beloved hot rod would probably get beat by a 2011 V6 Camaro, and would get really dusted by a modern SS or 5.0 Mustang or Hemi Challenger. I love old musclecars too. It's funny, the one I loved the most was my '77 Trans Am. No, it wasn't nearly as fast as my RAIII, 4-speed Judge, or my 396 El Camino, or my H/O, or a couple other things I had over the years. But it was a damn fun car to drive. It looked cool, it handled great, it was fast enough to back up its image most of the time, the engine idled smoothly, the seats were comfortable, and the suspension didn't rattle your fillings loose. I lost a few "Stoplight Gran Prixs" but not many. If I could magically have back any car I ever owned, it would be the T/A, not the Judge or any other. I guess it's because I had more fun in that car than anything else I ever drove. But I don't have any illusions-a New Mustang GT would run off and leave it, and I know it. But not if I got a 455 crank and some Edelbrock heads, and some... You know what I mean. Cherish your musclecar memories, but don't be like Bruce Lee fans and make stupid boasts, like how your 383 Charger would eat a modern SRT8 Charger. Uh-uh. Mastermind            

All you "Devil's Advocate's" know where you can go......

Got a lot of heat lately about where I get my knowledge and why I'm so arrogant and smug in my knowledge. A lot of these people were quite abusive, and judging from their spelling and use of language, I figure they went to the Internet School of Correspondence, that has three major rules:  # 1. If something early in a post rubs you the wrong way, you are under no obligation to keep reading. Stop and vent your anger immediately. # 2. Use profanity so I know you mean business. # 3. If the writer responds with proof that you are wrong-i.e.-by citing a sentence or paragraph you failed to read, or by producing a window sticker, build sheet or other irrefutable fact, you are under no obligation to apologize. This is the internet! You can simply slink away until the next time you want to spew your ignorance on someone.  As for where I get my knowledge- Like legendary shootist Elmer Keith said about the hunt for Bonnie & Clyde, and the development of the .357 Magnum and the .44 Magnum- "Hell I was There!"  My dad is a gearhead and worked in car dealerships and drag raced all through the '60's and '70's. I started in the '70's and have never stopped.  Let me give you some examples of why I'm right most of the time. # 1. You can't trust factory sales literature. A couple of glaring examples. The 440 Six-Pack is listed in early 1972 sales literature as optional in the Charger and the Road Runner, rated at 330 hp, down substantially from 1971's 385 hp rating.  However, the engines had trouble passing the stiffer 1972 emissions standards and the option was scrapped. Ditto-for the Pontiac SD455. Originally it was listed as available in the Firebird,GTO, Grand Am, Gran Prix and LeMans lines. High Performance Cars magazine even named the 1973 GTO as the "Car of the Year".  But the engines had trouble passing emissions with the RAIV cam, which was changed to the slightly milder RAIII cam, and the horsepower rating was changed from 310 to 290. Then they had trouble with the EGR valves, and the connecting rods failing. Ultimately, the SD455 was certified for use in the Firebird line only in April 1973. This is why there were only 295 made-252 in Trans-Ams and another 43 in Formulas, and this is why the production dates are all in May or June. # 2. Just because a magazine road tests a prototype doesn't mean that stuff is going to make production. In 1978 Car and Driver tested a Dodge Li'l Red Express pickup that blew the doors off a 400, 4-speed 3.42 geared Trans-Am and an L82, 4-speed, 3.70 geared Corvette.  This "Prototype" had a 360 V8 with Nascar-style W2 heads, a hot cam out of the old 340 engine, a single-plane Holley Street Dominator intake and a 600 cfm Holley Double-Pumper carb, and catlyst-free dual exhaust. Needless to say, the production examples with a garden-variety 360 with stock heads and cam, and a Carter Thermo-Quad on an iron intake with EGR and catylitic converters were substantially slower!!  # 3. Option packages change without notice. In 1978 Trans-Ams with the WS6 option were supposed to get special sway bars, teflon bushings, a 3.23 or 3.42 axle ratio and special 8 inch wide "Snowflake" wheels, AND 4-wheel disc brakes. They didn't get the rear disc brake option in time, so the WS6 package was sold with rear drum brakes. 1n 1979, the 4-wheel discs were standard with the WS6 option, but still hard to get. On window stickers, Pontiac would credit the WS6 option and and ADD a WS7 option which was the package with the standard rear drum brakes. These performance packages also included the "W72" 220 hp 400 Pontiac engine. However, if you lived in California or a high-altitude area you got the 185 hp 403 Olds engine. And you couldn't get a 4-speed in California. If you bought a 1973 Hurst / Olds you got the "L77" performance package which included the old "W30" 328 degree cam, a 3.23 posi, and a 2,800 rpm Hurst "Shotgun" torque converter. Unless the car had Air Conditioning, at which point you got the milder 308 degree "W32" cam, a 3.08 open rear end and a stock converter. # 4  Even the good Buff magazines make mistakes. In 1977 Car and Driver and Hot Rod both said the Trans-Am they tested had a "Rock Crusher" 4-speed. The "Rock Crusher" is the nickname for the Heavy-Duty M22 Muncie 4-speed. It has straight-cut gears and makes a sound like a kids rock polisher. It's also about 30% stronger than the M20 and M21 which have helical-cut gears and run quieter. The M22 was only available on Z/28s, 427 Corvettes,RAIII,RAIV, 455HO GTOs and T/A's,W30 442s and some 396 and 454 Chevelles. 1975 and later T/A's had BW T10 4-speeds, or some had Muncie M21s. But an M21 is not a "Rock Crusher."  # 5. Manufacturers used "Ringers" in Road tests to sell cars. Jim Wangers finally admitted what we already knew. Car and Driver's May 1964 GTO test car that ran a blistering 4.6 second 0-60, and a 13.1 sec 1/4 ( on 7.75-14 Bias plys smoking all the way down the track) had the 389 swapped out by Royal Pontiac for a Blueprinted 421!!  The "Professional Driver" in Plymouth's promotional ad for the Six-Pack Road Runner was NHRA Pro Stock Champion Ronnie Sox of "Sox&Martin" fame!!  Just because it's in an old magazine, or on the 'Net, doesn't mean it's true. Check your facts before you start telling people they don't know what their talking about!! Mastermind

Cars that never were.....But should have been!.....And would have sold tons!!

We all know about the Pontiac Trans-Ams meteoric success in the mid to late '70's, even eclipsing the Corvette for a couple years as THE premier American performance car. And I've said it, and many magazines have said it, "Smokey and the Bandit" aside, it was partly because it was a great car, and partly because it was "The Last Man Standing" if you wanted a musclecar. The Road Runner, Charger, Cuda / Challenger, Javelin, GTO, SS Chevelle and the Mustang as we knew it were all memories after 1974.  GM stuck with the Camaro / Firebird line through some lean years and it paid off with record sales in the late '70's.  What if Chrysler had done the same with the E-bodies?  If people thought the 1978 T/A was badass with a 400 and a 4-speed, wouldn't they have bought a Challenger R/T with a 440 and a "Pistol-Grip" Hurst-shifted 4-speed?  What if Chevy hadn't dropped the 454 out of the Chevelle line?  What if Olds hadn't let the 442 name become just an appearance package?  The 1972 W30 455 could have continued unchanged through 1974, and as Pontiac did with their 400s, a little detuning would have allowed them to live through 1979.  The Cutlass was the best-selling car in America in the '70's anyway. But what if you could still get a 442 in 1977 with a 455 and a 4-speed, or a "Hurst / Olds" with a 455 and specially prepped TH400 and a 3.42 posi?  Think that would have cut into T/A or Z/28 Camaro sales a tad?  AMC / Jeep continued the 401 in trucks until 1978 and the 360 until 1991. What if they did the Javelin like GM did with the F-bodies? Kept the same basic body since 1971, refined the suspension and graphics a bit. A 360 or 401 / 4-speed Javelin AMX surely would have sold better than the six-cylinder or 304 2bbl / automatic Hornet-based ones with 120 hp!!  No, like many a magazine writer has said- "Musclecar buyers didn't magically disappear off the earth after 1973, the manufacturers ( Except Pontiac ) stopped making cars that they wanted to buy!!  Too bad, some of these "lost" cars might be fun to have and restore today. Mastermind

Some ideas that might fly for GM

People wonder about the raging success of the new Mustang, Camaro and Challenger. Well-"Duh!" The Mustang looks like a '68 Mustang, the Camaro looks like a '69 Camaro and the Challenger looks like the "Vanishing Point" car-a 1970 Challenger. You know what these cars are when you see them. Everything else looks like a Toyota Camry.  Even a Mercedes or BMW doesn't stand out from the Hondas and Toyotas. That's why the GTO failed. It looked like a Grand Am on steroids. Car and Driver said it best-"It runs like a Corvette, handles like like a BMW and looks like a rental car." High Performance Pontiac called it "The best car nobody bought."  Seeing the success of the retro-Camaro and Mustang, if GM had any brains they could use the Camaro / Cadillac CTS platform and bring back the SS Chevelle, or the Judge or the Hurst / Olds. The CTS / Camaro platform already has the 6.2 liter 556 hp V8 and a six-speed manual or automatic trans available. Think how cool a white and gold 1969 style "442" or Orange "GTO Judge" would be with the modern amenities and suspension. They could charge whatever they wanted, and people would line up around the block. But no, let's have another Chevy Volt derivative. Mastermind 

How about a Retro Javelin / AMX?

With Ford selling Mustangs in record numbers and the Camaro and Challenger selling like hot cakes I'm wondering why Chrysler ( since they long ago bought AMC / Jeep ) doesn't come out with a coupe that looks like a 1968-70 or even a 71-74 Javelin. They could put it on the existing Charger / 300 / Challenger platform. With the 292 hp V6 or 370hp 5.7 Hemi, I bet they'd have a hit. Especially if they offered a two-seat AMX option, with the 470 hp 392 Hemi and a six-speed. Or put a Magnussen blower on it and compete with the ZL1 Camaro and Shelby GT500 Mustang. The 300C / Charger platform has an all-wheel drive option, so they could make it a rocket quick enough to challenge Nissan GT-R's or Turbo 911s. They could, but they probably won't. They'll spend billions bringing out some hybrid piece of crap under the Fiat name, that they lose their ass on. Mastermind

Dealers decide what's popular on cars, not the public...And it's always been that way!

People ask me all the time why certain musclecars always seem to have certain options, and they say-"Why would anyone buy that?"  Here's the answer-There's a few hard-nosed old school types like me and my dad left out there who will put down a deposit, and order a car just the way we want it and patiently wait 6 or 8 or 12 weeks for it to be built and delivered. However, about 98% of the buying public doens't want to wait, and they just buy something the dealer has in stock. Which means you don't always get the color combination you want or the engine / transmission combo or axle ratio or whatever. I've been thinking about buying a new truck. Every gearhead needs a truck to haul engines, tranmissions, tow things home, etc. I bought my last truck ten years ago, so it's about time. I live in Nevada. Funny thing,didn't matter if it was Chevy, Ford, Dodge, or Toyota every dealer was stocked with loaded, crew-cab 4wd models. That's their biggest sellers, so it stands to reason they'd have some of those. But that's ALL they had. If you wanted a 2wd model, or a regular cab model, or a lesser optioned 4wd model forget it. Now mind you, I'm not one of those jerks that wants a phone company truck-i.e. six cylinder,stick-shift, rubber floor mats, no radio,super-strippo price leader. I'd like a V8, an automatic, air conditioning,a CD player, cruise control, and maybe the towing package and a bed liner. I mean I'm going to drive this to work and back and haul leaking engines and transmissions from junkyards, and household garbage to the dump, and maybe tow a fishing boat behind it once in a while.  I don't need leather and Navigation and a moonroof and heated and cooled seats and heated mirrors, and a backseat DVD player, and bunch of other useless stuff that drives the price of the truck way up. If I wanted all that crap I'd buy a Mercedes or a Lexus or a Cadillac, not a pickup. It was amazing, no one had a mildy optioned regular cab 2wd ( or 4wd for that matter ) model. If you wanted anything other than a 4-door, 4wd, "Cowboy Cadillac" you were out of luck. They all said they'd gladly order anything I wanted if I gave them a deposit,and they all tried to coerce me into buying a $40,000 truck when I want a $25,000 truck. My kids are grown so I don't need a Crew Cab with a backseat. I don't NEED a 4-wheel drive. I spent part of my life in Missouri where it snows ten times what it does in Northern Nevada and my dad and all my uncles got around fine every winter in cars and 2wd pickups. The average idiot doesn't know it, but a 2wd with a posi will go just about anywhere a 4wd will. Anyhow, It got me thinking: This happened back in the musclecar era. Why do you think so many musclecars, whether their GM, Ford or Chrysler have vinyl tops? Not because every buyer thought they looked good, it's because it was a high-profit item for the dealer! The cars on the lot had vinyl tops, so people bought them and lived with them. The same thing with bucket seats. Most musclecars, even with a 4-speed, had bench seats standard. Once in a while you'll see a Chevelle or a Charger or Road Runner with bench seats, but not often. Again, not only were buckets popular, they were a high-profit item for the dealer. Ditto for center consoles. And except for a few hard-cores, most people would just buy the car anyway. That's why more musclecars are automatics than 4-speeds. Most actually had a 3 speed manual as the standard trans, with a 4-speed as an upgrade and then the slushbox as the top option. Again, the automatics made the dealer more profit, and were easier to sell. Especially if the guy had a wife or girlfriend that couldn't drive a stick. There were people that may have wanted a 4-speed that bought an automatic, but no one who wanted an automatic bought a stick. The same thing with engines. The classic musclecars were victims of their own excellence in this regard. Think about it. Unless you were a hard-core gear head / drag racer, you could be easily sold a base model. You might ask about the Hemi or 440 Six-Pack option on a Charger, but if the salesman let you drive one with a 440 4bbl, your going to say it's underpowered?  You test drive a 1969 GTO with the base 350 hp 400 and an M20 4-speed and 3.55 gears. It feels so freakin fast, and will smoke the tires at will in 1st and 2nd. If your not a total gear head are you really going to spend another $1000 for a Ram Air IV, a Rock Crusher, and a 4.33 posi? Even a 351W Mustang Mach 1 with a 4-speed or an automatic feels great when you drive it. Plenty of power, good handling. Especially if your not a mechanic or a racer, your not going to spend another $2,000 for a Boss 302, or a 428 CJ model. Actor Barry Newman-star of the car-chase cult classic "Vanishing Point" said it in an interview. They had 5 1970 Challenger R/T's. 4 of them were 440 / 4-speeds, and the Camera car was a 383/ Automatic. "We never timed them, but I have to say from seat-of-the-pants feel, that 383 model would run just as fast as the 440 cars." "That 383 was a great running car." That's why there aren't a lot of Hemis, LS6s, W30s, RAIVs, etc around. The base models ran so damnded good, that unless the buyer was a hard-core hot-rodder, they wouldn't hold out for a premium model, they'd just buy what was on the lot, usually for a lesser price, and a higher profit to the dealer than the one they wanted. That's the reason why there's 50,000 1970 SS396s and only 4,000 LS6 SS454s!!  Mastermind           

Ford's "New Coke" bungle.....But they recovered!!

In late 1973 some genius at Ford ( It wasn't Iaccoca, he'd already left after having a pissing match with Hank the Deuce-i.e.-Henry Ford II ) decided that the public would like the Mustang a lot better if it was more like a Pinto or a Capri. The 1973 Mustang was the last of the performance ponys. A 266 hp 351 "Cleveland" with 8:1 compression was a far cry from the days of the 428CJ and the Boss 429, but it was a helluva lot better than the all-new for 1974 "Mustang II" that was Pinto chassis based and had 2.3 liter 4-banger with about 95 hp or a 2.8 liter German V6 with about 130 hp. Just like when Coke changed their formula, the public was not amused. In 1975 they tried to inject some performance by making the 302 V8 an option, but it had a 2bbl carb,single exhaust,wheezed out about 135 hp, and couldn't break out of the 17s in the 1/4. They tried gallantly to promote this piece of junk-Farrah Fawcett-Majors drove one on "Charlie's Angels" and Lee Purcell and Al Leitteiri of "The Getaway" and "Godfather" fame drove one in the Charles Bronson revenge flick "Mr. Makestyk", but the vehicular star of that one was the '68 Ford F100 pickup piloted ( an apt term, if you see the flick) by Linda Cristal in the big chase scene. Ford even used the footage for years in their early "Built Ford Tough" ads. The Mustang II was a flop. Meanwhile, GM was selling Pontiac Trans-Ams and the resurrected Z/28 Camaro in record numbers. Mercifully, the "II" moniker was dropped and the Mustang was completely redesigned for 1979, and it was an instant hit. The V8 models were actually decent performers and could smoke the tires even with an automatic, which a Mustang hadn't been able to do since 1973. Yet, again, they shot themselves in the foot. With Camaros and Firebirds selling in record numbers, the 302 was dropped for 2 1/2 years!!  In 1980 and 81, the biggest motor available in a Mustang was a 255 inch "Economy" V8 that had nothing in common with the old 289 / 302, and was outperformed by the V6 model! In mid-year 1982, they brought back the 302, still only with a 2bbl carb, and they actually advertised that it had 157 hp like that was supposed to be impressive. In 1983,they put an aluminum manifold and a 600 Holley 4bbl on it, and replaced the crappy shifting old German-made 4-speed out of the old Capri with the much cleaner shifting and closer ratio'd BW T5 5-speed. For the first time in ten years you could buy a Mustang that could cut a 15 second 1/4 right off the showroom floor!! 1985 brought a roller cam and hp bump to 210. 1987 brought fuel injection and another bump in horsepower to 225. This configuration would last until 1993. The "5.0" as it was affectionately called in the buff magazines and by enmthusiasts would become THE performance car to have. L69, L98, and LT1 Camaros and Firebirds offered just as much ( or more in the case of the LT1) performance, but they cost several thousand dollars more. While GM priced the Camaro and Firebird into oblivion-a loaded Z/28 was nearly 40K in 2002 dollars when they were discontinued-Ford sold twice as many Mustangs every year as GM sold Camaros and Firebirds combined-probably because a V8 Mustang was around 25 grand-a figure young males-your primary target could afford. The middle-aged guys who could afford a $40,000 toy were buying BMWs and Porsche Boxsters, and Corvettes. They damn sure didn't want a Camaro. The Mustang's continued success has reaped great benfits for enthusiasts even if your not a Ford guy. It caused GM to bring back the Camaro with stunning success, and Chrysler to resurrect the Hemi Challenger. If it weren't for the Fox-Bodied Mustang and that torquey little 302 Windsor,defiantly deilivering high performance for low-bucks while everyone else was going front-drive and 4-banger, and "green", we wouldn't have all the awesome performance cars that we do today.  They certainly recovered, but for a few years in the '70's and early '80's, Ford really shot themselves in the foot, performance-wise. Mastermind     

Still another stupid GM Corporate Edict that hurt performance and cost sales

For whatever reason, GM was deathly afraid of Ralph Nader and the safety Nazis in the 1960s. After Nader's "Unsafe at any speed" almost single-handedly killed the Corvair-maybe they had good reason. One of their concessions to "safety" was that no intermediate -i.e.-Chevelle, LeMans, Cutlass, or Skylark could have an engine over 400 cubic inches. This was ok from 1964-67 when GTOs, and SS396 Chevelles pretty much ruled the street. However, in 1968 Chrysler dropped three nuclear bombs. The Charger was redesigned into it's now classic form, and you could get a 440 V8 or the mighty 426 Hemi. The Road Runner and Super Bee were introduced with the 383 standard and the 440 and 426 Hemi optional. A big 440 inch Road Runner or Charger had little to fear from a 400 GTO or 396 Chevelle. Ford even dropped the mighty 428 into the Mustang.  A few GM guys fought back. Don Yenko, a Pennsylvania Chevy Dealer started swapping 427 Vette engines into Camaros and Chevelles. George Hurst took a 455 Olds out of the Toronado, gave it W30 heads, intake, and cam, and stuffed it into a Cutlass 442 and created the legendary Hurst / Olds. Royal Pontiac would swap 428HO Gran Prix engines into GTOs and Firebirds for a fee. Yet the GM brass wouldn't budge, and allow the bigger motors to be factory installed. In 1969 Chrysler hit another home-run. They introduced the 440 Six-Pack option on the Charger, Road Runner and Super Bee. This was a 440 Magnum with a hotter cam, and 3 holley 2bbls on an aluminum Edelbrock manifold. This beast was actually a better street performer than the vaunted Hemi. When the Camaro-sized new E bodies-Challenger and Cuda were introduced with the 440-6 and the Hemi optional, GM realized it was war. They relented and for 1970 we got the legendary LS6 454 Chevelle, the W30 455 442, and the Stage 1 455 Buick GSX. Pontiac stuck with the Ram Air III and Ram Air IV 400 engines as the top dog in the GTO and Trans Am. You could get a 455 in a GTO,but it was a "station wagon" stump-puller, not near the fire-breather the 400s were. However, for 1971, Pontiac put the RAIV heads and intake on the 455 along with the milder "068" cam and created one of the greatest street  engines ever-the 455HO. This monster produced 480 lbs ft of torque at a low 2,700 rpm. To this day 455HO Pontiacs dominate stock class drag racing even beating up on LS6 Chevelles, Hemi Cudas and the like. After 1971 the lowered compression ratios and ever-tightening emission controls began killing performance packages. The Hemi and 440 Six-Pack were gone after 1971, as was the LS6 ( It was still sold as a crate engine until 1991 ) . The W30 Olds 455 and the 455HO Pontiac were gone after 1972. Herb Adams had a last Hurrah with the 455SD Trans-Ams of the 73-74 period, but that was it for true performance engines. You could get a 455 in a Trans-Am until 1976 and a 400 until 1979, but they were "corporate" big blocks by then with barely 200 hp. What a shame that the GM brass didn't allow the mega inchers until it was almost too late. Mastermind

Another unpopular GM edict......And the myth hot-rodders have believed for decades!

Almost as unpopular as the infamous racing ban was GM cracking down on multi-carb systems. Back in the late '50's the Olds J-2 system with 3 2bbl carbs was a legendary performer. From 1959-1966 Pontiac had great success with their 3 2bbl setups on 389 and 421 engines. They also did well in drag racing with the 2 4bbl "Super Duty 389 and 421 engines. '57 Chevys had a dual-quad option on the 283, and later in the early '60's, the legendary 409. Chrysler had cross-ram 383s and 413s, and of course the legendary 426 Hemi with it's dual AFBs. In 1967, to cut down on "option proliferation" the GM brass said no more multi-carb setups. Zora-Arkus Duntov threw a fit, and an exception was made for the tri-power 427 Corvette, which hung on until 1969. Pontiac and Olds engineers scrambled and the buff magazines were assured that the Quadrajet topped 1967 engines made just as much power as the tri-power 1966 models. Herein is the myth. For 40+ years all the hot rodder mags have said a single 4-barrel is the way to go. That's because the average idiiot that thinks he's a mechanic can't tune one lousy Holley 4bbl properly, much less dual quads or 3-2's. I use to see it it mine and my dad's shop all the time. 409s, tri-power GTO's, Six-Pack Road Runners, even Hemis. The owner's screwed them up. They forgot that these engines were designed to be run hard, not babied. If your going to drive like grandma-then go a range or two hotter on the plugs. But they don't. And the second it fouls a spark plug, they start screwing around with the carburators. Pretty soon it won't even start. Then I get it. And using an infrared exhaust analyzer and a carburator syncronizer, and many sets of jets, I fix it and tell them to weld the hood shut. And the owner's can't beleive how much better their car runs, simply being tuned properly. Why do you think Porsches and Ferraris used multiple Webers for so many years? Because they made a ton of power, that's why!.  Automakers only switched to electronic fuel injection because of emission laws. All other things being equal, a carburator, or carburators always makes more power. That's whjy NASCAR didn't switch to fuel injection until 2012. I've seen it first hand. Back in 1985 I had the pleasure of being invited to Bill Pennington's shop. He owned the Circus-Circus casinos in Reno and Vegas. He also was an avid sports-car racer and boat racer. He collected Lamborghinis as well. His mechanics showed us that an early multi-weber equipped Countach made nearlyn 100 more hp on the dyno thjan a later injected one. In front of my eyes they pulled the Tuned Port Injection off a new ( at the time ) Corvette and installed an Edelbrock Torker II intake and a 750 Holley, and it picked up 55hp on thje dyno. Mopar Muscle tested an aluminum-headed 500 inch 440 based stroker that made nearly 600 hp with an Edelbrock Performer RPM intake and a custom-jetted 850 Holley double-pumper. For giggles they put a stock Six-pack setup on it. They were blown away. The "antiquated" tri-power came within 5 hp and 10 lbs ft of torque of their state-of-the-art 4bbl setup, and that was with out of the box carb jetting-the repro Holley 2bbls are jetted for a stock 440 with Iron exhaust manifolds. It was undoubtedly way lean for a roller-cammed badass with headers. After rejetting the carbs, this 40 year old "dinosaur" of a design kicked the ass of the modern setup, actually making about 25 more hp!!  Yes, a single 4bbl is a cheap, easy way for the average guy to go real fast, and he can't screw it up too bad. But if you want a multi-carb setup on your musclecar, don't be afraid of it. Just find someone who knows how to calibrate them, and then leave the damn carbs alone!!!  And enjoy the look, sound and feel that onlu a multi-carb setup can deliver! Mastermind       

The History of The SS396 and the 442

Much has been written about the History of the Pontiac GTO but you don't see a lot about the 442 or SS396. I thought I'd give a history lesson on how the GTO helped spawn these two other iconic musclecars. In the late '50's and early '60's most performance cars were full-size models. Smokey Yunick and Fireball Roberts were the scourge of NASCAR in their fire-breathing 389 and 421 Pontiac Catalinas. Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins was having great success in drag racing with 409 Impalas and Ford had their 406 Galaxies, and Chrysler had their 413 Dodges and Plymouths. Olds had the famous "Rocket 88" with a tri-power 394 inch V8. This is where the motto-"Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday" came from. Then in 1963, GM laid down the famous ban on racing. No more racing, period. Not even the previous wink,wink, back door stuff to people like Mickey Thompson or Arnie Beswick. John De Lorean, and Pete Estes, who along with Semon E. "Bunkie" Knudsen had helped Pontiac rise from sixth place to third in sales just behind Chevrolet and Ford. They had accomplished this by building exciting, fast cars. Knudsen's motto was-"You can sell a young man's car to an old man, but you can't sell an old man's car to a young man." He was proved right. Knudsen got promoted to President of Chevrolet, but DeLorean and Estes were still at Pontiac. They feared without racing success, they'd lose their high-performance image. Estes said-"Forget a race car-let's build a high-performance STREET car!"  The rule at the time was big cars got big engines, small cars got small engines. No intermediate ( I..E.-Cutlass, LeMans, Chevelle,Buick Skylark) could have an engine over 330 cubic inches.  DeLorean was pissed that Oldsmobile had put the "small car" 330 V8 in the Delta 88 as a step-down option and cut the price. A direct assault on the Pontiac Catalina. Estes said the loophole worked both ways. The rule was for STANDARD engines. They could take the 389 out of the Catalina and put it in the mid-size LeMans as an OPTION. Estes and DeLorean had hoped to sell 10,000 units. They sold 32,450. Chevrolet and Oldsmobile bitched, but the brass never argued with sales success. Oldsmobile quickly came out with the 442 Option which stood for 4 barrel carb, 4-speed trans, and dual exhausts. But with only 330 cubes, it really wasn't a competitor for the mighty 389 GTO. Ditto for the 327 inch Malibu SS. For 1965 the other divisions fought back. Chevrolet put the big-block 396 in the Chevelle and Oldsmobile put the 400 V8 in the 442. Buick even put their 400 inch V8 in the Skylark. The GTO was still king of the street, selling over 75,000 units, more than double '64's sales. In 1966, things really heated up. Oldsmobile offered a tri-power ram air option on the 442 to compete with the GTO's 360 hp tri-power 389, and Chevrolet offered a solid-lifter 396 rated at 375 hp, that had been rated at 425 in the Corvette. In 1968 GM redesigned the intermediates with a sexy new body that would carry on until 1972. The GTO won  Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" award, and George Hurst took a 455 V8 out of the Toronado and stuffed it in a 442 and created the Legendary "Hurst Olds".  Don Yenko, a Pennsylvania Chevy dealer started putting 427s in Chevelles. With Ford putting 428s in Mustangs and Torinos, and Chrysler putting 440s and 426 Hemis in Chargers and Road Runners, the Horsepower race was on. But that's how it started, with GM's infamous 1963 ban on racing. Mastermind    

Blaspehemy Most Foul!!

Saw in a national magazine a featured car sure to offend everyone. And once again, the More-Money-Than-Brains factor is involved. This genius put a 528 inch Chrysler Hemi into a Pantera. The only thought that comes to mind is "What the hell were you thinking?" Pantera collectors damn sure don't want it, hardcore Ford Racers don't want it, and Mopar guys certainly don't want it. Panteras come with a 351 "Cleveland" engine which can be hopped up easily if you want more power. If you want a monster motored Pantera-the 351C and the 429 / 460 engines share the same bellhousing bolt-pattern, and the larger engines are almost identical in external dimensions.  A Ford Racing 460-based 514 inch stroker with 600+ hp would practically be a bolt-in. Why go to the trouble and expense of adapting a Chrysler engine?  I know Pontiac guys get pissed every time they see a GTO or Firebird with a Chevy Rat motor under the hood, but at least that's GM to GM-the cars are sisters to the Chevelle and Camaro. The only thing that comes close on the stupid meter is I saw a Chevy LS engine stuffed in a Fox-bodied Mustang. What are these people thinking?  "I know, I'll spend triple the money and time it would take to build a stompin' 302,and put a Chevy engine that doesn't run any faster than the Ford would in my Mustang, and that'll be the coolest!!"  Ditto for the Pantera except he's stupid time PI. The Mustang guy bought a beater Mustang for $1,000 bucks and got the LS motor out of a junkyard, so he gets an award for being cheap and ingenius if, offensive. A nice Pantera goes for about 30-50K if it's in any kind of decent shape. Yeah that's smart. Take a $40,000 classic and butcher it with a $30,000 crate motor that's a Dodge!!.  At least if he went with the 514 Ford, he'd have some resale value. I haven't been this offended since I saw the '57 T-Bird with the 389 Pontiac engine in it!!  There's just some things you don't do, and this is one of them. Mastermind  

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