I’m a member of a lot of groups/pages on FB and they all are great, but I grow weary of the static, standing by the side your car photos!!!
Let’s see some action!!!!!
Average Guy’s Action Photo/Video contest starts today 7/12 and runs through 7/19. Let’s see your classic/vintage, muscle, race car (even just your daily driver) in action. There will be at least two categories – still action shots and videos.
Only a couple of rules:
1. Be safe.
2. It has to be you and it has to your car.
3. It has to be an action shot either a still photograph or video.
Something like these:
Auto crossing with my C4 at Bondurant facility.
Auto crossing with my C6 Sports Car Club of American (SCCA) Sole Class.
Lining up my ’70 Mustang at the drags against a Ford Focus!!!!
There will be prizes given away, including car art take by one of the artist on http://wp.me/P2YxYx-19F and we’ll check the budget for some on-line auto parts gift cards as well.
Get you pics or videos to us either on our FB page https://www.facebook.com/AGCarRestoration or email them to AGCarRestoration@cox.net or timsweet@cox.net.
On 10/14 back in 1965 Oldsmobile (RIP) debuted one of the most advanced cars it every produced. That car was the Toronado. Front wheel drive and stylish looks made this car in the middle of the muscle car, it held it’s own. The first year of production was 1966. The engine was the 425 topped with a 4 barrel Rochester 4GC carb. Its bore and stroke was 4.125 x 3.97 with 10.5:1 compression and lay out 365 hps. It was a muscle car!!!!
1966 Toronado – Kool factor of 8.5 out of 10.
10/14/24 was a huge day the automotive development time line, but no one actually new it yet. That was the day in Allentown, PALee Iacocca was born. Savior of Mopar and instrumental in the success of one of the most important cars in the American auto industry – the Mustang!!!!
Back when today’s classic muscle cars were the baddest new arrivals at the local Dairy Whip, chassis upgrades consisted of dropped spindles, lowering blocks and, maybe, traction bars. Since then, we’ve seen the performance aftermarket move from heavy-duty springs, shocks and sway bars through bolt-on front and rear subframes to complete replacement chassis—all with increasing sophistication and with the end nowhere in sight.
Like so much else in the hot rod market, the demand for a more-sophisticated chassis is driven by the high levels of performance and refinement that folks can now buy right off the showroom floor.
“People love nostalgia but we’ve been spoiled by modern daily drivers that are really good cars,” said Jeff Schwartz, president of Schwartz Performance Inc. in Woodstock, Illinois. Even compared to what was available just a few years ago “a new Chevy Malibu or Ford Taurus handles amazingly well, so people who have a bought a collectible car, after they’ve had it for a while, they say, ‘Man, this isn’t what I thought it would be.’”
That’s your cue, of course, to offer your customers something better, so I surveyed the market not only to find out what’s available, but also who’s buying what parts for which cars.
Money for Muscle
The first thing I found out is that the real action in aftermarket chassis is happening mostly in the muscle car arena.
“The muscle car segment remains the most robust and promising,” said Bret Voelkel, president of RideTech in Jasper, Indiana. “We see the level of modification and investment in these cars taking the same path that street rods took in the early ’90s: extreme quality, lots of horsepower and lots of time invested for creature comforts.”
Mike Hawley, sales manager for Heidts Hot Rod Shop Inc. in Wauconda, Illinois, also reported “significant growth in the muscle car market, and in ’50s and ’60s pickups,” he said. “The Tri-Five market has always been strong but now this segment also wants better handling.”
Dave Kass, customer service lead for QA1 Precision Products in Lakeville, Minnesota, has “seen a growing interest in Pro-Touring ’60s and ’70s muscle cars,” he said. “It seems this trend has shifted the emphasis from straight-line performance to corner-carving and all-around superior handling. These new goals require a more-advanced overall suspension package than these cars once needed—including more-sophisticated shock absorbers. Adjustable shocks and tubular control arms help shave weight and allow these cars to corner smoother and more predictably.”
The G-Body Generation
Schwartz even sees “the street rod market declining, and muscle cars gaining momentum,” he said. “It’s the demographics, the age of the people who are buying and building cars.” And these young rodders are looking for an even higher level of performance. “We’re in a good time, when you can have a 1,000-horsepower twin-turbo street engine that you can drive every day,” Schwartz said.
On the other hand, these same younger buyers don’t want to spend as much buying a car to rebuild. “So instead of a rusted-out ’69 Camaro for $10,000–15,000,” they’ll spend $1,500–2,000 on a 1978–1988 Buick Regal or Chevrolet Monte Carlo. “They were 18 in ’84 when the Buick Grand National was new, or in ’83 when the Monte Carlo SS came out, and those are the cars they idolized,” Schwartz said.
Voelkel agreed.
“A growing number of hot rodders recognize the ’78–’88 GM G-bodies as tomorrow’s mainstream muscle cars,” he said. “They are stylish, available and affordable.”
Mild or Wild?
Of course, every customer has different expectations and a different budget. You’re not going to make many friends if you disappoint the former or seriously exceed the latter. The best way to avoid either is always to ask the right questions before you close the deal.
“The first question to ask the customer is, ‘What are you going to do with the car?’” Voelkel advised. “Components such as 14-inch brakes, triple-adjustable shocks, independent rearends and zoomy subframes all serve their purpose, but with simpler components and thoughtful modifications, the customer can likely go 95 percent as fast for 50 percent of the money. Our triple-adjustable shocks perform at the highest lever—and we think they are the coolest thing in the world—but they’re overkill for 95 percent of hot rodders who might run two autocrosses a year. A customer can buy single-adjustable shocks instead and invest the remaining $650 in tires, brakes or track-day fees.”
“The most-critical step is to determine the end goal of the project,” Kass agreed. “Is the car going to be a cruiser built for comfort, a weekend warrior to be driven hard or a full-out purpose-built race car?”
“Customers have to be brutally honest about their goals—and their pocketbooks,” added Brent VanDervort, president and founder of Fatman Fabrications in Charlotte, North Carolina. “With a limited budget, limited fabricating skills and a desire for reasonable performance, bolt-on upgrades make a lot of sense. You see this regularly with the typical resto-mod muscle car that has been modified with dropped spindles, bigger sway bars and disc brakes. For a very reasonable outlay of cash and time, one can get a very capable car. We proved that in the first Super Chevy Challenge with a ’70 Chevelle powered by an iron big block. With $3,260 worth of bolt-on parts, we ran in the middle of the pack, on street tires, against LS1-powered ’69 Camaros with custom IFS [and high-performance rubber] and we proved how viable the low-dollar approach can be. But that Chevelle would never be a contender for Muscle Car of the Year.
“Building a high-end competitive muscle car that can run and show with the best requires a different mindset, abilities and budget,” VanDervort continued. “In fact, the word ‘budget’ is best forgotten. The very latest drivetrain, suspension and body mod tricks will be required, but usability and affordability go away. There is a continuum from practical to radical that cannot be denied. At the extreme, these cars become as unattainable as a quarter-million-dollar ’32 Ford.”
Kass pointed out a common error.
“We see people ordering shocks, springs, rod ends and other suspension components well before the rest of the chassis is put together,” he said. “They select parts based on educated guesses and some rough measurements. It’s better to wait until the brackets are fabricated and the vehicle is assembled. This allows for accurate measurements of dimensions and weights, and saves the headache of a vehicle that does not sit or ride the way the customer intended.”
“Another key issue is to avoid mixing suspension components from different manufacturers,” Hawley added. “That’s just asking for fitment, performance and reliability problems. The last thing you want is to have to return parts because of incompatibility. Our products are designed to work as a system, so you are assured that everything fits and that you have access to service support from a single source throughout the build.”
This last can be particularly important because of production tolerances.
“It’s important to recognize that, even as they left the factory, no two cars were ever built exactly the same,” Hawley said. If a car has been crashed and rebuilt, critical dimensions may vary even further from the factory’s specification. Such variations can cause fitment problems for even the most carefully engineered aftermarket kits. “That’s where it really helps to have access to expert technicians with years of experience,” Hawley added. The result is “optimized customer satisfaction.”
“It is so, so important to make sure the suspension components you choose are compatible with each other,” Voelkel said. “This means more than just making sure they will bolt up together, it means making sure that the final combination achieves the suspension geometry goals that you intended. A good dealer who handles several different brands should know if the components a customer wants to use are truly compatible with each other. But, truly, the best way to do this is to buy a complete system from one manufacturer.”
Handling Hardware
Kass remarked that QA1 “has put a huge emphasis on new product development over the past year,” he said. “We’ve built a new fabrication shop next to our current facility in Lakeville, giving us a total of 60,000 square feet of manufacturing space. That’s allowed us to launch a full line of fabricated suspension components, including anti-hop bars, strut-tower braces, front and rear control arms, anti-roll bars, and more. These components are all designed to improve handling while saving weight. We’ve also developed a full line of direct bolt-in rear coil-over kits for many different makes and models. They allow ride-height adjustability with no major modification to the vehicle.”
Heidts’ Pro-G independent rear suspension won the Innovation Award at the 2011 Hotrod & Restoration Trade Show. The bolt-in kit, which includes upper and lower A-arms, a 9-inch center section with positraction, half-shafts with heavy-duty CV joints, inboard Wilwood brakes with 10.5-inch rotors, and fully adjustable coil overs, is available for 1967–1969 and 1970–1973 Camaros and Firebirds, 1962–1967 Novas, and 1964–1970 Mustangs. With subframe connectors, the assembly bolts up solidly to Heidts’ Pro-G front suspension system, which includes heavy-duty dual crossmembers, tubular control arms, Wilwood brakes, a power rack-and-pinion and, again, fully adjustable coil overs. The front-end kit bolts in to any early Camaro or Nova, according to Hawley, whereas early Mustangs require cutting and welding. The Pro-G system is engineered for up to 600 horsepower.
RideTech recently introduced a Tru Turn suspension system for 1977–1988 G-bodies, “to make them perform as well as they look,” said Voelkel. The package covers all of the G-body vehicles and includes springs, shocks, control arms and anti-roll bars for both ends of the chassis. “Our StrongArms control arms are jig-welded, powdercoated and engineered to improve suspension geometry,” Voelkel said. “Our impact-forged mono-tube shocks are available in fixed-valve, rebound-adjustable and triple-adjustable models. Tru Turn is completely bolt-on and compatible with coil overs or our Shockwave components. The kit even includes brackets to convert the rear suspension to coil overs or Shockwaves.”
Also new from RideTech is a Tru Turn system for 1964–1966 Mustangs.
Schwartz Performance builds engines and even complete cars, but lately has been promoting its line of full-length replacement chassis for both body-on-frame and unit-body cars from the classic muscle era, plus the GM G-bodies mentioned before. Sales, Jeff Schwartz reported, “have seen a good amount of growth.” The company offers 20 different chassis, mostly for GM vehicles, covering the 1962–1967 and 1968–1974 Nova (including related X-body variants), 1967–1969 and 1970–1981 Camaro and Firebird, 1964–1967 and 1968–1972 A-body, 1978–1988 G-body, Tri-Five Chevy, and 1947–1953 Chevy truck. Ford Mustangs from 1964–1973 are also covered, as are Mopar B-bodies (1968–1970) and E-bodies (1970–1974).
Schwartz also pointed out that there’s more variation among the various GM brands and models than you might think, and that his company’s chassis are engineered to accommodate these small but significant differences. “A Tempest is different from a Chevelle,” he offered as an example. “The frames are different in length, and the body mounts and bumper mounts are different.”
Such attention to detail makes installation as simple as possible. “For cars that came with a full frame, our chassis literally bolts in where the old frame used to be,” Schwartz said. “The frame rails are narrowed at the rear to clear 345mm tires and if you want that extra-wide rubber, you’ll have to mini-tub the rear wheel wells, but if the customer can live with smaller tires, no cutting is absolutely required. Even for GM unit-body cars that were built with bolt-on subframes (Nova, Camaro, Firebird), the Schwartz chassis is a direct bolt in, requiring at most the cutting of some brackets. With Mustangs and Mopars, of course, the front frame rails must be cut off, but no Schwartz chassis requires any cutting of the body floor.”
Another major feature, according to Schwartz, is serviceability.
“Our A-arms have needle bearings with grease fittings, and our wheel bearings are tapered rollers with a nut on them,” he said. “A lot of other shops use Corvette hubs and bearings, but if they have play in them, you can’t adjust them, you just throw them away.”
The Schwartz rear suspension is based on a GM triangulated four-link, but with a significant upgrade: Teflon-lined spherical rod ends at all attachment points, instead of urethane bushings, eliminate the binding that was built in to the factory original.
Schwartz’s “basic roller” includes the frame spindles, A-arms, four-link bars, a power rack-and-pinion and a rearend housing. Most customers will order the chassis with single-adjustable RideTech shocks and 13-inch, six-piston Wilwood brakes, according to Schwartz. “That setup gives you a smooth ride, with handling very much like a European luxury car,” he said.
Customers who race or autocross can step up to stiffer springs and triple-adjustable RideTech shocks with remote reservoirs.
Service With More Than a Smile
VanDervort expressed “surprise that many hot rodders wishing to upgrade their cars lack the basic mechanical skills to do even normal maintenance,” he said. “They often have more enthusiasm than experience. That makes the need for better instructions, more photos and real[ly] good tech support critical. Simply having people who can take orders by part number will not suffice, and the fact that installers are asking more questions of the manufacturers—rather than self-proclaimed experts on various web forums—reveals who can really support their products.”
If you’re selling to a DIY customer, make sure they have the installation instructions and that they read them “all the way through, a couple of times before beginning the job,” VanDervort said. “Most problems come from not reading the instructions.”
“Look at the manufacturer’s instructions prior to the actual installation,” Kass echoed. “This will give you an idea of how involved the installation will be and, most importantly, an idea of what tools you will need to complete the job. There is nothing worse than tearing something apart and then realizing you don’t have the appropriate tools to put it back together.”
Beyond the Bow Tie
Brent VanDervort of Fatman Fabrications presented a somewhat contrary view regarding the future direction of the hot rod market.
“The boom in muscle car resto-mods may be fading,” he said. “That always happens when a segment gets hot. Cars get better and demand rises, boosting prices along with costs.”
The growth area he believes “is going to be in other 1955–70 cars”—not muscle cars, and not Chevrolets—”for several reasons,” he said. “Compare the prices of a ’61 Chevy bubbletop and the same body style on a ’61 Olds or Buick. The other GM cars are still out there and still available for more reasonable prices.” At a show or cruise, “an unusual brand can get as much attention as an expensive build of a more desirable, but also more common, car,” he said. “Then there are all the Ford vehicles from ’55–’70 to consider.”
Any car from that era doesn’t have as many plastic parts as later cars, so “restoration techniques will be familiar to most hot rodders—many of whom grew up with cars of that era,” VanDervort said. “Since most of these cars came with more advanced ball-joint independent front suspension (rather than the two-part spindle/kingpin of earlier IFS cars) they can be more easily upgraded with bolt-on parts.”
Fatman Fabrications offers dropped, disc-brake-style spindles for many cars of that era.
“We’ve redesigned our dropped spindles for ’55–’68 Fords, so they can be used with more easily sourced calipers, rather than the Granada parts required by our earlier design,” VanDervort said. “We also cover Mercury and Thunderbird for the same range of years. For ’58–’60 Buicks, ’57–’60 Cadillacs, ’58–’62 Oldsmobiles and ’59–’62 Pontiacs we have a 2-inch dropped spindle that can accept rotors with either a 4-3⁄4-inch Chevy pattern (if the customer is changing the rear axle), or a 5-inch pattern (if the stock rear end is retained), and we are continuing to fill in that 1955–’70 range as sample cars become available.”
Meanwhile, manual-shift enthusiasts are upgrading to modern units packing more heavy-duty horsepower capacity—and more gear ratios.
“The generation that is now in their 60s can afford to build the cars that they wanted to build when they were in high school,” said Dick Hill, sales manager for Centerforce Clutches in Prescott, Arizona. And while those folks are not usually looking to build a race car, “they do want a four- or five-speed manual transmission,” he said.
More surprisingly, the trend extends beyond muscle cars and into traditional hot rods as well.
“I have friends who are building Deuce roadsters and they are putting LS motors in them, with a five- or six-speed manual transmission,” Hill said. “There are people who put Cadillac V-8s in 1949–1951 Mercs, and they want a stick. They want a three-pedal car. So that, too, is contributing to the growth of the high-performance clutch market.”
Hot rodders who already own or have owned multiple cars are now looking for something different.
“It’s like the people who buy their first Harley, they want it with every doo-dad they can get, where older bikers are turning back to the Knucklehead or even Flathead motors,” Hill said. “It’s the same with the hot rodder who already has two or three or four toys in the garage. The newest toy is going to be a stick car. And it’s for the same reason that someone will buy a brand-new Camaro, put 1,000 horsepower in it, and drive it on the street while blowing cold air and playing tunes. They want a manual not because they’re going to race it, but because they can have it. That’s what we hear all the time: ‘Because I can.’”
Rating the Ratios
American Powertrain of Cookeville, Tennessee, sells a broad range of high-performance drivetrain components, from complete crate engines to driveshafts and pedals. The company also distributes Tremec transmissions.
“The hot market right now is for the Magnum six-speed in a classic muscle car,” said Gray Frederick. “The Magnum is Tremec’s replacement for the T-56 is the aftermarket version of what you would get in a new Shelby GT500 or Camaro SS.” Frederick added that people are putting them into classic Mustangs Cougars, Camaros Firebirds, Barracudas and Challengers.
“The cars that people spend the most money on are the cars that [are] getting Magnum six-speeds,” Frederick added.
The Magnum is available with two sets of ratios, with the closer-ratio unit being the more popular of the two.
“The wide-ratio box has a 0.5 overdrive, which is very tall; a lot of engines can’t pull that much overdrive,” Frederick said.
But when it comes to overdrive, isn’t more better?
“That’s a myth,” Frederick said. “You can say, ‘Alright, I’m at the ragged edge of my cam, where if I’m on flat ground I can hold 70 mph all day.’ In a perfect world, that would be great. [I]n the real world, at some point you’re going to have to slow down for construction, and then speed up again; or you’re going to hit a rise, or something else that causes your engine to run out of breath. [T]hen you’re going to have to shift and that’s what you’re trying to avoid.
“You want to put it in sixth gear and leave it sixth gear,” he continued. “You don’t want to run down the highway at your cam’s peak performance, which would be 3,000–4,000 rpm. But you do want an rpm where your engine can pull your car up hills, and pass without dropping a gear. If every time you put your foot in the gas the engine lugs and you have to shift, that becomes very inefficient. We’re helping the customer understand that, even on the highway, you want to stay in your powerband. Otherwise the overdrive doesn’t do you any good.”
Frederick recommends the wide-ratio unit mostly for torquey big blocks.
“A Pontiac 455 will pull a stump out of the ground at 800 rpm; it doesn’t have trouble pulling a car at whatever rpm you’re running,” he said. “A Mopar 440 and some other big blocks with a lot of low-end grunt can usually handle the taller overdrive, too. And of course we’re dealing with a lot of electronically fuel-injected (EFI) engines now, and most of them have computers that can cope with low rpm very well.
They can retard the spark, they can meter the fuel differently, they can do all kinds of things.
“We help the customer choose a rearend ratio and a gear set that’s going to give them the best performance, from top to bottom,” Frederick said.
Pedal Pressure Another concern, according to Hill of Centerforce Clutches, is the physical effort once associated with a high-performance clutch.
“Our customers all ask, ‘How stiff is the pedal?’” he said. “That’s why we’ve been very successful, whether it’s a single-disc clutch for mild upgrade vehicle, or dual-disc unit that can hold 1,300 lbs./ft. of torque, we’ve been very successful in making them streetable.”
The average consumer, Hill said, could climb into a car with a Centerforce dual-disc clutch, push the pedal to the floor, and not realize that the car was modified.
“[T]he person who has a $75,000 Camaro or Corvette wants race-car performance without the race-car effort, so this is pretty significant,” he said.
Still, selecting the optimal clutch for any particular application is a complex task best left to experts.
“There are different linings and different friction materials on the pressure plate,” Hill said. “Heat is a factor. The first thing you have to know is how the vehicle is going to be used. Drag racers realize they are going to drive their car until they break it, where hot rodders don’t beat their cars up as bad. They are very proud of their cars and they want to drive them, not break them. And unless the car has been tubbed, a street machine generally runs smaller tires, so you want to tune the clutch for that.”
McLeod Racing of Placentia, California, offers its RST and RXT Street Twin clutches, both double-disc units that hold up to 1,000 horsepower, with the pedal pressure of a stock clutch, said President Paul Lee. Contributing to this low effort—and to easier installation—are McLeod’s hydraulic release bearings, “which fit most applications, replacing worn and/or outdated mechanical linkages,” he said.
“We’re selling more clutches for vehicles from the 1960s and 1970s, and installing a new hydraulic clutch in one of these cars can significantly reduce pedal effort,” said Rich Barsamian, national sales manager for Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT) in Lancaster, California. The company also offers a wide range of clutches for GM, Ford and Mopar applications, each rated for torque at the crankshaft.
When installing an aftermarket clutch, Barsamian suggested, “be sure to use the right amount of lube on the input shaft—it is possible to use too much. Be sure parts are free from dirt and oil, and washed in a non-petroleum-based cleaner such as acetone, alcohol or brake cleaner. Be sure to follow the correct torque and tightening sequence when installing the clutch cover—and do not use impact tools.”
This is a great article. If you are building a hot rod from scratch or you are taking your muscle car to a modern level you will find some good information in this piece. I toyed with the idea of putting a modern manual 5 speed trans in my 70 Mustang, but I opted for a rebuild Shelby 4 speed manual. (Check out all 3 parts.)
Derided as “slushboxes” in the days when hot rodding was young, automatic transmissions have long since closed the performance gap and won the respect of (at least some of) the most dedicated lead foots. Today, even the fuel-economy advantages of the old-standard stick shift are more memory than reality, as the shiftless set has drawn even with, or pulled slightly ahead of, the shifters. Backing up these advances is a great deal of detailed engineering, especially of the electronic variety.
But a lot of it’s simply due to more gears—a wider range of ratios, allowing for relaxed, low-rpm cruising with peak torque still available on demand. About 10 years ago, a four-speed automatic with a lockup converter was the hot ticket to optimize performance with economy. Now the OEMs are building five-, six- and seven-speed automatics—and hot rodders want them, too.
Not that the shift-for-yourself crowd has been caught napping—six gears are now the required minimum in any respectable OEM performance car, and that’s left three-pedal rodders craving more ratios, too.
More Is Better
“Enthusiasts in every segment of the hot rod and muscle car markets are removing traditional three-speed gearboxes and replacing them with modern four-, five- and six-speed transmissions,” said Stanley Poff, who heads product and sales for TCI Automotive in Ashland, Mississippi. “As they experience modern overdrive automatics in their daily drivers, they become more inclined to want the same driving experience in their hot rods.”
TCI’s new 6x Six-Speed can be adapted to most GM small-block, big-block or LS engines; Ford small and big blocks; and Chrysler small blocks, big blocks and late-model Hemis.
“We build it in a modified GM 4L80E case that’s been machined to accept modular bellhousings, and we keep all of the Reid Racing bellhousings in stock,” Poff said. “We can put together a complete package for all of those applications, including the transmission, bellhousing, EZ-TCU electronic control, cooler, shifter (conventional and/or paddle-type), TCI transmission fluid and a dipstick.”
TCI currently offers the 6x in two models, rated for 850 and 1,000 horsepower, respectively. Models for 1,250 and 1,500 horsepower are in the works, according to Poff.
The market has also responded well to the company’s EZ-TCU, he said.
“It allows you to retrofit a modern electronically controlled automatic transmission, such as our 6x, or the GM 4L60E, 4L65E, 4L70E, 4L80E or 4L85E, to a carbureted engine, or an engine with a self-tuning EFI system such as the FAST EZ-EFI,” Poff said.
TCI worked with FAST to develop the EZ-TCU.
“It follows the FAST model of being extremely user-friendly and easy to install even by people who lack either tuning or electronics experience,” Poff said. “We sell a lot of EZ-TCU units to people who want to put a crate engine and electronic transmission in a classic street rod or muscle car.”
Pete Nichols, sales manager for Hughes Performance in Phoenix, pointed to the classic muscle car market, where “more and more people are building these cars with significantly higher-than-stock levels of horsepower and torque,” he said. “That requires a premium, high-strength aftermarket torque converter and transmission assembly.”
To meet these demands, Hughes now builds all of its GM 700R-4, 200-4R and Ford AOD transmissions with the upgraded, constant-pressure valve bodies.
“These valve bodies contribute to improved shift quality and more consistent shift timing, while reducing the possibility of premature transmission failure due to a broken or incorrectly adjusted throttle-valve (TV) cable,” Nichols explained. “The new design also eliminates a lot of the complexity and hassle associated with the TV system on these transmissions, so retrofitting them into older cars is easier than before.”
Hughes has also introduced a custom bellhousing system that allows builders to bolt the popular GM 4L80E behind a wide variety of GM, Ford and Chrysler engines without using an adapter. The company offers custom 4L80E options for applications producing 500–1,500-plus flywheel horsepower, and for virtually any popular V-8 engine.
Nichols emphasized the need to properly flush the transmission cooler and cooler lines before installing a new torque converter.
“Debris gets easily trapped in the old cooler and then it gets flushed out during the initial run-in period, inevitably working its way into the valve body, governor, etc.,” he said, adding that getting a new cooler is the best way to prevent debris-related failures.
Thought I’d share this. It’s amazing how many and the variety of US cars made in the 50’s and 60’s made it overseas. It’s also very interesting what they do with them. Check out these MOPARs in Sweden. Way Cool!!!
You can always tell a car guy by looking in his garage and seeing what he has in there. If you see a couple of cars, that’s could be your first clue. But when you see muscle cars from the 60’s and 70’s, and engines on pallets, car lifts, stickers from internet performance shops, and various parts on the shelves, then you know that garage isn’t the run-of-the-mill garage.
Looking at Anders Ohlin’s garage in Sweden lets you know that this guy is into cars and performance – particularly Mopar performance. His collection of Mopar muscle cars is enough to make you drool.
Anders collection is interesting, and he says that some of his cars are the only ones that he knows of in Sweden. He considers himself a fanatic, as do many of his friends. Just looking at the pictures in his garage and you can see that he likes to surround himself with performance.
Some of his cars include a 1958 DeSoto Fireflite with a 361 Wedge, a 1965 Dodge Coronet A990 Super Stock Clone with a race HEMI that he imported in 2010, a 1964 Dodge 440 that has a 426 Wedge with dual carbs, a 1962 Chrysler 300 Sport Coupe that appears to have a 413 with dual carbs, and also a 1964 Dodge 330 to round out the cars we know of.
You can check out the YouTube video and see him moving his 1964 Dodge 330 around the garage. It’s a very healthy sounding Mopar, and if the deep rumble of that exhaust doesn’t sound like music to your ears, then you need to turn your speakers up!
You loved the Camaro Firebird he drove on the show, but in real life James Garner was a car guy!!! (Corrected – As Bill points out in the comments – the car in The Rock Files was actually a Firebird! — Thanks Bill.)
by Chris Demorro on March 7, 20
American muscle cars and Hollywood royalty have long had a close relationship. While just about every star from A-to-D list celebrities has some sort of muscle car in their garage, back in the day actors like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman did more than collect these cars; they raced them in serious races, from Trans Am to the Baja 1000.
Having film and television star James Garner piloting his Goodyear Grabber 4-4-2 was publicity boon for the tire maker.
Yes, it might be strange to think of American muscle cars racing across the desert of the Baja peninsula, but back in the 60’s what else would you have raced? There were all sorts of shops that specialized in converting American muscle into crazy off-road competitors.
Among the many Hollywood stars who would drive in these off-road desert races was one James Garner, a television actor who became so enamored with car racing that he raced an Oldsmobile 4-4-2 in the 1969 Mexican 1000 (a pre-cursor to the Baja 1000).
The star of the Western-comedy show Maverick, detective show The Rockford Files, and racing-packed Grand Prix, Garner rose to fame as an actor. But he was a more than competent racer as well, and among his many rides was a rather unique 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 modified for the NORRA Meixcan 1000 off-road race.
This car was lost for decades before being found, restored, and brought back to racing condition for the 21st century. Now this unique, star-touched car is up for auction on eBay, of all places.
Getting The Grabber To Go
Garner first got involved with the world of motorsports during filming of the 1966 flick Grand Prix, in which he plays a race car driver who falls for his teammate’s estranged wife. In 1969, Garner grabbed a sponsorship from Goodyear tires.
Garner suffered a virtual Rube Goldberg-level breakdown that robbed him and the Goodyear Grabber 4-4-2 of their 45-minute lead, landing them a 2nd Place win during the 1969 Baja 1000.
Right on the verge of the gas crisis, the ’74 models were a mixed bag of old school horsepower and new school power choking fog reduction hardware. This Impala was in fact still a V8 with the power of the a 1960’s 6 cylinder.
Now I love the Impala models and if you’ve read a recent post I wrote I think 4 doors are under valued and with the right tweaks can achieve the power desired to make them a muscle car.
This Chevy was sitting outside a local CVS store with a for sale sign.
4 door with stamped steel wheels and poverty hub caps
I love car art, whether it be paintings of cars or car parts, photographs of either, hood ornaments, door handles, even bumpers and grills. From time to time I pick up piece, or my wife does.
My Son is a digital art’s major and photographer and he takes some great shots and produce some fantastic images. The image of the two corvettes at an auto cross is his creation. Interesting enough the red vette was my 1984 and the black C6 was an oman, as I now own a black C6.
At Barrett-Jackson besides beautiful cars there is a huge area for venders and car art is everywhere and yes my wife did find a piece for me from photographer Shane Knight – I’ll get to him in another entry. But it is a mecca for creating your own car art. It’s a bit crowded to set up you easel and whip out your paint brushes or charcoal, but a good camera and a little skill even the Average Guy and get some shot to take home and play with.
Now I can’t say as I have a great eye for doing this myself but over the next posts associated with this title, I’ll show you some that we took. Believe it or not my wife did a great job with just her new Iphone 4S camera and of course my son with his higher end digital camera and lens.
First up is a shot my son took. I can’t recall the car but I bet someone out there can.
Photo by RJS - prints are available
Great looking dashand side mirror. Steering wheel is of course, not original. This is one of my favorites.
Having attended the Barrett-Jackson Auction in Scottsdale, Az. and blogging about it, thought I’d make a few entries as a follow-up.
I written about previous times I’ve attended (actually it is a family and friend affair – last year went with friends and the previous and this year our son was able make room in his schedule to go) and how much fun it is and all of the events.
An additional thrill is being there in person and seeing some of the rarest cars on the planet.
Case in point is this Tucker. That eventually sold for $ 2.9 million!!! This picture is from Hemmings:
Beautiful car...but...
…Under the lights and in person….
1948 Tucker A beauiful Car!!!
Truly a great piece of history.
More coming…like…..wonder where some of those Win Both Vettes or Mustangs end up? You’ll see.
by 
