Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2019 i Classic American

This month’s letters page features a message from a reader about coverage (or rather the lack of it) of ‘newer’ classics from the Eighties, Nineties and Noughties. I have to hold my hand up, as it’s true, we do tend to mostly feature cars from the Fifties and Sixties; however, whenever we’ve done reader surveys (three over the past decade) these have always been the eras of cars that readers have overwhelmingly stated a preference for seeing featured. Yet, some cars from the Eighties at least, are now getting on for being three decades old, surely that must qualify them as being ‘classics’ and worthy of inclusion… I agree, but truth be told, there doesn’t seem to be many show-quality cars of this era knocking about. My personal opinion is…

In California, state lawmakers approved SEMA supported SB 112 legislation that reintroduces ‘Fix it’ tickets for vehicles suspected of violating state vehicle exhaust noise requirements. In June 2018, then California Governor Jerry Brown signed into law AB 1824 which amended exhaust noise violation requirements by removing the 30-day ‘Fix it’ window and instead required offenders to pay on-the-spot fines. The amendment created a great deal of controversy with the speciality equipment and vehicle enthusiast industry, resulting in pressure placed on the state legislature to push for a reintroduction of ‘Fix it’ tickets. Once signed into law by current California Governor Gavin Newsom, state law enforcement officials will once again be allowed to issue 30-day ‘Fix it’ tickets. It’s important to note however, that the SB 112 amendment does not make…

The annual Brooklands Museum American Day took place on Sunday, September 1 and a fine sunny day saw plenty of cars and participants alike turn out to bask in the sunshine. Special displays from the Surrey Mustangs and the MMA (Mopar Muscle Association) added to a very enjoyable social gathering of stateside machinery with all tastes catered for in wonderful, historic surroundings. Here are my three choices of the day. They are from Plymouth, Ford and Pontiac and in no particular order. I will start with a drop-dead gorgeous 1966 Mustang convertible owned by Ray Peggs that I found in the Surrey Mustangs’ corral. This 289cu in automatic has an upgraded ‘Pony’ turquoise and white interior with twin exhausts; the GT Pack and front disc brakes making for a superb…

The story of the Shelby Cobra Daytona Coupe is all about how, in 1963, it was realised that there was a real need for increased speed over the traditional body design of the original Cobra roadster sports car. Pete Brock, the designer of the Daytona, recalled: “Carroll Shelby said: ‘I want to go to Europe, and how are we going to go faster?’.” At the time, the 289cu in engines were already getting as much horsepower as they reliably could, so the only other way was to reduce wind drag. While the Cobra roadster had established supremacy on short road courses, many of the European tracks have longer straightaways, longer than an entire lap of many US circuits. After examining pre-war German aerodynamic studies, Brock felt he could use their…

There’s no doubt that the British winter can be tough on old cars. If it was just a steady blanket of snow, it wouldn’t be so bad, but the mixture of rapid changes in temperature, damp air, black ice and of course salt can be extremely harmful. We use salt on the roads because when the salt dissolves it lowers the freezing point of water, keeping it liquid rather than ice or snow. Sadly, it also acts as a very efficient electrolyte for promoting the corrosion of exposed steel. So what do you do? Bung a tarpaulin over the car, or park it in the garage and forget about it till Easter? Not a good idea. Storing a car carelessly through winter can be just as damaging as using it…

Some may think that the life of the autojumbler is easy peasy. Just rock up with a paste table, unload your old estate car with your garage clearance items, set up your camping stove and frying pan, crack open a bottle of wine or beer and sit there in your deckchair soaking up the rays for the weekend. Everything will fly off the table and you go home with a pocketful of cash. Simples. Well, that may be so for some of the amateurs, but for the professionals, that’s certainly not the case. For them, it’s bloody hard work. I really admire the work ethic of those who travel hundreds of miles, set up a tent or awning and what amounts to a fully stocked shop and then stand there…

This year’s annual Wildest Cats In Town Rock ‘n’ Roll weekend was another humdinger, with participants feeling as if they’d been transported back to the Fifties. There was a free classic car and motorcycle cruise into Lowestoft and this was led by a Fifties truck blasting out rock ’n’ roll music. The crowds at the car show were unprecedented and this is now a four-day event, with more than 30 top rock ’n’ roll bands from the US, Europe and the UK. Part of the line-up included the best DJs around, plus a huge Fifties ballroom, outside stage, beach party, barbecue, talent show, jiving competition and a Fifties jumble sale. Not only that, dinner and breakfast and an apartment with free electricity is all included in the price. This is…

RetroClassic Clothing is a British owned and operated clothing label with one idea: to provide high-quality apparel and T-shirts featuring motor-themed designs for motoring enthusiasts and those with a passion for a bygone era. RetroClassic’s unique designs of classic cars, hot rods, American muscle cars, motorcycles, old-school cool culture and retro pin-up models are an ideal gift for the petrolhead. RetroClassic T-shirts are £24 and available in sizes XS to 4XL. Available: www.retroclassicclothing.com…

Oh, how the mighty had fallen. Scroll back to the late Seventies and early Eighties and the Chrysler Corporation was scrabbling. If you believe his version of events, it was Lee Iacocca who single-handedly saved the smallest of Detroit’s Big Three from bankruptcy. The glory days of Mopar muscle cars were a thing of the past, however, as the firm found its footing producing the likes of the K-car series and minivans, all of which raked in a tidy profit. Iacocca was, nevertheless, keen to inject a little bit of glamour into the line-up and did so by calling on a couple of former allies from his days with Ford. Carroll Shelby famously put his name to a raft of gussied-up Chrysler econoboxes during the Eighties (remember the GLH?!) but…

Before there were Blazers and Silverados, if you needed a four-wheel-drive Chevrolet pick-up you bought one with a NAPCO all-wheel-drive conversion. Mick Arnold was looking for an older pick-up when he spotted this NAPCO 1956 Chevrolet 3200 online. “I bought it in 2015 from a dealer in Epsom then drove it home to Derbyshire,” remembers Mick. “Originally I’d thought the ’56 expensive and tried to do a deal, I didn’t realise it was a rare and original four-wheel-drive until the seller explained. It was complete and drove well, but had obviously been a working vehicle. I’d planned to leave it as it was, until Andy Currie from Shakespeare Garage (01298 79512/www.shakespearegarage.co.uk) tracked me down and said if I ever wanted it restored he’d love to do it. Once the work…

ICON, the Los Angeles-based builder of recreated first-generation Ford Broncos and a whole slew of iconic classics, has done it again, this time with another stunning example from its ‘Derelict’ line – a reimagined 1949 Hudson Super Club Coupe. Before we delve into the details of this latest build, let’s start with a little history lesson. When looking back to Detroit’s golden age, Hudson was arguably one of the most successful of the American independent automakers. In the early and mid-20th century it carved itself a niche in the upper-middle price segment, delivering a range of cars and options that were right for the market. Revolutionary design Arguably Hudson’s biggest achievement however was in 1948, when it introduced the revolutionary ‘step-down’ design – so called because they allowed the driver…

Goodwood has long stated that its Revival Meeting is a “magical step back in time” while Fifties and Sixties racer, the late Roy Salvadori, famously said: “Give me Goodwood on a summer’s day and you can forget the rest of the world.” Both were so true this year as tens of thousands basked in three days of glorious sunshine under blue skies dotted with fluffy white clouds, all set against the backdrop of the lush green West Sussex hills. I’m convinced that the Duke has a direct line to the weather gods, and they wouldn’t dare disobey him. Although the Revival was first held in 1998, it remains as enjoyable as ever. I have been to every one of them and yet every year I find something new and exciting…

Vendor: Tony Rudd, Great Dunmow, Essex Telephone: 07816 878892 Price: £22,750 This month’s Drive-Buy car is something rather special, a Corvette C5 Z06 Le Mans Edition, option code Z16, one of only 2550 built, which has been further modified with performance in mind. This model was created to commemorate the C5’s entry at the Le Mans 24 hour race. The bodywork features special decals, badges and a genuine lightweight carbon fibre bonnet. Its LS6 engine, in stock tune on the Z06 from 2001, was 385bhp, which was later increased to 405bhp in 2002. The car’s current engine setup, which was overseen by the first owner when it was almost brand new, includes a Procharger twin-intercooled supercharger that increases the horsepower up to 613bhp, which can be verified on a dyno…

Since the beginning of the Trump administration, the Obama-era Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards have been a target for review. Last year the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) proposed revoking a Clean Air Act waiver granted to California back in 2013. The move is part of a plan for the Trump administration to create new, less stringent CAFE standards than those enacted during the Obama-era which impact vehicle model years from 2012 through to 2025 (calling for an initial 54.5 miles per gallon US, later amended to 46.7mpg). When four automakers (Ford, BMW, Honda and Volkswagen) decided to voluntarily back California regulations on emissions requirements, in lieu of the proposed new federal standards, the Trump administration issued its One National Program rule, aimed at ensuring that vehicles sold in all…

Both Ford Motor Company and General Motors have said they plan to bring full-electric pick-ups to market. Although details remain scarce at this point, GM CEO Mary Barra said that an all-electric pick-up could be available by 2022 but stopped short of providing any specifics. Over at Ford, executive chairman Bill Ford has long been an advocate of electric vehicles and this summer, the automaker performed a demonstration where an all-electric F-150 towed a 10 freight car train loaded with 42 pick-ups, equivalent to 1.25 million pounds (see Huw Evans’ Across the Pond column, page 16). With an all-electric powertrain, Bill Ford hinted that the under-hood area could be used for additional cargo-carrying capacity as well as the box. Both automakers are seen as leveraging their expertise at building pick-ups…

The largest ever gathering of Mustangs took place last month… in Belgium! A total of 1326 Mustangs from across Europe converged on Ford of Europe's Lommel Proving Ground in Belgium. You probably would have expected the record to have been set in the US, but even the previous record, set in 2017, was outside the States, when 960 Mustangs collected near Ford’s Toluca, Mexico assembly plant. The gathering was organised to celebrate the fact that in the first half of 2019, Ford sold 5500 Mustangs in Europe, a 3.7% increase on last year and which, when combined with North American sales, Ford says makes the Mustang the world’s best-selling sports coupe for the fourth year consecutively. In the first half of 2019, Ford sold about 44,500 Mustangs in North America…

You have to hand it to Tesla. Since 2008, the California upstart has made other automakers, specifically the Detroit three – FCA, Ford and General Motors – take notice. All three of them have been pouring billions of dollars into electric vehicle research, introducing new models and trying to convince the public that EVs are the way of the future. Given that batteries still have limitations in terms of size and energy storage capacity and that automakers over here are saddled with trying to reduce vehicle weight, the logical choice is to start with smaller cars first. Yet, with the shift in buyer preference toward SUVs and full-size pick-ups still accounting for the largest chunk of the market, there is more and more interest being levied at making these types…

Robin Shackleton is quick to point out that he wasn’t responsible for the comprehensive restoration of this 1961 Ford Falcon Deluxe. No, Robin did the sensible thing and let the previous owner deal with the complete nut-and-bolt rebuild, before buying the car for a sensible price that was significantly below what was spent. “I understand it came into the UK in 1984 and was then bought as a virtual wreck around 1997 by a chap called Bart Keaney,” explains Robin. “Bart is a car collector - of cars done to a very high standard - and the Falcon was no exception. He had a restorer called Dave Spurling completely redo the Falcon for him. The figure I heard for the total cost of that work was around £100,000.” Robin knew…

Flights I always use Skyscanner (www.skyscanner.net ) for my flights and a friend told me that San Jose airport is far better to fly into than San Francisco, especially if you’re planning a road trip like this. British Airways fly there. I also use a British Airways American Express card to pay for everything, which offers air miles and a companion voucher which can be used in conjunction with a trip like this. Hotels Hotels can be booked online beforehand (www.hotels. com or similar, which offer cancellation up to 24 hours before) and there’s always the old reliable Motel Six chain (www.motel6.com ) that offer clean, inexpensive rooms which can be booked in advance. If you’re feeling brave, you could always just take pot luck and chance it, especially if you manage to…

HUW EVANS, NORTH AMERICA CORRESPONDENT, ONTARIO, CANADA 1985 Pontiac Trans Am 2019 Chevy Sonic It feels like an age since I’ve provided a Behind the Wheel update from the Evans household. Since the last time I wrote something for these pages, the little Chevy Sonic RS continues to give sterling service and is rather fun to drive. It’s no muscle car mind you, but it goes pretty well and given the size of parking spaces over here I rarely have to worry about door dings. With it now being a year since the Mustang departed for pastures new, I’ve had a bit of time to take stock of the classic stable. I had planned on off-loading the Trans Am too, but a plethora of timewasters and tyre-kickers has actually resulted…

What anyone, anywhere, heading out for a weekend of drag racing – racers and spectators alike – wants above all else is dry weather. Even better if the sun actually shines too, and so for those who headed out to Santa Pod in September for the Hot Rod Drags were clearly in for a great weekend at the track. This year saw the second running of the HRDs at SPR, after its move from the sadly missed (and as yet untouched) Shakespeare County Raceway. That Santa Pod is a professional and slicker operation all round is in no doubt, and most people are now resigned to the fact that if you want quarter-mile action, there is only one choice these days, that’s just the way it is. Originally conceived by…