Indholdsfortegnelse for August 2019 i Classic American

Looking at this month’s magazine I’m struck at the sheer diversity of content… There’s everything from a pre-war (in American terms – they didn’t enter the Second World War until 1941) flatbed truck, to a Seventies boat of a Mustang, to brand-new Corvettes racing at Le Mans. We’re celebrating the achievements of Shirley Muldowney, America’s legendary female drag racing star and enjoying the VHRA’s annual shindig down at Pendine Sands. Add to this a couple of movie cars from the Fast & Furious franchise and some straight-up Forties and Fifties favourites in the shape of a 1949 Packard and a 1957 Oldsmobile… I think you could say this issue is a veritable cornucopia of American automotive goodness! As always, we’re continually looking to improve Classic American in terms of content…

If you’ve ever contemplated converting your car’s fuel delivery system from a regular carburettor to a fuel injection system, it might be worth considering a FiTech injection system from Classic American advertiser Vitesse Global Ltd. The company offers carburettor replacement FiTech electronic fuel injection systems and throttle body kits, together with a wide range of ancillary products, including pumps, gaskets and ECUs, right here in the UK. Order today for UK mainland delivery within 3-4 working days and worldwide delivery in as little as 10 working days. Pictured here is the Plymouth Road Runner belonging to Richard Brazier, owner of Hamworthy Body Shop, which had a FiTech installation carried out at Poole Position Speed Shop and which went for its final tune-up at Vitesse, the suppliers of the kit. Also…

You’ll find our Pendine report from this year’s VHRA hot rod races elsewhere in this issue (see page 79) but while there, another thing we noticed this year was the influx of entries from some really early single-seater cars, all Ford-based. Ford cars have been subject to modifying and racing since way before the term ‘hot rod’ was invented, and it seems some of the boys who run these early cars in the Vintage Sports Car Club have also joined the VHRA to join in the fun. With their stripped-down four-banger Model T-based jalopies, they all found the event a refreshing change, and were loving the informal atmosphere and the opportunity to run their cars on the hallowed beach. They may not be fast, but they made for a great…

Back in March last year we featured a cool, ’35 Ford hot rod pick-up owned by Aaron Reed, unique in that it had been handed down through his family since almost new. Aaron has been in touch recently about another survivor car in the family, a 1959 DeSoto four-door sedan that his father bought new in December 1958, and that Aaron used to get his driver’s licence in when he was 16. The car is in lovely original condition, but Aaron says that it’s now time to sell it... anyone interested? Get in touch (email@classic-american.com) and we’ll put you in contact with him, though bear in mind, Aaron lives on California’s West Coast.…

Once upon a time, sport utility vehicles were essentially covered pick-ups. If you’ve ever driven something like a late Sixties Chevy Blazer or Ford Bronco, you’ll find it’s decidedly utilitarian in original trim. Today, your average sport utility is essentially a passenger car on stilts. It features unibody construction, primarily front-wheel-drive architecture and boasts very limited off-road prowess and towing capacity. In other words, it’s the very anthesis of what the sport utility was originally conceived to do – i.e. take you into the back country for a weekend of off-road adventure, perhaps mixed in with a bit of fishing or camping, or towing your boat and hauling supplies to the lake or your weekend cabin. The modern sport utility is a marketing breakthrough, much like bottled tap water. It…

It seems we can’t get enough of commercial vehicles or patina; this, then must be the ultimate combination of both: a hulking great 1949 International Harvester truck with more character than you can shake a stick at! Darron Kevern has owned more customised and standard American classics than most of us will have had hot dinners, but what was he to do once he’d exhausted all the popular choices of classic muscle car, restored them and shown them alongside dozens of similar cars? Try something a bit off-the-wall, of course, like a huge 1½-tonne pre-war truck. Darron bought his 1940 International Harvester D-30 from the States in 2013 after spotting it on eBay. He wasn’t deterred by the fact that it had been sitting in a farmer’s barn since 1958,…

As American classics go, none is more famous than the Ford Mustang. That’s what makes the special editions and oddities so interesting – cars like this 1972 Grandé. Yes, Ford put the accent on that last ‘e’, even though it wouldn’t be right for either French or Spanish. These days it sounds like something you’d order from a posh coffee chain, but when the model was introduced for the 1969 model year, perhaps we were more easily impressed. We tend to think of the first-generation Mustangs from mid-1964 to 1973 as endlessly successful, breaking all sales records and leaving the rest of the industry weeping into its beer. The truth is that Ford set itself such a high bar, so early, that after the Mustang’s peak year (607,000 cars in…

It’s always very difficult to find these on such a well-presented and excellent car. It’s true that the radio’s electric aerial doesn’t automatically go up and down, but the radio works perfectly. There was a minor rattle from somewhere behind the dashboard whilst driving along. There’s no history at all with the car, but with such low mileage, you’re not going to get reams of servicing details anyway. Simply looking at the car in every respect tells you that it’s been very well cared for. It’s a large car, unlikely to fit into an average standard size garage, but that’s often one of the reasons we love American cars: their size!…

When earlier today I mentioned to an American friend that Lee Iacocca had just died, he responded, ‘That’s sad news, he was really cool, a proper car guy,’ and he was. Responsible for the introduction of the Ford Mustang, Iacocca is also credited with reviving Chrysler and was the only executive in modern times to preside over two of the ‘Big Three’ car manufacturers. Lido Anthony Iacocca was born October 15, 1924 in Allentown, Pennsylvania. His parents were immigrants from San Marco, Italy, and his father Antoinette, a hot-dog vendor, supposedly named him after the Venice Beach island. Following the Great Depression Antoinette began one of the first car rental agencies, his fleet of Fords starting Lido’s interest in cars. Changing his name to Lee, he began as an engineer…

In these turbulent political times I wonder if I’m the only American Classic owner who has been salivating at the prospect of a UK-USA trade deal? For those of you who searched ‘Torque American’ on YouTube and have seen my channel, you will know I imported a project 1970 Charger in Feb 2017. This monster muscle-car is burning through my bank account as we speak and it’s still a long way off being completed. Whatever your opinion on Brexit, my American car-owning friends and I definitely think all the uncertainty around Brexit has affected the American Classic market. Prices haven’t really dipped, but there seems to be a lot of stock that’s just not moving. Paradoxically, we are supposed to be exiting the EU by October 31 and with President…

Declan Connolly once had an Austin Seven, albeit one that had been converted to a flatbed for tradeshow use, having been used for exhibitions. The little Austin was then stored away, but eventually the time came to decide what to do with it and having trawled eBay, Declan came across an ad for the 1949 Packard Straight Eight Deluxe pictured on these pages. The ad read: ‘Selling because I cannot find suitable garage space’ and ‘Would be interested in part-exchange or swap for something new or Seventies’. The key was at the end of the sentence - ‘(smaller obviously)’. Now, let’s face it, that statement left the ballpark wide open, as something smaller covered most of the automobile field, with the Packard coming in at 5.2m (17ft) long by 1.97m…

With the popularity and attention that the Vintage Hot Rod Association’s beach races have attracted over recent years, it was inevitable that changes would follow. For the 2019 event held in the middle of June, the construction of the new museum currently underway, meant that the camping area next to the old museum had gone, as had the grassy assembly area where competing cars were previously assembled and scrutinised. Instead, a dedicated VHRA HQ area was set up directly behind the beach-front cafe, with all cars and drivers needing to be signed on, checked, and approved on the Friday prior to the racing weekend. This arrangement proved to work well for everyone. A bigger change however, was to the rules for the faster cars running. From this event forward, any…

It’s always nice to go to a show that you’ve heard a lot about over the years, but never had the opportunity to attend; such was the case with the Beaulieu Hot Rod and Custom Drive-in Day. Traditionally held on Father’s Day Sunday, it’s clashed with another event run by Classic American’s parent company Mortons previously; however this year it didn’t, so we were able to earmark it as a Car of the Year heat and take along the Classic American stand. Beaulieu is located in the beautiful setting of the New Forest and not far from Southampton, so you can’t really get further south than this. Although Sunday started off drizzly and grey, the turnout was pretty good considering many people would have opened their curtains that morning and…

The organisers of the Mopar EuroNats are calling for eight entrants for this year’s ‘Incredible Burn-Out Contest’ – it’s a firm favourite of the weekend-long event and whoever produces the smokiest, most impressive burn-out wins. The first six who sign up and commit to the contest, including participating, will have one weekend pass refunded to them by Santa Pod. The winner will receive two tyres of these sizes available: 275 x 60 x 15 or 255 x 60 x 15-inches and a trophy. The winner takes all and will be crowned “Burn-Out King 2019”. (Tyres to be handled and distributed by Santa Pod.) The rules are: Any rear-wheel drive American car, truck or Hot Rod can take part, duration is a timed 30 seconds and the winner is determined by…

Last summer I visited Turners Auto Wrecking of Fresno, California, where I was shocked to find a collection of 200 Imperials crammed into the corner of its 70-acre site. I asked the elderly yard owner about them, but he glossed over the question, muttering something about them belonging to someone else. I could tell that he didn’t want to talk about them, so I changed the subject. Knowing what I know now, I wish I’d been more persistent with my line of enquiry. By 1956, when this four-door car was built, Imperial was a brand in its own right, and would remain so until 1975 (and again from 1981 to 1983). The 1956 cars were 229.6in long, which at the time made them the longest non-limousine post-Second World War American…

The Thruxton Motorsport Celebration on June 1 and 2 was a new race event for this year with different organisers, namely Historic Promotions Ltd., who placed more emphasis on saloon cars and sports cars than single seaters. From the varied 15 race programme, probably the one of most interest to Classic American readers was the HRDC Coys 100 Trophy for 1958 to 1966 Touring Cars, which pitched Ford Mustangs and Falcons against Ford Lotus Cortinas, Alfa Romeos, Jags and cheeky, pocket rocket Austin A35s, A40s and a Mini Cooper S. Rock star Chris Rea came out to play in his Morris Minor police car, which he reckons is great fun and quite a challenge to drive. And that from a man who raced Ferraris. Thruxton is the fastest race circuit…

A dry, overcast bank holiday Sunday at the end of May created the setting for the Mopar Muscle Association (MMA) Chrysler bash at Brooklands Museum, located in Surrey. Always eagerly awaited, this show never disappoints, as it’s a ‘turn-up and display’ arrangement rather than a pre-booking affair, so you never quite know what is going to show up, which adds to a wonderful, easy-going atmosphere for owners and enthusiasts alike. There is a trophy presentation at the end for five lucky participants; however, these are my three car picks of the day. Firstly, one of my favourite Mopars in the country is this 1969 Hemi powered Dodge Super Bee (as featured in the October 2017 issue of Classic American/CA318). The car was imported from America, came to the UK via…

Detroit in the late Fifties was turning out cars that were getting bigger, brasher and flashier and yet, some would say, less functional in terms of practicality and driving enjoyment. In the styling departments at most of the major manufacturers it was a case of who could out-chrome who, and Oldsmobile was no exception. Along with other GM Divisions, Oldsmobile showed off its latest styling and design ideas at the GM Motorama show of 1953 in the form of the Starfire Convertible. It never saw production, but a number of its features did make it into Oldsmobile designs later on. In 1956, Oldsmobile’s advertising described the new Oldsmobiles as ‘Starfire-styled’, and by 1957 Starfire had become a nameplate on the ‘98 Series Holiday Coupe and Sedan models. Despite having huge…

Although hardly the most realistic of car films, the Fast and Furious movies – the ninth is due for release in 2020 – have done much to educate cinema-goers about our sort of cars. Virtually everyone is aware of the classic Dodge Charger thanks to their on-screen appearances and the 1970 Charger is the car most connected to lead character Dominic Toretto, played by Vin Diesel. Greg McNair of Outlaw Muscle Cars (email greg@outlawmusclecars.com or see Facebook) recently imported two Dodge Chargers with close ties to the F&F films. “It started when two UK-based enthusiasts, Bobby and his brother Raj, wanted to acquire Fast and Furious cars,” explains Greg. “The request was put to my business associate Matt Koops who runs Muscle or Performance Auto Restoration in Florida, (https://muscleorperformanceautorestoration.com) and…

Vendor: D Mills, Letchworth, Hertfordshire Telephone: 07767 824224 Price: £11,995 This month’s Drive-Buy feature car, a 1985 Buick Le Sabre Collector’s Edition, represents quintessential mid-Eighties square-rig styling and it’s pretty darn big too, being more than 18ft long! It’s powered by a 307cu in V8 engine, with rear wheel drive and the engine bay is extremely clean and tidy, as is the boot, which is truly cavernous, so you can fit everything in here – suitcases, golf clubs, picnic chairs, dead bodies, you name it! This Le Sabre is quite remarkable in the fact that it’s only had one previous Californian owner, who sadly passed away, hence the reason the car became available for sale and has clocked up a mere 17,202 miles in total. We had the opportunity to…

The Le Sabre’s crowning glory is its superb wonderful original condition, which really has to be seen in the flesh, to enjoy the full visual impact and you certainly won’t be disappointed in any way! It has just undergone a full brake service, there’s a new exhaust system and four new 225/75-R15 Galaxy whitewall tyres. The chrome wire wheel trims remain in mint condition and offer a bolt-on fitting; the extremely low mileage is also a great plus point. This is a rare find and very desirable, which would almost certainly be a potential award winner for an Eighties class saloon.…