Innehållsförteckning för March 1962 från MotorTrend

ACCORDING TO STATISTICS released by the Automobile Manufacturers Association in their review of 1961 developments in the automotive industry, there were nearly 76 million registered motor vehicles (12.5 million of them were trucks and buses) as of January 1, 1962. With the first-quarter sales reports for 1962 cars indicating the best in several years, it is very likely that the totals at the end of this year will be close to 80 million motor vehicles. Of course, it takes people to drive cars and with the various driver’s licensing systems practiced by every state in the union, it is easy to check the grand total: 90 million. Two out of three adults in the U.S. are licensed to drive. Based on gasoline tax figures, service reports and insurance statistics, motorists…

There’s more to Pontiac’s new Tempest LeMans than its bucket seats, comfortable as they are, or its full carpeting and special trim, handsome as they are. The real bomb in this baby lies up under the hood. The standard four comes in 110, 115, 120 and 140 h.p. versions. But if you’re willing to lay out a few dollars more, you can have yourself a four-throated version of Tempest’s 194.5 cubic inch mill. This little jewel puts out more torque than any other production four in the world—215 ft.-lbs. at 2800 rpm. Maximum h.p. reads 166 @ 4800—again, more h.p. than any other production four in the world. That’s a horsepower jump of 11 over last year. Those eleven horses come from improved carburetion, better velocity and distribution in the…

IF STOCK CAR DRIVERS and mechanics who earn their bread money hot-footing Detroit machinery around the nation’s speedways know what they’re talking about, the 1962 crop of automobiles includes some sizzling stormers that may well set the country on its automotive ear the next few months. That’s the idea you get after talking with some of the top names on the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing’s famed Daytona-to-Darlington Grand National late-model circuit. To last year’s lineup of top competing makes a new name has been added for 1962 — Dodge. And that means a six-way dog fight for race track superiority with Ford, Chevrolet, Pontiac, Chrysler and Plymouth rounding out the field. And, for a change, chances are that this is the way the showroom models will stack…

WHAT??? An innocent-looking Chevy II that shakes hands with Corvettes and spits at Super/Stocks?? What gives? Very simple: This is a thumbnail description of Chevrolet Engineering’s experimental prototype No. H-333. It’s a Chevy II series 300 four-door sedan fitted with the latest 327-cubic- inch, 340-hp Corvette engine and four-speed, close-ratio transmission. It’s the first model of a package you may be able to buy off the showroom floor in a few months. Or the conversion parts may be offered as a kit for dealer installation. Final plans had not been settled as this is written. But I can assure you this package will be worth waiting for. It goes — but with economy. We got a 0-60-mph time of 6.8 seconds, with a terminal speed of 97 mph at the…

IN RECENT MONTHS Fords have been taking a licking in the “Super/Stock” class on many of our nation’s drag strips — ever since Chevrolet, Pontiac and Dodge boosted their high-performance engine options over 400 cubic inches. The 390-inch Ford was a terror when it was brought out in late 1960. Today, only some 17 months later, anything under 400 cubes is apparently out of fashion and obsolete in Super/Stock! So Ford has finally come around. Their new 406-cubic-inch block, with all the goodies, ought to put them right back in contention in S/S. And for the man who just wants a hot road machine, the new 406 high-performance engine can be ordered with the Warner four-speed floor-shift transmission and mandatory heavy-duty chassis package — to get something like Ferrari performance…

THE BUILD-IT-YOURSELF movement has flourished in Britain more than anywhere else, because the only way a buyer can escape the purchase tax (at present 55 per cent of the trade price) is by building his own car. Needless to say, practically all the buyers who are enthusiastic and energetic enough to buy hundreds of parts and assemble their own cars are interested in sports and GT models. Even the Lotus Elite is now available in kit form for home builders, saving the buyer $2000 in tax and assembly costs. Originally, most buyers would try to find a cheap second-hand popular saloon, scrap the body, recondition the mechanical parts and fit one of the fiberglass two-seater body shells which soon became available in considerable variety. The old-type Ford Popular with rigid…

Requirements are: copy limit of 25 words (not including name and address); 1st come, 1st served; we reserve the right to edit where necessary; we are not responsible for accuracy of description, although we will reject any misleading statements. This service is not open to commercial advertisers. No ads will be accepted if payment is not made in advance. Only one CAR may be listed in any single Sell ‘N’ Swap insertion. This limitation will not apply to parts, catalogs, etc. The charge is $4 per insertion. If your car is unusual and you have a photo of it suitable for publication, you may submit it with your ad. If we decide to print it there’s no cost to you for the cut, but we’ll have to decide which photos…

Accident? Coincidence? Hardly. Consider what Autolite spark plugs have done in competition during the past 12 months. 5 Flying Mile records smashed at Daytona. 10 new records set at Bonneville. In the Pure Oil Economy Run at Daytona cars using Autolites won as many firsts as all other makes combined. 5 out of 6 titles, including the world crown, won at the NHRA Summer Nationals. Five class winners in the Daytona one-mile acceleration runs. 3 NASCAR National Championships. 2 USAC National Championships. Another racing season proves Autolite spark plugs develop optimum performance in all kinds of cars. SPARK PLUGS BATTERIES SERVICE PARTS THE NAME TO REMEMBER WHEN YOU CARE FOR YOUR CAR…

From the very first we knew we had a winner. Happy owners, car enthusiasts raved about the 1962 Buick Special with the history-making Fireball V-6 engine. And now, the editors of Motor Trend—one of the ‘country’s top car magazines—have made it official. After road-testing and evaluating all U.S. cars, they’ve named the V-6 Special “Car of the Year!’’ Here’s the way they put it … “Motor Trend’s CAR OF THE YEAR AWARD to the 1062 Buick for pure progress in design, originative engineering excellence, and the power concept for the future expressed in America s only V-6 automobile engine.” Why are the car experts so hot on this exclusive Buick engine? Because only a V-6 can combine the smooth vigor of V-design with the gas savings of a straight six.…

That’s what Max Muhleman, of the Charlotte News, told us. It was just after his first test-run in a new 1962 Dodge Dart 440. “The car doesn’t have any trouble cornering or correcting.” “You don’t get the mushiness you feel in most passenger cars,” observed Rodger Ward, of Indy fame, who with Max was among a group of several auto experts we invited to Detroit to try out our new Dart model. “When you go into a turn hard,” Rodger added, “she’s with you all the way. I ran it flat out and that Dart 440 really storms. It’s real stable on the high speed stuff.” NASCAR favorite Buck Baker was equally enthusiastic. “I drove it with two fingers on the wheel and with the other arm in the door,”…

EVER SINCE s. E. “Bunky” Knudsen took over the Pontiac operation back in 1956, exciting things have been happening to the once-sedate, family-type car. The Pontiac has developed into one of the cleanest-lined, most functionally designed cars on the road — and on top of that it’s been one of the hottest performers in recent automotive history. In fact, for the past several years Pontiac has been the car to beat. This year’s Grand Prix model, Knudsen’s last and possibly best offering before moving over to the Chevrolet Division, promises even more in styling, comfort and performance than any of his previous creations. In case you missed the complete styling story in the October MOTOR Trend, the Grand Prix replaces the Ventura in the company lineup and is offered only…

“SEE HOW THEY RUN.. is not only a line from the nursery rhyme about the three blind mice, but the real reason for endurance runs. Exposing automobiles to accelerated wear tests is the best way to find out a great deal about a piece of equipment in a very short time. It is also the most practical way to test components — tires, chassis and engines, stock or modified. Besides that, it provides valuable experience for automotive writers. We all test drive many cars in the course of a year, but 24-hour endurance runs are infrequent, and it is important to maintain authoritative knowledge of such tests by participating in them. So that is exactly what we decided to do — run some cars under extremes of speed, braking and…

FEAST YOUR EYES on this 1933 Lincoln KA rumble seat, convertible coupe presently owned by Frank Weeks of Hollywood, California. Out here in the West, we generally affix an affectionate name to a classic and the KA is no exception. It is affectionately known in local circles as “College Boy” because it was the dream of every college boy of the mid-thirties. In 1932 the Lincoln KA series had eight cylinders and the KB series had 12 cylinders. In ‘33 the KA had a newly designed 12-cylinder engine without the famous fork and blade rods, while the KB remained as the “Big Twelve.” By 1934 all the K series cars were 12’s and all were based on the new cheapened engine. The KA is one of the most abundant classics…

AFTER BUILDING UP a successful business producing Ford-engined open sports cars at a small factory in Rickmansworth, Tornado Cars Ltd. are presenting at the London Racing Car Show a more ambitious project — a fast, compact, four-seater Sports Saloon. Powered by a Cosworth-modified Ford Classic engine of 1340cc, it has a plastic body on a tubular chassis with disc brakes, independent suspension on all wheels, high-speed tires, a long-range fuel tank, rack-and-pinion steering. The engine gives 75 hp with two twin-choke Weber carburetors, and transmission is by close-ratio four-speed gearbox. The reinforced plastic bodywork, built as a separate monocoque unit, although only 150 inches long and 48 inches high, seats four adults. All occupants sit within the 96-inch wheelbase and have good legroom. The frame is constructed around a backbone,…

Pedrick Piston Rings were selected by Ray Nichels of Nichels Engineering Co. and Driver Paul Goldsmith because of their precision engineering, quality, durability and long life under the most severe operating conditions. Pedrick Formflex Rings maintained maximum engine power throughout the 22 races in the USAC circuit and played an important part in winning the 1961 USAC Stock Car Championship. Top professional drivers and mechanics tell you that oil control and maximum horsepower win races—Pedrick Piston Rings deliver both. Proof? The majority of USAC Stock Car Championship Competitors chose Pedrick Piston Rings for their engines. There is no substitute for Pedrick Formflex Piston Ring Conformability. Take a tip from racing professionals—the men who really know. GOULD-NATIONAL BATTERIES, INC. if / St. Paul 1, Minnesota PRECISIONEERED® Pedrick PISTON RINGS … seat…

New Year’s resolution … A chief engineer from one of Detroit’s auto makers with a particularly hot car that he can’t talk about officially suggested to us at lunch recently — with more than a trace of bitterness — that the industry is bogged down with some rather antique agreements and pressured by outside forces, many political. His main beef is what has become of the 1957-vintage Automobile Manufacturers Association resolve to disassociate from any activity connected, however remotely, with speed and performance, and recent moves to standardize seat belt lugs and positive crankcase breathers. The pious fiat condemning the quest for horsepower produced several immediately unfortunate results. At that time only one American car (Chevrolet) had an engine catalogued with an output of one horsepower per cubic inch. Others…

WHENEVER WE drive or test one of the Plymouth line we can’t help but think back to the time we owned a 1940 model Plymouth. It was a plain business coupe and after knocking it around for fifty or sixty thousand miles, we decided that it was a pretty good car. It was economical, fairly comfortable, and while no ball of fire, it did have enough to stay up with its contemporaries. One thing about the car that we never did get used to was the ungodly noise that used to emanate from the vicinity of the transmission. This was a rather dry, grinding sound that suggested a total lack of lubrication, or possibly a worn bearing or gear. We went so far as to tear it down once but…

WHERE DOES a race driver spend his vacation? At Nassau, in the Bahamas, naturally! Each year, early in December, the whole island takes on a holiday atmosphere for the annual International Bahamas Speed Week. It draws almost all the name drivers and machines and there’s a full schedule of relaxing, rivalry and racing for all concerned. That this is a driver’s event is apparent by the fact that the pit inhabitants always outnumber the spectators. On the last day, vacationing Dan Gurney took a couple of hours off from the merry-making to show everybody the short way around the rough 4.5-mile Oakes Field course. Off to a bad start (sixth from last in a 61-car field), Dan hauled through the heavy traffic like it wasn’t there and had the Arciero…

EVERYTHING HAPPENED. It rained. It snowed. The wind spit bits of sleet against the windshield. And United States Auto Club stock car champion Paul Goldsmith bounced one of the machines oft’ the retaining wall. But in spite of all manner of adversity, two 1962 Pontiacs resoundly cracked the 24-hour endurance speed record of 89.89 mph held by Chrysler at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, with the faster of the two boosting the round-the-clock mark to a healthy 107.787 mph. There is something particularly fascinating about endurance grinds at Indianapolis, mostly because it never is easy. So when Nichels Engineering of Highland, Indiana, decided it was going after the 24-hour, 500-mile, and one-lap records held by Chrysler and Ford, respectively, it promised to add the latest chapter to a history which goes…

BACK IN 1945, Chrysler Corporation began an extensive research and development program on the turbine-powered car. To date they are the only American automotive manufacturer having a serious turbine-powered car program. By serious we mean it is more than just an advertising department gimmick — they are definitely planning to have one on the market in the not-too-distant future. Right now their turbine engine, the CR2A, is in its third generation and by all indications is very close to its final marketable form. As we go to press with this issue, a turbine-powered Dodge has just completed a successful 3100-mile cross-country trip under the most adverse weather and road conditions. According to George J. Huebner Jr., head of the turbine program, the engine fully lived up to his expectations. Further,…