Starting Lines

February 4th marked the start of production for the all-new 2021 Dodge Durango SRT Hellcat model at the Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit. “Like welcoming a new member to the family, today’s launch of the Durango SRT Hellcat celebrates the newest addition to the Brotherhood of Muscle,” said Tim Kuniskis, Dodge Brand and Interim Chrysler Brand Chief Executive Officer - Stellantis. “The Dodge Durango Hellcat joins Charger and Challenger at the pinnacle of performance, and today’s start of production in Detroit deserves a spot on every enthusiast’s calendar.” The Durango SRT Hellcat models are set to arrive at dealerships sometime this Spring and will only be available for the 2021 model year. The most powerful SUV ever will come with a Canadian MSRP of $115,720. It will produce a whopping 710 horsepower and 645 lb-ft. of torque from the supercharged 6.2L HEMI Hellcat V8 engine paired with a quick-shifting 8-speed automatic transmission. The Durango SRT Hellcat will go 0-60 mph in just 3.5 seconds with a NHRA certified 11.5 second quarter-mile time and a top speed of 290 km/h (180 mph).

Special Tec AA oils are not standard motor oils. These oil formulations meet the performance demands of high output and high efficiency modern engines and their required emission systems.

The use of this official API seal distinguishes licensed products and confirms that the motor oil meets or exceeds the specifications and requirements of the American Petroleum Institute (API). The user is thereby guaranteed the best quality.

Volume 19, Issue No. 2 April / May 2021

Second Class Mailing Agreement #40050183

Publisher: Dean Washington dean@rpmcanada.ca

Associate Publisher: David Symons david@rpmcanada.ca

Managing Editor Jordan Allan jordan@rpmcanada.ca

Distribution Manager: Brenda Washington brenda@rpmcanada.ca

Copy Editor: Gerry Frechette gerryf@rpmcanada.ca

Advertising Sales: Elaine Fontaine elaine@rpmcanada.ca

Contributing Writers / Photographers: Jordan Allan John Gunnell Dan Heyman Cam Hutchins Zalutko Business Services Inc.

Muscle Car Plus Magazine is published six times per year by RPM Media Inc.

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Dodge recently announced an automotive software upgrade designed to prevent the theft of Charger and Challenger models equipped with 6.4L HEMI V8 or supercharged 6.2L HEMI V8 engines. Using the owner’s fourdigit security code, the enhanced deterrence feature limits the vehicle’s engine speed to idle (675 rpm) and helps prevent auto theft. The upgrade can be installed free of charge by any Dodge dealer on 2015 through

2021 Dodge muscle cars and delivers second-level security encryption via Dodge’s Uconnect 4C infotainment system. At idle, these engines produce approximately 2.8 horsepower and just 22 lb-ft. of torque and Dodge says this new feature will hopefully prevent criminal police evasion and high-speed chases of stolen vehicles. The new feature is expected to be available late in the second quarter of 2021.

It is hard to imagine back in the day when NASCAR was King and the full-sized cars of the day were the biggest baddest rides in town. Long before the Muscle Cars and big-block Pony Cars took over, a two-door version of the family sedan was what was “Raced on Sunday, and sold on Monday” And these cars sold! In 1964, Ford produced 591,531 Galaxie 500s, about 30,000 more 1964 Galaxies than Ram Pickups sold in 2020. For every 1969 Mustang you see at a car show, and you see lots, keep in mind they only built 299,824 1969 Mustangs of all types. Unfortunately that includes the 150,640 ugly duckling coupes and Grandes of that year. The importance of the “Total Performance” slogan advertised and sold by Ford on its full-sized Galaxies, Thunderbird, compact Falcon, and the newly introduced for 1964 mid-sized Fairlane, was not just an advertising gimmick.

Ford was actually providing big-power options for their street cars including 3x2-barrel carbs and dual 4-barrel carbs on some V8 engines. Ford was doing well at NASCAR, and early on in 1963, the Galaxie’s roofline, brought over from the Thunderbird design, looked elegant but actually produced drag at high speeds, robbing the big Galaxie on the racetrack. Racing was king, so midyear 1963 saw a new 1963 1/2 “semi Fastback” to correct this with a new engine option. This new roofline was the only one offered in 1964, except on the station wagons. At the same time, the 406 cu. in. engine option was done away with for a new “R Code” 427 cu. in. V8 option. Ford took 23 NASCAR wins in 1963 compared to Plymouth’s 19, but things were about to change for 1964.

Plymouth went from a 426 cu. in. “wedge” combustion chamber to the “Hemi” hemispherical design they had done well with in the ‘50s Chrysler engines. Ford, needing an edge, went well beyond the obvious of mimicking “hemi” heads for their 427. Ford decided to go with a Single Overhead Camshaft version of the existing “Side Oiler” 427 engine, and built it in only 90 days. This seems excessive, especially when the engine was proposed to NASCAR, and it was banned as being “too European-like for a good old, down South race series,” to paraphrase Bill France, the Godfather of NASCAR racing at the time.

Ford introduced the world to their Hemi, the SOHC 427 in May of 1964, by displaying a 1964 Galaxie hardtop with the new “Cammer” or “Sock” mill behind Gasoline Alley at the Indianapolis Speedway. The press were there for the race, and got a big look at what was supposed to come, if Ford got its way!

Ford continued to develop the engine in the hopes of changing France’s mind, but to no avail. NASCAR banned all exotic racing engines including the 426 Hemi, so Chrysler sat out the first part of the season in protest, until winning in July and then again five more times that year.

This was not Ford’s first attempt at overhead cam engines, as it had recently done a small-block V8 version for Indy racing, and back in World War II they built a few monster engines for tanks. The Ford GAA engine was a double-overhead-camshaft, allaluminum engine of 1,100 cu. in. (18,000 cc) that produced 500 horsepower but an even 1,000 lb-ft of torque from idle to 2,200 rpm.

So with NASCAR out of the picture and the engine perfected, the only thing Ford could do was to offer them for sale to drag racing teams and the general public as “crate motors.” Imagine back in the day walking into a Ford or Lincoln-Mercury dealership, and heading to the parts counter and ordering part number C6AE-6007-359J for a dual quad SOHC 427 V8, for your Mustang or 1932 Roadster. An ad from that time claims their new SOHC motor “makes an ideal engine for all-out competition in “rail” dragsters over land, or for the exciting new sport of “drag” hydroplanes on the water.” The crate motors could also be bought with a single 4-bbl carb, and came with water pump, flywheel and bell housing, but required alternator, fuel pumps, exhaust headers, and a cooling fan.

The drag racers took this gift from Ford and ran with it! The rail dragster driven by Don “The Snake” Prudhomme and built for Lou “Money” Baney, with Crew Chief Ed Pink on wrenches, was the first Top Fuel car to run in the “6’s” at an NHRA National Meet at Bristol in 1967. This was good PR for Ford, but really the block, heads, gears and front covers were the only Ford parts. Legendary engine builder Ed Pink from Southern California took the 700-horse engine Ford churned out, and rebuilt it into a fire-breathing 2,400 horsepower engine that would only run nine or so runs before the blocks were wrecked.

Sometimes a car is restored to a numbers-matching Concours standard, and sometimes they are built to be highly modified “Resto-mods” with all modern running gear. This car is more of a “What-if” kind of deal, and the cart really was ahead of the horse on this project. Wynn Hollingshead was with his brother-in-law Gary Grant, a local Camaro/Impala restoration specialist, and his brother Cam who specializes in restoring Chevelles and Monte Carlos, at the Barrett Jackson Auctions in Arizona. At one of the various events they visited, Wynn saw a car with a SOHC 427 fire up its engine to the delight of all the onlookers. Wynn was blown away with the motor and its technology and after a short while of researching this peculiar part of automotive history, decided to build a “What-If” car. What If Ford had really built 1964 Galaxies with SOHC 427 side oilers - forget the “R-Code,” how about a “Code Red”?

Finding the car was secondary, the sourcing of a SOHC 427 came first. He got the idea of calling Ed Pink to see if he knew how to buy a suitable SOHC 427, and ended up learning all about the engine during a two-hour phone call. Pink, ever passionate about all things car-related, said to call the Elliots out in Dawsonville, Georgia. Their father had owned the Ford dealership back in the day, and they had built SOHC engines. Their primary business now was building NASCAR engines, but they had a side hustle of tearing apart racing engines to find more power. When Wynn visited, they had been sent a racing engine from Mercedes-Benz racing to see if they could get any more “Go” out it.

Ernie Elliot is the primary engine builder for his nephew, Chase Elliot’s NASCAR team. He was genuinely interested in building a SOHC 427 again, and agreed to take on this as a “pet” project, squeezed in among his other engine builds. The parts took a bit of time, and after a year they had sourced all the parts they needed including what is thought to be the last aluminum 427 Side Oiler block cast, before Ford sent their casting duties to Korea. Knowing the car was to be driven and not raced on the Oval, all methods were used to make the car streetable. Electronic ignition was used. Streetable or not, this mill churns out nearly 700 horse at 6,800 rpm and 500 lb-ft of torque at 3,500 rpm. Step one complete, the hunt for the perfect Ford started. It could have been any body up to 1967, but Wynn preferred the idea of making a tribute car similar to the one Ford showed at Gasoline Alley of the 1964 Indy 500. Just imagine being able to order this from your local Ford dealer. A suitable donor car was found on Craigslist in Richmond B.C. The owner of the car had passed away and he had lovingly restored this car and the car was sitting in his Body Shop and the family was ready to sell it.

This 1964 Galaxy 500 XL originally came with an “X” code 352 cu. in. V8 and was owned since new in the lower mainland of B.C. and sold at Brown Brothers Ford in Vancouver. The car’s an older restoration with a beautiful Guardsman Blue paint job, and was perfect for his needs. The interior was great except for the door panels which have just arrived after a couple year search, and need to be installed.

The car came with an AM/FM radio which was rare in 1964. The dash had the sweeping speedometer that was typical of the ‘60s, but not wanting a row of gauges under the dash, a new layout was created. The circular “pods” formerly housed a clock on the left and an engine coolant gauge on the right. The new layout replaces the clock with a speedo and the water temp with a tach, and where the sweeping speedo needle used to swing across the dash, four round gauges with oil pressure, water temp, voltmeter and fuel gauge now reside.

Bucket seats and console were also a rarity on full sized cars, but many of the more luxurious features included a “Wind-out” vent “NoDraft” window and thick deep loop carpeting, courtesy lamps in the doors, bright pedal dress-up covers and 14-in. wheels with full spinner wheel covers. The car now runs larger 15-in. wheels with “Dog Dish” type hubcaps.

What was not optional in 1964 was disc brakes, not exotic four-wheel discs like a Corvette, but not on any wheel. Just drum brakes. This car had a shipping weight of 3,622 pounds and once the driver and a full tank of gas were added, relying on the front sway bar to help you steer around objects probably worked better than trying to stop. Surprisingly, lighter aluminum drum bakes were offered as an option.

Corey Doerksen of K &M Tune-up Centre, Abbotsford, handled stuffing the fresh SOHC engine into the car, as well as the chassis. The mill also got headers, electric fan, aluminum cross flow radiator, Flow Master Mufflers and dual 3-in. exhaust. The rear end got upgraded from the stock open diff with 3.00 gears to Posi-traction with a 3:55 gear ratio, and was built by Jamie Roth at I.W.E. Rear Ends Only.

The transmission is a C-6 in place of the original 3 speed Cruise-o-matic that came with the car. The C-6 was rebuilt with a 2,500 stall converter by Jamie Roth and is perfect for some drag racing. Interestingly, on the “R-Code” Galaxies, the 4-speed manual was the only option and for 1964, it was the newly released “Top-Loader” that has had a loyal following for years.

This car has a big sway bar up front, and the rear got the addition of some sneaky, hidden traction control bits that are hard to see. The traction control is a Cal Tracs Traction Bar System which mounts a bracket around the springs front mounting point. From the front bracket a “Force Transfer Link” strut is attached to a another bracket that wraps around the axle and spring, mimicking a four-link set-up.

The frame is stock, had never been abused or damaged, and is powder coated. Although one would assume the frame is plenty strong to start with, Ford added an “X”-type cross member for the convertibles, and the V8 cars got their four cross members built of tougher stuff than the six-cylinder jobs. big rear brakes are stock, but the front has Wilwood discs with a dual power brake master cylinder for safety. The car weighs around 3,500 pounds, so the brakes are a good investment. Interestingly, on the original “R Code” 427, power steering, brakes, automatic transmission and air conditioning were not available.

The interior is stock and deluxe, vinyl and fabric with console. The radio looks stock but has all sorts of magic going on inside and additional speakers are placed in the replacement front kick panels. Sitting behind the wheel, with the big Single Overhead Camshaft 427 churning away, the car feels exactly the way Ford should have built

them. A small clock is beside the hot rodded radio and seems to be showing the time in 1964, but the full set of gauges and a tach makes you wonder what kind of car needs this much attention to temperatures and pressures? Is this docile looking family car really ever going to be in danger of being run at its limit?

They look completely stock and really complement the looks of the car while protecting the motor from over-exertion....and over-exertion is definitely possible. Wynn’s other cars are road racing cars, but this one will see its share of the dragstrip.

While this story was being written, Wynn was getting two of his race cars ready for some track time at Area 27. With his connection to the road course at Mission Raceway Park and its being part of one of Western Canada’s most successful dragstrips, yeah, this car is about to get exerted! And yeah, it’s got a Cammer!

Story by Dan Heyman, photos courtesy of GM Canada

While Cadillac has been talking about its EV future and the LYRIQ, The General’s luxury brand wants everyone to remember that they have raced before, and that performance vehicles are still an essential part of Caddy’s identity. They’re also coming off a record year in Canada, a year that saw them release not one, but two all-new sedans – the CT4 and CT5 -- in a world where sedans are supposed to be going the way of the Edsel in favour of crossovers and SUVs.

So, what does Caddy do, then, to both honour those two new cars and its performance heritage? Well, release hot performance versions of each, of course!

Each one is called “Blackwing” and they are both powered by hotted-up engines that are built in General Motors’ Bowling Green, KY manufacturing plant – yes, that’s correct, the same place where they build the Corvette. It’s the first time we’ve seen a Cadillac receive some love from the Cradle of Corvette ever since the XLR coupe and roadster circa 2003-2009. Unless you include the twin-turbo V8 that was supposed to power the CT6-V, although that car – and thus, its engine – never made production, so we’re not counting it here.

Neither the CT4-V Blackwing or CT5-V Blackwing get a twinturbo V8, however; the larger CT5-V gets a supercharged V8 good for a frankly startling 668 horsepower and 659 lb-ft of torque; that’s more than said Corvette makes on both fronts and more akin to what you might see from a Shelby GT500 Mustang. The CT4-V version, meanwhile, does get a twin-turbo set-up that sees the snails attached to a 3.6-litre V6 good for 472 hp and 445 lb-ft.

The processing power required to attain such figures from the CT5-V Blackwing includes a 1.7-litre – onepoint-seven litre – Eaton four-lobe supercharger that’s bigger than some engines found in compact cars and crossovers, as well as a 6.2-litre V8. That makes the CT5-V the most powerful Cadillac ever and is good for a claimed 0-100 km/h sprint of a paltry 3.7 seconds on to a top speed of – wait for it – over 200 miles per hour. That’s if you’re using the optional 10-speed automatic transmission; a six-speed manual is standard on both the CT4V and CT5-V, to which we say a big “why, thank you, Cadillac!” It’s all about making these vehicle more involving to drive.

According to Cadillac’s preliminary testing, meanwhile, the CT4-V Blackwing can complete the 0-100 km/h sprint in 3.8 seconds when using the 10-speed auto, just a tenth of a second slower that the CT5-V.

More than that though, these two have performance above all and not just everyday performance, but track performance, as well. Which is why these are both only available as rearwheel-drive vehicles; Brandon Vivian, Executive Chief Engineer at Cadillac, said in a sneak preview to media that “if it wasn’t going to help with perfor-

mance, we weren’t going to do it” and as far as Cadillac is concerned, AWD was just not going to cut it in this regard. With the likes of the BMW M5 and Mercedes-Benz AMG E 63 going to AWD, will that be a costly decision? Only time will tell.

Of course, all that power needs also to be harnessed, to which Cadillac has responded by providing the CT5-V with 15.7-inch front rotors – meaning not only is it the most powerful Caddy ever, but it also has the largest brakes ever to be fitted to one – that can be upgraded to carbon ceramic rotors. The smaller, lighter CT4 doesn’t get those, but the 15-inch front and 13.4-inch rear rotors plus six/four piston Brembo calipers it does get are sure to get the job done both on the road and track.

Both models, meanwhile, are wider (and look quite aggressive as a result) than their “lesser” brethren and get wider front and rear tracks and tires as well. Every vent and intake you see, meanwhile, are functional and there’s a carbon-fibre track package option that sees the front splitter, canards and rear spoiler finished in the material.

All that unsprung weight is harnessed to the chassis via same-as-the-Corvette magnetic ride dampers at all four corners that can read the road below five-times faster than previously. There are also stiffer spring

rates, hollow stabilizer bars, higher-rate bushings and stiffer rear knuckles. All that power, meanwhile, is transferred to the road via Michelin Pilot Sport 4S tires wrapped around staggered forged aluminum wheels. Want more lightness still? Magnesium wheels are on the way.

Inside, the Cadillac has gone “to the nines” with these, providing carbon-fibre seatbacks (that are heated and cooled, which isn’t always the case), Alcantara inserts all over, sports-style wheel with red centring band and a “V-mode” button that provides a link to a drive mode with customized presets. So important was the manual transmission to Cadillac, that they designed the deeply-bolstered seats to ensure that they don’t get in the way of the driver’s arm when they reach for a shift.

Little question that Cadillac has got everything in place with the Blackwing models to ensure that they hit the performance benchmarks. Drivers of the world, rejoice.