Classic American - March preview

CHARGER 1971 SUPER BEE WITH A STING! EL CAMINO

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PUNCHY PONTIAC 1962 BONNEVILLE

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1961 CONTINENTAL

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59 EDITOR

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Chef’s Selection 1971 Dodge Super Bee 1962 Pontiac Bonneville 1959 El Camino The Lincoln Continental Story, Part 3 Peter Procter Mustang Auction previews

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For some folks, owning that American car of their dreams remains just that… a dream. For some lucky folks, after a lifetime of dreaming, that fantasy becomes a reality, as is the case with Karl Cordwell and his 1962 Pontiac Bonneville…

1962 Pontiac Bonneville Words and photography: Jon Cass

F

or some people it’s the American car scene which gradually grows on them. As we all know, attending a car cruise regularly can become irresistible. Karl Cordwell has been a regular visitor to the Leeds cruise at its various locations since the age of 17, as we’ll find out. In that time, his love of all things petrol-powered has varied dramatically over the years.

“Back when I was 17, I used to attend the cruise in my first car which was a Vauxhall Magnum,” Karl remembers. “All my mates were running about in Minis. The insurance for the Magnum cost me more than the car was worth, even back then.” Karl always owned and rode motorbikes too and when the time came for mortgages and marriage, his car was the first to go, daily duties being dealt with on two wheels.

This period of family life and settling down

52 classic-american.com

never stopped Karl from visiting the monthly Leeds cruise and within a few years he was back to four wheels in the shape of fast Fords. “By now, I already had a hankering for an American car as there were so many cool cars turning up to every meet,” Karl smiles. “I had to stick with something practical for the time being as my wife also had to drive whatever I bought.”

The Fords made way for TVRs, the first of which somehow became a daily driver all year round for Karl’s wife. “We stuck with TVRs for around 12 years and eventually ran the West Yorkshire Car Club,” Karl points out. “We had four TVRs in total, the last being a very rare 450 Seac, number 17 of 18 built.” The V8 connection was already in place, the Seac being propelled by a race specification 4.6-litre V8. A brief fling with the Jap scene then ensued in the shape of a

Skyline R32 and Honda S2000, no less. Already, Karl had made his way through an enviable collection of cool cars, enough to keep many a petrolhead happy over a lifetime, but his ambition to own a big American car still hadn’t been fulfilled.

“The first American car I bought, I’d seen parked up in some woods near where I live,” Karl recalls. “It was a Ford F350 dual cab pick-up and I’d had my eye on it for some time.” Karl’s curiosity as to why the pick-up had been parked there eventually got the better of him and he soon made contact with the owner. “He’d left it parked up when the gearbox let go, but was willing to sell the pick-up as he had no plans to fix it,” Karl explains. “I put a pair of new batteries on the 7.3-litre power stroke engine and she fired up straight away and ran really sweet.”

Peter Procter preparing to do battle in one of Colin Chapman’s Lotus 18s.

Peter Procter, the Mustang and the 1964 Tour de France Automobile

Geoff Carverhill discovers how two Englishmen and a Scotsman gave the Ford Mustang its European racing credentials‌ Words: Geoff Carverhill Images: Peter Procter, Haymarket Publications Archives 72 classic-american.com

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