Classic American Magazine May 2014

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277 MAY 2014

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Contents 60 May 2014

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Don't Forget

Drive-it Day on April 27th!

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Regulars 6 12 14 16 18 20 75 79 82 88 92 94 96 105 110 112 122

News Letters Tony Oksien Across the Pond From Here to Obscurity Subscription Offer Discoveries Drive Buy Behind the Wheel Reviews Merchandise Club News Events & Cruises Service Directory Back Issues Private ClassiďŹ eds Next Month & Credits

Features 22 Kaiser Dragon 28 1965 Shelby Mustang Tribute 33 1964 Cadillac DeVille Convertible 38 Corvette Driving Experience Day 43 Truck Life: 1968 48 1966 Dodge Charger 54 Muscle Car Duel Olds 442 v Buick GS 60 All New Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 65 Tech: Ford VIN Decoding Guide 71 Vintage Style: Vintage Car Boot 86 NSRA Swap Meet 91 Tried Before You Buy

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Words: Nigel Boothman Photography: James Mann

It may not breathe fire, but this green-skinned Kaiser Dragon is so rare that you’d be forgiven for thinking it was a myth. But we’ve found one in captivity…

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hink of late-Forties and early-Fifties American cars and you often think of humble shapes in the shadow of the show-offs from later in the decade. We don’t see a lot of the earlier cars over here, and those that do get imported tend to be the flashier examples: big Cadillacs, toothy Buicks, Town and Country Chryslers. But the more run-ofthe-mill machinery was only just adapting to the novelty of full-width styling, so we wound up with Fords that endured the unflattering nickname of ‘Shoebox’, Lincolns that looked like they’d been in a fist-fight or GM and Chrysler products that hung on to a haunch-like rear wing profile all the way to 1954; a visual throwback to prewar days.

Then you had the less famous names.

Nash/Rambler, Willys, Studebaker, Packard, Hudson, Henry J, Kaiser, Frazer and those funny little Crosleys made up a great many sales between them but also exhibited some of the most daring styling. Think of those superstreamlined Nashes and Hudsons, the exotic-looking Studebakers with a jet engine-style spinner on the nose, and perhaps most advanced of all, the Kaiser-Frazer products that appeared from June 1946.

They were the first all-new designs to appear after the War thanks to the whole company being new – Kaiser-Frazer was created by shipping magnate Henry J Kaiser teaming up with exGraham Paige executive Joseph Frazer. This gave them a clean sheet of paper, which they handed to Howard ‘Dutch’ Darrin (see box out, page 26).

This in turn led to the enviable position that Kaiser-Frazer found itself in come 1950. While most other manufacturers were only just scrapping the last prewar body dies, K-F was re-tooling with Dutch Darrin’s all-new version of his sleek threebox design, this time for Kaiser only. They were on Chapter 2, and the story was really hotting up.

Headline features included the largest windshield in the industry, with the unique ‘Darrin Dip’ in the middle, giving it a kind of heart-shape, reproduced at the rear. The large glass area suggested great interior space, which was no illusion – head and legroom increased and so did comfort, with consideration given to the new science of ergonomics decades before most manufacturers could even spell it.

Sadly, it wasn’t enough to propel Kaiser into the big leagues. Ditto its upscale sibling Frazer, which ceased production after ’51, when Joseph Frazer left. By 1952, cost-cutting measures were reducing the range of Kaiser body styles but the resourceful people at Willow Run in Michigan found another way to keep things exciting.

Enter the Dragon. Now that Kaiser no ❯❯

classic-american.com 23

An old flA me

rekindled

lby Chris Easton’s 1965 She might Mustang GT350R tributet million not have cost the almos ould, dollars that an original wh fun. but it’s every bit as muc

when days of his youth ack in the halcyon used to n sto Ea ris Ch , he was 19 years old he e Mustang, which run a 1965 K-Cod sa wa it ys da se tho ; back in later sold for £600 ars ye 35 w en that for it. No struggle to get ev more cash re time and a little mo s ha ris later, Ch fancied d ssion for cars, an to indulge in his pa ssibly po , 0R 35 GT Mustang owning a Shelby y variants, elb Sh all of ble the most collecta However, ce tag to match. with a massive pri he spotted a internet one day, while surfing the to FIA racing ilt bu en be t had GT350R tribute tha l quite fel de a bid, but it specification; he ma price. short of the asking car which went to view the Undeterred, Chris en he wh d an US the d from had been importe its by d sse time, was impre saw it for the first ation ific ec sp h hig d an ndition totally rust-free co in d roa the been taken off build. The car had ition nd co d ge ma da e and un 1968 in a rust fre d 2004, when stored until aroun and carefully dry David by ute trib GT350R it was built into a n of Port sig De to Au io gg Salvaggio of Salva nsin.

Washington, Wisco d tribute are a lot of so-calle “Nowadays there on the ck stu ls ca de d a few builds that have ha are a long y the t faster’ bits, bu side and a few ‘go says Chris. r,” ca al gin ori like the way off anything ssible to a built as close as po “My car has been d ve pro ap FIA genuine GT350R and is a ct, gaining its pe res ery ev in r competition ca RAC MSA. I Passport from the Historic Technical ably sound ark uced by its rem was completely sed ing be r ca the ed olv ild inv condition. The bu d then media an e eri iss rot dy placed on a bo white with work is Wimbledon blasted. The paint erior had int stripes and as the Guardsman blue erything ev , ing rac for t ed ou been totally stripp nasty no th wi se inspection, was visible for clo e vendor Th re. he yw an n rot surprises of hidde deal and I naged to make a and I eventually ma w to do vie a th wi , 10 r in 20 purchased the ca neral ge d an arity events, some trackdays, ch shows etc.” en rebuilt u in engine had be The K-Code 289c h, ug no Do Mc of ve oti

by Southern Autom d was rated at an on ati ific ec sp Georgia to FIA is a Borg The transmission around 330bhp. loader, also ed ratio four-spe top Warner T10 close d the back ern Automotive, an sourced by South

B

r from a Ford axle is a 9in locke gears. The 9 3.8 th wi ne Fairla es of ning gear compris run the remainder of in drums to 10 d an s, ke bra c dis Kelsey Hayes front ning from o ducted piping run the rear. There’s als ve cooling. pro im to s ke bra the the front ducts to ays, I g the car on trackd “When I was drivin th braking wi m ble pro ht slig found there was a I’ve since ized rear drums, so caused by the overs has ich wh ed fitt or ensat had a brake comp de braking a and above all ma improved things front e Th . ris Ch ls ea whole lot safer,” rev y set-up with elb Sh ard nd sta a suspension is r A-frame rings above uppe heavy-duty coils sp avy duty he tra ex mpers and with adjustable da are heavy r rea the To nt. fro anti-roll bar at the ius rods and with additional rad duty leaf springs, ic dampers. adjustable telescop panels like all the usual GRP s re’ the Bodywise ing that lud inc , ron ap er low the bonnet, front arches to l ee wh tener, flared authentic metal fas r rea d an ls, ee wh 15 accommodate 7 x orporated bars have been inc suspension traction axle. There’s the e ov ab t jus t sit into the body tha side door locks and the no boot lock, no handmade th wi ed lac rep en windows have be

Words & : Photography y Paul Busse

aluminium frames and glazed with plexig lass, which are pulled open or shut by a leather and of cour strap, se the rear w indow with top vent for he at extractio from plexig n is also mad lass. e Attention to detail durin g the build exactly the meant that correct size of rivets wer were the alum e used, as inium retain ing blocks. quarter win The rear dows are bl ocked off by which are fix metal plates ed by the id entical num as on an orig ber of rivets inal car. And that’s the le detail that D ngth of avid Salvag gio went to building this when car; there’s even a genu Raydyot race ine original mirror that’s pretty flimsy damaged, bu and easily t can fetch around £500 nowadays.

Other compe tition parts fitted to the car includ e a Fuel Safe tank and in bladder side there’s an Andy Robinson Ra ce Cars rear 7 x 15 Amer roll cage. Th ican Racing e Torque Thru from a genu st wheels ar ine Shelby ra e ce ca r.

The interior features a co rrect specifi GRP rear de cation ck that hous es the spare there’s a fu wheel, ll complem en t of Carroll Sh dashboard elby instruments , that also fe correct long atures the flick switch fo r the horn as The driver’s original. seat is a copy of a GRP ra bucket seat cing , trimmed w ith original spec vinyl coverin ification g that was an option w and source hen new, d from Shel by Pa rts in the U passenger se S. The at is stock M ustang. The are as close seat belts a copy as po ss ible to the or Ray Brown full harnesse iginal s, which no around $300 w sell for 0.

Sometime af ter Chris pu rchased the one or two car he had problems w ith the engi included a bl ne, which own head ga sket. This w repaired an as duly d at the sam e time a few improvemen other ts were impl emented, bu he wanted t because to increase the engine upgrading th power, by e cylinder he ads, and ha work within ving to the FIA regu lations, this meant forkin would have g out around £15,000. “B was unlikely ecause it I was ever go ing to race Appendix K in the FIA race Series, I took the de was pretty m cision which uch based up on cost, to another mor have e powerful engine built motor,” expl using a 302 ains Chris. “T his is the so modificatio le n from wha t was an ex original trib tremely ute car, and I still have th e 289 ❯❯

When upscale Buick finally challenged Olds in the muscle car race, it was over…

I

magine Manchester United playing Chelsea in the cup final. Wayne Rooney versus Frank Lampard. It could have happened, but now it probably won’t.

It did happen with two other ‘brothers’, not in a football game, but on streets and dragstrips.

Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30 versus Buick GS 455 Stage 1, A-body brothers each considered the ‘gentleman’s muscle car’. Sibling rivals from the era when GM divisions competed more with each other than with Ford, Chrysler, or AMC. John Z DeLorean started it all with a third brother, the 1964 Pontiac GTO. Olds dropped a 400-cube, four-barrel dual exhaust into the Cutlass to create the 4-4-2 a few months later.

When the 1965 Buick GS arrived within a year, it technically violated GM’s 400-cubic-inchdisplacement limit for A-body cars. Badged as

54 classic-american.com

’71 Oldsmobile 442 W-30 vs ’72 Buick GS 455

400, its Wildcat V8 was a 401-cube ‘Nailhead’ V8.

GM replaced its 1964-’67 Abodies with new 1968 models, with new sheetmetal scheduled for every two years. Through ’69, the GTO was GM’s preeminent muscle car, and the 4-4-2 was its more refined brother, with better handling. The subtle, more relaxed GS wasn’t a contender.

GM did away with its 400-cube limit for the 1970 model year, and Buick was ready, especially after the 1969 Opel GT launch. “The increase in showroom floor traffic when the GT went on display early in April was almost unbelievable,” reads the Buick Engineering Production Information Department’s outline of the 1970 GSX. “Some Buick dealers reported 5000 people through their showrooms in one weekend.”

Paul Haddock, owner of the 1972 Buick GS 455 Stage 1 on these pages, was sent a copy of that ❯❯

Words: Todd Lassa Photography: Daniel Byrne Syndication: Fox

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