Classic American November 2016 preview

RAT-LOOK RAMBLER

'58 CROSS COUNTRY WAGON

SIMPLY RED '72 MUSTANG FASTBACK

S 10 PAIR KETS OF TIC

Events 1969 FORD COUNTRY SQUIRE

HOT ROD HAYRIDE, ATOMIC & KUSTOM KULTURE

inside

LONG ROOF SHOWDOWN 1969 CHEVROLET KINGSWOOD ESTATE

FATHER & SON '55 STUDEBAKER HAWKS

FAMILY FAVOURITES

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Contents November 2016

Regulars

Features

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News Letters Across the Pond Muscle Car Files Here to Obscurity Subscription Offer CA Shop Back Issues Reviews Readers’ Rides Rear Window Discoveries Events Services Private Classifieds

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Ford v Chevy Wagons 1941 Buick Woodie 1972 Ford Mustang 1955 Studebaker Hawks Tech: power steering pump rebuild 61 Vaughn Gittin Jr Events 66 Silverstone Classic 69 Buster Lang 74 Hot Rod Hayride 78 Atomic 95 Kustom Kulture

American & Modified 100 1958 Rambler wagon

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1969 Chevrolet Kingswood Estate

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his article is presented as a public service for those old enough to remember those rolling touchstones of the Fifties, Sixties and Seventies – the great, allAmerican full size station wagon. Read it and bask in the affirmation that you are not alone in your appreciation of these vehicles… Clip it out and show it to your sceptical kids or spouse.

This story starts in the summer of 1978 on a farm road in Wisconsin when dad first slid over and offered me the helm of our Dover White 1969 Chevy wagon. The moment I’d waited 15 interminable years for was at hand.

I was a driver. Ours was a sensible low-spec small-block Townsman with A/C and an AM radio, but before taking the helm I’d spent nine years upgrading it with Kingswood trim pieces from the local salvage yard in a peculiar cargeek bonding ritual which spanned that car’s 170,000mile stay with us. A few years later, we sold the slightly battered hulk to a tradesman who undoubtedly scrapped it shortly thereafter.

Three decades on, I want that new-driver feeling back and only a ’69 Chevy wagon will do. The very finest example still in existence lives just 15 minutes from my house in the GM Heritage Collection. Its original owner did his level best to make a Corvette out of this top-ofthe-line Kingswood Estate, ordering $1939.50 worth of options including hidden headlamps, sport steering wheel, and the rare 425-horsepower 427 V8, which cost $447.65.

Engine: 426.9cu in/6996cc ohv V8 1x4-bbl Rochester carb Power and torque (SAE gross): 425bhp/460lb-ft Drivetrain: 3-speed automatic, RWD Brakes: Vented disc front; rear drum Suspension: Control arms, coil springs front; live axle, coil springs rear Dimensions: L: 216.7, W: 79.8, H: 56.9 Weight: 4891lb Performance: 0-60mph in 7.7 sec, quarter mile in 15.7 sec @ 93 mph Price when new: $5566.50

Carpet is permanently fixed.

Part of the GM Heritage Collection, this wagon came with almost $2000 worth of options.

“YOU TYPICALLY GET ONE POWER-ASSISTED STAB AT THE BRAKES, AFTER WHICH THEY GO MANUAL...”

19 941 Buick Eiight Series Mo odel 49 ‘Wood die’ Wagon Words and Photography:: Grant Ford

Buick’s Model 49 made the perfect ‘West Coast Woodie’ and was the ride of choice for MGM starlets, but as wartime approached this rare model had little time to shine…

Returning the Buick to its form er glory was a painstaking task.

Interior was in a pretty shocking state.

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mson’s Steve and Trevor Willia manders 1955 Studebaker Com el year, might be the same mod s end! but there the similaritie Paul Bussey Words & Photography: classic-american

Ready for rebuild, the Eaton pump minus pulley.

POWER STEERING PUMP OVERHAUL We may not give our vehicle’s power-steering pumps a second thought, but when they fail, steering vehicles that can often weigh in excess of two tonnes can becomes impossible. We look at overhauling one of the more common pumps used on cars in the Fifties and Sixties…

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ith many American cars having large V8 engines, a need to provide assistance for steering was highly desirable. The Eaton pump we look at here was fitted to a number of cars and light trucks from the mid-Fifties through to the Sixties. The pump is a ‘roller’ design and provides a constant pressure which is maintained by a combined valve and relief valve incorporated in the pump body. The fluid pressure which can be as high as 1200psi, is sent to the control valve on the steering linkage which, in turn, sends pressure to a ram, thereby assisting the turning effort. This system does have the advantage of reducing wear in the steering box and was considered quite ‘state of the art’ back in its day.

Overhaul kits consisting mainly of seals and O-rings are available.

Replacement bearings are not available if worn, although being plain phosphor bronze these could be either sourced separately or made. However, the hard chrome rollers would be a more

difficult proposition. The filter element is available, although some applications dispensed with it. Only use clean auto transmission fluid; other types can damage seals.

First, the pulley is removed which, after undoing the 5/16in bolt, can be slid off the plain shaft and its Woodruff key. The latter must be removed from the shaft in order to separate the two halves of the pump which are bolted together and have two locating dowels on their mating faces.

Provided no parts are damaged or worn excessively, the pump can be cleaned (scrupulously!) and with new seals fitted and reassembled it should continue to provide trouble-free operation.

When installing the pump on the car, avoid excessive belt tension and check the pulley is in line with the crank pulley. Never allow the pump to run dry. If a leak develops and you need to drive, then remove the belt. ❯❯

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O Mustang is unusual in the drifting world.

ne of the glorious things about the Goodwood Festival of Speed is that you get to savour a whole bunch of massively talented lunatics wringing the necks out of ludicrously powerful machines at very close quarters. And one of the wildest, most spectacular and entertaining drives of this year’s event was by American Vaughn Gittin Jnr in his aggressive black and luminous green ‘Monster Energy, Nitto Tire’ 2016 Ford Mustang RTR. He charged up Lord March’s narrow 1.16-milelong stretch of cambered blacktop at incredibly high speed, throwing the car completely sideways into the corners with the rear tyres alight, cloaking the massive crowds in acrid smoke.

Hardly lifting off the gas, with immense skill he’d then flick it the other way for the next corner. The Mustang’s supercharged V8 motor was howling and revving so hard I was expecting to see the pistons come through the bonnet and, of course, the crowd loved it.

This was a demonstration of supreme car control at the highest level and the speed and angles achieved had to be seen to be believed.

After watching a few of his runs, I tracked him down in the paddock for a chat. I had no prior knowledge of him and had no idea what he looked like or what to expect. I thought that maybe he’d be a real youngster on a different planet to me, but what I found was a neat, bearded 35-year-old man with his Monster Energy baseball cap on the right way around, who was welcoming, articulate, media-savvy and a clearly switched-on businessman. After some friendly chit chat he told me “I am a World Champion Drifter and professional fun-haver. I am Monster’s professional drift competitor in the States.”

That’s not bad is it, getting sponsored and paid for hooning about? Well, it may look like that, but to reach the top in any sport requires a massive amount of hard work and dedication.

Vaughn was born in Maryland and was raised in a car-mad household. His dad was into hot rods and also ran a purple ’55 Chevy and a Mach 1 Mustang. As a youngster, Vaughn had a go-kart which he learnt to slide around and on his 16th birthday his dad bought him his first car, a black ’64 Cutlass.

A couple of years later he bought a crashed Nissan 240SX for $1000 from his friend, fixed it up and started power sliding it around empty industrial estates at weekends. ❯❯

Words by Steve Havelock Photography: Steve Havelock, Vaughn Gittin Jnr and Ford

Steve Havelock meets Vaughn Gittin Jnr, the man that brought American muscle to the motorsport dominated by Jap cars: drifting

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Sandown Park, Surrey

August 13 to 14, 2016

Stunning Olds lowrider.

The new venue for the show was the auspicious setting of Sandown Park Racecourse in Esher, and what a venue it was! Buster Lang Ltd put on a great 2016 show, giving eager petrol heads the chance to see some extra special vehicles that wouldn’t normally see the light of day. The show was spread across two halls and at the front of the main building on the public apron.

Outside there were some real gems on display, from big Kenworth rigs, dragsters, Hot Rods, Nascar race cars, TV & movie cars and the guys from HardUp Garage with their own unique brand of vehicles, including their much talked about fire-belching rat rod. The quality of the additional 200+ cars on display on the apron was remarkable. There was the usual array of Mustangs ranging from the Sixties, right through to present day models, Chevys, Buicks, Oldsmobiles, Cadillacs, Mercurys − you name it − it was there on display.

If you had fairly heavy pockets and needed to lighten them, there were also loads of stalls selling everything from clothing by Rusty Pistons, those oh-so-lovely doughnuts from Krispy Kreme, through to car care products and workshop tools. Whilst the show was in full swing you also had the opportunity to purchase that dream classic at the live auction held by Barrons Classic Car Auctions, with vehicle viewing in the Parade Ring to the rear of the main building. Buyers had the choice of some fantastic vehicles; a really classy Plymouth Fury grabbed my attention − all I need now is a massive Lotto win. ❯❯

Tough looking Mercury Cougar.

Words & Photography: John Kennedy

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Readers’

Rides 1958 Oldsmobile 1946 Ford/Mercury rod 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air 1941 Chevrolet Master Special Deluxe hot rod Mel tries the International for size.

Neil Hill and Mel Henson

Mansfield, Nottinghamshire Neil and Mel live near Mansfield in Nottinghamshire and own this fine collection of unusual and exoticlooking cars. Neil says he spends many, many hours at night and his occasional days off working on his collection of cars – something which is understandable with so many vehicles. They recently took a trip to the States to do Route 66 to celebrate Mel’s brother’s 60th, although it was a bit of a challenge, Neil says: “I think it’s easier to find a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, than to stay on Route 66; I ended up in fields when the road would suddenly end and spent most of the 2500 miles on the interstate!”

This trip was Neil’s first and during the trip he spotted and bought a 1946 International and a 1950 Studebaker rat pick-up,

’46 International ‘rat’ pick-up.

a brave move bearing in mind that he’s not a dealer, just a real American custom car nut for many years who’s rapidly running out of room. Neil didn’t have to do just the deal with the seller to get these vehicles, but also had to negotiate with wife Mel, promising to sell one of his existing vehicles to gain permission to buy them (we like the maths Neil – sell one car to buy two!). Anyway, here’s a brief rundown on that collection of theirs…

The orange ’46 Mercury came in from California about three years ago and although the bodywork was already chopped, the interior was pretty rough and the drivetrain needed work. Neil retrimmed the interior and reconditioned the 500cu in Cadillac engine and TH400 transmission, transmission as well as

’50 Studebaker pick-up.

adding cherry bombs with side cutouts, lowering it and adding some new gauges.

The 1958 Olds Super 88 runs a 371cu in motor and Powerglide ’box and was bought from a 90-year-old in Montgomery, Alabama who claimed the car had been ‘garage kept’ all its life. Neil says: “I think he forgot to mention that said garage didn’t have a roof, judging by the car I received. I reckon the pictures I was sent were not the same as the car I collected from the docks…” After a phone call and some negative feedback, Neil began to get stuck in to the awful Olds. It wasn’t a pretty sight: the bodywork was terrible, the chrome rusty and the interior trashed. Mechanically things weren’t much better: the engine wouldn’t run and the gearbox dumped all its oil on to the drive.

Neil ploughed into this project with great gusto, tackling the

interior and taking the engine apart and rebuilding that – something that went hideously wrong when the engine was finally started… with no oil in it! Despite this seeming disaster, the engine was salvaged and he also went about lowering the car a couple of inches to give it a bit more of a cool custom feel.

Neil and Mel’s 1959 Bel Air also came from eBay about a year ago and was another California car.

This also was a complete basket case (do you begin to detect a bit of a pattern emerging here?!) and had a 283cu inV8 mated to the standard two-speed Powerglide auto ’box. The engine had very bad hiccups (the compression was way down) and the interior was in bits and half missing. Absolutely nothing electrical worked (apart from the glovebox light) and as Neil got into restoring the car he discovered mud everywhere – inside the glove box, under ❯❯

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A 1954 Pontiac Chieftain Deluxe, which has been stripped of its running gear, still has plenty of straight body panels to donate to the classic car cause. Or at least it did when I photographed it three years ago in a Colorado salvage yard.

DISCOVERIES Our intrepid salvage yard explorer brings you junkyard jewels from across North America.

Words & Photography: Will Shiers

Camaros from this era are few and far between in this condition, and in 20 years of wandering around American junkyards, this is the first 1968 RS I’ve discovered. Unlike the SS, which received a performance upgrade, the RS was an appearance package.

Features included hidden headlights, distinctive badges and revised tail-lights. Of the 235,000 Camaros built in 1968, just 41,000 were RS spec.

Up until two years ago this 1959 GMC Apache 150 pick-up was working for a living, dragging cars and carrying parts around a South Carolina junkyard. But when the transmission failed it was finally put out to pasture, and was replaced by an Eighties Dodge Ram.

Check out the superb rust-free bodywork on this 1967 Pontiac Catalina four-door sedan. With rot-free panels like these, it should come as little surprise to learn that it resides in Arizona.