Classic American October 2016 preview

AMERICAN MUSCLE '76 PONTIAC TRANS AM

FINNED FINALE

'61 NEWPORT ESPIONAGE

SEMA SENSATION

ALL CARBON '65 MUSTANG

PAGES FULL OF EVENTS

Mopar Euro Nats Corvette Nationals Damn Yankees LINCOLN LUXURY

'73 Continental Mark IV PLUS CHROME ESSENTIALS HOW TO DRIVE DOWN YOUR CAR INSURANCE

CHEVY HEAVEN

AMAZING COLLECTION OF '46-'48 CHEVYS

48

73 41 35

Contents October 2016

Regulars

Features

06 12 14 16 18 20 24 32 102 104 108 110 113 116 118

27 35 41 48 57 61 66 80

News Letters Across the Pond Muscle Car Files Here to Obscurity Subscription Offer CA Shop Back Issues Club News Events Discoveries Scale Autos Services Drive Buy Private Classifieds

1976 Pontiac Trans Am 1973 Lincoln Mark IV 1961 Chrysler Newport ‘46-’48 Chevy collection Ron Hope CA Tech: Rechroming Interview: Jeff Katz Insurance secrets

Events 69 Corvette Nationals 73 Mopar EuroNats 83 Damn Yankees American & Modified 112 Ringbrothers’ Mustang

27

57

classic-american.com 5

1976 Trans Am r

R

egardless of your politics − Ford, GM, Studebaker even − if you’re into American performance and muscle cars, you owe Pontiac a ‘thank you’. The mid-1970s was the worst possible time to own a muscle car, but Pontiac kept making them regardless.

The fuel crisis, 55mph speed limit and ultrahigh insurance rates were forcing muscle car manufacturers to kill their darlings. Ford axed the real Mustangs, Plymouth ditched its ‘Cuda, and Dodge gelded its Chargers and Challengers.

Chevy dropped the Z28 and the performance versions of the 396cu in and 454cu in V8s and Pontiac’s management was equally ready to drop the Firebird for the 1975 model year, until one man convinced it not to. ❯❯

classic-american.com 27

its new owner p ars ago. test more than 40 ye Words: Paul Bussey

classic-american.com 35

The Rat Trap fuel-altered is one of the most famous nitro-burning nostalgia drag racing scenes, with fans the world over. While the team was in the UK for Dragstalgia this year, Keith Harman asked Ron Hope, Rat Trap’s owner and driver, about travelling the world with this outstanding and crowd-pleasing car.

KH: Hello Ron, welcome to the UK and to a beautiful sunny day at Dragstalgia here at Santa Pod. We’re looking forward to seeing Rat Trap in action today, so tell me, how many times has Rat Trap appeared in the UK? You seem to have become a regular visitor!

RH: Yes, thankfully we are, this would be, I believe, the fifth trip over here.

KH: I know you’ve shown the car at the Goodwood Festival of Speed before now. Is this the first time you’ve visited Santa Pod? RH: Yes, we’ve been to Goodwood three times, but this is actually our second time here at Santa Pod.

Ron Hope.

KH: You obviously enjoy travelling the world with Rat Trap, and it’s especially cool that you’ve brought the Bradford’s Altered with you this time as well. What

motivates you to actually leave the US and tour all these countries?

RH: Ah, you know, it’s fantastic, the fans around the world are great (not that they’re not great back home) but we just really enjoy coming here, and as you may know, we are off to Germany in a few weeks’ time, and then back here at Santa Pod, and then we’ll be at the British Drag Racing Hall of Fame awards, and then off again to New Zealand. So, we’ve been to NZ now three times and ready for the fourth.

KH: So why do you think Rat Trap gets to tour so much and other teams from the US don’t? There are lots of Nostalgia drag race teams out there now.

RH: I think we’re quite fortunate in that we have the luxury of the time available. A lot of teams are hampered and just can’t get away because of the obligations they’ve got back in the States, while we have the freedom to tour, we are also, quite frankly, pleased that we have had the invitations, without the invitations we couldn’t come and do this.

KH: Yes, yes, I guess that’s half of it…

RH: There it is, without the invitations, it’s kinda difficult, you’re not going to just pick up and go, are you? Just turn up and say, “By the way, here I am, y’know?”

classic-american.com 57

Words: Geoff Carverhill Pictures: Jeff Katz

Geoff Carverhill talks to legendary Hollywood photographer Jeff Katz, who tells the story behind the photo shoot of a 1960 Cadillac for the cover of the Robert Cray Band album, Nothin’ But Love…

I

n the January 2015 edition of Classic American we showed the photography of Jeff Katz on the album cover of the Robert Cray Band CD reviewed in the feature Motorvatin’ Vinyl, Part I. Here are the rest of the photos from that photo shoot and the story behind it. A quick look at the website of Hollywood photographer Jeff Katz will tell you that this man is certainly in demand.

His reputation as a talented and versatile photographer is renowned within the Hollywood celebrity circuit and during his career he has photographed everyone who is anyone in the film, TV, music and fashion industries: Prince, Alanis Morissette, Annie Lennox, Stevie Wonder, LL Cool J, from the world of pop music; and actors – Denzil Washington, Morgan Freeman, Chris O’Donnell, Kevin Spacey, Sir Anthony Hopkins... the list will fill this page, believe me!

Sometimes, however, Jeff Katz gets to combine two of his passions – music and cars – in a photo shoot. Jeff is the man behind the ZZ Top Eliminator album cover and remembers “going around everywhere with Billy Gibbons just buying cars!” One essential aspect of being a successful photographer is to earn respect from your subjects, especially if they are high-profile actors or musicians. With that respect, the subjects occasionally become friends.

That was the case with blues guitarist Robert Cray. Jeff has known Robert for more than 25 years and when a call came from his management to shoot the cover for his 2012 album, Nothin’ But Love, Jeff was delighted to do it:

66 classic-american.com

As a service to our readers, Classic American has teamed up with Footman James to reveal a few car insurance secrets. We reckon you’ll be surprised...

W

hen you phone for an insurance quote on a modern car, there are more than 100 different rating factors that will affect the price. When you call up for a quote on a classic, there are generally two main rating factors.

Uncovering nuggets like this can save you money and help to ensure that if the worst does happen, your cover will do the job it needs to do. Over these two pages, we’re going to reveal the best way to approach the insurance for your pride and joy, or if you’re something of a collector, for your entire fleet. Now, about those two rating factors...

Defining a classic

Even the insurance industry struggles to do this, basing their ideas on a rolling 20-year cut-off but with numerous exceptions: high-value prestige models can get a classicstyle policy when much younger, usually because of the way they’re used. And this is the crucial point.

The two rating factors mentioned above are your classic’s annual mileage and its value. What defines a classic for insurance purposes has less to do with age or historic vehicle status and more to do with lifestyle. For a quote to be based on those two factors alone, other things are assumed: the owner will have access to another vehicle for daily use and the classic will be kept in a locked garage so postcode-related car crime is largely dialled

80 classic-american.com

Above: Don’t forget to insure your resto’ project.

out. Drivers are expected to be between 25 and 75 years of age – outside those brackets, especially at the younger end, cover can be harder to find and more expensive.

Pieter Bolton, underwriting manager at Footman James, explains how the right lifestyle factors can extend the boundaries of cars treated as classics: “We’ve started to offer cover for future classics – cars that may only be a few years old – that are built like traditional classic policies. The owners attend shows, have car club or forum memberships and they'll cover a pretty limited annual mileage in the car. So why not?”

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

Words & Photography: Will Shiers

The check-out staff at my motel directed me to this wellhidden Chevrolet 1.5-ton truck. It was parked up an old farm track, nestled behind some abandoned buildings, about three miles north of Galata, Montana. I’m going to guess its year of manufacture is 1935, making it more than 80 years old.

When you’re searching for old tin, one of the best places to look is behind deserted buildings. This 1947 Oldsmobile was well hidden from the road, parked up behind a disused gas station.

I’m pretty sure that this 1955 Dodge is an entry-level Coronet, rather than a more desirable Royal or Custom Royal. The car is part of a small private collection I found on the outskirts of Nashville, Tennessee.

I found this ultra-rare Buick Special Riviera Estate Wagon in a South Dakota salvage yard. Just 6817 people found the $3167 needed to drive one of these 4309lb giants out of the showroom in 1958.

Buick LeSabres were built from 1959 to 2005, and this four-door version hails from the very first year. Check out the solid-line speedometer, which appears to be stuck at 75mph.

This car definitely needs rescuing, and if you think you might be brave enough,ring 001 605 528 6718. It’s located about 40 miles from Sioux City, Iowa.

Paul Bussey

Drive

buy

FORD THUNDERBIRD SPORTS ROADSTER

SPECIFICATION

Vendor: Don Impson, St Albans, Hertfordshire Mobile: 01727 856586 Price: £19,000

T

he third generation of Ford’s Thunderbird arrived in 1961 with the Bill Boyer designed, so-called Bullet Birds. New features included a beefier unibody structure, comprising of coil spring and A-arm front suspension set-up, with a solid axle and leafs to the rear. This new layout enhanced overall rigidity, which was a great asset for the convertible model. This was designated the Sports Roadster and was a full four-seater, otherwise a rather large GRP tonneau cover could be easily fitted, but alas there was nowhere to stow it in the car.

The interior was styled along the lines of an aircraft cockpit, with a huge centre console between the front seats. A novel feature was the swing-away steering column, ideal for those owners who were rather portly. Power came from a 390cu in engine.

This month’s Drive-Buy is the most desirable of the Bullet Birds: a Sports Roadster that’s been in the remarkable long-term ownership of a motor engineer for the last 30 years. It has most reluctantly gone up for sale due to too many other projects on the go, sound familiar?

The car was actually imported to the UK when it was new. This T-bird has been completely repainted twice in the last 30 years and right now the Diamond Blue paint could do with rejuvenating. The brightwork is mostly

116 classic-american.com

original, pitted and patina’d here and there.

There’s a great deal of originality about the car and knowing that it’s been maintained by a motor engineer for such a long period of time can only be a good thing. The pale blue interior is mostly in a fine state of preservation, the rear seats don’t look like they have ever been sat on, the front ones show light wear. The blue carpets were replaced quite a while ago, but remain quite serviceable. The GRP tonneau is easily placed in position and held down by two fixings at the rear.

This T-bird could easily be summed up by the old saying: ‘never judge a book by its cover’.

The paintwork’s tired, but the car drives so well.

Just the slightest of prods on the accelerator pedal and the 390cu in engine eagerly propels it forward with consummate ease, combined with tree-pulling torque. Vendor Don reckons that, driven ultra-carefully at slow speeds, the best fuel consumption the car has ever returned is around 25mpg, which is exceptional. There’s a pair of Cherry Bombs fitted to the exhaust system, which are fairly audible, but that’s the way Don likes his Yank to sound! The power steering is just about as feather-light as it gets and at times, finger and thumb is all that’s required.

The drum brakes are well adjusted and inspire great confidence. For a convertible, there’s also a pleasing lack of rattles, squeaks and other irritating noises. To sum up, it could be fairly described as a fully up-and-running project car, extremely well sorted mechanically, but requiring some TLC, but that’s reflected in the asking price.

Engine: 390cu in V8 four-barrel carburettor Power: 300bhp@4600rpm Torque: 427lb ft@2800rpm Transmission: Three-speed Ford Cruise-o-Matic MoT: 12 months from point of sale Mileage: 75,738

Car wears radials, not cross-plies.