FUN! FUN! FUN! '56 Thunderbird
WEITNS TO
TICK PRESCOTT AUTUMN SHOW
SCRAPHEAP CHALLENGE
'56 Chevy Drag Racer
THUNDER in the GLEN '67 & '72 Mustangs
BEAULIEUFJ BRISTOL CLASSIC GOODWOODRALLY OF THE GIANTS STARS & STRIPESVHRA PENDINE SANDS
CHILL OUT! Air Con Top Tips
YES! IT'S GOT A HEMI! '53 DeSoto Firedome
Original ’65 Charger concept.
Ben Klemenzson
Viewpoint
STEP INTO SEPTEMBER... W elcome to the September issue of Classic American… Wow, September? That must mean autumn is almost here! Fear not though, if previous years are anything to go by, we’ll have the nicest weather (and by that I mean dry!) yet to come in September and October. It’s certainly been a busy month here at Class Am Towers and I worked out that I’d been to six American car shows in the last four weeks alone. There used to be a lot of events in June a decade or two ago – Billing for example – but that all seems to have changed in recent years. And speaking of shows and American car events, the feedback we’ve been getting from readers is one of dissatisfaction, boredom… even disappointment with the current offerings. Unfortunately, laying on an American car event isn’t cheap or easy and has become increasingly complex and bureaucratic. What’s the answer? That isn’t obvious, as there don’t really seem to be any solutions; perhaps things will become clearer in the coming years, as certain events come to dominate the calendar, while others fade away. And of course, there’s always the weather factor, which is part and parcel of life in the UK.
This month we’re all about car show coverage and in response to calls for more tech features, we thought we’d take a look at the black art of air conditioning – great when it works, not so great when it doesn’t! We’ve also got a kaleidoscope of cars for your enjoyment. A particular favourite of mine is the somewhat scruffy-looking, but straight, honest and authentic ’66 Dodge Charger belonging to Chris Guite. We’re often criticised for featuring ‘big buck’ cars out of reach of the ordinary man on the street; Chris and his Charger are surely a great riposte to that accusation. Chris can be seen at shows all over the country, with his little girl in a car seat beside him and the car improving with each outing. Way to go Chris, that’s definitely the spirit of Classic American!
Chris with family and Charger.
Electroluminescent dash.
Charger at American Speedfest III, 2015.
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Contents September 2017
Regulars
Features
06 12 14 16 18 20 38 50 65 67 74 122 126 128 130 142
22 31 40 45 53 60 108
News Letters Across the Pond Muscle Car Files Here to Obscurity Subscription Offer CA Shop Back Issues Reviews Tech Scale Autos Events Discoveries Drive Buy Private Classifieds Services Directory
1967 & 1972 Mustangs 1966 Dodge Charger 1956 T-bird 1969 Oldsmobile 1953 DeSoto 1928 Buick Project Beauty ’Pala
Events 77 Beaulieu Show 81 FJ Bristol Show 86 Pendine 91 Stars and Stripes 97 Goodwood 103 Rally of the Giants 112 A&M News 114 1956 Drag Car
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News
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Photography: John Isaac
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Classic American
Prescott Autumn Classic The popular American-themed Autumn Classic returns to Prescott Speed Hill Climb on Saturday, September 30 and Sunday, October 1, 2017. The all-American Stars and Stripes weekend celebrates the biggest and brightest cars this side of the pond and you can be a part of it! We have five pairs of tickets up for grabs, plus the opportunity to WIN a thrilling passenger ride in an American muscle classic car!
SIX CHANCES TO WIN! A thrilling passenger ride in an American muscle car up the historic hill climb
Terms and conditions apply. For full terms and conditions, please see www. classic-american.com.
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5 pairs of general admission tickets to include entry into the wall of death.
There are no cash alternatives available. The winners will be the first six names drawn at random.
The event is packed with spectacular American vehicles from every era, as well as hot rods, customs, Indian motorcycles and custom choppers, plus a wide variety of competition cars competing on the historic hill climb course. There’s a dedicated show ‘n’ shine display area for American vehicle owners all vying to scoop the prestigious Footman James Car of the Year competition, of which this is the final heat.
There’s also the world’s oldest surviving wall of death, the Demon Drome, which will be featuring death-defying stunts, plus there’ll be a whole host of entertainment to keep all the family entertained, including hot rockin’ bands, Vegas showgirls, stars ’n’ stripes comedy stilt walkers, dance lessons and much, much more! It’s a great day out for the family; for more information visit: www.prescotthillclimb.com
FOOTMAN JAMES CAR OF THE YEAR ROUND-UP
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Wowser! What a busy old month it’s been with the Footman James Car of the Year competition, with no less than four heats over the past month – that’s one every weekend in July! Here’s a round-up of who won what when. There are show reports on Stars
& Stripes and Rally of the Giants in this month’s magazine and don’t forget you can see these four fantastic cars (and the four other heat winners!) on the Classic American stand at the Classic Motor Show, NEC over the weekend of November 10-12.
Stars & Stripes Show, Tatton Park, Cheshire. WINNER: Steve Sullivan, 1955 Ford Thunderbird.
Rally of the Giants, Blenheim Palace, Oxfordshire. WINNER: Sven Larsen, 1950 Nash Ambassador Airflyte
Damn Yankees, North Weald, Essex. WINNER: Mike Churchill, Lincoln Continental Mark IV
Mopar Euro Nats, Santa Pod Raceway, Northamptonshire. WINNER: David Christmas, 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner
Picture credit: Andy Willsheer Only two more heats remain of this year’s competition, which will be held at Atomic and the Prescott American Autumn Classic over the weekends of August 19-20 and September 30October 1 respectively. See you there!
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Words & Photography: Richard Coney
AUCTION REPORT News HISTORICS AT BROOKLANDS Classic American
SUMMER AUCTION
Brooklands Museum, Weybridge on Saturday, July 8
T
he Brooklands Museum, near Weybridge, Surrey, again played host to the aptly named auction house Historics at Brooklands with another eclectic mix of classic vehicles, including a few of interest to Classic American readers. Among the 135 consignments for their summer auction were a modest 10 vehicles of American origin, ranging from a late Thirties Buick to a 1990 Corvette. Estimates varied wildly from ‘no reserve’ to a wallet-busting £200,000. Nevertheless, with any auction it comes down to how much bidders will pay on the day. The aforementioned Buick, a former Classic American feature car, was a 1939 Special with a straight-eight engine. It showed under 34,000 miles on the clock and was a stunning example, reputedly a 100 point concours restoration that had cost £50,000 to achieve. With an estimate of £21k to £27k some lucky soul grabbed a bargain, as the hammer fell at £22,960 including Buyer’s Premium. Another bargain was a two-tone red and white 1955 Studebaker Commander, offered at no reserve and with a 1994 Ford V8 and fivespeed manual gearbox installed by Contagious Customs in the States. With a tidy interior, it was ready for the road, being fully UK registered and sold for a reasonable £5936, including fees. A remarkably clean 1974 Jeep CJ5 Renegade also found a new owner, reaching £10,000. A factory RHD model owned by a family for 42 years and imported recently from Australia, it probably explained the absence of any convertible hood. There were three Corvettes on offer. A bright red-on-red 1972 C3 convertible, complete with hardtop, exceeded its maximum estimate of £21k, selling for £23,520. A recently imported 1972 C3 with targa-top and a 350cu in V8 had blue paint and a ‘magnolia’ leather interior. It was claimed to have been the property of a
former Chicago Bears football player. Its open headlight conversion might have deterred bidders, or perhaps its estimate of £18k to £24k, because it remained unsold. The 1990 Corvette C4 ZR1, in a subtle metallic green with tan leather interior, fared better, selling for £11,480, close to its upper estimate of £12k. Someone bagged an incredibly powerful car for that money, including a ‘C4’ registration plate. In contrast, an exceptionally clean 1969 Chevy Camaro RS/SS and a mint condition 1967 Shelby Mustang GT500, did not find buyers. Two of the stars of the event, the professionally restored Camaro, an extremely rare and original car, in view of its unusual dual Rally Sport and Super Sport spec, had an upper estimate of £65k. Perhaps the price reflected both its rarity and restoration costs, but it went home unsold. The Shelby was perhaps as good as one can get, carefully restored to as-new condition, with a spotless 428cu in V8, blemish-free dark blue paint and reupholstered interior. Was its estimate of £170,000 to £200,000 overly optimistic? Maybe not in the States, but despite potential overseas buyers able to bid online and Carroll Shelby’s signature on the glovebox door, it was clearly too expensive on the day. Perhaps more surprisingly was the no-sale for the clean, tidy and eminently usable 1957 Ford Thunderbird, in white with a porthole hardtop.
1939 Buick Special.
1974 Jeep CJ5 front.
1969 Camaro TS SS.
1972 Corvette C3 Targa front. 1967 Shelby GT500.
1990 Corvette ZR1.
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1972 Corvette Convertible.
1955 Studebaker Commander.
It’s not uncommon to see them advertised for over £30,000 these days, so its estimate of £32k to £37k was not outrageous. UK registered and imported just two years ago, it was an immaculate example. However, it too did not sell. Lastly, was the quirkiest American car in the sale, a road legal 1926 Indianapolis 500 single seater Model T Ford. A recreation of an example raced at the Brickyard by Alfred Moss, father of Stirling, in the 1920s, it was complete with a Frontenac cylinder head, and a Warford auxiliary three-speed gearbox, giving it a total of six ratios. The catalogue claimed the owner had driven it to an estimated 70mph before discretion, or
perhaps fear, encouraged him to back off the throttle with plenty of power still in reserve. It was certainly unusual and in exceptional condition. It’s not known whether the Reserve was lowered, but some hardy soul took it home for a not unreasonable £22,400, less than its £25k to £30k catalogue estimate. Historics at Brooklands has an avid following, as evidenced by the 78% sale rate, grossing some £2.85m. Bidders from as far away as New Zealand, bid enthusiastically and while American cars did not feature prominently, those that were consigned provided a useful indication of current prices. We look forward to the next sale on September 23.
1957 Ford Thunderbird.
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Classic American
News In late July 2017 the British Government announced a ban on the sale of new diesel and petrol cars by 2040 in a bid to encourage people – perhaps ‘force people’ would be more accurate – to instead buy electric vehicles. Currently just 4% of new car sales in the UK are electric and Environment Secretary Michael Gove warns Britain can’t carry on with petrol and diesel cars due to the damage they’re doing to our health and the planet. A National Grid report says the resulting increased demand for electricity could add some 30 gigawatts to the current peak of 61GW. To meet these 2040 requirements the UK would require another 10,000 wind turbines – at a present cost of £1.3 million each – or around 10 more nuclear power plants at a cost of £20 billion per plant. The National Grid also predicts Britain will become increasingly reliant on imported electricity, which will rise from around 10% of our total electricity to around one third. Concerns are raised too as to whether Britain will have enough charging points for this new generation of cars. Some electric vehicles have twice the impact on global warming as a conventional car. The vast majority occurs before the vehicle has even left the factory in theproduction and transportation of the vehicle’s lithium ion batteries – which consume large amounts of raw materials and
Ford’s vision of the future in the Sixties was Nucleon, with its own mini atomic reactor. Yes, really. (Image: Ford)
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New diesel and petrol cars banned in UK by 2040 Mike Renaut looks at the Government’s plan to sell only electric vehicles within the next 22 years…
energy. The UK currently makes most of its electricity from burning natural gas and coal – it accounts for 29% of the UK’s greenhouse emissions. Yet Sweden and Iceland produce 70% of their energy from renewable sources, meaning an electric vehicle built and driven in Sweden is far more energy efficient than the same car in the UK. In the short term, diesel vehicle drivers on congested roads across the UK will face new pollution taxes and may be barred from travelling at rush hour. Those same diesel vehicles that just a few years ago, you’ll recall, the Government of the time encouraged us to buy. The number of diesel vehicles on Britain’s roads rose from 3.2 million in 2000 to more than 10 million today after the slash on fuel duty on diesel in an attempt to reduce carbon dioxide emissions. It has now emerged that diesel vehicles emit harmful nitrogen dioxide, which can raise the risk of strokes, heart attacks and asthma attacks. Senior Labour figures including Sir David King – Tony Blair’s chief scientific adviser – have since admitted that they were ‘wrong’ to promote diesel cars.
Polluted roads The present Conservative Government has begun to target drivers after losing a case against environmental campaigners ClientEarth over breaches of EU
Back in the Sixties, the future of motoring looked something like this, the Firebird IV (Image: GM)
missions standards. A new analysis has identified 81 major roads in 17 UK towns and cities in breach of EU emissions standards and putting people’s health at risk. They’re predominantly A-roads, and over half are in London, but also include the M4 near London and the M32 in Bristol. Instead of pollution taxes, councils will be urged to improve the flow of traffic. This may include better sequencing of traffic lights – so drivers keep arriving at green lights rather than red ones, provided they drive within the speed limit – and removing speed bumps since cars repeatedly slowing down and speeding up almost doubles the amount of harmful gases they put out. Part rtt of the e air quality strategy urges local autthorities to try reducing emisssions by retrofitting the most polluting diesel vehicles. The strategy will insist that any restrictions on diesel cars must be ‘time limited’ and lifted as soon as air pollution levels faall within legal limits. A Government spokesman said: “Diesel drivers are not to blame and to help them switch to o cleaner vehicles the Govvernment will consult on a taargeted scrappage scheme – one of a number
of measures to support motorists affected by local plans.” Whatever happens the outlawing of new petrol and diesel cars will have a huge impact on fuel retail businesses and see the Government lose a significant amount of revenue through their high taxation on fuel. The effect on the haulage industry, the emergency services and public transport also remains to be seen. Can an energy-efficient 40-ton electric lorry be built? Will all trains and buses switch from diesel to electric while aircraft continue to pollute our cities unchecked? Can there remain a sufficient fuel supply for the existing petrol vehicles or suitable conversions for our classic cars? The fact is that no one really seems to know… MR
Soon to be scrapped... petrol stations?
Email us at: email@classic-american.com or write to: Classic American Magazine, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ
Classic American
Mail Regency wreck Dear Classic American, Spare a sympathetic thought for the owner of this American beauty found en route very near to the Cars in the Park event in Barnet early this July. In my haste, I overlooked making a note of the make and model of this quite forlorn looking casualty but can only speculate on the cause of this crushing mishap. Does anyone know the fate of this poor American beauty or know more? Will she be saved? Sanjay Shabi London Blimey Sanjay, that’s a shame… it’s an Olds 98 though, we’d say 1965, a bit like the one in this month’s magazine. There’s an ‘Atomic’ sticker in the back window, so they obviously like their Fifties music. Too bad!
STAR
Letter
POWER BIG MEET LAMENT Dear Classic American, My son decided back in 2003 that he’d ‘misuse’ his student loan and buy a 1970 Dodge Challenger. Afterwards, we were soon doing the rounds to all the American car meets around the country. We heard about a seriously huge gathering of American cars in Sweden called the Power Big Meet, and in 2005 we made the trip. We flew to Stockholm and stayed overnight prior to the onward journey to Västerås the next morning. That evening was a particularly poignant one for us. We looked out over the waterways and watched hot air balloons lifting into the blue evening sky. London had been attacked by terrorists earlier in the day and we felt we shouldn’t have been there. The show site at Johannisburg is situated about 4km west of Västerås. I had not been prepared for the sheer numbers of vehicles converging on the site. Cars cruised along the highways to and from the show site allowing perfect viewing points for all. It was high summer, and all of Västerås turned out for this three-day extravaganza. For 12 years we immersed ourselves in Västerås. We savoured all sorts, from concours to banged-up heaps, aka the ‘Raggar’ brigade. They too were an inherent part of the proceedings. It wasn’t just the huge numbers attending, but the cruising which accompanied it, and the party atmosphere it created. By evening, the 3-4km of roads to and from the show site were lined with spectators like us, enjoying the spectacle on a warm Swedish evening. Each year it got better. My camera and camcorder worked overtime. My view is that these cars need to be seen and heard, and we were always lifted by that iconic V8 burble. So to 2017, and the Powermeet’s new venue at Hovby airfield, near Lidköping. For those like my son and I who travelled by air, rail and coach, this was a disaster. At Västerås we had plenty of vantage points along the highways to watch the cruising. At Lidköping this wasn’t possible, unless you were in the centre of Lidköping itself, but it
was far too crowded to see anything easily or in comfort. We were spoilt in Västerås. Every year we received a Powermeet ‘car card’ and a badge with our entry ticket. This time, nothing. Located more to the western side of Sweden, Lidköping felt more susceptible to changeable weather, with intermittent light rain and 19°C on the day we visited. In Västerås, the weather was better, and its location on the north shore of lake Malaren was delightful. We have resigned ourselves to the fact that our yearly Swedish odyssey has come to an end. I speak only from a spectator’s point of view. The road trip from Blighty to the new site must be a little easier and less expensive than it was to Västerås, however I feel my son and I have left our hearts in Västerås… Mike Glanfield Winslow Bucks Well Mike, your son’s ‘misuse’ of his student loan was probably actually a very shrewd investment, judging by the rocketing prices of Mopars these days! The Västerås Summer Meet was easily as busy as the Power Big Meet, so it’s still early days yet as to which show will come out on top. The Power Big Meet did have cards and badges as in previous years, although the cruising did appear less extensive and organised than in Västerås, but that could be because it was the first year… watch this space!
Power Big Meet on the move.
Written off... or not?
feedback We showed you a Dodge Charger for sale on a famous auction site with a very high asking price; here’s what you said:
John Davies-Hale Some tw*t will buy it. So they can say, “I’ve got a Charger”. Should have added the words, ‘barn find’, would have got a bit more.
Fi Jack Ouch! I see restored Chargers going for £30K-£35K, but this is way too steep. James Boughton Been for sale forever, but one day they might get it?! Jason Paul Flather How f’ing much?
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Russell Grieve they’re not going for that price though, or anywhere near it, FFS. You’re meant to know the subject you’re getting paid to write about…. Wow, that’s harsh… the whole reason for posting it was to illustrate how out of touch vendors are with realistic asking prices!
Tommy Charles Dodge Charger? More like “Over Charger” Justin Greener Dreamer! Andy Kay Nope! Not for that money. Chris Warburton Ouch!