’68 Firebird 274 FEBRUARY 2014
The UK’s Number 1 for 25 years
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★CLASSIC AMERICAN MAGAZINE★
Home-built Phoenix from the Flames
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Wagons Roll! 1987 Chevy Caprice
Ford’s Pocket Rocket 1964 Ford Falcon No. 274 February 2014
Keep on Truckin’ 1950 GMC
£4.20
A better car was built
Ben Klemenzson
Viewpoint Photo: Lewis Houghton
It was with great sadness that we learned of the passing of the owner of this year’s Car of the Year winner. Despite being very seriously ill, it was David Carr’s wish that his 1950 Buick Super still take part in this year’s Footman James Car of the Year finals, despite the fact he was too ill to attend. It must then have been some comfort for him to discover that the car he and his family had spent several years restoring had indeed won the title of Footman James Car of the Year – and a very worthy winner it was too. Our thoughts and condolences go out to his family at this difficult time. You can marvel at this magnificent car in our lead feature which starts on page 28. This month’s kaleidoscope of features includes everything from an Eighties Chevy station wagon, through to that perennial favourite, the Fifties GM pick-up truck. We’ve also got our report from the Power Big Meet and an in-depth look at coolants and antifreeze options for you and your car or truck. Now, you might be thinking that if you’re not using your vehicle over
the winter, coolant is not an issue to be concerned about, but you couldn’t be further from the truth, as we explain… It looks like there might be light at the end of the tunnel, both economically and from an American automotive point of view. Cadillac has just won Motor Trend’s Car of the Year award, a feat which would have been thought unthinkable a decade ago, and Ford has released the sixth incarnation of the Mustang, which we’re told will be on sale here in the UK in right-hand drive. Even petrol prices are holding steady and have actually dropped in some places. I don’t think it would be unrealistic or overly optimistic to say that the general consensus is that things are on the up and that will hopefully be reflected in a newly invigorated American car scene for 2014.
bklemenzson@mortons.co.uk
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Contents
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February 2014
28 22
Classic American takes a look back at the storied history of America’s original pony car in the second part of the Mustang Story. Words: Huw Evans Photography: The Ford Motor Company
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ast month we looked at the background and early development of the Mustang which had been conceived as a low-priced, sporty offering based on Ford’s no-frills Falcon compact; it uncovered an entirely new market for youth-oriented pony cars and set a oneyear sales record that, to this day, remains unbroken for a single model. Although its introduction spawned competition in the shape of the Chevrolet Camaro, Pontiac Firebird, Plymouth Barracuda, Dodge Challenger and AMC Javelin, it would outlast them all, and to date is the only pony car to remain in continuous production for 50 years. This month we pick the story up at the end of the Sixties as the Mustang evolved into an altogether different beast… ❯❯
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Carroll Shelby.
While there have been a host of people outside Ford Motor Company who have left their stamp on the Mustang, Carroll Shelby created a far bigger impression than most. A former military instructor pilot, rancher, chicken farmer and racing driver, Shelby made his mark by shoehorning Ford V8s into AC Cars’ little roadsters, creating an Anglo-American hybrid, the Cobra, and beating the Europeans at their own game in sports-car racing Shelby GT350.
Shelby became acquainted with Lee Iacocca, who saw potential in Mustang to create a legitimate Sports Car Club of America (SCCA) B-Production racer. Iacocca asked Shelby to build a suitable machine based around Ford’s new pony car. The result was the GT350. Debuting in January 1965, it sacrificed creature comforts in the name of performance, which started with a hopped-up 289 V8 that made GT350.
306bhp through a larger fourbarrel carburettor, high-rise intake manifold and low-restriction exhaust. Some other changes included an uprated suspension with Koni adjustable dampers, bigger front sway bar, larger ❯❯
We share your passion
Lifetime
Achievement Award We share your passion
Classic American’s Car of the Year for 2013 is David Carr’s stupendous 1950 Buick Super, home-restored to a peak of perfection.
Words: Lewis Houghton Photography: Nigel Boothman
1950 Buick Special
A
fter a day spent in the company of David and Lorraine Carr, their son, Graham, and David’s brother Robin, you can’t fail to grasp what this wonderful old Buick means to them. David bought it in 2006 as a retirement project and with help from Robin and parts-chasing from Graham, plus patient support at all times from Lorraine, the car was totally restored and ready for an MoT in 2012. We interviewed David in his home near Sunderland in October 2013, a week or so before the NEC show. David was diagnosed with a serious illness towards the end of the restoration process and wasn’t well enough to accompany the car to the show, but he made a huge effort to come along to the photoshoot. Robin Carr and Angus Kish, the trimmer who performed such amazing feats with the interior, were able to transport the Buick to Birmingham and both were present when our editor, Ben Klemenzson, announced the result. The standard of the restoration work will long be remembered by anyone who saw the car on our stand at the NEC, or at any of its other
show appearances, but the comparative rarity of the model adds to its glamour. When did you last see a two-door Buick Super from the year with the biggest of all the ‘dollar grins’? The division did a great deal to mark the mid-century with its version of the General Motors C-body. The exciting fluid-drive Dynaflow transmission arrived as an option in 1949 and the 1950 Buick brochure still made a lot of it: ”Oil does it all,’ it said. “It’s utterly smooth. It’s utterly simple. It’s the first complete break with conventional shifting since cars replaced horses.” It was also an utter pain in the neck for David, but more of that later. The most noticeable feature is of course that grille, which went from a wide pattern of bars hidden behind the bumper in ’49 to a huge mouthful of teeth in front of the bumper. And it’s not stainless steel either – unlike most other mouldings around the body sides, windows and so on, the grin is all chrome. Imagine budgeting for that in the middle of an already involved restoration. Under the hood is a 124bhp, 320cu in/4314cc overhead-valve straight eight. It makes peak power at a lazy 3600rpm and is very well suited to ❯
er w o P The Meet Bigtion: eden
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orld and w e h t ly ib rope, poss ast a budget u E in t n e v an car e p, or at le u do… e ic t r s e r o m o A d t r s u e o o It’s the bigg nough to have it on ybe this is the year y e ma we’re lucky you’ve never been, If flight away.
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e’re not big on running show reports six months after the event, but the Power Big Meet is such a treat of an event that we thought it was worth saving it until we could give it the space it deserves. In the depths of winter a little chrome and sunshine escapism is probably what we all crave… so come with us to the Power Big Meet, the annual American car Mecca event that’s renowned the world over. The show is organised by the owner/editor of Power Magazine, Kjell Gustavsson, Sweden’s much larger, more glamorous version of Classic American and takes place from Thursday to Saturday (not
Sunday) in the town of Västerås, about an hour west from Stockholm. Västerås is a modern, clean tidy town surrounded by lakes and luckily for us Brits is also where Ryan Air lands at Västerås Stockholm airport… although it’s about as close to Stockholm as Stansted is to London (i.e. not at all). Once a year the town is taken over for a few days by the Power Big Meet, and the roads hum and rumble to V8s as whole streetscapes transform into something resembling an imagined America of the mid-Fifties or Sixties… except even then there probably weren’t so many dazzling droptops or Cadillacs and Lincolns in one place.
is is. So what th No idea ised Buick?! m of custo
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Turnpike Cruiser.
Best in Show DeSoto Adventurer.
Power on the runway
The main show takes place on the site of an airfield on the fringe of town, with the runways providing hard-standing for traders at the swapmeet that’s held there. Cars start rolling in early and these early birds get the much sought after and collectible Power Big Meet licence plates. The show is vast, and trying to get around to see all the cars a Herculean task; there is however, an area set aside with bleachers for concours scrutineering and it’s here on Saturday that all the show ponies come to get judged and from which the best in show is chosen (the ’59 Impala in this magazine on pages 39 to 42 picked up Best in Show in 2012 and we’ll be featuring the DeSoto which picked up Best in show in 2013 very soon). Otherwise, it’s a kind of liquorice allsorts experience; just keep walking and you’re bound to come upon something that will blow you away. Ever seen a Mercury Turnpike Cruiser before? Me neither, not in real life anyway and you know what? It’s even more amazing in the metal, real poetry in motion…
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1956 Studebaker Golden Hawk 1951 Ford F5 CoE Truck
Camaro U-2 chase car
Mustang History Part III 1966 Corvette
1976 Lincoln Continental Mk IV EDITOR
Ben Klemenzson, bklemenzson@mortons.co.uk DESIGN
Michael Baumber CONTRIBUTORS
Huw Evans, Richard Coney, Steve Havelock, Matt Richardson, Will Shiers, Paul Bussey, Nigel Boothman, Mike Renaut, Tony Oksien, Richard Heseltine, Douglas McPherson, Richard Heseltine, Lewis Houghton, Erik Stigsson, John Colley, Ed Hall, Des Penny, Paul Trunfull
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