W E C E L E B R AT E M U S C L E C A R K I N G S O F ’ 6 9
1956 OLDSMOBILE HOLIDAY 88
THE TREASURE LIES WITHIN! ‹ OH HELL: SLAMMED CHEVELLE
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contents JULY 2019
The Cars
22: SIMPLY CLEVER — HIGH-TECH OLDSMOBILE 32: REDLINE FEVER — HAUL-ARSE FORD BONUS 60: EIGHT WEEKS — CHEVELLE REDEFINES QUICK 74: BEAUTY AND THE BEAST — HIS AND HERS FORD SEDANS 102: LOW AND SLOW — CHOPPED MERC RULES THE STREETS
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The Events
44: NZHRA STREET ROD NATIONALS 82: CAPITAL RODDERS HORSEPOWER DISPLAY 96: MARINELAND SWAP MEET 110: BEACH HOP SIDESHOWS
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The Other Stuff
04: SHORT SHIFT 08: NEWS 10: TORQUEBACK 12: JUST QUICKLY 16: DAILY GRIND 18: IN THE BUILD 20: EVENTS 40: SUBSCRIBE AND WIN 42: STRAIGHT TALK 68: DRAGGED UP 70: NZ’S QUICKEST 72: AEROFLOW RACE DIARY 92: SOCIAL SCENE 94: CONCEPT CORNER 120: CMC NEWS 122: CARGO 124: A DECADE AGO 126: LOCAL SPECIALISTS 128: COMING NEXT MONTH
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110 Special Features
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14: MURPH’S BIG ADVENTURE — US DREAM TRIP 50: MUSCLE CAR KINGS — THE CARS OF 1969 88: SERIOUS THRILLS — BEHIND THE WHEEL AT SUPERTHRILLER
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FEATURE 1956 OLDSMOBILE HOLIDAY 88 CAR
WORDS: TODD WYLIE PHOTOS: ROD DUNN / SUPPLIED
SOME SAY THAT BEAUTY IS ONLY SKIN DEEP, BUT, IN THE CASE OF STEVE AND REBECCA ALLAN’S OLDSMOBILE, THERE’S MUCH MORE TO IT
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FEATURE 1949 FORD BONUS CAR
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WORDS: KEVIN SHAW PHOTOS: ADAM CROY
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SOME PEOPLE BUILD PICKUPS FOR HAULING PARTS; MIKE GUY BUILT HIS FOR HAULING ARSE ON THE RACETRACK!
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1969 FORD ZEPHYR MKIV EXECUTIVE FEATURE 1971 FORD FALCON XY CARS
WORDS AND PHOTOS: QUINTON TAYLOR
WHILE REX MCINTOSH WAS PLOUGHING HIS CRAYFISHING BOAT THROUGH STORMY SOUTHERN SEAS, HIS THOUGHTS OFTEN TURNED TO GETTING BACK HOME TO FINISH A COUPLE OF CAR PROJECTS
F
ishing out of Bluff, Rex McIntosh reckons that he’s had it pretty lucky. He’s recently retired from a tough industry, with its challenges graphically portrayed in the recent television series Million Dollar Catch, in which he was one of seven Bluff captains whose exploits were covered. However, he’s now sold the boat and gets to spend more time on dry ground. Rex and wife Debbie moved into a new home in Invercargill a few years ago, and, once that was done, there was a need for a garage for their Ford Galaxie and
Ford Falcon — along with room to rebuild and modify them, of course. “I guess it’s always pretty good having a missus who plays with cars,” Rex says with a grin. Their Invercargill home sometimes experiences blustery conditions, and a solution for sheltering their north-facing sun-trap was quickly found. “I told Debbie we needed some sort of a windbreak for the house, so we built the garage, and it stops the southerly wind just fine,” he laughs. And what a garage it is! Just what the pair need for the
SPECIAL THE CARS OF ’69 FEATURE
WORDS: NZV8 PHOTOS: NZV8 ARCHIVE
E OF TH OME F THE S E C SIN LLED OF TURY O A CEN DUCED R BIG THREE F L A O H R ’S S T P I K AR VER F DETRO EAR M ARS E O THIS YT ICONIC CION LINES MOS RODUCT P
I
n the history of the world, 1969 was a big year. On 20 July we heard the famous words, “That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind”, indicating a momentous achievement in the space race. However, back when Nasa was still in the planning stages of the Apollo 11 mission, Detroit’s big three, Chrysler, Ford, and General Motors, were equally frantic, planning things of their own.
Let’s not forget that this was all before the computer age, and manufacturers were always working a few years ahead of the market. Each manufacturer would also have been keeping a close eye on the opposition, to try and predict what it would come up with next — and perhaps it was due to this that there are similarities among the vehicles they created. Hood scoops grew like weeds, coke-bottle hips were all the rage and performance was at its peak.
NKO7 E Y 9 6 19 ARO 42 CA M
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If there were any signs that a few years later muscle car production would become but a shadow of its former self, there were certainly no signs of it in 1969. Showrooms were bursting with ever more powerful and outrageous cars — muscle cars were at their pinnacle. In part, that can be attributed to the limited-edition cars built for racing. For whatever reason, the cars of 1969 hold a special appeal for many. Here’s some of the standouts.
T
he name ‘Don Yenko’ may not mean much to many people, but say ‘Yenko Camaro’ and you’ll turn heads with muscle car fans. The 1969 Yenko Camaro 427 was the combination of a factory’s desire to please and customer needs. Don Yenko was a Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, car dealer who had a reputation for driving, building, and selling competitive Chevrolets, starting in ‘65 with Super Corvairs. Yenko advanced to installing Corvette-sourced 427ci big blocks into ’67 and ’68 Camaros, performing no fewer than 118 conversions, which essentially allowed him to sell a car off the showroom floor that GM never produced. The best that Chevrolet was offering
was a 396ci big block–powered car that created 375hp, well short of the Yenko’s 450hp. Dealer conversions were complicated, however, and came with only a limited engine warranty. While Yenko wasn’t alone in doing these conversions, he had outlets in 19 states, so soon earned some bargaining power with Chevrolet. At Yenko’s insistence, Chevrolet agreed to factorybuild a batch of 1969 Camaros with 427 engines, and, unlike his ’67 and ’68 cars, which came with only the limited warranty, Yenko was able to sell
them with a full five-year / 50,000-mile warranty. This was all arranged through the Central Office Production Order (COPO) system, which had previously been used to satisfy special requests from non–performance car fleet buyers. Yenko ordered 201 of these vehicles, the rest going to other dealers. Each car was essentially the same, with the iron block and head, solid-lifter, L72 427 engine. In the Corvettes, these engines were rated at 425hp, although Yenko’s rating of 450 was closer to their real output.
MARO A C 9 196
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iven the success of the COPO and Yenko cars, Chevrolet wanted in on the act, and aimed itself squarely at the NHRA Super Stock class with the Camaro ZL1. Chevrolet performance guru Vince Piggins authorized the factory to fit a batch of ’69 Camaros with a version of the 427ci engine used by the all-conquering Can-Am Chaparral. Fundamentally, it was taking in-house something that had been going on through the COPO system, and, as such, the cars were only available that way. The base vehicles began life as 396ci Super Sports (SS) variants with the F4l suspension. The engine and SS trim were deleted, and the cars were basically equipped
A true wolf in sheep’s clothing, the standard COPO Camaro was delivered by Chevrolet with dog-dish hubcaps and no exterior badging. Yenko ordered his with 15-inch rally wheels, as opposed to the stock 14s, along with a bigger front roll bar and 140mph speedo. He then added Super Yenko Car (SYC) graphics and sold them for around US$4500, depending on the options. These cars could run mid 13s down the quarter-mile as delivered, but, when they were fitted with slicks and headers, that time often fell into the high 11-second zone.
ZL1
in the same way as other 427 COPO Camaros, with cowl-induction hood, disc front brakes, and either a heavy-duty four-speed manual or a Turbo-Hydramatic automatic. The rear ends were all 4:10.1-ratio Positraction. Where the cars were different, though, was that they didn’t get the iron block–and–head L72 427ci big block, but a 427 called the ‘ZL1’. The ZL1 was the first production Chev engine to have an aluminium block. While it shared the L88’s 430hp rating, in reality, it produced over 500hp, making it probably the most powerful engine Chev had ever offered to the public. Better still, it only weighed as much as a 327ci small block. At a price of US$7200, the ZL1 wasn’t a cheap car,
but many were sold to professional drag racers who could earn the cost back in prize money. That said, the car was also backed by a full warranty and was totally street legal. In factory form, these cars ran low 13-second quarters, but, with slicks, headers, and tuning, that figure dropped to 11.6 seconds at over 120mph. Chevrolet needed to build 50 ZL1s to satisfy the NHRA but actually went on to build 69 of them. Around 20 went straight into organized drag racing, where they soon ran low 10s and set many Super Stock records. Sadly, the high price took a toll and at least 12 engines were removed and sold separately, while around 30 unsold cars were returned to Chevrolet. It took until the early ’70s to sell them off.
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1956 OLDSMOBILE HOLIDAY 88
THE TREASURE LIES WITHIN! ‹ OH HELL: SLAMMED CHEVELLE
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