Innholdsfortegnelse for may-17 i Classic American

The NSRA has announced that a new venue has been confirmed for the 2017 NSRA Fun Run. The main event will take place from Friday, June 2 to Sunday, June 4, with arrival for camping on Thursday, June 1 for NSRA members only. The main show and camping site will be based at Great Yarmouth Racecourse. With great hospitality facilities on site and a range of bars, this will be a completely secure site for Fun Run participants. Camping facilities will be on the racecourse grounds by the main show field, however this area is not huge. For this reason all event camping must be pre-booked and a booking form and details on how to do this are now available for download from www.nsra.org.uk/fun-run. Next to the racecourse site is…

America, it could be argued, is the land of hype. Search the internet, watch TV, read a magazine and chances are a good deal of the content you’ll find is American. The US has turned the concept of marketing and hype almost into an art form, whether good, bad or indifferent. In the automotive industry, that hype can sometimes reach unprecedented levels. Recent examples include Tesla and upcoming Model 3, the car that’s supposedly going to provide electric performance and a 215-mile range for the masses at $35,000 apiece. Almost 400,000 orders have been taken, yet the car isn’t expected to debut until 2020. Go back a few years and the introduction of the reborn Chevy Camaro and Chevy Volt are also good examples of hype. The marketing machine for…

That phrase – asense of occasion – is one that Stephen Hughes uses at least twice as we chat about the cars he loves. It seems an excellent way to sum up what’s enjoyable about classic American vehicles. But if you own one, the chances are you already know: slide behind the wheel, start the engine and there it is. Today is a special day. Stephen has been attracted to cars that make you feel this way since the age of six, if not earlier. He has memories of cycling to a wedding venue a mile from the family home in Prestwich, near Manchester, just to see the cars arrive and depart. They included a mixture of British, French and American models, many of which Stephen has since sought out…

The Practical Classics Classic Car & Restoration Show held at the NEC over the weekend of March 31/April 2 isn’t perhaps the type of place you’d expect to find lots of Yank metal, but actually, you’d be pleasantly surprised as there was plenty of Detroit’s finest on display, with some unusual rare and just downright lovely cars to be admired. Classic American advertiser Iconic Creations had a large stand with several stunning American vehicles on display, including a 1972 Camaro SS 396, a 1969 Dodge Hemi Super Bee and pretty hairy, scary-looking 1940 Willys Gasser. Proprietors Ben and Aaron were on hand and explained: “We’ve got around 60 cars and about six of those are Shelby Mustangs!” The AACUK had afine display of cars on show, including a lovely 1966…

The most recent Yokohama Hot Rod and Custom Show was a big one. Massive, in fact! The annual event celebrated its 25th anniversary in December 2016, marking a quarter of a century of honing, developing and revelling in Japan’s love of American classics, hot rods, customs and motorcycles. The one-day event is known to many simply as ‘the Mooneyes show’, after its organiser – the legendary and now Japanese-owned Southern Californian brand that’s so synonymous with car culture. It traditionally takes place every winter at the huge Pacifico Yokohama exhibition halls in Japan’s second biggest city. As the largest indoor hot rod and custom show in the country, for size, quality and sheer diversity it rivals anything staged anywhere else in the world. As proof positive that Japan’s passion for…

It’s often said that second place is never remembered; only the first. Classic American enthusiasts may well be familiar with the number one Mustang convertible in The Henry Ford museum in Detroit, mistakenly sold on April 14, 1964 – three days before the official launch date of April 17 – to airline pilot Captain Stanley Tucker. The salesman at the George Parsons Ford dealership in St Johns, Newfoundland, needn’t have worried about ‘moving the metal’, as events that were to unfold three days later when the Detroit Dearborn plant’s 75 cars per hour couldn’t keep pace with demand. This number 100001 Mustang was intended for display purposes only. However there is a second that’s also a first. It’s the chassis number 2 (100002) Mustang coupe or hardtop that was purchased…

Most of us give our cars’ transmissions little thought, especially after they’ve been laid up over the winter. But in fact they could probably do with a bit of a ‘refresh’. Alders Automotive offers a transmission fluid exchange machine that flushes and cleans the entire transmission, torque converter and transmission oil cooling system. This smooths gear changes and extends transmission life and is ideal when the vehicle has been parked up over the winter. Alders recently installed a transmission dyno that allows the team to check all their popular American and race transmissions before delivery. With this piece of kit they can run the transmission and check transmission pressures, shifts and cooler flow. Recently they’d found that more of their customers were asking if the transmissions could be tested after…

Dear Classic American, For some time I have subscribed to Classic American, having owned American cars for more than 20 years; however, I am intending to travel to the US at the end of August, rent a motorhome and with a buddy spend the next three months exploring the wonderful country. Have any of your readers done this recently and are able to recommend a suitable hire company on the East Coast? As it will be at the end of the season can I expect to be able to haggle on the price? We plan to travel close to 6000 miles. Simon Buglass Via email Over to you readers! Any ideas about motorhome rental in the US?…

“Nostalgia isn’t what it used to be…” is a brilliant take on the good ol’ days that include our beloved drag racing. The mainstay of US drag strips up and down the country throughout the Sixties and Seventies, these brightly coloured, lettered, rip-roaring muscle cars did battle side by side, pounding up the quarter-mile. Whether factory backed with professional teams and drivers, or a local garage in the vicinity just wanting to race against the big boys, Super Stock racing covered the whole gambit. Many well-known drag race drivers cut their teeth in the lower leagues of Super Stock racing, rising on to Funny Car and Top Fuel rides. Now those halcyon days can be relived in the form of the UK Nostalgia Super Stock series which competes in the…

The early Mustang seats can be easily made safer and more comfortable by fitting a pair of aftermarket headrests; these particular ones came from the well-known parts supplier NPD in Florida. For most Sixties American cars it would be fairly straightforward to fabricate these or even adapt headrests from other cars, hopefully the pictures here could be a useful starting point… IN EVERY ISSUE: restoration tips, romantic wrecks, ads from the archives and news from the burgeoning UK scene.…

Maisto Outlaw Starliner The regular importer of the varied Maisto diecast vehicle range stopped bringing them over from the Far East a while back. It was inevitable that someone else would take over, but for a while these extremely affordable model cars were difficult to find in the UK. They are returning to the toy shop shelves in small quantities again, including this unusual 1:24 scale 1960 Ford Starliner street machine. Produced in their Maisto Design – Outlaws series, this low-slung customised Ford has deep purple paint with a silver roof with white accents and early Sixties-style purple scallops. The suspension is super-low, accentuated by the huge chromed wheels and low-profile tyres. For a model costing under £20 it is acceptably detailed, yet strong enough to be played with, unlike…

1978 Vendor: Colin Hooper, Braintree, Essex Telephone: 07788 544349 Price: £10,995 ono This month’s Drive Buy is a very fine example of a Cadillac Coupe de Ville that has managed to retain a huge amount of originality. It was one family owned in Illinois, (the original supplying dealer Elder motif still adorns the bootlid) and has had one owner in the UK, having been imported in 2014. The bodywork is remarkably straight, with an absence of any dents, dings or scratches and it’s virtually blemish-free too, representing an impressively corrosion-free car. It may look a bit unsightly, but the front-mounted Perspex bug catcher has done its job admirably, preventing any grit or stones chipping the bonnet or windscreen. Overall, the white paintwork is largely original throughout, with a little rectification…

Footman James insurance has confirmed that it will once again sponsor the UK’s only concours competition run exclusively for American cars and organised by Classic American magazine for well over two decades now. The first heat will have kicked off at Wheels Day by the time you read this, with the remaining seven heats (and Grand Final) held at the following American car events: 1. June 17-18, Bristol Classic Car Show, Shepton Mallet, Somerset 2. July 1-2, Stars & Stripes, Tatton Park, Cheshire 3. July 9, Rally of the Giants, Blenheim Palace, Oxon 4. July 23, Damn Yankees, North Weald, Essex 5. July 28-30, Mopar Euro Nats, Santa Pod, Northants 6. Aug 19-20, Atomic, Sywell, Northants 7. Sep 30-Oct 1, Prescott Hill Climb, Cheltenham, Glos. 8.…

We put the news about British car maker Vauxhall being sold to French car maker PSA by its American owners General Motors on our page. Here’s what you had to say on the matter: Gavin Ronald Upstill Or alternatively, GM haven’t made a profit from Vauxhall/Opel since about 1999 and are using Brexit as an excuse, while the French want to make sure they still have direct access to Europe’s second largest market for new cars... Incidentally, some of my first words were Vauxhall related... as a toddler I came back into the house after watching my dad struggling to fix something under his F-series Victor and parroted what I had heard “I’m never buying another f’ing Vauxhall...” Ironically, he tended to stick with Vauxhalls nearly to his dying day.…

The Sixties witnessed the emergence of the neo-classic, modern cars styled along the lines of pre-war icons, with Excalibur being very much to the fore. The car pictured here could have been a serious player in this burgeoning market had its instigator not developed cold feet. It isn’t as though it was poorly received, either. The Ruger Sports Tourer had plenty going for it, but it made like the mayfly almost as quickly as it appeared back in 1970. The car was conceived by William Ruger, a firearms manufacturer who owned a stellar collection of Twenties and Thirties classics. According to Autocar magazine, which dedicated five pages to the Sports Tourer in period, it was not ‘inspired’ by a British automotive legend despite appearances to the contrary. “It would be…

When Ford pulled the plug on racing in 1970, John Holman was convinced that they would soon be back in. After all, they had done so before. This time it was different and Lee says: “My father was not really able to adapt to downsize the business.” At the end of 1971 Ralph Moody sold his company stock to a Japanese investor and left to set up on his own. A couple of years prior to that, John Holman was allegedly offered $6.5 million for his shares. Lee says: “Henry Ford talked him into not selling. Henry said: ‘You are my race team. I am going to support you. I’ll take care of you, I will do whatever it takes to keep Holman and Moody going because you have done…

When your father owns a garage and regularly brings home Thunderbirds and muscle cars from the mid-Sixties to early Seventies it’s bound to leave an impression on any youngster. It did with David Higgs and American cars became a passion, fuelled – forgive the pun – by his father’s business. An enthusiastic owner now for more than 20 years, his preference is for models built between the late Forties and mid-Fifties; his most recent buy is a South African import, a stock right-hand-drive 1948 Chevrolet Fleetline Aero two-door sedan, which he believes is the only example with this specification in the country. As the name suggests the bodywork was influenced by the streamlined and aerodynamic design which became popular during the Depression in the Thirties and which found its way…

This 1968 Ford Fairlane 500 Fastback, complete with 302 Challenger V8, was one of 74,135 examples built. It managed 60mph in 8.8 seconds, and could complete the quarter-mile in 16.9 seconds. It was one of three muscle cars I found parked up behind an old garage in Tennessee, in the shadow of the Great Smoky Mountains. How’s this for an interesting pair? The taxi on the left is a 1950 Ford, while on the right we have a 1939 Buick Eight Special. The cars, which are part of a private collection I stumbled upon in southern Minnesota, are for sale. Both are in pretty good condition, and I’m told the Ford is still a runner. At the same site sits this lovely 1952 Buick Super two-door hard top. I think…