Innholdsfortegnelse for November 2024 i Classic American

This month I have been working mostly on my 1968 Chevelle SS. One of the jobs was to replace the front windscreen, as it had a long crack in the glass in front of the driver (no MoT pass here!). Although an MoT is not required by law due to age of the vehicle, given the miniscule cost involved, getting one does offer serious peace of mind. Otherwise, responsibility for spotting and rectifying defective steering or brakes (or any other aspect of a vehicle) is placed firmly on the shoulders of the owner/driver – especially if a vehicle is involved in an accident. Okay, soapbox returned to the cupboard, let’s get back to it: the glass was not a big issue to rectify as I had some help. If you…

There was only one place to be on Saturday, August 17, and that was the Redhill Cruise, which took place for the fifth year running. It was preceded by an invitation-only barbecue at Dream Cars premises, where there was live music, great food and company and cruise participants got into the party mood early on, with cruising commencing from about 5 or 6pm. With classic American cars lining the roads surrounding Dream Cars’ premises, just walking around taking in all the beautiful metal on display was an experience in and of itself. Has the actual cruise become a victim of its own success? There seemed to be a lot more hot hatch cars and souped-up Escorts doing various things they shouldn’t; however, the crowds seemed to love all the cars…

events&cruises Classic American Events, Media Centre, Morton Way, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6JR November 10 MID-KENT’S AUTO AND BIKE JUMBLE For more information visit www.midkentsautojumble.co.uk 8-10 LANCASTER INSURANCE CLASSIC MOTOR SHOW NEC, Birmingham. The UK’s largest indoor classic event held in several halls and also the closing car show of the season. Expect to see celebrity stages, restoration demonstrations, car clubs galore, autojumble and just about anything you could imagine for your classic. The Lancaster Insurance Classic Motor Show, which brings together a great array of classic car and motorcycle clubs along with their iconic classic and vintage cars and motorbikes, is an event not to be missed. No matter what you’re looking for, this is the ultimate season finale for any classic car/bike owner, collector, enthusiast, club member, or simply…

If you’ve spent any time stateside over the last few years, you’ll no doubt have seen a great deal of homage paid to the Eighties. Movies such as Ghostbusters Afterlife and Frozen Empire, Beverly Hills Cop Axel F and most recently (as I type this) Reagan, are all prime examples of motion pictures paying tribute to the decade of excess. We’re also seeing a whole host of music acts from the era going on tour again and as far as automotive references go, many cars of the Eighties are starting to gain greater interest and attention in classic car circles. While we’ve had blue chip examples for a number of years, such as period European exotics and, on the Detroit side, cars such as the Buick GNX, others are starting…

Linda Cook owns this fantastic 1973 Plymouth Road Runner, but is quick to mention that it’s husband Robin who keeps it clean and looks after it. “I drive her,” laughs Linda, “and she’s my car, but he was the one who bought her.” The Road Runner came from Robin’s desire to own another big block car. “He now has a 1972 Camaro SS, but I’m a Mopar girl. I previously had a 1973 ‘Cuda and we also owned a 1969 Firebird with a 455cu in V8. We saw the Road Runner on eBay and the seller had ‘coming soon’ on his eBay ad for about seven or eight months. Robin was about to delete it from his watch list, but thought, “Sod it, I’ll email and ask.” It turned out…

The hot rod and custom scene encompasses a range of genres and subgenres which all contribute in their own way to making our hobby interesting. There’s truly something for everyone, with each vehicle serving certain purposes and following specific styling cues – from slow-moving lowriders to angry tyre-burning muscle cars. And then there are the vans. Among the many rod/custom categories, vans might be the most contentious. In the Seventies, they sparked disapproval from a fringe of dedicated gearheads while simultaneously finding a sizable fan base. Magazines such as Hot Rod in the US had to juggle with these polarized opinions, although editors ultimately resigned themselves to regularly showcasing these tricked-out haulers simply because the issues featuring them sold very well. The craze led to numerous vans appearing on the…

This Concours, organised by Thorough Events Ltd, came hot on the heels of Salon Privé at Blenheim Palace and has been a fixture at Hampton Court since 2012. Hampton Court is one of the most visited attractions in Britain and this former royal palace was originally built from 1514 for Cardinal Thomas Wolsey – but was later taken over by Henry VIII when his former chief minister fell from grace. It has been remodelled since then. By good fortune I live very close to this event, where the chance of seeing examples of cars you have never seen before is very high indeed. And that continued to be the case this year, with some astonishing cars imported from Europe, and even USA, especially for this occasion. Of particular interest to…

I always look forward to going to the Beaulieu International Autojumble, but pray for good weather. I’ve been going for over 25 years and more often than not, the weather gods have been kind. This year, the 57th running, was no exception. It was warm and sunny, but not too hot. Ideal for mooching about, looking at all the ‘stuff’ up for grabs, seeking advice from the many experts and specialists in attendance, chatting to old friends or just chilling out and people watching. The crowds were plentiful at 23,500 but it didn’t feel rammed. I got the impression that the number of stallholders was a little down and some regulars were conspicuous by their absence for reasons I know not. Time marches on and maybe they have retired. A…

The UK wasn’t the only nation to undergo a ‘specials’ era. Just as start-ups sprung into life the length and breadth of Blighty offering glassfibre bodyshells that could be mated to proprietary chassis during the 1950s, the US of A wasn’t far behind. Not only that, but they also similarly suffered from what one could euphemistically be described as ‘difficulties in differentiating between products’. This could be because some cowboy had taken a quick mould from a bodyshell and started offering knock-offs, or simply that associates in a scheme decided to part company and each took a set of moulds with them. The Byers SR-100 pictured here is a case in point. It was born of the Meteor SR-1 roadster which was devised by Jim Byers and Dick Jones. The…

The birth of the Corvair has its roots going back to the post-war era, 1945-46 specifically, when General Motors had looked into building a compact car called the Cadet. It was a conventional vehicle as far as the engine was concerned: a water-cooled inline six-cylinder, however it was to have an almost unheard-of ‘unit-body’ construction design. Add in the tiny 12in diameter wheels and it was unlike anything that Detroit had been offering since the start of automobile production. This unusual car, a prototype built with the idea of being low-cost and cheap to operate, turned out to be before its time and it was never brought into production. New car buyers in America at that time weren’t very concerned about fuel economy or small dimensions. So the Cadet project…

It’s fair to say that most people today wouldn’t be using a 1968 Chevy Chevelle as a daily driver, or extended road trip warrior. Most of those that have survived tend to be cherished and only brought out on nice days and for relatively short durations. Yet there are some of us who like a challenge and yearn to do something different. In the case of Mike Hall, of Rust Valley Restorers fame, driving from Tappen, British Columbia, to Toronto to attend the Motorama Custom Car Expo in his 1968 Chevelle SS and then on to Las Vegas, was the trip of a lifetime. Some of our readers might be familiar with Mike. Working in the construction industry for years and operating his own rock-blasting business, he began collecting classic…

After our decidedly damp report a couple of months back for Dragstalgia, it was good to be welcomed by clear blue skies at Santa Pod for this year’s Hot Rod Drags. Long term readers among you may recall when the HRD’s were first instigated way back in the late Nineties by a team of NSRA members, and originally held at the sadly missed Shakespeare County Raceway. Back then it was conceived as an end of season rod run whereby members and guests could turn up and try their cars on a drag strip in a simple Run-What-Ya-Brung format. Over the years however, despite a larger NSRA membership, the numbers of members wanting to participate declined, giving way to a rise in the more nostalgic specialist race classes of Gassers, Muscle…

1. This is our third and final visit to Speedway Auto Salvage of St Louis, Illinois. In previous issues we’ve looked at some of this yard’s 1980s and 1990s offerings, and now it’s time to check out some of the cars that fall either side of this age spectrum. The yard has an incredibly quick turnaround of stock, helped by its location on the edge of a city with nearly three million occupants. The crusher is always busy making pancakes of the less desirable or stripped-out cars. 2. Located in a ‘Cool Cars’ area of the yard, this less-than-fabulous Hudson Hornet looks out of place surrounded by modern European tin. These ‘step-down’ Hornets were built from 1951 to 1954. This particular example appears to be from either 1951 or 1952,…