Category: 2020

From an inherited turbo Buick to garage cleanups and road trips, these were our favorite articles from 2020 -Daniel Strohl @Hemmings

From an inherited turbo Buick to garage cleanups and road trips, these were our favorite articles from 2020 -Daniel Strohl @Hemmings

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If we’ve learned anything from the never-ending train wreck that was 2020, it’s how much we really rely on our neighbors, friends, and family. The people closest to us are more than just names and faces – they’re the people who set us straight, the people who keep us safe, the people who check in at random times to lend an ear and a chuckle even when things aren’t great. They’re the people who we connect with, whether they’re six feet from us or somewhere off in quarantine.We publish car magazines here at Hemmings.

It might seem inconsequential in the larger scope of things, but for more than 65 years we’ve also served as a means of connection with other car enthusiasts around the world. Sometimes those enthusiasts you connect with are the people behind the bylines here, and this year we’ve made more of an effort to share our personal experiences in the old car hobby and to communicate the things that excite us most about old cars.So, as we look back on the year that was (but shouldn’t have been), rather than just count down the most-read stories, we’ve asked our writers to share the stories that they count as their favorites.

Could be because they put a lot of effort into the story. Could be because the stories generated a lot of comments and connections. Could just be because the writers liked the subject matter.We’ll start with David Conwill, who pointed to his coverage of the Eight Flags Road Tour at Amelia Island, from which we took the dramatic lead photo above.

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ED-OP: Is The Evolution Of Building Horsepower A Good Thing? – Randy Bolig @ChevyHardcore

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With the recent announcement from Chevrolet about the availability of an all-new Gen-1 small block, I got to thinking about how enthusiasts made horsepower throughout the last several decades. Yes, I know the latest engine release is for a replacement mill that is not being marketed as a performance engine, but how long until it is turned into one by an enterprising enthusiast?

Until the mid-1950s, Chevrolet passenger cars were equipped with six-cylinder engines. That is until the Ford flathead was released. This new Ford V8 engine was a popular mill with speed junkies in the 1950s, because… well… it made more power than Chevy’s stock six-cylinder. It wasn’t long until aftermarket companies were making performance parts for these new engines. Unfortunately, Chevrolet didn’t have anything that could compete with the Ford V8. That was soon to change.

The 350ci engine was used in both low- and high-performance applications from the factory. In 1970, the LT1 used solid lifters, 11.0:1 compression, the “178” high-performance camshaft, and a 780 cfm Holley four-barrel carburetor on a dual-plane aluminum intake. It was factory rated at 370 hp when installed in the Corvette, and 360 hp when bolted into the Camaro Z28. Those were not bad numbers for 1970.

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EFI for Classics: Proving that electronic fuel-injection can be both easy and affordable – @Hemmings

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Gearheads, like much of society, can be slow to embrace change. In the automotive world, advances in technology often mean considerable improvements in performance, and nearly every gearhead can agree that’s an admirable pursuit. But still we resist.
Changes to cylinder head design and camshaft profiles are areas where little input is required from the end user; they’re merely bolted in place and the owner can begin enjoying the benefits almost immediately. Improvements in other areas, such as fuel delivery, can be just as gratifying, but may require more finesse from the installer, or even the services of a tuner who specializes in wringing the last bit of performance from a carburetor.
Throughout much of the history of the internal combustion engine, a carburetor has been tasked with introducing a combustible mixture of air and fuel through an intake tract, and finally to the combustion chamber, where a spark ignites the incoming charge and converts that energy into work through the engine’s pistons, connecting rods, and crankshaft. As engines evolved, so did the manner in which they were fed fuel. But even with design improvements that allowed the carburetor to function in a wide range of conditions, it still remained (as many would refer to it) a calibrated fuel leak

Why Ford Dominates The Market For Police Vehicles – @CNBC

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There are about 12,000 police departments patrolling jurisdictions across the United States. More than half of police vehicles driving through neighborhoods and cities are Fords. The second-largest U.S. automaker in terms of sales is also the biggest purveyor of police vehicles. In 2018, Ford’s share of police vehicle sales in the U.S. was 63 percent thanks to its immensely successful Police Interceptor lineup.

California Special Mustang: Definitive History Of Ford’s West Coast Cruiser – Brett Foote @FordAuthority

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There have been many special edition Ford Mustangs over the years, from the Mach 1 to the Boss 302 and everything in between. One such package that doesn’t get quite as much attention, however, is the California Special Mustang. But its story is a fascinating one, and one well worth revisiting in depth.

It all started back in 1967 and 1968, when Ford dealers in California sold more new Mustangs than any other state. To commemorate this achievement, Ford decided to come up with a special model. To do this, it collaborated with Shelby to build upon the 1967 Shelby GT500 prototype called “Little Red,” which led to the creation of the 1968 Mustang GT/CS California Special.

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Subframe Connectors: Find Out Why They’re Not Just For Race Cars – Randy Bolig @RodAuthority

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If you look back at some of the General’s hottest-performance cars, you will notice a reoccurring theme — many do not have a traditional perimeter frame. Many of these muscle cars were built on what is called a unibody platform. Camaros, Novas, and Firebirds were all built with a unibody construction utilizing a front subframe section that attached to the body, rather than full perimeter frames where the body is mounted onto the frame structure.

This was okay when the cars were new and factory stock. But, age and the addition of a few major performance enhancements, will help you soon notice how inadequate a “seasoned” unibody-constructed car really is when diving into building a true performance classic.

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Bronco’s back! In fact, there’s a whole herd of them – Larry Edsall @ClassicCars.com

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Ford is bringing back its Bronco sport utility vehicle, and this time with a three-vehicle “Built Wild” herd of 4x4s that includes a classic 2-door Bronco and the first 4-door Bronco, which also is available in Bronco Sport guise. Production of the new Broncos will begin in early 2021 in Michigan, Ford said.

In addition to revealing the vehicles on July 13, Ford said it was accepting $100 refundable deposits on the new, sixth-generation Broncos. A base price of $29,995 was announced for the 2-door Bronco, and Ford said that price includes $1,495 for destination and delivery charges. Potential buyers can make their deposits through the Ford website.

The Broncos will be equipped with EcoBoost engines and will offer 7-speed manual or 10-speed automatic transmissions, as well what Ford says is “best-in-class” 94.75:1 crawl ratio, ground clearance, suspension travel and water-fording capabilities.

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Mixing history and whimsy, Top-10 favorite Chevrolets – Larry Edsall @ClassicCars.com

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Inspired by ESPN’s recent promotion of the debut of the Broadway musical Hamilton on Disney+, we recently presented our twist on the Sports Center Top-10 with our Top-10 Favorite Fords. But, hey, we realize we can’t do Favorite Fords and ignore other brands, so here, in the same spirit of history and whimsy, we present our Top-10 Favorite Chevrolets:

10. Chevrolet El Camino — The car-based “ute” may have originated with Ford of Australia, but it was Chevrolet that made such a vehicle widely popular in the United States with its El Camino. Although some said it was the worst of both worlds — not quite a real pickup truck and not quite a real passenger car — the El Camino was in production from 1959-1987 except for a 3-year hiatus in the early 1960s and remains popular with car collectors.

9. Drove My Chevy to the Levee… — “… but the levee was dry, And them good old boys were drinking whiskey ’n rye, Singing, ‘This’ll be the day that I die, This’ll be the day that I die’.” Those lyrics are from the chorus of the popular, 8½-minute 1971 ballad American Pie by Don McLean, a sad tale inspired by the 1959 plane crash that claimed the lives of early rock ’n’ roll stars Buddy Holly, The Big Bopper and Ritchie Valens.

8. Chevy Chase — Cornelius Crane Chase was nicknamed “Chevy” by his grandmother, not because of the city in Maryland by that name but because of The Ballad of Chevy Chase, a medieval English folk tune about a British hunting party enters Scotland, where it is taken to be an invasion and a bloody battle ensues. Centuries later, young Chevy Chase becomes a comedic actor starring in Saturday Night Live, the National Lampoon’s Vacation movies and Caddy Shack.

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This is America: Glacier View’s clunker-off-a-cliff Fourth of July celebration – Daniel Strohl @Hemmings

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There’s a sense of wonder to a good fireworks show. We find a good place to sit with our friends and family, spread out a blanket, and relax. Anticipation builds–not the dread and anxiety that often follows us from day to day–rather the knowledge that something wonderful is about to happen, something delightful and out of the ordinary, some sort of catharsis.
Like children, we grow impatient. We look around and see both the people we know and the people we don’t, all turned to the same point in the distance, all waiting for the same thing. It occurs to us that, for one moment, all of us – no matter our differences – are united in this activity, we’re all looking forward to the same thing. Doesn’t matter that it’ll last for a brief moment, doesn’t matter exactly what we’re celebrating, doesn’t matter that we’ll honk at each other as we’re caught in the traffic jam leaving the parking area afterward, we can all express our awe together.

Book Review: COPO Camaro, Chevelle & Nova – Tom Stahler @ClassicCars.com

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The history of the muscle cars covertly produced from the Central Office Production Order

COPO was Chevrolet’s special-order system used by dealers to build high-performance models in the 1960s despite a corporate racing ban. The COPO program was  originally designated for fleet vehicles such as taxicabs, but at the peak of the muscle car wars, it was used to build the ultimate high-performance Chevy muscle cars.

Author, Matt Avery, a Chevy muscle car expert, combed the archives and found the owners and people involved in the COPO program, providing the culture with a compelling story and outright resource for COPO cars. The COPO muscle car and racing programs produced an extraordinary period of automotive history, and Avery captures all these facets in a very entertaining book.

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