Classic cars and trucks. View the entire archive.
There is an interesting species of near muscle car that came into being and briefly existed for a handful of years, beginning in the early 1970s – just as the high tide of the real muscle car was receding. These were cars that did not come with high-powered V-8s from the factory. But which...
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People who argue that it wasn’t GM – well, Pontiac – that created the first muscle car (the 1964 GTO) arguably have history on their side. Because there were muscular cars well before 1964 – including Rocket 88 Oldsmobiles and the letter series Chryslers of the mid-late 1950s. And one thing’s for sure: Chrysler...
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Pontiac’s GTO, which appeared in 1964, had every other American automaker rushing to cash in on the emerging youth market for big-biceped intermediate muscle coupes— including AMC. AMC, however, decided on a unique twist. Instead of me-tooing the Big Three’s muscle cars, it went with the personal luxury coupe concept – anticipating cars like...
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The Chevy Corvair has something of a bad reputation – among those who don’t know much about it, anyhow. Arguably GM’s most daring (and technologically advanced) car of the 1960s, it fell victim to a combination of bad press – and bad timing. As a six-cylinder car in an era of big V-8s, it...
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Many new cars are optimized for ethanol – “flex-fuel” compatible is how it’s usually described. The problem, of course, is that a majority of cars in service are not optimized for ethanol; many are not even compatible with it. One effect – intended or not – of the ever-increasing concentration of ethanol in “gas”...
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Before I write a new car review, I like to do some background research – which helps provide context and hopefully makes the published review informative. Well, I found some interesting information while doing some background research on the new Dodge Dart. Actually, the information concerned the old Dodge Dart – last sold new...
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Time passes, things change. Have you noticed that while most new cars are much harder to get into without a key, once you’re in – the glovebox is easy to access? Because there’s no lock for that. Just pop the catch. Locked gloveboxes seem to have disappeared about the same time that having two...
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Since it’s almost Halloween, it seemed like a good time to talk about something a lot of people find very scary – working on the Rochester Quadrajet. This GM four barrel carburetor was used on literally millions of vehicles built from the late 1960s (1967 was the first year in production) all the way...
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Time passes – things change. Here’s a quick look at some of those things, for instance: Once upon a time, you had two car keys – one to unlock the doors, the other to start the engine. Two keys went out of style sometime in the late 1990s/early 2000s. Newer cars have just one...
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There’s Ford vs. Chevy. Import vs. Domestic. And of course, Old vs. New. Some people, for some reason, have difficulty accepting the bad – along with the good. That no car from any era was (or is) the perfect car. They idealize – and sometimes, mythologize – their chosen favorites. In fact, cars from...
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