Excerpts taken from world famous ‘Hemmings Auto Blog’
While we don’t have the whole story behind these two photos that Shorpy recently posted, we can piece together some bits based on what we see here. About the only context provided with the photos is that they were taken in 1958 somewhere in Ontario. Toronto’s always a good place Read more
While we most commonly associate Weslake with Ford V-8 engines, Chevrolet and Yenko did work with the British tuner to build a number of aluminum pushrod-activated 32-valve cylinder heads for the small-block Chevrolet V-8—reportedly 100 were planned, but only 10 sets were built, and only three assembled into full engines. Read more
The donor K-Code Mustangs during disassembly. Photos by Randy Richardson, LA SAAC. Shelby American’s original racing Mustang, the G.T. 350R, captured the SCCA’s B-Production championship from 1965-’67, but its designers still believed the car could have been better. Next month, on the 50th anniversary of the G.T. 350R’s first win, Read more
1955 Studebaker President Speedster. All photos courtesy Bonhams Auctions. Designed as a halo car to reignite public interest in the Studebaker brand, the 1955-only President Speedster has the makings of an expensive collectible. They’re relatively rare, with just 2,215 built; well equipped with features like “shoemaker stitched” leather upholstery; and Read more
The Ikaho Car Museum in Gunma Prefecture, Japan. Still image from video below. Editor’s note: Bryan Thompson, automotive designer and frequent contributor to Hemmings, takes us on another adventure into auto oddities. This time he visits rural Japan to find a collection of rare Kei cars and Japanese classics. Read Read more
An all-electric Pontiac from the mid-Fifties? Haddabeen a concept car, right? Or some one-off? Well, it wasn’t meant for the road, anyway, as we see from this 1956 Pontiac Junior Star Chief for sale on Hemmings.com, a restored and fully driveable kiddie car that looks like it would seat two kids Read more
* Unfortunately, this circa 1992 NASA video focusing on the Stirling external-combustion engines that the agency put in a handful of vehicles doesn’t mention the AMC Spirit that received the engine swap, but it does make Stirlings seem like a perfectly reasonable alternative to internal-combusion engines. * Bernhard Bredehorn grew Read more
So there’s a little rust on this 1971 Fiat 850 Berlina for sale on Hemmings.com, it has a smashed windshield, and its engine has been all torn down. That just means it’s a good starting point for a project car, especially for folks who aren’t intimidated by parts searches and Read more
* We’ve called the East Africa Safari Rally one of the toughest rallies in the world, but as intense as it was, it didn’t have much on the Rallye de Bandama in Ivory Coast, which didn’t even see one car finish it one year. Ronan Glon at Ran When Parked Read more
1974 Chevrolet Camaro. Photos courtesy ProductionCars.com. By the 1974 model year, muscle cars were no longer the hot sellers they once were, killed off by rising insurance premiums and emission control requirements that saw performance begin a downward spiral in the early years of the decade. For 1974, Chevrolet wanted Read more