Builds
Like old hot rods, muscle cars are getting hard to find, so as our hobby grows, different alternatives and varied approaches keep it fresh. We’ve witnessed a change in style of many of the cars being built today. No matter what the future holds, you can bet that a Mopar enthusiast will insist on having a Hemi—or another fine Mopar powerplant under the hood—whether it’s the original-style Hemi or the new, modern Hemi that’s become popular.
We were talking to Devin Meucci when the topic came up about how difficult it is to find a ’69 Dodge Charger in Southern California, because most were gobbled up by the studio when “The Dukes of Hazzard” show was on television. I also mentioned that two of my friends were in charge of the transportation department of the show when the cars were being scrapped out, and described how they made the 383 and 440 engines available to members of my car club. Meucci said he and his brother watched the show religiously, and that’s when their love for Chargers began. Fortunately, in Washington state, Chargers were plentiful, so, in 1990 his brother bought a matching-numbers ’69 RT/SE. Two years later, Meucci purchased his own Charger and drove it in high school during his senior year, and to college after that.
There are lots of cool story threads woven into the history of this ’57 Thunderbird, purchased new 50 years ago by W.T. Romine of Indianapolis. You see, Romine’s young son, Paul, was bitten by the hot-rodding bug and tried to convince his dad to hop up the T-bird. The elder Romine steadfastly rebuffed his son’s attempts to bolt on a McCulloch blower and other aftermarket parts for the respected Y-block Ford.
Maksimovich became familiar with the MN12 platform because parting these cars out is how he paid for his schooling at the University of Missouri, Rolla. He says that at one point he had upward of 20 parts cars, stripping them of all their usable parts before sending their twisted hulks to the scrapper. Indeed, his first car was an ’89 Cougar LS that he fitted with a 3.8-liter V-6 from a ’98 Mustang. After time, he began looking for another shell to work on, and he decided his ’89 was structurally too far gone to consider for such a project. His sister, though, had a ’90 Cougar XR7 that recently had spun a bearing.
While cruising down an old Southern Virginia back road some 38 years ago, Ted Hayes, along with a couple of local friends, happened upon a well-worn ’37 Chevy Master Deluxe coupe. Now, mind you, it looked nothing like the gem here. It had original paint, and the interior had seen better days, but it was complete and running. At some time during its life, the Chevy had received a 327 and a four-speed trans, a familiar combination for a vintage car during the 1960s.
Sooner or later, everyone gets bitten by the tuning bug. It just takes longer for some people than others. Take Winnie Ramirez, for example. “I bought the NSX the first year it came out,” Ramirez says. “I heard that it was basically like a Japanese Ferrari and not too bad on gas. The minute I took a test drive, I had to have one.”
Gil Palmer just loves cars, trucks, and motorcycles. He’s owned more than 100 miscellaneous cars, ranging from ’40 Fords to ’55 Chevys to a ’70 Monte Carlo. He’s owned a few pickups, too, and this one originally came to him as the bonus gift, so to speak, in a trade of his ’32 Ford Cobo Hall winner for a motorcycle at the Detroit Autorama. The ’57 Cameo that he received in the trade had an entire ’55 front end on it, and because of that, everyone thinks it’s a ’55. But this truck was in pretty sad shape when it arrived at Palmer’s Southern California home. Just picture this one item in your mind for a minute, and you’ll get the gist of the kind of shape the truck was in: There was a hand-painted (we’re talking 4-inch-wide brush, here) Chevy Bow Tie on the tailgate. The 10:1 compression supercharged engine would overheat in a matter of a few blocks.
In early December,” Gil Palmer told us, “I had a triple bypass operation. I was unable to work or drive. I was bored each day.” On his daily walk he had to go right past his new ’04 Chevy Silverado pickup in the garage. The glimpse at his truck before each walk served as a motivator, and he started imagining things that he could do while he was forced to keep it parked next to his previous project.
The guys at Detroit Locker (makers of the Detroit Locker, Tractech, Truetrac, and more) were looking for a contemporary vehicle to demonstrate the rugged durability and smooth power transfer of the company’s Detroit Truetrac helical gear limited-slip differential when it hit them: The Chevrolet SSR pickup would be the perfect vehicle for this purpose.
It all started when Jacky White found a basket case ’32 Chevrolet coupe. The old Chevy may have come home in pieces, but at least the pieces were very good. The coupe was complete, and for a 70-year-old body, it was in excellent condition. After getting all of the pieces back to his home shop, a quick inventory indicated that the car was complete, from the cowl lights and bumpers to all four steel fenders. In short, Jacky White had everything he needed to build a ’32 Chevy street rod.
