1964 GTO: MUSCLECAR OF THE YEAR

Posted on November 19, 2025November 19, 2025 by MartynL

1964 was all about the birth of the big-engined midsize car with youth market appeal, showcased by the 1964 Pontiac GTO: MUSCLECAR OF THE YEAR. Pontiac called it “A Device For Shrinking Time & Distance.” Enthusiast automotive writers and magazine editors called it a “Supercar”. The “Musclecar” descriptor came later. And, from coast to coast, enthusiasts flocked to Pontiac dealers to see the new GTO, an option that breathed life into a Tempest. Pontiac - not Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth - essent...

BLAZIN RODZ 1,600-HP ’69 CAMARO HYPERCAR

Posted on November 4, 2025November 4, 2025 by MartynL

Limited production BLAZIN RODZ 1,600-HP ’69 CAMARO HYPERCAR features a carbon fiber body and twin-turbo V8, plus an electric motor! The Orange County, CA-based Blazin Rodz hot rod shop that went viral at SEMA 2024 with its ‘70 Chevrolet Chevelle “Doughboy,” returns this year with an even more ambitious project. The first-of-its-kind, limited-production hybrid Hypercar redefines the ‘69 Camaro from the ground up. It pairs a sculpted carbon fiber body with a state-of-the-art chassis built entirel...

FORD 2005-’06 GT: ALL-AMERICAN SUPERCAR

Posted on November 1, 2025November 1, 2025 by MartynL

FORD 2005-’06 FORD GT: ALL-AMERICAN SUPERCAR

Everything you’ve always wanted to know about the FORD 2005-’06 GT: ALL-AMERICAN SUPERCAR, from Concept to production, plus a buying guide. Hemmings’ Mark J. McCourt covers all bases. Being a Ford GT40 and Mark IV nerd, a longtime friend of the late Roy Lunn, above, the Godfather of the 1966-1969 Le Mans winning racecars ( Ford GT40 Mark II, Mark IV & GT40), and an owner of an ‘06 Tungsten Grey GT for some dozen years, I marveled over just how much historical and current valuation informati...

SUPERCHARGING BOOSTS FREE HORSEPOWER

Posted on October 26, 2025October 26, 2025 by MartynL

Hemmings Motor News’ Mike McNessor does a deep dive on SUPERCHARGING BOOSTS FREE HORSEPOWER, starting in 1906! When you discuss maximizing an engine’s volumetric efficiency, you are: –Boring everybody else at the party (as usual); –Explaining to your spouse why it’s crucial that you drop a couple of grand on a supercharger for your sports car; –Engaging in a 100-plus-year-old quest to get the most out of an internal combustion engine. If you said all of the above, you’d be correct. ...

’53 CORVETTE: BIRTH OF AN ICON

Posted on October 19, 2025October 19, 2025 by MartynL

Chevrolet has been producing Corvettes for more than seven decades, since the ’53 CORVETTE: BIRTH OF AN ICON broke cover at the 1953 GM Motorama. How do you chronicle a legend? How do you put on paper the story of an automobile that is so much more than the automobile itself? That the Corvette has been, is, and always will be something much more than the sum of its parts cannot be questioned. Perhaps a Campbell-Ewald advertising copywriter summed it up best when he wrote for a 1970 Corvette sal...

’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE

Posted on October 11, 2025October 11, 2025 by MartynL

Coke-bottle-restyled ’68 PONTIAC RAM AIR GTO: THE GREAT ONE, plus Royal Pontiac Bobcat editions, enhanced the GTO’s youth-market performance appeal. Pontiac’s GTO created and dominated the Supercar marketplace in 1964 and, in 1968, was downsized and restyled. GM’s successful Supercar formula that started it all showcased a 115-inch wheelbase, two-door coupes with large displacement engines, and unique trim and badging. Downsizing reduced the wheelbase to a sportier, more appealing 112 inches. W...

’70 FORD TORINO COBRA

Posted on October 4, 2025 by MartynL

All new styling and engine options up to and including the 429 SCJ turn the Fairlane into the ’70 FORD TORINO COBRA, a maximum muscle Supercar. The new year ushered in bigger, more powerful engines, new specialty Supercars, and a plethora of Ponycars. But the future of the performance car phenomenon was not bright. In many ways, 1970 was the storm before the calm. The war in Southeast Asia continued, casting a pall over a much-divided country and thinning the ranks of young enthusiasts. Carmake...

NASH-HEALEY: ANGLO-AMERICAN-ITALIAN SPORTS CAR

Posted on September 26, 2025 by MartynL

The 1951-1954 NASH-HEALEY: ANGLO-AMERICAN-ITALIAN SPORTS CAR beat the Corvette to the marketplace, but only lasted four model years. When you think of historic Le Mans champions, you picture Porsches, Ferraris, Aston Martins, and Jaguars howling down the Mulsanne straight. But in 1952, a Nash Inline-Six-powered Nash-Healey lightweight racer bested all of those greats, earning a class win and third place overall behind the dominant Mercedes-Benz 300 Gullwing SLs. Over the years, the Inline-Six-c...

’64 PONTIAC GTO IGNITES THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION

Posted on September 19, 2025September 19, 2025 by MartynL

There were bigger-engined and more powerful performance cars from the competition, but the ’64 PONTIAC GTO IGNITES THE SUPERCAR REVOLUTION! Pontiac called it “A device for shrinking time and distance.” Magazine writers and editors called it a “Supercar”. And, from coast to coast, enthusiasts flocked to Pontiac dealers to see the new GTO, an option that breathed life into a Tempest. Pontiac - not Ford, Chevy, or Plymouth - essentially created the option that ignited the Supercar Revolution, and ...

ON TRACK W/FLORIDA’S SARASOTA CAFÉ RACERS!

Posted on September 18, 2025 by MartynL

Some of our members do more than “break bread & tell lies “at our lunches. Here are some examples of ON TRACK W/FLORIDA’S SARASOTA CAFÉ RACERS! Few enthusiast events have the appeal of the Goodwood Revival, and one of ON TRACK W/FLORIDA’S SARASOTA CAFÉ RACERS! Howard Mintz just came back from an exhilarating trip to Goodwood. It included riding “shotgun” with vintage racing car and Ford GT collector Gary Bartlett in his GT40 Mark III, the first customer car of seven built, up the iconic hi...