MOTION MINICAR VW THUNDERBUG

Posted on October 15, 2022October 15, 2022 by MartynL

After setting records for two years in Baldwin-Motion’s A/MP Camaro, in 1970 Bill Mitchell shrinks the Supercar and continues his winning ways driving the MOTION MINICAR VW THUNDERBUG. New model introductions for 1970 reinforced Detroit’s accelerating love affair with performance. It was a new decade and carmakers continued seducing buyers with the most powerful Ponycars and Supercars yet. It was a boom year for Motown Muscle. And it was a record year for Baldwin-Motion and Motion Perfor...

SHELBY GT350: MUSTANG WITH COBRA BITE!

Posted on July 1, 2022July 1, 2022 by MartynL

Converting a 1965-’66 Mustang into a SHELBY GT350: MUSTANG WITH COBRA BITE! may not have been rocket science - but the results were: Sound, fury and the SCCA B/Production National Championship. Ford market surveys revealed that a sizeable percentage of young Mustang shoppers who didn’t buy Mustangs, did buy Corvettes and imported sports cars. Marketing manager, Bob Johnson, shared the details with Ray Geddes at Ford Special Vehicles Activity. At the time, there was a small, low-profile ...

STUDE-A-SHAKER: IT’S A GAS-GAS-GAS!

Posted on May 11, 2021May 12, 2021 by MartynL

Tony LaPolla channeled his 1960s Gasser heroes – Stone, Woods & Cook – when he built the STUDE-A-SHAKER: IT'S A GAS-GAS-GAS! Koufax, Clemente & Mays: Baseball legends who were heroes to legions of young guys in the 1960s – but not Tony LaPolla. It wasn't the crack of the bat that made his heart race, but rather the crackle of the supercharged 448-inch Oldsmobile motor powering a wicked '41 Willys Gasser – owned and campaigned by barnstorming drag racers Stone, Woods & Cook. The lege...

FIVE-STAR: THE AMERICAN SPEED SHOP

Posted on May 2, 2021May 2, 2021 by MartynL

If you are truly interested in the birth and evolution of hot rodding, the speed equipment industry and drag racing in America, Bob McClurg’s FIVE-STAR: THE AMERICAN SPEED SHOP is THE book to read! If there’s anyone who should be teaching Hot Rodding 101 at your local community college, it’s Bob McClurg! He’s an accomplished photographer, scribe, author and a true student of the evolution of hot rodding and drag racing - from four-cylinder and Flathead and OHV V8 revolutions, through mo...

COPO CAMARO: HERITAGE & HORSEPOWER!

Posted on July 28, 2019 by MartynL

Before there was a COPO ZL1 Camaro and later an RPO ZL1 Corvette in 1969, Duntov’s aluminum Mark IV program had already generated engines for Can-Am racing. The third ZL1 Camaro built was yellow and ordered by Berger Chevrolet. COPO CAMARO: HERITAGE & HORSEPOWER! Although Duntov championed aluminum heads and lightweight engines for the Corvette, the first “production” use of the ZL1 was in the 1969 COPO (9560) Camaro, not the Corvette. Credit for the ZL1 Camaro goes to Vince Piggins, worki...

BOOK REVIEW: FORD TOTAL PERFORMANCE!

Posted on August 12, 2017 by MartynL

Everything you’ve always wanted to know about Ford’s legendary high-performance street and race cars and the people who built and raced them. MEDIA REVIEWS "Real history is written best by the people who actually experienced it, and in the case of his hugely anticipated book, Marty Schorr, right, is the author who was there for all of it. This is not just a collection of old photos. The text springs forth with verve and sharp analysis, the kind of story that can only be written by so...

’63 PONTIAC SD-421: SWISS CHEESE LITE!

Posted on June 27, 2017 by MartynL

Production of lightweight ’63 Super-Duty Pontiacs was extremely limited, but high-profile racer Mickey Thompson got the first two. One of those featured here is in the Factory Lightweight Collection. Roger Huntington writing in Hi-Performance CARS is often credited with first using “Swiss Cheese” to describe lightened Super-Duty Pontiacs. It came to him after he counted 120 holes drilled in the perimeter frame of Royal Pontiac’s Catalina, driven by Jim Wangers. A total of 18 aluminum body parts...