Classic American April 2021

Spring is just around the corner and in my neck of the woods it’s rained enough (Manchester – who’d have thought it?!) to wash away all the salt. Time to get the cars out, do a bit of fettling and hit the road! We’re also hearing on the grapevine that as a result of government announcements about ‘opening up’ that we may well have some shows to enjoy. The Pre-’50 American Auto Club has confirmed that (subject to the data) its event, the Rally of the Giants, will be going ahead at Blenheim Palace on Sunday, July 11 and our very own Stars & Stripes show, held at Tatton Park in Cheshire, is scheduled to take place a week before, over the weekend of July 3 and 4. Not such good…

Interested in reading about what it takes to become a motoring journalist? Then check out this book by Classic American contributor Paul Bussey. Entitled The Life & Times of a Classic Car Journalist & Photographer, it delves deeply into the fascinating world of vintage and classic cars. It’s a personal view, hugely informative and entertaining, encompassing car shows, motorsport, meeting collectors, enthusiasts and personalities, a lifetime of driving different American cars and trucks, Volkswagens, air-cooled and two-strokes, bubble cars and micros plus much more. With 155 pages, 12 chapters and more than 200 colour photographs, most of which are previously unpublished, it makes for entertaining and insightful reading! Available from Amazon, price £19.99 softback (plus p&p); £4.99 Kindle version, link: getbook.at/paulbussey, or email: pbpublishing@supanet.com…

Classic American received the following statement from the Pre-’50 American Auto Club: “The Pre-’50 American Auto Club are pleased to announce that we are going ahead with the 55th Rally of the Giants on July 11, 2021 at Blenheim Palace. Following the Government’s recent announcement that could see all legal limits on social contact lifted by June 21 (subject to strict conditions being met), the Pre-’50 American Auto Club committee have taken the decision to deliver our flagship show as scheduled above. “We have been monitoring the coronavirus situation and the safety and well-being of our members, visitors, exhibitors and traders has always been our primary concern. With this in mind we will be following whatever guidelines are in place at the time to ensure everyone’s health and safety. Pre-entry applications…

We all know that the world is being dragged inexorably behind the wheel of electric cars and part of that carrot and stick approach adopted by governments and car makers alike has been legislating petrol (and diesel) cars out of existence, new ones at least. The boss of Dodge, Tim Kuniskis, was recently interviewed by CNBC, where he said: “The days of an iron block supercharged 6.2-litre V8 are numbered… they’re absolutely numbered because of all the compliance costs. But the performance that those vehicles generate is not numbered.” It sounds like the Seventies all over again, where the demise of performance-oriented vehicles (or muscle cars as we like to call them) wasn’t precipitated by a fall in consumer demand; those types of vehicles were mandated out of existence by government…

Sad news reached Classic American on the passing of automotive photographer Mike Key. Mike and his wife June were popular figures on the American and custom scene, as not only was Mike a photographer, he was a hardcore hot rod builder who had many of his creations featured in Custom Car and Street Machine magazines. Mike built several hot rods and modified Volkswagens over the years, but he’ll be most familiar to readers for his modified Corvette, Tangerine Dream, which featured in the October and November 2011 issues of Classic American. Seeing a 1931 Harry Miller-built V16 Indianapolis racer at the 1998 Goodwood Festival of Speed proved the inspiration and he acquired a Corvette chassis and running gear on which to base the project, using fibreglass bodyparts from Classic American advertiser…

The Race Retro Live Online Auction will showcase a significant number of iconic American classics, all of which will be offered on Saturday, March 27. No less than four Mustangs, two Corvettes, two Camaros, one Buick and one Studebaker will form part of the line-up, not to mention three luxurious motorhomes. Keen-eyed readers will recognise a couple of them from features in Classic American and one was even a Car of the Year winner. You can visit the Silverstone Auctions website at www.silverstoneauctions.comto view the lot list in full. Other American cars going across the block include a 1970 Chevrolet Camaro SS 396, a 1965 Corvette Coupe, a 1967 Camaro competition car and a 1966 Buick Riviera. Silverstone Auctions are offering dedicated, one-to-one, virtual viewing of cars of interest up until…