1970's wild paint jobs

all found on http://stiffspeed.tumblr.com

American Motors had some great muscle cars and dragsters

found by http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2006/11/ive-never-heard-of-these-holley-spark.html

African Muscle Cars.com just said hello, so I'm letting you know about them as well

This site is dedicated to South African built muscle cars and other rare South African cars. In the late 1960's and early 1970's several muscle cars were built in South Africa. Very low volumes of these cars were produced and they are becoming very rare.

 Some of the cars like the Fairmont GT and Chev SS were imported in CKD form and assembled in South Africa. Other cars were high performance versions of models sold through dealerships like the Capri Perana, Granada Perana and Chevy CanAm.

One thing that is similar amongst all these cars is the fact that they were all built in South Africa.  Information on these cars is extremely hard to find. The goal of this website is to provide a central place where information on all the different muscle cars can be found.

Ford

Ford Motor Company of South Africa built several muscle cars and uniquely South African cars. Some of the most well known are CKD (complete knock down) form imports that were assembled in South Africa.

These include both the 1970 style Fairmont GTs and 1971-1973 Fairmont GTs. Many of the uniquely South African cars are homolagation specials like the Sierra XR8, and Capri Perana.

 Although many of the Perana cars produced by Basil Green are homologation specials, there are some that were not used for racing at all like the Granada Perana

Chevy

The Chevy Canam is an insane car. It was built in 1973 for racing consisting of a very light Vauxhall Firenza body and the Z28 engine used in racing in America, but better known for their use in Camaros. The high performance engine and light body gave it superior performance figures.

The Chev SS is another car that was imported from Australia in CKD form and assemled in South Africa. It is mechanically virtually identical to the Holden Monaro. It had a modified grill and two lights on each side in the front grill.

Plymouth

Valiant Barracudas are nearly identical to the Plymouth Barracudas of the US. The were assembled in South Africa from 1967 to 1971 and sold as Valiants. They are beautiful cars with the fastback design. In the US the Formula S version is starting command quite a good price, here we also have Formula S versions.

Above is named a Valiant Charger. Obviously, a Duster 

Below, named a Valiant Barracuda. Why they held onto Valiant is a mystery

right hand steering wheel visible through the windshield

http://www.africanmusclecars.com

Some lucky guy bought a Camaro from Nickey Chevorolet back in '68... luck-e guy!

in the 60's Nickey Chevrolet was a legend. I mean among the many Chevrolet dealerships you could go to fro crazy horsepower drag racing Camaros, they stood out. There was Baldwin Motion, Yenko, Gibb, Thomas, and Nickey... I think that about covers the legends in Chevy dealerships... did I miss any?

Photo from the Nickey Facebook page, http://www.facebook.com/pages/Nickey-Chicago/90454798582 it's mostly the new Camaros (they are in business to sell cars, not to reminisce... that's what I do)

Pink Mopars... the only pink musclecar? Probably. Yes, I know that Chrysler called the colors nice names, like Panther Pink, and Moulin Rouge. FM3 was the paint code, but pink never seemed wrong on these beasts

 1971 Barracuda, the coolest accessorized body for Mopars in my opinion. The shark gills, the shaker hoods (normally), that great grill, the driving lamps under the bumper, hood pins, and the billboard engine size call out. Wow, it got all the cool stuff

 I was wrong when I called the 340 Wedge hood decal the best and biggest factory engine size call out. I forgot about this, the 1970 Charger hood cove decals. These are real uncommon to see, I have no idea how few were ever sold on cars from Mopar, vs how many have them installed by eager owners... but wow, impressive and bold

 Chargers has the flip top cap on the drivers side, and Challengers on the passenger side. I don't know why.

Hockey stripes and billboards... only Mopar and muscle car people know what that means, for anyone who wonders - here are the two coolest decal themes used in muscle cars to show off the engine size

 The above is fuzzy, it isn't your eyes or computer. Sorry about that

 Though not either, this AAR (Dan Gurney All American Racer) decal fits here nicely, and was technically the strobe stripe I believe

If you love Mopars, these are nothing new, but there are a lot of people that haven't seen as much of the variety of muscle cars as you and I. Some have seen another world of muscle cars, the south American variety, Australian, or the African varieties. Cool stuff that here in the USA we are totally unfamiliar with. 

I finally got photos published in a major market magazine!

the magazine is Auto Enthusiast, and is made from the former independant magazine titles Musclecar Enthusiast, Chevy Enthusiast, etc etc

The SC/Rambler is the same I took photos of this spring http://justacarguy.blogspot.com/2011/08/i-finally-got-photos-published-in-major.html

the authentication sources online to get the nitty gritty down low on your muscle car

From Musclecar Review, May 2011 issue. Like I've said about this and other magazines I subscribe to, you need them, they are fan damn tastic, and incredible resources

Click on image for full size

If you have a classic Chevy musclecar, and didn't get the build or broadcast sheet, dealer window sticker, protecto plate, a perfect replicas are here

http://www.oldchevydocumentation.com/

Musclecar trivia

the 66 GTO holds the record for single year highest production with 96,946 made, and here is the odd thing. That was only 10 percent of Pontiac's sales that year. That is an example of how few real muscle cars were made.

The 409 engine was put into less that one percent of the cars it could have been ordered for in it's entire run.

the 1956 Chrysler 300B could have been optioned with a 6.17:1 axle

the 57 Nash Ambassador got the new 327, and in the light Rambler body was only 2nd to the Corvette int he zero to 60 time according to Motor Trend

in 1960 the Chrysler 300 could have been ordered with a french built 4 speed manual, but only 7 were ordered this way for the 300F

Goofy advertising nomenclature for car options in the 1961 Dodge D-500 Polara: Safe t Matic door locks, Hi Way Hi Fi record player (16 2/3rds rpm) and the Astrophonic radio, and the Mirromatic rear-view

The Rebel Machine is in San Diego! Ebay score out of Tennessee

Stash of Aussie Ford GT's found in South Africa

during that era a whole bunch of Falcon GT parts were exported to South Africa where they were assembled into Fairmont GTs. Recently, a large haul of Fairmont GTs was unearthed and the collector is the first commentor on the article, setting the story straight
read about it http://www.ausmotive.com/2009/02/19/ford-gt-stash-uncovered-in-south-africa.html