Icon reveals ‘Derelict’ Chevy Business Coupe restoration

One of the more unique creations on the show floor at this week’s SEMA expo in Las Vegas comes from tuning company Icon and is called the Derelict.

This old-but-new monster is a 1952 Chevrolet Deluxe Business Coupe hiding a full arsenal of modern engineering beneath an almost 60-year old shell.

The vehicle rides on a complete powder-coated Art Morrison chassis with a front independent suspension set up and a multi-link rear. An all-aluminum, fuel-injected 6.2-litre General Motors LS3 V8 provides motivation with 430 horsepower (320kW) on tap. The big motor is matched up with a 4L65E automatic transmission and putting on the anchors are six-piston brakes with ABS. The wheels have a junkyard charm but are actually custom CNC-machined rims cloaked in BF Goodrich rubber. Read the rest of this entry »

Chevrolet celebrates 100 years of racing (+video)

General Motors is currently celebrating the 100th year anniversary of its Chevrolet brand, and in its latest piece of promotion is casting light on the marque’s motorsports heritage.

Company founder Louis Chevrolet was an aspiring racing car driver and the bowtie brand has been active in almost every major U.S. racing series for the past 100 years. One of the more significant connections is between Chevrolet and the Indy 500 with Chevy-powered cars winning the event seven times and production vehicles pacing the field 22 times. Louis Chevrolet himself competed in early Indy 500 races and also designed race-winning cars for the 1920 and 1921 events. Interestingly, next year Chevy will again power Indy 500 cars in the form of a 2.2-litre, twin-turbo V-6 engine currently in development.

In NASCAR, Chevrolet has been even more successful. Since the mid-1950s, Chevrolet has racked up over 680 victories in NASCAR competition, winning 35 manufacturer’s titles and 27 driver’s championships in the process. Read the rest of this entry »

Chevrolet Camaro Z-28 – Ford Mustang Boss 302 – Dodge Challenger T/A – Trans Am Reunion – 238

Between the golden years of 1968 and 1972, the TransAm race series became a major slug-fest as US auto-makers fielded cars that are now widely regarded as being the best of the classic muscle-car breed. We reunite three of the top TransAm contenders.

The Trans American Sedan Series – more usually referred to as TransAm – was first established in 1966 under the aegis of the Sports Car Club of America (SCCA). Originally intended as a manufacturers’ championship, the series encompassed two classes – under and over 2.0-litre – with both classes racing together.

The first race in the new series was at Sebring on March 25, 1966, with 44 cars lining up for the start and the field featuring 35 under 2.0-litre cars.

This first TransAm race was totally dominated by Alfa Romeo GTAs; they finished in four of the first five positions. However, amongst the smaller cars there was also a smattering of larger, V8 racers – a trio of Plymouth Barracudas, three Mustangs, two Chevrolet Corvairs and a single Dodge Dart.

During the course of that first season the majority of the factory support came in the lower capacity class – with entries from Alfa Romeo, Mini Cooper and Lotus-Cortina. Some famous European drivers would front up in these cars, including future F1 world champion Jochen Rindt, Paddy Hopkirk (in a Mini, of course) and even Alan Moffat, who raced a Lotus-Cortina during the early years of the series. Later, even Porsche would get in on the act by persuading SCCA that its 911 was actually a sedan! Read the rest of this entry »

1978 Corvette pace car discovered with only 13 miles travelled

Some people out there think that the days of barn find cars are completely over, but they’re wrong. If anyone needs proof, check out this highly collectible Corvette pace car that has just been uncovered in a Detroit storage facility.

It’s history begins back in 1978 when Chevrolet celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Corvette by pacing the Indianapolis 500 and releasing a handful of special-edition pace car replicas to the public. Just 6,502 of the black and silver Corvette models were built and unsurprisingly the vehicles sold out quickly. Seeing the potential of this model as a future collectible, the original owner of this 1978 Chevrolet Corvette pace car bought the car and immediately tucked it away in his garage for safe-keeping.

There is sat for many years until in 1995, the owner sold his house and had the Corvette pace car transferred to a Detroit-area storage facility, where it was locked away again – this time under a pile of boxes. It stayed in storage until it was uncovered recently, it is now on sale with just 13 miles on the clock through a dealer in New England, U.S.A. According to the dealer website, the original tyres still hold air, and the engine still runs. Read the rest of this entry »

1959 Corvette gifted to actor Johnny Depp

Everyone likes getting a bonus for hard work done. A few extra grand in your pay at the end of a contract can make all the hours of hard work worthwhile. But what’s better than a few grand? How about a mint-condition 1969 Corvette.

Actor and all round cool cat Johnny Depp received a surprise C1 Corvette gift on the set of his upcoming movie The Rum Diary. In the film adaptation of a Hunter S. Thompson novel Depp drives a 1959 Corvette on screen and was apparently quite taken with the classic. When production wrapped, the film’s director Bruce Robinson gave the ’59 Corvette to Depp as a “thank you” gift for all the actor’s hard work during the film’s making. Read the rest of this entry »

Chevrolet celebrates centenary with record sales year

It was exactly 100 years back that industrialist William C. Durant and Swiss-born race car driver Louis Chevrolet founded the Chevrolet brand. In the same year, 1911, the two men built Chevrolet’s first automobile in a rented garage near downtown Detroit.

Since 1911, Chevrolet has gone on to build more than 209 million vehicles and enter the motoring markets of more than 140 countries. Annual sales for Chevrolet are around the 4.25 million unit mark. It’s been the expansion into global markets that has made Chevy the automotive monster it is today. Once it was mostly confined to the American continent, now it’s a global brand that sells more than 60% of its total production outside the U.S.

In 2010, Chevrolet had its best year ever with 4.26 million sales – a record that’s set to be broken in 2011 giving extra reason to celebrate the brand’s centenary. Read the rest of this entry »

NZ Classic Car 250th Issue Collector’s Edition – in stores now!

It’s been 249 issues in the making and now the NZ Classic Car 250th special issue is on shop shelves so don’t miss out on this collectors’ edition. There is plenty of special content mixed into the usual feature articles, news and event reports and everything else to keep you up-to-date on NZ’s classic car scene.

For this landmark issue we take a look back at a few of the cars that featured in our very first issue over 20 years ago. Our cover story sees us reunite with two Chevy’s from the first Classic Car which are still owned by the same enthusiast. The ’53 Chevrolet Bel Air Coupe and ’57 Chevrolet 210 Series, look just as mint as they were 20 years ago. We find out what’s been happening with the cars over the years and catch up with their owner. We also pay a visit to the cover car from that first issue – a 1954 MG TF 1250. First registered in NZ back in 1955 this MG roadster has had a much-loved existence before a full restoration in 1988 in time for our debut issue. Now, it’s looking just as grand as it did on the 1991 magazine cover. In other features we look at a gorgeous E-Type Jaguar once owned by Sybil Lupp and we profile Kiwi artist Don Packwood. We travel down to Christchurch to check out a superb Lotus-Cortina MkI and our Motor Man Donn Anderson tries out the new BMW M1. We have a special guide for Rugby World Cup visitors who want to see some of our best classic car museums and our final feature car is a characterful 1950 Jowett Bradford Pickup. Read the rest of this entry »

Five million Chevy Camaros sold since 1967

When the new generation retro-inspired Chevrolet Camaro was introduced into the American market in 2009 it sold quicker than ice cream in a heat wave. Now a celebration is on the cards for the entire Camaro model line as the muscle car reaches a milestone that spans all the way back to its original 1967 version.

The five-millionth example of the Camaro has just rolled off the GM production line, but surprisingly few of the total amount of cars produced are current generation vehicles. Only 225,844 of the total 5 million sales come from the 2010-2011 model. The remaining 4,774,156 models arrived in the fruitful production years between 1967 and 2002. Read the rest of this entry »