1958 Corvette, Chevrolets 56 T bird That Hauled Ass.

By Miguel Caparros

Before you send me a nasty note please read this. I was never much of a TBird fan. I was much more of a Corvette kind of guy.. I bought a basket case 58 Corvette, much like the one in this video. I hot rodded it with factory parts, Duntov cam and lifters ported fuelly heads,M22 tans etc. I replaced every bushing and bearing, Put in big sway bars front and rear, New hand rubbed paint polished all the stainless steel parts and rechromed all the rest of the shiny bits. All new proper interior. Those of you that know the cars I build understand it was with out compromise to quality. The interior was the last thing done and when the car came back from the upholstery shop  I reached in to push the seat back and found that was as far as it went. I wormed my way in and I was miserable.The steering was to close even with it all the way forward the back of the seats was bolt upright and my size 12 EE's were not happy either.  I could drive it but I could not live with it.  Fast forward to 7 years ago when my friend Rick asked me to help him with a 1956 T Bird survivor with 54,000 original miles. We spent 2 years doing a preservation to keep as much of the original car but still make it so it could serve as a standard and win shows.

The first time I got in to drive it I flashed back to the 58 Corvette, another car I do not fit in. When I stopped and thought about it, the things that it had in common were the styling touches even thought they are completely different, The 58 Corvette had more chrome and polished stainless that any Corvette before or after. The 56 Tbird was the same it had more than the 55 or the 57. Hopefully this will give you some insight into my twisted mind. If you want to see the video of the 56 Tbird here is the link. The 1956 T bird

The Best Camaro

By Miguel Caparros
Being completely caught off guard by the introduction and success of the 1964 Ford Mustang, Chevrolet took 3 years to field a competitor. The 1967 Camaro was the right response. Chevrolet went with the platform that would also be shared with the Nova. This platform also had room in the engine compartment for the full inventory of Chevrolet engines, from the inline 6 to the 327 and 396 V8's. The first year out, the Camaro had the Mustang covered on horsepower. It was this great flexibility in power trains and trim packages that helped Chevrolet catch up in sales by 1969.

 The 1969 Camaro went through a body redesign that changed the character of the car substantially. The Camaro was a larger car than the Mustang, the styling for 69 was more of a separate identity than a copy of the Pony car. For what turned out to be a one year body, the designers got it right. The Character lines on the box fenders worked real well with the new larger more distinct grill and the updated tail light panel. The roof was the only panel carried over. But it was out on the streets that the car earned its respect. With the wider stance and the way the tires sat inside the fenders the car looked great from every angle. It was Chevrolet's marketing genius that allowed the order of a six cylinder in the same package as one with a big 427 under the hood. At the other end of the spectrum a bare bones stripped car with drum brakes and no sound insulation or power steering could be had with the 427 engine for street racing and Drag racing.                                                                                                                        
The example in this video is the atypical 1969 Camaro, A Rally Sport Package 350 high performance V8 with a 4 speed. Enough power and looks to please and well behaved enough to be enjoyed in the daily commute. This was a period in time when quality was nowhere near job one. Cars were still routinely traded every 3 years, Rust and lack of proper rust prevention took its toll on these cars too. Lets not forget that the youthful age of the buyers made for a fickle bunch of owners. Somehow they survived to the point you can actually build a new Camaro or Mustang from aftermarket parts.   

ZL1 Camaro At Horsepower Breakfast

 By Miguel Caparros
Introduced at the Chicago Auto Show the brand-spanking new Camaro ZL1 is the most powerful Camaro ever. Powered by a LSA 6.2L supercharged V-8 engine that provides 580 horsepowerl. "Camaro ZL1 is about high-tech performance and design, and is a type of car no one has ever brought to this segment previously," said Rick Scheidt, vice president of Chevrolet marketing. "It's the most technically advanced Camaro ever, so we've chosen a name from the most elite and exclusive Camaro in history." The Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 has some exclusive body panels to distinguish from the rest of the brood. A new front fascia, hood with air extractors, and a signature center section constructed of carbon fiber rendered in satin black finish. Topping it all off is a set of 20-inch wheels and exhaust tips with ZL1 badge on the grille, hood, and brake calipers.

A Mako Shark Meets A Real Mako Shark In Atlanta

By Miguel Caparros 

Click Here For The Shark

Oceans & Autos Classic Car Show. Maintaining the aquarium is a very expensive proposition, specially the largest aquarium that is located 200 miles from the ocean. The 2nd annual fund raiser was slightly smaller than the first but more than made up with quality. Rick Fairbanks organizer of the event was successful in getting Chevrolet to send one of their most famous show cars out of their collection, The Corvette Mako Shark. There is much bad information on the net about who designed the 1963 Sting Ray. Let us put it to rest here! Peter Brock was the designer of the 1957 Sting Ray, that is right, 1957.  He was the youngest designer at GM at the time. Bill Mitchell, Vice President of GM styling and Larry Shinoda mentored the youngster, but it was Peter who designed the iconic shape of the Corvette.  Installed on the chassis of the SS XP64 Corvette Endurance racer of 1956, Yes Matilda that is correct, Chevrolet wanted to race directly against the Europeans at Sebring. The car was never sorted out and it broke after 23 laps of the 1957 Running of the 12 hours of Sebring. Right at about the same time GM management thought it would be a good thing to ban the Corporation from racing. So Bill Mitchel who was an accomplished amateur racer snag the SS Chassis, and in secret put the young Peter Brock to create and build a revolutionary body for the finest GM technology hidden under what would become the shape of the 1963 Sting Ray. Now I will get off my Peter Brock Pulpit (your welcomed Peter). Yes Larry Shinoda gets credit for the Mako Shark show car. Based on a 1961 Corvette it definitely created a stir about what the next Corvette would look like.  By the time the time the Mako Shark hit the show circuit the production designs for the Sting Ray were already done. Where the Sting Ray race car was just that, the Mako Shark was actually something people could touch and feel and it had an actual interior. The original incarnation of the Mako Shark was all silver and had a clear twin bubble top, one of Bill Mitchell's favorite elements that he considered the future. Bill Mitchell wanted to freshen up the Mako Shark for 1967 and as the story goes, He ordered the paint department to paint the car to match the Marlin hanging on his office door. The rejuvenated Mako Shark and the Mako II gave hints of the upcoming release of the 1968 Corvette.

 Click Here For The Speedster Video.

One of the rare cars that made its appearance at the Aquarium is one that is near to my heart as my father had the identical car new in 1955. Studebaker emerged from WWII and was not able to get up and running and share in the post war boom. Although ahead of GM, Ford and Chrysler in producing modern trend setting designs and beating every one of its competitors to produce the first Modern over head valve V8, Studebaker faced a price war between GM and Ford with the highest cost in the industry. The Studebaker brand goes all the way back to 1852 and was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, the military and the famous Conestoga wagon that settled the west. They first produced electric cars in 1902 and then gas powered in 1904. By the time 1955 came about Studebaker was in financial trouble, The Raymond Lowey designed cars of 1953 were low aerodynamic and looked way into the future of the automobile. But they faced a price disadvantage due to the fore mentioned price war. The President line was Studebaker's top of the line and the Speedsters was the trend leader that created a personal luxury American sports coupe. With unique trim and sports car like turned metal dash, the Speedster came fully equip with almost every "option" installed. It looked like a factory built custom car that sat lower and looked wider than its competitors offerring.

Although by 1955 Buick, Olds and Ford had V8's of over 300 cubic inches the Studebaker 232 V8combined with lighter weight and superior aerodynamics could more than keep up on the street and run away and hide in the open road. The Speedster was a one year only model and only 2,215 cars were built. Yet what this car did was set the sporty direction that Studebaker would take, first with the Hawk series and then with the Avanti and the Lark Daytona all who were derivatives of the speedster.

My connection with the speedster goes back to 1955 when my father was replacing his 1951 Fordyllac which had become a bit long in the tooth and was no competition for the factory supported teams from Buick and Mercury in the over the road races such as the Carrera Panamericana. Even giving away 100 cubic inches of engine displacement to its rivals, my father and Studebaker figured that the lighter weight, lower center of gravity and the ability to push less air at speed would be enough to make the Speedster competitive. Almost! Even with factory support it is difficult to beat the odds of superior numbers. Where there was one Studebaker there were 5 factory Buick's and an equal number of Mercury's. Dads Speedster led in many stages and was always a contender but the nature of road racing over secondary and dirt roads means things do break and tires do go flat. The Carrera was cancelled in 1955 but the races went on in other parts of Central America and the Caribbean and specifically in Cuba. in an era where the top speed of most fast cars barely went 120 miles per hour, in one stage the Speedster was clocked at 163 MPH. In today's recreation of the Carrera the stock car of choice is the Studebaker Coupe of 1953-1955, real Speedsters are too rare and expensive.

John Cuda's Addiction And Sensible Hot Rod S

Story By John Cuda
One sweltering hot summer night when I was 9 years old I was playing on the living room floor with my hotwheels cars.I had a large wall built with a stack of cars and I was ramming my favorite black chevy van with flames painted on the side into the wall of cars to see how many I could knock over each time. After about the 90th pass through the stack of cars I heard a loud pop outside that sounded like a firecracker.

I immediately jumped up and ran out the door thinking my neighbors just scored another garbage bag full of fireworks from their Uncle that owns a fireworks distributor in Ohio. I was not so lucky.

I heard one more "crack" and noticed this car rumbling down the hill towards our culdesac slowly with it's headlights off. It stopped again, I heard another "crack" and saw a flash. I immediately thought that someone was throwing firecrackers at the neighbors houses just to start trouble as usual so I stood there with my chest pumped up on my front stoop ready for anything with my black, flamed hotwheels van in hand.

The car then parked in front of my next door neighbors house, but this time I was able to see more of what was going on due to the streetlight between our houses. Someone inside this car was leaning out of the passenger window and was shooting a small caliber rifle into my neighbors houses. After two more shots, they slowly pulled in front of my house and aimed the gun at me...and being the crazy, fearless wild child weathered by four older Brothers I started yelling every obscenity I knew and I tightened my grip and took that black flamed weapon that previously crashed through giant barriers of matchbox and hotwheels cars repeatedly and threw that thing as hard as I could right handed and side armed at the face of the guy holding that rifle. Just then time seemed to go in slow motion as the black flamed van left my hand.

I saw the passenger duck as the van slammed into the roof of the car just missing his head as it bounced hard up into the air, and then he aimed the rifle at me and fired immediately.I actually felt the bullet whiz past my ear and it got lodged in the brick fascia of my house we later found out.

Just then the driver stepped on the gas pedal and I heard the most devastating, awe inspiring, bloodcurdling, and scary sound I have ever heard in my life. Tires were spinning and white smoke billowed, but all I could hear was the sound of this engine under the hood of this half orange, half primered beast of a machine.
All the fear of the gun and my involvement suddenly vanished and turned into a scary, jealous type envy that made me wish I was the one stepping on that gas pedal. As I was standing there in awe I finally noticed my Mother shaking me like Ralphie from a Christmas story after he pounded the snot out of Scut Farkas."Johnny, Johnny, are you okay?" "Yeah, Mom, I'm fine."

Shortly afterwards the cops showed up and took mine and all the other neighbor's statements about the events of the night.As it turns out the punks shot at a cops house up the road and just missed hitting his sleeping baby Daughter's bassinette by inches.

I was proud to mention my award winning side arm throw that almost took the face right off of the gunman, but for some reason the officer told me that I did a bad thing.I had a real hard time understanding that because I was not afraid of those punks.My brothers were harder to deal with than those goofballs.

I ended up testifying against three hoodlums in the courtroom, they seemed to have hired the dirtiest lawyer on the face of the planet. For some reason I did not understand, they got off scott free. From the the courtroom testimony I was able to find out that that car they were driving was a 1970 Plymouth Roadrunner with a 426 Hemi and a four speed as the pictures and courtroom comments revealed.

The lawyer basically had to pry the picture out of my hand when I was asked if this was the car they were driving. I stared and had a half cocked smile on my face as I muttered out the word "yesssss", and later my Mom said I looked just like I did that night when she was shaking me.

Since that night I have been branded, bitten by the Mopar bug to the core and have owned and lost some really good creations from Ma Mopar over the years and currently have a sick creation of my own that really makes the purists cringe.
Those local punks with the rifle have been in trouble with the law many times since this incident including busting a neighbors nose to the other side of his face with a giant crescent wrench after following orders from his delusional Dad but through the power of facebook it seems they have all settled down for the most part as of late.

By Miguel Caparros  See The Video

When I first saw this car my reaction was, what a sensible car! It is big but not huge, it will seat six in comfort it has a great stance and presence. It has all the mechanical upgrades that make it a great driver, I could even live with the color. The only thing I would change would be the Instruments.

A new body style in 1941, it had to do service until 1949. It took GM a year longer than Ford to come out with their first post war designs. These cars were Americas work horse. Very few of the 1941 production survive and they even made a few during the war as military vehicles. The Fleetmaster was a special model. The regular sedan had a much taller window treatment Making the Fleetmaster and the Coupe Stylemasters look like they had a chopped top. Today Chevy fans are digging some of these cars out of chicken coops and making some very nice Rest Rods and great long distance cruising. Please note a special option on the rear bumper, a center bumper guard or override. The interesting aspect of this extra guard was that they had to design it to fold down to clear the opening of the trunk.

Chevrolet Re-Inventing The Corvette With The C-7 To Lure Younger Buyers

By Miguel Caparros GM file Photos

In a bold move Chevrolet is opening up a Pandora's box by announcing a new power plant package to debut with the upcoming C-7.  Not wanting to shun the Corvette faithful, Initially the current engine line up will be continued. With the General looking at the future, a reality has set in. The younger well heeled customers are buying tons of Lexus, BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, Infinity, Ferrari and Corvette's.

The big difference in this group is the age of the Corvette buyer. An on line survey that has been running on the Corvette Action Center Forum, polled C-6 owners. According to the Survey 22% of the participants are over 60 years old. In a more telling number the 50 to 59 age group represents a whopping 40%. To put it in perspective, 62% of the respondents to this survey qualify to carry an AARP card. 

The new V8 engine is rumored to be a 3.2 liter 4 cam Turbo Charged 10,000 rpm motor with 125 horsepower per liter. My math tells me that is 400 hp. That is a long ways off the ground ripping C-6 7 liter 505 HP and another galaxy removed from the 6.2 liter 638 hp ZR1. So is the Corvette group going to get any cross over from Porsche 911 buyers who are a little younger with an average age of 50 or from BMW M3 owners who's average drivers age is a lot younger at 38. Not with 400 horsepower, if you want to play in this league, it is a power to weight ratio game. Unless the Corvette engineers are dropping 350 pounds of weight from the C6, the new car is going to need 500 hp to compete with the 911.

There are many photos of concepts for the C7 including the split window retro mix from the 63 Sting Ray and the Coke shape of the Maco Shark concept of the 60's. Can Corvette make inroads into the younger import market with a low-cal version of Americas Super Car? They are apparently selling a lot of V6 Camaro's so maybe there is a market for it. But personally I think such a move would weaken the status of the brand. The current car is one that can take on any of the worlds super car and if not beat them all on absolute performance it definitely beats them all in usability and daily comfort. 

Sometimes, we need to go outside and look at what the end users are doing and take some clues from what they are building.

The GM LS family of engines are extremely successful in the after-market, They are transplanted into every kind of car. One of the more popular conversions is into the Pontiac Solstice Saturn Twins. Except for a few crude homebuilt the quality of most that I have seen are outstanding. These enthusiast are not doing this with old crashed cars but very nice used cars that are holding their value, then they drop another $7,000 to $10,000 for the V8 conversion. The end result is an investment of $20,000 to $30,000 for a very good performing sports car

I think GM threw out the baby with the bath water when they retired the Solstice concept. With some parts bin engineering, the new 400 hp V8, I would name it the Chevrolet Corsa, equip it to a $50,000 price tag and evolve the Corvette with more sophistication and keep it the world car it is. Corvette fans and owners don't care about gas millage or 4 cam motors They just want a mean looking car that will go 200 mph.