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The original Chevrolet Corvette with the screened-over headlamps, like this 1954 model listed for sale on Hemmings.com, has a bit of a milquetoast reputation. Though built in the then-high-tech (and lightweight!) material of fiberglass, and with lines intentionally reminiscent of the Jaguar XK-series roadster, the Corvette’s combination of 235-cu.in. Blue Flame Six and two-speed Powerglide automatic transmission, even with 3.55:1 gearing, didn’t match up to the roguish promises of a two-seater that still made use of side curtains.

In fairness, Harley Earl’s purported target was not actual sports car enthusiasts, but collegiate types who wanted sporty transportation with Chevrolet convenience. It delivered that, but there weren’t enough people in its imagined niche to justify its production for long. It was only after the V-8 came along and turned it into a real contender on the burgeoning SCCA sports-car racing circuit—and the looks were re-styled to bring to mind Ferraris instead of Jaguars—that Chevrolet considered the Corvette a successful model.

How I'd Build a 1954 Corvette

Imagine this with three pedals, a floor shifter, a Stewart-Warner tachometer, and the simple horn button of a 150 passenger car. Just enough to tell the observer that there’s more going on here than a mild 235 and Powerglide.

Imagine, though, if one of those early Corvettes had been turned over to a pack of engineers with instructions to build something with some real power—a worthy American equivalent to the XK140. The standard Chevrolet three-speed at that time wasn’t sporty or robust enough to put behind the hopped-up 235 that came standard in the 1953-’54 cars, so it certainly wouldn’t have done the trick if the Corvette engine had been breathed on even harder. Four-speeds like those actually found in Jaguars (a Moss unit with an unsynchronized first gear) were expensive and exotic, but there was a robust and well-respected transmission already in the GM parts bin. Known to hotrodders as the “Cad-LaSalle ‘box,” it was a three-speed used in Cadillacs, LaSalles, and Buicks starting in 1937. In that first year, it used an integrated top shifter, making it the sought-after transmission for high-powered engines in the days before T-10 four-speeds and Hydra-Matics became the norm.

Would its 2-3 shift beat the 2-3-4 combo of a Jaguar trans? Certainly not, but it would be a lot of fun to drive compared with the Powerglide. Especially if we really went wild with the engine.

How I'd Build a 1954 Corvette

The 155hp 235 was not your typical Stovebolt six, but it was still super mild and tractable. A 12-port would wake it up.

The 155 hp 235 was an improvement over the 115 hp unit found in Chevrolet sedans, no doubt, but in the 13 years since the 235 came out, hot rodders had found numerous ways to make the Blue Flame a worthy competitor to the hopped-up flatheads that were the staple of the American performance scene in 1954. Two important names were Wayne Horning and Harry Warner, who had gotten into the business of producing 12-port (six intake/six exhaust), cross-flow cylinder heads for Chevrolet six cylinders and the large-displacement GMC “Jimmy” sixes. By 1953, the partners had gone their separate ways, but Harry Warner was still producing the Wayne 12-port for the Chevrolet engine and both men offered 12-port Jimmy heads.

A Jimmy 302 would be my first choice for this car, but it’s larger externally than the Chevy, and likely would require making some chassis mods I wouldn’t care to perform. A cammed-up 235 (or the nearly identical 261-cu.in. version) with a Wayne 12-port, three Carter YFs (they used them to feed 312-cu.in. V-8s in boats, so I think they’re up to feeding a 12-port 261), and two stainless 3-into-1 headers turning into dual exhausts with glasspack mufflers would completely turn around the attitude of the Corvette roadster.

How I'd Build a 1954 Corvette

That nose-high, speedboat stance actually looks pretty good. To contribute to the cosmetic toughness, I’d swap on body-color steel wheels, blackwalls, and the little bowtie hubcaps used on cheap Chevys.

Beyond that, I wouldn’t change things much. I’d hang the wheelcovers on the garage wall and instead paint the wheels Polo White, wrap them in blackwalls, and top them with ’52 Chevy center caps. That, along with the clutch pedal and the exhaust note would tell the complete story.

How do you like your screen-headlamp Corvettes?

1. Typically, when one buys a vehicle, they bring it home not long after. But when one Swede agreed to buy a 1966 Mini Moke that apparently hadn’t been driven since it was purchased, he also agreed to leave it sit untouched for another 20 years until after the seller died, as Fredrik Nyblad wrote for Klassiker.

What you can see with your eyes is that this is a car that has never been in traffic and has instead been left standing – probably it has almost always been well stored considering the condition. Jonas, who owns Mini Moke today, has some clues about the car’s history, but not all. He got to buy the car after a long friendship with a man who owned it for several decades. The previous owner was an artist who lived in the same suburb in Stockholm as Jonas. “That’s where we met,” says Jonas. “He was going to walk home with a lot of grocery bags so I gave him a ride in my car instead.” Jonas started helping the man with practical things. The artist was sometimes in contact with people who wanted see the Mini Moke, but one of the few who actually got to see it was Jonas.

DeLorean DMC 44

2. While checking out the description of this 1976 Lohr-Fardier listed for sale on Hemmings.com, we came to learn that it served as a test car for DeLorean’s proposed DMC Model 44, which looked more or less like a kei truck. The DeLorean Museum has more on the DMC44 project.

Alfa Romeo Classiche

3. Stellantis this week announced that it will, as many other European carmakers have already done, develop a Classiche program to offer repair and restoration services for classic Alfa Romeos.

The Alfa Romeo Classiche heritage program consists of the Certificate of Origin – which has been offered for Alfa Romeo cars since 2016 – together with the Certificate of Authenticity and the Restoration. The top management of the brand personally chairs and intervenes in the committee that evaluates historic cars and issues the certifications with the support of the Heritage team and experts in Alfa Romeo history.

Ford Escort Mk3

4. In the mid-Eighties, the British government was talking with both Ford and General Motors about selling off much of what remained of the British car industry: Austin Rover to Ford, and Leyland to GM. Interestingly, as Ian Nicholls at AROnline tells the story, the ramifications of those talks—and of the abrupt end to the talks—may have played into Ford’s decision to approve the Miata for production and certainly opened the door to Ford’s purchase of Jaguar, BMW’s of Mini, and Chinese ownership of MG.

On 3 February 1986 the Conservative Government of Margaret Thatcher admitted it was in talks about an American takeover of a large chunk of what remained of the British-owned vehicle industry. The talks were described as being at ‘an advanced stage’. General Motors was interested in acquiring the loss-making Leyland Vehicles division. Ford wanted to buy Austin Rover, Britain’s last home-owned volume car manufacturer. Labour Front Bench spokesman John Smith asked: ‘Is there nothing not for sale?’ Workington MP Dale Campbell Savours accused the Government of ‘dropping the Union Jack and raising the Stars and Stripes over British industry once again.’ This was at the time of the Westland crisis when two cabinet ministers resigned and the Government was accused of selling out the national interest to American big business. On 6 February 1986, the Government discontinued the Ford/Austin Rover talks.

5. Last weekend, I featured a trio of videos looking at ancient steam, electric, and gas-engined vehicles, and as a few readers pointed out I didn’t include anything on hybrids, so let’s take a look at this video featuring the one-off 1896 Armstrong hybrid.

Jaclyn Sunseri has been running the numbers at Hemmings from her Charlotte, NC base and she lives by one defining mantra: “Stay close to the money and you’ll always succeed.” Another saying at Hemmings is, “You can’t live this life without a good truck.” Sure, that means Hemmings is in good hands, but it also means that her 2021 GMC Yukon is well-taken care of, too.

North Carolina is the jewel of the American Southeast, but Charlotte’s weather can be surprisingly unpredictable: the summer heat comes with that famous southern humidity and the winters can see some infamous northern snow. Jaclyn reminds us, “If you don’t like Charlotte weather, just wait five minutes and it’ll change.” So, to stay cool under pressure, and in any extreme weather, she has to make sure her Yukon never lets her down.

There are SUVs and then there’s the Yukon from GMC. It’s big. It’s powerful. It’s smart. And it’s cool. Especially in Onyx Black – Jaclyn’s favorite color. But, as much as her Yukon takes care of her, it needs some attention paid to its vital fluids. Regular drivetrain fluid changes are necessary, and the thick Southern summer air demands a coolant designed specifically to move nearly three tons of American steel – and Jaclyn’s hectic schedule – with ease and reliability. PEAK’s Original Equipment Technology™ 50/50 Antifreeze + Coolant for North American vehicles is designed expressly for her SUV and everything she demands of it:

• Warranty Coverage: Jaclyn expects her Yukon to last well past the factory warranty and she puts it to the test every day. She only uses PEAK’s Orange Original Equipment Technology™ Antifreeze + Coolant 50/50 Prediluted mix, which matches the vehicle manufacturer’s technology and color requirements while providing guaranteed service life protection of up to 5 years/150,000 miles with a complete flush and fill.

• Color-coded with Inhibitors specifically for Jaclyn’s GMC: Mix water with metal and sooner or later, rust can form. Scale inhibitors make sure that corrosion and flakey, “scale” rust won’t form in all the channels of your radiator as liquid circulates through it. PEAK’s OET Antifreeze + Coolant’s high-quality organic acid corrosion inhibitors are free of borate, nitrite, silicate and amines chemicals, so it meets the performance requirements of ASTM D3306 and D4985 as recommend by General Motors for Jaclyn’s demands on her SUV.

• Specific fit: Jaclyn’s ’21 GMC Yukon is a precision machine designed so that she never has to worry about the engine keeping its temperature regulated. And PEAK has designed its Original Equipment Technology™ Antifreeze + Coolant 50/50 Prediluted mix specifically for any American vehicle requiring ORANGE phosphate-enhanced organic acid technology extended-life coolant. That’s a mouthful, but it means that she can top off her SUV’s cooling system with PEAK’s OET prediluted antifreeze and rest assured that it’s the right liquid for the job.

No hard proof exists to say that Chrysler intended to build a four-door E-body in the early Seventies. For that matter, no hard proof exists to say that Chrysler didn’t, either. Dave Walden, however, believed in the idea so much that he decided to build a 1970 Plymouth Barracuda with two extra doors more or less from scratch. The resulting car, the only known four-door Barracuda in the world, will soon come up for auction.

According to the blog that Walden kept to document the car’s build, he had already finished a few factory-correct restorations of other muscle-era Mopars and pony cars and was looking to do something different for his next project. In September 2010, he came across a rendering of a bluish-gray four-door Barracuda—Walden didn’t specify whether it was a factory rendering, so it very well may have been one of Aaron Beck’s E-body photochops, which Beck had posted in March of that year—and subsequently decided that the rendering needed to become reality.

Fleshing out the idea

Beck’s vision specified a Barracuda—not a ‘Cuda, which would have been a bridge too far, even for a photochopper accustomed to altering reality—powered by a 383 under a flat hood and fitted with redline tires on steelies with pie-pan caps. (For what it’s worth, he also included a four-door Barracuda woodie station wagon and even a two-door Challenger hearse in his collection of renderings.) More significantly, Beck also decided his what-if four-door Barracuda deserved a pillarless hardtop treatment. Walden decided to take the build in a slightly different direction, envisioning a pillared sedan with a rally hood, Gator Grain vinyl top, and Lemon Twist Yellow paint.

To determine just how the four-door Barracuda could be built, Walden consulted with metal shaper Steve Been. The two determined that, rather than start with an existing E-body shell, they needed to base the car on a four-door car, specifically a 1971-1974 B-body Dodge Coronet or Plymouth Satellite. They found a stripped 1972 Coronet four-door in Clay Kossuth’s Mopar salvage yard and decided to build upon that car’s roof, A-pillars, B-pillars, and partial rockers.

In researching what they’d need to build the car, Walden said they came across a tantalizing bit of hearsay. “[Steve] stumbled across an article written by Roger Johnson,” Walden wrote. “We didn’t know who Roger was and had never spoken with him at that time. In the article, Roger described a red four-door Barracuda parked on a loading dock behind the Highland Park Chrysler Headquarters. This occurred sometime in early fall of 1969.” Johnson, a mailroom employee for Chrysler, couldn’t provide photos, documentation, or any further context for his sighting, but the report boldened Walden, who decided to alter his plans for his four-door Barracuda to reflect Johnson’s recollection as much as possible.

(A brief article in the October 1969 issue of Mechanix Illustrated mistakenly—or perhaps not—reported that the upcoming 1970 Plymouth Barracuda would be available in convertible, two-door hardtop, and four-door hardtop body styles. Walden also pointed to proposed four-door Camaros and Mustangs to defend the idea as not so outlandish.)

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda construction

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda construction

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda construction

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda construction

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda construction

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda construction

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda construction

Putting the car together

The work on the car commenced in late 2013 with Been grafting what appear to be reproduction E-body quarter panels, wheel wells, trunk panel, cowl, windshield frame, and front sheetmetal to the skeleton of the Coronet. He shortened not only those quarter panels but also a pair of reproduction E-body doors to make room for the rear doors, which he constructed from the rear section of an E-body door and the forward section of an E-body quarter panel. According to Walden, nothing that went into the body construction—not even the Coronet donor parts—escaped the welder or hammer and dolly as he, Been, and Rock Bommarito spent the next few years getting it all to fit.

“Every single body panel was altered and no longer exhibits a ‘factory’ fit,” Walden wrote. “They had to have flat metal pieces added, sections removed and alterations of some sort to provide a correct fit. Many other pieces were fabricated from flat metal stock by using body hammers, English wheels, and heat for shaping. Even the door hinges were altered to work with the custom doors. Not a single exterior panel will fit any other vehicle built by Chrysler.” Similarly, much of the trim and interior required modification, adjustments, or custom fabrication to fit Walden’s “what-if” vision, particularly around the rear doors and rear seat.

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda

Design compromises

As Walden noted, many of the design decisions he and Been made during the car’s construction—such as the height of the roof—proved controversial, but were ultimately necessary to build a functioning and finished car.

“We did not take the ‘easy way out’ and construct something using shortcuts,” he wrote. “I learned that sitting in a chair verbalizing the ‘obvious’ was nothing like building and engineering the real thing. While the light blue/gray Artist’s rendering of the 4 Door Barracuda looks appealing, that appearance would never work in actual design.”

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda paperwork

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda paperwork

four-door 1970 Plymouth Barracuda paperwork

Going the extra mile

Perhaps more controversial was Walden’s decision to consider himself the original manufacturer of the car and to have the state of Montana issue a brand new VIN (BH41H0B100000) to the car. (That VIN, for what it’s worth, is a portmanteau of sorts of the Barracuda series and trim level—BH—and the B-body four-door sedan’s body number —41—along with the H-code 340, the 0 for the 1970 model year, and B for Hamtramck assembly.) He followed that up by taking out a U.S. design patent (D831539S1) on the car, calling it his own design, and photoshopping the four-door Barracuda into the 1970 Plymouth brochure and Barracuda ads. He even mocked up a window sticker for the car reflecting the 340, Torqueflite, power brakes, tilt wheel, and vinyl roof he fitted to the car and then printed out a number of broadcast sheets that he then distributed throughout the car in locations that Chrysler was known to leave them.

In total, Walden said the car took more than 10,000 man-hours to complete. It debuted at Mopars at the Strip in 2017 before going on to appear at Chryslers at Carlisle, that year’s SEMA show, and the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals. Walden died of cancer in July 2019 at the age of 58.

The Barracuda has since made its way to the Gary Edwards Mopar collection, which includes no less than seven 1969 Dodge Daytonas—including the Big Willie Robinson Duke and Duchess Daytona—and five 1970 Plymouth Superbirds, all of which will cross the block as part of Mecum’s Kissimmee sale in January. No pre-auction estimate for the four-door Barracuda was available.

Mecum’s Kissimmee auction will take place January 4 to 15, 2023. For more information, visit mecum.com.

Work continues apace on Project Rampart, our ultimate track-support vehicle using a 2021 Dodge Durango Hellcat as a 700hp base. Last month, we showed you some of the parts and pieces to make it live up to its claims. This month, we’re adding exhaust, push bars, lighting, and more. Though the intention of this rig is race support, its debut will be at this year’s SEMA Convention in Las Vegas. Can the revamped Durango make it to the Dodge booth at SEMA on time? (Spoiler warning: Yes, it will.)

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color closeup of pre-positioning the side exhaust on Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

The exhaust is a custom arrangement designed by Unique, featuring custom stock-diameter mandrel-bent tubing, mufflers built in-house, and twin 2.5-inch exhaust tips side-exiting from the rear bumper cover. According to builder Neil Tjin, “We usually custom-build mufflers for Porsches and Ferraris, but for the Durango, we didn’t want them to be so loud and super-obnoxious.” The mufflers are located just behind the bumper on each side.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color image of the CAD for the side exhaust to be used on Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

The plan was to have a pair of 2.5-inch exhaust tips exiting through the side of the rear bumper cover. Unique used CAD software to illustrate a template to accommodate the size of the hole to be cut.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color closeup of the template used to cut the side exhaust hole on the quarter panel of Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

The template was designed so the hole would accommodate both custom tips. Once careful measurements were made (the “measure twice, cut once” mantra was in full effect when handling the custom-wrapped bumper cover), the template was placed and marked off, with the holes cut.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color closeup of the side exhaust pre powdercoating on Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

The exhaust relief surrounds are simple sheet steel, powder coated black to match the exhaust tips and the bumper bars, then riveted in place. The sound is aggressive, but not annoying, and the look is tough.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color closeup of the side exhaust installed on Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color closeup of the light bar to be used on the front of Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

The front bar needed to not only look good, but also had to be capable of acting as a push bar should the situation demand it (i.e., a broken car at the top end of the track). This was hand-fabricated from 1-3⁄4-inch steel tubing to match the contours of the Durango’s nose, and Unique also made sure to include attachment points for the Rigid lights.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color closeup of the wrap around rails getting ready for assembly on Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

Mandrel-bent to fit and MIG-welded at the joins, the fabricated bars would show any imperfection beneath the powder coating, so of course there aren’t any. Maverick Powdercoating in Anaheim, California, took care of making sure all of the added finishes were uniformly matte black.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color head-on image of Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat, great view of the grille, head lamps and front light bar.

The end result looks like it should have been there all along. The quartet of Rigid lights is attached, hooked up, and functional. For added durability, the front push bar has six separate attachment points on the frame rails.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color image of Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat on a lift to illustrate the side rail steps to be later be powdercoated.

The side steps, fully capable of allowing even the beefiest of pilots a step-up into the cabin, are attached to chassis pinch welds at the far ends of the bar. Though not shown here, these will also be powder coated black to match the front and rear bars, and to give visual continuity to the end pieces.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color image of Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat on a stand to illustrate the tubing to wrap around the rear of the vehicle.

The rear bar, made from the same 1-3⁄4-inch steel tubing as the front and similarly fabricated in-house and finished to the same high degree, saw its contours dictated in part by the trailer hitch receiver. It also allows for a step to reach items stored on the roof rack. The bar has four attachment points fastened to the frame rails.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Color image of Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat on a lift to help illustrate the bottom rail wrapping around the rear of the vehicle.

“Tough, subtle, functional” was the motif of the entire project. The bottom rail wraps around the lower bumper and ends at the trailing edge of the wheel opening. Keeping it black also helps disguise the molded-in lower fascia exhaust reliefs, meant to clear an exhaust that no longer exits there.

Project Rampart: Part Three

A color image of the Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat, roof rack undergoing work in a shop.

The roof rack is being handled by Brian Stevens and the DeLux Customs crew out of St. George, Utah; it’s well on its way to being complete and will be powder coated and installed soon enough.

Project Rampart: Part Three

A color image of a Super 73 Z1 electric bicycle to be used with the Hemmings Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

Given that Project Rampart is to be a well-equipped, modern race-support unit, a modern approach to pit transport will be included in the form of a Super 73 Z1 electric bicycle. Neil sent Project Rampart’s silent pit cruiser to Blur Boundaries of Newport Beach, California, for some visual tweaks. Mechanicals were left alone for the time being, but Blur Boundaries included a variety of bespoke, one-off 3D-printed items, including new custom wheel covers, pedals, hand grips, handlebar, chain, pedals, red LED headlamp, and a black leather seat with diamond-type red stitching. The acrylic-mesh piece that fills the void in the frame has a hexagonal theme that ties in with the Durango’s grille.

Project Rampart: Part Three

A rear 3/4 view of the Dodge Durango Hellcat with the electric bicycle on the rear rack, parked in a parking lot.

Conjuring up images of the popular minibikes of half a century ago, the Super 73 Z1 features a 500-watt motor, 36-volt Panasonic battery (stored under the seat), a two-amp charger, a steel frame, a 20-mph top speed, and a thumb throttle to make cruising the pits easy. Unless you enjoy hot-dogging it, range (about 15 miles) shouldn’t be an issue.

Project Rampart: Part Three

Tire work being performed for the Project Rampart: Dodge Durango Hellcat.

In our last issue, we showed you the awesome custom 20 x 10.5- inch Vossen HF-5 wheels in Satin Bronze. As we were going to press, the tires arrived: the only set of 295/45R20 (stock size, as per Dodge’s request) Falken Azenis FK460 all-season rubber that you’ll see at SEMA this year. Wheel Warehouse in Orange, California, is seen here assembling the formidable footwear.

While the modern-day Audi’s beginnings were relatively humble—it was a postwar Mercedes-Benz cast-off that Volkswagen purchased to gain production capacity— the automaker soon established a reputation for advanced design, cutting-edge technology, and motorsports prowess. By the late 1980s, Audi executives were no longer content to watch Mercedes-Benz and BMW enjoy all the income and prestige that their flagship S-Class and 7-series sedans brought to the German luxury car market. Audi achieved numerous firsts when it debuted its own flagship V8, establishing the respected model line now in its fifth generation.

The third-generation C-platform 100/5000 had been a sales success for Audi, ushering in the marque’s sleek aerodynamic styling and providing an executive-class home for its rally-proven quattro all-wheel-drive system. That large sedan provided the base for the V8, and the new flagship model cost Audi 50 million deutschmarks to develop before its 1988 home-market introduction. While the D1-chassis V8 looked similar to its five-cylinder sibling, they reportedly shared only door skins; the pricier model wore more emphatically flared wheel arches, a hood incorporating the grille, and full width, red-tinted tail-lamps. Inside, the new car borrowed the 100/200’s stylish new flowing dashboard with comprehensive instrumentation, albeit fitted with more burl-walnut trim. Everything was standard equipment, from heated comfort or sport front seats to the armrest-mounted cellular telephone; the sole extra-cost option was Audi’s trademark Pearl White metallic paint.

Color closeup image of the engine bay in an Audi V8 Quattro.

Photo courtesy of Brian Skorski

It was under the fully galvanized skin that the V8 differed most, starting with its eponymous engine. That all-aluminum V-8 used four overhead camshafts and four valves per cylinder; in early form, it displaced 3.6-liters and made 240 horsepower and 245 pound-feet of torque. The V-8 was paired with a four-speed automatic transmission with selectable economy, sport, and manual shift modes; this was a first for this automaker because, to that point, its quattro permanent all-wheel-drive system could only be backed by a manual transmission. U.S. V8 buyers could opt for a manual gearbox during the 1991 model year, when Audi imported a tiny number (believed fewer than 80!) that mated the 3.6 with a five-speed and an additional TORSEN differential at the center, working with the standard rear unit. Four-wheel, ABS-equipped disc brakes with unusual internal-caliper rotors enthusiasts dubbed “UFO” offered more surface area and fit inside the 15-inch BBS alloy wheels.

Competition in the luxury market was heating up with the Infiniti Q45 and Lexus LS400, so Audi gave its individualistic flagship more gravitas in 1992 via a 4.2-liter engine making 276 horsepower and 295 pound-feet of torque. This helped performance, but the circa-3,900-pound sedan wasn’t racy in standard form. It certainly was in competition form, though, as Audi’s V8 quattro won the German Touring Car Championship in both 1990 and 1991.

Around 21,000 V8s were built between 1988 and 1993, including a small number of long-wheelbase sedans, and fewer than 4,000 were sold in the U.S. While this model didn’t make big inroads with American luxury car buyers, it showed Audi was a serious player, forced the competition to offer all-wheel drive, and Ingolstadt’s next stab—the aluminum space frame A8— cemented its legend.

Color closeup image of the steering wheel, dash and cluster in an Audi V8 Quattro.

Photo courtesy of Brian Skorski

SPECIFICATIONS

Engine: DOHC V-8, 3,562 / 4,172-cc (217.4 / 254.6-cu.in.)

Horsepower: 240-276 at 5,800 rpm

Torque: 245-295 at 4,000 rpm

Transmission: Four-speed automatic or five-speed manual

Suspension: MacPherson strut and coil spring front; double-wishbone and coil spring rear

Brakes: Four-wheel discs

Wheelbase: 106.1 inches

Curb weight: 3,770 – 3,991 pounds

Top speed: 146 / 155 mph

Cost: new (1990) $47,450 2022 equivalent $107,560

Color image of an Audi V8 Quattro racing on the track, front 3/4 action shot.

Photo courtesy of Audi AG

If this 1984 Chevrolet Chevette CS listed for sale on Hemmings.com isn’t the most well-preserved example of the most representative Chevette, I’m not sure what is. The original owner may have sprung for an option or two—Chevette experts chime in here to note any options you see—but with a manual transmission, crank windows, no power brakes or steering, two doors, and an AM radio, it’s hard to see how the car could have come much cheaper. Typically, this is the kind of car most people buy to run into the ground by commuting over long distances with minimal-to-zero maintenance, but this one was actually treasured by its original owner, who undercoated it, stored it indoors, put vanishingly few miles on it, and generally treated it like a highly optioned Buick rather than an econobox. It’s not perfect after all these years, but it still has a lot more going for it than 99 percent of the Chevettes still out there. From the seller’s description:

All original. Clean green title. My mom bought this Chevette brand new, her “blue jewel,” and put it away in the barn only a few years later all covered with sheets and blankets inside and out. She had it out a few times since to change the oil, start it, wax it, drive it a little, then put it back away “to save it.” It is the CS version with the 1.6 liter 4 cylinder engine and manual 4 speed transmission, cloth seats, seats 4, hatchback. Car comes with full history and a story. Comes with all original paperwork and documentation, warranties and receipts. All maintenance records and logs from new. Mom even had a cute blue flowered journal where she recorded the maintenance and every gallon of gas she put in the car. It was dealer undercoated at new, Vesco Ban-Rust “lifetime.” The undercoating did a good job. The interior is near new. Seats and hatch and floors were always completely covered with rugs, blankets, and towels. She never sat on the seat fabric. Never in an accident or painted in any way. Original Firestone P155/80R13 tires and they still hold air. It was never stored or sitting outside so the paint is in really nice, but original, shape. The black moldings are all original, not sundrenched or faded. These cars did not have metallic paint and there are a few storage blemishes, but no stone chips on the front hood like most cars. No power what so ever. Manual steering. Manual brakes. Manual transmission. Manual windows. Manual locks. Manual key to open hatch. Driver side mirror only. AM Radio. Cigarette lighter. All lights work and are original. No pets. No smoking ever. In the past few months, the car had its oil and filter, lube, front brake pads and adjacent lines, and battery replaced. We have driven it a few dozen miles and it has driven fine.

This is a classic car. It is 39 years old. This car was not stored in a showroom. It was in a barn. There are a few surface marks on the paint surface from storage. There is a spot of surface rust at the bottom of the passenger door. There is a rust hole in the driver’s floor you can see it from the underside of the car because the interior carpeting is in very nice shape. The muffler is original and rusted. There are braces at the hood hinges that rusted. The braces were installed 15-20 years ago and are secure. The headliner glue dried out and the fabric is loose. There is no evidence of leaks, just normal glue that dried out common in that era of any Chevy. One of the cables to the rear defogger appears to be deteriorated. The wiper blades are original and certainly will need replacing if you plan to drive it in the rain.

1984 Chevrolet Chevette

1984 Chevrolet Chevette

1984 Chevrolet Chevette

1984 Chevrolet Chevette

See more Chevrolets for sale on Hemmings.com.

Amelia Earhart didn’t own her Cord 812 long before she famously disappeared over the South Pacific in July 1937, during an attempt to fly around the world. Yet, just as her disappearance led to decades’ worth of investigations in an attempt to piece together the story of her final flight, so did the dismantling of her Cord lead to decades’ worth of sleuthing in an attempt to piece the car back together. Now restored, the Cord has taken numerous honors on the concours circuit, including Best in Show at this weekend’s Chattanooga Motorcar Festival.

“It’s been a journey, to say the least,” Travis LaVine of LaVine Restorations, the shop that restored the Earhart Cord, said.

The first step on that journey was documenting the car. Earhart was famously photographed standing by her Cord and her Lockheed Electra 10E in September 1936, and Earhart’s estate included plenty of information about the car. Given that E.L. Cord was heavily involved in the aviation world (and the Cord’s hidden headlamps were aviation units), it made sense that Earhart would be drawn to the Cord 810/812. According to LeVine, the Cord was one of the last 200 built in 1936, so it had a mix of components from 1936 and 1937 model years and is technically considered a 1937 Cord 812. It also had a number of rare accessories, including a suicide knob on the steering wheel and a compass, another natural for Earhart.

Amelia Earhart with her Cord 812

Amelia Earhart with her Cord 812 and her Lockheed Electra, September 1936.Photo via Purdue University Libraries

Following her disappearance, her husband, George Putnam, had her declared dead in 1939 and proceeded to sell off assets from her estate—including the Cord—to help pay for the extensive searches he conducted. Despite the connection to Earhart, the car was unceremoniously parted out. The body, a desirable phaeton convertible painted in Palm Beach Tan and fitted with maroon leather interior, went to California. The engine went to another car. It kept other Cords on the road, LaVine noted, especially at a time when the cars were quickly falling out of favor and mechanics were less than eager to work on the front-wheel-drive pioneers, but it seemed Amelia Earhart’s Cord was gone forever.

Then, in the 1980s, a Texan named Ray Foster started to re-assemble the pieces with the assistance of records from Earhart’s estate. “He spent decades doing that,” LaVine said. “There was nothing he was not able to find.” In the latter part of the 2010s, once he had everything assembled, he turned to LaVine Restorations “to find the right steward to take it the last mile.” That right steward ended up being Jack Boyd Smith, Jr., who was already sending his cars to LaVine Restorations, and who bought the car, which LaVine said was somewhat assembled but still partly in boxes.

Smith and the LaVine team then spent 10,000 hours just in research, documentation, and tracking down those rare accessories, then another two years on the full restoration of the car. “We spent a lot of time at the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Museum just to get the leather and the car’s color right,” LaVine said.

With the restoration complete, Smith debuted the car at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance in 2021, where it took second place in the American Classics Class. Shortly after, Smith and the LaVine crew took it to the Auburn Cord Duesenberg Festival where it not only took home the event’s best of show award but also scored 1002 out of 1000 points in judging, according to LaVine. “Apparently you get up to three extra points for accessories,” he said. Smith followed that showing with a trip earlier this year to Lake Como, Italy, where the Cord placed second in its class at the Concorso d’Eleganza Villa d’Este, then brought it back to the States for the showing at the Chattanooga Motorcar Festival, where the Cord won the Prewar American Classic class on its way to winning Best of Show.

Class winners from the 2022 Chattanooga Motorcar Festival

u200bAmerican Muscle, first in class: Brian Dunham, 1972 Ford Mustang Mach 1

American Muscle, first in class: Brian Dunham, 1972 Ford Mustang Mach 1

Chattanooga Motorcar Festival show winners

u200bFerrari Grand Touring, first in class: John Gerhard, 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB

Ferrari Grand Touring, first in class: John Gerhard, 1966 Ferrari 275 GTB

u200bPeople's Choice: Don Phillips, Marty Robbins #42 Dodge Daytona

People’s Choice: Don Phillips, Marty Robbins #42 Dodge Daytona

u200bFerrari Competition, first in class: Stephen Bruno, 1952 Ferrari 212 Pinin Farina cabriolet

Ferrari Competition, first in class: Stephen Bruno, 1952 Ferrari 212 Pinin Farina cabriolet

u200bFerrari Competition, outstanding in class: Kevin Cogan, 1959 Ferrari 410 Superamerica

Ferrari Competition, outstanding in class: Kevin Cogan, 1959 Ferrari 410 Superamerica

u200bMercedes, outstanding in class: Ralph Berthiez, 1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL

Mercedes, outstanding in class: Ralph Berthiez, 1975 Mercedes-Benz 450 SL

u200bFerrari Grand Touring, outstanding in class: Chuck Akre, 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS

Ferrari Grand Touring, outstanding in class: Chuck Akre, 1967 Ferrari 330 GTS

u200bMercedes, first in class: Thomas Zarella, 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE

Mercedes, first in class: Thomas Zarella, 1970 Mercedes-Benz 280 SE

u200bFerrari Super, outstanding in class: Kevin Cogan, 2003 Ferrari Enzo

Ferrari Super, outstanding in class: Kevin Cogan, 2003 Ferrari Enzo

u200bFerrari Super, first in class: Bruce Ellison, 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale

Ferrari Super, first in class: Bruce Ellison, 2015 Ferrari 458 Speciale

Postwar American Sports, outstanding in class: Brad Bean, 1960 Chevrolet Corvetteu200b

Postwar American Sports, outstanding in class: Brad Bean, 1960 Chevrolet Corvette

u200bRedwood, first in class: Allan Lyndon, 1984 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL

Redwood, first in class: Allan Lyndon, 1984 Mercedes-Benz 500 SEL

u200bPrewar American Special Interest, outstanding in class: Chris Levan, 1937 Ford sedan delivery

Prewar American Special Interest, outstanding in class: Chris Levan, 1937 Ford sedan delivery

u200bPostwar European Sports Late, first in class: Daniel Carroll, 1979 Ferrari 308 GT4

Postwar European Sports Late, first in class: Daniel Carroll, 1979 Ferrari 308 GT4

u200bPostwar American Special Interest, outstanding in class: James Wagon, 1957 Cadillac Model 62 Convertible

Postwar American Special Interest, outstanding in class: James Wagon, 1957 Cadillac Model 62 Convertible

u200bPorsche, outstanding in class: John Truban, 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster

Porsche, outstanding in class: John Truban, 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster

u200bPrewar European Classic, first in class: Stephan Plaster, 1933 Isotta Fraschini

Prewar European Classic, first in class: Stephan Plaster, 1933 Isotta Fraschini

u200bPostwar British Sports, first in class: James Harris, 1956 AC Bristol Ace

Postwar British Sports, first in class: James Harris, 1956 AC Bristol Ace

u200bPostwar American Sports, first in class: Kayo Erwin, 1963 Chevrolet Corvette

Postwar American Sports, first in class: Kayo Erwin, 1963 Chevrolet Corvette

u200bPostwar British Sports Cars, outstanding in class: William Kennedy, 1974 TVR 2500M

Postwar British Sports Cars, outstanding in class: William Kennedy, 1974 TVR 2500M

u200bPostwar European Sports Early, outstanding in class: Keith Bass, 1953 Aston Martin DB2

Postwar European Sports Early, outstanding in class: Keith Bass, 1953 Aston Martin DB2

u200bPostwar European Special Interest, first in class: John Shalhoub, 1947 Bentley Mark VI

Postwar European Special Interest, first in class: John Shalhoub, 1947 Bentley Mark VI

u200bPrewar American Special Interest, first in class: Mark Becker, 1936 Chrysler Airflow

Prewar American Special Interest, first in class: Mark Becker, 1936 Chrysler Airflow

u200bTimeless Elegance: Stephen Bruno, 1952 Ferrari 212 Pinin Farina Cabriolet

Timeless Elegance: Stephen Bruno, 1952 Ferrari 212 Pinin Farina Cabriolet

u200bPorsche, first in class: Charles Moore, 1956 Porsche 356A Cabriolet

Porsche, first in class: Charles Moore, 1956 Porsche 356A Cabriolet

u200bPrewar American Classics, outstanding in class: Greg Ornazian, 1929 Cord L29

Prewar American Classics, outstanding in class: Greg Ornazian, 1929 Cord L29

Vintage and Custom Motorcycles, outstanding in class: Mike Schwartz, 1983 Suzuki Katanau200b

Vintage and Custom Motorcycles, outstanding in class: Mike Schwartz, 1983 Suzuki Katana

u200bRedwood, outstanding in class: Dale Whitney, 1983 Audi Quattro

Redwood, outstanding in class: Dale Whitney, 1983 Audi Quattro

u200bPrewar European Classics, outstanding in class: John Dega, 1938 Lancia Astura Tipo 241

Prewar European Classics, outstanding in class: John Dega, 1938 Lancia Astura Tipo 241

u200bPostwar European Sports Early, first in class: Somer Hooker, 1964 Alfa Romeo Sprint Speciale

Postwar European Sports Early, first in class: Somer Hooker, 1964 Alfa Romeo Sprint Speciale

Postwar American Special Interest, first in class: Kayo Erwin, 1960 Chevrolet Impalau200b

Postwar American Special Interest, first in class: Kayo Erwin, 1960 Chevrolet Impala

u200bVintage and Custom Motorcycles, first in class: Mark Sepulveda, 1950 Rickman Matchless G9 Superclub

Vintage and Custom Motorcycles, first in class: Mark Sepulveda, 1950 Rickman Matchless G9 Superclub

u200bViper, first in class: Robert Hutcherson, 2009 Dodge Viper ACR

Viper, first in class: Robert Hutcherson, 2009 Dodge Viper ACR

For more information about this year’s Chattanooga Motorcar Festival, visit ChattanoogaMotorCar.com.