Today, a 1970 Hemi Cuda can change hands for as much as a quarter of a million dollars. But when it was introduced, the Barracuda was just a car, and it was Joe Oldhams job to beat the daylights out of it. A tell-all from the man who tested the best, this book delves into the notes Oldham made on the cars he vetted for some of the top car magazines. Here are the photos (including outtakes) and the hard cold facts on muscle cars from the 1964 GTO to the 1976 Trans Am 455 HO--twenty-four in all. The 1970 Buick Gran Sport GSX, Oldham notes, was "the best handling muscle car we ever tested." The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner, on the other hand, was "just a car that didnt run very well"--despite its 426 Hemi. Today, people might know the articles Oldham wrote, and they might know the performance numbers he got. But how he did those things was an untold story. This behind-the-scenes book is a close-up look at what it was like to live in the muscle car era and to help create the myth that still lives on today. The list of reviewed cars includes: 1962 421 Super Duty Pontiac Catalina 1963 409 Chevrolet Biscayne 1968 Pontiac Firebird Sprint Turismo 1969 Baldwin-Motion SS-427 Camaro 1969 440 Plymouth Barracuda 1969 Firebird 400 Ram Air IV 1969 426 Hemi Road Runner 1969 440 Plymouth GTX 1969 440 6-BBL Plymouth Road Runner 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge 1969 428 Cobra Jet Mustang Mach 1 1970 426 Hemi Barracuda Convertible 1970 Buick GSX 455 Stage 1 1970 Pontiac GTO Ram Air IV 1971 429SCJ Ford Torino Cobra 1971 American Motors 401 AMX 1972 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30 1973 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 1976 455 Pontiac Trans Am

Today, a 1970 Hemi Cuda can change hands for as much as a quarter of a million dollars. But when it was introduced, the Barracuda was just a car, and it was Joe Oldhams job to beat the daylights out of it. A tell-all from the man who tested the best, this book delves into the notes Oldham made on the cars he vetted for some of the top car magazines. Here are the photos (including outtakes) and the hard cold facts on muscle cars from the 1964 GTO to the 1976 Trans Am 455 HO--twenty-four in all. The 1970 Buick Gran Sport GSX, Oldham notes, was "the best handling muscle car we ever tested." The 1968 Plymouth Road Runner, on the other hand, was "just a car that didnt run very well"--despite its 426 Hemi. Today, people might know the articles Oldham wrote, and they might know the performance numbers he got. But how he did those things was an untold story. This behind-the-scenes book is a close-up look at what it was like to live in the muscle car era and to help create the myth that still lives on today. The list of reviewed cars includes: 1962 421 Super Duty Pontiac Catalina 1963 409 Chevrolet Biscayne 1968 Pontiac Firebird Sprint Turismo 1969 Baldwin-Motion SS-427 Camaro 1969 440 Plymouth Barracuda 1969 Firebird 400 Ram Air IV 1969 426 Hemi Road Runner 1969 440 Plymouth GTX 1969 440 6-BBL Plymouth Road Runner 1969 Pontiac GTO Judge 1969 428 Cobra Jet Mustang Mach 1 1970 426 Hemi Barracuda Convertible 1970 Buick GSX 455 Stage 1 1970 Pontiac GTO Ram Air IV 1971 429SCJ Ford Torino Cobra 1971 American Motors 401 AMX 1972 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 W-30 1973 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 1976 455 Pontiac Trans Am

Many of the most popular cars of the muscle era came from General Motors. Spread across the General's various marques were models like the Camaro, Chevelle, GTO, Cutlass, Skylark, Tempest, Impala, Monte Carlo, El Camino, and many others. This book will provide 101 hands-on, how-to projects aimed directly at fans of classic GM muscle, showing them how to do just the kinds of projects that they want to do: restoration of the exterior and interior, and performance upgrades to the engine, driveline, and suspension.The existence of many large aftermarket companies provides evidence of the vast potential audience for this book. Restoration and performance part companies like Year One, National Parts Depot, Summit Racing, Jegs, and Original Parts Group count on this audience to provide a large portion of their business. For example, Original Parts Group, which specializes exclusively in parts for GM A-body muscle cars, sells an average of $100,000 worth of parts each day. Primedia alone has six magazines that serve this crowd (Hot Rod, Car Craft, Chevy High Performance, High Performance Pontiac, Popular Hot Rodding, Super Chevy) with a combined circulation of 1.7 million readers per month.Like the 101 series books before it, this book provides an immense quantity of do-it-yourself projects that are accessible to the at-home mechanic who has a good set of hand tools and a place to work. Procedures will be performed on specific GM cars of this era, which differed more in sheetmetal and trim than in the functional components, which were often similar or identical from car to car.