Muscle Cars

1966 Shelby GT350 Hertz Edition

February 10, 2016 No Comments

What is there not to love about the 1966 Shelby GT350 Hertz edition? This beauty was designed and trimmed with Hertz Corporation colors of black and gold were built with this color scheme. This super beauty was pitched to Hertz for use in their rental program for the Sports Car Club. The Shelby is world renowned for its sporty design and performance.

The Shelby GT350 features a V8 engine with a 4736 displacement. A Borg Warner T-10 4 speed manual transmission was perfect for this car, and it had the loud and powerful roar you expect from a sport engine. When Hertz decided to promote this car it was presented as a “rent a racer”. This was a great way to build additional interest in the Shelby Mustang combination.

One of the features that made this vehicle a spectacular find was the dual point distributor. It was truly designed with the racer in mind. Although the car is far from being a comfortable drive, it is an excellent addition that any collector and avid car fan would love to have in their collection.

The Shelby GT350 Hertz edition uses a recirculating ball steering system. This operates differently from the standard Rack and Pinion steering, but recirculating ball steering is still quite common in many SUVs and trucks on the market today.

The steel and fiberglass body sits atop a unibody build. The suspension in the front has unequal arms with coil springs and adjustable tube arms. The 1966 Shelby also features an anti-sway bar. The rear suspension, in contrast operates with live axle, multi-leaf springs. It also features tube shocks.

Above all, the 1966 Shelby GT350 Hertz edition was known for performance. In its prime, it could go from 0 – 60 in 7.3 seconds and turned in quarter mile speeds of 15.6 seconds at 94 mph. The top speed was 124 mph at 7000 rpm.

1966 Shelby GT350 Hertz Edition Photos:

Cars, Muscle Cars, Shelby

1999 SHELBY SERIES 1

September 19, 2012 No Comments

Legendary American automotive designer and entrepreneur Carroll Shelby left behind a long-lasting legacy spanning several decades, resulting in several performance-oriented vehicles bearing his name in some form or another. The 1999 Shelby Series 1 roadster happens to be one of his lesser-known creations, but it is perhaps the most significant of his illustrious career. The Series 1 represented an effort to create a high-performance roadster from the ground up, utilizing an original design developed by Shelby himself.

Unlike many of Shelby’s past creations, the Series 1 was designed and engineered on a clean sheet of paper. The exterior design more plenty of passing resemblance to the Shelby AC Cobra and Shelby Daytona Coupe, but that’s largely where the resemblances end. Underneath, the Series 1 utilized a dual wishbone suspension with inboard-mounted coil-over dampers actuated by rocker arms. The chassis was constructed from 6061 aluminum that was extruded, formed and welded together. Aluminum honeycomb panels made up the majority of the floor boards and rocker panels. Carbon fiber and fiberglass laminate was employed for the body panels throughout the car.

Power for the 1999 Shelby Series 1 came courtesy of a 4.0-liter DOHC eight-cylinder engine sourced from the Oldsmobile Aurora, mounted well behind the front axle. In regular tune, this engine produced 320 horsepower and 290 pound-feet of torque. Coupled with a six-speed manual transmission supported in a torque tube, it was capable of reaching 60 mph from a standstill in 4.4 seconds and breaking the quarter mile in 12.8 seconds at 112 mph. With a top speed of 170 mph, the Series 1 proved 15 mph faster than the top speed of its spiritual predecessor, the 427 cubic-inch variant of the Shelby Cobra.

A total of 249 Series 1 roadsters were built as 1999 models between 1998 and 2004 out of a planned 500 examples. The remaining roadsters were built as component cars in 2005 due to federal re-certification costs. Component cars were delivered to customers with no engine or transmission.

1999 Shelby Series 1 Photos

Cars, Chevy, Muscle Cars

1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1

August 27, 2012 No Comments

In the late 1960s, the Camaro Z28 and SS were the go-to trims for top-shelf performance, or so most people thought. However, buried within GM’s Central Office Production Order catalog were all the ingredients needed to make a spicy road-going dish, the 1969 Camaro ZL1. With a monstrous engine derived from the legendary L88 Corvette and plenty of other enhancements, this Camaro encapsulated speed, power and thanks to its low production numbers, exclusivity.

On the outside, the Camaro ZL1, also known as COPO 9560, doesn’t look like much. In fact, it looks about as plain as any base Camaro of the time, despite using the SS 396 body as a starting point. There are no snazzy badges or special features that help it stand out, aside from the curiously large “power dome” on the hood. Inside, the ZL1 is equally Spartan; unlike the SS or Z28, its interior is devoid of any special trim.

The difference between the ZL1 and other Camaros lies underneath the hood. Under the “power dome” lurks a 427 cubic-inch “L88” eight-cylinder engine, conservatively rated at 430 horsepower yet capable of producing over 500 horsepower. Buyers could choose from several heavy-duty four-speed manual transmissions or a three-speed Turbo Hydra-matic, backed by a 4:10.1 positraction differential. Ordering the ZL1 through COPO meant getting around Chevrolet’s restrictions on offering engines larger than 400 cubic-inches.

The ZL1 was the brainchild of Chevy dealer Fred Gibb, who wanted a more powerful option for competition in NHRA drag racing. Gibb bought a mandatory minimum of 50 ZL1s, but the all-aluminum L88 represented a steep $4,160 premium, pushing the price of this powerful contender to an eye-watering $7,200. Nevertheless, 69 examples were built, with 50 being sold to Gibb’s dealership. Of those 50, Gibb managed to sell 13 while the remainder were bought back and resold at other Chevy dealerships.

1969 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 Photo Gallery