Cobra Jet: The History of Ford's Greatest High-Performance Muscle Cars


Book Description

Relive Ford’s glory days in the muscle car era in this stunning new volume covering the popular and powerful Cobra Jets! Ford’s “Total Performance” racing program in the early 1960s was the first stone turned in the task of repurposing its image to the youth market. The introduction of the Mustang increased that exponentially, but even in 289 Hi-Po form it was no match for the Pontiac GTO or other muscle cars. Neither was the 1966 Fairlane GT or subsequent 390 Mustang the following year. But when the 428 Cobra Jet Mustang debuted at Pomona for the NHRA Winternationals in 1968, that image evolved from wholesome to fearsome! Cobra Jet Mustangs downed all comers and took the vaunted Super Stock Eliminator crown while introducing a new weapon under the hood to serve as fair warning to what was to be uncoiled at the stoplight. By the next model year with the revolutionary shaker hood on Cobra Jet-equipped Mach Is and the striking snake adorning the sheet metal of the midsize Cobra, Ford’s image makeover was complete. The demise of the muscle car era didn’t signify the end of the Cobra Jet, as Ford continued the performance reign with the 351 Cobra Jet. The legacy left by Mustang, Cougar, Torino, Cyclone, and Ranchero 428, 429, and 351 Cobra Jet-powered vehicles is indelible. Mustang Monthly editor Rob Kinnan and muscle car expert Diego Rosenberg bring this history back to life in an all-encompassing book that is the first to specifically feature all Cobra Jet cars, including the purpose-built drag cars of today! Cobra Jet: The History of Ford’s Greatest High Performance Cars will hypnotize you as the first and complete history of Ford’s most famous engines during the era’s peak.




American Performance V-8 Specs: 1963-1974 (Second Edition)


Book Description

American Performance V-8 Specs: 1963-1974 (Second Edition) provides extensive information on all the performance V-8 engines in Muscle Cars, Pony Cars, and Supercars. Also included are sports cars such as Corvette, Cobra, GT40, and Pantera. Numerous tables and charts display engine information in a clear and concise style. This data-packed book is a valuable resource for automotive enthusiasts. Says automotive writer Diego Rosenberg: “This book is laid out in a manner that embraces your interest and keeps you entertained with historical takes on the era. It’s a seminal piece of automotive history that should be a mandatory reference for every enthusiast.” Each chapter is dedicated to a manufacturer and contains five sections: (1) Engine specs including bore, stroke, horsepower, torque, compression ratio, carburetion, rod length, bore spacing, block height, valve size, journal diameters, and firing order, (2) Engine application charts for American muscle car and sports car models, (3) Road test results from automotive magazines of the 1960s and 1970s (over 1,000 total tests), (4) Additional engine details and historical background, and (5) Gallery of color photographs (over 400 total photographs).




How to Buy and Sell Collector Cars


Book Description

Learn how to maximize your profits and savings when buying and selling collector cars! The dealership model is an American institution, and auction houses can trace their roots back to the days of dusty cattle sales. Both have remained unchanged. Since the early 2000s, the internet has shaken up these legacy methods of finding, buying, and selling vintage cars, as a global online marketplace that is open to anyone. CarTech, in conjunction with Patrick Krook of REV! Muscle Cars, introduces a proven process drawn from 20 years of experience building some of the world’s most significant classic car collections. Whether you are a first-time buyer or an established collector, this book shows you how to locate and buy your dream collector car stress free. Get the car you are expecting every time, creating positive cash flow and keeping the hobby fun for years to come. Inside this book is an easy-to-follow, heavily illustrated step-by-step method to find, evaluate, negotiate, close, fund, and take delivery of a collector car safely over the internet without leaving your living room. It also includes how to avoid costly purchase mistakes, such as overpaying, fakes, or buying someone else’s headache. Better yet, it delves into details about how to always sell out of advantage, minimizing the overall amount you invest as you build your collection over time. Lastly, it provides all the tools you need for buying and selling when you have that person-to-person driveway transaction. Why spend tens of thousands of dollars on dealership retail markup, auction fees, and failed purchases when you can obtain your dream car, keep more money in your pocket, and spend more quality time enjoying the hobby? How to Buy and Sell Collector Cars takes you from being a novice to a seasoned buyer/seller while you enjoy the adventure of car collecting.




The Age of the Muscle Car


Book Description

A breed unlike any seen before or since, the powerful, stylish American muscle car defined an era in automotive history. This history traces the rise and fall of these great performance cars from their precursors in the 1950s through the seminal appearance of the Pontiac GTO in 1964 and then year by year to the end in the 1970s. Approachable and nontechnical yet deeply informative, it puts the bygone muscle car in its cultural and aesthetic contexts, describes developments in styling, performance and marketing, and revels in the joys of muscle car ownership in the 21st century.




Ken Miles: The Shelby American Years


Book Description

Ken Miles is one of the most famous sports car racers in history, and his time at Shelby American was the pinnacle of his career. Ride shotgun with Ken Miles through the twists and turns of Sebring, Laguna Seca, Riverside, and Le Mans as seen through the lens of Shelby American photographer Dave Friedman! The hiring of Ken Miles by Carroll Shelby in February 1963 initiated arguably the greatest pairing of driver/owner partnerships in the history of motorsports. Not only did Shelby hire Competition Manager Ken Miles as an accomplished road racer but also Miles brought professionalism, innovation, and a keen attribute of being able to surround himself with budding, talented individuals. The list of race cars that Ken piloted at Shelby American is nearly unrivaled: the Shelby 289 Cobra, 390 Cobra, 427 Cobra, King Cobra, Shelby Daytona, Mustang GT350R, and Ford GT. Ken dominated the 1964 United States Road Racing Championship (USRRC) racing season by winning 8 of 10 races to secure the Manufacturers’ Championship. However, it was at Le Mans where Ken Miles became a worldwide household name. The robbery that was the 1966 24 Hours of Le Mans is laid out in excruciatingly accurate detail as Ford royalty Carroll Shelby, Carroll Smith, Homer Perry, Leo Beebe, Charlie Agapiou, Bob Negstad, Carroll Smith, and Peter Miles recall the race and the tragedy that followed two months later. Recapture Ken Miles’s career as told by esteemed Shelby American photographer Dave Friedman in this firsthand account titled Ken Miles: The Shelby American Years!




The All-American Muscle Car


Book Description

Get the full history of the American muscle car in The All-American Muscle Car, from it's origin as an act of descent, to where it sits now.




Selling the American Muscle Car


Book Description

As the muscle car wars developed in the early 1960s, auto manufacturers scrambled to find catchy marketing campaigns to entice the buying public into their dealerships. General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler, with all their divisions, as well as AMC and Studebaker, inevitably sank billions of dollars into one-upmanship in an effort to vie for the consumer's last dollar. Automotive writer Diego Rosenberg examines the tactics and components used by manufacturers in waging war against one another in the muscle car era. Manufacturers poured millions into racing programs, operating under the principle of "Win on Sunday, Sell on Monday." Cars were given catchy nicknames, such as The GTO Judge, Plymouth Roadrunner, Cobra, and Dodge Super Bee. Entire manufacturer lines were given catchy marketing campaigns, such as Dodge's Scat Pack, AMC's Go Package, and Ford's Total Performance. From racing to commercials to print ads, from dealer showrooms to national auto shows, each manufacturer had its own approach in vying for the buyer's attention, and gimmicks and tactics ranged from comical to dead serious. Selling the American Muscle Car: Marketing Detroit Iron in the 60s and 70s takes you back to an era when options were plentiful and performance was cheap. You will relive or be introduced to some of the cleverest marketing campaigns created during a time when America was changing every day.




The Art of the Muscle Car


Book Description

“Just what is a Muscle Car?” Road Test magazine asked in June 1967. The answer: “Exactly what the name implies. It is a product of the American car industry adhering to the hot rodder’s philosophy of taking a small car and putting a BIG engine in it. . . . The Muscle Car is Charles Atlas kicking sand in the face of the 98 horsepower weakling.” Unconcerned with such trivial details as comfort and handling, the vintage American muscle car was built for straight-line speed and quickly became the ride of choice for power-hungry racers and serious gearheads. In a country where performance was measured in brute force, a quarter mile at a time, the muscle car was the perfect machine. In the intervening years, these down-and-dirty, high-performing beauties have earned their place in the automotive pantheon. As prized by collectors and aficionados as they are by denizens of garages and drag strips, classic muscle cars now fetch upwards of a million dollars at auctions and feature in any story of America’s automotive glory days. The icons of muscle car art—including Camaro and Chevelle SS, the Hemi and 440-6 ’Cuda, Challenger, Roadrunner, Super Bee, GTX, Super Bird, Daytona Charger, Super Cobra Jet and Boss Mustang, Talladega Torino, Buick GSX and W30 Oldsmobile 442, and AMX Javelin—are all here, on full display in this lavishly illustrated volume, each described in a detailed essay followed by a gallery of portraits and special gatefold presentations that capture the art of the muscle car at its finest.




American Muscle Supercars


Book Description




The Complete Book of Ford Mustang


Book Description

The Complete Book of Ford Mustang, 4th Edition details the development, technical specifications, and history of America’s original pony car, now updated to cover cars through the 2021 model year.