ooking back at 2020, I have to say, hands down, it was the worst year I’ve ever experienced. The reasons are obvious and many, so I’ll skip putting together a list. If there was anything positive to come out of living during a global pandemic, it did allow for some additional time spent at home with my family, which hasn’t been a bad thing—although sharing a small converted bedroom office with my wife is a different story. I’ll just leave that one alone for now.

After all we’ve gone through this past year, there’s no doubt we’ve been spit out of 2020 stronger and more resilient than expected. From a personal, and an industry, standpoint, if we can pull through the last 12 months, we can pretty much handle anything.

Although we were able to attend some events last year, they were few and far between. And with many of the weekend cars and coffee–style gatherings still taking place, those lowkey events offered us hot rod and muscle car enthusiasts the opportunity to get out with our rides. Although waking up early on a Saturday or Sunday to make these cruises isn’t my normal, by any means, it was fun to spend a little time with like-minded car enthusiasts for a couple hours. It’s also important we keep supporting these cruises, as the organizers typically spend a lot of time scoping out retail parking lots and working with the land owners and tenants to approve a place to take our rides and hang out. And remember to do your part in buying their coffee, T-shirts, hats, or whatever else they are pushing, as most of these people do it out of passion—not money. They’re also the ones who take the heat when you decide to do a burnout at said parking lot.

wning and driving a top-notch Camaro can be downright addictive. Just ask Vinnie Rosato of Union Beach, New Jersey, and he’ll tell you the same thing. You see, Vinnie always had a thing for Camaros—especially the 1969 models. “I’ve always been a car lover, but the 1969 Camaro has been my favorite model by far,” Vinnie says. He’s obviously not alone in his thoughts, as the 1969 has become the most sought-after F-body design of all time.

So, when Vinnie got the urge to design himself a drag car to hit the local dragstrips, there was no question which car would be the basis for his new racer. “I found a suitable 1969 Camaro and turned it into a track terror. I raced it through the ’80s, ’90s, and early ’00s. By 2009 I didn’t have time to race, so I sold what was now my Outlaw 105 racer to my good friend Larry Carpenter in Rockford, Illinois,” Vinnie continues.

s a car-crazed kid growing up in Northern New Jersey, young Mike Lagomarsino developed a perpetual passion for GM’s iconic 1957 Chevy. “From the beginning 1957s were always my favorite car,” Mike says. “I had models and HO cars everywhere—all of them were 1957s. When I got older, Popular Hot Rodding magazine’s Project X was my favorite feature. I read and studied every article with the intent to one day build an ‘X’ of my own.”

So, at age 15 Mike got his hands on his first 1957—a project car that basically needed everything under the sun just to get it out on the street. Holding him back as well was the fact that he was still a few years short of legal driving age in New Jersey. “That Chevy didn’t last long, as I worked on it for a few months and then decided to pass it on,” Mike says. However, a few years later, at age 19 he got another 1957. This one had a 327 stuffed with 12.5:1 pistons and a tunnel ram with two gas-guzzling four-barrels up on top. With 4.88 gears out back, it was pretty fast.

s a car-crazed kid growing up in Northern New Jersey, young Mike Lagomarsino developed a perpetual passion for GM’s iconic 1957 Chevy. “From the beginning 1957s were always my favorite car,” Mike says. “I had models and HO cars everywhere—all of them were 1957s. When I got older, Popular Hot Rodding magazine’s Project X was my favorite feature. I read and studied every article with the intent to one day build an ‘X’ of my own.”

So, at age 15 Mike got his hands on his first 1957—a project car that basically needed everything under the sun just to get it out on the street. Holding him back as well was the fact that he was still a few years short of legal driving age in New Jersey. “That Chevy didn’t last long, as I worked on it for a few months and then decided to pass it on,” Mike says. However, a few years later, at age 19 he got another 1957. This one had a 327 stuffed with 12.5:1 pistons and a tunnel ram with two gas-guzzling four-barrels up on top. With 4.88 gears out back, it was pretty fast.

Text By Nick Licata Photo By Jason Matthew

ith the early ’70s came a good number of appealing and capable new cars from the auto industry, yet there was a slew of models that failed to achieve high rankings as well. Cars such as the 1971 Ford Pinto, Chevrolet Vega, the 1975 AMC Pacer, and the Plymouth Sapporo (we’d never even heard of that one), just to name a few. But nowhere on the ’70s “sucky car” list was the Chevrolet Nova. And for good reason: It had nice styling and the car’s engine was known for durability and reliability. Today, the Nova hasn’t achieved muscle car supremacy like the 1969 Camaro, but it does have a substantial following. Finding one in decent condition can still be had for a relatively reasonable price, but the popularity of these cars continues to grow and so does their market value. With that said, the aftermarket has responded positively by offering a wide variety of restoration parts as well as numerous performance enhancers.

Text By Nick Licata Photo By Jason Matthew

ith the early ’70s came a good number of appealing and capable new cars from the auto industry, yet there was a slew of models that failed to achieve high rankings as well. Cars such as the 1971 Ford Pinto, Chevrolet Vega, the 1975 AMC Pacer, and the Plymouth Sapporo (we’d never even heard of that one), just to name a few. But nowhere on the ’70s “sucky car” list was the Chevrolet Nova. And for good reason: It had nice styling and the car’s engine was known for durability and reliability. Today, the Nova hasn’t achieved muscle car supremacy like the 1969 Camaro, but it does have a substantial following. Finding one in decent condition can still be had for a relatively reasonable price, but the popularity of these cars continues to grow and so does their market value. With that said, the aftermarket has responded positively by offering a wide variety of restoration parts as well as numerous performance enhancers.

oday, everybody and his uncle owns and uses a smartphone with built-in camera capability. It’s been said that not a second goes by without at least a thousand digital pictures being taken all over the globe. But it wasn’t always like this. Back in the ’60s, photography was still considered an artform; many families didn’t even own a camera, let alone car people. That’s why it’s extra special when vintage car enthusiast pictures surface today.

In this story, let’s examine a handful of color prints taken by Chevy fanatic Charlie Sanden in 1967. Most significant, Charlie was friends with the late, great Smokey Yunick, whose Best Damn Garage In Town was a Daytona Beach, Florida, legend. If you didn’t know, Yunick was one of NASCAR’s pioneers, working closely with Hudson, Pontiac, and Chevrolet in the 1951-1967 time frame. The unifying bond between Charlie and Yunick was the fact both attended the same Chicago-based engineering school, though not at the same time, as Yunick was older than Charlie.

Nonetheless, beginning around 1964, Charlie made regular winter pilgrimages from chilly Massachusetts to balmy Florida to attend the Daytona Speed Weeks where he cheered Yunick and his various teams’ efforts in stock car competition. It was during the 1966 visit (most likely) that Charlie managed to obtain some cast-off exhaust manifolds and a cowl induction system from Chevrolet’s abortive 1963 427 “Mystery Motor” and Z11 campaign. And it’s pictures of those ultrarare GM racing parts that stimulated the creation of this article.

n 1969 Chevrolet built exactly 20,302 Z/28 Camaros. This is the sad fate of one of them. Discovered during a 2018 visit to Vancouver, Washington’s All American Classics auto parts yard (AAC, 800-955-4999), this LeMans Blue SCCA homologation special was just a year old and had under 5,000 miles on the odometer when it struck a concrete bridge abutment at speed.

When it was new in 1969, the muscle car boom was in its sixth year. Millions of “baby boomers” were getting their driver’s licenses and the insurance industry was beginning to see what happens when teenage drivers are given cars with 300 and 400 hp. And even though the Z/28’s 302 was factory-rated at a seemingly mundane 290 hp, the reality was closer to 350 with mild tuning. What’s more, every 1969 Z/28 came equipped with a four-speed manual transmission. As any seasoned stick jockey knows, banging gears and power shifting go with the territory—as do exaggerated fish tails and power slides. By contrast, automatics are more civilized.

By 1971, the insurance industry began to push back. Armed with over a half decade’s worth of accident reports, it was becoming clear that high-powered cars and young drivers resulted in collisions—and financial losses for the insurance giants. Measures were quickly put in place to even the odds. Most painfully, insurance companies added stiff surcharges for muscle cars, and four-speed transmissions were targeted for an extra fee.