any, many years ago, well before editor Nick Licata got his first skateboard as a kid, one of the additions performance enthusiasts made to their cars was a row of aftermarket gauges hanging below the dashboard. Even though they were often difficult to see mounted near the floor, the general consensus was they were better than factory gauges, which were inaccurate at best and useless at worst. Most factory gauges didn’t react very quickly or have meaningful numbers, making them only slightly better than warning lights that would normally illuminate about the same time some sort of mechanical carnage was taking place. As proof we offer the instruments in our ’69 Chevrolet Camaro.

Apparently, when our base Camaro was new, the decision-makers at GM figured no one looks at gauges anyway, so we’ll save some money and go with just a speedometer, an extra-large gas gauge with warning lights for oil pressure, coolant temperature, and charging system status. (There were several gauge packages available that included such things as a tachometer, clock, oil pressure, temp gauge, and an ammeter, but they were extra-cost options.)

t’s not hard to argue the merits of the modern LS engine, especially those that show up in a wooden crate with everything inside needed to make ’em run. Turnkey, reliable powerplants using 21st century technology inside and out, capable of making gobs of power; what’s not to love? They work as advertised, there’s no arguing that, but when compared to their vintage brethren of years gone by, the modern LS engine falls flat. All that wiring, plastic, and drab gray aluminum leaves a lot to be desired in the looks department, especially when said powerplant finds itself between the inner fenders of a classic Chevy muscle car. The guys at LS Classic know this all too well and made it their credo to bring some vintage styling to the LS engine line.

As alluded, LS Classic Series by Lokar (their official name) offers a bunch of different components to help dress up that modern-looking LS engine, replacing that plastic with a little classic. From subtle things like cast-aluminum valve covers that mimic the stylings of the 409, small-, or big-block Chevy to entire induction systems that disguise the new as old, LS Classic has the solutions to bring your modern LS engine into the past. Their products are well thought out and designed to perform as good as they look. These aren’t cheesy dress-up parts that simply bolt in place and hide the components, oftentimes they incorporate the OE design, such as their use of original LS valve cover gaskets. Many of their induction systems use the original drive-by-wire throttle body and fuel injectors, making the installation compatible with GM and aftermarket ECUs. And if modifying a modern crate engine is beyond your comfort level, they even offer fully dressed crate engines that are ready to drop into that classic muscle car.

or most of us the prospect of wiring a car ranks right up there with going to the dentist for a root canal—in both cases a certain amount of worry results from anticipating the uncomfortable procedure about to take place. While we can’t do much about visiting the dentist, we can advise the easy way to wire your pride and joy, and that’s with a wiring system from American Autowire. To install it you don’t have to know any more about electricity than that it’s the stuff that makes the engine run when you turn the key and the lights come on when you pull on the switch.

There are a variety of reasons for rewiring an older car, and in many cases time has taken its toll on the original electrical system to the point that safety and reliability become issues. Over the years, wires and connections will deteriorate, and it’s not unusual for ill-advised and poorly executed modifications to have been made. But more often than not updates are needed to add electrical accessories that the vehicle was never equipped with. To address all those issues, American Autowire offers three types of wiring solutions:

See-Through Chevy

here are many reasons for replacing a vehicle’s glass. It may be broken, blasted by the elements, making it hard to see through, and, of course, there may be scratches in the windshield that look like wipers ran for months without a rubber blade. Then for project cars like Randi Scudellari’s ’63 Chevy Nova, removing all the glass, associated rubber gaskets, and trim is part of doing a primo paintjob; it’s the best way to refinish all those hard-to-reach areas around the window openings.

While all automotive glass looks the same, there are significant differences. Windshields are made of laminated glass, which is constructed by sandwiching a thin layer of polyvinyl butyral (PVB) between two layers of glass. The combination is then heated and pressed together, with the end result being glass that doesn’t shatter when broken as the middle layer holds it together.

Over the years the process of laminating glass has been refined. At one time it wasn’t uncommon for the edges of older laminated glass to become foggy due to the layers separating. Today materials and processes have improved, eliminating that problem. Another development was tinted glass. Windshields are often tinted a blue or blue-green color by adding iron oxide to the glass during manufacture, or putting a dye in the inner liner to create a darker band of color at the top of the glass.