Sporty and Special

The Motormasters of Detroit once took a fairly dim and distant view of the sports-car resurgence that began in 1946 when a tiny band of ex-GIs waded ashore with the news that the crafty Europeans knew how to make small and lively two-seaters that had no apparent function but fun. These pioneers found that there were a few Americans, most of them rich and social and centered around the Ivy League colleges, who had known all about MGs and Bugattis and things in the 1930s. The two groups joined and their small piping cries of pleasure began to be heard in Boston and New York and environs. In 1948, they even managed to entice a few people to come to see a sports-car race, at Watkins Glen, now the venue of the Grand Prix of the United States. Detroit saw all this as a cloud not as big as a baby's hand. Still, in the fullness of time, the Chevrolet Corvette came along, billed as a genuine made-in-America sports car, but it wasn't really fast and it wouldn't really handle. Jaguar owners, blowing it off at will, were not impressed, nor would they be by the Thunderbird. The Corvette grew up to be a brute, indeed, and fantastic value for money; and now, in the year of grace and wonder, 1968, purists are beginning to concede that it is verily a sports car.

Playboy's Guide to Detroit's Sporty and Special Cars

Still dubious, and rightly so, it wasn't until 1964 that Detroit, in the person of Lee Iacocca of Ford, noting that half the people in the country were under 30, a vast market for which no domestic builder was producing flat-out, decided where the True Path lay and ran out the Mustang. It was cobbled up out of standard parts, it wasn't a sports car and it wasn't a family wagon, but it was smallish, (text continued on page 110)Sporty and Special(continued from page 102) fast, comfortable, sexy, it had a base price under $2500, and it did what Detroit was convinced no "real" sports car could ever do--it sold, and sold by Detroit standards: In terms of sales within a model year, it was the most successful motorcar ever built. There followed a thunder of running feet, the rush to the drawing board, and lo, a New Thing was delivered unto us: the sporty car, the street car, the special, the muscle car, the pony car or whatever--a vehicle meant to have dash to set it aside from the mundane family car, and comfort, reliability and unfussiness to distinguish it from the pure, or European, sports car. Everybody in the business sells at least one now. Some look like what they are--hairy--and some hide the muscle under a demure and strictly standard exterior. The choice of makes is wide and the choice of options with makes so huge that one nearly needs a computer to cope with them. When you start circularizing your friendly local dealers for a sporty car, you are at root shopping for image. You may also get straight-line (and, in some cases, bent-line) performance that will wipe out all but the topmost imports, and you'll get it at, comparatively, a bargain price in dollars. (As with trucks and station wagons and everything else, the degree of bargain may vary madly from a dealership in Denver to one in Dallas, or even from the wheel store down at the corner to one 15 miles away.)

Few startling changes from 1967 practice show in the 1968 S-cars (for sporty, special, street or so-what). Under the Federal lash, much noise is being made about safety features, and items such as breakaway steering columns, padded windshield pillars and sun visors, double-thick windshields and improved washers, locked seat backs, dual-brake systems, forward glare reduction, and so on, are in evidence everywhere.

Hidden windshield wipers are very much in and so are full-flow ventilation systems using positive extraction of old, tired air from the car's interior. Vent windows are out. Go-faster stripes are everywhere, running every way but diagonally. Pontiac GTO's integral composition bumper, which rebounds without even chipping its paint, will be copied as fast as ingenuity permits. There are some old new ideas, too, like Oldsmobile's forced-induction system, which picks up air from under the front bumper and pipes it to the carburetors to give a slight supercharge effect for free, and Eldorado's double door handles (introduced last year), one for the front people, one for the rear, a convenience that Mercedes-Benz was pleased to offer to discerning buyers in 1934. The once-exotic disk brakes are as optional as red paint with most producers, for front wheels only. The parking-brake problem keeps them off the rears in most cases--the Corvette is an exception. Two goodies are common to all the S-cars, and they are flaming, steam-catapult-type take-off and plus-100-mph top speeds that are as illegal as aggravated assault with a deadly weapon in every jurisdiction save the Principality of Nevada. Some models in wide use on the stock circuits--Dodge's Charger, for example--can be vitamin-packed to run on the high side of 130 and still not be too nervous for the street if the driver doesn't mind working at it and living with a certain amount of clatter. Where will it all lead? You may well ask, viewing with bemused fascination two world-wide trends inevitably running for a head-on.

On the one hand, everything that will make for speed and more speed is being pumped into the automobile, and practically every engine in sight has provision for still more future performance tucked away in it somewhere, rather like secret compartments in a Danish teakwood desk. Things like the Ford Mark III and Aston Martin's 200-mph project are already in being. And on the other hand, world bureaucracy's trend toward lower speed limits is clearly irreversible. Anyone holding a contrary view has only to ponder the British 70-mph limit, called a mere temporary "experiment" when it was introduced and hardened into fixed law a few months later. (It will be lowered to 60 in the foreseeable future.) Even the authorities in Germany, where the limit on the open road is still whatever your thing will do if you stand on the accelerator and lock your knee, are beginning to mutter about cutting back a bit. Some theoreticians seriously propose, and can make a rather stunningly good case for, a universal 45-mph limit. However, the time is not yet, so be of good heart, and if nothing less that 375 horse-power will soothe your twitching ganglia, be assured that the man down at the store has something for you.

The S-cars are interesting, too, in the degree of comfort they offer in combination with go, comfort that would, only a few years ago, have been read as deep luxury. Today, you can roll in your own self-chosen environment, almost in your own world, cosseted in fine leather (reclining, if the need arises), air-conditioned and temperature-controlled, with multi-speakers pumping out the beat, broadcast or taped, in a quality that would have been thought pretty good living-room hi-fi not too long ago, and all this for less than $4000, if you like.

Newest on the scene is American Motor's Javelin. The Javelin is A. M. C.'s riposte to the notion--widespread in the past half decade and more--that everything to do with A. M. C. had also to do with senior citizens, cozy in retirement, whose preference in transport leaned to carriages fat, wide, easygoing, safe and sure. In these years of violence, flower power and flat-out go-go-go, such an image could point only to bankruptcy. Fore-sightedly enough, in 1964 A. M. C. had laid down a new model, the Tarpon--a smooth, wind-tunneled, four-passenger sporty car. But before it could show, it was shot down by the Mustang. The Tarpon was switched into the Marlin, a fish of another color--a six-passenger sedan type that made no great noise in the market place. The AMX, once an "idea" car that first showed many Javelin features, will be out in production form later in the year.

The Javelin is something else again. A low--52 inches--sleeky, air-flow, two-door, four-passenger vehicle, it's basic with a 145-hp, six-cylinder engine, but tops with a 343-cubic-inch, 280-hp V8 that will deliver a 0-to-60-mph time around 8 seconds and a top of 120 mph. It's available straight and in a super version--the SST two-seater with custom interior, reclining buckets, special trim, and so on. Between the 145-hp, six-cylinder and the 280-hp V8s, there are 200-hp and 225-hp V8s, with automatic transmission or three- or four-speed manuals. Optionally--dual exhausts, wide-oval tires and disk brakes in front.

That by no means exhausts the option list, of course. As a matter of fact, the expanded option list of recent years forms a system unique in the world and just about does blow out of the water the notion that you can't buy a custom-made car anymore. Maybe not custom-made, but custom-assembled, certainly. Take the Chevrolet Camaro as an example, Chevrolet's original answer to the Mustang. Standard, it comes with a 210-hp V8, and new for '68 are the no-vent windows everybody's going for, flow-through ventilation system, instrument panel, wider wheels, exterior trim, new grille, tail lamps, and so on. But on the side for the Camaro, including the sporty SS model, are two six-cylinder engines, or V8s running 275, 295 or 325 hp. Special rear-wheel opening moldings, belt and roof drip moldings. You can have a special grille and hidden headlights, and parking, directional and backup lights mounted under the bumper, a black-finished lower body, special fuel filler cap, red-stripe wide-oval tires, hood insulation, and so on and on--this aside from paint and upholstery combinations. The Chevelle SS396 offers three-speed or four-speed manual transmission, Powerglide or Hydramatic.

Or consider the Ford Mustang, with six engines, three transmissions and seven rear-axle ratios on the books, plus dual exhausts, pop-up fuel filler cap, fog lamps, heavy-duty suspension, wide tires, rear-window defogger, power front disks, (continued on page 167)Sporty and Special (continued from page 110) limited-slip differential, tilting steering wheel, collapsible spare tire, shoulder harnesses, automatic speed control, extra instruments and two-tone paint. There are only face-lift body changes from last year's model. Mustang is reaching toward a sales total of 1,700,000 units, a knock if you're looking for exclusivity, a plus if you believe with most people that the longer a model runs, the fewer the bugs it harbors.

The Torino is new from Ford, replacing the Fairlane GT in convertible and two-door hardtop. Twin bucket seats are optional: so is the new 427 engine at 390 hp. The convertible shows the new back window, which looks like plastic and isn't--it's pliable glass, which sounds like a monumental contradiction in terms, but the stuff does bend without breaking and, of course, won't scratch.

Pretty much the same is the Thunder-bird, except that it, too, can use the 390-hp engine as option to the standard 315. Bucket seats are an option now, with the car a full six-seater. The Dearborn name-makers-up intend to soften the blow for bucket lovers by calling the new thing a "flight bench." The Landau models have alligator-pattern vinyl roofs. I asked Gustave Reuter, one of the few great custom coachmakers still with us, what he would have to charge to replace this with real skin. He ventured $12,500 as a fair price, considering that his friendly local alligator dealer would charge him $180 per square foot for the hide. And he would recommend keeping it out of the rain. So T-bird Landau owners are getting a bargain, since the vinyl can't be told from the genuine stuff at ordinary passing speeds and distances. You can have the Thunderbird in a dozen new colors this year, out of a total of 20.

Plymouth's Barracuda is a good example of the rubber-incinerating performance $3000 or so will, incredibly, buy today. The 230-hp, 318-cubic-inch engine is standard, with the 275/340 engine in the Barracuda S. If you are serious about it all, you can have the 383-cubic-incher, which will deliver 300 horses at 4400 rpm. With this, if you don't mind the hard ride that comes with the mandatory heavy-duty suspension, you can go bear hunting with anybody.

A new supercar entrant is Plymouth's Road Runner, a tight-looking coupe on the Belvedere chassis. It goes with the 383-cubic-inch engine, and if that isn't enough--it should be for most people--it will take the mighty hemi 426. Everything under the car is heavy-duty: springs, fat torsion bars, 11-inch drum brakes, wide-oval tires. It also has a very funny horn note. The Plymouth GTX, now with power steering, is one of the best-handling of all S-cars, and carries as much go as any.

A gran turismo car designed for American road conditions is the notion behind the Dodge Charger; or, to put it another way, it's meant to be a full-size sports car. Go it will, certainly in the R/T (for Road/Track) version, carrying the optional 426-cubic-inch hemi engine, one of the great U. S. power plants. Indeed, it will get to 105 miles an hour in a standing quarter mile. The Charger has a good deal of flair about it, with a racing-type tank filler cap on the left rear fender, instruments--there are no idiot lights--canted to point toward the driver (a real good Italian notion of a few seasons back) and a new striping idea--round and round instead of fore and aft.

The Dodge Dart, a much-liked regular/compact car--as against the old compact/compacts--is new in the GT Sport model, running a new 3-10-cubic-inch engine, with the man-eating 383 also available. For bodies, there are hardtop, convertible, two-door and four-door sedans. The Coronet R/T runs the 440-cubic-inch engine or the 426 hemi.

The Toronado by Oldsmobile, deservedly a sensation when it came on the scene to prove that front-wheel drive could be used with a big engine in a big car, externally stands pretty much in last year's posture, except that the front fenders, held by some to be pedestrian slicers, have been rounded off. Toronado uses the same body shell as the Buick Riviera and the Cadillac Eldorado. All Oldsmobiles are carrying slower-running engines for '68: for example, a working range of 800-2900 rpm instead of 1000-3500. The idea is to show a fuel saving without power loss by using bigger engines with softer camshafts and leaner carburetion tied to very low final-drive ratios. The end product is quieter, too.

The Ram Air option goes for all Oldsmobiles; but, of course, it can't do a lot for you until you're going pretty fast, when it will make you go faster. It will be useful on the monster 4-4-2 with the 400-cubic-inch engine. The 4-4-2, restyled for 1968, is now the top of the F-85 line. The "S" Cutlass offers 12 engine-transmission setups. (It was on the Cutlass that Olds tried out the slower-turning engine idea, with the Turnpike Cruiser designation.) Also common to all models in the line is a nifty fuel-tank filler tube that will collapse on impact instead of rupturing the tank by ripping itself out, and a horn-button thing that runs continuously around the bottom of the steering wheel and is integral with it: Anywhere you squeeze, comes beep. Bugatti tried for the same thing, but didn't quite make it, with the four underneath horn buttons he put on the deluxe Type 41 in 1927. Oldsmobile shift levers collapse, too, and there's no metal showing on the backs of front seats.

Pontiac's Firebird is too new to need much change-over. It still has the hood-mounted tachometer, one of the cutest gimmicks of the decade, and there's been fiddling with the instrument panel. The rear shocks are biased now--one in front of, one behind the rear axle, to hold down hop under full power, a good notion, when you consider that 330 hp is optionally on tap--a 175-hp six is standard. The GTO, the one with the magic stuff bumper in front, has new wideness on the ground--five feet even--which puts the over-all width of the car to a hair this side of 75 inches. An optional 400-cubic-inch V8 for the GTO produces 265 hp on regular fuel.

There's a new Cougar at Lincoln-Mercury, the GT-E, marked by a muscle-bulged hood, special paint, tough, competition suspension, flat-spoke steel wheels, power brakes and steering, wide-oval tires and the aforementioned 427-cubic-inch, 390-hp engine. The Cyclone, in the Montego series, is a fastback, with a rear window almost flat enough for a poker game and a 302-cubic-inch V8 as standard. There's a Cyclone GT with performance suspension and the 390-cubic-inch V8.

Boss of the production S-cars, by reason of longevity, evolution and muscle, remains the Corvette; and the 1968 is obviously and indisputably better in many ways than the 1967, reflecting the unremitting creative effort Zora Arkus-Duntov has put into the model for so long. The body, a refinement of the Mako Shark, is smoothly sculptured--except for the pop-up head lamps, and they're out only in the dark--and the car overall is two inches lower and seven inches longer. It comes as a coupe and a convertible with a soft or a removable hardtop backed up by a roll bar. Seven-inch wheels are standard; the automatic transmission is three-speed instead of two-speed--a blessing. Power is the same, running to the 427/435 V8; handling and comfort are both better than before. All in all, a very good thing.

Carroll Shelby turned out about 3300 Shelby GTs last year, six times his first year (1965) total, and it wasn't enough. New arrangements, including production in Michigan instead of in California, have been put in train, and Shelby Cobra GT350-500s (the Cobra in its AC-body form is no more) will soon be more numerous in the land. The vehicle is offered as fastback and convertible, the convertible with a Targalike roll bar. The GT 350 runs the 302-cubic-inch engine, at 250 hp: the optional supercharger (centrifugal) boosts this to 335. The GT 500 has the 428/360 V8 as standard; as option, the 427 at 400 hp. Roof-suspended shoulder safety harnesses are standard, and many first-time Cobra drivers will be glad of it when they realize the size of the gate the accelerator pedal opens: Suddenly, everything is straight downhill. Steep, too.

Minor metalwork changes show on Buick's Riviera--it looks a lot longer, for one thing--and the rear suspension has been worked over with a view to better ride and less noise. The Riviera has always put out an excellent ride in almost dead silence; yet notable improvement has been made. Hidden head lamps still, buried wipers and no-vent windows. The GS 400 mounts the coupe on a shorter wheelbase this year, a sharp-looking effect.

Cadillac, which has produced many firsts down the years, including the first production electric self-starter, nevertheless doesn't make changes quickly. As befits a full-luxury carriage maker, Cadillac tends to stay with a good thing. It stayed with its last engine for 20 years, and the new one for the '68 Eldorado is fairly startling--the biggest in the world for passenger use, at 472 inches, and putting out the most torque, a fantastic 525 pounds. At 375 hp, it's relatively unstressed, just stroking along. The engine is all-new, from cast instead of forged crankshaft to a temperature gauge that senses metal heat as soon as it appears, rather than waiting for the water to warm up and bring the message. The car looks smaller to the driver than to the man on the sidewalk, handles extremely well for its type and, of course, has automatic everything. Worrying factor: You have to make up your mind from a list of 129 interior-trim combinations, 64 in cloth, 65 in leather.

Lincoln's Continental Mark III, delayed by the Ford strike, will be introduced this month and will show pretty much as it was in two previous incarnations, still one of the world's primary luxury motorcars. I imagine that the leather upholstery will still come from cattle raised in unfenced pastures, to prevent the odd barbed-wire mark. I hope so. That's the one fact I remember from the introduction of the Mark II, back there when Ike was President or whenever. Hard to forget something like that.