The term “Dev-Ops” is hot in my industry. An abbreviation in a world that thrives on acronyms, “Development Operations” is fancy-speak for “playing around with something that may or may not work, may or may not turn a profit, but getting paid for it anyway.” I guess it was too hard to come with an acronym for that, so, “Dev-Ops” it is. I do my share of it at work, although for some reason my boss is always trying to get me to focus on things that actually make money! Imagine! But hey, I don’t have to do that at home; I’ve been doing a few little fleet improvements on the muscle cars here at the track, and I must say, I’m quite happy with how these came out! These were pre-existing cars I’ve had for a year or more that just got out of the tuning shop with some slick new extras! Check ‘em out…..
First up we have “BLACK MONA LISA,” the 427-equipped ’67 Malibu hardtop owned by Bostonian Roland “Merlin” Morganthaler, sporting a classy new white interior. This car was originally black black black. At first I liked it that way, but lately I’ve been thinking it was too much of a good thing. I wanted to try to it out with one of the harder-to-obtain white Ultra G chassis, but when I went looking to buy one, I couldn’t find a single one for sale. So…
…I bought a whole car! This turned out well, since I got this all white ’70 Chevelle SS at a remarkably good price-not much more than I’ve paid for some white chassis!-and after taking the chassis, I’m giving the body to my racing buddy Shanon, who does not have a ’70 Chevelle in his own T-Jet fleet, which means, of course, that he needs one! It will get mounted on a standard black chassis he will provide, and whether it then keeps the white tires or goes with something else is up to him.
Look at this beauty now! “Black Mona Lisa” is “dressed to the nines” in formal wear and ready to knock ‘em dead at the track-and that’s exactly what she’s gonna do, if the first out of the gate times she turned in with this new motor are any clue! This came out even better than I expected; it looks terrific, and it makes me wonder why I didn’t do it like this right from the start!
Next up we have “ZEUS,” the bright yellow ’69 Yenko Camaro with the elaborate back story about how it was originally orange, then became yellow, and got renamed in the process. Originally running on solid black steelies, owner Tenneseean Roscoe “Redline” Roberts decided to go with a bit of an upgrade, trading that “street brawler” look for something a little more upscale to match her recent restoration: a set “GT’s” from Road Race Replicas. Still black, mind you, but now with a set of RWL Goodyear Polyglas GTs all around…which she will surely soon make short work of on the track!
And last but not least, we have “COPPERHEAD,” the race-spec 340 6-pack ’70 Challenger of Spokane, WA native Clark “Cannonade” Kavanaugh, which had a little body work and some other “freshening up” done recently.
Worried that the paint was dying, Kavanaugh had it buffed and touched up and then clear-coated, which changed the hue a bit, making it look a touch more “orangey,” but also gave it a deep lustre that will protect it for another 50 years. More dramatically, the original white vinyl top, which was showing its age, was painstakingly removed and replaced with a new black vinyl top in the factory-correct material. No changes were made inside or under the hood, however, as none were needed; now wearing a set of black steel reverses on the rear with a new pair of meaty Goodyear PG’s, she’s ready to do all the burnouts the crowds could ask for!
This is the first car I’ve done like this with mismatched wheels; I admit I’m being a copy cat, since I got the idea from a couple of other cars I’ve seen online and I really liked the brutal “dragger” look, so I decided to do one of my own; I took a pair of “A-size” Vincent Cragers that I had no matching rears for and made use of them, with a set of the black “D” size Vincent “Stockers” in the rear. It’s probably not appropriate for a road racer, but it looks mean as hell!
Well, not bad for a couple of weeknights in the shop, and my friend got a pearl white ’70 SS out of it to boot! Yeah, I’m happy! What do you think, dear readers? Send me some pics of your own builds!
You always pick great names for these beauties! Plus naming them is a great way to manage the collection! I love that “I bought the whole car!” The detailing on these is incredible. These are true works of art and I bet they run as good as they look! I love seeing these!