Brian Earnest tells the tale of a 1967 Mustang that came back for an encore

The “gone but not forgotten” saga of Gene Leopold’s 1967 Ford Mustang GT was almost more of a “gone and good riddance” story.

But Gene’s son Kris was determined to change the ending.

It’s not that Gene, a resident of Superior, Wis., didn’t like the hot Acapulco Blue Mustang GT he bought new back in 1967. Heck, he custom ordered it exactly the way he wanted it, and he loved driving it for the first five years of the car’s life.

But when Kris wanted to play detective and determine if the car still existed many years later­ — and maybe see if he and his dad could somehow get it back — Gene wasn’t so sure.

John Norris takes us across the pond for the ‘Haynes Classic’ car show

In the world of motor enthusiasts, the name John Haynes looms large and is instantly recognizable among vehicle owners. A life-long motor enthusiast himself, he founded the internationally recognized Haynes Motor Museum in the U.K. in 1984, some 20 years after he had founded a publishing empire which printed easy-to-follow, do-it-yourself maintenance manuals for vehicle owners. John sadly passed away in February 2019 at age 80, leaving the museum which bears his name as one strand of his legacy in the small Somerset village of Sparkford in southwest England.

David Temple talks Motorama dream car Skylark

Buick turned 50 years old in 1953 and celebrated its birthday in style. The company delayed the release of its new V-8 until this model year, improved the Dynaflow (which some had called “Dyna-slush”), updated its B- and C-body cars for the final time in that styling cycle and released the new Skylark, a sporty-looking, limited-production, factory-customized model.

Old Cars reports on the best ‘Barn Finds’ from MCAN 2025

MCACN’s Barn Finds and Hidden Gems display of forlorn muscle cars is just as popular as the much larger display of restored and beautifully preserved muscle cars that share the floor of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center. Here, in the barn finds display, gear heads can live out the dream of discovery and ponder the potential of about two dozen desirable but deteriorated muscle cars, from Shelby and Boss Mustangs to Hemi MoPars and big-displacement cars from “The General.” 

Al Rogers unearths the hidden history of a special 1970 Olds 4-4-2

On May 30, 1970, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway came alive for the annual 500-mile race with racing legend Rodger Ward behind the wheel of a muscular 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2, that year’s official Indy Pace Car. Ward paced a formidable lineup of race car drivers including Mario Andretti, Mark Donohue, A.J. Foyt, Dan Gurney and Al Unser, Sr. When the checkered flag dropped after 500 miles, Unser had claimed victory driving the Johnny Lightning Special.

As part of the post-race celebrations, Unser took a victory lap in the Indy Pace Car for all the spectators to see. He was met with the cheers of the hundreds of thousands of people at the speedway echoing across the race track. Unser forever became a part of Indianapolis Motor Speedway history with his win, as did the pace car that carried him.

More than 30 years after millions of people watched Unser’s post-win procession on their televisions at home and in-person at the track, the once-famous 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 Indy Pace Car was left to decay in Michigan. 

David Burrows coverage of the Studebaker and Avanti dual meet

The 61st Annual Studebaker Driver’s Club (SDC) and the Avanti Owner’s Association International (AOAI) completed their joint meet at Meadowlands, Pa., near Pittsburgh, Sept. 16-20. Members of both clubs had been asking for renewal of a joint meeting with a full sharing of events, joint meetings and activities. It was two years in the planning with many of the activities finally taking place at the Washington County Fairgrounds, close to the host hotel.

Gregg Merksamer talks ‘Hearsemania 2025’

The 2025 “Hearsemania,” held in Lima, Ohio, from June 13-15, proved a truly epic experience marking the centennial of the Superior Coach Co. entering the hearse- and ambulance-building business. The firm was originally founded in 1923 to manufacture bus bodies for locally made Garford Motor Truck chassis.

AngeloVan Bogart talks about a fine 1933 Graham Blue Streak

Amid the depths of the Great Depression, Graham was on top with the most modern-looking American car in 1932. When the little-changed 1933 models returned to the streets in 1933, Graham could boast it had “the most imitated car.” 

Gregg Merksamer highlights some ‘weathered wheels’

Weathered Wheels has long been one of the most popular departments in Old Cars, and we’ve had a lot of folks contribute over the years. Ron Kowalke, Steve Isola, Ken Lorek and Coy Thomas have all shared dozens, even hundreds, of images with us over the years.

We simply can’t get enough cool “yard art” photos, and we know a lot of our readers share our affinity for colorful, rusty iron.

These articles and a whole lot more can be found inside the January 1, 2026, issue of Old Cars.

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Al Rogers had the opportunity to get a sneak peek of two of NASCAR Hall of Famer, David Pearson’s Ford racing cars. The legendary racer’s 1937 and 1939 Fords will be taking part in a special upcoming exhibit at the Early Ford V8 Foundation Museum located in Auburn, Indiana.

See the video below and look for future updates in Old Cars.

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In the fall of 1963, Pontiac ad man Jim Wangers sold the idea of the all-new Pontiac GTO squaring off against a Ferrari GTO to David E. Davis, editor of Car and Driver magazine. The challenge was to take place in Daytona, Fla., between Christmas and New Year’s Day. Wangers supplied two Pontiac GTOs for the match-up: a blue car and the featured red car.

Pontiac needed the publicity for its all-new GTO. Sales had only been moderately successful after its fall 1963 debut, and the GTO being somewhat Wangers’ baby, he set out to boost sales with what might appear to be a preposterous match-up between American and Italian performance.

“The car didn’t really get any serious exposure until after the Car and Driver story,” Wangers admitted to author Steve Statham in his book “Pontiac GTO: The Great One.”

Unfortunately, a GTO/GTO match-up never happened, so Car and Driver’s March 1964 cover had to fictitiously pit the Pontiac against the Ferrari. The magazine’s cover artwork depicted the editors’ hypothetical racetrack result: A red Ferrari coupe leading a green Pontiac GTO by one car length through a downhill, right-hand kink. The headline read, “Tempest GTO: 0-to-100 in 11.8 sec.” Inside, the story was a bit different, but no less thrilling. The Ferrari was mentioned briefly, but neither tested nor shown in a photograph. While the Ferrari was unavailable for the comparison, Car and Driver staffers did drive a pair of Pontiac GTOs some 3,500 miles, including on a New York-to-Florida round trip. Acceleration runs of the Pontiac GTO were conducted at the Daytona speedway where the pair of Pontiacs were also flogged around the steeply banked tri-oval and the infield road course. After the dust had settled, the Car and Driver crew conceded that Ferrari’s fastest street-legal coupe might be able to beat the Pontiac on a closed circuit, but the Detroit iron would certainly prevail in a drag race.

“When the Car and Driver story broke in March of 1964, everything changed. Pontiac had created, and Car and Driver had discovered, the American musclecar,” recalled Wangers in his book “Glory Days.”

A thankful deception

One of the Pontiac GTOs in the Car and Driver story was a pilot test car painted Nocturne Blue and equipped with the optional 348-hp Tri-Power 389-cid V-8 engine, a wide-ratio four-speed and a limited-slip rear end with 3.55 gears. Known as the “Blue Car,” it was to be used for street driving, the road course and skid pad testing.

The second Pontiac GTO was known as the “Red Car” and was to be used only for acceleration runs. This is the featured car now owned by Tenny Fairchild, and it’s the car Wangers felt he had to keep quiet about for nearly four decades.

Special-ordered and prepared by Wangers, Fairchild’s Grenadier Red GTO left the factory with the Tri-Power 389, M-20 four-speed and 3.23 gears. But that’s not how it was configured when it arrived at Daytona. Instead, Wangers had it built into a “ringer.”

“What few people knew until two and a half decades later, was that the car had been tagged with ‘Memo 198,’ so instead of being delivered to its destination at Royal Pontiac in Royal Oak, the car was removed from the assembly line and furtively moved over to Pontiac Engineering,” recalled Milt Schornack in his book “Milt Schornack and the Royal Bobcat GTO’s.” (Schornack was one of the famously talented mechanics at the likewise famous Royal Pontiac dealership.) “It was there that Pontiac engineers removed the 389-cubic-inch engine, which was paired with an M20 transmission. In its place, the engineers slipped a 421 H.O. engine under the hood. A close ratio M21 four-speed replaced the M20, and a relatively safe 3.23:1 rear axle was tossed for a hyperactive set of 3.90:1 Safe-T-Track gears. From there, the car was transported to Royal Pontiac, where Bobcat specialist Charles Brumfield gave it the Royal treatment.”

While Schornack wasn’t among those to complete work on the “Red Car” at Royal Pontiac, he remembered it well for its aura of secrecy.

“When that car came in for service, Charlie Brumfield or Bud Conrad would keep the hood closed on it. Other times they would throw a blanket over the engine if they had to keep the hood opened. I knew there was something special under there, but nobody was saying much.”

The “Memo 198” production manifest (build sheet) that Schornack referenced in his book tags Wangers and states “delete all insulation.” The GTO was also built without seam sealer to further lighten it.

The drivetrain swap and lightening fooled everyone, including the editors of Car and Driver. Wangers didn’t reveal the truth to anyone until his “Glory Days” memoir was published in 1998.

“I’m here to admit, more than three decades after the fact, that yes, I did install a 421 H.O. Tri-Power engine in the red Royal Bobcat Car and Driver test car,” Wangers wrote.

“So the magazine editor and his staff wouldn’t get suspicious, he (Wangers) equipped the car with a few options including power steering, a power antenna, and the fancy hubcaps,” says Fairchild. “He wanted it to look like a regular GTO any dealer might have in stock.”

The Car and Driver editors spent most of the day making stopwatch-timed acceleration runs and recording incredibly quick times. Wangers knew the times recorded—0 to 60 in 4.6 seconds, 0 to 100 in 11.8 seconds, and a 13.1-second quarter-mile at 115 mph—were too good to be true, but he kept his mouth shut.

When it was time to head back to the Motor City, Wangers headed north with the “Red Car” flat-towed behind the “Blue Car,” driving through inclement winter weather. After arriving in Michigan, Wangers handed the red GTO over to Royal Pontiac for a fresh 421 engine installation. The Red Car became Wangers’ daily driver and his Woodward Avenue racer until the following August, when it went back to Royal Pontiac. There, it was listed for sale on its used car lot until it was sold to Royal Oak police officer Bill Sherman.

According to Fairchild, “Milt Schornack [of Royal Pontiac] put a 428 in the car for Bill Sherman circa November ’67. In his book, Milt says Bill wanted to go racing in ’88, so they put a 455 crank in the 428 and bored it out for a total of 472 cubic inches, matched the ports and went to 2.02 intakes….” 

A Doug Nash T10 and 4.33s in a 12-bolt spool were further added to the drag racing setup.

Restoring a childhood memory

By the time Joe Conte, a New Jersey Corvette collector, bought the famous GTO in 1991, it was a rusty old drag car with an incorrect 428 engine occupying the engine bay. But Conte was aware of the car’s history and stored it safely. Then Fairchild came calling.

“I e-mailed Conte in the late 1990s and continued to check in periodically,” he says. “I was finally able to buy the car in April 2005.”

Fairchild wasn’t interested in the GTO because of the impression it made on him from reading the Car and Driver magazine article. He was interested in it because of the impression it made on him when he rode in the car during the mid 1960s, and the impression he himself made on its package shelf.

“My father worked with Jim Wangers back in the ’60s, and when I was 4 years old, I had the opportunity to ride in the back seat of the GTO,” Fairchild says. “Much of my ride was spent plastered to the back glass like Garfield the Cat. I left that day knowing how incredibly fast and loud the GTO was when the gas pedal was pushed to the floor. The car was an absolute beast. My back seat ride was both terrorizing and exhilarating. Little did I know the impact that GTO had on me.

“As I got older, the thought of that ride couldn’t escape me. Years later, I told myself, ‘One day I’m going to own it.’ For most of my life, I have known about and followed its journey, and in 2004, I made the purchase of a lifetime. It’s been an honor to own it and fun to share with the muscle car community. There’s never a dull moment when this GTO is shown at a car show event. It’s surprising how many people recall reading about it back in the day when it appeared in Car and Driver magazine.”

After finally acquiring the GTO in 2005, Fairchild regularly drove it around the streets of Los Angeles for a couple of years before turning it over to Scott Tiemann at Supercar Specialties in Portland, Mich., during 2007 for a yearlong restoration. Tiemann restored the GTO back to its Car and Driver test configuration. Because it was originally built without seam sealer and sound-deadening body insulation, the GTO had hidden rust in unique places. But for a car that started and spent most of its life in the Midwest, the GTO was relatively solid. Tiemann used as many of its factory-installed original parts as possible, replacing only the floors and the driver’s side rear quarter panel.

An early date-coded 421 H.O. engine that allows the starter to be installed to the block was found and used for the engine build. The cylinder heads and intake manifold are thought to be the originals. Most of the interior is also original, including the seat covers. 

“There are still unique and special markings throughout the GTO that dates back to its originality in 1963 and how it looked when I had my first ride in it, back in 1964,” says Fairchild.

Deviations include a wood dash panel from a ’65 GTO and 4.33 gears, which Sherman installed many years ago.

According to Tieman, the GTO is regularly maintained and sent to him every couple years or so for service. He adds that Fairchild is meticulous about keeping it in pristine driving and show car condition. Preparing it for MCACN 2024 only required repairing a power steering line leak and an inside-and-out detailing.

“Tenny Fairchild drives this GTO regularly on the streets of L.A., but you wouldn’t know it by looking at the car,” Tiemann says. “He keeps it well maintained and looking show room ready even though he enjoys driving it.”

Today, Detroit metro’s Woodward Avenue is known for its annual August Dream Cruise. Back in the ’60s and ’70s, it served as a launch pad for stop light-to-stop light street racing. Not only were Detroiters paying attention to who was winning, auto manufacturers were, too, with some even participating in the action. According to legend, Wangers was never beat in the “Red Car” while racing up and down Woodward Avenue.

Today, Woodward Avenue looks much as it did in the muscle car era, except all of the classic drive-ins are gone. Interestingly, on any given summer night today, there are more cars—muscle cars (including GTOs), hot rods and Corvettes—cruising Woodward than in the 1960s and 70s.

David E. Davis once stated during an interview, “that GTO road test changed everything for Car and Driver.” But in retrospect, we could add that the GTO changed everything about the performance market by clearly establishing the muscle car.

‘Red Car’ to Reappear at MCACN

We recently had an opportunity to photograph the legendary “Red Car,” an Ace Wilson/Royal Bobcat-prepared 1964 Pontiac GTO, at the Mid-Michigan Motorplex in Stanton, Mich., following the Pure Stock Drags on Sept. 13.

Bob Ashton, managing partner for the annual Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN), reached out to Tenny Fairchild, the GTO’s owner, with the request that it take part in a special red carpet display at the 2024 MCACN event. Fairchild was all in and had the special car transported from Los Angeles to Scott Tieman, owner of Supercar Specialties, in Portland, Mich., where it was given a thorough inspection, tuned and detailed to concours standards. Tieman has a very special connection to the GTO, having restored it to its original Car and Driver magazine road test condition. He and his team started the monumental task of restoring the car in the fall of 2007 and completed the restoration in the summer of 2008, just in time for its heralded “day view” at the Meadow Brook Concours d’Elegance. Tieman left out no detail to make the GTO nearly exact to the way it looked in late 1963, when it was secretly built by Pontiac, Ace Wilson’s Royal Bobcat garage and Jim Wangers for the express duty of appearing in a Car and Driver road test.

Given an opportunity to showcase this legendary muscle car, Bob Ashton and I implemented a detailed plan to photograph the 1964 GTO in its solo form. We would also add a spin to the photo shoot by bringing in accomplished MCACN model Adrianna Straub, who would pose with the GTO while wearing period-correct attire as though she was appearing with the car in a 1964 advertisement for it.

By the time you read this article, Bob Ashton and his graphics team will have created a one-of-a-kind MCACN poster for show goers at the Nov. 23-24 event. If you travel to MCACN by car, there’s a chance you might see one of several digital billboard signs displaying Adrianna Straub and the ’64 GTO on many of the major expressways leading into Rosemont, Ill., and the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, home of the annual MCACN event. Show goers and MCACN followers will have the opportunity to read more about the GTO in the once-a-year MCACN magazine featuring Adrianna and the red GTO on the cover.

This special GTO is actually making a return visit to MCACN. Back in 2009, the GTO appeared at MCACN when it was featured with Jim Wangers as part of the Royal Bobcat Pontiac International Display. So, history will repeat itself, although without Jim Wangers, who passed away in 2023. With the historic Pontiac muscle car turning 60 years old this year, Ashton thought it was only fitting to pay tribute to the GTO. The “Red Car” will be the forerunner for the GTO Evolution all-inclusive display at this year’s MCACN. This grouping will feature one GTO from each model year from 1964-’74 and offer attendees an opportunity to relive Pontiac GTOs from the past with a trip down memory lane. The Brothers Collection is the official sponsor of the GTO Evolution display.

MCACN attendees can seek out the Grenadier Red 1964 Royal Bobcat GTO and pick up one of the limited-edition complimentary posters featuring it and model Adrianna Straub. Be sure to have Adrianna personally autograph it. Learn more at mcacn.com.

Love GTOs? Here are a few more articles for your reading enjoyment.

SHOW US YOUR WHEELS!

If you’ve got an old car you love, we want to hear about it. Email us at oldcars@aimmedia.com

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With a rotating set of themes, there’s always one constant at the Muscle Car And Corvette Nationals in Rosemont, Ill., each November — a wildly diverse display of forlorn muscle car treasures. Since the display changes each year as previous participants get restored and new muscle cars are unearthed, there’s always a new selection of off-the-hook performance machines to ponder.

The Barn Finds & Hidden Gems display returns year after year because it’s also a spectator fave; once the doors open to the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center each morning for MCACN, the Barn Finds & Hidden Gems display fills to the gills with guys and gals who see the potential and dream of discovering their own hidden pavement pounders from the past. Until they — and potentially you — uncover that next dream machine, we present this survey of the newly discovered dream muscle machines of MCACN this past Nov. 18-19. 

Looking for more inspiration? We also included some of the finished gems from the show floor.

To see freshly uncovered muscle car gold at next year’s MCACN, mark your calendar for Nov. 23-24 and get the full lowdown at mcacn.com. 

And now for the finished gems

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There’s just something dreamy about barn finds. They represent the dream of discovery, the idea of affordably buying a valuable car and the prospect of reviving an old vehicle with your own hands, mind and checkbook. Unrestored-original barn finds often retain the workmanship of the first hands to bolt on the fenders at the Hamtramck Assembly line, that torqued the head bolts in Kenosha or applied the Yenko stripes in Canonsburg. Studying Mother Nature’s touch to a barn find’s weathered surfaces is a study in art itself; many enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike have found themselves gazing at patterns of surface rust, bubbled paint and split vinyl on a dilapidated old car.

All of that and more is why the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals’ (MCACN) “Barn Finds & Hidden Gems” display is so popular year after year with crowds around each car, studying their flaws and features while dreaming.

This year, there were more than a dozen muscle cars in the MCACN Barn Finds & Hidden Gems display. The incredible assembly of muscle cars “in repose” was staggering and proved they’re still out there, waiting to be discovered, and with that, leaving spectators to dream about finding their own barn find one day.

The following shows most of those “barn finds” and uncovered “hidden gems” displayed at this year’s MCACN.

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The 2022 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) was the lucky 13th edition and filled the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill., with 566 incredible muscle cars and Corvettes, all displayed indoors. Event organizer Bob Ashton and his crew do an incredible job of bringing the best of the best and the rarest of the rare to Chicagoland each November the event is held, and this year was as incredible as ever.

Cars of the same model and/or model year, or of a theme, are generally organized together in classes, making the hunting easy for fans of specific types of muscle cars. Also sprinkled throughout the display are stand-alone cars that are noteworthy on their own, or are there to “day view” a fresh restoration. (“Jenny,” the 1967 Camaro featured in the Dec. 15 issue of Old Cars, was one such 2022 MCACN “day view” car.)

The selection of muscle cars at MCACN was so incredible, we assembled this time line of cars at the Nov. 19-20, 2022, event to show the varied hi-po machines on display and the evolution of the muscle car.

Plan a trip to next year’s 2023 event, to be held Nov. 18-19, by going to mcacn.com.

1963

1964

1965 

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1975

1977

1978

1979

1985

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Hickory Corners, Mich. – The world’s premiere indoor muscle car show, and one of the world’s finest auto museums, have forged a partnership that will bring a summertime celebration of American Muscle to the Michigan countryside. The MCACN Muscle Car Meet Up on the lawns of the Gilmore Car Museum, in Hickory Corners, Michigan, promises to be a “fun & casual midsummer meet up” and driving event for muscle and high-performance car owners. Intentionally, the show will not include rigorous and formal points-based judging, but instead “favorite pick” awards by both MCACN and Gilmore staff, a swap meet, live rock band, curated backroads driving tour routes, a live remote radio broadcast, and more.

The MCACN Muscle Car Meet Up will showcase classic American muscle cars from the 1960s and 70s, but is open to modern muscle like today’s high-performance Chevrolet Camaros, Ford Mustangs, and Dodge Challengers. Showcar registration will be $20, and will include vehicle entry, plus admission for its driver and one passenger.  As a fundraising effort, 100% of the event’s showcar registration funds will be directed to construction of the planned midcentury-modern 1960s dealership building on the Gilmore campus, to house its new standalone Muscle Car Museum.

The central showfield of the Gilmore Car Museum campus will be reserved for a MCACN exhibit, and an exclusive “outdoor feature display space” for only MCACN-invited special and notable muscle cars, and their owners.  It should serve as a unique and picturesque display opportunity on the Gilmore’s green lawns, surrounded by its towering red barns and classic 1941 diner.

Spectator access to the MCACN Muscle Car Meet Up will be included in standard daily admission to the museum on Saturday, June 25^th ($16 Adults/Seniors; $11 Youth Ages 11-17; FREE Children Ages 10 and under; FREE Active Military). 

“For muscle car owners, I can’t imagine a better spot for a summertime drive and outdoor car show than the beautiful Michigan countryside and spectacular Gilmore Car Museum – located midway between Chicago and Detroit,” said Bob Ashton, Managing Member of MCACN. “Our Gilmore community of car enthusiasts will be thrilled about this new collaboration, and deeply appreciative of MCACN’s commitment to help us fundraise to build our new Muscle Car Museum,” added Josh Russell, Executive Director of the Gilmore Car Museum.

MCACN Muscle Car Meet Up activities will run from 9am – 4pm ET on Saturday, June 25th, 2022. On that same day, general museum hours of operation run from 9am – 6pm ET.

Additional details will be announced on the website in the coming weeks. For online pre-registration of Muscle Cars participating in the show, visit: https://gilmorecarmuseum.org/events

For general museum questions or more information, visit www.GilmoreCarMuseum.org, call
(269) 671-5089 or email info@gilmorecarmuseum.org.

About Gilmore Car Museum – The world-renowned Gilmore Car Museum – North America’s largest auto museum with more than 400 vehicles on display — is located midway between Chicago and Detroit, just 20 minutes north of Kalamazoo, or 45 minutes south of Grand Rapids. The museum is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, whose mission is to tell the history of America through the automobile. Learn more at GilmoreCarMuseum.org

About Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN)

MCACN is the world’s largest all-indoor car show devoted to muscle cars, dealer-built supercars, and Corvettes. MCACN’s annual show at Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois, attracts more than 500 of the nation’s finest examples of American Muscle for featured display. It’s the ultimate gathering place for enthusiasts, young and old, who have a passion for horsepower. Plan to attend MCACN on November 19-20, 2022. Learn more at MCACN.com

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The 2020 Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) will once again return to the Chicago area on November 21-22, 2020 at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. If you have never attended a MCACN show and are wondering what to expect; Old Cars was at MCACN 2019. Here are a few highlights to hold you over until November 21-22, 2020.

Bob Ashton and his crew at the headquarters for the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) found it necessary to kick into gear a bit earlier for the 2019 event. They had car collectors willing to commit to exhibiting their cars very early, especially those who wanted to be in one of the premier unveiling spots.

“We are honored and humbled to be the place for enthusiasts and restoration shops to showcase their latest build,” said MCACN Managing Member Bob Ashton. “If there is any event that draws attention to a primo muscle car or Corvette, it’s the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals.”

The 2019 show took place Nov. 23-24, the weekend before Thanksgiving. Five big Chicago hotels were needed just to host show participants. MCACN is always held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center not far from O’Hare Airport. The venue is connected to several of the giant hotels by convenient skywalks.

The MCACN Invitational Displays for 2019 were designed to keep things fresh by hosting very special vehicles. Each year, some entirely new displays are planned while a few very popular displays — including Barn Finds and Hidden Gems — return year after year. Specific 2019 presentations included a Ford and Mercury Total Performance display that spotlighted the rarest and best Boss Mustangs on the right and the hottest Mercurys — such as Cougar Eliminators and Cobra Jet and Super Cobra Jet cars — on the left. This Total Performance display featured several of the Premier Unveilings.

A second special display — the Ram Air Pontiac GTO Invitational — was hosted by Jim Mattison of Pontiac Historic Services. This display chronicled the history of Pontiac’s hottest “round-port” GTOs, which were marketed from 1965-1972. Mattison said he will return to MCACN 2020 to host a Ram Air Firebird Invitational.

Chevelle enthusiast Dan Vasic hosted another special display called the Chevelle Post Sedan Invitational. The Chevelle sedans (pillared two-door coupes) are among Vasic’s all-time favorite cars. The two-doors had low production totals and are rare today. Vasic featured five cars in this grouping.

Another 2019 MCACN attraction was the A12 Super Bee and Road Runner Reunion. With 2019 being the 50th anniversary year for these 1969 MoPar “Six Pack” and “6BBL” drag beasts, MCACN featured several.

Other highlights of the 11th MCACN event included an exclusive “Vintage Certification Program” sponsored by American Performance, LLC; a “Corvette Central Triple Diamond” display and competition; a “Pinnacle Certification” program for prime Shelbys and Mustangs (sponsored by Titan Lifts); the popular “Barn Finds and Hidden Gems” exhibit; and a “Hot Muscle Bike” show-within-a-show sponsored by Koolestuff.

“If there is one thing I have learned over the years, it’s that to keep the all-important spectators coming back, we need to present a new show every year,” said Ashton. “I think we did exactly that for the past 10 years. We have been very fortunate to be able to do this, as many other shows are the same year after year, which is fine, but not for us.”

Ashton said he was excited about kicking off the second decade of the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals.

“We appreciate the continued support, whether from participants or spectators,” he said. “We ask that people help us spread the word, because there is nothing quite like actually being at the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals.”

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The ninth annual Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (www.mcacn.com) at the Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Ill. took place on Nov. 18-19.

Some additions this year were seminars by legendary NASCAR driver Paul Goldsmith, a new motorcycle show; 20 unveilings of fresh restorations on cars ranging from an AMC SC/Rambler to a ’71 Plymouth Sport Fury GT; and class of ’67 and class of ’72 displays that honored “anniversary” cars.

With the 50th anniversary of the GM F-body cars celebrated in 2017, the Norwood Ambassadors—who built these cars at GM’s Norwood assembly plant in Ohio—came to Chicago to tell restorers the inside facts about factory correctness (and incorrectness). Other seminars were put on by Jim Mattison of Pontiac Historic Services, author Jim Luikens and Kelsey Tires rep “Rusty Tires.”

Other notable aspects of MCACN 2017 included the expansion of the popular “Barn Finds” section to a full two rows, a display of hot Formula Firebird models, and celebrity appearances by Courtney Hansen, Jason Line, Dennis Pittsenbarger, and a bevy of automotive artists and Quarto (Motorbooks) authors.

Among the stand out cars filling the Stephens Center were a ’68 Yenko 427 Camaro, the “Hard Times” ’68 Firebird drag car, a 1963 Studebaker Hawk GT that was the Chicago Auto Show Car when new, the “Blood Money” ’71 Hemi ‘Cuda racing car, Grumpy Jenkin’s Camaro, Pete Estes only-one-built ’68 Camaro Z/28 ragtop, the last Norwood built ’87 Camaro and a prototype Bronco.

Other special cars on display included the last Buick Grand National owned by Bob Colvin and the 1970 Plymouth Barracuda four-door that MoPar restorer Dave Walden fabricated from scratch.

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Story and photos by John Gunnell

One of the best places in the country to spot muscle cars comes to Illinois each year at an unlikely time. In late November, most collector cars in this part of the country are stored for the winter, but not the cars that are displayed at the Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals (MCACN) in Rosemont, Ill.

On Nov. 22-23, throngs of rare and famous will gather for the MCACN under the roof of the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center, near the O’Hare Airport. The attractions the show owner and manager Bob Ashton lines up each year seem to outdo what enthusiasts thought was the ultimate package the year before.

Ashton was involved with a Chevrolet and Corvette show that was cancelled. A group of serious muscle car collectors took the opportunity to create a new show adding muscle cars. No one knew how the public would take to adding Cobras and GTOs to the mix, but it worked. Each year, the muscle car section of the show grew as the muscle cars kept the show interesting.

From his experience as a big show promoter, Ashton knows many people in the collector car hobby and has a talent for signing up well-known car personalities to attend the Nationals. Hurst legend Linda Vaughn, GTO inventor Jim Wangers, Oldsmobile guru Joe Mondello and drag racer Grumpy Jenkins have appeared. Joel Rosen of Baldwin-Motion Chevy fame has attended, as has editor/writer Joe Oldham, who penned many original road tests of muscle cars when they were new. In cases where the legends have passed on, Ashton has brought in family members such as Dr. Lynn Yenko and Helen Gibb.

Of course, the cars are the big attraction, and Ashton beats the bushes to find stunning, rare examples of the cars that made muscle history. He has showcased Steve Juliano’s Hemi-powered Dodge Diamante dream car, the Hemi Under Glass Barracuda, the 1970 Baldwin-Motion Maco Shark Corvette, the 1969 Mr. Norm’s Garage Mod Top Plymouth Barracuda, the Packer Pontiac 1963 lightweight Super-Duty Catalina and countless other one-of-a-kind cars.

However, Ashton’s real forte seems to be his ability to gather themed groups of rare muscle cars and Corvettes. In 2010, he featured one of the largest gatherings of Baldwin-Motion Corvettes and highlighted the display with the record-setting “Ko-Motion” 427 Corvette drag car that “Astoria Chas” Snyder campaigned successfully on the East Coast before he died in Vietnam.

That same year, Ashton outdid himself with a “Cars of Hurst” display down the center of the main hall that featured at least 25 cars such as the Hemi Under Glass and the Hurst Hairy Oldsmobile (along with its giant-sized Golden Shifter, of course). Cars in the display weren’t simply “standard” Hurtst/Olds models, but specialties such as the Hurst/Olds station wagon made for the medical director of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, a 1974 Hurst-Olds Delta 88 convertible that was built for Linda Vaughn, the actual Indy Pace Car 1974 Hurst/Olds convertible (one of two built) and the 1974 Hurst-Olds four-door built for Tony Hulman, owner of Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

Features of the 2014 MCACN are set to include the First Cobra 427 (serial number CSX3002); the 1956 Corvette SR2 roadster; a Chrysler Hemi 50th anniversary exhibit; a “Color My World” grouping featuring mod-colored muscle cars; the Buick GSX Invitational; “Real Pace Cars”; a Mustang Madness Anniversary exhibit; Ford “Cat House” featuring Cobra-Jet cars; Plastic Fantastic real vintage racing cars and the “Class of 1964” invitational. Also, the winner of a giveaway 1970 Oldsmobile Pace Car exhibited last year will be announced on Nov. 23.

The MCACN also includes vendors throughout the convention center, plus a swap meet and flea market featuring the real hardware and research materials that collectors need to restore muscle cars and products to take care of them once the work is done.

2014 Muscle Car & Corvette Nationals: Nov. 22-23
Donald E. Stephens Convention Center
Rosemont, IL
586-549-5291
www.mcacn.com

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