AMERICAN MUSCLE CAR SHOW

If you’re a fan of bulk loads of muscle, the American Muscle Car Show was the place to get your workout!

While Santa and the Easter Bunny may get us excited once a year, the American Muscle Car Club’s show only happens once in every three. The wait is well worthwhile, though, with the club always putting on one of the best events you could ever ask to attend. This year, the 13th running of the show was sponsored by Galaxie Electrical, and, as always, it brought jaws to the floor and bulges to the pants of most who attended. From the moment spectators entered the doors of Te Pai Centre, in Henderson, Auckland, they knew they were in for an impressive display of cars covering almost all muscle car manufacturers. The club, known for its dedication to true muscle cars, is picky when it comes to what cars can go on display. It does its best to ensure that vehicles that have appeared at the show previously are not shown a second time around — with a few worthy exceptions, of course. With tough criteria in mind, there was a distinct lack of big wheels, lurid audio systems, and LS conversions — the majority of vehicles at the show being instead far closer to how they were when they rolled off the production line many decades ago. This left an array of more than 70 cars, each different from the next and each with a unique story to tell. Of course, with the rarity of some of the vehicles, if you didn’t know exactly what you were looking at, you may have missed something

truly special — Rodney and Zeta Holland’s firstgeneration Dodge Charger being a case in point. The car was completed for the event with just moments to spare, after an intensive rebuild. While it’s clearly flawless, as we’d expect from the couple, there’s more to it than that. Just 250 fourspeed 426 Hemi-powered Chargers rolled off the production line back in 1966, making this an extremely rare and valuable vehicle. That distinction increases when you discover that the vehicle is

matching numbers and retains its original interior. It wasn’t just Mopar fans who had rare gems to pore over; Mustang fans had their fair share of rarities, too. Included in the handful of Shelbys on display was a ’68 GT350. This was not just any GT350, however — it was one of 224 Hertz rental cars that not just anyone could hire, being reserved for those with a healthy bank balance. Chevrolet fans weren’t left out at the show, either, with a number of stellar machines for them to drool over, ranging from low-mileage L78 Camaros through to Dave Loose’s unrestored but amazing 427ci 425hp ’66 Corvette, and all manner of machines in between. While a handful of owners had multiple vehicles on display, it was the Pegler brothers, Robert and Andrew, who truly took the cake, with no fewer than six vehicles from their impressive collection spanning the width of the back wall. The big drawcard was the Nascar-spec Torino Talladega featured in our last issue. It was accompanied by another road-going Talladega, a Mercury Cyclone, a Dodge Daytona, a Buick GNX, and a Ford Starliner, all polished to perfection. Speaking of former NZV8 feature cars, there were plenty on display, including Steve Keys’ Thunderbolt, Mark Barton’s day two–styled L72 Biscayne, Josh Dalton’s Nova, and Phil Wright’s Chevelle. It was Josh’s ’67 Nova that was drawing admiration, and rightly so, being up off the ground with mirrors below showing off the vehicle’s detailed undercarriage. We know Josh drives the

car on an almost daily basis, so we can’t begin to imagine the work that went into preparing it. Likewise, Ian Neary’s ‘Eruption’ Plymouth GTX was also looking its best, with a fantastic display and in pride of place near the front of the building. While clearly not built in a traditional muscle car style, the street machine / pro-touring–style GTX was one of the most photographed vehicles on display. With it being the first time most people had seen the car in the flesh, Ian was inundated with questions and compliments all weekend long and, not too surprisingly, took home the award for People’s Choice. Members’ Choice, which is potentially the more sought-after award, went to Mark Barton’s Ford 300 (as seen in NZV8 Issue No. 124), while Best Ford was awarded to Graham Hamilton’s Mustang convertible. Best Chev went to Glenn Ripley’s 1968 Camaro L78, and Best Mopar unsurprisingly went the way of Rodney and Zeta Holland’s Charger. Having seen so many top-level vehicles on display, we’re already looking forward to the next show. Thankfully, we’ve only got another three years to go. While that may be a while, we already know the next show will be well and truly worth the wait.