#jeff koch

[automotiveamerican]

Corvette as a luxury car? One 1964 ad suggested it - Jeff Koch @Hemmimgs

Corvette as a luxury car? One 1964 ad suggested it – Jeff Koch @Hemmimgs

America’s personal-luxury car scene exploded in the late ’50s. Studebaker’s Golden Hawk was among the first, back in ’56. Ford’s Thunderbird helped prove the market when the four-seat Squarebird came out in ’58. By 1963, Buick’s Riviera had eased onto the scene, and suddenly most car brands wanted in on this new niche. Chevrolet naturally sought a way to capitalize on the near-luxury-car game,…

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[automotiveamerican]

Restomodding a house has America swooning; restomodding a car divides us. Why? - Jeff Koch @Hemmings

Restomodding a house has America swooning; restomodding a car divides us. Why? – Jeff Koch @Hemmings

During the weekend, my wife is addicted to watching fixer-upper home shows in between naps on the couch. Lots of Chip and Joanna, and their various handy pals, dancing across the screen smashing old walls and painting new ones neutral grey on any given weekend. And that’s fine, considering the fact that I’m likely to nap through one of their marathons. Staffer Tom Comerro celebrates the removal…

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[automotiveamerican]

1971-’76 Cadillac De Ville and Fleetwood Buyer's Guide - Jeff Koch @Hemmings

1971-’76 Cadillac De Ville and Fleetwood Buyer’s Guide – Jeff Koch @Hemmings

Strong ’70s sales mean that a rear-drive Caddy from the era remains an affordable, driveable classic, Photography courtesy of GM Archives and author’s collection. Even though Cadillac’s lineup was all new for 1971, it remained distinctively Cadillac. The generous proportions, the toothy grille, the clean flanks, the subtle fins —you could never mistake it for anything else. The Calais (available…

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[automotiveamerican]

The 1977 Oldsmobile 442 was Lansing’s sporty survivor from the muscle car turf wars - Jeff Koch @Hemmings

The 1977 Oldsmobile 442 was Lansing’s sporty survivor from the muscle car turf wars – Jeff Koch @Hemmings

You’ll no doubt recall that 1977 wasn’t a banner year for American performance vehicles. Two hundred net horsepower seemed unobtainable in those emissions-choked, fuel-starved years, and what was the point of a dual exhaust when it had to blow through a single catalytic converter ?Most of GM’s A-bodies had given up any sporting pretension. Chevrolet quit slapping the SS name on its…

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[automotiveamerican]

Chevy's 1955-1957 passenger cars remain the aspirational American ideal of a better future now - Jeff Koch @Hemmings

Chevy’s 1955-1957 passenger cars remain the aspirational American ideal of a better future now – Jeff Koch @Hemmings

The idea of a truly all-new car is tempting fate. Each system, each individual component requires so much effort to work properly in concert with a thousand other components, in myriad conditions, that body/chassis and drivelines often see their launches staggered. A newly styled car, or one with an all-new chassis, often starts life with a carryover powertrain; a new engine may show up in an…

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[automotiveamerican]

Prewar Ford Benchmarks - Jeff Koch @Hemmings

How Henry Ford changed America forever, one car at a time What makes an automotive benchmark? Is it technical innovation? Is it the ability to move a society, literally and figuratively, under its wheels? Or can it be measured in smaller increments, like lessons learned for the men who built them? Perhaps it is all of these? 1896 QUADRICYCLE Henry’s first In all stories, there must be a first…

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[automotiveamerican]

This ’78 Pontiac Firebird Esprit Clocked 250k original Miles and Counting! - Jeff Koch @Hemmings

Then and now, Pontiac’s second-generation Firebird occupied a strange spot in the car world. Mind you, we’re not talking about the spatted, stickered, and spoilered Trans Am; its place known and secure. After the summer of 1977 and Hal Needham’s good-ol’-boy Smokey and the Bandit saga, America suddenly remembered that the Trans Am was the closest thing this country still had to a muscle car, and…

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[automotiveamerican]

Getting dirty and making memories - this is what 50 years of off-roading in a 1972 Bronco looks like - Jeff Koch @Hemmings

Getting dirty and making memories – this is what 50 years of off-roading in a 1972 Bronco looks like – Jeff Koch @Hemmings

On and off the trail with the Mixed Nuts four-wheelers Recently we ran the story of Vern Pfannenstiel’s 1972 Ford Bronco factory-built with all sorts of 1973 Ford goodies. We also included a handful of his vintage off-road shots from Colorado and Utah, along with his memories of these four-decade-plus-past off-roading adventures. By popular demand—well, the Bronco piece was one of the most-read…

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