Summertime is the best time to drive your classic car. But it’s also the hottest, most uncomfortable time of year in many parts of the U.S. A cool July or August sunny morning cruise can quickly turn into a sweltering, sweaty afternoon in a vinyl-clad classic-car interior, and that isn’t fun for anyone — especially not for your significant other, kids or grandkids. If you’re trying to make the classic-car experience fun, you need to control that heat.

A bunch Read More

ACC Contributor Jeff Zurschmeide bought a new-to-him 1956 GMC pickup a few months back. The truck looks great and is mostly stock, aside from a 350 V8 swap. But when the previous owner installed the engine, he used rubber line and a plastic filter to run fuel from the block-mounted pump to the carburetor inlet. It’s exactly the setup you’ll see on many classic cars today.

Once upon a time, this sort of thing was not a big deal. But Read More

Original cars are fantastic, but there’s usually one problem they all share: dead weatherstripping.
The original rubber and foam used to seal up cars from the 1960s wasn’t meant to last 50 years. If you’ve got one of these cars, you’ve probably noticed that some, if not all, of your seals have turned crispy — and crispy seals don’t keep out water or wind noise.

If you’ve spent time washing your original classic car in your driveway, you’ve probably Read More

If you drive your classic car often, chances are you’ve had a few close calls in modern traffic. A lot of today’s commuters don’t realize that classic cars from the 1950s and 1960s don’t handle and stop as well as today’s cars.

The drum brakes that were industry standard for most of the 1960s work fine in ideal conditions — but in today’s world, where drivers are more disconnected from their own driving than ever before, that old setup is Read More

ACC’s 1966 Mustang has only 56,000 original miles. Under the hood it looks mostly original, save for a few aftermarket additions. Overall, it sounds and feels like a low-miles 289 should. But low-mile engines can be deceiving.

In the 1960s, the Big Three used plastic-tooth timing sets in a number of engines. The reasoning behind it? To eliminate noise caused by metal timing gear sets.

These plastic sets needed to be replaced within about 60,000 miles. Let one go too Read More

It may be tough to imagine, but your average 1960s American muscle car is now 50 years old. And during that time, while it probably had a few engine swaps or performance upgrades, a bunch of different wheels and tires and other routine maintenance, I’m willing to bet your car is still sporting the two-speed wipers it was born with during the Johnson administration.

Those original wipers still work, but they’ve never been ideal — especially in a passing quick Read More

When it comes to our classic cars — especially at a car show or when being sold at a collector-car auction — a first impression can have a huge impact on performance, from winning an award through bringing the right price across the auction block.

One of the simplest and most overlooked components in our cars is also one that suffers some of the most wear through use: interior carpet.

The carpet is trampled every time you get in or Read More

The carburetor is king in the world of American muscle cars for good reason: It’s simple and effective in delivering a fuel mixture to your V8.
But carburetors are quirky, and even when professionally tuned, a carb can’t always deliver the exact fuel curve your engine needs. The weather or even changes in altitude can knock that old 4-barrel on your Camaro’s 396 out of balance even if it was in perfect tune yesterday.

Car guys have learned to Read More

ACC practices what it preaches when it comes to driving our old cars. But the one thing that really leaves a lot to be desired, especially in cars from the 1960s, is steering effort — or in the sheer number of turns it takes from left lock to right lock.

A lot of factory steering boxes had four or more turns built into them. That might have been fine in the days of bias-ply rubber when more leverage was needed, Read More