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A 9.4 Liter Chevrolet Corvette Sportwagon 5-Speed With 727 BHP

This 1968 Chevrolet Corvette has had a significant rebuild to Sportwagon specification, and it’s now powered by a 9.4 Liter V8 producing 727 bhp and 680 lb ft of torque with power sent back through a 5-speed manual transmission to a Positraction rear end.

The Sportwagon was a modified version of the C3 Corvette that solved one of its biggest drawbacks – the almost total lack of useable trunk space. With the shooting brake style rear end grafted on the Sportwagon became a surprisingly practical Corvette.

Fast Facts – The Chevrolet Corvette Sportwagon

The Chevrolet Corvette Sportwagon was built using a kit supplied by a small number of manufacturers in the United States, primarily supplied by Chuck Miller, then by John Greenwood in redesigned form.
The Sportwagon kit included a new fiberglass rear roof section that turned the C3 Corvette into a shooting brake (two-door station wagon), vastly increasing the rear cargo area.
It’s said that the first Sportwagon design was created for a drummer in a rock ‘n roll band who had a Corvette and wanted to be able to fit his drums in the back.
The Corvette Sportwagon you see here is a little more extreme than most, it’s powered by a 727 bhp 9.4 liter V8, it has a 5-speed manual gearbox, an LSD rear end, and a high-rise cowl-induction hood.

The C3 Corvette’s One Big Problem

The lack of trunk space was perhaps the biggest issue with the C3 Corvette. The first generation C1 Corvette had a decent trunk by sports car standards, the C2 had some space though it was smaller, and the C3 had even less still.

This image shows how much additional space there is in the rear for luggage in a Sportwagon Corvette.

With no rear opening trunk lid the only access to the C3 trunk space is through the interior, with one or both of the seat backs folded down. The coupe had a little more room than the convertible, as the folding top was stored in the same cavity.

Now before I get a cascade of furious emails from the Corvette faithful let me just enunciate that the Corvette is a sports car, it’s not designed to be practical or particularly convenient – it’s designed to look good and go fast.

That said, we all need a little trunk space from time to time for things like groceries, road trip luggage, and perhaps the occasional pair of skis.

The Corvette Sportwagon

As the story goes, the idea that led to the creation of the Sportwagon was actually conceived of by a drummer in a rock n’ roll band who owned a Corvette and wanted space to carry his drums.

These two images show the cutting requited to fit a (Greenwood) Sportwagon roof to a standard C3 Corvette, the finished car shown on the right looks like it could have have been an official Chevrolet model.

The man his discussed this issue was Chuck Miller, to his credit Miller set to work and solved the problem by developing a fiberglass rear end that would turn the Corvette into a shooting brake – essentially a two-door station wagon.

The fiberglass body of the Corvette lent itself particularly well to this addition, the new roof could be grafted on fiberglass-to-fiberglass and once fitted it offered vastly more space for luggage, groceries, or a drum kit of course.

The original Miller design featured side windows, a turned-up rear roofline, and a non-opening rear window. He advertised them through Eckler’s catalogs and before long the orders started to roll in.

A later design was developed by Corvette specialists Burt and John Greenwood of Greenwood Corvettes. They spent some time reworking the aesthetics and the functionality of the rear end, better integrating it and adding a very useful hatchback rear end – the trunk space could now be accessed through the rear of the car.

The design of the Greenwood Sportwagon rear end looks like its could have left the Corvette factory like this originally, so well is it integrated into the design of the car.

The vast majority of Sportwagon kits that were sold were sold by Greenwood, and they’re widely considered to be the more desirable variant.

No one knows exactly how many were made as they were largely sold as kits and built by individuals. When they do come up for sale they tend to attract more attention than the regular C3 Corvette for obvious reasons.

The 1968 Chevrolet Corvette Sportwagon Shown Here

The car you see here is undoubtably the most extreme, and the most powerful, Corvette Sportwagon we’ve ever seen.

Chevrolet 572 Cubic Inch V8 Crate Engine

This is how the General Motors ZZ572/720R crate engine looks before it’s dropped into the car, it produces a prodigious 727 bhp and 680 lb ft of torque.

Exactly who built it isn’t known, what we do know is that it’s powered by a 572 cubic inch (9.4 liter) General Motors ZZ572/720R crate engine producing 727 bhp at 6,300 rpm and 680 lb ft of torque at 6,800 rpm.

Power is sent back through a Hurst-shifted Richmond Gear 5-speed manual transmission with a Powergrip HD clutch from Ram Clutches and into a Positraction rear end. The car also has four-wheel disc brakes, fender flares, a high-rise cowl-induction hood, and a slew of other mods.

If you’d like to read more about this highly unusual C3 Corvette or place a bid you can visit the listing here on Bring A Trailer – it’s being auctioned out of Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

Images courtesy of Bring A Trailer

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from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/chevrolet-corvette-sportwagon-car/
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The Maserati Kyalami: A Rare ~150 MPH Italian Grand Tourer From The 1970s

The Maserati Kyalami was developed in the 1970s to offer clients of the storied Italian marque a luxurious new grand tourer powered by a quad cam Maserati V8 that was capable of almost 150 mph.

The Kyalami had been named after the Kyalami race track in South Africa where a Maserati-powered Cooper T81 Formula 1 car had won the 1967 South African Grand Prix with Mexican driver Pedro Rodríguez at the wheel.

Fast Facts – The Maserati Kyalami

Maserati was sold by Citroën to Alejandro de Tomaso and GEPI in 1975, de Tomaso immediately set about returning the company to profitability.
De Tomaso realized that the company needed a new luxury GT car but they lacked the funds to develop one from scratch. Instead he sent the designs for his own De Tomaso Longchamp to Pietro Frua, who modified the design – creating the Kyalami.
The new car was longer, wider, and lower than its forebear, and it was powered by the Maserati Tipo AM 107.21.42 V8 in place of the Longchamp’s Ford V8.
Despite the promise of the Kyalami it wouldn’t become a success for Maserati. Just 200-210 were made between 1976 and 1983, despite their rarity they remain relatively affordable compared to their peers from the era.

The Beginning Of The De Tomaso Era

The Maserati Kyalami was a car borne from chaos, the Italian company had been sold by bankrupt French automaker Citroën after very nearly collapsing under the weight of the 1973 Oil Crisis.

Alejandro de Tomaso has been credited with saving Maserati from almost certain death when he took over the company over back in 1975.

Maserati was bought by Alejandro de Tomaso and GEPI in 1975, the latter was an Italian state-owned holding company founded with the sole purpose of trying to save as many Italian jobs as possible.

De Tomaso set about developing new models for Maserati in the hopes of drumming up sales and getting the accounts out of the deep red and back into the black.

The De Tomaso Longchamp

One of the new models developed under the watchful eye of De Tomaso was the Kyalami.

Maserati most certainly didn’t have the funds on hand to be developing brand new models from scratch but De Tomaso was well-known for his ability to solve problems, and to somehow always land on his feet.

He took one of his own production cars from his namesake automaker De Tomaso, it was called the Longchamp and it had been released just three years earlier in 1973.

The visual similarities between the De Tomaso Longchamp and the Maserati Kyalami are clear to see, though there were a slew of changes made.

The Longchamp was a modern, angular two-door GT car that had been styled by Tom Tjaarda at Ghia. Power was provided by an American V8 and performance was ample, unfortunately so was fuel consumption which did the model no favors in the era of the Oil Crisis.

Given the fact that the Longchamp was still a relatively new car, with unibody construction, independent front and rear suspension, and modern styling, it made the ideal platform for modification into a new Maserati.

The Maserati Kyalami

Development of the Kyalami began when Alejandro de Tomaso sent off a De Tomaso Longchamp to Pietro Frua and asked him to turn it into a Maserati.

Though not an easy task Frua excelled at it, subtly modifying the looks of the Longchamp, increasing its width and length, and lowering it slightly.

The interior of the Kyalami was beautifully designed, and each car came with air conditioning, electric windows, central locking, and an electric driver’s side door mirror as standard features.

The original rectangular headlights were replaced with four more traditional round headlights, and a slew of other changes were made to the body.

Perhaps one of the most important changes made lay inside the engine bay, the Longchamp’s Ford Cleveland V8 was removed and replaced with the Maserati Tipo AM 107.21.42 V8, a more advanced engine with quad cams (two per bank), four Weber downdraught carburetors, and 266 bhp at 6,000 rpm with 289 lb ft of torque at 3,800 rpm.

The Kyalami was launched at the 1976 Geneva Motor Show and by all accounts its reception was lukewarm. It still clearly had a strong resemblance to the Longchamp, and some went so far as to say it wasn’t a “real” Maserati.

There were many who loved the car, including the 200-210 people who bought them (there’s no universal agreement on production numbers.) Maserati would keep the car in production from 1976 until 1983 with two major versions, the earlier 4.2 liter V8 and the later 4.9 liter V8.

This quad headlamp arrangement was seen as being far more “Maserati” than the two rectangular lights of the Longchamp.

Today the surviving examples the Kyalami are relatively rare, no one is quite sure how many have survived, and they offer comfortable luxury motoring at a lower price than many of their period rivals.

The 1977 Maserati Kyalami Shown Here

The Kyalami you see here is an unrestored survivor from 1977 finished in a dark blue metallic over an attractive cream leather-trimmed interior with cream carpets and an extended black leather-trimmed dashboard.

Under the hood you’ll find the Maserati Tipo AM 107.21.42 V8 and it’s mated to the ever-reliable 5-speed ZF manual gearbox. Factory-fitted cabin equipment includes air conditioning, electric windows, a heated rear windscreen, and a full complement of elegant Jaeger gauges.

The car is now being offered for sale on Collecting Cars out of Lenzburg, Switzerland and bidding in the online auction is live at the time of writing.

Images courtesy of Collecting Cars

The post The Maserati Kyalami: A Rare ~150 MPH Italian Grand Tourer From The 1970s appeared first on Silodrome.

from Silodrome https://silodrome.com/maserati-kyalami-car/
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For Sale: A “Back To The Future Specification” 1985 Toyota Hilux

This 1985 Toyota Hilux has been painstakingly restored into the same specification as the now legendary truck from Back To The Future that Marty McFly was lusting after all those years ago.

The DeLorean DMC-12 will always be the car most closely associated with the Back To The Future trilogy, and for good reason, however the black Toyota with its yellow KC Daylighters was also seared into the hearts of a generation.

Fast Facts – A McFly Toyota Hilux

Starting in 1985, the “Back To The Future” trilogy would grow to become one of the most memorable film franchises of the era, if not of all time.
The series of three films made the DeLorean famous all over again (but for good reasons this time). It also made the Toyota Hilux an instant celebrity and on object of desire – not just for Marty McFly, but for a whole new generation of movie goers.
Perhaps a little confusingly the Hilux was renamed the “Truck” and/or “Pickup Truck” in the North American market from 1975 onwards. In most other world markets it was known as the Toyota Hilux.
The 1985 Toyota you see here has been restored to the exact specification of the truck from the films, it’s currently for sale, and it comes with replica Nike self-lacing shoes, a licensed Hoverboard replica, and an R/C version of truck.

Back To The Future

Back To The Future is one of those timeless cinematic events, like Star Wars or Indiana Jones, that immediately becomes a major part of the cultural zeitgeist.

There are some who have argued that the appearance of the custom Toyota Pickup in “Back To The Future” is what really put the model on the map for many young Americans.

Back in the 1980s everything seemed possible, technology was advancing rapidly and it seemed like we really would have flying cars by the 2000s. Hell maybe we’d even have time machines.

There were many memorable vehicles in the series, including Mr Parker’s AMC Eagle Wagon, George McFly’s BMW 733i, and Biff Tannen’s 1946 Ford Super De Luxe. That said the most memorable two were the DeLorean time machine (in its various forms) and the jet-black 1985 Toyota Pickup.

Both the DeLorean and the Toyota instantly became objects of desire, an unusual sensation for the former no doubt after the fiasco of its creation.

This desirability remains unchanged today for both vehicles – in fact The DeLorean Motor Company is now staging a comeback as an electric vehicle manufacturer, and a company named The Future Factory was founded a few years ago to build precise replicas of the original Toyota Truck from the films.

Above Video: This half hour documentary tells the story of the rediscovery and restoration of a screen-used Pickup from Back To The Future. This is not the same truck listed in this article, it’s included here as it’s a fascinating (and relevant) story.

Marty McFly’s Toyota Pickup

The truck used in the films that is now best known as Marty McFly’s Pickup was a 1985 Toyota Hilux Pickup Deluxe 4×4 Xtracab fitted with the 22R-E 2.4 liter four-cylinder EFI gasoline engine – according to the experts over on the dedicated Fandom wiki.

1985 was an important year for the Hilux as it was the final year that a live axle front end was offered in many world markets, including the USA. The switch to independent front suspension, paired with the live axle rear, was intended to give the truck better road handling.

This all means that if you want a Hilux with solid front and rear axles and electronic fuel injection, you pretty much have to find yourself a 1985 model.

The Marty McFly Hilux is said to have also had air-conditioning, an AM/FM cassette, a 5-speed manual transmission, black modular wheels, and Goodyear Wrangler radial tires.

Externally it was fitted with Smitty built tubular bumpers front and rear, it had a matching black roll bar fitted with four KC Daylighter spotlights.

The interior is largely the same as the trucks used in the film, with the 5-speed manual and 2-speed transfer case.

The “Back To The Future Spec” Pickup Shown Here

The vehicle you see here is an original 1985 Toyota Pickup that has been carefully restored to “Back To The Future” specification. It’s the correct year and model type, and it’s now been fitted with the correct wheels, tires, bumpers, roll bar, and spotlights – it even has the correct license plate and license plate frame.

This Pickup was built by the experts over at The Future Factory, they specialize in building this exact truck, and they have partnered with Team Fox – the Parkinson’s Research charity established by Michael J. Fox.

If you’d like to read more about this truck or register to bid you can visit the listing here. It’s due to roll across the auction block with Mecum in early July in Orlando, Florida.