Third-party muscle car

A third-party muscle car is a muscle car that was modified, typically by a dealer, before or near the time of its original sale. These modifications usually included engine upgrades, although some dealers made body modifications as well. Unlike modifications made by owners, which generally decrease the value of a car, original third-party modifications can add significant value to a vehicle if completed by a notable entity. Third-party muscle cars are distinct from day-two muscle cars, which are cars that were modified by the owner shortly after the original sale. Today, many third-party cars are among the most collectible muscle cars.

Dealerships

Baldwin Chevrolet

944 Merrick Road, Baldwin, New York

Baldwin Chevrolet was a dealership in Baldwin, New York with history dating back to the 1920s. In the 1960s it was run by Ed Simonin and Dave Bean. In 1967, Baldwin entered into a partnership with Motion Performance (forming Baldwin-Motion), in which cars would be ordered and sold by Baldwin and modified (as ordered by buyers) by Motion. Motion Performance had opened in 1966 at 598 Sunrise Highway, Baldwin, and was run by Joel Rosen. The business' origins could be traced to the late 1950s when Rosen began customizing cars in a Sunoco garage.

Between 1967 and 1974 Baldwin offered special Motion packages on Camaros, Chevelles, Biscaynes, and Corvettes. The program had been developed by Joel Rosen and Marty Shorr from Motion and John Mahler from Baldwin. Unlike other third-party conversions which were standardized, Baldwin-Motion customers could select their options from a catalogue.

With Baldwin Chevrolet closing in December 1973, and the Environmental Protection Agency threatening action against Motion for removing smog equipment on cars, the partnership ended. Today, "Phase III" Camaros and Corvettes are the most collectible Baldwin-Motion vehicles.

Berger Chevrolet

2525 28th Street South East, Grand Rapids, Michigan

Berger Chevrolet was founded in 1925 by William Berger and located in Grand Rapids, Michigan. In 1966, Jim O'Connor, formerly of Nickey Chevrolet in Chicago, approached then manager Dale Berger, Jr. about adding a high-performance component to the business. Along with performance parts manager Jim Luikens, O'Connor began marketing high-performance sales at Berger. The majority of Berger's high-performance business was selling stock factory cars. In 1969 the dealership sold fifty COPO Camaros and six COPO Chevelles.

Berger did, however, develop one conversion package: the 1970 Berger "Super Nova." This one-year-only package featured a 300 horsepower small-block 350 as well as several small trim modifications.

Dana Chevrolet

9735 Long Beach Boulevard, South Gate, California

Located in South Gate, California, Dana Chevrolet was purchased in the mid 1960s by Payton Cramer, a former Shelby American mechanic, and his partner Paul Dombroski. The dealership had gone bankrupt, and the two new owners hoped to turn it into Southern California's first performanced-focussed Chevrolet dealership. While the dealership-proper was located at 8730 Long Beach Boulevard, Dana also opened a new satellite high-performance shop at 9735 Long Beach Boulevard, which sold performance cars exclusively.

Dana's performance package involved swapping 350-equipped Camaros with L72 or L71 427 motors, and adding a 4-speed transmission and heavy-duty suspension. Around 100 Dana Camaros were produced between 1967 and 1968.

Gorries Chevrolet-Oldsmobile

28 Gerrard Street East, Toronto, Ontario

Gorries Chevrolet-Oldsmobile was located in Toronto, Ontario. The dealership was originally located on Gerrard Street, but in the late 1960s moved to Eglinton Avenue. In 1967 Gorries offed a conversion package for Camaros that it dubbed the "Black Panther." Visually, Black Panther Camaros had gold interiors and were painted black with gold trim. In the interior a joke "007" console was provided with fake switches for ejector seats and machine guns, among others. Performance wise, Black Panthers were given new front disc brakes, tubular shock absorbers, heavy-duty front coils, and rear leaf stiffeners. Black Panthers were equipped with either the small-block L30 327, or the big-block L71 427. It is estimated that less than 50 of these cars were produced.

Grand-Spaulding Dodge

3300 West Grand Avenue, Chicago, Illinois

Grand-Spaulding Dodge opened in 1962 on the corner of Grand and Spaulding Avenues in Chicago, Illinois. The dealership was owned and operated Len and Norman Kraus. The brothers had been selling used cars with their father, Harvey, since 1948. By the late 1950s the brothers had begun focussing on high-performance vehicles. It was in 1956 that Norman received his famous nickname, "Mr. Norm," which first appeared in an advertisement. Impressed by the work the brothers were doing, Dodge approached the brothers about opening a dealership.

Unlike standard car dealerships, Grand-Spaulding catered to a younger market and placed an emphasis on selling performance cars. In 1963, the dealership started the "Mr. Norm's Sport Club" and installed a dynamometer. During the 1960s Grand-Spaulding ran several race cars, including a 1964 426 Max Wedge ("Hustler"), 1964 426 Hemi ("Hustler II"), a 1965 altered wheelbase 426 Hemi, and a 1969 Charger funny car.

The first car Kraus developed was the 1967 Dodge Dart GSS (Grand-Spaulding Sport) equipped with a 383, which at the time was not available from the factory. Dodge was so impressed with the car that they introduced the Dart GTS 383 in 1968. In 1968 Kraus developed his second car, again a Dodge Dart GSS, but this time with a 440. Again, Dodge was impressed enough by this car to produce the M-Code Dart GTS 440 in 1969.

Norman Kraus sold his share of Grand-Spaulding in 1977, and the dealership closed several years later. The "Mr. Norm" name has since been re-introduced for a new performance package available on Dodges.

Grant Hamilton Pontiac-Buick

3500 Rue Jean-Talon Ouest, Montréal, Québec

Grant Hamilton Pontiac-Buick opened in Montréal, Québec in 1967 at the site of the former Parkway Pontiac. Several years earlier, Grant Hamilton had been responsible for bringing 1964 Tri-Power GTOs to Montreal. In 1968 and 1969, Hamilton's dealership produced a modified Pontiac Firebird it called the "Firebird Comanche." Comanche cars were given several trim treatments which included painting the tail pannel white - calling this the "Kamm tail" - and painting stripes coming out of the side louvres. Comanches were given a new twin snorken air cleaner, new lights and foglamps, new shock absorbers and suspension, Pirelli tires, and a dashboard-mounted tachometer. It is estimated that less than 50 Firebird Comanches were built.

Mainway Ford

2500 Danforth Avenue, Toronto, Ontario

Mainway Ford was a dealership located in Toronto, Ontario. In 1967, the dealership offered a special Mustang conversion package it called the "Mustang Stallion." On the exterior, Stallions were given a new metallic paint job, new wheels, chromed side scoops, and the rear tail light was swapped with that from a Mercury Cougar. Inside, Mainway provided the car with a tachometer and new seat covers. Performance modifications included a posi-traction rear end, heavy-duty suspension, and power disc brakes. Only eight of these vehicles were built. Four were equipped with Ford's Windsor-series HiPo 289 motor, and the other four with a modified FE-series 390.

Nickey Chevrolet

4501 Irving Park Road, Chicago, Illinois

Nickey Chevrolet opened in 1926 at 4120 Irving Park Road in Chicago. In the 1930s the dealership was sold to the Stephani family, who owned it for the remainder of its life. After the War, the Stefani sons Jack and Ed took over the business. In the 1950s they moved to 4501 Irving Park Road and in 1957 created the famous "backwards K" Nickey logo, ordering a sign from White Way Sign Company. In 1958 Nickey entered the performance scene, operating a team of "Purple People Eater" Corvettes developed by Lindy Lindheimer.

When Chevrolet introduced its pony car, the Camaro, in 1967, Nickey was the first dealership to replace the stock motor with a 427. Teaming up with Bill Thomas, Nickey offered a variety of "super-car" conversions. Buyers could select from the Stage I, Stage II, or Stage III packages, which could be ordered on Camaros, Chevelles, and Novas.

Nickey Chevrolet closed in 1973, however performance managers Don Swaitec and Ronnie Kaplan operated a business called Nickey Chicago between 1974 and 1977.

Royal Oak Pontiac

400 North Main Street, Royal Oak, Michigan

Royal Oak Pontiac opened in the late 1950s in Royal Oak, Michigan and was owned by Asa "Ace" Wilson. Wilson's father, Asa Sr., was a wealthy businessman and bought the dealership for his son.

In 1959 Semon "Bunkie" Knudsen became general manager of Pontiac and immediately sought to establish a performance program where dealerships would offer over-the-counter performance parts to customers. After strong resistance from the company, Knudsen had Pontiac head of marketing Jim Wangers contact a single dealership to talk about establishing a performance department. Wangers spoke to Wilson at Royal Oak and detailed the terms of the project, which would include fielding a racing team and selling speed parts. Wilson enthusiastically accepted. In 1960 Royal Oak began racing specially-tuned Pontiacs, driven by Wangers, in the NHRA super-stock class, and offering its new "Royal Bobcat" performance package to customers. The Bobcat package included head gasket, intake manifold gasket, distributor, and rocker arm modifications, as well as "Royal Bobcat" decals and the now famous "GR-RRR" licence plate. The package was availble by mail order as well as from the shop. The name "Royal Bobcat" was coined by Wangers, and the badge was produced using the letters from "Pontiac" and "Bonneville" name plates. In 1963 Wilson hired Milt Schornack as performance director. Schornack later took over driving Royal's race cars, and along with Chuck Brumfield and Bud Conrad, performed Bobcat conversions.

The first Bobcats were all full-sized cars, but when General Motors introduced its new intermediate A platform in 1964, Royal began offering the package for the company's new Tempest GTO as well. 1966 was the most popular year for Bobcat conversions. In 1968 and 1969 Royal offered its first full engine swap, replacing the stock motor with the Pontiac 428. The dealer also offered a replacement 400 in 1969, the so-called "Ram Air V."

One of the most famous moments of the muscle-car era came in 1964 when the magazine Car and Driver tested a 1964 Royal Bobcat GTO against a 1964 Ferrari 250 GTO. The resulting story was published in the March 1964 issue of the magazine and entitled "GTO vs. GTO."

In 1970 Wilson closed the performance department and in 1974 left the business. He died in the late 1980s.

Yenko Chevrolet

575 West Pike Street, Canonsburg, Pennsylvania

Yenko Chevrolet's history dates back to 1929, the year Frank Yenko opened a Durant dealership. After Durant folded in 1932, Yenko opened a Chevrolet dealership in Bentleyville, Pennsylvania in 1934. In 1949, Yenko opened a second Chevrolet dealership in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. In 1957, Frank's son Don (1927-1987) took over the dealership. The dealership ran until 1982, at which time he sold the business.

Don Yenko began customizing cars in 1966. His first project was the creation of the "Yenko Stinger," a modified Corvair designed for road racing. Yenko increased the power of the engines, removed the rear seats, and added a customized paint scheme.

With the introduction of Chevrolet's pony car, the Camaro, in 1967, Yenko developed his second creation, the "Super Camaro." In 1967 and 1968 Yenko ordered, respectively, 54 and 64 L78 Camaros and substitued the original motors with the L72 427. 1969 was the pinnacle year for Yenko cars. Along with the Camaro, Yenko also outfitted Chevelles and Novas with the L72. All 1969 cars were named "Yenko Super Cars," recognizable by their famous "sYc" logo. The final muscle-car era creation of Don Yenko was the 1970 "Yenko Deuce," a Nova equipped with an LT-1 350 motor.

Following the muscle-car era, Yenko developed two more cars: the Vega "Yenko Stinger II," which was built from 1971 to 1973, and the Camaro "Turbo Z," which was built in 1981.

References

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