The MuscleCar Place Robert Kibbe

 

FEATURE INTERVIEW:

2023 Holley Moparty Special!

This special bonus episode on The Muscle Car Place is brought to you live from the Holley Moparty 2023 event at the Beach Bend raceway (and amusement park) facility in Bowling Green Kentucky! All of your favorite show hosts and co-hosts loaded up and drove out to the birthplace of new Corvettes and the global headquarters of Holley Performance Products to see the fourth annual gathering of Mopar enthusiasts. Many old and new Dodge, Plymouth, Chrysler, AMC, and Jeep vehicles were there showing off just how unique this crowd can be. We got to show up and interview some of the interesting people there and bring it to you to get an idea of how the whole event went down.



HHWheels Fritz, Caroline, Rob, and Corndog



James & Caroline HHWheels YouTube: Directly in front of the Holley booth there was a gathering of sponsored cars that many people looked forward to seeing as they are on YouTube or Instagram and followed by thousands pf fans. Smack dab in the middle of the show was a rusty green Charger with severely dented fenders and accompanied by a girl with a big smile waiting to talk to people about its cool background. Caroline and her dad James host the YouTube channel HHWheels where they bring to life old crusty cars and have a blast with them. At this particular event Caroline snuck the old Green RT/SE Charger called "Fritz" on to the Jeep off road course and did some fancy back road driving around the dirt track. She may not have travelled "as the crow flies" but she definitely got a loud cheer from the Hooptie X challenge participants as she slung the  car around the corners and over the dirt jumps. The car is a rescued 1969 Dodge Charger RT/SE that literally had a tree drop on it. The duo have been having fun with the car ever since they got their hands on it and making friends as the do it. Obviously they are not afraid to get dirty and promote the idea to just get out there and drive old cars instead of waiting to make things perfect. From rusty green Chargers to Baja Bug Beetles they enjoy working on things and having fun. You can Follow Caroline and James at HHWhwheelsPro.com, or check out videos at YouTube.com/HHWheels, and on Instagram.com/HHWheelsPro.



 



Dylan McCool's turbo charged Cop Car and the Gremlin winner of the burnout contest.



Dylan McCool YouTube: Dylan McCool himself said he looks forward to the annual Muscle Car Place interview tradition at Moparty every year. We have interviewed him every year since the beginning of Moparty and it is great to talk and get caught up every time. This year brought a mid 80's Diplomat cop car that he has been working on in front of thousands of people on his YouTube channel. Watching Dylan go through the process of getting old cars up and running while fixing the things that break as he is fixing other things is always entertaining. It was very "cool"  to see his latest project and watch it go around the autocross track. You could hear the turbo spool up on a car they never thought of putting turbos on and blast across the track sometimes sideways. Not every pass was fast but from the grin on his face you know that every pass was fun. He did a lot of repairs and track side updates including getting parts from the swap meet to keep it from spewing oil all over the engine compartment. When he was building the Blues Brothers clone, Dylan worked with the pros at Holley to make all of the pieces fit together and run like a well oiled machine. He said the Sniper system saved his engine more than once in its boosted condition despite his best efforts. You can check out Dylan McCool on his channel at YouTube.com/@DylanMcCoolVideo.



 



Justin "Corndog" Cornette and Nathan Warren checking out the Richard Petty 1974 Charger Racecar



Richard Petty 1974 Charger Race Car: One of the biggest draws at the...

It is September and football is back!!! It is also time for another riveting Ask Rick segment were I ask him the tough questions that not everyone wants to hear. As always Rick delivers sage advice and wisdom founded in years of buying and selling classic vehicles. When it comes to cars as investment, possibly a with a great ROI, Rick has strong opinions and advice here. Can it be done? Short answer; yes! Should it be done? Long answer......maybe.



As with all things, it depends what you understand and where you can make your gain on the purchase of the car initially. For Rick and his dad, their collection has immense value today of course, but every car in inventory was chosen for it's specialness to the Schmidt's not as a hedge on a great investment. They chose high quality low mile original cars and didn't just stick to muscle cars. Their collection has many examples of unique rare American cars that have less than 1000 miles (think Rivieras, Eldorado's, and Lincoln's).. Some have interiors with the delivery plastic still in place! Others are beautifully restored treasures. Today, it's paid off. Technically, it could payoff if they ever chose to sell....which they almost never do!

This special bonus episode on The Muscle Car Place is brought to you live once again from the streets of Pontiac, Michigan! Our journeyman reporter Scott Stap was roadside at Woodard Avenue where the streets were closed and setup for LEGAL street drag racing at the annual RoadKill Nights event, presented by Dodge. Every year this event brings action, excitement, and new automotive experiences to Michigan (and visitors from other Midwestern states) automotive enthusiasts!



This episode is from "press day" where grudge match racers were introduced to reveal their drag race cars. Friday was a media only event and Scott was able to get his recorder and microphones in to talk to more Dodge insiders for a behind the scenes look at how the "donuts" of a muscle-car-loving OEM are actually. This was before Roadkill Nights opened to the public and there were a lot of people to talk to in a short period of time. He talked to old friends that have been on the show before as well as interviewing new guests that provided different angles and aspects of how Dodge designs and sells new muscle.

Live From RoadKill Nights 2023: Special Feature! Scotty Stap was onsite to talk to the OEM Dodge Boys While Drag Racing On The Streets Of Woodward Ave In Pontiac Michigan. This special feature episode on The Muscle Car Place is brought to you live from the streets of Pontiac Michigan. We were road side at Woodard Avenue where they closed the road and setup a drag strip for the event called RoadKill Nights. Every year RoadKill nights brings action, excitement, and new automotive experiences to Michigan (and other midwestern states) automotive enthusiasts. This year was no exception!



The main difference in the event this year was that they moved  North from its typical M1 Concourse location up to one block off from Downtown Pontiac. The car show was actually held on the streets of the famous southern Michigan town. This made the main event area a little tight and the Thrill Ride cars were ALWAYS sideways. As a result the ride itself was shorter but it was still a great event for 2023.



Our on the scene reporter Scott Stap was lucky enough to catch up with some old friends from Dodge and Stellantis who were on the "inside" track of all of the outgoing Chargers and Challengers. He also got some insight on the new Charger (electric) to come. That said, this was the final chance to talk about Dodge's outgoing Last Call vehicles.Enjoy!

This week on The Muscle Car Place is a great interview with Jason Chandler, Director of Marketing at Auto Metal Direct (known in the industry as "AMD". As of late I noticed that AMD had released some of the "un-ob-tanium" parts for '68 and '69 Charger restorations, nearly to the point that a person could build an entirely new car from scratch. This peaked my interest, so I asked Jason for the details. It turns out that you nearly could build one of those cars now.....as well as a few others (and trucks), all from new metal! '69 Camaros and Square-body Chevy trucks are both good to go, and a few others are close as well. I needed the details!



Listener mail: Rob, A few years ago I shared with you my goals and plans for my Tesla powered 1940 Chevrolet.  Well, after a lot of work, set backs, and strange gremlins, I finally got to the track this summer.  I put together a video summarizing the track test, and wanted to share it.  https://youtu.be/wnPICDZmv3M

It is August and time for hot August nights and some of the greatest car shows ever! Thousands of people will dig out their cherished vehicles this month and attend massive gatherings such as the Woodward Dream Cruise. When you get that many people in once place accidents will happen and you need to make sure your insurance is correct. In this edition of Ask Rick, I inquire as to what insurance Rick uses and how he knows it will cover his needs. It's a boring topic...but one we all need to get right more than ever.