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You may have heard about General Motors engineer Mark Stielow’s 1969 Camaro “Red Devil” before. It’s a fully custom Pro Touring Camaro packing a 7.0-liter LS7 under its hood which is garnished with the cylinder heads, valvetrain and supercharger from a Corvette ZR1. Underneath, it’s equipped with a 3.25:1 nine-inch axle, a limited-slip differential and a full Detroit Speed suspension system. He’s since sold the car, but back in 2012 when it was still around, him and Hot Rod magazine pitted it against a brand new Camaro ZL1 in a time-attack style race.

Chevrolet announced today that it will make the Corvette Atlantic and Pacific concepts from last year’s SEMA show available as special design packages for the 2015 Corvette Stingray.

The two design packages will be available from the launch date of the 2015 Corvette, which is slated to go on sale later this year. Chevrolet says a strong a response from enthusiasts helped influence the decision to put both the Atlantic convertible and Pacific coupe into production.

“One of the design goals for the Corvette Stingray was to provide customers with the flexibility to tailor the car to their personality,” said Kirk Bennion, Corvette exterior design manager. “The Atlantic and Pacific Design Packages were originally designed to showcase how the Stingray could be configured as a luxury sport GT car or as a high-performance motorsport car.”

Restored or original areas of the vehicle

Cars are classified based on the number of modifications in given sections of the car. These modified sections are marked on the dash card. Any sections that are unmarked are to be technically correct and subject to point loss for wrong parts, fit, finish, and cleanliness. There are a variety of printed materials available to document the proper parts and installation and the Chevy Classics Club offers technical support for club members. The technically correct portion is based on restoration standards, and there are differences based on assembly plants. We do realize there were some assembly anomalies, but be prepared to support these to avoid point loss. Our best suggestion is to restore the car to accepted standards.

The Chevrolet models that came out of Don Yenko's shop were all spectacular. This '68 Camaro may be a little more so...

In the late 1960s, General Motors had a corporate edict which barred any engine larger than 400 cubic inches from finding its way under the hood of their recently released Ford Mustang fighter, the Camaro. To bypass this minor hurdle, the now famous Don Yenko ordered SS Camaros equipped with the L-78 Big Block engine to his father’s dealership and swapped it out with the 7.0-liter L-72 from the Corvette. The result was the now very rare and sought after Yenko Camaro.  Only 64 Yenko’s were built in 1968, one of which will cross the auction block at Mecum’s Original Spring Classic auction next month.

Imagine awakening to find that it’s 1959! Wow, what would it be like to open your eyes to such a sight? Though such a discovery may conjure up many thoughts, the minds of most of us reading a publication like Chevy Classics drift quickly to our favorite topic…old cars. Well, I recently had just such an experience.

A near absolute ban on travel from America to Cuba has existed since 1959 and the Kennedy administration. In an attempt to ease relations, in 1999 President Clinton implemented “People-to-People,” an initiative designed to allow Americans to travel to Cuba as part of an educational exchange. Under special license, agents would be allowed to offer a fully-scheduled cultural exchange program to a limited number of travelers. However, due to various roadblocks, licenses were seldom issued and the initiative went nowhere.Recently that closed door was opened, if only just a crack. In October of 2009, an amendment to the Cuban Assets Control Regulations eased the Cuban travel requirements paving the way for license issuance, and the race to Cuba was on.

This 22 minute video is a lot of fun, plus you get to see more of the famous Sinkhole at the Corvette Museum in Bowling Green, KY! Watch it when you have some time, and really need some good laughs!

The sinkhole that opened up underneath the National Corvette Museum in February has turned into an attraction of its own for the facility. Corvette fans from all over want to check out the massive hole and the eight cars that were sucked into middle earth as a result of its opening, including Roadkill hosts David Freiburger and Mike Finnegan.

When working on your carburetor…

Transfer the carburetor from the engine to a clean, open workbench. If you don’t have a carb stand, simply slide four bolts of your choice through the mounting holes in the bottom plate, and “nut” them up at the top. All you need is enough clearance for the levers and protruding linkage.

I was twelve years old when my oldest brother Walter "Speedy" bought a new black ’57 Chevy Sports Coupe. It had a 283 c.i. engine and 3-speed transmission with overdrive. I learned to drive using this car. I didn't know at that time that I would become addicted, but I couldn't escape the influence of Tri-5 Chevys. At seventeen, and a senior in high school, I bought my first ’57 Chevy. It was a four-door Bel Air sedan, painted Tropical Turquoise with a 265 engine and 3-speed transmission. It had 58,000 miles showing on the odometer. I dated my wife in that car and we traded it in on a ’64 Chevelle in 1965. In 1972 I bought my dad's black ’57 Bel Air four-door sedan and kept it a few years. In the mid ’70s, I had a craving for another ’57. I found a two-door Sports Coupe from a club member in Warner Robins, GA. It needed paint, interior and a transmission. I had this Chevy repainted Tropical Turquoise and the transmission rebuilt, and installed some ’66 Chevelle bucket seats. As a side note, the seller gave me a Classic Chevy World magazine. This was my first knowledge of the club.

All love stories have a beginning, and this one is no different. As is the case with most ladies, she belonged to another man. And for sixteen years, George Hedrick of Lyles, TN made many offers to make her his, promising to restore and love only (not to sell). In early 2000, George’s friend (who had made the purchase from the original owner) passed away and the car went to auction where George was able to purchase her for the high bid of $1200.

The first thing George did after making her his was to properly store her, where she remained until 2009. During those 9 years, George finished his career as an independent contractor, the whole time never forgetting his love that waited. The plans were to restore her to original specs, but as the pictures show, many things changed– and as Elvis said, “I did it my way”. With a little help from friends Richard Dunn and Rod Lyonhurst, they restored a lot of metal and changed the original color from Deepwater Blue to 2008 Corvette Atomic Orange.

We recently had the opportunity to visit Bill Tower in Plant City, FL. Bill has one unique and fascinating collection of early Corvettes! For those of you who may not be familiar with Bill, let us introduce you...

Bill Tower is a man of many talents. He’s done just about everything, from racing the American Bandstand-sponsored Top Fuel “Rat Trap” digger in the late ’60s to working on the Space Shuttle launch program. Bill is a GMI trained engineer, and worked for Chevrolet from 1965 through the mid ’80s. He is still involved with GM today, working with them on various engineering projects.