There aren’t many cars on the road that I don’t recognize, but this one totally caught me by surprise at Cars and Coffee. I confess that I don’t know much about mid-century French cars, so I hope you will forgive me for not recognizing this one right away. However, I thought it intriguing enough to take some pictures – and boy, am I glad I did!
As it turns out, this gleaming silver beauty is a Facel Vega HK500. One article I read called it “The best car you’ve never heard of” and after doing some research, I can see why the author made that statement.
As far as I’m concerned, the Monte Carlo has the same overall poor “curb appeal” to your average person nowadays as a third-generation Camaro, but with none of the great heritage or rewarding driving experience (in comparison). It was sold on the same platform as T-types, Grand Nationals, the Hurst/Olds Cutlass, 442’s, and the last (and arguably most cleanly styled) El Camino. In the grand scheme of things, this generation Monte Carlo SS was a NASCAR-purpose production vehicle with a fake Camaro nose and a lesser variant of the 5.0L V8 than could be had in the F-bodies.
With that said, I really do love the Monte Carlo. Much like the redesigned B-bodies of a few years prior (which ironically left the mid-size Monte a larger overall car than the full-size Impala) the new G-bodies came in lighter, more nimble and sportier than their Megalodon-sized predecessors. For this generation the bow-tied Super Sport was available with a not-so-super and not-so-sporty 165hp 5.0L V8 with the dreaded CCCQJ (Computer Command Control Quadra-Jet) fuel/ignition system. It’s design is archaic and finicky. Believe me, I have a very similar system on the 140hp 5.0L V8 in my 1984 Caprice. It’s one of the members of the Quadra-Jet family that I would suggest avoiding.
Barring it’s anemic (by modern standards) engine output, without all of the bullshit that comes with a fuel-injected, computer controlled engine management system, it can easily take any member of the first generation small block Chevrolet V8 engine family as a replacement with very little work. Let’s be honest with ourselves though. Chances are the common upgrades for the 305 are going to be on a 4.00″ bore block, with either a 3.48″ or 3.75″ stroke. Basically, your standard, run-of-mill, take-the-horse-to-the-glue-factory-already 350 or 383 cubic inch engines.
AMC stands out as a car maker that produced some very ambitious designs, despite having to compete in the same arena as the Big Three of Detroit. During their ownership of Jeep they created the Cherokee, turned the CJ-7 into the Wrangler, and used their ownership of Jeep to create the first joint US-China auto manufacturing venture. That was way back in 1984, when GM was barely getting it’s shit together with the Corvette. Thanks to said Jeep ownership, they were also able to create the AMC Eagle. Essentially a parts bin 4×4 passenger car, it pretty much defines the CUVs of today, while being infinitely more bad ass in the process. Continue reading →
We all know about the GNX’s, T-type Buicks and Grand Nationals. They “brake for Corvettes”, right? The 3.8L Buick mill is a well known OHV V6, that starting in the 1980s, decided to pack heat wherever it went. Well, what you may not know (unless you’re a third generation f-body or Buick T-type buff) is that in 1989 you could have yourself a turbocharged 3.8L Buick-powered Pontiac Trans Am. Continue reading →
As an automotive journalist, I am constantly on the lookout for cool cars to write about. Most of the time I have to work hard to seek them out, but every once in a while the cars seem to find me. This particular car and I keep running into each other, so I knew it was time to write about it.
I first ran into this heavily customized 1951 Kaiser Manhattan at Cars and Coffee in Scottsdale. I saw it again at SEMA 2012 in Las Vegas. Then it popped up on my YouTube subscriptions for Jay Leno’s Garage and the Eastwood YouTube channel. It was just begging to be written about!
There aren’t many cars on the road that I don’t recognize, but this one totally caught me by surprise at Cars and Coffee. I confess that I don’t know much about mid-century French cars, so I hope you will forgive me for not recognizing this one right away. However, I thought it intriguing enough to take some pictures – and boy, am I glad I did!
