Miraculously, the die-cast hood insert escaped the inferno nearly unscathed. Despite the obvious 383 emblem, we unearthed the forward leaf-spring bulkheads in search of Hemi-body torque boxes. No dice.
ROAD BUMMER
Everybody loves a Road Runner, right? Right? Imagine our shock and horror when we stumbled upon the severely abused remains of this Beeper. Discarded long ago after an interior fire, this one was originally equipped as a no-frills stripper with manual drum brakes, no A/C, and (best of all) a four-speed stick. Model year '69 was a record breaker for the Road Runner, and this is one of 48,549 hardtops built. An additional 33,743 sedans and 2,128 convertibles resulted in a total production of 84,420 units. By comparison, there were 45,599 '68 Road Runners (15,359 hardtops and 29,240 sedans) and 40,660 '70 models (24,944 hardtops and 15,716 sedans). Regardless of its popularity, this Coyote Duster's power-shifting days are over.
A close look reveals remnants of the color-keyed urethane-coated rear bumper and tatters of the optional black vinyl roof. The shredded interior retains the standard Mach 1 Instrumentation Group.
RUSTANG MACH 1
This decrepit '73 Mustang Mach 1 SportsRoof still wears its original yellow paint and sexy Mach 1 tape-stripe graphics package. The third and final edition of the '71-'73 Torino-based Mustang family, this one packs its original H-code 173hp 351 Windsor two-barrel and Cruise-O-Matic transmission, making it the second hottest Mach 1 for the smogged-out '73 model run. The hottest was the Q-code 266hp 351 Cleveland (cost $214) backed by a Hurst-shifted four-speed (cost $193). A mere two years earlier, the '71 Mach 1 could be had with the wild J-code 429 CJ-R option (cost $531) with 11.3:1 pistons, 780 Holley, solid lifters, and 370 hp.
There were four Turbo Jet 396 Camaro powerplants available for the '69. The presence of air conditioning on this hulk confirms base L35 (325hp 396, 6,752 built) or optional L34 (350hp 396, 2,018 built) power. The solid-lifter L78 (375 hp, 4,889 built) and L89 (aluminum heads, 375hp, 311 built) were not available with A/C.
DEAD RAT
Original big-block Camaros are worth their weight in gold, so feast your eyes on this month's offering. It's a '69 SS396, and besides being one of only 13,970 396s built (total '69 Camaro production was 243,095), what makes it so interesting is that it's been sitting in isolation since the mid '70s. As such, it has a certain time-capsule quality that transports the viewer back to the days when the sight of a wrecked SS396 Camaro wasn't a big deal. The Turbo Jet 396, M40 Turbo Hydramatic 400, and 12-bolt are long gone, but the original maroon paint kind of makes up for it.