It's just as interesting to visit the set-up of a car show as it is to be there after it's officially open. The folks from YouTube channel Muscle Car Appraisal bring us some great cars during the pre-show of the Muscle Car and Corvette Nationals (MCACN) Show in Rosemont, Illinois. They show us some excellent survivor Chevy Corvettes and several hard-to-find muscle cars, including a special Pontiac Firebird Trans Am; feast your eyes on over 500 cool cars in this video.
From Chevy Corvette C2s To Barn Finds And Beyond
Even as owners position their earlier-generation Chevrolet Corvettes into assigned spots during the pre-show, it's hard to fathom just how many of them there really are here. We see a good representation of the 7.0-liter 427 engines that Chevrolet introduced in 1966. One 1967 model has original reddish-brown exterior paint, which is very unusual. There are also several 36-gallon big tank Corvettes that Chevrolet designed for endurance road racing. In addition to the C2, several handsome C1s and C3 stand out.
While the Corvettes far outnumber the barn finds, a 1970 Plymouth AAR 'Cuda catches the eye. It's appealingly rough with a patch of 70s rust on the C-pillar, and hopefully it still houses its original 340 CI mill. A 1965 Chevelle with wide swaths of body rust sits next to a brand-new big-block engine. Maybe its owner will drop the new engine into the Chevy after it gets the extensive work it needs.
A Seldom-Found Trans Am Shines Among Other Choice Muscle Cars
The variety of rare muscle cars at the MCACN show boggles the mind. A recent-model Cobra Jet-Ford Mustang crouches next to a 1962 Pontiac Super Duty with a 445 engine. The black Dodge Super Bee 426 Hemi GTX impresses as does the Oldsmobile 442 with its hard-to-find W30 engine and red inner fenders.
But the rarest of them all is a 1969 Pontiac Trans Am 303 Ram Air V. Pontiac wanted to regain the ground it lost in the muscle car wars, so it developed the last and the most powerful of its Ram Air V8 engines, which had vast intake ports for maximum displacement.
Unfortunately, General Motors only produced 25 of these cars, due in part to supplier issues. Management's perception that muscle cars were waning in popularity was another strike against this Trans Am. Even so, its ultra-effective engine design makes it one of the most interesting cars in this show.