Product Description

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Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #210329 in Books
• Published on: 2007-05-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 176 pages

Review

(UK), July 2007

“The text is light-hearted, the layouts lavish yet logical and the pictures are good … Recommended to any muscle fan.”

August 2007

“Joe Oldham takes readers on the ride of their lives, recounting what really happened behind the scenes … A must-have for any automotive enthusiast who wants to know the truth about muscle cars.”
                                                                                                                                           

Crash.net, Oct. 22, 2007

“For fans of this particular branch of motoring history Muscle Car Confidential is a fascinating insight into the industry and its product from a highly qualified and adept storyteller. Likewise, for novices who are interested in discovering what was happening overseas while the majority of us were pootling around in Austin Maxis and settling down to the decade of Maggie, it’s an educational read.”

              

Virginian Pilot, Dec. 14, 2007

“A look back at life as an auto journalist during the muscle car era of the late 1960s and early '70s. Author Joe Oldham brings a refreshing honesty to a chapter in automotive history that lacks it.”

 

From the Inside Flap

and Super/Stock, he provided the information that both brand-new muscle car buyers and car-crazy teenagers depended on.

 

In Muscle Car Confidential, Oldham uses the original notes from the tests he conducted back in the day. Included are muscle cars from the 1962 421 Super Duty Catalina to the 1976 Trans Am 455 HO—twenty of them in all. Cars from every manufacturer are represented, in all their glory—or, on occasion, the lack thereof.

 

As an added bonus, the book boasts the original photography from every test Oldham conducted—not just the photos that were used in his magazine articles, but outtakes, as well. The story is told through both words and pictures, some that haven't been published in forty years and others that haven't been published at all.

 

This book contains the true stories of the cars, not the watered-down, nostalgic, seen-through-rose-colored-glasses versions we find ourselves remembering today. By no means is the book mean-spirited, but it does present some cold, hard facts. For example, the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner was "just a car that didn't run very well." Despite its 426 Hemi. On the other hand, the 1970 Buick Gran Sport GSX was "the best handling muscle car we ever tested."

 

Today, the articles Oldham wrote are used for research. The performance numbers his tests derived are widely known.  How he got those numbers, however, is not. Muscle Car Confidential is a tell-all, behind-the-scenes look at muscle cars when they were new; the truth behind the whole muscle car era as told by someone who lived it firsthand and whose articles helped create the myth that will continue to live into the future.

From the Back Cover

delves into the stories behind the notes Joe Oldham made on the cars he vetted for some of the era’s top car magazines. Here are the photos (including outtakes) and the hard, cold facts on muscle cars, from the 1962 421 Super Duty Catalina to the 1976 Trans Am 455 HO—twenty in all. In 2004, a 1970 Hemi ‘Cuda convertible sold for over $4,000,000.00. On a cold autumn day in 1970, it had puked transmission fluid on a drag strip, forever endearing it to the owners of Englishtown, New Jersey’s Raceway Park.

 

You might know the articles Oldham wrote; you might know the performance numbers he got. But until now, how he wrote the articles and produced the numbers was an untold story. This behind-the-scenes book is a close-up look at what it was like to live in the muscle car era and help create the myth that lives on today.

 

 

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Customer Reviews

EXCEPTIONAL! A+
I was one of those guys who devoured all the Magnum-Royal car magazines back in the day. Titles like Super Stock & FX, CARS, and Rodder & Super Stock. And the high point of any M-R mag was Joe Oldham. He had a unique style, with absolutely no BS. He genuinely told it like it was. The West Coast mags (Hot Rod, Car Craft, etc) were fine but there was always a "wall" between writer and reader; very subtle but always there. Joe's articles were like listening to his stories in person.

This book contains a lot of information about the cars Joe tested back then. If you're a muscle car freak, you'll be in heaven. But it's more than that. It really gives you the feel of being there. I remember reading the original articles about these cars. They spared no sacred cow - if the car was crap, Joe said so. If it was a stone, he let us know even if it made the factories mad. He and his band of Merry Pranksters flogged those cars unmercifully and gave us the straight skinny.

Time hasn't dimmed Joe's writing ability. When I read the first page, it was like he'd never left. I was 18 again, scoring a copy of Speed and Supercar at the newsstand.

I read a lot.....reading's my hobby. And this is the best book I've read in ages. Get it.

Wow,I was born too late!
This book was great.I'm a Mopar guy,I liked it. My friend Pat liked it,he likes Pontiacs.It's one of those books you can read,then pull it out a while later and read it again!All your gearhead buddies will dig it too.A very good addition to my automotive library!

A great read, lots of fun
This is a great book, full of interesting insights and funny stories. The inside scoop about some highly overrated or uderrated muscle cars. The author tells it like it was, and some legends get knocked off their pedestals in the process. Lots of good stories told by the guy who had the job we all wanted!