1970 GTX, 1970 Ford Mustang Fastback, And 1967 Chevy Camaro Are Major Hot Rods - Hometown Hot Rodding

'70 GTX
Mopar Couple
Sherri Launchnor is the kind of woman every car guy wishes he could marry. Sherri and her husband, Dave, have never had the conversation about spending too much money on the cars, but rather that they don't spend enough. Sherri has always supported Dave in his love for muscle cars, but she wanted one of her own.

Dave's buddy, Paul Bretz, from their hometown of Slatington, Pa, had a GTX she couldn't get out of her mind. Paul had built the GTX 20 years ago as a drag car, and was happy to sell it to the Launchnors because he knew it would have a good home. This is the second Mopar in Dave's collection he bought from Paul; when Paul was just starting the GTX, Dave bought his '69 Road Runner from him.

Once Dave brought the drag-raced and abused GTX home, he started the rebuild process. It didn't make sense for Sherri to drive a race car around town and to car shows, so a few changes were in order. It only took Dave five months to bring the car to the intended show-quality condition. This wasn't going to be a date-code-correct restoration, but a renewed version of the original. The race-gas--powered engine made way for a healthy pump-gas 440 that cranks out 482 horsepower and 500 lb-ft of torque. "Woo hoo! Not too bad for my first muscle car," Sherri says.

One of Sherri's requests was to have a comfortable, user-friendly interior so she could spend long amounts of time in the car. Dave upgraded the seats and had them covered in leather. She is so excited to have a Mopar sitting next to her husband's. This car isn't only special because it's her first, but because her husband worked so hard on it for her. This summer she won't be riding in the passenger seat of her husband's Road Runner, but in the driver's seat of her own GTX.

By The Numbers

'70 Mustang
Real Driver
Major Ross Bullock is an active-duty USAF officer who has a real passion for cars. He spends half of his year away from home, but when he returns, he's always got something to do on his 1970 Mustang. He bases out of Waldorf, Md. with his very supportive wife, and she'd have to be!

He got this car from a divorce whose ex-husband owed money to a shop and stuck her with the bill and the keys. Wanting to get rid of this car as quickly as possible, she sold it to Ross for $75. That sounds unreal to us, but that's his story. The car had rotten hamburgers stuck under the seats, a blown motor and transmission, and barely rolled on its 8-inch rear end. The car needed a lot of work. He used his skills on eBay to fund most of his projects by selling the parts he didn't need. The old parts of the Mustang kept the fire lit for many years.

The first 427 he built for it had to be assembled in the kitchen, since the base housing in Nebraska they were living in didn't have a garage. The pantry was converted to a tool room, eventually referred to as "the man room." He would crank the thing over in minus-20-degree weather. The motor he built was pretty stout, but it got old pretty fast. He got news he would be packing up and moving to Las Vegas, where he didn't have a paint booth he could use, so he scrambled and got it all done the week before he was moved.

Ross did quite a bit of moving around with this Mustang, and racked a lot of miles on it along the way. They drove from Vegas to Bishop, Ca, for a car show and back, then back out for the Fab Fords show at Knott's Berry Farm.

The home-built motor was still a capable 7,000-rpm engine, but he wanted a little more out of it. His plan was to squeeze every bit of power out of it by replacing his tired automatic for a TK0 5-speed, which required a header swap. He thought this was the perfect time to change heads as well. When he pulled the heads, he spied a bad piston, then when he pulled the piston, he found a bad bearing. "My simple tranny swap turned into a max-effort 489-inch street FE motor swap," he explains.

By The Numbers

'67 Camaro
Adams Family
Kids these days. They don't know what they've got till it's gone. A co-worker of Bob Adams, owner of this '67 Camaro, was also the original owner. After years of neglect, he let his daughter talk him into selling it back to him. It had a bum transmission and rough paint, but with a quick re-spray and a tranny replacement, the car sold. The plot thickens when a teenage girl got the car and was lucky enough to sport this Camaro around the high school. The guys would flock to this girl because of how cool her car was. This was 12 years ago, when the import kick really started up, and she had to have a rice-rocket. She sold the Camaro, and got the foreign car she wanted. Bob Adams talked her father into selling it to him.

The Adams family has been thoroughly enjoying their new ride ever since. They've already made long-haul drives to Reno, Nevada, and Northern California for various car shows and road trips. They've been customizing the car since the day they got it 10 years ago, and have replaced the tired factory power plant with a GM Performance Parts ZZ4 crate motor that produces 425 horsepower. It's backed by a three-speed automatic with a shift kit to show off the small-block's spunk.

The Adams family lives up in the hills, so their car naturally reflects the scenery with canyon-capable components. They have big plans to re-vamp the interior and further update the suspension for the turns ahead. Do we see tubular control arms in their future? (They've already done the disc-brake upgrade.)

The poor girl that gave up her Camaro for the front-wheel-drive compact deeply regrets the choice she made back then, and vows to keep her children (when she has them) from making the same mistake.

By The Numbers

Mothers Picture?Perfect Award
This is the place to show off your pride and joy to the rest of mankind, so we figure those readers who took the time to capture a really cool shot of their hot rod should get a little bonus. Mothers agreed, and decided to come to the party with some freebies for the best picture submitted to PHR.

Each month, the editors at PHR will sift through the images and pick the one with the best composition, lighting, and overall quality. The winner will get a cool assortment of Mothers products to keep his or her ride looking nice and shiny. Mail us a photograph or, if you're a modern guy, email us a digital image. Remember that digital images need to be 300 dpi, and the bigger the image, the larger it can run. Also, be sure to include info on the car, along with your name and address. Good luck!