1965 Ford Mustang Fastback - Under Construction

'68 Torino
Rinovation
For not being in the automotive industry, Dawson Davenport sure gets a lot of work done on his car. This didn't happen out of thin air; he spent much of his youth studying automotive magazines, building and racing slot cars, and immersed in anything related he could get his hands on. Once he was old enough to work in the biz, he realized that while cars were his passion, building and racing them was not likely to be a primary source of gainful employment. He changed careers and left building cars as a hobby; and that's where this '68 Torino comes into play.

Dawson says: "This Torino could not, and would not, be just a re-creation of a '60s stock car. I had gone too far to settle for that, having owned and driven modern production cars with 500, 600, and 700 hp, brakes the size of a pizza pan, coilover suspensions, airbag suspensions, A/C, comfortable seats, navigation, satellite radio ... well, you get the picture. I am spoiled." The Torino came with a 390 and a four-speed, both of which would be replaced with bigger, badder equipment during the build.

The project's name, Rinovation, is a play on two words that make up this project's name: Rino is a shortening of the car's name-a '68 Ford Torino GT-and innovation, giving it the sound of "renovation." The project is being performed by Dawson, along with other regular guys, which means it's on a real time line. Along with the entire build, Dawson has taken on the colossal task of documenting the build and writing a book about it. He's hoping to let people know what's involved in a project of this magnitude, and what to expect. Reading over his first draft, we think he's got something great going!

By The Numbers

'66 Pontiac Beaumont
That Canadian Chevelle
Here's a model we don't see very often. This midsize General Motors car was originally based on the '64-65 Acadian Beaumont. In 1966, they dropped the Acadian name and gave the car solo Beaumont decorations. The car was modeled after the Chevrolet Chevelle with Pontiac-esque styling cues, and was sold by Pontiac dealers to Canadian residents, however, unlike Chevrolet's other Pontiac sister cars, this one shared the same engines. Instead of using Pontiac's 400 or 455, they sported Chevy straight-six, small-, and big-block engines. Instead of Chevy's SS package, the Beaumont's version was called SD, or Super Delux. The options were the same, just with a different name. These SD models, especially the SD396, are very rare, since many have fallen to Canada's harsh weather.

Blake Foster of Killer Customs and Performance in British Columbia, has found one of the surviving Beaumonts and is giving it a much-needed rebuild. Killer Customs has been hiding in the suburbs of Vancouver since 2003 building cars like this for clients with a need for speed. This particular project was started a few years ago when the customer decided he wanted an extreme example of a Beaumont. He wanted something that had not been done in the past that could compare to a European supercar, but with way more attitude. The concept was designed by in-house artist Paul Dyck of Dyck Design. They are running a twin-turbo 502ci big-block Chevy, a far improvement from any factory powerplant it could have had. With a road-racing theme, the Jerico five-speed will transmit the power to the driveshaft. Killer Customs has improved the aerodynamics of the underside of the car to try and help with high speeds. The underside is almost entirely flat except for the area around the differential. When this project is finished, it may be the fastest and coolest Beaumont ever built.

By The Numbers

'65 Mustang Fastback
First Mod
Len Perham of Monte Sereno, California, has a collection of cars we can only dream of. He loves factory muscle cars and has many special cars under his roof. He has some of the rarest COPO and Yenko Camaros out there, as well as '67 and '69 L88 Corvettes. Some guys are GM fans and frown on Fords, but this guy loves them both. He's got Carroll Shelby's '66 prototype used to show Ford what he could do for that model year. Carroll couldn't wait for a fresh shell to be built, so he got one off the line, making it the only '66 Shelby with the Pony interior. In addition to that historic car, he's got Carroll's old personal driver. Needless to say, he really appreciates the factory muscle cars. Len keeps them stock, not because it's less expensive to do so, but because that's how he likes them.

He's visited Campbell Auto Restoration of Campbell, California, a number of times over the years, looking over their projects from the restoration side to the performance side. You may remember in the July issue we featured their Datsun 240Z with an LS2 motor, showing they are more than capable fabricators. Len saw a Mustang being built and decided to switch gears for the latest addition to his collection. He wanted to have another Mustang, but one with modern power, handling, and reliability.

The guys at Campbell might have taken it past what Len's expectations were, but that's what makes it fun! The Mustang is getting all the bells and whistles to try and make it handle as well as his Porsche driver. That might be a little out of reach, but it can't hurt to try.

By The Numbers