I've been notably absent from The Roaring Season for the last few months. I have an excuse. Its quite a good one. I'm involved in starting a new magazine called Muscle Car Digital Magazine.
The mag is 100% digital, and will be available through all the App stores to view on tablets, smartphones, laptops, and decktop computers.
The mag focuses on the history of the muscle car, and features factory original and restored cars, as well as period race cars. Its a global magazine, with global content, and being digital, it'll feature both video and audio in the articles, as well as text and photos.
We're nearing completion of the first issue, in which the feature car is the amazing Penske Camaro raced by Mark Donohue to the 1968 Trans-Am championship. The article is about 6,500 words, covering the full history of the car, and also features video and a bunch of neat pics.
Also featured in this issue is a 1971 E38 Charger in Australia, that was a race car for the first two years of its life, and has remained in the same family since 1973. We also have a 1 of 1 optioned 1970 Mustang 428 Cobra Jet in New Zealand, plus event coverage, and a bunch of other stuff.
Anyway, I hope you'll all be keen to buy a copy when it becomes available. It'll be bi-monthly initially. Hopefully we should be ready to go in the next couple of weeks, but I'll keep you posted. Once things settle down somewhat, I can start to return to my duties on The Roaring Season. Thanks everyone for your support.
Steve, If ever you are here in California looking for material etc. perhaps we could meet up. That would be neat. All the best with your venture. Ken H.
As part of our indepth feature on Mark Donohue's 1968 Trans-Am championship winning Penske Camaro in Issue 1 of Muscle Car Digital Magazine, we also delve into the turbulent 1967 season, as the steep learning curve the team went through in '67, and the challenges they overcame, were what set the stage for their huge successes in '68.
This photo shows the very first Penske Camaro, originally builtfrom a Z28 road car in early 1967. The Camaro is pictured at Mid Ohio, Round 5 of the '67 Trans-Am. George Follmer stepped in to wrestle the unwieldy Penske machine here, while Donohue was in France for the Le Mans 24 Hour race, driving for Ford. Follmer finished a fighting 3rd, three laps down on the winning Shelby Mustang of Jerry Titus, and Nascar star David Pearson's Bud Moore Mercury Cougar.
Incidentally, this was Follmer's first ever Trans-Am race.
All you film buffs out there will know that the original Eleanor was not a pewter ’67 Mustang with 17” wheels and a bodykit. She was a mustard yellow ’71 fastback made to look like a ’73, and she featured in the original Gone In 60 Secondsmovie, released in 1974. She is also the only Mustang in history to receive star title credit in a movie.
The original H.B. Halicki version of Gone In 60 Seconds featured a 40 minute car chase, in which Eleanor starred, and in which 93 cars were destroyed. Halicki himself drove Eleanor throughout the chase scene, in which he was injured twice.
Two ’71 Mustangs were built for the movie, both modified specifically, including both performance and aesthetic upgrades. One car was used for interior and close-up shots, the other, for the chase scene. The chase car is the only survivor.
Pauly Baldacchino snapped this photo of the original Eleanor on display at the Peterson Museum recently, when he attended an event marking 50 years of the Ford Mustang. Pauly has put together a review of the event, plus pics, which will appear in Issue 1 of Muscle Car Digital Magazine.
Steve, I found this in "Vintage Motorsport" magazine. May/ June 1996. (ex-Donohue Trans_Am champion 1967 Camaro Z28 of Patrick Ryan / Sam White at West Palm Beach, Florida. "Spring Fling" Meet)
No, they are different cars. The one in post 9 is the first Penske Donohue Camaro, the # 15 car was built later in the season as a lighter, more trick car. During that time the first car was involved in a towing accident that saw it go over a fairly substantial bank/cliff with the trailer and tow vehicle. It was rebuild but faded from the focus of the Penske team as the"lightweight" took precedence.
Bruce.
khyndart in CA wrote:Steve, I found this in "Vintage Motorsport" magazine. May/ June 1996. (ex-Donohue Trans_Am champion 1967 Camaro Z28 of Patrick Ryan / Sam White at West Palm Beach, Florida. "Spring Fling" Meet)
Hi Terry, thanks for your interest in the mag. Damn its been a big effort! Issue 1 was delayed, and went from being the Sept/Oct issue, to the Nov/Dec issue.
Its all finished now, and Kerry, my partner in the project, is working through the lengthy process of getting it accepted into the app stores. The Android version that will appear in Google Play is almost there, and, all going well, we're hoping it'll be available tomorrow for download. I'll post here as soon as its ready.
Folks, we're very pleased to announce the Android version of Issue 1 of Muscle Car Digital Magazine for Google Play is now available for FREE download. We're still working through the process of getting the mag into Apple iTunes and the other app stores, but hope to have these versions available shortly.
Other than the long process of getting the mag into the app stores, we've also being working to resolve a minor issue whereby the video links take the reader to Youtube to view, rather than play in the magazine. We're still working on this, but wanted to release the magazine for download anyway as we've had numerous requests for it.
If you have any issues, please let us know. Also, we want to hear your thoughts, good and bad.
