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Inside Karl Chevrolet: GMPP Crate Motors and new ’63 Corvette Z06′s!

With the popularity of crate motors in restoration, hot rodding, and racing I thought it would be worth a trip to Karl Chevrolet in Ankeny, IA to see what life is like inside a big GM Performance Parts distributorship.  General Motors has had a large presence in crate motors for a long time – and it’s definitely the biggest presence out there in crate motors today.  Go to any car show in the country and you’ll see a crate motor under the hood of a lot of rides, and with good reason – they’re affordable, generally hassle free, and they speed up the build of any project!

Carl Moyer started Karl Chevrolet back in the ’70′s, and he’s a racer at heart.  He drag raced competitively for a number of years and still races dirt trucks every Friday night.  His dealership is no slouch when it comes to selling Chevy’s (2009 was their best year to date – what recession?), is an official Callaway Corvette and Camaro seller, and they take the same aggressive approach with their GM Performance Parts selection.  They sell GMPP’s full catalog of crate motors and are heavily involved in the local racing scene.  Their most popular motor is a “sealed” Gen I 350 that the racers love.  It’s reliable, fast, and since it’s a “sealed” motor it can’t be claimed for a few hundred bucks after a race!  (If you’ve never heard of the engine claim rule in racing before, spend a few minutes on Google learning about it.  It will make you think twice about putting 10 grand into your next race motor.)

Karl also loves the muscle car and hot rod industry.  Adam Moore runs the show when it comes to crate motors, and he gave me the full run down on their product listing.  He also let me in on a little secret: they sell their engines for $100 over cost.  That’s a hard deal to beat, especially on brand new engines with a 2-year warranty!  He also showed me their front drive accessories and oil pans that you can get right from GM to drop a new LS motor into your old ride – it’s all there.  You can reach Adam directly at adamm@karlperformanceparts.com.

Carl also dabbles in restoration of classics and building new “old” Corvette’s in two separate businesses.  Both businesses are managed by Dave Carnock, and he’s an encyclopedia of restoration.  He can tell the difference between the tail lights and wheel center caps on an early production 1970 Chevelle vs. a late production, and believe me it’s a slight one……but a deal breaker with a high dollar investment restoration.

Perhaps the crown jewel of customization is Karl Custom Corvette’s.  They take brand new Vette’s off of the showroom floor, yank the bodies off, and then install brand new custom made ’63 and ’67 Corvette bodies on them – complete with chrome bumpers and redline tires.  The fit and finish is incredible.  I want the one built off of a Z06!

I hope you enjoyed this look inside a GMPP dealer.  I got more than I bargained for on the trip.  Now if I could just talk them into getting me a new LS7 to test out in my Chevelle…..

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-Robert Kibbe

TheMuscleCarPlace.com

eBay Project of the Week – 1969 Skylark Conv 4-Speed

One day each week we’ll list a cool project car or a nice driver for sale here – whether we’re the original lister of the car or not.  We’ll try to keep the price to a max of $20,000 for full driver cars.  For project cars….well, we’ll do our best!

Visit us every day, or just click the flame to get it via e-mail!

Today’s Car: 1969 Skylark – Click Here

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TheMuscleCarPlace.com | Muscle Cars for Sale

The MuscleCar Place Podcast – Episode #52 – Neale White and Australian Muscle

Click HERE to download the podcast show in iTunes!

• News
  • Roush and Shelby team up to build the SR-71 Mustang
  • 
  • Roush hospitalized after airplane crash at EAA Oshkosh

Feature Segment: Neale White

Click HERE to download the podcast show in iTunes!

eBay Project of the Week – 1969 Super Bee

One day each week we’ll list a cool project car or a nice driver for sale here – whether we’re the original lister of the car or not.  We’ll try to keep the price to a max of $20,000 for full driver cars.  For project cars….well, we’ll do our best!

Visit us every day, or just click the flame to get it via e-mail!

Today’s Car: 1969 Super Bee – Click Here

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TheMuscleCarPlace.com | Muscle Cars for Sale

The Buick Club of America 2010 Nationals

This week the Buick Club of America 2010 Nationals are being held right here in my home of Ames, IA.  It’s an unexpected gift as I honestly had no idea it was going to be here until just a few days ago.  I dropped by to snap a few pics for the muscle car crowd.  Full details on the show can be found on the website of the Buick Club of America.

By far my favorite car was a 2-door Buick Wagon….that to my knowledge was never made by GM.  I poured all over the car and found some info inside on a plaque that proved that was the case – but the owner that did the modification had me fooled up until then.  The thing was perfect and even had the skylight glass is it.  Don’t let the factory wheels fool you – it had a Turbo Buick V6 under the hood and a pretty beefy looking suspension.

I spotted this ’75 model from across the entire show.  It was hard to miss.  You could land a plane at night with that paint job alone.  It is a 1975 Indy 500 Pace car edition and was parked right next to a 1976.  This one had the more wild paint scheme, so I chose it.  you can’t make it out well in the picture, but it has T-Tops.

Lastly, I couldn’t help myself on this one.  It’s a ’46 model and is by no means a muscle car, but it’s too cool not to share.  Look at the lines on it!  This was likely a muscle car of it’s day – back when performance and luxury cars were one in the same.

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-Robert Kibbe

TheMuscleCarPlace.com | Muscle Car for Sale