This is an extremely rare car. A total of 374 Judges were produced for 1971, with 357 of them being hardtops like this car.

Class 36F - Factory High Performance, Buick & Pontiac, 1970 - 87.

1972 Buick GS Stage 1.

Like everything produced in that era, power levels had plummeted by the time this car was produced. The Stage 1 engine option now produced 270 net hp, which may not sound great, but was respectable for the era.

This was the final year for the Stage 1. A total of 809 cars were produced with the 270 hp 455 Stage 1 engine. This hardtop is one of only 728 produced for 1972.

Class 36G - Factory High Performance, Buick & Pontiac, 1970 - 87.

1970 Chevrolet Chevelle SS 454.

This car was displayed with a copy of its original window sticker which confirms RPO Z15 SS454 Equipment.

Two versions of Chevrolet's 454 CID V8 were available for 1970. This car features the RPO LS5 version that makes 360 hp. The RPO LS6 version makes 450 hp.

Total LS5 production amounted to 4,298 cars in 1970, which is actually less than the more desirable LS6 production of 4,475 cars.

Class 36H - Factory High Performance, Mopar, 1970 - 80.

1970 Plymouth Superbird.

Much has been written about the NASCAR "Aero Warriors" from 1969 and 1970. The abbreviated version of the story begins with Ford and its Torino Cobra. Engineers took the Torino's already sleek fastback design and added several aerodynamic improvements to reduce the car's wind resistance. The standard front end was replaced with a more pointed design that featured flush mounted headlamps and grill. The resulting Torino Talladega was soon followed by its Mercury cousin, the similarly-designed Cyclone Spoiler II.

Dodge took notice of what was happening and modified its Charger in the same manner to create the Charger 500. While better, it still was lagging behind the Fords. Dodge then went overboard and created the Charger Daytona. The pointed front end and giant wing above the trunk lid were not only instantly recognizable, they were also effective.

The Plymouth Superbird was a continuation of the 1969 Dodge Charger Daytona. Mopar engineers applied the lessons learned during 1969 to the 1970 Plymouth Superbird.

Depending on which source you examine, a total of either 1,920 or 1,935 Superbirds were built for 1970. According to Mopar guru Galen Govier, roughly one-quarter of them were painted Lemon Twist Yellow like this car.

Class 36I - Factory High Performance, FoMoCo, 1970 - 80.

1971 Ford Mustang Boss 351

Ford's last hurrah from the original muscle car era featured a 351 CID "Cleveland" V8 that makes 330 hp. Even though the 1971 Mustang had grown longer, wider, and heavier than its predecessors, this engine, (and the 4-speed manual transmission and 3.91 rear gears), made the Boss 351 quite fast.

Boss 351 Mustangs are quite rare. A total of 1,806 were produced in the model's only year of 1971.

Class 36J - Factory High Performance, AMC, 1970 - 80.

1970 AMC AMX.

This was the final year for the 2-seat AMX, which debuted in February 1968. The AMX was one of two 2-seat Sports cars made in the USA, (with the other one being the Corvette).

For 1970, two engines were available. The base AMX engine was a 360 CID V8 that makes 290 hp. This car has the option al 390 CID V8 that makes 325 hp.

A total of 4,116 AMXs were produced for 1970. This car is one of 2,533 cars equipped with the 390 CID V8.

Class 36L - Factory High Performance, Buick & Pontiac, 1990 - 98.

1998 Pontiac Trans Am convertible.

Class 36L - Factory High Performance, Buick & Pontiac, 1990 - 98.

1997 Pontiac Trans Am SLP Comp T-A

The Comp T/A was a collaboration between Pontiac, SLP Performance, and BF Goodrich Tires to celebrate the 25th anniversary of BFGoodrich's Comp T/A tire. A total of 200 were planned over the span of 3 model years, (1995 - 97), but only 164 were produced, 47 of them in 1997. This is one of two hardtop cars equipped with an automatic transmission.

Class 36M - Factory High Performance, Chevrolet & Oldsmobile, 1990 - 98.

1995 Chevrolet Camaro Z28 convertible.

The Chevrolet Corvette was selected to be the pace car for the Indianapolis 500 in 1995. A total of 75 Corvettes were designated as "Festival/Track Cars" to be used in various roles throughout the event.

Also used were a number of Z28 Camaros designated as "500 Festival Committee" cars that featured a similar graphics scheme. In addition to the original window sticker, this particular car was displayed with its original dealer invoice, (seen on the left side of the photo above). The word "Indy" and the phrase "Spec-Event" can be seen in several places on the invoice.

Several Mustang Cobras from Class 36O, Factory High Performance, FoMoCo, 1990 - 98.

Class 36Q - Factory High Performance, Studebaker, 1956 - 64.

1963 Studebaker Avanti R2.

Studebaker was in deep financial trouble when it introduced it's groundbreaking Avanti in 1963. Company president Sherwood Egbert was hoping the new car would give a boost to the brand's image and translate into increased sales. On paper, the car seemed to have everything a buyer would want.

Raymond Loewy's stunning "Coke Bottle" styling was extremely well received, and even called, "ahead of its time" by contemporary news reports. The list of standard equipment was quite long and included things like backup lamps, heater-defroster, clock, center console, dash padding, an integrated roll bar, courtesy and trunk lamps, padded sun visors, tinted glass, and two-speed electric windshield wipers. And as an added benefit, the car had four seats.

Power was supplied by Studebaker's 289 CID V8 that was available in several stages of tune.

The base 240 hp 289 CID V8 engine featured a 4-bbl carburetor and was designated the R1. Adding a Paxton supercharger created the 290 hp R2, which is featured in this car.

Studebaker then recruited automotive parts manufacturer turned owner of Paxton Products, (i.e. Paxton supercharges), Andy Granatelli, to turn the Avanti into a racing rocket. Granatelli took the supercharged R2, bored it to 304.5 CID, and balanced/blueprinted everything to create the 335 hp R3. Only 9 were produced.

A two 4-bbl carbureted version of the 304.5 without the supercharger was also developed and designated the R4. Even though it was available from the factory, no Avantis were produced with the 280 hp R4, but one Lark Daytona was.

And finally, one experimental R5 engine was produced that featured the 304.5 CID engine, fuel injection, a host of one-off internal upgrades, and twin superchargers. Two power figures have been reported: 575 hp and 638 hp. From what I read, that engine still exists today.

It's no surprise that the Avanti was a hit when it debuted. Orders began to pour in, but there were problems. Creating the tooling necessary to build the body in the traditional manner out of steel was going to be prohibitively expensive. The decision was made to employ a fiberglass body built by an outside supplier. But production problems created delays which meant cars weren't making it into showrooms. The issues became so bad that Studebaker ditched the outside supplier and started making the bodies in-house.

The problem was that all of this took time, something Studebaker didn't have. And thanks to its well publicized financial problems, Studebaker also didn't have much of an image at this point. Many customers who were waiting for the much delayed arrival of their new Avanti pulled out. Potential customers began to shop elsewhere.

A grand total of 4,643 Avantis, (3,834 for 1963 and 809 for 1964), were produced before the South Bend factory was shut down in December 1963.

This car has the 290 hp supercharged R2 engine under its hood, and is one of 1,552 R2 cars produced for 1963.

Class 38 - Sport Utility Vehicles, 1966 - 98.

1985 Jeep CJ7.

I ended my trek through the AACA show with a beautiful 1985 Jeep CJ7. The Jeep CJ Series is the civilian version of the military vehicle that became available in 1944.

Production lasted until 1986 when the CJ Series was replaced by the Wrangler.

Now it was time to head back into the speedway to check out the rest of the Car Club displays.