Muscle Car Confidential:  Confessions of a Muscle Car Test Driver

It was the age of the American muscle car, and Joe Oldham, driver extraordinaire, was right in the thick of it.  All the way up to his neck, in fact.  As a car columnist and high-performance tester, Oldham drove some of the most sought after street machines from the 1960s and ‘70s.  This book chronicles 24 of them – from a 1962 421 Super Duty Pontiac Catalina to a 1976 455 Pontiac Trans Am, and more than a score of other classic hotrods in between.    These cars are now worth fortunes, each with mythic tales to match. Oldham's memoirs, taken directly from his handwritten test notes, give enthusiasts a front seat, white-knuckled perspective on what these cars really felt like to commandeer.  Especially, in full-tilt mode.

What makes Oldham’s stories so impressive is that he didn't just test these cars under controlled conditions within set parameters.  He took many of these cars right out onto the mean streets of New York to see how they fared in the late night match racing culture that existed during that time period.  But don’t expect a bragfest.  Oldham isn’t trying to impress you, he’s just telling it like it happened.

Keep in mind, Oldham used to write for East Coast muscle car mags.  In other words, he got his hands dirty.   Visceral and pulpy, these monthlies perfectly captured the pulse of the street scene, and ultimately influenced what Detroit was producing. 

This book is also extraordinarily truthful with respect to the individual automobiles.  If Oldham doesn’t like something about a particular car, he doesn’t beat around the bush.  For example, the 1968 Plymouth Road Runner was "just a car that didn't run very well."

His nonchalant and sardonic tone is a refreshing one in a genre that often takes itself too seriously.  In testing an American Motors 401 Javelin, he writes, “It wasn’t’ just the wheel that fell off, the whole damn wheel /brake drum assembly ripped off.  Guess that was our fault.”

And sometimes, Oldham gets it wrong with the facts, but no big deal.  This collection of experiences is more about the highs, the lows, and the crash-and-burn finishes, rather than a laundry list of technical specs.  But to be fair, most of Oldham’s data appears to be highly accurate.

Add to the mix a compilation of gritty images, showing classic muscle cars doing what they do best: flexing their muscles.  Predominantly black & white, the photographs grant the book a nostalgic quality that will throw readers right back to the heyday of big, American rear-drivers.

In the book’s foreword, the author’s son gives insight that helps the reader realize the true essence of a muscle car test driver.  He writes  “My brother an I don’t even have normal baby pictures. Instead, we have pictures of us sitting in the cockpit of the big-block, Chevy-powered Hemi Hunter Double A/Fuel Dragster.”  After his behind-the wheel glory days, Oldham went on to become Editor-in-Chief of Popular Mechanics for 19 years.

Ultimately, Muscle Car Confidential is a tell-all behind-the-scenes look at an era when ‘might meant right’, and guys like Joe Oldham got to live the dream.  That alone, makes it a must-read for fanatics everywhere. 

By Shamit Choksey

Mr. Choksey is a contributing writer for Automobile.com, JDPower, and Kelly Blue Book.

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