Emily Chen
Bay Area engineer with a deep focus on vintage Japanese and European performance cars. Approaches classic car research and restoration with an analytical eye.
Emily Chen spent over a decade in technical roles in the Bay Area before her passion for vintage import cars took over an increasingly large part of her life. She brings an engineer's discipline to everything she does with classic cars — documenting restorations methodically, researching period specifications, and understanding the mechanical logic behind decades-old engineering decisions.
Her main interests are first-generation Datsun Z cars, early air-cooled Porsche 911s, the BMW E30, and the Toyota 2000GT. She's spent years embedded in the communities around these cars — learning from marque specialists, sourcing rare components, and developing the kind of hands-on knowledge that only comes from time with the cars themselves. Her writing reflects that same analytical approach: focused on what the data and the hardware actually tell you, rather than received wisdom.
Her current garage holds a 1972 Datsun 240Z in active restoration and a 1989 BMW M3 that she drives daily.
Magazine Articles by Emily Chen
The 1970 Cuda in Period Road Tests
The 440 Six Pack: Three Two-Barrels of Fury
The 383 Magnum: The Standard R/T Engine as Legend
Mid-Engine Genius: The 914 Layout
The AAR Cuda: Trans-Am Racing on the Street
The 283 V8: One Horsepower Per Cubic Inch
European Coachbuilding: Figoni, Saoutchik, Pininfarina
The 440 Six Barrel Superbird
The 390 FE V8 in the Bullet Bird
Reutter & Karmann: Who Really Built the 356
The 1970 Challenger T/A: Dodge's One-Year Trans-Am Special
Why the 914 Is Finally Appreciating
El Camino SS 454: The Monster Years
Gran Sport in the Boat-Tail: The 1971 Riviera GS 455
The 427 R-Code: The Engine That Made 1963 Legendary
The Coyote Duster Air Grabber
The Small-Block and Big-Block Choices of 1970
The 1970 SS 454 - The Debut Model's Muscle Flagship
The 440 Six Barrel Arrives: The A12
The 265 Small-Block V8 Debut: Chevrolet's Game-Changer
The Blue Flame Six: The Pre-V8 Bel Air Engine
LS-swapping a classic Camaro
LS5 or LS6: Two Faces of the 1970 El Camino SS 454
