Muscle Cars

For those of you old enough to remember the cars of the mid-60's to the early 70's, nothing beat the muscle cars of that era. Simple in concept---high horsepower and light in weight. John DeLorean started it all with the GTO (1964 if I remember correctly) as a way of getting baby boomers into the showroom to buy. It set off a horsepower war never to be repeated. It also resulted in some of the most beautiful cars ever built and some of the most outlandish (remember the "Super Bird").

The cars today, in original condition or in which the numbers match can sell for the price of a new Mercedes.

Tell us your favorite story, experiences and the like.

 

GB,

Who could forget the outrageous Super Birds. One lived near here in Indian Head or at least it was a good fake, never got to scrutinize it up close.

I remeber driving home late one Friday evening in my rust bucket 68 Road Runner, coming home from college in Baltimore, being tailgated by some obnoxious fool. I didn't drive real fast normally unless given a reason and it had been a calm week. The mufflers I had were so rotten, they were about to fall off (hate exhaust system work most of all). Growing tired of being tailgated down Indian Head Hwy., I went faster and faster and the guy kept tailgating. No, not a cop trying to pick up a kid for speeding either. Finally, I downshifted and floored it leaving the guy behind. In fact he fell back so fast, I checked the mirror closer and saw little glowing sparkles bouncing down the road behind me. I never figured out what it was for certain, the mufflers were not dragging, but it was probably chunks of rust getting blown off the exhaust, hitting the road and making sparks. When he saw the sparks shooting out from behind, he probably hit the brakes thinking I was going into orbit.

Everytime I drive past that spot (near Piscataway creek bridge), as I did today, I think of that. Like in the cartoon when the road runner sets the road on fire as he out runs the coyote.

Also had fun with a ridiculous boat 75 New Yorker and a really great 72 Chevy pick-up. Courted Mrs. mole in that truck and she helped me pull and replace the engine once. She really freaked when she saw the whole front clip come off. That's the best way to work on those trucks, stand right along side the engine, no leaning over the fender.

 

Good idea to start this new thread......

Here is my story while in high school I talked Dad into co-signing a loan for me to pick up a $2500.00 check from the bank so I could go and pick up this pretty clean 62 Corvette with a removable hardtop it was all stock and the man selling it was selling it only because his kid kept getting tickets and had lost his driving priviledges.

This Corvette was 6 years old and the man I purchased it from was the lien holder so his son my same age not quite 17 at the time was thank God not there that day to see the transaction take place.

The man was asking $2000.00 or best offer and he settled for $1600.00 cash as is.....The next day I drove my Corvette to school and I just could not wipe the grin off my face. $1600.00 was quite a bit of cash in 68-69 and I had to work two jobs after school and on weekends, one to pay the loan and the other to pay the man at State Farm, the loan was no problem......
.......the premiums to put a 17 year old male in a 62 Corvette with a 4 speed was the biggie but that was the agreement I made with my dad.

I owned that Corvette thru high school and paid off the loan ammount for it as well as the loan to build the engine to the way I wanted it.
My first surprise was to see that I was lucky enough to get one with 2.02 heads aka the "good ones" with the biggest exaust valves. I had the block bored 10 over and bought a Duntov 30/30 solid lift cam replaced the pistons with TRWs 11 to 1 compression.
I slapped an Eldelbrock aluminum manifold on it and a new 600 CFM Holley with adjustable mechanical secondaries.
An Accel dual point distributor and all Accel ignition stuff. I managed to get a set of Hooker headers on it without hacking anything.
8.5" US mags in the back and 7" in the front and had a set of 4.11 posi gears that I got in trade from a friend of a friend.......

I took that car to Riverside raceway one Sunday every month to run 1/4 miles and would do that all day long at 12.90s and once I got lucky and got a 12.70 pass out of it.

Cars to beware of Road Runners all of them, 455 Olds 4 factory 4 speed, Pontiac "The Judge" GTOs particularly the factory tri-power 4 speed versions.......
I remember the Superbirds I always like the Road Runners better.
Mustangs were nice but never a threat because they are just a Ford...................just kidding GB the Boss 351s and the few 69 fastbacks with factory 390s were always serious contenders as was the few 67 Z28 with 301s and 4 speeds I had to run next to.

.........a blast from the past the 30/30 cam from GM parts was $27.50 and the solid lifters were 22.00 for the set.
Sper Shops sold the Holley for $59.00 and the Eldelbrock manifold was $49.00 with gaskets.
If I recall the brand of tire of choice was called "Positraction" 60 series for the back and 70 series for the front, they were polyglass and went thump..........thump.......thump as they would flat spot from being cold in the mornings until they warmed up.

I drove it daily and maintained relatively cheap as Chevy parts were cheap and plenty. I traded it in on a new 72 Z-28 Camaro, but if I had it all to do over I would have kept the Corvette.
I miss that car more than I missed my girlfriend when she decided to take up with John Farrar his daddy owned a jewlery store in town and John was just a pretty boy whose daddy bought a new Boss 351 for.

I would cruise Redlands Blvd on Friday nights and frustrate that boy to no end because he could never get close to me no matter what he did. nana nana naner

I like talking shop with you guys.......littlemar tell us about your GTO please.

DS

 

Hmmmmm--now what would Frued say about a guy who owns a muscle car?

 

Mulder,

Sigmond Freud was under the impression that cocaine was the answer to all illness and problems wasn't he?

GB,

"John DeLorean started it all with the GTO"

...........and it all pretty much ended in a motel room while he was trying to work a deal on a briefcase full of "monkey" from some Feds. I don't recall what year that was.

DS

 

Hehe, he'd probably say somethin' about the
way ya spell his name...

I had a '65 Ford Galaxy 2 door hardtop (not
exactly what ya think about when ya say
"muscle car") with a 352 bored .080. I added
a Carter 650 AFB w/manual secondary and a
ram air system from the grill.

It had a 3 speed "cruise-o-matic" trans, which
I had rebuilt and a shift kit installed.

Bought 8" chromed slotted wheels for it (60s
on the rear and 70s on the front) which didn't
clear the rear wheel wells very good. So I got
a new vinyl roof and paint job, and had the guy
cut out the rear wheel wells to match the front
ones so we could use the same chrome trim
as the front. It looked like a factory design.

The "cruise-o-matic" was a pretty cool auto
trans. It had "Low", "Drive" and "2nd" which
would shift into 3rd (for starting in snow or ice
with less slippage). The really cool thing was
that you could start off in "Low", wrap it as tight
as you wanted, slip it into "Drive" and soon as
it hit second, pull the shifter back to "Low". It
would then stay in second as long as you kept
it there, then slip it back to "Drive" to hit 3rd.
It would squawk those 60's when it hit second.

The Galaxy was a little heavy for a real hot
rod, but I did beat a couple of mustangs, one
with a 302, the other had a 352 (normally it
had a 390 but the guy stuck a 352 in while
getting his 390 rebuilt. He'd have killed me
with the 390...).

I stuck a high lift cam in it later which killed it
on take-off (no stall converter), but it'd run
87 m.p.h. in second gear. No tellin' what it
would have topped out at if I'd put heavier
valve springs on it, but the high lift cam started
floatin' the lifters (factory hydraulic) at about
115 m.p.h. (probably a good thing...).

Cool thread, this brings back some memories.

BTW guys, I think it was '68 or '69 when the
Feds put an 8:1 limit on compression ratio.
This made popups real popular (popupular?).

Cheers, Mac

 

Howdy

Great memories from that era. I've alway been a diehard
pickup truck kind of guy. Best truck was a 64 Chevy ½ ton
stepside bed 365hp fuelie 327, 4 speed (with one of the original
straight line Hurst shifters) 4:10 posi rearend.
Did plenty of street and strip racing. With a set of 8" Racemaster
slicks I'd get 12.9"s @ 95mph at the drag strip...
shocked plenty of the "muscle cars"

Certainly plenty of great cars from that era...
just liked trucks better and still do.

A friend that I work with has a truck just like my old
one that he is restoring. I help him went I can.

It brings back good memories. Someday maybe I'll get to build another hot rod

buck

 

No different than a computer, we went faster because we could. Not because it was needed.

1970 Dodge Challenger R/T
383 magnum, 9.5:1 comp ratio, 335 horsepower in stock trim
323 rear gears
727 HEMI Torqflite automatic
Ran 14.9 in the quarter mile on street tires

Loved to get lined up beside all of those 396 Chevelles.
Won more than I lost.

Great gas milage too 12 MPG on the highway LOL

I would buy it again today.

SeeYa

 

DS-----Man, you're scaring me. It's 1971, my Dad says to me that he knows when I turn 16 I'll want a car. He proposes that he'll match me dollar for dollar from whatever I save for the next 2 years. Little did the old man know. I worked my a*s*s off for those 2 years. I walked up and down Route 5 (mole knows where I'm talking about) collecting coke bottles (5 cents to redeem at the local 7-11), mowing grass, shoveling snow, cutting tobacco (truly hell on Earth) any and all odd jobs I could find or beg for. I hit 16 and I've saved 4 thousand dollars which means a total of 8 big ones in 1973. Old man had a dumbfounded look on his face. I tell him the type of Corvette I want (Big block 427, 4 speed) candy apple red (or as close as GM has to candy apple red) red interior. 8 grand buys the car with enough left over to pay the insurance until at least I'm done with the first year of college. 16 and just starting high school with the best p**** magnet in the school. I give Dad the 4 grand and wait as he and my older brother drive off.
About 2 hours later my brother drives up in the family car laughing and goes in the house. Ten minutes later my Dad shows up driving a 1968 Oldsmobile Cutless 6 cyl with a three speed on the column , he tosses the keys to me and says: "Your mother loves you and wants to keep you around a while". He paid 600 for it and gave me back 3400 (note, I never saw his 4 grand).
I showed him. First thing I did was dropped a 350 GM motor in it, new 4 speed trans, cut a hole in the floor and slid in a Hurst 4 speed shifter. Narrowed the rear end and put a 4-11 pumpkin in. It was a real sleeper, won a lot of street races on Route 5 with that thing. Oh yeah, I forgot. High rise manifold, Holley 4 barrel, custom made headers and a little nitro bottle under the driver seat were you couldn't see it. (hehehe)

 

Mole---I loved the 68 Road Runner esp. with the 383. Great car! (Beep Beep!) Couldn't you get that with the wood pistol grip on the 4 speed? Cars and guns what a combo!

MAC---My best friend in high school had a 68 Galaxy 500 2 door convertible. It was the best cruising car in the world. That long tail end made it look like it was going fast when it was sitting still.

 

Rugrat----The Challenger was a nice car. Do you know what that car would cost you today in original condition and/or with matching numbers? Don't look it up or you'll kick yourself in the a*s*s.

I have a contractor friend that has a jones for a convertible cuda. He keeps looking, wants me to go with him when he finds one to give it the once over. He tells me he'll fly me to wherever the car is. I keep checking ads in like San Diego, Miami, Hawaii, Puerto Rico.

 

gbrumb

Tell him this is in Puerto Rico

<img src="http://forums.techguy.org/attachment.php?postid=305825">

buck

 

What can I say, I loved it. My ex and I bought it new and it was a hardtop, four-speed hurst transmission and was fast. It was green and did not have the spoiler on the back so it wasn't The Judge. The ex would leave for work half hour before me and I usually caught up to and passed him. Not real thrilled with me but what can I say.

I learned how to drive stick in that car. I was on the up part of a hill and I can't tell you how many times I rolled back before I got the hang of it. A friend of mine had a 442 which was similar in appearance.

Mulder

Gee, what would he say about a woman that owned a muscle car. Sorry, no p**** envy here.

 

buck52----That car wouldn't happen to be for sale would it? I got a buddy with an almost unlimited checkbook dying for just that car.

 

littlemar----Muscle car experts consider the "Goat" as the defining car of the muscle car era. It wasn't always the fastest but it was always classy in design and elegant in motion. But, apparently, you made a timeless mistake. Dump the ex but forgot to keep the car!