Muscle Car Wars from when we were Teens

[PBJ2500CTD]

,

Indeed, the chase in this movie was done as faithfully as possible with microphones on the streets and in the cars. It’s so true it’s incredible. I know both engines well, and that Mustang, with it’s 390 and it’s raspy note FE motor, and that R/T Charger, being what could only have a 440 or Hemi, (it’s common knowledge that that car had a 440) and it being a 4 speed sounded like the 440 R/T Charger I owned myself.
If I could go see it again in a theater, I would in a heartbeat.
Now I’m hoping they show Vanishing Point!

And others for consideration, only missing the smells of exhaust, toasty clutch, hot brakes, smokin' tires, and the feel of sudden acceleration:

Two Lane Blacktop
Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry
American Graffiti
Honorable Mention: Christine, just because she was soooo beautiful, although a bit moody.

 

[Wayne M.]

More on car movies;
FWIW, the driver of the Charger in “Bullitt” is stuntman Bill Hickman, probably one of the best stunt drivers that ever was. Another fantastic movie to see him do his thing is the “Seven Ups”. A great NYC crime movie where he flings a Pontiac Grandville around 1970’s gritty Manhattan like you can’t believe. Another great ‘70’s NYC crime movie involving cars is “The French Connection”. Another great, but lost movie on the lines of “American Grafitti” is “The California Kid”.
I own all these movies by the way.

 

[jgillott]

 

[jgillott]

I'm proud to announce that one of my friends from work just purchased an '86 Porsche 944 turbo as a project car. It was a 48th birthday present to himself. Like it or not, these '80's cars are coming back in to demand for those of us in this age bracket no matter how lame they appear to today's standards.

Our goal is to get his road worthy and the brakes working correctly on my Vette and to hit a couple of autocross events this spring. I have another friend here that just put together an older Miata. We should put on quite a show for a bunch of middle aged fat guys.

 

[Shiner]

Those were way to emission related (read under powered) for my time. Mine were Roadrunners, Chevelle's, 396 Nova's, Super Bee's etc.

Dave

My early stable consisted of: 69 Cutlass S, 350-4barrel auto, 70 Buick GS455-4spd, 68 Delta 88 455-4,67 CAD Eldorado-429-4v FWD, 72 or 3 mazda rx-3 rotary, 62 falcon, 50 chevy pickup, and 71 Olds 442, 455 4speed, which I still have. Believe it or not, I won more races in the CAD than anything else. No one wanted to go against the Buick torque monster. I think a lot were shocked by the massive amounts of tire smoke rolling out from the front wheel wells of that old sled. Those were certainly the days when cars were cars and not a computer generated molding or tune.

 

[Shiner]

My senior year in high school I drove a 66 Chevy II SS with an L79 327. The group I hung around with drove, in no particular order. A 70 Mach I, 70 Chevelle SS454, 69 Chevelle 396, 68 Nova SS 350 with a 4 speed and a bench seat( kinda rare) , 66 289 4 speed Ford Futura, 69 Z28, and one character had a 63 4 speed 409 dual quad Impala rag top. Needless to say, we were all in vo-tech auto shop. A bunch of teenagers abusing vehicles that would now be worth a lot more than my home.

My group was me( Oldsmobiles,Buick, Cad, buddies had: 63 1/2 Galaxy, 67 Camaro RS, 64 Fairlane, 66 mustang, 66 Fairlane, We were always building engines and drag racing/tearing up stuff. Buddy still has his camaro, buddy still has his Fairlane. Both are dual quad, Fairlane is 468-auto now running on E85. Too many small blocks to mention amongst our crews. I was always the big block guy except for 63 1/2. That was a neck snapping car.

 

[DavidC]

A guy on base at Loring had one of those rotaries. When it got cold that thing would just not start, he had a hell of a time just getting it started.

 

[Shiner]

A guy on base at Loring had one of those rotaries. When it got cold that thing would just not start, he had a hell of a time just getting it started.

Yeah, it was a neat engineering concept. Couldn't hardly hurt the thing. Tighter you wound it, the more power they made. I always wanted to experiment and put 2 two rotors together and then somebody else did it......I believe in the 80's for a race prototype for lemans or something. I always hated the backfire through exhaust when there was not enough back pressure. Finicky 4 barrel carburetor on the early ones before fuel injection.

 

[GrantP]

How about 12 rotors and 1400 hp? Crazy, but pretty neat.

https://autoweek.com/article/car-life/12-rotor-wankel-engine-will-melt-your-brain

 

[Shiner]

How about 12 rotors and 1400 hp? Crazy, but pretty neat.

https://autoweek.com/article/car-life/12-rotor-wankel-engine-will-melt-your-brain

Yes. I'll take 1!

 

[DavidC]

I just watched Mucum Presents : Todd Werner's Drag Racing Legends on Directv channel 220. What a great show, Sox & Martin, Dick Landy Hemi heaven. Those were great days.

 

[jgillott]

Dick Landy knew his stuff.

 

[DavidC]

For anyone interested I guess about 40 cars from this collection will be auctioned in Harrisburg By Mecum July 31st thru August 3rd.

 

[slowmover]

Riding with Dad and Grandad in the latters sleeper Dodge Police Pursuit (every HD option, plus power everything) 1968 Monaco thru downtown Dallas late spring 1970.

Got passed by a car hauler with nothing but Dodge Daytona’s on it. The men commented the wing was just too much. I understand the dealers could hardly give them away.

I had the feeling these cars had been collected from dealers who didn't want them.

Imagine a stash of brand-new Hemi Daytona’s in the barn (ha!).

.

 

[DavidC]

Dodge had to make so many of these to qualify for Nascar. Same with the Super bird. They sat at dealers for a long time as there were not many takers in the day. May have changed by now but quite a few years ago it was stated that to date they still had the most aerodynamic nose. They did take up a lot of room in a parking spot or garage with that nose cone.

 

[SnoKing]

I wonder how many lost their wings over the years? In 64 when the single rear window stingray came out people wanted to cut the center bar out of the 63.

Years later OEM things look better to a collector!

 

[slowmover]

Seeing as how a Hemi wasn’t realistically a daily driver, the 440-6 had the nod from most guys.

Still. 426-8V + 833 4-speed.
Now there’s a way to get the weekend started!

But it’s gonna need A LOT more fuel capacity than as delivered, ha!

The Highland Park Hummingbird starter always told it was a Mopar. But followed by the unique sound of a Hemi, you’d just moved into real serious company.
.

 

[jhenderson]

I just watched Mucum Presents : Todd Werner's Drag Racing Legends on Directv channel 220. What a great show, Sox & Martin, Dick Landy Hemi heaven. Those were great days.

My 1st big adventure was the 1978 Summer Nationals. A buddy and I slept in the bed of my short bed GMC. We were fresh out of high school and split our time between the bleachers and the pits. Steve Bagwell’s bay window Hemi Barracuda put on the best show as far as I’m concerned.

 

[SnoKing]

One of my fun project in the early 70's was with a 1963 Chevy Suburban. I bought it with a 292 I-6 and 4 speed manual with granny gear first. My buddy raced a flat bottom E racing run about and I towed it to races all over the NW. We pulled the 292 out and installed a mild build 283 V8. Additional parts required were a new drivers side motor mount tower and I bought the OEM fiberglass fan shroud for the V8.

I was in my small home town and stopped at an auto repair shop that I had helped a bit as a kid. The owner said I probably ruined the truck! I said take a peek under the hood. We opened it and he want to take the truck to the high school auto shop where he thought a class to show the kids how something is done right.

Turned the truck from a mule that would pull a building over(but was slow) to a rig that ran down the freeway nicely.

 

[jgillott]

One of my fun project in the early 70's was with a 1963 Chevy Suburban. I bought it with a 292 I-6 and 4 speed manual with granny gear first. My buddy raced a flat bottom E racing run about and I towed it to races all over the NW. We pulled the 292 out and installed a mild build 283 V8. Additional parts required were a new drivers side motor mount tower and I bought the OEM fiberglass fan shroud for the V8.

I was in my small home town and stopped at an auto repair shop that I had helped a bit as a kid. The owner said I probably ruined the truck! I said take a peek under the hood. We opened it and he want to take the truck to the high school auto shop where he thought a class to show the kids how something is done right.

Turned the truck from a mule that would pull a building over(but was slow) to a rig that ran down the freeway nicely.

I was up at my aunt and uncle's place a couple of Saturdays ago. He has a 60's GMC version sitting in the weeds. It's a 305 v6 if I remember correctly.