What was your first Muscle Car experience ?

[GIT-R-DONE]

Looking back to my younger years, I was reminiscing about the first real muscle car ride that I was ever in. It was a 69 GTO, if memory serves me correctly it had a 389 tri-power and a manual transmission. We were in a state park and the driver pulled out onto the roadway , stopped, looked in his mirror , and dumped the clutch. There were 5 of us in the car, and we were all smelling tire smoke as the car was filled with smoke. He must have burnt tire for 4-500 feet. Left a set of black marks in the road for a looong way.



I was just wondering what was your first real experience as a kid in a muscle car.

 

[Jeff Clark]

A 69 Z-28. It was my first car and I still have it.

 

[HEMI®Dart]

'69 Dodge Charger, 440 auto. Rolled onto the throttle at 30mph. Torque flattened my eyeballs.

 

[KBennett]

My Dad has always been into cars and he owns about 15 now. None of them were "muscle" cars but he had friends with fast cars... 351C Panteras, 455 SD Trans Ams, 429 CJ Mustangs, and one with a V8 powered Vega. I rode in the Pantera once .

My first car is my 1968 GTO, 400, 4 speed. I got it in 1981 with the help of my Dad(I was 13). Motor was blown, body was rough but restorable. It took a while but we got it on the road when I was 17. I tuned it myself and I took my Dad for a ride. He asked me how it was running and I opened all four barrels on the Holley double pumper. My Dad's head snapped back so hard I thought I gave him whiplash but he was grinning ear to ear. It may not be the fastest car I have ever driven but it is the funnest.

 

[klenger]

I drove a SuperBird 440 with trips around the block once.

 

[TxDieselKid]

My first time being around them was a buddy of mine who had(still has actually even though it aint running now) a '71 Chev 1/2ton longbed with a 350 in it. Made some nice power, now it's just a brick in his backyard. He is thinking about selling it actually because he needs the $$$$.



It use to be all the rage down on the saturday nights, on the streets in Houston where we would all go to see some action (Westimer mostly for us on the south side), and sometimes participate. Now it's all ricers who drive ALL OVER THE DAMN ROAD!!! I am LITERALLY scared to drive down there because they switch lanes to fast'n furious.





Andrew

 

[Sled Puller]

Sigh... someone define Muscle Car for the Texas Kid.



GTO

442

Road Runner.



The 442 was the baddest, but my heart was in the Road Runner!

 

[TxDieselKid]

Originally posted by Sled Puller

Sigh... someone define Muscle Car for the Texas Kid.



GTO

442

Road Runner.



The 442 was the baddest, but my heart was in the Road Runner!

He had that 350 running so good it was RARE to see anything on the street that he could not beat. About the only one that could was his brother in-laws '69 Z-28 on pump gas with no nos.

 

[crobertson1]

My favorite car I had was my '68 Cougar GT-390 cid with a C6 transmission and 9" rearend.

 

[big jake 1]

1967 Chevy Nova SS 327/ 375HP, my best friend got killed in this one as it rolled on the strip back in 68 or 69.





Another buddy had a 67 or so Pontiac Bonneville 421(?) or maybe 428 with the 3 speed stick, that thing would definitely put you back in the seat, was kind of neat to watch the gas gauge move faster than the tach, but back then Hi-Test was only 36 cents a gallon.



We could cruise all day on a buck or two





My attempt at a muscle car was a 1969 Dodge A-100 van which I put a Dodge 340 six-pack engine, could never resolve engine cooling issues and with what ever rear end was in the A-100 van, I had no power or torque off the line, but this thing would do way over 100 mph once it got started(about 3 days later)





big jake



THE FORD GUY :--) :--) :--)

 

[Mille4212]

My first ride in a muscle car was a 1969 CJ-5 with a close ratio 4 speed transmission, 4:88's with a 302 chevy worked over. Running 35" tires and still picking the front end off the ground launching. Man it was a fun ride.

 

[rmrc]

The first car that I ever drove which would have easily bee considered a muscle car was a 1957 Pontiac. If my memory is correct. I believe it has a 421 V8. This car ran like a bat out of hell!!!!! I'll never forget the day we,,, accidently,, took a turn up on two wheels. Never did that again!!!!!



Another was a 1969 AMX which belonged to my best friend. That car was an animal on the road.



My car was suposed to be a 70 Olds 442 / W30, but a hitch in the service changed those plans!

 

[Bill Lins]

I was the proud third owner of a 1966 El Camino with a 325hp 396, 3-speed on the floor, and all the rust you could want. Ran good 'cause it was so light!

 

[catoiler]

First ride along,69 Z28 crossram 4spd. First owned,74' El Camino SS454 4spd 3. 73 posi swivel buckets full gauges. Second one 70' R/T 340 Challenger convertable 2nd owner Red body White top and interior. Of all the cars I've owned I wished i still had those two!

 

[XJSuperman]

dodge challenger T/A. 383 magnum... . under hood tunnel ram.



I was 2 and had broken my leg... mom and dad rushed me down the interstate in St. Louis running about 150 MPH. It was my dad's car.



Then a year later I broke th other leg and went the same route in a 340 duster.

 

[Mike Ellis]

My first muscle car experience was when my sister got her first car - a 1970 Olds 442 with 455 and all the goodies. The car was outrageously fast, never did figure out what my Dad was thinking when he got that car for a 16-year-old girl. She hotrodded all the time, tires didn't last long on that car for some reason



In high school, the muscle cars were everywhere. Mach 1's, Z-28s, Roadrunners (including a beat-up 426 Hemi), Super Bees, Javelins, you name it. Buddy had a Super Bee, it was one of the most fun to cruise in - 383 Magnum and pretty stout. We sure had it good in those days.



We had a guy in my sister's class that had one of the Hurst Olds cars, he went off to the military and it sat at his parents house for a long time - beautiful gold car, flashy and fast. Had another guy in town with a Superbird, he also owned several hot Corvettes including a '67 with "tweaked" 427 - will never forget the sound of that car.



PS - Guy right down the street from me just bought an AWESOME GTO Judge, it is absolutely pristine. Nearly had a wreck the other day driving home from work, rounded the corner and there it was in the guy's yard with a rainbow over it and angels playing trumpets!

 

[KennyM]

1970 or 71 Mach 1 was the fastest car I have ever been in. The summer of 86 it was the fastest car on McKnight rd in PGH PA. Some people would turn down a race just by listening to it run. The rest got spanked.



It had a 351 Cleveland and a Detroit locker 9" rear. Thats all I remember about it.

 

[Jumbo Jet]

65 GTO - 389 c. i. - 375HP - 4 speed Hurst - Positraction



Purchased in 1969 for $1,000.



WHY, OH WHY, did I trade that off?????

 

[TowPro]

My buddy bought a 69 Chevell SS 396 with 4 speed when in 1977.

It was the 325 HP version. That was fun to ride in. A couple months later he decided we would rebuild it because of oil consumption (stuck oil rings, known problem with that motor).



As he was rebuilding his motor we used to work on other guys cars as well. We had a guy call us saying "My 396 runs real bad" so we checked it out. It needed a good tuneup and a valve job, but the guy could not afford it.

One thing we noticed was his car was a 375hp version with Aluminum heads!



My buddy had a set of used heads laying around, so we installed the heads and intake in trade for the Aluminum heads and intake (with an 1100cmf holly carb). The guy was happy because his car now ran great, and we were happy with the aluminum heads!



So we rebuilt the aluminum heads, and threw them and the intake on the 325hp motor. When we first started it we blew out a head gasket (a warning sign should have gone off at this point). A quick replacement with Felpro Blue gaskets fixed this problem.



Now we start to tune the car. Back in those days you could buy Real gas like Sunoco 260 (I still remember how good that stuff smelled) anyway, The car would only run on a 50-50 mix of sunoco 260 and raceing gas! (another warning sign should have gone off)



Man did that thing run! I can remember him hitting 2nd gear and my arms were not strong enough to pull my body out of the seat!



one time he nailed it in 1st as he turned the wheel to go around a corner and the car went straight!



Turns out the original motor 325hp has domed pistons with open chamber heads, and the heads we put on were made for made for dished pistons as they were closed chamber heads. Luckily there was enough room for the valves to not hit the pistons. God knows what compression ratio we were running, but man did that thing get it!



Later he totaled the car, bent the front end up real bad. We pulled the motor and body and put it on another frame. Then we rolled that car! Why stop now. Another frame and body parts and it was back together. This time with a 454!



Then he got married at 20 and had a kid but kept the car. Probably the only reason we are still alive. He just sold the car last year as a trade on a 69 camaro. He said he had the car way to long and wanted something different.

 

[Bob Wagner]

GTO man I still love em



442 white convertible