Muscle cars

Just think on how many of these muscle cars we sent to the shredder back in the days?

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

Tom, I had a couple buddies that had that same car…didn’t it come originally with the 2-speed automatic?

It did but there was nothing stock about the car when I got finished with it. The heads and dual 4 bbl intake came off a 445 wildcat engine and required milling plates to install them on the 401. The original 401 had 2008 miles on it when I bought the car from an estate. The 401 got re-sleeved and bored. The new pistons were 14:1 compression and the rods had to be strengthened with steel rods welded inside the shallow sides, then balanced. The stock oil pan was cut off and extended which meant the oil pump pick-up had to be lengthened too. We put a plate/gasket over the fuel pump access and ran a pair of electric fuel pumps one to each carb. Those 1300 cfm Hollies each had double manual accelerator pumps which was really hard on fuel economy, but go for instant go.

The 401 was a high torque engine that favored deep gears in the a$$ end. Built and still street legal [barely] the engine had a conservative 650 horse rating. The car sucked on the 1/4 mile. On the 1/8 it was tough to touch.

There were several cars in Rochester back then that were all pretty much on equal ground power-wise….maybe 13-15. We had a clique and hug at a certain parking lot on Friday and Saturday nights. Beer was a common hand-around. Some guys did weed. The women loved to ride with us. Basically it was the ultimate age of innocence as we didn’t look for trouble and just found our fun in hanging out. There wasn’t any of this “mine is better than yours” stuff. We all knew what the other guy had and spent lots of time in that parking lot with hoods up just comparing the engines. Good times. In the winter we had a couple bars that all of us went to [the Outrigger was one of the most popular] and did the bar party thing until the snow melted.

If people did have of what we did back then today, they be in jail. What a time in my life it was back then.

Tom, wasn’t there an drag strip in the Rochester area? Ever go there? A friend of mine used to race his 67 Impala 427 4 speed there occasionally. Or somewhere in the area. Big beautiful muscle car!

My dad had a 63 Impala SS convertible with a 327 automatic. Chocolate brown with tan leather interior. When I got my license I would spend all day detailing it in hopes he would let me cruise the drag in our small hometown that night. Sometimes he did sometimes he didn’t!

Ice Cap wrote:

Can’t find a pic of my 71 Monte but I had a 86 Monte Carlo SS at the same time. not really a muscle car with that 302 in it but a darn nice looking ride.

OOOHHH, I had an ’87 Monte Carlo SS. Loved that car. Long gone.

I love Monte’s. I had 3 at one time. A 2004 Dale Earnhardt Intimidator edition with a custom induction hood and tribute custom airbrush paint. It was one of 7 cars selected to be put on display at DEI during Dale Earnhardt days.

The 86 SS pictured and the 71 SS. I’ll have to see if I got some pics in the cloud or somewhere. I have some processed film photo’s but nothing I can find digitally for posting.

Another Pontiac Guy here.

In HS I had a ’73 Trans Am, which also had the speedo that went to 160. Got it up to 130 a few times. After HS, ’71 Firebird and ’68 GTO.

Right now I have a ’71 Formula, ’72 GTO, ’70 GTO and a ’69 Firebird.

I had 1979 10th anniversary Trans AM when I was 23. I gave her all ARP bolts, bored, stroke, balanced, polish, and ported. The hood would bend up every time I got on her hard and I would have to push it back down. I miss that car.

Not much ‘muscle’ but sure turns heads.

‘80 C3, 350, 45k miles

Sat for nearly 15 years.

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I owned two Olds 442’s back in the day. My first was a used ’66 442, with a 400 c.i. and 2 speed automatic transmission.
My second was a brand ’70 with a 455 c.i., 4 speed manual, along with functioning hood scoops. It was forset green in color, with the scoops being white. I used to take it to the track and won my share of trophies running pure stock. It also served me well when I did a little street racing.
Unfortunately, I never had pics taken of the car. Pics would certainly be nice to have today.

Mine tho I don’t have any digital pictures of it was a 65′ Comet. She had a 283 automatic when I got it. The old lady that dad purchased it from had the clear bubble textured seat covers still on it.

I worked in the parts dept of an American Motors dealership in Rochester and got in on a 401 transplant into a Gremlin. Had to re-enforce the front end parts to support the additional weight. Had a hurst 4 speed and 411 gears. This was a quick car. I helped with a couple AMX’s as well and those were something else. Scotty Pearson had an AMX in Rochester that won nationals in its class a number of years.

Mid 60`s I remember racing at AmberGreen north of EauClaire worked at a place called Performance Unlimited in LaCrosse. Back then everyone thought that 200MPH in the quarter was going to be the fastest and ultimate goal anyone would ever get too.

Tom Sawvell wrote:

I worked in the parts dept of an American Motors dealership in Rochester and got in on a 401 transplant into a Gremlin. Had to re-enforce the front end parts to support the additional weight. Had a hurst 4 speed and 411 gears. This was a quick car.

One of my cherished possessions as a kid was an issue of Car Craft magazine (I think) that detailed dropping a SB Chevy into a Gremlin. 45+ years later, I still think about building that car,,,,,

HRG

I have a 64 GTO 389 4 speed in the works, and also a 66 LeMans underway. Its a tough call either new fishing stuff or the car parts.

See if this comes through.

The Firebird has an 11:1 455 + .030.

Dyno’d at 525hp last time we had it on one.

4 speed, ford 9” rear end. Modern suspension with mini tubs and brembo disc brakes all around.

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1986 Kenworth T600. 3406B 425HP with 1425 ft.lbs. torque. 15 double-over tranny with big rubber and 3.55 rears. Mathematically, it ran up to 104 mph. (Speedo maxed out at 85). Topped out twice in Wyoming…when no one was looking.
I called this my 1970 Dodge Challenger RT SE. This was my rocket ship. Had ~409,000 miles on it when this picture was taken in late 1990 – the week I sold it.

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My dads 67 firebird. 400 4spd all original survivor. He is the original owner as well.

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Always been a truck guy also! The 1965 ford stepside is my burger getter. Its fun to come home jump in and drive. It could be a little nicer here and there but I see to many of them sitting in the “I’m gonna restore it” pile.

The second one is my high school 1983 Ford ranger that I decided to put a 351W/C6 in it. It was fun and I held on to it forever. We pulled it out of the weeds and put it back together so my oldest son could drive it to prom. Money pit…

In search of 1970 ford shortbox v8….

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Tom Sawvell wrote:

We had a clique and hug at a certain parking lot on Friday and Saturday nights. Beer was a common hand-around. Some guys did weed. The women loved to ride with us. Basically it was the ultimate age of innocence as we didn’t look for trouble and just found our fun in hanging out. There wasn’t any of this “mine is better than yours” stuff. We all knew what the other guy had and spent lots of time in that parking lot with hoods up just comparing the engines.

What a time in my life it was back then.

Exact same thing here Tom, only in a different town…Madison WI.

Group of us would always gather in the same parking lot with hoods raised and we’d BS for hours.

Although our group was a little more competitive, always a “mine is better than yours” when someone showed up after adding headers or an Edelbrock intake and a bigger Holley.

It would start out with burnout contests in the parking lot. And if that didn’t settle it, we took it to the streets. We had a 1/4 mile measured off on a somewhat desolate road. The 1/4 mile started back behind a drive-in movie theatre and ended when you got to the long driveway leading into the Catholic Seminary.

I remember how my adrenaline skyrocketed as I pulled my car to the start line.

What you said, so true…”What a time in my life it was back then”.

BTW, that GS you built must’ve been insane. Sure that thing didn’t run on just any pump gas.

Hot Runr Guy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Tom Sawvell wrote:</div>
I worked in the parts dept of an American Motors dealership in Rochester and got in on a 401 transplant into a Gremlin. Had to re-enforce the front end parts to support the additional weight. Had a hurst 4 speed and 411 gears. This was a quick car.

One of my cherished possessions as a kid was an issue of Car Craft magazine (I think) that detailed dropping a SB Chevy into a Gremlin. 45+ years later, I still think about building that car,,,,,

HRG

One of us “car” friends back in the day bought a Dodge 440 I had laying around. He rebuilt it and shoe-horned it into a Gremlin.

I never thought he’d pull it off, but by golly he did. He gave me a ride in it when he got it done and it did pull hard but I wasn’t overly impressed. It was just too heavy.

I think he’d of built a lot quicker car if he’d dropped in small block Chevy.

no pictures dang it,my cars back in the day were a 68 camaro rs/ss,350 over bored to 360,13-1 compression,roller cam,roller lifters,stud girdles,the works,dual quad cross ram with two 650 cfm holleys.
the dang gas gauge in that thing would outrun the speedometer but was a ton of fun.
bone stock 68 rs,no fun,got a built 406 small block in it,sold very soon after,that one made the high school paper which I still have a copy of.

third fun car,68 chevelle ss,out of 36-38000 of them made that year mine was one of 880 something because of the cowl induction hood,console and radio,375 hp 396.
when I bought it the motor had grenaded something terrible one cylinder head was the only thing worth saving.
I had a bunch of go fast small block parts laying around and built a 311 inch small block,all roller goodies,13-1 compression,airflow research heads,steel crank,H beam rods,again,the works.
that chevelle was heavy !! and with such a small cubic inch motor I knew I was going to die on the line so I ripped out the auto trans and installed a borg warner T-10 trans with the straight cut gears shifted by a B&M inline vertigate shifter,in front of that I had a steel flywheel weighing sixty pounds !!
I only lost 250 rpms between shifts,and could carry the front wheels off of the line through second gear.
that little motor tore up a 500 hp dyno but didnt have enough torque to save your butt,however it would rpm like a mother to the tune of ten thousand rpms and hold it all day long.

the speedo only went to 120 mph and I found out how fast it would go one night after a smoky bear pushed me into a race,I was only turning 9600 revs in fourth gear when the disco lights came on a mile behind me.
got busted for 148 mph in a 55 mph zone,funny thing was the motor wasnt done pulling,sure wish I hadnt shut it down when I did !!
sigh,the trooper said son,you cannot outrun a radio,dang the luck !!
so,a nice hefty fine later and nearly losing my license,( thanks judge ) I havent had a speeding ticket since May of 1982,but,then again,I havent been caught yet either ha ha.

Walleye student,the reason the car you had and any model in that line including my chevelle would wheel hop terribly,was the upper control arms were tied too close together on top of the differential pumpkin creating an ( instant center ) Mr.Gasket made a set of links that bolted to the rear diff housing and would move those arms far enough away from each other that it would eliminate the dreaded wheel hop.

I have only owned ONE ford in my life and that was two hundred too many.

Iowaboy1 wrote:

Walleye student,the reason the car you had and any model in that line including my chevelle would wheel hop terribly,was the upper control arms were tied too close together on top of the differential pumpkin creating an ( instant center ) Mr.Gasket made a set of links that bolted to the rear diff housing and would move those arms far enough away from each other that it would eliminate the dreaded wheel hop.

I have only owned ONE ford in my life and that was two hundred too many.

What I remember was that GM relied on the rear coil springs, which could not hold up or dig in proper particularly with the heavy torque of the big block Chev’s and Pontiac 400-455’s.

Mopar’s…Dodge/Plymouth utilized the leaf spring rear suspension which was not nearly as susceptible to the dreaded wheel hop, which would darn near bust out your Jensen speakers in the back…lol

If you jacked up the back of a Roadrunner to stuff the L-60’s you could use the so called “chicken bars” to depress the wheel hop but more simple and effective was to reinforce the clamps on the front of those leaf springs.

The GM coil springs presented a much greater challenge as I remember the “ladder bars” they seemed to require.

“Hook and blow” Capture the flag and you get the girl too…

Dutchboy wrote:

Any Shelby Mustang guys out there?[/quote
Not a shelby but she’s my baby…34 years

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sand-burr wrote:

…put it back together so my oldest son could drive it to prom. Money pit…

What a neat opportunity to spend elbow to elbow time with your child! Very cool!

Speaking of money pit, restoring this vette that sat for 15 years equates to similar feelings.

Glad I found this mint ‘04, pre AFM truck for balance, LOL.

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Nice license plate!

yes,factory coils were weak,everyone of those cars I worked on got those yanked out and replaced with coils out of a station wagon.
the upper control arm geometry was the biggest factor,even when you did leave the stock coil springs in it would not wheel hop after installing those offset upper control arms,squat a little farther yes.
and it you really really wanted it to hook up with a large motor and totally eliminate the rear squat on the launch??
heavy duty muffler clamps around the shock absorbers,or when you had more money a pair of schedule 40 tubes to replace the shocks with on race night.
you could burn clean across the starting line like the big boys lol.

Kurt Turner wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>sand-burr wrote:</div>
…put it back together so my oldest son could drive it to prom. Money pit…

What a neat opportunity to spend elbow to elbow time with your child! Very cool!

Speaking of money pit, restoring this vette that sat for 15 years equates to similar feelings.

Glad I found this mint ‘04, pre AFM truck for balance, LOL.

Nice string lights Kurt.

Great posts on this thread, totally digesting it all. Definitely liking all the cars you had or still have. Glad to see that the “love” is still there for vintage muscle cars.

Oh…if I could only go back in time for another street race to pump me back up now.

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Had a 66 cornet 440. Good thing gas was cheap then as I could not take father-in-law home without stopping for refill. It was only 160 miles. Sure do miss it.