My love affair with a car

My 1st showroom ordered car...

1979 Chevy Camaro Z28 350 cubic inch V8 4 speed Dark Blue Metallic T-Top











Ordered June 1979...picked up July Friday the 13th, 1979

 

That would be a hard one for me,I've really liked about all of my rides. But especially my 72 Gran Torino,77 Trans Am,78 Trans Am,65 Olds Delta 88 and my 94 Ranger 4x4. The only one I've got a picture of on my computer is the Ranger.

 

You guys and your fancy cars. When I came home I ordered a 69 Plymouth Roadrunner, 383, 4 speed, sure lock rear end. I wanted a hemi but couldn't afford the extra $1100.00 so settled for the 383. I am really envious of you guys. And here I am stuck with 2 Model A Fords, a deluxe coupe and pick-up and an old 88 Vette which I rarely drive. I would rather drive my Model A's. When I drive them there is always someone waving a finger to me or sometimes a thumb. When they wave the finger, does that mean I am number 1????
Tommy

 

I had a 1966 Mustang 289 auto as a daily driver in college in the early 1980s. I would never recommend a 20 year old car as a daily driver. I did all my own repair and maintenance. I even painted it. Something was always breaking and you never knew if you were going to get stranded.

I have had so many cars in my lifetime I am over them. I love my Yamaha FZ-1 though.

 

I went though a series of beaters to start with. When I got home from Thule I bought a new 1958 Simca Aronde. A very nice, peppy little car that I proceeded to destroy though rough use. The fastest 4-on-the-column I ever met.

 

My first car was a used 1959 Morris Minor 1000 I bought for $150. My first hot rod was a 1968 Camaro SS 350 4spd that was stolen in St. Louis while I was in school.
Cars I wish I had back are 1960 Corvette and a 1970 Camaro Z-28.
I have bought metal 1/18 scale model of some of the special cars I have owned.
Here is pic of them. 1968 SS Camaro but mine was blue with white stripes, this car was stolen in St.Louis. 1989 Corvette Roadster basically same color mine was. 1981 Corvette but mine was dark blue. 1959 Morris Minor 1000 but mine was gray. 1960 Corvette close to color of mine, bought it for $1300 and sold for $1650. Ford Cobra replicar but mine had silver stripes instead of white, mine had 302 with B cam & 4spd.
I haven't been able to find a steel model 1970 Z-28 like mine.
When I sold the Cobra was when I got into guns. Nice thing about guns is I can have a lot more of them instead of just models of them. I don't know, I think gas and ammo are both equally expensive.

 

I hear ya Jim as I am a gear head for burnout hole shots. I smoked the rear tires off my 89 Vette in 7000 miles. There is a road near that comes off a T road. There are so many black rubber marks there it isn't even funny. If I had a new 500 hp. Vette I would be broke buying tires. Set me back in the seat pedal to the metal.
My parents had a Buick Wildcat with a 430 cube engine in it. We used to turn the air cleaner lid upside down to hear the waaaaaaah as we were smoking the tires. That Buick ran for a big boat. I kid you not that car could burn rubber for a long stretch.

 

Ah you kids. Near as I can tell, there wasn't a hotrod in the bunch; muscle cars is all. Back in My time...

 

Hey wait a second. The small block engine in my 57 Chevy was a real hot rod. The "Offy" high rise intake manifold taught me how to read spark plugs with its open plenum chamber and Holly 750 double pumper carburetor.
That knowledge came in handy when I started doing performance work on roadrace and street motorcycles.

The great gasoline hoax of 79' put an end to those old hot rod motors. Or was it 1973? Whatever, real fuel was gone.

I miss the lackety, lackety, lackety, sound of those old camed up machines.

Nowadays like nickndfl, I love my FZ-1 Yamaha (2 wheels, 5 valves per cylinder, 6 speed trans. 141 HP = 150 MPH+)

 

Now I will make a confession. My very first car was a 1951 Chevy fastback with a 6 cylinder, 3 on a tree and very bald tires. I paid $50.00 hard earned dollars for that car. It took me 2 years of selling nightcrawlers, mowing yards, shoveling snow, what ever it took to buy that car. I had a dent in the left rear fender and that's when I first started doing body work. I didn't care if it was fancy-it was mine-bought and paid for. When my folks moved, I had to go back and live with them (cuz my grandparents raised me, my folks didn't want me) and the old man made me sell it. I sold it for $29.00 and cried as it drove away. I will never forget that car and if I could, I would sell my 88 Vette and have another old Chevy fastback with a 235 cu. in. 6 and a 3 on a tree and a split manifold. If you ever heard a 6 with a split manifold, it's like music to my ears.
Tommy

 

My uncle had a 51 chevy turtle back. I am thinking the exhaust just had a deep vroooooom sound. I believe his was a 6 cyl with 3 on the tree. I remember Uncle and I went to the drive-in to get burgers and he peeled out from the gravel parking lot squealing the tires a bit. My uncle had such a proud laugh over that. I remember I wasn't impressed. lol I guess I didn't see it as a hot rod.
I always wanted a 39 Ford coupe. That car was just so fine looking.
This is for you Tommy.
http://oldcarandtruckpictures.com/Chevrolet/1947-1958.html
How many of you remember the cut out lake pipes? My brothers 58 Impala had them. They would uncap the lake pipes when they wanted to race or cruise the drive-in.

 

Cars, motorcycles and guns. All high performance machines. All kinda go together.

Sorry Jim, don't have a single photo of my old 57'.

 

This is one heck of a good old car memories thread. Gotta love it Jim.

 

At the tail end of the '50s I heard rumors (never saw one) of VW beetles with a Chevvy 283 taking up most of the room behind the front seat. They were specifically intended for the moment when the traffic light turned green.

[It was 1973, Magnum, the OPEC generated shortage. There used to be a lot more stores with a gas pump out front. By the time gas got to $1/gal. most of those pumps had empty tanks under them.]