Muscle Car:What's Your Favorite? Chevy/GM - Dodge/Chrysler - Ford

[henrysb3]

I thought of this thread today. My last customer was building an incredible street rod in his garage. It's a very modified early sixties VW bug body on a custom chrome frame with a '66 Corvette 327, dual holly 4 barrels. He used most of the 'vette suspension, so it's four wheel independent. He fabricated easy suspension adjustment mechanisms, made special hinges for suicide doors, servo motors on all kinds of stuff, Mustang II steering, and a '32 Ford Grille. I said, "So, it's a Fordovettavagen.", to which he gave a hearty laugh. It's also got one of those front brake switches like dragsters have, so he can smoke the tires and never leave home...

[Tedster]

[img]http://www.pontiac.com/pontiacjsp/firebird/images/ov_fb_lg_photo.jpg[/img] Only in black. It's sitting in my driveway. I let my wife think it's hers.

[Chip McDonald]

[quote]Originally posted by gbtank@home.com: [b]My first ride was a '68 Shelby GT500 convertible. 4 speed with factory air. About 14 ever made, but I had no idea at the time.[/b][/quote]Inlieu of actually eating lunch today (or breakfast for that matter) during my lunch break I dropped by a little Mustange show in a shopping center parking lot today... Beautiful orange '70 fastback, 302... Saleen Mustang that Steve Saleen raced as Tim Allen's team... red GT500... about 30 or so perfect cars. I drove away in my awesome 136 HP Saturn SC2....

[RangerJay]

In 1972, my dad had a Dodge dealership in a small town in Texas. I only had a learner's permit, and not a full driver's license, but he let me drive some cars, from time to time. The one car that I drove that scared the crap out of me was a '69 Dodge Charger with a 426 Hemi engine, with a 4 barrel "Eidlebrach" (I'm not sure about the spelling here) carb, and a nifty Hurst shifter for the 4-speed manual transmission. In that area of Texas, the roads are flat, so you can see at least 10 miles on a clear day. I took it out for a "spin." I went from 0 to 60 in about 10 or so seconds, probably less. When I got to 4th gear, I kept it up until the speedometer read 148 MPH. At that point, I chickened out and slowed down, and took the car back to the garage -- following a short "cool down" period so I wouldn't get busted by the mechanics. At that speed, on a flat road, the car is a "missile," more than a car. The aerodynamic design made it stick to the ground quite well, and I had no problem keeping the car on the road. Still, at that speed, you cover more than 2 miles per minute. Freaked me out. It was invigorating and scary. That's probably as fast as I'll ever drive a car. At least, on the streets. But then, I was 15 years old, and therefore, invincible. Or something like that... You can't beat a 426 Mopar Hemi. Period.

[Chip McDonald]

Drove a Comet with a blown Cleveland 302.... it'd yank your neck back if you didn't prepare for it, crazy straight line stuff. Just about any V8 car with nitrous is "interesting" to drive... Driven different year late model Corvettes at "not government approved" speeds, not scary at all, but I've had my Saturn up to 102 and it was VERY frightening... Very skittish, not fun at all. My old '86 Honda Accord at 112 was very mannerly though, considering what it was. Speed in a straight line is so boring, though - unless you're a reckless twit. And in the Vettes it's deceiving - they're relatively quiet, and because they handle so well it makes you braver than you should be on a highway (although you're safer in something like that than not). It's more fun going around a corner at 30 that should be 15, and considerably safer. I sort of knew this as a kid - I had a paper route with only my learner's permit with the V8 Dodge Dart, and that was a quick lesson in "combat driving techniques"... Nothing like a few hours every day driving around with a time limit. It would have been sooo much more fun and enjoyable with a more nimble car. I distinctly remember pulling up to a paper-box a little too quickly one day and the body roll made me ever so-slightly scratch the side of the car on the mail box... What's an interesting thing to consider is this: The next time you're cruising down the highway doing 70 mph, imagine what it would feel like to turn the steering wheel all the way over and make a 90 degree turn. Because of aerodynamics modern Formula 1 cars can do this kind of thing, pull up to 5 lateral G's... It's really incomprehensible, particularly when you're in a typical automobile going that fast and you imagine what would happen if you TRIED to do that. To me that's a lot more neat (and probably fun for the driver) than doing a quarter mile in 10 seconds. But to a teenager 10 seconds is easier to consider than a 2 hour chess-match of a Grand Prix race I suppose. Hmm. Is there some Freudian overtone to that last sentence?

[Rader Ranch]

[quote]Originally posted by RangerJay: [b]with a 4 barrel "Eidlebrach" (I'm not sure about the spelling here) carb[/b][/quote]Edelbrock ;) [quote]RangerJay: [b]You can't beat a 426 Mopar Hemi. Period.[/b][/quote]damn straight :D :thu:

[filmfsc.edu]

MOPAR! It's MoPar or NoCAR! So now I drive Volvos :p . Seriously - take a '90 or so 740 Turbo out for a spin. Damn zippy. Easy wastegate adjustment to set the thing up for "Mustang Hunter". Comfy, decent handling (they still understeer unless you spend some time tweaking), and smooth. I cranked my '89 740 Turbo up to 120 before I had made the first payment on it. A little stupid. Not twitchy, just f*ckin FLYING! My current non-turbo will do 100-110 no problem, very stable and predictable. Wife's '90..well, haven't tried. Have a buddy who had a '65 Polara 4-door with a built 383. What a PIMP CAR! Fast too. Then there's the Rotary powered T-Bucket that picks it's front wheels up when you bang 2nd. And uhh..the Volvo 240 Wagon with a 5.0 and AOD and an E cam...Vrooom...heh...So I'm a weirdo. I still want a Hemi. Dan Roth Otitis Media

[SFOracle]

My brother and I inherited a 66 Chevelle (2 door sedan) from our grandmother when he was 16, I was 15 years old. It had a stock 263 cu in inline 6 with a 2 speed automatic trans (and only 25,000 miles in 1979). We found a wrecked 66 Bellair wagon at the junkyard with a running 396 chevy, a TurboHydro 400 tranny and a heavy duty rear end. We bought the whole station wagon for $200 and stripped it of most of it's running gear and presto - instant muscle car. The Chevelle 2 door sedan was not as popular to muscle car enthusiasts as the 2 door hard top, but other than drive train, the differences were minimal. The sedan has a bar along the top of the side door windows where the hard top has just glass. Also the rear window on the hard top is recessed while the sedan is flush. The only piece we never found at a reasonable price was the "SS Cowl Induction" hood.

[coyote]

A bucketload of fine cars to choose from. My fave - '69 Mustang fastback. My 2nd fave (and it might really be my real fave - I don't know) '70 Barracuda. Either one of'em.... a couple of joints, a couple of beers, a couple of babes, Deep Purple's Made in Japan on the 8-track, and an open road. now THAT's living. :) :)