Anyone Still into Muscle & Classic Cars these Days?

[Buckocaster51]

I had a limited experience with a '63 Corvette Split Window Coupé...

I was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I never got to do more than ride in it.

My father owned/ran a service station (remember those?) and had a good, but eccentric customer, let's call him "Babe," that liked to go to Florida for the winter.

Being eccentric, he wanted to make sure that his cars got some miles on them during the winter...

So occasionally, usually on Sundays if the weather was good, we would go to his house and crank them up, drive them around until they were good and warm, and put them away. The light blue Stingray was a highlight of those trips.

 

[Buckocaster51]

There was also the time that Hank Donahue, the local AMC dealer called my father up and said, "You have to come see this car."

"This car" turned out to be an "executive" 1970 AMX that had EVERY available option.

Yellow with black stripes. "Go Package," 390 4-barrel, auto, luggage rack, air, power windows...it was the most laden-down AMX I have ever seen. It had it all. Back then, I don't think "executive" meant "off-lease." I think it was some AMC exec's plaything.

It was also a broken in car with maybe 5,000 miles on it.

Perfect for a little abuse.

Unlike with the '63 Split Window, by then I had a license.

My father and I took it out to the local "drag strip"...a county blacktop just south of town...on the way to the County Home if you are taking notes.

We ran it through the quarter mile, half mile, burnouts, quick stop tests...you name it.

It scooted. I could make up numbers but I won't. Suffice it to say, it was quick.

After 20 or 30 minutes of this, we decided it was time to go.

On the way back into town, we met a Stephenson Country prowl-car.

We waved.

He waved.

Sometimes timing is really important.

 

[Bill Jones]

Beautiful car. Genesis to my 1991 NSX

 

[flathd]

There was also the time that Hank Donahue, the local AMC dealer called my father up and said, "You have to come see this car."

"This car" turned out to be an "executive" 1970 AMX that had EVERY available option.

Yellow with black stripes. "Go Package," 390 4-barrel, auto, luggage rack, air, power windows...it was the most laden-down AMX I have ever seen. It had it all. Back then, I don't think "executive" meant "off-lease." I think it was some AMC exec's plaything.

It was also a broken in car with maybe 5,000 miles on it.

Perfect for a little abuse.

Unlike with the '63 Split Window, by then I had a license.

My father and I took it out to the local "drag strip"...a county blacktop just south of town...on the way to the County Home if you are taking notes.

We ran it through the quarter mile, half mile, burnouts, quick stop tests...you name it.

It scooted. I could make up numbers but I won't. Suffice it to say, it was quick.

After 20 or 30 minutes of this, we decided it was time to go.

On the way back into town, we met a Stephenson Country prowl-car.

We waved.

He waved.

Sometimes timing is really important.

Those were cool cars, but a luggage rack? Yikes!

There was a time when I was going out with a gal from St. Paul, and sometimes we would go dowhtown and cruise the "Loop". It was a route around 7th St. and it was a hot rod, hang out scene back in the '70s. I was driving my '69 Nova.

One time we brought my girlfriends brother Joe along, and he was a little crazy, so to speak. We were cruising along next to a 340 Dodge Dart, and Joe yells out the back window, wanna drag for $5 ? The guy says yeah, so we go down to the Lafayette Bridge and race. Joe rode with the guy in the Dart, (I don't remember why) and I ended up winning by quite a margin.

As Joe collects the $5 the guy asked him, what's he got in that thing?

Hey man, $5 was a tank of gas back then.

 

[Mjark]

I agree, I think the golden age for muscle cars is now and I own the old car below. The new ones are faster, have better handling and braking plus good gas mileage to boot. In my opinion, the downside is how complicated they have become and the specialized tools and equipment required to fix them. If you must go vintage, as others have said, don't buy a project, especially if you lack knowledge, tools and space to do repairs. Save as much as possible and try to get the cleanest example you can afford.

I agree cars are so much better these days. But I like that Camaro. I would like a 32 Ford hot rod.

 

[64Strat]

Those were cool cars, but a luggage rack? Yikes!

There was a time when I was going out with a gal from St. Paul, and sometimes we would go dowhtown and cruise the "Loop". It was a route around 7th St. and it was a hot rod, hang out scene back in the '70s. I was driving my '69 Nova.

One time we brought my girlfriends brother Joe along, and he was a little crazy, so to speak. We were cruising along next to a 340 Dodge Dart, and Joe yells out the back window, wanna drag for $5 ? The guy says yeah, so we go down to the Lafayette Bridge and race. Joe rode with the guy in the Dart, (I don't remember why) and I ended up winning by quite a margin.

As Joe collects the $5 the guy asked him, what's he got in that thing?

Hey man, $5 was a tank of gas back then.

I was working in gas stations back then circa '69. Don't remember my exact wage but I would guess it was something like a $1.00/hr sort of thing. When I street raced, it was usually for $10.00 or $20.00. Which was a significant chunk of my weekly wages. I usually only raced other guys, where I was pretty certain I could beat them. I beat GTO's, Chevelles, Mustangs and so forth.... Once, I remember we raced for a pizza.

Anyway, a normal fill-up would cost me $6.00. If I wanted the good stuff, I would run down to the Sunoco station and fill-up with 260 but it was like $0.549! (my Esso premium was $0.379 where I worked) But as I recall, 260 was like 102 octane and I was running 12:1 compression and running really cold plugs (my motor liked'em!). My silver '64 Vette got only 7 mpg on the hwy and half that cruising town. I had a big Isky cam in it and 12:1 pistons, fuelie heads and so on. I worked at the Esso station(pre Exxon) and premium was $0379. IIRC, my Vette had a 20 gallon tank and as luck would have it, the fuel gauge didn't work. No problem! The tank gas cap was on the back deck, straight down shot and you could look in and see about how much fuel you had, by the depth and color. I also kept track of the miles from fill up in my head and figured 5 mpg avg and knew after 80 miles, I needed to stop soon and fill up. That 4.88 gear was brutal on the mileage. The good news is, I never ran out of gas. Actually, after 47 yrs of driving, I still have never run out of gas. I never fixed the gas gauge because it meant draining the fuel tank and changing the sender unit out. P.I.T.A. The mechanical tach cable broke twice on me but I would fix that in an hour.

Funny thing about that Vette, I blew a motor, 2 clutches (ended up putting a scatter shield in and changed to a racing flywheel) and blew 2 rear ends... but even with 6 U-Joints, I never broke one of those. Tranny was good too! I beat the hell out of that Muncie.

 

[64Strat]

I agree cars are so much better these days. But I like that Camaro. I would like a 32 Ford hot rod.

I have to agree. My 2013 Grand Sport C6 is a MUCH better car. No question! It will run 11.90's and still get 30 mpg. It also corners phenomenally, especially since I put Bilsteins on it and track sway bars.

But I could do everything on my '64 Vette. I could tune it, it had a dual point distributor, change those and set the advance with a timing light. Changing plugs was easy with the headers on it. I could even pull the motor, by myself, in 45 mins. With help, we could do it in under 30 mins. Had to pull the motor to service the clutch. But it was not nearly as refined of a car, as my C6 is.

 

[tomkatf]

Do vintage race cars count??

 

[MDMachiavelli]

I have an '07 Magnum. I don't think of it as a classic yet. I still to this day, can't believe they discontinued it. What a great car! Modern day station wagon that had some performance.

Would you consider it a muscle car?

 

[BobbyZ]

Do vintage race cars count??

Yes but not many here know what those are.

I do and they're effing SWEET !

 

[BryMelvin]

We have a 66 and 67 mustangs and a roadrunner I gave my sopn on his 18th birthday setting around waiting for time to restore them!

 

[flathd]

I was working in gas stations back then circa '69. Don't remember my exact wage but I would guess it was something like a $1.00/hr sort of thing. When I street raced, it was usually for $10.00 or $20.00. Which was a significant chunk of my weekly wages. I usually only raced other guys, where I was pretty certain I could beat them. I beat GTO's, Chevelles, Mustangs and so forth.... Once, I remember we raced for a pizza.

Anyway, a normal fill-up would cost me $6.00. If I wanted the good stuff, I would run down to the Sunoco station and fill-up with 260 but it was like $0.549! (my Esso premium was $0.379 where I worked) But as I recall, 260 was like 102 octane and I was running 12:1 compression and running really cold plugs (my motor liked'em!). My silver '64 Vette got only 7 mpg on the hwy and half that cruising town. I had a big Isky cam in it and 12:1 pistons, fuelie heads and so on. I worked at the Esso station(pre Exxon) and premium was $0379. IIRC, my Vette had a 20 gallon tank and as luck would have it, the fuel gauge didn't work. No problem! The tank gas cap was on the back deck, straight down shot and you could look in and see about how much fuel you had, by the depth and color. I also kept track of the miles from fill up in my head and figured 5 mpg avg and knew after 80 miles, I needed to stop soon and fill up. That 4.88 gear was brutal on the mileage. The good news is, I never ran out of gas. Actually, after 47 yrs of driving, I still have never run out of gas. I never fixed the gas gauge because it meant draining the fuel tank and changing the sender unit out. P.I.T.A. The mechanical tach cable broke twice on me but I would fix that in an hour.

Funny thing about that Vette, I blew a motor, 2 clutches (ended up putting a scatter shield in and changed to a racing flywheel) and blew 2 rear ends... but even with 6 U-Joints, I never broke one of those. Tranny was good too! I beat the hell out of that Muncie.

Yeah, that's what I thought was funny about the deal. I should have titled it the $5 race. I remember some of the older guys would race for $100, and I thought they were crazy.

I also worked at a Skelly station for a while pumping gas and doing repairs in a two stall garage with hoists. I sold the Nova and bought a '64 Impala SS with a 283 2bbl, and a powerslide. It was a nice car, black with red interior and the bucket/console SS package, but pretty boring. My girlfriend liked it anyways.

Before I bought that '69 Nova, I was actually looking for a '66 or '67 Nova SS because I really liked that body style better. I looked for 3 months and gave up, because all I found were bondo buckets, and they were really bad. I mean lousy, amateur bodywork.

You would think it would be easy to find a 5 year old car, but they were even hard to find back then. Of course back then there were the Sunday want ads, and the auto shoppers, and that was about it. I think the MN winters and salt had a lot to do with it.

 

[64Strat]

Would you consider it a muscle car?

the SRT8 would qualify!

 

[64Strat]

I had a limited experience with a '63 Corvette Split Window Coupé...

I was only 11 or 12 at the time, so I never got to do more than ride in it.

My father owned/ran a service station (remember those?) and had a good, but eccentric customer, let's call him "Babe," that liked to go to Florida for the winter.

Being eccentric, he wanted to make sure that his cars got some miles on them during the winter...

So occasionally, usually on Sundays if the weather was good, we would go to his house and crank them up, drive them around until they were good and warm, and put them away. The light blue Stingray was a highlight of those trips.

That is a cool story!

I remember my first Vette ride. I was 15 and my older friend had a '61, that he re-motored with a '67 327/350hp. It was glorious! I was hooked. I did every money paying job I could find and earned enough money to buy the '64. Best move I ever made!

 

[64Strat]

There was also the time that Hank Donahue, the local AMC dealer called my father up and said, "You have to come see this car."

"This car" turned out to be an "executive" 1970 AMX that had EVERY available option.

Yellow with black stripes. "Go Package," 390 4-barrel, auto, luggage rack, air, power windows...it was the most laden-down AMX I have ever seen. It had it all. Back then, I don't think "executive" meant "off-lease." I think it was some AMC exec's plaything.

It was also a broken in car with maybe 5,000 miles on it.

Perfect for a little abuse.

Unlike with the '63 Split Window, by then I had a license.

My father and I took it out to the local "drag strip"...a county blacktop just south of town...on the way to the County Home if you are taking notes.

We ran it through the quarter mile, half mile, burnouts, quick stop tests...you name it.

It scooted. I could make up numbers but I won't. Suffice it to say, it was quick.

After 20 or 30 minutes of this, we decided it was time to go.

On the way back into town, we met a Stephenson Country prowl-car.

We waved.

He waved.

Sometimes timing is really important.

Another cool story! I agree with flathd... a luggage rack?!?!? Personally, I like my performance cars fairly Spartan. My '64 Vette was a radio delete car. I learned to appreciate that engine sound and the tunes I could hear in my head. With my current Grand Sport, I almost never listen to the radio, I'd rather hear the LS3 sing.

I've had a few close calls with romping on it and then seeing the cop. Like you said, timing is everything.

 

[zooropamofo]

My dad and I are the proud owners of a 55 Chevy, 210 Model, with a 350, a Weiand Supercharger, and a 4 spd Hurst. I'm happy to sit in the passenger seat on Sundays and watch the smile on his face!

 

[flathd]

My dad and I are the proud owners of a 55 Chevy, 210 Model, with a 350, a Weiand Supercharger, and a 4 spd Hurst. I'm happy to sit in the passenger seat on Sundays and watch the smile on his face!

Wow, that's a beauty! That's one of my favorite Chevy's and I like how he left the body all original.

 

[boris bubbanov]

Before I bought that '69 Nova, I was actually looking for a '66 or '67 Nova SS because I really liked that body style better. I looked for 3 months and gave up, because all I found were bondo buckets, and they were really bad. I mean lousy, amateur bodywork.

We went for pizza at Bocce's Pizza in Buffalo one time, and my lead guitarist opened the front door of his '66 Buick and just touched the quarter panel of this Ford Country Sedan. Just touched it but a 30 pound piece of Bondo Bodywork fell off the side of the wagon - and we just quietly got back in the Special and headed out, got ourselves something to eat someplace else.

 

[flathd]

We went for pizza at Bocce's Pizza in Buffalo one time, and my lead guitarist opened the front door of his '66 Buick and just touched the quarter panel of this Ford Country Sedan. Just touched it but a 30 pound piece of Bondo Bodywork fell off the side of the wagon - and we just quietly got back in the Special and headed out, got ourselves something to eat someplace else.

Doesn't surprise me. A friend of mine worked at a well known paint and body shop briefly when he was first learning bodywork. He said it was SOP to stuff newspaper in the rust holes and Bondo over them. He went on to be a skilled body man at Ford for over 30 years and could repair dents with no bondo, and get it perfectly straight. He's retired now, but still has a toolbox full of different shaped iron rods for paintless dent repair. There really is an art to it if you've ever seen them do it.

 

[64Strat]

Doesn't surprise me. A friend of mine worked at a well known paint and body shop briefly when he was first learning bodywork. He said it was SOP to stuff newspaper in the rust holes and Bondo over them. He went on to be a skilled body man at Ford for over 30 years and could repair dents with no bondo, and get it perfectly straight. He's retired now, but still has a toolbox full of different shaped iron rods for paintless dent repair. There really is an art to it if you've ever seen them do it.

That's funny Boris about the bondo chunk.

Before I bought the '71 Barracuda, I looked at a "nice" '67 Nova SS 327/350hp 4 speed car. It was that metallic copper color. I crawled around it and under it and oh my! It needed sheet metal replaced or someone that knew how to fix the rust properly and get rid of all of the bondo. If you looked close on the exterior, it was starting to show signs of cracking in spots..... Sad, because I really wanted that car but it was going to be a major project.