Back in the day....before motorcycles filled the garage

[busa1300]

Back in the late 70's cool cars could be found cheap behind barns and in junkyards...cheap for a kid working at a gas station part time.
My dad owned a speed shop throughout the 60's, so i knew what to look for if I could find at the right price.
I was looking for speed at a teenagers price point....before I realized a bike could be faster and cheaper.
Wheeling and dealing till I got my first Vette (427-435HP) before 20....It was my first ever bank loan....I had $2000 cash and $4000 from loan to buy it.


The 68 Firebird was my moms....400/M21 4 speed/4.10 12 bolt
The 70 Firebird with 454 turbo/M22 4 speed and 77 front/rear end was my dads

The rest were mine.... and knowing where to find the good stuff, with my hard earned cash.

[Czakky]

That's awesome! I've never been an American v8 guy simply because I'm priced waaay out of the game. But they are stupid fun to drive.

[busa1300]

Thanks...

For example the Challenger R/T.....I paid $250 for it from a towing yard.
It was a stolen vehicle and had ended up in a snow bank with a blown bottom end.
I had a 440 out of the GTX pictured (which I paid $125 for the GTX) that was ready to go.

The 70 442 had a 455 and a 4 speed with 3.70 12 bolt....I bought off my uncle for $400 after he spun it on a bridge and smacked up every corner.

Those days are truly gone forever... :cry:

[85RZwade]

I am the curator of my wife's grandfather's '71 340 Duster. He was the 2nd owner and drove it until the mid-1990s, when he pickled it and put it up on jack stands. My bride and I re-habbed it a few years ago as a surprise for her mom. All I have to do is a little maintenance, keep good gas in the tank and I get to drive it.

[pdxjim]

I'm def a Mopar guy, but that flared-out roadrace style Firebird is pretty sick.

[dgorms]

I got a real soft spot for the eight lug Gran Prix

[m in sc]

not gonna lie. that gtx is the shit.  very good stuff there. I caught that at the very end before the prices went stupid high. 500 71 mach 1, 64 fairlane v8 for 300 bucks, 70 falcon/torino i stuffed a built 429 in when i was 18, etc on an on.

Im regaled down to 2 60s cars now, both 4 doors but i dont care, unmolested 60's cars. But i got out of it fopr along time as well as dollars/space/time were better spent bikes > cars IMHO.

So now i have both. 

those pics are freaking awesome.


Last saturday i actually helped my buddy out with his 65 valiant/barracuda. was very fun.

[pdxjim]

Last saturday i actually helped my buddy out with his 65 valiant/barracuda. was very fun.

My last 60's car was a '64 Dart GT.

It was all stock with a *225* /6.  I really wanted to drop a v8 in it but never had the time/cash/space/etc.

Would love to have another, but still ain't got the time/cash/space/etc.

*Edit

[m in sc]

  273 was a v8. 225 perhaps? and they are sweet cars indeed. one i looked at was a 225 slant, 'leaning tower of power' 

[pdxjim]

273 was a v8. 225 perhaps? and they are sweet cars indeed. one i looked at was a 225 slant, 'leaning tower of power' 

Yup.  225/6.

Darts came with 170 or 225 /6 or 273 or 318 V8 as the basic powerplants. Early ones were almost all /6.

As I remember, 270 was one of the the trim levels/body styles.  I think the 2dr and 4dr "post" style.

Sold my last one at least 25 years ago, so most of this ^ is probably wrong. 

[m in sc]

dont forget the 198. which came later

to that point, another friend bought a 66 dart last year with a 225 in it. never ran right, pulled motor, somebody used a 198 crank in a 225 block, we think, had like a .700 deck height at TDC. lol.  but it ran. compression numbers were in the 80's i think. stuffed in a 225 crank it it was not as slow.



great fun though.

[dgorms]

225 was bullet proof, I beat the bejesus out of one for five years!

[85RZwade]

  besides grandpa's 340 there are, shall we say, a couple others on the property. I've done some reading about the slant 6, and it's an interesting engine in all it's iterations. "My" Duster has a 198 and a 3 on the tree, but if I ever find time, I'd like to transplant a 225 with a split exhaust manifold, just for the glorious sound. Found a 2-barrel intake manifold in a truck, and there's a 225 out back getting closer to earth with each passing day. If I could just figure out how to eliminate my need for sleep...

[m in sc]

did that a few years ago to my 76 maverick with a 250.  not the split exhaust but went in wayy deep. ran strong, for sure.




but just reinforced my love for the V8.

so, the 390 block and crank at machine shop for the 66 as we speak. this is the winter project. 

[busa1300]

I was a Mopar guy for quite a few years.....still am I guess with my Wrangler and B350 van.
Had a chance for a few Fords (engines and cars) 71 genuine Torino Cobra with shaker and all the SC parts....But I backed out at $900 because it was an automatic. Also found a 427 sideoiler block/428 crank/tunnel port heads and two matching intakes (4+8bbl)...complete motor for under $1000....but had no Ford to put it in, so spent more money on Mopar swap meet parts.....
.....Endless stories of almost could have had....
But in reality, I would not own any of them now....all my cars are gone as they took up too much space as the years moved on (and parts eventually became unobtainable).

Eventually went the Mustang route in the late 90's after my first divorce with fox bodies (only way to get a V8, manual trans, posi rear drive, real dual exhaust)...
Yea those are all gone too.

I did own a 71 Challenger with a slant 6 with 3 on the floor....
And a 72 Challenger 340 Rallye....which I got for my first Ex-wife to drive the kids around.

And that 63 GP....it was a 421/4 speed...I ended up giving to my mom and dad for christmas (working in a paint shop as a kid still at home, I figured they deserved it)