Have you ever? No, but I'd like to--Brother Dave Gardner Pulled up to a stoplight in elco, very late ‘vette pulls up beside, sounds badass. He glances over, then rolls down window. Elco idles a little rough, dual muffs help. I thought this is going to be good-that vette is like a 12 sec. beast, bet he’s laughing. Nope, he slinks away. Now i’m laughing-hell, 200 hp out of a 307 2bbl. ain’t hay! “Hot” rods are fun!! (better with leaky exhaust) Got a story?
Six Five Elco just leaving Long Beach (Ca) heading north on the freeway. This little car we’ll call it comes up beside us . I mash it and he gone . Them dam pistonless engines .
In 1972-HAMB friendly Vette pulls up beside my OT ('70 Maverick) car and punches it, then lets off. I punch mine and let off (built 289), Vette driver makes right turn and takes off. Another time I have OT 340 Demon behind wanting to race. I punched it a little and then pulled over to see about a race, he was turning around and high tailing it out of there. Did end up racing him later on. I hit 2nd gear and let off. Yes, he was behind me. Now for on topic: 1970-An early 442 pulls up beside my '53 Plymouth (flathead 6), don't know if something was wrong with his car or he just couldn't drive, but I beat him. Ron
in HS days was with friend in '56 Chevy with warmed up 6 and 3 speed. at Stop sign friends of ours pulled up with 63 1/2 Ford fastback 427 with 4 speed. Ford did not have positraction and just smoked the drive tire. Chevy won the race, until Ford got traction. important part is that a 6 beat a 427, for a while. lots of bragging went on after that.
My daughter gave me a ride in one of those expensive new fangled electric cars built by some billionaire rocket guy. Surprised the heck out of me. It reminded me of riding in a guy's 57 Chevy back in the day that had a 425 horse 409 4/speed in it. It quickens the heart.
It would eat the 425 horse '57 alive. Blasphemy, I know, but the future is not all dark. There will be some fun to be had..... I'd still rather have the '57 any day of the week ending with a Y..........
I have a story like this, but it involves my wife’s small turbocharged SUV and a V8 powered beat to death Chevy pickup. It’s all O/T so we will leave it at that.
I actually have an "era race" lined up if I ever get around to getting my 53 Bel Air legal and take it to see family in Arkansas. One of my buddies there that has tried to help any way he could has another buddy that found a 55 Chevy four door in a barn that had a mid sixties 327. Dunno how many of you guys have spent much time around north or north central Arkansas. But there are plenty of old back two lane highways that photographed/video recorded right would look like a scene from a fifties movie. So were going to do a full on retro race in black and white with flag girls and all lol
That rich guy would have been 10 or 11 when this happened. The car in question was gasoline propelled.
63 Impala ,,,,remember to tighten the driveshaft center bearing support before you street race a camaro...thats all i have to say about that..
Back in the early 80s when CHP first got the 5 liter mustangs I had a chippy choose me off very early one Sunday morning on hwy 94 in San Diego, I was driving my 69 Z28 .... I whipped his ass Until 120 mph when I ran outa gear I was glad my pal Robert was with me as a witness...
It's Saturday night , isn’t this supposed to be the drinking game? " never have I ever drag raced on the street" .........EVERYBODY DRINK!
Quickest car I was ever in, felt and sounded like a racecar, very high 10s in quarter with slicks. It also made me and my Chevy feel inadequate one afternoon on 93. His car was a tuner
Remember the 406 Fords? Early 60's I was drag racing a stock? 53 Ford flathead. During time trials I was lined up with a 406, 4 spd. The tree lit and I had him for a good ways down the track . I think it blew his mind being hole shot like that and he over reved it just as he went by me. Blew the motor and spayed oil all over my car. I not only beat him like that but being I drove my car to the track (90 mi with 5.14 gears) I carried a tow line and pulled him back to the pits. Another story. Mid 60's I daily drove a 63 Chev Suburban 292 six, truck 4 spd. Driving through town one night a guy was reving his 63 or 64 Impala at every light and jumping when the light turned. So I decided to have a little fun. The next light I smoked him good as I used creeper to leap across the intersection and lights were only a block apart. After doing that twice more his buddy rolled down the passenger window too ask what I was running. When I told him just a six he gave his buddy all kinds harassment and ridicule for his car being beat by a Burb 6. I was along side them for a few more blocks and his buddy just couldn't stop laughing
My high school ride back in the early 1970s was dad's 4 door 64 Oldsmobile. My buddies and I often cruised in the Oldsmobile. Lots of the guys with the cars that were deemed as being fast, thought the big old Oldsmobile with 4 guys in it was easy pickings. The 394 4 bbl under the hood moved the car quite well, and I was smart enough not to spin the tires much leaving the line. The old Oldsmobile was tough to beat in the traffic light to traffic light downtown "cruising" back then, in our town. My buddies usually rode with me because it was fun with the 4 of us, and the Oldsmobile could blow away what ever they were driving at the time. My one buddy was driving a 68 Ford station wagon with a 390, that gave the Oldsmobile a good run, but his dad always watched the miles he drove it, so he rode with someone most of the time. He was always willing to pitch in gas money, but gas was cheap, and all 4 of us had jobs. Different times back then. I worked at a full service gas station, another guy and I was the close up team every Mon - Fri night at 9PM. My buddies all gathered at the station and left their cars there. We would cruise from 9 to about 11:30, I'd drop them all off at the gas station and everyone was home by the 12AM curfew. Saturday night was always a party at my one buddies house. His parents collected everyone's keys and gave them back to you Sunday morning. Sunday night was dirt track racing at the local track. What a life for this teenager!
O/T Nova I had in the 70's, 350, forged TRW 11-1 pistons, pink rods, steel crank, 4-bolt bottom, ported 462 castings, Torker intake, Holley 3310, Crane Fireball cam, Harland Sharp rollers, Eagle Gold headers, ran like a cat with a cob-scratched ass. FUN CAR!! Headed to South Dakota on I-29 north of Council Bluffs when a couple of guys in a loud Dodge Demon blew by in the left lane, then slowed down until I was beside them. They goosed the Mopar a couple of times, so I slipped the TransGo valve body into second gear and firewalled it. They dropped back pretty fast, so I slowed and grinned as they went by with thumbs in the air. Most of my fun with that car was stoplight-to-stoplight blasts with long strips of rubber left behind. What else would you expect from a 20 year old kid?
Guys liked to pick on my 77 Tbird that I still have and drive it has a warmed over 400 in it. Back in 86 while at a stop light a guy next to me in a C3 vette laughing at me gave me the nod the light turn green all he saw was that big ass end to the next lite never saw any body so mad all I did was gave him a big grin, Around the same time a turbo Corvair Monza wanted to race me in that bird he smoked me when the light turned but I caught him and drove past him gave me a thumbs up at the next light. Go figure couldn't get a race in my other cars.
As I began reading I thought nah, not really. My Junk might have looked good, but money for performance was not available. There was one time ( in '79 ) though. Early evening after work on 'The Boulevard'. There are 3 inner lanes. I'm 'getting it' as good as I can, running light to light. Two guys in a late model mid-size pull up, passenger yells WHAT D'YOU GOT IN THAT THING? Big grin as I look down from my 77 G20, with 1 ton suspension, and 3.70 rear. I am reminded that the weekend before I had converted the 3 on the tree. Spent a bundle on an M22, after killing a 3 speed ( twice) Hind sight tho told me that during the day, hauling heavy loads, weren't fun at the launch.
The avatar, with 400hp 327, at the local track against a new, imported Mustang. Figured I had no chance, even though it appeared to be a base-model. Avatar is good for 13.2. First pass and it is close, but beat the pony car by a half car length. Figured it was a fluke. Second and third runs and beat him by about the same. I’m now wearing a big cheesy grin… this thing is faster than a stang! Fourth round and he found his mojo… either that or he finally let the park brake off. Whipped my (now humbled) butt by a good second. it was good while it lasted. Cheers, Harv
Probably one of the funnest I had was in my off topic 73 Hurst/Olds back around 1985. I would bonsai from the coast of Virginia to Southern Missouri and back several times while on leave from the Army. I had a fair amount of work done to the 455 and a pretty high gear for these road trips, great highway flyer. I was cutting through Kentucky about 10 over the limit when this Porsche did a slow creep next to me, so I started creeping too, we both looked at each other with a big grin. We did this bumping speeds back and forth right up to 100 mph, I knew the big Olds had plenty of tachometer left, so I jammed it ! I got a big jump and his fender wasn't there any longer, my duals were singing a song of about 5,000 rpm when that little prick pulled up next to me, gave a beep with a wave and walked me like I was tied to a post. Lol I just let off the gas and braaapped myself back down to 10 over the limit, thinking Damn what a fun race. Couple yrs later I got a 115 in a 55 with it and lost my license for 6 months lol
Back in '69 I picked up a 63 Galaxie, no engine or trans, about the same time I received my draft notice. I was able to find a 406 8v and a T10, both basket cases. Don't recall what I built it with, but managed to get it going before I had to leave. Car came with a 4:11 and 8in cheaters and it launched good and the car ran pretty good. One nite cruising down Telegraph in Detroit I watched a Chevelle and a Goat go at it and I'm thinkin' "I'll give em a try". Caught up to them the next light and on the green I hole shot both of them and gave them a "beat down" in their new factory race cars. I loved the surprised look on their faces at the next light. I had a lot of fun with that old car. Fast forward to the late 80's I'm driving down the same Telegraph rd in my OT 77 Ranchero with a 400/c6 boat anchor minding my own business when a guy rolls up next to me (don't remember what it was) revin' it and pulling small burnouts. It had been years since I had got out of racing and even longer since I street raced. All I could think of was " what's wrong with this guy". Finally he just took off and a few blocks later it dawned on me he wanted to race. I had a good laugh at myself. Good thing I didn't run him, he would have smoked me or worse yet the law would have stepped in.
It might beat it in a drag race, it's fast, real fast, no one will argue that well until you got to charge it, then it's slow really slow, so slow a stock Ford Model A would beat in a race from Boston to San Diego with no speed limits. All electric vehicles are definitely not a cannonball run type of cars. Not to mention that tri-5 probably outlived its original owner with little work actually needing to be done other than routine maintenance you will not be able to say the same with any battery operated vehicle. Well at least not without major circuit board repair (capacitors go bad with age it's what they do) and battery replacement. These will happen no matter how well they are taken care of. Arguably a cordless car is the perfect sales strategy as it's extremely fast so it gets people to like it (at least once statistically speaking most electric vehicle purchases are one-time affairs and the customers go back to an ice vehicle when trade in time comes and about the time the car is considered an older model you are forced to replace it because of its built-in deficiencies (nobody is going to spend 15 or $20,000 on a battery for a $10,000 used car). That is on top of the fact that the government will potentially be able to control when you charge your car, how or when you drive it and they could even theoretically shut it off. We got our first taste of this a year and a half ago during California's heat wave where all the Teslas sent out a message about charging during peak hours it did not force you to not charge the car but it made everyone aware that it could. Electric vehicles are not the future at least not if I can help it. I will do what it takes including making messages like this one to point out their shortcomings all of us need to do this unless you want a future with limited travel. My great-grandparents generation were smart enough to know that electric vehicles were not practical and mind you that was in the era of the Ford Model T which wasn't exactly an easy car to drive but yet it was still better then a quite battery powered vehicle, it won the electric battle then and it it will again as it's still not ready to be dethroned by a glorified golf cart but I digress. Battery technology and rare earth materials is the EV Achilles heel and will be for the foreseeable future. I am not going to go down the political path other then if you like your freedom of movement and your own choice of transportation get out and vote for any politician that goes against forced government electric vehicle adoption and refuse to buy products from companies that support the world economic forum type policies. Love live the gas engine.
In high school I had a OT 69 Nova, 327,forged pistons, Crower solid cam. 671 blower, 2 660 center squirts. It was one of the fast street cars around here and I won lots of races, making extra cash on Friday and Saturday nights. Me and my buddy were at Harrisburg running the circuit looking for a race as we always did. I was driving down 2nd street and out of nowhere a 66 Nova pulled up beside me at a light. Really nice looking car with a older gentleman driving. The light went green and I nailed the go pedal, so did the guy in the 66. He walked by me like I was tied to a stump. The weird thing is, we never saw that car again anywhere. Spooky.
The Circle drive in burger stand in Baltimore was a place a few of us country boys would drive to on occasion. Known car hang out, lots of industrial highways and business areas that were mostly deserted on weekend nights. One road had ''start'' and ''finish'' spray painted 1/4 mile apart. A couple of us rowdies had ridden in my pal's Ford there one night. He picked a race with a Chevy, we put up the money and rode to the ''track'' in some guy's Road Runner so it was only my pal in the Ford at racetime. Mopar guy was hammering that car on the way there. Holy cow, did that big car leap! Lunging and throwing us back in the big 'ol bench seat. 440/6pack. Some dude I know well flagged the race. My pal won, we got our refreshment money for the night. I told him NOT to try the Road Runner, so he didn't get his ass handed to him like a couple stories here.
Street racing in Phoenix in 1968, my high school drop-out friend had just bought a brand new, OT (1968 Z28). No one had really heard of them still, since they had only come out one year earlier. We would make a bet with another racer, but John would let the guy win the first race, then would offer to race him again for double or nothing. We always went home with tons of cash and taught a lot of guys what a Z28 was. Great times. By the way, John is a multi-millionaire today. High school just wasn't his thing. Hot rods were.
I think it was last year in a similar thread someone mentioned a Chevy that would come into town, do a race or two , leave everyone for dead and dissapear until the next weekend. Years later they found out it was the local pastor .
62 CJ5 with a small block Chevy I swapped in. Well, the 4th one actually. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd engines didn't hold up too well, but that's another story for another time. The 4th sbc was a 283 with a set of 461 heads and a 300 hp cam. Wasn't fast, but it was quick, the Jeep differentials had 5.38 gearing, probably why the first 3 engines failed so quickly. Launch in 1st gear in 4wd, but make sure you're in the left side. And the wind is blowing right to left. It looks like TV Tommy Ivo's 4 engine rail boiling the tires, smoke rolling off the right side tires getting blown under the floor so it looks like all 4 are smoking. Just don't actually race anyone...
Similar story involving a Porsche Targa. When i left Australia for The Netherlands in 1978 i had pre-ordered a new tax-free ( i was a tourist ) O/T for here Trans-Am 6.6 with Muncie 4 speed. Early sunday mornings i would go out on the freeways for a fast blast. No traffic then. Out of nowhere a 911 Porsche next to me and he meant business. It was a bloody cop car. Pulled over and both cops checked the car out. Lucky for me they had end of shift and were off to their depot so i got a warning. Little did i know that just a few miles away that depot was the national depot and there were about 15 Porsche ready to hit the road for day shift.
Quite a few years ago I had an OT '83 Malibu wagon I'd swapped a warmed up 472 Cadillac into. Well, after a local car show my son and I were heading home and went past an intersection where a LS powered Firebird was waiting to go the same direction. About a mile down the road he was following us and pulled out to pass and I saw the front of his car rise as he hit the throttle. I dropped the wagon into second and floored it, and as the Firebird came by my door he quit gaining and started to drop back. We kept on 'em 'til he had to pull back in behind us, then we slowed down and stopped at the next mile intersection. His buddy was giving him no end of crap of course, and he just looked at me and said he'd seen my car and the engine at the show and "I was afraid that might happen". Big fun!
The Jalopy Journal
