Those big block Nova's were easy targets to whop on with my small block Plymouth. Most around here had the back up way up in the air to clear the big wide tires. They were great for making tire smoke, but seldom got any traction. When they did get traction, the rear wheels hopped and wandered all over the road. The rubber mounted front sub-frame didn't work well with the jacked up rear ends. But they looked cool and did great burnouts. The detail guy that did the yellow car above needs to do a much better job with the tire sidewalls then he did with this one, they look real bad in the pictures.
Is this the car Mark Hamill wrecked - scarring his face? Making them add a scene in "The Empire Strikes Back" where an abominable snowman attacks and nearly kills/eats him?
That was a movie car. His accident was not a part of a movie, just him out on the road. https://screenrant.com/mark-hamill-car-accident-1977/
My dad bought a new '72 Grabber just like this one... It was a rust bucket 5 years later so dad gave it to me... Ended scrapping it a year later because the heater blower seized... No defrost, no heat...
I resisted the Chevelle, Camaro, Chevy II, GTO, thing that all my friends did after high school in 1968. I always had an old Ford hot rod, a ‘33 5w, then a ‘32 5w and a regular car, usually a beater. My high school car, senior year, 1968… A year later, on Van Nuys Blvd…. I didn’t have a second car at this point. Then I built a longed for ‘32 coupe….. With this Chevy powered Stude as my daily driver…. Caught in front of Performance Unlimited in Culver City. (Early 70s)
Here are a pair of Comets we owned, the Black car I ordered new, the yellow car I bought a couple of years later for my wife. Both 302’s, black one had a top loader the yellow had a C4.
I think I paid $500 for the ‘33, from a friend who wanted to get out of the old car project and get on the muscle car bandwagon. It had the 396/4 spd partially installed. I paid $1500 for the ‘32, full fendered and running with a 350/4 spd. Drove it home from Whittier. Those were the days. Everyone was rushing to the dealers to buy a “hot rod”. Real hot rods were cheap. After those, it was an Austin gasser, a ‘37 knucklehead rigid chopper for transportation and a ratty ‘53 F100 with a 390/C6 as a rescue vehicle. I have pictures in a box somewhere. The Austin….. paid $350 for it as a basket case. It came with a fresh hi-compression 283, ported heads and a C&O Hydro. Fun car.
This was mine (not my photo but identical to the one I owned). Tougher than it looks to get onto the factory wheelie bar:
That Austin led to a fascination with British cars, so my ‘70s cars were a 327 powered ‘65 MGB, an LT-1 powered ‘54 Austin Healey and a 350 powered ‘62 Jaguar MkII saloon. Daily driver was a Vega wagon and later, a Dodge D50 pickup (gas crisis - remember?) I never got into muscle cars or high riding street freaks. I don’t know why, I just liked high powered small cars, I guess. Tom Madigan showed up at Hedman, where I was working at the time, and wanted to shoot the MGB for PHR. I told him that it wasn’t finished yet. He said that’s ok, they are doing a thing about unusual street machines and he heard that I drive it everyday. He took a little “magazine license” with the write-up. It really was a 4-day swap triggered when the four banger cracked another head. I was already prepared for it. And a lot younger…. I guess I was the odd man out in the 70s. Somewhat late to the party, I’m working on my first muscle car, a ‘67 Ranchero with the factory 390/C6, Hooker Headers and Flowmaster exhaust system. And learning about muscle car parts prices!! Yikes! It’s kind of a dog for a big block powered mid-size, I’m gonna have to fix that….
Bob, you're killing us! That first shot with the '33 in white and the girl paints a picture of a fantasy world! Your face gives the impression you're the cat that caught the canary. I would love to have been you right there, right then. I guess the threat of Viet Nam was the only dark cloud on the horizon. Some kinda charmed existence. I came of age in cold ass Iowa in the mid 80's. We had Chevy Citations, unemployment, AIDS and rust instead. Kinda opposite.
Yep, Viet Nam was hanging over my head then, just waiting to get my draft notice. We were at B&W Resort on the California Delta (it’s still the same!). We drove up from LA, 300+ miles, no side windows or carpet. Looking back, Nancy was a real trooper to do that. At that time, the marina and the one next door were full of hot rod flatbottoms! Credence Clearwater was on the radio. My family had rented a cabin and Dad brought the family ski boat that he built from Glen-L plans. Metalflake blue upholstery gets HOT in the California sun!
Yeah, I’m three days older than dirt! But I’m still punchin’ ha, ha, ha. Thanks for doin all the FE research on the other thread, I’m following faithfully….
The Jalopy Journal
