back in the mid 1970s we had this one guy, most of us knew from high school, who lived in a crappy area, a few miles from our neighborhood, that owned a 1957 Chevy 2 door ,he had stripped out , the interior, he had added a fiber glass hood and trunk, and installed a strait axle from an econoline van in the front , to reduce weight and give the car a 'gaser look' and had used a 9" ford rear differential with 3.50 series gears, and ladder bars,in the rear,with cheater slicks etc.
he then installed a 1968 390 hp 427 corvette engine ,he had added headers ,a 4 speed muncie , a single aluminum race seat, minimal roll cage and glass pack mufflers and thought he had the fastest car in the area., it was loud and looked impressive when I was in my 20s , but it was only a low 12 second car, as he had zero idea how to match gear ratios, select tires, adjust a suspension, etc. and seemed to seriously think that easily generating lots of tire smoke from a hard launch with street tire style cheater slicks during a burn-out was all that was required to prove you had a fast car!
his car looked very similar to this but it was a two tone white and green, paint and had a large tear drop hood scoop similar to the second picture below.
none of my friends would hang out with this kid as we were all fairly sure he was a car thief, as he constantly had parts from newer cars for sale, but never held a job, as far as we could tell, and always wanted to meet you in some supermarket parking lot to sell parts, never his house or garage....if he even had one! and never wanted to give you a bill of sale, and would only deal in cash.
this kid was convinced he had the fastest car in town,
well until he bet LARRY B... and bet him $200 at least,....
too run for a match race , for the best 2 out of three runs at the local track, where LARRY B, managed too "JUST BARELY" stay about 1/2 a car length ahead of the kids 57 Chevy on all three runs....."and un-known to the kid ,could easily have made that several car lengths and really embarrassing"
remember these threads?
viewtopic.php?f=87&t=9768&p=36769&hilit=buick+caddy#p36769
viewtopic.php?f=105&t=10276&p=41491&hilit=buick+caddy#p41491
keep in mind $200 was over two weeks pay for most of us back then! and the only reason we knew LARRY got paid was both guys had to hand over $200 too an independent party who was one of the local kids fathers " and a COP" who was into hot rods as long as we kept the racing at the local track! 
