damn I miss the older muscle cars

grumpyvette said:
vast majority of todays cars LACK THE CHARACTER AND APPEAL of the older true muscle cars


hit the nail on the head right there... born in the 80s i missed out on alot of great muscle cars cruising the streets en mass and what passes for a "car show" nowadays is typically not something i want to be within a few miles of. while i appreciate all the advancements and technoloy put into todays car ultimately id rather just have an old one. for all the reasons stated in the this thread, and another one... no one (except other corvette owners) ever even acknowledges me when im riding around daily driving my 96 collectors... but i couldnt go buy a pack of smokes in the old Z without getting bombarded with offers to buy it, thumbs up, or stories of "my dad/uncle/brother/self had one of these back in the days..." they are just what i like to call GOOD TIMES cars, you always end up having a good time, even if they happen to break it probably because of one helluva story.
 
by the way as far as "dream pontiacs" go... the 63 Catalina is "the one that got away" for me... i had an opportunity to buy a GORGEOUS restoration for something around $12k like ten years ago and didnt do it... stupid kid i was....
 

Attachments

  • black-1963-pontiac-catalina resized.jpg
    black-1963-pontiac-catalina resized.jpg
    328.3 KB · Views: 8
philly said:
grumpyvette said:
vast majority of todays cars LACK THE CHARACTER AND APPEAL of the older true muscle cars


hit the nail on the head right there... born in the 80s i missed out on alot of great muscle cars cruising the streets en mass and what passes for a "car show" nowadays is typically not something i want to be within a few miles of. while i appreciate all the advancements and technoloy put into todays car ultimately id rather just have an old one. for all the reasons stated in the this thread, and another one... no one (except other corvette owners) ever even acknowledges me when im riding around daily driving my 96 collectors... but i couldnt go buy a pack of smokes in the old Z without getting bombarded with offers to buy it, thumbs up, or stories of "my dad/uncle/brother/self had one of these back in the days..." they are just what i like to call GOOD TIMES cars, you always end up having a good time, even if they happen to break it probably because of one helluva story.
Why I love my chevelle so much I would rather have a Pontiac because it was my first love but for right now and because my father owned it I think I will keep the mighty mouse a running.
 
but its the things like that, the memories that give the cars personalities of their own, real character. a car becomes a member of the family sometimes because you can relive your youth or that first date or that first trip to the drag strip potentially every time you pop the door handle... it all comes rushing back
 
last evening one of the local guys who reads this forum almost religiously, but almost never posts (wishing to remain nameless),
drove his project car over here to show it off!
I was rather impressed as Id seen the car about two years prior to this, when he purchased it locally from some guys widow,
(not running with a blown pontiac 350 v8, and smelling like a litter box , that had not been cleaned in weeks,in august,)
for $500, and the progress hes made is in my mind very impressive,
especially as I know hes working on a very restricted budget ,
he found a 1968 Pontiac lemans ,
with most of the interior shredded as the previous owner had parked it in his shop and left the windows rolled down,
and his wifes cats over several years used the interior as a scratching post.
well most of the rugs and interior and the front seats were replaced, hes working on the dash (still needs work)
but he installed a 454 from a 1972 motor home a TH400 and a ford 9" differential in the car,
(he has no idea what car the ford 9" differential came from he bought it complete at a swap meet , its about 1" narrower than the O.E.M. differential was)
(rear gear ratio is in the 3.3-3,6 range judging from the way the car drives)
(yes that necessitates ford rear wheel lug pattern on the rear wheels)
and while its only about a low 13 second car currently,
its fun to drive.
mostly because he did some cylinder head port work, CC,ed the oval port heads had a multi angle valve job done,
installed headers , a full 3" exhaust and a new solid lifter cam,
Lunati 30110740LK
and an older oval port wieand single plane intake manifold.
yes the cams has too much duration for the compression and its not well matched to the stall speed, but considering,
the way it runs, once he hits about 3400 rpm its certainly fun, to drive,and yes its a total P.I.T.A. at idle as the tight stall converter and cam mis-match,
is not making off idle driving comfortable, but its a work in progress as they say, and considering the guys in his early 30s and working on a tight budget, the cars impressive!

for the younger guys that may not know what a 1968 le mans, looks like, from a mustang,
heres a similar car, picture I found posted, his car needs paint but its not rusted,
as it was always garaged... but he did need to remove the interior and pressure clean the car, due to the f%^&&* cats
1968_Pontiac_Le_Mans_Hardtop_Coupe.JPG
 
Last edited:
Back
Top