Ya’ll.are talking “Muscle Cars” but back in my day, we couldn’t afford those shiny chrome wheels, with big headers, and Printed, Ported & Polished Engines... So I looked all over for my first ride, which was a Ford Falcon Station Wagon, with Standard Tranny and 170 Slat Six that made all of 100 Hp going down hill, with a tailwind.... Drove that till the Tranny fell out, crus’en over I-90 at 50 Mph, in the fall of ‘68... Was working as a Professional SkiPatroman, and Lift Operator, and needed a solid Winter Ride... Coming back from Stevens Pass, with a buddy, I spied an old ‘55 Dodge Powerwagon, PanelTruck, with a “For Sale” sign, in the window just off the Highway, and kicked by bud till he turned around and went back, so I could inquire about it... Turned out to be a reTIRED School. Bus from the Derrington, Wa School District, and had Private Buss Plates on it... The guy wanted $750.00US and he would transfer the Title... Came back the next morning with a Cashiers Check for the total amount, and drove it back to the Commune, where I was living, on my Days off..Did an LubeOil Change, and changed all the Filters, Drained and refilled the Three-speed plus Granny Tranny, Two Speed Transfer-Case, and both Differentials, Front & Rear... Filled the Gas Tank for four bucks, as it only held 10 USG, but it came with four 5USG .Mil GasCans, in carriers welded to the Front & Read 8” “I Beam” Bumpers... Installed in the Front Bumper was a 4000# PTO driven Winch, w 50 ft of 1/2 Stainless 7 Strand Wire Rope... Dove over to where AlaskaChick was living, and took her out on our first Date... After the ride, she christened my new Ride “The Pig”... there have been a few Pigs” since but none with memories of that first one... Now we are talking about “Muscle” here and in Granny Low, Low Range, With all four Hubs locked, it’s old Flat Head Six, a whole 95 HP, could pull any of your Muscle Cars backwards, and climb Trees, with a single bound... Now that is Muscle.... and I could park it in any Buss Zone, in Seattle, at will, after beating the Parking Ticket in Seattle Municipal Court, to the shegrinn, of the Cop & The City Attorney... They changed the State Statue, a couple of years later, and dropped Private Buss Plates, and I had to reRegister the Pig, as. Commercial 9000#.GW Truck... but oh was it fun while it laster... Last I heard, it was a ranch Truck, on a friends Pair Farm out of Wenatchee Wa.. and still climbing Trees... Getting Old, is a bitch, but the memories that one can recall, almost make up for it.....
I used to be a pretty decent driver. I drove the car I'd built in college to work and to the races for twelve years. Finally had my tire sponsor drop production of my tire size mid-season. Swapped to Goodyear slicks and started winning E-Modified autocross events. Did that for three more years until I ripped up my shoulder so bad I could no longer handle the car on a tight course. Hill climb was still big in NC at Chimney Rock Park and Beech Mountain. I met some folks there that introduced me to land-speed racing. I could do a straight line, without worries about driving off a cliff. After the first pass at Maxton I was informed that I'd need to add lots of safety equipment. Lots of welding, fabrication, 15 pounds of halon in two fire systems, borrowing designs from Winston Cup cars, more fuel pumps, reduced fuel tank capacity from twelve gallons to a 5 gallon fuel cell. Still kept driving the car 35 miles each way to work. I ran laps down The Maxton Mile for several years, setting about a dozen records. All but one has been beaten, and since that course has been retired I'll get to keep that one. I parked that car and it's faster brother on August 14 2005 after hearing that my friend and founder of the East Coast Timing Association, John Beckett, had died in a crash at Bonneville. I rarely exceed the posted speed limit nowadays.
Back in the latter 70s ,, I would occasionally skip school with a cute little gal ,, she had a 70 Maverick ,, 6 cylinder ,,, we'd throw our money together,, take off in her car ,,, buy some beer , and put gas in her car,,, 1 day she said ,,, " one of these days somebody's gonna get this car and find rust mark's above the 50 cent level,,,,, funniest damn thing she ever said. I wonder what ever happened to that gal ,,,
I had a 66 2 door hard top,Pulled the engine and trans.Some dude keep bugging me for it... When I keep blowing him off,He then offered me stupid money,Sadly I sold it.
Had a 65 Valiant ( barracuda with out the bubble window) for a while with plans to make a road rocket out of it! Was building up a smokin hot 340 and 5 speed for it, big brakes, custom suspension, the works! Then life got in the way, 1st wife passed away, and had to sell it and a bunch of other stuff! That's one I would really like to have back, I think it would have been a real hoot to drive and would have given those rice rockets fits! The Alfa does a good enough job at doing that, but nothing compares to a screaming American V-8!
I had a 1970 Challenger with a 340 when I was in high school. I worked part-time at a Dodge dealer at night in High school and we would burnout test many used cars. Driving? 1.5 million accident-free miles driving big trucks.
Lots of good drivers at SM. One thing I wish I could operate is a dozer. I can move one but I remember in Alaska I tried to grade the batch plant area between trucks. When I backed away I couldn’t believe the mess I had made. Took me the rest of the day to fix it. Omg. That was 1990. Pretty much the last time I’ve been on one. It was a D-7 btw.
Well I was the poor boy. I had an old 1953 ford v8 flat head that I put many a mile on. There was a service station called Rose oil that would put gas on sale for 5 gal for a dollar,so one dollar would get me through sat nite. Pick up some friends and head for the nearest boot legger then party all night at another friends house. Good old days and I wish I had my ford back.
In the summer before my senior year of high school The Dukes of Hazzard was pretty much finished but it was still in everyone's mind; I found a guy selling a '70 Charger that he'd painted orange like the General Lee (that was a '69) and lined with hot pink fun-fur. It was the small engine, sadly, and it smoked like a longshoreman, but I got it for five hundred bucks. Orange on the outside, pink on the inside, and smoked badly; I drove it to school the first day and it was immediately dubbed the "Puke Duke" and I along with it. All these years later, I doubt many people from school remember who I am--but ask them about the "Puke Duke" and they'll know immediately. The tranny governor went out and I didn't have the money or inclination to fix it; junked it for $75. My one crime against humanity. I miss that car sometimes...even the pink fun-fur.
That seems to be the case, pounding pavement is boring to me. To each there own, I'm alright with being the odd man out. Thankfully, I've got lots of friends with the same interests. We usually have larger groups but it's getting harder to them all together at once.
Negative, hopefully this summer that'll change so we can meet up. I tried to convince them to get pink
I’ve been observing a new on-ramp that from the beginning I knew.....Big trouble! Another wreck since last trip. Best guess is a dozen plus accidents in a very short period of time. Likely 10 times more near misses. The computer model obviously was wrong. Hmm. Maybe like a pandemic computer model.
