Do you guys realize just how spoiled we are?

[big dave]

Originally Posted by Bigtime53

My first car was one that my neighbor had and he had bought another car so I talked him in to selling it to me. I can't remember what it was called for the life of me but I gave him 10 bucks for it. It would not run so I had some friends help me tow it it home. I pulled the radiator cap off and it was froze up,no anti freeze in it. So I thought what the hell, we messed around and got it running and it had not hurt anything. I was a junior in high school and worked at a gas station five days a week and on weekends I helped my friend drive a dump truck hauling sand to different jobs. When summer rolled around I quit my job at the gas station and went to work full time for my friends dad who owned that construction company. I was making 2 bucks a hour!! Man I was getting rich! So I sold that first car for a 150 bucks and went and bought a 1969 Olds 442 with a 4 speed. It was azteck gold with a white vinyl top and bucket seats. After I paid the taxes and tag I just had to have some mag wheels and a 8 track tape player. I spent every dollar I could on that car. I had just got it all done and started back to school for my senior year and one saturday afternoon I thought I would go down to the local drive in and I got t-boned by a guy who was drunk and he totaled my car out. After I settled with the insurance company I went right back to the Olds dealership and they had about 5 1970 Olds 442 W-30's sitting there and I bought one. It was rally red with the white stripes,white interior and a automatic. That big twin scoop sold me on that car! Well I kept it till I got married and then sold it. I kept up where the car was for about 10 years then lost track of it. I was looking on ebay a couple months ago and what did I see, my car! It is in michigan and I called the guy. I bought the car from him but then when the transport driver got there to pick it up he backed out of selling it to me. So life goes on and maybe I will end up getting my Olds back. At least he said when he really wants to sell it he will let me know. We shall see.

Just remembered the make of the first car,it was a Kaiser. It had 4 doors but the one behind the drivers seat was fake. It had the spare tire and jack on the inside of the fake door.


Here are some pics of my Olds. Not like the new iron out nowdays but was fun in 1970! Car ran 14:20's all day.

That was an amazing story...I hope you get your Olds back!

[29er]

from start to finish ,all of your comments/experiences, are very interesting to read.

Thank you.



all i can say, my father and my uncle-his brother- both had torino's gt's. my dad had a 390/auto with 325hp-1969- and my uncle had a 1968 428 cobra jet. i think i got bitten by performance right there with the sounds and just going thru the seat and those black stripes on the asphalt.

in 97 i got a ws6 it was fast i liked the handling of it, but i did not like auto. couple of years later in 02 i got another t/a ws6 this time 6 speed, i remember in that time it was strong, a Z06 had 385hp..the zr-1 was gone it had 400 at the time ..fast forward to 2014,couldn't get the Zl-1, got the 1LE, but would like to feel of going thru the seat again. it needs more.

[big dave]

Originally Posted by 29er

from start to finish ,all of your comments/experiences, are very interesting to read.

Thank you.

I agree, which I really like threads like this. It seems like everyone here has an interesting story. I'm glad I started this topic, the responses have been amazing.

[97ChameleonTA]

Originally Posted by Murder 1

There was a modded 87 Grand National there that the owner said he got pulled HARD by a convertible ZL1 in Bradenton... sounds like 97Chameleon T/A got him Marty has gotten a lot of people over the years.

Thanks Bryan, I do believe I remember that race. When I left and looked back at about half track I just thought he waited at the line to spool up, didn't think he was in it.

For the historical aspect, my first car was a 1974 blue Formula Firebird with an anemic 400 rated at 225HP that I bought in 1984. It was only the second year of smog motor regulations so the compression ratio was like 8:1. Second car was a 1980 Trans Am with the 301 Turbo bought in 1985. What a piece of crap that motor was. I quickly blew it up and, like one of the other members here, came across a '73 455SD that I dropped into it. After way too many mods, transmissions and driveshafts, that was my first 10 second car. It ran 10.90's in the mid 120 range. Nothing on the street could touch me back then but it was hell to drive on the street with no A/C and the carb loading up at every stoplight. Next car was a 1970 Trans Am that I left stock. Then a 1970 GTO that ran mid 12's with a cam and some head work. After that was a 1970 Buick Skylark convertible that I yanked the 350 out of and dropped in a 455 that I built to Stage 1 specs and then some. It was fun pulling away from the Mustangs without even touching 5 grand on the tachometer. Then I picked up the '97 Trans Am. LT1 6-speed with just bolt-ons that I got into the mid 12's with. Always got accused of having a hidden bottle or something else with that car. I still have it today and it's currently getting an LT1 stroked to 383ci. with an 80mm turbo.

Believe it or not, I picked up the ZL1 for my wife! She saw a pic of it and fell in love. However, she hated driving it because she works at a place that has a very dark parking garage and she was always afraid of hitting something or something hitting her. She handed me the keys and said "I know what your going to do with it so have fun and don't break the bank". And, here I am loving every minute of it!

[ZL1-V]

My first and only experience in a "true muscle car" was as a teenager in the seventies. It was a Pontiac GTO. I was scared to death as the car would lift off of the line and pull like no tomorrow. The scary part was it didn't handle well at all, and didn't stop due to crappy brakes. We are so fortunate to live in this time of fast cars with all of the creature comforts.

[Muscle Car Lover]

Originally Posted by EOD_Tech Infidel

245hp lol I still love this car

MAN I wanted one of those so bad when I was growing up. Bad ass looking car, just exuded nasty and fun.

[Muscle Car Lover]

Not the best engine ever, but just for looks I always thought the L98's with those sexy intake runners weere the best looking production engines GM ever had:
http://i.ytimg.com/vi/tLwbi27HBjs/maxresdefault.jpg

[motorhead]

This is how bad the late 70's were performance wise. In 1978 this was the fastest American made production vehicle 0 to 100 as tested by Car and Driver.

[motorhead]

Originally Posted by Murder 1

Some of you guys are throwing out some serious "old iron". Okay... going back to those cars... Here's my 72 Monte Carlo on top of the old Bayfront Center. When I met Bobby Allison in about 1992 at his cellular phone business in Pinellas Park and told him I had a '72 Monte we nick named "Coke Machine" after his #12 NASCAR he smiled because he knew that was too farfetched to make up. Here it is. I got his autograph.

Funny thing is the ZL1 weighs > 400 pounds more than this car !!

350 4 barrel 355 12 bolt posi baby YEA !!! Amazing how the radial tires were so much better than the bias ply. It was modded some. It could hold off a GN or a 6 spd Vette in the 80s but you had SD 455 Trans Ams, Satellite GTXs, and 440 SuperBees still running around that were way deadlier that the cars of the era. They survived the gas crisis.

Cool story, but who is the hottie sitting on the hood?

[Bigtime53]

Originally Posted by 97ChameleonTA

Thanks Bryan, I do believe I remember that race. When I left and looked back at about half track I just thought he waited at the line to spool up, didn't think he was in it.

For the historical aspect, my first car was a 1974 blue Formula Firebird with an anemic 400 rated at 225HP that I bought in 1984. It was only the second year of smog motor regulations so the compression ratio was like 8:1. Second car was a 1980 Trans Am with the 301 Turbo bought in 1985. What a piece of crap that motor was. I quickly blew it up and, like one of the other members here, came across a '73 455SD that I dropped into it. After way too many mods, transmissions and driveshafts, that was my first 10 second car. It ran 10.90's in the mid 120 range. Nothing on the street could touch me back then but it was hell to drive on the street with no A/C and the carb loading up at every stoplight. Next car was a 1970 Trans Am that I left stock. Then a 1970 GTO that ran mid 12's with a cam and some head work. After that was a 1970 Buick Skylark convertible that I yanked the 350 out of and dropped in a 455 that I built to Stage 1 specs and then some. It was fun pulling away from the Mustangs without even touching 5 grand on the tachometer. Then I picked up the '97 Trans Am. LT1 6-speed with just bolt-ons that I got into the mid 12's with. Always got accused of having a hidden bottle or something else with that car. I still have it today and it's currently getting an LT1 stroked to 383ci. with an 80mm turbo.

Believe it or not, I picked up the ZL1 for my wife! She saw a pic of it and fell in love. However, she hated driving it because she works at a place that has a very dark parking garage and she was always afraid of hitting something or something hitting her. She handed me the keys and said "I know what your going to do with it so have fun and don't break the bank". And, here I am loving every minute of it!

Your wife is a keeper! I would think something was wrong with mine if she said that to me!

[EOD_Tech Infidel]

Originally Posted by Muscle Car Lover

MAN I wanted one of those so bad when I was growing up. Bad ass looking car, just exuded nasty and fun.

I love it. It's a great cruising car. I love the 3rd gens as my first Camaro was a 3rd gen and I had to have an IROC so I got this one when I was in Afghanistan. bought it from the original owner in New Mexico and had it shipped to Florida. I had to wait 4 months to come back from my deployment but when I returned I drove the car from Florida to Las Vegas.

[hognutz]

it is pretty crazy. my 6 year old has just been nagging me for a cat so I ordered a hellcat to try out and get her off my back.

it will be interesting to see what I think it of it. I think I will flip it and buy a the lowly 526hp GT350 though unless I like it more than I think I will.

I just wonder where this stops. it like horsepower chicken who flinches first. It though the 662 GT500 would be the king for a wile ha ha.


it funny how 500hp was what our 10 second braket car in high school probably had and now you can by a zillion cars with that stock.

[Bigtime53]

I called our local ford store last friday and ask about that GT500 and some guy here in town has already put a 10 grand deposit down on the only one they are getting so I called the local dodge store and they can't get a hellcat. So I guess I will just have to wait on one of those. I would rather see one first anyway before I would pull the trigger.

[motorhead]

Originally Posted by Bigtime53

I called our local ford store last friday and ask about that GT500 and some guy here in town has already put a 10 grand deposit down on the only one they are getting so I called the local dodge store and they can't get a hellcat. So I guess I will just have to wait on one of those. I would rather see one first anyway before I would pull the trigger.

GT500? I wasn't aware is was set to come back anytime soon. Can you point me to a link?