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Dave,

When's that car show y'all put on up there? I got a few guys down here that would make the run north I think. Two I know would.

Amen!
I ran a B/Gas dragster in the early 70's ( 350 sbc , Hilborn injected, reverse Isky roller cam, HC wild pistons on cast rods,) never dyno'ed it ... they were rare in those days but probably 500-600 hp and weighed 900 lbs... ran 8.50 s and 160-mhp 1/4 mile.
Now, here's a showroom Caddy with the same HP and ac/ stereo heated cooled seats!
I see them run auto cross like a Miata!

Cars back then were cool.
But they could nEVER hold a candle to today's muscle cars.

Sure we had power then.
But at what cost?
Would they run 100, 000 miles on the same set of spark plugs?
Tires then were ok, but sucked compared to todays marvels!

EFI and ignition now are light years ahead of anything we had then.

We can dream about the good old days
but the V-8s in the new Mustang and Camaro , Caddy, Lexus,
BMW are engineering marvels.

I even drool over the Huyndia Genesis coupe!

I saw Dick Brannen with his Thunderbolt race Hodges Dodges at US 131 dragway in 1964 what a show!

June, probably 11th or 18th, depending on when back to the 50's is.

Respect yes....Heart no way!

Sam,

Thanks so much for the additional pics and detail. Makes more sense to me considering how rare and radical the original Thunderbolts were. I had a 63 1/2 Galaxie "G" code which was one of the odd 406/405hp Tri Powers like the ones that came on the "P" (390 Police) code Galaxies and the 63 notch back. You normally got a "R" code 427/425hp in 63 1/2, but there were some 406's left. The only difference between the two were the extra cubic inches and the 2 fours vs. 3 twos.

The very best thing about the 406, 427, and I think some 390's (not sure on that) was the introduction of the aluminum intake. Your picture above illustrates it best. You will notice that the intake constitutes a part of the cylinder head. There is nothing heavier on a Ford FE engine than a cast iron intake manifold!

I have a couple of the cast manifolds...they have to be 80-90 pounds a piece.

The problem with the FE's and the intakes, was all the dang head options. They don't all work with the intakes.

My old 1970 Dodge Challenger. Took me 3 years to restore the car and build that engine. Sold it a few years ago...

Long gone now but was a 12 second street legal 340 Duster.

The paint on the car is hard to see in the picture, but it looks a foot deep in person. You would be stunned to see exactly where my dad painted it and his equipment. He is not a painter by trade, but it is the best paint job I have ever laid eyes on.

I said that he scored a 971 out of a possible 1,000 points. At the time that was the highest point scored of any Nova at a recognized event. That was in 1988. It was freshened up by Steve Mauer after he bought it from my dad and shown in New York. The Mecum site will show you the certificate if you are a member. It scored a 968 then.

Here are a couple of pics of the car.

Not sure why the pictures are not showing. Mebbe someone can help. Thanks!

My first car was a 1967 Cougar XR7 with the 289 and automatic with T Shifter on the console. Black leather buckets and all the options including a/c, which didn't work when I got it in '78.

For High School graduation, Dad gave me the keys to his '74 Chevy Cheyenne Super with the 454 auto in it. I wrecked it about two months later. Totaled. Looking back on it, it wasn't really that great as it had already nearly totally rusted out, been fixed and was rusting significantly again even though it was only six years old and Dad bought it new.

The two things I really hated about the Cougar were its handling and the way it leaked dust and choked you out anytime it was dry and you got on gravel. The steering of that Cougar (and most Mustangs I've driven from those days) was sloppy as hell. It was all over the road.

Classy!

I hear you, but the FE's are my favorite. I think you mentioned a '67 Fairlane. If I was closer, I think you would shoot me when I tell you what I passed on.

Right after dad finished his L79, he said he wanted me to do one. Basically, he would have me help him. But he wanted to do another car that he thought was neat. An original 427 Fairlane.

We found one in Houston for $5,000 without the motor and transmission. But it had all of the other rare parts in particular the factory "pancake" exhaust manifolds that only came on this car. It was the "R" code.

The owner's wife was there and he was no where to be found. He was to meet us there and we finally left after 3 hours of looking the car over from top to bottom. It was the real deal.

We should have camped out until he returned.

You have to lose all the stuff after jpg.

My favorite is the 66-67 gto. Nothing else IMHO looks like it means bussiness and with class of these. Had a 66 Lemans 2dr hardtop (poor boys GTO) with a 400 out of a 69 gto and a three speed manual. Car needed a paint job and interior needed redone, but boy would it run.

Yep! We replaced all of the front end sterring and suspension components in my wife's 67 GT a few years ago. It's a lot tighter than it was but it still feels loose compared to today's cars.

The nicest one i owned was a 69 Chevelle ss 396 it had the L78 motor the old 425 H.P. downrated to 375 H.P. used to beat 440 and 426 gtx's pretty easy and that engine would turn 7800 R.P.M stock !! Boy do i wish i had it now ! Don

We have a 68 Cougar with 59,000 original miles on it in the drivewsay under a tarp. It is to be restored with me and my son for him to drive for local events etc.

pretty basic car, 289 2 barrel, C 4 auto,, only other option it came thru with was power steering ( if that was an option) and a vinyl roof, long since gone. needs a lot of TLC, but it is solid.

car was bought new in L.A. by some lady, who rarely drove it since it didn't come with AC. She moved to Fla where it sat a lot there..some guy bought it, brought it to MN, painted it and then sold it to us for 2 grand back in 92, when he blew the 427 in his 69 Chevelle and needed money for a new motor.

one thing about MN, there are a lot of really nice cars, folks have stored back there, that come out in the summer and the local area has a lot of nice get together "Show and Shine" events.