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My muscle car ownership in the early 70s was very limited in scope - limited to a 1967 Stingray Coupe with 427BB, 4speed Muncie, cutout side pipes and available horsepower options. It was very hard on Mopars and death on Fords. My muscle is still limited - that ride is out there in the garage.

Olds 442

CB

Thanx,pahick,for the video......the sweetest sound to my ears is a recip a/c engine and those ol big blocks sound like a Sandy/Spad/Able Dog.

I came back to the states in the summer of '70 to NAS China Lake for a week and saw and rode in a '70 Z28. When i got back to Da Nang i promptly went to the GM sales dude to order one. Had to order a '71. It was neutered compared to the '70.

When i was done having fun,my next duty station for my last 10 months was NAS Kingsville,TX. One car on base that impressed me was a '69 SS Camaro,396,white with orange stripes over the top,orange interior with some goofy sharkstooth ? cloth on the buckets but God was that thing fast! Didn't handle worth crap tho.

There were a bunch of Ford Mavericks running around that were real quick. Can't recall what engine was in them but they were cheap and plain-looking....similiar to the Road Runner concept. Can't remember the model designation but i think it had an X or Z or L,hell can't recall....small block sleeper.

But to me the muscle car that looked like a muscle car was the 1970 Pontiac Trans Am. Plain white with the blue stripe over the hood scoop. New body design in '70. Wish i could post a pic for ya to see but i'm on a mobile waiting to go coyote call'n in the morning.....maybe someone would be kind enough?
The car just oozed kick azz squattin there. The one i rode then drove had the 500HP 400. Felt like a high G count pressing against when you launched it.

And the sound...............you could feel it deep down inside you.

AMEN!!!!!

Oh and btw. my absolute favorite factory muscle car is a 1968 plymouth hemi roadrunner with a stick shift.

Tom264;
I hope this finds you and yours acceptably well this morning Tom.

Your choice brought to mind the brown '68 that a buddy had during the times I wrote of earlier.

As I recall his was what they'd called the "Econo-Racer" package?

If memory serves, it had a 383, 4 speed and fairly low ratio posi or limited slip rear end in it and not much else. There was a bench seat and the gauge package was basic I think?

It had one of the vertical pistol grips on the shifter and the shift throw on the thing was really quite long. You'd almost smash your hands on the dash going into 3rd if you weren't careful.

Anyway, it was a cool ride. It wouldn't catch another buddy's '70 or '71 Demon with a 340 and 4:11 rear in it though - that car was quick....

I hope you and your family have a great weekend Tom.

Regards,
Dwayne

That copo had to have chambered exhaust. I knew a guy who had a 70 chevelle ss 396 with chambered exhaust and it sounded like that with their "3/4 race cam" in it. I had 2 muscle cars that I sold in 03, a 67 Chevelle SS 396 convertible with a 4sp muncie black top with black interior and the body was red. The other one was a 68 Buick GS 400 green coupe with a black interior with a turbo 400 transmission, that was a comfortable car to drive.

Challenger

The new Challenger looks cool.

Ornery

'69 or'70 Boss 302, 427 Cobra or a '69 Boss 429 would make my list of favorites.

I bought a '68 El Camino in 1970 from a plumber friend who decided he need a full size pickup. It had the L79 327, Muncie 4spd and the 12 bolt 4.10 positrac rearend. In '68 the L79 was rated at 325hp in a regular Chevy and 350hp in the Corvette (same engine). I left it stock except for adding headers, modifying the distributor and putting wider tires on the back. It was a real sleeper. It was plain looking (light blue) and had the small hubcaps. I never got outrun by any big blocks (not counting hemis). I'm sure I would have been outrun by a hemi but never raced one. In 1971 I even outran a 1971 SS Chevelle with a 454 in it (a little less hp than a 1970 454). I drove this El Camino until 1978 when I bought a new pickup. I parked the El Camino in my garage and it's still there. If I live long enough I'm going to do a complete restoration and leave it to my son. So far when I have the time I don't have the money or if I have the money I don't have the time.

Thanks Dwayne you too.

I used to have a 71 dodge dart with a factory 340/auto and a friend had a 68 charger with a factory 383/manual, whenever we raced I would take him right from the getgo and about halfway down the road I could see that big nose coming up in my drivers window.....course he beat me but I fixed that!

I built that 340 to 400 hp and built that tranny to where it "chirped" the tires every time it shifted and dropped a 4:86 rearend in it......that did it! I smoked him every time after that.

Wont even mention my built to the max tubbed 68 RR I had in hs.

Checked with my wife,my '69 Hemi Charger had power seat's and window's.Now I drive a Cadillac CTS-V,pretty neat car.

Good comparison of the caddie cts with bmw and audi in Road and Track,,I think was (maybe Car and Driver), fairly recently.

Bought mine new in '05.LS-6 400HP.10,000 mi.This is where it spends most of it's time. http://photobucket.com/sqweeler i5

Rumor is that there is a chance the next generation of the Vette will be a supercharged 6cyl in order to meet future mpg requirements. Also that it will be much smaller for the same reason.

The C6 Vette and the current Camaro and Mustang big V8s just may be the last of the the breed that started in the middle 60s.

I know this is not a true muscle car to many, but I've had 6 Vettes from 64 thru a 2010. The last is the best without question.

my 69 yr old aunt has a ZO6 vette
this is her vette

Looks familiar. Not a ZO6, but a Grand Sport.

My Mother had a 69 350hp/350CI 4 speed with side pipes until she was 69yo

Waiting for better weather:

There were two in my town that I thought were IT!
One -- the old corvette
then there came a day I saw a Sheley GT Mustang -- it look fast just sitting there parked. Now that is THE CAR!

I has many in the day.. I guess my favorite and the quickist was my High School car. A 1963 Chevrolet Impala SS with an 425HP 4 spd 409. It was red metalic with Crager SS rims. It was an original Beach Boy "She's real fine my 409" would turn mid to high 13's at the strip. Towards the end of my ownership the only thing I could get it run well with was Avgas. Lucky to have a friend with a plane. Finally sold it to a collector when I went back in the Navy. His eyes got big when he saw it had the one original drivers seat belt. Chevy used to call these the Z11 series. Basically a factory drag car. If I remember right I bought the car for $350.00 in 1970. Don't even want to know what it would be worth today.

In the 70s my Brother had one of the old retired police cars that had what I think was a 427ci. It was a stripped down rolling beast on four wheels.