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1956 Chevrolet station wagon on which I likely made every mistake known to man in turning it into a hot rod on a college student's budget...
Ended up with a 283 engine bored .030 over with a Duntov 30/30 solid lifter cam, Carter AFB four barrel carb and one of the earliest capacitor discharge ignition distributors... Had a three speed with a Hurst shifter, but ended up in the army before I could afford to install a 4 speed. IIRC, it had a 3.70 ish rear end and could do 15s in the quarter mile at a time when 'vettes were turning low 14s.
1952 4 door Chevy Belair with a 2 speed power glide transmission. Was a beauty and only had about 30k miles on it when I purchased it for $200 in 1966. Had one of those death **** devices on the steering wheel, some baby moon hubcaps and fuzzy dice hanging from the mirror. Leaked a lot of oil and the vacuum driven windshield wipers almost came to a stop when you’d step on the gas to accelerate, but the car never let me down.
61 Comet 2 door sedan for $390 in 1966 when I graduated HS. My parents had a 61 valiant at the time and the standard joke was--what do you get when you cross a valiant with a comet?
Answer: A vomit with bucket seats that throw up and a horn that goes blah.
1989 20th Turbo Trans Am. Pictured below. Fast car for 80's. Went to the 1/4 mile in the spring of 1993 in Bowling Green and ran a 12.92 @ 108mph on stock radials. Not bad for a little V6.
1967 Chevy impala - 327.
Bought for $300 off my brother. Spent every dime I made on headers, wheels, tires, mufflers and air-shocks to turn it into the beast seen pictured here.
'41 Ford Opera Coupe, I "nosed," "decked," had the two piece hood welded and I "glassed" it and the center grill. "Stuffed" a "50 Olds engine that I had bored 1/8 inches with a 3/4 race cam. Car pic from School paper. Beat all my buddies in the 1/4! Cost most of what I made working part time since I was 15!
A green 1972 Plymouth Scamp. The front wheels wobbled and it sometimes dumped antifreeze on your feet! But, the next was better. Bought a new Blue Vette with tan bucket seats! Well ok, not a Corvette....a Chevette! Was lucky to hit 55 with a tail wind!
1963 Pontiac Tempest 4 cylinder three on the floor. If you looked in the engine compartment from the passenger side it looked like a 389, look from the drivers side and it was empty! This car was so stripped it didn't have a visor on the passenger side! The guy's at school called it "The White Vacuum Cleaner" $600 in 1966.
I bought my first car in 1966, and it was a wrecked 1958 Corvette. The front end was mostly gone, but the drive train was in good shape. I was 14, didn't have a driver's license and purchased the car for $600. I rode a bicycle to a nearby gas station and made $56/week, all of which was spent on the 'vette.
By the time I got my driver's license, it looked pretty good. Blue with a white insert, factory dual 4 bbl carb setup, 4 speed trans, and a grin on my face!
In the 52 years since I purchased my first one, I've had quite a few Corvettes; only doing without one in the first dozen years of marriage and kids.
When I was purchasing my new Carbon 65 Z06 this year I thought back to that '58 Corvette and how excited I was to get it. As nice as it was purchasing a new one off the showroom floor, it didn't compare with the old '58 me and my dad went to get.
12-05-2018, 02:51 PM
