where are the pictures I missed them
Sharing an older..."What a rush" experience.
- Thread starter RCE1962
- Start date
Agent Blue
Well Known Member
Todays youth will never relive the glorious past of being twenty years old in the late 60s out for a thrill car shopping, or day dreaming as most of us participated in. The car lots were full of muscle cars, sales people hawking the lot looking for the easy sale. The local Chevrolet and Pontiac dealers were my favorite playground. The three Yenko Camaros parked in the front row. Yes 1969 was a great mark in time. I expressed interest in a yellow 69 black final roof Chevelle with an iconic raised scoop hood. A quick test drive picking up my girl friend for lunch ( no food, just driving practice ) we headed to the highway. Repeated standing starts melting the rear tires the 375 hp four speed machine was this side of scary . We brought it back bald tires and fuel tank begging for another quart of gas . No sale but one hell of a ride. My wife remembers her head hiting the ceiling at one instance. Who believed in seat belts at this time ?
On to the Pontiac dealer, Back in the lot I spotted a 66 GTO, red black final roof. Checking the engine, three carburetors stared back with a mixing handle in the console. This example must have had a defective transmission. I limped it back minus a gear or two and more noise I had ever heard in a transmission. The salesman stated they would fix it and if I was still interested we could work out a super low price as it had been on the lot for a while. I scanned the rest of the used line up and selected a 64 red Impala, 327, 300 hp, manual transmission. This was the one I went home with. Low mileage, quiet, the big car experience, with enough power to turn those narrow fourteen inch tires at a moments notice. Sadly we left the full size compliment heading to the mid size and used Corvettes. Today the garage is a reminder of the past with a big block midyear, a solid axle fuel injected version, a couple " hard to see out of rear window coupes" and a Belair post sedan. The years have changed but the passion remains in aged classics.
On to the Pontiac dealer, Back in the lot I spotted a 66 GTO, red black final roof. Checking the engine, three carburetors stared back with a mixing handle in the console. This example must have had a defective transmission. I limped it back minus a gear or two and more noise I had ever heard in a transmission. The salesman stated they would fix it and if I was still interested we could work out a super low price as it had been on the lot for a while. I scanned the rest of the used line up and selected a 64 red Impala, 327, 300 hp, manual transmission. This was the one I went home with. Low mileage, quiet, the big car experience, with enough power to turn those narrow fourteen inch tires at a moments notice. Sadly we left the full size compliment heading to the mid size and used Corvettes. Today the garage is a reminder of the past with a big block midyear, a solid axle fuel injected version, a couple " hard to see out of rear window coupes" and a Belair post sedan. The years have changed but the passion remains in aged classics.
Here is my "rush" experience,Summer of 1977 16 years old working at an Exxon gas station my brother in law managed,came in to open up at 8AM opened all the doors pushed out the tire rack filled the cash register with money put coffee on etc: there on the counter is a note from my bro in law "order a starter for the Chevelle on the lift and put it in for me" so I go out into the shop and there sits a 70 Chevelle SS 454 red with black stripes on the lift, my mouth drops as that was my dream car,I walk underneath the car and see headers, ladder bars and a 4 speed,so I order a starter and tell the parts guy to hurry up as I want to hear this thing run,2 hours later which seemed like eternity the starter is in and I am lowering the car down I say "boy this car is dusty",I look in the engine compartment to see what other goodies there are before I fire it up and I see a Torker 2-R intake (the twisted carb intake) Accel wires and coil,MT valve covers and one of those 12" kinda flat air cleaners with the foam element! Now I am more excited than ever,so I slide in the seat,push in the clutch give it a couple of pumps and it roars to life (roar is true as it has header mufflers with no other pipes) I make sure it is in neutral and set the emergency brake and I jump out to get a better listen and I can hear the clatter of solid lifters,Could this be an LS6 that I have read about? So I call my Bro in law and ask whose car this is,it is the station owners Daughter/Son in laws car and that it will be for sale,WOW the wheels are turning now. When they come to pick the car up later that day i found out it is a 22,000 mile no winters LS6 car (450hp 454 with 4:10 gears) they were the 2nd owners and it had been sitting for 3 years in there garage,now they have a baby on the way so time to sell the car,price $3000.00 so I call my father to see if there is any way that I can borrow the money to buy this car,he says "Yes" but I have to see it first,so I tell the owner this and he hands me the keys and says"take it home for the night and show him" my draw drops to the ground,that 15 minute drive home to my house was one of the most memorable drives of my 55 years on this planet! I ended up buying the car and keeping it until I was 19 when my parents retired and moved to Florida and I couldn't afford the payments any more.The car was sold 3 more times,the last being Reggie Jackson,the last I knew it had 40,000 miles on it with the original paint.
It still had the original front tires and spare in the trunk.
It still had the original front tires and spare in the trunk.
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Not the part, about having to sell, these Awesome Cars.
Agent Blue
Well Known Member
My friend purchased a new 70 LS-6 four speed from a local dealer. He put on very few miles trading it for a 72 K-1500. The sad part he never let anyone drive or even sit in the car. Very protective of his new toy. Don't know much about the engine but the whine of the M-22 will always be remembered. The vacuum hood activator was pretty cool also.
wristpin
Well Known Member
Christmas day 1969, dad driving a 1964 Pontiac Catalina 389/auto and my uncle Neil in his 1964 Chrysler New Yorker 413W Short CrossRam. There had been a big snowstorm the prior week of Christmas so the roads were clear but they looked like canyon trails through the skyhigh snow with straight white sides. In each car were three boys between 5-9 years old and our parents. As we're leaving grandmas dad and Neil start jockeying for lead position. Suddenly dad drops the column shift into low and guns it to get the lead. With tires spinning and car weaving side to side our mom telling dad to be careful of the roads but to beat them, us boys spin in our back seat (seat belts rarely used in those days) to watch Neil behind us coming up fast, his wife Janet and 3 sons obviously egging him on to get going, to pass us! Quickly that 413 accelerated and began to pull along side, dad doing his best to maintain the lead. That New Yorker had to much under the hood so as it passed our cousins and Janet made faces and laughed. I still remember looking out the side window to see the snow cliff passing by so fast and having to look out the rear window to see the top of the cliffs. The last time I saw that Chrysler was 1988 at Neils funeral, Janet let me pop the hood and admire that engine. She sold it to her brother in CA shortly after. Been in love with the classics since that race.
I can remember the first time I got to turn the key in my Oldsmobile Omega....... wait a minute let me start over ...........I can remember the first time I got to turn the key in my Honda Accord ........no damn it let me start over........ no I can remember when I went to start........ooh hell..... this just isn't going to work for me.........but I sure liked reading your guyses stories...........no.... but I do remember when I got the bug......... I was probably 9 or 10 years old, when my dad was starting to refinish his 63 split window Corvette.....and the feeling of helping him Mount the transmission after the 327 had just been rebuilt and then driving it down the highway watching the tachometer and feeling the performance I was hooked........
Well my first experience with a drag race wasn't as fast as the story's here. My dad had a bought new. 1958 biscayne with a six cylinder automatic. So I drag raced a friend that had a 1959 ford small v/8 in it automatic ,and I beat him by a car length in the quarter mile. ,he was pissed and I could not believe I beat him.
I didn't have much for cars back in the late 60's. We would do a little road racing on the rock roads, sliding around the curves, trying to pass each other when you could see through the dust. One time on a black top road heading to a County Park my buddy wouldn't let me around him. We came to a tee in the road and when he turned left, I took the ditch and passed him on the right.......................I used to drive in the ditch just for fun. Had old $35-$75 beaters to drive. We'd be out drinking a few beers and head out the Quarry to slide around. I would drive up the stockpile of rock and go right over the edge.............the guys with me would about $hit themselves...imagine looking out in front and seeing nothing...............then going over the edge. You always wanted to make sure the pile was fresh and didn't have any rock hauled away to make a steep dropoff. I had a 62 Chev wagon in 1976 I bought specifically for driving up and down the river on the ice for $50 if I remember right. No one around here had done that before because of the current in the river caused the ice to be thin in spots. 1976 was a drought year and I probably had a 10 mile stretch of river to mess with. Get up to 60mph or so and go into a spin,,,,,cool................I slid into a log jam one night. Jack the car up and when I went to take the lug nuts of realized I had 3 lug wrenches and none fit. There was a car coming up the river so I flagged him down to see if he had a wrench to fit. It was a guy from town and he did have a brand new lug wrench, because he was driving his brand new 1976 Monte Carlo with less that 500 miles on in up the river............... A couple of beers and I could write a book.....................
I had a flat bottom 16' boat with a 70HP Evinrude that could tell a lot of stories also....when you run it up on a sand bar on purpose going 45MPH or so it is a long drag back to the river......
When reading the posts from 2005 I think Bob Walker wears a 4X jock...............
I had a flat bottom 16' boat with a 70HP Evinrude that could tell a lot of stories also....when you run it up on a sand bar on purpose going 45MPH or so it is a long drag back to the river......When reading the posts from 2005 I think Bob Walker wears a 4X jock...............
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1965 or 66.
Can't remember.
Seems like now-a-days, they're are a few things I can't remember.
Anyway, my girl friend couldn't go out, this particular night.
I cruised up to Grandway. That was a large Department Store, where all the car guys hung out, in the parking lot. Hung around, for maybe an hour, and started for home. Instead of coming all the way down Central Ave., I decided to go down Clinton Ave.
Clinton Ave. was not a good street, to be on at night.
I'm cruising along with a Beach Boys, or The Animals song on the radio, enjoying the hot summer. The Car was running, and sounding awesome too. Out of nowhere, a Big BLUE 1965 421 Pontiac Conv. pulls up along side of me. Because the top was down, I could tell the guys weren't White. They were making noises, and hollering curse words at me.
They kept revving their engine, and by the way it sounded, I could tell, it was the 3 carb 421. 
We were cruising about 30 mph, side by side. Finally, I told him "let's go". As soon as I said that, he tromped on the pedal, and stormed ahead of me. They were all laughing, and shouting at me. They didn't shout very long, because I went by them in third gear doing 90. When they pulled up to the RED light, after they lost, they were saying " hey man, that's a fast "mother F***er". I must say, that felt good.
I was really hooked, on racing after that.
That was the most gorgeous looking BLUE, I've seen, in a long time. Funny thing, if my girl was with me, I probably wouldn't have raced that guy.
Can't remember. Seems like now-a-days, they're are a few things I can't remember.Anyway, my girl friend couldn't go out, this particular night. I cruised up to Grandway. That was a large Department Store, where all the car guys hung out, in the parking lot. Hung around, for maybe an hour, and started for home. Instead of coming all the way down Central Ave., I decided to go down Clinton Ave. Clinton Ave. was not a good street, to be on at night.I'm cruising along with a Beach Boys, or The Animals song on the radio, enjoying the hot summer. The Car was running, and sounding awesome too. Out of nowhere, a Big BLUE 1965 421 Pontiac Conv. pulls up along side of me. Because the top was down, I could tell the guys weren't White. They were making noises, and hollering curse words at me. They kept revving their engine, and by the way it sounded, I could tell, it was the 3 carb 421. We were cruising about 30 mph, side by side. Finally, I told him "let's go". As soon as I said that, he tromped on the pedal, and stormed ahead of me. They were all laughing, and shouting at me. They didn't shout very long, because I went by them in third gear doing 90. When they pulled up to the RED light, after they lost, they were saying " hey man, that's a fast "mother F***er". I must say, that felt good.I was really hooked, on racing after that. That was the most gorgeous looking BLUE, I've seen, in a long time. Funny thing, if my girl was with me, I probably wouldn't have raced that guy.
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Dammit! Crown out the nose again!
As a 61 bubble top is the same age as I am I unfortunately missed out on most of the fun. I do however remember my babysitter's (go ahead and laugh) boyfriend having a brown 63 two door Impala with a three on the tree and some type of V8 in it but I was too young to really know what it was other than I thought the chrome wheels and noise was cool. But, I digress, he used to take me for an occasional cruise down Kemp Avenue in Watertown which was a one way so lots of opportunities to race light to light and more than once he lit up the tires and I thought I was cool as hell just to ride in the car whether he won or lost. Just the feeling of being thrown back in the seat and not seeing much of the road anymore as I was looking towards the streetlights. Same babysitter as the years passed, same boyfriend Ross moved on to a blue Plymouth GTX which was fun but when he showed up with a butternut yellow black vinyl top '69 Chevelle SS 396 4 speed car I was truly in love. Sideways thru the first two gears and hang on to your ass! I also remember my buddy's older brother had a '64 Impala SS 409 4 speed car, I remember him telling me is was a 409 because I told him the motor looked different than the other ones I had seen. It was silver with white interior that I thought was gorgeous but I never did get a ride in the car. He went to Viet Nam and the car just sat in the garage, not sure what happened to it after that. Damn! I hadn't thought about any of this for a long time.
Of course there were plenty of early 60's and 70's cars available when I was in high school. I almost cry when I think about what we did to a lot of really nice cars that I would give one nut if not two for now!
Of course there were plenty of early 60's and 70's cars available when I was in high school. I almost cry when I think about what we did to a lot of really nice cars that I would give one nut if not two for now!
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Another flashback. Back in the 70's we used to have 1/4 mile races out at the Borkhuis farm that everyone called the Tinkertown Nationals. Unfortunately for me I had no money and my 69 Impala 4 door really wasn't race material so I just helped wrench on my buddies rides. Mom and dad Borkhuis lived on an asphalt road that was located roughly in the middle of a section so we posted a car at the mile line on both ends and with CB radios they could communicate back to the farm if the cops were coming so we usually had time to get cars off the road before they got there. The starting line was at their mailbox and we painted a white stripe across the road at the finish line, there were cars that drove in to race, cars that came on trailers to race, hell old man Borkhuis even took his 402 powered '72 Chevy 3/4 ton out a time or two. His two sons who were and still are my best friends ran a '61 bubbletop 4 speed 350 and a '64 Impala SS 327 4 speed and later a '65 Chevelle BB automatic with stall and '69 Nova SS 396 4 speed. There was beer, hot dogs, burgers, grease and bloody knuckles. Big fun!
Wayne Borkhuis who was the instigator of the Tinkertown Nationals passed away last week. At the funeral they had some pictures of the cars in the yard and lined up at the mailbox, also had a pic of Rod's 61 bubble loaded in the back of the grain truck as we were getting ready to head to Thunder Valley at Marion, SD. Told mom Borkhuis she needed to get me some copies of those cool old pictures, will post some when I get them.
doc396
Well Known Member
This is a little different, it was my Mom's first rush. I had just bought a 1970 Superbird with a 440 6 bbl. I took it over to show her my car. I talked her into taking a ride in it. We had a section of unfinished freeway about 2 miles long that was accessible to traffic. We were at about a 20 mph roll and I floored it, the torqueflite went through all 3 gears and was winding out tight. I looked over at her face and she was terrified. I backed out of it and drove normal all the way home. Looking back that was a mean thing to do, She was in her 60's. We laughed about in years later. Here a picture before I sold it in the 90's.