Muscle Cars of the 60's and 70's...

[Bullaholic]

Any of you old enough to remember the "muscle cars" of the 60's and 70's like:

Pontiac GTO w/3 2's
Plymouth Road Runner
SS396
Barracuda
Olds 442
Ford Mustang "271"
Z28 Camaro
Dodge Hemi
Ford Torino "Hurricane"
AC Cobra

I drove a lot of em' when they were new instead of collector's items. Nothing like "souping up" your muscle car for peak performance by installing a cam & headers, double-pumper Holleys, Hurst shifters, pop-up pistons and the like. Those were the golden years of performance cars....


http://www.pcpros-tx.com/amergrafitti.jpg

[mustang04]

yeah and gas is now around $2.00 a gallon:p

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
Any of you old enough to remember
:weeping: :weeping: Darn it! I always hate when a thread starts out like this..... :bigcry: :bigcry: :p

[AP Panther Fan]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
:weeping: :weeping: Darn it! I always hate when a thread starts out like this..... :bigcry: :bigcry: :p

lol....I just ignore them ;)

[Emerson1]

Originally posted by LH Panther Mom
:weeping: :weeping: Darn it! I always hate when a thread starts out like this..... :bigcry: :bigcry: :p
We all know you are old enough to remember these

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/8816/wheelfb0.jpg

[sinton66]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
Any of you old enough to remember the "muscle cars" of the 60's and 70's like:

Pontiac GTO w/3 2's
Plymouth Road Runner
SS396
Barracuda
Olds 442
Ford Mustang "271"
Z28 Camaro
Dodge Hemi
Ford Torino "Hurricane"
AC Cobra

I drove a lot of em' when they were new instead of collector's items. Nothing like "souping up" your muscle car for peak performance by installing a cam & headers, double-pumper Holleys, Hurst shifters, pop-up pistons and the like. Those were the golden years of performance cars....


http://www.pcpros-tx.com/amergrafitti.jpg

The stock Mustangs I remember from back then had two standard engines, a 289 V8 and a 351 Cleveland V8. Then later on, Carroll Shelby/Ford came out with the Mustang Shelby Cobra. At one time you could get a 429 dual overhead cam V8 in it (same engine as the King Cobra). That engine, stock from the factory, developed 618 horsepower. Now, THAT was a muscle car. There were a couple of them running around when I was in San Francisco around 68, '69, and '70.

[LH Panther Mom]

Originally posted by Emerson1
We all know you are old enough to remember these

http://img523.imageshack.us/img523/8816/wheelfb0.jpg
And your point is.......???? :p

[Gp83]

Originally posted by sinton66
The stock Mustangs I remember from back then had two standard engines, a 289 V8 and a 351 Cleveland V8. Then later on, Carroll Shelby/Ford came out with the Mustang Shelby Cobra. At one time you could get a 429 dual overhead cam V8 in it (same engine as the King Cobra). That engine, stock from the factory, developed 618 horsepower. Now, THAT was a muscle car. There were a couple of them running around when I was in San Francisco around 68, '69, and '70.
The first Mustang that came out with a V8 was the 65 and had a 260 CI in it, then in 66 they dropped a 289 in it.

[big daddy russ]

Dang, Bull, you took me down memory lane. Not that I lived there, I just lived through my dad rebuilding some of those old cars.

My dad's owned three different '65 and '66 Mustangs throughout the years, and an old '51 Ford Coupe (at least I think it was a '51... he sold it when I was ten). He's currently working on a '65 convertible with the Pony Package, a 289, A/T, and just about every factory option you can imagine. This one's the nicest one he's ever owned and will probably be his "keeper" once he's done with it.

Personally, my favorite muscle-era cars were:

1. Shelby Cobras
2. 2nd-generation 'Vettes ('63-'67... preferred the '63 split window H/T's, but these are my favorites 'Vettes out of all of them)
3. First-gen Pontiac Trans Ams
4. Shelby GT500KR
5. First-gen Dodge Chargers ('66 and '67, if I remember correctly)
6. '64-1/2 through '66 Mustang convertibles, all first-gen ('64-'68) fastbacks
7. First-gen Chevy Camaros ('67-'69)
8. Late 60's/Early 70's Olds 442's/Chevy Chevelles (basically the same car)
9. Dodge SuperBee (beleive it or not, I liked them better than the Cuda's)
10. The old Hemi Cuda's

I'd also love to have one of those old Yenko Camaros, Cobra Daytonas and Daytona Chargers, but I don't think there's much in there that I can afford anytime soon. Just a lot of dreams. Oh, and the muscle car purists from that era will hate me, but I also love the two-seater Jags and Aston Martins from the 60's. Again, those are larger dreams than my pockets will ever be.

[Bullaholic]

I modified a 66' SS396 4-spd with headers, 900cfm Holley, L88 427 cam, and solid lifters. I modified the suspension with stiffer springs and put slicks on the rear. It would run a hole in the wind. Of course, you could run over a nickel and tell if it was heads or tails, it idled like a bucking bronc, and my wife's dad wouldn't let me drive it within 2 blocks of her house.

I grew up in the car business, so cars were never in short supply all of my years growing up.

[Gp83]

My favorite was the Shelby GT500KR followed closely by the 70 Chevelle SS 454

[Old Green]

Originally posted by sinton66
The stock Mustangs I remember from back then had two standard engines, a 289 V8 and a 351 Cleveland V8. Then later on, Carroll Shelby/Ford came out with the Mustang Shelby Cobra. At one time you could get a 429 dual overhead cam V8 in it (same engine as the King Cobra). That engine, stock from the factory, developed 618 horsepower. Now, THAT was a muscle car. There were a couple of them running around when I was in San Francisco around 68, '69, and '70. Shelby also introduced the Boss 302 small block V8 in the Shelby Cobra Mustang.

I drove a 1969 SS Camaro. 350 v8 with 350 factory HP, 4 speed Muncie Transmission, 3:90 rearend, 750 Holley and Edelbrock Headers. Ran 12:90 in the quarter.

I miss that car.
:(

[Old Green]

Originally posted by Gp83
My favorite was the Shelby GT500KR followed closely by the 70 Chevelle SS 454 That 70 SS 454 Chevelle was a monster:thumbsup:

[sinton66]

Originally posted by Gp83
The first Mustang that came out with a V8 was the 65 and had a 260 CI in it, then in 66 they dropped a 289 in it.

Actually, in 1965 (first production came out in the fall of '64), the Mustang had only a straight six cyclinder engine. The 260 came in '66, and the 289 in '67. The Mustang Cobras came out in '68 or '69. The 2+2 fastback was first produced in the '67 model year.

[Bullaholic]

Originally posted by sinton66
Actually, in 1965 (first production came out in the fall of '64), the Mustang had only a straight six cyclinder engine. The 260 came in '66, and the 289 in '67. The Mustang Cobras came out in '68 or '69.

And they made a 66' model with a 271hp 289 in it---that was the really "hot" one.

[Gp83]

Originally posted by sinton66
Actually, in 1965 (first production came out in the fall of '64), the Mustang had only a straight six cyclinder engine. The 260 came in '66, and the 289 in '67. The Mustang Cobras came out in '68 or '69.

You are correct...I meant mine to say 65 was first year with a 260 V8

[Gp83]

You are correct...I meant mine to say 65 was first year with a 260 V8...my co-worker has a 65 with a 260 in it 66

[sinton66]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
And they made a 66' model with a 271hp 289 in it---that was the really "hot" one.

I believe it came out in the fall of '66, but was actually a '67 model. This was along the same timeline that Ford had the Falcon Sprint with the same engine choices.

[Bullaholic]

My dad used to change cars about every 6000 miles, as he was in Chevrolet management, and he used to love the "hot" models. In 69' alone he drove yellow Z28 4spd. and an orange and white ss454 375-hp Chevelle. I wish I could have "mothballed" some of his company cars. In 1955 he drove a red Chevy nomad station wagon with the wood strips on the tailgate---no telling what that would be worth today. He even bought a few exotic cars on his own like a chautreuse and black XK-120 Jaguar roadster.

[Gp83]

Originally posted by sinton66
I believe it came out in the fall of '66, but was actually a '67 model. This was along the same timeline that Ford had the Falcon Sprint with the same engine choices.
I just got off the phone with my co-worker...He has a 64 with an original 260. They introduced it with a straight 6 and then in the fall of 64, they dropped a 260 in it.

[sinton66]

One of the most surprizing cars I ever saw was one a buddy of mine had. It was a '66 or '67 Sunbeam Tiger. Same size as the little Sunbeam Alpine, but with a 260 Ford V8 in it. That was one mean little car. The same buddy also owned a 1966 Jaguar XKE. Nice ride, and what a road machine!

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by sinton66
Actually, in 1965 (first production came out in the fall of '64), the Mustang had only a straight six cyclinder engine. The 260 came in '66, and the 289 in '67. The Mustang Cobras came out in '68 or '69. The 2+2 fastback was first produced in the '67 model year.
Actually, a few '64-1/2's had the 260 in them. The 289 took over halfway through the '65 model year, and the hi-po 289's came out late in '66. One of my dad's Mustangs was a numbers-matching '66 hi-po. The one he has now is a numbers-matching '65 with the 4-bbl 289 w/225 HP.

[Gp83]

Originally posted by Gp83
I just got off the phone with my co-worker...He has a 64 with an original 260. They introduced it with a straight 6 and then in the fall of 64, they dropped a 260 in it.

http://home.pon.net/hunnicutt/history_64_68.htm

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by Gp83
http://home.pon.net/hunnicutt/history_64_68.htm
Learn something new everyday. I knew the GT's had hi-po's, but didn't connect the dots that they were out in '65. I was wrong on that one.

[Bullaholic]

The worst I ever had my head pinned to the headrest was when I took a ride in my buddy's 427 AC Cobra. Small, light car body---big torque and lots of go-fast quick. Mean soundin, too.

[Gp83]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
The worst I ever had my head pinned to the headrest was when I took a ride in my buddy's 427 AC Cobra. Small, light car body---big torque and lots of go-fast quick. Mean soundin, too.
Those were NASTY fast!

I had a 78 Z28 with a stoked 383 that ran 12.20s @109 back in 1987. That was fast back then.

[big daddy russ]

Originally posted by Bullaholic
The worst I ever had my head pinned to the headrest was when I took a ride in my buddy's 427 AC Cobra. Small, light car body---big torque and lots of go-fast quick. Mean soundin, too.
That must've been something. Everything I've read and seen about them said that they didn't handle for anything, but had enough torque to punch a dime through the seats.

I love roadster-style cars, and those Cobras combined the two-seat, open feel of the roadster with the meaner look of the muscle cars. IMO, there's never been a prettier car made.

[sinton66]

You're right, Bullaholic. It WAS a 427 dual overhead cam, not the 429. The 427 was the one that developed 618 hp. That was the same engine as the Shelby King Cobra. All the races were won by them for several years. That car would do 200 in the straightways, no problem. I remember watching races where the Cobras would be caught in the turns, then it would look like everybody else just slowed down in the straights because they just ran off and left them behind.

[sinton66]

I also remember a friend that had a '66 or '67 Pontiac Bonneville with a 421 in it. That thing would run too.

[BIG BLUE DEFENSIVE END]

We have a 1963 Impala SS with a 327, power windows and air conditioning. It's pretty sweet.

[Dogman_1969]

Right after I graduated from HS I bought a 1971 Chevelle. Nothing fancy, 355 Chevy, radical cam, intake & carb. It was blue in color and had a white vinyl top. I pulled the top off, had it repainted white with a custom striping and redid the interior. I sure miss that car.

I'm building a shop at my home now and plan to build another '71 Chevelle this time with modern technology though. I'm thinking about a ZZ4 crate motor from GM backed by a 6-speed manual gear box. This time though I plan to have it painted with a paint scheme from "the Day", Hugger Orange with White Stripes.

Man those were some sweet cars..............

[Johnny Utah]

My father bought me a 1965 Mustang Fastback 2+2 in 1983. Still have it!!! Great car, 289 4 barrell and still runs like a top. Will cost about $10,000 to totally refurbish, one of these days!!!

[Bullaholic]

You guys really know and love your "old" cars. I wish I had enough time and space to tell you all of the stories related to the car business from growing up in it, working in GM management, and owning a dealership.

I was at Cobo Hall in Detroit in 70' to see John DeLorean introduce the Monte Carlo.

[IHS Fan]

a challenger t/a or AAR Cuda are the ones i really want. my next door neighbor has a 69 dart with a 500 c.i. big block that puts out 850 hp. and runs mid 9's at 140 in the quarter mile. now he wants to put on a 2 stage nitros kit for an extra 350 hp.