Flashback

[Boz330]

Stopped to get gas this morning and was listening to an oldies station while I pumped gas. Then I heard a deep, throaty growl, the kind that always made you turn your head and look when you were a teenager. There was 63 Falcon pulling up to the pump next to me. It looked like it just came off of the showroom floor. The emblem on the front fender advertized a 260CI V-8, but from the lope of that engine I would guess that it wasn't stock.[smilie=w:, kinda made me feel like I was 18 years old again for a little while. I wish I had my 65 Plymouth Satellite with the 383 back, although I don't think I could afford to feed it now.

Bob

[3006guns]

You were lucky.......I lusted after a Satellite and 383 (or a 426 Hemi!) while in high school, just couldn't afford it. I ended up with a standard sedan with a slant six instead. Hardly "cool" then but I recognize it now as good little engine. (old Chrysler fanatic)

Funny how the muscle cars have turned into collector's items. When you really think about it they weren't really high quality....just stamped out like so many cookies for the street crowd. Engines and transmissions were fantastic but the overall quality of the body, fittings, etc. wasn't all that great. Time marches on and in 2005 my wife ended up with a new 300c with a Hemi. I'm here to tell you the technolgy of today has made that engine a screamer! Scares me and I'm not afraid 'o nothin'. Puts our nostalgic stuff to shame.

Still dream of them though!

[R.M.]

Ahh, the Falcon. Had 2 of them. A 60, and a 62, both had the 2 speed auto with a 144 cid 6. Great car in the snow. Didn't have enough power to spin the tires.

[captaint]

Back in 1968 my best friend's BIL (older than us) had a 63 Falcon with the 260 and a four speed trans. What a fun ride!!! Not a ton of power, but still, really FUN!! enjoy Mike

[looseprojectile]

a model A coupe. $45.00 .
My most enjoyed car was a 63 Pontiac Tempest Lemans with a 326 and four speed. It would only run on white pump Shell gas.
My worst car was a 442 Olds. It got about four miles per gallon.
The Falcons and Mavericks were great transportation for poor families and kids on stingy budgets. Pintos were more of the trend of cheap.
Anyone ever had a Vega?
I never liked Mopars but my wife drives a Chrysler 300 and I don't think a more reliable car can be made. And it gets 28 MPG on regular gas. Gonna keep it till it pukes.

Life is good

[chaos]

Only ever owned one car in my life. A 1966 mustang with the 200 CID 6. Only Ford trucks since. Have no use for a car

[Arisaka99]

a model A coupe. $45.00 .

Man you must be ancient!!! :kidding:

[44man]

What I remember about the Falcon were the ones I seen in intersections. Ball joints would break and the wheel was on it's side. [smilie=1:

[Houndog]

anyone ever had a Vega?

Yep!
A 73 with an LT1 350 and 4 speed and a 72 with a 427 and an auto! you've not lived untill you turn a 427 loose in something like that!

My favorite ride of all time was a 69 Camaro Z28. 302/425Hp, 4 speed, White with Orange racing stripes and an orange interior. Talk about a babe magnet! I should have been horse whipped for selling that one![smilie=b:

[HeavyMetal]

Went to a company "picnic" at the Queen Mary Saturday.

When the GF and I arrived I spotted a flock of Sunbeam Tigers parked in a lot very close to the main entrance.

One of the service guys arrived at the same time I did, gotta love guys under 30, and, while he likes muscle cars, he had no clue what a Tiger was all about!

He and I ditched the girls for about 15 minutes, they needed a break from the hike in from the parking spot so sat on a bench in the lobby, and we went over and got lucky one of the owners was just winding his up to go get gas.

He'd long ago dumped the 260 in favor of a 289 with a nice "street" cam in it!

Love the sound of horse power!

Also owned a Vega back in the day, 327 small jornal block, power steering ( I was told it couldn't be done!) and a turbo 350 converted to full manual shift only.

Gas price be ....... I still wish I hadn't sold that car!

[Boz330]

Man you must be ancient!!! :kidding:

I paid $25 for my first car. Got a couple more for $75 and bought one when I was in the Army from a 2LT going to Nam for $50 and had to put a new head on it. It got me through my last year and half in the Army and I got the same money for it when I traded it in after I got out. Money is relevant only to the point of how much of your labor it takes to purchase the things you want or need.
My first job paid $.50 per hour and I worked a 40hr week when not in school. In the Army I started at $90.50 a month. I was a Sgt E-5 when I got out and was making $211 a month. Gasoline was $.23 a gallon and you could get a brand new muscle car for $3000. To be relative a 45 Colt milsurp was $60 and I got a Remington 700 with a 3-9 scope on it for $106. Before the Gun Control Act of 68 that same Colt was $18 and a new in the grease M-1 Carbine was $20.

Bob

[Harter66]

I have my 59'Ranchero w/the factory 300HP/352 T-Bird,3 on the tree,3.73 9", used to get 20+mpg. I've got all my parts for the restoration . The old girl was hit in the passenger door/fender so that's all full of glass and bondo . To this day I wonder how they ever kept those 6.50x14 bias plys stuck,as the 225/70/14s would light up at will even in 2nd gear.

[Moonie]

I had my fair share of hot rodded v8's in my youth. Looking to recapture a little of that, still can't believe the new Mustangs have over 400HP AND get 26mpg... My last mustang did have a bit more HP but didn't get over 10mpg, granted that was 20 years ago.

[lead-1]

My favorite car was my '70 GTO. that was a lot of fun. I also had a '76 Vega with the high output 2.3 engine, better hang on when you stomp that thing down, lol..
A friend of mine bought a '64 Fairlane and I'm pretty sure it had the 260 in it with a three speed, we had a lot of laughs at his expence. I think he hit a deer with every car he ever owned and at least one that he borrowed. One night we were cruising the back roads with him and another guy started yelling "deer, deer, deeee", wham he hit another one but this one was a big ol doe that was already dead in the road, lol.

Ah, the good old days....
sorry to ramble on

[Boz330]

I have my 59'Ranchero w/the factory 300HP/352 T-Bird,3 on the tree,3.73 9", used to get 20+mpg. I've got all my parts for the restoration . The old girl was hit in the passenger door/fender so that's all full of glass and bondo . To this day I wonder how they ever kept those 6.50x14 bias plys stuck,as the 225/70/14s would light up at will even in 2nd gear.

My 383 Satellite would light the tires going into 4th at 105mph. The original tires from the factory were those 2 ply 4 ply rated, I didn't keep those long. If you got even a little heavy footed they would break loose and with the positraction it could be a hand full. Scared the devil out of the old man the first time he drove it, he was use to an old flat head 6 and he tromped on the gas like he was in that 6 banger and the race was on for a few seconds.:mrgreen:

Bob

[leadman]

I had many fast cars and bikes in my younger days. '65 GTO, '69 Dart 340, '69 Camaro convertible, '65 dodge Coronet 500 with 383 4 spd.

Got a ticket for 140 mph in the Dart. When the cop asked how fast I was going I told him I didn't know as the speedo only went to 120 and it would do that in second gear (auto). His Ford with 428 would only go 140 so that is what he wrote me for. Cost me about a months wages and my license for 60 days.

Nowdays they would throw you in jail and toss the key!

That Dart would get 15 mph if you keep the secondaries closed (didn't happen much!).

My uncle that was only a few years older than me had alot of fast cars too. '64 Fairlane with 289 souped up. He had a '69 Dart 340 4 speed. Was three sheets to the wind one night and power shift from second to what he thought was third, except it was 1st!. Drove it to the dealer and called him in the morning and said it had a noisy lifter. One of the rods had left the block!

[Changeling]

1961 Corvette, 327 bored and stroked, Heads done by Mondello in California, Crane roller cam, Jahns pistons, custom headers, Mickey Thompson Ram mnifold with 2 8" Carters, 456 rear, Electric gas pump, T-10 4speed (several of them, LOL) then switched to Muncie 4 speed fewer problems, Custom springs and shocks, and lots more smaller things.

Became a habit to look at the gas guage every time I passed a gas station!!!

[scrapcan]

brings back my youth also, but I didn't own the cars. I was the kid in the back or shotgun. I am par tof a family that was mopar fans. the few below that are not mopar were fun, but not kept for long in the family.

Had a couple of fun expereiences in a plymouth furyIII with 383 and twin 4s. Wonderful 2 door hardtop. One night my uncle was way to drunk to drive us the 100 miles home so My cousin and I took turns driving home while he slept in the back seat. Not sure what would happen to an 11 and 12 year old caught bending the speed limit today, let alone what would happen to the adult. When my cousin and I get together we always talk about that night. One of our favorite memories.

He also had a 64 dodge truck body on an imperial chasis. had a 413 with the push button shifter in the dash. Another uncle had a 63 dodge 1/2 ton with a 318 with a six pack off of the duster that lost a rod on week two, the rebuilt a 318 and sold it, all the extra parts form teh 340 ended up on other fun toys.

More fun was had off road with a willy's pickup with the little 241 red ram hemi. It was loads of fun even when I was a teenager. One had to be careful to make sure you had spare axles close at hand as it twisted the willy's to bits without notice.


Also had many days of fun helping to rebuild and test drive a Mustang Mach1 that had a tricked out 351 cleveland, replacement rearend, and tons of work on the steering axle. Did I mention it was lots of fun for a teenager that just got his drivers license!

Another uncle (my mom had 6 brothers) had a Chevy Monza that was not as it should have been, a little more power plant crammed under the hood. That one got to go before he got to spend jail time.

An aunt married a guy, uncle Jim to me, that was a chevy fan and he had lots of nice stuff that always seemed to end up with a latham supercahrger bolted onto it. Nothing quite like the sound of the paint mixer upfront. relaly was fun in a 1972 2-wheel drive chevy c-10 pickup. the super charger is still in action as a cousin has it in the Pheonix area.

How about a Super Bee (it was the yellow and black with the ram air twin 4's), it had fats on back and would readily twist the lugs bolts on the right rear.

But one of my favorites is the truck I drove in high school. A 1964 Dodge 1 ton dually with hydralic dump flatbed. It had a 383 with four barrel out of a police car, 4 speed trans, and 488 rear end. Tip the bed up to get the weight back and it would pull the front wheels off the ground for 2 to 3 blocks. that truck made all of us lots of beer money from the unsuspecting young guys from the airbase that was about 40 miles west. It also taught me to rebuild the trans as it stripped the 3 to 4 synchro quite frequently. The local law enforcement new we could not get it going fast enough to cause much havoc, they watched and laughed alot (those guys are a story for another day, gave me a great respect for LEOs).


You guys that actually owned the cars make me jealous, I just got to help work on them and test drive after the new had wore off (generally late 70's and early 1980's).

[Boz330]

Got a ticket for 140 mph in the Dart. When the cop asked how fast I was going I told him I didn't know as the speedo only went to 120 and it would do that in second gear (auto). His Ford with 428 would only go 140 so that is what he wrote me for. Cost me about a months wages and my license for 60 days.

Nowdays they would throw you in jail and toss the key!



Did almost the exact same thing with my 383. This was before radar and they had to have a valid 1/4 mile clock on you. An OH State Trooper was sitting on an entrance ramp when I went by. I didn't know he was even back there till I had to slow down for some traffic 13 miles later. He asked the same question and I gave the same answer. He said that he was doing 155mph on his special separate speedometer and wasn't gaining on me. He did take me to jail and I had to get my pappy to go my bail. He was not happy about it either.
The judge took my license for 6 months and a wad of cash. But as luck would have it I was drafted and didn't need the license for awhile anyway.:bigsmyl2:

Bob

[Jim]

My great uncle had a Falcon. It was "our" fishin/huntin' car. I have no idea what year it was, but it was very used when I was 16. That was 42 years ago.

Back in '73, I had a friend who was a diving officer on a boomer. He was 10 years older than I was. He had a "Cuda that was fairly new. I remember the first time he sent me out for a six pak. I fired it up and it scared me to death. I thought I was in the cockpit of a a WWII prop engine fighter.

[Bad Water Bill]

a model A coupe. $45.00

Life is good

Back in 1961 a friend, my brother and me stopped at an old gas station that had a BUNCH of old cars behind it. Wow not one but 2 model As sitting there.

How much do you want for the model As was the first words out of my mouth. "Son you can have them both for $20.00 but you have to get them off the property tonight as the place has been condemned and the city is clearing the property tomorrow at 8 AM".

Well between the 3 of us we had about $21.50 so I said sold IF you put a gal of gas in each so we can DRIVE them home. Well we had to hand crank them a few times but they got us home that night even with junk batteries. Just couldn't keep those cars down.:bigsmyl2:

[firefly1957]

My first car was a Dodge Polara 9 seat station wagon with a 383 engine that was a good car and believe it or not I got 18 MPG with it. I did like the "RB" Block a little better and had 4 vehicles with 440 cid engines.

Someone asked about a Vega I had a 1972 Vega bought it with 58K? miles on it from a friends sister car got good mileage (35 MPG) but would not start if temperature was under 20 degrees. I had terrible trouble with it replaced Radiator(it exploded?) three transmissions and 5 starters in a year. replacement trans were from junk yard and I only had to pay once starters were under warranty too. A guy I worked with knew I was having these problems but wanted the car so I sold it to him. He drove it 250,000 miles with few problems he did move to Oklahoma from Michigan.

[WildmanJack]

My first car was a 1956 Ford Anglia! Engine was so small it would just about fit in a beer flat, and wouldn't get much over 60 mph, but it sure was good on gas. I graduated from that to a 1959 Ford Country Squire 9 passenger wagon, would back it into the drive in theater and open the top half of the back, we could watch the movie even in the rain !!!. It was like driving a bus! Wish I had either one of them right now.
Jack

[frkelly74]

We had a vette once. But it was a chevette. They were terrible cars. Floor rusted out and brakes were mostly not there , tranny wouldn't stay in reverse, cable operated clutch that the end kept falling of of. exhaust system would not last, 20 mPG in a car that you wore rather than rode in. Ah those were the days.

[Harter66]

My dad had all the cool cars. 35' 5window business coup w/256 dodge,40 Pakard 120 coup,56 Nomad,35'ford panal,62'Falcon Sprint,73'Malibu w/396 square port. His brother drove his drag car everywhere,a 33' 3 windowford w/a 21stud 3/8x7/16 Merc,Offy heads and intake,3 Stromburg 97's,Kong ign,Zypher V12 trans bolted to a Columbia wishbone w/air shift split differential,8.25/15s and 6.50/14s,all covered up w/a Burris chop to 8" center of the winshield . He turned a best 1/4 at Pomona at 12.6.

Of all the cars I grew up in and around I think I miss that 49' Hudson 4door it had all its bits ,skirts,visor,curb feelers,pasley door panels and headliner. That 1 I truely miss............................

[Boz330]

Of all the cars I grew up in and around I think I miss that 49' Hudson 4door it had all its bits ,skirts,visor,curb feelers,pasley door panels and headliner. That 1 I truely miss............................

I had completely forgotten the 53' Hudson Hornet I had, now that was a tank. 300CI 6 banger with 2 carbs and a Hydromatic tranny. You could get 4 teenagers across the front seat of that thing without being too crowded. Not all that fast but just a fun car.

Bob

[mold maker]

My first was a $65. 48 Plymouth, what a clunker. First real car was a 55 Chevy Bel-Air Sports Coupe. It had OD with a BF 123 6. That ride got 26 MPH and could still burn the tires off, and a 57 Bel-Air were traded for a family car.
boy I miss them.
Now I'm stuck with a Dodge Ram Crew cab at 11MPG.

[firefly1957]

Boz330 Everyone I have ever talked to that had a Hudson Hornet loved them the one thing they liked most was how well it would take the corners they said it handled better than any other car.

[casterofboolits]

My first real car was a 49 ford that we fitted a 1956 Merc engine in. The plan was to fit a LaSalle three speed in, but that didn't happen and I blew at least a dozen three speed trannys before I blew the engine racing little ole ladys on Colorado Blvd. in the late 50's.

[Char-Gar]

First new car I owned was a 1962 Mercury Comet. This was the Mercury version of the Falcon. Cost $1,800 driven off the lot. Good reliable car, but cruising it at 85 in the desert took it's toll on the valves after a couple of years.