There were only 11 1971 hemi “Cuda convertibles made, I think only 2 of which had 4 speeds, only one of those survives, I think Reggie Jackson had one that was destroyed in a fire. Very pricy rolling iron there.
March 19, 2016 at 1:32 pm
steveb919
Worth about 3 mill today
March 20, 2016 at 3:49 am
HTRN
Actually, both survive, its just that only one is numbers matching, a sky blue one, that holds the record for auction price for a muscle car – it sold in 2014 for 3.5 million. Interestingly, it was once owned by cartoonist Russell Myers.
March 18, 2016 at 9:31 pm
Grunt GI
Ummm. Chris, you cut off the top of the cartoon.
March 19, 2016 at 12:03 am
bob in houston
indeed he did!
March 19, 2016 at 9:41 am
billf
That’s OK,the right sidebar has ‘topless Sam’ to go along with the ‘topless ‘Cuda’ !!
March 18, 2016 at 9:32 pm
bob in houston
Must be a 70, wrong grill for a 71
March 19, 2016 at 12:28 am
eon
The color is either Light Blue or Mist Gray. Light Blue was used from 1962 to 1974, but Mist Gray was dropped after the ’70 model year except on the Satellite and Fury. So I’m guessing a ’70.
The hood shaker is definitely a 426 Hemi. The 383 had two air intakes, the 440 had a hood similar to the Dodge Charger with the 440 Magnum.
cheers
eon
March 19, 2016 at 1:10 am
skippytheterrible
The shaker was available on all ‘Cuda engines(340, 383, 440, 440+6 and hemi). All Barracuda models were available with the twin scoop hood either standard or optional. The 440 had no special hood of its’ own.
March 18, 2016 at 9:35 pm
xdcpd085
70 Road Wheels, anyhow…Had them on my ’69 GTX.
March 19, 2016 at 12:08 am
bob in houston
I adopted a basket case rust bucket 66 Satellite 2 door that I thought was just a roller, cleaned all the crap out of it and finally managed to get the hood open and its got a short block 383 and matching 4 speed in it, rumour has it that the old guy that gave it to me has got a 426 in need of a crank but its in a small storage building that has fallen down, I really really need to get off my ass and offer to clean that up for him, wouldn’t mind investing the time and money into making the Satellite into a GTX clone.
March 18, 2016 at 9:57 pm
Spin Drift
Is that a mirage? There isn’t a straight panel on it. Sam Seems to be real though. But the big question is which would you rather have? Sam or ‘cuda?
Spin
Shake, Rattle or Roll?
March 18, 2016 at 10:13 pm
B Woodman
Yes.
March 18, 2016 at 11:15 pm
MJ Larkins
For once I would have to say the Cuda.
The rarer of the two species.
March 19, 2016 at 9:28 am
Lurker
Only one of each. Needed money for raising the kids once, so sold my 1966 Tiffany Mustang. For $700. Buyer sold it two weeks later for $3000. That buyer sold it the next year for $7000. Combined, they put about $1500 in it. Oh well… If I had kept it much longer it was going to start rusting out from under me. Bought it at 17 for $2500 and got lucky in it that night. Man could that car attract the honeys. Hard to believe it was 34 years ago.
March 19, 2016 at 9:31 am
MasterDiver
But Sam is One of a Kind!
March 18, 2016 at 10:08 pm
Swansonic
I can feel the ground shake when looking at either of them. Yowza!
Chris, what an amazing way you put this strip – all puns intended – together and it’s simply awesome how it evokes such strong reactions…
March 18, 2016 at 10:08 pm
epilitimus
I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing Sam’s feet sticking out from under a car again.
March 18, 2016 at 10:12 pm
Sendarius
I can only think: “Good job that Red & Zed weren’t in THAT when they had the roll-over.”
Ready to take Topless for a ride! Then maybe the car too…
March 18, 2016 at 11:00 pm
Grunt GI
Heh. Well done.
March 18, 2016 at 10:20 pm
phil
Both!
March 18, 2016 at 10:27 pm
Wayne Cowan
Nice way to see Texas!
March 18, 2016 at 10:57 pm
Kafiroon
Had my share of rockets on wheels. Settled for the hot wife.
March 18, 2016 at 11:07 pm
Ed Jones
1970, I vote for a 440-Six Pac, Torque-Flite, 3.91 Dana 60 and G70-15 Poly-Glass tires.
March 18, 2016 at 11:10 pm
capn
Shore is purty. {rolls eyes}
My only muscle car was a four door Pontiac Tempest. I am not educated on all of the numbers and don’t remember what they were but it had the small V8 with an auto trany. Deep Blue almost black. I was married and not into street racing by then so was just our semi-hot looking family car.
Fun to drive with room for all of us in roomy comfort.
Wound up selling it to buy a pickup. Haven’t owned another “car” since.
Let me just clarify for those without the experience … Poverty Sux.
March 18, 2016 at 11:33 pm
capn
1966 Pontiac Tempest four door sedan sorry I forgot to add the date.
March 18, 2016 at 11:37 pm
Polly Cy
By far THE bestest of the best of the many cars I’ve had was my 1968 Firebird, dark gray with cream leather interior. My dad asked me to leave it with him for the weekend to have the brakes checked out, and while I was back at school (temporarily behind the wheel of a white ’62 Cadillac Fleetwood known as Dick, as in Moby the Great White Whale) he gave it to his mistress’s daughter, the rat. That was the last time I agreed to have a title read “and/or.” Next weekend when I came home to get my car, there was a “cute” little Karmann Ghia waiting for me. Not strictly a bad car, but certainly a comedown after the Firebird.
March 19, 2016 at 12:19 am
eon
My first genuine “muscle car” was a 1970 Ford Torino GT with a NASCAR-spec 391 4-barrel, high stall-speed automatic and police-specific suspension and rear end. It started life as a test-track mule for developing a drivetrain for HP cruisers, and I was its second and last owner. Drove it until the unibody finally rusted out.
A mechanic who had worked for Petty’s team did the math on it and said that it would top out from back torque at about 180. I took his word for it.
cheers
eon
March 19, 2016 at 12:51 am
Polly Cy
N-i-i-i-c-e. You demonstrated great restraint and strength of character. I suppose it’s just as well I “lost” the Firebird, because I did my best to test its upper limits whenever possible. I probably would have died before making it to 21.
Same as the one I wrote about yesterday (well not all the nascar stuff but whatever came on the ’70 Torino GT Shaker) that a short-term girlfriend got from daddy for her sweet 16. Drove it two or three times on dates; it was pretty hot; bright yellow with black stripes and shaker…she was pretty hot too but I was done with her when my little 5-foot-nothing Georgia girl transferred to our little high school on Lake Okeechobee. Bear in mind ’70 was the peak of mini skirts and she wore ’em well, long straight blond hair parted in the middle and laser blue eyes, my 16 year old self was done.
Unlike Torino GT girl, her daddy didn’t give her shit except those looks and sassy attitude, so I took it upon myself to provide the other stuff for her. Thanks to the Glades Drive-In and my mom’s ’69 Fury III, when our class was graduating in June ’72 we were nurturing a two-month old baby girl, and I took a good paying mill job, and we finished school and Vo-Tech at night. Not an easy path and I don’t know that I’d recommend it, but I wouldn’t trade it for a hundred rich girls with flashy new cars…I could and did get those myself (the cars that is, never wanted or needed a sharper girl, and she became the awesomest Mom on the planet to boot).
March 19, 2016 at 1:01 pm
Ed Woods
Sounds like my world, ‘cept I drove a 53 Ford PU and graduated in 67 with a sweet wife and a little boy. Drive-in movies and lookouts were the start of many families back in the day. The most common marriage proposal was, “You’re what?”
March 19, 2016 at 12:11 pm
Old Codger
So your dad took your F-Bird and replaced it with a re-skinned Beetle (that’s all the KG really was)? I would definitely have at least CONSIDERED patricide – even if I didn’t actually do the deed. I would expect the F-Bird to have been much more of a PW than the Ghia. And being that the Ghia was a two seater with that huge VW shifter, Lover’s Lane excursions ought to have been a GEN-U-INE challenge!
March 19, 2016 at 11:24 am
tomstockton
Gotta agree with ya, Capn — poverty DOES suck — and not in a friendly way…
March 19, 2016 at 12:13 pm
Old Codger
Yup, One of my Grandmas was always talkin’ about “Poor people and their poor ways”.
March 18, 2016 at 11:20 pm
Polly Cy
Okey dokey, since things might be a bit tight around the ranch these days, I’m going to assume that the ‘Cuda turned up in the barn when they were cleaning it out and setting up the Double D, and Wade decided to pretty it up as a gift for his favorite daughter-in-law.
March 18, 2016 at 11:36 pm
capn
My nickel is on Zed.
I’m thinking that he bought it for her for a surprise B’Day present … only where is the bow?
March 18, 2016 at 11:38 pm
Polly Cy
He and Wade could have gone in together on the restoration.
Not to say that my old 383 had not been taken care of . . . but to change the spark plugs on the back I had to jack up the back of the motor. The other spark plugs were worn, but the gap on the back two was over 110. Made a bit of qa difference, don’cha know.
March 19, 2016 at 1:24 am
Bren
Had a ’67 Sprint Six that was pretty quick and would shut down many smallblock V8’s. But by far my favorite was the ’63 Plymouth Town and Country wagon. Fat block 318 and heavy enough to stay down. Laughable in the quarter, but if you let me talk you into a two mile run…. Went through motor mounts like chicklets until I finally just chained it to the frame. 120mph speedometer that I could crank all the way around and back up to 30. God I miss that car!
March 19, 2016 at 3:55 am
MrArthurBishop
I predict somboby’s gonna get laid.
March 19, 2016 at 6:35 am
Grape
Cars and women are things of dreams. A few where nightmares.
March 19, 2016 at 6:41 am
NotYetInACamp
I think that everything is just moving and unsteady in the panel up there.
The ground and everything is not that steady for her right there. A great day.
I confess, the memory dos not provide all details too many times. Of three Jaguars my friend had, two were XKE convertibles, and another one. He eventually sold the less interesting two. Plus he had a Road Runner. There were two large straight 6’s and a V8. We tore down and rebuilt a straight 6 and a V8 with him sending out the blocks for proper detail work. I was not the leader of the rebuilds, but I wanted to add to my mechanical skills and worked on cars during college breaks and after graduation. We had all of the books there for specifications. I discovered how to properly use a torque wrench. Learning what I could do and what I did not have the tools for and a shop should do was important. That helped with a small business. I replaced a couple of brake lines and pads and some ball joints plus minor items in the last year. I even have a 65 Falcon 2 door, which originally had a 4 that had been replaced by a V8 in it needing work, and a straight 70 Chevy short bed Stepside that I may also take off the cab, and do more restoration that I ever expected to do. It is sitting under the lean to next to the Quonset hut. I am getting my toes into that restoration stuff again. There are cars that I miss, but I am poking around them again.
March 19, 2016 at 7:36 am
eon
A friend of mine owned two Corvettes at the same time, a red ’66 HT and a dark met. green ’67 convertible, both with the 327. He picked them up cheap back in the mid-’70s because neither one ever ran right. Finally got them to run by basically rebuilding both engines, and sold them for a lot more than he had in them. After which he swore never to have a Corvette again.
cheers
eon
March 19, 2016 at 12:19 pm
Old Codger
Dated a gal in college who had an XKE – hardtop, not the convertible. Coal black. Beautiful car – almost as beautiful and hot as its owner. Not the best venue for making out. Fortunately she was “limber”. 😉
March 19, 2016 at 6:43 am
Grape
Owned two street sleepers: a ’65 Tempest with a dropped in 400 & a ’69 Gran Prix with a pro built 455.
Best driver though was the ’88 Shelby twin turbo Lancer.
March 19, 2016 at 7:15 am
Tim Moyer
Chris, That”s just a damn nice ‘Cuda! 🙂
March 19, 2016 at 7:22 am
Willik
I love that Banana-Cuda!
March 19, 2016 at 8:08 am
PaulS
Why is a classic Heart song thumping in my head?
March 19, 2016 at 8:26 am
Unca Walt
Now HERE we see displayed a piece of true art: Mr. Muir has shown — with only a portion of Sam showing — a beautiful gut reaction by a beautiful woman.
Incredible art, Sir.
March 19, 2016 at 8:43 am
GWB
OK, never had a real muscle car. I did own a red, manual ’87 Dodge Daytona, though. When Shelby was designing them. (I couldn’t afford the “Shelby” model, though – probably for the best.)
I laugh when I hear cars touted as having 35mpg nowadays – I got 35mpg in that sucker all the time.
I also know beyond a shadow of a doubt it will go more than 125. (The speedometer only went to 125, and I had the needle buried.) Fortunately the New Mexico state trooper was majorly tailgating the semi going the other direction, and I was slowing down when cars came the other way (you could see a long way at the crest of each hill), so he only caught me doing 99. 🙂
That Daytona was a sweet car.
March 19, 2016 at 9:05 am
Ron
Okay, a very nice gift. But, like Polly Cy said, how did they afford this?
Please explain Mr. Muir. Are there barns filled with classic cars on the DD.
Someone needs to conduct an archaeological expedition.
Have you seen any photos from Cuba lately? It’s full of classic cars. Those Cubanos couldn’t get parts. Had to make them. Think about that – making pistons and relining cylinders with handmade parts. That is craftsmanship.
March 19, 2016 at 9:16 am
Pamela
Nice rag top. Bench seat in the back? At least Sam won’t hit her head.
March 19, 2016 at 11:23 am
RegT
And no swerving for illegals of any age. Too many people have died by swerving for animals in the roadway.
March 19, 2016 at 12:52 pm
Iconoclast
Well, I grant those muscle cars were mighty handsome, but on the back roads of northern NE, cornering is king – and my ’70 Porsche 911S, altho topping out at 157 on a straight, could snuggle into corners like a warm puppy. Plus it gave me 28mpg @ 72 mph cruising on the Interstate while being a very lucky vehicle for social purposes. Just too damn expensive to maintain & was replaced by an International Scout 4×4. Still, like so many of our rides from that time, today it’s worth more than when it was new.
… Thanks for triggering many fond memories, Chris & other peeps!
March 19, 2016 at 11:30 pm
Kafiroon
OHhh! I used to just love those Porsche 911’s and other handling cars in a circular highway ramp. Weaving side to side across their back bumper in the turn and blasting past on the straight out of them. Course, a little piece by an old chicken farmer made that easy.
March 20, 2016 at 12:43 pm
capn
Iconoclast –
“Still, like so many of our rides from that time, today it’s worth more than when it was new.”
Oh man you just had to go there didn’t you? …
I bought and drove a ’57 Chevy Ranchero white with blue interior.
Body and interior like new, engine ran sweet and quiet.
I got it cheap because the steering was going out the fellow said.
I went to the yard and bought a new steering shaft and plopped her right in place. Now it steered fine but was like steering a tank the steering wheel would barely turn. Before if figured out that the steering adjustment was out of placement I was offered a ton and a half Studebaker flat bed truck for it and let it go.
What would a ’57 Ranchero go for nowadays? sigh …
Only one of several bad moves I have made in my ignorance …
March 20, 2016 at 12:46 pm
capn
new steering shaft – should read – new to me used steering shaft
March 20, 2016 at 12:49 pm
capn
I keep making goofs today Ford Ranchero not Chevy … I need more coffee or something … sheesh
March 19, 2016 at 1:30 pm
Oliver Heaviside
There is apparently one ‘Cuda with a speedo in kilometers, sold to a European. Considered the rarest. Fetch some $7 mil several years ago.
73 Comments
Shame on you.
“There ain’t nuthin’ like a woman dancin’ in her cowboy boots.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4DLmY974mRc
.
There were only 11 1971 hemi “Cuda convertibles made, I think only 2 of which had 4 speeds, only one of those survives, I think Reggie Jackson had one that was destroyed in a fire. Very pricy rolling iron there.
Worth about 3 mill today
Actually, both survive, its just that only one is numbers matching, a sky blue one, that holds the record for auction price for a muscle car – it sold in 2014 for 3.5 million. Interestingly, it was once owned by cartoonist Russell Myers.
Ummm. Chris, you cut off the top of the cartoon.
indeed he did!
That’s OK,the right sidebar has ‘topless Sam’ to go along with the ‘topless ‘Cuda’ !!
Must be a 70, wrong grill for a 71
The color is either Light Blue or Mist Gray. Light Blue was used from 1962 to 1974, but Mist Gray was dropped after the ’70 model year except on the Satellite and Fury. So I’m guessing a ’70.
The hood shaker is definitely a 426 Hemi. The 383 had two air intakes, the 440 had a hood similar to the Dodge Charger with the 440 Magnum.
cheers
eon
The shaker was available on all ‘Cuda engines(340, 383, 440, 440+6 and hemi). All Barracuda models were available with the twin scoop hood either standard or optional. The 440 had no special hood of its’ own.
70 Road Wheels, anyhow…Had them on my ’69 GTX.
I adopted a basket case rust bucket 66 Satellite 2 door that I thought was just a roller, cleaned all the crap out of it and finally managed to get the hood open and its got a short block 383 and matching 4 speed in it, rumour has it that the old guy that gave it to me has got a 426 in need of a crank but its in a small storage building that has fallen down, I really really need to get off my ass and offer to clean that up for him, wouldn’t mind investing the time and money into making the Satellite into a GTX clone.
Is that a mirage? There isn’t a straight panel on it. Sam Seems to be real though. But the big question is which would you rather have? Sam or ‘cuda?
Spin
Shake, Rattle or Roll?
Yes.
For once I would have to say the Cuda.
The rarer of the two species.
Only one of each. Needed money for raising the kids once, so sold my 1966 Tiffany Mustang. For $700. Buyer sold it two weeks later for $3000. That buyer sold it the next year for $7000. Combined, they put about $1500 in it. Oh well… If I had kept it much longer it was going to start rusting out from under me. Bought it at 17 for $2500 and got lucky in it that night. Man could that car attract the honeys. Hard to believe it was 34 years ago.
But Sam is One of a Kind!
I can feel the ground shake when looking at either of them. Yowza!
Chris, what an amazing way you put this strip – all puns intended – together and it’s simply awesome how it evokes such strong reactions…
I have a feeling we’re going to be seeing Sam’s feet sticking out from under a car again.
I can only think: “Good job that Red & Zed weren’t in THAT when they had the roll-over.”
Ready to take Topless for a ride! Then maybe the car too…
Heh. Well done.
Both!
Nice way to see Texas!
Had my share of rockets on wheels. Settled for the hot wife.
1970, I vote for a 440-Six Pac, Torque-Flite, 3.91 Dana 60 and G70-15 Poly-Glass tires.
Shore is purty. {rolls eyes}
My only muscle car was a four door Pontiac Tempest. I am not educated on all of the numbers and don’t remember what they were but it had the small V8 with an auto trany. Deep Blue almost black. I was married and not into street racing by then so was just our semi-hot looking family car.
Fun to drive with room for all of us in roomy comfort.
Wound up selling it to buy a pickup. Haven’t owned another “car” since.
Let me just clarify for those without the experience … Poverty Sux.
1966 Pontiac Tempest four door sedan sorry I forgot to add the date.
By far THE bestest of the best of the many cars I’ve had was my 1968 Firebird, dark gray with cream leather interior. My dad asked me to leave it with him for the weekend to have the brakes checked out, and while I was back at school (temporarily behind the wheel of a white ’62 Cadillac Fleetwood known as Dick, as in Moby the Great White Whale) he gave it to his mistress’s daughter, the rat. That was the last time I agreed to have a title read “and/or.” Next weekend when I came home to get my car, there was a “cute” little Karmann Ghia waiting for me. Not strictly a bad car, but certainly a comedown after the Firebird.
My first genuine “muscle car” was a 1970 Ford Torino GT with a NASCAR-spec 391 4-barrel, high stall-speed automatic and police-specific suspension and rear end. It started life as a test-track mule for developing a drivetrain for HP cruisers, and I was its second and last owner. Drove it until the unibody finally rusted out.
A mechanic who had worked for Petty’s team did the math on it and said that it would top out from back torque at about 180. I took his word for it.
cheers
eon
N-i-i-i-c-e. You demonstrated great restraint and strength of character. I suppose it’s just as well I “lost” the Firebird, because I did my best to test its upper limits whenever possible. I probably would have died before making it to 21.
Hence the K. Ghia, Polly…your Daddy loved you.
Thanks, JT. I never thought of it like that. You’ve given me back something I never even knew I had lost, and I am grateful.
Sounds great! Damned shame, though, that Ford never made a 391.
That’s what it said on the spec sheet. Could have been a bored-out block. (?)
cheers
eon
Could’ve been a typo….seen it before…had a chevy with a “351”….I don’t think so….
Tennessee, Ford did make a 391, but it was a heavy Truck engine……But it probably was a 390 FE based engine.
Same as the one I wrote about yesterday (well not all the nascar stuff but whatever came on the ’70 Torino GT Shaker) that a short-term girlfriend got from daddy for her sweet 16. Drove it two or three times on dates; it was pretty hot; bright yellow with black stripes and shaker…she was pretty hot too but I was done with her when my little 5-foot-nothing Georgia girl transferred to our little high school on Lake Okeechobee. Bear in mind ’70 was the peak of mini skirts and she wore ’em well, long straight blond hair parted in the middle and laser blue eyes, my 16 year old self was done.
Unlike Torino GT girl, her daddy didn’t give her shit except those looks and sassy attitude, so I took it upon myself to provide the other stuff for her. Thanks to the Glades Drive-In and my mom’s ’69 Fury III, when our class was graduating in June ’72 we were nurturing a two-month old baby girl, and I took a good paying mill job, and we finished school and Vo-Tech at night. Not an easy path and I don’t know that I’d recommend it, but I wouldn’t trade it for a hundred rich girls with flashy new cars…I could and did get those myself (the cars that is, never wanted or needed a sharper girl, and she became the awesomest Mom on the planet to boot).
Sounds like my world, ‘cept I drove a 53 Ford PU and graduated in 67 with a sweet wife and a little boy. Drive-in movies and lookouts were the start of many families back in the day. The most common marriage proposal was, “You’re what?”
So your dad took your F-Bird and replaced it with a re-skinned Beetle (that’s all the KG really was)? I would definitely have at least CONSIDERED patricide – even if I didn’t actually do the deed. I would expect the F-Bird to have been much more of a PW than the Ghia. And being that the Ghia was a two seater with that huge VW shifter, Lover’s Lane excursions ought to have been a GEN-U-INE challenge!
Gotta agree with ya, Capn — poverty DOES suck — and not in a friendly way…
Yup, One of my Grandmas was always talkin’ about “Poor people and their poor ways”.
Okey dokey, since things might be a bit tight around the ranch these days, I’m going to assume that the ‘Cuda turned up in the barn when they were cleaning it out and setting up the Double D, and Wade decided to pretty it up as a gift for his favorite daughter-in-law.
My nickel is on Zed.
I’m thinking that he bought it for her for a surprise B’Day present … only where is the bow?
He and Wade could have gone in together on the restoration.
You. Ass. Wet dreams in a cartoon.
Not to say that my old 383 had not been taken care of . . . but to change the spark plugs on the back I had to jack up the back of the motor. The other spark plugs were worn, but the gap on the back two was over 110. Made a bit of qa difference, don’cha know.
Had a ’67 Sprint Six that was pretty quick and would shut down many smallblock V8’s. But by far my favorite was the ’63 Plymouth Town and Country wagon. Fat block 318 and heavy enough to stay down. Laughable in the quarter, but if you let me talk you into a two mile run…. Went through motor mounts like chicklets until I finally just chained it to the frame. 120mph speedometer that I could crank all the way around and back up to 30. God I miss that car!
I predict somboby’s gonna get laid.
Cars and women are things of dreams. A few where nightmares.
I think that everything is just moving and unsteady in the panel up there.
The ground and everything is not that steady for her right there. A great day.
I confess, the memory dos not provide all details too many times. Of three Jaguars my friend had, two were XKE convertibles, and another one. He eventually sold the less interesting two. Plus he had a Road Runner. There were two large straight 6’s and a V8. We tore down and rebuilt a straight 6 and a V8 with him sending out the blocks for proper detail work. I was not the leader of the rebuilds, but I wanted to add to my mechanical skills and worked on cars during college breaks and after graduation. We had all of the books there for specifications. I discovered how to properly use a torque wrench. Learning what I could do and what I did not have the tools for and a shop should do was important. That helped with a small business. I replaced a couple of brake lines and pads and some ball joints plus minor items in the last year. I even have a 65 Falcon 2 door, which originally had a 4 that had been replaced by a V8 in it needing work, and a straight 70 Chevy short bed Stepside that I may also take off the cab, and do more restoration that I ever expected to do. It is sitting under the lean to next to the Quonset hut. I am getting my toes into that restoration stuff again. There are cars that I miss, but I am poking around them again.
A friend of mine owned two Corvettes at the same time, a red ’66 HT and a dark met. green ’67 convertible, both with the 327. He picked them up cheap back in the mid-’70s because neither one ever ran right. Finally got them to run by basically rebuilding both engines, and sold them for a lot more than he had in them. After which he swore never to have a Corvette again.
cheers
eon
Dated a gal in college who had an XKE – hardtop, not the convertible. Coal black. Beautiful car – almost as beautiful and hot as its owner. Not the best venue for making out. Fortunately she was “limber”. 😉
Owned two street sleepers: a ’65 Tempest with a dropped in 400 & a ’69 Gran Prix with a pro built 455.
Best driver though was the ’88 Shelby twin turbo Lancer.
Chris, That”s just a damn nice ‘Cuda! 🙂
I love that Banana-Cuda!
Why is a classic Heart song thumping in my head?
Now HERE we see displayed a piece of true art: Mr. Muir has shown — with only a portion of Sam showing — a beautiful gut reaction by a beautiful woman.
Incredible art, Sir.
OK, never had a real muscle car. I did own a red, manual ’87 Dodge Daytona, though. When Shelby was designing them. (I couldn’t afford the “Shelby” model, though – probably for the best.)
I laugh when I hear cars touted as having 35mpg nowadays – I got 35mpg in that sucker all the time.
I also know beyond a shadow of a doubt it will go more than 125. (The speedometer only went to 125, and I had the needle buried.) Fortunately the New Mexico state trooper was majorly tailgating the semi going the other direction, and I was slowing down when cars came the other way (you could see a long way at the crest of each hill), so he only caught me doing 99. 🙂
That Daytona was a sweet car.
Okay, a very nice gift. But, like Polly Cy said, how did they afford this?
Please explain Mr. Muir. Are there barns filled with classic cars on the DD.
Someone needs to conduct an archaeological expedition.
Have you seen any photos from Cuba lately? It’s full of classic cars. Those Cubanos couldn’t get parts. Had to make them. Think about that – making pistons and relining cylinders with handmade parts. That is craftsmanship.
Nice rag top. Bench seat in the back? At least Sam won’t hit her head.
And no swerving for illegals of any age. Too many people have died by swerving for animals in the roadway.
Well, I grant those muscle cars were mighty handsome, but on the back roads of northern NE, cornering is king – and my ’70 Porsche 911S, altho topping out at 157 on a straight, could snuggle into corners like a warm puppy. Plus it gave me 28mpg @ 72 mph cruising on the Interstate while being a very lucky vehicle for social purposes. Just too damn expensive to maintain & was replaced by an International Scout 4×4. Still, like so many of our rides from that time, today it’s worth more than when it was new.
… Thanks for triggering many fond memories, Chris & other peeps!
OHhh! I used to just love those Porsche 911’s and other handling cars in a circular highway ramp. Weaving side to side across their back bumper in the turn and blasting past on the straight out of them. Course, a little piece by an old chicken farmer made that easy.
Iconoclast –
“Still, like so many of our rides from that time, today it’s worth more than when it was new.”
Oh man you just had to go there didn’t you? …
I bought and drove a ’57 Chevy Ranchero white with blue interior.
Body and interior like new, engine ran sweet and quiet.
I got it cheap because the steering was going out the fellow said.
I went to the yard and bought a new steering shaft and plopped her right in place. Now it steered fine but was like steering a tank the steering wheel would barely turn. Before if figured out that the steering adjustment was out of placement I was offered a ton and a half Studebaker flat bed truck for it and let it go.
What would a ’57 Ranchero go for nowadays? sigh …
Only one of several bad moves I have made in my ignorance …
new steering shaft – should read – new to me used steering shaft
I keep making goofs today Ford Ranchero not Chevy … I need more coffee or something … sheesh
There is apparently one ‘Cuda with a speedo in kilometers, sold to a European. Considered the rarest. Fetch some $7 mil several years ago.
A lot of money for a danged old plymouth…… 😉
Sweetie, that’s a Pontiac Firebird. not a Barracuda. GM. Not Plymouth.
My first car as an Austin Healy 3000 MK III. Those were the days when cars were cars and gas was $.28/gallon.
That was my first car
🙂