I was born when the last of the dinosaurs died. In 1973 I was new, and the age of muscle was not. I probably saw countless muscle cars as a small child and have no recollection of them. A generation behind the curve, I brought one back to life with the help and patience of my brother and care a great deal for it. Though I often wonder if it would mean even more to me if I were in my twenties when these fume breathing, gas slurping monsters roamed free of EPA poaching.

Many of you were of the right age to enjoy them when they were new. And you probably were into them then, as much as you are now. Afterall, isn't this hobby in our blood?

I would like to experience what some of the lucky few here had the opportunity to eperience. But I'll do it through your stories. So, let's turn the key a few times and take a country side cruise back to the late 60's and the early 70's. What was the car culture like at that time? What sorts of modifications would the young people do? Which cars were considered really hot, which were not? Tell us your stories. That's what Bench Racing is all about, right?

i was born in 59, so i was too young to drive muscle cars, when they were new, but knew what they were, and had family and friends into them. my neighborhood was quite eclectic. lots of hispanics, and yes...gasp...black people.

our neighborhood was a sterio type hot rod heaven. guy two doors down had a 61 vette and a 61 pontiac ventura, we had a lot of semi pro drag racers, jim fain and his alcohal henry j, bob sander's wicked 351 pinto.

the local kids, the macawain brothers and thier b.b. novas. the williams brothers and thier b.b. road runners, larry bertrams 66 mustang, the list went on and on. the hispanic's extremely clean, low riders, the asian guys always had clean luxury cars (early lincolns, and caddy's, given to them by grand parents). we even had a girl in the neighborhood that drove a 400 cutlass, and another that drove a 396 camaro rs.

my particular street was a dead end, and hot rod friendly, so it wasn't uncommon for people to do huge burn outs, down our street. i lost count of the cars my father had, and his buddies drove everything from heavy chevies to 400 formula firebirds.

it was really wierd when i moved away, and didn't see a muscle car every other driveway. i thought that's how every neighborhood was. when i was young, i worked at bob's big boy, on colorado blvd. the cars that came in there, were just plain crazy.

i'm lucky now, i live in a muscle car town, and work in exotic car city, so i still see carzy stuff, on a daily basis. today i've seen two g.t. 500 shelby's, countless bently's, two very clean nova's, a 68 camaro, a 67', 427 vette, a cord, several saleen mustangs of variuos years, bone stock 70 chevy p/up. i could go up to the local high school , right now, and make you guys sick, with what the kids drive around here.

just think "hollywood knights" the movie, that is without exaggeration, the way i grew up. main street ventura on weekends, van nuys blvd. on wednesday nights. it was truly like that in socal, in the late 60's threw late 70's. couldn't spit, with out hitting a dragstrip. i really miss those days. i don't miss the speeding tickets, but i miss the cars, women, and most of the crazieness assocciated with the times....

Wasn't just the muscle cars. One of the most impressive land barges I ever saw was a '68 Buick Electra 225 with the 430CI motor. Another typical car of that era - the Pontiac GrandPrix available with a 10.5/1 455CI motor. In reality,there are more higher HP cars today at a "cruise" night than back then, mainly due to the growth of the aftermarket. The difference is, what you see at cruise nights were all daily drivers back then.

My Dad started/owned one of the first ahemcoughToyotacough dealerships in the north Chicago 'burbs in the early/mid '70s. With the OPEC crunch, a LOT of neat stuff wound up on the "front row" of the pre-owned area - but eventually being sold off to the wholesalers/auctioneers. Nobody wanted a 400+ CI monster that needed a 3/8" fuel line ;) They came to a Toyota dealership for a reason.

I was only about 10 during this time, but remember hanging around the dealership on Saturdays, and the mechanics drooling over some of the stuff on the used lot.

Grew up in souhern Minnesota. In town there were some of the nicest cars you would ever see, a yellow 69 Yenko camaro a 396-375 HP Nova, my Dad did ulpholstery for show cars. We had some great automobiles in our garage.
My bother owned a 65 SS Impala a 68 SS 396 Chevelle a 71 SS 454, my other brother a 67 Cuda fastback a 61 Pontia Grad Prix witha special 389 in it. I my selfowned that same cuda and a 64 Chevelle SS a 70 GTO .

the 64 Chevelle got built, 283-bored to 301, weind semi highrise manifold a wicked crane came hooker headers 11.5/1 pistons, you name it it had it. It was a real screamer. Most the other stuff was pretty much left stock, but hey they were pretty fast on their own!

Bought a pontiac tempest new in 67 (pretty much the same as the chevelle) - factory ordered

biggest decisions were

bench or buckets - bench came in real handy at the drive in movies - the buckets looked a whole lot better

engine size - bragging rights at the smoking and joking sessions

Like 1 Black Harley, I was too young to own a "Muscle Car" when it was new. I got to own one when they were throwing them away after the first Oil embargo. Got my license in '76. My first car was a '68 Pontiac Catalina convertible with a 400 and power EVERYTHING...what'd it cost? $200. Yep two bills and I was cruisin' downtown Las Vegas in serious style! A girlfriend had a bone stock '69 Z/28. I watched a friend launch another '69 Z when he took a dip in the road waaaaaaay too fast. My buddy, who I'm still in touch with today, traded in his '66 Catalina for a bone stock '68 GTO ($700), a '66 GTO, followed by a '67 GTO convertible that he sold for $1200 to pay for his honeymoon. He's not all that happy with his wife though she's still around, and he's got another '68 Goat now. Fastest cars in the school were a 4 door Comet with a blown 302, a '69 'cuda, and a cheerleader owned a '67 Nova with all the paint and ladder bars...pretty much a Pro Street before there was Pro Street. Yeah it was a beautiful thing to be 16 starting around 1974, when the hand me down cars were the hottest things Detroit had ever built and all the new stuff was oversized, underpowered and smog nuetered. Think of it...when I was 16 that girls "used" '69 Z was just a 7 year old car. Used but far from worn out. I kinda miss the girl, but that Camaro?... I'll always love her! ;)

Although I was born in '88, i found this article about other peoples stories. Great Read!!!
http://www.gassermadness.com/streetstories.htm

i graduated from high school in '65. the little town i grew up in in michigan was loaded with '66 SS chevelles the following year. but in 1966 i had a '64 tri power goat convertible, my best friend had a '64 383 belvedere which ended up being built to the max after the detroit riots of '67. during the time between then and 1970 it was cruising on woodward or telegraph in detroit or stadium in ann arbor. it was sundays at milan dragway watching color me gone the chi town hustler, don the snake, etc. it was typical to do a few turns in a hemi roadrunner, a 427 vette, a 302 z28, 442's or GTO's all those cars were owned by my friends. it was also not uncommon to spend an evening on some country black top (heres where this post gets deleted so read fast) with a guy jumping up raising and dropping both arms in the age old signal for "dump the clutch and let 'er rip" while two boulevard bandits took "the test" to see who ruled for that particular evening. you tooled slowly thru drive ins checking out the chick action, you took up a collection for gas, you drew straws for who got to ride shotgun, you took no crap from anyone, you bragged about your buddies car but never your own, you referred to cop cars as bulls or holsteins but never pigs (that was for the radical set), you had good friends in vietnam (some of which did not come back) and dreamed about a future that seemed to be eons away but in reality was just around the corner.

Those are some great stories, folks. Makes me wish I could have been there. Seems like the whole 'car scene' was a little more wild, and a little more liad back. Doesn't seem like there is too much hanging out at a local spot and chatting and bragging anymore. I guess I'll blame television and computers - they seem to dominate people's time anymore. When I got my license, my first car was an '87 Plymouth Sundance 4 banger...no good racing stories there. Just repair stories...

You are absolutely right, the car was you symbol, it was your personality, it was a part of you back then. The biggest deal of the year was when the manufacturers rolled out the new cars in September. Cars would be on the show room floors under covers not to be unvailed untill a specified day. When that day came everyone would go down to look at the newest car. It was a big event. All the tv shows would start running the commercials showing the new cars at the same time. It was a really fun thing.

I was born in 56. Remember going to all the new car dealerships and looking at all the newest hot rods. Salesmen at the Mopar dealership used to give me all the Rapid Transid posters when they took them down(wish i still had those), Had I buddy whose older brother bought a Hemi Cuda new and had the TA side exhast installed. Still remember that sound...Was no mail order then so you would hang around the local speed shop, that's where you seen all the fast cars. Or just go out on main street on any night . Cruising was what you did. Bought my first SS Chevelle in 75 a 69. Lived in a smaller town with 2 more smaller towns within 20 miles, So you wouls cruise one town for awhile then make a speed run to the next and then the next. All on $5.00 worth of gas.
Good Ole Days!!
Lyle

Born in 1953 put me in the heart of the 60's in my teen years and it had its good times and bad. Actually many nights were like a American Graffitti type thing. Muscle cars could be had cheap, in 72 my best friend went to Hollywood and bought a 69 Vette for $5000. and he sold me his old car which was a 68 SS396 4-speed Chevelle with 42K miles on it for $1000. Or the night on a local towns street when a guy wanted to race my friends 67 GT 390 Mustang in his super bad 67 GTO and was telling us how fast his car was..............
Then in the distance came the rumble of friend Danny's 64 Super Stock Dodge with a 426 wedge motor,as he pulled up the GTO's story changed as all the sudden it needed a tune up before he could race it.

Or how about the time we stopped at a local car dealer in 1970 and the salesman took us out on a test drive in a 440 6-pack Dodge Challenger!

Times were good gas was under .30 a gallon. Those were the days........

Born in '52, so have a lot of stories, but I'll just mention a few. My first car was a '58 Chrysler, big and powerful, with a couch for a back seat. My older brother had a '55 Olds, big V8 and 3 on the tree. The next door neighbor kid had a '64 Nova that he painted yellow, put on mags, a 327 & 4 speed, and raised the rear end as most of us did in those days with shackle extensions.
You didn't need as much power to burn rubber. At my high school a lot of kids drove Mom's station wagon but we had some good cars. My best friend had a '68 GTO until he got ticketed for 105 in a 25 and his dad took it away.
Another good friend had a '72 Opel GT, looked like a miniature Corvette
and had dual Webers. (his was white and without the girl)http://www.cardomain.com/member_pages/show_image.pl?bg=FF0000&image=http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/1/web/613000-613999/613676_62_full.jpg
There was a guy with a fast maroon '66 Galaxie convertible 390 that burned rubber when making the left turn from the school to the main road every day. Until one day he didn't see the guy in another car approaching from the left due to a hot girl on the corner and totalled it. When in college, a kid that worked where I did bought a '70 Chevelle 307 automatic, red with white vinyl top. He got a 350 at the wrecker and put it in. Another guy I worked with had a '72 Fiat Spyder convertible. When I met my wife she was driving a '66 Mustang 289.

Funny how some things never change - I think Dodge and Plymouth had the best ADS back then. Anyone remember the "Dodge Man"? "You in a heap a trouble boy".

Born in 68. Only can remember the 72 Cutlass my parents owned vaguely now. However, from living and growing up in Huntington Beach since 72 and going to H.S. in 82 - 86 we had Argosy St. which was in a business area and perfect at that time for 1/4 mile runs as there were very few businesses on it and we had Camelot (mini golf), Balboa Island in Newport and a burger place that for the life of me I cannot remember the name of on State College Blvd in Anahiem, that was our hang out spots for the cool cars. I remember a Chevelle wagon w/454, 76 Luv p/u with a 350, a Pinto w/302, numerous stangs from 64-69, and my 5 spd 83 Mustang, numerous ElCos and Rancheros, all at my HS (Ocean View). There was even in a couple clubs when they were real popular, California Cruisers??? and then we formed our own, Coastline Cruisers????, I think, (its been 20 years).

I turned 16 in 79, bought a 68 pontiac firebird 400 for $800 bucks, which was all my money at the time. Converted it from auto to stick. Sold it for $1500 in 80, and used that to buy a 70 Challenger RT/SE 383. That was a nice ride and got all the chicks, talk about fast. The engine was some special engine that the guy said was factory balanced and blueprinted and I think the tach redlined at 7,000 or something rediculous like that.

Then I saw the little ad in the paper in lat 80 that said Chevelle SS 454 for $2,500. But I had to drive to Bishop to see it. (a couple hours from carson city Nevada). It only took me 5 seconds after I saw it to say "I"ll take it". Then I took it home, ripped off all the a/c stuff and put in a big cam and headers. That car blew the doors off the competition at the saturday night drags. Then I graduated in 81 and went to college and parked it in my parents back field where it sat until a year ago when I finally had the extra funds to start restoring it. Sure wish I hadn't ripped off that A/C stuff! And I wish I had kept the other two cars too. Oh well.

Finally found a pic of what my first car looked like. Mine was 8 years old when I bought it at age 14, had to wait two years to drive it. She was white with a turquoise roof and had a 354 Poly Head V8 280 HP with a pushbutton torqueflight tranny. The interesting thing about the poly head was that
it was an attempt to get hemi performance at less cost. Cost was reduced by using only one rocker shaft per head, and spark plugs were mounted ouside of the valve cover, reducing the need for spark plug tubes. Another cost saving feature was that the combustion chamber was cast and not machined like the early Hemi. Weight was reduced by eliminating the huge casting needed to support the second rocker arm shaft

Ugly, but powerful and roomy. In high school we always took mine to lunch because we could fit 6 or more people in it.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Factory/6634/mopar/chrwin_58.jpg

My dad was born in 1936. He's had a bunch of cars along the way, but the one he always talks about is the 1969 Pontiac Gran Prix, with the 428..told me that him and his buddy would leave work several times a week (his buddy had a new 69 GTO) and race up Route 42 toward Philly...said the GP would hang with a lot of cars, but the GTO would get him every time! Dad also recounted recently the time his other friend from work showed up with a new Chevy Impala with a 409, 4 speed..and how he could never keep tires on it..gee, I wonder why?

My uncle had a 70 Riviera with a 455 and a 70 GP with either a 428 or 455..he said when you would punch the Riv, it would look like the hood was going to get sucked in!! I was born in '71, and my parents tell me that I was the reason the GP had to go!

I remember the name of the burger joint now....it was Angelos.

Finally found a pic of what my first car looked like. Mine was 8 years old when I bought it at age 14, had to wait two years to drive it. She was white with a turquoise roof and had a 354 Poly Head V8 280 HP with a pushbutton torqueflight tranny. The interesting thing about the poly head was that
it was an attempt to get hemi performance at less cost. Cost was reduced by using only one rocker shaft per head, and spark plugs were mounted ouside of the valve cover, reducing the need for spark plug tubes. Another cost saving feature was that the combustion chamber was cast and not machined like the early Hemi. Weight was reduced by eliminating the huge casting needed to support the second rocker arm shaft

Ugly, but powerful and roomy. In high school we always took mine to lunch because we could fit 6 or more people in it.

http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/Factory/6634/mopar/chrwin_58.jpg

bisjoe,
How can you say that is ugly? I'd drive that thing every day. It's incredibly cool.

bisjoe,
How can you say that is ugly? I'd drive that thing every day. It's incredibly cool.


i agree, that is probably the closest thing to a custom car that came out of a factory. if i was at a car show today, that ride would stop me in my tracks. you want ugly, this was my first car..

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v149/dodge52/dodge%201949/1949DodgeCoupeWayfarer3SpeedDrive.jpg

OK that settles it. I'm definitely a terminal gearhead. I saw that pick of your car and was like "Dude! Awesome! Some paint, some flames, wheels, big & littles...hmmm LS1 or Big Block? I need to build that car!" :D

I owned as new cars a 67 442 , 68 Hurst Olds , 70 LS6. I guess that makes me an old fart. Now I am reduced to a 72 Chevelle with a 383 , an Art Carr 2004R and a J&S 12 bolt converted to F**D style axles ( no "c" clips", bearing retained and posi. Warms an old mans heart. :)

I was born in 1958. In 1974 I was 16 and bought my first car for 1700 bucks. It was a white over cranberry red four speed Chevelle. For awhile I had the fastest car in high school. Ran 13.73's consistently at the Fremont Drag strip bracket races. Finally got beat by a friends Nova that he had hopped up. A couple of years later I bought a 71 Chevelle and was the big man on the block with two Chevelles at once. Man...I should have never sold those cars. Now I have a 72, but it's not the same (but it is better than no Chevelle at all).