Rotting American Muscle

[Bigun]

Detector - One of the cool things about being up here where im at is that in this area there are soooo many nice to just awesome old cars! Everything from street comp/eliminator to shiny stock better than new street cruisers with a good portion of them being the very collector cars. In the past couple of weeks I had the opprotunity to hook up with a local guy here that I had heard about and had seen the car a few times which these cars are just about all gone, and if you know anything about the early days of drag racing you will have heard of "Mr Norm" who had a Dodge dealership in Ill. called Grand-Spaulding Dodge who not only sold some super cars back in the day but also added a lot of the desired racing options (and more) there all with the factory's smiling blessings! Well the guy I got to visit with here, his dad had bought/ordered a new 2 door 64 HEMI Belvedere that is supposed to be pretty much exactly the same as when it was ordered from Mr Norm's dealership, having the original build sheet showing the factory deletes of the back seat, heater, and radio along with the original Work Order from Grand-Spaulding Options shop where they beefed up the front and rear suspension, installed the roll cage, changing the floor 4 speed shifter, adding a Tach, etc. What ended up being a super cool day for me was that we not only took the old fire breather out for a spin but I got to drive the car and get crazy with it a couple of times! Yeah, an honest original HEMI car that was bought new set up for street/strip! It made my homesickness for Kansas go away for several days and I will also be going with them to Akron this coming 3rd for a Dodge/Chrystler/Plymouth gathering that weekend in the Summit Racing Parts' parking lot!

[Detector]

That sounds awesome Bigun. Driving such a beast leaves little doubt why they're called muscle cars huh?

[Bigun]

Detector the horsepower behind all the torque that old thumper has is a real rush! The one thing that car had that made driving it in town a little tough (but not needed during a 1/4mi run!) was the power steering by Arm Strong and with the weight of that Hemi you sure didnt want to make very many full stop/turns or god forbid try to paralell parkand the clutch would have your leg pumped up like Ah-nold too if you spent very much time driving in town!

[MUD]

That hemi sounds like that one on that movie "Tommy Boy" David Spade drove

[The Drifter]

not only american made, but austrian made as well...sad indeed

[K C Muffin]

Stop it! That second one isn't really Ahnold, is it? You've just shattered my whole world!!!

[MUD]

Originally Posted by Detector

it seems that the definition of muscle car runs from late 68-71 but there has been a few later models that could bring top dollar in another 10 years. Didn't some of the later 70's cars such as Trans Am and Z28 come with a big block? Surly there is a few 455's or 454's waiting to be had.

Chevrolet shut down the big block muscle in "73". But pontiac continued with the 455 in their Trans Am's for several years before going to smaller displacement engines Its strange but you couldnt get a plug nickle for a 77 to 81 mustang yet camaro or TA's of the same years will be the next in demand. I also believe that El caminos will climb in value. I new a guy here in town around 18 years ago who had a very rare 75 nova SS. This car had a shaker style scoop and a big block

[Bigun]

Originally Posted by MUD

That hemi sounds like that one on that movie "Tommy Boy" David Spade drove

Nope, that one was a GTX with a 440 6-pack!