On Jun 5, 2009, at 10:36 PM, Brendan MacRae wrote:
----- Original Message ----
From: paul stenquist <pnstenqu...@comcast.net>
To: Pentax-Discuss Mail List <pdml@pdml.net>
Sent: Friday, June 5, 2009 6:25:45 PM
Subject: Re: Car History (was Re: Consumer Reports on "cool cameras")
This will be a good memory test for me.
Let's see. The first car I ever bought was a 1934 Ford Tudor. I
paid $150 for it
in 1963. It came with a Pontiac engine laying on the floor where
the back seat
shold have been. With the help of three buddies, I pushed it home
-- about a
mile and a half. Put it together and drag raced it. It went 12.56,
112 mph. The
Pontiac engine was a 1960 NASCAR 389. Lucky find.
My first driver was a 1957 Ford Fairlane 500 with a 312 V8. Paid
fifty bucks for
it in 67. It had bad steering parts. Used it to deliver pizzas
until the right
front wheel fell off. Literally. I chiseled the VIN tag off the
door post and
abandoned it on a Chicago southside street. A 57 Dodge followed,
then a 57
Desoto. Both had the 325 V8 and no floorboards. They had rusted
out. Next was a
62 Studebaker Lark convertible with a flathead six that had a burnt
valve. I
used it to deliver pizzas, but totaled it when I rear ended
someone. A 62
Pontiac Catalina convertible followed. It had a four-speed and a
389, but it had
been converted from an automatic, so it had too high of a rear axle
ratio and
went through clutches. I eventually put a 4.10 : 1 ring and pinion
in it, which
was really too low for that stock motor. Oh well.
About that time I sold the 34 Ford and bought an old top fuel
dragster. I built
an injected Pontiac engine with 12:1 compression, a roller cam, and
mechanical
fuel injection (an enderle/algon hybrid of my own design). It ran
8.65 187 on
70% nitro, but I couldn't keep head gaskets in it, even with copper
O-rings.
Pontiacs had only ten head bolts in those days.
My next drive was a 61 Olds, followed by another 62 Pontiac, then a
59 Pontiac.
I sold the dragster and bought a crashed 442 Olds funny car with a
supercharged
426 Hemi that was pretty badly damaged. I also bought a 67
Barracuda funny car
with no drivetrain. It was the original Chi--Town Hustler and had
been
campaigned and stripped by someone else after Austin Coil and
company got rid of
it. I rebuilt the hemi and got a friend to build a competition
torque flite, and
I put them in the Barracuda. I couldn't afford to run it, so I
essentially gave
it away to the guy who was going to drive it and let him take over
the
financing. I worked for him for a percentage of the gross. We named
it Flite
Master, which was the name of the transmission builder who gave us
the free
gearboxes (which had to be changed every run). It went 7.42, 205
at Kansas
City. The best it had done in its Chi-Town days was 7.35, 197. But
it was only
with the advice of Coil that I was able to make it work that well.
My driver at the time was a mint 1969 Lincoln Mark III. It
eventually shorted
out while parked in my driveway and basically burned to the ground.
It was a
beautiful car. Sad. I followed with a 63 Impala Super Sport that
was kind of
trashed.
After the Barracuda, we built an all new funny car: a 1973 Dodge
mini Charger,
which was a shortened and narrowed fiberglass Charger body on a
tube chassis.
The Charger managed a best of 6.51, 225 at New York National
Dragway on Long
Island. It was called Qu Voe Charger. Qu Voe was an automotive
additive company
that gave us 10K. A lot of money in those days. After two years we
replaced the
Charger with a 1974 Corvette named Fever. It was yellow and
beautiful. but it
handled like doo-doo, as a result of the short tail and not enough
rear
downforce. It did a best of 6.35, 237 but crashed violently.. Eight
end over
ends at over 200 mph and a ball of flame. . The driver walked away
with a
concussion and broken ribs. After that we ran a Mustang that
looked like a
police car, complete with mars lights, and was called Chicago
Patrol. It ran
6.41, but it was short lived, because the guy who drove it and
owned it went to
jail. That, of course, is another story for another day.
My daily driver at the time was a 1969 Javelin that belonged to the
girl I
married. That was followed by a 1973 Hornet, because only an AMC
dealer would
take the Javelin in trade. Next was a Toyota toaster van. By the I
was working
for car magazines, so I always had a press car. Got into
advertising shortly
thereafter, working on the Jaguar account and bough a Jag 79 XJ12L
in 1985. Kept
it for 22 years. Next were company cars from ad agencies: a Lincoln
Town Car, a
Buick Park Avenue, and a Dodge Intrepid. That was followed by a
Dodge Stratus,
then another Intrepid. A Dodge Caravan came in there somewhere. I
also leased a
Dodge Durango, a Pt Cruiser, and a Jeep Grand Cherokee.
While working in LA I found my 55 Chevy BelAir Convertible and
shipped it back
home to Michigan on a Chrysler enclosed transporter with a couple
of Vipers to
keep it company. I've owned the Chevy for nine years now, and it's
pretty close
to mint, with 25K on the clock since it's frame-off restoration. My
daily driver
is a four-door Jeep Wrangler, a fun machine.
As a footnote, I should add that from among all those Dodge and
Jeep vehicles,
not one of them has ever had to go to the dealer for repairs other
than brake
lining replacement. They've been pretty much flawless.
Since it's Friday night, I'm going to take a ride down Woodward in
the Chevy.
I'm writing a article for the New York Times about the dream cruise
and how it
fits into the depressed Detroit scenario. It's going to be a time
line
countdown, and it's to start taking the pulse of the guys on the
street.
Paul
On Jun 5, 2009, at 7:50 PM, John Sessoms wrote:
Do you still wish you had the blown 426? The engine, I mean...!?
The owner of our Dodge dealership had a 1969 Super Bee with a 426.
It was a bit retro for the time, but it was one hell of a b body.
The 426 had the rat roaster NASCAR style intake with a single 4
barrel Holley. It was cool.
He got one of the very first Vipers, but I was long gone by then so
I didn't get to drive it. I got to take the Super Bee over to a
photo shoot once. I really enjoyed that :-)
http://www.primelensphoto.com/superbee3.jpg
-Brendan
I'd love to have a hemi car. I've always thought that if I sell the
Chevey I'll build a 65 Dodge Coronet hemi clone. You can buy a 500
horsepower version of the old 426 hemi in a crate for 10K. BTW, the
engines in the Charger and Vette were usually 484 cubic inch hemis.
They had a half inch longer stroke than the stock engine.
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