Posted on 09/29/2013 11:46:22 PM PDT by Impala64ssa
RE Prices:
Yeah... back then, I was in my early 20s, and those were “used cars” available on streetcorner used car dealer lots. Cheap and affordable, and they were American muscle.
I had a chance to buy a 1971 Buick GS455 for 400 bucks, but the seats were slashed up and radio punched out and stolen, so I didn’t buy it. Bought the Malibu instead.
Hell, every kid I knew had some type of muscle car; Nova SS, Camaro SS or RS, Dodge Chargers, Pontiac GTOs, Ford Mustangs (ALWAYS hot - I had three over the course of my life - a 1967 GT 390, a 1971 Mach One, and a 1968 GT), Plymouth Road Runners... They were all out there and available at cheap prices.
The ordinary working guy could buy a decent muscle car, and STILL feed his family.
Now... 30 grand and up for a Camaro? Really? WTF...
ehh... pisses me off thinking about it.
Must have been nice to have been able to buy those cars at those prices.
A new Camaro? No buying Government Motors products for me, although renting one for a weekend would be fun.
Yeah, it was... typically, they had 40-50K miles on them, and THAT was considered high mileage; built-in part obsolescence meant that you’d be replacing water pumps, fuel pumps, timing chains, valve seals, etc, but it was no big deal.
Hell, with some of the bigger cars like your Impalas, Caprices, etc., there was so much room to work on them it was actually a pleasure to just grab a wrench and go to it.
I got out of auto mechanic school in 1980; there were plenty of old muscle cars around then for cheap, and it was a fun time to be a young greasemonkey.
My biggest lament is NOT keeping one of my old road horses... especially my 67 ‘Stang with the 390ci V8. Good lord that thing was quick. Couldn’t take a turn worth a sh*t but straight line, out of the hole, it was an absolute monster. Had sandbags in the trunk, in the wheelwells, to keep the ass end on the ground.
A buddy of mine had a 427 in his Mustang, and THAT thing was truly scary-fast.
It’s good to see the retro muscle cars of today, but I can’t afford them at all. They’ve removed the afforable part of the equation.
Yeah... I’m old and cranky and miss the way things used to be. It definitely was a better time and day, with better people...
“...although renting one for a weekend would be fun....”
Back in the 60s Herta Rent-A-Car had SHELBY MUSTANGS for rental.
My second car was a 1978 Ford LTD II (with a working 8 track). I bought it for $100, sold it for $225 (unlike GM, I can make money selling a car). I remember the room under the hood to work on it - WOW!!!
A pity that you didn’t keep at least one of those cars. :(
“It definitely was a better time and day, with better people...”
I say that all the time and I’m not as old as you are.
Yes, that’s what gave me the idea...weekend racing at it’s finest.
Years ago when I cleaned out my grandmother’s house I found an old NY Daily News from 1965, there a full page ad from Tremont Chevrolet in the Bronx, on of the biggest Chevy dealers in the NYC area at time, You could drive a brand new 65 Impala hardtop off the lot for 20% down and $67/month. It costs more than that filling up my 64.
One of these days, I’m gonna go screaming out in the street like Chuck Heston in the beach scene with the Statue of Liberty in “Planet of the Apes.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPfcim_p38w
(Alas, I won’t have Linda Harrison or any other female to soothe the pain) :-(
“...My second car was a 1978 Ford LTD II...”
One of the cool things about all the old cars was the variety of motors... big block V8s, small block V8s... and transmissions to go with them.
You could get a LOT of horsepower out of them, transplant them into other vehicles easily... it was fun. My neighbor down the street had a white 72 Nova with a worked 327 in it. Awesome street car. That little 327 roared, and smoked the tires from the line. You could do a lot with a little money and some time, and some rolled up sleeves and sweat.
RE Better time: Having lived it, and seeing where we are now... yeah, it’s very sad to me. I really want to go home... and home is gone.
As for keeping them... yeah, I know. My last muscle car was the 1968 Mustang GT fastback. I bought it for 1500.00 in 1990, the year before my first kid was born. It needed everything - frame box rails, floor panel, interior, the works. Engine ran decent - it was a 302 V8 and had a 3-speed manual trans - blew some blue smoke (needed rings), but it ran. The interior had become a rodent playground from being parked in a barn for years...
I wound up parting it out and made three times what I paid for it, but I never got it on the road... sold it to a guy who built race cars, and had the money to do so.
Haven’t had a real muscle car since...I have a 1992 Bonneville SE in the driveway under cover, but...it isn’t the same. And that needs a lot of work that I can’t afford to do right now... I keep telling myself I’ll get around to restoring it, but it probably won’t happen.
RE Linda Harrison:
She was a babe...
“She was a babe...”
Yes, she was!!!
“My last muscle car was the 1968 Mustang GT fastback. I bought it for 1500.00 in 1990...”
Wow!!! AWESOME!!!
“I wound up parting it out and made three times what I paid for it, but I never got it on the road... sold it to a guy who built race cars, and had the money to do so.”
That’s a positive; you made cash and the car got to live on.
I had a 1995 Bonneville SE; normally aspirated 3.8L V-6. Nice car until it hit ~150,000 miles, then something needed a repair every month.
“I really want to go home... and home is gone.” In more ways than one, brother. :(
Her GPS told her to make a left.
Y’all drive careful now, Y’HEAR
“...you made cash and the car got to live on...”
Yeah... I admit though, that I was very sad to see it loaded onto the guy’s flatbed and hauled away though... there was a lot of potential there for a real street beast. I just didn’t have the $$$, or the facilities (it needed a LOT of frame welding... I’m talking all the way back to the firewall) to do what needed to be done.
“They” say money isn’t everything... but when you try living without it, you realize, “Hey... it might not be everything, but it sure makes life a hell of lot easier!”
RE Bonneville: I love those 90’s Bonnies. Someday I’ll restore my 92... again, it’s $$$.
I also had a 1975 Bonneville that I bought for 200.00 from a friend of mine. His granpa died, and granma wanted “that boat” out of the garage. So she sold it for 200 bucks to me (her price). It had 46K miles on it, original, all power everything and everything worked... even had the wheel skirts over the rear wheels. A real Pimp Mobile. I loved it. Big 400 cu in motor, Rochester Qaudrajet 4 barrel carb, everything Big, Bold, and American. Drove that for four years, and it LOVED gasoline...
RE Home: Yeah... sorry about that. Had a moment of melancholy.
Incidentally...
Salma Hayek, in “From Dusk Till Dawn”...
Good lord...
“Salma Hayek, in “From Dusk Till Dawn”...”
She was younger, pre-surgeries and simply PERFECTO back then...
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