Your new musclecar

[Rory McNeil]

As a relative "youngster" (51 years old) I was unable to buy a "real" performance car new, but I`ve had a few "used" ones. In high school I had a blue 65 Valiant 2 dr hardtop with a 273 4 barrel "Commando"& 4 speed. Followed by a 1970 Mustang fastback 351C 4barrel auto Shaker hood in 1976(14.7`@96 mph stock, with 3.25 open diff), a 66 Fairlane 390 GTA in 77 (12.62@110 with 428CJ heads, bigger hyd cam and 4.56 gears with slicks),from 1979 until 1987 I owned 3 different 69-70 Mach 1 with 428Cobra Jets (the 69 auto ran 13.5@102 mph almost bone stock, the 70 4 speed ran 12.5@111 with open headers, slicks, 4.30 gears etc). Followed by 2 1969 Fairlane /Torino fastback 428CJ`s. Although I didn`t have the opprotunity to buy cars like this new, having a decent paying job in the 70`s meant LOTs of late 60`s musclecars werer available for pretty cheap, often under $2000 would get you a 6 year old Boss 302 Mustang or Z/28, Hemi cars were not a whole lot more, and my god, 383 Road Runners and 340 Dusters and Darts were EVERYWHERE for $800. to $1500. for a really nice one. Good times indeed.

[my69396]

after i graduated from high school in 1970 of course i wanted a muscle car. at the time i was driving a 1966 impala ss 327 glide not a muscle car. there was for sale a 1966 ltd 2 dr with 390 and a four speed original 427 car that i had to have. i was informed by my dad that he wouldn't cosign the note for me. i sold my cows to him and he didnt need to cosign for me. car was a slug. went into the army june 1971. in november while stationed at fort benning. went by a car lot and there was a 1967 fairlane gt 390 4 speed that wasnt a slug. it went 14.76 with street tires, and as they say the rest is history.

[X-TECH MAN]

My first new car was a 1965 Plymouth Belvedere 2 that I ordered special after my dad would not co-sign for anything with a 4-speed. Man I wanted a new G.T.O. but the 2 speed auto trans really sucked. Little did he know that back then the mopar torque flite was as good as it gets for racing....lol. I special ordered it with a 426 street wedge (WAY over rated) engine and 3.91 rear end gears. All it had extra was an AM radio, tented windows, and plastic centers on the seats. After installing M/T headers and M/T 7 inch cheater slicks I won around 12-15 class trophies at Aquasco and Capitol raceway in B/SA at that time (I still have most of them in my garage) and a DRAG TIMES Jr. stock "runner up" trophy to the Kurtz & Calderhead '57 F.I. sedan delivery (with 4-speed hydro trans and Jenkins Comp. engine) at Aquasco, Md. back then just before I was drafted in the Army and gave it to my dad to trade in on a 1966 Pontiac GP for himself (didnt think I would make it back). After that Army tour was over I stayed with a bunch of Corvettes and a new 1968 Z-28. I raced them all and won a couple of times at Ohio Valley Raceway with a 66 Corvette in E/SP class while stationed at Fort Knox, Ky. Those were the days watching guys like Bob Glidden race his 2 428 CJ's (convt.and fastback) and Herb McCandless in a new hemi dart at U.S 60 and Ohio Valley. S/S and Jr. stock racing at its best.

[Casey Miles]

In December 1970, I bought my 1969 Z/28 with 10k miles on it, from a friend of mine for $1350. I have street raced it, set records with it and still to this day enjoy it.
One night I was up at Burger King in Bethpage, L. I. N.Y. and there was a 1969 big block chevelle with NOS on street tires looking for a race. I told the guy that I have a 1969 Camaro with small slicks (at that time I was holding the record for E/S) and a small block. He agreed to give me the break, needless to say, he knew he was done when I left with the wheels up. We raced for only $100, but back then it was alot of money.
On another night I was going to race John Nobile the pro stock racer on the street, he had a Chevelle at the time. I was in the middle of doing my burn out when the cop pulled behind my car, my friends waving to me to turn the car off, that's when I noticed the cop. I shut the car off and got out like nothing was happening, took off my helmet and started pushing the car by hand. The cop told me not to get too far because he want to talk to me. Well we told him what was up and he said he'd let us get the race over with until his sargent showed up. The cops let us hook are cars up (flat towing) and get out of there.
Those where fun days, you knew that the street cars that you were going to race to be at best mid 11 cars.
Casey Miles
248H E/S because of 4 hp

[Tony Curcio]

My brother, Neal, bought a 68 Z-28 from a guy who had just received his draft notice. I remember his name was Eddie Moore, and I heard he made it back OK. Eddie had only owned the car 6 months, but made good use of the time, adding Cragar SS wheels, Hooker Headers and Lakewood traction bars.

Neal also only owned it for six months. He worked for The Phone Company (there was only one at the time) as a splicer. One day he was down in a manhole in Southwest Philadelphia, and when he came up for lunch, the car was gone.

When the car was recovered, the engine, transmission and wheels were gone. The police didn’t find, Neal found out where it was when he started getting parking tickets. The insurance company took it for salvage.

Oh yeah, a few weeks after the remains of the car were hauled away, Neal got his draft notice too. I would say this car was jinxed, but then again, Eddie and Neal are both alive and well.

[X-TECH MAN]

Darn Tony.....Thats almost my story except I was back from the Nam before I had a Z-28 and it too was stolen and stripped. I also worked for the "Phone Factory" and came back to the parking lot after work and poof....my Z-28 was gone. They found it 5 days later minus engine, trans, wheels and tires, but who ever got it didnt get a "virgin". I flat run the snot out of that thing before they got it.

[Wayne Totaro]

Back in October 1968, while in my senior year of high school, I talked my mother into signing for me and I purchased a new 1969 Dodge Dart GT- Sport. At that time not many GT-Sports were around, due to the 340 Swingers being a lot cheaper! My car was a 340 4 speed with 3:91 gears and was red with black vinyl top and interior. I naturally had to race the car and competed in G/ Pure Stock.(No brackets back then) The car ran 13.80's all day and I won way more than I lost. In the early 70's I had a 340 Super Stock engine built and ran SS/I for a while, but could not compete with the 350/295 Camaros. I still have the original window sticker and invoice for the "Red Dart" but the car is Long Gone.

[Michael Beard]

I was born too late for the musclecar era, but when I turned 16 in the fall of '89, dad bought me a '71 Duster 225 /6. After buying the car and putting new brakes on it, along with some bondo and spraybombs, he had about $800 in it. I got my driver's license the following summer, and had it for 16 days before my first race. It ran in the 19's. I managed to win a couple of races, and the following winter, we rebuilt the motor with a one-step hotter than stock cam. Ran mid 18's for the most part. 1991 was my first full year of racing, where I won 11 races to capture the trophy class championship.



Dad took the car over several years later, and put a small block in it, while he built a '74 Duster 360 strictly for racing for me to drive. In 1998, I was footbraking the '74 Duster in Super/Pro, so I ran most of the season in Heavy Eliminator (Footbrake class) with the '71 Duster, running mid 14's, and won my third straight Heavy ET Championship. Dad got it into the 13's in street legal trim before parking it. It's still sitting at home, and I've been eyeing it up as a candidate for my crate motor drivetrain...

[Chuck Comella]

I bought a new 1958 Impala late in 58 for 2800 dollars. It was a 280 HP 3-2bl motor with a 3 spd stick. All my buddies ragged on me for buying a car with a truck motor .

[Floyd Staggs]

In 1960 my Dad, brother and I were at Riverside Int'l Speedway and saw the parade of Chevies. They had the prototype of the stingray in the parade. I told my Dad if they ever built that car I would buy one. A couple of years later GM announced the 1963 Stingray would be out in late '62. I went to the biggest Chevy dealers in so cal and ordered a stingray from each of 3 dealers and told them I would but the first one that showed up. A couple of mionths later a buddy who worked at one of the dealers where I ordered called and told me Ernie Hofman Chevrolet just got in a Stingray that wasn't sold. My Dad and I were at the dealership the next morning at 7:30 waiting for them to open. About 6 people lined up behind us. When the door opened we walked in and I put $100 bill under the wiper. An hour later and a loan of a couple of grand from Dad, and I was the proud owner of a Sierra Gold roadster with a 340 hp 327, 4 speed and am radio, $4848.00 out the door. It wasn't the fuelie split window I ordered but it was the first stingray on the streets of so cal. As it turned out with a little work it was faster than most of the fuelies that came out. I raced it for a year, set a couple of track records, and won a lot of trophies. Then Gas Rhonda showed up one day with a new Cobra. I could not beat that Cobra. My dominance in A/Sports was over.
About 6 months after I got my Vette, my mother bought my Dad a '63 honduras red Impalla SS with a 409 and a 4 speed. She figured if I had a new car Dad deserved one too. He had his a lot longer than I did.
If I only knew then what I know now.