Oddball Muscle Cars

[Paul Ceasrine]

WJ,
Isn't Checkers a board-game that is played with black and red discs??? That Checker that raced at Dover was a legal Taxi, equipped with the mileage-meter and roof lights.. ..Wonder if he activated the meter when racing. What was the travel-cost back then,,, .35 cents for the first quarter-mile... I bet that car is still running... I never saw anybody kill those things....Launched like a Moose with that 3.09 first gear....
Mercury Cyclone,,,In 66', I think the 427/410 1x4 was called 'Cyclone 427',,, and the 427/425 2x4 was called the 'Cyclone 427 Super'.. ..I believe Billy Lagana of Mt. Kisco, New York (Ford match-racer) ran one. The 410HP ran in A/S and the 425HP ran in SS/B in 67'. Really a nice option for $1129 over the base price.
Paul,,,,Duck, another parachutist.

[W J]

OK, one more....Flashback to early '60's at the famous, but long-time closed NHRA-sanctioned Orange, Ma. Airport drag strip....A regular competitor there was a guy in a very cool-looking 2 door 1957 GMC blk 1/2 ton panel truck.... 283 (??)Chev small block 4 bbl. motor, headers, 4sp. stick, steep rear gear, rather narrow slicks, ran high 12's....put alot of people on the trailer...quite a screamer for back then....Don't know what was inside the motor, but it flew. On the side of truck was painted "Egg Man" Templeton, Mass. Supposedly the guy owned a chicken farm up that way and used the GMC for customer egg deliveries during the week.... THAT, is a odd combo....doesn't top the Checker, though..... WJ

[Paul Ceasrine]

WJ,
The Checker may have it over that Chicken Truck by a 'Beek'.. Sounds like a good name for a restaurant in northern Massachussetts, to take your family; 'Chicken N' Checkers'..
OK, back to an ODD-BALL,, 1970 Buick Riviera GS 455/370HP,,the boat weighed in at 4400lbs. Once you got it going, how the hell could you stop it.. Probably 17.00's in the quarter..Anyone know how long it would take to stop it..about a minute...
Paul

[Paul Ceasrine]

King of the ODD-BALLS,
1970 Oldsmobile Toronado GT,,455/400hp,, front-wheel drive. A frightening and scary beast. The GT came with a special order option
that included a special camshaft and torque converter. The car weighed in close to 4500lbs., which may be the heaviest car out their. Still could do the quarter 15.90's..Not a pretty sight.
Paul

[Dan Bennett]

Originally Posted by Paul Ceasrine

WJ,
The Checker may have it over that Chicken Truck by a 'Beek'.. Sounds like a good name for a restaurant in northern Massachussetts, to take your family; 'Chicken N' Checkers'..
OK, back to an ODD-BALL,, 1970 Buick Riviera GS 455/370HP,,the boat weighed in at 4400lbs. Once you got it going, how the hell could you stop it.. Probably 17.00's in the quarter..Anyone know how long it would take to stop it..about a minute...
Paul

The Riv was a pretty good bracket car when most of us drove our racers to the track. I bought a used one in 73 or 74 and it worked pretty good on the local 1/8 mile track. It would spin the tires two or three times on the launch and kept the revs up (more or less) but by 400 feet was pulling pretty hard. It must have been a hard car for the others to judge since I won more races than my level of skill should have produced.

I always wondered about the car. Almost every other one I saw had fender skirts which made them look even more boat-like. Mine had some "mini" skirts which were only a couple of inches thick and made the car look much better. It wasn't a GS and I never could find an option for them.

As far as I know, the 455 in the Rivieras was the same engine as the non-Stage 1 GS Skylarks.

Back to a car previously discussed, that same local track had a regular who raced a Studebaker Lark with a small block Chevy. Since he was bracket racing, I never knew whether he swapped the engine into it or if it was built that way. I remember him having problems with the rear end/axles and I think he finally put a Mopar 8 3/4 in it after a while.

[treessavoy]

Six or seven years ago someone in Orlando FL sold a '63 Mercury 2dr Sedan, all original with a 427 side oiler, 4sp, bench seat, and 9" posi for $17,000. By the time I got there it was sold.

JimR

[rawhide]

Originally Posted by treessavoy

Six or seven years ago someone in Orlando FL sold a '63 Mercury 2dr Sedan, all original with a 427 side oiler, 4sp, bench seat, and 9" posi for $17,000. By the time I got there it was sold.

JimR

Jim,
A 1963 model 427 would have been a top oiler. The side oiler did not arrive in production cars until 65 or 66.
thanks, Roland

[treessavoy]

Originally Posted by rawhide

Jim,
A 1963 model 427 would have been a top oiler. The side oiler did not arrive in production cars until 65 or 66.
thanks, Roland

Ronald,

Thanks, I'm a Mopar guy but always loved those big FE's.

JimR