Cool Cars, What did you own?

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I owned a 66 GTO 389 tripower. 4 speed Hurst, gold with a black vinyl top. Paid 750 for it sold it when I Transferred to MCAS Yuma Arizona because it didn’t have AC, bought a 72 Dodge Challenger RT 440 6pack red and Black. Drove it for 4 years. Wife was pregnant with second kid. Traded it in for a Jeep Grand Waggoner.
 
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I just brought this car home today:

hWLangOh.jpg


1979 MGB with 60K on it. Everything works and it appears to be solid. It goes to the local restoration shop next week to find out where I stand.

My wife had a 1978 in when we were in college.
They are not the fastest cars in the world, but fun to drive.
 
I owned a 66 GTO 389 tripower. 4 speed Hurst, gold with a black vinyl top. Paid 750 for it sold it when I Transferred to MCAS Yuma Arizona because it didn’t have AC, bought a 72 Dodge Challenger RT 440 6pack red and Black. Drove it for 4 years. Wife was pregnant with second kid. Traded it in for a Jeep Grand Waggoner.

When I was in high school in the early 70's (class of '74) the father of two brothers who were 1 year apart and lived next door bought both of them 1967 convertible GTO's with the 400 V-8 when they got their licenses. The one brother was a gearhead and actually owned a service station when he got older. Did a good job servicing one one of my Audi's one time..
The gearhead mechanic I remember saying he drilled out the 400 to a 409 (or maybe dropped a new motor in) and used new pistons crank, rods (and maybe cylinder liners). Dropped a 6 pack carburetor on top and temporarily ran some insanely wide (and illegal) racing slicks on the back. Got to drive it a couple of times and man did it pull through the 4 speed manual box like lightning. The slicks stuck to the road and allowed one to pour on the throttle quicker without burning the rubber. Although if one got stupid on the throttle it would make a big smoke cloud off the slicks if rammed to full power quickly. The ability to put the power to the roadway without spinning the tires led to some insane acceleration.
He only had the slicks on for a short time and took them off for some tires that were street legal. Didn't want to get stopped by the cops although he got away with it the short time he had them on. Didn't do any street racing so that helped him fly under the radar. Both cars were the same light brown almost gold color. The second brother kept his a stock 400 and the cars actually were twins, same color and same interior. Boy I wished I had one today AND the 1967 Corvette coupe my uncle bought in 1975 that was red and black with the factory 427! Was restored and immaculate. Man did it haul. My cousin said they had it up to 155mph and though the motor was still pulling and had more to go, the front end started going up with the front wheels losing contact with the pavement. Had to back off on the power. That was the reason Chevy switched to the mako shark look in 1968. That design kept the front end from floating at high speeds. Uncle Don tells me he keeps kicking himself for selling it about 4 years later. Go price a '67 Vette with a factory 427 and see what number you come up with. It's insane.

Kurt
 


Latest toy for the last five years- 2016 Hellcat Challenger M6. Drove down to Texas a couple of weeks ago and switched over to race gas tune after buying a can of VP MS109 unleaded at the event. 187.0 mph on my first pass on stock size rubber (narrow versus Widebody Hellcats).

Car weighs 4500#’s, add 160# driver and safety gear- A/C, Nav, Satellite radio, gets 20mpg at 70mph. I’m pretty happy with that number.
 
Currently own a '68 and '88 Mercury Cougar.......
During college I had a 68 Cougar. I wasn't even remotely an auto mechanic but was able to rebuild the carburetor. My brother's friend, "Red" (a pretty good amateur auto mech) laughed at first when told of my approach: A huge piece of paper laid out in numbered 8x8 squares, and as the carb was discombooberated each part (numbered in the rebuild kit instructions) was placed on its square. Each was cleaned or replaced, returned to its square, then reassembled in reverse order. Red stopped laughing when the engine fired up and ran on the first try.

My midlife-crisis car was a 91(?) Ford Probe, 5-speed manual. (I could have gone with a 21-year-old female for the midlife crisis, but murdering me would probably have put a cramp in Geniece's lifestyle. And caused gossip. ;))

Best -- Terry
 
1979 MGB with 60K on it. Everything works and it appears to be solid. It goes to the local restoration shop next week to find out where I stand.

My wife had a 1978 in when we were in college.
They are not the fastest cars in the world, but fun to drive.
I sure miss my '72 MGB that I had in college, with the chrome bumpers front and back, and the wire wheels with knock-off hubs. You're right, they aren't the fastest, they were designed for touring. I had a slightly lighter "British Racing Orange".

I got to the point that I could strip, clean, and rebuild the twin Solex carburettors with my eyes closed, they weren't the most dependable design. Also ended up replacing the original "pancake" fuel pump with a regular fuel pump after getting stranded in winter at night in the middle of nowhere.

Also mounted a plastic wind-up key with a suction cup on the boot. Got a lot of laughs.
 
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In November I picked up a 2005 Mazda MX-5 Mazdaspeed Miata cheap...it is the only factory Miata with a turbo ever made (and to be made for the foreseeable future according to Mazda head). Was a pet-fur mess on the inside, but stock with 90k.
IMG_20210321_134619265_HDR.jpg
Color is one of those that many claim to be the best one on Mazdas and it is amazing in person (has a bit of orangey sparkle)..."Velocity Red".
 
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Currently own a '68 and '88 Mercury Cougar.......

I had a 1987 Cougar XR-7. Every factory option other than a sunroof and a block heater. I loved that car. Only problem was that the speedo went to 85.... but the metric speedo went to 199 :)

I wish I had kept it. Had a 302 and got 30 mpg at 60 and 25 mpg at 75. And lots of torque...... But it started showing it's age mechanically. Had I known then, what I know now, I would have traded the car payments for the parts bills - and come out on top.
 
I just brought this car home today:

hWLangOh.jpg


1979 MGB with 60K on it. Everything works and it appears to be solid. It goes to the local restoration shop next week to find out where I stand.

My wife had a 1978 in when we were in college.
They are not the fastest cars in the world, but fun to drive.
1980 Triumph Spitfire, my 3rd one. All works and all rebuilt pretty much.
 

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My most fun street car was a 1966 chevy four-door.
Came with a 283 2bbl & three on the tree.
Replaced the heads with small chamber 2.02s from a fuelie corvette that the owner had tangled with a guard rail. Duntov 30/30 solid lifter cam. Headers and an old Chevy (Winters)dual-quad (2xCarter WCFBs) intake that I picked-up at a local speed shop for $40. Rebuilt the WCFBs and she ran great. They were only 450 CFM IIRC but 900CFM is plenty for a 283 and the smaller throats made for a very smooth and driveable engine.
Stock rear end, stock H78x15 tires. nothing that said performance whatsoever unless you noticed a slight lope to the idle and slightly louder exhaust. But most others were louder themselves and that drowned-out my noise.
Total sleeper!
We would pull up next to a guy with his back end all jacked-up and just look over at him. When he decided to give us a show he was surprised to see us stay next to him or ahead of him in MANY cases. They would be shifting into third and I would just be hitting second. Raced one guy and his buddies in a 68 Camaro from every stop light through three towns. Three of us in each car He kept trying and I kept beating him. Love that 283. Those things will wind all day thanks to that 3" stroke.
Never did break that three-speed Saginaw. Cannot say the same for the rear end.
 
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My 1991 Mitsubishi Galant VR4. My friends and I built this thing 10 years ago, it was the first car I bought.

It's a turbo 4 cylinder, AWD, manual. It makes about 1000 wheel horse power at 48psi, it weighs 2550lbs and goes pretty good once the turbo spools. At 7000rpm the turbo is working and I shift at 10,000rpm. It goes 50-75mph in 0.75 seconds.



 

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In November I picked up a 2005 Mazda MX-5 Mazdaspeed Miata cheap...it is the only factory Miata with a turbo ever made (and to be made for the foreseeable future according to Mazda head). Was a pet-fur mess on the inside, but stock with 90k.
View attachment 460355
Color is one of those that many claim to be the best one on Mazdas and it is amazing in person (has a bit of orangey sparkle)..."Velocity Red".
That was actually my second Miata...my first was a 2012 MX-5 I got used a few years back to build and race...just got it back from tuner and it has a 2.5L turbo (300+ hp). Parts on hand to be installed include Wilwood brakes, upgraded hubs, 9" wide wheels, fender flares, rollbar in white and a front splitter.
IMG_20210418_111000082_HDR.jpg
 
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I sure miss my '72 MGB that I had in college, with the chrome bumpers front and back, and the wire wheels with knock-off hubs. You're right, they aren't the fastest, they were designed for touring. I had a slightly lighter "British Racing Orange".

I got to the point that I could strip, clean, and rebuild the twin Solex carburettors with my eyes closed, they weren't the most dependable design. Also ended up replacing the original "pancake" fuel pump with a regular fuel pump after getting stranded in winter at night in the middle of nowhere.

Also mounted a plastic wind-up key with a suction cup on the boot. Got a lot of laughs.
I had a 76 MGB back in college. Traded for a new ford ranger when i graduated. Picked up another 76 MGB after I got married. Sold it before moving to Florida. Fuel tang gauge float went bad in both of them. Loved the MGB, was great for meeting females in college.
 
That was actually my second Miata...my first was a 2012 MX-5 I got used a few years back to build and race...just got it back from tuner and it has a 2.5L turbo (300+ hp). Parts on hand to be installed include Wilwood brakes, upgraded hubs, 9" wide wheels, fender flares, rollbar in white and a front splitter.
View attachment 460487
Installed hood vents today to help cool the turbo'd engine...what's really cool about this car is the color "Cloudy Blue Mica"....you don't quite understand until you take pics of it under a partly cloudy sky and then it's like WOW! Cloudy with Vents 2.jpg
 
Cool Cars, What did you own?
Seems this thread has a lot of cars we all had when we were young (sports cars, muscle cars, etc). When you're 18, it's all about fast and sexy cars.

I wonder, as you reach middle age, things like dependability, gas mileage, repair bills seem to be more important. How many of you drive Toyota's (or their equivalent) today? ;)

And as you get on there in age, and have more disposable income, then you can afford to buy the fast and sexy cars again, or maybe restore one. Can you say "midlife crisis"?
 
bought brand new and still own, 2001 Trans Am.
 

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And as you get on there in age, and have more disposable income, then you can afford to buy the fast and sexy cars again, or maybe restore one. Can you say "midlife crisis"?

I can say it....."mercurycougarshighpowerrocketsrcairplanesboatscabinsfishinglearningguitarhomebrewingblacksmithingmeatsmokingfullscaleairplaneflyingohmy!".........WHEW!!!! I think I covered them all......so far....... 🤣 :headspinning:
 
I had a 1948 Anglia (English Ford) panel truck as a drag car. Ran in I gas class. (That’s I as in eye) Sorry, no photos. Had a 6 cylinder 248 cu. in. with 2, 2 barrel carbs. Would do the ¼ mile in 12 seconds at 105 MPH. Not that bad for 1965. Had open headers that dumped right under the floor board. No one wore hearing protection then and I can still feel the roar.🙉
God, that was fun.
 
1980 Triumph Spitfire, my 3rd one. All works and all rebuilt pretty much.
I also owned a 1965 Triumph . 1978 almost got killed in that one, got broad sided guy ran red light, that little car held its own. Also had a 914 Porsche, 19 63 chevy impala. It only burned 10 quarts of oil in a hundred miles !!! Here is a pic of my Porches .. best car I ever owned. Girl magnet, sorry ladies,, met my first wife with this one, She had a two year old and we then had a 6 month old baby but they all burned to death as I watch them as I could not get to them, Anyway I also had a 1976 chevy chevette,, not a bad car. Also all the Harleys I build, heres one, but buster but it would run !!
 

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Once had a black '73 Dodge Charger. Front fenders lacked wheel well liners and holes rusted through. Restored the car. Some drunk at work scraped into the passenger side and nearly tore the front chrome off.
 
I also owned a 1965 Triumph . 1978 almost got killed in that one, got broad sided guy ran red light, that little car held its own. Also had a 914 Porsche, 19 63 chevy impala. It only burned 10 quarts of oil in a hundred miles !!! Here is a pic of my Porches .. best car I ever owned. Girl magnet, sorry ladies,, met my first wife with this one, She had a two year old and we then had a 6 month old baby but they all burned to death as I watch them as I could not get to them, Anyway I also had a 1976 chevy chevette,, not a bad car. Also all the Harleys I build, heres one, but buster but it would run !!
Sorry for your loss.
 
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