What cars first stirred your passion?

[HEMIMACH 98]

My father's 69 fastback and 69 boss 302. and a Shelby mustang
when he passed, I had them and sold them to pay off his doctor bills.
the bill collectors were coming after my mother at the time and wanting to take property and whatever to pay the bills.
the biggest bill was 120 thousand with some 50 thousand 30 thousand.
you would have to die and come back to pay.
sugar diabetes is bitch.
I found a collector my father knew and sold the cars pretty good price for them.
after that the Docters were kind enough to write it all off the books.
so, I started collecting my own cars I have had a lot of cars mostly mustangs.

 

[Klaus]

The guy that owned the Catalina 421 somehow managed to fit it into the rented 1-car garage but the funny thing was that when exiting the garage it was too tight to turn hard left to exit on the driveway between our two houses. It definitely was a long car. Beautiful! But long! So he'd have to pull forward, back up turning hard right and then forward to exit between our house and his dad's. It was a very narrow driveway.

Nice. Was the 421 a nail head?

 

[Recon]

I just had a memory flashback. Back when I was in high school, our next door neighbor had a 1965 427 Pontiac Catalina 2+2. It was the most beautiful muscle car I had ever seen. Still remember the rumble of the 421 when he drove out his driveway, which was literally 5' from the side of our house. It was pretty much identical to this one.

One of the best looking land yacht’s. And that 421 SD was a beast even in that chassis.


Sent from somewhere in the twilight zone…

 

[SecondhandSnake]

Mine really started when I was just a youngster hanging onto the fences by the burnout box. If you had an old Chevelle with a big block, you were king. Back in those days no forced induction, no spray, usually just a single carb and a single plane intake, just high compression and a bumpstick so big you thought it was going to stall. Blowers were for funny cars, and turbochargers were some sort of witchcraft. It's shocking how far we've come, but that was what filled my dreams and got me started. Big steel cars, more cubes, parts catalog heads and cams, headers, and a parts store carb. And they looked damn good doing it.

I never did get one, not even my old man's four door Malibu. But I did get an A-body, and it was all kinds of fun.

 

[Blk04L]

Father was/is a car guy.
Used to talk about his older cars including a Roadrunner, Cuda, and a few other ones.
So, remember getting those Cars for Sale magazines weekly looking for 1970 Cudas, which was the first car that sparked my passion for performance cars.

Still remember looking at those magazines and 426 Hemi Cuda's being in the $50-70k range.

Vanishing point and Bulitt also played a big role as a kid lol

Into my teens it was the Cobra/Lightning

 

[03cobra#694]

Mine really started when I was just a youngster hanging onto the fences by the burnout box. If you had an old Chevelle with a big block, you were king. Back in those days no forced induction, no spray, usually just a single carb and a single plane intake, just high compression and a bumpstick so big you thought it was going to stall. Blowers were for funny cars, and turbochargers were some sort of witchcraft. It's shocking how far we've come, but that was what filled my dreams and got me started. Big steel cars, more cubes, parts catalog heads and cams, headers, and a parts store carb. And they looked damn good doing it.

I never did get one, not even my old man's four door Malibu. But I did get an A-body, and it was all kinds of fun.

Spot on, great post.

 

[aoc racer]

My dad has a 69 Mach 1 so as a kid I quickly fell in love with it. It wasn’t running when I was a kid in the 80’s but I used to go in the car and play with the steering wheel. In the 90’s my dad’s friend used to come over on the weekends in his early 70’s Javelin and help us get the Mustang running. Other friends and family had lots of V8 trucks/muscle cars so cars always kept up my interest. Major honorable mention to the Lamborghini Countach. As a kid this was the epic dream car.

 

[Bullitt1448]

I was pretty young, preschool when it started, I was nuts about anything car related. I would take anything and everything apart to see how it worked. There is not one or a couple of cars that I recall being the instigator. When I got older that changed to muscle cars. I was in line at the DMV to get my driver’s license on my 16 birthday

 

[olympic]

My older brothers second gen Camaro. He took a 455 Rocket from a 1970 Oldsmobile and rebuilt it with a big cam and all the goodies. It had long tubes headers and "zoomies" which were 4 pipes out each side of the car. The sound was absolutely ridiculous and the whole car would rock side to side at idle. The sound of the secondaries opening on the 4 barrel carb was mesmerizing and the torque would push you back into the seat at any speed.

I was the early eighties so of course it had a crushed velvet interior, modular mags and was jacked way up in the back! This is the only picture I have of it. Likely taken after the cops made him take the side pipes off...lol!

 

[BlckBox04]

Mine really started when I was just a youngster hanging onto the fences by the burnout box. If you had an old Chevelle with a big block, you were king. Back in those days no forced induction, no spray, usually just a single carb and a single plane intake, just high compression and a bumpstick so big you thought it was going to stall. Blowers were for funny cars, and turbochargers were some sort of witchcraft. It's shocking how far we've come, but that was what filled my dreams and got me started. Big steel cars, more cubes, parts catalog heads and cams, headers, and a parts store carb. And they looked damn good doing it.

I never did get one, not even my old man's four door Malibu. But I did get an A-body, and it was all kinds of fun.

Ahh memories of Englishtown and Atco. I've been hooked on drag racing my entire life.

 

[SecondhandSnake]

My older brothers second gen Camaro. He took a 455 Rocket from a 1970 Oldsmobile and rebuilt it with a big cam and all the goodies. It had long tubes headers and "zoomies" which were 4 pipes out each side of the car. The sound was absolutely ridiculous and the whole car would rock side to side at idle. The sound of the secondaries opening on the 4 barrel carb was mesmerizing and the torque would push you back into the seat at any speed.

I was the early eighties so of course it had a crushed velvet interior, modular mags and was jacked way up in the back! This is the only picture I have of it. Likely taken after the cops made him take the side pipes off...lol!

View attachment 1834418

Wow. You rarely hear about BOP engines getting swapped into Chevys. Usually it was the other way around (except for G-bodies.)

Also I can remember when the side pipes on second gens were really big, like they were on C3s.

 

[DRTYAPE_SRT]

 

[RickyBobby51]

Simple beginnings for me. It was a 1967 Datsun 510 with a 1600 engine; it was a hand-me-down used car (from two older sisters, first Lita then Gloria) to me.

I loved that car. It seemed to have a limitless RPM range to my high school mind.

Great idea for a thread, Klaus.

 

[olympic]

Wow. You rarely hear about BOP engines getting swapped into Chevys. Usually it was the other way around (except for G-bodies.)

Also I can remember when the side pipes on second gens were really big, like they were on C3s.

The '70 Olds was my dads which was retired due to rust. The drivetrain was still good so my brother claimed it for his Camaro. I still remember them welding the motor mounts to the frame and bashing the headers with a hammer to get things to fit...lol!

 

[CobraBob]

Nice. Was the 421 a nail head?

No idea. Back then, I knew diddly squat about muscle cars, other than I knew I wanted one. LOL.

One of the best looking land yacht’s. And that 421 SD was a beast even in that chassis.


Sent from somewhere in the twilight zone…

It definitely was a land yacht. Huge compared to the '65 GTO. They were both standouts, for sure! 389-3 or 421-3. Pick your delicious poison.

 

[Recon]

No idea. Back then, I knew diddly squat about muscle cars, other than I knew I wanted one. LOL.


It definitely was a land yacht. Huge compared to the '65 GTO. They were both standouts, for sure! 389-3 or 421-3. Pick your delicious poison.

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View attachment 1834631

Couldn’t go wrong with either. Fine looking automobiles. And both had excellent engines.
The land yacht’s are so overlooked when it comes to the current view point of the muscle car era. They’re fantastic cars that have a ride quality unrivaled during their heyday.


Sent from somewhere in the twilight zone…

 

[CobraBob]

View attachment 1834555

As nice as the Chevelle and GTO were, I always favored the Buick GSX, with this paint. Such a beautiful car, from front to back. Menacing from the front. Menacing from the rear.

Another view of the same car.

 

[tones_RS3]

Those 455 equipped Buicks were torque monsters back in the day.

 

[Outlaw99]

My brother's 1977 Trans Am. T tops and that gorgeous bird on the hood. 6.6 Turbo.

I was only 7.

After the trans am, he got an 86 mustang. My sister got an 85 peach color 6 cyl mustang. Ugly as shit....had a luggage rack on the trunk lid.

Sent from my SM-S908U using the svtperformance.com mobile app

 

[DRTYAPE_SRT]

As nice as the Chevelle and GTO were, I always favored the Buick GSX, with this paint. Such a beautiful car, from front to back. Menacing from the front. Menacing from the rear.

Another view of the same car.

My dad was an original owner of a 70 Saturn yellow GSX stage 1 car.

I took my drivers test in it.