I had 'One of those cars....
Stage 2 Buick '72 455 Skylark.
Last year of the big blocks, and few ever came outta Michigan that year.
I still have a little cousin in my garage, a '72 with a 350 half torn down.
I am chock full of stories about cars I used to own, and wish I still had.

Like the '69 GS400, and the '67 LeMans with the drag engine and almost no body.
I ran 'em wild and those became the stories of my youth. And not much fabrication.
The '69 would do wheel stands, street legal.
And the '67 was never beaten in a street race. 500+ cubes of something I never knew what....it was a drag strip baby, and the guy never told me exactly what the engine was.

And then there was the '67 Lemans wagon...230 cubes of overhead cam six. Took down a Corvette in that one once.............station wagon....he was real ashamed. We raced for pink slips, because he thought there was no way he could lose, and he almost handed me over a '69 Vette. I was gracious, and declined.

Can't take a man's car, no matter the wager........I was amused to have won.
I do think somewhere I still have his number, if I ever need a ride, he owes me.

Anyway...............car stories? Monster mobiles?

On the street, I don't think for Detroit machinery anyway, that anybody could beat my '69 GS400....never dragged it for times, but nobody wanted me to.
Bored out small block. To within a mike of the walls. It was not gonna live long, but hard and fast. Did a take apart when it finally blew up, and nobody believed the parts that were in it. Hard rings, roller bearings everywhere..
No wonder it did 145 flat out. I sold the transmission for about 2 thousand, because it was worked over as well. And aluminum case Muncies were sought after at that time any way. T Handle aluminum case Muncie.....could shift without clutching at full power........

Meow.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Damn, and I DO remember that sound....
Block stock and raging Buick.
Man, those were the days.
I blew up about 5 of them 455/s....they never had enough oil pressure to get back to the number 8 rod. I learned this through a series of them./

They put them in the Electra 455s that I drove the hell outta as well.
They were very heavy cars, but did well on the street in a casual race.
The '70 something tube fender jobs were a great street racer.
Ton of metal, but boy, would they launch. Surprised a lot of guys with them.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

The most amazing rust bucket?
The overhead cam 230 in my '67 Lemans Pontiac wagon.....Yes, a wagon .

It had the heart of a GTO, and I transplanted a stage 1 overhead cam into it.

With the help of a GM dealer that had an original set of hydraulic lifters under the part number he did not remember/. I looked it up, and he had not only a full set of lifters, but the cam belt as well.

He said.................you got one of these still running?
My gift, my friend, no charge, it was all about to tossed out, you are a lucky man. My boss told me I had to toss is a week ago/. I could not do it.

Two days later, the garage closed and he retired. I asked for his parts files ,but the owners tossed everything. Burned the computers and all the spare parts outright. I mean, they had a fire out back. Bastards.

And that was 40 years ago

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Damn, those were BIG cars.
Had one.
If I recall, they knocked back the 455 a bit from '70 on.
The best year to get was a '69 GS....
Best body. Best engine.
After that, the monster was declawed a bit.

And a few years later, the 455 line of Buicks ended abruptly and the 403
Olds motor was the biggest thing you could get.\\

Not that it was a bad thing, and they got sued for putting Olds motors in Buick, which galled a lot of old school Buick buyers, but the 403 was a pretty staunch engine.

I had a '77 Electra with the 403.
And pardon me, but it was not the same car as my '75 with the 455 Buick motor...
But, it ran for some 107k and still was strong, so I cannot say it was a bad motor. But, is WAS a bored out small block pushed to it's limits, and NOT a big block motor. Basically a maxxed out 350 is what it was.....I got parts for a 350 Buick that fit, and that was about all one could find.

Most of the parts shops had no listing for a 403 Electra. Not even spark plugs...
And when told I was bullshitting, I needed to poke their heads under the hood to prove I was not...and further more, had to show them the title with the engine code to prove I had not done a boneyard swap and that it came out of Detroit that way. It had BLUE valve covers, not the usual Buick red ones...

I had to tell them to just look up the 350 model and get me parts from there. It was a rare bird. There were so few made that way, that it was not on the charts, literally.
It took 350 5/8" taper seat plugs, BTW. It was a 350 motor with a big block heart.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

I bought a brand new 1972 Honda Coupe. Tiny car with a
motorcycle engine. Manual transmission only with the
gearshift on the dash board. Oh how I loved my little
car. Had to give it up when I went overseas because I
was only an E-4 (Specialist 4) and not allowed to ship
a car. Mine was "Olive Green" (of course; I was in the
Army, after all). The color of the photo isn't quite
right.

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~Sue~

From the bit to the tiny...LOL.
Although the thread was started talking about big GM boats with larger than life engines, your post is quite welcome as a counterpoint.

Next I suppose, shall be a Prius owner...LOL.
Although I find it hard to believe than anybody could love one of those.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Next I suppose, shall be a Prius owner...LOL.

That's what Eric and I currently drive. His is silver and mine is black.
Beep Beep!

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OH, so sorry to hear that.........
For you..
The Beep Beep song.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Next I suppose, shall be a Prius owner...LOL.

That's what Eric and I currently drive. His is silver and mine is black.
Beep Beep!

Does it include the bumper sticker "my passenger is not an alien"? :)

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Member of the People Encouraging Niceness In Society club.

Next I suppose, shall be a Prius owner...LOL.

That's what Eric and I currently drive. His is silver and mine is black.
Beep Beep!

Does it include the bumper sticker "my passenger is not an alien"? :)

No, that would probably weigh too much.

On the bumper, not the driver's mind.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Never had a Lincoln, but had a '67 Pontiac Lemans with a stroked 500 something Lincoln motor in it.
The song rings true.

My best was about 145. Not in that car, it was a track burner, not a top end car. It could take about anything from the line up to about 85. That was top end. And the motor was still hungry. It was built to be a track baby. Bought it that way and took down a lot of street cars with it.

The '69 GS400 would do it though. One Sunday morning before the cops woke up, tore down highway 41 between Green Bay and Appleton. Headed south and broke the speedo. Watched the tach and proceeded to advance it beyond 6000 RPM, which was 120........... it hit 7000 and then some more.

The local Buick garage finally asked me not to come in any more with the speedo broken after a fine Saturday night....LOL.\


Meowmooovin'.

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"Freedom is just Chaos, with better lighting." Alan Dean Foster

Cars in my life:

When I was born, I'm told my parents had a VW, one that had actually been used in Germany before being brought over. I don't remember it. Name Gretchen.

The first one I remember was a blue 63 Corvair. One day, the axle broke. They had it towed away. I still have soft spot for first-style Corvairs. Don't remember its name.

After that came Ralphie, a green Chevy Vega, bought used from a Plymouth dealer. Should have been a clue. It overheated on the test drive. Another clue. The aluminum 4-banger ended up melting, but it was replace for free by GM. When I was in third grade, last day of school before winter break, my teacher took me out of class and said my mother had been an accident and a policeman (who would later be the mayor for 20 years) would drive me home. The Vega was broadsided in a blinding snowstorm. She wasn't hurt, but she was trapped until the fire department managed to cut her out. It was repaired. New door and I don't know what else.

A few years later, they decided they needed a second car and paid cash for a new 77 Vega, red, with no radio, also a 4. Its gas cap was missing and they provided one that wasn't painted, which led to the name.... no, not Spot, Rover. A few years later, I replaced the timing belt by myself. Thanks, Chilton manual.

Around the same time, they also got a new 77 Buick (moving up in the world) Skylark, brown with a tan half vinyl top and a Chevy v6. Named Honey. The 71 was sold via want ad. A couple years later, my father noticed pink fluid in the driveway and had the tranny inspected. It was leaking and got a rebuild just a month before the warranty expired. Not too much later, it was traded in on...

A 79 Monte Carlo (dropping back to Chevy), white, also v6, Charlie. Had my first accident in Charlie -- spun out on ice and knocked down a phone pole. Only minor cosmetic damage to the car, but insurance had to pay for the pole.

We still owned Rover and Charlie when I got my license, and when my parents separated. At first, we tried to spread the two cars between the three of us, but finally I had to get my own.

Enter the first one I owned. 69 Buick LeSabre. Big v8. Complete rustbucket. No name. Eventually had to tie a rope around the rear bumper to keep it from falling down and dragging on the ground (the frame was rusted out and couldn't hold it up). Got this up to 100 once, late at night on old Route 66 somewhere north of Bloomington, IL. Probably would have gone faster, but I didn't want to push it. Had an accident that broke the hood latch just enough that I had to use a bicycle lock cable to hold it down. At some point, it wouldn't open any more and I was no longer able to fiddle with the starter or battery cables or whatever was wrong with it. It also started missing on one or more cylinders, severely robbing it of power. Sold it to a friend for something like $50 after buying...

A 78 Monza wagon (Pontiac version of the Vega), blue, with the same v6 in it as Honey and Charlie. Bought it from a friend; mistake. Had a broken coil spring. After that was fixed, I kept it for a few years. The dealer abandoned it at a gas station after I traded it in on...

A 79 Malibu, red, small v8. Absolute hunk of junk. Starter broke (physically broke: a chunk of the hood over the gear broke off and got stuck in it so it wouldn't stop. I had to disconnect the battery and then call a friend to drive me home from work at 0030) a day or three after I bought it. It had a lot of other problems, too. Gummed up choke thermostat. Severely worn cam shaft. Blew out a radiator hose. Broken turn signal stalk, splinted and wrapped with electrical tape. Eventually had the cam replaced; at least one lobe was worn down to just round, no longer a lobe at all. Sold that to a junk yard for $60. I think the guy who picked it up wanted the front grill and associated trim for himself.

Instead of buying another car (which I simply could not afford at the time), I started driving Charlie again; my mother never drove again.

After a couple of years, I'd managed to save enough to buy a Caprice police cruiser, late of the Marion County Sheriff's Department in Peru, IN. BIG port injected 350, spotlight, "Deputy GL Glassburn" on the side windows. Enjoyed that car for several years (during which my mother donated Charlie to the fire department for rescue practice), but it started having problems and I just got tired of looking like a cop. I also started having trouble getting out of it and wanted to try an SUV.

Enter my only non-GM, a 98 Jeep Grand Cherokee. Black, full time 4WD. Drove all the way to Lima, Ohio, to buy it. Check engine light was on on the test drive. Should have passed, but I'd been looking for one with the right specs and a decent price for months. Found out within a few days that the check engine light was from the wiring for some sensor or other being wrapped around the drive shaft. I went to a junk yard and crawled under another Jeep to cut out the necessary section of wiring so the local dealer could splice it in. This was just the first of many problems it had, some involving the tranny. Even snapped the CV joint on one of the wheels. It would shimmy above 80 mph. If I could have afforded a new car, this would have gone in on Cash for Clunkers. Instead, I limped it to a used car dealer down in Lockport and traded it for...

A Chevy van with a wheelchair lift to help my increasingly sick mother around. Suffice to say I hated driving it, the lift got little use, and since my mother was gone, I had no more need for it. After almost exactly one year, I traded that in on...

2008 Trailblazer, black, small v8, my current vehicle and my first ever with a warranty. That came in very handy, as I have previously documented here. It will comfortably go 90; haven't tried faster. It was only after I'd had this for a while that I donated the Caprice to my employer for educational use.

I really don't know what my next car will be. Everything being made now is too tight inside for me to be comfortable.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

We name our cars too!!!

When we met, I drove Rhonda Honda and I dubbed Eric's car Joel Renault.

After Rhonda and Joel expired we drove Francis Ford Korpela, Deloris Taurus and eventually Penelope Prius.

Our current Prius Dyad we call "P Force One" and "P Force Two"

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The one car I was fond of was a Lancia Aprilia, vintage 1938, belonging to a friend who later died in the Himalayas. We used to go mountaineering and skiing with it, having filled its tank with gasoline bought in Slovenia, which had a typical smell. It used to be low octane grade, and people with Alfa Romeos frequently burned their engines using it. Now there is a poster of it in my living room, as a memory of my friend.
Tullio

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We name our cars too!!!

When we met, I drove Rhonda Honda and I dubbed Eric's car Joel Renault.

After Rhonda and Joel expired we drove Francis Ford Korpela, Deloris Taurus and eventually Penelope Prius.

Our current Prius Dyad we call "P Force One" and "P Force Two"

Let me guess: yours is One.

---

David
Sitting on my butt while others boldly go,
Waiting for a message from a small furry creature from Alpha Centauri.

We name our cars too!!!

When we met, I drove Rhonda Honda and I dubbed Eric's car Joel Renault.

After Rhonda and Joel expired we drove Francis Ford Korpela, Deloris Taurus and eventually Penelope Prius.

Our current Prius Dyad we call "P Force One" and "P Force Two"

Let me guess: yours is One.

or the other.

---

The only car I ever named was my first, a used 1965 Chevy Chevelle
Malibu I called Ernie, after the Sesame Street character.

Chevy still makes the Malibu, but they dropped "Chevelle" a long
time ago. I have no idea what that was about.

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~Sue~

Let me guess: yours is One.

Nope.

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