Chrysler was big for a long time in drag racing and NASCAR, but that faded when the management lost interest. You can’t do it right without the R&D and that stopped, followed by the demise of the their racing parts division.

Moving and traveling suck so bad in the US, that it isn’t worth the effort. No one wants to deal with all of the crap at US airports, so even a cheap dollar isn’t helping the tourist areas.

Civic goes wherever I want to go, because it will be less than 50 miles.

The rivalry here was/is Ford vs Holden (GM or GMH). Chrysler tried to get in on it, but nobody really took them seriously. 😉

Here, it was the Bathurst races that sorted out Ford vs. Holden. It was a production care endurance race, and both *cheated* as much as possible! 😆 One of the criteria was that at least 33 cars of a particular model entered to race had to have been built and sold. So both had “Limited Edition” promotions a year or so before the race. 😆 My car was one of those, so I got a lot of cool extra’s (for a price of course) that wasn’t in the stock version. 🙂 The whole XA-XB-XC series of GT Coupe’s was pretty limited anyway (I think less than 1,000 all up were made), and it was only made because the more aerodynamic shape would help Ford win races against the higher-drag boxy Holden’s they raced against, and Ford was top-of-the-hill for a few years until Holden caught up. 😉

I spent many years traveling and living out of suitcases and Hotels during the late 80’s and 90’s. Initially for my Gov masters, and then for various companies. My very first short trip to the USA, my luggage ended up in Canada. I quickly learned to keep a change of clothes and important stuff in my carry-on. Some f the things in my carry-on were not usually allowed, but I would generally have either a pass from the Airline with a Gov seal affixed, or a Customs clearance (for both ends of the trip). I certainly don’t have any urge to travel any more. 🙂 All I want is peace and quiet. And I have come to the conclusion I’ll get that when I’m *six feet under*! (At least, that’s my theory, but with my luck, probably not). 😛

I’m stuck with an automatic in the Civic, but the kind of driving involved wouldn’t get me out of second gear in the ‘Cuda.

I’ve devolved into requiring more utility than speed in transportation.

I don’t have the right personality type to become addicted to being paid to travel the world while carrying lots of cool gear, meet lots of interesting people, and, err, you know the rest of that one. I’m too much the analyst for that. So I’m quite happy with my current not-so-exciting lifestyle where I can gather immense amounts of open source data from the comfort of my office, analyse it, and come to the conclusion that the world is going to hell in a handbasket. Not that you need an analyst to come to that conclusion :twisted:.

Depends on the 351. 🙂 The standard 351W (Windsor) or 351C etc were just basic V8 plodders with not a lot of potential. The 351Q (Cobra Jet) @ 351R (Boss) were the heavyweights. 🙂 They were designed to perform at a high level, if you had the money, or access to required assets to make it happen. 🙂 The guys we met on the StingRat crew said that I made a great choice opting for the more expensive R because it could be built to rev out at over 11K RPM (not that we wanted to get near that, but it had the potential). We were happy to top out at about 8.2K with a Garrett Air-Research blower (Supercharger) with a Bosch K-Jetronic fuel injection system (the last engine mod’s we made). 🙂 We called her the ‘Black Widow’ (for shows & such) and she could blow the Mad Max Pursuit Interceptor (which was based on the same base car) off the road. 😉 She had a new chassis, new suspension, brakes, exhaust, interior, body mod’s… the works. Not saying the 350 Chev is no good, but like the 351, depends which one you get. Most people who want to get into modding don’t even find out, until too late, that there are different engine models. The think a 351 is a 351 (or a 350 is a 350). *shrug*

I was seriously considering an AMC AMX Coupe that I saw in a showroom (red, of course), but my friends basically talked me into the XB GT because we really wanted the car for a *dream* project of making a top show car. 🙂 I think the AMX had a 390cid V8 from memory… big engine for a small car! That would have required a shoehorn I think. From memory, I think it was about the size of a Carolla, but with something like 350HP! If I had just wanted to own a muscle car, it would have been either the AMX or a Corvette Convertible 6.3. 😆 😉 BTW, that XB GT was a good car even stock. People are paying over $40k to get one in mint condition today (and I have seen them go for over $50k). There was just *something* about it! 🙂

I had a CB & Radar detector installed in the Widow. My friends and I did a few runs to Sydney or other places far away. We once did a Sydney run in about 6.5 hours, it’s normally 11. Could have been quicker, but chatting with truckie’s along the highway getting (and giving) *Bear* sightings, and the occasional alarm from the detector prevented that. 😉

As far as life goes, I was only commenting on mine. Everyone else has their own views. I can assure you… mine was absolutely and quite definitely better back then! 🙂 Which is not to say that it will never be any good again. Who knows? My crystal ball broke many years ago. 😉 *shrug*

3.55 gearing with a torque monster engine like the ones you’re talking about wasn’t bad at all, back in the days of 3 speed automatics you had to run a taller rear end because there was no overdrive to settle the engine down at speed. Given a torque curve as broad and flat as Kansas, I can certainly see how that was an acceptable compromise. I’m running 3.73’s on my Jeep right now but it has a six-speed transmission with not one, but *two* overdrives, to the point where I’ve done the calculations and I can easily run 4.56 gearing without being unduly busy on the highway (it’ll be busy, around 3000 rpm at 75mph, but acceptable). Of course, I don’t have to worry about going fast in my Jeep, not with a whole 190 horsepower and the aerodynamics of a brick :). Still, I’m not rushing out to do the Chevy engine swap. The old AMC I6 is as reliable as a brick and its in-line form factor makes for a nicely roomy engine compartment that’s far more pleasant to work in than a typical V8-stuffed engine compartment. And driving a slow slug does have its anti-ticket advantages, though there was the moron who almost road-raged on me because I didn’t get out of his way fast enough (he stopped when I picked up my microphone and started talking on it, then he realized he’d seen not one, but *two* antennas on my Jeep in addition to the normal radio antenna and decided I must be The Man and he skedaddled and disappeared down a side street lickity split, saved by ham radio! 🙂 ).

Regarding life better then vs. now, I suppose it depends upon how addicted you are to adrenalin. I like my nice pleasant non-adrenalin-producing lifestyle that I have now. I’ve lived rough. I like my comforts now — why, my Jeep even has cruise control, air conditioning, and a hard top! — though I occasionally take a trek in the wilderness via jeep or on foot just to remind myself why I prefer not living rough nowadays ;).

You’re right about those 3 engines. 🙂 We worked on a couple 350’s and a 340 for various friends. the Ford 302 & GM 308 were popular here also.

It’s curious how things work out really. I got the *building/fixing stuff* bug from my maternal Grandfather, and went on to make friends with kids who had similar interests (naturally). Four of us worked on the Ford, and we shared the cost, though I tended to have more money than they did, so I used to pay up-front costs, and get reimbursed, eventually. 🙂 My friend who’s dad worked for the railway started an apprenticeship as an auto electrician with Shell, and got me an apprenticeship as a mechanic there also. But Shell sucked, all I did for over a year was change tires and batteries, and destroy several shirts in the process. But I did get to go to a Technical Institute 2 days a week (we called them TAFE here), and one of the senior instructors said I had a real aptitude for electronics & engineering, and talked me into doing a full-time 3-year COT (Certificate of Technology) course, which would lead me into any one of several Uni degree courses. I fell in love with that huge CNC Milling machine, and found using various machine tools a joy, so I decided to go for Industrial Design/Automation. This was a relatively new course (in ’79) and was part of the Electronics Engineering Dep’t, specializing in control systems and robotics. DEC grabbed me with an offer of big money and a chance to work on new systems (like the VAX 11/782, which I’d never heard of, we had a 750 that I’d hacked with a couple friends, hence the *job offer* (or you can explain to authorities how you hacked a College computer). 😉 Remember, back then, DEC touted the VAX as the ultimate in security! (and it was, unless you had virtually unlimited access to one, and people were used to seeing you buried in the guts of one)! Hacking it turned out to be quite simple really, and involved a simple bit of *human engineering* (a term I’d never heard until years later in the Military/Int and was partially responsible for my getting those jobs). After finishing my 2 yr contract at DEC, I started my own Computer shop, and made a fortune. Then a few tragic things happened, and I went into the Military and agreed to the most dangerous job they had. I didn’t think I would survive, and that was OK with me at that time. But it turned out I had a stronger will than anyone thought, and did survive, worked for the Gov Intel services until I got totally sick of idiot bureaucrats. My attitude changed a lot, and I eventually (and finally) returned to my engineering root’s passion and got a job as R&D manager for a company designing new and advanced control systems for various automated machines. And my team won several awards doing it. 🙂 So I guess, things do go full circle, eventually. 🙂

Curiously, where the Railway Workshop was located (an industrial suburb called Spotswood, in the same street, was a much smaller workshop with a few guys who were a Drag Racing team, and they worked on their fuel-altered funny-car (cased on a Corvette Stingray) which was a bright yellow and called StingRat. 😆 We helped each other out a lot. We did some machining for them, and they gave us ton’s of advice and access to their contact’s in the USA (They were American’s who came here off-season to race). 🙂 They helped us design an adapter to fit a Ferari 5-speed to the ford, which we got from a wrecker they knew from a wrecked Ferrari (a new gearbox would have set us back about $12K! The Ford GT with bigger engine only cost about $8K)! 😆 A German engineer we met in Spotswood who used to work for BMW & Porsche made a new clutch system to fit for about $2k (would have cost over $6k normally). Basically, in truth, we got lucky. 🙂 *shrug*

I was just giving you a bit of a nudge in your car, as youknow. 😉 And yeah, a 3.55 rear was pretty good. 🙂 And I think I can see how you ended up being a Cop! 😉 😆 You (like me) were destined to end up on one side of the law, or the other. 😈

Sounds like you had some fun, and enjoyed it too. 🙂

I try not to, but sometimes can’t help wishing I was back *then*. Life was DEFINITELY better! Oh well… we can only move forward. 😉

Yeah, the 351, the Chevy 350, and the Chrysler 340 are the easiest to build out and provide the most bang for the buck. They are hard to break and offer the most options.

Gimme a break, the 3.55 rear end was a decent compromise for the street that saved the rear tires. I had revs left when I pulled over so 140+ wasn’t a problem, the radar car on the side of the road just passed an overpass was. I dropped it neutral and rolled over to the side. He wrote the ticket for 84 because I didn’t make him chase me, but he showed me the radar ticket.

You have to understand I was in the service and the car had plates from Florida, insurance from Nebraska, and my driver’s license was from New York, so life could have gotten “interesting” if I had made him chase me.

The access to the tools makes all of the difference in the world. I had to buy my set-up [carbs and intake manifold] from a local drag racer who was moving up in class, and he installed it. I found him after I bought the car, or I would have just swapped engines with him. He didn’t have the big tools you had access to, but he was able to “blueprint” the components, and had access to better than original parts. It is just as well, as I got myself in more than enough trouble driving that car in California and Washington, DC. It was essential in Washington as the Beltway has very short entrance ramps and the regular crowd don’t want to let people merge.

We wanted to, and we did it, so it is time to move on.