Muscle Car History

[Qtown Ed]

Hey all,
Sharing what I think is a pretty cool opportunity. My daughter is a Junior at a college in Pa majoring in digital communications and is doing a full video documentary for her major project. She had decided to do her project on my restoration of my 69 Nova L78 and the passion and reasons behind why. After presenting the idea to her professor he loved the idea but felt she could also take the opportunity to do a bigger project as well, so she is doing a documentary on not just my car but the muscle car era, the stories it created then and the hobbyist and enthusiast family is has created 50 years later. He loved the idea of getting the different social stories as well such as the real but sometimes stereotypical but varied stories of young men saving money to buy their first new car just to get drafted etc. (Literally my cars story)

In the next week or two, her and I are road tripping it to go interview the original owner and his family and document on video their memories of the car, go through old pics and discuss those times. We are then going to interview a few guys who have and do still perform restorations (Including mine) and their memories both then and now.

My question for you all is with the opportunity to document these stories…What questions get asked? What angles could she go with this? What really needs to be documented or talked about and preserved with this opportunity? One idea is we get the stuff regarding my car but possibly have guys and girls, both young and old, with their own stories do self video interviews of themselves regarding their cars, memories and stories and it becomes part of a bigger video journal so to speak.

Lol…We all ain’t getting any younger and the chance to preserve this stuff intrigues her.

Thoughts?

Ed

[Mr. Chevy]

I really think most car guys given the time and opportunity can go on and on about their cars minus asking any specific questions.

Rich

[mockingbird812]

Great project! For the original owner: “Tell me your favorite memory of your car”
Or “Why did you decide to buy this car?”
Or “What other cars did you consider to buy at the time?”
Or “Why did you get the options that you chose?”

If permitted, “tape” record the conversation because the info will be flying and it will be hard to write all down.

[JRSully]

Reminds me of my sophomore year in College, did a video in film class with smokey burnouts in the Nova to Aerosmith's Sweet Emotion in the background. That tape must still around somewhere, unfortunately....

[Qtown Ed]

Great project! For the original owner: “Tell me your favorite memory of your car”
Or “Why did you decide to buy this car?”
Or “What other cars did you consider to buy at the time?”
Or “Why did you get the options that you chose?”

If permitted, “tape” record the conversation because the info will be flying and it will be hard to write all down.

I know he had looked at other options then including the Yenkos. I think I'm more excited about this project than my daughter lol. Can't wait to hear the stories and go through the old photos.

She's setting up a few cameras and we will all sit at the kitchen table so she can capture the conversations after asking the questions...curse words and all lol.

[WILMASBOYL78]

I think it would great to include some of the cultural and current events aspects that related to the muscle-car era, eg;

-The war in Vietnam...many soldiers returned home and spent their discharge $$ on a high performance car. Our old Marine Corps Nova, now owned by Dan Orland , is a classic example.

-The rock music and 'mod' culture of the late 60's and early 70's was represented in car advertising...Chrysler's stuff was probably the best. The wild colors and graphics on the cars really was a connection to this.

-This was a pretty 'short-lived' era...64-72 by most measures...the environmental awareness of the 60's led to unleaded gas, low compression and high insurance rates...all of these factors helped end the muscle car era.

happy to help further...

-wilma

[earntaz]

I think it would great to include some of the cultural and current events aspects that related to the muscle-car era, eg;

-The war in Vietnam...many soldiers returned home and spent their discharge $$ on a high performance car. Our old Marine Corps Nova, now owned by Dan Orland , is a classic example.

-The rock music and 'mod' culture of the late 60's and early 70's was represented in car advertising...Chrysler's stuff was probably the best. The wild colors and graphics on the cars really was a connection to this.

-This was a pretty 'short-lived' era...64-72 by most measures...the environmental awareness of the 60's led to unleaded gas, low compression and high insurance rates...all of these factors helped end the muscle car era.

happy to help further...

-wilma

While I was stationed at Phan Rang in 68' I ordered a 69' W-30 442 -- before I rotated back to Z1, my wife and my brother picked it up at an Bob White Olds in Green Bay, Wi ...

[flyingn]

Thats great Ed! She can post questions to the board here and Im sure she will be flooded with answers. Tell her to fire away!

[442w30]

Maybe she can interview someone who claims to have bought a factory 427 Nova, a car so fast he used to put a $100 bill on the dashboard and dared anyone to try to catch it for keeps. :crazy:

[Qtown Ed]

Maybe she can interview someone who claims to have bought a factory 427 Nova, a car so fast he used to put a $100 bill on the dashboard and dared anyone to try to catch it for keeps. :crazy:

You literally made me spit out my coffee lol. I've heard such similar stories over the years. One local 1970 Monte Carlo owner goes to car shows and tells everyone that the factory screwed up when assembling his car and put in a special high HP engine. When suggested he run the engine stamps and casting he says it was just the wrong internals so wouldn't show. Swears his 350 is just too fast to be stock.

[Qtown Ed]

Great replies everyone,

I sent her screen shots of the suggestions and she loved the feedback. She's going to get some questions together and I'll post them.

Thanks for the assist!

Ed

[GM Powertrain]

This is a great idea. Best of luck with it. Keep us posted on the progress.

[Keith Seymore]

Here's my story, in case she can use any of it:


https://www.hotrod.com/articles/5000-mile-unrestored-1965-pontiac-gto-dragstrip-warrior-new-still-family/

http://www.oneownercollectorcar.com/index.php/cars/onefamily/384-1965-pontiac-gto-factory-lightweight-keith-seymore

[fsc66]

Take her to MCACN, that is a good start on educating anyone on Muscle Car History and all the Super Cars involved.

Paul

[YENKO DEUCE REGISTRY]

Years ago I drug my Yenko out to southern Indiana for the Nova Nationals and then stayed out there for a week so I could reunite the car with original owner, and then the second owner a day later. I asked the original owner a few questions:

- Given all of the choices in musclecars, why did you pick a Nova - and specifically a Yenko (or SS L78) Nova? (He like the understated body style, and the unusual color/stripes)

- How did you find out about this specific car, ie; what media outlet; newspaper, magazine, radio, etc.... (it was an ad in National Dragster)

- What was the first modification he did to the Yenko? (he said he bought an open element air cleaner at a speed shop on the way home from the dealership, and tossed the dual snorkel into a dumpster!)

- What did his parents think of the car? (they didn't much care, he lived in an area of lonely gravel roads and they didn't think he'd get into trouble with it)

- What did he do with all that performance, drag race and / or street race? (he ran a few guys on the street, did well once he put headers (still kept the resonators and cross flow muffler) and traction bars on it)

- To what extent was the selling still involved after the purchase, ie; was the sale a dump-n-run to get it off the lot or was the dealer following up to make sure the customer was happy? (he didn't remember, and since he lived 1-2 hours away from the dealer he didn't really plan to take it back there anyway)

- What was the reaction to the car when he took it places, like a drive-in movie theater? (I showed him a ticket stub from an Indiana drive-in that I found under the back seat, he chuckled in front of his 2nd wife and stated that it wasn't his!!)

- Muscle car guys typically hang together, what other guys/cars were in the area that created a sense of car community? (he pretty much stayed to himself in rural southern Indiana, just drove the car to work every day for 9-10 years racking up 96k miles and chipped the rockers bare on those gravel roads)

- What made him sell it?
- What was his police record with it?
- What was his best ET?
- How did the muscle car scene change after the gas crisis in the early '70's?
- What was his next car?
- What is his current car?
- Would he allow his kid to buy a modern muscle car, why/why not?
- What does he think about turn key modern muscle cars with 800HP?

I could go on, but I forget half the stuff I asked him - he was such a quiet guy that I needed to keep coming up with questions! His wife was sitting on the front lawn snapping beans....it was a bit surreal, the exact opposite of the meeting with the 2nd owner! :eek:

[Dave Rifkin]

Another idea might be to interview children of the original owner, if possible. I know as an 8 year old I still have very vivid, and fond, memories of the day my parents picked out their 1969 Shelby GT500 as well as memories of "challenges" on the street. I also remember the day my parents asked me and my brother what we thought about getting rid of it.
I still wish I knew what happened to that car.

[MYSTERYCHEVELLE]

No Shortage of Information to be had. Questions to be asked. Lucky for her, she’s in area of PA with a long a steady group of car enthusiasts. We can find 50 car shows within 20 miles of us any given weekend. Cruise Nights all summer and including weekdays. Southeastern PA is Rich of Musclecar history ... cars and owners and always has been.

I have been hassled over the years by those who say..... but you don’t drive your cars Mike? This hobby is fun for many reasons. Different for everyone. Some Race. Some Show. Some drive. Some restore. Some buy and sell. Whatever brings you joy. When my cars are on show field. I love to take questions and there is no shortage of them. Nice that you are supporting her in this project

[72heavychevy]

Great project that I believe will lead to a very cool result!

Cars are such a great hobby that people young and old can share. It's a passion that helps men and women generations apart connect with one another.

I'm on the younger end of the spectrum but was fortunate enough to grow up around muscle cars. My father still has his Chevelle he bought when he was 16 back in the 70's and my first car was a '74 Camaro he and I got back on the road. I was then fortunate enough to graduate college and get a job doing Product Development Engineering at one of the "Big 3".

I've written about this before a few years back and I believe the same points stand. There's no denying the peak muscle car generation is aging and will lead to passing these cars down to their future owners. Getting people involved and continuing to love and care for these cars is critical.

My "Fresh Blood" article from Muscle Car Review Magazine
https://www.hotrod.com/articles/editors-note-fresh-blood/