You Can't Make This Stuff Up!

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Lee Stewart]

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

Merry Christmas, everybody.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Lee Stewart

Those poor cars.

They are good looking overall, but - man! Those bumpers! You could sit and eat your lunch on those.

One of the things we mid 70's afficianados do is "tuck" the energy absorbing bumpers in an inch or more.

I've done a couple variations on my Chevelle, either by gutting the shocks and reusing the tubes (with the steel bumper) or presently using 1/4" aluminum flat stock to reposition the fiberglass bumpers.

Makes a big difference in the overall appearance.

K

[Lynn]

Yup, with very few exceptions 1974 was officially the start of the slumber years.
And the bumpers were just one factor.

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Lynn

Yup, with very few exceptions 1974 was officially the start of the slumber years.
And the bumpers were just one factor.

By way of reference: first pass in that car in 1978 was a 15.10.

I was going 14.90's by the end of the day.

A few years ago I broke the race motor and put the original 454 back in just so I could move it around and keep everything lubed up.

It occurred to me "...if I can drive it, I can RACE it!"

It went 12.20's with the original, unopened 90,000 mile smogger motor, presumably due to chassis/driveline mods, induction and exhaust changes, and weight reduction over those many years.

K

[Keith Seymore]

Originally Posted by Keith Seymore

.....

Naturally, there's a story here too:

I took that picture during a particularly magical race event. I was still in competition in two separate classes and it was getting down toward the last few rounds.

I was "round robin"-ing it, dispensing with one competitor and then immediately returning to the staging lanes for the next round of the other class. (The people in the staging lanes would holler "NEXT!" upon my arrival - lol)

I checked the oil real quick between rounds and saw this drip on the bumper. For those who are familiar with the television show "Stranger Things" - it made me think of this: