OLD RACERS

[Dog427435]

[b]

Because he had 4 kids to haul around all the time, my Dad always drove a station wagon.
But because of his love of the drags and early muscle Mom always had something hot to drive.
Her first car was a '56 Ford convertible purchased used from one of his friends. I can't find
a picture of it, but I do have the original invoice. ( go figure)
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She learned to drive in the '56 and in '58 he bought her a new Ford. It was another rag top
this one sporting a 352 with a 4bbl automatic. I would help Dad as he mildly modified
and customized it. He was always messing with it, we took out the grill center bar and
the stainless side inserts and he put glasspacs on. It sure felt like a quick car to me when we
would go out and he would "put his foot into it!"
Then he put the full continental on the back and it lost a lot of steam.
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The '58 was traded in, in '62 on another Ford convertible.
This one had a 390 4bbl with an automatic. It was a cool car, but how I wished he had gotten
a 406 with tripower instead! I must have told him a thousand times,
you should have gotten a XL with the 406. But still the 390 would put the old 352 to shame.
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All my harassing him must have had some effect because in '66 the Ford was sold to a friend
and we got a new GTO. It had power everything with trips and an automatic. I was 17 by then
so you know this got snuck out for some hard cruising!
I had friends who had similar GTO's but with the 4bbl carb. Punch it in one of those and you'd
leave about 200 feet of rubber. (This was VERY important back then!)
Punch it in this one with the trips and stock linkage and you'd barely get a squeal. The only way
to get the tires burning were the 3/4 grand neutral drops.
But from a 15 mph roll this thing cooked!!
I can't find any good shots except this one in a friends driveway.
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The GTO actually survived until '71 a testament to GM in it's self.
I was in the army and it was sold to a kid down the street. By the time
I got home I never saw it again.
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Dad went back to Ford again, this time a '71 Torino GT 429 Cobra-Jet. It was loaded with an
automatic with 4.10 locked rear. You jumped on this beast and the tires would scream through
second gear. It was a nice car. I modified it in the late seventies with an aluminum manifold
and a big holley, but instead of tossing all the old parts I stashed them in the back of my garage.
I went to Ford in case I ever wanted to restore it and picked up a NOS Laser stripe kit in the early
eighties and stuck it away. That turned out to be a good move.
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I had a bunch of Chevy's to mess with and lost interest with the Torino. My sister wound up
using it because she had no car and knocked the crap out of it. It stopped running and
wound up in my Mothers driveway for a couple years. A tree branch fell through the top at some
point and the car like the Titanic started taking on water. I was not in NY at this time and never
really noticed how bad the car was getting.
Only having about 30,000 miles on it in the early 90's it was a mess. It needed floors and a
trunk among other things. Way more work then I wanted to put into a Ford. Dumb - Dumb!
A friend lined up a buyer and it was sold. You can imagine how excited he was when I showed up
with the Laser stripe kit and old intake, carb and air cleaner.

He spent several years restoring it and did a nice job.
This is an article from "The Fairlaner News" about the car.
I have not seen the car in 10 years but still remember kicking ass
on Hempstead Tpke with it years ago!!
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[mockingbird812]

Man Dog, great story with terrific pix to boot. We all wish we'd hung on to certain cars, but at least you have lots of terrific photos to reminisce. Nice job and THANKS!

[GTO_DON]

I second that!!! Cool story

[Charley Lillard]

In my next life I wanna be Dog.

[Dog427435]

[b] Turns out I do have a picture of the '56 - that's me - leaning on it like I own it!
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I also found the window sticker for the '62 - it is tough to make out in the scan, but the total price
is $3891.40. It's interesting that the '62 only cost $450 more then the '56!
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To finish the story - On June 11, 1975 my father went to Mc Veigh Chevy to buy an end of production
'75 Caprice convertible. It was loaded, 400 - 4 bbl, a/c, power everything, am/fm tape - the works. Unfortunately when they submitted the order the factory came back and said -
Sorry no more orders after June 10th and would not make the car.
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So with no more convertibles being made he decided to keep the Torino as a Sunday car and a month
or two later he ordered a '76 Elite as Mom's driver. It was a pretty cool car, white with blue leather,
and that blue half vinyl roof. Oh yeah it had a 460 - 4 bbl, C-6 and turbine wheels. It cooked!

[STF455]

Old racers at NEITA Raceway, Cedar Falls Ia. 1975 and 1971, plus a 1968 "towbar" shot.

[Dog427435]

Cool shots! Love the old pictures.
That '58 Pontiac would still make a great tow car!

[EZ Nova]

[ QUOTE ]
Really fast Nova...was THE fastest street car in the "OC" for a while. Ran an 1150 dominator if I remember right




[/ QUOTE ]

Sorry, but at the time of the "hot Rod" piece, this 67 Nova was owned by BOYD Gaebel Of "The Whittier Boys". This group was also with well known hot rodder Bill Moorhead and Gayland Hill jr. It could have had a 1150 on the Sb chevy, but Boyd claimed to have many motors in it. The 2X4 setup was on it during the Hot Rod spead though. I don't know if maybe this Larry guy owned the car after Boyd as Boyd "claimed" he got this car from a "lil old lady" in Pasadena. This was and is one of my all time fav's. I do wonder if he ever got that intake cut to put the stock hood on???

[EZ Nova]

I also don't know if it was faster then Bill's "English" Ford, with the tunnel-rammed BBc under the hood!

[Xplantdad]

You are correct...Larry owned it right after the Hot Rod piece was done. I found that out after I got a copy of the Hot Rod magazine.