You might feel old when...

[dovehunter]

I was talking with my 27 year old son the other day about my very first vehicle which was a 1960 Chevy Apache 10 pickup. I told him that it had "3 on the column" shift. He said what in the heck is that. I explained to him that meant that it was a 3-speed manual transmission with a column mounted shift lever. He said wow, he had never heard of such a thing. I then told him that I had to replace all the wooden slats in the pickup bed that had been broken out with new slats. He replied saying you mean to say that the pickup bed was made of wood. He then went on to completely insult me by asking if my truck had spoked wheels and a crank handle starter on the front of the radiator. When I hear this sort of thing I begin to think gee, maybe I really am getting old.

[Jack]

Dovehunter, ask him if he remembers automatic transmissions with no lever- you put it in park or drive with a button on the dashboard.
As I recall,it was Dodge that had some cars like that in the 60's.

[jimiowa]

Ha Jack, I had a 51 Desoto Club Coupe w the hydramatic transmition and a clutch pedal. When I broke a piston in that. I bought a 59 Plymouth with the buttons in a straight line on the dash.
When I broke the rear end, my dad and I puy the Plymouth motor and transmition in the Desoto. Dad took the row of buttons apart and arranged them in a square and mounted them in the ashtray.
I then shaved off all the chrome except bumpers, grill teeth and door handles and painted it 68 Firebird green.
It was known in town as "Da Green Bomb".
DANG i WISH i HAD IT NOW!

I THINK dODGE & PLYMOUTH HAD PUSHBUTTON TRANSMITION IN 55.

OH AND 58 EDSEL hAD PUSH BUTTON TRANSMITION IN THE CENTER OF THE STEERING WHEEL.

I used to be a Gearhead.

[Bill]

Jim, your story of the Desoto brings back memories. My buddie use to have one and that was a hoot. Seems he had a straight 8 in it if I remember right. Another buddie had a 54 ford Starliner ?? with the glass top. That was sweet. Had a 327 Chevy in it.

My first car was a 54 ford with the duntov V8 OHV engine. Great car but I run it a bit hard and the rear main's went out and the clutch would slip like hell. Kept 5 gallons of used oil in the trunk for when the oil preasure would drop.
Next car was a 56 ford with the 292 interceptor. Didn't have that one long either. Dropped a valve one night. An old mechinic took and removed the pushrod and left the valve there. It would load up with gas while driving and then go BOOM. Blew the muffler off a few times. Just go back and get it and put it back on.
Next car was a 61 Chevy 4dr hardtop. 283 power pack. Loved that car. Dark metalic grey. First car I ran the hell out of and never had a problem with it in 100k miles. Wish I had it back.
Next was a 61 Vette. Had it a day and wrecked it. Sold it the next day for what I had in it. ;D Next time I seen it it was in the car show.
Next car was a 66 SS Nova 2 door. Had a Japanese guy in North Omaha build me an engine for it. Started with the 375 HP 327 from a Vette. Ran a powerglide trans. It would do the quater in the low 12's Engine would run some very very high RPM's would take one of the new trans am's at that time and run away and hide from it.
Totaled it out on a Black Angus cow.
Next was a 69 Camarro S.S. 396 425 HP. Didn't take long to get rid of that thing. Crap a week to a set of tires was all. Lucky if it got 8 MPG if you babied it.
Next was a 70 Mach 1 Mustang 351W built for Europe. It came from a dealer that bought it for his daughter. She wrecked it and he fixed it up and sold it and she got a new one. Had a factory blue printed engine in it. Never got outrun on the highway with it. Got stopped one night driving home. Was clocked at 140 and the cop didn't belive the radar. ;D Gave me a warning.
In between all that I had a mirade of Chevy Blazers and Pickups and such. Loved them all.
Now all I do is drive boring vehicles.

Does that mean I'm getting old.

[jimh]

shit bill i would love to have half of those you had. i am a big chevy man and the nova and camero hit's a soft spot in me. those 327 corvette engines where fantastic, had the 461 heads on them and really screamed. my older brother is a mechanic by trade and he always had a screamer of a car when he was young. he had a 4 door P.O.S. 62 chevy that he punch out a .283 in. it was a real sleeper, he used the same 461 heads on that build and it would flat scream. when chevy came out with the 302 for the Z28 in '67 they took the 327 vette engine with 461 heads and put the 283 crank in it to shorten the stroke to get the 302 c.i. displacement (required for the trans am circuit racing). my brothers 283 was real close to that performance. myself i had a '71 chevelle and wish i had kept it.

[Jack]

"Does that mean I'm getting old."
It means you're darn lucky to be alive and in one piece!

[jimiowa]

jack said:

"Does that mean I'm getting old."
It means you're darn lucky to be alive and in one piece!

Yep tis true Jack! I had a 70 Plymoth Duster. There was a bridge up at Melborne that was straight up and straight down.
At anything over 55 you were flying. We started at 60 and jumped up the speed 5 mph each way up to 90 mph.
That Duster was the best jumpiing car I have ever seen.
We quit at 90 cause the Tough Guy in the back seat was crying " I'm too young to die". ;D The thing that pushed Randy over the edge while in the air I said" The thing you never do is turn the steering wheel like this" and whipped the wheel back and forth.
I was better than the Dukes of Hazzard, mine were'nt scrap after the jump.

Bill I don't think we're getting old, we just lived in a better time. ;D

[dovehunter]

Jack:

I had one of those mopars with the push-button automatic mounted on the dashboard to the left of the steering column. It was a '56 Plymouth - a nice car when you could get the durn thing started.

I believe Ford had some of the Edsel & Mercury models back in the late 50's that had push-button automatic shift with the buttons located on the cross piece of the steering wheel.

[Bill]

I think one of the worst car's I ever had was a 72 Camarro with the .302 engine in it. Thought I was a family man and needed to get something more sedate. Dang thing was lucky if it got 18 mpg and the air conditioning sucked and there was no room in it. Went to the Mountains with it and felt like a sardine in it with my little brother and wife and camping equipment filling every nich and crannie. That was the last of my hotrods After that I went to a 73 Chevy Blaser. Love that thing. Got as good a milage as the Camarro and would of probably outrun it to boot.

[jabba]

Jim, you know how many bet I have won by betting people that Chevy made a 302? LOADS I tell ya!!

That is a pretty rare animal, and even a lot of gear heads don't know about it.

I'll tell you something else too, that Small block Chevy 302 will EAT a Ford 302 too.

I sure would like to have a 70ish vintage 'stang with 429 though.

Jabba

[jimiowa]

Yes Jabba the Chevy 302 was a lot of engine.
The Ford Boss 302 with autolite in-line 4 bbl and tunnel port heads was an awesome engine. That one was a limited production motor, they only put out on the street enough to qualify the engine for Trans- Am racing.
I had a friend who dragraced a 60 Ford Falcon Ranchero with one of those in it.

[jimiowa]

You mention the 429 Mustang.
When I was in college I went to a school in Olathe Ks. little town 30 miles south of KC. It's now part of the city.
The two fastest cars in town were a Ramble Hurst/Scrambler, that was a litle Rouge hardtop with a 390 amc motor and a Boss 429"shotgun Hemi" Stang. I watched them square off many times.
Todays cars may be faster? But they don't make the pavement roll up under the tires or spin the earth backwards like a 70's era big blocks. ;D

[Jack]

Bill, a close friend of mine had a Firebird of about 72- same body as your Camaro. That thing was a pain in the butt. I never saw a car so big on the outside and so small on the inside. Just absolutely inefficient.
Jim, I went to school with a guy that had a Shelby 427 Mustang like that- they released a few for the street to make it legal to race it. That thing was a joke as a street car. The hood was a fiberglass panel held down with pins. The back seat was removed and just a flat panel there- the roll bar mounts, too. It was amazingly fast, though.

[jimh]

bill there was no 302 in the '72 camero, but the 305 / 307 was there i'm pretty sure. they only made the 302 for three years and only in the Z28. in 1970 when trans-am change their displacement ruling chevy went to the 350 in the z28. the '69 Z28 was the only one with a 4 bolt main too. the other two years was just a 2 bolt main, and those engines had some balls.
oh and bill those Z28 302's where pumping out over 400 ponys in a very short stroke, they reved up just looking at them.

[klsm54]

You beat me to it jimh. I think Bill's '72 Camaro probably had a 307 in it. That was about the only pig of a small block that Chevy made. Thank goodness it was only around from '68 to '73. The 305 came later, '76 or '77 IIRC, and was a big improvement over the 307. I think the early 307's were probably okay, but when the smog police did their thing, around '71, it really de-tuned the 307 to hideous levels.

There was never a Blazer that came out of the factory that could run away from a 302 Z...

Jack, I had a girlfriend that had a '72 Formula Firebird. I have a completely different recollection of that car than you... ;D ;D No room inside? I'm 6'4" and I can tell you that...well....yep, it's possible. Proved it on quite a few occasions... Her car had a 350 and was a screamer. Boy I miss that car....or...whatever... ;D

If you want to win bets on small block Chevy displacements, the 262 was only made for a short time and the 267 for just a little while longer. Neither are much of a part of Chevy small block lore.