1970 Muscle Cars

[moosedog]

I had a bunch of Chevys. 55 Nomad, 56, a couple of 57s but the nicest one was my 1966 Chevy Impala SS. 327 with headers and a 4 speed. The picture is borrowed off the net but it's very close.
My friend came back from Nam and bought a 1968 Camero 350 RS with a 4 speed out of California. He immediately lost his license and I did the driving.
The car was a freak and we used to race on Woodward every week end. Even out ran the Police one time. I know, don't say it.

 

[6518John]

1968 el Camino. It's sitting in my backyard shop right now, ready to go!

Man there are some nice cars in this thread. That El Camino is the nicest one I have ever seen!

I have never thought of AMC as a muscle car brand, but boy was I wrong—the OP’s and the others AMC’s mentioned are beauties.

 

[NYlakesider]

As I have alluded to before I was a serious drag strip and street racer in the 60s. To this day I normally have at least one fast ride in the garage.

Back in the 60s I was a Mopar person. I had a good running 383 Polara I traded in on a new 67 Dodge RT convertible auto trans with the 375HP 440 power plant.

First run I ever made at the drag strip with it was a 14.50 and the car was a 100% pure stock. Had it running 14.00 at the end of the day. I knew it ran as I used it on the street and won most races.

Being my buddy owned a speed shop/garage I put a lot of time and money into the car. Changed rear end ratios, had head work done, put on a Holly 3310 carb and Eldebrock manifold, Jardine headers and finely a experimental Mopar cam and kit. Transmission was modified to race Hemi standards.
Much other miscellaneous things! Car could turn mid 12s all day.

Had it from March 67 til 1970 when I got married and had to clean up my act. Bought a family mans car and left it stock.

 

[ladder13]

Not mine, identical except for the 454 and whopping 270 hp that mine had. ‘72 Steel Cities Grey, 4sp.


Triple black 67 GTX 426 Hemi was/is my grail car. No way I’ll ever own one now.

 

[ZGrand]

Not a '70, but a '71, and not a muscle car. But she sure was a lot of fun. Base L48 engine (350 4-bbl), 4-speed manual. Sold it in 2000 -- sure do miss it.

 

[moosedog]

Ladder 13, I almost bought a 1967 Hemi GTX in 1969 except my mother would not cosign the loan. She told me I'd probably kill myself. Amazing how much insight that woman had.

 

[YkcorCal]

Ladder 13, I almost bought a 1967 Hemi GTX in 1969 except my mother would not cosign the loan. She told me I'd probably kill myself. Amazing how much insight that woman had.

When I sold my 400 horsepower "Muscle Car" every teenager in town wanted it but their parents took one look and said the same thing. "No way you will kill yourself in it!" A guy in his thirties bought it.

 

[NYlakesider]

Ladder 13, I almost bought a 1967 Hemi GTX in 1969 except my mother would not cosign the loan. She told me I'd probably kill myself. Amazing how much insight that woman had.

My car could beat or at the minimum stay up with most of the Hemis on the street. Hemis were nice but needed a lot of work to keep running good. I worked on few at my buddies shop, I was sort of the goto Mopar guy for the big blocks.

Will confess I almost got killed a few times out there. Don't forget we had small tires (compared to today) and cars with tons of torque that could fishtail real easy.

 

[rockquarry]

I saw the "muscle car" era from start to finish. I have little interest in any of that stuff now and no longer keep up with it. As I recall, it seems the muscle car days began declining about '69 or '70. Except for the most serious of enthusiasts, muscle cars were little more than a historical note by about '72, maybe '73.

Others will remember better than I can, but I think factors like safety, insurance, smog pumps / environmental concerns, and the 1973 oil embargo had much to do with the demise.

Curiously, I don't remember the '65 - '67 Corvettes being considered muscle cars, even the 396 and 427 versions. When they went to the non-traditional and less attractive body style in '68, I think Corvette continued with a couple of high-performance versions, maybe in 427 and/or 454.

True muscle car production was no doubt the domain of General Motors, but there were certainly some good ones from the others makers as well.

 

[bobcat]

1970 Dodge Challenger R/T, 383, slap stick auto. This picture is taken at Fairchild AFB where I was stationed in 1974-75. Montana had no speed limit in those days, "reasonable and prudent" was the standard. Sadly, it fell victim to finances after my discharge and I was a poor college student, couldn't afford the gas anymore, it was not known for it's fuel economy.

 

[6518John]

Not mine, identical except for the 454 and whopping 270 hp that mine had. ‘72 Steel Cities Grey, 4sp.

It is amazing how the 1870’s technology of the internal combustion engine has been advanced and every HP squeezed out. A 2012 Shelby GT 500 pushes 550 horse power in a 329. I see that Dodge Hellcat pushes over 700 HP from a 378.

 

[EldoEsq]

Not a true "muscle car"...but I wanted something old that you don't see every day.

Picked this rust free 72 Ford LTD for 2k...

Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk

 

[16thVACav]

1970 Nova SS 350 with a 4-speed. I added a vertical gate shifter, 3.73 gears, headers and glass packs, and a 350/350 cam. When you slammed the gears, it would just about knock the fillings out of your teeth.

 

[august1410]

Um, I was born in 1970.

 

[ladder13]

BITD every NYC car enthusiast, and people from LI, NJ and upstate, went to “Connecting Highways”. That was a small portion of roadway, I think exactly 1/4 mile that connected the BQE, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Saturday night was the big night, racing from one overpass to the other, exacting 1/4 mile.

Us non racers would be up on the overpass and watch the cars who were going to race. One would pull up and stop in a lane, then another, then another, shutting down traffic.

Seconds later they were gone down the road to the exit.

I didn’t have a car but hitched a ride with the older guys who had jobs, as soon as I heard they were going to Connecting Highways. Most worked at the local Shoprite and made good money.

John Q had this 396/375 Nova, all black, stock from the Chevy dealer. The word amongst the older guys was that it was factory blueprinted. Man that car could go. I never saw him lose a race, once.

NYPD knew the place well of course, they were constantly on the Highway but couldn’t stop the racing for very long. It was a cat and mouse game.

The good old days.


https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...highway.com/&usg=AOvVaw0d8R9bni6jFQJPEvPuOWze

 

[NYlakesider]

BITD every NYC car enthusiast, and people from LI, NJ and upstate, went to “Connecting Highways”. That was a small portion of roadway, I think exactly 1/4 mile that connected the BQE, Brooklyn-Queens Expressway.
Saturday night was the big night, racing from one overpass to the other, exacting 1/4 mile.

Us non racers would be up on the overpass and watch the cars who were going to race. One would pull up and stop in a lane, then another, then another, shutting down traffic.

Seconds later they were gone down the road to the exit.

I didn’t have a car but hitched a ride with the older guys who had jobs, as soon as I heard they were going to Connecting Highways. Most worked at the local Shoprite and made good money.

John Q had this 396/375 Nova, all black, stock from the Chevy dealer. The word amongst the older guys was that it was factory blueprinted. Man that car could go. I never saw him lose a race, once.

NYPD knew the place well of course, they were constantly on the Highway but couldn’t stop the racing for very long. It was a cat and mouse game.

The good old days.






https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct...highway.com/&usg=AOvVaw0d8R9bni6jFQJPEvPuOWze

We went from Albany a couple times to watch the action.

On the back page of a couple of the "fast car" Magazines of the area, they always did street racing stories. (Not sure now but I think one was Car Craft) Sunrise highway rings a bell also.

My one buddy bought a Camaro from Motion in Baldwin so we knew a couple of the "big" people there!

 

[ladder13]

We went from Albany a couple times to watch the action.

On the back page of a couple of the "fast car" Magazines of the area, they always did street racing stories. (Not sure now but I think one was Car Craft) Sunrise highway rings a bell also.

My one buddy bought a Camaro from Motion in Baldwin so we knew a couple of the "big" people there!

They used to race on Pelham Parkway heading out to Orchard Beach, that was a couple miles from where I lived.

I had been going there for years, even before getting a DL. One night these brutha’s pull up with a trailer, they open the doors and inside is a triple black 67 GTX 426 Hemi with humongous rear tires.

No one had ever seen this car at this weekly event.

Owner says, “I hear you’re racing for pinks”.

Another guy says “start it up, let us hear it”

That thing was all cammed up with open headers and slicks. The loudest car I had ever heard at that point in my life.

That was the end of that, no one wanted to race, the guys took off and never came back.

 

[Chubbo]

1964 Pontiac GTO

The first year Pontiac GTO, was One of the most underrated, played down, factory supplied muscle cars ever built. They were titled as Pontiac tempests, for lower insurance fees. The Columbus police dept., recorded the license numbers of all GTOs, to be consulted if a pursuit ensued, as few GTOs were ever caught in a pursuit. '64 GTOs were seldom mentioned, and that still holds true today. In '64 they whipped most of the hot rods, and muscle cars at National Trails raceway, located East of Columbus, OH., and the two locally owned GTO cars, of those contestants were always being torn down for inspection at those drag races, as the officials couldn't believe they could be legally equipped, but they always proved to be legal. I never entered mine into organized competition.

I can truthfully say that I never lost a drag race on the street. One of those races run pulling a 17' travel trailer.

 

[4barrel]

'71 Buick GSX Stage 1 Still own it, undergoing restoration. Boosted the @425 horses to @525 Clydsdales. Hood tach, front and rear spoilers, Cortez Gold, with white vinyl top and pearl white interior. Neither were supposed to have been available, but their are verified exceptions.

Only 124 were made in '71, and only about 2 dozen to less than 30 are still known to exist. Of those, maybe 15 are the Stage 1 engine.



My friend Glen just did a frame off on his gold 71 455 he bought new.

 

[4barrel]

'70 AMC AMX. 390, Silver, Black Shadow Mask, black leather interior, 4-speed, Posi and a functional Ram Air hood. One of seven AMX's I owned.

There is one of those sitting in a garage near me that hasn't run in along time.