This occured several years ago, and not in a Buick, but it's the best contribution I've got so far. The year was 2004, and I was driving my friend's 1959 Cadillac Sedan DeVille home from a car show since he'd had a few too many beers. You know the 59 Cadillac, the car that combined the spaciousness of the state of Wyoming with the agility of an aircraft carrier, and with two tail fins that are right out of the Jetsons. The car has a stock 390 with a 4 bbl Carter AFB and the stock Hydramatic slushbox bolted to it. Anyway, I am in the left lane at a stoplight, and I see a taco place that I suddenly have to go to. In order to get to it without having to make a U-turn (difficult in this giant car) I'd have to gun it and change lanes before the person in the right lane sped up. Unfortunately for me, the car in the lane next to me was this tweaked Japanese something-or-other. I know it was a Toyota by the giant, offset Toyota logo that was sprawled across the hood and front fender. The car was covered in stickers advertising various performance companies, the rearward vision of this car was almost entirely obstructed by some aluminum contraption that could only be described as conceptual art, and the side view of the driver was obstructed by the goofy hat that was cocked sideways on his head. Nonetheless, I wanted a taco pretty darn bad, so when the light turned green, I punched it and put my signal on - hoping to signal that I wasn't intending to race, I just wanted to change lanes. No such luck. The wannabe gangsta nailed the gas in his douche coupe, and managed to start gaining on the Cad. I could tell by the tortured sound of that tiny engine that he had it floored. This made me mad, so I dropped the hammer in the Cad. This guy was gonna eat humble pie! So that Carter began pouring gas down the intake by the gallon as the secondaries opened up, the exhaust ROARED, and that supertanker sized car lurched forward. Within seconds, I had managed to clear the several acres of sheet metal this guy had managed to gain on me and I changed lanes in front of him, despite the fact that I could still hear his engine winding up to impossibly high RPM. Although the Cad did accelerate pretty well, now I had to stop it. Physics was not on my side, as the 4 wheel drum brakes did not enjoy having to resist such momentum. At this point, the Cad nose dives pretty hard and my friend is shouting "WTF??" I can see the driver in the Toyota visibly pissed off in the rear view mirror - but all I wanted to do was change lanes and get a taco. I didn't want to race. However, the brakes did their job, and I managed to slow the car down enough to whip it into the parking lot. I gave the Toyota dude a wave as he floored it again, and unimpressively accelerated out of sight. Sure was a good taco!
:laugh: That's a great story! In high school a buddy had a '69 Sixty Special (The model that was kind of a plain jane Fleetwood.) that surprised more than a few so called hot shots. We all drove the big boats. Rivs, Eldos, Toronados, etc. Little douche coupe. :laugh:
WARNING donot read this while eating a beef and cheddar, I was choking. Dud you need to write stories!
That WAS a great story!! I was into the big boats in high school too. Drove a '75 Sedan De Ville (4 door)with a 500CI caddy in it. I parked on snow mounds and looked for 5.0's to race all the time. Had to downsize to the 77 Electra 225 4 door. uzzled: when the caddy was wrecked. (not my fault FYI) I'd be racing Caddy's today and not Buicks if it wasn't for the totaled Coupe De Ville. ElectraJim
I have a buddy that had a '59 with a 390, his came from the factory with 3x2 carbs and would fly. It's reported he took out a 340 Demon from a 20 MPH roll up to 95 MPH, that's when he let out of it. The Demon owner would not comment on the subject, he just walked away!
People don't realize how much power those old engines made. You realize they ran 10-1 or 11-1 compression on some of those things. My 67 Caddy (with the 429 Caddy motor) was my tow car before the van and once at the West Palm Beach drag strip (back in the early 90's) I parked next to a guy that used his mid 60's suicide door Lincoln as his tow car. After we were done racing and parked our cars he says lets race the land yachts. So we talked to the tower and they said cool. We entered them and I went over and put 5 gallons of race gas in the Caddy and brought the timing up (11.25-1 compression ratio and a 498 lift cam stock) and they let us line them up. The Caddy had a swith pitch 400 in it, factory, remember! I left it in drive and just flashed the torque converter and left on the last yellow. He launched right with me door to door. Traction was great because of the weight and we were off. The announcer had built up the race and got the crowd into it. Both cars were so quiet you could hear the crowd cheering all the way down the track, it was eerie and weird. The Caddy just pulled away from the Lincoln right from the 60' mark and ran a 16.00 to the Lincolns 18.70. I could not believe that big 5200# Sedan De Ville ran a 16 flat. Mikey
