As several have said,especially with us old guys,the term "muscle car" can be somewhat restrictive.For example ,one of my first "fast car" memories was being a passenger( with the old man driving) passing the local R.C.M.P. at 105 mph or more on a narrow,unlit two-laned road at night.This was in 1956 .The old man was driving a new 312 Merc.I was scared but then again I was in the hands of Superman.Right? The cops never even tried to give chase. The '58 Super 88 Olds coupe that dad next owned had very good acceleration and not bad top speed too.I'll never forget a hot day in Summer with dad toying with a Jag XK 120 or 140.We were following the Jag at about 40-50 mph on two-laned Highway 1 about three cars back in a line of cars.Its top was down,it had a loud "rorty" exhaust ,and it would surely decimate any old chunk of American iron.The Jag's driver was wearing a jaunty "English cap"and he was rowing the 4 speed and OD like a good semi driver.The old man,everytime the Jag would pull out to pass,would pull out behind it and sit within a couple feet of its rear bumper(or closer).Nothing the Jag driver could do would free him from the 200 pounds of chrome grille and bumper smirking at him from such close quarters.I have never heard such high revs(or at least they seemed high) from an old Brit Jag since.This scenario was repeated that day at least 4 or 5 times.Everytime the Olds would stick like glue.Then open road-surely the Jag would run away and hide now.In a word "no".The old man kept on the Jag's butt for well over two miles even at what was then ridiculous speeds.All I remember was that the Jag was starting to smoke rather badly at the end and the Olds was as good as new.The odyssey came to an end with the speed limit of a neighbouring village.I am sure the Jag driver never took on monstrous sheet and "monkey" metal machines again.I couldn't sleep for three days-I was so hyped!! You had to be there.My father was indeed a crazy driver which he always disguised as a country doctor needing to get to his patient. This all predates "muscle cars".I can also remember quick rides in a new '62 Wildcat,a 4 speed 4 door hardtop Chevy 409,a beautiful R2 Studebaker Super Hawk(which I later owned),a new R2 Avanti-all kinds of interesting,soul-stirring machines.Muscle cars are a whole other story.Sorry I digressed. Rod
Not much a fan of the interceptor. We are getting new Tahoes. They are killing the fords on the track, belive it or not. Fastest cars we ever had were the '94 LT1 caprice, go fast straight tho. Then there was the '79 Dodge aspens :sleep: . As far as the topic on hand, My unkle got a New '69 yellow corvette with sidepipes for graduation , block came out right away and was warmed over, nice car. First Buick ride was a 1970 Stage 1 Conv 4 speed 1of 67, I guess it made an impression...:3gears:
my first ride was in a brand new 1970 Road Runner /super bird with the wing ,very wild and unique looking for that time or even now... I was 8 years old and it was my cousins car..he use to let me rev her up while in park.... he only owned it for about 6 months bcs he wrecked it , broke both his legs in bad accident with somebodies front porch and then rickeshayed into the across the street basement...(Inside the basement ) as I remember he still talks about the car to this day ....he gets hurt badly if you mention what they go for today
Most of you don't consider a GS Riv a muscle car, but when you are 7 years old and see the speedo on 130 it's muscle to you. I will never forget sitting in the center of that front seat looking down that huge chrome strip. What a car!
The 1970 stage 1 buick GS was owned by my uncle and bought from my grandfather. After cleaning the wheels on the 70 Black GS stage 1 with white interior and a white top my uncle would take me for a ride and tape a $1 dollar bill on the dash and said that would be mine when he said go. My head now a fixture to the pearl white bucket seat and the lenth of my 7 year old arm could never reach Washington. The high schools girls said I was cute and my uncle was playing his best James Dean. Hooked for life. So I purchased the only 70 Stage 1, 19A, 185 that is only one known to exist today. Thanks Rich... And someday the completion of this restoration will be complete. I still need that dollar to complete this car.:3gears:
my first ride at the age of 8 was in my uncle's 1963 oldsmobile jetfire. It had a 215 alum. v8 turbo. For a small block that car had a lot of stones.....
Thanks Rich, No he never found anything faster, the Vette depressed him and he sold it shortly after that and was done with "fast cars". How about a starting line picture?
Jeff Hart those old slides are too cool! My first ride in a muscle car was in 1974, riding home in my parents' '66 GTO after I was born. They still own that GTO today. Lots of childhood memories in that car since it was their daily transportation for many years. I remember that everyone always commented on the car and were always so impressed to look under the hood and see the Tri-power setup. I learned to drive a manual trans with this car. I'll have to dig and find an old photo, it was originally Fontaine Blue with a black vinyl top. After a telephone pole fell on it and smashed it at the 1998 GS Nationals (crazy story!) Dad rebuilt it and changed it to Marina Turquoise. This is the car today.
Hey MIKEM !! I kinda like that black and gold GSX clone you have myself !! one of the best looking 71s I ve ever seen or owned !:TU: :TU: Moz
This is going quite awayyyyyyyyyyyyy back ! First ride was a '62 Ford Galaxie with a 5 speed tranny and a 406 CI engine with 3 deuces on top - it would leave hairy scary black marks on the pavement in every gear ! :shock: The first one I ever drove was a '69 Beaumont with a 396 and a 5 speed tranny - you could get yourself into a lot of trouble in the lower gears when you stomped it, specially if it got away on you ! Ahhhhhhhh, those were the good ole days, and hi-test gas was .30 cents a gallon ! :eek2: :eek2: :3gears: :TU:
Well, there are two I remember clearly. Both cars belonged to the older brothers of a couple of friends of mine, and both were rides to school. The first was a 67 Dodge Coronet 500 R/T with a 440/4 speed that would melt the rear tires off the magnum 500 wheels at will. The other was a short wheelbase 68 AMX with a 390/4 speed, where the back half of the car always wanted to pass the front half when the throttle was floored! I still have the fever nearly fourty years later!
Well, its hard for someone from my time to remember the "first". But the one that sticks in my mind was a couple of my friends brother's 60 Pontaic convertible with a 389 3 deuce car. This was about 62. We took it out one Sunday and had big fun listening to the 3 x 2s open up. Other than that it was hopped up 55-57 Chevys and a school friend's 58 Impala with a 409. It was a sleeper as it was a 4 door that he put a 409 in, in about 63. Working for dealers ( Pontaic, Buick, and Chevrolet) from 67 through 69, muscle cars were not a big deal. It took something hot to impress you. Jim Netherland
The very first vivid memory of a musclecar was when I was about 6 or so, I remember riding in a maroon '67 GTO convertible. My dad was a trucker with George Transfer of New Castle,Del.and one of his trucker buddies had that car. I remember my mom and dad and his trucker buddy ,Geery Lewis,and his wife,Carol, and little 'ole me riding to a pool hall in the Elkton,Md area with the top down and a Merle Haggard tape playing in the 8 track. I had to sit in the middle in the back seat on a 8 track tape case. With no seat belt! I didn't know what the car was then,but I knew that it was very cool! The car was almost new,so it had to have been around '67 or '68. springtime. I remember that car would really set me back in the seat.They later traded that GTO for a red Cadillac convertible. My dad told me that when I was about 7 months old, he had bought a new Mustang,the first one in New Castle County,Delaware. I wouldn't count that as a real musclecar,but it was a V8-260 with an over the counter Cobra kit and automatic. On a trip to Maine,he said that we went 115 on the Jersey Turnpike. I guess you could get away with that back then. My dad told me that he had ran that black Mustang at Cecil County at a 14.77 one time after changing the 2.75 rear to a 3.50 gear. Cecil County was one of his favorite hangouts in the early to middle '60's.
I know my first ride in a TRUE muscle car :grin: was back in the early 80's it was in belive it or not a 1970 GSX STAGE 1 AUTO SATURN YELLOW it belongs to a new friend i met that night his name is Charlie i do belive that was the night i got the BUICK BUG for life(I owned a 71 skylark at that time) and to this day i still own a buick(s) and i will for LIFE!!!!!!!!! :TU: :beers2:LOVE THOSE BUICK'S :3gears:
My dad's '67 GS400 when I was to young to remember, he had asked in '87 if me or my brother wanted it before he sold it. We were just young kids and we laughed at him, I regretted that later in life. I consider myself fortunate to have found it and bought it back 20 years later in almost the same condition as it had left, cost me a little more than the $550 he sold it for.lol
If we are going to include older cars that were performance oriented than my uncles 51-52 Olds with there new rocket V-8, Olds won a bunch of Nascar races back then. I was 4-5 years old and remember being in it with him and my dad horsing around with it spinning the tires. My dad's buddy from work came over with his brand new 63 Galaxie (triple fire engine red, it was pretty) with a 352 that ran pretty good I guess but I was 10 then so what did I know. Now the first time I experienced real horsepower was a Paul, high school buddy loaded me into his 65 Goat 4 speed that his father and he drag raced. Remember when they were jacked way up off the ground for weight transfer and he had short gears? Well he takes off sliding all over the place and finally feathers the gas to get it to hook and then powershifts into second. It pulled so hard on that shift my head snapped back over the seat (no head rests remember and I was not expecting it) and hit on the top of the seat. I had never experienced a low-mid 12 second car before. I had to really pull to get my head to come back up. I was a little nervous to say the least as he ran out third too but this was after I drove Moles 66 Goat so it wasn't my first. Mikey
My first ride in a muscle car was when I was around 8 in my uncle's 70 GS Stage 1 4-speed. It's the first car I remember looking for something to hold on to while the vehicle was in motion.
I'm obviously older than most of you guy's, and my first ride in a "Muscle car" was before the GSX's and the Hemi 'Cuda's. It was in my big brother's 57 Fairlane. It had 3 deuces, and lake pipes that he would open up with 2 cut outs that came up through the floorboards. He thought he would put a scare in the kid (I am 12 years younger, so probably about 8 at the time) I remember seeing the speedo hit 100, and I also remember saying FASTER. That was the start of it, and I have had the bug since. My first ride in a true muscle car was when I bought a 68 Cougar XR7 GT. The 390 wasn't the fastest thing on the street, but it is one car I would sure like to have today.
