When I was growing up I used to drive a lot. It was the one place in the world where I could be alone. Where I live is a bunch of cool cities all connected by fast freeways or multi lane highways. You can cruise from one end of the strip to the other doing 35- MPH or you could run it in minutes doing 80mph. You can go from Detroit to the boonies of Houghton Lake in a couple hours.
I had a nice big sedan, a two door, but the back seat was deep and could sit three comfy. The front seat was a split bench seat with a fold down armrest - perfect when you want to drive around with your gal sitting next to you. Most of the time I found I rather drive alone, than with passengers- not only are they messy, rude, but they add weight to overall vehicle weight. I could just drive and think by myself. I was an electronic geek, so I built my own sound system. Kenwood, Alpine, Orion XTR. I had the latest radar detectors, Bell or the Passport if stolen. I would drive and listen to the radio/tape cassette through 6x9 speakers, tweeters and two 12" sub woofers. Or I could keep the radio off and just listen to the car. Those that have never drove or been around a 4 barrel carbureted car will not understand - you could enjoy listening to the engine. I could drive all day all night listening to the engine talking. The burble-burble of idling at a stoplight, to the WHOOMP! Burrrmmm! as you go wide-open throttle on the green light. Back in my day, the car was purely mechanical, the air/fuel mixture controlled by pins, jets, springs, and vacuum canisters. It was smaller than a xbox console, you could sit at a workbench and take it apart and reassemble it with just a good memory. If you hacked your car - you tuned it to run fast and smoothly. A bad hack meant you bogged out at the street light race. Ultimate hacks meant bigger exhaust pipes - hooker headers, Hi-rise manifolds, and high volume carburetors. You could remove and adjust your shocks, your brakes, suspension - you had to do your own body repair work! Smart geeks added more gauges to monitor the engine and transmission. I had switches to turn off the brake lights and a electronic keypad security system. How well you hacked your car meant a lot in street reputation. Some took it to a higher level and made money on street racing. To me, my hacked car meant to a girl I had class because the car was clean, and its engine meant to the dogs running on the street that I was a contender to be dealt with.
I would drive all day and all night, just cruising main streets in Michigan or racing the interstate freeway. I could hear my car talk to me 'lets race!'rumble-rumble or sing to me "Vroooom, Room"FasterFaster. The tires chirping in unison, the transmission acting as the conductor - raising the RPM Gauge needle like it was directing the music.The shocks and steering delivering their vital performance to make sure a race starts and ends safely. You can make the fat lady sing at the end, sit at a light and just cook the rear tires in a neverending operatic show with smoke!
Back then it was easy to prevent failure, - check and change all your fluids, perform simple maintenance, and drive smart. Now days you got electrical stuff that can fail, black box parts that they can only remove and replace, not diagnose and fix for once. Besides - the fuel injected machines - they just don't sound like the engines of old days.
This is a picture of a 1980 Monte Carlo, mine was Grey metallic with a black tone on the top half of the car. You would tweak the suspension to bump up your ride height. Tires were 215/75/16, blackwalls. The back side window was tinted dark, as was the back-half of the door windows.
The engine was actually a camaro 305, polished, with cylinder heads meant for a 350 engine. Add performance rockers and camshaft, plus larger diameter exhaust pipes = super v-8. The carburetor was the Rochester Q-jet 4 barrel, tuned by a strip racer. The rumble sounds it made sitting at idle 750rpm, to the air being sucked in by secondaries opening up Whoomp!
DNR
now i have one of these..
