Old American cars, from an Englishman - Page 6 - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

Mr.Kenny · #76 04-19-2007, 06:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulC

Of course, one has to master 70's American driving etiquette to extract the complete RetroAmerican driving experience. May I humbly present a brief tutorial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg4QtYizPKM

WOW! Considering they probably installed heavy duty suspension and shocks and had the handling package for that kind of driving. They things were still boats. I drove like that in my parent's 66 Chysler Imperial.

As a teenager who grew up on those cars, it was easy to welcome any sportscar into my life no matter how bad it was (cough,british leyland cough,cough) or accept any prince of darkness electrics with postive earth ready to burn out my 8-track and c.b. radio if not properly isolated.

The Swede · #77 04-20-2007, 12:41 AM

The Barracuda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O21sigv45uU&mode=related&search=

t walgamuth · #78 04-20-2007, 05:45 AM

my mom lives in kalamazoo mi. where the checker was built. you can still see the test track at the old factory. it looks like a mini nascar track with a banked curve but only a little more than one lane in width. about a half mile track i would say.

the later ones used chebby half ton truck drive trains. pretty rugged devices. the bodys were very rust prone though.

tom w

PaulC · #79 05-15-2007, 11:51 PM

Of course, if you want a convertible:

Jim B. · #80 05-16-2007, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PaulC

Of course, one has to master 70's American driving etiquette to extract the complete RetroAmerican driving experience. May I humbly present a brief tutorial?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hg4QtYizPKM

Classic! The 1973 Pontiac Grand Ville also only got 6 mpg. A British writer described the big '73 Pontiac handling qualities like "driving a sofa on a tennis court."

cudaspaz · #81 05-23-2007, 11:05 PM

This is my 1967 Plymouth Barracuda notchback.
It was originally a small v/8 273 cubic inch, low performance coupe.

I have done several modifications to the chassis and drivetrain, too many to list.

I have a 360 engine that will be stroked and naturally aspirated with 413 cubic inches and will put out 550 horsepower.

I will continue to drive the car on the street with an occasional trip to the drag strip, but that gets costly.

Eventually I will shoe horn a 440 stroked out to some ungodly amount of horsepower and cubic inches and will retire the car from the street and she will be strictly for the drag strip.

Yes, hemi's are still dominating the drag strips in the A-body darts and barracuda's like mine, but they are expensive, and yes the 440 is a very respectable drag motor and can do just as much as the hemi's.

Mopars have sorta been the red headed step child of muscle cars for years in terms of value, but in the past few years the collectors have caught the bug, especially with the hemi cars, clone or not.
Mopar muscle cars are still dominating the drag strips with big block hemi powered bruisers, and this is one of the reasons Mopar collectability skyrocketed.

Without a doubt Chevy's and Fords are much easier to find and buy parts for and you can basically build what i call a cookie cutter car from a catalogue.

Mopars on the other hand, are much harder to find parts for and you have to dig to find the parts for them.
My Barracuda in particular is hard to find parts for, so much of the existing parts have to be restored.

It is taking me a long time to finish this car because of it, but every little thing I add is a small victory.

I wanted the car to be all Mopar but very different than any other.
So I added the AAR stripes from the 1970 only AAR barracuda from the E body Barracuda style, and I added a black fiberglass hood with the hemi scoop.

I am also working on my own restoration products and patents for Mopar only modified applications.
I love theese cars, they are light, fast ,different than most, and you can usually see some redneck with a primered dart blow the doors off pretty Mustangs and Camaro's all day long.

Here is a link to my website where you can see more pics of my restoration and my buddies Mopars as well.
www.benzmobility.com
Go to photo albums.

pentoman · #82 06-05-2007, 10:54 AM

I went to a "Yanks" day at the local raceway last weekend. There was a lovely Challenger there which I don't have pics of. However I have come across one that looks similar for sale in the attachment.

Is '71 a good year for the Challenger? This one's a 318ci auto. Is that why it seems relatively cheap? Oddly, I don't really want a big horsepower one as driving it fast wouldn't appeal to me (it would be the opposite of my 2.5-16! All power no handling!), but I like the idea of of good torque and a nice smooth V8 sound so a 318 seems ideal? Is it actually going to be torquey or to go at all well? Will it go like my 190E 2.0 - because I like how that goes. Or like a 380SEL? What power will it actually make realisitically?

What sort of MPG is likely? I get 22-25 in my 2.5-16 and can live with that. Hopefully over 17 mpg? Would it run on unleaded?

Could I drive it reasonably regularly (say once a week) without spending lots of time restoring it? I'm ok with mechanical stuff but don't enjoy it; I also don't have the budget to pay for £2,000 resprays and engine rebuilds etc. Are parts widely available & cheap? I could just import them from America I hope?

Sorry for the questions, but you're the ideal people to ask this to!

PaulC · #83 06-05-2007, 11:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pentoman

I went to a "Yanks" day at the local raceway last weekend. There was a lovely Challenger there which I don't have pics of. However I have come across one that looks similar for sale in the attachment.

Is '71 a good year for the Challenger? This one's a 318ci auto. Is that why it seems relatively cheap? Oddly, I don't really want a big horsepower one as driving it fast wouldn't appeal to me (it would be the opposite of my 2.5-16! All power no handling!), but I like the idea of of good torque and a nice smooth V8 sound so a 318 seems ideal? Is it actually going to be torquey or to go at all well? Will it go like my 190E 2.0 - because I like how that goes. Or like a 380SEL? What power will it actually make realisitically?

What sort of MPG is likely? I get 22-25 in my 2.5-16 and can live with that. Hopefully over 17 mpg? Would it run on unleaded?

Could I drive it reasonably regularly (say once a week) without spending lots of time restoring it? I'm ok with mechanical stuff but don't enjoy it; I also don't have the budget to pay for £2,000 resprays and engine rebuilds etc. Are parts widely available & cheap? I could just import them from America I hope?

Sorry for the questions, but you're the ideal people to ask this to!

The 318 was Chrysler's workhorse V8 in its day. It could be found in relatively compact vehicles, such as the Plymouth Valiant and was even used in 5,000 lb. 4x4 pickups. It's an extremely durable engine and tolerant of abuse. It's not a rocket, and in a Dodge Challenger, it should be capable of 0-60mph in +/- 9.5 seconds and offer a top speed of approximately 105-110 mph. 1971 was a good year for American engines in general, as many American engines began enduring reduction in compression ratios in 1972 to accomodate lower octane lower-lead fuel. It's possible that the 1971 318 may not be set up for unleaded gasoline. If not, the cylinder heads will endure somewhat accelerated wear at the valve seats, which can be remedied by removal of the cylinder heads and retrofit of hardened components.

It's not an efficient car, rather heavy, and fuel economy will probably be in the 380SEL category. One very critical caveat about this vehicle: Rust. Be extremely thorough in evaluating this car for corrosion. If I recall correctly, this is a unibody car, I don't recall if it has a front subframe or not, but rust in a unibody car has great potential to cause structural and safety issues. Try to get this car on a lift before you buy. This is a very typical American V8 car in respect that it's a great engine and transmission surrounded by some rather casually designed and assembled bits. BTW, confirm that it has disc brakes on the front, as they were an option on this model, and will have a significant impact upon braking performance.

truckinik · #84 06-05-2007, 12:00 PM

I was in Amsterdam a while back, and a police detective and I had a conversation about American cars. He said that the city, has a storage garage with atleast three Cadillacs sitting in it. They have extremely low mileage, as they were reserved for the Mayor's use alone, but have since been retired from duty. He didn't have any idea of what years, models they were. He did know that they are all pre-1980 though. He said he's been a detective since 1974, and the cars were in use back then, but by about 83, they were all parked, in their storage warehouse, and have not seen the light of day since.
I do know however that they do in fact, still have them, because this was only back in January when I talked with him.

Jim B. · #85 06-05-2007, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by truckinik

I was in Amsterdam a while back, and a police detective and I had a conversation about American cars. He said that the city, has a storage garage with atleast three Cadillacs sitting in it. They have extremely low mileage, as they were reserved for the Mayor's use alone, but have since been retired from duty. He didn't have any idea of what years, models they were. He did know that they are all pre-1980 though. He said he's been a detective since 1974, and the cars were in use back then, but by about 83, they were all parked, in their storage warehouse, and have not seen the light of day since.
I do know however that they do in fact, still have them, because this was only back in January when I talked with him.

The city of San Francisco also has a 1931 Lincoln convertible that used to be an official car for the Mayor. It was sold of to a collector who restored it but eventually gave it back to the City, which still uses it sometimes in parades.
I have seen it, it's a neat old car

RNCarl · #86 06-05-2007, 11:24 PM

How about a 1955 Plymouth Belvedere!!

4 door V8 automatic. Original in every way except for electronic points and a Flow master dual exhaust. Oh and 5 brand new Toyo skins. She needs paint but the body is solid.

This car is what started the "new" body style that eventually made the '57 Chevy a household name.

The car belongs to my father-in-law and he wants to restore it but his health may keep him from doing so.

These cars are not sports cars! They were made for ride and comfort [for the day] 1955 was the first year Chrysler brought the V8 to Plymouth brand. Even with the car needing paint I always get the "thumbs up" from people as I pass by.

C.