[jhein]

...that I've heard from Muscle Car of the Week.

"You know why they're not smiling? Because their 175 hp 350 sucks, that's why"

It's at the beginning of the video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgM_7pFmg4Q&t=199s

[indymanjoe]

Now that was funny! True and funny!

[67drake]

Wonder why the faceplate on the 8-track is mounted upside down?

[jhein]

Originally Posted by 67drake

Wonder why the faceplate on the 8-track is mounted upside down?

Yeah, I saw that too. And he said it has a 12 bolt and it's a 10 bolt rear. I don't even like the car, really. I just thought that was a great line.

[mgarblik]

When you look at the Nickey 73 Camaro, and realize all the added cost and aggravation you had to go through to buy one, you just have to shake your head in amazement at what Pontiac was able to accomplish in 73, fighting GM corporate BS every step of the way. But yes, lighting in a bottle could be ordered right from a Pontiac dealer! At a crazy underrated 290 HP, The SD-455 had 65% more HP and 80% more torque than that pile of puke Camaro. All without the JC Whitney Catalog bolted on as well. Great line at the beginning, made my day.

[GTOnly70]

Originally Posted by mgarblik

All without the JC Whitney Catalog bolted on as well.

Lol! I kind of appreciate the look, though. I reminds me of the way many of these cars looked in the late '70s - early '80s.

[padgett]

Big problem in 73 for Pontiac was not corporate but that the EPA caught them cheating.

[poncho-mike]

The fact that the mid-70s cars were dogs had a profound effect on my life.

I graduated high school in 1975, and worked two years at manufacturing facility that made parts for the aerospace and military industry. My employer was paying for machinist training and drafting at the local community college at nights. Within a year and a half, I saved enough money to buy a new 1976 Trans Am. At the time, I was driving a 1967 Firebird 400 4-spd with a real 1970 455 GP engine (370HP) engine in it. The 1976 T/A was a dog. The salesman said he could locate a 4-spd if I paid a deposit, but even with a 4-spd, I figured it would still be a dog. He offered to get me a new 455 Trans Am transferred from another dealership. He said I would have to pay over sticker and act quickly as the 455 was going away in 1977. I looked up the specs, the 400 had 185 HP, the 455 only had 200HP. I wasn't paying that much money for a dog of a car.

I had excellent grades in high school and my SAT scores in math were very high, so I took my savings and applied to college to study engineering. I was accepted, and my grades helped me land a scholarship to pay for all of my tuition and books until I graduated.

So if the Trans Am had been exciting, I might have been a machinist all my life. It's a good thing the cars sucked.

[72projectbird]

Originally Posted by GTOnly70

Lol! I kind of appreciate the look, though. I reminds me of the way many of these cars looked in the late '70s - early '80s.

I think the Baldwin Motion 70-73 Camaros are some of the coolest looking cars made. That big L88 hood, front and rear spoilers, sidepipes, and reverse offset Cragars looked awesome!

The Nickey Camaros were pretty sharp too. For me life is too short to only like one brand of cars. I love em all!

[jhein]

Not only did I find that line just plain funny, but it does have a personal element for me as well

My first car was a '76 Firebird Formula 400 4 spd. I got it in '81 for a couple thousand bucks. It was a basket case. I don't know how the poor car could have had such a hard life in such a short time but I could afford it and I thought of it as a project. Now, that car put that camaro to shame. It had a whopping 185 hp. So I immediately started doings things to it to try and improve that. Headers, carb, intake. Most of the stuff I did had little impact on the performance.

I had a couple friends that lived down the street from me. One had a 69 or 70 GTO, his brother had a 72 or 73 formula 350 that had a 400 put in it. Both were nice cars with well done motors that ran. So, after a short time I decided to pull the 185 hp motor and have it rebuilt. I put in a 041-ish cam from comp cams. I found some heads, 6X maybe. Edelbrock intake, holley carb, headers. I never had it dyno'd but it ran really good.

I ran the pi$$ out of that car and had more fun than I thought I could with it for about 5-6 years. It was a '76 and it looked like crap so everyone I street raced underestimated the car. Everyone else was running around in their shiny, nice looking z-28s and TA's with 185 hp and I would blow their doors off with my ratty looking Formula. It was a blast. Eventually blew it up. Somehow sucked in the #8 exhaust valve, broken retainer or something?? Blew out the cylinder, broke the rod, badly damaged the head. I was pretty devastated by that. I was getting ready to do the paint and interior on it when that happened. I had already spent so much time and money on that car that I didn't want to go through it again. So I got a 400 from a Pontiac Station Wagon at a local junk yard. I did a super economy rebuild on it and sold the car to a friend who wanted it.

[padgett]

Mike: just think what would have happened if the deal had a 71-72 T/A with 455-HO (greatly underrated) or a 73 SD455 instead of pushing new cars...

[RFCOLEMAN]

Quote from Poncho Mike, ( So if the Trans Am had been exciting, I might have been a machinist all my life. It's a good thing the cars sucked. )
I didn't realize engineers looked down on machinist. I worked with engineers my entire career, helping them bring their visions to fruition. Also helping them out when their designs had serious flaws in them, like drilling a 1 " diameter hole in the end of a 3/4 " diameter shaft. Yes, we all make mistakes. I made a very good living as a machinist, and enjoyed working with engineers on many projects. I always chuckled when I found out I was making more per hour than some of the engineers I was working with. Don't always assume.
Bob C

[padgett]

Interesting. When finished school found I thought best with a mill or lathe. Still have a couple of mikes and calipers. Got dumped into the world of computers when IBM mainframes still had a big red error light on top.

Spent most of my working life as a field engineer, i.e. was good at making things work, eventually this became big things with digital controls & afterburning gas turbine engines.

Now can combine hobbies, electronics and cars & DIY has not yet been outlawed. Meanwhile it is the best of times.

[poncho-mike]

I don't look down on machinists. I work with them all the time, many are very creative. The experienced machinists make very good money.

As a kid, one of my neighbors was a mechanical engineer. I went to work with him one day, and I was totally impressed. I was accepted into engineering school right out of high school, but didn't go because I didn't want to be broke and living off student loans. My end game was to finish machinist training, then get a 2 yr associate engineering degree taking night classes, then maybe a 4 year degree. The risk was that I met someone and starta family, which could have totally derailed my plans.

By taking my cash and going to college, I accelerated my plans. I have no idea what would have happened if I hadn't gone to college when I did, but I'm sure it was the right decision in the long run.

Originally Posted by RFCOLEMAN

Quote from Poncho Mike, ( So if the Trans Am had been exciting, I might have been a machinist all my life. It's a good thing the cars sucked. )
I didn't realize engineers looked down on machinist. I worked with engineers my entire career, helping them bring their visions to fruition. Also helping them out when their designs had serious flaws in them, like drilling a 1 " diameter hole in the end of a 3/4 " diameter shaft. Yes, we all make mistakes. I made a very good living as a machinist, and enjoyed working with engineers on many projects. I always chuckled when I found out I was making more per hour than some of the engineers I was working with. Don't always assume.
Bob C