What kind of vintage car do you wish you had?

[dodge man]

The hood on my 70 Road Runner was called a Air Grabber. There was a switch under the dash that opened it and the air cleaner was sealed to the hood so as to give a ram air effect. Not sure how effective it was but it did give cool air to the carbs at the very least. The side of the air grabber hood had teeth on the side of it like the Warhawk airplanes of WW2. Seems kind of hokey today.

The six pack(Dodge) and the six barrel (Plymouth) were three two barrel carburetors on a high rise dual plane intake. The gas pedal was connected to the center carb and during normal driving it ran like a two barrel. When you stepped on the gas the two end carbs were vacuum operated. If they opened suddenly it would bog so the tipped in gradually. There were dashpots on the side of the two end carbs that you could change the guts and control how soon and fast those end carbs kicked in.

The center carb was pretty modest in size but the end carbs were huge, the total was 1350 cfm. It was probably a little over carbed on a 440 and a lot on a 340. If you looked at it from above and used your imagination the three two barrel carbs looked like a six pack of beer.

On my Road Runner I never got it set up perfect. It just never idled perfect. At full throttle it screamed. With that car and 4.10 gears, you really couldn‘t go full throttle in first gear. When you shifted into second you couldn’t stomp it, you had to roll into it or you would light the tires up. By third gear and fourth gear it was all out. With no over drive it was all over at 100 mph.

My car was manual steering with power drum brakes. The brakes looked like they belonged on a dump truck, big drums for a car. The 4 speed was what they called a hemi 4 speed, coarse ground gears for strength but it gave a lot of gear noise.

The car was noisy, and handful to drive, but when that six barrel was all the way open, it was a great sound. Sorry for the long post.

 

[dodge man]

This is what the setup looks like. Under the large oval air cleaner are the carbs and you can kind of see the way it seals to the hood.

 

[Frankenkubota]

I owned a Triumph TR-3, when I was a studly hot shot young Naval aviator.
Fun....but a genuine POS!
You did well to walk away from anything with the Triumph name.
Lucas Electric says it all.
Why the British like warm beer....because Lucas made refrigerators too!

And lucas was in the defense business. I used to go to many british car shows. Saw a guy with a tee shirt. On the front it had a graphic of a standard house light switch.

It said......off and.....flicker.

Underneath it said, Lucas, Prince-of darkness!

 

[Hay Dude]

View attachment 696102
This is what the setup looks like. Under the large oval air cleaner are the carbs and you can kind of see the way it seals to the hood.

Did you ever dyno it or run the 1/4?

 

[dodge man]

Never had it on the dyno or raced it. I’ve made maybe 40 passes in my life total but not in the Road Runner. I would say on a bad day it was a low 14 second car and a good day with some drag radial or slicks a 12 second car.

The Challenger in the pictures I posted above was a 383 car and it ran a 15.25 at 92 mph on a hot humid day in Columbus Ohio. On a cool dry day it was probably a mid to high 14 second car.

My 2010 Challenger with the 5.7 Hemi thats not 100% stock made 370 hp and a little 400 ft lbs on the dyno. I’ve only raced it in the 1/8 mike but have made a lot of passes with it. Projected to a 1/4 mile probably a mid to high 13 second car depending on weather.

Newer performance cars are quicker as rule and much easier to race. They make a Challenger now called a 1320. No supercharger and it will run in the 11’s in the 1/4 with a set of drag radials. Technology has come a long way.

 

[kenmbz]

One of my favourite chase scenes is in the French Connection. One of the crashed happened by accident. And they never got permission for some of the areas they drove through.

The Seven-Ups crash scene was amazing in it's time. The movie is just ok.
Miss those old beater cars, fast in a straight line , but oh so much fun trying to take a turn, could easily get them sideways, and most of the time bring them back around

 

[Username Taken]

The hood on my 70 Road Runner was called a Air Grabber. There was a switch under the dash that opened it and the air cleaner was sealed to the hood so as to give a ram air effect. Not sure how effective it was but it did give cool air to the carbs at the very least. The side of the air grabber hood had teeth on the side of it like the Warhawk airplanes of WW2. Seems kind of hokey today.

The six pack(Dodge) and the six barrel (Plymouth) were three two barrel carburetors on a high rise dual plane intake. The gas pedal was connected to the center carb and during normal driving it ran like a two barrel. When you stepped on the gas the two end carbs were vacuum operated. If they opened suddenly it would bog so the tipped in gradually. There were dashpots on the side of the two end carbs that you could change the guts and control how soon and fast those end carbs kicked in.

The center carb was pretty modest in size but the end carbs were huge, the total was 1350 cfm. It was probably a little over carbed on a 440 and a lot on a 340. If you looked at it from above and used your imagination the three two barrel carbs looked like a six pack of beer.

On my Road Runner I never got it set up perfect. It just never idled perfect. At full throttle it screamed. With that car and 4.10 gears, you really couldn‘t go full throttle in first gear. When you shifted into second you couldn’t stomp it, you had to roll into it or you would light the tires up. By third gear and fourth gear it was all out. With no over drive it was all over at 100 mph.

My car was manual steering with power drum brakes. The brakes looked like they belonged on a dump truck, big drums for a car. The 4 speed was what they called a hemi 4 speed, coarse ground gears for strength but it gave a lot of gear noise.

The car was noisy, and handful to drive, but when that six barrel was all the way open, it was a great sound. Sorry for the long post.

The 440 6 barrel was faster than the Hemi. Most Hemis.

And trips were always a bear to set up. My buddy was, and still is, a whiz at it.

A friend of mine in the service bought the same color combo, same year, '70, but with a 383, which was standard. Ran 'okay' but nothing like my '69 383. Don't know why, just didn't.

440 with trips and a 4.10 rear end, that thing had to be dangerous. Polyglas or Red Lines? Both were absolute junk. Couldn't get traction on anything.

It was on the same 'frame' as my '69, I believe. I could crack 2nd gear so hard, the ashtray would fly out and smack the back seat. Although cheaply made, those cars were super-tough. The things I put mine through were borderline criminal. I'd like to have it back but I would not pay today's asking prices. No way, Jose. Not gonna happen for a trailer queen

 

[Username Taken]

Merch :: Garage Art :: 440+6 Street Fighter Motor Metal Garage Art Sign - Mopar Collector's Guide Magazine

When Chrysler introduced the legendary 440+6 engine in 1969 they knew it had one primary mission go out and win street races Of course the company couldn t say that but it was conspicuous that the engine was only available in stripped down B-bodies with pinned-on fiberglass hoods Of course the power

moparcollectorsguide.com

 

[dodge man]

I had radials on my 70 Road Runner. I think they 215/70-15 but am not positive. I went back and looked at the pics I posted and realized they weren’t even of my car. I took pictures of it at the Mopar National because it was identical to the one I had. The car i posted pics of had Polyglass tires on it, probably reproductions. The reproductions are actually pretty sticky for a straight line but handle like crap. I owned the car in the late 90’s so with radials and electronic ignition were some modern upgrades I did.

 

[Username Taken]

I had radials on my 70 Road Runner. I think they 215/70-15 but am not positive. I went back and looked at the pics I posted and realized they weren’t even of my car. I took pictures of it at the Mopar National because it was identical to the one I had. The car i posted pics of had Polyglass tires on it, probably reproductions. The reproductions are actually pretty sticky for a straight line but handle like crap. I owned the car in the late 90’s so with radials and electronic ignition were some modern upgrades I did.

People forget how bad Dee-Troit technology was in those days. France, through Michelin, had the radial in the 1940's with the rest of Europe and Japan following shortly after. 215/70 - r15 is an F70. Sounds about right. The Goodyear polyglas tires just simply sucked. They couldn't get traction on ANYTHING. People would let air out of the tires but I had better luck airing them up. They were horrible.

I first discovered Radials when I went to work, part-time, at Sears in the Service department. They were responsible for making the radial not only popular, but known in the USA. We'd still be riding on haywagon tires if not for them.

The only Corvette I really like, the Sting Ray ('63-'67) got the axe because they couldn't fit big enough tires under the fenders. So they butchered it in '68 with the ugliest 'sports' car ever made. Not to mention they were slugs. Some of them did okay in a straight line but they were anything but a sports car. At least generic motors tried. Sort of. Ford just threw their hands in the air and walked away. Chrysler was too busy getting kicked around. The only people making cars back then were the Euroweenies and the Japanese. And we couldn't get the really cool ones.

Don't get me wrong, I am anything but a Europhile. I followed the exploits of Ford very closely when they abolutely HUMILIATED Enzo Ferrari back in the 60's. Enzo insulted America with his comments on American Racing, which even Ford thought they were pathetic (NASCAR is a joke, and a bad one) but he did it in such a way that Ford went to Europe and destroyed them.

5 valve (yes five valves) ferraris and multi-million dollar porsches and mercedes and Maseratis being dominated and crushed by Fords. And I mean CRUSHED. The movie doesn't do it justice.

Later on Ford got into Formula 1 racing and totally dominated that series for quite a while. They won every single F1 race for a period of (I think) two years.

generic motors, who couldn't compete in Indy Racing (or anything else for that matter), got CART booted so they could monopolize the engines in the cars. Destroyed Indy Car for 30 years. It's still not nearly as popular as it once was. That's how generic motors did things. They'd buy, bribe or cheat their way to victory lane most of the time. Except in Europe; because they couldn't. They didn't have the power of goobermint behind them.
Yes they did, and still do.

End senseless rant