One of my favorite car ads from 1957

[Pistolero]

Sounds like you are very lucky to be able to tell the tale.

Bill

 

[Tom]

It has been said that God watches over drunks and fools. I may qualify.

 

[RBHarter]

Ford was the 428 and the big block 429 . Chevy was the 427 built on the 396 big block . The FE family was 332, 352 ,360, 390 , 410 and 428 . With a handful of direct parts change for Lincoln , the 410 was a Merc and the 360 a detuned smog motor . In 69' Ford built a factory 425 HP 390 , must have been a real fire breather .

 

[Bret4207]

First car was a $100.00 '64 Corvair that had sat so long it had a rust hole in the gas tank 1/4 of the way up. Used to have to get a running start to make it up the hill at the beach I was a lifeguard at. Battery wouldn't charge, no one could figure out why. Traded it and some cash for a '68 307 Malibu rust bucket with a tape deck pop riveted to the dash! Man, was I living!

I passed on buying, IIRC, a 1966 Impala convertable with a 427. Red with white interior and top, $2500.00, about 1981. Do I kick myself? Nooooooooooooooo!

 

[358156 hp]

Oh, the cars I've passed over. I should have bought them all! 62 Impala SS409, 70 Challenger convertible 440 6 pack, all flavors and years of Olds 442 W30, Hurst Olds, and even a few Rallye 350s. For some reason we mostly had Mopar 440 cars in my area instead of Hemis. Everything from Chevrolet with "SS" emblems. Most got turned down because I ran Oldsmobiles seemingly forever, ad favored the "A" body over everything. W34 Toronados, W31 Cutlasses, and so on. Back then we thought these cars would be around forever... WRONG!

 

[Rick H]

Ford was the 406 in the late 61-63, then the 427in late 63....the 428 came later in Cobra Jet version for the Mustang and a detuned 7 liter...for the full size LTD. The original 427 cross-bolted mains 4 bbl and dual 4 bbl 425HP engines ruled in the Thunderbolts.

 

[Urny]

I had not listened to that song in a long, long time Bill. Thank you for that. I still have a fascination for the old big block V-8s (all brands) and the wonderfully wasteful hi-way cruisers they powered. Thanks to all for the information and comments on all of them, especially the 409.

Bret, my Corvair was also a 64, purchased for $300 about '72 or '73. When repairs were necessary we learned that the original 164 cid motor had been replaced by a '61 140 cid job. Did not seem to hurt the "performance" much. It was a fun car, right up there with the fiberglass bodied dune buggy I bought from a cousin. He had built it on a new VW bug chassis. More money than sense I suppose.

 

[358156 hp]

Ford was the 406 in the late 61-63, then the 427in late 63....the 428 came later in Cobra Jet version for the Mustang and a detuned 7 liter...for the full size LTD. The original 427 cross-bolted mains 4 bbl and dual 4 bbl 425HP engines ruled in the Thunderbolts.

A guy I know bought a beat-up old 57 Ranchero thirty some years ago that would really move. He raced it at the drag races, and usually won everytime. One day he grenaded the rear end, and that was the end of the Ranchero. He pulled the engine to save an almost fell over when he saw the external oil manifolds on the sides of the block. What he thought was a transplanted 390 turned out to be a 427 side-oiler. How it got there is anyones guess, but it got fully rebuilt, and to this day lives in his Cobra kit car.

 

[RicinYakima]

Ones that got away. I sold my 1957 Ford Ranchero, 312 4-bbl and three speed overdrive, to buy my wife's engagement ring and wedding ring. Seems a fair trade as we are still married 52 years latter.

 

[Hawk]

One thing that amazes me today is, I have a 2016 Chevy Silverado Z71, crew cab, four-wheel drive pickup with the 5.3 engine. Got the cold fusion intake and modified exhaust from the factory. Suppose to be running about 365 to 370 HP. Gets 16.5 MPG in the city and I've actually gotten over 28 MPG on the highway, but usually 22 to 24.
My 1968 Camaro SS had a 396 with 375 HP, stock, and got 10 MPH, if I was careful and tried to stay out of those back two barrels in the carb.

 

[Bret4207]

Ones that got away. I sold my 1957 Ford Ranchero, 312 4-bbl and three speed overdrive, to buy my wife's engagement ring and wedding ring. Seems a fair trade as we are still married 52 years latter.

Sold my 70 Chevelle SS for money to move to another town. Wife, kid, low wage job, you know the story.

 

[Hawk]

I had a friend that had a 1967 Chevelle SS.
Had a fuel block, dual holleys and 3/4 cam in it. Would have to feather the throttle at lights to keep it running.
I'll say it again, I don't know how we survived.

 

[462]

And we didn't use seat belts, neither, even if they were installed.

I couldn't afford go-fast-in-a-straight-line cars, so went the other way with go-fast-round-corners cars -- two MG Midgets, and two Datsuns with 240 Z and 260 Z badges. Tricked out the second Midget and both Datsuns somewhat, and did a bit of auto-crossing with the three of them.

 

[RicinYakima]

And we didn't use seat belts, neither, even if they were installed.

I couldn't afford go-fast-in-a-straight-line cars, so went the other way with go-fast-round-corners cars -- two MG Midgets, and two Datsuns with 240 Z and 260 Z badges. Tricked out the second Midget and both Datsun's somewhat, and did a bit of auto-crossing with the three of them.

Me either in those days! When I got out of the Army in 1970, my wife's best friends step Dad was into 1/4 mile dirt track in the Mid-West. Played around with that for a year, but it was way to rich for my blood. Wife wanted a Spitfire Triumph to do time/distance courses that was popular at the time. We ended up with babies and that was that for 20 years.

 

[Bret4207]

I wore seatbelts from day one when I was of driving age. When you're 7 and some guy comes to your house at 5:45AM to tell you your father broke his back in a car accident and is probably going to die, that sticks with you. He didn't, and neither he nor my mom ever did wear seatbelts, but I got into the habit. Couple years after I started driving my little sister, who wouldn't wear a seat belt, was thrown from a car and crushed to death at 16. Year and half later Dad rolled his truck and broke his neck and died at 47. Yeah, I'm okay with seat belts.

Sunbeam Alpine. Had a '64, fun car. I look at the Miatas these days and the urge is still there.

 

[Cherokee]

The '57 F500 did not have seat belts but my '62 F500 did and I used them, usually. After that car, always used the belts. Those were hard lessons Brent.

 

[Rick]

I've pretty much always used seat (once they started putting them in cars) belts when out on the highway, not so much in town until the police started generating revenue for not wearing them.

 

[RBHarter]

I spent 10yr on a VFD . My opinion of seatbelts is unbalanced at best and unfair due to the nature of the exposure . I'll leave it at that .
Disc brakes , collapsing steering columns , padded dashes and bucket seats there's safety and comfort enhancements that made a measurable difference in every aspect .

 

[Bret4207]

Did several years FD and EMT before getting on the Troopers. Nothing used to get me going like seeing some woman with her little kid running around the front seat while she was driving down the road. I don't know why it made me madder when it was a woman, I guess I just figured if it was guy he was an idiot and that was all there was too it. I gave mothers more credit But after seeing what happens when a kid goes through a windshield or out a window or all the other horrible things that can happen, it just drove me nuts to see. Saw a pregnant woman go out through a passenger window in a tee bone accident and then under a guard rail. She was still alive and trying to hold her insides together when I got there. Seat belts? Hell yes!

 

[462]

Don't get me wrong, I'm a firm believer in using lap/shoulder belts and always click them. Better yet is the five-point, quick release system that race car drivers use.