"I never had a great power car as a kid"
neither did i, as my corvair post will attest! but i did get to drive one of the coolest cars of the day, and probably even to this day....
my older sister was dating a guy who had just purchased a brand new 1969 dodge super-bee 6-pack (three 2-barrel carburetors). what a car! a 440cu magnum, 4 speed transmission, kind of a butterscotch color with black stripes around the rear quarter panels and trunk (simulating a bee, i guess?), and a non-gloss, flat black hood that had big chrome pin fasteners holding it in place, and it just lifted off instead of being hinged. as i recall, the speedometer was a barrel-type that rolled or spun, not a needle.
anyway, one day this guy came by our apartment to see my sister and wanted to be alone with her, so he flipped me his keys and asked me to go get him a pack of winstons. then he winked and said, "take your time coming back, man".
all right! did i have some fun in that car! i swear, it was like half helicopter and half jet.... it would shake and rumble and growl and just kind of hover there until i popped the clutch. then it would launch like a rocket, sometimes turning me 90 degrees and stalling out, because i had no idea what i had under me or how to drive the damn thing. soon, though, i got my 'sea legs' under me, and i was out racing gto's and chevelle 396's everywhere! there were very few of those particular cars made, and i was fortunate to have had the chance to drive one. it was the epitome of a 60's muscle car.
i also had a buddy who had a 1969 roadrunner, 383 w/ four on the floor. he used to let me drive his car too, sometimes we'd just drive all night on the back roads of south jersey, music blasting and not a care in the world. i recall that the factory gear shift 'handle' was very unusual, and that the stick itself was oddly shaped. not being used to driving a four speed that often, i remember my left leg aching after an all-night drive-a-thon.
:)
mark |
