Your dream machine or share what you got

[lunkerslayer]

Since there isnt anything much good to watch online, i have been watching reruns of counting cars. This made me think of my first vehicle a fire engine red 1980 jeep pickup with a 360 that went through gas like it had a hole in the tank, but could go anywhere which it did. Many days during my senior summer I would head to the Pembina hills and tear up some mud puddles. But I was alway in love with my uncles (dad's 3rd brother) 1971 monte carlo 454 ss in a sky blue and black vinyl interior that you could burn your ass cheecks if you weren't careful. A guy that my dad worked with had a 87 grand national that had a blown engine so he put in a 383 stroker that would over heat so he would drive around with the hood off. I knew little about that car and apparently he didn't either because he should have rebuilt the motor that was in there since the grand national was the fastest production car on the market in the states.
Never got to see the old man's 1969 dodge charger with 440 big block in crazy purple, his brother 2nd brother had a 70 road runner in cherry red I don't know what the motor was though. My mom had a 1968 mercury couger in emerald green and black interior with a 318 for a motor. Her sister had a 1964 ford thunderbird black 4 door with red interior, 390 motor, and had the fat man's steering wheel and swivel front bucket seats. Dad sold his charger and bought a 68 chevy pickup from the Montana forestry service, I remember it had the spotting scope next to the driver side door vent, he would use it when we would go out at night to check the trap line. You could see a long ways off without having to get close to the traps becuase you could see their eyes.
They would be all nice collector cars to have today but my favorite would be the 71 monte carlo because I was able to take it to my senior prom. Man I sure do miss those days of ignorance to the reality of life's problems that we face everyday only to find happiness in finding some mudholes so we could see if we could get stuck.
So share some of your early memories of those great rides that you wish you had today or post some pics if you still have them.

 

[bigv]

I watch that too and those you list are all cool cars! Best thing about them is that an average joe could climb in and fix most issues on those oldies. Now days I have a hard time getting the hood open. My first vehicle my dad bought me when I was a jr in High School. Was a "73 Chevy Cheyenne single cab pickup. Had 42k miles on it in 1990 when he found it. What a beast! I figured out how to fix most motor issues it had and took it everywhere. Hunting, fishing, trips etc. Think it got 10mpg in that old 350. But gas was 95 cents. I drove it through HS and college. Landed my first teaching job 3 hours from home. I needed a better vehicle for traveling so I sold it. Uhhhggg...things you do when you are penniless. Would give my eye teeth to find that old boy!

 

[Kurtr]

I grew up at the dirt track so a super late model would my car. I have a problem not going fast if I can the bad ass muscle cars would get me in a bunch of trouble on the street haha.

 

[lunkerslayer]

I watch that too and those you list are all cool cars! Best thing about them is that an average joe could climb in and fix most issues on those oldies. Now days I have a hard time getting the hood open. My first vehicle my dad bought me when I was a jr in High School. Was a "73 Chevy Cheyenne single cab pickup. Had 42k miles on it in 1990 when he found it. What a beast! I figured out how to fix most motor issues it had and took it everywhere. Hunting, fishing, trips etc. Think it got 10mpg in that old 350. But gas was 95 cents. I drove it through HS and college. Landed my first teaching job 3 hours from home. I needed a better vehicle for traveling so I sold it. Uhhhggg...things you do when you are penniless. Would give my eye teeth to find that old boy!

First year of the big square body yeah we had a 76 chevy 3/4 ton as our water truck since the water well couldn't sustain enough water for us and the livestock. Had a concrete water cistern in the basement that we filled up for our drinking water and cooking. A lot of the farmer boys had those square body chevy truck with 3 inch lifts but I could still go through more mud then they could becuase the jeep had quardra Trac with big balloon tires. Don't get me wrong I got stuck to but when I was got stuck I was really stuck.

 

[Shockwave]

My first truck was a 1970 Chevy C10 with manual transmission and the wood box. I also had a 77 Ford F-150 4X4 with white leather seat. The Chevy had the 350 and the Ford had a 460. I would take either one back if given the chance. Someday I will own a classic but I can never decide if I would want something crazy and fast or just something to cruise around in.

 

[LBrandt]

My favorite would be my 72 gmc pickup. Just a reg cab 2 wheel drive. Not so great in the snow but Lordy would that thing fly. Just a 350 in her but it was put together right. Could get mid 12 to mid 11 in the 1/4 mile and top end it would wrap the needle back around to the 20 mph mark. Scared the shit out of me. Also had a 72 Super Cheyenne that had all the comfort you could get and decent gas mileage plus it had the 21 behind the seat and 2 18 gal saddle tanks with a manual switch to change over too each tank. 57 gal of gas would get you a long ways at 16 miles per gal. Could go to Great Falls Montana and never stop for gas. Had a full sized fiberglass topper and a sliding window in the pickup and a sliding window in the topper with a boot in between. Had an old love seat that fit perfect across the front of the box with extra cushion's so it was like a mini camper. LB

 

[lunkerslayer]

My favorite would be my 72 gmc pickup. Just a reg cab 2 wheel drive. Not so great in the snow but Lordy would that thing fly. Just a 350 in her but it was put together right. Could get mid 12 to mid 11 in the 1/4 mile and top end it would wrap the needle back around to the 20 mph mark. Scared the shit out of me. Also had a 72 Super Cheyenne that had all the comfort you could get and decent gas mileage plus it had the 21 behind the seat and 2 18 gal saddle tanks with a manual switch to change over too each tank. 57 gal of gas would get you a long ways at 16 miles per gal. Could go to Great Falls Montana and never stop for gas. Had a full sized fiberglass topper and a sliding window in the pickup and a sliding window in the topper with a boot in between. Had an old love seat that fit perfect across the front of the box with extra cushion's so it was like a mini camper. LB

So like a camper special edition c20 did it have a compartment on the side for storage, also had the tilt steering, tach, ac ,headliner and door trim wood grain. There was a guy who went to the devils run car show that had a badass cheyenne camper special all the bells and whistles.

 

[LBrandt]

YEP Had that truck all over the western states. LB

 

[db-2]

Never happen but a flat head v12 with tri power in a 32 Ford. Seen that motor in an old truck at devils run. Never knew it was until that day.

But the list would go on forever, db

 

[KDM]

A Honda 80 motorcycle that I ran my pocket gopher trap line when I was 8. I was paid a bounty of .50 cents a pair for the front feet by the township. I made 5 bucks a day, give or take which in 1979 was BIG MONEY to an 8 year old. Paid my dad back for the bike in one summer. It was cherry red with black leather. Miss that bike along with the care free days of childhood where the worst thing to happen to me was a badger eating the gophers I caught and didn't leave the feet.

 

[5575]

Love the subject!
Lunker it amazes me you can rember so much detail about each of those vehicles mentioned! You were around allot of cool vehicles just like me! My dad had an orange 1970 superbee 383 4spd and a couple 70s model trans ams when I was a kid. Would love to have that bee today!
My step-dad had a new red 74 Trans am 455, thing had crazy top end and a 160 mph speedo.
My brother has quite the collection these days as well. A beautiful 67 rs/ss 396 convertible camaro, 76 black bandit TA, couple big tired jeeps, a mint black blazer with 45k on it. A supercharged saleen mustang and another 60s fastback mustang all original with like 35k on it.
My first vehicle was a 76 half ton chevy 4x4.
I then had a white 77 trans am in school, worked as a hired man farming to pay for it.
In college i sold the TA and bought an original 1970 c10 4x4, put a 4 inch lift and 35 inch bf mud terrains on it. Drove it to Las Angeles from Bismarck for my first job. Out there I aquired an absolutely mint white 64 SS nova red interior with a chrome center console with a powerglide, it only had 54k miles on it! Bought it from an elderly woman who was the original owner. Paid like $1700 for it, changed the oil, fluids and belts and drove it all the way back and stored it in ND.
Sold the nova years later when I was living in Denver and bought a beautiful little numbers matching 69 SS 350 4 spd camaro. Had allot of fun with that car through my 20s even drove it back home a couple times. Family stuff "kids/home happened and I reluctantly had to sell it and a dandy 79 bronco I had.
I always said some day I'd get another 69 Camaro and as a matter of fact that just happened about a month ago finally!
It's going to be a fun summer, just wish I hadn't lost my dad a year ago. He'd have loved to go for a ride in it, red was his favorite color.
The newest member of the family.

 

[CatDaddy]

I bought a 1977 Malibu Classic in high school that was puke green with surface rust in just the right places. Went to the DMV and asked for personalized license plates that said "STIFFY". The lady asked why and I told her it was because the car was big and it's what we called it. She bought the story and I got the plates! Truth was that my buddies and I thought it would be hillarious to ride around and see the reactions. And reactions we got!

I bought it for $150 not running. Pulled a rubber band out of the fuel pump and it ran like a top. Sold it back to the guy I bought it from 2 years later for $100......got my money out of it, that's for sure! This was around 1995.....

 

[Obi-Wan]

My first car was a 71 Duster with a 318 which wasn't enough HP for me so I swapped out the 318 for a 360. After the swap I had trouble keeping a transmission in it. Moved on to a 73 Challenger again with a 318 and again I wanted more HP. I bought a 72 340 Road Runner with a 4 speed from the original owner for $ 200.00. The Road Runner had some rust, the interior was ratty, and I wasn't crazy about the body style. After driving it for a few months I pulled the 340 and with a few mods, a tunnel ram, dual 4 barrel carbs I dropped it into the Challenger, the HP was now to my liking. The road runner body went one direction while the 4 speed went another. A local guy ended up buying the 4spd from the guy I sold it to and then he bought the RR body from the guy that had that. For a couple years he kept bugging me to buy the 340 from me so he could put the original numbers matching car back together. I told him if he had another 340 for me we could talk, he didn't. I did finally find another 340 to put into the Challenger, which coincidently had belonged to the guy I originally sold the RR body to, his girlfriend wrapped his Cuda around a tree. When originally parting out the RR I sold the body for $150.00, the transmission for $400.00 and in the end the 340 for $1,200.00, I got more than my moneys worth out of it as I only paid $ 200.00. In the end the guy restored a numbers matching 72 340 4spd Road Runner. Out of the 3 cars from my youth the one I wish I had today is the Road Runner.

Today we have a canary yellow 2000 Mustang GT 5spd convertible that mostly sits in the garage and gets driven a few hundred miles a year, the car now has just a little of 18,000 miles on it. This was my wife's mid life crisis car she had to have, I bet she personally hasn't driven it in 10 years.

 

[johnr]

I had a pretty sweet Mercury Lynx 2 door, got me a lot of pussy.

 

[NodakBob]

My current dream machine is a Ford f-250 with 7.3 gas/10 speed Tremor edition, but currently drive a Ford f-250 with 6.2 gas/6 speed. I sold my former dream machine (2007 Shelby) to buy the F-250 when I retired. Previously had my first car for 25 years, 1967 Cougar; that was heavily modified...sold it to pay the down payment of becoming a partner in the firm I worked at. Years later after we sold the company back to all the employees (ESOP), I got the Shelby. Any of these modern high horsepower machines (Chevy, Ford or Dodge) are so dialed they kick ass on any vintage muscle car as far as performance...but what I found out is they can't replace the cool mojo of driving vintage iron. And horsepower is like taking a bath...once you get used to it, it aint so hot...so I would rather be back to a vintage car if I got another hot rod, regardless of performance.

 

[JayKay]

Had a '78 Buick Skyhawk, four speed, two door. Got way more action in that car than anything I own now.

It had to be the car. It HAD to be...

 

[1bigfokker]

74 Ford high boy.

 

[Wall-eyes]

Love the subject!
Lunker it amazes me you can rember so much detail about each of those vehicles mentioned! You were around allot of cool vehicles just like me! My dad had an orange 1970 superbee 383 4spd and a couple 70s model trans ams when I was a kid. Would love to have that bee today!
My step-dad had a new red 74 Trans am 455, thing had crazy top end and a 160 mph speedo.
My brother has quite the collection these days as well. A beautiful 67 rs/ss 396 convertible camaro, 76 black bandit TA, couple big tired jeeps, a mint black blazer with 45k on it. A supercharged saleen mustang and another 60s fastback mustang all original with like 35k on it.
My first vehicle was a 76 half ton chevy 4x4.
I then had a white 77 trans am in school, worked as a hired man farming to pay for it.
In college i sold the TA and bought an original 1970 c10 4x4, put a 4 inch lift and 35 inch bf mud terrains on it. Drove it to Las Angeles from Bismarck for my first job. Out there I aquired an absolutely mint white 64 SS nova red interior with a chrome center console with a powerglide, it only had 54k miles on it! Bought it from an elderly woman who was the original owner. Paid like $1700 for it, changed the oil, fluids and belts and drove it all the way back and stored it in ND.
Sold the nova years later when I was living in Denver and bought a beautiful little numbers matching 69 SS 350 4 spd camaro. Had allot of fun with that car through my 20s even drove it back home a couple times. Family stuff "kids/home happened and I reluctantly had to sell it and a dandy 79 bronco I had.
I always said some day I'd get another 69 Camaro and as a matter of fact that just happened about a month ago finally!
It's going to be a fun summer, just wish I hadn't lost my dad a year ago. He'd have loved to go for a ride in it, red was his favorite color.
The newest member of the family.

I work on classic cars all the time that 69 set you back few pennies very nice sir

 

[shorthairman]

Unfortunately I did not grow up around cars, and I envy you guys that did, and especially you guys that can work on them. I've always liked the early mustangs like a 65 or 66 fastback. Also like the Scout IIs. My uncle had a late 70s early 80s Scout II that was orange. I really liked that rig. Unfortunately it was lost in a garage fire.
A different Uncle was really into older cars (and old John Deere tractors) He had a 55 T-bird, 66 vette, 69 vette, 69 camaro, 80 something I-Roc among others. I tried to upload a video of his funeral as the first 5-6 cars in the procession were cars he owned.
Good thread Lunker!

 

[Zogman]

1968 Plymouth Road Runner. Livin the dream from July of 1968 until June of 1974.
383/335hp Automatic.