Posted on 01/05/2021 10:23:53 PM PST by ETL
You’re very lucky to have grown up in that era. As for myself, I’m 63, and so am also fortunate, having grown in the 60s and 70s. I feel so bad for the kids growing up in this garbage culture of more recent decades. Many of us here are indeed extremely lucky in this sense. In any case, I’m very happy it brought back some nice memories for you. I’m only half Italian, btw. My mother was 100%, my father was down south in Tennessee. They met in New York’s Central Park while he was on leave from the Navy back in the 1940s.
Thanks ETL. Believe it or not,
I’ve seen all the pics you
posted in the interest on how
I want mine to look. There’s
many out there that don’t know
Plymouth actually made a truck.
Mine looks a little different
as the wheelbase is 8” shorter.
We’ve cut down the running boards
and rear fenders to accommodate.
The proportions look so much
better.
I’m a retired mechanical designer.
I modeled the chassis on ProE
and had the chassis tubes bent
to drawings. My son welded it
up. His MOS from 9 years in
the Army.
The drummer of the 70's garage band I played bass in as a teen had a really nice gold 75 Grand Prix. I believe it was actually the last year for the round headlights, not 74. One of my dream cars is a 76 or 77 Grand Prix, done up pretty much like this 76...
'76 Grand Prix
/stories/2014/06/1976PontiacGrandPrix_01_1200.jpg)
'76 Grand Prix
'76 Grand Prix
'77 Grand Prix
Mark Twain in Innocents Abroad describes Italians in Italy doing a form of cruising. In the early evening they would get dressed up and take anything with wheels on it and circle the town square. Cruising is in the bloodstream apparently.
Yeah, it’s kind of sad that he’s so out there politically. On the other hand I’m not much into most of his repertoire. He’s got half-a-dozen good ones and the rest is... meh.
Call me nuts, but I am something of an iconoclast in the music realm. I never did think Led Zeppelin was all that. Not that they didn’t have good stuff, or break some molds, but I wouldn’t have called them number 1 in rock & roll.
Sounds like it’s going to be a nice build. My family was one of those with an unfortunate history of selling good cars before they were known to be classics. Dad had a hardtop Ford Skyliner. Mom had a ‘57 ‘bird; Black, Corinthian White interior with the Conti kit. We had a ‘63 Fairlane, a ‘69 Torino GT, 351 Windsor, vinyl top, shaker hood... Mom’s folks had a ‘59 Caddy Eldorado a mile or so long. Dad’s drove a ‘67 Skylark.
Every one of those cars was sold off. The Torino was replaced by a ‘78 Olds Cutlass Salon; kind of a weird fastback model.
I’ve got hold of a ‘63 Impala 4-door hardtop in decent shape, but need of thorough weatherization around the big glass, doors, and trunk. Somebody welded a new top on it & the A-pillars are showing hairline cracks. I think I’m in for quite a time of it.
Sorry for the delayed response.
I needed a break from all that’s
going on today.
Your reply got me to thinking
how many vehicles I’ve owned
since I started driving. That
total comes to 26. The one I’ve
owned the longest is a CJ7
Golden Eagle. I’ve been driving
it for 40 years. If I had a few
of my previous, I could easily
retire. Vehicles have always ment
more to me than just something
that gets you from here to there.
American muscle. AMC, Mopar, Ford,
Chevrolet, Buick, Pontiac. All
hold a place in history and heart.
No problem about the lag; it’s been a surreal day.
I had a ‘72 F-250 running the stock 360FT Wedge motor into a C6 automatic with a pair of aftermarket headers, and glasspacks dumped ahead of the axle. I shaved it old school; did proper lead fill on the trim holes then got a Maaco shop to shoot it Porsche Yellow. The guy phoned me up and asks, “We shot two coats, going on three and it’s still too clear. Ya mind if we dope it with Titanium White?”
Ended up with five coats of acryllic inside and out, under the hood, and throughout the bed, and it was so yellow it put a fresh banana to shame.
I then proceeded to black out nearly everything else. Only bright metal I left was the chrome front bumper, wheel center caps, and aluminum parts of the front grille. OEM “elephant ear” mirrors went away with the trim moldings & I mounted satin black missile-cone mirrors that were a popular ‘70’s style.
ALWAYS turned heads and got smiles.
Sounds like a labor of love.
I’ll bet she was a looker.
I went thru just the same with
the CJ. Frame off. Everything
replaced with new or rebuilt.
I waited for a dead still hot
(100 deg) day and painted it
in my driveway. Amazingly,
it came out almost perfect,
with very little finish work.
The Plymouth truck I’m working
on now has required a custom
built bed due to the shortened
wheelbase. The finished floor
depth from the top rails is 6”,
with no wheel tubs. The rear
axle (85 Volare) is shortened
6” per side. 4 link rear with
Koni coil overs. The trans is
a 727 w/shift kit coupled to
a 2500 stall converter (3.55
rear gears). I designed the
headers. Engine is a ‘68 446
Mopar with rollers, bored .030
with a TRW-TP238 cam. Koni
coil overs on the front with
custom a-arms. Aluminum 4 core
rad with e-fan & trans oil cooler.
I have yet to fire this thing up,
as I’m just starting the wiring.
It was. It had been my Dad’s truck. Bought used in ‘76 he and my grandfather spent a few hours in the garage rebuilding the engine; I was pretty young, but I think they short-blocked it and had the original heads rebuilt. It was a TIGHT truck; not a squeak or a rattle anywhere. Haven’t found the equal in anything built after the Advent of Plastic Everything.
I have it as part of my overall objective to get my Impala to that point; where it rides nice and tight, and nothing groans, squeaks, or rattles.
You might enjoy this rod and customs Group at MeWe:
https://mewe.com/join/cars-classics_hot_rods_street_cars_any_cars_
Historically, it’s been a lotta people just posting pics of nice cars from wherever, but more recently a bunch of us are shifting the content toward personally-owned vehicles, and trying to include more detail about them. Work is to get more folks posting pics of things they’re actually working on or driving right now so the Group has a more interesting connection to Real Life.
was 77 the year of all the pollution control crap?
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