Posted on 01/09/2022 5:54:08 AM PST by super7man
At the start of the gas crisis in late ‘71(?) we went across five states coming back to KC from San Diego without getting gas or letting my wife get out to pee. It was a 16.5 gallon tank and we were getting over 30mpg.
That’s a beautiful piece of machinery.
Thanks!
Great post man..
I’m glad you liked it...they are generally too long for most people, and I get that. Honestly...I am partially writing them for myself against the day I cannot remember them.
Happens to us all...:)
1970 Firebird Formula 400, RamAir III, 4 bolt main, Muncie M22 “Rock Crusher”.
Boot, Scoot and Boogie 😎
Miss my old Supra Turbo....And my 2 Z-28’s..
Drove the supra for ten years..got my money’s worth BUT the Z’s..
Sold them both almost mint for short money.
Now they are worth Thousands...
I drove a really mint low mile 93 Infiniti J-30 for a while.
That was kinda a weird car.
miss that one too...
It’s the stories that make the car special. Otherwise it’s just another ‘special’ car.
I’ve had some fun vehicles through the years: 71 Mach 1, Opel gt, 74 vette, and a 74 monte. In the mid 90s we found a 74 xj6 that had a chevy 350, and 400 auto. Great looking, riding, and performance. But when we moved in 2001 to a small acreage down 2 miles of gravel road, we sold it.
The best all round versatile and fun machine might have been the 82 Honda cm450e that I commuted from the farm to the steel fab shop 15 miles away (1991-98). Big enough to be comfortable on the road, nimble enough to charge around the cow pasture checking on cattle and mending fence.
During a 4 year stretch the longest it sat was 11 days one January (I had made an aluminum wind brake for my legs, dressed like I was snowmobiling, and watched the forecast). We lived along us67 in NW IL, which was kept pretty clean by the DOT crews. My motto was: If the road is bare, I am there. Rode by the local bank sign a few times when the temp said 0 degrees.
Our garage was not heated, so before breakfast I would put a small space heater on a 5 gal bucket, aimed at the twin carbs. Within minutes it was ready to go, and fired right up with little or no choke. Parked it in the heated fab shop at work. It was an incredibly reliable bike. A high school buddy of my youngest son bought it after I quit farming in 2001 and became a OTR trucker.
Heh, you are SO right on the mark there. Even a somewhat crappy car can worm its way into your heart!
I always thought those Opel GTs must have been a huge amount of fun to drive, and right smart looking, too!
I had bought the 71 mach 1 in late 73 (by then the owner had subjected it to three winters of IL road salt, commuting 70+ miles round-trip to John Deere), i traded it for the opel exactly 3 years later (the corrosion was coming on strong by then). The opel mileage was good, but it didn’t cure my desire for a vette. So about 5 months later I traded for the 74 vette. I knew the vettes original owner. He had traded for a new 77. Knew he was a laid back conscientious owner.
The vette was not strong as far as vettes go, but I worked the carb some, that helped. Gas prices as they were I just didn’t want terrible mpg. I did work the suspension over, really improving its cornering. Two years later I was married. Two years after that, we had our first son, bought the monte, and after a year sold the vette.
I owned the vette for 5 years and 55,000 miles (sounds like warranty numbers). We enjoyed it, but the growing family and ag economy dictated it needed to go.
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