Where have all the stock cars gone????

[blueskies]

Are you kidding, I am completely charmed just lookin at it, I would call this modified charm! Your car doesn't qualify for my little rant! Most people go the Ferd or Chebby way cause its easy, cheaper and lots of aftermarket for them.

I put a MII front end, 350 with TH350, etc in my '53 Chevy truck in '91 and '94. I've had the truck for 26 years, got it when I was 14 with lawn mower money. I drove it for 13 years stock, with a four on the floor and 4:11 rear. It would top out at 48 mph, wide open. As a high school kid, I couldn't wait to gut the six and drop in some real power.

I suffered with the stock drive train through college, driving the truck back and forth from U of I to home, about 500 miles, at 45 mph.

When I got a job out of school, and had a few dollars, I did the engine swap. Man was I living! Problem was, the stock steering which I had modified to shoe horn the 350 under the hood didn't work worth a sh!t, so I didn't drive it much until I found a "KIT" to adapt a gm power steering kit. After weeks of re-inventing the wheel to make the "kit" fit, it steered even worse, nothing but bump steer. After learning more about steering geometry than I ever wanted to know, and lots of welding, I got rid of "most" of the bump steer. It still didn't drive worth a damn though, so I finally did the mustang II front end.

Now the truck drives like a race car, is totaly reliable, and completely without the character that I had grown to love over the first 13 years of ownership.

When I bought my plymouth, I found that it had all the "old" character that I had so handily gutten from my truck, and decided after the first drive that it would remain intact if possible.

I'm happy with the result.

Pete

[48mirage]

Ex-bil had a '49 I helped him but a camaro subframe under it in '86. He had been driving the old babbit beater since '73. It is still on the road today. Why do you chebby drivers all paint their trucks that same crappy blue?

[blueskies]

Why do you chebby drivers all paint their trucks that same crappy blue?

Because it outlasts everything else?

The paint, or maybe I should say "patina" on my truck was put there by the previous owner, who's name was Orville Balzer (no, really...). The blue was about 15 years old when I bought the truck, so that makes it over 40 years old now. It is in serious need at this point. But if I painted it, I wouldn't be able to throw a load in the back and take it to the dump, or whereever.

My truck is still a hauler, and probably will be till I'm burried in it like Ed Kienholz...

Pete

[62rebelP23]

i straddle both sides of this fence; my Falcon is a retro-clone- wannabe rally car; my 59 Galaxie is outwardly just "an old man's car" with a 390 4v and dual exhausts; my 71 Torino GT is getting a driver-restoration as and when i can work on it, and my sole Mopar, my P23 Cambridge is slowly being revived to good old car status. it will never get a V8 or auto trans, A/C, or anything else except repairs to restore it to gently weathered old car. it will be safe to drive, run reliably ( it already runs great!) and be fun to have.