The Stuff You Have To Put Up With

CarMichael Angelo

my rearend will smell so minty fresh,
15 Year Member
Nov 29, 1999
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Birmingham, al
I'm on another forum, and the topic was about rodders throwing junk assed 350's in the ford bodied street rods. I voice my disdain for that, and the thread wiggles around to personal stories " back in the day"

This guy is a regular, and he comments often across the board. He never gives any clue to make you question his credentials by his posts.

Then he comes up with this:
All this reminded me when I got my first Cleveland. My 67 fastback was pretty fast with its hot dog high revving cross ram 289 HiPo. It did wild wheel standing mid 12s. But not fast enough to beat my friends 69 Z/28 with a roller cam 302 that ran low 12s. Then one day my buddy who owned a junkyard calls me up to say he just got in a wrecked 1971 Torino GT with a 351 Cleveland 4v and he said I could have it for $300. I was there in about 10 minutes flat staking out my claim. Once I got it home I decided to just install the motor with a Crane cam and spring kit, high rise intake, and Hooker competition headers and see what she could do before I built it up. This was the summer of 1979, I was a senior in High School, and I was on a mission to beat that damn Z/28 with real SBF power, no tricks! The first time I take it to the 1/4 mile for a shake down it turns a 12.25 right off the trailer! The trick was to spin that Cleveland up to its wheelhouse around 5000 RPM and TRY to get some traction! She was a BEAST when she got up on the power curve. And man she could top end. I finally got a set of wide 9" wheels and M50 tires and that gave me the traction I needed to turn consistent times. I beat that Z/28 the next time we lined up. I beat him bad.

How freaking full of Fast and Furious is this?

Let's count, and add up the fail points.

1. The guy is a senior in HS back in the 70's, and has a cross ram on a 289.
* Has anybody here even seen one of these manifolds, much less own one?
2. This HS kid has somehow managed to build a high 12 sec car using a N/A 289 that manages to pull " Wild wheel stands".
3. What kind of job would you have to be able to afford a super rare intake, 2 carbs for it, and maintain a high 12 back then ( equivalent to how hard it would be to get a 5.0 in the high 10's now a days ) on a HS seniors part time job budget?
4. By your account, the car currently hooks hard enough to do wild wheel stands.
5. Now that you've installed the Cleveland, you need to add a M 50 on a 9" wide wheel to contain the " beast".
* M 50's were a hard assed street tire back in the day when letters proceeded the aspect ratio. In this case the " 50" ratio meant that the tire was 50 % as tall as it was wide. And the letter indicated width starting with "A". In other words, a short, wide assed tire, that typically hung waay out of the quarter. ( imagine a set of these bad boys hanging out of the limited quarter panel space of a 67 FB)

5. I count at least 5 on the digital failometer.

Now it's one thing when you're a new guy, and you come on a forum and sling this kind of mularkey. On the internet now days, you'd more than likely get your hand slapped for insulting the intelligence of the other readers. But when you're a seasoned " member" and you come up with this...... Uhh story......

You're probably the drunk uncle at the Christmas party that stands in the corner telling stories that start with:
" I remember a time......"

Do Not go on a car guy forum and rattle off a story like this.......other people will post it and you will become a virus.
 
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I'm on another forum, and the topic was about rodders throwing junk assed 350's in the ford bodied street rods. I voice my disdain for that, and the thread wiggles around to personal stories " back in the day"

This guy is a regular, and he comments often across the board. He never gives any clue to make you question his credentials by his posts.

Then he comes up with this:
All this reminded me when I got my first Cleveland. My 67 fastback was pretty fast with its hot dog high revving cross ram 289 HiPo. It did wild wheel standing mid 12s. But not fast enough to beat my friends 69 Z/28 with a roller cam 302 that ran low 12s. Then one day my buddy who owned a junkyard calls me up to say he just got in a wrecked 1971 Torino GT with a 351 Cleveland 4v and he said I could have it for $300. I was there in about 10 minutes flat staking out my claim. Once I got it home I decided to just install the motor with a Crane cam and spring kit, high rise intake, and Hooker competition headers and see what she could do before I built it up. This was the summer of 1979, I was a senior in High School, and I was on a mission to beat that damn Z/28 with real SBF power, no tricks! The first time I take it to the 1/4 mile for a shake down it turns a 12.25 right off the trailer! The trick was to spin that Cleveland up to its wheelhouse around 5000 RPM and TRY to get some traction! She was a BEAST when she got up on the power curve. And man she could top end. I finally got a set of wide 9" wheels and M50 tires and that gave me the traction I needed to turn consistent times. I beat that Z/28 the next time we lined up. I beat him bad.

How freaking full of Fast and Furious is this?

Let's count, and add up the fail points.

1. The guy is a senior in HS back in the 70's, and has a cross ram on a 289.
* Has anybody here even seen one of these manifolds, much less own one?
2. This HS kid has somehow managed to build a high 12 sec car using a N/A 289 that manages to pull " Wild wheel stands".
3. What kind of job would you have to be able to afford a super rare intake, 2 carbs for it, and maintain a high 12 back then ( equivalent to how hard it would be to get a 5.0 in the high 10's now a days ) on a HS seniors part time job budget?
4. By your account, the car currently hooks hard enough to do wild wheel stands.
5. Now that you've installed the Cleveland, you need to add a M 50 on a 9" wide wheel to contain the " beast".
* M 50's were a hard assed street tire back in the day when letters proceeded the aspect ratio. In this case the " 50" ratio meant that the tire was 50 % as tall as it was wide. And the letter indicated width starting with "A". In other words, a short, wide assed tire, that typically hung waay out of the quarter. ( imagine a set of these bad boys hanging out of the limited quarter panel space of a 67 FB)

5. I count at least 5 on the digital failometer.

Now it's one thing when you're a new guy, and you come on a forum and sling this kind of mularkey. On the internet now days, you'd more than likely get your hand slapped for insulting the intelligence of the other readers. But when you're a seasoned " member" and you come up with this...... Uhh story......

You're probably the drunk uncle at the Christmas party that stands in the corner telling stories that start with:
" I remember a time......"

Do Not go on a car guy forum and rattle off a story like this.......other people will post it and you will become a virus.

Mike, obviously you've never heard the addage: Never let the facts get in the way of a good story...
 
And then,....just when you think that you busted them,.....they post the pic proof.
67Mustang1.jpg


289_.jpg


He corroborates the story. Only admitting that the "wild wheelstands" might have been an exaggeration.

I apologize.

It's hard.:nonono:
 
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HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhahahahahahahahahahahah


Thanks for making my first click of the morning worth while. Hope you have enough coffee to wash down the crow!
 
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Meh, its all in good fun. It's just hilarious the guy followed through and posted pics of said far-fetched story. Had he actually posted a pic of the car lifting a front tire, I would have fudged my huggies from laughing so hard.
 
I'm telling you guys that that story had BS written all over it. Anyone of you would've called him on it.

He said that I was getting hung up on the wild wheel stand part.

Uhh yeah.... Cars do not do wild wheel stands on street tires.
 
And then,....just when you think that you busted them,.....they post the pic proof.
67Mustang1.jpg


289_.jpg


He corroborates the story. Only admitting that the "wild wheelstands" might have been an exaggeration.

I apologize.

It's hard.:nonono:
Pics or it didn't happen....oh wait...

FWIW, I would have called it BS as well and moved on. That being said, did he prove he hit 12 sec 1/4s or just that he had the car?
Looks more like a bumper stand to me....[emoji6]

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
 
I'm telling you guys that that story had BS written all over it. Anyone of you would've called him on it.

He said that I was getting hung up on the wild wheel stand part.

Uhh yeah.... Cars do not do wild wheel stands on street tires.

Well, I got called a liar by a guy who posts regularly here a long time ago for claiming I had a car that would wheel stand on the street. The thing is, with the slicks on it, there were spots it would. I never got a pic of it, just wide eyed friends telling me, "Holy **** dude, you lifted a wheel!" :shrug:

Whatever.
 
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Pics or it didn't happen....oh wait...

FWIW, I would have called it BS as well and moved on. That being said, did he prove he hit 12 sec 1/4s or just that he had the car?

Looks more like a bumper stand to me....[emoji6]

Sent from my Nexus 6 using Tapatalk
No time slip, just his word. Personally, having had a car in the 70's similarly modified, it was all anybody could do to get a stock headed Windsor into the 12's. My junk had all that you could do to it that was available, and it still only mustered a 13.2 on slicks, and in this case had 62 c.i. Over dude.
 
I never did know how fast it was but in the mid 80's I had a 58 Chevy Pickup. It had three on the tree and a motor that we pulled out of an old Corvette headed for the junk pile. When we checked, we found that it was the 350 HP version of the 327.

It boogied. Mustangs were running 14s stock with 190ish HP at the wheels. The truck was much quicker. Very wide tires and a Detroit Locker. LOL

I didn't really appreciate Mustangs until I rode in one that was lightly modded. These were the days when you walk in to Pep Boys and buy a Holley Systemax 2 Kit, right off the store shelf. That's when I got hooked. I just loved watching the front of that car raise up when you smacked the gas. It really did feel like riding a very strong horse that you had to stay on-top of. hehe
 
I'm still having a tough time swallowing his claims of the Cleveland running 12.20's with nothing more than a cam/springs, intake and headers on junk tires. That's literally 2-1/2 to 3-seconds off that cars stock time. :scratch: