Driving in the Fast Lane

[NotU]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

Who had a fast lane?
An interstate highway didn't get here until 1969!
My problem is there was always someone in front of me.
Randy Mattson

[Gobird]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

Think we have a few posts that are a little So lets see if we can get .

[15AGAIN]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

I have too many to talk about, but I always like to tell about driving a buddies car. He had a 57 Ford Convertible with Continental kit and three deuces and stick overdrive-- Red in color!!!
He was a year younger and liked to drink, trusted me to drive his car. One night as was driving him around to sober up, he raised up and asked "how fast are we going" -- I answered " 95 in 2nd gear" -- he said " OK, don't go to fast" -- and laid back down.

[HKS]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

My most exciting driving was done with my Chrysler 300C Hemi. I passed 4 cars on a 2 lane road with oncoming trafic. My wife did not want me to try that again.

Now I have a 390HP Dodge Ram truck (3.92 rear end). I passed a Greyhound size bus with one pickup truck ahead of it, again on a 2 lane road. I had to use all 390 horses since there were 2 more cars in front of the pickup truck.

I am not going to try such foolishness with the 252HP Tbird or any other car in the near future.

HKS

[RQTBIRD]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

We pulled out of the Quarry and headed south down highway six toward Hamilton around 6 pm on this warm Saturday evening. His Buick was in the lead until I passed him at about 8o mph. He, in turn passed me at about 95 mph. Not to be outdone, I caught and passed him at about 105 mph. The next pass attempt was more interesting because I kept the Olds at about 110 with him beside me. We continued side by side down this two lane highway running between 110-115 for some time before I realized the young lady who was my date was screaming her lungs out and threatening to open the door.
Bronzebird

Had a similar experience after the senior class play when driving a car full of classmates. Two vehicles headed to Grand Forks on a long straight road with both cars trying to pass each other at top end. (Our 59 StarChief could peg the needle on speedometer) What really was scary thinking back on this was it was in the fog and we couldn't see that far in front of us. Needless to say I didn't have the same passengers on the way home. I also made the class poem at graduation with the following; "You'll have to have nerves of steel when Roger gets behind the wheel"

[JAB02LHS]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

After Vietnam I lived for SPEED!

Driving fast was "MY ROLLER COASTER"

Now, getting up fast is enough of a thrill.

While in the USAF we used to race from the highway to the radar sight on a two lane winding road to see who could turn the best ET. Did the 28 miles in 18 minutes taking all four tires off the ground twice. Finally one night leaving the base I got clocked at 115 by base police but I did not stop. The next night they were waiting for me when I pulled into the site. Was told they would impound the car if I did it again.

Many races from a bar to the Restaurant for breakfast Not stopping for traffic lights or stop signs often at 100+. We loved to road race thru the city streets in the middle of the night.

Got stopped once [sober] by two cops one checking my ID the other looking under the rear of the car saying "Where are the wings on this thing BOY? I knew I was in Trouble. When he wrote up the ticket, the one cop asked the other what speed to put on it. The response was 110 MPH to which he replied "Yeah, but he was on his brakes by then" Got ticket for in excess of 100 MPH.

Not to mention the FRI SAT nite street drag racing. Back then the cops would chase us, stop us, ask to see what we were running, give us a warning and let us go. The didn't want us to lose our license because then the would not have an excuse to wind up their police interceptors.

[bob andersen]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

In my younger days I owned a 59 Impala 348 ci in hardtop. I brought it up to 127 mph with four friends in the car. Today I wouldn,t bring my bird over a hundred mph.

[Rondor]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

In my younger days I owned a 59 Impala 348 ci in hardtop. I brought it up to 127 mph with four friends in the car. Today I wouldn,t bring my bird over a hundred mph.

I had same car but convertable, but I couldn't keep it between the lines at anything over 95. The rear wings really did work, just wromg way.Maybe I needed friends in back seat to hold it down. I don't like to think about some of the stupif stuff me and a few buddies did on the streets of Orlando. Drag racing downtown was a big sport from 61-66. Earlier we couldn't afford anything fast enoug to race so we just made them loud to sound fast. You could pull the choke halfway out on an old Ford and idle thru tthe drive in and it sounded like an engine with a big cam

[keithwand]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

I was 17 in 1970 and my Dad had a 1969 Chrysler 300 440 6 pack, dark green with black roof and interior.
My friend and I would do my Dad a "favor" and wash it at the quarter car wash which was really a quarter.
We would then "Air Dry" it on the Xway home which was of course out of the way.

That car could leave a patch! With the posi traction only the right tire left marks on the pavement.

I was then relegated to my Moms 1970 Dart Swinger 225 6 cylinder. I actually raced a fellow Boy Scout in his Camaro conv. to the camping area. He chickened out at around 90MPH; all on skinny bias ply 14" tires and manual drum brakes.

One of the parents I passed called my parents and told them. Lucky for me they didn't think the car would even go that fast.

I obviously survived all my stupid stunts as a youth and now drive extremeley sane.

What great memories of the times and both cars.

[Vintage Merlot]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

Even though I started this thread I have found it hard to contribute since most of my early driving years were crazy. My first car was a used yellow '51 Ford convertible with V8 that I got for my 16th birthday. Really cool, lowered, skirts, whitewalls, moon caps, glass packs etc. . It started using oil within a few months since it had a lot of miles on it when I received it . My dad decided to teach me a lesson and bought me a '49 Chevy Fleetline fastback with 6 cylinders and black wall tires. It was TRULY gutless and all my old girl friends didn't remember me.

I was introduced to the "big time" later that year when dad came home with a new '55 Buick Century, 4 door hardtop with the big Roadmaster engine. The first night we had the car I and a friend who was two years older than me took it out for the night. He introduced me to "off the line" techniques that should have blown the new Buick into "transmission hell" . I got the taste and was hooked on acceleration, neck snapping torque and top speeds of 135mph. The first night we laid a strip of rubber on the town bridge that was the talk of the town the next day...fortunately there were no witnesses. But dad came home the next evening and said....." Did you see the rubber that someone laid on the bridge last night? Of course I had not seen it. Then he shook his head and smiled, "That must have been one hellava screeming car". As I think back now after having been a parent of three teenagers, I know now that he knew the Bridge car was his Buick. And I know now he must have loved having bragging rights that he had with his friends.

As I now recall the many, many 135 mph stories and craziness based on that 7 year craving for speed it now totally spooks me out. I never had an accident, dent, or ticket. My speed year cars were: '57 Merc Turnpike Cruiser convertible, '56 Bird, and '59 Bird convertible. By the time I graduated college and bought my first car, a '61 red Bird convertible, I was driving in the slow lane. Thank God. If the stories keep coming on this thread maybe I will pull up another chapter later in the thread if I can get the nerve to remember.

PS my three kids never had a car of their own when growing up. And they have NEVER heard any of my early driving years stories.

[Tbyrdy]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

Hmm...1972, Tallahassee to LA in 36 hours.

1973, Alamogordo, NM to Denver, CO - OVER the mountains, 600 miles in SIX hours.

However did we survive growing up?

[bronzebird]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

Roger's story about laying rubber with his dad's '55 Century brought back a memory for me.

For seven years ('79-'86) I was publisher of the daily newspaper in Sevier County, Tennessee and we lived in Pigeon Forge. Each year at Street Rod time the area became so congested that my wife and I used Street Rod Week to go on vacation to get away from it all.

One of my cars at the time was an '81 Z28 that had been substantially modified under the hood to remove all the emissions stuff, add headers, Mallory dual point ignition, shifter kit, etc. It was a very quick Z. The keys for our cars were put away and the kids were told not to drive any of them while we were gone.

The Monday after our return I went down to the garage figuring to drive the Z 28 to the office. I noticed that the rear quarter panels looked strange and when I bent down to check there was a while film over the entire rear of the car.

During the questioning period over dinner that night my youngest son confessed that he had removed the keys out of my dresser and took the Camaro out for a run. He had planned to wash the car when he got home but forgot. The white film was bleach residue from the burn outs he was engaging in on one of the back roads with some of the street rod guys.

I think I got about six thousand miles out of those Goodyear Gatorbacks, so that probably wasn't the only time the car left burn marks on the Smoky Mountain back roads.

Bronzebird

[islandtime]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

Did 110 on the Ohio Turnpike, 1964, friend's 1959 Pontiac Catalina convertible from Kent to the Cleveland airport. More of the story (and a pic of the car) are here:
http://www.thunderbirdnest.com/forum...7&postcount=10

[Gobird]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

This wasn't my car but my dad's. He bought it used, I think about five years old. It was a 1959 Cadillac deville coupe, pictured at bottom. One night he let me take it in town, that didn't happen too often. Two of my buddies and me were cruising the circuit in downtown York. I pulled up to a red light with one car in front of me. I stopped about one car length in back of that one. Soooooo, I told them,watch this!! I waited till I thought the light was about to change. I held down the brake real hard and started to depress the gas peddle. The back end of the big Caddy started to rise up, then the tires started smoking and screaming at the same time. Well, the light turned green and I lifted off the brake. The car was just starting to get traction and was moving forward except the car in front of me wasn't moving too fast. I jumped back on the brake peddle with both feet and we came to a stop within inches of that front car. Those power brakes worked great!!

[Lindy]

Re: Driving in the Fast Lane

Oh, my brother took us for a ride in his new-used 1970 Pontiac GTO soft-top in spring of 1976, the car was sort of a blah bronze-beige, but we reached top end or so at 137 mph, and boy did the scenery fly-by fast. Myself, never went above 110 with my 1970 Chevelle SS396. Tempted to look for the top end on my T-Bird one day though, I'll add that one on to my "bucket-list." ;)