Thread: Classic Cars

When I was in high school, I thought I wanted to turn wrenches for a living. So, I went to a Tech school (Lincoln Tech Inst, in Indianapolis, Ind), then onto the Army where I wrenched on big trucks (63S Heavy Wheel Vehicle Mechanic). So, I've always been a gear head at heart. Even after I decided wrenching for a living wasn't the best for me, in the long run.

Anyway, here is a couple (trashed) pics of a couple I done a little work to, back in the day.



The VW is a 73 Super Beetle, with a '67 327 in the front end and a 9" under the butt. I built ladder bars that dang near went to the gas pedal area, just to get it to hook up. It was a solid mid 10 sec car at about 127mph.

The 4 door is an 81 Dodge Diplomat. She was an old Il State Police pursuit car. Orginally she came with a 318, but it was worn out. So, after 'a little' modifying of the frame, in went a 440. With the stock 224 gears in the rear end (I blew all my $ on the engine lol), if you could run fast you could beat her stop light to stop light. But, the BiG road is where she shined! 176 is where she started floating and I decided that was good enough for me. (As a side note: I was paced on this run, by a '76 Ford Pantera which had, echem...A Lot more big road than I did!)

The motocycle is a month after I bought her, still bone stock. 1990 HD Sportster 883. The engine stayed stock until '96 went I torn her all the way down to the frame. Along with comsmetic changes, the power plant (or lack thereof) got a remake, too. Axtel jugs and pistons took it to 1370 from 883. Balanced and blue printed heads (courtesy of Rat's Whole Place in Decatur, Il). And a set of Andrews V6 cams. That made her 'worthy' of being a HD. This is the only street 4 stroke that felt like it had a "power band" like a 2 stroker.

Of all of them, I only have the HD. All the others went to other hotrodders. When I retire (5yrs 10months and 27days, not that I'm counting) I want to build a '34 Ford from the ground up.