Art & Inspiration What was THE car that everyone was envious of when you were in high school?

Reading through all these posts leads me to believe that California had the coolest high school cars which is pretty much what I always thought growing up.
That was a good read, jnaki, thanks.

 

I graduated in 1980. I can't speak for everyone but the car I envied back then was a '69 Camaro convertible I'd see cruising most weekends (the town I grew up in had a mainstreet that was popular for cruising, attractd peolpe from a lot of nearby suburbs)

There was also a buddy's 240Z I liked a bunch. I was driving a '73 Triumph Spitfire which, while off topic, was actually agreat first car. Simple to work on, relatively cheap parts, low power but still fun to drive.

Traditional hot rods weren't a "thing" back then, not that I recall anyway. I didn't know anyone who was into them. No one was against them, but muscle cars were still desireable and of course some of the new imports were getting pretty sporty.

 

When I was in high school in the 50's, the cool car was a 40 Ford coupe. In those days we could find running 46 - 48 Ford coupes for $ 50 - $100. The 40 Fords were way up there in price for $300. - $400. Who had that kind of money?

 

Graduated in '67 in southeast K.C., so some had 4-4-2s, GTOs, '62 409 Impala, but the guy who ruled was a recent grad who ran a '65 426 wedge Sport Fury - that is, for awhile. The guy with the 409 decided to go all out and was beating him. Then one day the MoPAR guy showed up with a non-descript '66 Belvedere II with dog-dish hubcaps and an HP2 emblem about the same size and location where the factory usually put the v-eight emblem signifying a 318. But it wasn't. Wow, it sure wasn't. First street hemi I ever saw, and it ran like King Kong. Finally, the cops really cracked down because the boulevard between the business district and the high school had become too much of a drag strip.

 

I was a HS senior in 1970, and one of my classmates had a '65 Chevelle SS. It was red, with a white interior, a 327 4 barrel, backed by a 4 speed.

 

There were rich kids that had the following cars: 62 Vette 327/340 Honduras maroon, black 62 Impala SS, yellow interior, 409/409 4 speed, black/black 62 Pontiac 389 tri-power 4 speed. I had a more door 54 Chevy

 

The High School I went to any car that wasn't to rusty, didn't smoke much and was younger than the tenth graders were "OK". The coolest ones had fender skirts and only 2 doors. My $25 car did not meet any of the of the above standards or requirements.

 

Where did you go to high school?

 

I remember a kid had a red 59 Biscayne that I lusted after.

 

Southeast H.S. You from the neighborhood, too? MoPAR guy's last name was Sharon. Couldn't find his first name in the yearbooks.

 

Close. I went to Raytown '65.

Wasn't Powell Siding just south of 223rd and "D"?

 

graduated in 1970 in Tennessee ,my 56 Tbird the one in my log in is a replica of my original car was my personal favorite,but there were many other nice cars ,a friend named Freddy had a 63 Falcon sprint convertible baby blue ,I drag raced it once with the bird, it was pretty fast ,caused a bit of an issue with the local cops lol,one kid had a gorgeous metallic blue Bonneville ,his dad worked at berkline furniture and he did the interior in a blue sparkle material like the old Kustom amps the reflection in the windows was unreal ,one kid had a nice white 61 Chevy two door hardtop,lots of tri five chevrolets ,some with straight axles,one friend of mine John Gregory had a 48 ford panel truck he put a 390 in ,lots of weird stuff then lol even had a 62 comet sport version black with red interior ,nice car but was a six cylinder

 

Yes. Family farm since before the Civil War. We probably know a few of the same people. Where were your classmates racing? 63rd Street? Who was king of your hill?

 

Brings back memories.

Lance Riddle's 69-ish Charger with a built 426 Hemi, he'dtop the 1/4 around 120...saidif he had he gears it'd do 160.
Davy Serpa's '69 SS Camaro w/396 sweeeeeet car, well taken care of, and his Brother Vern's 70? Camaro with a big block...fast as hell.

Older than us, Ron Taboda's purple '57 Chevy...

My '57 Chevy PU w/454, and so many other rumbling motors I can't think of them all.
Dean Willy's '55-1st series with a pretty hot SBC

As Yogi Berra would sum up our small (at the time) town...

50% farm boys, 50% jocks, and 50% gear heads.

We lived the "American Graffitti" dream every weekend on McHenry in Modesto....good times!

Class of '79.

 

I loved this one so much, I snapped these pics of it just before I moved away to college. Flamed '34 Tudor, Naples, FL, circa 1984

 

I'm class of '75. The lot had "leftover" musclecars for the most part. I showed up one day in Dad's 62 unibody Ford pickup with a 63 Caddy 390 and turbo hydro. Opened a can of asswhip on a 4spd Camaro. My graduation day transportation was this 38 Dodge pu that I helped Dad build with a 9'box and full 429 Caddy drivetrain. Most of my classmates didn't "get it", I didn't care.

 

Two come to mind it was 67 or 68 white 65 Impala 396 four speed I was so jealous of the guy that owned it, and of course Butch Wilkin's 55 chevy 301 four speed black, ( BLACK LABEL, named after that awful cheap beer) fast and just plan cool. We had a lot of fun and got in a bunch of trouble in that car.

 

American cars were to expensive on a school budget in Europe so i had a Mini 1100 Special

 

The race spot of choice was the Raytown Rd. flats. It's under water now. 63rd Street was too curvy from Raytown Rd. to your alma mater. The po po always sat at 63rd and the Blue River westbound. There was a guy with an older '55 Chevy that was the king of the hill. He was from Lee's Summit (really rural then) and had a W block and a heavy foot. Fun to watch but no fun to run.

 

In my junior year at graduation time a senior showed up in a sweet AC Cobra. British Racing Green, small block, We heard it cost $6000 new.

 

Yeah, I would have been envious of a real Cobra...still am. Imagine what that is worth today.

 

Not so much a car as a person. Friends father owned the Ford dealership in San Francisco back when dealers
closed at 5PM on Saturday and were closed on Sundays, late 50's. He had his pick of anything on the used car lot for that time period. T-birds and Crown Victoria's were the car of choice.

 

There was a kid who graduated a few years ahead of me in 1965 that got a brand new Corvette big block for graduation. Other than that there was a assortment of Model A's and a forty Ford coupe.
Everything failed in comparison to another kids car. His car was the fastest, best looking, best interior, and had the best paint job. I never saw the car nor did anyone else I know but he was glad to tell everyone about it.
The kid's name was Bob Sturgill but everyone called him BS for short.

 

Class of '81. We had a kid in school who's dad had a used car lot. This kid drove a cool 'new' car to school about every 6 weeks. The oldest domestic I can remember was a '56 Chevy hardtop. Silver, full-on Lowrider, juiced, Tru-Spokes, etc. A couple of the 'rich kids' had new Z-28's.

For me, I loved the Cal Bugs! And the cool bike back then, was the Honda 550 Super Sport with Kerker exhaust.

 

I ran into a old high school friend at Cracker Barrel that I haven't seen in years and as we got caught up naturally talk turned to cars and I remembered his 1968 Highland green fastback mustang that was the spitting image of the bullet car,especially after he saw the movie and bought a set of 5 spoke wheels.

Needless to say it was a pretty popular car with all the hot rod guys. HRP

 

I remember about 1 month before graduation when Mike E. pulled in to the parking lot at school with an OT '68 Camaro 350 4-speed, with a tunnel ram and 2 fours sticking out of the hood and L-60's on the back.

EVERYBODY'S jaw hit the pavement.

 

327/365 powered!
Parked it in the teachers parking lot.

 

Now that was a cool teacher! HRP

 

So Cal Class of 67.
Two cars I remember, Brad Morrell's 64 white Corvette with a straight axle and a wicked rumble to it. Some other guy has a 55 Buick, slammed on the ground with tuck and roll. I didn't hang around with either as I had a Chevy II with a six cylinder and a column shift. Ugly, just ugly.

 

Graduated in '52

The real deal was a '41 Ford Flathead, stock or souped.

I had a rodded 29 A Roadster.