Art & Inspiration FAST!

I wonder how many guys could add to this post if they had not died early.

 

In the book King Richard the First, Richard Petty tells a story about a moonshiner who died when his driveshaft popped out at 120...in his 40 Ford!!
Mine let go last week at 65 and damn near scared me to dearth

 

In a torque tube?

 

I built the worlds fastest ironing board when I was about 11
6 inch mower wheels in front and 12 inch spokes in back
down hill racing at its best
I bet it hit a million miles per hour
when I think about it now, it travels faster than the speed of light as it transports me back in time

 

About 130 closing the gap on rod ahead,28A bobtail roadster is as aero as a brick, LOL ! Yes NASCAR actully let us out on the track at Homestead Fla. We were told not to pass the pacecar*,we just droped way back tell there was a lot of space to close up on,an floored it. Jeff got the pic as we passed him. All the hot rods started at the rear.

 

Yes because any old car still runs the torque tube

 

i like quick better than fast. give me the feel of being planted in the seat, the response of solid lifters in a short stroke motor with low gears, and the sound the motor makes when the rpms gets into the cam's "zone".
the little de-stroked 327 in my car comes alive at 2800 rpm at 5000 it's still pulling.....rev limiter stops the fun at 6800.

 

Yes, I have watched it on cable TV, ALL motorcycle racers are the bravest of the brave, NO Pucker factor. I witnessed big track dirt track racing on 1/2 and 1 mile tracks, WOW ! When young like most hobby/amateur racers, thought/hoped I would make to the big time, did not happen for me, not even close, now just another Old Fart, Legend in my own mind, memories priceless. LOL, but I gave it my best effort, when young I would have hopped in any type of race car given the opportunity except for motorcycle racing, after watching, figured my balls do not measure up for that venue, I do have the pucker gene. LOL

 

Was a little braver back in the 70's. Got my Triumph Bonneville up to 115 once. Was driving my 427 Vette on a 2 lane highway in New Mexico after midnight one time. Was pushing 135 when my wife woke up and glanced at the speedometer. The scream scared the hell out of me.

These days, 80 is about the max on a public road.

 

This is true. I was there prolly 5 or 6 times & the really scary thing now that I think about it was it was on bias ply tires. I would watch the fuel gage go down bout a 1/8 + each time. He would be too busy driving to look at anything but the road.

 

One guy I hung out with... totally crazy. He had a whale of an Olds convertible and he only drove it floored. It started out as a nice car, but the tired engine had the guts pulled out of it pretty soon. Any time we were out, it was a 110 mph ride.

He found out a great way to clean the beer cans and fast food wrappers out of the back seat. Put the top down, get it up to 105... and everything on the floor or seat was whisked away. At 95 the bags and cans would start to levitate... dance around on the seat.. hit 105 and WHOOSH... a clean car. I didn't put him up to see what it took to get rid of the bottles. Eventually I refused to get in any car he was driving... which spilled over to fast boats he owned.

 

I'm with Carl.
1. The 340 Six Pak was only available in the Challenger in 1970.
2. Your edited post reducing the speedo peg from 160 (see Carl's post #28) to 150 (your edited post above) implies that maybe you are re-thinking the actual performance of the car.

 

Saturday morning the summer 1985. I just got my ’65 Vette on the road. My best friend and I took a ride to Calhoune Speed Shop in Alexandria. The travel took us onto Interstate 495. On the drive back, running down I- 495, a 70’s Vette pulled up and goated us to race. My foot couldn’t control itself. Pushed the long pedal to the floor and passed the 70’s Vette at 135 MPH… Look in my side view mirror and here comes a ’85 vette blows by me.

My guess, the ’85 Vette was pushing 150.

 

OT car... Bought my wife an SHO Taurus back in the 90s. My best friend worked as the driveability tech at the dealership where we bought it, and the first night we had it he suggested to me that it was no problem getting it to 150, as he had it there earlier that day. I was more than a bit torqued at him for driving my new car like that, but he was right... it was no problem getting that car to a buck fifty. The crazy thing would be pulling strong into 90 shifting into third, with two gears to go. It was the fastest I have ever been in a production car.

Motorcycles... well I just did all kinds of stupid stuff on those in my youth. Fast was no issue.

Old cars... Never really had any that were really fast, but always checked just to be sure.

 

130 on two wheels, 160 on four (roadster).
r

 

Ok I went back & checked my facts. That's why the edit. It was a 150 mph speedo & off the top of my head I thought a 1971. I am not a Dodge factoid person. It has been 45 years. But it would peg the speedo & you could watch the gas gage go down. Pretty exciting for a 17 year old. I have to eat crow on this one.

 

My little coupe has 347 ford with a tko 5 speed it will run a 100 in third gear 2 more to go the gears are to tall now I am swapping a 373 in the rear where I can use 5th gear but a 100 in a car with a 8'' high windshield is fast I have a ZL1 and 100 is just cruising speed I have been past a buck fifty in it ! not the same sensation of speed

 

I used to be a lot braver than I am today. I've had three vehicles at or near 130 mph. A 55 Ford fordor, a 41 Ford commercial series truck (both of these 289 powered) and the 63 in my avatar. I really don't like the idea of a tire problem at speed so I try and keep things under control. I will admit though I do sometimes cruise for a mile or two at around 100 mph. I've always liked the rush a bit of speed will give you.

 

140 on my old hopped up Harley, back in '74 , 150 in my '68 vette in 1969, 118 ( trooper radar) in my stock '51 Merc about 1997, she was a hand full with bias tires. only been up to about 95 once in my Avatar Coupe with bias ply tires. 90-95 seems fast in it these days . chopped and channeled makes 90-95 seem a lot faster than it is, especially with the bias tires.

 

I've got a certificate from Richard Petty hanging on the wall that says I did 135 in his car at Las Vegas Speedway. You pay more money and you can go faster. Dooley's story reminded me about my buddy that let me ride his Turbo Seca 750 Yamaha and it didn't take too long to get up close to what King Richards car did, when I realized "You dummy, you have a helmet on, but a T shirt and jeans". On the same stretch of freeway hit 115 on my Yamaha touring bike with the wife on the back. (full leathers) Just a short burst, not running from the cops or anything. Speaking of cops, left late one Friday night headed to Spokane for NSRA years ago in my '48 F1, primered, 350, 400 with O/D. 3.80 rear. Hwy 395 had new pavement the wife was nappin' (how she could that in that noisy old truck ?). I was just cruisin' (that old truck really hunkered down at about 80 and was smooth) when the radar detector went off, it was too late the cop was headed south and crossed over to pull me over. Said he clocked me at 97mph! Pay the $75 ticket to Ritzville court. I thought is that all? Back home I might be going to jail. I wised off :" Hey, I'm sure I can top 100 can I have another try". As I have found out before, Washington cops have no sense of humor.

 

Super Troopers!

 

'Got it up to 150 on the certified speedometer and'
Once 'stock' spedos go past 100 they become not accurate, it takes as above a certified speedometer for real speed.
And I have done 160 timed in a mile, in the right place with full safety equipment and no other vehicles next to me or coming at me.
Speed is a rush, but do it safe

 

Took my brand new 427 Galaxie across Nevada and pegged the speedo plus more. Don't know how fast it was going but I'm glad these 6.70 - 15 bias ply tires held together.

 

120 New Harley
105 Shovelhead Harley
140 +non stock Kawasaki
120+ 1955 Ford with a 430 MEL engine
120 OT with @ 289HiPo.
92 in The mini-van with a 350 Chevy( see pic)
All by speedometer
Bones

 

Actually this guy was nicer than the Trooper in Longveiw that wrote me up for no fenders on my '29 Roadster while traveling north on I5. I was pissed because Washington law is more lenient than ours and it was a beautiful day 4th of July weekend.

 

It's not the speed part that scares me, it's the risk of getting caught. Excessive speeding in Vancouver
lands your car in the pokey for 30 days at around $50 a day, plus a huge speeding fine. It's just worth the risk for me these days.
Iv'e been 116-117 in my 57 Ford, but that's only in a quarter mile.

 

How do you remove the driveshaft (torque tube) from a 40 Ford Deluxe?

 

140. L88 427. Around 1985.

 

I can relate. In high school I had a friend with a 58 Ford Convertible. He pulled the tired 292 and Fordomatic out and dropped in a 385 hp 406 with 4-speed. One Friday evening we had dates in the next town over, 52 miles away on rural 2 lane primary. He decided this was the night to show me what his car would do. I checked my watch as we left town with the top down. We pulled into our destination 29 minutes later. The ride was terrifying. The car still had the Fordomatic rear end and would peg the speedometer a tick past 120 effortlessly. We rocketed past the few cars we encountered without slowing the pace. We passed one car that decided to pass a tractor just as we made our pass. We made it around with two wheels on the pavement and two in the grass. My friend was so confident in his driving ability he took one hand off the wheel to flip off the other driver. When we arrived, the floorboards were clean of all trash, dirt and small gravel and I had to piss really bad.

 

Never have been a big “speed” guy more like a couple other guys have said, love a good hard launch and acceleration up to speed. Had a sport bike growing up and have gone fast but just has never been my driving force. I’m happy to cruise and listen to the motor and know everything is working well and I’ve built a good car.


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