The Classic Car Club!

[spectre440]

welcome to the classic car club!

the place to discuss and post pics of your classic cars, car restoration projects, and share the love for motoring history, etc' etc'

the rules are simple, in order to "be in the club", you need to own a car that is at least 20 years old!
(this means anything pre-1988)

personally, i own a 1978 VW bug, which i restored myself (for the most part)...
pics will be posted soon...

so there we go! post! tell us about your classic cars!

 

[JC316]

Man, I never saw this club. I have a 78 Cadillac Eldorado Barritz, an 86 Buick Park Avenue and a 51 Cadillac Fleetwood.

Here are some pics of the 78 eldo.

 

[hat]

I have feet, the most classic transportation device ever invented. Can I join?

 

[jpierce55]

http://www.supermotors.net/vehicles/registry/6680

1985 big block Mustang

 

[imperialreign]

Man, I never saw this club. I have a 78 Cadillac Eldorado Barritz, an 86 Buick Park Avenue and a 51 Cadillac Fleetwood.

Here are some pics of the 78 eldo.

Friggin sweet, man! What motor she packin? 500, right?

 

[JC316]

Friggin sweet, man! What motor she packin? 500, right?

425. One of the biggest problems with the eldorado's after 76 is the addition of the 425. The 500 made 350+HP, the 425 makes 180HP.

 

[imperialreign]

425?! Damn! I had thought Cadi was still packing their bb up through 1980!

 

[JC316]

425?! Damn! I had thought Cadi was still packing their bb up through 1980!

425 is still a big mofo, but with the emmissions that came in in 1978, the HP took a huge hit. 80 is when they started the pissy Eldorado with the 4.1L in it.

 

[Morgoth]

does oldtimer motorcycle count to?? http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=44987

 

[imperialreign]

425 is still a big mofo, but with the emmissions that came in in 1978, the HP took a huge hit. 80 is when they started the pissy Eldorado with the 4.1L in it.

425 is a bb without a doubt . . . I'm just used to most of the classic cadis I see around here packing a CMD bb. Y'know . . . a CMD 500 will squeeze into an early 80s Malibu, and make it a 12s car without any other upgrades

 

[JC316]

425 is a bb without a doubt . . . I'm just used to most of the classic cadis I see around here packing a CMD bb. Y'know . . . a CMD 500 will squeeze into an early 80s Malibu, and make it a 12s car without any other upgrades

Yeah, that 500 is a badass motor, and there is SO much you can do with it.

 

[Disparia]

1968 Lincoln Continental 2dr. Going to start on her after I get my Stratus running.

Here's a pic of one: http://www.seriouswheels.com/1960-1969/1968-Lincoln-Continental-Mark-III.htm

 

[imperialreign]

Yeah, that 500 is a badass motor, and there is SO much you can do with it.

for sure! I'm more of a PMD fan, though. TBH, I'd take a 455 any day. All stroke, man!


Let's see, though, as far as vintage cars I've owned (although are no longer in my possession):

1987 Pontiac Grand Am SE - was a limited production vehicle. It was a fully loaded model, v6, 4spd, with the color keyed wheels, color keyed front grille, rear deck spoiler (very, very rare for production Grand Ams prior to 1990), sport tuned suspension, rally gauge cluster, digital odometer, LCD driver information center, etc. Car was totaled quite a few years ago It was one that I wanted to keep - just due to the rare options it had.


1981 Pontiac Firebird Formula - only had her about a month, ended up seeling it back to the guy cause I just didn't have the funds to get the vehicle street legal by VA code. Otherwise, it had an Edelbrock 455 crate motor shoved in it (literally), 4 brrl, buttered up to a Turbo 350 . . . that car could smoke a Vette like it was a Metro.


Man, I miss them both

 

[JC316]

Oh man, you wouldn't believe half the cars my parents owned. My mom was a dealer in the 80's and 90's. Just to name a few of the more exotics.

57 Chevrolet Convertible
79 Porsche 928 Grey Market direct from Germany
81 Porsche 944
71 SS 396
Jensen Intercepter
Numerous 70's corvettes
56 Cadillac
84 Thunderbird Fila edition
84 GT 350 Mustang Convertible
69 Mustang Mach 1 with an ULTRA RARE 390 in it.

The list goes on....and on... and on.

 

[JC316]

Our current project car is a 51 Cadillac Fleetwood that we are resto modding with a 4.6L DOHC Mark VIII motor. We are also using the entire suspension of the MarkVIII. Sadly it has been hampered and at a stand still for 2 years now due to 2 serious illnesses in the family (Mine and my Dads) and then house repairs.

Here are some pics of the progress so far.

 

[imperialreign]

not a bad start - at least the body looks to be in decent enough shape, too.

Yeah, we've had some great vehicles in the family here, too . . .

My grandfather on my father's side had a 72 Catalina. Pristine, show room shape. He lived in upstate NY, and during the winter, the car stayed in the garage. The exterior and interior were still the original factory blue color - 455 motor, too. 40K original miles. The clear coat hadn't even begun to bubble last time I saw it. It was supposed to be passed to me, but he never got around to adding it into his will before he died - and the immediate family auctioned it out

That is one car that I wouldn't have had the heart to modify. It would've stayed in that perfect state that it was in.

My grandfather on my mothers side had a 69 Olds Hurst 442 with the HO 455 option. Except for the Olds nose and 442 paint job, it looked similar to a Judge. Tranny was a 3 spd hydramatic, IIRC, and had the W-30 suspension option. Not really sure what happened to this muscle car icon, TBH.

 

[revin]

1970 Firebird Esprit, bought in 1978 w 106k on it and had a '76 400 from a stick car,w/TH350 We brought all 3of our newborn daughters home in it['83,'85,'88] and still have it.
Went thru the 400 once in around 82, mostly basic with a balance. Tried a couple Erson camshafts, one that turned out to be a Prototype from Sig himself. His son Jon, coustom made me a "small" cam for the 400. Tried the "Proto" for a while, but it was dead till 3k RPM.
Then after a few months I got a B&M Super Hole Shot[not like the baby ones they make nowdays] it's a 3500 stall, and was made for cars putting out over 500 ft. lbs. That was a real blast and did very nice on our 6hr drives to the inlaws. {man 55 sucked]
Somewhere around 85, picked up a '72 Esprit for the wife, it was a very nice ride too.
Also back in the early/mid '80's I got a 12 bolt Posi w/ 3.31 from a fullsize Impala 396 SS, and converted it to a leafspring. Ended up it was a 59" vs stock 55", so I evened up the track front to rear, and it was the best $200 spent, got 2 sec from it!!!!!!!!!!!

In '90 I drove a '73 Safari wagon home and yanked out the factory 455 w/127k on it did i mention it was only $100?
Ran it for about a year, then went thru and rebuilt it, I smoothed out the sidebeams, stuck some TRW .030 over flattys in after I mirror polished the tops!!, did the HO Specialtys oil hole champher mods to the crank,smoothed all the casting lines off the crank,had it all balanced, got an 80PSI oil pump with hardened intermediate shaft, drilled an oil feed hole for the dist. gear, tapped and plugged the front galley holes. Used the 6X-4 heads, and did the H-O porting to them[both intake and exhaust] took a couple drill motors and mannnny hours.

Turned out that when that "small" cam is put into a 455[468], it was a MONSTER low end killer. Had over 275 PSI at CRANKING I mean really it was a bitch, WAAAAAY too much lowend Still raced and drove it daily for 'bout 11 yrs like that!

Right now I've had it all {littlerly}apart again painting the underbody, and getting the body ready to paint. I scored a pair of doors off a '78 car and spent over 200 hrs EACH prepping them. I had a new set of skins for them, but they were in need of just as much or more work, not to mention woulda have to R&R them so I sent them back.[ Thanks AMES, you are very honest about you're discriptions, and stand by Coustomer Satisfaction!]

Any way, I've just had the block deglazed and a Zero deck put back on, and just last week put the subframe back in. Sheese, nowdays it's $90 for a set of Main bearings, what the hell happened
Any way about 8 yrs ago I sold the '72 to a co-worker, and he had me put together a Butler Alum head stroker in it. Shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiit NASTY
I really miss that car now
Oh well, I've got me a RA-4 cam for my 468, and think I might pull that 3500 out of the attic and just see what kind of fun I can stir up O yea, I only got 259k mi. on the car now.

 

[revin]

added some pics now

 

[jpierce55]

added some pics now

Nice, that is a rare car. I don't like the Camaro's in that body style, but love the Firebirds. Somebody near me has one rotting right now (70 like yours) and won't sell it, they don't even have the windows rolled up .

 

[revin]

. I don't like the Camaro's in that body style, but love the Firebirds.

Oop's, i guess you havent studied the pics of my car real close
But I understand whet youre saying, that endura nose is soooo sexy!
Let me know if you spot what i'm talking about

 

[imperialreign]

That's a defi bird nose . . . but unless I'm mistaken, isn't that a nose for a '68-'69 model?

Otherwise, it looks like a nice project to say the least - very clean tranny tunnel, too! Did you replace the whole floorpan, or did you manage to keep it in that great of shape and just had the underside painted?

on that PMD motor. I've always been a fan of their vehicles, and have been an enthusiast for their motors, too. Forget the csb cbb crowd. PMD's are all about stroke and torque. I can live with a slow-to-get-going . . . but nothing screams like a PMD at high-end

Did you paint that bb PMD blue? It looks a little FeRd blue to me though . . . maybe just poor color quality in the pic?



Are you going for a street, strip or combo project?

 

[revin]

That's a defi bird nose . . . but unless I'm mistaken, isn't that a nose for a '68-'69 model?

No it's a correct 1970 nose

Otherwise, it looks like a nice project to say the least - very clean tranny tunnel, too! Did you replace the whole floorpan, or did you manage to keep it in that great of shape and just had the underside painted?

It all orginal metal, except for 1 side QTR panel, that I had replaced in 1979or 80. It is a full GM stamping with the jambs ect, not like the 1/2 skins they sell today.
I actually can bombed the entire underside with high quality enamel


on that PMD motor. I've always been a fan of their vehicles, and have been an enthusiast for their motors, too. Forget the csb cbb crowd. PMD's are all about stroke and torque. I can live with a slow-to-get-going . . . but nothing screams like a PMD at high-end

This 468 has a crap load of low end with that small cam.

Did you paint that bb PMD blue? It looks a little FeRd blue to me though . . . maybe just poor color quality in the pic?

suckazz camera, it actually a 2 stage MetalCast anodized w/silver base and blue metalflake.



Are you going for a street, strip or combo project?

Just wanna have fun I've always drove the 30 min. to the track to race, and only 1 time needed a tow back. Had a Holley D/P on, and to start i'd floor it, crank it up, but since my safty nutral switch was unhooked, it was in drive, so whrn it hit, and zinged to about 5k, it took oout my low gear sprag, and my spyder gears. If my wife hadn't been there, she may have never believed my, but it was a fluke, and I learned from it At least it got me a killer Posi!!!!!!!!!

That stroker was a real screamer, would turn over 7.5k, but we kept shifts in the 6k range.
It had TONS of airflow thru it, and it really did come on strong thru the midrange and topend.

My 468 didnt have a lot of topend power, but it would xcellerate very fast, then kinda level off after 5k. 6k was my max for it, but do the math tire/rpm/gear= FAST.
But it had way less than 1/2 mile then it was maxed out at 6k. Dont remember which tire size I had on at the time, but a friend at work computed 154mph after allowance for auto converter. I made my friend that ended up buying my 72 that i did the stroker for, sick
No really he kinda puked at about 6k, but he wanted to go for it

O yea the teaser, it's the body line, I sharpned them all up like the later 79-81's, and kinda like the camaro.
FWIW, I had a 70 camaro just befor I got the bird, and they were even the same green metallic!!!!!!!!, but it burned up.

 

[revin]

Here's a pic of the "heater only" box, that "will not fit an AC car", that I modded to fit my AC car Actually did boyh cars like that

o yea a rear pic

 

[jpierce55]

well Revin it is not the entire body I don't like on the Camaro, just the nose. So if you have a Camaro body (judging by the rims) and a Firebird nose.

Imperialreign, that is what makes the 70-73 unique and they are rare cars.

 

[revin]

Yea, I think the bird nose and tail light layout, give's that very distinc eagle look of the Firebird ready to pounce on it's prey.

I too love these stock Pontaic Rally wheels, that's why I've never changed them to aftermarket.

The euro feel of the curves all over the car is awesome, I just wanted to get the more modern look as the late 79-81 bird bodyline has.