When I was 16, I bought my first car, a 1939 Buick coupe with a Straight Eight. I was an ardent reader of all the popular hot rod magazines of the time, and when the original in-liner shortly expired, I thought the logical replacement should be a newer Buick 322 Nailhead. I am not sure what failed first; my talent in the motor swap, or my interest in the project. However my hot rod dreams were abandoned when a friend expressed interest in selling his current ride for something newer.
This lead to me buying his 1959 Pontiac Catalina wide-track 2-door sedan. Up here in Ontario, this was a very unusual vehicle, in that our Canadian Pontiacs were basically Catalina bodies plopped down on narrow-track Chevrolet chassis. What made this car even more unusual was the Tripower 345 hp 389 hooked to a column-shifted 3-speed stick. This was in 1965, just as the first wave of factory muscle cars was approaching. This big old girl was powerful in its day, and was a force to be reckoned with, locally. Unfortunately, as parts wore out or were simply abused under my care, substitutes were increasing hard to find and expensive for this unique American car, and my interest in it began to wane. It was sold to an acquaintance, but in hindsight, I should have hung on to it, because of its now rarity. In 1965, people were only collecting Model A's and Packards, not clapped out old passenger cars.
My interest was now caught by a used 1962 Dodge Dart 2-door sedan, my first of a string of B-bodies. This car was an ex-police cruiser and sported 15" rims and H. D. suspension and 11" brakes. The tired 313 and 3-speed manual were soon replaced by a 383, 4-Bbl. hooked to a 4-speed. This power train came out of an almost new wreck. I terrorized my area with this home made muscle car before selling it to a friend to purchase a new 1969 SuperBee.
The 'Bee had just been backed off the transporter when I spotted it at our local Dodge store. I immediately turned my '62 Dart around to go in and drool on this car. After about 3 hours of negotiations, I owned it. This was on a late Friday afternoon, and since the 'Bee had not yet been PDI'd, I could not take delivery of it until Monday night after work. I never even took it for a test drive. It was a Sunfire Yellow coupe with black bench seat interior and Bumblebee stripe. It was powered by the standard 383 Magnum and column-shifted TorqueFlight. The rear end held 3.91 gears on a Suregrip diff. It was also equipped with power disc brakes and Hemi suspension. The car had the RamAir hood and the decorative rear quarter scoops. I would later score a fibreglass Six Pack hood for it. Increasing insurance costs and getting married soon sent this car to a new owner. Another one I should have kept!
My first "family" car I bought after marriage was a used 1970 Buick Wildcat hardtop with a 370 hp. 455. This was a powerful, comfortable car and was one of the best cars I ever owned. That big engine kept the car from feeling clumsy. I don't know what the top end on that thing was, as it was still accelerating after the 120 mph. speedo needle was buried! I could blow off a buddy's new 350 Corvette both in acceleration and top end with it. We kept it for 8 years, pretty well the span of my previous 3 cars.
I took a break from fast cars for a few years after buying a house and raising two children. My B-body fever returned with the purchase of a 1964 Polara hardtop, a 1964 Polara 500 convertible, a 1967 Coronet wagon, and finally, my 1967 Coronet R/T. Of course, they all ended up with RB's in them. I even had a modern muscle car, a 2005 Hemi Magnum R/T wagon.
I consider myself lucky to have grown up in the classic muscle car era, with a valid driver's license. It was a time of unbelievable cars and colours from all manufacturers. I always felt that the Mopar engineers had a little more gasoline in their veins than those of the other companies. I suspect I must have always had some gasoline in my veins as well.
