This Question of the Day is going to be a strange one for me, because…well, except for the couple of months I actually had a 1975 Camaro in my possession, I have never owned one of my dream cars. It’s dead-nuts true. My Cutlasses, my two big Chevrolets, my Monte Carlos, the Mopars…none of them were dream machines. That’s not to say that they were bad cars…to this day I still wish I had my four-speed Diplomat or my ’87 Monte SS back in my driveway. But there is a difference between a cool car and a dream car. I liked my Regal. I dream about a round-taillight E-body ‘Cuda. I liked the Comet. I dream about a shovelnosed Camaro. See the difference?
That being said, some of you out there are lucky enough to have actually acquired your true dream car, the one that you wanted from the start. I envy you, I truly do. And that’s what today’s Question of the Day is about. Every dream car starts somewhere. For me, both the Camaro and the ‘Cuda trace back to cars that imprinted on me during childhood…the white Type LT Camaro on hurricane wheels my uncle owned and the blue ex-drag racer ‘Cuda that the next-door neighbor’s husband put back onto the street. Both of those cars had an impact on me and ever since my Camaro wound up on a flatbed headed to the crusher without my consent, I haven’t been able to make that dream come true yet. If you have, then we want to hear the story. Where did it start, how did you get the car and what does it mean to you?
Late 60’s, friends dad owned a junkyard that he started in 1950. We pulled parts after school and Saturdays. part of our pay was we could build anything 1960 or older. One Saturday a guy pulled a 65 impala SS in behind a truck. Said it was junk, wanted to sell it. I thought it was the coolest thing I had ever seen. Burgundy with black interior, 396 and 4speed. The old man bought it, stripped it and made triple his money. I have wanted one ever since. I have had Mustangs, Camero, a vett and a lot of trucks. I am now actively looking for my dream car. Big and beautiful, looks like it’s going 100mph just setting there
At age 14 after reading a PHR story on a ’67 Nova build I dreamed of one during every lawn I mowed and dollar I earned for two years. After a lifetime of being a car nut and on my way out the door to buy, Mom suddenly decided to forbid me to own a car, the kind of thing she liked to do. Dad for the only time I ever knew openly defied her and we walked out the door to bring home a 275hp/327 coupe, non-SS.
This car would do block-long burnouts but used more gas than I could afford, handled like crap and when I was hit with the (full x2, more than the cost for the car) bill for insurance by those people that was it. I doubt I put 50 miles on the thing the year I had it although I did plenty of work on it. So much for dream cars, anyhow.
I then dreamed of V8 Vegas, as time went by that worked out much better.
A lesson I still struggle with now 40 years later is to reach for what you really want, not just for what comes easy.
Late 60’s. In the car with my Dad and a 427 Cobra in blue/white with the pipes and thunder pulled up next to us. Car guy ever since. Came this > < close to buying a Superformance version about 10 years ago, but came to the conclusion I had become more of a classic Caddy ragtop kind'a car guy instead…
1963 Scout 80. Gasser style street racer built back in the late 60’s, early 70’s complete with a straight axle, 426 hemi and Pontiac diff w 5:13s. I’m an 11 yo kid when I get my first 2 car mags as a birthday present. One of them is the 1973 Hot Rod Yearbook with the a feature on the Scout calling it the Elephant Hunter… First of all it’s cool and it’s even cooler that it’s a vehicle from my area featured in a magazine.
35 years later I stop at Richard Wood Photography booth at a car show. He shot the original feature and there’s a pic of the Scout from 1973. I ask “Whatever happened to it ?”… his reply… “It’s for sale now”. 20 minutes later we find the add and contact the owner… 2 weeks later I own what is left of the “Elephant Hunter”. The body is solid but the hemi and torq-flite are gone and the diff is bent. I end up stripping out most of what made it cool in 73 and rebuilt it to current specs with a roll cage and Dana 60 / ladder bar setup. Power started with a mild 377 sbc that ran 11.60’s and did huge wheel-stands. Then a roller cam upgrade to the 377 put it in the 10’s. It now has an alcohol burning blown and injected 406 sbc. Good for 9.60’s / 140 on a soft tune… and some really high, sometimes up on one wheel – wheel-stands that tend to end poorly for my front axle.
Videos and pictures of the Scout have been featured here on BangShift. I’ll always be thankful for that
Still have those car magazines