Burnouts. They’re not proof your junk is fast, or that your junk is any good at all, but they rule. They rule in a straight line, in circles, backward, forward, and sideways. They’re childish, they smell, they annoy every non-car person that has ever lived, and they are the delight of every gearhead that has ever walked the face of the Earth. Car show operators hate them because they can lead to an escalation of stuff that normally ends badly. Drag racers need to do them as a part of their “job”. Stock car guys, open wheel guys, and virtually any other type of racer usually leave their pit stall with the tires ablaze to get them nice and sticky.
So now that we’ve established our stance on burnouts, we want to know what the best tire melting machine you have ever owned is. It probably wasn’t the fastest thing you’ve had, but it may have some of the best memories of your automotive life attached to it. Let’s face it, there’s nothing like laying the pedal down and morphing rubber into clouds of smoke. EPA…suck it.
BangShift Question Of The Day: What’s The Best Burnout Machine You Have Ever Owned?
In late ’74 I bought a basket case ’65 Corvair Corsa with the 180HP Turbocharged engine. The guy owned a British motorcycle shop (and built sidehack racers) and had lightened the valves (sodium filled exhaust valves) on his lathe but never put the heads back together and his wife finally said the Corvair on the front lawn (weeds) or the garage full of bike goes, so I got the car for $500-, towed it home, found a different cam that would give it more low and mid range torque (265 ft-lb @ 3200RPM stock), installed 4 spider gears into the posi-traction rear end (with a new clutch pack), and then I had a burnout machine.
Of course, I hardly ever did a burnout in it because I couldn’t afford to break anything, but when I did, it was amazing.
Like the late night we all got off work at KMART (hey, I was 17), when I waited until my two car buddies were walking out the front door and did a screaming turbo smokey burner all through first gear, second gear, and about 15 feet of third gear before it hooked up (cold tires), three separate dual tire scorch marks in the parking lot in front of the main entrance which stayed there for months.
My motorhead buddies stood there slack jawed never realizing that a Corvair could do such a thing, and within weeks one of them sold his beloved ’56 Chevy and got a ’66 Corvair Corsa 140HP (4x1bbl carbs!), and the other sold his car and got a ’65 Corvair Monza w/ the optional 140HP engine.
Later, they got me to take it out on cruze night on Van Nuys Blvd, and I surprised a few big muscle cars, but that’s another story.
a 1971 Olds 98 I had in 2000ish, 455 backed by a turbo 400 had minor mods to engine and exhaust, it would keep up with the late model hot rods of the day, limited slip rear end in it for towing, yea it had a class 3 hitch and was used for all kinds of towing duty and did burn outs that would never end, I of my favorite cars i ever owned, i actually miss it now
My 1972 Chrysler New Yorker Brougham was equipped with a 440 for plenty of low end grunt. But when I wanted to really send some smoke into the air, all I had to do was push the button and 125 extra horses came out of that big blue bottle I had stashed between the front seats. It would stripe the pavement for over 600′. Gawd, I miss that car.
Believe it or not a 77 F150 with a motified 351 and I had a lift amd 38 super swamper tires. The teruck wasnt anything nice to look at but was all engine
1965 Ford Galaxie 500 2 door hard top.
427 stroked out to 454 cubes, C6, and 3.89 gears.
On 255-70-15s it was a matter of matting the throttle and deciding how much tire damage you wanted to perform… and then lifting off of the throttle before catastrophic failure.
Of all the cars I have owned, and there have been MANY, that is the one I miss the most.
`72 Plymouth Scamp with a dealer installed 440 6-pack, bars, harnesses – all for my elderly great Aunt Hortence. Uncle Homey was a hardcore army brass type and knew the local dealer. wanted a safe car for her that could really pass on the highway… thus, when she passed, i got the car. and had to start a tire-budget right away! rear gear was steep, so anything more than 1/2 throttle in 1st or 2nd gear on the 3 speed auto trans broke the tires loose and kept them spinning till i decided otherwise. total smoke machine. i received that car with 22K on it… foolishly sold it when i was 19.
my dad in law had a scamp too that car could melt the tires off every time 🙂
A 67 Galaxie 500 XL convertable with a 390 .60 over with a 2500 stall converter. 366 hp 400+lbs torque
My 1978 chevy c10 with the monstrous 305 in it. It might be a one wheel wonder and slower than molasses but it really pisses the neighbors off and leaves one hell of a cloud of smoke!
My dads 98 ram 2500 with the optional v10 man that monster would eat tires all day
Came back from Thailand in ’69, bought a used ’68 HEMI Road Runner, 4 speed, 3:54’s. No need to say anything more!
1976 camaro RS. a worked 350 with camel humps, performer intake and a decent cam. super T10 and posi rear with 4:10s and old school girder style LADDER bars and sub frame connectors. i could dump the clutch at 5g and go through all 4 gears and not start moving forward until i let up quite a bit on the gas…..o often left flaming piles of rubber sitting on the ground where i started. LOVED that car.
WOW! Some detailed stories here, so here’s mine…
Once upon a time, I bought a ’74 vega panel wagon for $100. It had the 4 cyl., 4 spd. and a little 4.10 posi in it. I swapped out the 4 cyl. for a mild 350 w/ 350 turbo.
That little panel was a hoot with the 4.10’s in it, but alas, the rear was not long for this world behind the small block, and I blew the side gears out of it one day showing off at my buddies shop. The only rear I had to replace it with was a 3.08 geared pegleg out of a v-6 buick skyhawk. I could get that rear tire smokin’, and peddle it as long as I wanted, or until it popped the tire.
I sure miss that little panel. Got caught in a snow storm and put it on the roof. V-8 Vegas and snow do not go together!
70 Monte Carlo with a 406 and 4:10 gears. Smoke for days!
1970 Cadillac Coupe Deville. 472 with the open rear and all that weight that car would melt the right rear tire at will even at some speed.
Alas I couldn’t afford to fuel the old girl at the tender age of 16 and in 1981 that $1 a gallon was pretty pricey so I traded it for a 1970 Dodge Challenger with a 318 auto but that car was a full posi so it was a pretty cool burnout machine in it’s own right
My 1968 442 which I still own. It is a 4-speed car with a 4:33 rear gear. It is a torque monster.
1968 Ford Torino GT. Wonder where she is today?
69 cyclone 428cj 4speed ram air car, factory 2.:9 gears posi ,black bench seat interior, moss green faded, was my winter beater in 1980. drop the clutch at 3000 and 1st 2 ,3, as long you like if you didn,t run out of road. she was one ugly rusty lump but it love to kill tires and eat new 80s t/a s camero,s and disco corvette,s . was a fun ride for a winter till the rear springs let go! rust worm. i always wonder how rare that car was with its odd options.
1978 half ton with a 69 454 olds rocket engine with no modifications. It roast the tires to the moon and back. It was fun old truck to play around in.
1971 vista cruiser wagon with a 455 it was the craziest car. the thing was geared so tall that I could get 21mpg on the highway but around town I couldn’tget around the block for less then $10.00. but when I wanted to do a burnout look out those old radial ta’s would be up in smoke,the wheel speed it would get was just stupid side step the brake and it would roast them 400 ft plus it looked like a top fueler, needless to say in the summer I had a very high tire bill.
Lame as it sounds, I had an 82-ish first-gen RX7 with little tires and a posi rearend that would sing at the top of the tach and slide around like it was on ice. I blew it up.
My ’83 GMC K15 will break her pegleg loose at about 1200 RPM even running on 7 cylinders and keep it going. My buddy had a Dakota R/T That would do a beautiful one! It will put on a great smoke show get everybody exited and then run a mid 16.. my ’02 Camaro SS does a nice one too.. My granddad had a ’78ish Pontiac Phonex that would roast em for blocks, loved that car.
In 1977 I was in Bunnell HighSchool in Stratford Ct & driving a 1962 Chevy Impala Rag Top (that I still own) and Lee Conroy poured a gal of used engine oil all over the right rear tire and I smoked the entire school & tennis courts—was dripping oil all the way home from the right rear..aprox 1.5 miles
In the late 70’s had a ’57 Ranchero with a 428 FE, 850 Holley, Sanderson Long tube Headers, a manual shift Torqueflite, a 4.10 9″ with a Detroit Locker located with 30″ traction bars on 750×15 Goodyear Blue Dot tires. The trans was out of a funny car so it had no park, a reverse pattern and it had no front pump in trans (the car would not coast against the trans in first gear). To get the tires on the rear I had to cut the tubs a bit, which opened a hole to the inner fender. In the Ranchero the only thing sealing the inner fender from the cabin is cardboard, which warped over time, opening up the gap to the inner fender. You can imagine the burnouts the thing would do, but what was really dramatic was that the cab would fill with smoke as well. The wind would blow the outside smoke away, but the smoke in the cab remained until you rolled the windows down. It was a site to behold and freaked out unwary passengers as the cab went total white out as soon as the tires lit.
70 El camino327 and a glide. Best stock tire smoker was a 79 Monza spyder.
I have never had a more fun burnout machine,than my Chevelle..it will spin both tires from 30mph on dry asphalt..and 30 feet long marks..if i stand still,and just stomp the pedal..(and hold it on the brakes for a second)..there have been made 800 feet long twin black marks that way..:).
Mom’s ’70 1/2 Firebird Formula 400 w/Hurst 4 spd
1980 t/a 301 turbo with a master cyl that would slowly bleed off the rear brake pressure.
it was like factory line lock.. I should’ve replaced the master, but it made the car super fun, and working at firestone,kept me in replacement shoes from the customers used tires that needed to be burnt to the cords before being turned into exhaust hangers
1970 Plymouth Roadrunner, 440 6 pac, 4 spd. It was the only 4 speed car I could power brake.
My old ’69 Firebird. The 2.73 gears got the wheel speed going nice and easy in 1st gear. It had no power, but once the wheels got rolling on a power brake it’d smoke them good.
I had a convertible 5.0 w/ a auto and 2.73 gears it was a dog only ran 15.0s but it was supper easy to power brake. Enough smoke to cover up a 3500 sqft house was normal. I also did lots of doughnuts in that car. Its been way to long since I have I have done either, to worried about tire life and police these days.
Oh the Capri had an open 2.47 if you touched the gas the tire was spinning. Other than a few test drives I normally wanted it spin less (at the track)
My first car, 71 Cutlass with a Rocket 350. I would leave it in drive and punch it, smoke soon followed. That thing would shift into second with wheel speed about 70mph, car was moving 20mph. The wheel speed would slow enough that it would kick back down to first. 100 footers all day long. Yeah it was a one legger? My neighbors really hated me, WHO CARES!!!
1987 Buick Regal T Type. A turbo sure is good for lots of tire smoke. It would smoke through first and quite a ways through second. You could get the tires to break loose on the third gear upshift after I installed a transmission kit.
No doubt… my lightweight ’69 Nova with a 375hp 396 (Who was Chevy trying to fool with that rating?) After a night (Nearly every night) of whatever we’d be doing, I’d say bye to those left standing who would insist that I lay one down. The next night they’d tell me how many inches between 3rd and 4th, usually around 4″.
I quickly determined that the dragstrip not the street was where the car belonged. The smoke didn’t stop then, either. It always amazed me that the NHRA insisted stock class cars, even those of us running A/S & B/S, had to run 7″ wide tires. “Dedicated to Safety”? Ask the guys running 125mph on those 7″ wide M&H tires with 4 pounds of air how safe we felt.
My 1st car was a 1962 Chevy Belair that had a 283 with 3 speed on the column. My Dad bought it for me from an aunt that wanted to buy her a new car and I begged Dad for a 67′ GTO but he gave me this car instead . First time out with it I told a buddy of mine lets see what she will do so I dumped the clutch and it did not feel like it was moving and I thought that I had blew it up or something then my friend says look at all the smoke and it was lighting the tire up . It would not do but about 90 in a quarter mile drag but would burn the tires off for a good fifty to sixty feet before it would finally catch and take off ……
’66 Chevy II – basically stock ’69 350c.i.(headers,small cam, dual-feed Holley, etc), and from a friends ’67 Chevy II drag car, a beefed-up, reverse valve body TH350 & 12 bolt with a 4:56 Moroso Brute Strength posi…..it would smoke tires as long as you would want to or until the motor would ‘lay’ over…FUN, FUN, FUN!!!
My Triumph Rocket 3 is the best burnout machine I’ve ever had. Bar none.
1974 Nova built for abuse only. Took a 76 suburban 454 stock long block, added .500 lift cam, headers, edelbrock aluminum intake, th400 B&M shift kit 2000 stall, posi 3.42. 1st, 2nd and part of 3rd all smoke, and finally grabs at about 50 mph. Very difficult to keep in straight line with 275/50-15 radial T/As. The shift kit gives the snap of a manual trans that will yank the car sideways with each upshift at about 5000 rpm. Big block torque is the King of fun, and it loves to drink $4 a gallon gas at about 7 mpg.
1966 Rivera, 425 Wildcat, Switch Pitch tranny (with a manual toggle switch added) would light up a pair of L60-15 on 8.5″ slot rims EVERYTIME!!!
The best burnout car I owned was a 1963 Buick Riviea, that bad boy came with a long 472 wildcat… That thing would still be boilin the tires…but I ran out of gas…..lol