Car Porn

Personally ... The 1966 442 has to be one of my very favorite muscle car designs.

Not the fastest beast out there ... but nice engine & exhaust sounds and rather quick with classy looks.

My neighbor, Major Turley, had the big RED OLDS STARFIRE (with bucket seats and automatic in the floor console) ... all the kids in the neighborhood thought it was the coolest car in town ... and I got to wash it ...


The neighbor who owned that car was "Major Turley" and we alway called him that too.

I cut his grass and he always tipped me for cutting his grass on a steep & wet hill.

Later, he gave me my first real job, where I actually had to pay taxes ... my job was counting cars for the "State DOT".

Mayor Turley was a cool guy and he had a super-scratchy-whispering voice.

He was shot in the throat with a bullet fragment when flying planes from US (really Canada) over to the UK at the start on WW2 (before the US was in WW2).

He would tell me stories of his life when we were drinking iced tea when I finished cutting his lawn ....

One story he told me === Later in life, after WW2, the doctor told him he had cancer of the throat and didn't have long to live.
So we went to Las Vegas and partied big time (wine, women & song) and spent all of his savings.
Later, after spending all of his money, he found out the doctor was wrong and he later lived to a ripe old age.

I learned a lot from him ... have great memories of those times and I kept in touch with him and his wife for many years when he retired from State DOT and bought a small 1960's looking Motel in Somerset, KY. ... IIRC.

 

always had a thing for these...

 

So did I, until I had the chance to buy one, and discovered that my 6'5 frame didn't fit in it worth a damn!

 

Great story, I also had a friend with an identical red, yes red just like the photo ‘66 442 auto hurst dual gate shifter. He lived just a mile from me when I had my ‘69 Ram Air IV GTO. I could never get him to race me but I loved his 442. Great lines and like you said an impressive exhaust note. Very similar sounding to a GTO.

 

My ex boss bought a white one when they first came out. He then bought another white one with a turbo a couple of years later. A year later he wised up and bought an older Porsche 911 Turbo.

 

I'll take the '65 442 and '65 in all GM muscle cars... except granting the 66/7 GTO was pretty. The rest were just bigger, heavier, and slower. Why is it that just about every muscle car evolved into a bigger car?

The '65 was the best year of 442 body styles by far.

 

The bodies got bigger but the HP got bigger as well. A ‘69 & ‘70 442 was by far faster with the 455 motor than the ‘65-67 442. Same with the GTO’s. I raced every style GTO with my ‘69 Ram Air IV GTO and beat every one of them. From a ‘66 Tri Power 389 to a ‘70 455 Judge. I love the first gen styling in all four GM offerings as well as the 2nd gen styling in all four. All four lost it after 1970.

 

Yup... the later cars were faster in a straight line. The older, shorter, lighter bodies were better in corners and for drifting. And you can always make a prettier car faster... but it's hard to make an ugly, fast car prettier. Of course it's all personal preference anyways. But I'll take any of the 1965 GM muscle cars over the later body styles, and if speed is your criteria I can make them fast.

 

Looks are totally subjective.

 

Like I said...

 

This is a real Cosworth Vega as you can tell by the placard on the dashboard. Slightly modified for track duty. Hopped up four cylinder gone and in place four more cylinders. I didn’t have time to talk much to him for specifics as my buddy was making his way to the starting line for a pass. Beautiful build though.

 

Started to write about the 1965 models and yes they were some of the best looking muscle cars in my opinion also. I had a 65 GTO and I loved it but that 1966 442 just does something to me.
Of all the Chevelles , the 1965 what’s my favorite, followed by the 1970 455.

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...^^^... Overall I think 1965 was the best year too .... really liked the 1965 Boxy Chevelle look.

 

The Chevelle was a 454 not 455. Just saying

 

Opps I knew better

 

I knew you did.

 

One bad ass Willys. It’s been local to me going back to the 1980’s as I recall. It’s got a swapped in 440. I moved out of this area in 1987 and returned in 2012. I was stunned that it was still around.