What's your dream custom vehicle?

[Mikej89]

He called it an R/T because he wanted the 440. We had a '68 383 4 speed and after telling people it was a 383, they'd ask if it was an R/T and he'd have to tell them, "R/T's got the 440". Sad even Dodge stopped calling them R/T's

I've always hated the non flush side markers of the '72's. Government regulations screwing up car styling. The '71's were the last years 1970's chryslers looked "clean". Dad didn't pay attention to that kind of stuff and is more of a big picture impression kind of guy.

Oh gotcha... I think '72 is the last good year for The Charger, albeit not as good as the '71's they can be made to look pretty close. I think they really screwed them up in '73 with the "luxury brougham" styling of the period and clunkier grilles/bumpers. Originally they made that sleek body to compete in Nascar after the wing cars were banned, then decided to turn it into a "gentlemen's coupe".

I was talking to a guy at a cruise-in with a '68 or '69 Charger with a 383. A lot of people don't realize the Chargers of that period didn't get the performance 383 Magnum like the Roadrunners and Super Bees. They were just the standard 383 4bbl and some even had the 2bbl.

 

[UNGN]

I was talking to a guy at a cruise-in with a '68 or '69 Charger with a 383. A lot of people don't realize the Chargers of that period didn't get the performance 383 Magnum like the Roadrunners and Super Bees. They were just the standard 383 4bbl and some even had the 2bbl.

Back in the day (late 70's early 80's), I didn't consider any of the 383's all that fast. The people that had them loved them and friends of mine had a 383 with headers and 5.12 gears than ran high 12's (amazing in 1986), but most 383's you ran across on the street including superbees and road runners were mid to high 14 second cars. Even in the late eighties/early 1990's I would not hesitate challenging a 383 magnum to a drag race in my stock '89 5.0 convert during a grudge street night. 383's were such easy marks that people were dressing up the 400 stroker motors like 383's to punk people into racing them.

Our 383-4bbl-4 speed was my mom's daily driver and we had grade school car pool in it until peer pressure made my dad trade it in on a '72 coronet station wagon.

 

[Mikej89]

Back in the day (late 70's early 80's), I didn't consider any of the 383's all that fast. The people that had them loved them and friends of mine had a 383 with headers and 5.12 gears than ran high 12's (amazing in 1986), but most 383's you ran across on the street including superbees and road runners were mid to high 14 second cars. Even in the late eighties/early 1990's I would not hesitate challenging a 383 magnum to a drag race in my stock '89 5.0 convert during a grudge street night. 383's were such easy marks that people were dressing up the 400 stroker motors like 383's to punk people into racing them.

Our 383-4bbl-4 speed was my mom's daily driver and we had grade school car pool in it until peer pressure made my dad trade it in on a '72 coronet station wagon.

Among the modified muscle car crowd back then I bet they weren't considered fast but of course a 383 isn't gonna beat the biggest dogs out there. But thinking more in terms of average stock cars or even stock performance cars, what the heck is gonna beat a 383 Magnum in 1985? In 1985 a high 16 sec car would be faster than 90% of other cars on the road.

Most people aren't gonna modify a 383 for the same reason they won't modify a 396; it's a small big block... My dad's '71 Super Bee had a pretty mean 383 though. It looked like a completely stock 383 Magnum with headers and a 600 Edelbrock (even had a factory cast iron intake manifold). First time he fills it with 91 octane it pings like crazy. So he calls the previous owner and finds out the motor was built with 12-1 compression and needs a race gas mix. Also had a 3/4 solid cam. When it was built it had a dual quad high rise intake. With the 600 Edelbrock estimated 400hp. I bet with the dual quads it had around 475hp.

 

[UNGN]

I used to have a 73' Grand Am when I was younger and always wanted to build another one and I recently saw this one with Hurst T-tops on Ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/122499523664?_trksid=p2055119.m1438.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT

I would add a Can Am hood and rear spoiler and build an aluminum headed stroker Pontiac 455 and probably put a centrifugal supercharger on it along with overdrive and still have AC.
I would build it to handle and probably get 18" Bandit wheels and big brakes

What is the difference between the Grand Am and the Lemans GTO in 1973?

It looks like they used the same body. The rear quarter windows and maybe the grille were different?

 

[UNGN]

Among the modified muscle car crowd back then I bet they weren't considered fast but of course a 383 isn't gonna beat the biggest dogs out there. But thinking more in terms of average stock cars or even stock performance cars, what the heck is gonna beat a 383 Magnum in 1985? In 1985 a high 16 sec car would be faster than 90% of other cars on the road.

In '85, old school muscle cars were cheap and pretty much every high school/college kid into cars had a muscle car as his daily driver (or on blocks in his driveway). New cars were expensive and weren't fast. $2,500 got you a solid mid 14 second late '60/early '70's muscle car.

I still had my '71 SC360, but bought a '71 'Cuda340 in '85. in '86 I replaced the '71 'Cuda a s a daily driver with a new '86 5.0 that ran high 14's stock and mid 14's with a short belt at the track. 2 months after I bought my mustang, intercooled GN's ran high 12's with a 100 shot of NOS 100% stock at our local track and that was the beginning of old school muscle car guys like me waiting for Turbo Regals to get cheap. The fact that they could later run 11's nearly stock without any NOS was a lucky bonus.

 

[565bbchevy]

What is the difference between the Grand Am and the Lemans GTO in 1973?

It looks like they used the same body. The rear quarter windows and maybe the grille were different?

The Grand Am is the only one with the rubber nose and the 73' nose and tail lights are a one year only style.

The Lemans and GTO had a different nose which I believe was fiberglass.

And the 73' GTO was very similar to the Lemans but had the vented hood.

 

[UNGN]

hmmm... I like both the Grand Am and GTO noses. The bumper is a little too big on the GTO, but it looks great above the bumper.

I just wish they weren't so big. The styling is pretty cool. If they were G-body sized I'd be all over one.

 

[Clutch]

hmmm... I like both the Grand Am and GTO noses. The bumper is a little too big on the GTO, but it looks great above the bumper.

I just wish they weren't so big. The styling is pretty cool. If they were G-body sized I'd be all over one.

Yea that's the 73-77 problem

 

[Clutch]

Yea that's the 73-77 problem

When I was young at the car lot we had something else like that it was wight with orange and yellow? Strips and a shaker hood it was called a can/am I liked it

 

[grandamman]

I've always liked the 68 Beaumont

Or a new Trans AM