Found an old picture of my '69 'Cuda.

[godscountry]

Love the old Cuda's .  Took my drivers test in a 62 Ford falcon little 144 straight 6,  guys in my area were dropping little V-8's in  Falcons and Chevy II's ,  Lightweight and quick.  My son was over the other night he found a 69 Roadrunner -  440 with drag pak, he's  thinking about buying it ,  suppose to run, dead battery gas that sort of stuff he said , body is straight,   will know more on Sunday needs work of course.

     If he can get that Roadrunner for a decent price he'd better grab it, those car values are climbing fast.

[zoniezonie]

I know prices are unbelievable  now,   we didn't think anything about getting rid of them especially in the gas crunch in the early 70's .  I bought a used 67 Mustang GTA Couple for $800 bucks during that time in great shape and sold it for $ 800 bucks no one wanted them.  That one I wish I had back.    My wife's and my first car was a used 70 Torino GT with 351 Clevelend  I think I paid $ 500 bucks and now I know why,  it was fast but when it rained it would leave us stranded ,  same thing happened to a buddy of mine in his Torino GT.    Every time I think of the cars we had and got rid of,  hindsight is 20/20.    The one I really cry about  and didn't buy a neighbor  down the street had a 70 Challenger in mint condition asking price was $2000 bucks ,  I popped he hood and walked away 426 Hemi ,  the Torino was killing in fuel costs, we were newly weds and  really didn't make a lot of money back then so I passed on the Challenger,  I sill regret that one.  Still have the wife but could have had the Challenger also. 

[3X8]

Nice!

My first car was a '59 DeSoto 

[Huntnmachine]

Muscle cars back in the day were awesome. 440 Dodge engine must have been a beast


Terry

[txaggie]

Oh those were the days - 1967 RS camero with 327, 4sp 4:11 gears she ran the streets of our little one horse town. Got so many tickets but had so much fun in that sucker! Wish i had it today - think we sold if for the premium price of $2,500 lol - dad said one more ticket son, and he meant it!

love it great topic!

[zoniezonie]

My son in law and daughter have a 68 Camero,  totally been re-done and highly modified,  nothing in the drive train and suspension is stock original.  beautiful car and way too fast.  One my school buddies had a 62 chevy II with a corvette 327 and 4 speed,  the tires back then were bias belted and just burned rubber thru 3 gears ,   carried a set of wrinkle wall slicks in the trunk for the drag strip,  back then it was kind of anything goes.  Another friend took an Austin Healey 3000 and had a 427 side oiler with a B&M  & 2 speed power glide  couldn't  fit the dual quad in the engine bay with out cutting the hood.  We use to race some of our lady friends  horses from telephone pole to telephone pole we learned real quick you are not going to beat a good qtr horse at that distance, but we tried. You are right those were good times. 

[Dino82520]

My first car was a 1953 Packard Clipper, Straight eight with 3 on the tree and a 4.11 rear.  I bought it from a customer on my paper route. It was a point of laughter among others in school because I didn't get a Ford flathead or a Chevy straight six, until they tried to race me.  One senior who had one of the fastest Fords around. Milled heads, dual exhaust and a dual carb manifold couldn't beat me. The best part of that old Clipper was that I could lay across the back seat without touching either side. After I got out of high school I bought a '57 Pontiac Starchief with Tri Power, but that's another story.

[224KING]

Learned to drive on a Model A engine and chasey on the farm.My Dad is an old car nut.My first car was a 55 Chevy stationwagon.3 on the tree.Inline 6.My dad traded a weekends carpenter work and $110 bucks for it in 72.I drove that car all over our place and the neighbors place at 9 years old.Would take my Great Grandmother for rides after Sunday lunch.Traded that car and $450 bucks for a 55 Chevy pickup in 76.Drove that all over the 1/4 of the county we lived in.My Dad wrecked that truck and my next one was a 58 Apache step side that had a 327 in it.Would run a 14 second quarter.Lake pipes out the side behind the front tires and curved out right in front of the rears.What a truck for a 15 yo kid.I don't know how many clutches and 3rd members I went thru in that truck.Still have that one.A mesquite tree in front of the shop stall its parked in is probably 10 inches in diameter.Oh the memories.

[Grouchy]

My very first car was a 1958 Chevy convertible with a 348 with a leaky cylnder for the power roof . That "power glide" 2 speed auto limited it in a 1/4 mile but not on top end.   

[zoniezonie]

Godscountry :  My son bought the 69 Roadrunner,  we loaded it on my car hauler on Tuesday and brought it home.    440 with  Weber carb,  727 Automatic  converted to floor shift,   body is pretty decent shape  ,  couple minor dents nothing major,    only trim missing is around the windshield,   it will be a work in progress,  it's not matching numbers originally was a 383 car.  Ivy green in color,   with a getto looking hood scoop which will go.  He's going to do a body off restoration and turn it into a resto - mod for cruising around town,  maybe a car show when it's done,  right now it's finding out and fixing all the mechanical  / electrical issues, do a little bodywork and primer the car to work out any bugs and add any new gucci  upgraded parts,   then pull the body and get it painted.  Probably a set of old school Cragar SS rims.  right now tires are junk N - 50 / 15's on the rear that barely clear the wheel wells,  fronts are too skinny,  pretty much an old school drag set-up.  definitely a drag pak or track pak rear suspension.  Dana 60 not sure gear ration yet,  will get into it more as time goes by.   

[godscountry]

Glad to hear he got it. One thing to know about the Roadrunner, there is no "body off" restoration, that's a unibody car with the frame being incorporated with the body. You can really make those 383's run great, use 10-1 compression pistons, 906 heads with 2.14 intake valves and 1.81 exhaust valves and make sure the head builder pocket ports the heads directly under the bigger valve seats. Use a hydraulic cam with around .525 lift/ 280 advertised duration, Edelbrock RPM intake manifold, 850 cfm carb, headers and a 3,000 stall convertor and that car will scream. You can do the same with a 440 as they both used 906 heads from 1968 thru 1971. The 440 has a longer stroke 3.75" compared to the 383 3.38" stroke.

[zoniezonie]

Thanks good info,   You are right,  those old 383's had a lot of grunt to them and darn fast.   I have 3 old friends only 1 still alive that had 68 & 69  Roadrunners both 383's  & 440's  they were powerful cars that would set you back in the seat when you jumped on it.  I'm guessing the unibody is something along the lines of the old Camero / Firebirds.  The good part the Roadrunner  looks pretty straight & sound.   I don't know how far he wants to go with the 440 engine ,  my guess would be he will run it for awhile  only doing minor repairs,  and see if it holds up.  If it does need any major drive train repairs he will most likely upgrade to better parts and  build the motor slightly.   He's not going to drag race we don't have anything like that around here,  it  would be more of a cruiser that can get up and go if he wants.  He's already told me  he plans on taking  engine, tranny, rear end out, interior parts out,   only after he gets it running the way he wants,  then get into the paint work. at least we know a good painter and my son is friends with the machine shop owner. 

[godscountry]

The Camaro's had half a unibody where the front frame would come off, Mopar's complete frame  is unibody, even the front, it's all one unit.

[Northern hunter]

Nice 'Cuda!  Like to have had that for my first ride. I was unfortunate with a 1972 Custom Deluxe 1/2 ton.