I inherited my older brothers '37 Chevy when I turned 16. Every week I had the pan off filing rod caps. I learned to R&R and rebuild the tranny in 1 1/2 hours. If there was a broken part, I figured out how to fix it. When I bought my first MOPAR, I tinkered with tuning so it would go just a little bit faster. When the engine blew up, I ordered a short block from Sears for $85. I found a lightened flywheel and clutch and paid 15$ for a wrapped 8-1 Edmund high comp finned head and a water heated dual Edmund manifold with Stromberg 97's. I took the head to the school machine shop and milled the head flat, which probably made it 10-1. It was off to the local street races. That old flatty humiliated a lot of new Tri five Chevies. Those days are gone. Twenty years ago I bought a '48 Plymouth club coupe from a scrapper. Put a '53 318 in it with dual Edelbrock manifold and one barrel carbs. I had lots of fun playing with the car. I even won a few trophies. When it started spitting rings out the tail pipes, I installed a slant six and a 904. Those old flatties are just scrap metal now. Sadly technology has taken over the car sport and what could be called modern hot rodders use computers to build engines.
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