Fastest Street Cars In Your Town, 'Back In The Day'

[69 Cuda 440]

Fastest Street Cars,

Most were usually drive by some 'Whack-A-Do'

Back in 1967, there was a crazy kid Dave P* that flat out stormed the streets of Mahopac,
New York {Putnam County} with a 1963 Dodge #330 '426 Ramcharger'.

A black 63' Dodge #330 with a 426/425 HP Cross-Ram, Hood Scoop with an Aluminum-Nose,
a true factory Aluminum-Nosed car.

And though it was clearly a '12.30 Machine', he never raced it at the Track {Dover Drag Strip}.

Back then, 12.30's was a 'Rocket' on the Street.

It wasn't all that sharp-looking, but it could fly. And he was not afraid to tear up the Streets at
all hours of the night.

'Crazy Bastard' was never afraid to race anybody, and did punch out burn-outs at every Stop Sign
or Traffic-Light.

The Cops chased him every Weekend. He was a 'Menace on the Streets'.

Looked like this.

 

[64 SRT8 Dart]

My 71 Swinger 318 from 99-2002. Not much could touch it...seriously. Glass fenders, gutted interior. Guys at the Coles County Drag Strip in Charleston, IL thought I had a built 340, lol.

 

[sireland67]

I think every town has a crazy bastard.
Early 80's there was a drag strip in town, so lots of hot cars.

The fastest car I remember was Joe Law running a blown SBC in in a 32 ford.
I watched the old Grey haired dude lay down 4.0 second pass in the 1/8 letting off before the finish line........Talked to him later that night he was only running a 2.0 gear.

He was testing the car for Bonnivile for a speed record, which he held for a while in the same car.

That car you would see all over the streets.

I remember that car also had a feature in a magazine, I think it was in hot rod, but it was crude compared to todays standards, all home built, scary fast as ****.

 

[nothingbutdarts]

One of the Dr's had 2 sons, 69 Z28 & a 69 GTX, The GTX would rip ***!!! Of course, both were like new.

 

[plumcrazy704406]

:worthles:

sorry, had toooooo.:notworth:

 

[hemi446]

I had a 383 Road Runner and my best friend had a 440 Charger that would kick my a** but our high school math teacher had a 68 Road Runner with a Hemi it had been a race car since it was new so on Friday & Saturday night it was the king of the street he would take on all comers. I never saw him loose a race no matter which brand you had and his everyday transport was a 67 GTO with a his & her shifter & he would take out half the car in town with that one. Those were some good times even if you lost you new where you stood.

 

[inkjunkie]

There was a few, buddies 65 Vette, dynoed at 800 hp...was a 66/7 Nova with a hard running 454 in it. Few blocks a way there was a 70 Fastback Mustang with a well built 428 CJ in it. Few folks had built bikes as well. Buddy Rob had one of the first generation GSXR's with a motor from Vance & Hines. 175 hp. Thing was beyond fast. A high school buddy had the same bike as Ramcharger has, but it had a big bore kit and cams in it.

 

[bad440]

san leandro 67 mustang 302 4spd crashbox 10.76 modesto 70 challenger solid lifter 440 tunnel ram 2 4781s sideways 4.88s mid tens fremont 70 cuda blown 426 hemi no time....

 

[SpikeWills69]

If this Challenger had been in my hometown back in the day, it would have been the fastest. I am embarrassed to say, I can't really remember.

Butch North had a 1950 Ford with an Chrysler Fire Power hemi that was pretty bad. He sold that and bought a 66 GTO, which was set up pretty well. My buddy had a 68 340, 4 spd cuda notch that was very quick. My best buddy's 69 SCrambler was also one of the fastest. He can still make an AMC go faster than the competition.

But... I guess no one ever settled that, unless it was while I was working for Uncle Sam.

No wait, maybe my buddy, Tiny's 70 Hemi 4spd Cuda for that time period. Plum Crazy with white vinyl roof and white interior with Shaker Hood. He and Dale my AMC buddy were tight and he helped set up the Hemi Cuda too. They were drag racing fools during that time and I missed most of it.

We lost Tiny last year... R.I.P.

There, at least we got some pics. :coffee2:

 

[dusterny]

Our bad boy drove a 63 split window vette. It never had a hood on it because it had a tunnel ram with dual fours. I would wait for school buss and Joe would stop at the corner and we would always yell for him to get on it. He would fishtail up the street much to our delight. I would hear all the stories about him never being caught by the cops and never lost to anyone in a race. He still around and is a lot heavier and a whole lot more calm and to see him today you would never think what a hell raiser he was.

 

[WRB426]

I can think of two cars. A 69 GTX (440 auto) and a 69 chevelle (396 4 SPD). I used to drool over these cars. Sorry no pictures it was 1986 and I didn't have a camera phone. LOL.

 

[95teetee]

there is a guy in town who used to have a '66 Cutlass with a 455 rocket- that was the car that was the town's 'legend'. Most people just left it alone.
-a few years ago he was racing a Nova that I believe was 7 second car (now he has a 'vette with a 605 in it).

btw, I raced another guy in town (who builds engines and races-also has the local dyno/tuning service) with my Duster (back when it had the 340 in it)- he had a first-gen Camaro with a 350 with nitrous- he beat me by about half a length up to about 90 (and, he told my brother later, "I was on the button hard!"

He said I would have beat the 455 Cutlass.

 

[fishmens67]

my brothers 440 powered 64 dart , narrowed and tubbed. hooker fenderwells and torqueflite. fast, wicked fast.

 

[RustyRatRod]

Fastest one when I went to high school was the same guy with a couple of different cars. The first one was a 71 Nova. It went 12s in street trim but with slicks it went high 11s. Even he thought it had a 350 in it. His dad was a long time mechanic at the local chebbie dealer. Anyway, it ended up after he sold the car, his dad told us all in the yard one day that it was a 307. lol Imagine that.

Then they got Jeff a 71 Camaro. Car had several incarnations. Its last was with a 427 chebbie. That was a badass car. For quickness, there was the Camaro on top, a 71 LS6 Chevelle, me with my 73 340 Rallye Charger and my best friend with his 350 in a 69 Chevelle. We had a lot of good times.

 

[69 Cuda 440]

Another from 'Back in the Day' {circa 1965}

A 'Street-Driven Gasser'

Guy's name was Johnny Gilbert.

We called him 'Wrench-Face', because he used to get into fights all the time,
and told he us he could 'take a wrench in the face' and still keep fighting back.

He always had 'oil-stained' T-Shirts and 'grimy' Pants on, and always smelled of
Gasoline.

But man, could he make that 283 Mouse Roar,,,,,,,,,

 

[Robj]

I was on our Southern California school's 1976 yearbook staff as a photographer. The teacher gave my fellow motorhead, Rocky, and I a page to do anything we wanted to do with.

We thought highlighting the school's hot rods would be a worthy subject and she actually let us do it. We went to the principal to ask if we could take photos of cars doing burnouts in front of the school. Wow, were we naive! Rocky turned on his Texas charisma and the principal who was retiring after that year said, "Do it after school and nobody will know about it." Talk about receiving the golden ticket!

So there we were after school, me with my camera and the two fastest cars at the school (Rocky and another buddy) doing these massive smoky burnouts right in front of the library! By the size of the group watching I think at least a few people did in fact know about it. The write-up was pretty corny but then again we weren't exactly known as being a pair of scholars.

If that wasn't enough, the teacher let us use a photo for the page headline of one of the guy's car in the school parking lot with "STREET RACERS HAVE HOTTER RODS" written across the back!

Ah....the 70's...

View attachment supp.jpg

 

[Inertia]

Fastest Street Cars,

Most were usually drive by some 'Whack-A-Do'

Back in 1967, there was a crazy kid Dave P* that flat out stormed the streets of Mahopac,
New York {Putnam County} with a 1963 Dodge #330 '426 Ramcharger'.

A black 63' Dodge #330 with a 426/425 HP Cross-Ram, Hood Scoop with an Aluminum-Nose,
a true factory Aluminum-Nosed car.

And though it was clearly a '12.30 Machine', he never raced it at the Track {Dover Drag Strip}.

Back then, 12.30's was a 'Rocket' on the Street.

It wasn't all that sharp-looking, but it could fly. And he was not afraid to tear up the Streets at
all hours of the night.

'Crazy Bastard' was never afraid to race anybody, and did punch out burn-outs at every Stop Sign
or Traffic-Light.

The Cops chased him every Weekend. He was a 'Menace on the Streets'.

Looked like this.

That's absolutely amazing,, my mentor had the twin of that car here on the west coast.. sounds like the drivers were twins too.. lol

I heard a rumor that a new Car was in town,, pulled up beside him in my 383/343 hp 62 Dart,, he spanked me.. he ruled ..

About 5 month's later I became his apprentice..

We ended up putting Hemis in both cars..

We both won lots of hardware,, but one of his smaller but most significant trophys, was from the "Chrysler Challenge",...

 

[highwaystar]

68 Coronet 500 with a 383 HP motor/ auto car. This thing was really fast for what it was on the street. I sat in the passenger seat of this car many of a night smoking big block Camaros. 440 GTX. 440 Coronet R/T. Cougar Eliminator. All kinds of other wannabe cars.

:burnout:

 

[Dart_Doctor]

Around here we race on dirt . (back roads ) Never lost any one can run on assfalt and a strate line . lets toss some turns and dirt in that mix see who the best car and driver are . Them Days are behind me know. Ive been out run in a drag race many times . but aint no one been able to out drive me . There is one dude I never got to have a dirt race with . The dude that learned me how to drive on dirt . mopardaddy (Chuck) .the last 2 pics are chuck and his truck .

 

[jimmer]

Awesome pics and stories !!

 

[69 Cuda 440]

Dart Doctor,,,,,,,,

Yes, you qualify for a 'Crazy Bastard'.........

 

[69B-Cuda]

in the early 80s, I had a 57 chev shorty wagon with a healthy 307 and 4-speed in it. The only race I ever lost was to a Honda 750 bike. Man, I miss that car. LOL.

 

[GaryS]

My "back in the day" really goes back in the day before the time you hotrodded cars from a catalog, and before a muscle car was as common as dirt, and before dragstrips were a place to settle a challenge. Racing in our small town took place on back roads and open highways, usually in Dad's family car.

There was a big difference between quick and fast. A 4-door '57 Bel Air with a Power Pack 283 and three on the tree was the quickest for short distances. To 60-70 mph, nothing could beat it, but for road racing, or for top speed, it was just so-so. He finally met his match when a '59 Plymouth Fury, 361 with three speed manual came to town. The Fury could stay with him to 60, and leave him in the dust after that.

Other cars that were local performance legends on the street were the high school math teacher's beautiful '57 DeSoto Fireflite hardtop, and a '57 Dodge D500 CRL hardtop. The Dodge was destroyed during a backroad race, but the driver survived. The car was less than two years old.

 

[Dart_Doctor]

Dart Doctor,,,,,,,,

Yes, you qualify for a 'Crazy Bastard'.........

Thats chucky lol But thanks ! Here let me share a few more . Last one is after a night on the dirt / mud .

 

[69 Cuda 440]

Would you let your daughter go out with any of these nice boys ?