[solvegas]

One of the cars I fantasized of owning when I was a k1d was this second generation 1970 Chevy Camaro SS with a big block 396 cubic inch engine. It was a big styling change from the first generation 1966-1969 model. Chevrolet overall did a major styling change for all their models of the model year 1969 to 1970 with the exception of the Corvette.

Sweet looking ride!   

One really nice thing about this model year Camaro was that it didn't have the super ugly huge bumpers the company had to add in the mid 70's. 

[Shadowmuse Blown]

One of the cars I fantasized of owning when I was a k1d was this second generation 1970 Chevy Camaro SS with a big block 396 cubic inch engine. It was a big styling change from the first generation 1966-1969 model. Chevrolet overall did a major styling change for all their models of the model year 1969 to 1970 with the exception of the Corvette.

Poor Camaro.  It was left with this body for a loooong time (as was the Corvette). I remember when the new Camaro came out in 1982 it was like: they still make Camaros?  But, it was a nice redo and the COMMERCIAL was a breath of fresh air done in the super saturated colors of music vids at the time.

1982 Chevy Camaro IROC-Z

[solvegas]

When I was a young guy living in Mexico back in 1967, I went to church and on the way back, I and my big brother went to Sanborns, which is a Mexican restaurant with a store that sold American magazines  and I bought a Motor Trend magazine and it had in that issue the car of the year issue which was a 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, which along the Buick Riviera and the Cadillac ElDorado, was a radical departure of automobiles of the era because it had front wheel drive with a large 425 Cubic inch V-8 engine with 385 horsepower. They were called personal luxury cars. It was a very distinctive style and it was massive. No, not as big as the Oldsmobile 98, but huge. 

[MaxBigfoot]

When I was a young guy living in Mexico back in 1967, I went to church and on the way back, I and my big brother went to Sanborns, which is a Mexican restaurant with a store that sold American magazines  and I bought a Motor Trend magazine and it had in that issue the car of the year issue which was a 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, which along the Buick Riviera and the Cadillac ElDorado, was a radical departure of automobiles of the era because it had front wheel drive with a large 425 Cubic inch V-8 engine with 385 horsepower. They were called personal luxury cars. It was a very distinctive style and it was massive. No, not as big as the Oldsmobile 98, but huge. 

I always really liked the front end.  Very cool and sleek, and the headlight treatment was neat.   

[solvegas]

Back in 1977, I was stationed at a Navy school in San Diego and my second favorite movie of that year was Smokey and The Bandit starring Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason and I saw it at a Drive thru located on Nimitz Avenue (Long gone since) and another big star was the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am which sold like hot cakes after this movie was shown. With a 400 cubic inch engine, it only had 200 horsepower since in those days due to pollution standards, the car engines were throttled down. Car performance really declined in the 70's.  But this car, the Pontiac version of the Chevy Camaro, had that most distinctive hood art on it.

[MaxBigfoot]

Back in 1977, I was stationed at a Navy school in San Diego and my second favorite movie of that year was Smokey and The Bandit starring Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason and I saw it at a Drive thru located on Nimitz Avenue (Long gone since) and another big star was the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am which sold like hot cakes after this movie was shown. With a 400 cubic inch engine, it only had 200 horsepower since in those days due to pollution standards, the car engines were throttled down. Car performance really declined in the 70's.  But this car, the Pontiac version of the Chevy Camaro, had that most distinctive hood art on it.

My step-father had a friend who had one of those.  He claimed that with only a bit of work, he got that almost stock engine up to 380 horsepower.  He said a lot of guys did the same thing, that the stuff Pontiac did to reduce the horsepower was easily fixed.  Don't know if that's the truth, but seems likely to me.

[Shadowmuse Blown]

When I was a young guy living in Mexico back in 1967, I went to church and on the way back, I and my big brother went to Sanborns, which is a Mexican restaurant with a store that sold American magazines  and I bought a Motor Trend magazine and it had in that issue the car of the year issue which was a 1966 Oldsmobile Toronado, which along the Buick Riviera and the Cadillac ElDorado, was a radical departure of automobiles of the era because it had front wheel drive with a large 425 Cubic inch V-8 engine with 385 horsepower. They were called personal luxury cars. It was a very distinctive style and it was massive. No, not as big as the Oldsmobile 98, but huge. 

I looked to buy one of these as a teen.  I had been driving a ‘76 Honda Civic and when I got behind the wheel of the Toronado it was like sitting at the back of aircraft carrier fight deck. A little too big of a transition for me.  I was told by my mechanic that probably had been for the better as the front wheel drive used an odd series of “knuckles” to transfer the power to the steering wheels and they were apparently something difficult to fix once they broke down.

I do remember it having a great drum speedometer.  Very cool car.

[solvegas]

Back in 1977, I was stationed at a Navy school in San Diego and my second favorite movie of that year was Smokey and The Bandit starring Burt Reynolds, Jerry Reed, Sally Field and Jackie Gleason and I saw it at a Drive thru located on Nimitz Avenue (Long gone since) and another big star was the 1977 Pontiac Firebird Trans Am which sold like hot cakes after this movie was shown. With a 400 cubic inch engine, it only had 200 horsepower since in those days due to pollution standards, the car engines were throttled down. Car performance really declined in the 70's.  But this car, the Pontiac version of the Chevy Camaro, had that most distinctive hood art on it.

My step-father had a friend who had one of those.  He claimed that with only a bit of work, he got that almost stock engine up to 380 horsepower.  He said a lot of guys did the same thing, that the stuff Pontiac did to reduce the horsepower was easily fixed.  Don't know if that's the truth, but seems likely to me.

Back in those days, if you opened the hood and looked into the engine bay, it was a horrifying sight since, due to pollution controls of the time, there were multiple hoses and other garbage to reduce Nitrogen Oxide exhaust levels, Carbon Monoxide levels and particulates and the engine compression went from the average of 10 to 1 in the late sixties to 8 to 1 by the mid-seventies. When I worked at an ESSO station back in 1972, Regular gas was $0.23 a gallon and regular Octane was 90, ESSO Plus was 95 Octane and ESSO Extra was 100 Octane. In 1973 ESSO became EXXON. Cars in those days did not have the electronic controls we have now, so it was all mechanical and it really cut the performance of the cars. The way a lot of people improved the mileage and performance was by removing all that pollution crap like catalytic convertors, recirculating hoses and more. But then by the early 80's, computerized controls came along which allowed engines to get rid of carburetors and put fuel injectors on all cars which dramatically improved mileage and performance and then automatic transmissions gearing was changed a lot. My 1968 Impala had a two-speed power glide transmission. Today, my 2019 Chevy Spark has a six-speed transmission and some like the Suburban come equipped with a 10-speed transmission. So yes, it wasn't difficult to improve performance in those cars since the basic engine was still there, just remove the pollution crap and away you go. 

[Shadowmuse Blown]

Can never get tired of a Jaguar XKE.  Here a 1963 model

[solvegas]

This is the 70th year of an American Classic, The Chevrolet Corvette. Named after a naval vessel which was fast, maneuverable and a submarine killer. It originally had an in-line six-cylinder engine, it was General Motor's answer to the popular British sports car being imported into the USA at the time and now the latest iteration of the model competes against Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other European exotica.   

[MaxBigfoot]

Can never get tired of a Jaguar XKE.  Here a 1963 model

Still one of the sweetest shapes ever created in metal!   

[solvegas]

1966 Ford GT40, the car that beat Ferrari in Le Mans 24 hour race sold at auction for $12 Million. It was the main star of the movie "Ford vs Ferrari". 

[Shadowmuse Blown]

This is the 70th year of an American Classic, The Chevrolet Corvette. Named after a naval vessel which was fast, maneuverable and a submarine killer. It originally had an in-line six-cylinder engine, it was General Motor's answer to the popular British sports car being imported into the USA at the time and now the latest iteration of the model competes against Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other European exotica.   

Buick Wildcat II concept.  Basically, a Buick version of the Corvette

[MaxBigfoot]

This is the 70th year of an American Classic, The Chevrolet Corvette. Named after a naval vessel which was fast, maneuverable and a submarine killer. It originally had an in-line six-cylinder engine, it was General Motor's answer to the popular British sports car being imported into the USA at the time and now the latest iteration of the model competes against Ferraris, Lamborghinis and other European exotica.   

Buick Wildcat II concept.  Basically, a Buick version of the Corvette

Yeah, that entire front end doesn't work for me.  I can see why it didn't come out.

[solvegas]

A 1963 Chrysler Turbine car. The body was made by Carrozzeria Guia in Turin, Italy and it was shipped back to Detroit where it was mated with a A-831 Chrysler turbine. Years later, Chrysler Defense mated a turbine to an Army Tank and their prototype became the M-1 Abrahms tank first shipped in 1980 and still in production by General Dynamics Land Systems. The car could run on gasoline, kerosene, vegetable oil, diesel, jet fuel, whisky, etc. As long as the liquid can burn, it can use it.