American Muscle Cars

My wife is going to hate you when there's a triple black Porsche sitting in our driveway when she gets home from her conference.

 

One of those sold for $150,700 at the auction I attended last summer.

 

My folks knew a couple in South Georgia who owned a pair, his and hers.

I remember one being stolen in Atlanta. Guy drove it south on I-75, ducked the cops and state patrol in two states. They found it in a parking deck in Tampa a couple of days later.

 

Few remember the AMC Marlin.








I blame Mitt Romney's dad.

Introduction to the 1965-1967 AMC Marlin

 

Another fastback, the '68 Torino GT - especially the 428 Cobra Jet - was more memorable.

 

First car I ever owned. Belvedere with the Commando 383 V-8. Pushbutton automatic.



The 413 Max Wedge Fury version was a monster.

 

My '72 Charger had that 383. I could see the gas gauge go down when I opened it up on the blacktop roads outside my home.

 

When I was in 16 or 17, I knew a guy whose father owned a service station. He drove a hopped up '56 Chevy, electric blue metalflake, 3 speed Hurst, Cragar mags, the whole deal. He'd put a lot of work into it. Then he decided to sell it, wanted $1,500 for it. I wanted that car soooo bad. I got my father to go look at it with me. So he looks at it, and then starts it up, listens to the engine. He looks at my friend, "Got a cam in it?". They discussed a few arcane points that I didn't know enough to follow very well, he thanked the kid, and we headed out.

"So what do you think? It's a helluva nice car."

"Yeah, sure is. No way in hell I'm buying you that car, you'll kill yourself in a month in that thing. Even if you don't, I can't afford the tires you'll burn off of it, and you damn sure can't".

 

Lucky enough to spend a lot of time in Europe the last ten years, where I grew to appreciate the subtlety of German muscle cars. Most especially the hotrod station wagons like this one.

Mercedes / AMG 600-horspower twin turbo V-8. BMW and Audi both make a version of the same thing. Zoom.



I always get a kick out of seeing these with a mom and a dad in front and a couple kids in back with the groceries going 200 kph on the Autobahn.

 

There we go, Azrael. A grocery hauler that ... hauls.

Bonus points if it has a third pedal. A friend of mine from college still has his BMW wagon with a stick. We talked a lot about unicorn vehicles like that the last time we hung out.

 

Eureka.
Gotta get home quick in that so the ice cream don't melt.

 

Forget buying ice cream. That thing has enough torque to help mix homemade ice cream.