The '56 Chevy in winter of '79-'80, hooking up hard with the built 400 c.i. on a cold winter day.   Running 2.02 double hump heads with water passages, flat pistons, Offenhauser Dual-Port manifold, aluminum flywheel, aluminum T-10 with Competition Plus Hurst shifter, 4.11 gears, really important traction bars with tall snubbers, and other cool stuff.  Paint and interior less than 4 months old.  I bought this just before my 17th birthday and had it finished 9 months later.  Sold it 12 years after that.   When I got her the '56 had a smashed front, a caved in door, a broken driver's window, black GTO bucket seats, a trailer hitch (?!) and a big hole cut in the floor for the 4 speed.  Total investment approximately $3170.  Color photos soon!






1954 Cadillac Eureka hearse, picking up bodies at the high school, winter '79-'80.   Maximum capacity approximately 22 teenagers.  This car is now sitting in a local junkyard, in red primer, hood drilled for pins and lanyards, back glass and side glass broke out, still on the same tires donated by my mom's '76 Delta 88.  Paid $375, sold for $650!







Summer 1982, '70 Mercury Cyclone Spoiler with Drag Pack. Front and rear spoilers removed, Dark blue metallic paint over original Grabber Blue.  Bad ass 429 SCJ with remote oil cooler, etc.  Headers, traction bars, G50's on the back and way under 10 mpg, Only 52,000 miles.  Ran 13.8 at 105 on street tires in August.  Bought for $2500 from a guy who traded a Jeep for it, thought his sons could drive it but the eldest got like three tickets in a week  (The legend is that a mechanic from California  had it before, held a class record at the old Orange County dragstrip with it....needed something to get to work in the snow when he moved to South Dakota) This is what I drove to work!   Was  I freakin' insane?  The '56 Chevy was my "nice" car, and this was daily transportation.  Yeehah!!


















All good things come to an end...stolen in October from a locked garage, recovered about 5 days later.  The asshole who stole it is named Loren Jorgensen and used to drive a truck....now has multiple DUI's.  The little freak wasn't strong enough at the time to handle the power steering gears in the manual box, so he backed into the wall behind the car when he stole it and bent the filler panel..  Note missing centercaps, punched out trunk lock, amateur attempt to remove steering wheel, front bumper damage, mus on pedals.  Bottomed it out on a fire trail or something, and flattened the header collectors.  Stole the air cleaner. Swapped out the battery and mangled the battery clamps.  Never did get back my tools that he apparently dumped out of the box on the trunk lid to sort through.  Got the paint chips though.  I'm still pissed off.   Sold it to a cowboy later on, he sold it in about 96/97, it was restored to original, and someone trailered it to South Carolina or Minnesota (conflicting stories).....so the legend goes.






















Super sweet '69 Camaro Coupe.  Early in the production run with a 327, a TH350, Deluxe interior and exterior trim.  Stock except for Cragar SS's, Window tint, dealer added vinyl top, and stereo.








1970 Cutlass S 2 dr sedan with a 330 HP 350 and A/C.  Rust free car I bought in the California desert for $400.  Slapped on the wheels, steam cleaned the engine, and painted it.  Didn't need any body work.  This is the hot rod that took Mikayla to the babysitter for the first 18 months of her life.






Early twenties, tending bar for a living, got a TransAm!  1981 Turbo 301 V-8, WS-6 Suspension Pkg, White with blue cloth interior.  I got pulled over for 112 in a 65.  Thank you, officer, for your leniency on that one.







Talk about rare!  I was selling Buicks from 1986 to 1989,  and wanted a Grand National bad, but we sold them so much over sticker I couldn't justify it.  Finally came close to my dream with this 1984 Buick Regal Grand National.  Turbo 3.8 SFI, but alas no intercooler.  Had the Lear Siegler bucket seats, with charcoal leather inserts surrounded by gray cloth, and the embroidered patches just like the more common 87's.   (The Lear Siegler option was listed for 87's but I never, ever, saw that they actually built one with it.)


1968 Camaro SS coming soon!

Lousy picture, GREAT car.  This is what I drove to work after selling the '70 Cutlass.  Bone stock and well worn 1968 Camaro RS/SS.  295 HP 350, TH 350 (or was it a powerglide?), Dog dish hubcaps, missing the trim rings, but those oh so cool stacks on the hood.  I was the third owner, it originally came from Oregon and had been used as a commuter car for 20 years.  She had a whopping 265,000 miles on her when sold.   Never had more fun than blowing off some kid in a Mazda turbo.   Cops hated this car, but it is in my top three all-time favorites.  Sold it in Pomona, and the guy drove it to Phoenix.

MORE UPCOMING FEATURES

1964 Chrysler 300 Convertible

1965 Jaguar E-Type

1966 Mustang

1971 Cyclone Spoiler 429

1978 Full Custom El Camino

72 and 73 Jaguar XJ-6's

1974 Toyota HiLux (metallic black, smoothed and shaved, side pipes, and crushed velvet interior.  Way ahead of the times for 1977!

 

If it's 1970 to 1971 Cyclone's you want, here is where they will be.  Photo contributions are appreciated.

More Cyclones.

I like to be different.  I live 25 miles from Sturgis and my bike was a Triumph Bonnie Chopper, not a HD.  I once owned a Cordoba with a factory six cylinder (OK, not proud of that).  My '56 Chevy was cool because everyone was into 57's and 55's   (I always knew the '56 had the best two tone paint scheme and the prettiest fender lines and wheel openings).  Anyway, here are the top reasons that Cyclones are the neatest car of the waning muscle car era:

10.  Cyclones are so rare even motorheads don't know what they are.

9.  Their obscurity make parts really cheap or really expensive, depending on the seller. 

8.  When they are sitting low and stock, the side profile is awesome.  All cars are art and this is some of the best.

7.  No muscle car ever had a cooler gauge package.

6.  There is more room in the backseat then in a Chevelle/Cutlass or pony car.   Lots of trunk space too.

5.  The history of the front end styling involves Iaccoa (then at Ford) stealing the top designer away from Pontiac.  The front end styling is loved or hated now, just as it was by Ford executives back then. 

4.  No matter what the condition of your car, it will probably be the best Cyclone at the show.  Let the dozen red Chevelles fight for parking space and attention.

3.  1:30 in the morning, something roars up behind you and you hear the revs climb and see the lamps dip as the driver drops down a gear.  Distinctive center grille lights make it look like something Darth Vader would be driving.  The moan of a big 4 barrel, and a banshee wail of a big block at 5500 rpm.  You look in the rearview, and it's too late.  The monster machine is going around, squatting down with those wild-ass lamps lifting towards the sky.  "Holy crap, what the hell was that?" you think, as the glow of the recessed taillamps becomes less distinct in front of you.... No muscle car looks cooler at night than a Cyclone.  Screw the four cylinder disposables and their blue neon.

2.  Super low production.  Unfortunately, this means the value will someday skyrocket.  In the meantime, isn't it cool to know that the '71 Spoiler, with only 353 produced, is probably more rare than any regular production muscle car?  I've only seen one Charger 500 (a silver one, way back in 1980) with the flush headlights and back glass, and I saw a red one on a poster.  I've seen a lot of Daytonas and Superbirds.  I guy up the road has a one-of-many-built Mustang KR 500.  1969 Trans Ams are here and there.  Cyclones are the rarest and thus the coolest.

1.  They HAUL ASS. 


 
 
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