Temptation

[sparks]

   There's a long stretch of road ahead....about two miles worth. It hasn't changed much over the last fifty years. Out in the sticks .....the lonely old farm house is still where it was off to the left and a couple of small homes to the right. Suburbia just never crept to this lonely place. We used to drag race, go neckin', and do some under age drinkin' along this path......

   Yesterday evening, I found myself looking down this road. Not real sure what drew me to it. I'm 57 years old. And there is a slight rumble behind me.

   As I sat there, many memories came to life....the people I've known....the fun times that we had out there in the sticks....yeah, and now, I'm 57.

   The rumble was there....behind me..........very gently, I placed my left foot on the brake, my right foot on the throttle.......and tightened it all up. The rumble became a growl.

   Should I or shouldn't I..?

   I caved in...and let it have it...the engine exploded with life.....4,5,6 thousand rpm...shift..over and over. 80,90,100 mph
   
   At 128 mph, she stalled out.....the damn chip called it quits.

   So I just backed off and let it come down....to a soft stop......and a gentle rumble.




   It all happened so fast.....kind of anti-climactic in a way.....














So I turned around......And did it again!!!!!!!









sparks

   



PS....2005 Mustang GT   
 

[peternap]

  Been there!

[considerations]

Me too, except the "chip" didn't fail.....the "CHP" wrote me a ticket, after a severe lecture about how he could take me to jail if I was clocked at more than 95mph.....but had decided not to.  Those were the days.

I envy you, I'm not sure I would have the reflexes for a present day replay.

[peternap]

I'm still getting those urges

http://vimeo.com/20823210

[sparks]

Went to this lonely stretch of road again.....armed with the vehicle...


And listened to this......http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-T35WXFOmwI&feature=related


Then drove away slowly....and smiled a little bit, feeling a small wave of gratitude flowing over me.


Sometimes small voices speak loudly.




sparks

[Gary O]

Thanks for the ride along, sparks........

[NM_Shooter]

I know that road.  Mine is in northern Arkansas.  Not sure I can visit it though, too many changes there and it would cloud my mind and eyes.  ....

[Native_NM]

I know that road.  Mine is in northern Arkansas.  Not sure I can visit it though, too many changes there and it would cloud my mind and eyes.  ....

Thoreau, NM north to Farmington, NM was mine.  Hwy 371 was a great drive.  Some days you might see 5 cars after Crownpoint.  It might be time for a drive...

[Gary O]

Mine was Germantown rd NW Portland, thru the curves.
Brother in law took me thru the switchbacks sideways in his '68 Shelby GT500.
Yeah, the straight-aways were fast, and he had enough lumens to turn night to day, but the curves, Hooah!
Since then, I took every car I had thru those straights and curves.
I takes some guts to keep on the throttle, but ya better if you plan on keepin' rubber side down...........
It's about a seven on the seat suckin' pucker scale.
Eight and above bein' mistakes

[sparks]

Something that happened to me ......Aug. 1975.....

I was travelling on old Interstate 80 west of Cheyenne,Wy......in a 1966 Mustang...all Ford.....289...4bbl...4 speed.......dual exhaust.

It was late daylight, and I spotted a small red dot in the road about a mile ahead........

As I pulled up behind this red dot (running about 70 mph), it became clear that this red dot was a DeTomasa Pantera.....351 Cleveland and more.

So I nailed it and went around him.....at about 90.


About one mile down the road, the red dot exploded in my rear view mirror.....and went.....zzzeeeeeeooowwwwsssshhhhhhhh around me......well over 150 mph.


Never saw him again



sparks





Uhh, Mountain Don......I forgot the P in temptation....can you help?

[Native_NM]

One of these....

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/45102253/ns/business-autos/#.Tq82JHJNtBk

and one of these...

http://www.roushyatesparts.com/427-LONG-BLOCK-p/FRP-M-6007-Z427ART.htm

And he's all yours.  Some assembly required.   

[sparks]

Aah Yes NM, if I only had 15K lying around that I didn't know what to do with.


Five times the cost of the original horse


And it would still need the drivetrain,suspension, and intereior.


But it is tempting.





sparks

[MountainDon]

All further replies will have the "P" in the subject

[sparks]

Thank You,    Mtn Don.

You have always come to my rescue.

Well, onward with temptation.......

And horsepower stories.....

And more temptation......



How many of you folks out there just totally fried the rear tires because you could?


I did it in a 1973 Pontiac Grand Ville ......man that was a long time ago.......bias ply tires......


Blew the right rear tire.....took for ever to get the jack under the car, let alone change the tire.






sparks

[dug]

In the old days my brother had a 67 firebird 400 convertible with a 4 speed manual transmission, and it could lay rubber in all four of those gears- terrifying to drive though. To say it's handling was a bit crude is being nice and it seemed determined to become airborne at high speeds as the front end tried to lift.

More recently on a drive down a lonely road through Nevada (the loneliest one, they say) I decided to see what our Subaru Outback's limit might be and it hit 120 as smooth as ice, my wife barely bothered to look up from the book she was reading. I'm pretty sure it had another 5 or 10 mph under the hood if I would have pressed the issue.

I don't care much about cars these days, unless it's not running, but must admit I have a secret teenage lust to own this one.

http://www.caterham.co.uk/assets/html/showroom/superlightr500.html

Powered by a Ford 2 liter- 0-60 in under 3 seconds sounds pretty fun!
 

[MountainDon]

I don't care much about cars these days, unless it's not running, but must admit I have a secret teenage lust to own this one.

http://www.caterham.co.uk/assets/html/showroom/superlightr500.html

Powered by a Ford 2 liter- 0-60 in under 3 seconds sounds pretty fun!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....        Todays version of the Lotus Super 7.   


Isn't it amazing how bad the brakes were on those sixties and seventies examples of American iron. Fast in a straight line.

[Gary O]

 Whoa, dug, that's a lot of potential.
Brits do love their autos.
Back in '70 drove a 68 E type to it's limits.
Not sure what the speedo was doin' cause my mind was fixed on straightening the curves in the hwy 'tween Houston and Lake Houston. Those 12 cylinders could purr, but the handling was rough...not a curve hugger by any means, and felt it float a bit.

But yes, cars of today have the zip and handling for sure, but I understand the rumble sparks mentions. Seems blood flow matches the sound and vibration....kinda like an ol' pan head Harley.............

Never burnt the tires off anything...knocked 'em off...but never burned.

[Native_NM]

In the late 70's we all wanted to own a 427 or 429, or any other in that genre.  The 351 was famous.   I was a Mustang fan and fanatic for a while.  I never owned an old one, but had friends that did.

I bought a GT Mustang in 1985.  I thought it was fast.  I drove a Porsche 911 Twin Turbo about 10 years ago.  It was so fast it was scary.  I blazed a trail up I-5 at 2pm in the afternoon.  I hit 125 and it was not even wound up.  My partner-in-crime warned me that if we got pulled over, we were not getting a ticket, and could count on going to jail.  I'd speed way up, then back it off to 75 or 80.  The guy that owned it told me he would take it out to the desert and it would hit 175 without breaking a sweat; that was as fast as he wanted to go. 

My GT would run 100+ easy, but it never felt stable enough to really go blistering fast in it.  My friend had a nice 84' Corvette, and it was solid, but lacks the horsepower of the Vette today. 

I did the motorcycle thing, but stopped after an impromptu meeting with Mr. Newton,  Mr. Inertia, and Mr. Gravity.