Judge eats Hemi.
 

Late in the day last Sunday the oppressive heat broke and I told the gal we were gonna take some laps with the Judge. For the last month it seems the heat and humidity have kept the 70 Judge in the garage. With the cooler temps it was now time to cruise the strip.

"The Strip" in our small central-Wisconsin city is the four lane that leads out from the old city center to the interstate. It's where all the burger joints and hotels are located. After graduating in the early 80s, it was a favorite playground for me and all my gearhead buddies and our cars.

I first stopped for some gas. While fueling, my long-time buddy Al slowly rolled by the station with a car load of people in is burnt orange 1970 Charger R/T Hemi. I seldom ever see his car out, so I figured he was giving some friends or relative's a ride through town. I decided to give chase and quickly got back in my car and pulled out. Being late on a Sunday the streets were empty. I could see ahead that Al turned to make a lap out the strip. I was going at a pretty good clip when I crossed our small city bridge and took the sweeping RH turn onto the strip. I pulled into the left lane and hit the throttle to really blow past 'ol Mopar boy Al. When I got alongside Al's car I realized that he had downshifted his pistol grip and opened up all eight barrels on his AFB's (or AVS's...whatever those lousy Hemi's run). We were side by side as we roared out the strip. A couple of old warhorse 1970s still doing battle. It didn't take long before we had to quit as our speeds were getting out of hand. But I did notice that Al never got past my front fender until I had let off.

We traded insults as we both got turned around out where the four lane ends past the interstate overpass. We stabbed the throttle and hopped the front ends of our cars on the return ride back to town in childish displays of horsepower. I leaned out the window and asked "that thing gotta Hemi?" At the other end of the strip Al turned off for home to put his baby away. It's still nice to know that after all these years that memories can still be made out on the strip.

The photo shows both of our cars in happier times.

Great story, Great Judge. ��
I tried to buy a '70 440 RT, bright orange w blacked-out hood out of a neighbor's front yard 25 years ago. Guy wouldn't discuss it. Later, another neighbor got it for $600. Turns out it needed an alternator and battery.

Hood stripes are quite rare for those cars.

I think the hood stripes were added as I don't remember them being on the car when another friend owned it in the 1980s. I have these early photos of the dusty R/T from 1985. It's hard to tell, but I don't think the stripes are there. When Al bought it and repainted it he never put those awful looking factory side pinstripes back on.

LOL
 

Love the quote from the commercial... I hope u said it with a southern accent! :3gears:

Love this story - made me smile. Lots of fond memories of cruising Brainerd Road in Chattanooga, making the turn through the drive in lane at the Shoney's Big Boy, doing a burn-out with my one-wheel-wonder 71 LeMans as I exited the parking lot and repeating as necessary until a spot opened in the drive-in.

By the end of the night there would be several late 60s, early 70's muscle cars backed in to the spots under the drive-in canopy, and lots of cute high-school girls in short skirts wearing Heaven Scent or Tigress perfume. Oh, to be 17 again!

BJ

Thanks Gentlemen, first for the story, and then all the remarks. Brought me back to better times for a while. I know the old Shoney's Big Boy in Chattanooga, ate there quite frequently. Man those were the days weren't they!

Cool story, this is why everyone should cruise with a GoPro!

Just remove all metadata from the video like GPS location and speed, and edit the footage so license plates can't be seen and it's ready for the internet :D

Al says he wants to go at it again, only this time from a dead stop. If its him doing the driving......I think I've got a real chance! I was wrong, the hood stripes on the Charger have been there from the factory.

and ram air III automatic too. Way to go!!

So my buddy Al recently sold his Hemi car. The Burnt Orange 1970 Charger R/T four-speed car now resides in California. I've included a photo of the car packed into in a trailer for transport. Of course I told Al he had no choice but to unload the heap after the humiliating episode back in 2016 when he failed to overtake my Judge out on the strip (he may have won if he only knew how to drive a stick). I loved to hear his voice become shrill and the blood vessels in his neck bulge out whenever I brought the subject up.

It really is kind of sad to see Al's car go. I graduated in 1981 and Al graduated seven miles away in another small town in 1982. Throughout the 1980s we were both hard-core gearheads. I liked GM while Al was a Mopar man. We both bought our signature muscle cars at around the same time. Al bought his Hemi in the fall of 1987 for $10,000 (he had to sell his wrecked 1970 Superbird to raise the cash). I bought my Judge soon after in February of 1988 for $1,250. His car was a decent 26,000 mile original while mine was a 87,000 mile pile of parts. Neither car had its original engine. We both embarked on restoring our cars. Al ran his car through his father's body shop while I scrambled for shop space to rent. In the early 1990s our cars were done and we began to show them at local events.

How we enjoyed our cars was vastly different. Due to its rarity, low miles and value, Al's Hemi sat in a garage most of the time. Over the past 30 years he barely put on 2,000 miles. While I on the other hand put on close to 35,000 miles and attended two GTOAA national events. These days Al has other Hemi cars and even has a spare 426 Hemi engine sitting in his office. But I think I'm gonna miss the old Charger.

I guess if you're gonna sell...now is a good time.

Great story Rich like all those yarns you spin from the old days in Mauston!!!