[ponyakr]

in '67 a boy that had dated my sister got out from his hitch in the navy & came back home to our little town. he soon began teaching some of us younger guys many of the vices he had learned in the navy. he & i struck up a good acquaintance & as we shared things about our lives, he found out that i liked musclecars. he got a job at our local paper mill & soon had enuff for the down payment on his 1st new car. i probably had some influence on his choice. of course we know that my choice would be a gto. but with no dealer in town, he figured it would be better to buy local so he could get quick repairs if needed. so 1 day a car showed up at our local chevy dealer. it was a gold '68 ss396, 4sp, manual steering, no air. & it had a 1-wheeler rear end. why did dealers order musclecars without posi--some of these options only cost a few measly bucks back then. i guess they did it so they could sell just a little cheaper than their comp. anyway, he took me down to the dealer to show me this car & asked me what i thought. so i gave him my opinion. a few days later i seem to remember being on a load of hay for some reason. as i looked down i watched him pull down our driveway with that gold paint sparkling in the sun. he said "jump in lets go for a ride". he got in the right side & put me under the wheel. by now i'd driven sticks for over 10 years, so i knew just what to do. we eased out onto the hiway & headed for town to join the musclecar parade, already in progress. no, it wasn't the car of my dreams, but in it i could now be part of the musclecar parade, instead of just watching it from my dads pickup in the bowling alley parking lot. he bought amoco white gas from our local american station. it was the highest octane gas available in our town. so, all the musclecars used it. it was also the highest priced gas at a whopping 39 cents. some guys would buy cheap gas at rose oil if they were planning a big drinkin nite with no street racin involved. they could save an amazing 10 cents per gal or more. wow!