Unlike so many lucky people on the forums, my father was NOT a car guy in any way. A car was an appliance that needed constant attention and $ spent on it. As such, he had mostly AMC junk and a few marginal Fords. I had 5 sisters and no brothers, so no family Pontiac influence. However, I was a car nut and engine nut from the time I could walk.
Here is my top early influence. Mike Harper. A best friend. I had a 69 Chevy Camaro conv. My first really nice car. It had a highly modified SBC, big cam, ported heads, aluminim high rise manifold, modified manual valve body transmission, 3500 stall converter, some mods for better traction. Mike Harper comes over to my house and says "look what I just bought?" It was a 68 2dr. Bonneville, absolutely beautiful with only a 400 4bbl. and 29K miles on it. He says, "you won't believe how fast this car is". I said, "right" and out to the street we went for a race. We left from a standing start and I jumped out to a 1/2 car lead and that was all. By the time we were going 30-40MPH, that damn Bonneville was past me just pulling away smoothly. We ran 3-4 times, my car was running fine. Same result every time. 2 weeks later, the Camaro was sold and that was the last Chevy "performance" car I have ever owned. For the next 45 years, I have been enjoying Pontiac V-8 magic.
|