[Jim Moshier]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Yesterday he told me he wants to leave the two barrel on it for a while. I think his opinion is going to change once he gets some more seat time. His car is going to feel sloooow.

I saw a Richard Holden video on a Pontiac 350ci and the changes from a 2-barrel to a stock 4 barrel was I think 50-75hp and he said the Pontiac 2 barrel was the worst that he has seen.

So just the stock intake 4 barrel would make a huge difference.

[71GP76TA]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

Yesterday he told me he wants to leave the two barrel on it for a while. I think his opinion is going to change once he gets some more seat time. His car is going to feel sloooow.

I have a '72 455 short block I'd sell.

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by 71GP76TA

I have a '72 455 short block I'd sell.

I may take you up on that. Let's see what he thinks after he drives it for a little bit and I get a better sense of the condition of the engine.

[b-man]

I’d rather have a 12 mpg 13-second car than a 14 mpg 17-second car.

Just sayin’.

A stock 4-barrel 455 is stone-reliable just the same as a boring 2-barrel 350 is.

Both would look the same when the hood is open, grab a stock 4-barrel air cleaner while you’re doing the 455 swap.

It’s a neat fairly well preserved old basic transportation car but hardly sacred ground, a few nice bolt-in modifications won’t ruin it.

[Shiny]

Nicely fathered! Great photo comparison of then and now. Fun for both of you and he will soon be an expert on the nuances of his car. You will have to make some new labels now!

I'm staying tuned..

[jhein]

Originally Posted by b-man

At his age I had a rough and ready street warrior that was regularly kicking asses and taking names, the best years of my life.

Same here, but we could get away with a lot more stuff back then. At least with my local police anyway. I got warnings back then for things that I think may get you arrested today. So I'm not sure they can have the same kind fun that we did back in the day.

[jhein]

As far as mods go, I vote for the 455 too, plus a shaker hood!!

[Verdoro 68]

Originally Posted by jhein

Same here, but we could get away with a lot more stuff back then. At least with my local police anyway. I got warnings back then for things that I think may get you arrested today. So I'm not sure they can have the same kind fun that we did back in the day.

I got pulled over in my neighborhood when I was his age because a cop didn't like the way my turn signal blinked. No joke. He proceeded to lecture me about the wiring on "these old Oldsmobiles." As a cocky teen, of course I corrected him. I think he was just firing a shot across the bow to let me know he had his eye on me.

There's not a lot of old iron drivers around here. There are a few El Caminos and a mid-70's Nova in his shop class, but I don't see them running around town that often. The troublemakers are late model Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers and Chargers. I don't hear about the cops harassing kids much, but I'm sure it happens. Back when I had my '04 GTO, they'd pull you over for no front plate or dark tint and then they'd start looking under the hood.

Originally Posted by jhein

As far as mods go, I vote for the 455 too, plus a shaker hood!!

My vote would be a 455, the shaker hood, a set of honeycombs, clean up the paint, add the groovy lime green stripe, and a throw a Mexican blanket over the seat, but it's his car. Other than the safety stuff of brakes and steering, I'm trying not to sway him too much. He needs to put his own fingerprints on it. It's nice that it's smog exempt. The world is his oyster

[b-man]

Once at around age 18 I had a huge motor officer riding a Moto-Guzzi pull me over for equipment violations like no bumpers or front license plate in my ‘57 bug. Looking a bit like Charles Manson at the time didn’t help me slip by the law, along with my car having a 5” lowered front end, racy new Centerlines, faded old black paint and assorted primer body parts.

He stood outside my little bug and stuck his giant motorcycle boot onto my brake pedal to check the general condition of my brakes and actually ended up bending the brake pedal all the way against the front firewall to prove his point that my brakes were defective. Yeah they weren’t in the greatest shape but they weren’t on the floor, after he was finished with me my pedal was bent about a half inch towards the left.

Of course the roads weren’t as crowded back then and high-powered every day vehicles were not the norm. However nowadays kids can easily obtain sporty cars with upwards of 400 to 500 horsepower.

Honestly I don’t see having a mild 350 horsepower 455 as being any big deal myself, as long as he’s not acting the fool behind the wheel all the time he’s going to be just fine.

Chuck Manson Jr at age 22, not long afterwards no more long hair or beard ever again, I needed a real job.

The guys in my VW club always called me Jesus so there’s that.

[67drake]

I was on a first name basis with the cops in the town I lived in, while in high school. Not because they were friends of mine.
I went to vocational school the last half of the day my junior and senior year. Junior year, before I bought my GTO, I was fixing up my moms ‘73 Olds. It was a driving work in progress. One day I had to primer the quarter panel at the end of class and wrote”Death Mobile” in masking tape across the panel, ala Animal House. The next morning I get called down to the dean’s office and he goes ballistic on me. Saying I was tearing by the school with a car load of my hooligan friends. He wouldn’t let the car on school property until I removed it. Uhm……yeah. Me being me I left it on there the rest of the year, and parked it across the street. I kinda had the Manson look in those days too, come to think of it .

[jhein]

I'm not gonna admit to any specific incident(s) from back then but let's just say my driving was heavily influenced by a mix of Smokey and the Bandit and Dukes of Hazzard. Minus the jumps and river crossings, of course.

Most of the time I had that car it was primer gray, bumper to bumper.

[Held for Ransom]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

This kind of style doesn't come cheap. $95/yd for the vinly and an eye watering $169/yd for the plaid. I think we'll be rocking the Mexican blanket while he saves up. I ponied up for all the stuff to make the car safe and drivable, appearance is on him. Funnily enough, SMS is about 30 minutes from where the car was in Oregon.

I wonder how many square yards it would take for each...

[Verdoro 68]

The car got here this afternoon. It's got #46 heads with screw in studs

I discovered a huge puddle of oil in the intake around the driver's side exhaust cross over which is worrying and not safe. We're taking it to shop night at his school tonight so we'll investigate. If we're lucky, it's just a valve cover leak.

For the most part, everything's there and complete.

[b-man]

Typical shot rock-hard cork gaskets.

Old engines equipped with sheet metal valve covers and oil pans all end up being a leaky mess like that.

On the bright side it’s great at preserving the frame rails and floor pans.

[jhein]

Originally Posted by Verdoro 68

I got pulled over in my neighborhood when I was his age because a cop didn't like the way my turn signal blinked. No joke. He proceeded to lecture me about the wiring on "these old Oldsmobiles." As a cocky teen, of course I corrected him. I think he was just firing a shot across the bow to let me know he had his eye on me.

There's not a lot of old iron drivers around here. There are a few El Caminos and a mid-70's Nova in his shop class, but I don't see them running around town that often. The troublemakers are late model Mustangs, Camaros, Challengers and Chargers. I don't hear about the cops harassing kids much, but I'm sure it happens. Back when I had my '04 GTO, they'd pull you over for no front plate or dark tint and then they'd start looking under the hood.



My vote would be a 455, the shaker hood, a set of honeycombs, clean up the paint, add the groovy lime green stripe, and a throw a Mexican blanket over the seat, but it's his car. Other than the safety stuff of brakes and steering, I'm trying not to sway him too much. He needs to put his own fingerprints on it. It's nice that it's smog exempt. The world is his oyster

Yeah, we can all fantasize about how we'd do it but it's his car and it'll take him where it does. Good times for sure.

[Verdoro 68]

He got the full experience tonight. When Cole got home from school he started cleaning out the car and found all sorts of treasures. The biggest surprise was who one of the previous owners was. The seller told us the car was used on the cover of an album by a band called Wheedle's Groove.

It turns out that album is called Kearney Barton and was named as a tribute to a man who was instrumental in a bunch of '60 Northwest garage rock recordings for bands like the Ventures, Sonics and Standells - some of my favorites. He also engineered that Wheedle's Groove album and sure enough on the back of the album there's a pic of the Ventura!

When Cole was cleaning the car he found receipts with Kearney's name and signature on them, so I think it's safe to assume he was a previous owner. Since the car was on the back of the album, it make me wonder if he was well known for it. Unfortunately, he passed away in 2012.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kearney_Barton
https://www.discogs.com/release/1994...Kearney-Barton



We also found the usual ton of change, a bunch of wrenches, some cigarettes, receipts and what looks like the original pamphlet for the radial tires that came with the car. There was also a card holder with the GM logo on it - anyone know what that might be? I'm so glad no one ever cleaned this car out. This is such a time honored tradition of old car ownership.

The bad news is the rear sail panels disintegrated in the cleaning. No one reproduces them and they're apparently really hard to come by in good shape. Cole was bummed, but I told him we'll find some and it won't be our last challenge with this car (see next post).

[jhein]

That's all really cool.

[Verdoro 68]

Once we got the car cleaned out, we took it down to the school for open shop to take care of the brakes. The school's not too far from our place, but it was white knuckle. I have a disc brake kit on order, but wanted to get the car somewhat mobile so I bought a master cylinder to temporarily swap in until he could get to the disc brake swap.

The old master cylinder was in pretty nasty shape and it made me think we were pushing our luck with the wheel cylinders. I was able to bleed the rear brakes and we had a good pedal, but we lost the pedal when I started doing the passenger side front. Then I noticed a big puddle of fluid under the driver's side brake drum. It turns out the front driver's side wheel cylinder had blown, so my hunch was right.

Cole's on good terms with the shop teacher, so it's going to live there while he does the brake swap and front end rebuild.

[Cerberus]

Dad of the year!!
Very cool find. My first car was a '71 Ventura 350 3 speed stick. Went through 4 sets of back tires in 6 months - one wheel wonder but it could burn the tires for blocks.
Love the color!
I would do the 455 w/shaker hood "GTO clone" and keep the same color. Changing to 4 speed manual would make it even more fun.

Even if you don't go that far, clean up and preserve would be a good option as well.

[Shiny]

Great looking car, your son shopped well!

It's a miracle the brakes held for you on the way to the school. I think that's a good omen! The car is thanking you for the rescue.

When my son and I first drove the LeMans home, the manual brakes barely worked and scared both of my brain cells. Was one of the first thing to get replaced. Ours looked new compared to yours! You are clearly going to have good luck with your new project.