Hi Chad :)
Haven't heard from you in ages...hope all is well with you and
yours.
You wrote:
}- What is so special about 1974? Is that when catalytic
}- converters were mandatoried in Canada? In the US 72
}- was either the last year no cats were allowed, or the first
}- year they were required....I can't remember.
I don't know... Anti-pollution (catalytic converters) stuff
notwithstanding, I can tell you this; mine's a 1973 and it
doesn't have a catalytic converter - more on this in a minute.
But anyway, that's not what is so special to me about pre-1974
cars...
I don't know how old you are, but I expect you're too young to
have experienced the 1973 Oil Embargo and the "Energy Crisis" of
the 70's. Gas went from 21 cents a gallon to well over a dollar
a gallon overnight. I'm sure you can imagine what this did to
the economy, now THAT was economic hard times, not this stuff
these cry-babies are whining about now. Poor things, have to
learn to use a computer. Nevermind, I digress. To put it in a
nutshell after the Oil Embargo and Energy Crisis, fuel economy
became a big issue, it took the automakers a year to catch up -
and Detroit began trying to make them get better mileage, and
cars haven't been the same since......
I doubt that I can explain it adequately in words, but for you,
I'll try :) There is nothing like the feeling of raw power and
confidence one gets from one of these cars. I'll use my car for
example, but keep in mind it's not a muscle car, the muscle cars
were even more incredible. My Fury is a V8 and 360 cubic inches.
It will do 75 miles per hour (now legal on the turnpike and
several hiways here) like falling off a log - no strain, no
drain, and plenty of power left over. It has a ride that's
smooth-to-die-for, yet you can still feel and respond to the road
(torsion bars). It leans into a curve like it was born to it.
It weighs approximately 5,000 pounds - that's heavier than many
late model SUV's - there's none of that "light in the rear end"
feeling like the back end's going to take off. It's BIG, lots of
leg room, head room, all kinds of room, yet everything is laid
out conveniently to the driver. It's big enough in fact that if I
wanted to take a road trip and needed to pull off the road and
catch a nap the back seat would be very comfortable - but to be
fair and accurate I'm short, 5'2".
In Kansas City, rush hour is an adventure to put it lightly. If
I'm on the highway in town doing 65 mph and a big, burly
semi-truck comes up behind me and sits on my back bumper I can
easily accelerate and pull well away, traffic allowing of course.
It's big and solid and secure, as I said in another post, if you
drive a late model car you are 13 times more likely to be killed
in a serious accident than I am in my car.
The engine that's in my Fury is still in production (though they
are choking it to death with anti-pollution stuff now, of course),
and that means something, it means that it's a very good and
reliable design. The engine is so efficient and burns so hot that
it was one of the last cars to get a catalytic converter. The
thing is now they only put that engine in large trucks.
[BTW Battle Creek *really* suffered economically I can name the
factories that closed down like a litany, people lost 20 years
time at work, their retirements, everything. They had to learn
new skills if they wanted to work or leave town. Hint: this is a
lot of the reason I have no sympathy for these namby-pamby cry
babies who are scared of or don't want to learn to use a
computer. Give me a break! But again, I digress. If you want
to know more about the Oil Embargo/Energy Crisis go to CNN or ABC
websites and go to their sections on the last century. Around
last New Year's CNN ran film of the gas lines going around the
block and they showed a car exactly like mine, same color and
all, pulling away from a gas station :) ]
Nice to hear from you :)
Boanne
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