by Teresa Roberts

Created on: April 15, 2008

The Muscle Car! Anyone in my age bracket that never had one sure missed out on one of Americas greatest times. These cars were the coolest automobiles ever produced. From their eye catching design to the roaring engines inside. It was a time everyone should be lucky enough to experience.

Before I got married in 1973, I drove a Ford Falcon with a slant six. You literally had to put the pedal to the medal to get it to move. It was a pretty neat looking little car but had absolutely no power, but for a teenage it was OK.

After I married, my husband wanted a "faster" car. So we took the Ford down and traded it on something else. That something else was a 1968 Chevy Chevelle SS. It came with a 396 engine, 4 barrel carb, 5 speed manual tranny, and a set of glass packs you wouldn't believe. It was metallic midnight blue with white pin-striping. Two doors and that ever awesome hood scoop. And it terrified me.

First off I'd never driven a car with that much power. It would bark the tires in the first 3 gears, and I mean bark. First gear burned a lot of rubber and we left one heck of a smoke cloud behind us. Second, I had never driven a manual tranny before and had no idea how to get it to go anywhere.

Well my husband told me not to worry, that he would teach me how to drive it, so I said OK, get it. We turned peoples heads when we would go cruising in it. Back then gas was about $.50 a gal so people could afford to cruise for no reason. I'm not sure if people stared because of how she looked or because of the rumbling that could be heard before she even appeared into view. But we were so proud to be seen in her.

My husband had a dodge before we married. It was equipped with a police interceptor and ran like a scalded dog so he was used to the power in the Chevelle and yes, he dragged raced her at times. When someone in some other muscle car would pull along beside us all you could hear was the revving of engines. Then the take off. Once the Chevelles tires found their traction it was all over. I don't think my husband ever lost a race.

Shortly after we got her he decided it was time for me to learn to drive and handle her. Luckily we lived in a small town and traffic wasn't bad on our roads. He pulls off the road one day as we were going to his moms house and says, "Get over here and drive." My mouth dropped open and I couldn't speak.

As I got behind the steering wheel I was thinking to myself. "There's no way!" I settled in and looked at him with eyes that begged him

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