by Richard Saare

Created on: July 18, 2008   Last Updated: November 07, 2008

What is my favorite muscle car and why; well now; that is an awesome question. I have owned a lot of muscle cars in my life, 64 El Camino, 65 389 Booneville, 65 389 Catalina, 66 389 GTO, 67 Impala Convertible w/327, 67-68-69 Cutlass, 69 LT-1 350 El Camino, 70 350 Camaro, 71 Firebird Formula 400, and a Cherry Red 77 Corvette with an LT-1-350 w/750 Holley spread bore. And believe it or not I would have to say that as a favorite it is a split decision.

The 66 GTO had a 389 CID power plant; producing 586 horse power to the rear wheels acording to the Dyno at the Race Shop in Santa Rosa, California. It had a 10" Weind Tunnel Ram and an 1150 CFM Holley, w/ Dual feed-dual pump. Mickey Thompson Competiton 50 series 18" tires on the rear and 10 inch on the front. Ansen slot mags and a 4-11 Positraction rear end. Hurst close ratio 4 speed and a Borg Warner tranny. She was the most beautiful Tahoe blue with black interior and wood grain inlays. There were only two things this car couldn't pass. A Cop and a Gas Station.

She guzzled gas like a beer bong and a college party, but gas was a whopping .29 cents a gallon and she got 3 1/2 glorious miles to gallon at a top speed of 135 miles per hour. The trick is, she did it in 11.5 seconds. 3947 pounds of Detroit Iron and a raging ride to the finish line. Doug Thorley headers with Cherry bombs and a Sig-Earson roller cam. This baby had a gallop to her idle and a way of stealing the show. The body would twist slightly under first gear acceleration slamming the occupants back into their seats before the four wheel rocket took off. This was the car I drove to work before I went into the service.

And as for the second in this the split decision; it would have to be the Formula 400 Firebird. This was the second year of the wide track and the lowering of the first series of production cars from the big three. Crystler was still in to what we called aircraft carriers and Ford was into light/little and or long and slow. Pontiac thought of shorter, but no to short and an inch and a half closer to the pavement. Then they lowered the body profile and so you sat like you were in a lounge chair or something. This succeeded in lowering the cars center of gravity and therefore the manufacturer reduced the weight of the vehicle by some 800 pounds or so, then they added a power house 400 cubic inch power plant with a Rochester 650 Quadra-Jet, quickly replaced by a Holley 650 Spread Bore jetted to 90's in the primaries and 124's in the secondaries.

A B&M Quick Shift Kit with Hi-Jacker air shocks, then a set of 10 inch wide Dunlap G/T Qualifiers, the low profile tires brought it 3/4 of an inch closer to the street. This set the car mechanically to do what she was designed to do. Fly like an Eagle through the coastal mountains just north of San Francisco. The fastest I ever drove this Leviathon was 155 MPH on the down hill from Ogden to Salt Lake City, Utah while racing my friends 400 GTO Judge. It was painted a Midnight Blue and Gold leaf pen striping on the body lines. Later I put the Trans Am spoiler kit on it and fiber glassed them on so no seams could create wind drag and or turbulence. Pontiac was the first production car to have functional wind louvering elements attached to a factory production car in America or the world for that matter.

The speedo topped out at 160 mph and I never took her all the way up. It felt like very stable Jello in a huricane at 155 and that was sufficient enough for me! These were the every days cars of my friends and myself in the 60's and 70's, they were the cars we drove to High School and to work. With the technology of today these cars would be insatiable asphalt monsters again!

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