butterflyjack (imported) wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:42 am 120 MPH in a 1957 DeSoto...I was about 18 years old....racing a '62 Falcon v-8....He won...Jackie

1962 Falcon V-8, was that an after-market conversion?

I generally wont drive as fast as you guys. My fastest was only 95 mph across Iowa driving a diesel Road Rescue Ambulance. I don't think I could have gotten any faster.

Chrysler 300K, 130 MPH (135 on the speedometer). A big, luxurious car that rode rougher than my old pick up truck. The car came with a certificate saying it had been tested at 150MPH. --FLO--

The falcon came factory equipped with a small block v8 and four speed. Had a Mustang GT with a 302 that I could bury the speedo on. It would do 60 in second gear and it was a five speed.

About ten or eleven years ago I owned a 1956 Chevy Sedan (It was the Biscayne model not the Bel Air) It had one of those huge inline 6 engines. That engine was not known for its take-off power, but its torque. It could almost pull a house off of its foundations, but it couldn't beat a Toyota hatchback off the starting line. 0 to 60 in about four minutes.

Before I had to sell the old beast so I could move out here to the west coast, I took it for one last drive. I had never attempted to get it up to full speed. (I drove it like a little old man. It was my baby.) Saskatchewan Highways are pretty straight and long. Very few turns. I decided to risk a ticket and finally see just how fast my old beast could go.

The speedometer only went up to 110Mph. It took a while to get there. As it passed about 70Mph you could feel the torque coming in to play. It was actually accelerating with no sign of it slowing down. Holding on for dear life, the speedometer actually pinned itself. So I hit 110Mph. Problem was, it was still accelerating.

I kept my foot to the floor for a few more minutes, and the old car just kept accelerating. Now, the Saskatchewan Highways don't have a a lot of turns or corners, and where they do, they are pretty lazy. When they became too scary for me, and I actually thought I was going to lose control on them at my crazy speed, I finally began to slow down.

The old car took almost as much time to slow, as it did to get up to that crazy speed. I was getting scared that I broke the speedometer, because even though I was slowing, that needle was still pinned. I was watching the road, not the clock, but it felt like it was taking a lot longer to come down than it took to go up. (I also didn't want to burn out the brakes.) Finally the needle twitched, and slowly started to drop.

My heart was absolutely in my chest. A drive that normally took me about forty minutes, seemed to only take about ten or fifteen. I was pretty much out of road by the time I could get turned around and head home. When I got out, I was shaking and could barely walk.

That was adrenaline.

I'm only guessing at my speed, but If I were to guess, I got the old girl up to around 130 to 140 Mph. I felt like Han Solo taking the Millennium Falcon to Light-speed. I almost wish I had got a ticket, just so I'd know for sure how fast I was going. If I had that, I'd frame a copy on my wall.

I still miss that old beast of a car. I probably couldn't afford to fill its tank anymore, but it would sure turn a few heads.

Officially, 110Mph. But I know it went faster.

Cainanite; I believe that model of a '56 Chevy was called a "210"...The engine was a "blue flame" straight 6, the engine that was their base engine from about 1939..up to '62..

Had about 125 hp...but a lot of torque, like a lot of those big sixes back then...Good looking car...You drove it daily, back in the 90's? Many of those old Chevy's rusted away to nothing..winter road salt ate them up. Jackie

You are correct on it being the "210". I've avoided that name because when people are not familiar with those model years, they think it is a truck.

I once had to call a tow-truck when I blew the vacuum advance on the highway. I told them it was a green 1956 "210" and where to find me. The tow truck driver passed me a dozen times before he finally called my cell phone, and I explained what he was supposed to be looking for. He had been looking for a pick-up.

Most people thought it was the "Bel Air" that I drove. Only I, and a handful of people know the difference, and I didn't correct them.

It was the big 235 cubic inch engine in that car. At slower speeds it was like driving a tractor. Smooth ride though.

I tried not to drive the car in the worst of the winter, and I kept it in my garage, out of the elements. Yet, I did drive it often when I shouldn't have done. Rust was an issue, and when I was still in my twenties, I paid a lot to have the body re-done, and the whole thing re-painted. I never did get around to restoring the interior. It had become faded over the years, and there was a big rip in the driver seat. Seat covers were the best I could afford.

I still miss it.

Jag XKE 140 somewhere in New Mexico.

Once I went for a ride with one of the Russo brothers, in a Buick,

we got airborne once or twice.

feedback (imported) wrote: Wed Apr 18, 2012 2:09 pm The falcon came factory equipped with a small block v8 and four speed. Had a Mustang GT with a 302 that I could bury the speedo on. It would do 60 in second gear and it was a five speed.

The Falcon came out in 1960 with only a 6 cylinder engine. I don't remember when it got the first V-8 but it would not have been a mustang 302 in 1962. The Mustang didn't come out until 1964 with a 6 cylinder and a 260 and 289 V-8. The 302 V-8 was was about 1966.

140 mph

1970 Pontiac Gran Prix. I was coming home on a deserted mid-west Interstate on a clear night with a full moon. It was pretty surreal. Any small bump made you feel like you were riding a flat rock skimming across the water.

It may have been faster, but the speedometer only went to 140.