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Thunderbird Club

#169,386
KaraQ said:
True, true.....but I grew up w/ my dad's & uncle's drag car in the garage, & helped my dad with tech inspections & timing system (my start into electronics & computers) at a drag strip throughout high school. Big heavy motor helps keep the front wheels from getting too high off the ground :smug:
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It turns rubber into smoke without as much forward motion as low mass. My brother had an ex-SCCA C Sedan Morris Mini in the '70s. It was absolutely uncivilized. There was one seat, no interior other than a roll cage, the hydrolastic suspension was completely deflated, no side glass, and a big Webber carb that stuck into the passenger compartment. The motor was balanced, blueprinted, and built to an inch of its life. It would rev to the moon and made a huge amount of power. A fire breathing muscle car weighed about 3500 pounds and put out 350 or 400 horsepower, more or less. That Mini weighed less than 1500 pounds and put out well over 150 horsepower. It wasn't geared all that low, but it was quick, and I learned to beat people from stoplight to stoplight with it. It would really piss off the guy with a GTO who was showing off to his girlfriend. There were guys with really short gearing who were quicker but ran out of steam. Plus, the Mini put ALL the power to the ground, no tire smoke. When it was time to stop or turn, it did really well. The muscle cars didn't do as well.

That car had something bent in the steering rack, which meant I swapped out front wheel bearings all the time. I recall doing it really fast after a while. Check the oil, change the wheel bearings, good to go. It scared the crap out of my brother, and he wouldn't drive it. I thought it was a blast. Low mass is its own reward. So is complete involvement. Modern, perfect cars that go insanely fast without needing constant attention to detail aren't near as much fun as incompetent old cars that require all kinds of shifting, downshifting, doubleclutching, drifting, and everything else that you had to do to keep out of the bushes.
 
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#169,391
GonePlaid said:
I built a plywood box in the back of mine. Wall-to-wall, about 15" high, the size of a twin bed mattress(;)), with a pair of 7ender 12" re-coned bass amp speakers and a coupla piezo tweeters in the front of it; separated by a vertical piece of plywood effectively creating 2 side by each bass cabs. The back side of the box was hinged on one side to swing open giving access to the spare tire, jack, and other[stuff] that was hidden from view. Amps, THUNDERBIRD, etc. went in the side or on top of the 'bed'. 302 V8, 3 on the tree, no AC(had a roof mounted air scoop about a foot back from the windshield and a vent 1' from the back of the roof-it helped[?]), pretty decent Radio Shack AM/FM/Cassette unit. Crappy clutch linkage as you pointed out. Broke once. Had to drive home shifting w/o the clutch. Turn it off at stop lights/signs, start it in first. Had a Busch beer tap handle as a shift knob. First of many vans.
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Yes! Roof vents. You could open them aiming forward or backward.
I had to drive mine that way a couple of times when the clutch jumped off during heavy rain, or somewhere there was nowhere safe to stop to crawl under it. I'd cleverly put in a heavy duty battery. Good thing. I learned a lot about working on cars with that van!
 
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#169,393
KaraQ said:
True, true.....but I grew up w/ my dad's & uncle's drag car in the garage, & helped my dad with tech inspections & timing system (my start into electronics & computers) at a drag strip throughout high school. Big heavy motor helps keep the front wheels from getting too high off the ground :smug:
Click to expand...

My best friend in high school's big brother blew the big-block motor in his Chevelle (Malibu?) SS. He put in a bored-out small block, which turned out to limit his speed on the highway to about less than 80mph, because after that the front end got airborn.
 
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#169,395
Gaolee said:
... Low mass is its own reward. So is complete involvement. Modern, perfect cars that go insanely fast without needing constant attention to detail aren't near as much fun as incompetent old cars that require all kinds of shifting, downshifting, doubleclutching, drifting, and everything else that you had to do to keep out of the bushes.
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This. This. This.

(The rest was good, too, but ... This!)
 
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#169,398
KaraQ said:
So, I got a new bass today. :eyebrow:




It's not a Thunderbird. :rage: :crying:




But I wanted to share, so I took a picture of it with a Thunderbird .... :bag:


View attachment 4151784



(it, of course, needs work. Do I even buy things that don't? :bored: )
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I had a EB SR5er HH for a few years. I liked it better than my SR. Both are gone. But I kind of miss the SR 5er.
 
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