Other American vehicles owned

Ste veT

CCCUK Member
1970 Pontiac Trans-am 400 cu in owned in 1977. Lovely car, used loads of fuel and too expensive for a young lad to run!
I bought the car with engine needing attention, so compression tested the cylinders, which were all vastly different , then removed the heads and valves and sent them to an engineering company to have the valve seats recut and the valves ground in.
The problem was the first two companies I approached wanted to know what the heads were off because they hadn't delt with such large valves before and didn't have a valve seat cutter big enough.
On a recommendation i took them to Walthams in Bognor Regis who were able to complete the job.
One exhaust valve was so pitted I had to source a new one.
I collected a new top end gasket set from EJ motors in Streatham then put it all back together.
Phew it ran like a watch, (lots of ticking) no seriously I was very pleased with the result, smooth and powerful and a pleasure to drive : Incidentaly the car was bought new in America by the Helena Rubinstein cosmetic company in New York who used it as a promotional vehicle.
 

Coffeeboy

Well-known user
I bought the truck first lockdown,then the corvette . Then I bought the gmc with the full rapist conversion !!!
to be fair I drive that the most is even more comfy than my range rover
 

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Mad4slalom

CCCUK Member
Had a 74 chevy c10 ex us army fleetside pick up in 83. Have this customised lump of us iron (and plastic ) now , possibly soon to be sold to help finish the new workshop👍
 

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Nassau65

CCCUK Member
The now classic F-body shape 1970-81.
Bull nose front 70 -73
Slanted front single headlight 74-76
Inboard front double square lights 77-78
Slanted front double lights 79-81.

all nice , and I’ve been lucky enough to have all styles as my personal cars.
Those 400ci motors ( let alone the 455’s) drink fuel like a spaceship. But boy they sure look good. When the T-Top was introduced in 1976 it made them look even better. Only problem with them was they did rust out big time.

big big money now.
 

Roscobbc

Moderator
The more significant American cars I have owned (library images)
'65 Galaxie hardtop
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'66 Galaxie 7 Litre 4 speed
bebe53d1be149794a6ca5a01a6113f1eb6284c20.jpg

'68 Rambler Javelin 343
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'67 Fairlane 390 GTA
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'48 Cadillac V8 flathead sedan
1948-cadillac-series-62
 

Nassau65

CCCUK Member
Had a beautiful green 76 T/A that we got off Lendrum and Hartman that they took in P/X against a new 78 T/A. How I now wished I’d kept it, at least for longer than I did.
 

Nassau65

CCCUK Member
Totally agree that no. 1 is the one nowadays. But back in the day, when that 74 front came out it made that old bull nose look dated. It’s always the same the new one makes the old one look old. Roll on a good few years and suddenly the old one is the one to have.
I’m still waiting for flares to come back.
 

Nassau65

CCCUK Member
The old F Bodies did soldier on tho, muscle was a dwindling thing in the late seventies. Chrysler group had long lost it on that front. The 1979 Mustang had gone all European for its new look ( the bloody thing even paced the Indy 500 that year) At least the General soldiered on with the Corvette, Camaro, and Firebird models. I think all three looked pretty damm good. They might all have been a shadow of their former self, but they still looked like they mean business and more to the point, the buying public loved them.
 
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