L88 Street driven

[Gene M.]

Re: L88 Street driven

Sure one can drive an L88 on the street. I see much more radical Big and Small blocks going in and out at the cruise in. Some are even driving with slicks and drag radials. But my guess is the tires don't last long nor do they drive very far. In fact the L88 seem quite tame compared to the full race drag cars some drive in. Seems that some guys are willing to put up with cars that have real bad street manners. Oh the smell of racing or aviation fuel burning in the air!

[Steven B.]

Re: L88 Street driven

Back in '67 there was a L88 in Ft. Wayne that saw street duty. I saw it in the showroom when it was new, a Lyndale Blue convertible. Steve Brohard knows about it. I stopped to look at a used '66 SS396 Malibu but ended up buying a new 442. Sunoco 260 was at every Sunoco station and Union76 had 104 octane premium.

Tom

Yes, one of the memorable rides of my life. 'Stopped for gas and turned the lever to 260. I don't recall the gearing but it sure overpowered the factory rubber. He did a launch from a traffic light and it just smoked.

[Edward S.]

Re: L88 Street driven

Years ago the fellow that did repairs on any of my vettes borrowed a tape taken at a major show somewhere held in a very large indoor arena - there were at least 5 67 L88s in a special section. I remember that one had a sign on it stating that no one had ever sat in the passenger seat - total mileage was like 7 miles. At the end of the tape one of the owners started his car to take whoever was taking the tape for a ride. I remember them going out a rear door making a hard left and going down a long alley to the main street out front. They had to wait to make a right on to the main drag so the driver shut the car down saying he could not let the car idle without it overheating. Everytime he had to make a stop he would shut it down. He did get on a road that he could really open it up, all of a sudden you could see the hood start to shake - the owner forgot to shut the hood all the way. The tape ended with the owner getting out to take care of the hood. It was a great tape - what a great sound came from that car.

[Steve B.]

Re: L88 Street driven

Years ago the fellow that did repairs on any of my vettes borrowed a tape taken at a major show somewhere held in a very large indoor arena - there were at least 5 67 L88s in a special section. I remember that one had a sign on it stating that no one had ever sat in the passenger seat - total mileage was like 7 miles. At the end of the tape one of the owners started his car to take whoever was taking the tape for a ride. I remember them going out a rear door making a hard left and going down a long alley to the main street out front. They had to wait to make a right on to the main drag so the driver shut the car down saying he could not let the car idle without it overheating. Everytime he had to make a stop he would shut it down. He did get on a road that he could really open it up, all of a sudden you could see the hood start to shake - the owner forgot to shut the hood all the way. The tape ended with the owner getting out to take care of the hood. It was a great tape - what a great sound came from that car.

I remember seeing that tape too. It was from Bloomington Gold 1992 celebration 67. That was a great event! The red coupe was the 12 mile coupe and the white coupe that went for the drive is Dave Walters' car.

[Edward S.]

Re: L88 Street driven

Steve if I remember correctly the owner who took his car out for the ride - when he got out of the car I could swear that he had hood straps on the car. Am I correct or did I have too much iced tea to drink.

[Steve B.]

Re: L88 Street driven

Ed, I don't remember if the hood had straps but I remember seeing the hood lift at speed because the it was not closed. The car sounded great!

[Dick W.]

Re: L88 Street driven

I drove my '69 on the street quite often. Fuel was no problem as there were three NASCAR teams based here. I could always buy five-ten gallons of Uniocal race fuel. It had the ZL-1 cam and the over the counter headers and side pipes. Only problem I had was in heavy traffic around town. Oh the sweet music that thing made

[Mark D.]

Re: L88 Street driven

I remember almost having mine impounded at the Charlotte Motor Speedway for, shall we say, unbecoming behaviour.

[Mark G.]

Re: L88 Street driven

Do any of you have pictures of your L88's?