Corvettes & 4 speeds

[Tim S.]

http://www.competitionplus.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=11316&Itemid=6

Before we got serious about restoring them. Very cool IMO

[Michael G.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Gret stuff Tim, Thanks

[Tom P.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

I really feel sorry for the puke wennies that own performance/street cars, ESPECIALLY Corvettes, who cannot, or are too lazy to, drive a 4sp (or 5 or 6sp)! An auto tranny in that type of a car just negates owning one!
When I'm driving the 56, I DO NOT pamper it.

Thanks! That video was great. Reminds me of the old days of REAL drag drivers (as well as myself).

[Joe C.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

I really feel sorry for the puke wennies that own performance/street cars, ESPECIALLY Corvettes, who cannot, or are too lazy to, drive a 4sp (or 5 or 6sp)! An auto tranny in that type of a car just negates owning one!
When I'm driving the 56, I DO NOT pamper it.

Thanks! That video was great. Reminds me of the old days of REAL drag drivers (as well as myself).

Yeah............and they actually powershift the beasties! Nowadays those few guys who don't drive automatics shift so slowly that I'm almost expecting to hear them double clutch.

[Tim S.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

I really feel sorry for the puke wennies that own performance/street cars, ESPECIALLY Corvettes, who cannot, or are too lazy to, drive a 4sp (or 5 or 6sp)! An auto tranny in that type of a car just negates owning one!
When I'm driving the 56, I DO NOT pamper it.

Thanks! That video was great. Reminds me of the old days of REAL drag drivers (as well as myself).

Glad you enjoyed! Reminds me when I was REAL young at Union Grove. You sure do not hear 10,000 RPM small blocks with huge flywheels anymore. Those were Muncie's and Super T-10's, not Liberty's and Jericho's.
Back when men drove 4 speeds and tapper was .10.

[Dale S.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Nothing as sweet as a small block sound in the morning. And remember they did not have Rev. limiters. Total skill or disaster. Dale

[Tom P.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Glad you enjoyed! Reminds me when I was REAL young at Union Grove. You sure do not hear 10,000 RPM small blocks with huge flywheels anymore. Those were Muncie's and Super T-10's, not Liberty's and Jericho's.
Back when men drove 4 speeds and tapper was .10.

Tim,
I AM young!! I'm only 17yrs old------------------I'm just trapped in this darn 66yr old body!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh ya, and I still do some hard core power shifting------------WITHOUT lifting on the gas!

This is the 70 Chevelle (I don't have a video like this in the 56), my son rode with me on a pass and held the camera. But this kind of treatment is NOT uncommon for the 56.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVMzyKWBTHg

[Jim D.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Tim,
I AM young!! I'm only 17yrs old------------------I'm just trapped in this darn 66yr old body!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh ya, and I still do some hard core power shifting------------WITHOUT lifting on the gas!

This is the 70 Chevelle (I don't have a video like this in the 56), my son rode with me on a pass and held the camera. But this kind of treatment is NOT uncommon for the 56.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVMzyKWBTHg

Come on grandma. I saw the right foot lift. Looks like my 70 LS6 but I didn't have A/C. but I did have the factory 8 track player.

[Tim S.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Tim,
I AM young!! I'm only 17yrs old------------------I'm just trapped in this darn 66yr old body!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh ya, and I still do some hard core power shifting------------WITHOUT lifting on the gas!

This is the 70 Chevelle (I don't have a video like this in the 56), my son rode with me on a pass and held the camera. But this kind of treatment is NOT uncommon for the 56.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVMzyKWBTHg

NEEEEEAT! Anyone else have videos of beatin the tar out of the car?

[Wayne K.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

My older sister had a 67 Mustang when I was a freshman in college. She would let me use it for changing the oil and tuning. I swear that when I'd power shift that sucker the dash flexed so much it looked like it bounced back of the windshield. Damn thats hard on a car.

[Steven B.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Tim,
I AM young!! I'm only 17yrs old------------------I'm just trapped in this darn 66yr old body!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh ya, and I still do some hard core power shifting------------WITHOUT lifting on the gas!

This is the 70 Chevelle (I don't have a video like this in the 56), my son rode with me on a pass and held the camera. But this kind of treatment is NOT uncommon for the 56.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVMzyKWBTHg

I was a little hesitant to power shift and shift without the clutch just after I got the '57. Luckily it was raining one day, road nice and wet, so it worked out OK with the Atlas Bucron Cheater Slicks not grabbing too hard. After that it was easy. Only replaced one clutch and a set of tires the first couple of years. 'Do remember Bucron chunks on the hood. I let it spin a little too long.

[Stuart F.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Temptation was on me big time yesterday when I did the Richard Petty Experience on the high banks of Daytona, thanks to my twin sons giving me the ride for my 70th birthday. I drove an old "Kevin Harvick" #29 Chevy. They have an instructor pace you and use a light system on the back of his car (one orange and one green) to advise you if you are too close or too far back (me). They tell you up front; no burn outs, no power shifts, and you must shift at 4000 rpm up to 4th gear as soon as you enter turn #1 from the pits. I admit, I'm not a circle track guy and I was intimidated by the high banks and the WALLs! I usually took a lower line than the pace car and failed to up throttle enough in the corners to stay up to the desired 4 car lengths, but in the back straight I'd get me a yellow light for closing in (old straight line dragger habit). I have a somewhat gimp right arm from an old injury so I found the steering input to be quite high in the corners, even with power steering. They give you eight (8) laps and a cool down where you drop down on the apron going into turn three (3), allow it to slow, then brake your way back into the pits - NO Downshifting! Those things were a little frustrating, but I guess I could live within the rules or be embarrassed in front of all my family by getting a red flag.

The cars they use are old "cars of yesterday" Gen I small blocks - no SB-2's. They do have plenty of power using a wild cam and aluminum heads, from what I could see/hear. The four speed has a long throw Hurst Shifter, just like the old days. They do limit you to 145 mph for "Rookies", which is only about 5500 rpm down the back stretch.

It was fun and quite an experience. If nothing else, I have a new found appreciation for the Athletic Drivers it takes to drive these cars in competition for 500 miles - Wow! I sweat up a storm in just 10 minutes!

I recommend the experience to all. There are discounted gift coupons on E-Bay all the time, and they are set up at tracks all over the country. I got me a real nice plaque and a DVD video of me driving (look of panic on face) and out the front window coming in about 3 weeks. Go for it!

Stu Fox

[Paul J.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Tim,
I AM young!! I'm only 17yrs old------------------I'm just trapped in this darn 66yr old body!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Oh ya, and I still do some hard core power shifting------------WITHOUT lifting on the gas!

This is the 70 Chevelle (I don't have a video like this in the 56), my son rode with me on a pass and held the camera. But this kind of treatment is NOT uncommon for the 56.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVMzyKWBTHg

Doggonnit Tom!!!

Now you've made me want to go back and look again at the 67 Chevelle "barn find" that I passed up on last month. It took my wife a week to talk me out of it!

Paul

[Tom P.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

YOU PASSED ON A 67 CHEVELLE?????????????????
MY GOD, YOU'RE INSANE--------------or pu$$^ whipped!
To me, next to a killer BB 70, the 67 is the ultimate of the earlier bodies!
I don't care if it's a triple cheap 300 base model, that was an awsome body style---------------the epitome of the earlier muscle car image!

[Jim L.]

Re: Corvettes & 4 speeds

Temptation was on me big time yesterday when I did the Richard Petty Experience on the high banks of Daytona, ......

My bride did the RPE at Las Vegas in an early Kyle Bush replicar when she was 62. She bump-drafted the pace car for the entire nine laps. At the end, she got a certificate for having gone 131.92 MPH (132 was the insurance-imposed limit on the 1.5 mile LV track).

All the way home to northern California, all I heard repeatedly was "I had such a good time!!!!"




My avatar is of her track car, BTW.

If speed doesn't bother you, then RPE or something like it belongs on your bucket list.

Me? I took pictures. Speed scares me.

Jim