Scene: Summer of '65 (between Jr & Sr years of high school), while on lunchbreak from my summer job, walking along "main street" (a loop of two one-way streets running up & down the length of the business district) of a town in the Columbia Gorge. The first sensation was hearing the nasty, lumpy snarl of a cammy solid-lifter small-block, dumped through headers, glass-pacs & side exhausts, echoing off the store-fronts as it came up behind me. I just about swiveled my head off my shoulders trying to locate the source of that sound, which turned out to be a white Mustang fastback with blue stripes & Cragar mags (which I didn't identify as a '65 GT350 until several years later) *...driven by a YOUNG WOMAN, of all things...* to the surprize of my adolescent male ego. My eyes followed that car down one side of the "loop", and--because the driver apparently didn't find what she was looking for--my ears followed it back down the other side, up the on-ramp, and back out onto the freeway. Fast-forward about 30 years, and as that wonderful journey into second childhood began in earnest with the purchase of an A-code Mustang GT, I joined WASAAC in search of a group of folks who liked to drive their cars more than park them on display. It took me about two club meetings to realize that the car I REALLY wanted was a SHELBY GT350, not *just* a Mustang GT, so I placed a "car-wanted" ad in the club newsletter for an "older restoration or unrestored" car...and when the ad appeared, sonofagun if there wasn't a "for sale" ad about two ads away from it that was a mirror-image description of the car I'd asked about--an original paint & interior (& motor), two-owner '66 Hertz with less than 50K miles on the odo. It'd been in storage for about 25 years, and was just completing a mechanical freshening to correct the effects of that storage--so I got a top-loader in the car (and the hipo C-4 in storage). Since then, I've briefly owned two leaf-spring Cobras (trading away the first one exemplifies the down-side of second childhood--those other cars you've wanted so bad for so long that you make the mistake of trading away what becomes "the one I REALLY should've kept"), a '70 Chevelle SS LS6, big- & small-block '65 'Vette roadsters, 350 & 396 SS Novas, several "stronger than stock" first-gen. Mustangs (including AINT 1, my GT350 clone)...but nothing can take the place of a Shelby. For now, I'm lucky enough to be the current *care-taker* of 5S003, and (hopefully, by now) smart enough to NOT give in to any temptation trade it away while overcome by a moment of lust for some automotive temptress...barring emergencies, we'll be at SAAC 30 this summer. And, I still own 6S1261; we celebrated "turning 50" together several summers ago (years for me, K-miles for 1261), and if I have my way, 1261 will be the last car I drive before I have to give up my license & keys and move into the ol' folks home at the end of this life's highway (and rather than waxing philosophical, I should be waxing one of the Shelbys, in anticipation of the next Pacific NW day "dry enough to drive", eh?). Dave
Small Pleasures I never could have imagined the pleasure of going to a cruise in ..with my oldest son driving our '69 GT500. I hope you all have a similar moment sometime. My son and I cleaned 5 cars today I suggested to my son that he clean himself up and go pick up his girlfriend, and meet me at a local cruise in. He appreciated the offer..he is not in love with the '69 ( he really likes our 66 better and is still mad about about the 3-4 other early cars that I should have kept) but he certainly knows a gift horse when it smacks him upside the head. So, he meets me 30 or so minutes later.....and if you could have seen the looks when he drives up in the '69. I need to add, that he is a terribly responsible 16 year old but anyway, if monkeys could have flown out of a few butts, they would have. The car has a shift kit so every small parking adjustment is met with a significant chirp.....that has a way of saying....stay a couple of steps away! We walk around......grab a quick dinner at a restaurant adjacent to the parking lot and then return to find a small crowd around the car. I got in my car and he exchanged some small talk ..and a thank you..regarding the '69 ( Thanks Ron) ..and a whole new set of jaws drop to see him drive off. A guy sort of stammered...is that....that....is that your son? 3-4 guys my age were considering tackling him and taking the keys! The evening is capped off by a replica Cobra almost committing driving suicide to catch him toodling along on the way home. And yes...he pulls up next to him....and see's a 16 year old driving. He yelled something I could not decipher..but it capped off the evening. It is still amazing to me the attention these old cars draw. We were in parking lot of VERY nice cars...even a hemi GTX...and a metal street rod that must have cost well over 100K many years ago to build....but folks kept on walking over to the Shelby. Thanks for enduring the story! Oh, I even got a compliment on the license plate rim on our Saleen that says.....my other car is Shelby. A Christmas gift from my oldest! Aint life grand. Dan C DLen1261@aol.com wrote: > Scene: Summer of '65 (between Jr & Sr years of high school), while on > lunchbreak from my summer job, walking along "main street" (a loop of > two one-way streets running up & down the length of the business > district) of a town in the Columbia Gorge. > > The first sensation was hearing the nasty, lumpy snarl of a cammy > solid-lifter small-block, dumped through headers, glass-pacs & side > exhausts, echoing off the store-fronts as it came up behind me. I > just about swiveled my head off my shoulders trying to locate the > source of that sound, which turned out to be a white Mustang fastback > with blue stripes & Cragar mags (which I didn't identify as a '65 > GT350 until several years later) *...driven by a YOUNG WOMAN, of all > things...* to the surprize of my adolescent male ego. My eyes > followed that car down one side of the "loop", and--because the driver > apparently didn't find what she was looking for--my ears followed it > back down the other side, up the on-ramp, and back out onto the freeway. > > Fast-forward about 30 years, and as that wonderful journey into second > childhood began in earnest with the purchase of an A-code Mustang GT, > I joined WASAAC in search of a group of folks who liked to drive their > cars more than park them on display. It took me about two club > meetings to realize that the car I REALLY wanted was a SHELBY GT350, > not *just* a Mustang GT, so I placed a "car-wanted" ad in the club > newsletter for an "older restoration or unrestored" car...and when the > ad appeared, sonofagun if there wasn't a "for sale" ad about two ads > away from it that was a mirror-image description of the car I'd asked > about--an original paint & interior (& motor), two-owner '66 Hertz > with less than 50K miles on the odo. It'd been in storage for about > 25 years, and was just completing a mechanical freshening to correct > the effects of that storage--so I got a top-loader in the car (and the > hipo C-4 in storage). > > Since then, I've briefly owned two leaf-spring Cobras (trading away > the first one exemplifies the down-side of second childhood--those > other cars you've wanted so bad for so long that you make the mistake > of trading away what becomes "the one I REALLY should've kept"), a '70 > Chevelle SS LS6, big- & small-block '65 'Vette roadsters, 350 & 396 SS > Novas, several "stronger than stock" first-gen. Mustangs (including > AINT 1, my GT350 clone)...but nothing can take the place of a Shelby. > > For now, I'm lucky enough to be the current *care-taker* of 5S003, and > (hopefully, by now) smart enough to NOT give in to any temptation > trade it away while overcome by a moment of lust for some automotive > temptress...barring emergencies, we'll be at SAAC 30 this summer. > > And, I still own 6S1261; we celebrated "turning 50" together several > summers ago (years for me, K-miles for 1261), and if I have my way, > 1261 will be the last car I drive before I have to give up my license > & keys and move into the ol' folks home at the end of this life's > highway (and rather than waxing philosophical, I should be waxing one > of the Shelbys, in anticipation of the next Pacific NW day "dry enough > to drive", eh?). > > Dave
