First American Car/Truck/SUV?
Discussion
When I moved from UK to US, I'd already been bitten by this bug. I had owned and driven several American cars in the UK, but the first one will always have a special place in my memory.
It was a 1968 Olds Cutlass S - imported by a US serviceman in 1972 and bought by me and my brother-in-law (250 quid each) in 1980. Cosmetically, it was a little rough around the edges, but it had a 350 Rocket motor and a TH400 trans that was stout, when we could persuade the damn thing to start. I think in hindsight, the Rochester Quadrajet over-fueled it and I was too inexperienced to re-jet it with any finesse.
It was a bad-ass car though - and much sought after these days. I suspect it's been gutted and crushed by now, but we had a lot of fun with it.
Excuse the grimy old pics - we used it as my sisters wedding car - classy, or what?
So - what was your first 'murican?
It was a 1968 Olds Cutlass S - imported by a US serviceman in 1972 and bought by me and my brother-in-law (250 quid each) in 1980. Cosmetically, it was a little rough around the edges, but it had a 350 Rocket motor and a TH400 trans that was stout, when we could persuade the damn thing to start. I think in hindsight, the Rochester Quadrajet over-fueled it and I was too inexperienced to re-jet it with any finesse.
It was a bad-ass car though - and much sought after these days. I suspect it's been gutted and crushed by now, but we had a lot of fun with it.
Excuse the grimy old pics - we used it as my sisters wedding car - classy, or what?
So - what was your first 'murican?
Matt Harper said:
When I moved from UK to US, I'd already been bitten by this bug. I had owned and driven several American cars in the UK, but the first one will always have a special place in my memory.
It was a 1968 Olds Cutlass S - imported by a US serviceman in 1972 and bought by me and my brother-in-law (250 quid each) in 1980. Cosmetically, it was a little rough around the edges, but it had a 350 Rocket motor and a TH400 trans that was stout, when we could persuade the damn thing to start. I think in hindsight, the Rochester Quadrajet over-fueled it and I was too inexperienced to re-jet it with any finesse.
It was a bad-ass car though - and much sought after these days. I suspect it's been gutted and crushed by now, but we had a lot of fun with it.
Excuse the grimy old pics - we used it as my sisters wedding car - classy, or what?
So - what was your first 'murican?
Is that a good old Thrush sidepipe.....but on one side only....??It was a 1968 Olds Cutlass S - imported by a US serviceman in 1972 and bought by me and my brother-in-law (250 quid each) in 1980. Cosmetically, it was a little rough around the edges, but it had a 350 Rocket motor and a TH400 trans that was stout, when we could persuade the damn thing to start. I think in hindsight, the Rochester Quadrajet over-fueled it and I was too inexperienced to re-jet it with any finesse.
It was a bad-ass car though - and much sought after these days. I suspect it's been gutted and crushed by now, but we had a lot of fun with it.
Excuse the grimy old pics - we used it as my sisters wedding car - classy, or what?
So - what was your first 'murican?
1971 Challenger 440 R/T .
High stall B&M converter , headers, deleted the air con , anti tramp bars.
I cranked the torsion bar front suspension the lowest it could go to get the " funny car " look.
American racing wheels. Deleted the silencers.
Circa 1975 , that house was my parents des res, Cross Oak Lane , Smallfields . Surrey.
Pre M25, I travelled to South London using the A23 , halcyon days.
American Autoparts in Wallington were the suppliers. Steve Thompson was the owner of the workshop located in Thornton Heath .
Challenger was preceded by a Sunbeam Tiger ( 260) , Mike the Pipe was an exhaust fabricator in Carshalton who deleted the silencers of the Tiger.
Challenger was part exchanged for a 454 manual Stingray.
aeropilot said:
Is that a good old Thrush sidepipe.....but on one side only....??
Actually, I think it was an even cheaper knock-off of a Thrush item - and yes - both banks were routed through it - it was quite stupid, but it wasn't long before I hacked it off, installed a set of Hooker shorty headers and connected to a more conventional rear-exiting tail pipes.
![](https://thumbsnap.com/sc/1DZ834jG.jpg[/img]</a> <a href="https://thumbsnap.com/vdbniiFC" Target="_blank" rel="nofollow">[img]https://thumbsnap.com/sc/vdbniiFC.jpg)
First Yank purchased July 2017, 5.7Litre small block Chevy, 1961 GMC Apache. Positrac LSD power steering etc. Unfortunately 6 weeks into ownership slipped off road on diesel spillage at 25/30 in a 50mph and hit a lamp post at approx 15mph. Damage was sufficient to write it off but it is out there being reborn probably in someone’s shed. No pictures of accident as I managed to drive over my iPad this summer and destroyed it with no cloud back up.
It won’t be my last as really miss it and need to have one to collect next years Christmas tree
first yank car i bought was a barn find 69 barracuda 340,turned out it was bought by roger moore for his wife dorothy squires,i found it in 1978,never got to start or drive it,sold it to a drag racer from santa pod, i worked for a guy who had a gt500 428 shelby cobra called snake charmer,he had a chevy c10 stepside raised 4ft up a 289 piper fuel injected 69 mustang,a buick boat tail firefly called goldfinger and a 71 windsor mach1, after my motorcycle racing career finished in 1988,i bought a 72 mach 1 in red,it was 68000m,4 owners,but red ,i stripped it down and spent about £12k restoring it back to original colours etc,the engine a 302 hi-po was rebuilt with the best internals etc money could buy, new 600cfm holley,offenhauser 360 manifold,crane cam,trw flat forged pistons etc its still going strong today with only 82000m
I've owned several American trucks including a 69 C10, 72 GMC Sierra Grand, several Chevy C2500/C3500 models and a couple of Ford Super Duty diesels. This is my first American car however. It's a 1968 Deville Convertible that I bought 7 days ago. After tinkering with RR/Bentley/Mercedes/BMW and Jaguar. It's so nice to tinker with something so simple and cheap to fix.
alabbasi said:
I've owned several American trucks including a 69 C10, 72 GMC Sierra Grand, several Chevy C2500/C3500 models and a couple of Ford Super Duty diesels. This is my first American car however. It's a 1968 Deville Convertible that I bought 7 days ago. After tinkering with RR/Bentley/Mercedes/BMW and Jaguar. It's so nice to tinker with something so simple and cheap to fix.
more photos chapirocfan said:
more photos chap
If you're interested, here's a rough and ready video from when i picked it up at auction.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Z2ZOIm2Qfk&t=...
Ordered my first batch of parts this week. 46 items for under $250. Not bad considering I couldn't get one door seal for a Mercedes for that price.
Edited by alabbasi on Saturday 25th May 01:22
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