High school parking lot

[Doc Sharptail]

I need to correct myself slightly from the above- I did get into the high school driver-ed program- which cost Dad a whopping ten bucks. I woulda been late 15 by the time- probably in June of 73 to meet the 3 month cut-off.
Beautiful car too- '72 full sized Ford T-Bird with a 351-C under the hood, holley 4 bbl and all. That was quite a car! Road tested in it too, and flunked over paralell parking- which I had missed the in car practical session on to go fishing with Dad "up north".

-D.S.

[Doc Sharptail]

We had a few hot cars when I was with the State Patrol. '72 Mercs with a 429 being foremost of that sort. My 1st ride there was a 73 Dodge with 383 - it was no slouch and would go 130 easily.

Sitting in my pic file is me at SWAT training in my 78 Dodge 2 door. It would get right out and "walk the dog", too! Don't recall what motor. SW

IMG_0629.jpg

Looks Charger-ish by the rear quarter panels, but Plymouth rims. Best pal and bud had a 74 Barracuda with those rims, and a somewhat weak 318 2 bbl in it.

South-paw holster? Looks S&W N-frame

-D.S.

[5thDragoons]

Yep I is a leftie! That's a model 66 Smith. The State traded in our model 28s for them. The theory seemed to be more recruits had smaller hands and shot better with the K-frame. We had the option to buy our model 28s @ $140, and I still have mine. They traded in our Win. 351s for M-16s, too. I could have grabbed mine for $250 but thought it was too much.

Now, that caliber ammo is very hard to find. I'm not all that sorry I didn't buy mine. SW

[Doc Sharptail]

Yep I is a leftie! That's a model 66 Smith. The State traded in our model 28s for them. The theory seemed to be more recruits had smaller hands and shot better with the K-frame. We had the option to buy our model 28s @ $140, and I still have mine. They traded in our Win. 351s for M-16s, too. I could have grabbed mine for $250 but thought it was too much.

Now, that caliber ammo is very hard to find. I'm not all that sorry I didn't buy mine. SW

Dad had a Stainless K-66 combat model with 6" bbl. Thought I recognized the grips. Sweet shooter with reduced load 38 spl. wadcutters- very accurate.

-D.S.

[Johnny P]

The Ford had a "Semi-Hemi" which had semi-hemispherical heads. It never caught on like the Mopar hemi, and Ford only made it a couple of years.

[Allen]

"Yep I is a leftie! That's a model 66 Smith. The State traded in our model 28s for them."

My brother was a cop and a leftie. He said it came in handy when having to shoot the tires out on cars that would not stop any other way (while driving at high speeds). He carried a 4" S&W 57 (41mag). He said on one occasion the bullet hit the steel wheel of the tire and he could see the steering wheel jerk out of the drivers hands.

I shoot much better with N frame Smiths than the K frames and don't care much for Colt revolvers at all but I'm just a number.

[PWC]

I never was a gearhead , but in high school I could tell which car was which but engines and 0-60 never interested me. I remember the "fin" wars. After HS I lost that ability, my Uncle Sammy had me busy doing other things. Now it's fun when watching old movies.

Two things...

First, when we came back from Greece, I picked up a brand new 1972 Chevy Malibu with a 350 engine and Super turbo Hydro-matic trans. (I remember cause it was mine) Anyway, someone in marketing repackaged a non-new idea. One of the advertised "new features" for '72 was a lane change signal came standard. Just pull or push the turn signal arm, not til it clicked and locked... just til the signal light blinked, change lanes and relase the lever.

Now, that adman deserved a bonus for selling what people (at least me) and others already did, and still do.

Second, in the '63-'64 time, Oldsmobile came out with the Starfire. It had a silver anodized alum panel about 9" wide running down the middle of both sides. A girl at college had a '62 white 2 door convertable Starfire. Most beautiful car I'd ever seen. (I drove a '53 Ford Fairlane 6 cyl, 4 door)

[Allen]

1955, my uncle went to the Studabaker factory and picked up his new car, the classic style with the bullet point in the grill. 50s style futuristic...60s....not so much except for the commander and the Avanti which I forgot til you reminded me.

Did you know that a version of the Avanti (R3 supercharged) was considered to be the worlds fastest production car in the world in 1963?

That was good styling and good technology for 1963 especially being able to get 335+ hp from such a small engine (back then).

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Studebaker_Avanti

https://classicmotorsports.com/articles/studebaker-avanti-worlds-fastest-production-car/

[Allen]

Watched a NASCAR race Saturday. The pace car was a 1973 Pontiac Granville and drew more attention than the race cars. It was an original pace car used back then now privately owned but brought out for the race. Looked way longer than the race cars.

" A 1973 Pontiac Granville convertible will be used as the pace car for tonight’s ARCA Menards series race (the Owens Corning 200) at Toledo Speedway [Charles Krall on X]"

[Doc Sharptail]

Being thrown by the Granville name~ which may possibly be broadcast gobbleydook.
Front bumper suggests Olds origin, similar to the slightly earlier Pontiac Parissiene series.

-D.S.

[Allen]

This was 1973. What I remember about the Parissiene is it came out about 10 years later and resembled the sawed off looking Caprice. I thought this car was a Bonneville till I looked up the article on the race. Best I recall the article read that Pontiac made 8 Granville pace cars that year but none of them Bonneville's.

This was U.S. sales. There was a Parissiene model sold in Canada from the late 50's on. Those body styles I'm not familiar with.