70NPORT
Old Man with a Hat
Difficult to realize once there were only three auto manufacturers in the US.
Rainy sunday & muscle cars and dodge dart flowers
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cm23uoc
Old Man with a Hat
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And GM about to be split up for market domination due to a market share of about 50 percent around the mid 60s I think.
Bryan
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Actually, there was never only three major manufacturers in the US... Until now if you discount overseas manufacturers with plants here. Even in the 60's, after the wholesale killings of the 50's, there was GM, Ford, Chrysler and AMC (and Studebaker until '66).
cm23uoc
Old Man with a Hat
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You're right, had only the Big Three manufacturers in mind.
Greg B.
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I remember a cover of Business Week magazine in late '79 or early '80 that indicated GM was approaching a 60% share. Hard to believe.
Since Bluefury mentioned this thread in another discussion, I thought I'd bring it back from the dead and add to it.
My A12 car came to me in 1979. A friend had bought it from another friend who had bought it from the second owner. It was looking pretty sad, the engine was long gone, but the hood was there and the car was pretty solid. One thing lead to another and when my buddy needed some cash rally quick, I was there.
I was still racing at the time, but I wanted a fast street car and the Roadrunner was perfect. I had a few extras and a left over engine sitting on the stand. That engine pushed the race car (another 69 Roadrunner) to some 11.70's in C/SA trim, so I was pretty confident that it would be great for this car.
I started bracket racing, because that was where the $$ was. I was playing games with the tree in this pic, the car ran quicker than the 11.90 dial in on the windshield. The car was lightened a little and 10.5 wide tires were added to keep it consistent.
I decided to go a little faster and I mini-tubbed the car and built a stronger motor. I don't have any pictures of the car in that trim unfortunately. About that time, I met my future ex-wife and decided that racing wasn't gonna fit in anymore. The car was sold for a down payment on a house. I still live in the same house BTW.
So... it was full speed ahead with the A-12. I was building an occasional engine for others and built a 340 engine for a guy's 34 Plymouth street rod in exchange repainting the Q5 turquoise. The C/SA engine was toned down a bit with a different cam. I built an automatic trans for it to replace the 1964 4 speed someone had cobbed into the car.
I drove that car a lot. Back and forth to work and even in my wedding. The car had a bunch of different garage mates, a few Hemi cars and some Darts over the years that came and went, but the A-12 stayed. It even made the cover of Chrysler Power Magazine once. I showed it, raced it... had a blast with it.
The car started showing its age though... and it really needed to be gone though and suddenly life happened...
In 2000, I got involved in a new business venture that started taking my time... My Mom got very sick and I divorced my wife... all in the course of a year. The car went to the back burner, only coming out when time allowed. In the next few years, Mom passed, I got remarried and business was very good and very busy. The car still needed a lot though and now had taken up permanent garage storage status.
Time passes... and I couldn't find the time and then the couldn't find the desire. It was time to let someone else enjoy the car and after 34 years, it went to a great friend of mine who has the time and $$ to do it right.
My A12 car came to me in 1979. A friend had bought it from another friend who had bought it from the second owner. It was looking pretty sad, the engine was long gone, but the hood was there and the car was pretty solid. One thing lead to another and when my buddy needed some cash rally quick, I was there.
I was still racing at the time, but I wanted a fast street car and the Roadrunner was perfect. I had a few extras and a left over engine sitting on the stand. That engine pushed the race car (another 69 Roadrunner) to some 11.70's in C/SA trim, so I was pretty confident that it would be great for this car.
I started bracket racing, because that was where the $$ was. I was playing games with the tree in this pic, the car ran quicker than the 11.90 dial in on the windshield. The car was lightened a little and 10.5 wide tires were added to keep it consistent.
I decided to go a little faster and I mini-tubbed the car and built a stronger motor. I don't have any pictures of the car in that trim unfortunately. About that time, I met my future ex-wife and decided that racing wasn't gonna fit in anymore. The car was sold for a down payment on a house. I still live in the same house BTW.
So... it was full speed ahead with the A-12. I was building an occasional engine for others and built a 340 engine for a guy's 34 Plymouth street rod in exchange repainting the Q5 turquoise. The C/SA engine was toned down a bit with a different cam. I built an automatic trans for it to replace the 1964 4 speed someone had cobbed into the car.
I drove that car a lot. Back and forth to work and even in my wedding. The car had a bunch of different garage mates, a few Hemi cars and some Darts over the years that came and went, but the A-12 stayed. It even made the cover of Chrysler Power Magazine once. I showed it, raced it... had a blast with it.
The car started showing its age though... and it really needed to be gone though and suddenly life happened...
In 2000, I got involved in a new business venture that started taking my time... My Mom got very sick and I divorced my wife... all in the course of a year. The car went to the back burner, only coming out when time allowed. In the next few years, Mom passed, I got remarried and business was very good and very busy. The car still needed a lot though and now had taken up permanent garage storage status.
Time passes... and I couldn't find the time and then the couldn't find the desire. It was time to let someone else enjoy the car and after 34 years, it went to a great friend of mine who has the time and $$ to do it right.
70NPORT
Old Man with a Hat
Great story, cool car. Any motor pics??
Nope. Never wasted the film on stuff like that back then.
70NPORT
Old Man with a Hat
Too bad. Would have been cool to see that.
cm23uoc
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Great pics and story. So, how far have resto work gone to the day now in the hands of the new owner ?
The car is in the body shop right now. A couple weeks from being done. He'll have the car on the road by June at the latest.
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polara71
Old Man with a Hat
Thats why old photos are hard to come by, many times it was considered wasting film on stuff like that.
Excellent story John..... the runner is biting, look at those meats
The car always launched hard. When I sold it,I warned the new owner and he never listened. He bolted a killer nitrous system on it and put it look its back bumper. He panicked and got out of it. Destroyed the front suspension.
Film was expensive. $3 or $4 a roll and the same to develop. That was a half tank of gas.
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cm23uoc
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As the saying goes: A car is fast enough when you're afraid to unlock it to drive it to work in the morning.
70NPORT
Old Man with a Hat
DAMN, I can't fill my tank up even half ways with $25 bucks today.
cm23uoc
Old Man with a Hat
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This thread should be bumped about every couple of weeks
. You remember Will's old RR I guess.Just happened to wonder the other day about the original buyer group and how was the usual financing. These cars were starting at 3 k in standard form with the 383, the 6 bbl adding about 500-700 with some performance options added.
What age group was the buyer back then, the ones below 30 I guess and was this affordable with a little saving for the average guy of the age group or mostly financed in monthly installments ?
