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Beautiful Cars & Trucks


Eric
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On 4/13/2022 at 4:33 PM, pipedreams said:

1955 Oldsmobile 98 Starfire Convertible!

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That is such a beautiful car and it's the perfect two-tone color combination. But if I had it, I'd take off the fender skirts. Fender skirts are popular now with restored '50's cars because fender skirts are now regarded as a "50's" kind of thing, but I've never liked them and most people back the 50's either never ordered them as an option or took them off if they already  had them just like I did with my 1950 Cadillac that I owned in 1973. And most of the ones you see these days are reproductions and most likely are not original.

Another change I would make would be to take out the original 324 cubic inch engine and put it aside and replace it with a later J2 394 cubic inch engine that is externally identical to both the 324 and the original gen 1 303 cubic inch "Rocket" V8. then I would put on the original engine's air cleaner, valve covers, and exhaust manifolds and pretend that was the original 324 but one that just happened to have a lot more tire smoking horsepower and torque which would make it a lot more fun to drive.

The most powerful engine available in 1955 had a four barrel, a compression of 8.5:1 and produce 202 hp and 332 lb⋅ft of torque. That was not bad for 1955 when a four barrel 283 produced 180 hp but in the early sixties before the Gen 1 engine was replaced by the Gen 2 330, 400, an 455, the 394 had 10.25:1  compression, a higher CFM 4 barrel, more displacement, and developed 345 HP and 460  lb⋅ft of torque.

 

 

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6 hours ago, Swampfox762 said:

2.jpg

I remember seeing that automobile on the cover of Road and Track magazine and thinking, I guess the Japanese can do more than little econo-boxes.

The Datsun 240Z followed a few years later.

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