hbody memories

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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Mon Mar 11, 2002 10:36 pm

From: chevyman43055_REMOVE_506548_THIS_@yahoo.com


one of my mechanic customers asked me today why
i
keep working on a car that is a dinosaur,why
not
just buy a camaro? he says.well,for one thing
that
would be too easy.and for another i have fond memories
of hbodys.most of which involved a girl
and
wouldnt be appropriate to post here.back in the day,late
'70s,vega's were everywhere,so were monza's.the coolest guy
in town where i grew up had a blacked out monza
spyder with some wild
aftermarket flare package,a
righteous 350,louvers,
centerlines,etc.no car in town
could touch it,not
even my 440 charger.my dodge was
just way too heavy for any street fights,especially
against a
2600 lbs v8 monza.just wondered if anyone
has any
memories of the days when vega's and
monza's were everywhere????????????


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Mon Mar 11, 2002 11:37 pm

From: vegaman76_REMOVE_708113_THIS_@yahoo.com


Hi there I got some h-body memories to say When I
was 5 years old I used to play around in my 76 vega
gt and make belive i was driving it and boy I
thought I was cool doing it but now I'm 23 years old
driving my 76 vega gt and boy let me tell you I would'nt
drive any other litte car made and my memories of the
girls are still to come and i can't wait


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 12:20 am

From: cliffhangeriii_REMOVE_745668_THIS_@yahoo.com


My best memories were riding around in my buddies
Yellow 77 305 Spyder. I was with him when he found it,
she was a little rough and he just saw a beater. I
didn't know any thing about Monzas then at 19, but I saw
the fender emblem {only had one} V8 5.0Liter and I
was like aaaaahubbahubba this little thing has a
factory V8!!!!!! He's like SOOOO. I had just bought a car
and couldn't buy her so he did. She was SO TOUGH with
that big black spider on the hood and he put a Thrush
muffler on the single exaust, and it had a nice loud BOOM
BOOM BOOM at idle. He went threw tons of the old 13s
doing burnouts everywhere, he got a bunch of tickets in
her to. I eventually bought her for parts for mine,
Mine is southern with no rust but I still love that
old yellow Spyder better!!! Brings a tear to my eye.


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 7:35 pm

From: pfjk36322_REMOVE_789745_THIS_@yahoo.com


My best friend had a 1976 Bicentennial 262
Monza.He and I both made it home on leave at the same
time.He wanted me to meet a female GI where he was
stationed.So off we went from SE Ala to Huntsville.This is a
"normal" six-seven hour drive today.We did it in less than
4 hrs!And this was when the spd limit was the
boring/dangerous 55 MPH.That little baby flat flew,in A/C
comfort,passing everything,and generating a lot of traffic on the
truckers' CB's.Even the Ala Trooper in his AMC Javelin
Intercepter was impressed.My USAF blues and my buddies USA
dress greens laid out in the back, got us a verbal
warning.Later that night I was w/ the girl in the Monza at look
out mountain.GM carpet burns weren't too
bad!LOL
Frank


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 8:05 pm

From: twelve_second_vega_REMOVE_972487_THIS_@yahoo.com


Because this is my first personally owned Vega
and my first Chevrolet, most of my H-Body memories
involve someone else's car that I worked on.

I
remember helping a buddy put a V8 in a bright orange
'Millionth Vega' back in high school. There was an old guy
down the street who gave us a 283 with pop-ups and a
solid lifter cam that was just sitting in his
garage.

We started raiding our friend's garages and by
the end of the night, we had a tunnel ram, 750 Holley
and a boatload of good used stuff.

We
installed the engine with a Hooker/Trans-Dapt style kit and
put a TH350 behind it with a 'GM-6'
Converter.

We didn't do anything to upgrade the brakes or
suspension. We just wanted it to be fast. I think we had
about $200.00 total invested in that car when it was
done. The car was very, very quick and it wasn't long
before the rear end let go.

I came down with
Hepatitis and missed a lot of school. when I was starting
to get better, he brought the car by my house. I
remember him telling me how his Dad welded the Vega
Brackets onto another rearend and bolted it in.


The look of the welds made me almost afraid to ride
in the car, but I agreed to go with him to Famosa
Raceway in Bakersfield, CA.

I remember how
surprised I was to see the car dip into the twelve's with a
screaming 12.97 on cheater-slicks and open exhaust. The car
was oh so rough looking, but it was sure fast on a
limited budget.

More recently, I recall finally
sealing the deal on my one-owner 1972 Hatchback after 3
years of pestering the seller. I bought the car on
February 24, 2000 and drove it 18 miles home from Woodlake
to Visalia, California.

Along the way, the
glovebox popped open and a swarm of angry yellow jackets
filled the inside of the car. You would be surprised how
well those stock Vega Manual Brakes stop when you are
being stung repeatedly.

Once I got them out of
the car and managed to get home, my wife asked to go
for a ride. We went right down the main drag on a
Saturday evening and parked at In-N-Out Burger.

Of
course, the locals teased me because I was a Ford guy,
but a lot of the older guys were talking about the
Vega and looking it over as much as they did the
really nice cars out there. Seems like everyone had a V8
Vega at one time and it was neat to hear all the
stories about them.

I also remember how hard the
TH350 would shift under wide open throttle. That little
140 would get a mean scratch on the 1-2 shift. I did
this as we were leaving and a cheer went up from the
local crowd.

My wife just looked over at me a
rolled her eyes.
It was kinda cool. Hopefully much
better when it finally hits the road with the
V8.

Tags are paid up. Next week should (hopefully) be
a test drive day...Robert


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 8:16 pm

From: vegon71_REMOVE_722837_THIS_@yahoo.com


what inspired me to build my vega!!! back in the
late 80's when i was cruising the strip in a (supped
up ford cougar)i know, i know, a ford. there was a
guy that showed up in town every friday knight in a
supercharged vega wagon. tubbed of course. well you get the
point. anyway nobody would ever race him. and when he
would drive buy everybodys jaw would drop. and you
could here that unmistakeable whine of that
supercharger. so some 20 some years latter i wanted to build a
street machine. pondering on what to build but knowing
that i just had to tub something i went and bought an
issue of superchevy magazine, and lord and behold there
was a tubbed vega in that issue. so a vega it was
going to be. and being that there is no vegas in my
area. it ought to be even cooler than 20 years ago.

Dan---vegon71


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 9:05 pm

From: monza1st_REMOVE_934400_THIS_@yahoo.com


In-n-Out Burger!! Oh yes! Due to an otherwise
unhappy circumstance, my job sent me to Bakersfield once
for about week, and had to go to Merced also...They
know how to make burgers. Should have bought a T-shirt
with the '57 Chevy on it, but. Suddenly I have to urge
to drive to a Sonic, and I just ate.


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 9:17 pm

From: billy_b_85222_REMOVE_925752_THIS_@yahoo.com


In-n-Out Burgers Rock!!!!! Man did you guys have to start this one? Damn,Im hungry too!!!!!!LOL! I need to move over there soon or im going to explode.HaHa! Bill in Az....


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 9:55 pm

From: monza1st_REMOVE_294955_THIS_@yahoo.com


Is In-N-Out only in Calif.? Last trip there in August, I was in Calexico but don't remember one there.


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 10:36 pm

From: pfjk36322_REMOVE_286308_THIS_@yahoo.com


There are no H-bodies on the road today.That is
the one reason to put an H-body on the road.The
former & I were dining at a cafe just beyond the gate to
the USA post when I heard a 'healthy'SBC clear the
carb.I looked out the window and saw a beautiful Black
Monza turning into the parking lot.I RAN outside and
flagged down the driver.It was a 450HP 350/350TH/3.73
Posi.This gave me the incentive to start parting my Monza
together.Of course,she didn't get it.And thought I was a
butt-head,till she rode in the pass. seat for a full-throttle
run Hooked!Any guy wanting to hook his woman to the
sport has just to let her ride in a FAST car.Talk about
squishy and her wanting to "relate" to you afterwords.And
'listening' to you building your dream-car.Enuff said,you get
the point.
Frank


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 10:58 pm

From: dusty_monza_REMOVE_792641_THIS_@yahoo.com


when i get my monza i would have the only one in
my area. you dont see those things in my part of
michigan. i can wait to put mine on the dyno to see how
many hp she gets.i would like to se some kind of a
h-body get together if possilbe. it is looking like i
wont get to make the power tour. :-( Mega Bummer!


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Tue Mar 12, 2002 11:32 pm

From: billy_b_85222_REMOVE_396819_THIS_@yahoo.com


Not any more.There are some here in Az up in the Phx area.(60 miles away)There is also at least one that i know of in Vegas.Wish they would bring one to town. Later! Bill


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Wed Mar 13, 2002 12:18 am

From: guru1021_REMOVE_754818_THIS_@yahoo.com


It was 1986. My buddy had a 74 Vega wagon. IT was
in horrible condition- carb had a saturated float,
bald tires,bad muffler, busted windshield, Fred
Flintstone carpets,three different colors of paint on it,
passenger side taken out by who knows what...
1987 He
joined the Navy. Car was sold to my grandfather to be
"parted out". I saw that sad thing sitting in the shop,
waiting for the blue flame of death and told my dad I
wanted it. 100 dollars later I had a Vega.
Even at
294k miles I still drive it every day. Since
highschool it's morphed quite a bit. Power steering, tilt
column, V6/TH350... no longer the mosquito killing "fill
the oil and check the gas" beast it had been back in
the days when I'd get sideways banging second gear
entering the highschool parking lot.A Cherry bomb, under
dash cassette player cranking Def Lep or Scorps'etc.
through 6x9's mounted in a wooden box sitting in the
back...
In auto shop class there were at least 4 other
Hbodys. Mark had a 76 Vega hatch he threw a 262 in, (his
sister drove a stock 75) Pat had a Monza 2+2 with a 350
and another with a 305 and there was a guy in the
class ahead of us with a dark green 74 GT wagon.
Lunchtime was a Hbody roundup- and Mark's ride always came
back with huge patches of rubber on the quarter
panels.
So far my wagon has yet to be towed- even though
countless parts have worn or been broken, it has always
"got me home"
What a machine.
Gary


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Wed Mar 13, 2002 1:36 am

From: twelve_second_vega_REMOVE_626642_THIS_@yahoo.com


Next time, Stop by!!!! We are right between Merced and Bakersfield!!!...Robert


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hbody memories

Postby h-bot » Wed Mar 13, 2002 6:58 am

From: monza1st_REMOVE_647276_THIS_@yahoo.com


I'll try to if ever I'm out that way again.


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