I built the motor for the orange Hemi bird.
Norb was with when Bruce picked it up.
It rode home in the back of Bruces old Caddy hearse.
Norb told Bruce he had a tractor loader with a trip bucket he could install it with.
Pretty hilarious scene after that.
Bird was Bruces for all I knew.

Bruce was a genuine character.

Fred was more of a businessman.
Fred got my 70 Hemi Cuda also.

Cale get his cowboy hat yet?

I'm Gen X, I have a lot of friends who were always into performance cars. As they've gotten older some have moved into foreign late model cars but hey they still appreciate muscle cars.

I don't think Superbirds will ever come down.

And some muscle cars are so iconic they will always be popular, like the '69 Camaro.

I like the earlier comment about the LS scene, we got into it big in 1998 and it just took off. I remember the first guy who swapped an LS into a 1st gen camaro back in 1999.

All I can say is if you have attended LS Fest most dudes seam to be in their 20’s and 30’s and they all have beards! lol. Plenty of young dudes in the hobby in my opinion.

Agreed! Also, take one look at the crowds at MCACN. It seems like it gets bigger every year. If that starts to slip, I'll start to worry but I don't see that happening in the foreseeable future.

I do some consulting for Holley LS Fest.

We typically have 550 drag entries (its capped) and 1200 in the car show. The grandstands at Beech Bend are completely full on Saturday I think total foot traffic over the weekend is ~25,000 people.

Yup, I race down there and it’s crazy how that keeps growing. I was paying attention in the lanes and there were plenty of younger guys and gals participating. Also like SBR said, I also attend MCACN every year and that show sure don’t seem to be slowing down! Awesome show for sure!

The problem is they're too damn expensive. When most of the members of this site were 20, you could go out and buy a big block Chevelle with a summer job (unless, of course, he was overseas- no disrespect there). Today, a 20 year old is too busy trying to survive their bills. If the Camaro was not left to me, I'd have zero hope of owning one. I've been complaining for years that the investor mindset has absolutely ruined this hobby. The same guys who wax nostalgic about buying an LS6 Chevelle for $500 in 1975 turn around and want $15,000 for a basketcase 307 Malibu that needs every single panel, every single nut, and every single bolt replaced. All of my friends absolutely love old cars, but most of them, unless they've inherited one like I did, simply can't afford one. Then, even if you buy one, the parts aren't cheap. The insurance, not cheap. And having a place to store one? Absolutely forget it

I would add that social media has such a huge influence on the youth of today, and that people/channels like Cleetus McFarland (Garrett Mitchell), Stradman, Vice Grip Garage, Whistlin' Diesel, etc., are drawing kids out of the cyber world (at least partially) and into the car world. Maybe not all into muscle cars of yore, but at least into the mechanical realm vs video games. My older step son is 25 and he loves old muscle but new exotics as well, but my younger son isn't into cars too much (15) although he does have a mild interest. Time moves on and who knows what will happen in the future, but I think the move back to ICE for now will keep the collector car world progressing for quite sometime yet. I think the famous Mark Twain quote, “The reports of my death have been greatly exaggerated” would apply to the world of collector cars.

Interesting stories! I grew up around all those guys. Norb farmed the land on 3 sides of our farm. It was not a big deal to drive through town and see something like a real Sox & Martin Pro-Stock car sitting on Fred's trailer. It's fun to talk about some of these things with other guys my age... nobody believes half the stuff I've seen.

I went to school with Fred's kids, and I'm still friends with them today. When I first got my drivers' license, I'd park my Dad's 68 Camaro in front of the High School next to a '71 Barracuda convertible before Fred sold it to the studio for the Nash Bridges TV show.

My first ever ride doing a burnout was in Norb's 71 'cuda 340 red w/black billboard car. I'd guess I was about 8. Been hooked on the smell of tire-smoke ever since.

I don't remember much about Bruce. I was pretty young last I saw him. I mostly remember seeing him driving some really beat up junk for daily-drivers and looking more like a homeless guy than a collector of rare Mopars. :D

No cowboy hat yet...
The "Grand Champion" competition sells out instantly. I've been avoiding it for a while since I don't have the HP to score well on the drag racing portion of that, but with a new 427ci LS engine being built, I might try to come back again.

----I think the Fred you all are referring to had ownership of "Red Alert" for a period. I had an extra new set of special valve springs for Red as I had left the tension on them for about a year without starting the engine (I know, not smart). I messaged Fred that I would gladly give him the valve springs and not to start or certainly not race the car with the springs in it. That message was not paid any attention and I heard that the engine that Jimmy Reid built for me got damaged from a "broken valve spring".....Bill S