So it's 1975 and the car is finally all sorted out and running well. I took the car to John Rossiter to check all the angles as the car does not feel right when it leaves. Turns out the custom ladder bars and mounts are all wrong. So I order all new stuff from Allison. Bars, mounts and brackets. We also cut the rear quarters to accept a taller tire. Each outer wheel well is cutout as a rectangle. Then you section that piece right in the middle at the highest point of the stock wheel well opening. As far as I can remember they added a 6" section which allowed for a 14 X 32 tire.
After I had the quarters opened up I decided to paint the the car. I had a guy who would paint almost anything including a color change for $750 and that was a quality job not a quick splash. At first it was going to be all white. It looked good but it just needed something to make it pop. I decided on a red stripe and I was happy with the way it turned out. I also put a reasonable gear in the car. I think it was a 4:33 but I'm not sure. With a 28.5" tire the car drove great around town. I drove it to the track a couple of times but it really made me nervous thinking something would break and I would be stranded. No cell phones back then.
So paint, glass hood, gears, ladder bars,350 SBC, tunnel Ram, crash box and 11.50W slicks were all done in the winter of 75. The car was all back together and ready for the car show. Speed Sport was one of the largest car shows in Canada and I was in that show at least 10 times. If you look at the pics you will see the fork lift lifting my car to the upper level. A buddy of mine told me not to watch them lifting the car up. I thought he was joking. OMG!!! When the car got near the second floor that fork lift started swaying like there was a strong wind. I kid you not. I was actually shaking!!! The fork lift guy jokingly said don't worry. I have only lost 2 so far this year! Haha. I wasn't laughing.
You'll hear me say this a couple of times. There are certain times in your life when you get a "SPECIAL FEELING" that you might never feel again. We all know those special times. When I had to drive the car up on the platform for the fork lift was one of those times. The headers were open and I'm in enclosed building jammed with Hot Rodders. Everyone is setting up their display. First I turn on the the electric pumps. I have 2 660 Holleys on the tunnel ram. That means 4 fuel bowls to fill. The car starts easy if you know how to do it. And of course this is one of those times were it might not start. A few people are watching as I hit the starter for about 5 seconds and then hit the ignition switch. WAM! Just like I knew what I was doing
. Everyone drops what they are doing and turns and looks. I creep the car towards the platform which has a ramp/lip about 5" high. A perfect place to stall. The motor is cold so I bring the revs up to about 1500 as I slip the clutch. I get it on the platform and that is done. Of course I am totally straight faced as if I know what I am doing
. We set the display up and walk around checking out the rest of the cars.
That weekend I pickup The Toronto Sun Newspaper and there I am on the front page! Geez! How did that happen? The car is almost in the centre of the pic. When I get to the EX everyone I know and a few I don't know make a crack. So one friend says how did you pull that one off? I said what? YOUR CAR ON THE FRONT PAGE OF THE SUN! Oh. That. Those guys have been bugging me for years to do a feature on the car.
LOL.
The car show was the greatest part of the winter. It seemed like every year there was a blizzard on that weekend. It didn't matter. We were young and stupid. Always under dressed. We never wore a hat, boots or gloves. When you got to the car show there was always a huge lineup of cars to get in on the Thurs. That was setup day as the show opened on Fri. They had to get about 300 cars inside on one day. It took about 3 hours to finally get in.
I remember one guy asking does it have a heater? A heater? Of course the car has no heater. That's like asking does it have AC. Ya. It's called a window.
The only heat the Vega provided was headers through the floor. lol. My cousin Dave had come down to help me. We would take turns sitting in the Vega or Dave's driver which did have a heater.
So one year I decided to go to The Street Machine Nationals. It was either the first one in 1977 or 78. Indianapolis. If you look at the pic of the white Caddy that was how we got there. Not everyone used a truck as a tow vehicle in those days. A big Caddy or Lincoln worked great. You could get a killer car back then for about $1200. Mint perfect. Get the proper hitch with trailing arms,Air Bags and a tranny cooler and you were good to go. Turn on the AC, plug in a tape and get out the map! Geez. No GPS. I don't know how we did it back then. Oh well. Even though we got lost more then a few times we arrived with out a sore back and a headache. I always remember arriving at a track for a big meet and seeing some guy who came from way out of state in a ramp truck. Some of them actually had to sit there for 10 or 20 minutes trying to get some feeling back in their legs. LOL. More then once we would pull into the local Steak & Shake and some guy would be limping away from his truck and say to me. How does that thing tow? I always said I don't remember I keep falling asleep! LOL. That one always got a good laugh. And after dinner I would walk by the same guy at his table and I would be faking a bad hip. Guys would almost choke on their food because they were laughing so hard! God. I miss those days so much.
Friday night at the motel was almost more exciting then being at the fair grounds during the show. After dinner we came out of the steak house and the streets were out of control!!! People were 6 deep on either side of the street. It was totally jammed. Remember those Special Feelings.
The streets were backed up with every imaginal hot rod/street car that you could think of. Don't forget this is 1977. Even though there were Cops everywhere we took over the city for the weekend! Actually the Cops were pretty good. They let us get away with murder. Well almost
We were just down the street from our motel. I grabbed a couple of lawn chairs and found a space. We were enjoying the show and a couple of bubblies helped pass the time. We ended up sitting by our neighbors from the motel. They were from Chicago. Street Outlaws? Who were they!!! These guys were doing it long before them. One guy had a Silver 70 Chevelle SS 454. This car had a clutch turbo!!! The motor was warmed over LS7 and it sounded like a Pro Mod with mufflers. We were all telling our stories and watching the show. These guys were serious street racers. I could tell just by the way they were talking. One of them asked me if had brought anything. I said. Ya that's my Vega on the trailer. The other guys says. The white one with the pro stock scoop? Ya. So after the 500 questions things had calmed down a little on the street. I had a few bubblies and was feeling fine.The cars driving by looked great but no real action as there were some Cops around. The crowd was cheering every time a car did a dry hop or some thing. So I thought it would be a good idea to bring the Vega down and do a couple of drive buy.Not a good idea. Burp!
So we pull the car down from the trailer.1ST MISTAKE I open the Nitrous bottle.2ND MISTAKE. I start to pull up to the road and a couple of guys stop the traffic.Everyone is standing now. I think that was how I missed the Cops in the crowd.OOPS! The motor is dead cold. 3RD Mistake. I do a couple of dry hops. The Nitrous is hooked directly to the throttle. No button.3RD MISTAKE. I bring the revs up to 5000, drop the clutch and hit the gas. Did I say the motor is dead cold? I think the tach does a couple of 360s. lol. Now I can't remember what the guys told me on whether the flames or the scoop went higher then the hydro lines when the car BACKFIRED!!! I shut the car down and rolled into a parking lot. I'm already flipped out with what has happened. I unbuckling my harness and just as I reach for the pin in the shoulder bar 2 big hands reach in the window and show me a new quick way to get out. I ask them if there's a problem. For some reason that makes them even madder.
They turn I mean spin me around and throw me against the car and award me with a new bracelet.
So as they are giving me shit I see a small group of people come running over. So one Cop is blasting me and telling me where I'm going to be sleeping tonight when the other Cop taps him on the shoulder and motions him to turn around. Well that small group of people is now a large crowd that have surrounded the car. I don't know how many there were but they were easily 20 deep. One guy comes out of the group and hands me my blackened scoop which I swear was still smoking. LOL. I was going to hold it up in triumph to the crowd, but I decided the Cops wouldn't enjoy that. The Cops are not yelling anymore. They have a short little chat and one of them walks over takes my bracelet off and gives me a warning. That was it. I'm dumfounded. What just happened?
Next morning I am talking to the Chicago guys. I said I don't get it. I thought I was going to jail. They told me there was no way they were going to let them take me anywhere.