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I could have sworn they were HP's on that engine.
Maybe you are right cause that thing was pretty tame and quiet, but carried a big whip.
South Ave was magic and the rides on the SI Ferry was my down time to wax the car (73' SS Hatchback 4 speed Nova)before getting there.
I remember sitting in your GeeTeX at E-town for sure.
You now know my car right?
It never made it out to South, but made many appearances on 1st Ave, The Hutch, 150th, FDR,
Fountain, Bronx meat market, and just a few on the Connecting during the mid 90's.

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Yes, I know your car; how can I forget? I only saw it a couple times at Englishtown--not on the street. Here's one of the times circa 1993:



In this pic you were setting the valve lash on your engine's DC (I know, Mopar Performance) 284/.528" mechanical camshaft. The guy near your car's right
front fender with his back to us is Curtis Taylor Sr.

Later,

Qwik426

P.S. Is Curtis Jr. still racing?

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Heres the RR


Heres the cuda at a Papas Dodge Cruise.

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It seems to ME that "street racing" back in the 1970s was more about organization and cars, and seeing which cars were fast, what worked etc....

Nowadays it seems to ME that "street racing" is more about partying, ego gratification, and bragging rights.

Don't get me wrong- bragging rights factored into street racing since it began, but the ATMOSPHERE has changed over the years, and I find "street racing" nowadays to be a complete and utter waste of time.


Take it to the track, and a TIMESLIP DOES THE TALKIN'!

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Heres the RR


Heres the cuda at a Papas Dodge Cruise.

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I knew a guy from East Hartford that bought an old pro stock Vega from a guy named Jack Chin who did very well at Conn dragway along with his brother Eddie. At any rate, this guy buys Chin's Vega and proceeds to put in a blown big block Chevy, what a ride to say the least. One night I rode with him in the Vega to the Berlin Turnpike, to say we stopped traffic is an understatement, we pulled into the Roy Rogers and as he was trying to back in it a parking space a Berlin cop pulled up and told us there was no way that car was legal and we needed to get lost, knowing of course the cop was right we proceeded to motor on home, what a ball. I moved out of Conn in the late 80's and haven't been back to the turnpike since but back when I was a kid there was a whole lot of racing going on there.
Joey

BTW, your Cuda is awesome!!, reminds me of one that was for sale in East Hartford that had a Hemi in it, supposedly a Sox and Martin built engine, the car was primered and was sitting in a barn when I seen it, mid 80's maybe.

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Joey, We bought the cuda from a guy in East Hartford,right off of Silver Lane.. It was primered and had a HEMI with a tunnel ram and 2 dominators.When we bought it,it was at his house. Back then,my dad didnt want the HEMI cuz it was too radical for us back then so we bought it as a roller and a friend of ours dad bought the HEMI. The car went 9.90's with a 4-speed back in the early 70's when the car was put together. It only had 19,000 miles on it. It HAS too be the same car...You think??

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HOLY CRAP!!, it has to be the same car, the one I am talking about was in a barn on Silver Lane and as you describe it is exactly the way I seen it, if I remember right, the father and son who owned it spent a ton of money on it, ran it a couple of times and parked it for whatever reason. I would be willing to bet that other than myself, there were only a handful of guys in the area that even knew it existed. They were asking $6500 for it at that time which was fortune then, today I look back and think what a deal!. I am glad you guys have it, the car looks GREAT!, it's nice to see a barn car turn out to have a happy ending.


Joey

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There used to be a popular street race spot (Powerline Road) along side the Sacramento Metro Airport, went by the other day and the start/finish line paint stripes are still there. Looking north. (intersection and stop sign weren't there then)

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Hay JK .....

"Marked" just LIKE what was on 696, 96, 275 and even on Plymouth Rd ..... in Detroit !! ..

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Street racing was and still alive in NYC,as well
as Detroit and other states across the States'.
The only difference between racers today and the
"pro's" back then, when I was younger is that
most guys knew the cars capabilities on and off
the track. And cars then, were 90% pure muscle,
with nary a power adder other than supercharger.
AS time went on it was the drivers who were
dependent on "their own power adders", and that's
when things got out of hand and dangerous. The
"pro's" were there to do business, while the
foolhardy were there for the idea of running
each other with no safety or respect of the
sport (automotive craftsmanship). By the way,
does anyone know what the outcome of a race in
NYC, on the Nassau Expressway in Queens. Back in
71', I think. A Rat-Motored 68 Camaro squared off
there with a 69 Road Runner w/HEMI. BIG MONEY was passed around that night. I believe the guy driving the Bird', is still a legendary driver with the last name of Cook. If anyone knows the
true scenario, set the record straight please.

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I don't know the "scenario" but I do know the driver: it was 1980 Stock Eliminator world champ Ray Cook who, unfortunately, is no longer with us.

Here's a picture of Ray doing a burnout and his racing partner--both on and off the track--Artie Leong (near the right rear quarter panel) during happier times:



Here's another good link to a thread talking about the action on Connecting Highway and other NYC street racing hotspots back in the day:

http://classracer.com/classforum/showthread.php?t=7052

Qwik426

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Thanks for the link!! Found a lot of the "missing
pieces" of my search. I had forgotton about Artie also, since he and Cook were tight!!

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Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.

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Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.

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86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....

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Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!

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Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.

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86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....

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Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!

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Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.

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86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....

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Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!

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don't remember the year, maybe 70 or 71 a guy went thru the stop sign at the end of the service road onto forrest ave, and broadsided a car with 3 college girls..i believe he lived, they died... that was the end of open racing

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Hey LQ, you remember me? I had the 80 maroon trans am called Red Bird on Staten Island. You were the flag man for a few runs of mine on South ave.(For the record...South ave was the original proving grounds but then in 1986ish we moved it to the other side of the West Shore Expressway (around the corner)where the street was called Gulf Ave which was still referred to South Ave.

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86... south ave was done...done...done in the early 70's ... i think the accident happened in 70/71..after that it was over....

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Which accident, if you don't mind me asking? There
were a few!!

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don't remember the year, maybe 70 or 71 a guy went thru the stop sign at the end of the service road onto forrest ave, and broadsided a car with 3 college girls..i believe he lived, they died... that was the end of open racing

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A shame. I vaguly remember that one. I was a lot
younger (and dumber) when that happened. I believe
the police went "ballistic" on most street racers
in N.Y.C. shortly after that incident and a couple
of others.

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Heres the RR


Heres the cuda at a Papas Dodge Cruise.

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I knew a guy from East Hartford that bought an old pro stock Vega from a guy named Jack Chin who did very well at Conn dragway along with his brother Eddie. At any rate, this guy buys Chin's Vega and proceeds to put in a blown big block Chevy, what a ride to say the least. One night I rode with him in the Vega to the Berlin Turnpike, to say we stopped traffic is an understatement, we pulled into the Roy Rogers and as he was trying to back in it a parking space a Berlin cop pulled up and told us there was no way that car was legal and we needed to get lost, knowing of course the cop was right we proceeded to motor on home, what a ball. I moved out of Conn in the late 80's and haven't been back to the turnpike since but back when I was a kid there was a whole lot of racing going on there.
Joey

BTW, your Cuda is awesome!!, reminds me of one that was for sale in East Hartford that had a Hemi in it, supposedly a Sox and Martin built engine, the car was primered and was sitting in a barn when I seen it, mid 80's maybe.

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Joey, We bought the cuda from a guy in East Hartford,right off of Silver Lane.. It was primered and had a HEMI with a tunnel ram and 2 dominators.When we bought it,it was at his house. Back then,my dad didnt want the HEMI cuz it was too radical for us back then so we bought it as a roller and a friend of ours dad bought the HEMI. The car went 9.90's with a 4-speed back in the early 70's when the car was put together. It only had 19,000 miles on it. It HAS too be the same car...You think??

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HOLY CRAP!!, it has to be the same car, the one I am talking about was in a barn on Silver Lane and as you describe it is exactly the way I seen it, if I remember right, the father and son who owned it spent a ton of money on it, ran it a couple of times and parked it for whatever reason. I would be willing to bet that other than myself, there were only a handful of guys in the area that even knew it existed. They were asking $6500 for it at that time which was fortune then, today I look back and think what a deal!. I am glad you guys have it, the car looks GREAT!, it's nice to see a barn car turn out to have a happy ending.


Joey

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Joey,

It has to be the car!!! Do you remember a guy,well a kid back then, by the name of Billy Dahms?? He is the one who told us about the cuda and his dad was the one who bought the HEMI. It was a father and son and they were both there when we bought and picked up the cuda up.
We put in a nice 440 and then m dad sold it has a rolling chassis back in the early 90's. It has changed hands a few times and now a guy named Dennis owns it from Weathersfield. Here is what it looks like now.