Weekend Update 7/7/19

[Cajonpassfan]

Made some more progress on my Santa Fe Avenue Freighthouse, calling it good for right now, time to move on to other LA buildings. More in my Layout Engineering “Los Angeles Division” thread.
Otto

PS: those ugly buildings behind the freighthouse are just mock-ups 
Good to figure out composition, etc...

[johnb]

Oh yeah! It does look evil.  It is  not your father's Oldsmobile Buick.    Although that slogan doesn't seem to be relevant nowadays - some of our fathers drive pretty hot cars!  I would love a ride, but I won't be able to to make it to Altoona.

Hang onto this car - it seems that sedans, and all passenger cars, are being phased out in favor of the mommy-vans and SUV/CUVs.

my dad's daily driver was a 1940 Ford Coupe and my mom's grocery getter was a 1972 Ford LTD log ride wagon with a built Boss 429....

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Oh yeah! It does look evil.  It is  not your father's Oldsmobile Buick.    Although that slogan doesn't seem to be relevant nowadays - some of our fathers drive pretty hot cars!  I would love a ride, but I won't be able to to make it to Altoona.

Hang onto this car - it seems that sedans, and all passenger cars, are being phased out in favor of the mommy-vans and SUV/CUVs.

It isn't at all. It's a shame the brand has that connotation but it's not for want of evidence... It's more a newer Grand National than Luxobarge.

And that's the EXACT reason I pulled the trigger early in its sales cycle. I wanted to get one while I still could.

[Point353]

And yep, Brembo brakes.

Except that the diligent GM bean counters approved Brembo brakes only for the front wheels. 

[GhengisKong]

1972 Ford LTD log ride wagon with a built Boss 429....

Pics? It really had the shotgun heads?

[johnb]

Pics? It really had the shotgun heads?

I am sure that dad has some, he sold it in 1985 and bought a new 1986 Mustang. It was scary fast, I remember Dad doing 120 on a 2 lane highway in the desert with the family heading to Mesa Marin. And yes, it was leftover parts...

[C855B]

I am sure that dad has some, he sold it in 1985 and bought a new 1986 Mustang. It was scary fast, I remember Dad doing 120 on a 2 lane highway in the desert with the family heading to Mesa Marin. And yes, it was leftover parts...

The stock 429/4V would easily do that. We had a '69 and it would totally haul @$$. We lived in the desert so there was plenty of opportunity to similarly test the limits.

For some reason Ford over-powered everything at the time, with the power plants severely exceeding the capacity of the chassis. We also had a '69 Mach I with the Windsor 351, and as an invulnerable teen I abused it mightily. I had it up to ~150 on I-5 when a buddy and I were on a railfanning trip. Speedo was pegged, and he happened to have a stopwatch to time it against mileposts. A couple of weeks later Dad said something about needing to touch-up broken welds on front suspension supports. Probably wasn't the speed run by itself; more likely was from driving like a hellion chasing trains in Feather River Canyon.  My buddy was all but crawling under the seat by then.   

[Ed Kapuscinski]

The stock 429/4V would easily do that. We had a '69 and it would totally haul @$$. We lived in the desert so there was plenty of opportunity to similarly test the limits.

For some reason Ford over-powered everything at the time, with the power plants severely exceeding the capacity of the chassis. We also had a '69 Mach I with the Windsor 351, and as an invulnerable teen I abused it mightily. I had it up to ~150 on I-5 when a buddy and I were on a railfanning trip. Speedo was pegged, and he happened to have a stopwatch to time it against mileposts. A couple of weeks later Dad said something about needing to touch-up broken welds on front suspension supports. Probably wasn't the speed run by itself; more likely was from driving like a hellion chasing trains in Feather River Canyon.  My buddy was all but crawling under the seat by then.   

And that's why I'm glad for the Buick. It can do that stuff all day these days. I mean, not that I've EVER gone above the speed limit... lol.
But most importantly, it can go from **redacted** to 65 surprisingly fast and with no loss of composure (well, on the car's part).

[C855B]

I am astounded by modern vehicle performance. Your Buick could clearly skunk the '79 Ferrari I had in my randy bachelor years, and is surely orders of magnitude less costly to feed and maintain. Hard to imagine that was 35 years ago. Yikes.

[johnb]

The stock 429/4V would easily do that. We had a '69 and it would totally haul @$$. We lived in the desert so there was plenty of opportunity to similarly test the limits.

For some reason Ford over-powered everything at the time, with the power plants severely exceeding the capacity of the chassis. We also had a '69 Mach I with the Windsor 351, and as an invulnerable teen I abused it mightily. I had it up to ~150 on I-5 when a buddy and I were on a railfanning trip. Speedo was pegged, and he happened to have a stopwatch to time it against mileposts. A couple of weeks later Dad said something about needing to touch-up broken welds on front suspension supports. Probably wasn't the speed run by itself; more likely was from driving like a hellion chasing trains in Feather River Canyon.  My buddy was all but crawling under the seat by then.   

that they did, dad used a lot of leftover parts after NASCAR banned big blocks

[Ed Kapuscinski]

I am astounded by modern vehicle performance. Your Buick could clearly skunk the '79 Ferrari I had in my randy bachelor years, and is surely orders of magnitude less costly to feed and maintain. Hard to imagine that was 35 years ago. Yikes.

Right?

Terri and I watch a lot of Doug Demuro's videos and it is astounding how slow old fast cars are. It also really reminds you that yes, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow.

My current beast is entirely a practical choice: it's to beat #90 from Black Horse Rd to Esbenshade. Sure, he might only be going 15, but I've gotta go 3x the distance to beat him. Throw in some traffic and the chase has to be on!

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Get it wrong and this is your shot:

[mandealco]

Ed, if you wanna go 300kmph in a Buick/Holden/Vauxhall/Opel, check out Red Bull Holden Racing.  These are rear drive V-8s, but there was a twin-turbo V-6 in development.  Also some nice photos on the Supercars site.
https://www.supercars.com/news/championship/triple-eight-confirms-two-car-team-for-2019/
Cheers
Steve

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Ed, if you wanna go 300kmph in a Buick/Holden/Vauxhall/Opel, check out Red Bull Holden Racing.  These are rear drive V-8s, but there was a twin-turbo V-6 in development.  Also some nice photos on the Supercars site.
https://www.supercars.com/news/championship/triple-eight-confirms-two-car-team-for-2019/
Cheers
Steve

Oh man, that's hot!

[Point353]

My current beast is entirely a practical choice: it's to beat #90 from Black Horse Rd to Esbenshade. Sure, he might only be going 15, but I've gotta go 3x the distance to beat him. Throw in some traffic and the chase has to be on!

You ought to have bought a Cadillac:

[C855B]

...Terri and I watch a lot of Doug Demuro's videos and it is astounding how slow old fast cars are. It also really reminds you that yes, it's more fun to drive a slow car fast than a fast car slow. ...

Wellllllll... the 308 wasn't exactly that slow. It was the last year of carbureted Ferraris (four 2V), which meant there was no speed governor, and despite the indicated 7800 rpm redline my mentors said the engine was safe to 10K. I'll bet your Buick is hard-limited to X mph at the speed rating of the stock tires. I once had it up to 165 before the fear trumped the adrenaline while pulling away when challenged by a guy on a Kawasaki Z1. His expression was priceless. Ah, to be young and foolish again, less the foolish part.

Robyn and I chased the N&W 611 with it on one Atlanta-Chattanooga run. I am desperately seeking photos of our pacing taken from the train. I posted this a long time ago, here we are at the start of a rally in 1988: