PeterGreen
Thread starter
Wow!Back in 1969 my mother totaled the one owner 1965 Mustang I was going to drive when I turned 16.
Wow!Back in 1969 my mother totaled the one owner 1965 Mustang I was going to drive when I turned 16.
That 2 speed power glide would grab high gear typically around 10mph, certainly 15. I can’t imagine driving that car 70mph. iirc the 283 v8 was doing 3000rpm around 55 or 60. Spec steering wheel PLAY in that car was between 5-6” and 4 wheel drum brakes on a single circuit with no weighting towards the front was a handful at 55. No sway bars, and crummy aero. People say they’d get these things up to 100 ... and that’s ludicrous to me.
Here’s the rest of the story...Wow!
My mom had a different kind of Honda relationship: a 1983 Civic "1300FE" which was marketed as the special high-MPG model that year (the FE in the name stood for Fuel Efficiency). It had the optional 5-speed transmission in an era when 4-speeds were standard; that turned out to be the car's only option. It had no AC, no power accessories at all, no sound deadening, no armrests, no carpeting, etc, etc. It was noisy, crude and uncomfortable. I'm not sure if she chose it for the gas mileage, or because she thought all those fancy options were all extravagant doo-dads just waiting to break. Probably a little of each. The car did have a radio if I remember right: an AM-only unit which she turned on only if there was a storm approaching and she wanted to hear if it was time to take cover or not. The car never started in extreme cold weather and eventually turned into an serious oil burner and it needed two top-engine rebuilds by the time they traded it off nine years later, at less than 80,000 miles. The 5-speed was a smooth one though so I can say that.They traded it on the most perfect mom-car ever invented...a 1985 Honda Accord SE-i. That car was such a gem. Power sunroof, fantastic perforated leather, all the power goodies Honda offered at the time.