She won't let me drive!

[pokey64]

We just returned from a trip to the Big Island. Had a really great time. The vacation was long overdue.

Since I'm not as far as I should be on Beth's car, we rented a "constellation prize".

We saw it in the parking lot of a rental company as we drove by and her eyes just lit up. This car is damn near the same color as her 69. We had a reservation with a different company already for an Impala (or similar). Luckily the two companies operate together and we were able to have them pull it from the other lot. It was a bit of a price jump but definitely a lot more fun than an Impala to cruise around the island. I probably only got to drive it about 5 out the 800 miles we put on it but cashing in the new brownie points was worth every penny.



The island is full of twisty roads that were a blast with this car. We'd never buy a new one because we just love the classics way more but it was definitely the right car for this trip.







There was 8 miles of gravel from construction when we drove up Saddle Road from Hilo to head across the island. The fog/rain gave Beth white knuckles for bit.



Here's a pic of the car at the Southern-most tip of the US.


Self-hijack over.
I did finish up the brake lines and fab up muffler hangers before we left. Bleeding the brakes and doing a tune up are all that’s in the way of driving it again. Though we still have Vintage Air, Rick’s tank, EFI (whenever it arrives) and a long list of other odds and ends to call it “complete for now.”

[GregWeld]

Good for you two! Doing stuff like that is what makes a nice trip a MEMORABLE trip!

[pokey64]

Been working on Beth's car here and there the last couple months. Finally took her out for its maiden voyage of the year last night. Went and bedded in the new brakes and then cruised around town for a while. Between the G-link and new 3.73 gears it feels like a new car. Our previous 4 link just did not work at the ride height we were running and the old gears were 2.73s. The exhaust is quite loud inside the car. It currently dumps right behind the passenger seat floor boards. I have to put sound deadener in the trunk yet. I am also going to work on tail pipes out the rear after I get the Rick's tank installed that's been sitting here a while.

Here's some videos from last night. Audio/video quality is kind of crappy… I'll get some better video once we have everything broke in.







I've also got the vintage air 90% installed. I just need to wrap up the wiring, charge the system, and attach the vent hoses. I'm waiting to hook up the heater hoses until I swap out to the EFI manifold. We did receive our EFI setup. I need to finish planning the fuel system and then decide if I'm taking on the swap this season or just enjoying the car and do it this winter.


These are sooo pretty.

[waynieZ]

Conrats geting it back on the road. Tuff decision to swap it now or wait its geting to be a nice time of the year to cruise.

[pokey64]

Thanks Wayne! The weather has been beautiful this last week. The previous 3-4 weeks before were horribly hot and humid. I even bought an AC unit for the shed. All of the things I've done to the car are firsts for me. The learning curve plus long work weeks makes for slow progress on some of these installs. Now is a good time to be driving.

[Rybar]

Congrats Ed, real nice mods on the suspension, engine/bay and now with the EFI

[GregWeld]

Nice! I'm happy for you!

[pokey64]

Thanks guys.

So yeah...


Our little town has had its celebration days all week. Tomorrow is a car show in the park. Tonight was the customary cruise night before the show. We took the camaro to the car wash in town and cleaned her up nice. Then started cruising around. The streets were bumper to bumper stop and go traffic. Go a car length and stop, go a car length and stop. It was kind of boring with 600hp and stick shift. 95% of the vehicles cruising were pretty much brand new. Over 50% of them were pickup trucks. (Gotta love small rural towns) There were maybe 30 classic cars out tonight and a handful of 80s and 90s mustangs and camaros.

After cruising for about 15 mins an 18 year old kid in a 2001 Aurora rear ended us when were stopped. Luckily it was in the slow traffic and was just a bump. It scratched the bumper, scuffed the lower tail panel and cracked the paint a little. He’s insured and all will probably be fine. But it was quite the buzz kill.

When it first happened I stepped out of the car to look at it. The two cars were up against each other and we were holding up traffic. I told Beth that we should drive ahead to the next block and get out of traffic. I went back to tell the kid what we were doing and Beth had started the car and took off without me. The kid’s car was full so I had to walk a block and a half to catch up to them. Man that was like insult to injury… But we are laughing about her leaving me now.

After that whole deal we took the car for a cruise in the country side to get out of town and blow off some steam. Beth even let me drive for a little bit. She must have felt bad for leaving me.

[yield2me]

Originally Posted by pokey64

Beth even let me drive for a little bit. She must have felt bad for leaving me.

Nah, I didn't feel bad.

[intocarss]

Nice build, I was wondering if your car was a drag car (because of the rear 4 link set up) when you bought it. And if it was a touring type Camaro.... How did it handle with that 4 link set up? Thanks