doublegunshop.com - home Forums General Discussion DoubleGun BBS @ doublegunshop.com Kent Bismuth and Tungsten Pressures

I'm really glad you put it like that Stan, because it got me thinking about a nice guy I met at a Pure Stock race event I attended back in the early 2000s, where I was introduced to a guy named Casey Marks. Who, was running his 1970 W31 Cutlass in the event.
Mr. Marks had his W31 running well into the 13:40s, at the time Stan. This would have been maybe 2002, I think, and, if you google the name and W31, you will find a treasure trove of the events he was running at, back in that era. Mr. Marks sold the car, but, apparently, several years ago, bought the old girl back, and still participates in FS(factory stock) and Pure Stock events.

Great news, Stan-Casey is running well into the 13:30s with his old, small block Olds powered ride, which, using your (fradulent, I know, but, whatever) list of times from back in the day, puts him in front of all but one car on that same list.

So, it was good of you to put up that list, since it gives us an idea of how many different kinds of cars get to look at the taillights of Mr. Marks W31.

Google it, Stan. It'll save me the trouble.

As to my discounting YOUR experience, honestly, I had no idea you were that old, and actually knew somone who had a car at the strip back in the era when they were new. Sorry. Did you race? If you knew someone who owned a 1970 LS6 Chevelle, good on you-I was racing in the 1980s, and factories didn't build fast cars when I was there. I had a 1979 Camaro with an old 1970 LT1 out of a Corvette, that I saved from the junkyard, and rebuilt, mated to a Borg Warner Super T10, and it was not really fast, but, consistant as a clock, and I won some money and trophies bracket racing. I never saw anything like what you described running on a strip in the era when I was doing that, and believe people were beginning to figure out the cars might be worth something, someday, or, most of them were burned up, or, a little of both. I did see a single Hemi powered car in my years doing that, but, it was the hydraulic lifter version (1971?) and, was not running well that day-the guy who owned it told me that was the case, more often than not.


Best,
Ted

Dang,
I guess I was wrong, Stan-it seems that Casey's W31 car might actually be able to beat EVERY, SINGLE, CAR on your (fraudulent, I know, but, whatever) list. The little stinker had run 12:82 @ 107.95 when he sold it. On bias ply tires. Wow. I'm thinking a lot of the cars you had on that list wouldn't even get a real good look at his tailights, huh Stan?
Geez, so sorry I screwed that up. Really, REALLY sorry, Stan.


Best,
Ted


www.yenko.net/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=138215

Yeah, I'm that old. Yeah, I raced, every Sunday I could make it across the river to the Carolina Dragway, which is still in operation after opening in 1957. The owner was Junior Steed, and he started letting teenagers run for free on Sunday afternoons. I watched Huston Platt there in his Dixie Twister the weekend before he crashed at Yellow River Dragstrip in Atlanta, where 12 people were killed. No fault of his own. In those days the track would allow spectators to park their cars all along the side of the quarter-mile, almost all the way down to the end. When Platt popped his drag chute at about 190-200 mph some idiot had dropped his beer and walked up near the edge of the strip to retrieve it. The chute caught him and Platt lost control.

Sorry you came along after the really fast muscle cars were in their heyday. It was a really fun time. There were also a lot of 440s, and a couple Shelbys in this area, too. Racing all the time. Still a lot of street racing out here in the country, but it's all changed. Drug money fuels the cars, now. Nitrous, racing for really big money. You can't go to the drags anymore and enjoy an afternoon for all the filthy language yelled out at the top of their lungs. Sad, sad. One interesting side note about fast stuff. My neighbor bought a new Duramax 4WD a few years back and began to research how to make it go fast . He had that thing running in the mid-11s, (in 4WD in order to get it to hook up). The engine didn't last long, it couldn't. I saw several of the time slips. Unbelievably fast.

You've really got a nice looking restoration there, Ted. Didn't say so earlier, but it is sharp. My '69 SS was a similar color. Yours looks like Cashmere Beige, they called mine Aztec Gold. I'd like to see a pic of the one you sold, if you still have one around.

We may not agree on your statement about the W31s outrunning most of the big blocks of the era, but that's what makes championing a particular model great, owner loyalty. Blind or not.

All my best, SRH

Yes he did. Ted did a great job restoring that 4-4-2.

I like 4-4-2s but I sure would like to see that 67 GOAT!!!

This thread was about Kent tungsten and bismuth shot pressures.....


Teddy bOy why did you post a pic of the ugliest model Oldsmoblie ever made ?

66-67 Goats were the best looking muscle cars to my eye. I was always partial to the 66 model with the 389 and tr-power unit.

Had a red convertible 69 gto back in the day..HP 400, 4 speed, power nothing, just HP.....but it wasn't for racing..never felt the need to prove anything......just used it for picking up chicks and going to the drive in movies....B4 that had 2 67 327 Camaro convertibles...also chick magnets....one has got to have his priorities.....
Then I got married, had kids....had to be more reasonable....71 Gran Prix SJ......


BTW...wasn't this a ammo pressure question???....

Stan,
Done: The only digital file I have of the car.



My 1971 W30 model 442 is shown, here, taking "Best of Class" at the 1994 Land of Lakes GTO club muscle car show, in Plymouth, MN. It took Best of Class the next year at the Minneapolis Aquatennial/Milestone Society Invitational Concours. Not too shabby for a car that was restored, by me, in my garage.

After I sold it, it was one of the 100 cars invited by Oldsmobile division to represent the marque at the Indianapolis Speedway, when Oldsmobile faded into car history.

The only work I didn't do was the vinyl top, rebuild of the steering sector, and rebuild of the special OW code W30 spec turbo 400. Hindsite is always 20-20, and I wished I had done the top and the sector when everything was over. I had it in me, back then, but, I don't really like working on old cars much, these days.

Same story as my 1967, a candy store car, with damn near every available factory option-who orders a W30 442 with a speed warning speedometer? 8 track? AM/FM stereo?

Somebody in Mesa, AZ did. I had the cars build sheet.

I think the 1971 442 is simply THE best looking car from the muscle car era.

The gold color on my 1967 car is actually a Volvo color, that was tinted a bit to get to a close representation of the color used by GM in 1967. It is a pain to match base coat systems to lacquers from that era, and it was as close as I could get. I do remember after spraying an old hood for about the 6th time saying to myself "Screw it, that's close enough".

The 1967 is a driver, Stan, and here, 20 years past resto, it is just starting to show. I do like throwing the guns in the trunk, and heading over to metro gun club in the summer. You wouldn't believe how many old guys come over and just start talking cars with me. Good fun.

I fixed the link to the site where Casey had his car posted for sale, back in the day. It is hard to argue with what the man accomplished, and how he voluntarily tore it down for certification as pure stock. Yes, it runs harder than many big block cars, Stan. Nothing to disagree about, there, at sub 13 seconds. It truly was the terror of the pure stock drags for a number of years.

Treb, my buddy just sent me a file of some of the welding going on with the GTO's quarters-I deleted the pics about two days ago! But, as of today, it is a car in primer, with a lot of body work going on. I'll see what I can do, but, it isn't much to look at, today.

Best,
Ted

Burning up the last of the good fuel, last Sunday afternoon:



Nothing like a 442 cruise into Stillwater, MN. in the fall. Stopped at a friends, and he snapped a pic. Lover, not a fighter, this ride, but, the boy always asks "Dad, can you make the Oldsie sing?", wanting me to can it, so he can hear the secondaries open up and enjoy the sound of a 400 cubic inch American pushrod V8 doing it's thing. I remember thinking to myself that every year I light it up in the spring, drive it a few times in the summer, put it away in the fall, and it has never acted up. It has been extremely reliable, and was running beautifully in the cool air last weekend.

Mom ain't crazy about acceleration.

It is an ammunition thread, I put ammunition in the trunk with the Darnes when I hit the gun club with the car!

Time to put it away, soon.

Thanks for the memories, you guys, some of which, I still get to play with, today.


Best,
Ted

Ah, Ted, I've always thought of you as motorcyclist touring Canada and Darne aficionado, not as speedster on the roads. Not to pick on you because speed is part of my life in aircraft, bush flying and aerobatics with a responsible instinct for safety, but I've never understood Americans' love for cars.

What is it---competition, shaving a second, technology, the noise, adrenaline rush from watching, or what? Unlike Canada, UK and Europe, US can't make a decent movie or television series without boring (to me) car chases. US traffic fatalities are way ahead of the above in all categories. Elucidate, please.