Childhood influences....

I guess Freud was right-childhood influences form your preferences as an adult. Maybe it's true with cars. My dad had a '64 GTO. It was a 389 / 4-speed. It was a 4-barrel model, not a tri-power, but it had 4.33:1 gears which made it really quick in a drag race. I remember my dad's buddy Dave coming to our house with his brand-new-1967, 400, 4-speed Firebird convertible. Like Waylon Jennings said in the "Devil's Right Hand" about guns-"I thought it was the finest thing I ever had seen." I didn't give a shit that my dad's GTO beat it in a drag race ( the Firebird had 3.36:1 gears ). I thought it was the coolest car ever. My dad's friends were all gearheads. Paul had a split-window '63 Corvette Stingray. Jan had a 289 Cobra. Sonny had an SS396 Chevelle. I grew up with musclecars. When my parents took me to see "Bullitt" I didn't care about the hero's Mustang. I loved that ominous black Charger. When I saw "Vanishing Point" in 1971-my dream car was an Alpine White Challenger. My mom's driver was a 1965 Pontiac Catalina 2+2 with the tri-power 421. My dad was a carburator wizard. He was great at tuning multiple carbs. Besides musclecar owners, he had Porsche, Datsun Z and Ferarri owners lined up to have him syncronize multi-carb setups. I remember the two guys who had the fastest cars in town-one was a 440 / Six-Pack GTX and the other was a 426 Hemi Road Runner, agreed to race after a bunch of people bet a bunch of money. It was like "American Graffiti" on crack. The stipulation was one mechanic would tune both cars. The best in town. My old man. I was at the shop at midnight the night before when this was being done. I was at the race. The hemi won, by half the length of the front fender. It was that close. Both parties agreed that my dad was the "Man" that both cars performed as good as they possibly could have. Tuning wasn't an issue. My first car was a 1969 Ram Air III, 4-speed, 4.33:1 geared GTO Judge. Who buys that for a 16 year old? My old man. I think he wanted it as much for himself as he did me. I lost my driver's liscence in less than a year. My dad was a Pontiac guy since 1959 when he bought his Tri-Power 389 Catalina. He later had the Goat, the 2+2. I remember as early as 1970 he wanted a Trans-Am. "Smokey and the Bandit" sold millions. My dad had a 400, 4-speed, WS6 1978 T/A my junior year if high school. I thought it was the finest thing I ever had seen. Like Waylon said. I bought one used, in 1983. I loved that car. It looked cool, the seats were comfortable, the engine idled smoothly,the suspension didn't rattle your fillings loose, and it was fast enough to back up the image. I didn't have to take crap from Corvette owners or "5.0" Mustang owners. It's weird, because even though I liked the "Transporter" movies-I have no desire to have a hot BMW or Audi. Their's just something about an old school-musclecar. My brother is a lifelong Pontiac Guy. He has a '69 GTO. But now his obsession is a 428 Mustang. He's been scouring the internet looking for a deal. I told him-you'll have to sell the goat and pony up some big cash-they don't give those away. He's still searching. Mastermind