Happy Father's Day......

My brother and sister and I took the old man out for a steak dinner at his favorite steak house. We had a great time. He's 81 now, but still full of piss and vinegar. He's also a lifelong gearhead who got me and my brother into cars. My mom used to joke that I could swap valvesprings in a small-block Chevy cylinder head before I could ride a two-wheel bike!  When I was little he had a 1959 Pontiac Catalina with the 345 hp Tri-Power 389, Warner T85 3-speed stick. He later had a 4.33:1 geared '64 GTO that was a rocket. He had a 1965 Tri-Power, 421 Catalina 2+2 also. That one was badass. It had #670 heads off a '67 GTO, the 301 / 313 duration RAIII cam, 1.65:1 rockers which bumped lift from .414 to like .460. The intake was port matched to the gasket, and the RAIII exhaust manifolds were ported and extrude honed. The carbs were custom-jetted ( Dad was a legend at tuning multi-carbs. Guys with Hemis, 409s, Six-Packs, GTOs, Tri-Power 'Vettes, even Porsches, and Ferarris with Webers would come to the old man's shop for carb tuning.)  The TH400 had a TransGo shift kit that gave automatic kickdown to low gear below 20 mph, and the car had 3.90:1 gears. It showed it's taillights to many badass Camaros and Mustangs. In high school I had a Ram Air III, 4-speed, 4.33:1 geared 1969 GTO Judge. Who buys that for a 16 year old?  My dad!!!  I think he wanted it as much for himself as he did for me. Anyhow-a buddy of mine had a 440 Six-Pack Super Bee. He was always challenging me to a race. "I said-you can't beat the Judge" "I'll race you with my dad's car."  I took the 2+2 to school the next day. We had a race. Because of it's gearing, posi, and long wheelbase ( 121 inches ) and rear overhang-the Pontiac took off like a rocket. It would smoke the tires if you wanted to, but it would as they say-"Shit and Git". I came right off the line with him, and it was a dead heat until about 90 mph. He did finally pull ahead and get me by a car length or so, but me and my other friends tortured him for a month. He was impressed. He kept asking "What's up with your dad's car?"  We'd say-it's an old Pontiac Catalina with a wore out 389." "You better get that Dodge looked at." Finally about a month later he came by the shop-and my dad had the hood up on the 2+2. When he saw the "421" emblems, and the 3-2bbl carbs and chrome valve covers, etc, he started cussing me. "F&*K you!  Your Dad's car!"  "That's a street fighter if i ever saw one."  Good times. Over the years dad has helped me with my '73 Hurst / Olds 442, and my brother with his '69 GTO, as well as a couple of V8 Vegas, V8 Chevy LUVs, a small-block Chevy powered 240Z, and dropping the 400 / TH350 out of my wrecked '77 Trans Am into a '71 Ventura. ( Pontiac's version of the Nova ).  Us all being gearheads was great. Especially when young men get to a point where they disagree with their fathers on almost anything-we could always talk cars and bench race, or work on cars have a great time. Like Mark Twain said-"When I was 21 I thought my father was an idiot." "When I was 30 I couldn't beleive how much he'd learned in 9 years."  We can all see the joke in that.  Anyhow, thanks for always being there dad, even if it was only with bail money!!  And hopefully many more.