I'm
trying to remember why I bought the actual car. The concept was new and attractive:
an inexpensive production-line "compact" with high performance hardware,
a fastback that opened into the interior for a
seven-foot lie-down space. It looked like this,
had "Formula S" insignia on the fenders, and there were blue rings around
the tires rather than white. Come to think of it, the front fenders on the photo
look like '64 or '65 fenders, with that tell-tale Valiant
crease up front. I think my model is more like it; it has the egg-crate grill
. . .*
Out there in the racy world, one of the most exciting series ever—the
TransAm—to identify with.
You can see some significant history, specifications, and production
figures at Matt
Phillips' site. Thanks to Matt for the interior photo.
I needed to move from all-sports-car and little-wagon to something more
substantial. Geneva was growing. I had a friend in the business who
could—did—get me an excellent deal.
Once I had it home I still liked it:
- Lots of oomph from the 4-barrel
235HP 273 V-8 (16.05 and 88.9 MPH at Carlsbad
Raceway; beat in the bracket by a Hillman with a TR4 engine; beat
at Tecate drags by a 396 Chevelle, in a hilarious story published
as a Leditor To The Editor
in Hot Rod magazine, some time between November
1966 and April 1967, I think)
- Pleasant high-performance noises
(from the rectangular-tip exhaust and the vestigial air-cleaner with
a specially designed wrapper—designed to enhance that hi-po sound
at very little expense indeed)
- Good road-holding from the Goodyear
Blue Streaks (nice time at a
pre-slalom slalom in the Bullring-By-The-Sea parking lot [starts at
about 2:40]; not that bad a ride after they warmed up from
their square overnight bias-ply nylon shape)
- Comfortable ride (compared to
a no-wheel-travel Austin-Healey 3000 and a short-wheelbase Morris
Minor)
- Plenty of room inside (ibid.)
- Cheerful "Soft Yellow"
exterior color (did I mention the avocado green interior? I pretty
much avoid green in anything but nature) (BRG is not green;
it's BRG)
- Fairly good miles-per-gallon
(especially in Mexico, at 50MPH or lower as we tried to make it to
a high-traffic filling station on the remnants of a tank of extra,
extra-low octane "gasoline" I foolishly yielded to in the
throes of a middle-of-the-night desert crossing in thoughtless disregard
of the needs of the Baca Ruda's 10.5:1 compression ratio) (The strategy
is, don't use more than about five gallons in a row without a fill-up)
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