The Autopian staff have many different interests, but there’s one thing we all seem to be passionate about: dead automotive brands. Everyone here is a fan of car companies that ceased to exist because they somehow ran against the grain of the establishment or the latest “market initiatives.”
Our recurring Mercury Mondays bit was a fun celebration of Ford’s deceased step-up brand, at least until we kind of ran out of cars. Arguably, the staff-favorite of OEMs that have passed on to the great automotive beyond is the American Motors Corporation, and I’ve devoted endless what-if posts to this Kenosha oddball.
However, if we were to pick a GOAT Dead Brand, I’d have to go with the enthusiast-oriented name that I still find hard to believe is gone: Pontiac. How The General saw fit to cut this storied brand in The Great Purge yet saved Buick, I can’t tell you. I don’t care if they’re big in China. Buick, for God’s sake!
And so, I have declared it’s time to revisit some of the many forgotten hits, misses, and underappreciated gems of The Excitement Brand in a new recurring feature I’m calling Pontiac Pthursday. I’ll kick off the series with a good one, so get on your Pontiac and (sound up you guys) RIDE! PONTIAC RIDE!
El Pollo Esta Muy Loco
I really don’t believe that rules are meant to be broken, but finding legal, nobody-gets-hurt ways around them can be an admirable task. This was especially true in the late seventies when performance cars were literally being strangled to death by emissions controls and the weight of safety equipment. One Pontiac dealership found a unique way around these laws with a great one for our inaugural Pontiac Pthursday
Even if Burt Reynolds hadn’t immortalized it in Smokey and the Bandit, the second-generation Pontiac Firebird Trans Am car would have undoubtedly gone down as a seventies icon. There’s one big reason for that.
Question: How cool was your history teacher at school? Regardless of what you think, unless you took a design history class at Center for Creative Studies in the late eighties, I know that mine was cooler. Hey, did your instructor pen the “Screaming Chicken”? No, I didn’t think so.
The big bird logo didn’t go away, however, and over the next few years Porter and coworkers refined the design. Eventually, they added a graphic to the hood of a new ‘Bird to drive around Detroit suburbs and informally gauge interest. The reaction, as taken from an interview with Porter, was off the charts:
“We took it out to a few gas stations and drive ins and the people went berzerk [sic],” ….. “I mean, absolutely came unglued! They couldn’t believe it and they loved it! ‘Where’d you get that? Where can I get one?’ It attracted so much attention it was almost like you were walking down the street with no clothes on.”
Look, I agree with Bill Mitchell; I would never, ever stick a nine-square-foot bird decal on the hood of my beautiful new F-Body. Would I take hundreds of dollars from each person who wanted to put on this twenty-dollar sticker? Yes, yes I would, and apparently so did Bill (he drove new Ferraris, so it wasn’t like he was willing to suffer too much for his art).
Style over substance was the name of the game by the late seventies with American cars; the Trans Am had plenty of style to spare, but that’s not to say it didn’t have any performance cred. The 6.6-liter (400 cubic inch) V8 could have been had with up to 200 horsepower from the factory in 1977; quite pathetic today, but about as good as any legal production car was going to give you in those dark times. For two sons of a Pontiac dealer in Phoenix, though, that wasn’t enough. They needed more and found a way to make it legally happen.
El Auto Es Nuevo?
Can a “new” car with essentially zero miles be sold as a “used” car? Apparently it can, and much to the likely chagrin of the NHTSA and EPA, it could have legally been done even if that “used” car wasn’t exactly as it was when it left the factory. Here’s the deal: in the Malaise era, manufacturers were strictly forbidden to make changes to the drivetrains of stock cars that were shipped to dealers, and an untitled car couldn’t be hopped up when it hit the lot. That was the end of the story for most dealers, but not for Kyle and Dennis Meacham, two brothers whose father owned a Pontiac store. When the fabled Pontiac 455 CID V8 was dropped for 1977, leaving that 200-horsepower 400 as the top Trans Am motor, they knew they had to find a loophole to bring back the power to the people.
The solution the Meacham brothers came up with was “purchasing” 26 new 1977 W72 Firebird Trans Ams from their father’s Pontiac dealership and doing some tweaks they had perfected on their own cars under the banner of “DKM Engineering”. The 400 V8 received a rejetted four-barrel carb, Hooker headers, two-and-a-half-inch diameter exhaust pipes (but still with a catalytic converter), and punching open the fake hood scoop to make it functional. The changes added around fifty horsepower. Not content with a troglodyte “muscle car,” DKM then matched the power with a dropped front suspension, heat-treated coils, and Koni shocks. Add-ons available included rear disc brakes and even a five-speed Doug Nash manual to replace the four on the floor (and a few automatics were also built). The finished cars were then sold at Meacham Pontiac as “used cars” with new-car warranties. It no doubt helped if your dad owned the dealership, though I would think that Meacham senior had some major exceptions on that warranty. Unlike a lot of “performance specials,” the Meachams didn’t strip out things like air conditioning, radios, or the back seat, so the cars were still usable and pleasant enough things to drive every day.
What would they call this barely legal creation? The brothers supposedly struggled with this; according to Hemmings in an interview with Dennis Meacham they landed on a popular word from the era:
“Everything was macho. In desperation, I said, ‘Why not call it Macho T/A?’ It was almost tongue-in-cheek. It may not be the best name, but how can you forget it?”
Indeed. If a giant screaming chicken on the hood wasn’t extroverted enough, you’d have been glad to see MACHO T/A emblazoned in big, obnoxious letters down each rocker panel. Well, some say it ain’t bragging if you can back it up, and the Macho T/A certainly could do that.
Hot Rod magazine was able to get a quarter-mile time of 14.29-second ET at 98.79 mph out of a Macho T/A compared to the stock Trans Am’s 15.20 at 96 mph. While hardly great numbers by today’s standards, that beat the 15.5-second time of the same-year 1977 Corvette. The Macho T/A package added a whopping $3000 to the base Trans Am’s $5500 sticker; the total price equaled the sticker of that ‘Vette, but the initial 26 Machos essentially dematerialized off of the Meacham lot. The following year, DKM pumped out 204 cars at its now-standalone facility, an investment needed to meet demand.
Still, was that base car really macho enough? The Meacham brothers figured they could use this regulation loophole to go after bigger and more costly exotic fish.
Es Rapido, Si?
Let’s say it’s 1978 and you’re a stockbroker or attorney clad in your Savile Row-tailored suit. Sitting at a light in your $20,000 Porsche 911SC, the Rachmaninoff or Boz Scaggs playing through your quadrasonic Blaupunkt is interrupted by the burble and high-pitched whine of a car with the subtle appearance of a parade float next to you. The driver sports a polyester shirt plus a mustache the size of a push broom, and as soon as the light turns green, you assume that your Ivy League-educated self will dispatch him immediately.
Well, you won’t, at least not if this Macho T/A is one of the 30 or so that DKM built with a Rajay 301-E turbocharger (and water injection) that was compact enough to clear the A/C compressor and other under-hood accessories. The 325 horsepower the blown 6.6 pumped out dwarfed the mere 185 of a standard 911 or even the 253 produced by a turbocharged 930. Hot Rod magazine claimed that a Turbo Macho could run a 13.9-second quarter mile, or only about .2 seconds slower than Car and Driver achieved from that US-spec turbo Porsche.
Naturally, performance times recorded on a tuner car fifty years ago were about as unreliable as the turbocharged and carbureted motor of the hottest Macho likely was, but rest assured that this thing was a force to be reckoned with.
The full Macho Turbo treatment was an additional $6400 you paid on top of the price of a new Trans Am itself; you could almost buy two new 1978 Chevettes with the cost of just the conversion. Still, that would have been far less than the price of slower European exotics and essentially half the price of that turbo 930. The name might have been stupid, but the Macho was no joke.
Hasta La Vista, Macho
A further 98 cars were converted to Machos in 1979 with the revised soft-nosed car that had the ultra-cool blackout taillights.
The conversion price had now risen to $3300; still a reasonable deal for a bespoke American style Alpina- or AMG-style performance machine.
A fender and trunk lid graphic plus an etched plaque inside indicating the production number on each car added to the exclusivity (the brothers were somehow prescient of what would get muscle car people going decades later at car shows).
Scheel racing-type seats were available to replace the less-than-spectacular stock ones, but it was a rare option that the one below doesn’t have.
You can see that with a full-sized spare (or Turbos with the battery relocated there) that the trunk would have been a bit comical. Again, the F-body was still far more usable and practical than a ‘Vette or most contemporary exotics.
All good things come to a close, and the last six Machos left the DKM facility in 1980 when Pontiac discontinued the 400 V8 and replaced it with the rather disastrous turbocharged 301CID motor. With no more big Pontiac eights to work with, the whole Macho project died. The end of the decade marked the end of disco; nobody dared play Macho Man in public anymore, and a car with that over moniker plastered all over it was done as well.
Macho Es Bueno
Despite the resurgence of seventies culture today, prices of surviving examples of the 332 Macho T/As built seem remarkably low, with most examples selling for anywhere between $30,000 – $50,000, with the exceptions of projects or museum pieces. That’s not chump change, but it’s a far cry from the absurd mid-six-figure sums you’ll pay for something like a Yenko Camaro or “numbers matching” boat of a car that isn’t even much fun to drive. For a legendary ultra-rare American sports coupe with serious performance, some semblance of handling, and over-the-top looks, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better value and investment than a Macho T/A.
The only question is: are you macho enough to drive it?
Pontiac Points: 94 / 100
Verdict: Criminally undervalued bombastic fun. Who needs a restomod when you can get a real vintage tuner car for similar money? Hope you’re not the shy type, though.
worked for Yenko Chevrolet previously, Makes you wonder if the 81 Yenko Turbo Z was not made because of these Macho T/A’s? But they only made 19, so the draw was just not there anymore?
The bright red T/A reminds me of the hero/jump car in Burt’s other Firebird movie: “Hooper”
“All good things come to a close, and the last six Machos left the DKM facility in 1980 when Pontiac discontinued the 400 V8 ”
I don’t understand why they couldn’t continue by switching to the Chevy 350 or even the Chevy 305.
Or they could have done Chevy 454 conversions. The 454 definitely fit in the 2nd and 3rd gen F-bodies.
Because a full powertrain replacement would have cost far too much.
“Because a full powertrain replacement would have cost far too much.”
Well on that basis, I don’t see why they couldn’t have carried on by making hotter versions of the Chevy 305/350… which continued to be available.
I don’t think so. They were pulling the engine to put in a 5 speed. Have some mount adapters and a 454 with a 5 speed would be just as easy a swap. And Chevy parts are cheaper than Pontiac ones, especially with go-fast stuff.
I think the reason was that these were ultimately Pontiac guys. They knew and loved Pontiac Engines. Hot Rodding Chevy engines wasn’t their thing. More importantly, a LOT of die hard Pontiac, Oldsmobile, and Cadillac people absolutely rejected the concept of putting in a cheaper Chevy engine.
I believe there was some sort of lawsuit over the Oldsmobiles with Chevy engines, that resulted in GM running disclaimers on ads to the effect that Oldsmobile used Oldsmobile and other quality GM engines
Yes the Cherios, a Chevy 350 in place of the “Rocket 350” people payed extra for resulted in law suits and the eventual disclaimer that “GM vehicles are equipped with engines produced by various GM divisions” disclaimer in all of their advertising for some time. That was done due to the Cutlass taking the best selling car title from the full size Chevy and the resulting demand exceeding Olds 350 capacity and leaving the Chevy 350 lines well over capacity. (It also allowed them to run the Chevy engine in Nascar as a nice side effect)
Because Pontiac… just do the same for less on a Z28. We forget how each division (bewilderingly) had their own engines at that time. Chalk one up of for Ford in that regard, all divisions shared powertrains by the late ’60s.
well sort of. Ford had FE’s, Windsors, Clevelands and Later Modfied versions. Parts rarely swapped even on the same engine family at the time and deck heights varied. They did still have MEL motors up until 67, which were Mercury/Edsel and Lincoln specific and again were not easily interchangable in many designs. And then there were the late coming 385 “Big Block Engines”
I think the MEL motors were actually in response to the Pontiac V8 which was literally exactly the same dimensions on the outside whether it displaced 326 CI all the way up to 455 CI
Yes, but the FE (400,460) and Windsors (289,302,351) were fully shared between brands and became the 2 common V8 engine series. The Cleveland/Modified is a bit of an oddball that found more success in AU.
GM still sold 5 differently branded V8’s in various (often overlapping) displacements.
I think the Corporate standard engines in the 70’s and more so in the 80’s really kind of killed the divisions. It seemed good on paper, but people were willing to pony up a bit more cash for the Pontiac version of say the 57 chevy, simply because of a little more chrome and a perceived more reliable or powerful engine family.
But at what cost? Each division made overlapping V8 engines, in different factories on different tooling. I think Chevy, Buick and Olds all made 350 cid engines in the ’70s, to what end?
The Olds version was called the Rocket.
The Rocket!
You think you’d get that kind of innovation with a standardized engine?
Its all about volume, their commercials were louder than anyone else’s. But seriously it was all about volume. GM had ~50% market share for a number of years so they needed a lot of engines and thus a lot of production lines and tooling. When those brand specific engines started life they didn’t share displacements. Chevy had the 283 and 327 while Pontiac had the 287 and 326(336). Olds had the 303 and 330 while Buick had the 300 and 340.
By the time the 60’s were coming to a close and GM was under pressure they decided they shouldn’t compete with their own brands as much as they should compete with other mfgs. So yeah the edict came down from above that thy small V-8 shall displace an advertised 350 cu it, your medium shall be advertised as 400 cu in except for Olds who managed to sell theirs as its true displacement of 403 cu in. Big guns were mandated at 455 cu in, except for Chevy. (The dirty reality was that the actual displacement for many of those were not what was advertized.)
It was far cheaper to change the settings on a given engine line and possibly tool some new pistons than build a full set of new tooling to build more of a single engine.
That all came to a head when the first energy crisis rolled around and people shifted to “smaller cars” and away from performance and to “luxury”. That displaced the full size Chevy from the podium with the Olds Cutlass which was available in many of the same showrooms and at a price that was quite comparable to the Impala across the floor that was equivalent to their trade in.
The problem was that new found volume exceeded Olds’ production capacity. Meanwhile all those SBC lines were now over capacity. So some of those Olds went out the door with Chevy engines. That did not go over well with the returning Olds customers and they threw a fit when they found a lowly Chevy 350 in a garish orange color under the hood when they had ponied up the extra cash to custom order a “Rocket 350” which should have been a nice upscale gold color. That of course led to a class action lawsuit that GM lost.
So even though they took away some of the differentiation with the displacement edict this was still a time when there was some cache associated with the “mid-priced” brands and brand loyalty was still just as strong or stronger than MFG loyalty.
It wasn’t until the energy crisis/downsizing really took hold that the big engines had to die and the rise of 4 and 6cyl market share meant that V8 volume could be met with the Chevy lines alone.
The FE was not available in 400 and 460 displacements, the common versions were the 352, 390, 427, 428 and later the 360. It was not initially sold between all the brands FE stands for Ford Edsel and was only offered in Ford and the smaller Edsels. MEL was Mercury Edsel Lincoln and while there certainly were design similarities the displacements were different. Once it went away and Mercury started gettting FEs initially they had different displacements, the 410 for example.
The 400 is from the 335 (351C) engine family. (The 351 M was just version that used the 400’s tall deck block)
The 460 is from the 385 engine family with the 429 being the only other production displacement, though the family was designed to go to 500 w/o any special tricks.
Note Ford had 4 352 cu in V8’s with overlapping eras. Presumably the 351 that came to be known as the 351W got that displacement down grade so that it wasn’t confused with the 352 FE. Meanwhile the 351C production also overlapped with the 351W as did its replacement the 351M. Yes all of those share the same bore and stroke with an actual displacement of 351.57 cu in.
But then GM had far more market share and thus needed way more engines and thus engine production lines. Setting up a production line and tooling is not cheap, while drawing up a different engine was relatively cheep, at least before emissions concerns.
That is why GM could afford 4 different “350’s” and the 351C was born. 351W demand was on the verge of outstripping capacity so another line and set of tooling was needed. Combine that with the fact that the 351 was pretty much the practical limit of the Windsor line and it wasn’t that much more expensive to whip up a new design. The 335 series would fill the demand, be better breathing and have room to accommodate that 400 cu in version with a taller deck.
The 429 and 460 are 385 series, not FE.
More specifically:
Because Pontiac still had actual Pontiac engines that weren’t called Iron Duke.
This sounds like the same idea of what Beau said in the podcast (remember that?) about not being able to sell an FP700 F150 without having to deliver a stock F150 to the customer, have them drive it off the property and come back and then do the shop work, which I presume would be written up on a separate invoice from the sale.
My first car, in 1982, was a W72 1977 4-speed Trans Am. After the crew chief of my dad’s funny car team built the 400, it could run away from a Macho T/A.
“I really don’t believe that rules are meant to be broken, but finding legal, nobody-gets-hurt ways around them can be an admirable task.”
Really? So, you’ve never broke the speed limit, crossed a street sans crosswalk, rolled a stop sign, smoked weed, burnout or donuts on land you don’t own? I can drivel on, but with little reflection it’s clear this is a bad take. Some rules are absolutely meant to be broken because they are catch all rules that don’t need to apply in all situations.
Way to miss the point
That finding legal nobody gets hurt ways around rules is an admirable task? Yea, I get it, but it is not the same as my point which is actually breaking rules.
So… way to miss the point.
“I can drivel on”
Please don’t
Different opinions on what rules made sense I suppose. Currently there is no real reason to have a ticketable offense since new cars all seem to have navigation or some other satellite linked system. if we really cared about speed limits the cars could be limited to the posted limit on almost all roads. Nope, the Popo pays themselves with tickets.
I’m pretty sure their father was the impeached governor of AZ.
I loved the Macho trans am especially in black and red and of course the black and gold.
And as noted it is kind of crazy how much these go for vs any bandit edition car these can normally be had for cheaper and to me seem cooler.
Don’t ask questions, just smile and wave as you blow their doors off.
Ooooh yeeeaaahhh, DIG IT! The cream always rises to the top with the Macho T/A! You’ve got lust in your eyes and in your black heart for this car. The Mustang is a single grain in the Sahara, but the Macho T/A IS THE ENTIRE DESERT, yeah!
SNAP INTO IT! OOOH YEAH!
I see what you did there and I haven’t watched wrestling since Hulk Hogan had his own Saturday morning cartoon.
SNAP INTO A SLIM JIM!!!
I grew a bushy handlebar mustache and a patch of thick curly chest hair just from reading about this car.
Would be a good look for you, Carlos.
Sadly I have more chest hair than hair hair… Still can grow a wicked goatee.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lRPYEx7LuwY
And you’re a woman!
Anyone buying one of these needs to immediately order a set of these tires.
Macho they may be, but they’re no Fuckstones.
That may be, but can you get Fuckstones at Walmart?
I own a 1979 Trans Am with some tuner parts from another period Pontiac tuner (Trans Am Specialties out of NJ) and a 1979 Dodge Power Wagon. Somehow, both of these vehicles could have been had with a “Macho” treatment. Neither one of mine are Macho variants of their respective vehicles, sadly.
The height of the Disco Era was a weird time.
I did see that, but unfortunately the Dodge doesn’t say MACHO anywhere on the outside, correct? Just big vertical POWER WAGON stickers, Simon and Simon style.
Strangely No, it was the 70’s stickers were heavy, even the Macho Ramcharger failed to place a dig decal on the outside anywhere.
There were lots of others though “Top Hand”, “The Dude”, “Warlock” ETC. Basically it was Macho at the time to have Eye popping color schemes with a roll bar.
Correct, they called it the Macho package, but it didn’t say the M-Word anywhere on the truck. That Simon & Simon truck was a good example of a ’79 with that package. The Power Wagon package that Ram brought back in 2017 also has those graphics, which is pretty cool.
Indeed, and the Naders of the world Karen’d out pretty quickly. the Little Red Express was the hot ticket due to a Truck loophole, it only took one year to neuter it enough for the rest of the gearheads to ignore it.
Am I wrong in thinking that interior looks absolutely fantastic? Clean, minimalist, and functional can be done without looking like a cubicle.
100% agree. Makes me wonder what the hell went wrong at GM
Bean counters and an existential crisis from the Japanese imports.
This was kind of the high point for GM, build quality and panel gaps notwithstanding.
And thank you to the author for giving us the story behind the Chicken. It was spectacular and very much of its time, but just a bit mysterious.
Looked good when new.
Put a few miles on it and watch the leading anchor for the armrests pull out as well as the passenger-side panic-handle if your co-pilot pulled with any force at all.
Then the dash cracks if you parked in the sun regularly.
Not to mention what an errant Big Gulp would do to those velour seats and carpet.
Well that just means a nice trip to Autozone, swaddled by the clean, minimalist interior of my Macho T/A
And that’s before we talk about the Rally gauge panel with the engine-turned aluminum bezel, the brilliant combination temp/oil pressure gauge dead center, and Formula wheel all coming together to make what I say is the best dash of any American car ever made…
…AND ANY MAN WHO SAYS OTHERWISE MAY MEET ME ON THE FIELD OF HONOR TO PROVE HIS ASSERTION.
Id rather have the KW.
Buyers definitely needed to option the Rally gauge pack – because the standard was basic AF.
Heh. The classic 1970s “big round circular gauge pod that looks like it ought to have either a tachometer or a clock in it, which is filled instead by a blank gauge face that looks like a clock with only half the clock markings on it.” Pontiac wasn’t the only one. There have been articles about that on this site.
That green Chrysler Pacifica in the other post? How cool would it be with a giant vinyl sticker on each side that said MATCHA?
Take my like and get out… ;D
Trying to convince Jason to put MACHO PAO stickers on the side of his car.
He needs a screaming deer decal on the hood.
OK, that’s too good.
It will only attract them! Just what that poor little car needs.
Not Kung Pao?
Is there room on the hood for a ginormous chicken sticker?
I would absolutely love a restomod of that vintage T/A. Black with screaming chicken, of course.
Unfortunately, I’ve tried, and I just don’t have it in me to grow a Burt mustache.
Me either, which is why the only mustache I have is in my profile pic.
Babyfaced as I am, I’m always joking “check your beard privilege.” I guess it’s the trade-off for still having hair on my head at 53.
Now that I’ve entered my old hairy phase, i can grow a passable beard and mustache. Comes with with the ear and nose hair.
My brother is 70 and still can’t. I tell him he’s just more highly evolved.
The black and gold looks great when it’s new and shiny, not so much when it’s scuffed and dinged, parked in the gravel next to a single-wide.
I worked with a guy who bought a 6.6 Trans Am, and while making years and years of payments on it, beat on it and drove it into the ground… then complained about the lousy mileage and how it always breaking down. I just remember how bad the fit of the panels were, and how much it was costing him to drive a few miles to and from work every day.
definitely not a practical car.
As a die-hard Pontiac enthusiast/apologist/necromancer, I approve of this article and of Pontiac Pthursdays. I will be putting every article into my glovebox.
I still want Mercury Mondays…
Maybe Ford Fridays too. I’m greedy.
As long as we also get Toyota Tuesdays… a lot of AMERICA in the week otherwise
Alternate Mercury and Mercedes on every other Monday.
Toyota Tuesday (Lexus allowed).
Wagon Wednesday (all makes).
Pontiac Pthursday, obviously.
Ford Friday? They certainly have enough models to sustain us for months.
Alternate Saab and Saturn on Saturdays.
Sunday is for Subaru, the ultimate weekend trip machine.
Sounds good! I have a list but if you have any you’d like to see let me know! Just no GTO Judges or stuff we all know about inside and out.
The only thing I’d really like to see if you haven’t already put it listed is what the plans were for Pontiac if it had lived on. I heard that the G6 and G8 were going to be alpha platform based.
And similar to the what-if Mustang series, it would be interesting to see a what-if series based on Pontiac living on. Would we have gotten a Pontiac Trax with a 2.0T motor? A Kona N before the Kona N? Stuff like that
It’s not a specific special edition or anything, but one of my personal “Holy Grails” (eesh) is a ’65 Bonneville Safari—that’s Pontiac-speak for “wagon”—which could be optioned up with a 421 H.O., eight-lug wheels, and even bucket seats. ’66-70 wagons could be equipped with a vinyl roof, which is kind of wacky-fun, but I like the slightly more massive, chromier styling of the ’65 best. But for a few years there, Pontiac made some beautiful and potent big wagons.
I also agree more Pontiac things. I am not biased or anything. (Not like I own a Firebird, my dad owns a firebird and his twin a 1969 GTO)
Between Dad and I we have five of the things, so yeah this is pretty kick as.
“dropped front suspension, heat-treated coils”
Translates to heating the top coils of the front springs until they sag.
Easier to do in the days before plastic fender liners.
Jinx
For as much as they were charging for their conversions, I sure hope they didn’t just take the temper off the factory springs and squash them.
“heat treated springs”
This is a euphemism for “we heated em up with the torch till the nose sagged”
It effectively lowers the car AND takes the temper out of the spring, at least in that spot.
yeah, that sounds about right.
They say that these cars had the magical ability to instantly bestow upon any driver an instant mullet, and a white t-shirt with a pack of marlboros rolled up in the sleeve.
I approve this message.
We all have mullets now after reading the article. The Bishop has been defrocked for getting so much action on account of his skin-tight polyester vestments.
When I was a kid in high school back in the early 90’s there was a guy from a neighboring town that had a white Macho T/A he would bring to car shows. This one was a manual and he had a six point cage in the thing! You can imagine how insanely badass this was to a 15 year old gearhead in the middle of very rural southern Missouri.
Ahh – sticking it to the Man. What is more American?
These were very low volume and I bet actually cleaner than the factory cars, because they were tuned right. I would happily rock a MACHO. I love the ’70s style, but want more efficient power.
I agree; the brother put a LOT of work into each car. I was shocked when I saw what these go for auction or on the market in general (about half what I thought they would be worth).
So much win in this.
Sorry but all I can think of is the stupid way Trump dances to Macho Man by the The Village people.
Both the song and the vision of our “favorite” home grown dictator have been burned into my poor, over taxed, (tariffs, and inflation) brain for eternity.
So not a big fan of anything labeled Macho…
May God help us.
I get this, and pray for our Country. Reason has left the building.
On the plus side he looks like he will do well jerking off putin and Xi at the same time
Kim’s gonna get jealous and throw a hissy fit.
Luckily for you, Trump actually dances to “YMCA.” So go ahead and rock “Macho Man.”
This looks glorious and I would happily drive one.
Spanish lesson: “Mucho macho” sounds funny but doesn’t make grammatical sense. It’s literally saying “lot(s) manly”.
However, you can say “Muy macho” or “Mucho machismo“. Those two do make sense.
I’ll see myself out.
You should get one of these cars. Then your friends can call you Speedy.
I’ll also see myself out.
That took me a second… not so speedy after all
I spent way too much of my childhood watching Looney Tunes. That and we actually had a Gonzalez in the area nicknamed Speedy.