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LIFE’S Observations…

from Sept/Oct Edition of Prime Connections

from Sept/Oct Edition of Prime Connections , page 36

Humana can help you choose a M...

In Billings, September will once again be ushered in by the happy event known as “Burn the Point”. It's all about cars and the people whose lives revolve around them. It is a time for replaying galvanized memories of old and sharing the limitless excitement of what lies ahead in the world of personal transportation.

First are the car shows where tourists like myself can marvel at the polished chrome and perfectly routed spark plug wires. My wife will pay particular attention to custom upholstery jobs that are better than factory new. (She has recovered a few couches and chairs in her time so she appreciates the level of workmanship in a show car). Almost certainly you'll come across an old friend and catch up on some visiting.

As the day settles into evening, around 6:00 pm, a parade of some 500 vehicles will idle slowly through downtown Billings on 3rd Avenue North to the KTVQ building and then return on 2nd Avenue past the Babcock Theater. Go. It is an enjoyable time.

The era of the Muscle Car craze began with the “pony cars” - Baracuda, Mustang and Camaro in the mid 60's but by the early 70's they were done. The Arab oil embargo of 1973 led to a crippling fuel shortage in 1974, and the auto manufacturers were completely consumed by the need for cars with drastically lower fuel consumption. Once again American ingenuity met the challenge, and so did the auto industry worldwide.

1974, was also the year my younger brother graduated from high school. Andy and his classmates Paul and Dennis dreamed about fast, tire-burning gas guzzling monsters, but their fathers showed little interest in indulging these youngest sons with even a used muscle car, so the boys got busy.

Andy got lucky. Our Dad would occasionally go to town and buy “fifty dollars worth of worn out old cars”. We would take out the back seats and use them to haul weaner pigs from the farrowing barn on the home place to our feeder barn a mile and a half down the road. One of those cars was an unassuming Ford Falcon whose tired little six cylinder engine had been replaced with a high performance 289 V8, four bolt mains, four barrel carb and all. He made a deal with Dad for something less than $100 and vague promises to “use his head” while driving. Bingo! Sleeper speed demon number one.

Paul lived on the highway, and his lucky day came when a frustrated young man from Great Falls had spent all day struggling with a sick and sputtering Olds 442, trying to get to Billings. Paul saw a diamond in the rough and offered Angry Man his pick of a used, but running ranchrunner that would get him to his destination. So the deal was done. One hundred dollar muscle car number two! A couple of weeks in shop class and the Olds was ready for battle.

Dennis may have had to work a little more deliberately for his muscle bound Mopar, but he achieved his goal and stayed within his budget. He had a Plymouth Valiant. He pulled out the slant six and dropped in a beefed-up small block V8, also courtesy of the high school shop class. Hot rod on a shoestring number three. These enterprising young guns could beat anybody in the school parking lot with their “hunnerd dollar cars”. Andy retired from the Snap-on Tool Company and always had a project car or two in his garage. Paul stayed on the Ranch, where he developed a taste for nicely appointed diesel pickups. Dennis has had the most hot rods throughout his life so far, and he manages a drag strip where the Big Dogs come to show the rest of us what a Quick Car really is. So I ask you, ain't life grand?