NeonLX

Unless it gets the ol' 4.0L inline six under the hood, I absolutely hate it. But if it gets the inliner, I'll tolerate it (barely). Funny thing--I actually like the Compass. It's not offensive-looking (kinda pretty from the front) and it's light enough to be zippy with the 2.4L four/CVT.

This one was mine. The logo on the sail panel said "4.2 Litre", so mine had the 258 six. Gobs of torque for a 2800-lbs. car. Tire-frying fiend, it was...

Imagine the Beach Boys singing, "She's real fine, my 6.9"... (not too far off conversion-wise; I think the 409 would have been ~ 6.7L).

AMC showed the displacement of engines on the rear sail panel of Gremlin Xs during the 1971-'76 period. Here's an example of a '74 with the "5-litre V8" (304 CID). If "3.8 litre" was displayed, the car had the 232 CID inline six, and "4.2 litre" denoted the 258 six:

I rarely watch the tube but my daughter loves TBBT. I gotta admit, the episodes I've watched with her have been pretty funny. One of them featured Steven Hawking as a guest star.

A completely cherry Plymouth Sundance sedan. I'm thinking it was a 1992. The tinwork has eaten most of those up around here, but this one was really sharp. No piston slap from the 2.2L/2.5L 4-cyl. engine under the hood, either. If it had been for sale, I probably would have landed on it.

Sorry for the crummy picture...saw this nice 67 Biscayne 2-Dr rolling up the street as I was walking to the bus stop. I ran after it and managed to snap this pic before the car turned right. It was a six/stick and the dude had no clue how to drive it...revved the engine up really tight, then S L O W L Y let out the clutch...painful to witness.

Oh dear God, NNNNNOOOOO...

Saw a Ford Flex parked behind a Scion Xb. It occurred to me that these two cars look a lot alike; the Flex is merely a scaled up version of the Xb (or xB, or whatev). Had to chuckle to myself.

Yeah, "final" is worrisome (maybe).

Whoa. That is a cool story. Thanks for taking the time to share it!

Thanks for that. I ain't very swift. My nickname in high school was "dumb Swede".

Can you help a brother out...what is "Moltie"? Now a shoot out between Camry vs. Accord--I'd be all over that $h!e!!

Heh. I think the "non-professional" driver was a ringer.

Yes, thanks for that, KevinW. This would help explain the higher peak torque rating at a lower RPM for the 2V-equipped Buick 455s (but so would nutty rating methodology, eh? ).

Not really. Nobody would watch in anyway.

I hate cars. But welcome anyway.

Friend of mine had a '71 Olds Custom Cruiser that had a 2V carb for its 455 to inhale through. I also remember seeing a '71 Bonneville with a 455 & 2V carb, think it was an uncle's. Seems like Buick avoided doing this on their big engine until 1974 for some reason. Oh yeah, another buddy had a '69 Caprice with a 396 2V. I loved the hide-away headlights on that tan over chocolate car. Sheesh, thought of another one: the car I took my driver's test in was a '71 Mercury Marquis Brougham with a high compression 429 w/2V carb.

Rented an '11 Sentra and wound up being very impressed with the performance of the CVT. Kept the engine revs down unless you really needed 'em. Engine loafed at highway speeds, something like 2000 RPM, Very nice cruiser.

Wow, I'm sorry to hear of your loss. It's always so damned tough. All my grandparents and parents are now gone. Some outstanding gearheads in that hallowed group, too. My thoughts are with you & your family. --Drew

http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/NA/Buick/1974_Buick/1974-Buick-Full-Line-Brochure/1974-Buick-Full-Line-30-31 http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/NA/Buick/1974_Buick/1974-Buick-Full-Line-Brochure/1974-Buick-Full-Line-44-45 The engine table :http://www.oldcarbrochures.org/index.php/NA/Buick/1974_Buick/1974-Buick-Full-Line-Brochure/1974-Buick-Full-Line-56-57

Another sleepless night and I'm paging through a car brochure, this time the full-line prestige 1974 Buick brochure. In the case of the LeSabre and Century models, a 455 CID V8 option was available, interestingly enough with a 2V carburetor (the 4V version was also available, of course). And dual exhausts were available on this 2V option (single exhaust was apparently standard). AFAIK, this was the only year that the Buick 455 came with a 2V carb. Another interesting twist is that the ratings for the 2V version show higher peak torque (at a lower RPM) than any of the 4V versions. Fascinating. I'll try to scan the good stuff and post it here (if anyone's interested, that is). I love this sorta thing.

Saw some ugly @ssed Porsche 4-door sedan today. Looked like an early 2000s Pontiac Grand Prix with a Porsche front end grafted on. Bleh.

Walking back to the office today, I heard the unmistakable sound of an inline six exhaling through a rusted out exhaust system. Turned out to be a 1975-ish GMC 1500 pickup, with a "292" badge displayed in the grille! The tinworm hadn't totally digested the truck's cab & bed yet, but it had a pretty good start on it. What a glorious day this has turned out to be.

I still ain't seen but one Dart. And I live less than two hours north of Belvidere. Mrs. Me saw one the other day and actually called me on the cellphone to tell me (and she doesn't like cars).