Muscle Cars 1968

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My older bro ordered a '68 Camaro in dark blue, SS 396 375 h.p. Holley 4-bbl, 4:10 rear end. A genuine screamer! Later he sold it to our dad, who (imho) enjoyed his second childhood driving it to play golf. My bro transitioned to a VW van, until he was drafted. Meanwhile, our dad had sold the Camaro. I accompanied my bro to his Army intake, and: Lo, and behold! His Camaro was sitting in the parking lot, eager to bid him good-bye! Bro got back from Vietnam, alive -- but somewhat altered . . .

Dude! I absolutely love the way you jump straight into the topic. Most youtubers spend a while with intro. Rambling on about liking and sharing and so on. Your content is BANG ON as well.

In 1968, I had a stingray. No, not the corvette, the Schwinn bicycle.

Growing up in the 80’s with 60’s and 70’s cars to hot rod. Looking back, alot of how fast a car ran had to do with how well it’s tuning was. Was the dwell right on the points, timing set optimal, carbs jetted correctly, plugs not fouled, plug wires not burnt on headers. Despite how easy we think these are to work on. Tuning them perfectly wasn’t as easy or as common as many think. That’s why it’s hard to really figure which cars were fastest in practice on cars that we on the street.

According to an article I read (by the guy who actually developed the Road Runner), the original name of the Road Runner was the La Mancha. Yes. As in Man of La Mancha. It was a big Broadway hit at the time. The advertising agency thought La Mancha was great but the Plymouth guy put Road Runner forward as the name and one of the junior guys from the agency claimed that Road Runner was a name he could work with! The agency caved and that's why we have a great Muscle Car called the Road Runner. Beep Beep!

Thank you so much for these long videos. Your voice and presentations are a pure treat and an hour long video from YOU is a treasure. Ill watch it a dozen times throughout the year.

I think that this was an excellent and fair comparison from the POV of what a potential buyer would have had to pick from for new musclecars in 1968. For my mom, it was the Road Runner, bought from a brochure in August of 1967. This was my mom's first car and was very heavily optioned for a Road Runner. She daily-drove it with two kids for five years, eventually trading it in for a 340 Duster, which I inherited. I loved muscle cars, and they were cheap and readily available when I was in my late teens and early 20's. I owned a '68 442 and a 70 GTO Judge, my Duster, a '71 Charger R/T 440 sixpack, and others. I loved my Mopars, and the Duster with a worked over 340 was probably the quickest, followed closely by the 440 sixpack Charger. I think that the 442 would be my first choice for a cross-country road trip. I eventually installed a slightlu warmed-up 455 in the 442, which absolutely made it faster. It was a great time to be a car enthusiast.

Loved learning more about the Fairlane/ Torino. My dad restored a beautiful white body/black hood '70 Torino Cobra with the 428 during my childhood and I've always had an affection for them.

As a 64yo gearhead of over 50 years, your opinion on the positives and negatives of the various makes, marques, and models, closely mirrors my own knowledge and experiences. I still have an RR and a 4-4-2, and the build/ride quality difference is markedly better with G.M. products. More refined styling as well. Edit: I also remember that another weak point of the Pontiac motors were the valve-trains. They tended to sound kind of raggedy when they had some wear and tear back in the 70's. Also the only interchangeable parts between the B.O.P. motors were the lifters.

I think it’s important to point out that these road tests in ‘68 had the tires available at the time. Tires have come a long ways…. I’d imagine completely stock ‘68 vehicles with modern tires would be substantially faster.

‘68 and ‘69 were amazing years for cars!

Love these muscle car vids! I talked with a guy that restored old MOPAR for a living and asked him what the biggest problem was. I was figuring parts but it was paint! He said the original paint jobs were so bad that if you did a decent paint job it didn't look original! He had to learn where the overspray went, where the orange peel occurred, what areas got the sags and runs...

While I was born after these cars were made, I love this era of American cars.

Back in the late 80s us high school kids knew about and loved the late 60s early 70s muscle cars. At that time it looked like their day was gone and never coming back. A friend of mine had a pretty well used 68 Torino GTA with a 3 speed manual and the 428 IIRC. It was only kinda quick but a really fun car to ride around in on summer nights. Other friends had 60s/70sCamaros and Mustangs while I had a hideous green 76 El Camino with a fully smogged 350. White vinyl interior! Truly a shaggin wagon.....not. Thanks for the memories Greg.

I’ve been waiting for another car video. I like the plane videos too but these are some of the most informative car videos on this site

This vid is a tsunami of nostalgia for me, though I rode a bicycle between 1958 and 2018 I had zero knowledge of auto stuff - I remember phrases like 4-barrel-carb, overhead cam, stuff like that. Eventually I was forced by lack of money to learn to keep a bicycle rolling, especially when I was collided by a car. The bike had to be fixed as it was my main transportation. Here's the bit that fascinates me: I began to develop an interest in WWII warbird engineering (I love WWII warbirds since the fifties), hence started watching Greg's vids about 6 years ago. I slowly began to understand basic piston engineering at a very rudimentary level. I kept a friend's 1982 Nissan/Datsun 210 wagon (popular in England and called the Sunny) alive for 8 years and rolling through sheer intent and a couple of repair books. I hate hate hate working as a mechanic, bicycle or car. I was collided 7 times between 2005 and 2018 and I just could not rebuild the bike one more time. Yes I have a lot of damage to my 107-pound body. My mom bought a Challenger in 1970. It was at the mechanic's shop most of the time in that short year. In 1964 she caved over the sexy looking Mustang. At one point she had a 1963 two-tone Corvette and two boys and I had to sit on the hump between the front seats as there was no backseat. She tried to give me her 1978 Datsun Z-28, her all-time fave, in 1986 and I told her I couldn't afford gas, a mechanic, insurance and parking fees. Now I kind of know what Greg is talking about from his zillion bits on warbirds. I love the look of the Malibu and the GTO. How do the muscle cars get oxygen at altitude? Oddly enough I am a talented driver and for many years the hottest bicyclist in L.A. Thank you for this, Greg. I still don't know what a hemi is and Imma no research.

The 68 GTO has always been my favorite muscle car from the era

Greg, do you know why a chicken coop can only have two doors? Because if it had four doors it would be a chicken sedan.

I believe the Chrysler 727 Torqueflite was the best Automatic from this era.