Saturday, December 30, 2006

Saturday, December 30, 2006

 - On a whim, I picked up a set of 33 issues of Popular Hot Rodding off of Ebay, spanning the years 1984 to 1994.  It cost me 10 bux plus some shipping and fondling.  For those ten dollars, I managed to get spare copies of several road tests for the third gen cars, including one I already had (that was in poor shape) and one (a Pontiac Formula vs. Mustang LX heads-up comparison) that I was looking at on Ebay to bid on (for the sale price of ... ten dollars).  So, for ten dollars, not only did I get the article I was looking for, but the entire magazine, a pristine copy of another article I already had, and 32 other magazines to reminisce with.  

Reading these magazines, the letters in them from frustrated owners of new third gens (and other high-tech computer controlled '80's wonder cars) makes me remember a time when there were very few parts for our cars, when almost no one knew how to work on them (not even the leading magazines of the era) and when, in one year, going from a stock 150 horsepower to a stock 190 horsepower was considered monumental.  190 horsepower!  Kids who were teenagers when the LS1s were around don't know how good they had it.  

Ah, the memories... some of these magazines were ones that I used to have and read during high school.  It's a trip back in time to see old advertisements for Rhodes lifters, PAW, Wholesale Automotive, Banks, Ranchero Suspension, etc.  The perfect end to an almost perfect year; sitting down in my favorite chair with some hot chocolate, the wife and child are tucked away in bed, I have one lamp on and I'm thumbing through the stack of PHR, bumping from reader's letters that I remember to advertisements that I liked, as a teen.

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