- 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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