We use to do that all the time ! It's amazing how durable those old cars were ! The funny thing is , I NEVER had a tranny problem until we bought a newer car .

Remember the Rockford Files ? I use to love pulling those maneuvers with my 67 Cutlass in the mid 80's

 

When I was 16 my dad had a 76 cutlass with a 350 4brl and for some reason that thing was just plain fast,with about 4 other friends in the car too. If you manualy shifted it it was a beast! Couldnt kill that thing it ran forever..

 

You think the points could make a huge difference? I did replace them last year with a cheap set. New wires/plugs/cap/rotor seemed to make very little difference in how it performed. Rebuilding the carb helped quite a bit but still no rubber smoke. Timing at 12° made an improvement over the stock 8°.

The car is a 455 4BBL with dual exhaust. I just expected it to smoke em with ease with that setup. I know it's got J smog heads, but I didn't think that would kill the low end so badly. Maybe I am overlooking something... Any other suggestions?

 

My first car!
That thing would burn rubber for 30 yards in 1st and 2nd
with bias ply tires!!! Of course only the pass. side. .
And we used to do the what we called 'the reverse burnout'.
Back up a little and slam it in low! Can't kill a longtail 400 turbo!
Man, you guys are bringing back some good memories.

 

I actually had the very same setup as the OP ... as one of my first cars was a 70 D88 with 2bbl 455.

With an old set of points needing replacement ... it had zilch off the line.

Not only would it not break traction ... it was quite slow from a dig - period.

After a new set of points gapped to spec .....

It would roast the RR tire well into 2nd gear.

In fact I'll never forget the 1st time my father drove it after I did the points.

Him - "Ummm ... what the hell did you do to that thing ?".

Me - "What are you talking about ?".

Him - "A stubborn squirrel wouldn't get out of the road & I'd thought I'd try to scare him. So I stomped on it at like 25 mph ... & the RR wheel broke loose !".

Of course' after him owning a both a 425 & another 455 powered Oldsmobile he should have simply said ..... "bout' time that car runs the way it's supposed to".

And power braking (at least that's what I always called it) that some people have eluded to here previously .....

Would create clouds of smoke that would make most people think the world was coming to an end.

 

See the /\above/\ post about how something as simple as a set of points can rain on a parade.

While a stock 74 455 won't see results as dramatic as my 70 did ..... you should still be able to make some noise with the 2.73's.

I had a 79 D88 350 with what I'm pretty certain was the stock 2.41's ... & that could still break the RR tire loose w/o too much trouble.

A lighter car for sure ... but quite a difference in torque, not to mention having to breath thru a single exhaust with a catalytic converter.

Any idea what temp it runs at when warmed up fully ?.

I'd imagine it runs pretty warm with you being in AZ.

 

Hmm, maybe the points I got are crap or something. I will try and get a good set soon. The temp stays between 190 and 210. This part of AZ rarely sees in excess of the high 90s in the summer time. I also will be replacing the radiator with a new aluminum core very soon.

Pretty impressive story of your 70, I hope I can change something simple and be surprised like that.

What's a good brand of points? A poster previously mentioned Blue Streak or Napa's Echlin. I can't seem to locate Blue Streak points.

 

Funny story about a one-wheel-peel. Had a guy at work bet me my olds wouldn't do a burn out, so I took it out to the street and laid a line about 10 yards long. Went down to the corner, turned around and came back. The guy was waiting for me on the side of street.

"You didn't do a proper burn-out. It should have 2 lines down."

So I backed up, put my LR wheel where the previous line ended and laid another strip going the other way

 

Blue Streak is the performance line of Standard Motor Products.

- Eric

 

Cool, so I found what I need through Standard's catalog, finding it for sale is harder. Blue Streak p/n DR-3575CX. Seems like mostly available on eBay. RockAuto only has the cheaper grade CT version.

 

Hey everyone, new to the site, really enjoying it!

My stock 68 Delmont Ragtop has not problem lighting them up. 455 2bbl.

 

I like sharing my video of getting rid of the old POS tires on my old Delta.

Tires sucked SOOOOO BAD, I could spin them off the line, with the 307 running on 2 barrels

http://youtu.be/wGnLHR4EX1k

 

Frankly, I've never been a fan of this type of tire burning. What is the point of losing traction? A true performance car will hook up. Burning rubber is more a measure of traction than power.
Anyone wanting to run me can look at my tail lights while they are burning rubber. And most recently, that was last weekend.

Joe, we used to call that "reverse curls". It sent many transmissions to the junkyard.

 

I guess we were about 17. Buddy had a 71 Toro, I think
we broke the chain doing that shat.

 

There is nothing that cant do a burnout in the hands of a rubber chunrning smell of smoke loving mnaiac driver. My 67 has a posi & a 2 speed that the switch pitch dont engage on & i can power brake that till it looks like a 4 alarm fire. You also claim that u cant spin on wet pavement ? Something is really wrong or u need me to show u how. LOL...Ive down burn outs in 4 banger Toyota's...

 

My 64 Dynamic 88 has had a few unintended tire spins..honest. Last week I was showing the little lady how great the beast has been running since I rebuilt the carb.
I gave the pedal a good push down when the light turned green...unknown to me my rear tires were sitting on the painted cross walk markings.Well when I realized the tires were spinning I kept it going. I haven't done that since high school. To be honest it was a bit fun especially since the smoke the tires made lingered all over the cars behind and beside me.