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Post up facts and things that hardly anyone knows...... (for entertainment purposes only. NO need to fact check)

beanhead said:
Paul Stanley (yes THAT Paul Stanley) was born with only one ear.
He had a hearing aid implanted and reconstructive surgery (add-an-earectomy) in 1982, well after the band had reached success.
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We just watched a KISS cover band over the weekend.
Those costumes were pretty bold for sure, takes some guts to go out in public dressed like this:
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Going to see a couple tribute bands this weekend at Lorain Rock-n-the-river, Eagles and ELO
 
In the early 1960s, General Motors had a strict rule: No big engines in midsize cars. But a group of rebellious engineers at Pontiac had other plans—and what they built would go on to spark a revolution in American car culture.
A young engineer named John DeLorean, along with Russ Gee and Bill Collins, secretly started work on a passion project they dubbed the GTO—short for Gran Turismo Omologato, a bold name borrowed from Ferrari. They took the modest Pontiac Tempest and dropped in a massive 389-cubic-inch V8, an engine usually reserved for full-size sedans. Technically, this violated GM policy… but the team found a loophole: instead of releasing the GTO as a new model, they offered it as an optional performance package for the Tempest. It was just under the radar enough to avoid immediate corporate blowback.
When the 1964 Pontiac GTO hit showroom floors, it caught the industry off guard. GM execs laughed it off—“Who would want 300+ horsepower in a midsize body?” they scoffed. They expected maybe 500 units to sell. Instead, over 32,000 GTOs flew off dealer lots that first year.
The GTO was an instant hit with young drivers: it growled at stoplights, smoked tires at drag strips, and rocketed off the line like nothing else in its class. And just like that, the muscle car era was born—midsize cars with massive engines built for straight-line speed and raw attitude.
The ‘64 GTO wasn’t just a car—it was a statement, a middle finger to corporate red tape and a love letter to speed. It proved that young Americans didn’t want quiet, practical sedans—they wanted power, adrenaline, and something to brag about at the drive-in. Soon, every Detroit automaker scrambled to catch up, launching their own high-horsepower models.
But it all started with that one rogue project at Pontiac—a rule-breaking masterpiece that turned into a legend on wheels. You can still picture it: the rumble of the V8, the green light flashing, and a GTO vanishing in the rearview of anything foolish enough to line up next to it.

But then...the HEMI came along...

1749792367608.gif
 
Kern Dog said:
In the early 1960s, General Motors had a strict rule: No big engines in midsize cars. But a group of rebellious engineers at Pontiac had other plans—and what they built would go on to spark a revolution in American car culture.
A young engineer named John DeLorean, along with Russ Gee and Bill Collins, secretly started work on a passion project they dubbed the GTO—short for Gran Turismo Omologato, a bold name borrowed from Ferrari. They took the modest Pontiac Tempest and dropped in a massive 389-cubic-inch V8, an engine usually reserved for full-size sedans. Technically, this violated GM policy… but the team found a loophole: instead of releasing the GTO as a new model, they offered it as an optional performance package for the Tempest. It was just under the radar enough to avoid immediate corporate blowback.
When the 1964 Pontiac GTO hit showroom floors, it caught the industry off guard. GM execs laughed it off—“Who would want 300+ horsepower in a midsize body?” they scoffed. They expected maybe 500 units to sell. Instead, over 32,000 GTOs flew off dealer lots that first year.
The GTO was an instant hit with young drivers: it growled at stoplights, smoked tires at drag strips, and rocketed off the line like nothing else in its class. And just like that, the muscle car era was born—midsize cars with massive engines built for straight-line speed and raw attitude.
The ‘64 GTO wasn’t just a car—it was a statement, a middle finger to corporate red tape and a love letter to speed. It proved that young Americans didn’t want quiet, practical sedans—they wanted power, adrenaline, and something to brag about at the drive-in. Soon, every Detroit automaker scrambled to catch up, launching their own high-horsepower models.
But it all started with that one rogue project at Pontiac—a rule-breaking masterpiece that turned into a legend on wheels. You can still picture it: the rumble of the V8, the green light flashing, and a GTO vanishing in the rearview of anything foolish enough to line up next to it.

But then...the HEMI came along...

View attachment 1867888
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I think John Delorean was just jealous of the big block mid sized Plymouth Fury that was out first.
 
Sorry to those that will feel offended but here is how I see it:
The Mopars had the power but the GM cars had the styling. An early B body doesn't look as good to me as a 64-67 Tempest, Chevelle, Skylark or Cutlass.
The GTO was a great looking car despite having weak brakes and less than optimal handling. 90% of the buyers bought the image, not the actual performance.
Now, when the 1968 B bodies came out....Holy crap, the GM crowd must have felt like the other guy when Mike Tyson stepped into the ring.
 
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Kern Dog said:
Sorry to those that will feel offended but here is how I see it:
The Mopars had the power but the GM cars had the styling. An early B body doesn't look as good to me as a 64-67 Tempest, Chevelle, Skylark or Cutlass.
The GTO was a great looking car despite having weak brakes and less than optimal handling. 90% of the buyers bought the image, not the actual performance.
Now, when the 1968 B bodies came out....Holy crap, the GM crowd must have felt like the other guy when Mike Tyson stepped into the ring.
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I don't think anyone will be offended with your poor sense of taste. Those are your own demons to deal with!

But as the old saying goes... " body by Fischer, engine by mistake" :rofl:
 
Kern Dog said:
Sorry to those that will feel offended but here is how I see it:
The Mopars had the power but the GM cars had the styling. An early B body doesn't look as good to me as a 64-67 Tempest, Chevelle, Skylark or Cutlass.
The GTO was a great looking car despite having weak brakes and less than optimal handling. 90% of the buyers bought the image, not the actual performance.
Now, when the 1968 B bodies came out....Holy crap, the GM crowd must have felt like the other guy when Mike Tyson stepped into the ring.
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I'm not offended at all, I agree that the styling was better in many cases. Although by 1964, the Fury and GTO weren't all that different.
GTO:
1749850184099.jpeg

Fury GT:
1749850201785.jpeg

I don't think a 426 Max Wedge Fury would worry too much about a new GTO pulling up beside it. And people's opinion of which is better looking shouldn't play into which was the first 'muscle car'. :)
 
While on the topic of "first musclecar", going back to 1957 when the horsepower wars were heating up with Chrysler's big 392 Hemi, Chevrolet's fuel injected 283 and Ford's supercharged Thunderbird, the fastest sedan that year was actually a Rambler.

Sporting a 327 five years before Chevrolet could claim the same, the Rambler Rebel managed a 7.5 second 0-60 run at the Daytona Speed Week event. Available only as a four door, it was nevertheless quite speedy. The only car that could beat it was the fuel injected Corvette. The Rebel had a planned fuel injection option that would have made it even quicker but production problems led to its cancellation.
1749950052429.png

https://www.hemmings.com/stories/1957-rambler-rebel-2/
 
Photon440 said:
While on the topic of "first musclecar", going back to 1957 when the horsepower wars were heating up with Chrysler's big 392 Hemi, Chevrolet's fuel injected 283 and Ford's supercharged Thunderbird, the fastest sedan that year was actually a Rambler.

Sporting a 327 five years before Chevrolet could claim the same, the Rambler Rebel managed a 7.5 second 0-60 run at the Daytona Speed Week event. Available only as a four door, it was nevertheless quite speedy. The only car that could beat it was the fuel injected Corvette. The Rebel had a planned fuel injection option that would have made it even quicker but production problems led to its cancellation.
View attachment 1869149
https://www.hemmings.com/stories/1957-rambler-rebel-2/
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I knew that!
If you define a muscle car as a light body with the biggest, most powerful motor, a 1938 Buick Century should be in the running. It used a Chevrolet-based body (lightest) with the biggest Roadmaster engine, and was the fastest domestic car in the US. (Duesenberg was deceased ).
 
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33 IMP said:
I knew that!
If you define a muscle car as a light body with the biggest, most powerful motor, a 1938 Buick Century should be in the running. It used a Chevrolet-based body (lightest) with the biggest Roadmaster engine, and was the fastest domestic car in the US. (Duesenberg was deceased ).
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I guess a 17 second 0-60 was hot stuff in 1938. :) I wonder what the V12 Lincoln Zephyr ran?
 
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Holy moly! This is an 1895 photo of a train crossing the high bridge over the Pecos River near Langtry. If you have a large computer monitor, check out the architectural details ... the underpinnings, the foundation/footings and how they are built etc.. Wow. What an engineering feat and what a leap of faith to cross it in a train! I am reminded of this quote:
"The high, spindle-legged railroad bridge across the deep canyon formed by the Pecos River between Langtry and Comstock was breathtaking. It was more breathtaking to stand on it and look down than to stand beneath it and look up. It had no guardrails, and a broad footpath ran its length. To walk across made one giddy enough, and legend gives credit to a young ranchwoman who first dared to ride across it on horseback. She was celebrated in an anonymous poem, "The Pecos River Queen." James Cooper of Snyder said that when he lived near the bridge in the 1930s, sheet metal was laid in places where the wooden walk was unsafe. Many times, however, he and others rode their horses across that clattering path with the danger of plummeting to death at both elbows. He said you needed a steady, unspookable horse. Others told stories of their encounters with the Old Pecos High Bridge. When she was a child, Katherine Anne Porter crossed it more than once on trips from Kyle, Texas, to El Paso. She remembered the bridge, which was two years younger than she, having been built in 1892, as being unsafe. She wrote, "Here was the famous and beautiful Pecos Bridge, then supposed to be the highest and one of the longest in the world." Three hundred twenty-one feet above the river, it stretched 2,180 feet long, almost half a mile. It was the highest bridge in the United States and third highest in the world, merely 27 feet short of the record.
 
Kern Dog said:
View attachment 1870183

Holy moly! This is an 1895 photo of a train crossing the high bridge over the Pecos River near Langtry. If you have a large computer monitor, check out the architectural details ... the underpinnings, the foundation/footings and how they are built etc.. Wow. What an engineering feat and what a leap of faith to cross it in a train! I am reminded of this quote:
"The high, spindle-legged railroad bridge across the deep canyon formed by the Pecos River between Langtry and Comstock was breathtaking. It was more breathtaking to stand on it and look down than to stand beneath it and look up. It had no guardrails, and a broad footpath ran its length. To walk across made one giddy enough, and legend gives credit to a young ranchwoman who first dared to ride across it on horseback. She was celebrated in an anonymous poem, "The Pecos River Queen." James Cooper of Snyder said that when he lived near the bridge in the 1930s, sheet metal was laid in places where the wooden walk was unsafe. Many times, however, he and others rode their horses across that clattering path with the danger of plummeting to death at both elbows. He said you needed a steady, unspookable horse. Others told stories of their encounters with the Old Pecos High Bridge. When she was a child, Katherine Anne Porter crossed it more than once on trips from Kyle, Texas, to El Paso. She remembered the bridge, which was two years younger than she, having been built in 1892, as being unsafe. She wrote, "Here was the famous and beautiful Pecos Bridge, then supposed to be the highest and one of the longest in the world." Three hundred twenty-one feet above the river, it stretched 2,180 feet long, almost half a mile. It was the highest bridge in the United States and third highest in the world, merely 27 feet short of the record.
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Sorry. There's no f-ing way! Not walking, not riding a horse, not riding a train. I'd swim the river first.
 
The only reference to Humpty Dumpty being an egg was in Lewis Carrol's book, "Through The Looking Glass.

Military historians suggest that Humpty Dumpty was a large cannon used by the Royalists in the Siege of Colchester. This cannon was positioned on the city walls and eventually fell, hence the rhyme's description of him falling and not being repaired
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