Fresh Tires for Big Red

It's been awhile since I posted about my new toy. I've taken the GTO hardtop out for a spin for the first time in April on a beautiful spring day. The 45 minute drive to Halton was nerve wracking because of rush hour traffic building up. I pulled into Firestone Tire and had the car safety checked. It was a clean bill of health with the only recommendation being a new set of rear tires. I ordered some BF Goodrich radial TAs raised white letter style in a beefy 235/60 R15 size to fill out the wheel well without changing the rear axle ratio, unlike the huge stones the previous owner put on. Firestone Tire also reversed my front tires so the raised white letters showed up.Turns out they were practically new! A little suspension greasing, an lube oil, EOS additive and filter later and she was ready to roll. I washed and waxed her all Wednesday in prep for the first cruise night and it looked fabulous. After driving it awhile, my observations are the following 1: This is one torque monster. You could pull away in Second and not notice much difference. It can also take a relatively steep grade around 20 miles per hour and stay in first gear the whole time. 2:It has a great exhaust sound, amazing because the only real money spent on it was for the mufflers, a pair of Magnaflows running through 2 and a quarter inch pipes with twin splitters and cast iron exhaust manifolds. It sounds deep and powerful and in town it's rich without being annoying. Around the 2900 to 3200 rpm range, it changes pitch and becomes rude as the engine is "on the cam." It pulls like a Ram Air III job. Not too wild for a 455 mill. Also I plan to ditch the Holley double pumper carb because it's a stupid unit to have a on a street automatic car. Its drag racing days are over! The carb is listed as a Chevelle 396 unit so I'll be selling that on Kijiji soon. I haven't tried the Hurst Dual Gate shifter yet because the cops have been wild on enforcement lately with tickets and pull overs every weekend. I plan to stay ticket free! Here are some pics of Big Red. Dig that trunk lid! COMING SOON: PAT'S EXCELLENT ITALIAN ADVENTURE IN FLORENCE!