Buick 350 vs Wildcat 445

This was back in the 80s when I had a Comp Cam 268 in a bone stock engine. I had headers with dual exhaust, 270 or about rear gear, stock trans with shift kit, stock stall. I also had a Holley 650 spread bore on a stock 4 bbl intake. There was a street in my neighborhood that had a good 1/4 mile run with a traffic light to start from. The road was hardly used as far as major traffic so a lot of us would race there with our stock rides. It had a small curve at the end so there was plenty of shut down area.

The other guy had this 65-66 Wildcat convertible with a 425 motor I think. I know it had that 445 torque on the air cleaner. Well he wanted to race me and I said ok why not. We went down there and when the light turned green we took off and I got out front on him and he could not catch me. We went back to our neighborhood and he was crying that I jumped on him. He said he could beat me and now he wanted to place a bet on the race. I mean heck, it was a Wildcat so it must have been fast. Well, I said that I do not bet on anything but some of our friends were there and they said that they would bet on the race.

We went back down to our little 1/4 mile road and sat at the light ready for take off. When the light turned green he got me good out of the hole. It looked like I was still at the light and he was already on the other side of the intersection. It did not look good for me but once my 350 got to about 3500 rpm I started to catch him. At about halfway I banged it into second gear and freight trained him. At this point I walked away from him and beat him by a car length. We got back to our neighborhood and he was a little pissed but we laughed about it he paid the money to my friends. He was amazed how I had gone by him like he was sitting still. Sleeper 350's rule...

After this he blew the motor up, put in a 455 sold the car to my friend and we were racing this guys brother in the rain one night. Stupid idea we were drinking, (This race was not at our usual 1/4 mile spot). His brother had a 225 Buick with a 430. We beat him and when we got to the intersection with a red light ON there he hit the brakes and we went through the intersection sideways, hit a six inch tree with the left front wheel, took the tree out of the ground, and that was the end of that car. The Wildcat lost every piece of bondo that was in it. We are lucky to be alive. Never race in the rain, bad things can happen. If it wasn't for that car being large like it was I am sure I would not be writing this today.

 

Cool story.
What was your "Sleeper 350" in?

 

just one comment.445 is a 401 ,the 465 would be the 425 ci.BrunoD.

 

Thanks for the correction on the 445. I knew the experts on this would tell me.

The car with my 350 was a 71 Skylark non GS car. I have owned it since 1977. Still having fun with it, still using the original block and heads.

 

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