When I was 16 in 1973 and just got my drivers license my very first car was a two door hardtop Chevy Bel Air. It had the original 265 V8 that's shown in this commercial. It was bone stock with a cast iron two speed Powerglide transmission. I hated the automatic so I put in a Borg Warner 4 Speed tranny with a Hurst Competition Plus Shifter. At the same time I put 4.10 gears in the rear end. That really made a huge difference in performance. Soon after I put dual pipes and a rochester four barrel carb. I added a Mallory Dual Point Ignition and Coil. Pretty soon I changed the stock intake manifold to an Edelbrock aluminum and added a Holley carburetor. Last but not least I installed a Crower High Lift Solid Lifter camshaft. That really made it sound mean. The loping idle sounded like it really meant business. I raced it out at the street drags on Dolittle Drive by the Oakland Airport every Friday and Saturday night. It wasn't really all that fast compared to my later hot rods. But no car ever gave me so much fun and enjoyment.
