Yup, 389. Says so right in the song, (Li'l GTO), "3 deuces and a 4-speed, and 389...."
Was driving up from OC today on the 405 and had a nice stock '65 goat next to us for a while, red hardtop. I've always had a soft spot for those cars. One of my friends had a triple-black '64 convertible w/ 4-speed and 3x2 set-up, can you imagine what that heap is worth today?
A 3-deuce car was actually a great street set-up if it was tuned correctly, you ran on the middle 2-barrel if you light-footed it, and the other two were the secondary. Talk about "coming on the cam" when the other two opened, fukenay....
The fun thing about muscle cars and drag-racing, (as I'm sure Paul remembers), is that it was not so simple as going out and buying the car with the biggest engine or most HP at the dealer. There was a LOT of car prep and tuning involved, (not to mention driving talent), that could make little David embarrass Goliath out at Pomona on bracket-racing day.
I didn't get my license until '76 and never owned a muscle car, (fell into a cheap '71 914 and the rest is history), but I used to ride w/ an older kid from the neighborhood in his '69 AMX w/ 343/posi/close-ratio 4-speed that racked up a lot of kills on Sat. nights, lost count of the SS 396 Chevelles. The one time I remember getting thoroughly shellacked on the street, (twice in a row for good measure), was by a Boss 302 Mustang. the guy had his GF trained to wave as he blew by us. Good times, sigh......
