The Cars of Queens: Part II - BIG MUSCLE

MIKE: So on the second episode on The Cars of Queens, we
thought we'd give you something to start the episode
we know you enjoy.
We're going to start it off with a big-ass
New York style burnout.
[ENGINES REVVING]

MIKE: Awesome.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
MIKE: So I'm here with George, the owner of the '67 Buick GS.
And right now, he's going to give us a little insight and
tell us about the car.
GEORGE: Well, I bought this car about six years ago.
I was chasing it for, like, five years.
On eBay, I missed the bid.
And I was hounding the guy for, like, four or five years
until he finally sent me an email one day telling me, oh,
you know what, if you want the car, just come up and
get it right now.
MIKE: Well, let me ask you a question.
Because you had a previous '67 Buick GS.
Generally, if you think about Buicks, you think of a '69, or
something like that.
GEORGE: Or the '70 GSX.
MIKE: Or the '70 GSX.
This body style was a '66, '67 only, correct?
GEORGE: Right.
MIKE: And it's one of the most underrated cars from both a
styling and a performance perspective, right?
GEORGE: Well, because everybody is usually looking
at the GTOs and the Chevelles.
And they kind of overlook the GSes is a
little bit, you know?
But I think they have one of the best lines out of all the
GMA bodies.
And they got the grunt under the hood.
MIKE: What is this?
What do you have?
GEORGE: It's a 455 brought over and stroked to a 494
cubic inch, with the Stage 2 aluminum heads.
The motor was done by Scotty's Racing Engines down in Spring
Hill, Florida.
Scotty and Pat, they're formally PG
Performances in Brooklyn.
And they've done it about 630 horsepower.
MIKE: Holy cow, holy cow.
So how much torque you making?
GEORGE: About 640.
It was kind of close.
The numbers were, like, 10 off.
MIKE: OK, so they're pretty close?
GEORGE: Yeah, pretty close, yeah.
[ENGINE REVVING]

MIKE: This car, George's car, this is a car I've wanted to
drive for a really long time.
One of the reasons is I've never driven a '67 Buick GS.
And the other is this car, this particular one, is one of
my favorites.
This car is so well done.
He put so much time and so much effort into this car.
And I'll be honest with you, it truly is a privilege to get
behind the wheel of it.
See now, the thing that separates this car from some
of the others that we've driven is that this is truly
an open road GT car.
I mean, that's what Buick wanted it to be when they
first designed it back in 1967.
It was the grand sport, fast with class.
This was the car for the muscle executive.
It wasn't a car that you'd buy if you were 21, 22, and wanted
to go fast.
It was the car that you'd buy if you were in your '40s, you
were an executive.
But you wanted to look good but at the same
time have that power.
It's got all the amenities, center console with the
integrated tach, the beautiful leather interior.
All in all, just a fabulous package.
And the black with the red interior and the polished
wheels, man does it pop.
The other thing about this car is it handles.
This sucker goes around the corner like
you wouldn't believe.
I mean, we're coming on an exit ramp right now.
Pitch the car in, throw it in.
Outstanding.
I mean, the thing handles beautifully.
It really, really does.

Now what size rubber you run on the back?
GEORGE: I got 295/35-18s in the back.
And I got 245/40-18 in the front.
MIKE: OK.
Now, as far as rear suspension and what, you didn't have to
tub this, this is pretty much stock?
GEORGE: It's pretty much stock.
But I had to roll the inner quarter panel lip.
Because the 295 wasn't gonna fit under that.
MIKE: That's as big as you're gonna get.
A lot of guys, Mopars, Chevys, Fords.
Not a lot of guys into Buicks.
What got you into Buicks?
I mean, it's kind of a rare car to be into.
GEORGE: Well, my first hoopty was a '67 Skylark.
This is, like, back in '93.
And George with the Chevelle, he's like, you know, well, why
don't you look into getting the muscle car
version of the Skylark?
I didn't even know that there was a muscle car
version at the time.
And I was like, well, what do you mean the muscle car?
And he was like, go get the GS400.
So I was like, wow.
And I started looking for one, sold the Skylark, and I picked
my first GS up for $2,500.
MIKE: Oh my God.
GEORGE: Yeah.

MIKE: Right now we're driving on the South Shore of Long
Island, gorgeous.
Driving over Robert Moses State Park bridge cruising, I
don't know, 65 miles an hour, 2,000 RPM.
I mean, you could drop this down a gear or whack it.
And it goes, baby.
Open up and go.
Unbelievable automobile.
The other part about this car, and it's like most pro touring
cars we've driven.
I mean, there is a formula to it.
It's suspension, stiffening up the chassis, and brakes.
George has done all that.
He's got vara shocks in the front and rear.
He's got tubular upper control arms, and lower control arms,
by the way, a big fat sway bar in the front to help the
handling out.
And all of this works in conjunction with each other to
form one really well done package.
And it feels like a muscle car.
It sounds like a muscle car.
It rumbles.
And check it out.
The accessory switch on the dash, that's
right, we got dumpers.

Every car that I have from now on, I'm putting dumpers on.
Greatest thing ever, man.
I frickin' love these things.

So now is this your perfect car?
Because you've done the brakes.
You've done the suspension.
You've done the tranny, done the motor.
Is this it?
GEORGE: Yeah, this is my perfect car.
MIKE: It is your perfect car?
GEORGE: Yeah, it is.
I wouldn't swap it for any other.
MIKE: See, that's a rare thing.
Because most owners, as you know, you say, well,
everything's got a price tag.
GEORGE: I mean, don't get me wrong.
If somebody came up with a good amount of money, I would
consider it.
But this is my car.
GEORGE: Well, I'll tell you, the car
is absolutely stunning.
The performance is unbelievable.
The thing is outstanding.
And dude, thanks so much for bringing it.
GEORGE: Thanks, Mike.
MIKE: It kicks ass, man.
GEORGE: Thanks.

MIKE: So we're down here at the beach.
Pete, you brought your '69 Charger out.
Now, I've known about this car.
And I've seen this car from start to finish.
I remember when you first bought it as a
triple green 318 sled.
And now it's probably one of the nicest
Chargers in the country.
It's done beautifully.
So just give everybody an idea of what
you've done to the car.
PETE: Well, pretty much I did everything from suspension to
motor to interior to stereo.
I mean, anything that I thought that a perfect muscle
car should be, really, in my eyes.

MIKE: So now we're in the seat of Pete's '69 Dodge Charger.
It's not a real RT, even though it's got the RT badges.
But honestly, who cares?
This thing is so far above and beyond what a real RT is.
It doesn't make any difference.
I mean, it's powered by a new gen 6.1 Hemi.
That means close to 500 horsepower.
He's updated everything, brakes, suspension.
I mean, the brakes are unbelievable.
You stomp on these things.
I mean, not for nothing, they'll pull the fricking
fillings out of you.
It's fantastic.
Six fisted Baers up and back.
It's just unbelievable.
Now what's cool for me about this car is I've seen this car
since day one.
I've seen what this car went through from the day he picked
it until right now.
I've been there every step of the way.
I've known just about every modification.
But he being Pete, he always hides stuff.
I mean, this car's got electric start.
It's got power windows, and frickin' electronic door
locks, power trunk release, power this, power that.
He's got LEDs.
Oh, if you notice right now, we're going around a curve.
[ENGINE REVVING]
MIKE: I mean, it sticks.
I mean, toss it into a corner.
[ENGINE REVVING]
[LAUGHING]
MIKE: The thing just hugs.
You've got to remember, I mean, I'm giggling.
Because this is a 43-year-old car that's 4,000
pounds and 18 feet long.
This car shouldn't handle like that.
If you've ever driven a stock B-body body car with stock
suspension and drum brakes, let me tell you, they're junk.
I don't care what anybody says.
There are people out there that are gonna be like, my car
handles just fine.
You know what, no it doesn't.
It handles like a 40-year-old piece of garbage.

So now, did you have a plan when you started this?
So you knew you wanted a car that handled, stopped, did
everything that you wanted.
But this one's a little different in the fact that you
went with a modern power plant, modern transmission.
I mean, not for nothing, this car's got
paddle shifters in it.
PETE: Yeah.
Well, in the past, I built some other cars.
And every car that I've done has evolved from my knowledge
and my experience.
And this is pretty much all my knowledge, all my experience,
all my hands-on.
And it's really a representation of that.
MIKE: A lot of guys are going to give you hell for this.
Do you know that?
PETE: Oh, yeah, yeah.
MIKE: A lot of guys are going to come out.
And they're going to go, the paddle shifter shouldn't
belong in a muscle car.
Why is that?
PETE: Well, I've heard it all.
A lot of the guys who've said that I've ruined the car since
I put a fuel-injected motor in it.
But I'm new age.
So I like the newer technology with the older stuff.
Some guys are stuck in the old.
Which is fine.
But you don't see me at home with a rotary phone.
It's cool but it's not for me.
You know, to each his own.
This is what I feel is my perfect muscle car.
And everyone has their own opinion.
Everyone has their own idea.
I won't knock anyone else for their creations.
But a lot of people, in the Mopar world especially--
MIKE: They're going to give you hell.
PETE: --definitely have an opinion about it.

MIKE: [INAUDIBLE]
A 44-year-old muscle car.
You got your hands over here.
Do a nice little click.
Drop it down again, fantastic.
Click it up, right back up.
Fantastic.
Now, is it Ferrari 430 or 458 quick?
Well, no it's not.
I mean, because basically what you have is an automatic
transmission that you're shifting
manually through the pedals.
But it's a great thing.
I mean, it shows you where the technology and these cars can
be taken to.
No longer do you have to just sit there and have a manual
transmission, or hold down a gear splitter, or
something like that.
You can have fun with these.
This car is not for everybody.
This is not everyone's idea of a perfect muscle car.
But it's his idea.
And that's all that matters.
You know what, he put in everything that he wanted.
From the stereo that'll blow your flippin' eardrums out of
your head, to the paddle shifters, to the power
windows, door locks, remote start, great suspension.
Oh, by the way, the air conditioning in this thing
blows at 38 degrees.
It blows smoke out, it's so flippin' cold.
Bing.
To get these things to have a better ride quality, you
really, really have to stiffen them up.
I mean, he has done that.
He's stiffened the crap out of this thing.
But it's still not as good a ride quality as the Chevelle
handling wise.
Probably a little bit better, though, when you
throw it into a corner.
I mean, like I said, every car from every make and
manufacturer and every builder is going to have its
own pros and cons.
You can't fault them.
All you got to do is take them home, drive
them, and love them.
Good flippin' cars, man.
Good flippin' old muscle cars.

PETE: All these platforms, these are
expressions of us, really.
Everyone's what their ride is, is an expression of them.
And how they perceive the industry.
MIKE: What their perfect car is--
PETE: --or their perfect car.
You know, for me, this is my perfect muscle car.
It's big.
It's roomy.
It handles phenomenal.
I can take long rides in it.
It's got air conditioning.
It's got heat.
It's got satellite radio.
It's got a booming system.
I mean, it's everything that I want for my particular wants.
MIKE: Well, the car is absolutely stunning, dude.
Thanks for bringing it down.

[ENGINE REVVING]
[TIRES SQUEALING]

[LAUGHING]

MIKE: Yo, bitchin'.
That was worth lung cancer.
Absolutely worth it.
[CHUCKLES].

You know, this morning when I woke up, it was about 5:30 in
the morning.
I was getting ready to drive down to Astoria, Queens.
And I thought to myself, in this situation,
what would Musto do?
I looked out the window.
The sun was shining.
There was no rain like yesterday.
So we said, let's get the hell out of Queens.
Let's take two cars that were made for the open road out on
the open road.
So we came down to the South Shore of Long Island with the
'69 Charger and the Buick GS and had an absolutely
spectacular day.
You guys got to meet George, Pete.
We went through the cars, drove them, got
some amazing shots.
And it's been an absolutely spectacular afternoon.
So I don't know.
Right now, I guess, what Musto would do is say, stay tuned
next week for Big Muscle.
Also, and if you've got a car that you want to see on this
show, email me at drivebigmuscle@gmail.com.
If I like the car and we dig it, we'll put it on the show.
And then you get to have a video just like this
for your very own.
So that's it.
See you next week.
MALE SPEAKER: Mike, [INAUDIBLE]?
Donuts late?
MIKE: Donuts late?
I want to make sure who's--
where's this van going?
And get these seagulls out of the way.
I'm really glad we know that now.
MALE SPEAKER: What?
MIKE: There's a big camera right there.
He just said.
MALE SPEAKER: We'll burn out.
We'll do donuts.
MIKE: Really?
MALE SPEAKER: [INAUDIBLE].
MIKE: Oh, well there you go.
OK.
MALE SPEAKER: [INAUDIBLE].
MIKE: No, that's what we need to know.
All right, perfect.
Hi, dog.
How you doing?
MALE SPEAKER: You sucking it in?
MIKE: No, now I'm actually not.
Now this is normal gut.
Yes, a high six-minute mile, I'm pretty
confident that I can do.
I'll probably throw up afterwards.
But I'll do it.
That's the rule, Tommy's rule.
You are not allowed to reproduce unless you can run a
six-minute mile.
PETE: Oh, yeah?
MIKE: Only people that can run a six-minute
mile can have children.
I think it's a good rule.
Do you see most of the fat bag of donuts, that are walking
around out there with 17 kids?
PETE: Pretty big.
MIKE: They're pretty big.
That's unacceptable.
PETE: You got the mic?
You hear it or no?
MALE SPEAKER: I got you.