Three forty Six Pak

[deathsled]

 Three Forty Six Pak

By

Richard L. Elsliger © 2024


She was a stunning ride
The source of all my pride
A three forty Six Pak
On the ready to attack

The engine stirs to life
A sound so full of strife
With hand on pistol grip
I pop the clutch to let her rip

Into battle we must go
Man and mistress all aglow
We will own this road race track
Only me and my Six Pak

The green flag drops and we're away
We charge headlong toward the fray
Then my Six Pak takes the lead
A blur of paint at insane speed

But when I find around the turn
A phantom wreck that there does burn
I turn my wheel but lose control
My car begins to flip and roll

A grinding crash splits the air
My life will end it seems unfair
And when I leave this mortal dream
I know that Death does reign supreme

 

Yeah I know, not Shelby related but it is car related. Always a soft spot for old Mopar.  I took artistic license with the pistol grip and the three two barrels.  I do not believe that the Trans-Am version of the Challenger had either.  But hey, it's a poem.  It's fiction. Enjoy.  Or not.  Depending on your view of the car featured and/or quality of the poetry. 

[deathsled]

As an addendum, I also believe the 340 engine was destroked to a 302 (Nope.  It was 305) five liter to meet Trans-Am rules.

[FL SAAC]

Nice poem and I love those MOPARS !

[shelbydoug]

I think that it, the 340,  initially had a Thermoquad single 4v carb. 1970-ish. The 3x2 T/A came along a year or so later with the introduction of the new 'cuda and Challenger?

I remember John Dianna going "ape" over the car (the engine actually) and swearing some sort of allegiance to Satin for being given one to test? Something like "the best package ever offered to 'mankind' " or some sort of trash?

I think Dianna had that engine in a Dart or some sort of under the radar contraption?
Odd that it didn't live up to his prognosis?


I appreciate your attempts at educating me with poetic cultcha'. There is always a chance to save my soul? Bless me father for I have sinned. Can a Mopar save me? 

Nice poem but it needs more bass so it's easier to dance to? Which part is the Chorus? I am a dumb chit. 

[roddster]

Challenger T/A's ,the four speed ones, came with a pistol grip handle. The only engine those came with was the 3, two barrel 340. You could get the auto trans in either console shifter, or on the column.

[crossboss]

Don't forget the AAR 'Cuda's...

[98SVT - was 06GT]

Don't forget the AAR 'Cuda's...

A kid that lived across from us was 10 when they came out. He started saving his lawn mowing money and when he turned 16 he bought one. I'd wager he'll die still owning it.

[deathsled]

Don't forget the AAR 'Cuda's...

A kid that lived across from us was 10 when they came out. He started saving his lawn mowing money and when he turned 16 he bought one. I'd wager he'll die still owning it.

Commendable.

[deathsled]

I think that it, the 340,  initially had a Thermoquad single 4v carb. 1970-ish. The 3x2 T/A came along a year or so later with the introduction of the new 'cuda and Challenger?

I remember John Dianna going "ape" over the car (the engine actually) and swearing some sort of allegiance to Satin for being given one to test? Something like "the best package ever offered to 'mankind' " or some sort of trash?

I think Dianna had that engine in a Dart or some sort of under the radar contraption?
Odd that it didn't live up to his prognosis?


I appreciate your attempts at educating me with poetic cultcha'. There is always a chance to save my soul? Bless me father for I have sinned. Can a Mopar save me? 

Nice poem but it needs more bass so it's easier to dance to? Which part is the Chorus? I am a dumb chit. 

Does anyone dance anymore?  Do boys and girls and men and women even interact much anymore?  tis a strange world in which we are living.  The words could go to some music but how would be baffling to me.  Melody is almost dead in favor of three chords and a cicada style beat on the cymbal.  Best bass is what comes from the side exhaust on that car.

[Side-Oilers]

Doug, are you referring to the John Dianna from Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines?  I have a few stories...eesh.

The '68 340 (first year) came with a Carter AVS. Then changed to a Thermodump (as we called them) when the Lean Burn stuff started...1973? 

[shelbydoug]

Yes. My recollections are a little fuzzy on the timeline but I remember his review of the new 340. I do remember that review as being with a theromquad and his being impressed with the 1/4 mile times and his preaching about it.

I was still in college, impressionable, multitasking on so many fronts before I decided on the Shelby road to a true happy lifestyle.

[Side-Oilers]

His nickname was "Little Johnny Junior Stock."   (He was about 5'5" with lifts in his shoes.)

[shelbydoug]

I hold no personal animosity towards him. The subject of the OP just reminded me of the original articles that he wrote back then, whenever that actually was.

As with anyone in the public eye, I would expect there always to be a degree of dislike.

My experience with "celebrities" that I have met or known either professionally or personally is that their public persona rarely matches the reality accurately.

Identifying exactly what motivates them has always been somewhat of a challenge to understand. I'm passed the point of even being interested in that at all. To me it seems apparent that is very much just a sophomoric point of view or opinion.

Personally I have always been a person that is always "too". "Too tall. Too short. Too smart. Too stupid. Too ugly...etc." So I try not to offer "paybacks" when given the opportunities and just leave it at that.

Being a native New Yorker, I think we learn that very quickly. In NY, it is beyond showing a sign of weakness to be kind, it is a sign that you are, to state it politely, "seriously screwed up".

I don't care that he was only 5'5" tall. Only he does. I would just need to be careful that I don't fall over him because he is down there somewhere? 

[Side-Oilers]

"I would just need to be careful that I don't fall over him because he is down there somewhere?  "

There's the Doug we know and love!

[Side-Oilers]

I'll bet that 98SVT and crossboss have some Little Johnny D stories of their own.

Dianna was a tenacious guy, in a Machiavellian way, and did work his way up in the Petersen Publishing empire from being an entry-level staffer to being executive group publisher of all the Hot Rod department titles (Car Craft, etc.)

He even got his hands on the (previously autonomous) Motor Trend advertising department for a while, during the last year of my tenure as editor, but (to everyone's relief) he got fired shortly thereafter...due to doing a series of drunken, naked, cannonball dives into the hotel pool during the corporate summer break event in Ensenada, Mexico. This was an employee thank you trip for all the advertising staffs. Families were sometimes invited. This particular year, the wife of the new company CEO was there.  Needless to say, she was not amused by his antics.

I think he'd worked at Petersen for something like 35 years. He didn't realize that times had changed.