Ok I’ll jump in with a couple stories. I had a 1957 Corvette – 283 with a big quad and an all around fun car. It was pretty fast for the day and boy could it fry the tires – they were fairly skinny 15 inchers as I recall “7.50 x 15” blackwalls from the local Standard gas station. One night my buddy asked me, “Have you ever done a bleach burnout?” to which I replied, “No.” So it was off to the local grocery for a gallon of Clorox. Never having done a bleach burnout, we were both somewhat ignorant as to what the correct amount of bleach per tire was so we evenly divided the entire gallon of bleach in two nice pools – one in front of each rear tire. Well I rapped that little 283 up till the lifters clattered and dumped the clutch and man did those tires scream! While I never saw such, several of my friends swore the two molten strips of rubber were on fire. I do remember huge globs of melted tire stuck on the rear fenders and that the tires were ruined. Those two burnout marks stayed on that street for a long time.

On another occasion, my buddy says, “If you turn the key off while you’re going downhill and pump the gas, your car will backfire really loud when you turn the key back on.” Again, I followed advice from a peer that I should have ignored and we proceeded to get the Corvette up to about 60 on a downhill grade at which time I switched off the ignition and pumped the gas several times and turned the key back on. A backfire would be a vast understatement as it was more akin to a bomb and the car became noticeably louder. It was dark outside and I distinctly remember seeing two red hot images in my mirror which I can only surmise were once the cores of my Smithy’s.

I would not recommend either of the above activities. As I recall, there may have been alcohol involved and I’m pretty sure the new tires and mufflers were far more expensive than the enjoyment received as my father made sure I alone paid for maintenance on this car.

But after all - i was 16!!

Regards All,
Glenn