Reasonable & Prudent Speed Limit (Missoula, Helena: home, live, legally)

[fiddlestick]

Does anyone have any stories of driving in Montana back when there was no speed limit? How fast you went? Getting pulled over? Hitting Animals? Etc

[Rickers]

Well I can tell you that with the posted speed limits we now have you can still see the ditches littered with dead deer in the forested areas and deer crossing areas. Another thing is almost every time I see a car with Washington plates, the car is speeding like a bat out of you know where.

[mtn_viking]

I had friends out visiting from MN during that time and their comment was, "even though there isn't a speed limit, everybody is driving the speed limit." I think that most Montanans didn't drive a whole lot faster than they drive right now.

[Redraven]

I was one of those cars with Washington plates, in 1969 or 1970.
Driving a 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T, 440 Magnum, auto, brand new, about 5000 miles on it, on a brand new stretch of I-90 between St. Regis and Missoula.
110 mph, and the Dodge was running FINE! I was headed for Missoula, the Montana HP was headed for St. Regis. I honestly expected him to take the turn-around I had just passed, and come after me. He just kept going. I was quite relieved!
Oh, and YES, I certainly DO wish I still had that car!
Why was I driving a car with Washington plates? Because the year before I got sick of working in a plywood plant and went to Seattle to drill holes in new airplanes and put rivets in them. That's how I coule afford the new car!

[Fiddlehead]

Great story. Being life-long muscle car lover, I can appreciate that feeling. I have never had wheels near that cool.

Mine were a 70 Chevelle with an overcammed 350, a 67 Ford LTD with a 390 that, despite your first thoughts, was actually an extremely cool car. The true boats came in the 70s. I recall cruising comfortably and illegally at 105 or so down farm roads near Bakersfield, California at 17. All my early cars were long-legged, slow off the line, but hitting their stride above 90 or so. My stepfather was of the same thinking. He only bought huge Chryslers with 400 CI and up. And he loved to do the after church cruise home at 80 plus. The lone exception to the road boat was my 1966 mustang, with the box stock 289 and 4 speed. Left the line like a scalded dog, but was topped out at about 115. What a car. Had an inglorious meeting with an elk in Colorado. None of this has anything to do with Montana, but I am guessing some muscle car lovers there will appreciate the days when Detroit could still build a hell of a car, and built plenty. Must have been a wonderful time to cruise through the Treasure State.

Rickers, time for a cool clip from Bullitt, with Steve McQueen....

[Mt-7]

Originally Posted by Redraven

I was one of those cars with Washington plates, in 1969 or 1970.
Driving a 1969 Dodge Coronet R/T, 440 Magnum, auto, brand new, about 5000 miles on it, on a brand new stretch of I-90 between St. Regis and Missoula.
110 mph, and the Dodge was running FINE! I was headed for Missoula, the Montana HP was headed for St. Regis. I honestly expected him to take the turn-around I had just passed, and come after me. He just kept going. I was quite relieved!
Oh, and YES, I certainly DO wish I still had that car!
Why was I driving a car with Washington plates? Because the year before I got sick of working in a plywood plant and went to Seattle to drill holes in new airplanes and put rivets in them. That's how I coule afford the new car!

That was when you knew how it felt to be alive!
Small hijack: 1972 Nova SS, you know the rest
I wish I knew where that boyfriend was now.

[Redraven]

Ah, yes, Bullitt...
Quite possibly the greatest chase scenes ever put on film.
Then, I heard that they used several specially prepped Mustangs for McQueen to drive, and ONE bone stock Charger R/T 440.
Is it true? I don't know.

[Fiddlehead]

Last year I was driving up Interstate 5 in Oregon, just south of Salem, when a caravan of grey-haired Mopar Enthusiasts passed me. One of them had a license plate that said 200 MPH Club, another said "Yes it is as fast as it looks." I had a grin from ear to ear. Certainly, the Mopar musclecars were the baddest to the bone. Pure American attitude, no filler.

None of the American muscle cars were worth a damn for handling, but who cares if you were high-tailing down a long straight western road. As for Montana, I cannot imagine a much more scenic and enjoyable place to uncork a 440 Coronet or 426 HemiCuda on an open road. Of course, having gas at 25 cents a gallon would help a lot too!

[susansolin]

People from Washington drive fast because the deer here look both ways before the cross the road...really! I moved here 6 years ago from Wisconsin and was used to dealing with whitetail deer and the way the bolt out of nowhere in front of your car. Imagine my shock when I got to Washington and watched the mule deer stand at the edge of the road watching the cars go by. Eventually they slowly meander into traffic and take their fine ol' time crossing the road! Now I'm moving to Montana where wildlife is wild!

[Joe Doer]

Back in 1973 drove from Helena to Glasgow in a Buick Electra 454 in FOUR hours...had to stop twice for gas