I just couldn't help thinking about the ole time bootleggers very early this morning as I carefully eased my 32 coupe along through the heavy wet fog. The "Baby Hemi" breaks the early morning silence as the old lights penetrate the foggy farm lane. This was a bootleggers morning! In the very early morning hours long before sunrise they carefully load their souped up coupes with glass jars filled with Moonshine, Hooch, Happy Sally, Panther Breath, Hillbilly Pop or a dozen other local names for their special recipe! This morning the fog is thick as pea soup and that brings a grin to the drivers face as it provides additional cover and helps deaden the noise as he travels the many old back roads making his deliveries at the local speakeasy or back room bars throughout the county. I've talked with a few old time friends and relatives who worked in the "industry" during prohibition. In this Appalachian region life has always been hard and they would look at anything to make a buck. They have always been good people for the most part but back in the day whisky ruled! Just like my great uncle Arden who came out of that period but just couldn't never let it completely go. When we were kids my mom and dad would load us up in the old station wagon and we headed south into West Virginia where my moms family roots were. There wasn't interstate and I remember my brother and I sitting in the back seat facing rearward and a few hours on those twisted country roads had us winding down the back window and letting it go! Every year when arrived grandmas in West Virginia there was a buzz about uncle Arden, he was in the county jail again. (same old problem....whisky...) and to the dismay of aunt Cleo my mom and dad and a couple more relatives would go down and bail him out! While they were gone we would run around and find many of his hidden glass bottles half full of whiskey. It was as fun as an Easter egg hunt. I remember finding one bottle under the back toilet lid resting in the fresh cool water! Aunt Cleo spent so much time bailing uncle Arden out at the county jail they eventually made her a deputy sheriff! I'm telling you as they say "you can't make this stuff up"! Uncle Arden was always the fun of the party. He could tell jokes all day long and just loved us kids. I really miss him ......those were the days! Enjoy the photos and the memories! 32 Spitfire High Noon Speed Shop http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...op-unveils-its-new-logo.993193/#post-11194132
Great story, and coupe. And it would have been a perfect morning to haul a little 'moon'. Might wanna think about a sedan to kick up the profit margin a little though......
My granddaddy Highpockets dabbled in the un-taxed moonshine business,he never made huge batches just enough to quench his customers and friends thirst. Interestingly enough his small operation was in his back yard not 4 miles from the police department and his son was a motorcycle cop,back in the late 50's and early 60's I believe the fact that his son was a policeman they turned a blind eye for a long time. Eventually,after his son left the department granddaddy was encouraged to quit the business,he did and fortunately was never arrested. HRP
Baumi, Thanks so much! It's just an old school hot rod that is a blast to drive! 32 Spitfire High Noon Speed Shop ".....old school hot rods with soul, to be driven hard and put away dusty!" Todd A. Kindler
.................One of my Uncles was caught hauling between Asheville, N.C. and Newport, Tn. and the local law locked him up and actually strung him up by his thumbs against a wall in an attempt to get him to reveal where his supplier was doing the cooking. He wouldn't talk and I think they let him go after a month in the jail.
I knew an old time motorcycle mechanic who told me one of his customers in the twenties was a bootlegger. He carried flat quart bottles or fifths packed in excelsior or straw, under a false floor in his sidecar. Never got caught for bootlegging although he did get a few speeding tickets.
Nice picture, and story. Funny it pops up this week, as just last Friday we rode by Popcorn Sutton's old place and then Sunday we were over in Pigeon Forge, sampling some of the "legal moonshine". I went to PT this morning and after talking to the girl that was working w/ me she is the great-niece of a man that was well-known around here for bootlegging in the '50's, or at least for having a 40 Ford coupe w/ a Cadillac engine, the fastest thing around, at least for a while.
Moon shine festival in Dawsonville Ga coming up at the end of Oct. Lots of real and recreated TRIP CARs and old race cars and a kick ass get together at the Thunder Road Museum. Working stills and lots more..
...............................................................Thanks everyone! .......................................................................................................... From the top: I'll never forget seeing aunt Cleo in her Deputy Sherriff outfit for the very first time. My ornery brother and I stopped in our tracks with our mouths wide open in amazement. It was truly a Norman Rockwell moment for sure. I remember asking her if she had a gun and she said just wait a minute. She came out with it in a holster and heavy leather belt and put it on right in front of us. The room was total silence and my brother and I knew right then and there all our ornery days were over! And our buddy uncle Arden knew it too as Aunt Cleo was now the law and I found out many years later the doctor told him it was either the whiskey or the grave. Uncle Arden never touched it again and lived another decade having fun with us! Here are a couple more photos I thought you all might like from the "Bootleggers Morning" 32 Spitfire High Noon Speed Shop
Thanks Hobo Jim! "...............Almost Heaven West Virginia............... 32 Spitfire High Noon Speed Shop
Just got back from a great week in Charleston, South Carolina and Prohibition seems to be alive and well! I didn't get a chance to eat at this restaurant but its now on my bucket list for the next time we visit. The décor is really old school but look beyond the sign at the buildings in the background. We rode our bicycles over 70 miles around old Charleston and took over 500 photos! 32 Spitfire High Noon Speed Shop http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/...lls-out-its-new-32-coupe.862612/#post-9529555
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