Running moonshine... any good stories?

I saw Thunder Road when I was 9 or 10. I barely remember it. But those sedate black Fords with their cool demeanor made me a sleeper fan to this day.

 

Really good thread,brings back a lot of memories.

I grew up in the fifties in the northern Kentucky.Most all my family were construction workers and raised tobacco as a cash crop.There was always plenty of moonshine around.Some of my uncles transported but their cars weren't anything special,just early fifties fords with hd springs and boots in the back tires with tubes and plenty of air pressure.

I'll never forget the first time I saw somebody drunk.We were share cropping about five acres on a farm up the from ours and we drove by the neighbors barn and he was stumbling around like a blind dog in a meat locker.My dad said not to worry,ol' Mr Huff was just in the moonshine,we'd check on him later.Sure enough we came back by a few hours later and he was passed out.We drug him up to the house and his ol' lady said it was a good thing we came along cause she'd a let the SOB lay out there and freeze to death.

I joined the Navy when I was seventeen and ended up stationed in Mississippi,and ended up marrying a girl from there.She used to tell the story about her little neighbor friend in grade school when they had to tell what their Daddy did for a living.She told the class her Dad farmed in the woods.First time I heard the story I asked her what he raised in the woods and she said "Moonshine".

Good Luck

Tom

 

I made a visit to a old friend on thrus 12 jan. he was a boss/moonshiner. I asked his age and he said born in 1914 and he said "you add it up". So back to the story. I asked about haulers. He said the best were large cars that blended in with the traffic.He said after he got smarter he bought cadillics and lincolns,He then hired nice looking women in their 20s. he sent the to buaty shops had thier hair and nails done and bought nice dresses. he said cops would flirt but never arrested his female drivers. I then asked about the haulers he used from the 40s to the late 70s. He said he used everything.What he did rember were the ones that were consficated. 46 ford olds engine 3 carbs, a nice Hudson it was parked when seized. 2 Two ton Ford van type trucks loaded with jars and sugar, a 57 Ford van type delivery 1 ton with over 300 gals. He said loosing these was " just a part of being in the business and was operating overhead cost". I am going to visit another man {chatt.. Tenn} next week and will post what he might say that might intrest..................later ...Bobby..

 

im listening to copperhead road and i read some put "listen to copperhead road its all about shinein'.

 

ive got an applejack recipe from my grandpa round here somwhere. Best shine i ever had was at last years hotrodarama. Parked next to a bunch of oltimers that had these sleeper fords. Made friends real quick, and they passed the jug around. Mind you, the jug came from a false floor in this thing. It was built to " deliver the mail in the ozarks "

 

Excellent topic and I heard Steve Earle close out a show in August doing "Copperhead Road". Gave me goosebumps it was that good.

I had a neighbor that had the family still from Kentucky set up in his garage. I was about 16 and hung out with his daughter and actually saw the thing operating. It was beat up and well-used looking, I was impressed.

It seems that many people had their own personal stills just for themselves, they didn't sell the product.

My grandfather worked at Brewster's Shipyard in Bay Shore NY back in the prohibition days. They did side work on rum runner boats, the criteria was that they had to be fast enough to outrun the Coast Guard boats. It was ironic that one of my uncles was in the Guard at the time, stationed at Fire Island.

Bob

 

Back home in Kentucky, my Uncle Chuck used to run whiskey into dry counties pretty regular. He was the oldest of 8 kids in a strongly catholic family. My dad was the youngest and he has a great story...

When my Dad was 6 (1950) the whole family would go to church and visit family in Grayson county. It was a long drive, so everyone would get up early and head out while it was still dark. My Dad was in the front seat of the family Olds sedan with one of his sisters, my Grandma and Grampa with the rest of the kids in the back, except for my Uncle Chuck, who said he had to work and couldn't make it. As a sidenote: My Grampa Red was an excellent career mechanic who could really "make an engine purr"...

So, they're mosying down the road heading to Leitchfield, when they hear this screaming V-8 running up from behind...My Grampa looks in the rear view mirror and says "Why, that sounds like Bob Jr.!" (my uncles given name). My Dad whirls around just in time to see a black '39 Ford coupe with the lights turned off take the ditch next to the Olds with dirt, leaves and gravel flying. There's a huge crunching and scraping followed by VVRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!! - BAH - BRRRRRAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! as the coupe rights itself and hops back on the road, speeding away in the pitch black. No lights.

Everybody freaks out and my Grandma yells That WAS Bob Junior! She's asking if everybody's alright when they hear police sirens coming up on 'em fast, then the Cop flys by them with his foot to the floor.

My Dad laughs 'til he cries telling this story. He says my Grampa Red built Chuck's motor and was quietly smiling all through church.

 

meth is the new shine. mobile meth labs are on the roads here in north texas boys.

 

Hope they explode on an empty stretch of road.

 

Just because the meth is made in mobile homes doesn't mean those are on the road

 

My father and I were cleaning out my Grandma's barn (Moms side) as we were (are?) planning on moving it home to our place. I was in one of the stalls, clearing out the old bales when I uncover an old canvas tarp, pull it away and I'm sitting there staring at this old pressuer cooker with a coiled copper line and a drip valve sticking out of it...

"Dad...what the hell is this?"

Well I can't remember the last time my Dad got that excited, "You found Grandpa's old still!" haha

Grandma wasn't all to thrilled, she told me to junk it and my mom wouldn't let me bring it into the house to put with the other antiques.

 

My dad and uncle used to make and sell a little shine in a little town called Mendenhall Ms. back in the 50'S.Dad had a 34 Ford that he said he bought off a bootlegger in Kansas.Supposed to have had high compression heads and 3 deuces.He loved that old car and talked of it for years.Said it would do 70 in a city block,not much around that little town would keep up with it.Anyway they caught my uncle at the still and carried him and the still to Mendenhall and locked them up.In those days it was a year in Atlanta Federal Pen if you got caught.Well dad and uncle Dan's brother broke in the courthouse and stole the still before they had the trial.Damn if they didn't let his ass go for lack of evidence.Anyway that ended their career as Bootleggers.

 

My wifes grandfather Ross had a still back in the day. He was known locally and never owned a car to transport the shine. His still was down in a natural cave cut through the limestone by a natural spring. The smokestack was an old hollow tree. You couldn,t see the entrance for brush and he finally got turned in by one of his own kids for spite.He is mentioned in a history book of the local area.My father-inlaw says the shine was the best he ever drank. Smooth like liquid fire he says.....

 

I've lived in Wilkes county NC all my life,it's always been called the moonshine capital [a lot of other places claim to be also] Willy Call and Junior Johnson both live here.I've heard so many storys I could'nt tell them all,never had a lot of personal expereance but one summer in the 60's when I was a kid there was 3 stills cut within a mile of our house,I can remember you could hear fruit jars tinkling together when a car went down the gravel road at night.Everybody even a lot of us kids knew who made liquor but people around here were taught to not talk about other people's business.There was all kind of cars used,mostly plain looking cars,in the 40's and50's 39 and 40 Fords were real popular,some run flatheads some run Olds or Caddy engines,most had truck springs and radiators.My cousin has a 56 Ford pickup that was caught with a load of sugar and auctioned off at Wilkesboro,they done some body work on it a few years ago and found some bullit holes in the back fenders.Moonshine is about gone,there ain't much money in it for the work and the risk.Afew still make a little but it ain't like it use to be.

 

I heard a few stories from gramps... my family always live in Gaston Co. NC (near Charlotte an hours drive to N. Wilkesboro, Mooresville, 1/2 to Hickory) My grandpa never ran the stuff, he made it. Funny thing is and the info I can piece together was he didn't really make large batches until the mid 50's through the mid 60's. Needless to say my gramps was a big drinker... so what I get from him is that they used 61 Catalina's with the 421, that was the hot ticket. My granpa's brother that hauled had 3 of the big pontiac super duty's. My dad was a teenager then and he remembers that his mom would gather them up late into the night in the middle of the house because when gramps and his 'liquor buddies' would get drunk they would end up racing around the house, so in case one took a left turn too early, it wouldn't go through a bedroom with a sleeping child. Supposedly my gramps never ran the stuff because Jr. Johnson hired drivers to come and pick up 'the load'. Also heard that during the winter they'd light fires under the 40 fords to warm up the oil in the pan before they took off on a cold winters night- now that could be BS as I'm sure it was. Gramps, before he died also said that he was drinking his own liquor in the pits at Darlington at the 63 Rebel 500 and talking to Jr. Johnson about chevy's 'new mystery motor' - the predecessor to the 396. Again this could be BS but gramps said they ran ATF in the motor and it was 'the fastest damn thing Lucifer could ever drive'- accoring to Jr. Needless to say, I believe Jr. didn't finish the race due to engine failure. I've got a pretty neat picture of him holding up a quart jar talkin to Jr. in the pits at that time. My dad never drank because unfortunately my grampa was abusive when drinking but he ended up working for Frank Heafner who was 'the man to see' locally for a strong engine in a tripper. Dad said you always knew who the hauling engine was for when it was sitting at Frank's because they always had superchargers on them and the circle trackers were always carberated. Funny story about Lee Petty too, heard from the gramps- He was a hickory speedway one night watching the race, drunk, and he went into the pits to 'work a deal' (selling a load) and Petty was protested. Well I guess the battery box in the 38 Ford Petty was racing prohibited the tech man from tearing down the left side of the engine, so they alway tore down the right side (I may have that inversed) so on this particular night, sure enough they took the battery out and tore down the opposite side and the all the piston were well over the rule size. Back to Frank, dad worked there until he finished high school and got to hang out with Bobby Isaac when he drove for Frank. I always see the photos of the Holman-Moody shop with the Starliners on a lift 6-7 in a row getting preped for a NASCAR event... must have been cool... dad said it was the same way at Franks, only 3-4 cars, he specifically remembers the 63 Impala 'mystery cars'.

Here's a link about Bobby that mentions Frank
http://www.gonascargo.com/drivers/bobby-isaac.php

 

my great grandpa used to make it and probably run it too.
my grandma would tell me how she would have to help him in the back room of the house when she was kid. they made a Mexican style whiskey.
i don't know how to spell it cause the name is in Spanish. this was in Tucson,AZ
one day the law came and kicked the door in. she said everybody ran except him. he got locked up and for keeping quite on the rest of the guys they took care of her and her brothers and sister. payed for everything till he got out.

I'll post some pics later

 

you can run moonshine, but you gotta change your timing and carb jetting... sorry. i felt like being a smartass

 

My uncle made whiskey down on the oregon coast, always fun to go to Harry's place. When I was in high School I had an offer to drive from portland to the oregon south coast in a 64 Malabu tanker but didn't. A couple of my buddys did.

 

I still get some, about once a year.. cant say much more than that..but dam it sure is good stuff.
Brought some to Billet Proof this past year, just for those to taste...lol..no takers

 

the last shiner i knew was back in Nova Scotia, used to see him passed out all over the place on his honda 4 wheeler.

 

My oldest Uncle used to run moon from Hurley to the resorts around Minoqua back in the 50's. Legend has it they were making a big delivery and the caravan split up and took two different routes. My uncle made the right choice and didn't get caught.

My Great Uncle was a Hurley cop. They had a huge home at a major intersection in the middle of town. He got busted for making moon in his secret basement room. Dumb ass got caught due to a chimney fire...in mid-summer! When his wife
(my Great Aunt) passed, a bunch of us got together to clean up the place. Last room to be cleaned was the secret basement room. The still was still in place. I own it now. Haven't tried a batch yet. I'm scared to.

When my Dad and his sister were in their teens, they were experimenting with some home made wine (everyday drink for us Italians) and were attempting to distill some into brandy. Good thing it was a small batch, cause it exploded and blew all the windows out of the house.

 

I was involved in the 'shine trade in my teenage years, back in the 60's. Evidently that was after any 'tanker' cars. Everything back then was put in glass gallon jugs or quart fruit jars. Our family owned a Dairy Queen, and we could buy bulk sugar without raising flags to the feds. We would buy about 1200 lbs a week, but from 3 or 4 different wholesalers. I always had a car with a big trunk, just to haul the sugar to a little shed out behind our house. Most noticeably was a 65 Impala SS convertible with air bags in the rear springs. This was before convertibles were popular again. I would pump the air bags up and load 600lbs of sugar a time into that trunk. I could a 100 lb bag on one shoulder and then lean over and pick up another 100lb bag and throw it on the other shoulder. That is probably what caused all the back problems I've had over the years. It was about 10 miles from the DQ to our home, and for some of this time I didn't even have a driver's license. I would unload the sugar in the shed and then it would be picked up very late at night.

I made a couple of shine runs from the GA mountains down to Athens GA. Simply drove an older Chrysler 300 down, went to a movie and then drove home. Easiest $100 I ever made way back then.

 

I can remember working swing shift in the 50's and one of the guys I worked with would load up and drive his 40 Ford Cpe.to work.After the shift change (3 days off) which was a Sat. morning ,he would leave for Cincinnati Ohio.He never got caught and this went on for years. He had a Caddy engine with lots of goodies .Honest Charlie's was the only place I knew of back then to order parts.Went there once with the guys I ran with in Morristown,Tn.

I get back there occasionally and have a source for a small purchase. Yes they still make it back there.My grandfather was guilty of making the shine.

My neighbor here in Tx took a sip straight and he turned purple,said it burned all the way down,I should have warned him.

Don In Austin

 

here's that mug shot pic of great grandad
it hangs over the the fire place

 

A freind of ours that used to work for my dad used to run moonshine when he lived down south. IIRC he drove an Olds and had a mattress propped up behind him in case the lead started flying. Well one time it did and one bullet came through and hit the radio, causing it to blow up.

He said that was the last time he ever ran moonshine...

 

Shine? I made it, hauled it, drank it, and stood before a judge because of it! When he said "12 months or $500" I said "Where do I pay?". Never really sure how they caught up with us ( in '58). All I know is that they appeared out of the woods and there was nowhere to run!
But the best story I know comes from 3 brothers who ran a shop here in town and all 3 bought Hudson Hornet coupes in '53 or so. All identical inside and out.
One of the brothers was hauling a load and got stopped in a license check by the local police. When they asked to look in the trunk, he replied he didn't have the key with him, and that if they broke into the trunk of his brand new car, he was going to sue the Hell out of them.
So they decided to lock him up and get the local locksmith to pick the trunk lock. Well, when they found "Skeeter" (the only local locksmith) he was passed out drunk. So they had to wait till the next day to get him to pick the lock after he sobered up.
So the brother in jail got word out to his brothers about his predicament and one of them came to the jail late that night, swapped tags on the cars, left the "clean" car, and drove off in the "loaded" car.
Next morning "Skeeter" ( who in later, more sober years was actually mayor) picked the lock and they found a trunk clean as a hound's tooth and were never the wiser!
Dave

 

Here's my contribution. Wish I had a solid history but what I do know is that my 49 was purchased about 30 years ago from the Kentucky Revenue Dept where it had been seized for running shine. At the time it still had the stickers on the windows. Again I wish I had more info or knew where to find more info.

It's kinda hard to see but there are cutouts in the trunk where the tank was mounted and hoses were run etc. Pretty neat.

 

i used to "bootleg" for extra cash and used a 76' ford van. my parents has a couple grocery stores and i would take orders and the cash (all pre-paid) run all the beer or wine through the register and load it up. if you weren't at the local meeting spot(local shell station) at 6am friday morning you were out of luck. it was great money until my dad changed the schedule where my uncle didn't work thursday evenings he did! he knew something was up but never did say anything. the month he worked thursdays i was switched delivery days.

 

Back when the world was in black and white, dad used to make the 'shine and Id haul it to town in my 50 ford, had to slide sideways and roll the car to get away from the cops one night. Then some guy wanted to run all the stills in the valley and got my lill' brother to drive, that made me madder'n a cut snake......


Or was that some movie I saw?

 

For the record- Lee Petty ABSOLUTEY ran shine. The way I know is My Grandfather, NS Poole, built all of The Petty family engines at that time, way before they had their own shops. Lees father owned a Trucking Company in Level Cross- they had a mobile still set up in the back of a semi trailer! Lee and his brother Julie made most of the runs. My dad has pics of the 37 Plymouth 4 dr sedan sitting on a Buick Roadmaster chassis and running gear- straight 8 w dual carbs- after Lee had run it up a pole guywire and flipped it when he missed the curve at the split in Pleasant Garden Rd, right past Vandalia Rd with a full load of shine. He set in on fire (BIG FIRE!!) to keep it from being ID ed, and ran through the woods to a cousin's house. It ended up in the impound lot at Kirk Sineath's on Battleground Ave. in Greensboro NC. The Pettys also had a 38 Plymouth Business coupe w a OHV Caddy V8 and a 48 Chrysler Club Coupe that the feds seized, along with Junior Johnsons 40 Ford in a NC shine bust, and then used all 3 as chase cars!! The 48 Coupe was later used in the movie Thunder Road, starring Robert Mitchum. They also had a 39 Dodge 2 dr sedan, with a Chrysler Straight 8 that Lees wife ran errands in. Many a engine part was brought to my grandfather in that car!!