Would I know you from your days working at A&P? We used to hang out in that strip mall and parking lot. Peoples and Bambinos. I remember Mark Reilly worked at A&P. Nice guy. I doubt he'd remember me though.
..................Thanks for the memories and for bringing this thread back up. Feel free to tell us more of your time back then, like where did you live, what did you drive and pictures are always cool.............Don.
Is it one of those off-site photo storage things? They seem to go away after a few years for whatever reason.
I was able to confirm this morning (from a friend who was married into the family and is still friends of the family) that the rumor of Tito Fontana passing are true. I was only an acquaintance when he worked next door to my shop but I was a fan of the many hot rods and bikes he was involved with over the years. He always had some classy rides.
Saw him get into a scuffle (what am I sayin', it was a fight) out in the parking lot of the Capital Plaza Hot Shoppes one night. He reached in his car and pulled out a chain. First time I had actually seen that, thought it was just a movie thing. Colorful guy who owned some cool rides. Sad to hear that he's gone.
When Tito worked next door to my shop it was for a guy I'll just call the Old Man. The Old Man looked like he should have been a funeral director in a horror movie. Tito and I were both pretty pumped up dudes at the time and the Old Man was always trying to create a rivalry between us. He too was a very colorful character. He stirred up an arm wresting contest which Tito didn't win. So Tito proceeds to show us how he can drive a nail through a 2"X 4" with his bare hand. Unfortunately he picked a piece of seasoned Southern Yellow Pine and was bloodying his hand up pretty good. I grabbed his arm and told him "Tito, you're just going to cripple your hand and aren't going to be able to work if you keep that up. I'll take your word that you can do it".
My sister told me the same thing. Moe would not let you cruise or park if you didn't buy anything. Before the crack down the lot would be full of non paying "customers".
Could the Super Pickle have been the mythical Green Weeny Henry J of the Mo days? Long shot but the logo could have been a green weeny and someone cleaned it up.
.................He is in an assisted living facility on the Eastern Shore after suffering some health set-backs a few yrs. ago. I don't think he has internet access there.
I hope his car buddies visit him from time to time. The car club up here (Mountain Top Cruisers) split up this past November, but we did a couple of nursing home runs every year to cheer up the patients. Hopefully the members who walked out (the vast majority) will regroup under a new name (tough coming up with club names not taken) and continue to do good work.
I'm sure we all wish we had taken more pictures but it was sort of expensive and gas money came first. I had friends who were into photography enough to develop their own pics but most weren't car guys at all.
Tommy and I had some good times as members of The Prince Georges Kustoms. I think we visited just about every yard in the Rt 1 and 301 corridors, and of course Dollar George's yard as well. Great fun at the Mo. It all went by too quickly, as good things do. I saw Tommy a few times at the Jalopyrama meets in Annapolis. By the way, Tommy was a excellent mechanic. He was also a Navy veteran. I understand there is to be a memorial service sometime in mid to late February, but have no pertinent details. Keep looking in the Annapolis area Obits on Google. Charley
I just saw this. Mark lived three houses down from me. Had at least three brothers and a sister. Last I heard he got into selling real estate. The family moved out after the father passed. What was the hobby shop's name next to Bambinos? My memory is slipping. Did you know Johnny Raviotti(spelling?) he lived across the street and was dating the daughter of the guy that owned or had something to do with Capitol Raceway at the time.
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