History Who else remembers just buying an old hooptie and

So today I was scrolling and something occurred to me. We spend a lot more time making our cars perfect than we do driving them.

I will give every one of this, 40 or 50 years ago we could buy an old car in decent shape and today that is next to impossible.

That said my mind was rolling back and remembering buying an old car (sometimes not so old back then) and slamming whatever motor and transmission in it that was available and cruising it.

Here is an example. A friend had a pretty hot sports car that he wadded up. This would have been in about '68 or '69. His dad took the insurance money and banked a bunch of it then bought him a '59 Thames Freighter because how on earth could he really hurt himself in a 4 cylinder cargo van, right? Well this would not due but one of the kids we ran with had a hotted up 301 chebby and a power slip which we mounted behind the seats. We made a shifter rod that would reach from the column to the tranny. Shortened the driveshaft on the Ag Shop and then found some fat-ish tires at the wrecking yard and it was his hot rod van.

This this truck down in the snout.



maybe I am the only one but maybe not.

 

Been thinking about that a lot lately. Pipe dreaming future projects of finding a solid beater bad just hopping it up instead of having to ground up build everything.

I enjoy both but I do miss being able to find a nice rust free 50’s car that was a driver for less than two grand.

 

Yes.....did some things along those,lines. You can still do it today....you just have to go after 20 year old cars like in those days. That, of course, means vehicles from the late '90s through the early '20s.

Ray

 

Hell Beano, all my cars are hooptie beaters running whatever they came with or what I have or can find.

 

Back in the 80's it was the same for me. It is funny how you make stuff run and drive well, when it is your only form of transportation. Had the fastest 4 door sleeper when I was in high school. Now that it is not a primary source of transportation, my avatar is at 5 years...they seem to come apart further and further, while I'm here I might as well...Ah the simpler times of life.

 

I don't understand the people trying to make everything perfect, unless that's what they enjoy about old cars. I like driving my stuff more. A wise man told me once, "You aren't building a space shuttle, It doesn't have to be perfect".

 

In 1966 I bought a perfect 1954 Ford tudor sedan, running & driving, decent paint with no dents or rust with a new set of Sears & Roebuck tires for 300 dollars from a elderly gentleman who purchased it when new.

The car was clean as a pin

I drove it like any 16 year old kid with a size 12 right foot and blew the engine, junk yards were full of engines and a '62 Mercury 390 & transmission found it's way under the hood, I had help doing the job but the total out of pocket was less than 125.00 bucks.

That car was a blast to drive and would fly, the only draw back was the brakes and I had a woman pull out in front of me from a side street while I was traveling on main street, I swerved to avoid hitting her in the the passenger door of her 1950 Dodge and run up a telephone pole guide with and did several Joey Chittwood barrel rolls, least to say that car was a goner. HRP

 

My attitude is "make em safe and road worthy" and drive em!

 

It still goes on but we don't talk about Hondas, Subarus, Jeeps and S10s here.... I'm kinda looking for a 4dr shoebox Chevy. They still turn up cheap around here and I think I could bang something together from cast off restoration parts that's cool enough to drive but still can be left outside at night.

 

'49-'52 GM 4 doors are cheap and plentiful, also the Chevy 6 is still easy to find.

 

I bought my two boys a '71 Pinto wagon for them to use through high school. They beat it up pretty good but I told them they had to keep it running because that was what they were going to have to drive for four years.

One weekend we painted flames and pinstriped it with "Pinto Power" lettered on the tailgate. They laid shag carpet in it and had a Mick Jagger plastic action figure on the dashboard. It was voted "favorite student car" in the yearbook two years in a row.

The best thing about it was I always knew where my kids were because the car was unmistakable and everybody in town would frequently say "I saw your boys' car at..." or "I saw your boys pushing their car down Telegraph Rd..." etc.

Dads, if you want to know where your teens are at all the time give whatever they're driving a custom paint job (rattle can is OK), but best to get them to help you.

 

^I had one of those myself. It was my go to work and school car, stolen twice and recovered both times the next morning. It had a trick to starting it and I found it both times at the bottom of the hill I lived on.

 

A school buddy bought a mid 1930's Terraplane sedan from a elderly couple who quit driving. My buddy's folks owned a dairy farm and we ran the poor car around the pastures and learning how to drive. Unfortunately we beat on it hard and it eventually died. Lots of fun for $25.

 

I'm doing exactly that with my latest beater. Getting it ready to mount a warmed over 454 mid engine with upswept boat headers piped through the back doors. We got First Place at Halloween Trunk-or-Treat.

 

When I was a kid I bought a 60 chevy without a engine or trans for 100 bucks. About 3 days later a guy outside of town rolled a 61 with a 283 auto so I bought it for 75 bucks. That 175 dollar car was driven everywhere and had a ball with it.

 

I'm doing that exact thing with my '40 Plymouth sedan. I know it isn't really worth all that much, so I'm trying to make it as cool as I can, as cheap as I can.

 

Kids are still doing this, buying 10-15 year old cars/vans cheap and are now bolting in LS and Turbos and making HP factories would have only dreamed of in the 60s 70s. The only things that have changed are aesthetics and performance, not necessarily for the best

 

Bought a 63 6 cyl 3 spd Chevy in 69. Clapped out engine for $100 and two days later bought a rusted out 59 4 door 283 power glide. Married the v8 to the 3 sod. Drove it for 3 years. Bought a 60 comment with out engine and trans, got a totaled out 63 falcon v8 and made the transplant, was crude but fast. In the mid 60’s lots of blown up 396 chevelles seemed to pop up which were always great for small block replacements, especially the stick cars. Oh for the days they just needed mechanicals and not window replacement or weather strip stuff, you could place a engine and trans and go!

 

News Flash! You can still buy a cheap old car or truck, and swap in a good motor and trans and have some cheap fun. The problem here is, it won't be HAMB friendly. Either the body is too new, or the modifications that were done are with parts way past what was available in 1965. You can do the build, have a lot of fun, you just can't talk about it here. Gene

 

Bought many a down and car most would call back then - and gave it another 5 years or so - with fun times and life -just as they were built from the factory- just to pass on to someone else to do the same....just minor maintenance - OIL CHANGES and lube jobs !

 

Ok, now I know I'm (more than) a little "out of touch" with the current slang but.................
WTF is a "hooptie"???

 

^^^^^^ gotta be a right coast thing^^^^^^

 

Its still going on. My 16 year old son just bought a $400 beat up '67 Ford PU that hasnt run in 20 years. There's not a straight panel on it but he doesnt care. Its more about getting it going...new brakes, new tires, some engine parts and the satisfaction that he's done it himself.

 

Hell, I'm doing that with my Galaxie right now.... no way in hell is it ever going to be anything but a 40 footer, but it's mine.....

 

Yeah, I once sold this old chevy beater farm truck to a friend of mine who left the exterior as-is but put a killer SBC in it.

 

We were probably married for 35 years before my wife ever had a car she could call hers that I didn't have to do some work on or bought so cheap that I couldn't turn it down. After she totaled our 69 Barracuda fastback my father in law got wind of someone in town selling a 55 Ford 4 door with a 292 and automatic in it for about 150. We bought that and she drove it for about a year and we went cruising with it a number of times. It was replaced with a Buick Electra 225 that my boss got a deal on for me because it needed a brake job, tune up and a set of tires. She drove that until she totaled it running into a neighbors car. I think over about 30 years the 55 was the only car we ever sold that someone could actually drive when she got done with it as I lost track of the cars she wrecked or blew the engine up or tore the trans up on one two many times. Most of those cars came for under 100 bucks and I'd rebuild an engine or trans for them or swap one I had in.

 

Terminology

Numerous slang terms are used to describe such cars, which vary by country and region, including hooptie, jalopy, shed, clunker, lemon, banger, bomb, beater, rust bucket, voodoo, wreck, bucket, death trap, disaster on wheels, "rattletrap" or "shitbox"

 

I was still a teenager and had no wheels or license. I was hitch hiking home after work on pay day and an old guy picked me up in a beater Chrysler. He was all over the road. I had to grab the wheel a couple of times. I asked if he was drunk. He said "No, but my eye sight is going and I guess today better be my last day driving". I asked what he was going to do with the car. He said he's just sell it. I asked how much. he said "$150 bucks". I handed him $150 and said "Pull over, I'm driving". Wraymen might remember it chugging around with no muffler with "CAPTAIN TUG" lettered on the front doors.

 

hooptie
[ˈho͞optē]
NOUN
informal
hoopties (plural noun)a car, especially an old or dilapidated one.

Todays word: UFO U Fuckin' Own it! Said to customers that want to return a vehicle.
Now hows about helping me out with:
Fo'shizzle

 

My first "ride"/Hoopty was a 53 Ford station wagon. 3 on-the-tree flat head. It was the hunting wagon and we carried the bird dogs in the back compartment. I got to liking it when I could take it to the drive in or "go parking" after the football games. (cleaned out all the dog stink of course) That's were I made the big mistake of mentioning my girl friend had dandruff flakes...while she was.....busy!
2nd gear would "wind-out" at 55 mph...and no more. Unhook the old cross over pipe and that flat head made sweet music!
6sally6