History Just California Hot Rods 1960-1970?? Let's see pics...

It seems to me after 1960 things got crazy with the addition of customs and dragracing. What are some of your favorite California hot rods of that time? Come on guys dig out those photos of you and your cars. I want to see some cool stuff...Joe

 

1961 36/ Hemi, 57 Pontiac, 1965, Bantam/ Hemi, 1965 35 Willys/ Hemi

Hayward Calif.

 

Is the arrow I added pointing at Tex's T? If so do you have other shots of that day?

 

What a post! Just phenominal.

 

Nice post, Mazooma1. Should just go ahead and lock this thread down now.

Unless you have more.

furyus

 

TomWar and Mazooma...
These photos and hotrods are amazing. It is what it was like when I was a kid walking home from elementary school. I'd walk a mile out of my way to see hot rods parked on the street. Daily drivers!!! Way cool. Please tell me you guys have more pics. The backgrounds and people make the photographs too. I dreamed of running away to California as a kid reading Hot Rod mags and this is what I it imagined it be like. Those rods are all go. Thanks, Joe

 

well, a couple more from my days in the 60's
My friend asked me to go with him to St. Louis from Los Angeles, so I went just for the adventure.
This was 1967. I was 16.
Olds powered steel T with 6x2 carbs....

This photo was in Barstow on our way to Arizona



a crummy shot of my car and my friends at Descanso Gardens in La Canada, just west of Pasadena...1969



In October of 1967, in my senior year in high school, just turned 17...I went with "the Early Times" car club to Eugene, Oregon for a three day show...
This is a Barris built deuce owned by the club president, Bob Darrah.
We parked over night in Redding and I got stuck sleeping in it...damn, it was cold...It was also the cover car on a Popular Hot Rodding issue.
We took about 12 hot rods up there.





Steve Pennington's sedan delivery and Jake's truck on the right



this was the dirt lot next to where they put us up for the weekend, an office at the Balboa Drag Strip, outside of Eugene



sbf...nice delivery



This was at Hillcrest Park in Fullerton, January 1967
"Early Times" picnic.....I was 16

 

another old crappy photo
The Caddy powered Fiat, the Anglia and Joe's RPU in front of the Pasadena Civic Auditorium. We had been at Bob's Big Boy for lunch in Glendale.....
I remember Magical Mystery Tour by the Beatles had just come out because someone at Bob's just wouldn't shut up about it....crazy the stuff you remember, some 41 years later.
Man, two cars with real magnesium Halibrands....holy smokes

 

So Doug, since the Early Times were based in Compton, you must of made that drive quite a bit.....

 

Mazooma was your family into hotrods too? You got to do a lot of things at a pretty early age that took you fairly far from home. No way my parents would have allowed me to take off like that.

You must have been the envy of a bunch of guys back then. I know when I look at your pics Im envious lol.

 

Great stuff Mazooma

 

Mike, I believe they met every tuesday (?)...yeah every freaking week.
I went all the time. The first meeting spot was at Dana Chevrolet on Long Beach Blvd. Then they moved to an industrial area on Minnesota Ave. just down from Alondra, It was a member's building that made aircraft parts.
He had a keg in his office!

Because of the 35 mile drive, we started our own club in 1969 in the San Gabriel Valley called "Vintage Tin". The founding members were myself, Leroy Smith, Gary Lorenzini, Ken Young, Pete Chapouris, Eric Vaughn, Pete Eastwood and Bob Hines.
We had a reunion a few years ago.

I did attend the "Early Times" 40 year reunion in 2004. That was a blast. It was at Richard Graves shop in Long Beach........lots of us "old timers" there.

 

Mazooma1
I saw the image of the Tall T coupe you sumitted and almost spat out my beer!
Here are some pictures of a 1927 T I bought two years ago in So Cal. The story from seller was he bought the car from the builder who then moved to Arizona. The things got fuzzy. The body is rock solid and has Corvette 283/270hp and a 4 speed. could it be.........?

 

Not really...but they were cool with cars and my car friends. They'd drop me off at Lions Drag Strip when I was 12 and then pick me up about 10:30 after the last round of Top Fuel.
As far as going to St. Louis with that Model T, although I was 16, it was the beginning of summer break, so.....off we went.

The run up into Oregon was in Fall of my senior year in high school, but my folks let me take a week off to go because, I think, they knew that what I'd learn in that week would be more important than learning about the history of Spain. They were right.
One of "us" had a bad accident in the rain and crashed his Model A the night before the show opened. We dragged the wreck into the car show and started tearing it apart...right in the middle of the show. People were coming up to us saying..."hey, you guys need a Model A grill? I've got one at home, I'll go get it and give it to you". Stuff like that happened for three solid days. George "Bushmaster" Schreiber was bringing the Roth "Yellow Fang" fuel dragster down from Washington State and he had entered the car show at the last minute. He helped out, too, with the repairs. Ultimately we ended up trailering the wrecked car home...but we gave it a good try to get it running. The owner was busted up, but OK.
He had some banged up ribs.
Other things that were "firsts" in my life happened that week. All part of growing up and learning to take care of yourself and your friends.

So...my parents trusted me and they knew all my friends and everyone got along great, so there was never a worry about me going any of these places. I can't tell you how many times I got dropped off at drag strips when I was between 11 or 12 and until I got my license at 16....

 

Dang...could be....wheels are a bit different, but those tall T's are pretty rare, so, who knows...the owner was a long standing member of the "Early Times, but his name escapes me....
Just the fact that it's got a 4-speed is curious....you don't see too many anymore...
The owner was that fellow on the right with his hands in his pockets...they are looking at that crashed Model A that we were bringing home....

 

Keep um coming !!!! Great Stuff !!!!

 

Great history!

 

Yeah, good times...

 

Don Mabe lived down the street when I was a kid......I always stared at all the cars there.......I didn't know who he was at he time...

 

Mazooma, John Montiero's T, the green one with side curtains, is tested in this issue! I also have the Rod and Custom Early Times issue, and 1001 Rods and Customs also had a club cover in the mid sixties! I love this era!

 

I'm loving this thread. Those Early Times cars really hit the sweet spot for me. Mazooma, I'm so jealous of that panel truck.

 

Yeah, Don was /is a good guy. I used to visit him when he lived in Seal Beach/Long Beach.
I really wanted to buy his T, but it was to expensive for me. He wanted $3,000. Joe Dalia bought it, though, and he was in out club, "The Vintage Tin", so I got to cop a ride in it a lot.
It had one of the best cobwebbed paint jobs ever.

 

Mazooma1..I'm sure I don't have to tell you, but you were one lucky kid. Thanks for the walk down memory lane.

 

Here is some more

 

It must have been a crazy ride from California to St. Louis in an open car. I can't believe you were only 17. It's unbelievable how many hot rods you guys had among each other. The blue anglia is one of my all time favorites! Where did you guys wrench on your rides? How did the public react to your rods as you buzzed through town? Joe

 

Well, I was actually 16. I had $100 in cash and a gas credit card. I can't remember what Phil had, but it wasn't much more.
We worked on our cars "wherever". I parked mine in the street, so that was "it". The Anglia was parked in a shed in San Gabriel.
Nothing fancy. We didn't know "fancy".
My neighbor with that jacked up 1963 Galaxie sold it and bought a 289 Cobra for $4000...yes, a real Cobra. In 1969, there was no such thing as a fake Cobra.




He was a fireman in town and he would let it sit outside all night long next to the fire station. No kidding. It was a real rocketship. Damn...but , two years earlier you could buy a 427 Cobra brand new for $7000....
But NOBODY had $7000.

You want CRAZY? How's this! Johnny Shaffer lived a few streets away from me and his Dad owned THIS...a White Co, WWII half-track, all restored.
This photo is not Johnny's, but you get the idea. His didn't have a machine gun (obviously)



Sometimes his Dad would let us cruise around in it or drive it to our high school for the day. The cops would pull us over everytime we took it out for a spin. They just KNEW that something had to be illegal about this thing, but it was completely legal. One cop tried to say that we were going to damage the roads because of the weight. Johnny had it all figured out on a piece of paper that showed that per square inch it actually weighed less that a regular car. Damn it was fun. At 30 MPH you felt like your teeth were going to fall out it shook so much.
But people DID get out of the way!!!!!!!!!!

 

Cool stuff Mazooma. I've owned two Early Times cars, the first picture is the day I bought Dick Knudsen's "Novel-T" at a show in the late 60's, (Winternationals maybe). Although Dick no longer owned it by then.

After I sold the T, I went to the swap meet at the Cars of the stars in Buena Park and bought Larry Wood's brothers 32 sedan from Richard Graves. This was probably in the mid 70's.

Mick

 

1966, Great Western Exhibit Hall
Here it is along with all the other cars from the "Early Times"
I was fortunate to be included with them at the same show in 1967



thats my Model A panel at the end of the row

 

This is now one of my favorite threads.
Thanks Mazooma

 

This is the T that he would run up and down the street....it was so loud, all the houses would empty to watch......always had a good looking gal beside him too.....this bring back good memories from the old neighborhood....I was around 10 or 11....