Straight street axle cars back in the day.... Does anyone have any pics of straight axle street cars from the 60s 70s, i grew up on the SW side of Chicago and in my neighborhood alone in the early 70s there were 2 straight axle GtO's a blue 66 and a white 67 which i think a pic was posted on this board. Also there was a yellow 68 Coronet with orange custom fish scale paint job the used to hang out on Archer Ave. anyone
Having lived through the 60's and 70's the only straight axle cars in my area were 30-40's cars that came with those axles. Saw many,many straight axle conversions on the track but don't think I ever saw one on the street.
I imagine this picture is from 74 or 75? Its in Chicago i gander from the bus. Seriously there where three in my neighborhood, also i lived in Texas in 1980 in one of there auto traders there was a 69 Charger that they stated had a straight axle but the pic didn't show much. thanks for posting everyone.
I have no pictures, but in the Brooklyn/Parma area of Cleveland Ohio, I remember two. My friend Doug Shamrock had a 65 Mustang coupe that had an i-beam from an Econoline van. The car sat almost three feet in the air. He raised the rear spring mounts to get the rear level with the front. The other was a 61 or 62 Comet 2 door. He used an axle and spring out of a forty fourd I believe. I don't remember his name. Wish I had pictures now! Aaron Dupont
I was born and raised in Puyallup, Wa. In the early '70's there was a silver blue colored '55 Chev running around town..it was called the High Chapparel (lettered on the side of the car). No pics sorry..I'm pretty sure cameras werent invented yet.
Sheltered life and with ties to Wilkes barre Pa area !! My father had a 67 GTO with straight axel in the 70's and a few of his friends had straight axel cars also and he was just up the way in Scranton Pa ! Sorry no pics before digital times
In 1969, "Wild Bobby Waddell" installed a chromed tube axle under a new '69 Pontiac GTO. This was in Concord, CA. This 'goat' had 18 degrees positive caster, and would make a 'U' turn in a 4-lane intersection with 4 passes! There were a lot of '55-'57 Chevies with axles then-and-there, and even a few "axled" mid-'50s Fords. My '54 Ford Coupe was one of them, I had a perch boxed-and-welded to the engine crossmember tube, with a '38 Ford tube axle...spring over axle, with '34 hangers and filled-and-drilled hairpins. '40 Ford front brakes kept me alert, 427 FE didn't want to slow down real easy! Everybody else ran semi-elliptic springs. Wish I had pics! (I have another '54 Coupe I'm doing, only with 406.)
I remember watching the local kid with the jacked up like 4X4's are today high straight axled '57 BelAir try to negotiate a right turn one day, after having it damn near up on two wheels and slamming on the brakes, he crept around the turn at about a walking speed to keep from tipping it over. I laughed so hard... Those fool things are only made to go straight, and they'll barely do that!
Joe, that white 67 gto in the picture belonged to my late friend Mike Sarniak. He bought it in about 74 already with the f-100 axle and leaf springs front and rear. I remember that it sat way high and rode like a buck board. He eventually lowered it a tad and softened up the springs to make it a little more streetable. The car was super clean and very quick at the track. Mike also owned a 66 Ventura set up the same way but ran astro mags instead of the Cragars like on the GTO. The Ventura was turquise with a black vinyl top and had wild psycodelic paint on the hood that he sprayed in my Dads garage. I recall a lot of other axle cars in the Oak Lawn area from te early to mid 70s. I wish I had photos of them to post. Mitch.
Quite a few here in southern Ohio in them days,best friend had a 62 Impala lots of duces,one comes to mind was a Maverick out of hamilton,ohio ,tri-five chevy another friend had a 55 handyman wagon flip front and 396 bout 1972 but no pic.Big springs and ball joint lifts with high jacker air shocks in the rear was the big thing.69 camaros were hot with that set up along with chevelles
That was then and this is now... working on two as we speak... photos coming when there is something worth showing. Man... i know they handle like a big on marbles, but they are just so... darn.... cool.
Mitch 36 thanks for the info and sorry to hear your friend passed. I take it you supplied the photo? Anyway wow that was full on candid! When i lived in the Chicago area i lived on 63rd st near Narragansit (sp), those cars had to hung out on Archer Ave. Well i was only 10 in 1972 but i remember it well The last time i was in the Chicago area was in 94 or so and im sure things have changed, i also lived in Willow Springs and i take the Oak Lawn is down 79th on the other side of Burbank? Its been a while so im guessing with out a map. Another thing was tinted blue or brown windows in some of the hot rods. thanks guys. joe
Maybe Dad should have driven down to the Stop-N-Go in W-B to have a little friendly competition ? In the 70's I was long gone.
There were a few but they were not plentiful on the street back then in my area. I helped build one in the late 60s-early 70s. I can't pinpoint the time. I can't remember if it was before my Viet Nam vacation or after I returned. A buddy wrecked a nice 55 Chevy sedan so he cut the bent frame off at the firewall and had me weld some large rectangle tubing to the stubs. He put a 427 in it and it was pretty damn quick. They were usually pretty harsh riding and didn't corner very well but the ones that I saw were reasonably safe at street speeds. I sold a 38 Chevy almost exactly like this one to go into the service in 1968. Like this one, it had blocks between the springs and the axle to get it up in the air. I only raced it one time and blew the motor but it was not scary to drive as some may think.
Here's a few pictures from back in the day from the San Francisco Bay Area. Al's Automotive, 50/50 Suspension and Bridges Suspension are responsible for these babys!!!!
I had an axled 56 Chevy Bel Air hardtop about 1979. it had a 4" dropped tube up front, which broke while making a u-turn one night cruising Fremont Blvd. got towed back home right down the strip on a saturday night.. fenderwell headers, padded roll bar, 4 foot long traction bars, 327 (?) 4-speed, scattershield and a stock rear end which broke with a loud BOOM on more than one occasion. primer brown with "still in its prime" painted on the trunk. I figure it was a stock motor with a cam, the headers and exhaust made it sound really tough. truth was it was a slug... I doubt it would have run 15's. the rear fender lips were cut out and brazed back in up about 3" higher... then some monkey covered the whole thing with bondo. 14x10 slots out back 15 x 5 crager SS style wheels up front guess it was fun for a summer of cruising, ended up being a money pit with no end in sight and I sold it without the motor and other parts for $500.oo after sitting in my garage for a couple years. I figure at one time it was a nice car. it had some chrome inside, as well as a nice black pleated interior, and under the primer was a lime green metallic paint job, but the cool thing is it was 2-toned with black "spider-web" paint on the top side. when I win the lottory I will get another one.
Must have taken alot of work converting that white Chevelle too rear leaf springs... Looks cool though!
Another Al's Automotive 55 out of the East Bay. I remember these babies cruising all over the Bay Area when I was a kid. In highscholl I even had a 5o Ford Woody up on a tube with a V-8 flathead ,fenderwell hedders, American mags, flotation tires etc.
I have a 67 Charger with an 67 dodge van axle still buried in my shop. Need to get that one back on the road after seeing all these photos. Hard on the pitman arm and no power steering so nice work out as well.
Now thats what im talking about!!! Absolutley priceless. They are all cool butthat GtO is great and man thats back then, not todays recreations.
Straight axle "modern" cars were very popular in the 60's around were I grew up. I had two friends, one with a '66 Chevelle SS396 and the other a '66 GTO. Both cars were less than one year old when they got straight axles (Chevy van) installed. Unfortunately, no photos Bob
In 1968 me and Bruce Carson put a straight axle and a 421 in his 64 LeMans, it was beautiful. Drove it all over San Antonio..street raced Edgar Boeck and his 57 Chevy "The Fugitive".. The 421 came out of the Thomas Bros. drag car 63 Tempest "High and Mighty" they put in the "new" 426 Hemi..Bruce, Roy, Edgar you guys out there?!
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