Peabody MA 50/60s Christy Massio photos

In one of my first meetings with Christy, he tried to talk me out of running a dropped axle and to put independent suspension on my 5W coupe. In trying to persuade me, we drove down to Ed Murrays garage and picked up Steve Osgood’s Corvair suspended 37 Ford for a ride. A hundred mph trip down the road to the old Nike Missile site was thrilling in this 37 Ford Coupe (with Chris,my wife and me jammed in the front seat) , but was not enough to sway me from my dropped axle.
Here I was, building my first “real” Hot Rod, and I was amazed at the cars parked in Ed Murray’s garage (and I had driven by his house a hundred times and had no idea what was parked inside). Along with Steve’s 37 was Ed’s chopped 34 Sedan delivery ( with a blown SB Chevy), and Ed’s blown 31 Roadster on Deuce rails (which was Richie Willet’s old yellow car). I felt like I had died and gone to heaven. The 37 is still alive and well today and belongs to Rick McGarvey (although the Corvair front end has since been replaced with a Mustang II).

 

Great story Baron!! I'm glad you were able to resist the corvair front end. Scott & I (327-365hp) spent last winter getting rid of one of those and doing a dropped axle. Among other things. Here's a couple of pics...we haven't re-fitted the hood yet.

 

Looks great. That and a wheel change was all the car needed( now I am going to be in trouble with Chris.. ). It was good that Christy set it up so that the front ends could be unbolted, remove a couple of mounting tabs, and bolt a dropped axle right back into it. I liked when you had these wheels/tires on it too.

 

Did most every car christy build have a Corvair front end in it? I still have one,it drives
very well at speed like a big go kart.You can drive little effort at 80-85 mph.But trying to
park it is another story,I have driven Autocars that turned easier than this does! Getting
real serious about putting in a dropped straight axel like Bad Penny. The Corvair is just
plain ugly under there as well.

 

Christy was always good to me and from talking to others guys, he always helped them out too. At the time back then I hadn't met him. First time I spoke to him was over the phone. he invited me up to go for a ride in one of his cars with the modified Corvair front end. Some don't like them, but from my own personal experience, that front end has always worked out great for me.
More importantly though, he always gave advice and helped many. For example he would chop a roof in record time and the work was great as on all his work. Unfortunately some people took credit for it, but Christy wasn't a complainer or self effacing, he let his work and friendship speak for it self. To this day he still helps people.Thanks Chris, still appreciate it.
Dennis

 

Sure is fugly...that hole assembly was painted bright red and the springs were neon yellow. I bought the car on Labor Day weekend and was able to brush paint it all black and change the wheels before Ty-Rods the following weekend. It had 14" Tru-spokes w/pinner whites.
Baron...I still have that set of wheels but I painted them black and plan to run them at some point

 

Yes, he did. He was a firm believer of independent front suspension (still is today). Back when he started installing the Corvair front ends, there were no "kits" to install (before Kugal /Jag and Mustang II's had not been invented yet). The Covairs were good because they unbolted from the chassis, had the right width to fit under most hot rods and were fairly easy to bolt in. Chris went through the trouble of replacing the stock Corvair ball joints with stronger Chevelle units, which took a little modifying of the lower control arms to fit them, and also the Chevelle spindles and brakes. 6A pr of 66-7 Chevy II steering arms (for proper akerman geometry) and an MGB steering rack made them drive like a "sports car". And they did drive and handle well, but the steering was a bit tough. Christy was always thinking, advancing Hot Rodding to the next level. Back when he started doing this, there were very few independent suspended cars. Today, thansk to TCI, Heidts, etc, there are thousands.

 

Well said. Before I met Christy I had heard nothing but good things about him. Then when I met him at All-Timers show he was as nice as everyone said he was.

 

Don't get me wrong Corvair was high tech 35years ago! Christy is a artist the number of
cars that are driven and shown that he built or helped build speaks for its self.

 

I could stay up all night studying this thread.
Thanks to all of you for showing what New England rodding is all about.


Jim

 

5 window build circa '71
trip to an early Leadsled show

 

Adventure Car Hop, It's the place to go for food that's always right.

Just ask Arnie "Woo Woo" Ginsburg

Talk about the good old days, Adventure Car Hop and New England Speed, what a combination. We thought it would never end.

 

Road trips in familt sedan

 

Daves roadster

 

i want to add that on the 1st page that the red t-roadster pickup started as a cab christy found in the middleton dump about 10 years ago!!! and what appears to be modified deuce rails is in fact new 2x6 box tubing bent on his frame machine, then cut on the bottom and rewelded for the deuce like sweep! i was amazed watching that go together.. go back and check that out, it belongs to jim reynolds..

 

Any pics of Maloneys car (especially primer shots) would be great - I know him well - I saw a big framed pic of it long ago at his office - He is still into rods and has a beautifully done '32 vicky - OT for here but a beautiful car nonetheless...

 

it has come a long way from the middleton dump !!

 

These pictures are ASSUME !!!!.Thanks for posting

 

I think I have one picture of Kevin's car at the Sears show but I for some reason can't post pictures here anymore.I'll look around and see if I can find it and if so will copy it an e-mail it to you.
Thanks for the pics of Dave Page's RPU;I'd forgotten about that one.

 

Ray. Send them to me ([email protected]) and I can post them for you if you'd like.
Baron

 

The Yellow 34 in post #58 was built by Bob Bell.
I bought it from Paul Majors in 1979.

 

I'm still trying to find pics of Adventure Car Hop but there aren't many I guess.

 

Great pictures ,Thank you for posting.

 

"Adventure Car Hop is the place to go
For food that's always right.
Adventure food is always just so.
(You'll relish every bite!)
Out on Route One in Saugus,
Come dressed just as you are.
Adventure, where the service is tops,
And you never get out of your car."



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Another Christy story. I had just finished chopping this Merc ( my first chop job) and I took it up to show Chris. He noticed when he opened the door that it hung a little a needed to be adjusted. Got out the Port-a-power and put it from the bottom of the a-pillar to the back corner of the jam and jacked A pillar up. I was happy to see my gas welding held up,to say the least. When he let off, the door was probably an inch and 1/2 higher than it should be, and wasn’t even close to being able to close. My first thought was oh oh, this will never be right again. Chris put one leg in the window and bounced up and down a 1/2 dozen times (all 120 lbs of him ), climbed out and closed the door with just a slight push. From that day on until the day I sold the car, the door opened and closed like a new car.

 

Re:The Adventure Car Hop;
Awhile back I received a bunch of Adventure Car Hop memorabilia that included a couple of different menus;some articles on Arnie Ginsberg;and a front plate and bumper sticker.What was unusual is that the bumper sticker was for the Adventure Car Hop on Route 9 in Natick! Apparently there was more than one.Whether the owner of the one in Saugus(George Verelas(sp?) owned the Natick one as well I guess we'll never know.
After the Adventure closed he opened up another drive-in across the street called "Jolly Jorge's" which lasted quite a few years.
A girl I went to school with lived right across the street from George and his beautiful wife(think Jayne Mansfield;platinum hair and all).His wife drove a salmon pink(actually I think they called it coral)56 Ford Sunliner with skirts and the nicest set of pipes around.
The guy I got the memorabilia from was named John D'Amico and I think he had something to do with putting on the Wednesday night car shows at the shopping center in Danvers.I don't have his contact info any more but if someone knows him he might be able to turn you on to some Adventure stuff.

 

Cool! I bet I had a good time!

 

I'd love to see pics of your memorabilia!

 

Grand Opening ????


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