Back in the early '80s, I had a roommate from Detroit who was always bragging and waxing nostalgic about all things Detroit. You name it, he had a story relating to that part of Detroit. He moved back there in the late '80s and made a good name for himself with a couple of engine shops up there. I really need to get up there to see him and his hot rod Mopars one of these days. He's going to be a hell of a tour guide for me!
So blame it all on Yousef !? For all we know, he may be a more respectable person/hot rodder than you and I put together. Detroit was somewhat built by "foreign influence" labor. Turn of the century hard working Europeans migrated and contributed to the success of the city. Mid-century, hard working class folks from the South migrated to find work. I'm a 4th generation Detroiter whose Parents had enough after the late 60's riots and relocated to Socal. Detroit fell on hard times because of piss poor planning (both by government and private industry) and political corruption (all the way back to prohibition era rum runners). To get back on topic; SOMEBODY SAVE THAT SHOP SIGN!
Really glad I read this write up on Walts. I had no idea that place was even there, and I live about 45 minutes away. I used to cruise Telegraph with my Chevelle back in the 90's (not that long ago) and there was really an awesome vibe down there. Its a bit of a tougher crowd than the one that gathers on Woodward. Man, I miss my youth a little.
I am prolly just bitter aginist guys like Yousef.....Because I actually have to work for a living. Our "gooberment" will not give me a large Grant, (That does not have to be paid back) to start any business I want to. Yousef on the other hand and anyone else who wants to sneak in our country illegaly qualifys for many Free Grants that is funded in part by my tax dollars. Anyhow I am not going to turn this thread into something bad, But keep an eye on what becomes of this building. Also the shop sign is ok but I would rather have one of the brick walls....LOL
I remember all those places. The motor in putting in my Riv was done at Rays. I really excited to get it in. I can't wait til June 30th Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I'm definitely going to swing by Walts and take a couple pics of the Riv there and I'll see if my old will take his 66 stingray. Maybe we'll do it on the way to the Downriver cruise on fort st June 29th. If any of you Detroit guys don't know about this cruise, you should. It's a good one. No traffic Jams like Woodward. Spread the word and come out. I'm dropping my Riv 3 inches so I can't wait!!! Theres always really cool cars there. See ya there Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Yeah, B&P is still there, on Telegraph where it splits off to N. Monroe. Same cars in the lot for sale goin on 3, maybe 4 years. I actually called them for a quicky service. Had to press a mid bearing off, out of the truck, already caged, stick it in the press and push it off. $65? Yeah, my hammer worked fine and took about 30 seconds. Nostalgia's only worth so much. Inkster was circling the drain in the mid/late 70s, the drain backed up in the early 80s, and by the end of the 80s and into the 90s you were at risk just driving in that area after sundown. Still, every once in a while I get the urge to stop in on my dear friend Gene at Inkster Tire just up the road. The building (and several others) is owned by Jim Howe, a once prolific doorslammer racer under the name "Bad Boy". His cars were very fast for the day, able to mimic times and speeds of the pros. Camaros running in the mid 9s were not very common in the late 70s around here. He seemed to do that with ease. In those same days B&P campaigned a 59 Vette at our beloved "Dirty D", also a fast car. Fast was going the way of CONSISTANT in a hurry back then. Everything changes, some for the better, much of it not...
You hit the nail on the head w/the Telegraph crowd being a little tougher. You can still see it in the "cruises" both roads put on every year. I think I cruised Telegraph enough miles to go to the moon & back. Cruisin' Woodward always seamed a waste of time to me. More action on Telegraph. Besides, we knew where all the cops would hide. To me it seemed to die in the early 70's when the cops started kicking us out of the many parking lots we would hang in.
Define "guys like Yousef". From your keyboard you've assumed; He's an illegal alien Started business on a gifted government grant He looks to be a (commision based) realtor listing property in the Dearborn area. Given the state of the economy-especially Detroit, it can't be an easy gig! He may be starving or may be puting in a ton of hours and working his ass off to make a living. Doubt he's on welfare. You're in control of your destiny and success. Why be bitter at others about having to work for a living?
Alright! How about we get back to the important part of this. Sharing our stories about speed shops and Detroit area cruises, past and present. Yes, Inkster sucks, yes Detroit is corrupt and yes, it sucks when a piece of history is no longer In business. Bitching at each other on here and slamming other you don't know is just a waist of time. Lets talk cars, cruisin, street racing and the history of it. Not turn this into a political soap opera. That being said, I used to love going to the Hardee's at Plymouth and telegraph (before the cops would kick people out) you would see some pretty cool racing from that light. And, some pretty good shotgun racing on the 96 service drive. My old man told me they used to go out by Metro airport back in the 60's. I think it was a section of Goddard rd that isn't there anymore. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
PRD, I confess I made many a pass down the 96 service drive, however it was at the end of the glory days, the early 90s. We also ran places that we gave our own names to. Carnavale's, Cherry Hill Nats, Eckles (actually the corner of Eckles & Schoolcraft), Plymouth, meaning Plymouth and Outer Drive. As time and popularity rolled on we would psyche the crowd by yelling one of those places then race elsewhere to actually get some off. Not crazy enough? How about down on West Jefferson in front of Yellow Freight? MLK and 16th? We're talkin warm summer nights at 2am in the worst parts of town, but funny how we didn't get bothered much by local hood rats. All the speed shops, cruisin spots, drive thrus, they were simply places to gather, shuck n jive, tell lies, generally have good and fast time till the wee hrs of the morning. I'd go home by 6pm and sleep until 11 so I could at least be rested for the next day, somewhat. Airport racing was the gig in the mid to late 60s alright. That part of Goddard (Northline?) is now fenced in and clearly the memories are much faster than the actual performances. Just imagine the tire tech! In the 70s it was racing from a "roll" right on Telegraph. I should slap myself silly for the number of times I did it. Not at all smart topping 90+ MPH on a crowded blvd, but we did it. Nitrous was a prime factor in eliminating that practice as in too much too soon. I personally gave it all up and never looked back in 94. The night I was to debut my personal street racer I blew it up at the Dirty D testing the "hose". It sputtered at about 600' I lifted, it stalled and coasted through posting a 10.70 @ 111MPH. Would have been a high/mid 9 easy. That same night Redford did a major "sting" at Dunkin Donuts on Joy n Graph. 10 cops, pepper spray on a bystander, arrests, all against sober and proud hot rodders drinking coffee. Decided the scene wasn't for me and lettered my car all up, never to see the street again. Well there was this one "cruise night" though. I trailered it there for the early evening, when I left to the trailer I was met with a "receiving line" of folks eggin me on for a burnout. A few revs of the 700HP BBC got em goin, then I hit the trans brake and eased up on it, then full throttle on the limiter. The crowd ran when that thing started stutterin through open headers and I was laughing so hard I just let off and idled on by 'cept for few blips, all on open headers too. Good times...
For us teens of the 80's it was the White Castle at 96 and Telegraph..saw a lot of action out there with some heavy hitters on trailers ....dietricks F100, plenty of rubbed outbig blocked camaro's. When I was real little it was my Dads nova in the old Korvettes parking lot... In the 90's it was the Dunkin Donuts and than going to lower rouge park or the grave yard off Grand River. By then the cops were shutting everything down and writing loitering tickets.. I was out. We would also get brave once in awhile and venture over to the White Castle on the west side of Detroit...a little different crowd over there..did French road a time or two also .. Good memories
I used to go too all those same spots in the 80's and 90's. it was so much fun. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
I busted at that dunkin doughnuts one night complete with slicks and open headers !!! the good old days !
Lotta great memories in this thread. I gave up street racing in the mid 90's. I work on Zug Island. People are still racing next door in front of "Yellow". Dunno about Fort/ Outer Dr. since that girl got killed awhile back. What a mess that was. A few people got into deep doo-doo including LP Police!
It was all so much fun. I never had all that fast of a car but, it was fun. The smell of summer in Michigan and burning rubber and racing fuel. Gas was around a dollar a gallon. Turbo Blue Racing fuel was about 2 dollars a gallon. Hahaha rolling start racing on telegraph. So much fun. I had a Black 72 Nova. 307 three spd. Nothing special. But I remember a royal blue plain Jane Nova i think a 70-71 that was really mean! I'll never forget. That blue nova, my nova and a 65 Chevy II all caught the light at dunkin donuts. I was in the middle lane. The blue nova to the right, Chevy II to the left. You know, catching a light while cruisin graph was like lining up at a tree at the strip. I didn't stand a chance but, it was fun. We took off and all I saw was the front wheels of that Nova come up and he was gone! That car was so nice and ran strong. Love those days. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
Gezz Man! didn't mean to piss in your cheerios.....Get over it! this is not the place to have this argument, But if you think you or I are in control of anything in this country then you need to come down off of "fantasy Island" there are so many BS rules and restrictions in this country to keep anyone from doing anything productive, And it is this very same reason that the auto industry has moved over seas. Bottomline is america does not build anything anymore. EPA and tree huggers have shut down almost all of that. And it is getting worse. Hell I can't even hardly find a decent chrome plating shop anymore because most around here have closed up do to BS EPA restrictions. Anyhow I have prolly said too much about my views on this subject, So I am done here. back to talking hot rods....
Video exists somewhere of nearly 1000 people at the 96/Telegraph WC. It was around the time Car Craft Magazine did the write up at Milan about fast street cars in Detroit. Our club, Michigan Street Unlimited, and it's founder Bob Bowers set that gig up. The late Ed Gustky ran a 9.48 for all the world to see in his Camaro. At the time it was rare for anything regularly street driven to have that ability. Did you know that was a 427? Not a 454/468/496, what Ed refered to as a "lowly" 427. Not all about the racing and the cars, but the moments that just happen naturally. One night we were inside the WC and "Fat Nick" wouldn't leave Ed alone. He wanted a race, yet wasn't willing to make it worthwhile. Ed typically wouldn't say shit if he had a mouth full. After enough of this banter of "racing for fun" he upped his offer to $25. Ed reached in is pocket and pulled out $25 and said, "Here, take your boyfriend to a movie." Sort of a "you had to be there" moment, we still talk about that today some 20yrs later. It's my understanding that Mario has an annual party on Ed's birthday these days. I have to get to that.
The Japanese are as nervous as the American companies....Korea and India are next in line to try to topple the already established auto company's...in 1987 Hyundai was a laughing joke.....I seem to see tons on the road today.. These companies are great at reverse engineering...they will steal anything they can to make a "just like" product. Also how many Japanese cars are now made over here? As a child raised on the salary of a autoworker....I'll never own anything without an American name tag. Great grandpa fought in WW2, GM allowed my dad to put a roof over my head, and food on our table. More Telegraph stories now....anyone ever "fudge" numbers on the car after making some runs on Saturday out at the Dirty D? Maybe a little faster if ya wanted to seem like a bad ass....or a little slower if you were looking for a victim ha ha...we need a Telegraph cruisers reunion.
K&L Speed Shop, Grand River and Westbrook, across from Detroit Police 16th Precinct, later moved to west side of Telegraph south of Five Mile IIRC Geiger's Hi-Burger, Grand River west of Telegraph, Paco's Tacos, later Pico's, Telegraph at Joy (?) IIRC Geiger's later became Klett Cadillac's used car lot. Big Boy, Grand River and Greenfield, Daly's on Greenfield and Joy, alternate hangouts. All these from the late 60's. K&L, my friend borrowed a car from another friend, pulled out ahd got hit on Grand River. Car was toatled, ended up in the 16th's driveway. He was laying in Grand River. He recovered, car didn't. At least the cops didn't have far to respond! AMbulance took him to Mt. Carmel. I went to see him that night, told him in the hallway as he was still laying on the gurney several hours later "If you didn't want to help me work on my car, you could have just called insted of crashing the car!" from September 1969. I was a smart-ass then too......
'Acme Carb', can't believe they are still open in East Dearborn! One guy by himself for most of the day, lit by a single light bulb hanging from the ceiling. It's weird. Steve
Got my first speeding ticket on telegraph and cherry hill in my amx racing a yellow gremlin with a 6 cyl that would pull the front tires at launch...... That was in 73.........those were some cool old days........ We both got tickets...............................
Only got 1 ticket on Telegraph for running 11in slicks on my 63 Ford 427. What officer! Me racing out here. I see a lot of references to the Telegraph/Joy area. We used to hang at a closed Shell gas station south of Joy until the cops kicked us out. We went across the street to the "Checker" (for the drug store there) parking lot. I think its the same lot as the Dunkin Donut place mentioned. Anyone remember Hepners Standard gas station on Warren & Faust in Detroit? Big station & always had a lot of hot rods there.
My auto shop teacher told me about drag racing on Rotunda back in the 60's right where my old high school is. He told me about when some ford guys showed up with an AC cobra. The ford proving grounds where right there. They would take off at the light at oakwood and rotunda. They had a 1/4 mile marked which was about where the principals office was. And plenty of shut down area toward outer Dr. Which was an S curve just before Outer Dr. He told this cobra and another car launch. The other starts slowing down but the cobra kept going to take the corners. It's such a great stretch for racing. Ford on one side, Edsel Ford high school on the right. But, Dearborn cops got down on it pretty hard long ago I guess. Posted using the Full Custom H.A.M.B. App!
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