History The History Of Honest Charley As Told By Tom Hunt

Thanks for the video Ryan,,,,I was a very fortunate man back in those days,,,Charlie and his wife Gracie stopped by our shop in Dallas( dont remember the year) Charlie was a good friend of Charlie Adams,owner of Custom Automotive,,Charlie (honest) his wife,Gracie,Chaelie Adams and I all went to lunch down at El Fenix that day..
Thanks again for the memories if "Honest" hisself.

 

So glad to see this kind of oral history preserved 'cause you know.........well we won't go into why it needs to be done as soon as possible. In the South, in the 50's and 60's all we really had was Honest Charlies. Everyone with a car at that time had something from Charlie Hisself. And you are right on the mark about Mike Goodman, great guy and dedicated hot-rodder.

 

Thanks. I remember the Honest Charlie adds and bought a few things myself.

 

Thanks for that Ryan. Sent my quarter off and got a catalog and decal in the mid 60s. That was a big deal for a 10 yr old with an infatuation for hot rods and drag cars.

 

Nice to see a little hot-rodding history take place just down the road, thanks for the video Ryan.

 

Thanks Ryan. What a great interview.

 

agree with you Ryan. Honest Mike is solid guy!

 

Honest Charlie----Allee samee wheel disc. Great memories.

 

Very interesting and enjoyable, nothing (except personal experience) beats first hand memoirs.

 

Honest Charley stickers were like currency when I was in grade school,just like STP-Richard Petty stickers.Anything you wanted from another kid could be paid for with these:

 

Enjoyed the video Ryan. You know the strange part, The young Tom, is a dead ringer for my eldest son......

 

Thanks for sharing this cool bit of hot rod history. I grew up in Cleveland Tn. in the 50's and 60's and used to go to Honest's "new store" in the early 70's to buy speed equipment for Camaros and Chevelles.

 

I can remember Freddy Fryar pulling in to Huntsville speedway with "Honest Charleys Speed Shop" on the side of his race car.Friday Hassler had "See Rock City" on his.

 

Enjoyed the video immensely and thought maybe I could share a bit of my experiences with HC & co.
First thing I bought from HC was 3 of the 2&5/8" SW gauges in 1956, amp, water temp,& oil pressure. I had bought a running, flathead powered '32 Ford 3wdw, channeled, but not chopped for $250 and drove it home after putting in a battery, gas and tires. No gauges in it, so I got a USPS money order, mailed it in, and the gauges were shipped via Greyhound Bus, freight collect, as there was no UPS in those days and USPS was notoriously slow on packages back then.
Over the years this progressed to a meeting at Pryor's Service Station every Monday afternoon, with several hot rodders plus several guys with oval track cars attending. Mr. Pryor's son Bobby being among the oval racers and younger son Jimmy among us hot rodders.
HC had 3 prices in the catalog: List, Net, & Jobber. Mr. Pryor, having a bonafide business, could get the "Jobber" price and he in turn let us have the parts at that price plus a share of the shipping cost, still via Greyhound bus. The increased volume of purchases got us all some good service from both HC and Greyhound, and that helped out as well as it cost very little more freight for HC to ship a big box as it would for a small box. this system continued for a lot of years.
Not sure at all what happened to HC, but the ads in mags began disappearing or at least gettinfg smaller, as other companies jumped on the bandwagon. Many of us drifted away and I am glad to see the company and the name revived.
A few years ago, back when I first started hanging out with the Sock Fuckers Car Club, we did a Saturday run from ATL. to Chattanooga and visited Coker Tire and Honest Charley's and then made a trip up to Rock City atop Lookout Mountain. My roadster was still in construction, so I drove a DD p'up, and I still remember being asked to park it off to the side @ Coker so that a group photo wouldn't have it in the pic, LOL
Again, Ryan, I appreciate the old memories you have revived for me with this post.

 

Cool roadster.

 

.........Do you remember Cas Walker the grocery magnate in Knoxville? Him and Honest Hisself were two of the most famous folks to come out of East Tennessee.

 

Not to hijack the thread but:
Of course I remember Cas, any body who spent any time in Knoxville or East Tenn from the 50's to the 80's remembers Cas. Cas was a cantankerous old "S O B", but "Honest Hisself" was class act all the way!

 

Finally took time to look at the full video. What an incredible account of Honest Hisself and how a guy who was still in high school was there during the founding of the most famous speed shop in the world. We are fortunate Tom's memory is still sharp. If you have not looked at the full video you should.

 

back up just for the memories.