History Old Chicago Hang-outs?

The Car shows at Navy Pier, Amphitheater and McCormick Place were put on by The Gass Hoppers of Morton Grove. There are still a few of us around. We also put on shows in Morton Grove. Does any one have pictures of the Gass Hopper Gasser "Lil Alky" 56 Chevy?

 

69th and Pulaski was Sandy's. 79th and Cicero was Henry's

 

Joe Bush first had Speed Sport in Blue Island before moving to 62nd and Ashland then to 111th.

 

In the Chicago land area was Rte 14, Northwest Highway which runs from Milwaukee Ave. to Harvard, Il. Northwest of Barrington Rte 14 was 4 lane divided highway pretty straight with rolling hills from Barrington to Fox River Grove, perfect for drag racing which was done every Friday and Saturday night in the 50's and 60's. At the time I had a Model A coupe w/ rumble seat, a loose flathead, 3 deuces, domed pistons, finned heads, 3 speed overdrive and a 2 speed truck axle all cobbled together with baling wire, torch welds, old pieces of cow stations, etc. It did not have a floor in it. That's 12 gears forward. I had to have 2 of my 200 lb buddies sit in the rumble seat to get enough traction to move forward after dumping the clutch other wide it would just sit there and spin the tires off. We had spotters at each end and at any side roads to warn if the cops were coming. Some wild rides down that road in the "A" especially with those old mechanical brakes.

 

Correction: First Blue Island then 62nd and Ashland. Then 64th and Ashland. Then 111th East of Kedzie by The Cemetery.

 

Just caught sight of this website ramblin' through the internet looking back in time. Stirred up a lot of old memories of good times, the popular "places" to be and some clean (and most of the time illegal) old-time fun.
My love for hot cars started early in my pre-teen life. I took pride in the fact that I could identify the make and models of most cars at night by looking at their head lamp and parking lamp configuration. My aunt and uncle lived on a main street in the southern Brighton Park area. The old people used to sit in the parlor and converse while I would sit out on the front porch with a cold bottle of Green River my aunt would give me and "hone" my headlamp/park lamp skills. My aunt's son ( 5-6 years my senior) had a '54 Ford 2-dr Crestline with a flathead. When I wasn't doing my headlamp/park lamp practices out in the front of the house, I would be in the garage with my cousin "souping-up" the flathead.
I can't say this for sure, but I think my cousin use to "boast" that his flathead was putting out about (or over) 100 horsepower?
Yes, one ride down a Chicago side-street, winding out a "3 on-the-tree" flathead Ford was all it took....I would be hooked for the rest of my life.
Fast forwarding.... I followed cars throughout the later years via the media. When other boys were reading magazines about the Boy Scouts, football or baseball, I was reading Car Craft & Hot Rod. I had no idea how many home runs Micky Mantle hit, but I did know that the Boss 429 Mustangs were out-sourced to Kar Kraft for the Boss 429 modifications.
My years in high school (Kelly High School on California Ave just south of Archer Avenue 1969-1972) pretty much hypnotized me. The "jocks" hung out in the park, while the "greasers' and the "doopers" hung out in their respective restaurants..... I hung out in the back of school with the "gearheads".
I come from a protective, old-school set of parents who would not let me own a car during high school. They grew-up the hard way working in factories, etc. and knew what it was "to make a buck". They were strict, but fair.
I would open the door at the back of the school during my lunch time. Parked along the curb would be Mark Stecko's '70 Challenger R/T 440 Magnum, Joe's 70 split-bumper LT-1 Camaro Z-28, Wayne Klimak's Marina Blue '70 Nova SS350...and there were many others...all manufacturers represented.
Without a car, that's all I could do was sit on the steps of school and watch the muscle cars go by. No more was I looking at headlamp/park lamp configurations....now I was testing my mental repertoire of horsepower, displacement, available gear ratios, etc.
The one upswing was that my parents promised that I could get a car right after I graduated high school. It wasn't to be a new car, but could be a very nice, low mile used car. So, going into the final portion of my school year, I started looking for a car. Let's remember, their was no internet to post and/or view cars for sale...so every day on my walk to school. I would buy the daily Sun-Times (as they had the most listings for used cars). I would basically throw the whole newspaper away keeping only the "cars for sale" section.
My dad and I got along...he was older, but cool...and he drove Pontiacs... I learned how to drive in his 1965 Catalina...the same Catalina I would do the "one tire on fire" burnouts while hanging out with my buddies. I was destined to own a Pontiac and I was strongly looking at the GTOs.
One sunny day at school, while I was sitting on the back steps looking through the want ads and getting my lunchtime "dosage" of muscle cars, I heard a car turn the corner. I looked up at what was to be the car I would "hunt down" to own.....the second generation Firebird Trans-Am. I am unsure of what year this Trans-Am was...(I suspect a 1970), but it was Polar White with the Lucerene Blue stripe and when I saw that car, I knew I found what I wanted to own.
It was around graduation time now and I spoke with my parents about their promise. They told me that I could pick out a car around $3500.00 dollars as my graduation gift...(big "ching" in that time)...In return, I had to have a job, have the first six months of insurance for the car in advance, money for the license, title, gas and maintenance.
A tall order at that time......so I got a job working at night loading trucks... a union job paying some good money and with that, had the ability to drive a nice car and impress the girls with hamburger and french fry money.....this was "the life".
In the last weeks of high school, my Dad and I took a ride way up into Evanston to look at a 1971 Firebird Trans-Am...455 HO, automatic, no air...pretty much a lowly-optioned car with 9,000 miles on the odometer. The owner put a beautiful Pioneer 8-track in the car and that's all I needed.
My poor Dad, a good man...didn't know much about cars. He was curious to know why I wanted that specific car. I wanted to tell him all the reasons why...but I stopped at telling him that I liked the color & stripe combination. After I took him for his first ride, he learned all the other reasons why...
I didn't own the car long until all the other muscle car guys in the neighborhood wanted to know if the car was fast.
There were about four of them, who all learned in succession just how fast that Pontiac was...a 440 Challenger (Paul), a 440 Road Runner (Junior), a 383 Road Runner (Nino)and a 429 Mercury Cyclone(Eugene)......all victims to the T/A...
I met some guys early in high school of who we stayed friends....Bob K. Who drove his Dad's '68 Chrysler Newport 383 4 Bbl and me with my Dad's '65 Pontiac Catalina, a friend, Bob B. who drove a very fast 6 cylinder Javelin SST and Gene R. who come on the scene with a beautiful blue '67 Mustang. GT. 390 4 spd. complete with teardrop hood and Cragar SSs all the way around.
Bob K later bought the car of his wants... A small block Nova SS, I got my Firebird T/A, Gene with his Mustang GT and now, Bob B. Who just bought a '71 AMC Gremlix X with a 304 V-8. Bob later obtained a 360 V-8 out of a '71 Hornet S/C. That motor went to the "doctor " for a Crane cam kit , head work, a high rise and a Holley.....Once tuned.....this AMC was sinister.... and by the way, who wants to tell their race buddies that got "owned" by a Rambler...????
After my confidence level rose, I went out onto the street and got into "the hunt". I drove south Archer Avenue between Pulaski Road and west to Harlem Avenue. On a weekend night, you could find a race at almost every light. I enjoyed sitting up at the McDonalds about half way between Narragansett and Harlem Ave on the north side of the street. Late on Saturday night/Sunday morning down the side street west of McDs, you could find full-blown race cars quietly sitting on their trailers waiting for some spark & fuel. In the back of McDs their were a few people to contact who would setup the races. I watched a few races from the stop light at Austin Avenue traveling eastbound.. Quite a spectacle...
I was a small potato...racing mostly stock to lightly modified muscle cars from stop light-to-stoplight. I got "pounced" on a few times by some noticeably radical street cars.....
About a month after getting "pounced" a few times, it was time to "look for a few more horsepower". Off came the cylinder heads for some gasket matching and the ol' competition valve job. some port and bowl work was performed... I used a more aggressive camshaft and then the cherry on the sundae was an afternoon trip out to Willie's Carburetor & Ignition Laboratory in Blue Island on Western.
The road test home from there was fearful and mind-shaking.
I returned to Archer Avenue....Traffic or Pink Floyd in the 8-track...the fresh smell of non-catalyzed fuel. There were but a few races I now lost.....and I could count them on half-a-hand and nothing more that half a fender-length. To this day, I wonder how much $$ they had into their cars to do the same...I guess I'll never know.
Insurance companies, the EPA and rising gas prices forced many of our hands. I myself, sold my '71 T/A and bought a gas-conservative '74 Formula 350 2Bbl 4 speed. Seeing my T/A in the dealership used car lot is one of the saddest days in my life. If I was in the muscle car market today, that would be the first one I would own.
I went through the next couple of years.....and after a big cubic inch hiatus, learned that the 455 was coming back in the T/A, ordered a new '76 455 Trans-Am...and yes, it was white, pathetically slow, but white.
Years went by, the muscle car era sizzled -away.... I got married, bought a house in the suburbs, had my son and led pretty much the typical middle-age life. In 1995, I had my middle-age crisis and bought a beautiful frame-off restored 1969 Matador Red GTO Judge. Older now and instead of street-racing, I lived a more "muscle-car mundane life" consisting of cruising to the various cruise spots and Sunday afternoon local car shows snagging a trophy or two. The GTO is gone as well, but the fire in the pit of my stomach will never go out.
I have a good friend that I haven 't seen for a while. He was very gifted and enjoyed himself restoring old cars. One day I asked him, " Hey Mike, out of all the cars you bought and sold, which one is you favorite...????....Without skipping a beat, his reply was , "The next one I am gonna buy...."...(food for thought).
My times as a teenager and a young adult was a great time and I would do it over again at a heart-beat.
Anyone out there from this area and time...drop a line....maybe we crossed paths.

 

Hey there! I grew up at 22nd and Cermak in the 50's. I went to Harrison High for a day or two.
No special interest in cars until we moved to unincorporated Oak Lawn in '62. Lived near a stock car shop and got the car bug. Always been a "driver" fan. I built and drove many street rods and drag cars. Had a few Pontiac S/S type street cars. Mostly hung out at the roller rink, Dog n' suds, White Castle's, and Buse's drive in near 95th and Cicero. My pals and I used to cruise Archer from Harlem to California and pick up girls. Street raced in the woods on 107th and on 135th and Wolf. We occasionally cruised up to Skip's on North ave. Good times.......
Got married and moved to the Ozarks in the 70's, but came back to (north side) Chicago.
It's funny, the big deal today is Dukes on Harlem, but I never went there until about 1996.....I'm back into it again and have built a few fun cars and am partners in an '85 Mustang drag car. (413cu. in. SBC. 9.16 on 9" tires.). I sell at a lot of swap meets, too.
Maybe we'll meet at an event sometime. PM me if you're going to an event.

 

Wheeling dog suds was the hot spot. The lady Lonie the owner would let you know she had the cop shop phone number in her pocket. The big race place was bush road by the pig farm outside of buffalo grove back in 69 a full quarter mile laid out in spray paint.

 

Nice to hear from you guys....We use to do some street racing between the factories on, I believe, it was 42nd Street just west off Pulaski Road (just south of I-55). Most of it was late night stuff. Their were a lot of stock and modified muscle cars along with some more radical stuff from time-to-time. I spectated their quite a bit and only raced their once. I kept getting razed by a loud-mouth with a dark green '69 Camaro DZ 302. This was right during the time, I was doing the engine work described in the earlier post. After Willy's in Blue Island added "fear" to my motor and after a few stop light passes with my T/A., I finally asked the DZ owner to "run his car, not his mouth"....
The DZ was quick off the line and I had to stay out of it and avoid annihilating the F-60 Polyglas Goodyears. The longer stroke 455 was a torque-monster and once in second gear, it was power on and I drove around him. Quite a race.... I wonder today what a motor like that might had done with a low dose of nitrous......
I remember a few guys...one with a built '68 big block Camaro and a guy with a tilt-front '57 Chevy who use to hang out and look for some races. Usually when they showed up, some other trailered stuff use to show up as well.....I'm sure the phone lines were busy earlier in the day.
The cool part of it was their was a factory worker near the starting line who let the trailered guy back their truck/trailer combos down into the loading docks, out-of-sight. The cars were pulled out, prepped and the race would occur.... afterwards, the cars were put back on the trailers and back into the factory or were loaded & left. A lot of work, but never busted.
I myself didn't wander to far off of Archer Avenue. I grew up in Brighton Park... I did cruise California Avenue to Harlem, but it seemed most of the street action started west of Pulaski.
Did do Duke's in the mid 90s' with my GTO Judge......it was cool, but apparently a different time....

 

Just read thru many of the posts and it brought back some of these memories. I grew up in the Western Burb';s of Chicago. I had a white 55 Chevy 210 post car with a 327, 30-30 cam, TSI built 4 speed hydro and a steel tilt front end. Basically it was a street C/GAS car. We cruised Top's Big Boys in Downers Grove, Berwyn, Aurora and occasionally went to Skip's. I was at Skip's in late '65 when the cops and 4 CTA buses showed up, shut the racing down and rounded up as many as would fit in the buses. We blasted off down North ave, past Russels and never looked back. There was some very serious racing at 51st and the Dan Ryan along a 1/2 mi stretch of frontage road next to the RR freight yard. One night we saw a 64 GTO altered wheelbase race a 55 Ford 4 door. The Cops were paid off with a stipulation that we leave ASAP after the run. A big guy approached us with a top hat and we all put some money in it for the winner. Both these cars were scary. The 55 Ford had all the doors welded shut except the driver and windows painted black. I took a look inside and the interior was bare with one seat and most of the firewall/dash was gone. It had a 427 4 sp. The road runner bird was painted on the sides. This was before Mopar. I think it had Von Essers Speed Shop on it too. The 55 won. This was late 65 since it was cold out there.
Another place these guys ran was Kedzie & Ogden Ave going West. Ogden continues over the big RR bridge so that was the shut down area running into Cicero. We were just spectators at these places as these guys were fast and bet big money. In the Burbs we ran on the Countyline Rd bridge across I55 from what is now Burr Ridge toward Hinsdale. There was nothing out there and now its high dollar houses.
Finally, the discussion about the girl in Vette with the slogan on the back. I remember "Barbie" who drove a '65 L79 Chevelle with the name "The Lawbreaker" in big letters on the side. She ran at Oswego, the Grove and at Skip's and won a lot. She was famous for driving barefoot. Guy talk said she used get the car prepped/tuned by some knowledgeable guys in return for certain favors. It all ended for me when I got drafted in Feb 1966.

 

I was at Soldier Field in 56, I remember Bryan Palmer raced Buicks. Mayor Daley rode around the track after the race with a beauty queen in a pink and black 56 Ford Convert. The driver got a little carried away and ran into the race winner parked on the track.

 

This thread reminds me of why I dislike cruise nights so much. We actually cruised in the '60s, around
our town and to others like Downers Grove (Big Boy), Joliet (Silver Frost), Oak Lawn (White Castle
and Buss') and along Archer Avenue. Sure, we stopped, but that was to get something to eat, hang
for a while, then move on to some other place. Guys weren't parked for the night (three hours) with
their California Dusters and their little folding picnic tables.

We weren't buying and selling raffle tickets. We were ragging on someone (maybe some guy from
out of town) or setting up races (127th & Archer in Lemont, 143rd & Will-Cook Road in Orland Park,
Lemont Road at I-55). The cars that rolled into White Castle at 95th & Cicero would blow your mind
now, since the ones that weren't thrashed and trashed are now locked up in climate controlled garages
and storage units. How I wish I would've kept a camera with me.

And the shops we'd pass and stop at in our loops. Grand Automotive, Lee Austin Race Cars which I
believe was near 95th & Vincennes, Polley's and Bill Sontag's in Joliet (actually Rockdale and Crest Hill), Hustler Performance in Lockport, and Stepul's Dynamometer in Lyons.. Hell, even Penney's Auto Center in Ford City.

 

Sadly, Dukes will close their location at 81st and Harlem this Saturday, August 31. Site was sold to Panera Bread supposedly. The crowd should be huge if weather permits. I'm gonna cruise by one more time for old time's sake.

 

^^ I better make a stop at Duke's, also. This was a place I liked supporting.
Duke's was good to its supporters.