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What is cruising? Your thoughts please

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by porknbeaner, Feb 4, 2011.

  1. Budget36
    Joined: Nov 29, 2014
    Posts: 13,174

    Budget36
    Member

    Up and down McHenry (Modesto) looking for girls or races, was a lotta fun on Friday and Saturday nights...made many a side trip to race on Finch Road or Santa Fe next to the old mosquito abatement air strip.

    Would hit a few cow towns for guys with mag wheels on their rides, usually made enough to get gas and a burger for the ride home...several calls to mom and dad though...out of gas and hungry;)

    Never any fighting that I recall.

    Circa 1978-1979, just wasn't as fun when I'd come home from school as I got older.

    My oldest daughter does the cruise in thing, just never was my thing to drive to a place and park for hours.

    But gosh I miss those days!
     
    chryslerfan55 and Stogy like this.
  2. Jim Huseby
    Joined: May 24, 2006
    Posts: 90

    Jim Huseby
    Member

    Thanks, you guys, for making me go back in my mind and recall many of the good times that I had forgotten. I can remember the smell of summer night air and overheated engines and the general exhilaration of freedom and daring. I made a lot of friends back then. I had gotten a misdemeanor for street racing my Jag against a friend's gasser-style '57 Chev. around the Bonner Springs city park. The Jag could corner better, but was no match for the Chevy's acceleration. When we realized the police were on their way, it was too late and we hadn't yet learned to have a get-away plan. I got arrested for speeding, careless driving and wreckless driving. I think Larry blamed me and since he was known as an innocent kid and his dad taught school there they just told him to go home. When I tried to enlist in '69, the misdemeanor disqualified me until the chief of police literally tore up my record. That's not cruising, but now I remember, we would be cruising until there was something dangerous and stupid we could think up, then while the adrenaline rush was subsiding, we'd go back to cruising. There was a rock quarry about 4 miles south west of town that had its own mile long concrete road which they were glad to let the kids use for a drag strip at night. There was a rock crusher there and the night air hinted of that limestone and the nearby Kansas (Kaw) River. My friend, Danny, Died in a '54 Studebaker near there. The old concrete hiway called Kaw Drive down there was broken up and dangerous. There were several wrecks on it including one in which my older sister and some friends rolled a '57 Ford and landed in a corn field. I can't remember what she told Dad about the bruises. I guess that's not cruising, but cruising is just the tame part of the evening.
     
    quick85, Jet96 and chryslerfan55 like this.
  3. hotrodfords
    Joined: Apr 30, 2013
    Posts: 93

    hotrodfords
    Member

    Seattle area, early 1980s I think the end of the era.

    The Renton Loop was a great place. Seemed to enjoy hanging out with the bros the best. You'd eat a bite, look at other guys cars and combinations, check out the ladies, then get in and make a circuit or 2. As the night wore on, guys would peel off to the industrial area and the racing would begin. I joined the Air Force and went away, while my best friend stayed and kept cruising and racing. One night the cops got him racing - arrested, the whole nine yards. When I got back in '87, cruising had died. The barricades went up around 9pm to control the flow of traffic and if you passed the same spot twice they'd ticket you.

    I agree with some of the others here that it was a relatively safe pastime and you could keep an eye on folks in one place. Why shut it down?
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  4. raymay
    Joined: Mar 2, 2008
    Posts: 2,532

    raymay
    Member

    Cruising down along the shore of Lake Ontario with your girl friend was always a hot summer night tradition. Parking in the trees playing our 8 tracks, wandering around the area known for the legend of the White Lady or maybe just sitting on the beach in the moonlight. Some nights the cops would tap on the fogged up windows of our cars and suggest it was time to head home. Along the lake route a summer night cruise to Abbotts Frozen Custard is still something my Family and I enjoy.

    https://www.thoughtco.com/the-white-lady-of-durand-eastman-park-2594347
    DSC00771.JPG
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  5. I had a buddy, this is around 1975 and he had a '52 Plymouth we would drive around in. I helped him replace the tired flathead-6 that was in it. Man did we drink a lot of beer and smoke a ton of whatever in that car. It was no rocket ship so I guess it kept us off the radar with the cops.
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  6. For what ever reason, when I was a young man a fight was always easier to find than a race or a chick.

    Usually I had to leave town to find an actual race unless someone in town built a new car. Face it when your high school has a registry of 1200 once you have raced all 27 of the cars either owned by the other kids or the young 18+ set there just isn't anyone to race any more.

    Probably one of the most accurate things from AG was the fact that Milner had to race a guy from out of town. Well that and the fact that none of the women his age were interested in him. It kind of takes a special gal to find a grease monkey interesting.:eek::p:D
     
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  7. topher5150
    Joined: Feb 10, 2017
    Posts: 3,338

    topher5150
    Member

    I think cruising in Holland died out before I was born. From what I was told by the old timers everyone went to the beach and hung out there, checking out cars, and girls, and it was a slow parade of cars going from the beach parking lot up and down Ottawa Beach road. When I got older 16-18 cursing was handful of old guys hanging out at the local ice cream place.
     
    chryslerfan55 likes this.
  8. TagMan
    Joined: Dec 12, 2002
    Posts: 6,295

    TagMan
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    Yep, in the early-60's, we w "cruised Main St.", looking for chicks (dont't think we ever found any, at least we didn't keep 'em if we did). We got 3 or 4 guys and everybody pitched in 15¢ or a quarter or whatever they could, to buy a gallon or two of gas and off we went, from stop light to stop light. I had very little money and a '56 Chevy 6-cyl. 4-door that was in primer - not because it was "cool", but because I could never had aforded to paint it.
    When I got around 19 or 20, I was dating my now wife and I had a '57 Chevy 2-door BelAir with a 4-speed and a 283. We'd drive Main St. and when we got into a drag, my wife would throw the shifter from 1st to 2nd, I worked the clutch and I wouldn't have to take my arm from around her shoulders. She'd sometimes yell at me, but she still shifted. Lucky for me, things haven't changed all that much in the last 53-years we've been together, except for the drag racing on Main St..

    Now-a-days cruising consists of taking one of the cars out in the country and driving the back roads, either with my wife or alone. Nothing but the wind, sounds of the exhaust and an occasional "hoofs up" from a cow.
     
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  9. To me, cruising to a show, is always more fun than actually being there!
    Ocean City Cruisin is one of the best places to cruise. Maybe 500 or so cars on a 200 block route with a 30 block boardwalk cruise each morning. You can pull up to a stop light and maybe have a t bucket on one side and a '57 Chevy on the other. Lots of 5.0 mustangs, 4x4 pick ups and late model muscle cars not registered for the show, but at least they are cruising. 0518181450.jpg
     
    greasemonkey54 likes this.
  10. When I was fresh out of high school, the cops were these old guys that passed out "warnings" and ordered you to head on home. One of the points of cruising was to pack enough other kids in the car so you would be squashed up next to a sweet young thing. Once in a while, when you had just the right ratio of babes on board and you were stopped at a red light, someone would yell "Chinese Fire Drill!". All the car door would fly open and everyone hopped out, ran around and changed sides of the car into new seating positions. This worked especially well to diminish the embarrassment of driving, or just being in, a 4-door.

    A few years later, the cars were nicer, and faster, and the silly season was a little more reserved. I was out on the edge of town running through some gears after adjusting the lash on my lifters and I get pulled over. It was strange how they started hiring younger cops. The lawman who stopped me was a classmate of mine. I explained how I wasn't "racing" but was actually "testing". He wanted me to pop the hood so he could see my engine while we shot the shit. I got a handshake instead of a warning. I did get the old "head for home" but this time without the attitude, thank you much.

    Then more years went by and the cops got younger still. It's taken me a lot of years to perfect my Bootlegger U-turn, my ability to hang the tail out and limit the use of the steering wheel for making turns, and a few more I won't mention in public. Why are they so surprised when they walk up to the driver's window and find this old fart behind the wheel?? Do they think any snot-nosed kid has the same skill set that I have honed to a fine art? They can't help but let their respect show and I show them respect right back. I still get the speech to "go on your way" but instead of "go home" it's "slow down".
     
    Budget36 likes this.
  11. Budget36
    Joined: Nov 29, 2014
    Posts: 13,174

    Budget36
    Member

    Heck, I think your HS was bigger than mine!

    My little town only had around 7000 people in it then, so we went to the "Big City"...Modesto..had about 60K people then.

    Always someone new on the cruise.
     
  12. The town was not big, it did have two stoplights one in each direction, main highway went though town and was separated by one block. The town was small but served a very large area of farm country. One of my friends rode the bus over 50 miles when I was in highschool.

    The big cruising area that was close enough to drive to was Portland. We used to run the gut in town but some of us were always harassed by the local cop. Hell I even got a ticket once for loitering while waiting to cross the main street in "down Town." LOL
     
    Budget36 likes this.
  13. Funny cruising story from 1982. We were coming back late with the stock car from a Friday night race, I had finished pretty well. We see a group of guys with cars in a parking lot, so we pull in with the race car on the hook. My buddy is driving the tow rig, he hops out, pulls out a wad of bills and asks who wants to run right now for $500... no way he had that much on him.

    These guy are curious, I think they had never seen a stock car before. They looked under it, in it, under the front fenders. It was pretty funny, we shot the shit and looked at their cars and split.
     
  14. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 9,291

    jnaki




    Hey PB,
    We all saw those hot rods in the early magazines sitting around a drive-in restaurant just looking rather cool. We were lucky as there was a local drive-in on the corner of PCH and Santa Fe Ave back in the very early days (1950-57) before we even knew about Bixby Knolls. It was about a block away from Mickey Thompson’s famous, Long Beach shop. But back then, we even did not know who Mickey Thompson was until around 1957.

    This Westside Long Beach drive-in restaurant is a mystery, as umpteen internet searches come up short for early photos of the cool place. (ANYONE HAVE PHOTOS OF THIS OLD DRIVE-IN RESTAURANT THAT WAS LOCATED IN THE WESTSIDE OF LONG BEACH, BACK IN THE 50S-60S? A CORNER LOCATION 101 HIGHWAY AND SANTA FE AVE.)


    Our dad always took us there for an unusual dinner. He was trying to impress our mom and us, when he gave the order to the roller skating waitress that came up to our windows. They were always good looking and very nice. (for the tips, I am sure) Our mom was flabbergasted that those girls could skate up to the windows with food on a tray. For a moment in her life, she was being served from someone else and on roller skates, too! Those girls were very graceful.

    Those days and nights at the local drive in restaurant became part of our monthly, family dinner nights. It gave our mom a night off from cooking for two hungry little brothers, that usually ate everything in sight. Our mom was a fabulous cook. So, we started our drive-in cruise nights once or twice a month in our dad’s big Buick sedans. The 49 Buick 4 door Roadmaster, a 1953 4 door two tone sedan, a 57 two door Roadmaster were the cars over the years, until we were able to drive for ourselves.
    1957 Buick Roadmaster

    Jnaki

    Years later when we cruised to, through and back again for a second drive through, at the big name drive-ins located in Bixby Knolls, Grissinger’s or Ken’s. It was all coming back to me in high school. We knew the modus operandi for our drive-in cruising. At first, we parked in the front row next to the gaggle of waitresses. We thought that was a score as we got great service and the food was out of this world. But we kept having to crane our necks to see and hear the hot rods that came through behind our row of cars.

    upload_2018-9-16_4-55-59.png
    As we became “seasoned veterans” of the drive-in protocols, we ended up in the back rows with the guys. The banter of hot rod talk flowed like the Cherry Cokes, the hoods raised brought on more talk, etc. But on date nights, the front row or inside were the so-called rules of the cruising teenagers.

    The cruising car load of teenage girls never parked in the back row, it was pure front row rules for them. We all know why…those hooligan, hot rod/drag race boys in the back row got the perfect views of the local girls ! Of course, there was banter of a different kind. One wonders how the arrival of girls changes the whole course of teenage conversations. Hot Rod bravado VS. teenage girls…was there even a contest?
    upload_2018-9-16_4-56-32.png upload_2018-9-16_4-56-45.png
    The rest of the hot rod cruising scene involved tons of music, talking about our friends, school shenanigans, the next hot rod build, speed parts, Cherry Ave drags, and of course, surfing accolades. All in a cruising hot rod or custom car ??? Where else was there to just hang out and talk? It was privacy away from our parents and teachers, just 2 to 4 teenagers having a great time while going from place to place.

    Teenage egos not withstanding, the banter went on and on, until another topic just happened to pop up. Isn’t that what friends are for during this tough “growing up” era? And the food ???…gravy on french fries, Vanilla/Cherry Cokes, greasy hamburgers… teenage sustenance at its finest.
     
    Last edited: Sep 16, 2018

  15. I was born in 1986 and this event is the closest I have found to the stories of days gone by. I went every year spring and fall from 04-14. I only stopped cause i moved to Florida but plan on heading up when my current project is done
     
    Stogy and lothiandon1940 like this.
  16. 2OLD2FAST
    Joined: Feb 3, 2010
    Posts: 5,217

    2OLD2FAST
    Member
    from illinois

    86 ? Crap , I'm nearly 40 years older than you , there goes my day .....
     
  17. Sorry about that :D

    In high school I drove a 78 caprice and all my friends had imports. We had a route we cruised on friday and Saturday evenings... But we were the only participants. We would cruise to a few food places but nothing like the glory days
     

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