Register now to get rid of these ads!

Hot Rods What did you carry in your trunk.. back in the day?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Boneyard51, Mar 13, 2019.

  1. big duece
    Joined: Jul 28, 2008
    Posts: 6,830

    big duece
    Member
    from kansas

    Friends going to the drive-in. Only two fit in first gen Camaro.
     
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  2. Yeah! The only time my old ford left me stranded was the night I ran it out of oil. Came back the next day, filled it with {used} oil and it lit off again...no sweat.
     
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  3. stanlow69
    Joined: Feb 21, 2010
    Posts: 7,348

    stanlow69
    Member Emeritus

    My avatar always had a push lawnmower in the trunk with a tool box and a gas can when I was a kid. Mowed a lot of lawns when I was a kid. The days before weed eaters and leaf blowers.
     
    Last edited: Mar 14, 2019
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  4. LilBlue82
    Joined: Dec 16, 2015
    Posts: 102

    LilBlue82

    Depends..... 2 weeks ago my posable skeleton was in The Trunk of 400,000+ Road Wonder ( The Crown 96 Crown Vic). This Week its Tow Straps and a Baseball Bat. Some nights its a cooler with Beer. Depends. In the Trunk of my 82 theres Parts and Road signs and in the Bed of my 85 F250 theres a fender and Rad Support waiting for more hours at work to tear into the two mini bikes and other projects.

    Sent from my LG-M327 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
     
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  5. gene-koning
    Joined: Oct 28, 2016
    Posts: 4,040

    gene-koning
    Member

    A spare tire, cross bar tire wrench, and a jack. Sometimes a small tool box. I didn't often venture too far away from the garage I worked at, or my home garage (at 19 I was building dirt track cars at home). I wasn't too concerned about breaking down, if I broke down, major repairs were usually in order because I broke something hot rodding it. There were 4 or 5 of us guys that hung together. I was the mechanic of the bunch and worked at a car repair shop, started at 15, before I even got a car. When I finally got my own car at 18, I kept my stuff in good repair. The 1st car I drove was dad's car, and he kept it up well. One of the guys that hung with us carried about everything you could imagine in his car, so if one of the guys had a problem, he usually had what ever part I would have needed to get everyone's car back on the road, if the repair got too extensive, we would drag the car back to the garage I worked at, or my home garage. Gene
     
    loudbang and Boneyard51 like this.
  6. RDR
    Joined: May 30, 2009
    Posts: 1,480

    RDR
    Member

    '56 Chevy...A spare, jack, lug wrench, box of hand tools, u joint, Posi Fluid, and a 4.56 Positraction Pumpkin in the little GM crate it came in. Oh, and a length of logging chain to snap the axles out at the dragstrip.. You know the WEIRD thing is...All these years later I had never thought about what happened to that 3rd member in my trunk...I think it was still in the trunk when I traded the '56 in on a '62 Pontiac..:confused::eek::(
     
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  7. Hot Rods Ta Hell
    Joined: Apr 20, 2008
    Posts: 4,670

    Hot Rods Ta Hell
    Member

    55 Chevy 2 dr sedan in High School mid 70's; Beer! Always had beer but no cooler. My stealth cooler was the spare tire well in the trunk floor! I cut an aluminum plate lid in metal shop, then the spare was laid flat over it and J hook/wing nutted in place to hide it. I installed a radiator petcock in the bottom of the spare well, so a quick reach under the car and I could drain the water. Prefill with beer, add ice a couple of hours before you plan to drink. If I was working at my gas station job, I'd pre chill the beer in the stations Coke machine prior to getting off work at 10:00. Cops pulled me over and inspected the car and that trunk on more than a few occasions but never found anything!

    Small Craftsman toolbox with tools, tape, baling wire, etc. Milk crate with a quart of oil, jumper cables, bottle jack and star wrench, tow strap, gallon of drinking water, bottle of hard stuff if I could nab it. Usually carried stuff chick's liked-Southern Comfort, Mad Dog, etc.
    Overnight bag w/ swim trunks, beach towel, full change of clothes, toothbrush, deod, etc. Couple of old wool army blankets. Would sometimes party then crash anywhere-beach, back seat, etc. Friends and I would think nothing of driving from San Diego on a Saturday up to Van Nuys Blvd., grab a burger, cruise all night, drink a bunch of beer, then crash behind a gas station or Denny's parking lot then drive home the next morning. Age 17, pre cell phone days and our parents were cool with it as long as we checked in via collect call from a pay phone before 11:00ish if we weren't coming home. Cool days for sure!

    Always followed my Dad's tip of keeping a roll of quarters in the glove box for a pay phone, parking meter or to use for a burger or few gallons of gas to get home if I was dead broke.

    Skateboard. Pre cell phone days if you broke down you hitchhiked or walked for help or a pay phone. The skate board was for skating empty pools, etc. but also my back up transportation if I broke down and couldn't fix something roadside.
     
    Last edited: Mar 15, 2019
  8. 56sedandelivery
    Joined: Nov 21, 2006
    Posts: 6,695

    56sedandelivery
    Member Emeritus

    I did't carry anything; must be something wrong with me? BUT, this thread reminds me of a story I've told a few times on the HAMB, and since it involves a trunk.............Went to the drags with my best friend, my 340 Dart, his 66 Chevelle; took my little brother along because he'd never been to the drags. After making a pass I was looking for my brother, everywhere. Friend shows up after his pass and I ask if he's seen my brother. He walks around to the back of the Chevelle, opens the trunk, and out pops my brother. He'd put him there for "traction". This was a stock 66 Chevelle, 2 barrel 283, Powerglide, and there was NO way he needed traction. I still joke about it; the only time my brother has been down a drag strip, was in the trunk of a car. I swear to God, this is true! I am Butch/56sedandelivery.
     
    belair, 302GMC, loudbang and 5 others like this.
  9. junkyardjeff
    Joined: Jul 23, 2005
    Posts: 8,588

    junkyardjeff
    Member

    A couple people who did not have the money to pay to get in the drive in.
     
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  10. scoop
    Joined: Jul 4, 2001
    Posts: 1,463

    scoop
    Member

    My drums and beer.
     
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  11. Jumper cables, a few tools, a spare leg, duct tape, the usual stuff.

    IMG_0665.JPG
     
  12. Boneyard51
    Joined: Dec 10, 2017
    Posts: 6,440

    Boneyard51
    Member

    Over the years, things I carried varied..... but I never had a “ spare leg “ in my trunk! That kool, having a spare leg next to the spare tire! You never know which one is going to go flat!




    Bones
     
    scotty t likes this.
  13. OLDTINPUSHER
    Joined: Apr 28, 2009
    Posts: 572

    OLDTINPUSHER
    Member

    Several tubes of super glue, dozen of unopen McDonald's pepper packs. .Tricks I learned from some of the guys in my Dad's crew.
    An axe handle. Pops always said "never know then you might need a good piece of hickory"

    PS Squirt glue on card board, roll finger tips in glue, dry. No fingerprints, better then gloves, less conspicuous . Grab hand full of pepper packs, pop open as you run into woods. The blood hounds will never find you.

    Still have the same in my dash cubbie to this day. ;)
     
    Last edited: Mar 17, 2019
    williebill, scotty t and caseywheels like this.
  14. Atwater Mike
    Joined: May 31, 2002
    Posts: 11,625

    Atwater Mike
    Member

    My bud Parcell had a '55 Chevy 2 dr. post, 468 cu. in. Pontiac mill, M21 Muncie, 5.14 gear, Racemaster Dragster slicks, 10.00 X 15.
    In the trunk? 120 lb. steel manhole cover, under the rubber mat, spare tire laid on top.
    Manhole cover got him out of 'A' Gas (into 'B' Gas) and manhole cover got left in the pits, way down near halfway mark...There was a collection of 'em down there at the end of the season.
     
    loudbang, scotty t and Boneyard51 like this.
  15. gas & guns
    Joined: Feb 6, 2014
    Posts: 370

    gas & guns
    Member

    Gas and guns.
    Beer was on the floorboards in the back.
     
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  16. The Wife works for a nursing home, the leg was a “left over”. It was used several times for amusing purposes.
     
    Boneyard51 likes this.
  17. ramblin dan
    Joined: Apr 16, 2018
    Posts: 3,609

    ramblin dan

    Church Key...
     
    Boneyard51 and loudbang like this.
  18. jnaki
    Joined: Jan 1, 2015
    Posts: 9,291

    jnaki

    Hello,

    If our 1940 Ford Sedan Delivery had a certified trunk, a strapped down, gallon can of reclaimed oil would be seen. It was a common occurrence for those daily trips and another gallon, if we were going on that 120+ mile surf trip to South Orange County or San Diego from Long Beach. No one could figure out why that Flathead used so much oil. No smoke from the motor, exhaust or anywhere else. There were no drips on the concrete driveway, either. If the back of the sedan delivery were considered a trunk, towels, lunches, coolers, and sleeping bags were the norm, too.
    upload_2019-4-8_15-55-33.png
    The 9 foot long surfboards were put sideways inside of the back, pointed into the driver's area, under the dash. They actually fit. (limited to two surfboards that could fit in the rear door window, when removed) So, if we were parked on any neighborhood street overnight, it looked like a normal sedan delivery that belonged to the area. We had a privacy curtain, so when the flashlights came scrutinizing the inside of the locked sedan delivery, late at night, no one could be seen in the back. (If the sedan delivery were here, today, my 6'8" tri-fin, short board would have no difficulty hiding in the back compartment. There would also be plenty of space for sleeping, too.)
    upload_2019-4-8_15-56-6.png
    Now, the 1958 Impala was different, as one time only, a couple, boy and girl got in the back for a double date at the drive-in. They wanted to stay back there, too. (weird…for sure.) It was too strange to get out at the drive in and let the couple get out of the trunk, so that never happened again. But, best friends will do just about anything to help a fellow teenager(s).

    Jnaki

    On different occasions, the Impala trunk would be empty,(Friday night) or have a pair of Bruce Slicks in the trunk. If we were going to the Newport Beach, Merle’s Drive-In or Harvey’s Broiler, the two Bruce Slicks came along for the ride. If the action was just on the way to either place or other street adventures, the weight of the Bruce Slicks and small tool box in the back gave us better traction with the flick of the throttle. (weight over the rear wheels, etc.)
    upload_2019-4-8_15-56-45.png
    The only other time something different was in the trunk would be the two times in Big Bear City in the mountains that required chains. But the most common trunk episode was when the Impala was the tow vehicle for our 1940 Willys Coupe. Now, that trunk was full of a larger tool box, spare parts, cans of oil, STP, two sets of spark plugs, and one slick inside, with the other in the back seat. It was a cool looking workhorse and drag strip garage counter all in one.











     
    Ron Funkhouser likes this.
  19. A cool story { JNAKI } When I was in high school, my dad had a 67 Pontiac convertible. { I still have it } I would take it to our football games. My friends would ride in the trunk and, get in free. I had to have FUN, by doing burn outs and, donuts before letting them out. lol No photos, as it's a little too new to post. But in the trunk of my old 38 Chevy coupe, I had two big house speakers with probably 10' feet or so of wire, blankets, pillows and, a cooler. All the necessities that a teenager needed. lol Ron..... 403.jpg
     
    Last edited: Apr 9, 2019
    scotty t and jnaki like this.
  20. Spare tire & beer.
     

Share This Page

Register now to get rid of these ads!

Archive

Copyright © 1995-2021 The Jalopy Journal: Steal our stuff, we'll kick your teeth in. Terms of Service. Privacy Policy.

Atomic Industry
Forum software by XenForo™ ©2010-2014 XenForo Ltd.