Hot Rods THE BADDEST CAR IN TOWN

I grew up in the late sixties. The only hot rod around was a 46 Ford coupe with a dual quad 327. It would flat run.

 

I had a couple cars that were pretty damn fast for pretty stock vehicles. One was a 66 nova L79 three speed on the column and bench seat SS. Figure that one out. Next was a 64 corvette coupe with a 327-300 hp YES and a powerglide, It would plant the tires and run 100 mph in low. lol. Never got outrun with either. Now we are talking everyday street driven cars not racecars on the street. Sorry Mark I went over the 65 year with the nova. Lippy

 

Lippy
Believe it or not the L-79 cars' base transmission was a three speed, four speeds had to be marked on the order sheet which most were but quite a number of three speed L-79's were produced.
One other thing is if it had a bench seat from the factory it was a sport coupe, not a Super Sport.

 

I forgot one yesterday. Never saw it run....just cruise....56 Ford Customline with a 56 Packard Carribean mill. The guy claimed he had another Packard crate engine in the barn.
Never knew what became of him or the car.

 

1969, my 62 Vet with a 65 365-327/4speed/4.88 posi ran solid 13.30s/110s in street trim. Have the timing slip from Union Grove with my first win. Never got beet in Portage or on E. Washington Ave. in Madison on the street. Bad car, really good with the stop light crowd. Wish I still had it, the one GM product that I really loved.

 

Quite possible. When Packard stopped making cars after 1956 they had hundreds of engines left over, maybe thousands. They sold them off cheap, around $300 I think. Some were even given away as prizes in a car magazine contest. Many were bought up by a company that turned them into marine engines. It could be your friend was one of the prize winners or got a super deal on a couple of surplus crate motors.

 

I heard a story about a guy in Anderson that had a yellow Henry J or Allstate with a hemi that was pretty fast but I was still in Philly in the 1960's, it may be true or might just be folklore.

 

I saw the car a couple of times at Elsie's Drive in and cruising the main drag, the story goes that the owner had been involved in a drag race on White Street and the police had got the other guy but he got away, about 2PM he was seen on the Belton Highway and the police started a pursuit, he turned onto Broadway Lake road and ether he had no idea where he was are his brakes didn't work because about 3 miles down the road there is a hard left, I don't think you can make it at 35 MPH but the account says he was doing in excess of 90MPH and went off the road into some huge oak trees and it ripped the car apart, none of the body was attached to what was left of the frame, there was a big explosion and raging fire that caught the woods on fire and needless to say the driver deceased. HRP

 

Never saw it race but every Friday or Saturday night at midnight a dark blue and white '57 Chevy 150 with no front bumper or grille, chromed straight axle, rear wheel opening moved forward about a foot with injector stacks popped through the hood would cruise through Griff's drive in downtown KCMO. You could hear it coming and the place was abuzz with anticipation. Big disappointment if he didn't show. Never stopped, just cruised through and around the back and back on the street into the night. The entrance had a pretty steep grade and it was cammed so radically and geared so low that it would squack the tires off the lope of the cam as he idled through with the front end about bouncing off the pavement. What a sight! Everthing stopped and all eyes directed at this thing, even the girls, and then a cheer when he got back on the street.

 

Long ago and far away in Sunland/Tujunga Ca there was Fontleroy who built a 38 Plymouth coupe with brand new 57 Cad Eldorado dual quad running gear setback about a foot for better traction. When he drove it you couldn't see the driver because the seat was set back too. He liked to street race for money and usually won. Once in a while a new 270 horse 283 dual quad Delrey could beat him but we'd laugh it off "Mommy bought her kid a 57 Chevy hot rod".

 

Concord? and White? @HOTRODPRIMER Hard to believe they were the deserted "strips." In my neck of the woods "Money Races" mostly took place in one of 3 places. "No Man's Land" was a final stretch of the Garden State Parkway that was actually in New York and connected to the NY Thruway. Another was a huge IBM(?) plant which was in the middle of a deserted, former iron mining area. Finally, Rt 293 which ran through the middle of a Cadet (West Point) training area and firing range. I do remember the MP's coming out to watch from time to time.

To the topic at hand; There was a '55 Chevy with a 301. IIRC it had a tunnel ram at one point, usually ran around on 5.13:1 gears and was reputed to be a "10 second car" (wishful thinking) that shifted around 8500 RPM. Actually it was more like 7500 RPM which was pretty extreme for that era but he admitted that he could take it past there if he really needed. I think we later put that engine in a D/G '55 Chevy with radiused wheel wells but all it did was tear the car apart. He had big slicks and insisted on using old OEM T-10 transmissions (Super T-10's weren't available yet) and the stock '55 rear end. It blew the transmission almost every week. On the good weeks it blew the differential. I lent him one of my built-up Muncie's and he finished the season without breaking it but still wouldn't switch. I guess I can't complain, I got paid for rebuilding a lot of T-10's for him.

Lou

 

I had a T-10 in my 57 Chevy in the early 70's that I bought from a transmission shop that had built it for a local drag racer, had a Ford high nickel gearset swapped, seemed the guy couldn't afford the bill so never picked it up, a Ford clutch disc was required.

 

Had a guy in my neighborhood in the early 80's with an 63 or so Chevy 2 with a L88, 4-speed, 4.56 rear. I remember checking it out at a local hangout, he playing around with the mixture screws and it was Holley Dominator carb. He did take it to the track and it did run 10.60's-10.80's, so it was pretty snappy.

 

Bought my buddy's dad's '59 Imperial when he rolled it. My buddy and I put the 413, torqueflite, and Chrysler rear axle all in my '40 Chev coupe. The first day I drove it to school I was sure I'd surprise the heck out of some guys that afternoon. But by the end of the day I had a lot of guys asking me how fast was my old Chevy with the 413 now?
My buddy swears he didn't tell anyone, so guessing somebody saw us working on it and spread the word. Couldn't get a race from anyone.

 

I grew up less than a mile from Woodward Ave in Royal Oak. So, the baddest of the bad were whatever the factory guys could sneak out. These were before the Jimmie Addison and the Silver Bullet. Jim Wangers with Ace Wilson Royal Pontiacs, Chrysler engineers with Dodges and Plymouths, Stark Hickey Fords etc. Some of the guys from Midwest Auto Parts and Teddy Boshma with Big Block Corvettes would be out there too.
But, the baddest hot rod in my opinion, was a grey primer 55 Chevy owned by a guy from my high school named Dave Bieneman. This car was gutted, thin plexi windows 337 SBC, Muncie 4 speed, fenderwell headers, 5.38 gears & slicks.
One spring day outside our high school a couple of guys with 56 Chevys had cut class and were staging an impromptu drag race on Lexington Blvd. I knew both guys and cars, Skip Laws and Bob Hammond. They were very similar with 301 Chevys, 4 speeds and maybe 4.11s. They ran them off a couple of times and were pretty even. And then, sneaking up from the side street came Bieneman. Everyone on the south side of the school was up from their seats. Teaching and learning absolutely stopped. Even the teachers were at the windows. Skip lined up with him and Beeny dropped the hammer. I don't know if Skip was ready or not. It didn't really matter, Bieneman was gone. I thought he might swing around and come back for Hammond but the R.O. police were coming up the other side of the boulevard, and Skip and Bob just drove off quietly like good citizens.

 

Very few Hot Rods where I grew up, mostly Musclecars and late 50’s Chevys

 

In my neck of the woods it was a black, owner built, completely street legal, 63 Nova. Super hi-winding (12.5 to 1, 300 something) small block. Hemi 4 speed with straight cut gears shifted by one of those floor busting Veri-gate shifters. Out back was a Dana 60 rear with 5:38's mounted on Mopar springs with some kind of home made traction setup (think Cal-Tracs on steriods). Radiused rear wheel wells(not tubbed). Car was lightened in every way possible(fiberglass hood, fenders, doors, trunk lid), but completely tied together with sub frame connectors and a cage. Modified stock front suspension (no straight axle). Motor Flys on all four corners. Lexan windows powered by seat belts, rear bulk head in aluminum. If it wasn't needed, it wasn't there, and what was there, was lightened too. Lightening holes drilled in everything. The holes made nothing weaker, just saved a few more ounces. The guy was a mechanical engineer for some company that made widgets for the aerospace industry. And the workmanship and fit and finish on his car sure proved he knew what he was doing. Car was a legend. I'd heard about it for years and finally saw it when I was buying a set of front Motor Flys from the guy. Super nice, Walter Mitty type guy, married. four kids. Certainly not somebody you'd think would have this in his shop, let alone build it. Saw a 9:88 time slip (1/4 mile) on the wall. Since my OT 440 Cuda was running low 12's, and was considered pretty stout at the time, I knew I was looking at something special.

 

From the late 70's up into the 90's here in Davidson county NC there were a handful of cars that were outright street racers and the group I was with also ran two drag cars. For the most part all Chevies, standard equipment back in those days was big domed (heavy) TRW pistons, 4 speeds and and a 4:88 was a high gear set. 5:57 and 5:86 gear sets were the norm. The quickest of the bunch would have been about a 7:10 car (1/8 mile) but there is big big difference between the track and kicking at a 10 mph roll with a couple hundred people lining the side of a two lane road in the middle of the night. It is a wonder no one here ever died doing what we used to do. My passion was at the track. I had a McCandless built A-body Mopar with a W-2 roller motor and it was a 6:70 (1/8 mile) car. We would come home from the track and pick up the street car and see the sun coming up. In the early part of that time period the local law for the most part ignored us we have had a Deputy pull up and tell us to get done and move along . The Trooper cars you could always tell even unmarked. Standing on the side of a quiet country road you could hear the wind whistling through the siren. So you knew it was a cop ! time to go. Those were great times in my life I had a blast. Me and my brother-in law were in one of those hot cars qualifying down the interstate one Saturday morning about 8 am and boy when he pulled it back in high gear (5:57) rear the driveshaft broke in the center and the end bolted to the rear end came through the floor in the tunnel and you talk about a bomb going off ! we were going around 100 or so and he is hanging out the window trying to get the thing slowed down and I the other way trying to not get caught up in the driveshaft. That was the end of that car. That has been 35 or 40 years ago and we still talk about it. Street racing was the main attraction in our town.

 

Dan Carter had a '56 turquoise 210 Chevy, with a tri-power built 389 Pontiac, Cad Lasalle transmission,
Dan's had long traction masters, at night, barely visible.
His Mom had a '56 turquoise 210 Chevy, with a six cylinder, automatic. they looked Identical , except for wheels and tires. Dan would sit at hamburger joint with hood up showing off stock 6 cylinder.... Get the picture?
Dan would coax the boys from outta town, into a race, then say: I want to change tires, and meet you at the place where they were going to race " In say, a half hour" Dan would show up with cheater slicks on the rear, and stock hubcaps on the front.
They lived close to town, and I think his Mom worked nights at the hospital down the street from the cruising street.
Dan would go trade cars and get the Pontiac Powered '56 and "beat the boys from yonder, like a drum"
It was great fun to watch. small town excitement..!!!!

 

Local boy with a 1957 T-bird 427 hi rise and top loader 4 speed. Very fast, when I got old enough to drive it was gone and a 427 Chevy tunnel ram powered shortened frame no body and roll cage. Big horsepower light weight. 1969

 

( This was the last high school newspaper printed for our senior class activities in 1962. Sorry, for the misinformation printed by the "cub" reporter that did not listen to my explanations. It was nice to have a photo or two in the school newspaper, but it was a hilarious topic of conversation all through summer.)

Hello,

From the time I was able to buy my brother’s 1958 Impala from him after our 1940 Willys accident, it was already fast. He set the history rolling with his teenage escapades in town and at Lion’s Dragstrip. When I bought it, it was a new era. Then with the addition of the new, C&O Stick Hydro, 4:56 Positraction gears, Racer Brown Cam and Lifter Kit, it gained more horsepower to meet and greet all comers. Add in our 7 inch Bruce Slicks sitting under the rear wheel opening and it was ready for just about anything on the street.

I was happy with the purchase and with the new C&O Stick Hydro, nothing was going to get ahead of me at the start. There was absolutely no rubber burning, just pure traction and at least a car length start against the other guy(s). I cannot remember all the multiple encounters we had on Friday/Saturday nights. But, the memorable ones do stick in the brain for later recall.

After cruising the old Oscar’s Drive-In Restaurant parking lot in Lakewood, an all-black 1955 Chevy 2 door post model with mags and headers rolled up on the passenger side as we headed back to Bixby Knolls. The motor was sounding very healthy. This was very late at night and the streets were virtually empty except for two black Chevy sedans.

Of course, the looks said it all. Go at the next stop light… So, as we waited for the 55 Chevy with a guy and a girl inside, we were a little nervous. When he rolled up, he pointed to the red light and said go on green by reading his lips through the rolled up window. So, we were ready. At the end of the yellow and start of the green, my 58 Impala was across the intersection and the 55 Chevy was trying to catch up. By the time we rolled up to the next stop light next to an empty golf course, he pointed again.

Jnaki

Finally, he got a short-lived jump and we flew by him within a 25 foot distance toward the next light about three blocks away. I was not fully concentrating on the yellow light going off, but waited for the green to pop up. (that move makes one lose valuable seconds in reaction time) He tried as hard as he could, but the Impala just pulled away and I could see him in the rear view mirror. So, the 6 red taillights shined on his face and that meant it was over. We waved, he waved and they turned around to go back to Oscar’s a few miles back on the Carson Street in Lakewood.

It just seemed like there was no one else that could win or at least stay with me from 1959-62 fall. Maybe it wasn’t THE Baddest Car In Town, but its record of 1000s of miles of cruising all over So Cal and the encounters it had, well, it sure was fun showing the 6 Red brake lights to the other cars.

 

I posted earlier my cousins bad ass 49 Chevy. That was 1960, I was 13 years old. By the time I was 17/18 I had the baddest car in town. It was a 1930 Roadster running a new 327 fuelie motor with two WCFB's instead of the fuel injection unit. It had a truck 3 speed and a 4:27 merc rear and was never beat as long as I owned it.When I got my draft notice I sold it to a guy in NY who ran the 1/8 mile drags for a long time, wining many awards.

 

Unfortunately I have no pictures of this car but it was my best buddies, brother's car. This was in 1964 but I knew cars pretty well for a 12 year old considering my 3 older brothers and my dad. The car was a 49-50 Ford business coupe with a 421 Pontiac and dual-fours sitting at 10-20% set-back. I cannot recall what transmission it had at the time but I just remember it was a rocket. I know he moved to California (from Oregon) around the late 60's so the car may still be around in that configuration. I would hope so and would really love to know for sure. To change that car would be sacrilege!

- EM

 

I'm drawing a blank on a Griff's in downtown KC. Help an old fellow out, here, please.

 

Southern California in the early 60's, east end of the San Gabriel Valley. Tom Foreman, our version of John Milner, owned a jail bar Ford F1 pick up with a built 430 Lincoln and Hydramatic Transmission that could tear up anything that was offered up, remember this is the early 60's before the factory "Muscle" cars came along. Unfortunately, I can't remember the details but I do remember it was one fast m.f.'er!

 

Being born in '84, my high school and college times put me square in the middle of the import tuner craze, which seemed quick for the time but now seem slow with the way horsepower has so drastically increased in modern production cars. Even commuter cars and basic family sedans can go 14 seconds or under now. In college, some of those new tuner cars like Infinity G35s and turbo'ed Hondas were pretty quick. My buddy Matt had a real nasty black primered '67 Chevelle with a BBC, loads of compression, huge solid cam, high rise intake and a 4 speed. Probably a high-10 second car, which was very fast on the street in 2004. It was funny because the import guys didn't know what they were looking at. The car would sit there cackling, barely able to hold an idle, and the import dudes would be like, "Sure I'll race you. This thing barely runs!" Then get gapped.

 

In the late 70s north of Boston there was an early Chevy 2 with a very strong motor in it.
It was white with NOVADOSE written on the sides.
I was too young to understand but my older brother and all his pals said that it was the fastest car around. It caught fire and was totalled.
A couple years later my brother's friend Mike Coy built a 440-6pack Dart in my garage. He was then the fastest.
A few years after that I built a big block, 4 speed, 4.10 gear OT Nova that was 13.0 108-110 but by then others were quite abit faster than me.
Man, we had some good times

 

Hey Larry, might be a touch mixed up after 55 years, it was Sidney's. Griff's was on 7th in KCK. We would cruise Winstead's on the Country Club Plaza, then over to Sidney's, then Griff's and back to Winstead's. Sometimes take in Smaks and Peter's too. Winstead's is still in business although that little one way alley is gone with the student houses lined along it. Everyone would light 'em up leaving the parking lot in that alley. Mike

 

Ah, yes, Sidney's at Linwood & Gillham--I remeber that one well. There is a 7-11 there now. I'd forgotten about Peter's. 23rd and State Ave., KCK? Allen's and NuWay were a couple more.

Burned a lot of 21 cent gas.

 

Our town lay out was a perfect cruising/ street racing layout. Main Street started at Locust Ave and went east. It was a one way, two traffic lanes with a parking lane on each side. About 4 blocks without a stop sign or traffic light until you came to the State Highway traffic light. Then there was 3 more blocks, each having a traffic light and 3 blocks without lights or signs. Then there was a traffic light and a nice extra long block before you had to turn left and go north for one block long block, that too was a one way. At the stop sign, you could either go straight, or turn right, or left onto Stephenson. At that point Stephenson turned into a one way, west bound. Stephenson Street also had 2 traffic lanes, and a parking lane on each side. That first long block on west bound Stephenson took you to the traffic light. After the light, in the early days (and again 20 year later) you had 3 blocks with no lights or signs, then 3 blocks in a row with lights before you came to the State highway light. After the State highway light, you had 4 blocks with no lights or signs until you were back at Locust Ave. On Stephenson, the left lane had to turn left onto Locust Ave, and the right lane continued straight as Stephenson turned into a two way street past Locust Ave.

The neat thing about all those traffic lights is they were all synchronized and changed to green (or red) as you approached them at 30 mph, on both Main Street and Stephenson Street. If you happened to have a "sporting event" on Main Street, from the light at the State Highway, you basically had 6 blocks to get it done, and two blocks to slow down for the left turn. Usually a rematch didn't happen until you got back to the state highway light on Stephenson. That way, at Locust Ave, the looser could fall in line on the right lane, and both could leave down town for a while, or if you could get it slowed down enough, you could make the left turn at Locust Ave, and start the process all over. All of the down town stores closed by 9 pm, that left a lot of evening to have fun. Down town was always crowded after 9pm until it started clearing out around midnight. Most of the serious stuff was happening after midnight.

The lesson learned from years of watching was that traction was king. If you could hook up for the (4 or) 6 block run, and make decent speed (45-50 mph), you would put the hurt to a lot of guys that started off spinning the tires.

I spent many a Friday evening, after closing up the gas station I worked at, down town. Saturday and Sunday evenings were dirt track racing nights for me. My buddies and I ran a hobby stock Mopar at our local dirt track. One things you learn about on a dirt track is how to make and use traction.

A light weight Dart with a strong Mopar small block and traction was a pretty hot ticket for the down town drags. Low gear, and maybe a little in 2nd put the speed at about the right place. The disc and 10" rear drum brakes was plenty of stopping force.

I was in my mid 20s before I started playing hard down town. I choose an off topic Plymouth B body with a radical small block Mopar, a Hemi 4 speed and an 8 3/4 with decent gears and a Sure Grip. Add traction bars, and what I learned at the dirt track, and I had a street brawler. Add headers, and pretty paint with no motor call outs, the radical thumper cam made it sound frightening. With the cam and the 4 speed, I could put on a show and smoke the tires at will, but if I left the line at an idle, short shifted the 4 speed into 2nd, then hammered it, it would barely spin and hook hard enough to lighten the front enough to make the manual steering one finger easy. The motor had small port heads, so about 5,000 rpm, it was running out of air, if I needed it, 3rd gear revived the beast until it reached 5,000 rpm again. I seldom had to even hit 3rd, or if I did, it wasn't in 3rd very long before I was on the brakes to slow down. Pretty much, I only used 3rd gear to embarrass whom ever I was running against, because the car jumped another two car lengths when I hit 3rd.
I never took the car to the strip, frankly is was probably lucky to be a 13 second car, but down town, it earned quite a reputation. It was fun, and expensive. The car ate parts when I played at places other then down town, but down town, it was flawless. I had a love/hate relationship with that car. Gene