Hot Rods The Black and White Picture Thread

Might have posted this picture on a different thread, but it's a B&W for sure.
This Model A was my oldest brother's school car back in the late 50's
It was semi-retired when he went off to college in 1960; my next older brother also drove it for a while, but then was "privileged" to get a 54 Willys , which he hated with a passion. (If he only knew then.....)
In '65, I drove the Model A from northeast Nebraska to Peoria Illinois. At the time, I-80 was not completed, so there were many ordinary 2-lane highways along the route.
This photo was taken with an Instamatic when I arrived in Peoria. All in one piece (or I should say "pieces" as there were many spare parts tossed into it before the trek, including another engine, steering column, generator, starterS, etc)


One incident I remember happening after the "A" had sat for a few months; my brother and I took it for a ride just to make sure it still ran OK before that trip. We were going along a country road just enjoying the time, when all of a sudden he starts yelping and grabbing at his leg.
Figured he must've cramped up for some reason.....
He said "gawd-damn mouse !" and continued to slap his leg. Off the road we went...down into the ditch.
He said "here, grab the wheel" I kept us in the ditch until he recovered enough to steer back onto the gravel road.
I cracked up. He had to stop the car to get out and shake the poor mouse from his pants.
What a laugh !

Yet, I am very saddened to look at this now, because my brother passed on Christmas day of 2020.

 

A pic I took of @wrenchbender at the Meltdown Drags a few years ago. Converted it to B&W and did some Photoshop work to put his dragster into a vintage drag strip background as it might have looked "back in the day"...

 

I love the dual "headlights".

 

This is the local drug store soda fountain in '59/'60 when I was in high school. All the cool cats and kittens would rush over there for a treat after school let out to grab a stool before they filled up. I didn't personally have a car in my high school years so I wasn't part of the pack as often as some others. But I did ride along when I could.

 

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Although black and white car pics have a certain coolness to them- I find myself with an overwhelming urge to know ‘What color is it?’

 

1955
11 year old hot rod driver (LOOK AT THE EARLY WIDE ROADS) Thanks to my dad for lugging around that huge brown suitcase with the Graflex 4x5 camera…history lives.


Hello,

We lived on the Westside of Long Beach, as far West as the city limits would go. Throw a baseball from our back yard and it lands in Wilmington, CA. It was a fun house and we were in a neighborhood that had an unusual style of homes. It was not a standard tract home area. Those had not been developed until 1946-47 in other neighboring empty lots and fields.

But, eventually, they were built by the thousands. Ours was different that anyone else's house on the block. Our neighbor had a concrete/stucco house that had a tall window with an arch in it. We had a front porch that went back to a pair of French doors that led directly into our parents bedroom and had white wooden overlapping siding.

The neighborhood was one that we thought everyone had elsewhere. Then, we moved to a real tract house a mile or so away. Every 4th house was the same floor plan and build. There were three different models with different garage layouts. Single and double garages, too.

Despite the distance of our house from Disneyland when it opened in 1955, the closest major East/West street was Willow Street. That headed East toward Orange County and turned into Katella Ave. (In Orange County, just past the last Long Beach parkland near what is now the 605 Freeway.)

The fun thing was, if one was to go West on Willow Street, just past the overhead railroad tracks, it is the end of the Lion’s Dragstrip and from that point Westward, becomes Sepulveda Boulevard, all the way to the ocean and the Torrance Beach area.

Jnaki

Our dad used to drive East toward Orange County on Willow Street. Our destination was the newly opened Disneyland Park. It was a pretty fabulous place that was one of a kind. Of all the exhibitions, displays and rides, the Autopia was the best and our favorite. My brother and I played bumper tag and tried to pass on those wide tracks. The early versions were like real go karts with bodies and bumpers. There was not a center rail for a "real" steering ride. It was full accelerations and turning steering wheels to go left and right to pass others, when you could.


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It was a straight drive East for about 20 miles on Willow Street near our house to get to Disneyland (Willow St. turns into Katella). Knott’s Berry Farm was closer by 5 miles from our house on the Westside of Long Beach.

Of course, the first thing my brother and I wanted to do was to drive those putt-putt cars. We were lucky as there was no “rail driving” and we actually had to steer those cars. The lawnmower engines had just enough power to make it fun. Despite the lines (“E” ticket ride), we went right back to the end of the line to ride those cars again. It was a homemade go kart with a fancy body on it. What fun it was to accelerate and steer on a road course!

9 years later, one of our friends got a job as an Autopia mechanic and maintenance guy. His shift was the graveyard, 11 pm to 6 am hours. When he got off of work, he was always tired during the day, when we were up and doing some fun things as teenagers. But, we were always envious of the stories he told us about the races at the Autopia. (and his salary) If there are cars and teenage hot rodders, something was bound to happen.

It was the graveyard shift mechanics driving and tuning the high powered cars vs the normal ones. They had to take the bodies off and drive/tune the motors. Some nights, those guys sat in the seat, turned around to adjust this and that, while steering all over the track. When they were tuned, then the fun races began around the track. For the two years our friend worked there, he never crashed during the tuning/race challenges. His stories made us want to work there, but the hours were not the best times for early morning surf sessions or late night cruising escapades. One had to make valuable choices…

But as far as modern go karts with fancy fiberglass bodies, this was the ultimate at the time. They were a far cry from a 2x4 wooden frame go kart or later, a tube frame go kart that we built several years before the opening of Disneyland.

 

{ JNAKI } When I was a kid. My Dad, and Mom took us to the beach a couple times each summer. I will never forget the small gas powered cars that you could drive on the little miniature roads. Thanks Ron...

 

Hey Ron,

Those little T-Birds are really cool. My brother and I wished we always had one of those little gas powered cars. They were the upgraded go karts as far as we were concerned. Much better than roaring down our own streets in the homemade go karts and with our mom’s lawnmower motor for power.

When my friend was working in the graveyard shift at Disneyland in 1962-63, he always told us about his escapades in the job. It was a little difficult to tune the little car by sitting in the seat area, with one arm leaning back adjusting a screw or two. He still had to steer the cars in the free lanes. Then to add to the hilarity, he had to dodge the other mechanics doing the same thing all night, as we were sleeping.

After he was finished with his 12 midnight to 8am job, he would sometimes come over to our summer weekday gatherings. We were all just laying around and he would come in tired and ready for sleep, but the adrenaline was keeping him up for a while longer. Then, the stories came flowing out, with us laughing all the way.

Back then, there were no tracks down the middle at Disneyland, as it is now or back in 1978 when we took our son to his first Disneyland trip. As a two year old, he could actually drive the car by himself. If he let go of the wheel or it slipped, the little car only moved sideways a little bit, but kept moving forward with the gas pedal courtesy of dad... The rail underneath the car and the roads had the guiding rail to keep the cars from accidently going off the course. Good and bad…

Jnaki

Of course, now there are battery powered hot rods/trucks and sporty cars for little kids to wander around all over the backyard or neighborhood. Too bad they weren’t around back then. Today, some parents in small towns buy a small street legal 4 wheel golf cart style vehicles. It is their Disneyland Autopia cars in real life.

 

Covered bridge

 

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There is a kid that attends Spring Fling and Fall Fling every year in Van Nuys for the Mopar show that has a gas powered 57 Fury similar to those T_Birds. He cruises the show in it all day checking out the real cars. There was also one of a 65 Sport Fury Indy Pace Car that I would love to find to go with my real pace car.

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Cheesecake? What cheesecake?


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West Allis Wisconsin 1963 Curt R

 

A few more I came across

Pat

 

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