Art & Inspiration Funny Test Ride Stories/Failures/Your Stories ?

Reading a thread this AM inspired a few test ride stories/adventures of mine through the years. I purchased a speed shop crate SBC, 400 HP+ on the dyno, broke in ready to jet. I install it in my 32 and go for a test cruise, had a rebuilt TH350 with a shift kit, So...........I get on her, Wow ! runs real strong. I'm smiling/happy/etc., about the forth time ( I'm having big time fun) I manually shift into second and bang, engine hits rev limiter, I coast to a stop, pull dipstick, oil black with death stink, bought a more expensive rebuild with hypo parts and no more tranny failures. Back in my racing days I would occasionally jump into other cars when asked only if it was a good car and for whatever reason my car was at home, I stopped doing this after this adventure. It was very famous successful racer with new owner and a friend was friends with new owner they asked me to run it. OK I warm it up 2 hot laps I spin, not even going fast WTF, back in pits I tell owner I'm out, somethings weird, way wrong, so....... they get previous owners crew chief guy to look car over he finds a major F up, looks it over tells me should be good to go, him I knew, he advises me this car (roadster style midget) lacking on side bite so get her in some on the right rear, So............ now I go out to qualify, first lap took it easy, felt good so I pick up the pace some, big mistake on my part, car bikes up and I go for a big time ride ( was told higher than the beer stand) and ambulance ride to crash house (junked car) Side story, I swear this is what happened, at hospital they take me for a cat scan on my neck/back I'm laying on the table in/out of it, received a big time bell ringing and a pretty young nurse comes in, lifts my gown and checks me out, I say, see something you like, her reply, I just wanted to see if it was true, in your case I guess not. LOL For you non racers there's an expression, "Big Brass Balls" for open wheel racers, guess that's why I stayed a hobby racer for 21 years. Twilight Zone Story ? maybe but as stated I believe this happened. Old Timers post up your funny stories, everybody has some.

 

That's more than I get from the ol lady at home.

 

Helped a buddy stuff a BBC in a 64/65 mustang. We decide to take a test drive. Open headers. Minimum wiring. Minimum bolt and clamp tightening. Temporary everything. No plates or insurance. And as I was to find out later,
Paul's license had been yanked. Anywho, the damn thing turns out to run pretty decent, so he decides to make one lap of downtown just to let the boys know he's back. Right in front of JC Pennys he romps the go pedal which results in a LOUD BANG, followed by smoke and flames. We jump out of the car, put the fire out and start diagnosis. Paul has his face planted in the carb, and his right hand on the distributer. I'm working the screwdriver across the remote starter solenoid and notice we've got traffic snarled for two blocks. Pretty soon a cop shows up and Paul, never lifting his face from the carb says, " Hey, give us a minute, will ya. We're trying to tame a wild Mustang." Just then the damn thing starts, and Paul yells at me to get in and move it to the curb while he works the throttle and dizzy. Get it to the curb and shut it off. Paul keeps his face planted in the carb, and I dive under the dash and come up with a hand full of wires and tried to look busy. Cop shakes his head and tells us to get 'that death trap home'. Found out later that had been the cop who got Paul's license yanked.

 

I put a small block Chevy in an MGA. I loaded up the trunk with all kinds of tools and spare parts anticipating a breakdown. Got 5 miles from the shop , the car ran great. I got a flat tire on the back no spare tire. Sometimes you just don't win.

 

Bought a '63 Impala SS in 1977 at a country junkyard 35 miles from home.327 4-speed.Paid a whopping $75 for it.
Got it running and figured why not drive it home? No interior so I borrowed a bucket seat out of something. Seat tracks didn't match up so it wasn't bolted down. No exhaust past the headers. The weird part was no rear shocks. I can only guess the previous owner had air shocks in and wanted to save them.
What could possibly go wrong??
Ever try and drive a 4-speed car where every time you stood on the gas the seat tried to flip backwards as the rear end of the car is bouncing up and down? Entertaining. Death grip on steering wheel and shifter.
Loud doesn't describe the engine noise and after 5 miles figured out why it was junked. Blue/white smoke billowing from engine bay into the interior.
My buddy who was following was kind enough to give me a ride home to get the truck and trailer.

 

Took off in my model A pickup after i got it running. Buddy went with me. Everything was working great, so we decided to run it to the gas station and fill it up. While we was checking out that badass 230 Chevy straight six, i looked down and realized just how many things were still only tack welded talk about a soft, slow ride back to the garage

 

The year was 1974. A buddy had just built a strong 350 for his '55 Chevy 2 dr hardtop with Muncie 4 speed. He had just installed the engine and was ready to fire it up and take it for a test run. There was no front clip on the car. I said, "What about the radiator?" He said "No problem" and proceed to install the radiator with just the upper and lower hoses holding it in the car.
Off we go down the street, driving nice and easy. Then he decides to get on it from a stop. Let's the clutch out, clipless car pops of wheelie, we fall over backward because the bench seat was not bolted down. He manages to stop the car and we get the seat sitting back the way it is supposed to be. So do we go back to his house? No, it is now my job to sit on the front edge of the seat, with my hands holding on to the underside of the dash in order to keep the seat from falling backwards again while he continues to "burn rubber and peel out."
Good times!

 

So, I just finished installing the headers and brand spanking new Thrush header mufflers on my off topic big block Dodge, and decide a test drive was in order.

At the time, I lived about 3 blocks from our town's business district, the old school kind of business district with a few blocks of one way traffic going east, followed by a quick turn around the block and a few blocks of one way traffic going west. Of course, there are sidewalks on both sides of the street and 3 or 4 story tall buildings after each sidewalk on both sides of the street. The rumble from the big block Mopar with a cam and the headers and the Thrush header mufflers sounded great echoing off the buildings with the trans in low, at about 20 mph....

I'd just about made the full lap when a police car showed up in my rear view mirror. I quickly shifted into drive, and left off the gas. I figured it would be a great time to head back home. The cop car followed me. About a block from home the cop hit the lights and siren. I pulled over and shut the car off. Busted for sure!

I was actually pretty relieved when Officer Bob climbed out of the cop car. I'd known Officer Bob for a few years, I always worked on his cars at the gas station where I worked. He was a hot rodder too.

His first words were "Damned, that sounds good! But it is a little loud." So I got out of the car and we started talking about the car, and the exhaust. We both even got on our knees and looked the exhaust over.

About that time, the 13 & 14 year old neighbor kids (I've sold parts and helped their older brother with his car before) started yelling at me "Hey Gene, is that your new race car? Are you going to street race that one as well?" Officer Bob was looking at me, with his back turned to the kids, he was laughing.. He told me we were going to talk for a few minutes more, then he was going to leave, no tickets, but I should look into what we talked about for my exhaust. Then he told me that after he left he wanted me to go to the kids and chew them out for spouting off their mouths, and that I should tell them the cop was going to let me go until they started yelling about the street racing, but then the cop gave me a $50 ticket. You were probably going to make their brother pay for your ticket and he would probably kick their butts for it. I did exactly what Officer Bob told me to do. Adding tail pipes behind the header mufflers made it slightly more quite.

A few months later I was heading home around 5pm with the same car. Lets say I was driving it with a bit of sprit. To get to my house, I made a left turn instead of the right turn that the main street makes as it goes into the down town area. I got home, parked the car and was walking across the street when this State Police car came flying up with his flashing lights on and stopped right side of me. He was mad! He pointed to my car, and said is that your car? Yep, is something wrong? Can you start it up for me? Why? Just start the damn thing! I fired it up, then shut it off.

He was clamed down by now. You are a lucky guy! I would have had your butt if you would have turned right instead of left. I was sitting at the bottom of the hill around the curve waiting for you. After you turned left, I had to see where you went. I could follow that loud car at every turn it made.

I politely pointed out he wouldn't have had me for anything. Where he would have had to be waiting for me has a traffic light. If I would have made that right turn, I would have been well below the speed limit slowing down in case that light had turned red. Just like now, he couldn't do anything because he couldn't prove the car he heard was me, and he couldn't prove I was doing anything wrong. And as far as the loud exhaust, it is a legal exhaust system sold in stores, I install them every day.

He informed me that one day he was going to get me, the way I drove that loud car would make it easy for him to catch me doing something wrong. I told him that was never going to happen.

Two weeks later I sold the car to the bratty kid's older brother. Gene

 

Just got finished installing a new new set of hooker headers on my slightly OT 67 Mustang 390 Gt. BUT no way to connect the collector to the rest of the exhaust. So removed the whole rest of the exhaust system and stuffed it in the back of the hatchback luckily the top of the back seat was the fold down option and it fit right nice.

Push it out of the driveway so as not to wake up the whole neighborhood and let it roll down the hill a ways at about 0630 am.

Fire it off and man it sounded great with completely open headers. Was driving it to the dealership I worked at so I could connect the collector and the rest of the system after work. Had to "Give it a bit" just once when I got close to work and the next thing I saw was the dreaded spinning red lights behind me.

Pulled over and shut it off and the Officer comes to the window and the "License and registration please" then he leans down and looks at me in my work shirt with the dealers name plastered across the front and says "Oh Jesus H. Christ" it's you!!!

Turns out we did all the work on the local cruisers and he knew me LOL. What the hell are you doing!!!

Sorry just added the headers and trying to get to work so I could connect them. He says "well shit if I give you a ticket you will probably just screw around with the next cruiser we bring in right?" And I just smiled at him.

He says "go straight to work right now and keep it QUIET."

Saw him a lot more after that when he brought cruisers in for repairs and he always made it a point to bust my stones over it but he was laughing.

 

When i had my mint '63 Falcon V8 Sprint for sale including all owner history from new some guy showed up from Amsterdam and wanted a test drive. We lived close to the freeway so had a blast. He came back three more times and the last time had his whole family with him. Wanted another drive which i refused. Then he pulled out his cheque book and offered my asking price of 12 grand . Wanted to write out 24 cheques at 500 each and would i be so kind as to hand one in at the bank once a month . !!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

I had taken an OT Ford Torino stock car 2x around the block at midnight. We had just finished the 429 install, it had a radiator, no door skins and the nose was off it.

I crept out of the driveway, hung a series of lefts to go around the block with my foot stuck in it... 1st and 2nd gear with the C6... no exhaust either. By my 2nd lap, I saw lights in houses coming on. We put it away, doused the outside lights just in time to see code enforcement drive by.

 

Your story brought up a test ride memory, I lived in the country and going around the block was a square mile ride, used to fire up my racers on road, pull in my driveway to check for leaks etc, I was chasing a high speed miss so I fired it up on the road as usual, but went around block, on third mile leg I pick it up to see if miss was gone, it was. Picture this, 410 SBC, about 650-675 HP back in my day, Sprint car, we were starting to run race mufflers, not on as where I was going next didn't require so they were off, loud to say the least, as I'm pulling into my driveway the local sheriff follows me in walks up to car, waits for me to shut it off and states, John, please do not take this thing around the block anymore, his dispatch said it lit up big time with calls, he knew me well and was a race fan, good man nice guy. Apparently I was the talk of our small town after this and as I was having lunch at our local watering hole and the bartender introduced me to the gravel pit owner up the road from me also a race fan and he gave me the key to their lock on gate and told me I was welcome to fire it up there anytime, So............ from then on we took it to the pit, fired it up, checked it over and my wife or son would push me home to my driveway, this seemed to make everyone happy, now the sheriff would just stop in to shoot the breeze, all was good in small town USA, lived there 30 years, great community, by the time I left it evolved into just another suburb town, most of farmland turned into subdivisions, progress I guess.

 

We had an industrial area and would trailer stock cars over to do some testing, make sure it pulled strong, ferret out obvious suspension issues. The cops never bothered us, may not have known we were there.

I'd say a gravel pit would be the best place to test out a sprint car.

 

Decades ago wife and I shopping for a used car, take one we liked out for a test ride, "Honest John" in the back seat. I ask him if this is the original mileage? Replies, yes. I mention : "Funny, the odometer isn't working". End of test drive.
Paul in CT

 

Ran my Sprint Car hobby out of a ex-beer depot warehouse that I had converted to a shop/living quarters. Huge parking lot. Push it off there, then make high speed blasts out on the street in front of the place. Street was a kinda oneway, deadend, affair that dumped into another warehouse parking lot. There were five houses on that stretch, all pure ghetto rentals. Those folks didn't appreciate my 2:00am test runs and would make the complaint call. Met alot of grumpy 3rd shift cops. Ended up buying all the houses, and informed the tenants their rent would go down if they suddenly went deaf. Whole deal worked like a charm. Renters made the house payments and upkeep costs, and a few years later the city decided it wanted to 'gentrify' the whole area and paid me way over the top for the privilege.

 

senior year of high school friend had a mid 70s pinto that he drove very hard. motor decides to call it quits, he decides it didnt have enough power anyways. we head out to the local auto junk place and find a 289 in the core pile for $25, rebuild it in auto shop and stuff it into said pinto at his house in country. decide we better road test it before putting on unneeded stuff like hood, exhaust, front turn signals, wiring to starter solenoid, shifter linkage, license plates(put plates on borrowed car) and negative battery cable terminal(vice grip works). we jumper the starter with it in gear and head down the road and heater hose catches throttle and holds it wide open. we cut the hose off to get it out of the way and decide we should go into town with it to show off our mechanic skills. we blast down the cruise area in town known as the 4 lanes, turn around at the end in the country kitchen parking lot and head back towards downtown. Made it back about 3/4 of the way and the cop behind us lights him up. we pull over in a parking lot, get out and the cop walks up. asks ron for his license and starts looking the car over. conversation goes like this---
Cop: wheres your license plates Ronny?
Ron: had to use them on my other car while i was fixing this one
Cop: what about the missing hood and turn signals?
Ron: we werent finished yet had to test drive first
Cop: start this thing up i want to hear it--(has flashlight pointed down at rear of engine by firewall) I hold brake, turn on key and ron jumps solenoid .
Cop: Ron wheres the exhaust?
Ron: I dont know what your problem is, its not as loud as some of the cars around town.
Cop: I think you should probably shut up about NOW. if you want to mouth off i am going to take you up to the station and spend about a hour looking this over, writing you tickets and probably taking your license. or you can get in this pile of s**t, go home and not let me see it until it is legal. your choice.
He let us go, followed us to the city limits to make sure we were going in the direction of home and then tuned back towards town.
Ron cobbled some poor exhaust together out of junk in auto shop and the teacher told him to never bring the car in there again. He did drive the car until somebody ran a stop light and finished it off.

 

Back in 60 I helped this old guy, he must have been 19 or 20, pull the engine on a 39 Ford coupe. He worked at his father in law's filling station/used car lot. I think he gave $75 for the car and it had a hopped up flathead, but water in the oil. We pulled the engine out of his stock car (it only lasted 2 nights before hitting the wall hard) which was a 49 Ford. We changed all the good stuff out of the bad engine and put it in the stock car engine. Edmunds finned heads, 2 carb intake with chrome 97's an Isky (maybe) cam and adjustable lifters. We had to plug one coolant hole on the 49 block to make the heads work.

So we get it all together and it runs pretty good. For some reason we went way over to the other side of town to look at some OHV engine. The guy who owned the car, my cousin and me in the 39. On the way back it started to get hot and we had to cross a railroad track. Don't you know a train was coming. So Wayne, the owner, downshifts to 2nd and take off on a road parallel to the tracks racing the train to the last crossing. We made it and it was pretty exciting for a 13 year old.

 

Back in the 60's I rebuilt a lot carburetors for guys, had the good cleaner we could get back then, soak parts and they looked like new, a rebuild kit, good to go, very good part time business for a few years, usually just carbs, occasionally install for guys. Here's the Test ride part, a local kid brought me his 383 Dodge 4 speed car and a 2x4 setup he purchased, I rebuild carbs and install, first problem, would not start, lost spark, after much time, found wire going to points broke in plastic, not visible, got it running, kid brought his Daddy to pick up and pay me (Daddy was a big time Ahole) already bitching me out about money involved, and PO that car did not start, when coming back they want to test drive it before paying me. we jump in, go for ride and the kid misses a shift and it drops a cylinder, again Dad chewing my ass, I did something wrong and was calling his attorney. blah blah blah. To get his dad out of my face I said I'll fix it. Pull rocker cover and determine it seemed be be a collapsed lifter, buy a new push rod but really did not want to pull intake, talked at local parts store, remember when guys worked there and they actually knew things, man suggests Risoline additive so I buy a quart, changed oil, started it up let idle for a while and it worked, readjusted rocker and magic good to go, call kid, they pick up car, dad still chewing me out and I settled for less than agreed on (NC) No test ride this time, saw the kid several times, he was happy and apologized for his dad. step #1 of getting out of carb/install business..

 

^^^^^^ The last straw on my carb/install business, a few years after above story ^^^^^^ Remember the 66 Chevy II, 327, 4 speed, 4:10 gear, a guy I knew from high school bought one, added recap street slicks, a rocket ship street racer. He buys from local speed shop a 2x4 setup and had me install it. I "Git R Dun" and thinking I really should test drive this rocket but at this time my license was suspended so I'm being very careful, still driving just behaving. Thinking about it and a buddy drops by and he offers to drive, So........off we go, car hauled ass, what a test ride it was, the red lights come on and the chase is on, hard to outrun police radios, we abandoned car at the big dump on west side of Milwaukee. We hide out, got away, by the time I tried to call car owner the police had already came to his mom's house and arrested him, they had the car/plate. In court police testified he was driving, he did look similar to my buddy driving and he gets Huber law jail time as he driving record was already real bad. Did not see him until his Huber deal was up (60 or 90 days) kinda figured he was going to try to kick my butt, But he laughed it off, told me I was a dumb ass (True) for letting "Crazy Dave" drive, we still talked at various car deals and he won many money street races with that car. Shortly after this I spent a night in a holding cell for street racing, went before judge in AM and decided to walk away from all this fun upon the Judge's suggestion/deal made and went open wheel racing for 21 years, a few crash house visits but no jail time. LOL

 

In December 2020 I took my just finished coupe for its first real test drive, not registered with my son driving. When I told him to stand on it and we were doing approx. 100 km / 60 mph there was a horrible sound ( like a flat tyre or blowout ) and smoke billowing from the rear of the car. It turned out that the rear right guard was set to low ( all guards were set approx 3/8 inch / 10 mm above the tyre. As the tyre grew it grabbed the guard and wrapped it around the tyre. I was so lucky that the body was not damaged, when I went to pull it of the tyre so we could drive home it was so friging hot I burnt my hands, I needed to use a rag to pull it of the tyre. The pics show it when we got home, the guard was repairable and they are now set approx. 3/4 or 20 mm above the tyre - nil further issues so far. [

 

Hello,

When my brother and I purchased our Model A coupe, it was towed home a few miles away from the discovery lot where it was buried under a lot of canvas and weeds. We spent hours and days cleaning it up as much as possible and to get it running. A little work here/there and new wires, spark plugs, along with water/oil/clean gas made it start up in our small backyard.

My brother took it for an around the block drive. Then after we got home, made a few more adjustments, I was given the ok to take it around the block. The old stick shift and clutch was not what I expected. The clutch engaged, but the shift mechanism would not easily go into 2nd or 3rd. I had to double-clutch the pedal and it was still difficult to get it into the next gear. This was going on while I had avoid the parked cars and what little traffic was in our neighborhood.

Being 14, I was worried about getting stopped by the local police. But, I kept at it and eventually, pushed the stick lever forward until the gears meshed together and fell into 2nd gear. The clutch worked when my brother used it earlier, but for some reason, it did not allow me to have a smooth transition to the next gears.

Later after some adjusting, it worked fine. Now, my brother knew I could drive a stick shift car. Despite the initial bumps, jumps and jerky pedal/shifting going on in the initial drive. He was impressed that a young kid could steer and drive, going through the gears.

Jnaki

Now that I was a seasoned veteran of the Model A driving at age 14, I was not used to the heavy duty clutch of my brother’s new 1958 Impala with the more powerful set up. When he allowed me to take the 58 Impala for a test drive, of course, the clutch was very strong and it was difficult to get it right.

So, I could leave the stop and go into the next gear, but it was the initial bucking bronco action that was funny, but embarrassing. Once the clutch was pushed in, the gears worked well. But the initial start from the corner stop sign was hilarious as the clutch and gas just did not go together well for me.

It took several neighborhood cruises by myself to be confident of expanding the route and distance in the stronger 1958 Impala. I still had to cross some major intersections during the adventurous road trips. I certainly did not want to do the bucking bronco at the green light in an intersection. I learned fast and in the process, strengthened my left leg muscles to coordinate with the teenage 15 year old brain.

Now, let's see if I can get it into 2nd gear faster... (3rd was not a problem) HA!

 

Way back in time, I pulled a 1937 Ford, pure stock out of a garage in New Castle, NH for a small price and had it brought to my house on a back of a wrecker. This was all done while my Pop was away. Knowing that he would be a little hot when he would see it I felt that it would be better if I could give him a ride in it so that he might let me keep it. Well with my buddies, their knowledge, experience and a battery that come from somewhere we got the car running and put many miles up and down our driveway. My father came home and was pretty upset when viewing the 37 in all of its glory. He said to me, this thing run? My reply, with my best chicken chest, I could come up with, sure it runs. So we hop in, whit him driving, right out onto the street and down the hill we went. He applied the brakes and the car started to slow down but started to speed up when the cables started to elongate. We ended up going through a ladies bushes that were in a roll in front of her house. The end result we that I had to mow her lawn for the rest of the summer (good thing that the bushes pop back up after being run over) and the car was sold.

 

A few years out of high school and the work on a friends 63 Nova was complete. The car was purchased as a roller only, donor power train and fresh out of the body shop.
On the back street is where I opened it up for a bit then let off. That's when it all went bad, well not that bad, just how it felt for a few moments until I got the car back under control after going curb to curb like a pin ball. Whom ever last worked on the lower control arms prior to purchase never reinstalled the bushing caps leaving the lower arms to move about as they wish.

 

Years back, my son and I put a tri five Chevy together. We had decided at the last moment to take it to our favorite Rod Run that was two weeks later. The car had a pretty solid body but no drivetrain. We thrashed on it for the next 10 days. Rebuilt the brakes and suspension, minimal wiring and lights, some old no name 5 spokes with bias ply tires and a used 283 with a Saginaw 4 speed. All used parts with very little money involved. We had the car running but had not driven it yet.

So the afternoon we are supposed to leave we take it for the first drive. Like wicarnut, we live in the country and our round the block runs are also a mile square. We take off and the first two miles we take it easy, listening for any unusual noises and watching the gauges. We get around the corner at the start of the third mile and my son says STAND ON IT. I do and get to the top of second and then nothing. Dead quiet and I coast to the side of the road and look at my son and he has an ear to ear grin. Damn he says, that was a lot of fun but it sure didn't last long. So after laughing our asses off for a couple of minutes we check it out and fortunately the only thing wrong was it had sucked the choke closed . Opened the choke back up and nursed it home, 5 minutes to make a welding rod choke linkage and took off for the weekend.

 

Hello,

When my mom wanted to start driving by herself, she had the notion that a nice 1958 black Impala sitting in the garage during most summer days was going to be her car. WHAT??? She had driven our dad’s big 1957 Buick Sedan, but it was too big, wide and large for her little 5’2” stature. When she sat in the fairly new 58 Impala, she said, like Goldilocks, “It is just right…”

But, there was a big difference. The Buick was a Dynaflow automatic transmission. The Impala was a heavy duty clutch and a 3 speed column shift version. Not a Powerglide, like our neighbors down the street. She did not care as she was adventurous and willing to drive a 3 speed stick shift car. WHOA…

Knowing what was ahead, my brother declined and said that it was my job to teach our mom how to drive the stick shift 58 Impala. So, being a confident teenager, I took on the job. We sat for a day to go over all of the differences between a big Buick and an Impala. I had her sit in the car and continually shift the transmission through the gears. (The Impala was in the back yard concrete pad, not started or not on the street.)

Jnaki

The first trip down the street was hilarious. Then, it got a little troublesome for my mom. She could push in the heavy duty clutch, but had a hard time keeping it pushed in and allowing it to come up slowly to get going. Her leg just did not have the strength to keep the pedal from popping up all the way out. Then the Impala started bucking and still going forward.

After several tries, she had enough and wanted to rest for a couple of days. But, in a few days, we did the same thing. A wild bucking bronco ride to start, then it was smooth sailing through the gears. When we came to a stop sign, the whole scene started again. By this time back at home, she said she could not drive a stick shift car, but still liked the Impala size and feel.

So, she offered to get an automatic transmission for the Impala and then it would drive like our dad’s Buick and neighbor’s Chevy sedan. My brother was in his burn recovery stage and was no longer driving the Impala. He left it up to me to go to the next step. He mentioned something like getting a B&M Stick Hydro, but that company up in Los Angeles, sold the transmissions, but did not do any personal installations.

We were told by our friend in Los Angeles that a new company was forming in Torrance/Gardena area and that they had tons of experience in the automatic transmission field. So, I called and made an appointment. It was the C&O Stick Hydro company. And yes, they did installations and conversions, too. So, the next step was an eye opener and within a week, I was driving home in a 58 Impala with a C&O Stick Hydro. Did I mention the acceleration was tremendously faster and definitely a neck snapper when it shifted? Wow…

When I showed my mom, she jumped in, learned where to put the shift lever and off we went on our test drive. It was, for her, like driving our dad’s Buick sedan as it only took the gas pedal and brake pedal. No more heavy duty clutch to cause problems for her. She took to it like nothing was different and was a happy person with a new form of transportation. I did not have to worry about how she was going to drive the 58 Impala. She felt free and took good care of it when it was her turn to drive.

p.s. She did mention that the shifts were a little harder than a Buick transmission, but at least now, she could actually drive it anywhere. Her usual trips were with her friends and it was 20-30 miles one way to shopping at various early outdoor malls and specialty grocery stores.

The C&O also made the Impala so much faster and quicker off of the starting line anywhere. (for me) So, that was a plus for the next 4 years of ownership. For my mom, it was just another way to have a little freedom and individuality. I am sure, she felt the same way that most teenagers felt when a car fits just right and allows her to go anywhere at any time. It was for me and for her, a “total freedom” situation.

I had my 40 Ford Sedan Delivery, so the weekends were for her in the Impala, but only for the days. She never drove at night in any car. During the week, she needed the Impala for her weekly outdoor shopping jaunts and the weekly grocery store events.


When I took off the hubcaps/beauty trim rings, it was black on black on black and gave off a mean look for an older lady to drive down the street to the market. What a sight to see a little old lady driving a black 1958 Impala that made some nice motor sounds and went like lightning anywhere. Going shopping was never the same…Ha!

 

After an 8+ year build in the garage (body / paint / interior by others) I checked all the vitals on my 37 Fordor and I took it for it's first highway test. It ran well, tracked nice, so I hit the interstate on the way home to stretch the rods a little. At 115 all was still well, until I suddenly realized my tires were way too old for that kind of stress. Lucky or just dum ass me?

 

I may be OCD but as I get to part of a project that is only partially completed, I cross out the item on the list and enter what still needs to be done. Save myself a lot of time tearing out something I've completed being in the way of the unfinished part. Sometimes, I lose a lot of time looking for the list

 

Where to start?
I built my first engine in 1970 for my '55 Chevy 150 gasser project. Didn't really know what I was doing, so had my copy of "How to build a SBC" handy. Had a machine shop build the heads, and do the crank and cam bearings. I thought I would be really safe and assemble the engine using STP on the bearings! By the time I got the last rod attached, I could barely turn the engine with my breaker bar! And after dropping it in my '55 and priming it, I tried to start it, but the starter wouldn't budge it. So we rolled it out on the street and had my dad pull the '55 while my buddy sat in the engine bay turning the distributor!
We got rolling and I eased the clutch out in 1st gear, only to lock up the tires! So went to 3rd gear, and eased the clutch out again. This time the engine began to turn over, and my buddy told me to "give it a little gas"! A few seconds later it lit, and jumped forward towards my dad's '59 Chev truck! My buddy hit the windshield, I put the clutch in, and hit the brakes! He went forward, the tow strap snapped, and my buddy yelled at me to "keep it running"!
I kept it revved up, and he jumped out of the engine bay, and into the passenger seat. We pulled up next to my dad and told him we were going for a spin; leaving him to pick up the broken tow strap. After about 30 minutes of a fairly hard breakin, we headed back home, excited by how good the hot little 283 ran!
Shut it down at home, and restarted it with the starter with no trouble. That engine was the fastest 283 I ever saw, and I loved it!
We still chuckle recalling the STP bearing lube, and the crazy start up procedure!

 

About 40 years ago my everyday driver was a 55 F-100 with a hot sbc and built 350 trans. Pretty quick for what it was. The neighbor boy was about 14 and thought that little truck was the neatest thing on wheels. He talked his dad into buying a 53 F-100 with no engine or trans. They bought a Pontiac 400 complete with a 400 turbo trans to power the truck. They had a guy help them get the mounts made and got it in the truck with the stock 392 rear end. The boy called me one evening and said they had put a big cam in the 400 and asked how they should break it in. I went over to make sure they didn't screw it up as they were pretty green when it came to this stuff. The thing had very minimal wiring set up with a on/off switch and a starter button. I hooked up a tack and he lit it off, I set the timing by ear and we let it run to break in the way too lumpy cam. The kid wanted to take it down the road and his dad said OK but I had to drive, I made sure it had some sort of brakes, pulled the jury rigged shifter in gear and started out of the garage. That's when I found out there was no return spring on the carb, the steering was worn to the point of at least 1/2 a turn before it moved the wheels and the brakes had to be pumped 5 or 6 times to even start to feel any slow down. We were lucky that it was pointed kind of towards the road and nothing was coming, that was the good part, the bad part was we spun gravel all over the dad's new pick-up, ran thru his mom's flower bed and tore out three people's mail boxes! I had shit in my neck as that big Pontiac was howling, I looked over and the kid was laughing his ass off, he yelled "Man this sucker humbs" I got it shut down and finally got it stopped and turned around, fired it up and got it back to his house without killing us. The dad was pissed, the mom was pissed and the kid was happy as a pig in shit! I didn't say a word, got in my truck and went home, come to think of it they never even thanked me

 

Just out of high school I scored a clean '58 Bel Air (less engine & trans) that I traded for a black & white T.V..
Shortly after getting it I found a '62 Chevy station wagon for sale for $50.00. It was a straight, sun baked gold rust/dent free car from New Mexico. Had a 327 and a Power Glide it it that ran like a Swiss watch. So I yanked the engine out and junked the body with the dripping trans dumped in the back. (I know, I know... Don't judge me this was 1972 and no one wanted wagons back then)
The 327 went into the '58 in front of a full syncro 3-speed with a stubby Muncie shifter out of a Corvette. I put a 4.56 posi in the rear and took the (mint) front bumper off & tossed it into the wagon next to the still dripping trans.
The hood was then gutted of all re-enforcing metal, hinges and latch. Popped a couple holes in the front and mounted a set of Cal Custom hood pins on the core support. Cool... ready to go impress!
I then realized that my girlfriend was getting out of her last class and I had 5 minutes to get to the school... 5 miles away... no problem! Jump in & fire that muther up! Off I go up Rte. 53... man that rig had a gnarley 1st gear take off! I wound it up, powered 2nd, wound it up... then I saw something for just a split moment flash in front of me... what the...?? Ugh... you geussed it... I neglected to put the clips into the hood pins! I watched in horror as my newly modified hood did end-o's via my rear view mirror, barely missing the car behind me!
When I picked her up, (on time, by the way) she was un-impressed and asked why there was no hood on the car? "Grrr... Don't ask!"