I'm not far behind you at 56. I remember the spot along Rt.50 where the Metro station is but I thought that was a bust waiting to happen. Rt 32 was a hot spot for some big races. V Street N.E. was a hot spot. People often wondered how the cops seemed to know when they were racing down there and didn't know their loud exhausts were setting off the warehouse alarms. And you're right about cruise nights but we are all so spread out now that we have to rely on computers and titles to get more than three people together. But today or yesterday we have most of new generation beat. I see some of them meeting, like we used to, and their idea of cool seems to be momma's hand-me-down Honda four door with a big tail pipe extension and a trunk full of speakers blasting gangsta rap.
1963-1965 we were there all the time. We'd ride between the Wheaton Hot Shoppes and back to the "Mo." I loved the "Teen Twist," but unfortunately usually didn't have enought money for food -- just cokes! I had a friend from school that worked there, too. You'd just back into a parking place and wait for someone to cruise by that you knew! Good times!
Can't remember their names But one of them lived on Varnum (sp) just off 71st by the Elementary school....I lived on Darby (thru the woods from the firehouse..from 58 thru62) Going to tough finding the HJ
I know exactly where Darby is, John. That's when the fire house was in the quonset hut bldg. down at the bottom of the hill (now of course it's located on rt 450 across from where the McDonald's used to be). It used to take the fire equipment forever to ascend the hill and make their way out onto rt 450....Don.
I figure sooner or later someone has got to pop up that knows something about that Henry J. By the way, that's a tasty looking 58 Chevy in that little picture (I think they are called avatars?). At any rate, it sits just right and has the right size tires and stance. Not may 58s do. And gawd why do so many people put continental kits on them? Yuck!
clik...I will try to check with one of my buddies...the guy remembers everything and everybody, to see what he remembers about the HJ. Thanks for the comments on the chevy,,I have changed it around for this year, put a tunnel ram on and am in the process of changing the wheels..BWT the only car that looked good with a continental kit was my mothers 55 eldorado and possibly 57 ford convertables
Sonny Willet was an idol of mine and a neighbor. His black 61 Olds 3spd Holiday coupe and his 34 Chevy with a 394/hydromatic were 2 of my most favorite cars from back then. Someone told me a few years ago that he still had the 34 Chevy and lived down near the water someplace. P.G. Kustoms was an Oldsmobile hot bed for several years. I was surrounded. The other name rings no bells. What did he drive back then?
Sonny Willett is my great uncle he lives down on the rhode river in mayo. he still owns the 34' chevy with the 409 in it . it hasnt been driven in years its in his shed buried under a bunch of stuff
Are you sure it has a 409 in it? The reason I ask is that I was talking to him so many years ago about his street racing days with the 61 Olds. He claimed that the 409s back then were a piece of cake for the big 61 Olds but a 327 62 Impala with 2 4's came close to beating him so he decided to quit street racing. He said he saw the hand writing on the wall. I can't believe that he would put a 409 in it. He didn't think too much of the 409s. When he built it in the middle 60s it had a 394 Olds and a hydromatic. I loved that car. Ask him about the headers that he built and the front fender paint. Tell him I had the 38 Chevy coupe that blew the engine at 75&80 the same Wed. night that he blew the hydro in his sedan on a club outing. He won't remember me but he was my idol as a kid. Tell him to put a battery in it, give it a bath and bring it out again. I bet it still looks good. Tell him to get it running and bring it to the Jalopyrama in Annapolis in October. Even if it's not as pristine as it once was it will be loved for it's history. It was top shelf in 1967. I'd sure like to see it again.
thats just wat i been told wat i been could be wrong. ima try to go down there and get it out . id love to get it out n take it up to the mob town greasse balls and jaloppy rama and try to get him back into it . ima try to head down there this weekend
I'm glad I started this thread as it looks like it might have inspired folks to dig out and save another piece of history. One memory leads to another and then a barn find, hey? Here's another memory: When I was an elementary school kid going to Thomas Stone in Mt. Rainier I used to walk home on Varnum Street (3100 Block) and hope to see the black full fendered 32 Ford (I think. I was pretty young) that a guy kept in a garage below a small apartment building there. The apartment building looked more like a big old house than what an apartment building would look like today. As I remember it the car was pristine. It had modern (for the early sixties) wide custom wheels. I now wonder who the guy was and if that car is still in that garage.
I went to Thomas Stone too. '64-'68 Lived on 30th st until '68, then on to Riverdale. I seem to remember that car. My oldest Brother kept trying to buy it or one quite similar.
Ah! Then we went to school together and suffered the reign of terror known as Mrs. Hemp. What's your name? Remember the "Chink Store" Even the adults called it that. How politically incorrect would that be today. Those poor people caught hell.
Not to offend those above... but I'm feeling particularly patriotic today. Eveyone knows there is only one Mighty Mo. THE battle ship, BB-63. The rest of them just make burgers. Good food, no doubt. Gary, USN, Retired http://www.ussmissouri.com/ http://www.mightymo.com/
Larjk9, I see your name in another post. Mine is Paul Behne. I lived on 28th Street in Kaywood until I was twelve and we bought a house about a mile away in Avondale. Are you any kin to Mike Cockrell? Mike has a Nova that runs mid 8s and I help sponsor his car. He owns Certified Auto in Calvert County. I see you have a 53 Ford. I used to have a 56. I sold it to my brother who totaled it.
I built the model in the 50s. I was a Sea Bee in Viet Nam and heard the New Jersey lob rounds over my head on shore. You'd hear the guns fire on one side at sea and then hear the rounds hit on your other side inland some place. Their fire power is unbelievable.
ive heard so many stories about hangin out at the mo from my dad gandfather and uncle and i think it so cool to hear it from the older guys who were there. im 21 n i think i was born into the wrong generation sometimes cuz im really into hot rods and customs and gassers. i just wish there could be a place like that nowadays for the older guys and younger guys who are into hot rodding to meet up once aq week and just bs
"i just wish there could be a place like that nowadays for the older guys and younger guys who are into hot rodding to meet up once aq week and just bs" There is! The biggest weekly meet near you is Marley Station Mall on Saturday evenings in Glenburnie. They often have a couple of hundred cars or more. Then there is the Holy Doughnut meet in Burtonsville on Sunday mornings. They have a good showing too. Jimmi Cones in Westminister has a good turnout, but it's not everyweek. I don't remember which day they meet. Hagerstown is another big one. There's one in Bowie but I've never seen much there.
Mrs Hemp the Grey haired principal. I spent some time sitting in her office. Man you're bringing back some memories.
No relation as far as I know. Is that the same Cockrell who did an episode of "Pinks"? I must have had 30 phone calls from old friends who said they saw my "cousin" on TV. Did most of my street stuff and drag racing at MIR and Capitol and certain stretches of 295 and V st and even hit Indian Head a few times.
Every Sunday morning in Burtonsville. The shopping center on the NE corner of 198 and the old rt 29. Some Sundays there are a couple of hundred cars there. I think it's a Burger King. The regulars are there year round in decent weather. Lots of BS'n going on. It doesn't last all day. Usually by 11 AM people are gone on to other activities. There are a few "Mo rats" that show up from time to time.
"No relation as far as I know. Is that the same Cockrell who did an episode of "Pinks"? I must have had 30 phone calls from old friends who said they saw my "cousin" on TV. Did most of my street stuff and drag racing at MIR and Capitol and certain stretches of 295 and V st and even hit Indian Head a few times". Mike was down there for one of the Pinks All Out but I wasn't aware that he made the TV screen. I seem to remember he broke out (ran too fast) or broke down or something. I remember racing got so bad on V street they sent the fire trucks out to wet it all down. They knew when people were racing because the cars would set the alarms off in the warehouses. I can't remember back far enough to a time when I didn't have car, motorcycle and truck fever. Mrs Hemp called me a motorcycle hoodlum and forbid me to wear my motorcycle jacket. I spent my school days drawing cars, tanks and cartoons of teachers like 6th Grade Mr Murray who could be driven to hissy fits. 5th Grade Mrs Tobias who would have killed me if caught. Did you go to Northwestern? <!-- / message -->
No, Bladensburg High. We moved to Riverdale and the boundary for NWH was one block over. We ran some pretty tough cars there in the mid 70's. I started High school with a '64 Fairlane with a small block, and since that wasn't fast enough, I graduated with a Big Blocked Pinto of all things. OT sure, but THAT was one squirrely sumbitch.
I met my first husband at the Mighty Mo. Had my sister's red 65 Mustang that the accelerator spring stretched out and he and his brother fixed it. Also, had a 59 Ford that had the generator light go on so I put a bandaid over it because it too bright. A few days later the thing would not start and when my dad saw the bandaid he made me, a girl, change the little charcole like brushes on it. LOL ....................... Yep, those were the days going between Mighty Mo and Hot Shoppes flirting with the guys.
Tommy, Here's a pic of the cowboy you requested. It's not the one at Queenstown. Maybe New Hampshire Avenue. I assume you are looking to fab a body for the cowboy head you have and maybe this will help. http://content.lib.utah.edu/cdm4/item_viewer.php?CISOROOT=/UU_Photo_Archives&CISOPTR=14081 <TABLE border=0 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=2 align=center><TBODY><TR><FORM name=mainimage action=""><TD><INPUT value=/UU_Photo_Archives type=hidden name=CISOROOT> <INPUT value=14081 type=hidden name=CISOPTR> <INPUT value=100 type=hidden name=DMSCALE> <INPUT value=700 type=hidden name=DMWIDTH> <INPUT value=700 type=hidden name=DMHEIGHT> <INPUT value=viewer type=hidden name=DMMODE> <INPUT value=1 type=hidden name=DMFULL> <INPUT value=0 type=hidden name=DMX> <INPUT value=0 type=hidden name=DMY> <INPUT type=hidden name=DMTEXT> <INPUT value=1 type=hidden name=DMTHUMB> <INPUT value=1 type=hidden name=REC> <INPUT value=0 type=hidden name=DMROTATE> <INPUT type=hidden name=x> <INPUT type=hidden name=y> </TD></FORM></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Here's the New Jersey while I was in Korea 1953---Like you, when those 16 inchers went BOOM, the fire control guys could hit a shit house at 23 miles away!!!---Amazing!!---------------Don
That's the New Hampshire Mo. But thanks for the picture. It was the same sign just a different location. The cars are on New Hampshire ave at the intersection with East West hywy. You entered the Mo off of East West highway behind the Mo sign. In the early 60s they would chase us out after an hour or so. We would ride up to the NH Mo and park for a while and then return. They finally threw in the towel and just let us hang out inside. This Mo had no where near the cool cars that the other Mo's around town had with Queenstown being the best. Judging by the rust factor this must have been taken in the 50s.
They had an article about it in the Stars and Stripes. I think they said the whole ship would move broadside 18" in the water from the recoil of the guns when they fired the guns.
The Jalopy Journal
