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Hot Rod Grannies

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by Speedy Canuck, Apr 26, 2011.

  1. A lot of the guys and girls on here have stories about how someone, usually your father or grandfather, got you in to cars and hot rods. I think we're still blessed to have a few hot rodders from the 50s and 60s as well. But all these great stories about fathers/grandfathers that were hot rodding/customizing/racing in the 40s, 50s and 60s got me thinking... Does anyone have any stories about hot rod mothers or grandmothers? Maybe your grandma spent her weekends at the track, or your mother was always hopping up her grocery getter, whatever! If there's any stories out there, I'd love to hear em!

    (I did a search on this and didn't find anything, but if there's already a thread, please direct me.)
     
  2. I think the most fun story was when I was in gramer school. My dads shop owned a big block AC Cobra that my mom auto crossed. It also saw pikes peak once and get raced in about any venue it was able to. Good promotion for the Ol' man's speed shop.
    Anyway I degress.
    I had to go to the doctor and my mom came to the school to get me in the Cobra. The Ol' Man had changed the clutch and didn't tell her. She evidently did Ok on the way to the school, but whe we climbed in to leave for the doctor she gassed it too hard and her foot slipped off the clutch. We did a couple of 360s in front of the school and then she got it stopped and motored off like nothing ever happened.

    The Ol' Man was waiting when we arrived at the Docs office. I guess the school called him. I recall that there was conversation in the parking lot and when we left it was in the Ol' Man's roadster.

    That should get the ball rolling for you.
     
  3. I have told this before. It was when I was a toddler and mom was a young mom, not the awesome grandma she is today. I needed diapers and formula but dad was at work. The only thing in the driveway was dads factory backed F85. Four speed, slicks, paper plates in the windows. Mom being a farmgirl could drive a manual since she was a girl jumped in while my grandma watched me. It seems some dude in a Chevelle tried to start shit with mom on her way home. The outcome was greenlight drops, mom launches at 6k+, pulls wheels (in front of dads buddies gas station) and shuts the guy down. Took us 30 or more years to get her to admit it ;)
     
  4. LMFAO!! HARD!:D:D:D Sounds like something my Grandma would do!
    Scot
     

  5. My mother was a terror in g and h stock in the late 70's. 90% of my baby pictures are in the pits somewhere. Dad raced open wheel cars and mom raced autocross so we were always at a race somewhere or in the garage TOGETHER. Took my drivers test in a 64 L84 corvette with a 4 speed and side pipes that was moms. Driving examiner was rather surprised! My wife and I took a cue from my mother and father. Most of the time I'm in the shop the wife and my son are with me.

    I think I have some pictures scanned around here somewhere.....
     
  6. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 18,829

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    my Grandmother drove a Model T into a ditch some time around 1925 and never drove again.
     
  7. Not exactly a true Hot Rodder, but a now deceased older lady from my church was a real pistol. Her name was Rosalee. She left this world at 86. She showed me some pictures of her pulling an engine from her Blazer when in her early 80's, mind you, and replacing it! She was known for her lead foot as well. Once, while coming to church she got pulled over for speeding. It was on U.S. 68. She went to court, the story goes, and told the Judge she thought the U.S.68 sign was the speed limit! In which he replyed, that it was a good thing she was not on the road our church is located, which was St. Rte. 125!!
     
  8. Mr48chev
    Joined: Dec 28, 2007
    Posts: 33,861

    Mr48chev
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    LOL my grandmother never got on the track with a car and never had a car that she might get in a street race with but even with her stock 54 Chevy sedan we got places a lot quicker with her driving than we did if my grandfather was driving. Plus she could cut the corners on the street going to the swiming pool pretty good and give us kids a bit of a thrill. My mom who is 84 could and still can drive anything with wheels on it and used to get in a few stoplight goes in her day.
     
  9. haha great stories so far!

    Porknbeaner - I imagine it was a little more than just a conversation in the parking lot... :p

    And Tman, glad she's finally out of denial. What a great story!

    I don't really have any stories, as my mom never had a chance to get into any sort of car scene, but she sure does love dropping in at car shows and visiting me in the garage. She learned to drive in a '69 Firebird (which is mine now) so every once in a while I let her drive it for the day.

    Last summer, I took her out for a cruise, that is, my mom, in the Firebird, and she had to drop something off at a friend of her's house. Well that friend lives out in the country, but the main road had JUST been repaved. So as we're leaving, I pull out onto the road, stop, put one foot on the brake and get on it. Once the smoke cleared, she had a grin a mile wide. :D Good memory of mine.
     
  10. tommyganly
    Joined: Feb 4, 2011
    Posts: 76

    tommyganly
    Member
    from seaford de

    My aunt drag raced all the time with my father. She was the fastest on Long Island with her 63 Starliner back then.
     
  11. My mom had a '66 mustang coupe with a healthy 289 for a while when I was a senior in high school. I never saw her drive it over 50mph! She would never let me borrow it either.:(
     
  12. dallasdrifter
    Joined: Apr 7, 2011
    Posts: 72

    dallasdrifter
    Member
    from dallas tx

    My grandma was a bad ass before she got married. In the 40's, she out ran the cops in some ford truck that had a flathead 8(3 speed of course). I won't mention how old she was. She must have been a bettie or something, because she still dresses like a greaser chick(rolled up jeans,blouse, bandana around the head) and is mean as shit.
     
  13. dallasdrifter
    Joined: Apr 7, 2011
    Posts: 72

    dallasdrifter
    Member
    from dallas tx

    Also, my mom had a 73 gran prix with a 400, 4 barrell, 3 speed hurst. this was her first car. She raced anybody on the street that challenged her. Maybe that's why she liked my dad(his second car was a 71 camaro with midnight blue with flake).
     
  14. olcurmdgeon
    Joined: Dec 15, 2007
    Posts: 2,289

    olcurmdgeon
    Member

    My partner in the louver works had a chopped and channeled '32 pickup with a nailhead Buick in it when he was in high school. His mom was one of the school "lunch ladies" and she drove the truck to and from work occasionally. He told me she thought it was great!
     
  15. When my Uncle Mike was drafted in 1970 he left his car for my grandma to drive, a 1963 Falcon Futura with a built 289 hypo motor and a 4 speed, white with a cobbed webbed hood and cheater slicks. When I had my temporary license I spent as much time behind the wheel with her as I could. My grandfather had passed when my uncles were very young and over the years my high performance grand ma B drove everything her boys owned from my Uncle Jerrys 56 belair Dragin Dino 2 drag car to my uncle Dans 64 biscayne complete with a built small block and 2 four barrels to work at my mothers upholstery shop. She could bang the gears on a 4 speed car with the best of em. I called her my High Performance Grandma right up until she passed away in her late 80s. Rest in peace Grandma B.........................
     
    Last edited: Apr 26, 2011
  16. Rickybop
    Joined: May 23, 2008
    Posts: 9,606

    Rickybop
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    LOL...love it. Every story brings a smile.

    I've got one similar to porknbeaner's. It was 1969...my dad's brother, Uncle Craig, had a 1968 Dodge Charger RT 440 magnum...bananna yellow...white interior and top. My mom borrowed it from him one day, and had a few of us kids in the car. My mom is no hot rodder...5' tall, 100lbs, mother of ten. But at the time, she had been driving a Volkswagon bus, full of us kids. Driving that loaded bus, with the poor old 4 cylinder engine, she was used to basically flooring it off the line. You can imagine my pleasant surprise, when taking off from a stop-sign, she without thinking, did the same in the Charger. Heehee...lit 'em up pretty good!
     
  17. caseyscustoms
    Joined: May 15, 2005
    Posts: 1,031

    caseyscustoms
    BANNED
    from st.joe, MO

    i got a funny story, my grandma has only had one ticket her whole life and it was for drag racing...

    my granpa had a new 56 chevy convertible, and was letting her drive the new car around town and they saw one of their friends at a stop light. grandpa told grandma to floor it and leave his ass in the dirt....

    well one thing lead to another and there happened to be a cop about a 1/4 mile down the road. grandma was going like 70 in a 35. she kept the ticket and shows it off every now and then. lol

    they both said the cop was shocked all to hell seeing a little blonde girl behind the wheel when he pulled them over. hahaha
     
  18. Slick Willy
    Joined: Aug 3, 2008
    Posts: 3,053

    Slick Willy
    Member

    Ive posted this pic before but this is my grandma, she was a little older than the wartime hotrodders but was a little bit of an auto daredevil! This pic was taken as she was getting ready to leave on a cross country trip in 1927!
    [​IMG]
     
  19. Jimmy2car
    Joined: Nov 26, 2003
    Posts: 1,707

    Jimmy2car
    Member
    from No. Cal

    My Dad died in 96. Shortly afterward, my Mom wanted a new car, cuz she didn't like my Dad's Buick. Down she goes to the BMW dealer and buys a new 97 328 IS convertible. Nice car. A few weeks later, she's complaining that the new car has a beeping sound occasionally and it's driving her nuts. Back to the dealer she goes, with no solution to be had. A month or so later, I'm down visiting her and she wants to go to the Navy Base for some shopping. On the way, the beeping starts. I look over and notice the speed is 80 mph. This car has a settable notification and it was set for 80.
    Mom just gave up driving at the end of March. She'll be 99 in October
     
  20. When my kids were little, my mom was taking them for a ride to town in her 92 Cadillac. At the stop light in town my youngest son asked grandma if her car can squeal the tires. When the light turned green she lit em up a little and put smiles on both of my kids faces.
     
  21. k-member
    Joined: May 25, 2002
    Posts: 2,114

    k-member
    Member

    Here is my Grannie sitting in my late unkl Bob's T out of the Portland area.
     

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  22. hahaha what a good story. I just picture blonde hair and a grin as she looks up at the cop.
     

  23. Great story man, I can just see this happening!
     
  24. hotrodladycrusr
    Joined: Sep 20, 2002
    Posts: 20,765

    hotrodladycrusr
    Member

    All of them are wonderful stories. I enjoied every single one. Looking forwarded to reading more.:cool:
     
  25. Muttley
    Joined: Nov 30, 2003
    Posts: 18,500

    Muttley
    Member

    I hear this old lady knows a little something about racing.

    [​IMG]
     
  26. old_dan
    Joined: Nov 16, 2010
    Posts: 46

    old_dan
    Member

    Well...not really my granny, but this was the wife of one of my co-workers (Joe) who is no longer with us. While discussing learning to drive, Joe mentioned that he never thought that people who learned to drive late in life would ever really be as good as someone who learned at a young age. Joe would say "take my wife for example"....

    He went on to say that his wife learned to drive when their youngest daughter moved away to go to college in 1970. Sue took driving lessons and passed her driving test at the DMV on the first try. She was so proud that she immediately went out and bought a brand new car....an Olds 442 (yes...with the 455).

    One afternoon Sue called Joe to say that she thought the service department at the Olds dealer might be pulling her chain. Joe asked asked her about the problem. She explained that she thought the car was making a funny noise when she accellerated away from signal lights, so the service manager went for a ride with her. She told him that often, when she accellerates, the rear wheels smoke and spin. The service manager politely explianed that she could depress the accellerator a little more gently and the problem probably wouldn't happen again.

    Joe, with a straight face, told her to give it a try for a while to see if it helped. Joe got a laugh trying to imagine what the mechanics at the dealership were saying.

    Dan
     
  27. sbin
    Joined: Mar 30, 2011
    Posts: 100

    sbin
    Member

    My grandfather was an Irish immigrant that started working in steel mills at 16 y/o.He always bought the fastest convertible available at the time every other year.My mother got his top of the line bright Red 1957 convertible Chevy belair v8 manual when she was 16.She drove that until trading it in on a sedan when I was born.
    Years latter at 14 I brought home a pristine 1969 GTO for $100 23k miles no engine or tranny with paper route money.My mother teased me often for buying a car without a motor {what are you going to do sit in it and make car noises} until I got the car running 6 months before my 16th birthday.
    Even though she was driving a 1968 Oldsmobile 88 convertible with a 455 rocket she would take my GTO for trips around town, used to make me crazy as a 16-17 y/o!
    Years later she apologised for taking off with my car now and again explaining that she would get tired of driving around with a car load of kids and liked to cruise around alone in a hot rod for a while like she did in high school.:D
    Now that I have kids from 21 to 5 y/o I can appreciate much more exactly what she was talking about!
     
  28. Mike VV
    Joined: Sep 28, 2010
    Posts: 3,029

    Mike VV
    Member
    from SoCal

    If you don't mind mom's, who was a grandmother at the time (about 1989 or 90)..?

    My brother and I put together a mild hot rod, 70 Monte Carlo for our mom. I did the mechanical stuff and my brother did the interior and paint.

    While the engine WAS a low buck 454, I did the best I could with what I had...which included porting the heads and a few Edelbrock parts, a nice exhaust sytem, etc.

    There is a coupla stories but the best -

    Remember when your mom (or dad) cought you doing something you weren't supposed to be doing..? And you just sat there looking like the proverbial "deer in the head lights"..? Well, that's what I cought my mom with.

    According to my brother, who was sitting to the right (90 degrees accross the intersection) of my mom while at a signal.
    She and a guy in a Pontiac Fire Bird were sitting as the lead pair. When the light turned green, they took off..."with gusto" as they say.. No tire burning, but close per my brother.
    This is where my brother lost sight of them. On to mom's part of the story.

    I called mom a coupla nights later and asked about her beating on my engine...silence...! I said..."well, I hear you were racing that big beast of yours"? Silence... "Wha-da-ya mean" was her comment.

    Finally fessing up -
    Her car wasn't by any means loud, but it had a nice rumble out the tail pipe. The guy in the Fire Bird was "apparently" playing with mom for the last few blocks. She said by the way the guy and his car were acting, she was pretty sure she could beat him.
    To the intersection...(where youngest son watched!), she decided to give it a try. She hit the throttle hard but not to the floor, she said just a little tire squeal botherd her, so she just left the pedal there, across the intersection ahead by about a half a car. A few more car lengths and she was ahead by a full car length, so she slowed and just ran the speed limit.
    The guy cought her...didn't even look at her, she said...just passed on by and kept going.

    You could tell she had fun the way she explained the whole thing..!

    That's my story..

    Mike
     
    Last edited: Apr 27, 2011
  29. Deuces
    Joined: Nov 3, 2009
    Posts: 23,756

    Deuces

    I wonder if she still has her shiny red Super/Stock Dodge in that rickety old garage of hers... :rolleyes: :D
     
  30. Sylvia Braddick, from Vancouver, BC, drag raced a Pontiac GTO and then a wheelstander Dodge pick up in the late 1960s into the 1970s. She is still involved in motorsport. Has a grand daughter who is racing a junior dragster at Mission Raceway. (I know Sylvia is registered here at HAMB, but I don't think she posts much.)
     

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