Boston Ma area - Street Racing in 60's remember this car?

Also did you know Larry Little? of Coolbreeze? he passed away a number of years ago now, my dad knew him well....one of his former race cars is now campaigned by a friend of his, it is a later model say 84 Malibu Wagon...which I think now has some crazy Allston Chassis in it...I think way back Larry Little had a car named Purple Haze

 

Doesn't ring a bell with me but then again I'm terrible with names.I'm lucky I can remember my own sometimes.Don't usually forget a face or a car though.
When I was growing up most of my friends were either Irish or Italian or Irish-Italian.I was the token Methodist in the group.I was lucky;I could eat meat on Friday and didn't have to go to confession lol.It's funny but when you were into cars;what race or ethnicity you were didn't seem to matter.
One of the greatest people I ever met was a guy named Duane Taylor from Georgia.Duane was black and built some of the fastest drag bikes ever.He specialized in Triumphs and did cams and pistons and the like for them.He was up to Sanford Maine once and had two of his bikes with him.Both fuel burners than ran right near 140 in the 1/4 mile.One was a single engine bike and for the life of me I can't remember the name of it but I sure remembered the twin engined one.It was called,"the Deuce of Spades".Duane definitely had a sense of humor and was a hell of a nice guy to boot.

 

It is funny, I grew up in a pretty diverse place and most of my friends are of many different racial backgrounds...I was happy to grow up where I did and interestingly enough West Medford has a section which was predominately African American...they were in ways forced to live there, however now, a couple generations later they houses are among the most desireable around as they are big, have big yards and are just off the river.

There were and are a lot of muscle car enthusiasts in that area, sitting for years was a 396 Chevelle, 440 6 pack Charger, 428 powered 65 Mustang and many others...

I use to have a mid 12 second late model Camaro, carbureted motor etc and still remember the day the guy who owned the 440 6 pack Charger just had to come check out my car and tell me how impressed he was with it...how it sounded, looked etc.

Another car that was sitting nearby though was just moved as they are moving..brother of the guy who has the 66 Chevelle is a 6 pack Cuda.

Regardless of who and where someone is from, it is cool to make a connection through cars with people.

 

I know who he is. The 427 was in his model A Vicky. That was the car I was asking about a few pages back. That car was built by a young kid from Arlington in the late 60`s early 70`s. Originally 318 powered and Brown.
At some point a 671 blown s/b powered it. Ed got less engine and did it all over. everything he owned was that nice red color.

 

yeah, Ed only sold that a handful of years ago, that was a sick machine...he was over my dads recently, few months ago, he bought some valve covers from us for his big block Jag build....nice car I am sure, but I would have kept the 427 car!

 

Ray, The picture I posted earlier of the red sedan was dated March 68. This picture is dated Oct 69, but may have been shot a little earlier like Jan or Feb. I am guessing this may be Suffolk Downs as you mention the rows were seperated by curtains. I have several pictures with this City of Wheels placard in them...Do you know what this is about?

 

Pete requested a picture of a young Richie Willet. On the left is Joe Scribner looking like Maynard G Crebs. No ID on the next guy - Richie - Johnny Moses. Photo was from Suffolk Downs.

 

Don't know who the young ladies are but that beatnik is Richie Willet, on a trip up to Hampton Beach 1966.

 

Thanks Church!!!
He was a real lady killer back in the day...

 

Jack: I think that is Suffolk Downs but I thought the curtains were white or beige.Maybe they ran out of the others.Walter definitely owned the car then because there is no striping on it.I striped it right after Mike Stevens bought it.He owned the gas station where Brian had the second PV Speed on Salem Street in Malden.
I have no clue as to what the City of wheels reference was;it almost looks like the title of the show,Come to think of it there was a show promoter whose name was Ray Nadeau that was trying to compete with Joe Kizis and had a deal going with the guys in the Boston Area Roadsters.He had a show car that was like an old fashioned buggy and painted dark blue or purple.He did a show in Boston and one in Hartford but it was kind of a flop because Joe Kizis if I recall correctly said that anyone who competed in Ray's show would not be eligible to compete in his show.Lot of politics going on back then.
I recall one incident where Ray and his girlfriend took a bunch of us to dinner in some sleazy restaurant in East Hartford CT and his girlfriend is showing off the 5 carat diamond engagement ring he just got her.Somebody(I think it was Kelsey)said,"You better put that thing away before someone cuts off your finger for it!" East Hartford I believe was where carjacking first started.
I remember another time Kelsey and I and several others went to a pizza joint after the show and we were kind of loud and the waitress kept ignoring us.Finally when she had served another table that had come in after us Kelsey got up and walked over to the table and picked up the pizza and said,"Thank you!" and came back to our table with it and said,"Let's eat!" I think we had to make a hasty retreat with the pizza in tow. Crazy times.

 

Hi,

I have really enjoyed reading this thread having grown up in Malden and working at PV Speed in the 70's. I recognize a lot of names and know a few of the people named. I also remember some of the cars and of course some of the Bob Peavey stories having remembered going to work at the store on a Saturday morning and Bob wondering were his car was from the night before. Great stories.

 

That guy next to Richie I believe went to Malden Voke and was in the Sheet Metal shop.Can't recall his name but he looks familiar.My how we have changed over the years lol. I was talking to my cousin Dick Manley last night.He called to tell me he had been reading this thread and enjoying it to no end.He saw the pic of Bill Besarick and me in the yellow A Richie built and realized that he had taken that picture from the back of Richie's T touring before it had a seat in it.It was taken on Roue 95 on the way back from a run to Canobie Lake in 1969.He must have given Billy the picture because Bill sent it to me awhile back when he first joined the HAMB.

 

Man O MAN!! He don't look like that now! lol

 

just went to kellys..,...lets hear some street stories

 

Kelly's on the Beach or the one in Saugus? Did you have a rare roast beef and a bowl of clam chowder? Or maybe the scallop plate? What are those now;about twenty dollars?
OK if you went to the one on Route 1 in Saugus;this is a story about an impromptu race that started at Kelly's(the Red Coach Grille was there then)on the Lynn Fells Parkway and headed toward Melrose.There were four cars trying to race side by side on a road that could hold maybe three at best.Needless to say one of them went across someone's lawn full throttle and never stopped;creating some really great ruts.
I'm trying to remember all of the participants.One was Joe Moriello who had a white 60 Chevy Impala with a 283 P/G.He lived right down the street from where the race took place.Another was Dick Minasian who had a black 58 Olds 98 convertible.I think one other was Tom Martell and he was either driving his 57 Chevy or possibly a white 60 Plymouth convertible with a 361 with dual quads.The last one may have been Stan Lescowicz who had a tan and white 58 Ford Fairlane with a 352 in it.
Whatever the case it had to be one of the craziest and dangerous stunts ever.
Another even more bizarre one took place right up the street in front of Jolly Jorge's restaurant.That restaurant was started by George Verellos(sp?)who was the original owner of the Adventure Car Hop.The place was located in the southbound lane of Route 1 just past the Walnut St. overpass.That was the one that the gas truck hit in 1963 and burned so badly it had to be replaced.
Anyway there was a whole bunch of cars congregating in the parking lot that night(I think it was around 1970)and a couple of guys decided they wanted to have a race there.Today it would be impossible to do but then a couple of people drove their cars out into the road and stopped so the racers could line up.I don't even remember who was racing but traffic actually stopped and the cars took off.I think there was 3 of them all together and maybe one was a 427 Cobra;Iknow there was one there that night.
It took the cops about 5 minutes to get there and racing was terminated for the night.Don't think that ever happened again.
The story of the gas truck hitting the bridge was really bad.My cousin Dick was working at the gas station just before the overpass on the northbound side.The road there was poorly designed as it narrowed as you went under the bridge.
It was raining that day and school had just ended and a school bus had stopped under the bridge to let off several kids.What this created was basically a 4 lane road that narrowed to 3 lanes and now to 2.A guy in a brand new split window Corvette was coming up the slow lane at a high rate of speed and had just passed the gas truck(loaded with nearly 10,000 gallons of fuel)on the right when he realized the bus was directly in his path.He started to swerve into the path of the truck and apparently slammed on his brakes.The truck swerved to avoid him and hit the bridge abutment in the center strip head on;flipping the tank over and rupturing it.The tank exploded in a huge fireball.
My cousin and his boss heard the explosion and ran toward the road and saw this figure on fire come running out of the blast screaming and then fell down.They rolled him around and put out the fire but he was dead.It turned out he was the driver of the Corvette.
The driver of the school bus realized what had happened and miraculously got all the kids off the bus and to safety without any of them being injured.The driver of the truck never got out.
The fire raged for almost 5 hours before they finally got it under control.A foam truck from Logan Airport finally managed to get there through rush hour traffic.There was a big concern that the fire might ignite the gas stations on either side of the overpass but fortunately that did not happen.
The fire was so intense that the huge I beams that were in the bridge were twisted from the heat and yet when they finally were able to move the truck they found out that only the front compartment was ruptured.There was still nearly 6,000 gallons of fuel still inside!
Traffic on that road was an absolute nightmare for months because of re-routing through side roads.For those that don't know;Route 1 is a major thoroughfare from Boston and the traffic there today is unimaginably heavy.
OK I'm done.

 

Interesting stuff.
I didn't know that the guy from Jollies was involved in the Car Hop. I did some menu boards for him at Jollies. Used to drink at the little bar.

I remember the mess after the bridge fire. For a short while you had to take the Walnut street exit to Lynn, pull in the A&P parking lot turn around and come back out facing the ramp to Godfreids. Of course I was only on a bicycle but I hung around that area.

Hey, there was a speed shop in the A&P shopping center in Saugus. Those guys let me work on Saturdays cleaning the place up to pay off some baby moons I got for my Plymouth. Anyone know who they were?

Tom

 

I went to the one at the beach, roast beef mustard sauce and cheese and medium chowder...the place is damn nice now, cafe type seating, the boardwalk all done over, it is really nice!

 

You know just last year there was a similar accident near there....and unfortunately the truck driver was killed

 

Tom:I vaguely remember that shop.I'm thinking that maybe Jim Mahan was involved with it or possibly Jim Sacco from Saugus.If Jim was involved Jack Brady(Church Key)should know.

 

Bob Steele was involved with a speed shop in Saugus,in the late sixties, this might have been the place. Jim Mahan opened his first shop in 1971. Saugus Speed Center was located in a garage on Ballard St. Saugus,MA. The next year he moved to Central St in Lynn, across from City Hall, and changed the name to Automotive Parts & Performance. The following year he moved to 100 Ford St Lynn, MA. This store focused more on regular car parts and supplying service stations in addition to the speed equiptment. Next he moved across the street to his present location 45 Boston St., where he has been since about 1975. He has diversified over the years adding marine and hardware lines.

 

Jack, it was probably Steele as I believe tit was in the late 60s.
It was at the oposite end of the building that eventually had that Saugus Airport bar.

Probably see Jim at NED on the 16th. I'll have to ask him if he remembers the place.
I lettered some trucks and a couple of dragsters (Boston Racing?) for Jim over the years.

Thanks.

 

It just took me 15 glorious minutes to read that post, thanks for the run down memory lane as I am never on here. My name is Tim Trickett and I worked at PV Speed 1978 -1991 at the shop and at the warehouse on Eastern ave. I miss those days. Bostoncamaro...contact me anytime [email protected].. or FB

 

hahaha good ole Tim trickett

 

1962 Flywheels show in Braintree.

 

1962 Flywheels show in Braintree. Trying a new Polaroid at the time. Some of these pics are fading.

 

Great old pics! That roadster looks like Bill Slattery's car.The chopped El Camino I have pics of around somewhere;it was painted a blue/green flat paint with gold scallops I believe.I saw it many years later for sale in Salem or Peabody and it was in pretty sad shape then.Always liked the scoops on the rear side of the top.
Thanks for posting the pic of Ken Frederick's Iced T;I striped that in 1961 just before it was photgraphed for Hot Rod Magazine.That was one scary car.I remember sitting in the passenger's seat racing a Corvette down the Marsh Road in Lynn and we were going so fast that both of the windshields were blown straight back! Thinking back on it we had bias ply tires and no roll bar;if we had blown a tire we would both have been dead.But when you're 17,you're invincible! Yeah right.

 

who you calling old ????

 

you are a lot older than me haha