We used to wear out our welcome in a very short time. Toward the end of it all we started racing much farther south, and on weekdays to boot! The Teamsters were picketing the "Farmer Jack" grocery stores and there was 1 on the corner of King Rd and Fort. Big parking lot with a nice tree line that actually hid us from normal view, and on the southbound side. We'd race on the northbound side and run across the street to watch then run back. After 1/2 dozen "rounds" of racing the cops do a drive-by. Never one to be shy, Mario grabs some of the extra picket signs and says, "Hey, we'll help ya!" to the picketers. As soon as the 2 cars come back we urge them to park and grab a sign. Cops roll by again to find 6 picketers instead of the original 2! What could they say? Another night, same spot, more racing, the local cops were wise to us. Several bushes and trees in the median, when they rolled up a bunch of us hid in the trees like little kids. That guy didn't know what to think when he came back to find nobody racing and nobody in the parking lot! When he left we high-tailed outta there and that was just about the last time. Then we morphed into Hall Rd next to the Mazda plant. Awesome racing spot, but damn if we didn't wear that one out too. A couple years later there was a bad accident as a result of some youthful racers deciding to make a run for it. I'd have to ask for full detail again as I wasn't there that night, but one of the passengers was hospitalized and never street raced again. Just a kid really, maybe 15-17yrs younger than I. I remember being fairly pissed at the ignorance of those 3. I found out years later that one of those "kids" is one of my dearest friends today. Still a very active racer...on the track. They don't all end up as bad news.
any oldtimers here that used to hang out at Bray's in westland, corse back then it would be nankin township. late 50s ..
Wow, that WAS a long time ago. That woulda been my dear departed Dad's time. He used to love telling the story about Psetto Pastoian (sp?) racing his roadster here n there around Motown and that it was the fastest car in the whole area. That is until one night some California "rich kid" shows up in a custom Buick to call him out. The Buick left slow but wound up so fast and blew by Psetto's roadster like he'd hit the brakes. When he came back he opened the hood to reveal an Offy hooked up to a Dynaflow! Dad said it looked like peanut in a trash can but nobody could believe how fast it was. One year at Autorama Big Daddy Don was signing autographs. I got in line to bullshit with him for a minute about Motown racing and his dear friend Psetto, then related the story. He confirmed the angst felt by Pastoian getting beat by a "big ol Buick". I didn't bother with autograph, just told him I thought he'd like a good story and thanked him for his time. People who dis Detroit's foundation of cars, performance, kustoms and racing need a kick in the balls. California? Where's that...
Looks like many a neighborhood in good ole Cleveland. Hopefully, someone grabs that building and uses it for a clubhouse or something.
To all-Just got off the phone with my son who you know as H.A.M.B. member, PRDDetroit.I have'nt been on this particular thread yet but it looks interesting.I guess the apple does'nt fall far from the tree as i'm am a old Telegraph Cruiser and as you see my son followed in dear ol' Dads footsteps.Walt Jr. shows up at the Friday night cruise at the Sears shopping center at Dix and Southfield Rds on a fairly regular basis.I remember in the late 50's or early 60's going up Van Born Rd. and seeing 3 complete stock steel Fiats and a couple of Hemi engines next to Walt's.I spoke to Walt Jr. about the Fiats and he said eventually a guy bought all of them and moved them to Detroit.My Telegraph cruisin days were in the mid to late 60's.My crowd hung out at the Daly Drive-in on Telegraph near Oxford in Dearborn.In those days you could get a race all the way from Northline Rd.,in Taylor to Eight Mile Rd. both North and South on Telegraph.College Rd.,now Hubbard Drive off of Southfield and Rotunda Drive out in front of Edsel Ford High School were also popular race spots for us.
Clearspot-He sometimes has a black 62 Corvette with chrome Dayton spokes or a 68 Camaro with rare Hands real mag wheels. It's Corvette Bronze,a 68 only Camaro color,with a black vinyl top.I've been driving my son's 63 Riv up there so look for me too! I might even have the Corvette up there.This Fri June 7th there is a large car show at Detroit World Outreach at 23800 West Chicago just east of Telegraph so i won't be at Sears. Lots of awards and giveaways,GM driving experience,etc. more info at RealSteel Weekend on Facebook
Seems like nobody remembers a little drive-in on Telegraph between I-94 and Ecorse road called the Burger Box. Daly's was one of the stops, but there was an A&W on Ford rd. just east of Outer Drive where English Gardens is now. Anothe Daly's was on Beech-Daly north of Van Born, and also a Little Skipper root beer on Ecorse rd. Before Dearborn Heights was incorporated, it was just a township and had one sheriff's car in the north end and one in the south, so it was a lot safer to race Telegraph in those areas, especially the south end. If you wanted to race top end, Northwestern Highway was the place to go, and we did a fair amount of that on I-94 going to Ann Arbor and back. Eventually, I had a '63 Ford ex-Livonia cop car with a big FE engine and the pursuit handling package in it and a tall axle, so I did more top end stuff than drags then. There was a small group of us that had an interest in ex-police cars and equipment at the time.
ttpete-Your right about some of those little burger joints many forgot.We were very territorial in those days.Places like Blazo's up on Michigan right around the corner was almost like enemy territory! Daly's Dearborn just happened to have a large group of fast cars during the early to late 60's.I grew up right behind the current 50's McDonalds in the 1950's when it was Dearborn Township.Yes you could'nt hardly find a cop especially in the South end and we had one 40's Ford little pumper for fire protection,all volunteer to boot!The South end fire hall was a back service bay in Hodge's Standard at Telegraph and Lehigh.Those were the days!
You might remember Mickey Cooper. His dad had the Pure station on Van Born near the Ford Lanes bowling alley. He had some fast cars, one of which was a '64 Plymouth Max Wedge, green. There was also an engine guy name of Gonzales who worked out of his garage nearby. One that I remember from Daly's was someone who had a '57 Ford Courier panel delivery with a 427 in it. I grew up in Dearborn on Roosevelt St. near Carlysle. Still live near Cherry Hill and Telegraph. I hung with some of the Township people, and married one who lived on Campbell. Didn't last, she said one day that it was either her or the motorcycles. I'm still riding. Blazo's was owned by one of the Elias brothers who also had the Big Boy restaurants, and they kind of thought that they were better than the other drive ins. It's gone now. Daly's is now an Arby's. Do you remember a drive-in out in Nankin Twp. on Ford Rd. called Bali-Hai? We'd go out there if we could scare up enough gas for the evening. Drive in theaters. The Dearborn out on Ford Rd. is now a strip mall. Jolly Roger is long gone, as is the Ecorse where they would show soft porn once in awhile. The Ford-Wyoming I think is still operating.
ttpete & kool66 both mentioned places I used to hang in the late 60's/early 70's. Daly's on Telegraph nr. Michigan did have a lot of fast cars there but I never could get into hanging out at Blazo's. Cruised mainly between Daly's & Big Boy's on Telegraph & Plymouth rd. There were 2 Little Skippers back then. We cruised the one on Warren nr Outer Dr back then. We had 3 place we hung out at on Warren ave. Little Skippers, Daly's a few hundred feet down the road & A&W's nr. Southfield road. 3 places, all within a mile, 3 different crowds. I recall being at the Ford-Wyoming in the dead of winter one time around '71. They were showing 'Night of the Living Dead'. It was so cold and the wind was blowing so hard we had to run the heater in the car to stay warm. Right in the middle of the show all the power goes out and the screen went blank. We didn't hang around too long.
I figured out the answer to drive-in movies in the winter. I went to an army surplus store that had some of the big old horse blanket overcoats and bought the biggest one they had. I'd lay it on the seat and put my left arm in, my date would put her right arm in, and we'd button it up around us.
ttpete-I too spent many a night at the Jolly Rodger but saw few movies.The flashlight man was not too effective at preventing folks from gettin' warm! Yes i do remember Mickey Cooper's Turquoise 426 Plymouth,always on the back row by the brick wall at Daly's.The wall,which is still there, was where the hot shoes hung,getting out of the cars and shuckin and jiving having a few cocktails poured in Daly cups,just like in the movie Hollywood Knights.He's got a car lot at Pelham and Van Born Another of the top dogs in those days is also still around.His name was Earl and he drove a very fast dark Turquoise 64 Savoy.He replaced it with a silver black vinyl topped 66 Chevy Nova with a 327/350 hp engine.He was a serious money racer not just the fun runs many of us did.He sometimes comes to Sears on Friday. I still live 3 blocks off Ol' Bloody Telegraph around Carylisle in Dearborn.
Mickey's hanging it up this year. He's selling off the last of his stock. I worked for 35 years for Ford over at the engineering center, retired in '01. I mostly work with motorcycles now, vintage and modern. I restored a '67 Triumph Bonneville TT Special, and play with a Ducati 1098 that's capable of low 10s-high 9s.
To all-Wilson Barn show today,Sunday June 9.Leaving to meet my buddy with a 67 Dart 383 and drive in to Livonia.Look for the Turbine Bronze Dart with Cragars.
"The late Ed Gustky" What happened to Ed and how long has he been gone? I've moved away from the the big D. Did he still have his 69 Camaro? Last time I saw it was a beat up red color. Been to Walts several times before he closed. He was just sort of hanging out there, not selling anything.
I don't know all the details but I heard he was pretty sick and ended up in a nursing home in Ohio- I think. The Camaro got sold and I don't know if anyone knows where it is currently located. Sad.
In those days he was "the Ed Method". No flash, no bling, just raw power. He ran as he did with a 427. Before it was common our club held a street race day at Milan for Car Craft Magazine. The goal for the end of the night was 1 mile of cars heading back north to the White Castle at I-96 and Telegraph. We got really close, but again, before it was a common occurrence, Ed laid down a 9.42 (maybe a 9.44?) for the magazine shoot at the track. Nobody had a daily driver that fast, and yes, Ed drove the car back and forth to work daily in the warmer months. The last days were radical for the Detroit racing scene. Cars kept getting faster and faster, and like the old days we were car guys. No dope dealers, drunks, chronic 'too highs', just all-in racers and car people.
ttpete, I remember Mickey Cooper and his dad. His dad had a station on Telegraph first and my Dad had a lumber yard also on Telegraph. When they widened Telegraph, they took the businesses and everybody had to move. Mickey's Dad then moved to a Pure station over on Van Born. Last saw Mickey at the Autorama in 58 when he had a pink 55 Ford Conv. Custom.
I used to work at "kosin's auto parts" back in the 60's and when we had an order but didn't have the part jr would call over to "walts" we would trade or buy from walts i'd go to get the parts an spend 30 minutes looking over their hot rod till walt would tell me jr called wanting to know if I've been there yet..LOL two great people those two owners.
I probably saw you back then. Tony James and I had the Texaco at Michigan and John Daly. We were VW mechanics but did other makes, too.
Those paintings on the wall are rad. When I was a child (about 15-20 years ago) I always loved driving by this machine shop in town because they had engines or hot rods or something painted on the outside of the brick building. My best friends owns the building now for his flooring store. I'll have to ask him if he has any pictures of that wall before they painted over the cool stuff.
Not sure how I missed this the first time around, but it's definitely worth a bump back up, in case others missed it as well.
The Jalopy Journal
