Dealer Stories" is a hoot. This is not a dealer story but one that happened I witnessed. Again like "dealer" there has to be a million out there that will make interesting reading. So I spent my early life as a shop iron worker/fabricator. Was given a helper/gofer once named "Rocky". About my age, 27/28, hardly new a tape measure from a hammer, blonde hair, looked like a "beach boy". Kinda flighty, jumpy, but did what I asked. The first week he comes in driving this stunning red '60 Caddy convert, white top,(down), brilliant white upholstery, women next to him. He gets out, she slides over and drives off. We walk into the shop, he says that's his, "ol lady". I learn through the week that he's a all around bad guy, drinking all night, chasing the hookers, sometimes hardly makes it home before he has to come in. She, the wife needs the car during the day so she takes it while he works. Well...………. I'm sitt'n out front one morning waiting to go in, he/she pull up in the caddy, entire passengers side crunched in from door to mid fender. She slides over, drives off, we walk in together. He tells me she knows nothing abut it, he didn't tell her. Says they curb park on the drivers side in front of where they live, and she will also because that's just what they do. He had her get in the drivers side that morning and slide over. So at quitting time she pulls up to the gate, passenger side to the walkout, he goes out, (I"m watch'n ), and he EXPLODES into a million pieces. Called her every name in the books, rants and raves, going to kill her, running, falling on his knees, threatens to make her walk. Turned into a raving maniac, piles in the car and floors it. Next morning,......calm as a cucumber of course and laughing how he pulled one over on her. Some time later doesn't show for work. We learn he'd been murdered, shot in the head in a bedroom doorway, answering it, killed by a husband.
Friend of mine's Dad was an insurance investigator, worked mostly auto accidents. He would come by the shop whenever his work brought him close by so he could shoot the breeze with his son. One day he comes by but doesn't come in, just waits for his son so they can go to lunch together. Later, he drops his son off and he tells us why his Dad hadn't come in to chat... He'd just had to go check out one of his accidents and they hadn't cleaned up the scene yet. Kid driving a late model Camaro (early 90's then) had gone off the road and was ejected from the car when it hit a tree. Kid landed face down on the pavement and slid a good hundred feet or more. Cops had to ID him from his driver's license and car registration; his face and most of his upper torso had been ground off by the blacktop. Wear your damn seatbelt, Robert; wear your god damn seatbelt, was all he said to Robert that day.
I agree Beanscoot. As the OP was to post car stories from common folk instead of dealers. My mention of the shooting was only meat as a side light.
I was on the wreck roster when I was towing and I'd get those 4 am calls... no thanks. I was responsible for the mess outside of the cars and thankfully not the mess inside the cars.
So I'm a body frame man but also do so mechanical work at home on side had guy bring in a off topic Ford truck had cracked exhaust manifold and leaking head gasket told him and his mom to just put a reman engine in they insist on head gasket so we did it pulled cab did the heads ... About three weeks later kid brings it back knocking says we messed it up check the oil two quarts low check the filter it had been changed we only use one brand he had knocked filter off somehow put one on it another brand then it started knocking we said sorry buddy not our problem. We also ran a towing business. Got a call from county sheriff's about burnt out vehicle over embankment pull up it's a Ford truck get back to shop it's the above mentioned truck. One month later the boy is in jail for insurance fraud Sent from my Pixel 2 using The H.A.M.B. mobile app
Hello, We were simple surfers on a week long surf trip to Baja. We hit all of the secret spots, surfed until we could not walk and ended the nights at Hussong's Cantina in Ensenada. Of course, anyone who has gone to Hussong's can testify that it gets a little rowdy with more worms eaten from the drinks. Since it was a short drive back to the surf spot, there was always a designated driver, even in Baja. But this one Thursday, into Friday night, we saw a flashy new Jaguar XKE roadster driving fast through the streets in front of Hussongs. Looking at them reminded us of a bunch of college kids just messing around. They came into the place and proceeded to down several more drinks. They were on vacation from the Midwest as they told everyone in Hussong's. This was Thursday night. On Friday night, they did the same. We were winding down as the 4 plus hour driving trip back home was upon us for an early Saturday morning. So, after a rousing morning session at San Miguel and 3Ms, we hit the road for Long Beach. After having to go back into Ensenada to get some travel supplies, we saw the Jaguar driving erratically again. But, we took care of business and were on the road to the border. Jnaki About 1/2 way to the border, on a curvy bend on the road, the 1961 XKE Roadster comes flying up on the two of our caravan cars/vans. The traffic was coming against us, so the stupid driver of the XKE went on the dirt shoulder to pass two cars/vans. Of course...what an idiot move. So, after a few more minutes of driving, we see a huge cloud of dust up ahead. As we approached the dust cloud, no one was around. The Jag was also not on the road, but in a ditch, upside down. There was one body farther up in the ditch and another a few step beyond. My brother and his friend found the bodies while we were looking at the wrecked, upside down Jaguar XKE. When we approached the bodies, we recognized the first one as one of the Midwest guys driving fast in Ensenada the night before. My brother and his friend kept us from going to the other body... Later, on the road home, we found out that the other one had no head and the older guys kept us younger guys from such a gruesome sight. So, we lost one of our towels to that head coverage. Of course, there were no cell phones of any kind (or any means of communication) and we had to wait for someone driving back to Ensenada to get the authorities. It was a long wait for the whole thing to get settled after the "Federales" finished and we were back on the road home again.
I can give a couple stories of insurance fraud. One, a fellow stuffed a gasoline soaked rag into the filler neck of his pickup, lit it, walked away, and called his insurance man. The adjuster came, and was directed to the location of the pickup (on a farm). He found a nice Chevy truck with a burnt rag sticking out of the filler neck. Two, a local kid bought a fairly new Trans Am back in the late eighties. He found the insurance payments to be much higher than the car payments. Solution? He put a gallon can of gas inside, lit it on fire, and shut the door. He walked a couple miles and turned it in. It was a mess, but it put itself out. I still get a chuckle when I recall that one.
I have 2 one I guy in high school took his dads jeep 4x4 ink and got it stuck to scared to tell dad what he did so reported it stolen a week goes by and he calls the cops to tell them “ he found it” long story short he was called a lier and cried !! 2nd was a customer at jag he bought an xjs for 5 grand and insurance was 10 grand a year He tried ti light the gas tank on fire by tossing matches at it it did light but didn’t burn the car down. He did this in our parking lot at work, we come in in the morning see the side of the car is blackened but nothing really burned, go look and see about a 1/2 book of burnt out matches by the filler. Kid and his dad come to the shop the kid got the biggest ass whoopin’ I have ever seen !!
The original sign says Stanley’s Dinners, but the locals and traveling surfers knew it as “Stanley’s Diner.” Well known for great food, the over the water views and excellent surf, able to be seen from the diner… It was a landmark diner with views of the waves coming right at the shoreline. Having breakfast, lunch or dinner with not just an ocean view, but right on top of the surf break. it was possible to wave to your friends out in the water surfing those nice waves. If the local folks knew your car, station wagon or a funky Ford Sedan Delivery, then they knew you were surfing out in the nice waves Later on, if it was a Red 65 El Camino, then we were stopped for a nice "over the water" dinner at Stanley's. That later scene was when my wife and I drove up or down the highway during our 1966-69 coastal road trips to the S.F. Bay Area. Hello, If you have ever been on a drive up the coast from LA to Santa Barbara, you have witnessed one of the best all time drives. If you have taken this drive before 1970, you have passed our favorite restaurant site many times over. It is gone now, but when you get to the Seacliff Drive exit, it was right here on the coastal shoreline. The oil companies were greedy and would not allow the freeway to go onto their property. So, the interchange got moved closer the ocean shoreline and Stanley’s Diner was torn down. The view from the diner's windows seating arrangement. We used to stop here on our way up to surf Rincon and elsewhere up the coast. The reef made such a great break and it was a venue for all of the locals inside the restaurant to “check out the surfers.” The waves were outstanding and ones to remember. The food at the restaurant was also very good. This was the first of many mandatory stops on the way to or from Rincon on this part of the coast. First it was Stanley’s, then Mussel Shoals and the motel, (there were two sets of oil piers, but they got removed later.) Finally, Rincon.. We spent countless hours at Rincon. But, even on the way home, if one of those coastal spots just South of Rincon was breaking, we paddled out to partake in the afternoon glass off waves... The site was known to customers, beach goers and surfers as Stanley's Diner. One time during one of our 1967-68 drives up to San Francisco, my wife and I stopped for a sunset dinner. We did not have far to go to the city of Santa Barbara sleep over, so, a nice dinner/view was on the menu...pun intended. If you have never seen a Santa Barbara “evening glass -off” with a good swell running. I am sorry, but, as the saying goes… "you missed it." The steaks and sides made this a perfect early dinner venue. Even in the late night, you could see the waves breaking outside coming toward the diner. The surf was never the same again as tons of rocks were dumped on the break for the freeway off ramp. So, the next time you cruise north up to Ventura or Santa Barbara for the hot rod gatherings, please remember Stanley’s Diner… Stanley's was demolished in 1971 making way for the Seacliff 101 Freeway off ramp. Jnaki “Stanley's Diner sat on old PCH Highway 1, 10 miles north of the city of Ventura California, built in the day that Hwy 1 was the only route up the beach from Ventura to Santa Barbara. The Diner was founded in the mid 40's by the Barber Brothers, Mervil and Stanley. "Stanley" was the cook and his brother Mervil was the bartender. Stanley abandoned the venture, leaving brother Mervil to operate the Diner. Mervil was surfer friendly, often letting surf contest organizers use electricity for PA systems. This place was such a landmark in the 60's, that directions often included it (i.e. "go north of Stanley's" or "1/2 a mile south of Stanley's.” “Stanley's was situated between two creeks that emptied sediment onto a system of cobble stones and oil pier remnants. The resulting sand bars produced excellent summer time surf. Protected by an extensive offshore kelp bed, afternoon wind swells coming down the Santa Barbara Channel were groomed into perfect peaks that spun into walls of glass. Chapters could be written about the antics that occurred in the Oil Company owned parking lot. On any summer afternoon you could find yourself having fun alongside many of the great surfers of the era. Lost to Hwy 101 in 1971, Stanley's has become a local symbol of coastal destruction from freeways and harbors.“ The beach, waves and ecosystem were destroyed by the overpass. Boulders were dropped into the surf creating the elevated 101 Freeway ramps driven on today. The majority of folks driving on the elevated freeway just zip by this local historic spot as if the roadway was always this way. A little history goes a long way... YRMV
Stopped by a small private stash of Shtuff one day years ago. Interested in some big B body brakes for my '65 Chevelle SS. Way off in the pasture I spot what looks like a coupe cut down into a ragtop. "Whats that" I say. A BIG "NOT FOR SALE" Story goes his uncle was murdered in it some 50-60 years ago. Wasnt a cut down coupe, but a '48 Hudson Convert. It is still there.
Many Many moons ago a guy I worked for had a neat, but foreign, coupe. It was sporty and fun but expensive to own. One morning he told his wife that she had to drive him to work in his car. About 1/2 way there on a very busy highway he pulled out his lighter fluid and squirted it under the dashboard. He lit it while she was driving and freaking out. They pulled over in the breakdown lane and it burned to the ground. Lots of witnesses, no problem with the insurance company
The Jalopy Journal
