History The Phone booth by the Dragway

I grew up just a few miles from Detroit Dragway. It was part of my and
my friends lives. We had no choice, we were gonna be car guys. It's
almost as if we didn't have any say in the matter. Before we were old
enough to go to the dragway ourselves, we would sit on top of my
parents garage on Saturday nights and listen to the cars leave the
line and roar down the track. History. It's what drives most of us
here. Which brings me to the phone booth. It has stood in this spot
outside this little 50's Motel for as long as I can remember. It's
less than half a mile from where the Dragway once was. With the phone
booth at your back you can see the buildings that now occupy the property.
I'm not sure how old it is but it pre dates cell phones thats for
sure. I pass it by on my way to the shop several times a week and
wonder who might have made calls from there. What cars, drivers and
crews stayed at the Motel. How cool the parking lot must have been
before and after the races. The phone itself is long gone, so is the
door. I feel bad for this in animate object. So much so that I have
tried to buy it, with no luck. I know, crazy. But the stories this
phonebooth could tell.

 

Haven't been down Sibley in quite a few years but I remember seeing the phone booth. We could hear the top fuel cars from my folks house as a kid, which my brother & I always thought was cool.

 

Maybe you could back into it with your pickup with the tailgate down and maybe it would fall into the bed.. Would look pretty cool by your shop.... Nice memory....

 

Great write Garagerat. Yeah, you can't help but wonder about the calls made by racers back before cell phones. Races won and lost. A broke racer calling home to have money wired. Hell, I'm crazy too; I'd want the booth and the entire sign in my back yard.

 

thanks. it kills me to just see it sitting there wasting away. i'm sure some racers we've all heard of have stood in it.

 

I did not think any of those phone booths were still around,they were gone along time ago around here.

 

dang lost count how many times I drove past that thing

 

im suprised its still there!

 

Hey, that booth owes me seventyfive cents! Would you mind checking around inside to see if it's there? I have stories about the Motel that I'll tell you some day when you're older.

You might try calling the phone company about the booth - maybe they just haven't figured out what to do with it yet? Anyway, please be on the lookout for three quarters (1969 at the latest). Thanks!

 

i know. its the only one i know of. i've asked the owner if i could buy it but, it really belongs to the phone company. maybe i'll ask them.

 

There ya go, good luck!

 

I think I called my Dad from that booth when i dropped the engine out of his Corvair when I sidesteped the clutch on Sibley leaving the track! Dad was not happy.

 

are you sure the owners of that old dive wont take a couple of hundy's for it and say they didnt see you
that would look bad ass in the basement at this years autorama

 

i offered him $300 for it this summer. he wouldn't take it! thats a bit pricey but if he had said yes i would have unbolted it and took it home.

 

Ya could get AT&T signs made for your truck for a lot less than $300 LOL. Oh and a set of white coveralls and hard hat, (Just kiddin)!

 

I'm glad I'm not the only one who projects soul into an inanimate object. Maybe a little bit of each person that used that booth has been left behind?

 

WoW is the only word I have, I just played that whole scenario in my head and am smiling ear to ear.

 

don't think it hasn't crossed my mind i'm not a crook though. i know i'll ride by one day and it will be gone.

 

i think it would look badass in my computer room with the rest of my car stuff,lol.

 

I have a friend in Ohio who was sub-contracted to take down ALL of the booths around Columbus and paid for it.

 

If you didn't already know it, your Avatar is Richard Ruth, builder of the Two Lane Black Top/American Graffiti '55. They gave him a cameo role in TLBT as the service station guy with the Glendale Speed T-Shirt on.

 

Me too. It is weird habit but I have always thought about objects like that.

We are not alone!!!

Hope you can find a way to get the booth, someone must know how to get it without stealing it. If you ever see a lineman working in the area maybe he could give you some direction on who to contact. I think the right contact would be critical to your quest.

 

i remember phone booths, my sisters generation not so much.. i can see superman coming out of the booth.. man how times have changed and not always for the better.. i finaly broke down and got a cell last year.. hardly use it but i do have a phone now in case of emercy.. as im a crippled... moms and sis is off my back.. so its all good.
i can remember when it only cost 10 to make a call.. and gas was .50 im 37 so thats as far back as my memory goes.

 

i will have to keep my eyes peeled for a phone company truck.

 

uh, yeah. thats why he's there.

 

As there is no phone in the booth the phone company seems to have "Abandoned in the field" the booth itself, just like they used to toss out the large wood spools that cable comes on.
Ask the hotel manager and smile alot. You might be surprised at their answer.

 

That thing is cool. Dont give up untill you get it. Leave phone numbers. Keep checken back.