History Things that wear you out, in a good way

Like this one I picked up yesterday? Bob

 

Hello,

In 1958, I did not have a driver’s license, but was heavily involved in doing mechanical things to my brother’s new 58 Impala. If I wanted to go somewhere or tag along with him, I had certain chores to finish before I was able to do those things. Take me to a school function, I had to wash his car. Let me tag along to the beach, I had to wash and wax his car. So on and on, etc. He always said…”Sure, but, first, you have to …”

Secretly, he was told by my mother that he had to take me places, since she did not drive. So, she told him that the condition of some $$$help in buying the new 58 Impala was to take me where I needed to be, whether it was to a school function or ??? That was made clear to him by my dad, too. I did not know this until 20 years later !!! I always thought he was a nice older brother…ha! But, all of these 59 years later, every time I think of the process I had to do from 1958 to early 1960 almost every single week, makes me want to take a long nap.

My brother started drag racing his 58 Chevy Impala weekly at Lions Dragstrip. His stock Impala had 4:11 rear gears in place. His times were good enough for several trophies for winning the A/Stock car class. But, he knew he could beat a lot more cars if he had a better rear gear ratio. So he saved up enough money from his job to buy a complete 4:56 gear ratio 3rd member for the Impala



He changed the complete 3rd member several times with me watching and being the “go-fer.” At the time, I thought it was fun to help out. I was actually doing mechanical work on the car. Being as smart as he was, my brother “allowed” me to do more prep work on the Impala. Jack up the car, put in the wheel blocks, jack stands, remove the wheels, go for the axle puller, all were now common occurrences weekly. When it got time to go under the car, he still did the ratchet work on the multiple nuts and bolts. But, I was the rolling hydraulic jack person to ease out the 3rd member each time. After a few weeks, I took over the whole process by myself as a thing I had to do to get taken to the weekly school dances and parties. My brother sure knew how to work that system…

This happened every Thursday night, so the Impala was ready for the Friday night drive in restaurant cruise and races. Then on Saturday, spend all day at Lions Dragstrip. On Sunday afternoon, I started the reverse process all over again and again. (Yes, it has been told to me that changing those gears plus the time and energy it took was wasted on a measly .50 second and a few mph on the top end. It might be true, but that shiny trophy always trumped any inconvenience along the way.)

Jnaki

I do get tired just thinking of that weekly happening crawling under that Impala on a cold Thursday night. That concrete driveway pad was not my friend, even with an old, warm, thick, comforter between me and the cold. But, as a car crazy teenager that wanted to know everything possible about taking care of cars and making them go fast, this was absolutely fun ! But, I am starting to fall asleep just typing this tiring story…

 

What it must have been like to be this guy!
This picture has been wearing me out for years!
Timeless cool!

 

Yep I been building a new dog fence and it has all but whupped my ass.

@theHIGHLANDER I feel ya. Nothing better than knowing exactly when something when a cool piece was manufactured. I hope you didn't clean the inspectors marks off of it.

Well here's a new one for ya to get wore out by.

 

I got one just like it, it's my shop vac, been in the family close to 50 years, heavy and noisy, wears me out every time I use it but it works good.
I vaguely recall the day the salesman talked my dad into buying it, now I know why my mom hated it, it's a tank.