Was Anyone Here Actually There?

I unfortunately feel I was born 10 years too late.....however I was lucky enough to catch the tail end of the era. I worked at a local track 68-72 when they closed the drag strip, the oval closed in 84. I saw the first 2 BOSS 429 Mustangs in NY. A ford dealer had a performance club back then. I caught the tail end of car clubs too. Saw the Hemi Darts and Cudas...NEW. Saw the new Judge come to me. There was a race car or hot rod in every gas station back then. Quite a few race cars served dual duties back then. A lot of custom cars, lots of T's still around. A great mix of new and old stuff..... I was in heaven as a kid.

 

I was just a boy. Apparently impressionable since this shit stuck. At 7 and 8 years old I spent my summers and Saturdays hangin with the ol man at his shop or in the garage. In those days I was already holding things in place while he tacked sometimes. I got to watch the welds through the glasses and sometimes the extra helmet for good ol stick welding. The most memorable rides were a 61 Ford ARCA style car, he had a 59 or 60 Ford PU with 8" custom wheels he widened and he cut his own tread in the leftover racecar tires and ran em on the road. His truck was maroon and covered in pinstripes. Shortly after he got a 59 ElCamino with a V8 and 3 on the tree. I recall in 65 he put me in the seat of his race car and fired it up. Now this was a rigid mounted 427 Ford hi-riser all done in a skeleton of 2X2 box tube and sheetmetal interior. No glass 'cept the windshield. I remember it was loud and near hurt my ears. He taught me how to release a clutch pedal and after several valiant attempts I did it. With him in the car I got to idle the thing a block up so he could fill it with fuel. Premium was really premium and he liked Gulf. After the fill up he put me on the passenger side and heads down the road. For any of the Motown locals, he hit Van Born from Southfield to Pelham Rd and down Pelham and through the back street to get it back home. About 2 miles in all at 8 years old, a full tilt 427 hi-riser with 1 seat and open exhaust, and yes he nailed some. I was both frightened and thrilled, captivated really. From that day there's been several Caddy cross-over hot rods, a roadster built with a conduit skeleton and aluminum skin, a 34 Packard, 36 and 38 Dodge PUs, yeah I guess I was there. I was mixing bondo and cleaning and rebuilding his DeVillbis MBC at 10yrs old. By the time I was 13 I painted my 1st complete. It's no wonder I ended up doin what I do. I've loved it and hated it, it's hurt me and helped me. The ups outweigh the downs 100 to 1. It truely is a way of life. I'm not ready for memories, still makin those. Was I there? I guess I never left.

 

yep,i remember crusin friday and saterday nites,wolfman-jack on the radio,bought my first car '55 2-door post 301 4-speed,chromes out back,craigers ft,in 1968 for $325,raced and drove it for 4 years till it got hit at an intersection,i fixed it and traded it to a friend for a '52 business coupe
iam 55 now and still have a '55,and a '56,and some other stuff,i refuse to grow up dammit

 

Yea they were good years. Born in 35, I'll be 74 in two weeks,I hung out with car guy and lived the hot rod life till I got marryed in 55, got out of cars in 62, divorced in 80. Now I'm living the good car life again but still miss the 50's.

 

I really didn't get into cars until 1958, when I was 12 and my dad gave me a 47 Ford convert. I traded the convert for some other parts and then got into Model A's. When I got my drivers license, at 16 in 1962, I had a mildly souped up, lowered 50 Ford 2 door sedan. I got back into Model A's in the 1970's and have had them ever since. Have had my share of fast cars and now just have fun. Been into inline cars since the mid 1980's; Chevy 6's and Model A stuff.

 

Got my first car a year and a half before I got my license. That was January '66. First learned to drive at twelve in a large cemetery in my aunt's NEW '64 Chrysler Newport. Worked in my uncle's Mobil station the same year washing cars and occasionally pumping gas. Had uncles that owned salvage yards and gas stations. My dad had little mechanical ability.

First good looking car was a '64 Mercury Parklane convertible, in '68 at the age of 16. Had a lot of freedom, came with being the only child of a single parent. Had to make the right decisions for myself. Well, kinda. Knew the inside of a lot of traffic courts back then. License should have been yanked in '69 for too many points. Never got called in for a examination though, dumb luck I guess.

Found U.S. 24 Dragway, officially Telegraph Road in '68. Spent a lot to evenings out there. Friends had a lot of nice iron, '61 Newport 383 4 speed, 55 Chevy 150 wagon, 283 .060 over with Rochester F.I., '56 Ford with a 383 Chrysler set back 10% in the passenger compartment.

My first Frankenstein was a '54 Chevy with the same 383 Chrysler in it. Used to get a lot of strange looks when a gear reduction starter would whine from a Chevy's engine compartment.

Raced motorcycles on dirt for a couple of years, '68-69. Knees still give me reminders, left one buckles ocassionally. Still ride but on pavement only. Not bad for old people, but the missus and I rode over 300 miles in ten hours labor Day Saturday, breakfast 50 miles from home, t-shirts at a H-D dealer 120 miles from there, a party 25 miles away from there. Spent four hours there, left and rode home. Started @ 11:30 A.M., arrived home 9:30 P.M. that night. Next morning encore 100 mile ride for lunch.

Rode a dirt bike for the first time in about 35 years this past summer. That was a experience.


Started in car dealerships at the tail end of the muscle car era. Still in them, have not got any smarter as time went by.....

Cars owned since have generally been restorations, nothing rodded until now.....

Recently started building another Frankenstein car, hope to have it on the road by spring. The friend with the '55 Chevy mentioned earlier is helping, feels good to spend Saturday nights in the garage again....

Does that count?

 

In the '50s, we were "economically challenged." So my dad (who seemd schooled in everything involving the HANDS and keen problem-solving skills) FIXED HIS OWN CARS. I hung on everything he did under the hood of the '38 Plymouth and '49 Chevy fastback. I guess I just got motor oil in my veins then!

 

I wasn't there, but my Uncle Gordon was in Birmingham, AL in the 1950 and 60s. Not exactly a hotbed for gearheads, but he was motivated to learn all he could, and left a couple dozen models for us little ones to gawk at years later. I hope to imitate a little 27 T roadster he built just before he died in 1961 in a motorcycle wreck. He would've been a great one to listen to, all his stories.

 

I was there, grew up in Long Beach California in the day. Was very fortunate to grow up in those times. Spent many weekends at Lions Drag Strip, Cruised Harvey's Broiler, Hung out at the Pike. Cruised Bellflower Blvd. Good Times.
Three pictures, my 56 F-100 in '62 complete with corvette tail lights, At what had become Johnies Broiler under the canapy in the 80's and in the shop recently. Hey Daveydeuce, wasn't that the Longhorn Drive in in Ballard? Thats where my current wife spilled a coke all over the seat in my "60 starliner in 1963.
We had some good times! If anyone knows Charleen, have her call me!

 

born in 1947 with a wrench in my hand ,,,, indy south side

 

YEA TONY...I was there and yes i'am 68. that was not only a different time, but a very different world. won't to know what it was like in the 50s, watch the movie american graffity. brother that's as right as it get's...POP.

 

I'll be 60 this year, got intrested in cars as a kid in the late fifties. We used to build model cars and customize them before we were old enought to drive. Liked to watch the older guys "peel out" or lay rubber with their cars, cruiser skirts-conteninal kits - curb feelers. Everyone would hangoutat the Eat 'n' Park resturant cause they had "curb service"

Those were the days when gas was $.025 per gallon and cigarettes were $.025 a pack. Started working at a Winky's drive in (like McDonalds in the 60's in western PA.) when I was 16 made $1.10 per hour.

Yes American Grafitti and Hollywood Knights are right on for the era

 

was there in the 60's.......62 chevy II with straight axle on the street....427 ...4 speed.....slicks.....o what a time it was.......

 

I was was cutting up AMC models and whacking the roofs off of them and making special body details with spackle in the 50's and looked pretty much like my Avatar. I used to have a spare Model parts box of just pieces of this and that that was 24"X24" and filled to the top. Every dime I had went into those models. In the early and mid sixties I had 55 ,56 57 Chevies, in the early 70's a 61 Falcon Gasser and then Muscle cars in Southern California. Yea, I guess I was there, but don't ask me what I did cause I can't remember

 

i just love hearing the memories /anecdotes of guys who were"there in the day" i caught the last of the "cruising" at some old portland spots in my old 1958 dodge 2d. it was an "off topic" car even back then, but there were some serious street-driven hotrods even back then. i remember a "pecking order" the coolest/hottest cars parked in the premium spots. all us "wanna bes" parked where-ever. I'm still one of the youngest members of my club(4-barrels) and it's been a priceless font of information/ help. many of the old spots are gone. but cruising will always live!

 

I was doing my first hot rod in 1960 at the age of 16.
Drag racing was more fun then. No gold chainers with 18 wheeler
support groups in the pits. Less than 5% of guys were into hot rods
then. Only the "rebels".
There was no birth control except for rubbers which no one used
If you got a girl pregnant you had to marry her or leave town forever.
Check out the following link for some "real rodding adventures and pic's :

http://hechointexas.blogspot.com/2009/12/dragging-in-dallas-texas-1960.html

Enjoy!
MickeyD

 

Yep---I was there, Canadian style. Joined the Belleville, Ontario, Road Angels in 1965, and did the whole hotrod thing, and loved it. Met two of the greatest guys ever, Carm Nobes and Huck Flindall (who at the time were I believe president and vice president) of the Road Angels. We might not have been up to California standards, but I can still remember cruising down Front St and up to the A&W and back up Pinnacle St. and up to the "Leaky Bird" (Fountain Park Restruant) on North Front street----Any old Belleville guys hang out on here?----and yes, I'm 63---Brian Rupnow.

 

I was never there But my Dad was and he is now 71 and I just love to sit on the back porch and let him tell his story's to me, I'm only 40. I love the one where he parked his 427 vette and bought a small block vette cuz gas was getting to high. this was like 72 maybe. Just saying take time to sit back with Dad and listen for once.

 

Rockin' thread. 5 Stars.
Too young!

 

Was in high school in the 60's in Kansas City, Kansas. Use to go to the drag strip on the Missouri side, 1.00 a car load friday nights was a gas.
Everyone parking their cars down the sides of the track for light, flag man (did it myself a couple of times, nothing like two cars roaring by you in a cloud of smoke), one cop for security. Have to say some of the best times of my life.

 

Hey ragtop i was right there with you in the '60's........ Who knows we might even have parked side by side at Harvey's, or got caught in the traffic jam heading down Bellflower Blvd. Burned up a lot of cheap gas driving bewteen those two places.. Some of the best times of my life.........

 

Fins,fenderskirts and lakepipes...4-bar flipper hubcaps, spinner knobs and fuzzy dice..
the time before mag wheels....AM radio!!....and the wolfman..enough said

 

grad "69" lakewood socal.56chev sb 4spd too much fun

 

I was a kid in the 60s but my 2 older brothers were already driving by 1964-65 and my Dad was from the 40s and 50s so I learned alot about those times from them.

 

Remember when cook and Bedwell went to hawaii and set the land speed record for the island

 

Can't hold a candle to many but crewed a altered flat head in 55 in central ca. My first car was a 49 dodge wayfare convert. Ended up with a 10" windshield carson top dual 97's and split straight pipes. got back into drags in 69 at OCRW 340 Duster GSA. Now have 41 Packard restrod, 38 Chev 2 dr sedan.

These are the only pictures I have lost most of them in a move.

 

Ya I was there and I sure don,t remember seeing all those cool paint jobs everybody talks about most of us could not afford what we had the guys with the paint jobs were rich kids or worked at body shops lots of spray can primer and painted wheels ,hell my first cromies only came 2 at a time thats all I could afford but we sure could dream, yup putting in trans and clutches in the street some times in the winter and card board creepers bumper jacks and wood blocks cherry pickers ya right, block and tackle with what ever we could hang it from that was how it was and we worked with what ever we had .........or could scrounge up save all week so we could drive all the way out to the drag strip on sun oh those were the days

 

How many of you houston guys remember motor reco on pierce street
long before i-45. Deucemanab

 

A different perspective...

After making it through the depression and WWII, a lot of parents wanted their children to have everything they were never able to have -- which didn't include the golden age of car culture...

The rise of the "Juvenile Delinquents" and their "Hot Rods"...

The "Hot Rod Movies" -- and more juvenile delinquents...

"Hot Rod" magazine - the title of that magazine terrified a lot of parents...

"Elvis on the Sullivan show -- you can't be allowed to see it even if they only show him from the waist up!" (you would be instantly corrupted...)

Those parents really knew what was going on...

"The reason you want to go to the races is so you can see death!"

"The reason you want to go to the races is so you can gamble!"

"If there is an old car in the driveway, people will think we're poor!"

"Don't you understand - if you graduate from college, you can pay somebody to work on your car!!!"

You had to find a way around all that stuff...