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History Who else remembers just buying an old hooptie and

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by porknbeaner, Dec 20, 2019.

  1. I can't place it Clik but I think we all had beaters in those days. Funny story though, we lived in a cool place growing up. Not so much now unfortunately.
     
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  2. Well I have spent time on the right coast but I am actually a left coaster (not politically of course LOL). Hoopie is actually a middle of the country thing. I often forget that many people have not lived around. Sorry.

    @DDDenny for you and me an old hooptie would have been a '56 Plymouth or Ford. Solid 10 or 15 year old heap. Unless of course we were not a hood then it would have been a Rich kids car like a tri five chebby of the like.

    We drug a '63 Impala Hard Top home from the coast with a clapped out '62 Impala more door once and spent a long night (and a case of Oly) switching the drive train over from the more door to the hard top. The hard top had dual exhaust and a 4 bbl and intake in the trunk. So it ended up with the 4bbl which mad the 283 a hot rod.
     
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  3. This one? I think I know that guy. LOL

    [​IMG]
     
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  4. Yes I had them $35 cars. one was a 62 galaxie. no engine. stick trans 355 rear gears. I installed a 352 FE and for some reason the lever on the trans that operated second and third was upside down( I think exhaust pipe location ) the collum shift was up in second gear position when in third. I was passing someone going about 110 MPH. My passenger buddy pointed to the shifter as we went around. You could see those guys exclaim he is only in second gear. back then no insurance required. only needed a inspection . and I could get anything inspected. We only had three city cops. a sheriff and one deputy and one state police and he had three countys to patrol. With a CB radio we always knew where they where at. The sheriff & deputy had a 64 chevy more door squad car. 283 two bbl powerglide. easy to out run. Someone said aint you afraid he will get your licence number? I stated not unless he has X ray vision . The plates where laying in the back floorboards. Only one thing back then If you where a Teen really quiet mufflers where a must have. The cops excelled at writing defective exhaust tickets. Glasspacks where cop calling sterieos. A burnt out donut gasket would get you a ticket. Now the motorcycles have made it so the cops don't worry about loud exhaust. Back in 68 a guy bought a brand new roadrunner. And his son got a ticket for the new factory exhaust being too loud.
     
  5. wicarnut
    Joined: Oct 29, 2009
    Posts: 9,052

    wicarnut
    Member

    Porknbeaner, Back in the day, started driving 1964, anything I owned could have been called a "Hooptie" we did not have that expression in Milwaukee Wisconsin. I usually referred to my rides as my "Junk". Us kids that had cars, had jobs, no rich kids in our neighborhood, working class people, great neighborhood, now you cannot go where I grew up, sadly 1/2+ of the city is shit now, high crime, drugs, shootings, etc. All the car guy kids I hung out with were DIY like myself, we did the best we could with what we had. My "Junk"was pretty good compared to most, I would not change a thing from back then as the learning experiences made me who I am. Today most seem to want perfection which takes some/all of the driving fun away IMO, I've seen men about have heart failure/stroke over a chip or someone touching their ride, But thats what makes our Hobby what it is, There is place for everyone, from low buck to high dollar, IMO you can have the same fun, maybe more fun if you're not looking for best of show as there's always someone that can outdollar you. I have no ill will towards these guys and I enjoy looking at their beautiful cars, personally I have not run into a Ahole wealthy guy, many mid/low buck bitchers and sometimes the "Expert". I remember my first time at Back to the 50's, came home and told my wife. I'll never be a "Big Dog" in this venue, Lots Of money guys involved, all nice stuff and in conversation with guys most have another beauty or two back home. WOW ! and still after all these years WOW ! when I attend big shows, It's Hard to imagine the quality improving.
     
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  6. For Shits and giggles ?
     
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  7. The37Kid
    Joined: Apr 30, 2004
    Posts: 30,627

    The37Kid
    Member


    Never had one to drive, and don't have the urge to drive one. I enjoy project, and yes I want it close to perfect as I can. Bob
     
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  8. deathrowdave
    Joined: May 27, 2014
    Posts: 3,518

    deathrowdave
    ALLIANCE MEMBER
    from NKy

    I was a high school kid , 67 Fairlane , 390 4 speed bench seat car . I found a blasted 69 Torino Cobra , 428 SCJ Drag Pak car . It was rear ended so hard it looked like an AMC Gremlin . The owner was still all braced up from back surgery . I ask him how much , his reply was the city is goin to take it and the insurance co has paid 5x for it , 175.00 and it’s yours . I bought that yanked the 390 , small spline top loader , dropped the 428 SCJ ,sidewinder intake , big spline top loader , oil cooler ,hood scoop , “ fresh air “ and the 4.30 N case 31 spline 9 in . In my Fairlane . I even used the interior seats , direct bolt in . Sold the 390 4 speed for 300 . Took the remainder of the money , bought a 65 Falcon sedan , 170 auto for my winter car . Kept the Falcon for years , I wish I still had it and the running gear out of the Fairlane , can you say AFX deluxe . I really don’t know how my parents slept at night . The Fairlane was a terror , to lots of Camaros and Novas . It took the big boy a few seconds to get up and breathing then it was color me gone .
     
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  9. Clik
    Joined: Jul 1, 2009
    Posts: 1,965

    Clik
    Member

    I swear the screen writers for Hollywood Knights must have been following us around back then. They just edited out the really hoodlum stuff.
     
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  10. That Terraplane didn’t happen to look something like this did it IMG_0696.JPG


    Sent from my iPhone using H.A.M.B.
     
  11. Clik
    Joined: Jul 1, 2009
    Posts: 1,965

    Clik
    Member

    When I look back in time, I've had more fun driving hoopties and beaters than any nice cars I've had. Guys with show cars would have had a cow in some of our car to car snowball fights and M-80 battles on the highway. Guys with nice cars missed out on some wild field parties because they wouldn't think about driving them down a muddy dirt road. Trips to the haunted house or racing between the "kissing trees" was out for nice cars.
     
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  12. My favorite was being whipped around in the snow using a long rope and an inner tube. I knew who to trust doing the driving so no broken bones here. Can’t see doing that in a show car.
    We did have some really nice cars at the different hang outs, fast ones too.
     
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  13. 1Nimrod
    Joined: Dec 11, 2018
    Posts: 574

    1Nimrod
    Member

    When I was a young teen my Chevy II's and many more Chevy's I bought sold traded... It was fun... I was just talking to my wife (while having fun on our 40th wedding anniversary today) about how she use to help me change transmission in the dead of winter while on my back and pull engines with a homemade engine hoist and a come-a-long. Those were some fun happy memories from many years ago. Car's I bought for $50-$100 back when I was younger and took the good parts off and then resold the car's for a little more money. A few pictures of some I bought resold or traded for something nicer. If only I could have had a camera and took pictures of all the car's and truck's that went through my hands when I was younger and still in school I would have a few albums full just like many HAMB members most likely would...

    1Nimrod
     

    Attached Files:

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  14. Most of my stuff I have today are Hoopties. If you use the prespective that the $100 bill is the new twenty the price is the same. My current $400 66 GMC would have been a $80 vehicle in the 1960,s The $1000 428 T bird I just bought would have been a $200 car back in the day.I just reciently bought a OT 94 chev extended cab 350 auto extended cab runs good has a title $450. I all in how you look at it.
     
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  15. These days in the Kansas City area anything is worth a grand more or less.
    I remember in high school I really wanted a '57 Ford. I may as well have wanted a Maserati and don't even think about a tru five chebby they are all 750 up and I was working and paying the bills on 80 dollars bring home or less.

    When I was a young man (in my 20s) a kid up the road drug a '63 Impala to my house. Nice enough lookin car, had a 50 foot original paint job, no major dents and chrome reverse wheels. I had an Olds Delta (as I recall) that had hit a tree (hair lipped it pretty good) with a 455 in it. The kid says, "I gived a hunnert dollars fer this ol chevy. It aint got no motor ner transmission in it. Ya got sumpthin we can put in it and make er run?" I laughed and said, "How bout a big ol Olls motor?" he grinned at me and 15 minutes later we were unbolting the mill in the olds. Took a few days but me made it fit that old chebby. He left happy as a duck.
     
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  16. gene-koning
    Joined: Oct 28, 2016
    Posts: 4,040

    gene-koning
    Member

    When I was in high school, I was that kid in the Power Mechanics class that worked at the gas station, the one many people in town had fix their cars. After 6pm, We always had a manager and a worker on duty, and we closed at 10pm Mon-Fri. All the guys that worked there were teenagers, and the "managers" were the guys that had worked there for a year or more. Most of the time, I was the only one working nights that had any clue how cars worked. It was a pretty popular hangout for teenage kids. I usually made some pretty good pocket money working on cars in the evening, and yes, the boss knew. I started working there when I was 15 and a 1/2, and worked there for 7 years. Until I graduated from school, I nearly always worked nights and weekends, after graduation, I worked full time, 60 hours a week.

    As such, finding car deals was pretty easy, and I usually had money in my pocket. I bought and sold a lot of cars before I graduated from HS (in 1974). I got married at 19 (still married to the same lady) and we moved into our first apartment, and it had a yard and a garage. I repaired a car that I had for sale, at the time I'd just finished body and paint work on my future wife's car. Someone came by and offered me stupid money for her car. I called her and told her about the deal, and offered my very nice car for her to drive, and I would drive the one I'd repaired. We used the money we got for selling her car to pay for our wedding we were going to have to pay for anyway.
    That started the ball rolling. We can't begin to count how many cars and trucks passed through my hands in the years that followed. We bought our 1st house that didn't have a garage, so I ended up renting a garage. I made sure she always had a pretty nice car to drive, but the list of beaters I drove was a mile long. I would also buy cars I could part out. I discovered I could park a car in front of our house and I had 3 -4 days to get everything off of it I wanted before it had to leave. I had arrangements with a local yard they would pick up the car the day I called them. The 2nd house we bought was out in the country. At one point I had 13 cars and trucks besides the 2 we drove. I'm down from that number these days. The life of beater cars and trucks has been pretty good to me. Gene
     
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  17. 57Custom300
    Joined: Aug 21, 2009
    Posts: 1,424

    57Custom300
    Member
    from Arizona

    I either shake my head or grin remembering some of the stuff we put together and lived to tell about it.
     
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  18. X-cpe
    Joined: Mar 9, 2018
    Posts: 1,958

    X-cpe

    I called them "sweat equity" cars. Then we graduated to 3 yr. old 30K cars for 1/2 the price of a new one. In 2012 the price differential wasn't there any more, so after 43 yrs. of marriage we bought her our first new car.
     
  19. Ron Brown
    Joined: Jul 6, 2015
    Posts: 1,711

    Ron Brown
    ALLIANCE MEMBER

    In 69 I bought a non running 55 Chevy 4 dr for $25....got it home and found a flapper in the rubber fuel line. Put a 20c piece of new rubber hose and it fired right up....drove it for a couple years then bought a super clean 65 SS 4 sp Impala...man what an upgrade that was...
     
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  20. BamaMav
    Joined: Jun 19, 2011
    Posts: 6,709

    BamaMav
    Member
    from Berry, AL

    Back just a few years ago, a lot of cars got parked for small stuff that was easily fixable by us mechanical types. Now they are so complicated with all the computers and electronics, they get parked because the owners can't afford to get them fixed and for sure can't do it themselves. Those cheap cars are still out there but it takes a fortune to repair them now, so they aren't really deals as much anymore.
     
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  21. Everything I drive is a beater for the most part. The yare fun. I am 38 now, but even I remember bying cheap cars and having fun


    In high school I worked at a parts store. A guy probably 10 years older than me (Steve) bought a 62 Bonneville hardtop project. He was looking for an engine and ended up buying a running/driving 69 lemans coupe for 350.00. Car was primer gray and black interior. Back then (20 years ago) it was just a beater car. Today it would be valuable. He only wanted the 350 or 400 or whatever was in it, and so for a few days it was our party car. He taught me about alley bowling in that thing on garbage night, we bend a rim super bad doing doughnuts and slamming into a curb sideways, burnouts til the tires blew, and just pretty much abused that thing. A weekend later he pulled the engine and sold the remains for 300.00 and laughed all the way to the bank.

    Those were such fun days
     

  22. My old 39 Merc on a 1956 Chevy chassis pict. I built this in the 60's put it on a 56 Chevy running chassis even used the stock Chevy wiring. Old beater stuff don't have to be ugly if you're thinking ahead JW


    [​IMG]
     
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  23. Me to!



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  24. Ok just read the full thread



    Sent from my iPad using H.A.M.B.
     
  25. southcross2631
    Joined: Jan 20, 2013
    Posts: 4,413

    southcross2631
    Member

    I think all I ever drove was the type of cars described in this thread.
    One comes to mind when I was working in Detroit at an Aamco transmission shop in 1977 we would always get cars in that we would take the transmission out to give the customer an estimate. Then they would say the car wasn't worth fixing and we would push it out into the lot in back.
    I was looking for a project after I sold my V-8 pinto. They had a not so rusty 64 Malibu 4 door 6 cylinder automatic and a buick Electra 225 with a 455 . So I asked my boss if I could put the 455 in the Malibu and make a street racer. He let me use the shop after hours to do the work as long as everything was cleaned up and no lifts tied up for the next days work. It took me about a month to get the 455 in the Malibu .
    I built a short shaft turbo 400 with a switch pitch convertor kept the column shifter and swapped a 3.42 gear in. that thing turned to be a torque monster. no headers stock intake and a no name mild cam and timing chain from Gratiot auto supply .
    it was a sleeper on the streets of Mt.Clemens for about 6 months before it got found out that it wasn't a 283 Chevy.
    Sold it to a guy from Toledo.
     
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  26. 41rodderz
    Joined: Sep 27, 2010
    Posts: 6,540

    41rodderz
    Member
    from Oregon

    That seems like most of my project . LOL I actually enjoy it more than buying someone else's dream.
     
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  27. 1Nimrod
    Joined: Dec 11, 2018
    Posts: 574

    1Nimrod
    Member

    Merry Christmas HAMB Family.... And a safe happy New Year...

    1Nimrod
     
  28. I have a list of old cars I've had with their prices and how much I sold 'em for. This 57 Pontiac Super Chief was about number 86. I'd found it on the back row of the local Chevy dealer and they wanted 50 bucks for it. I made the mistake of telling a buddy I was planning to buy it the next morning and when I drove down to get the next morning he'd bought it out from under me. I searched him out and chewed his ass. He apologized up and down explaining his girlfriend was pregnant and their old truck was broke down..no transportation and they lived 6 miles out in the country. Said he'd make it right as soon as they could find a 4X4 they could afford.
    A month later he hunted me down and said he was done with the Pontiac and he'd sell it to me for $10. I paid the man and drove it home with no exhaust at all and it was so filthy I wasn't even sure it had carpet. I thought the paint was green.
    I used my income tax return to put a full dual exhaust on it and put new chromies and new tires on it. After I got it all cleaned up [washed the carpet and hung it on the clothes line to dry....cleaned that car for a MONTH!] I hand rubbed and waxed the paint to find it was a beautiful dark silver metallic. The silver and white interior was perfect! I put many, many miles on that car as my only transportation for a few years. Sold it to my brother on time payments and he quickly lost the title and left town. 57pontsupercheif.jpg
     
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  29. big bird
    Joined: Feb 16, 2014
    Posts: 158

    big bird
    Member

    Early 80s, lots of rusted out OT cars with good engines in Rochester. Cheap, low miles. RUSTED.
    Plenty of Grannymobile 6 cyl. versions of popular OT musclecars with good bodies. Also cheap.
    The engine donors were fun to beat on while the Grannies got prepped for their heart transplants.
    Oh, and most guys couldn't tell the difference between a Buick small-block and a Caddy 472/500 painted Buick red...
    Good times.
     
  30. rivguy
    Joined: Feb 16, 2009
    Posts: 150

    rivguy
    Member

    My first car was a '66 Mustang V8/4 speed it was 8 years old and set me back 300 bucks. My first Caddy was a '64 convertible that was 11 years old for 325 .00 My second Caddy a 70 coupe was 1,000 bucks and was 7 years old. I picked up a '57 Caddy four door in 1977 for 900.00. That '57 was 20 years old when I got. The oldest car I'd ever bought. It was still solid, ran good with decent body paint and interior. It's funny that the other cars weren't really that old at the time, and didn't require massive rebuilding. Just normal repairs kept them drivers. I never rebuilt an engine or transmission until I had these kind of cars as hobby cars. Back then, I never sold one of my old cars that wasn't running. I got a '56 Caddy four door in the mid '90's, for 2,000.00. That one needed a lot of work, it was around 40 years old, when I bought it. Now I've got two cars that run but need substantial suspension work and one that needs a whole bunch of work just to get running and driving. It seems like I'm just making things harder on me the older I get!
     

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