I have read many questions and/or arguments about what the cars looked like in Southern California in the fifties and sixties. Contrary to popular belief, not all looked like what Watson, Barris and Roth were putting out. There were basically 3 styles that were popular... gassers, surfers and low riders. I wasn't into gassers that much and I didn't surf so I prefered the low riders/back yard customs style. Now, I'm not talking about the bouncing small tire trick paint type, that didn't come along until the next decade. I'm referring to the late fifties/early to mid sixties, average guy & occasional gal type of car. Now, the reason that I'm digging this up again is that my daughter dug up some old pictures of a couple of my rides and sent them to me. So, since I had 'em I thought I'd share 'em.... What were you driving back in the day? Post pictures if ya got them. My '55 Chevy Handyman, sometime in '66 and my '55 Buick Special a year or two later.
Yeah, primer spots. Looked like "you were workin' on it"..... .....and, white wheel wells..... .....and old school lowriders, some of the cleanest cars around Redlands and San Bernardino. Sorry, only pic I found of anything I owned back then. '56 Olds 88 with factory 3 on the tree.
1969 (JUST makes it into your 60's timeframe !), my first car - 56 Chevy, 210, bought with original plumb and white paint, shortly changed to "ruddy brown" primer, Corvette 8" wheels (no caps or rings, too much money !), lowered about 2", original 265 with the cast iron powerglide. Eventually installed a 327 with a Man-a-Fre intake, home made air cleaner that covered all four carburetors, Hooker headers. Eventually installed a Muncie 4 speed with a Hurst vertical Gate shifter. Even later a Pontiac rear end went in with 3.90 gears and a posi. The primer color changed a few times until eventually I had it painted black. Many changes over the 13 years owning that car. Mike
Late 1964 - early 1967 Torrance California This Chevy was Watson painted and pinstriped (sorry) after this photo and is pretty typical of the cars you would have seen in the early to mid 60's in SoCal. I lowered the car all the way around cutting the coils and adding 3" blocks in the ass end shortly after this photo was taken. Later mods included a complete black 63 Impala SS bucket seat interior and the addition of a 60 Olds steering wheel. I sold the car in 67 to my next door neighbor to buy a 56 Nomad . He wrecked it and after the fix painted the car flat black. I grew up on 177th St. in Torrance and spent pretty much every Friday and Saturday night cruising Hawthorne Blvd. Heading up to the A&W in Hawthorne and then to the Wichstand in Inglewood with an occasional trip to Harvey's Broiler in Downey looking for parties and potential female passengers.
1966 san diego wagon 150.00 6cyl stick, hard top 327/4speed burned oil like a rolling coal truck 75.00 ya ya the proverbial vette engine ... oh ya ya painted the wagon front end flat black as if it was a fiberglass tilt...
no there were lots of cars ... like 1st grump said... i even had a 49 buick ... well as a kid working in a junk yard made parts EASY...
I grew up on 177th St. in Torrance and spent pretty much every Friday and Saturday night cruising Hawthorne Blvd. Heading up to the A&W in Hawthorne and then to the Wichstand in Inglewood with an occasional trip to Harvey's Broiler in Downey looking for parties and potential female passengers.[/QUOTE] Do you remember "Clancy's Hamburgers" on Manhattan Beach Blvd., just West of Hawthorne BLVD?
Nope, mine was a '47 Ford standard coupe with an Olds and a Hydro. Prior to that ('66-67) it was a '40 Deluxe coupe gray primer with a flathead, a Marina blue '60 Pontiac, and a bone stock but lowered '58 Ford Fairlane. The '47 was factory black with primer spots here and there - especially around the radiused fender wells for the Inglewood slicks. The GF and I cruised Hawthorne Blvd, A&W, Foster's Freeze and the 'Wich stand. I lived in Westchester with my folks back then. Some of the guys at Westchester High did the primered front end trick, only one actually had a f-glas front end.
oh man.... the memories of earlier days in socal (and nights...) i had a 56 bel air 4dht, 56 2dht and a 56 vette. purchase price for all together was less than $600. all had good pinks and two of them ran good. purchased in the covina, la habra and anaheim areas.
How old did you have to be to legally drive in Covina? You look awfully young standing in front of the Buick. Sano looking rides.............both of 'em.
Do you remember "Clancy's Hamburgers" on Manhattan Beach Blvd., just West of Hawthorne BLVD?[/QUOTE] I think so Tom. There was also one on Artesia and Crenshaw as I recall. It converted to a McDuck's at some point as I remember. 19 cent burgers were on the menu.
It's that party headgear that's throwing you off!!! Actually it's one of my nephews, my guess is that it was his birthday.
The Tri-5 Chevys were popular in the '60's in Compton.....I was too young to drive but gawked at every one I saw......A friend bought a nice finished '57 for 900.00 in '73.....Cars were cheap then it seemed....
Jim, you had good taste back then and you still do, knowing what looks good on a car Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G900A using H.A.M.B. mobile app
of course - don't forget Hot Rods with side exhaust cut outs, reversed rear shackles & enough front spring spacers so that the frontend was firm as a rock
Every used car lot on Hawthorne Blvd had an orange 55-57 Chev post for sale. They would find them somewhere and all of them were orange. I remember light to light racing and the count down from 3 on the double way red light waiting on your green. I cut a lot of good lights because of "visitors" who didn't know.
Phil Sauers cruised this 51 Merc around in the mid 50's in So-Cal. He was a surfer and had a custom surfboard rack that fit in the trunk. He later owned Inland Surfboards and supplied surfboards for Ride The Wild Surf, Gidget , Monkees and many more movies and television shows. Paint and body was done by Dean Jeffries. I own the car.
Ooohh, scavengers............... I loved those things back then! Coaxed my Dad into putting them on his '56 Plymouth with glasspacks, sounded great. My neighbor down the street (Gene Brown) had a red '56 210 that I occasionally got to ride in (I was like 13), I'm recreating that car now. And Larry across the street had a '57 Ford 2dr sedan that was sky blue with primer spots. He wasn't really a car guy, he always had the back seat out so he could put his surf board in the car. Straight, sun bleached blonde hair, sun tans and surf knots on their feet and knees - the look for all the surfers in our town.
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