History Speed For Speed

"I’m onto you Mr. McKesson. I’ve got your stench in my nose… and it’s only a matter of time before you are exposed!"

Ryan, I think that's probably just the smell of burnt rubber from your last little rip.
Reading that article and seeing 1951 my first thought was overhead Olds V8.

 

In my teens the small town of Anderson back in the 60's we had a few cops that had a hard on for teenage hot rodders, I seemed to have a target painted on my Falcon.

I got citation after citation for loud mufflers, speeding, tail light being out, and racing ( that one cost me dearly) I use to joke about paying to have main street repaved.

There were policeman that only concentrated on teen drivers, One Friday night I was driving my dad's '62 Chevy wagon loaded with our band equipment and dad was driving my Falcon, he was sitting at a light and a cop whipped in behind him and flipped on his red lights, dad eased over and the cop came up to the window and called my name, and said I saw you run a light, he looked in the car and saw my dad behind the wheel and he was shocked, the cop started back peddling and said he thought it was me.

A prime example of the cop targeting certain cars they see a lot, a hot little car with mag wheels and you were considered a nuisance and a danger to others, thankfully times have changed as I have gotten older.

I'm far from being a teenage hot rodder ~ I'm now a septuagenarian hot rodder. HRP

 

An old fashioned larrupping? What the hell is that?! A valve job?

How about suggesting to sell the hopped up car to a used car salesman, and blame the used car salesmen for selling such cars?

so wrong..

 

At the risk of being attacked here on the HAMB. As an old fart that drag raced longer then many of you have lived, I also hate loud pipes on the street used just to piss people off. Like the rumble of a true hot rod, hate hogs or jap crap driven in a loud obnoxious manner just to piss off non-rodders. A lot more of them then us & they complain to make laws driving us out of business & killing the hobby. Stay safe & protect the hobby

 

Amish... are you talking about all the new Mustangs and 3” exhaust on “sound alike” big block Camaros, Chevelle’s, Nova’s... they sure are annoying to me..

 

Ralph Bonfield, Mr. McKesson, or whatever his name is is probably president and correctness police of the Model T concours restoration club of America.

 

My Dad is long gone now, but he and his buddies all had lowered cars with skirts and dual exhaust. I remember him telling me about terrorizing their Southwest Detroit neighborhood. I kinda doubt my Mom would remember such shenanigans.

 

Mr. McKesson needs to "Lighten Up Francis".

 

Ha, let me tell you about Santa Clara, CA. Cops in S.C. circa 1957 were being awakened to the existence of actual classic 'hot rods'.
My pal Ramsay and I built him a '30 Model A Coupe, channeled it 5", dropped in a '38 221 flattie, '39 box, Model A rear. Pretty fast, but my channeled '31 Cabriolet over '32 rails had more 'motor', a 239 flattie w/dual carbs, Weber F2 cam, and was ported/relieved. Some of our 'speed contests' came to light, and the police were watching...they'd cruise past my Grandma's house real slow...
Our new pal, Wimpy, just bought a chopped '32 five window highboy, (looked like a primered A.G. Milner ride) so he began cruising with us. His '46 flattie was stock, had an Offie 2 jugger. Not real fast, but Wimpy drove it to the edge.
Ronny was coming around then, he was a baker, 18 years old. He liked Ramsay's coupe, bought an old full fendered '30 A coupe with a deep dropped axle. Took it apart, found a Deuce frame and channeled it. '54 Cad engine, $16 adapter plate, '39 box. Had it running in just 2 months.
There was also Joe, a San Jose guy...another channeled flattie powered coupe. Hopped up, fast. 5/16 X 1/4. 274", he raced everybody in town.
Wimpy and I were racing down El Camino Real one evening, I was driving Ramsay's channeled 'A', Wimpy was in his Deuce.
A San Jose cop got behind us, turned on the heat lamps and siren...We were coming up to Newhall St., (fast) where we had practiced the left turn incessantly...Wimpy was on the 'high side', (on my right, slow lane) and locked-in for the hard left turn. We could 'drift' at full throttle, we had it down.
Zooom! Right thru the corner, smooth and graceful...
The cop tried to follow...LOL, City police car, '58 Ford. He turned his front wheels into the corner, but just 'washed' the front tires...'Screechhhh'... as he locked up the brakes and crashed thru the chain around the used car lot, headon into a "Today's Special" '56 Olds sedan in the front row.
Meanwhile, Wimpy and I had cleared the corner, but he tagged the curb on Newhall, I looked to my right where he was...but his car wasn't like...Wow! The underside floor was there, Wimpy was on 2 wheels...then he thumped back down, I thought he was sure to roll it.
We got up to the stop sign at Park Ave., and he went left toward his house and I went right, toward Grandma's...
The event happened on the San Jose side, so the Santa Clara cops didn't hear about it right away.
But sure as you live, our 'favorite' S.C. patrolman, Sessions, was on Grandma's front porch Wednesday morning, asking where I was Friday evening...they had tire marks, and possibly a witness.
I said, "O.K., look at my roadster..." (I had been driving Ramsay's Coupe...)
Some years later, one of the Santa Clara cops asked me about that deal...I said I might have been in the neighborhood, but would never race...he laughed and called me a 'bull-slinger'.
I did have my license revoked twice, however.
First time for 1 year, I surrendered it to the judge in court.
Second time was for racing...125 in a 25. I told the judge it was bogus. The car wouldn't go that fast.
He said, "Radar doesn't lie." I told him it had Moon Discs, made the radar go wacky. He said he was revoking my driving privelege. I asked, "How long?" He said, "Forever." True story.
Luck prevailed, however. The Calif Dep't of Motor Vehicles sent me a letter, declaring I would be able to re-apply for my CDL in 5 years, May of 1963.
Whew, that was a long wait! Made a mechanic out of me. Well hell, couldn't drive!
There are a million stories in the 'Naked City'...and some more from Santa Clara. Then, not now.

 

those cops and their Hot Rods cleaned up the city. Imagine what Detroit would be like today had those Hot Rod Hooligans not been driven away by the cops.

 

Great stuff Boss. Of course, this is why so many drag strips opened in early to mid-50’s, to mitigate this conflict with local police.

Where’s Jocko @theHIGHLANDER when you need him?

 

We'll get those Varmints

 

SDPD officer Farmer was our McKesson on El Cajon Blvd. He struck a wooden kitchen match across the scallop on my Plymouth wagon during a bogus traffic stop in 1958.

 

Officer Joe Pine was l the local dick around here. A few years back he was the guest speaker of the local historic car clubs banquet. From what I understand it was all good fun and he admitted being an asshole. Of course, we were actually hot rodding in Joplin and missed it.

 

I can certainly vouch for those 55 Ford mainlines being quick. I and two other folks from my area went to Portland Motor Sales on Forest Ave. Portland, Me. We had pickins from a fleet of turned in Maine State Police cruisers. I got one with about 40,000 turnpike miles , overdrive, Intercepter engine and duals, and it would cook as I found out in later years. While in the service ,my wife loaned it to her brother on occasion and he was racing it unbeknown to me for a long time. It probably was the best car I ever owned for being one year old and only $1000.00. Drove it back and forth to Ft. Benning a few times and last time I saw it a smiling man was driving !

 

In this early radio episode of Dragnet from '51 or '52 Joe Friday is on the hunt for the kid responsible for felony hit & run driving a Hot Rod. The later television episode followed the same script.

I thought it was interesting they tried to show the kids in a good light, and making a distinction between guys in car clubs, who had nice Hot Rods ("I can tell you one thing, Sergeant, it wasn't one of our guys who hit that girl!") and they stressed things like monthly safety inspections, and simply weren't "Yo-Yos", guys driving around in unsafe cars, and would get kicked out of the club if they got too many tickets. Hm.

 

I graduated in 1979. A week after graduation I bought a 67 GTO (yeah off topic but that is what I bought). I'm at a light in town when a car pulls up beside me and blips the throttle. It was of course on. Now we didn't do anything real crazy. We probably hit if fairly hard to 60 when we both backed off (in a 45).

A few days later I was out washing my car when a police car pulls up and the officer asked me if that was my car. I said it was. He said he had a 68 GTO and I said "that's cool, I'd like to see it one day". He then told me "you did the other day on Garfield Ave". I realized it was him at the light.

He just told me to take it easy and drove off. Not all cops are dicks.

 

Back in the mid sixties one of my friends John (a Harley guy) knew the local motorcycle cop (Brad Brucker sp? in Las Cruces NM). Brad would bring his police bike over for a tune up. John had an 80 stroker 57? ex Police bike that he built in San Diego in the Navy. Damn, my memory....the story is a little hazy now, anyway John sold the bike and either Brad or another of Las Cruces's finest clocked it at 135, it was geared for the big end. Brad was an interesting guy

 

That was fun.

 

Old Hot Rodders...like ME! Haha. Just a couple years ago, right before I converted my A sedan into a coupe I took it for my usual cruise on the causeway in A VERY nice and expensive enclave near my house. Beautiful drive along the water. The bay on one side and the harbor on the other. A favorite cruise for bikers and hot cars. Just a nice ride, one lane in each direction. On a VERY short section the double yellow changes to a dotted line. I nailed it to pass another car in the "legal" passing zone. Cop on the side of the road sees me and pulls out after me. I promptly pull into the beach parking lot, shut off my engine and wait for him to catch up. He pulls up alongside and I tell him I pulled into the beach to be safe because there really wasn't anywhere to pull over on the narrow road and I knew he was going to stop me. He smirked and said to just calm down a little. It was obvious he liked the car and seeing the old fart behind the wheel must have figured that I really wasn't a nuisance. I told him I was just stretching it's legs. He said the passing zone was for going around construction vehicles and to just take it easy in the future. We both laughed a bit and enjoyed the rest of our day. They're not all dicks.

It was the same town cop in another roadway incident I had a couple years before that, although he didn't remember me because I was in my running gear then and not behind the wheel. Same neighborhood. I was training to run the NYC Marathon and running about 30-40 miles per week. When you run that much on Long Island, NY a near daily occurrence is almost getting hit by drivers who are just not paying attention or are being assholes. I'm running up a great, fine hill and I see officer nice guy tucked in at the side of the road waiting for said idiots speeding down the road. I stop and thank him for being there and tell him that nearly everyday when running some idiot zooms past me too close in the 30 MPH zone. He smiles and says to have a nice day. I continue up the hill and some ASSHOLE comes flying over the crest and nearly hits me. The town cop sees it, turns on his lights and pulls out and BLOCKS the road to stop the guy. Absolutely loved it.
Andy

 

Back in the Day 60's & 70's they used to Drag race on the
Conecting Hgy. in Astoria, N.Y. was the Place to go on a Fri, Sat, & Sun.
Night It was one of The Places to go for Drag Racing, it was part of a
Highway.
Also there were a Couple of other Places they Raced.
I could not Race there My Car was all letered up so the Cops would
just come to my Shop and wait for me.

Just my 3.5 Cents

Live Learn & Die a Fool

 

Don't look for me. I'm miles away.

 

Wow, McKeeson was a dick. Maybe still is. It's pukes like him in cities coast to coast that made creation of the NHRA and their Safety Safari such a huge accomplishment. From some of my recollections of reading material their struggle was akin to current struggles to keep 2A, but I digress.

Detroit; on a weekend sometime in the early 50s, the scene was Eckles Rd in an area at the time that was far northwest of Motown. The fledgling NHRA held a race there at an auto plant with an exceptionally large parking area. Legend has it that it was the 1st NHRA event in the automaker's backyard. This was in spite of this "Knight" in shit-stained armour banging his typwriter against talented mechanics and their youthful enthusiasm. Later in the decade one Gil Kohn built the famous Detroit Dragway, and years later Motor City Dragway further north. "SUNDAY! SUNDAY! SUNDAY! DETROIT DRAGWAY! Sibley at Dix..." Today we can only lament the big time races and local legends born on Mr Kohn's tracks. I'm proud to say I was there for the last 2 cars to ever light the staging lights. Proud to say I also traversed that track hundreds of times in a non-HAMB but otherwise fun drag car that eventually ran 10.32 at 130 MPH on real 10.5 tires and no "juice", with a starting line wt of 3545#. I was born to a guy who was one of thoe "pimple faced" racers the dickhead McKeeson wrote about. His flavor of racing was mainly circle track, but I heard about his fair share of street supremacy and occasional defeat too. Almost always trucks for him though.

What else Knight McDickless didn't stop was how a major auto company or 4 developed products amongst this scourge of civil rabble. I think everyone by now has heard of the legendary "Silver Bullet" GTX, right? Royal Bobcats? And even though Ford was busy trying to dominate international racing in those years, while the names are solidly known by a chosen few you can bet your finned aluminum 59A heads that savvy hot rodders tweeked the best the Blue Oval had for the company on those hot summer nights around Woodward, Gratiot and of course Northwestern Hwy. In the end thier best efforts drove an industry and a lifestyle harder and faster. As far as I'm concerned WE got the last laugh. If Mr. Knight DicKeeson was still around I'd have to resist the urge to paint a couple of rubber stripes in front of his house, of course thru straight pipes in a, what was it? Oh yeah, Bucket of Bolts. Peace out...

 

Hello,

The question might be, was there a “hopped up police car(s)” ? in Los Angeles, we have all seen the CHP high performance cars back in the early days of hot rodding. Then over the years, there were different squadron of pursuit vehicles, just made for the Grapevine Area of the I-5 freeway.

But, for daily streets near freeways, the local police have jurisdiction. Any action near a freeway or surrounding roads, onramps, exits, the CHP takes over. Now, the mantra is follow them, the radio is always faster, plus, more roadblock ability is up head with other police cars.

At the time, the hopped up CHP cars held some interest, but were only seen on that certain area of Los Angeles and surrounding area roads. The standard Ford sedans were the most popular. But, someone in the CHP decided to get smaller, faster cars with factory high performance upgrades for the long straight away roads. Then they all went to Ford suv vehicles, and now, the latest experiment is a Ford truck with a high performance motor.

Jnaki

One incident with a local police cruiser and two officers will always be a talk of the town. We were inside of a red 1962 409 powered Biscayne sedan. We had just taught the owner the secrets of speed shifting and being able to get away from the starting line quickly. We were practicing on an empty, but popular street in Bixby Knolls. No traffic, but a great quiet street with the standard lights. We timed the lights going off and the starts were getting good. The 4 speed shifts were also getting better. Our friend was learning.
1962 Chevrolet Biscayne 409

After about three lights, we were approaching one last light for the final run. A local police car had just pulled out of a side street and joined us in the next lane. The patrolman in the passenger seat smiled at us and this was the conversation:

Police: said “Nice car… a 409, eh? Is it fast?”

My friend: he was scared and he stumbled and said “Yes, I guess so.”

Police: “Is it the fastest in Bixby Knolls?”

My friend at the coaxing of both of us in the passenger seat and rear seat… said: tell him “Yes, it is the fastest.”

At this time, the light had turned green and the policeman did something no one would believe when we told everyone back at the two local drive in restaurant parking lots with tons of hot rods and cruisers.

He pulled out his revolver and pointed it at the 409 Biscayne and said: “ You think it is faster than this?” The idling Ford police car then took off across the intersection under full throttle. Those two policemen laughing all the way… idiots.

My friend could not drive the rest of the way back to the drive-in restaurant, hot rod parking lots. He was so scared and nervous. So, he pulled over and I took over driving the 409. At the turn around place, heading back to the hot rod parking lots, I floored it and went through the gears, speed shifting each time. The roar was tremendous and I did not miss a shift.

Then after the explosion of speed, we all three laughed and that took the adrenaline back to normal. It was the tremendous surge of power coming from the 409 that made us all feel good about being a teenager and hot rods in 1962.

 

In fairness to Mr. Ralph Bonfield, or Mr. McKesson if they were in fact the same person. I understand why and how they could hold such a grudge against Young Hotrodders. Being an Officer means having to be on the scene of some of the most horrific accidents ever. And when you see someone's Mother, child or loved ones remains Splattered all over the highway it tends to take a toll on a person. Bottom-line is although we look at our Hot rods as "Toys", They can still be "Killing machines" I done a lot of crazy and unsafe stuff in my teen years, Luckily Myself and anyone else was never hurt because of my stupidity.