Hello, This photo is just what we need right now. It is 83 degrees and no wind along the coastline of So Cal. The kids are all back in school and the parking lots at the beaches are relatively empty. Inland, the temps are much higher, as we can see a fog bank sitting outside in the ocean, just waiting its turn to come ashore to cool things off. But, the land is still fighting with its heat and keeping the cooling fog at bay. (pun intended) We drove the 1958 Impala up to the Christmas holiday week, extravaganza gathering, in the local Big Bear Mountain area for a week. The winter holiday lasted until New Year’s Day, it was a lot of fun for most high school kids. It was not just our school, but most of the teenagers were from other schools in Long Beach. So, it was a gathering of teenage angst, camaraderie, and a chance to stay in a cabin closest to our school’s group cabins of teenage girls. Parents were lenient, as we all had a well known chaperone to the “parents group,” (one of the dad’s or mom’s of one of the kids in attendance.) That in itself, was a bummer for the teenagers’ mom or dad, or the teen, but we all got to go since they were the “chaperones.” We did what we did as normal teens and the parent chaperones looked in charge, but enjoyed the whole mountain scenery as if they were on vacation, too. Jnaki There were some mornings that our 58 Impala was covered in snow from the night before. It took a while to let the snow melt so we could get inside to start the car or try to start the car. 30 weight oil was not the best for a frozen environment. But, once it started, it was a new experience driving in the snow. Some folks (chaperones) had to have battery chargers to keep them ready to start at a moment’s notice. Our cabin chaperone had very long heavy duty extension cord hooked up to a trickle charger, as he knew he had to have his car ready for any emergencies up in the mountains. A blanket on the motor, wires running back to the cabin was his prep for the emergencies, that never happened… We were new to the snowy environment, but the enthusiasm of the gathering of teenagers was never ending. Parties in the cabins, the so-called gatherings in the local streets and parks was a thing. Not much got out of hand with the chaperones in attendance, but they were a lot of fun. The best thing for us was that the Impala started and ran in top shape. Everyone took off their air cleaners to allow the carbs to breathe better in the higher altitude roads. But, there was a lot of “hissing” and not much high performance due to most, not adjusting their carbs to run in high altitude. My 58 Impala was fearless with a few tweaks for an advantage, if a friendly encounter in the empty streets of the community was handy. Hissing sounds neat, but not all was for full power acceleration performance. We just had to remember to adjust it to lower elevation performance on the road trip back home. The roadways to Long Beach at sea level and the adjusted mountain driving performance created the reverse power at the lower elevations. YRMV
Yep,old enough to remember the great fun we had as kids! Poor buggers now,have no idea. all that OHS crap:how's a kid supposed to learn by experience?
The Jalopy Journal
