" How Many Milk Crate Seat Storys Are Out There.."

In 1974 I was a sophmore in high school in Tulsa, I bought a 1941 2 dr sedan at an early ford v8 swap meet....no front seat, used a milkcrate for the seat and drove it everyday to school and back....things we did then we surely couldn't get away with now! lol

 

My second car was a 1952 Plymouth Cambridge (first was a '52 Ply Cranbrook) that I paid a whopping ten bucks for - each! The Cranbrook was a nice car, but threw a rod. The Cambridge had a nice body, ran great, NO seats, and really crappy tires. I threw a milk crate in it and drove it home five or so miles. Driving a standard three-on-the -tree and sitting on that crate was a real exercise in keeping the car on the road! Being 12 at the time made matters even more interesting! It was nice then, living out in a rural area!

This was my first engine swap, too.

 

I found milk crates and 4-speeds don't mix. Swapped an automatic for a 4-speed set up, took the bench seat out for the shifter to be mounted, then put a milk crate in to check things out. Put it in reverse and stabbed the pedal just alittle, and the next thing I knew the crate slide forward and so did I and my leg floored the gas pedal! Talk about a ride, I was lucky nothing was behind me. Also you don't want to put your car in reverse even with a seat without seat belts, unless you like getting up close and personal with the steering wheel...

 

1.My friends neighbor owned Precision Bug Works so we stopped by their shop to see a turbo charged bug they were working on.They asked me if I wanted a ride,I said sure.The driver had a seat,I the passenger sat on a milk crate.We took off down the street, the driver hit 2nd gear and pulled the front end off the ground I flipped over backwards and all I saw the whole ride was the headliner.
2.My co-worker bought their son a 56 chevy project.The front seat was removed there son wanted to move out of the driveway so he got a milk crate for a seat when he tried to move the car he fell over hit the gas and ran into the garage and garage door,smahed up the front of the car and the house.JJ i sent them to your house looking for some parts.

 

I recall my dad "test" driving his model A down the road with a pipe wrench for steering - not sure what he was sitting on - probably an empty case of beer.

 

HAHAHA There's some good ones here! Done the 5 gallon thinner can and milk crate several times from dad's shop to car wash, only a block down the alley. Never crashed but I almost did when I did a burnout out of wash bay once. Dumb kids....

 

amen, no6. i used the 5 gal. thinner can to move my pickup around the shop. came down the drive a little too hot, hit the brakes the can dumped me on mine, foot feed got mashed some where in the "where the hell am i" luckily no bed on the truck so not much traction. just gravel flying and a 327 screaming. next time i just sat on the floor.

 

My high school car was a nasty 69' mustang. When I was in the process of building it I used a milk crate for a seat because the interior was stripped out. One day a buddy of mine came over ( a big chevy guy) and was flipping me shit about Fords, so I grabbed another milk crate and threw it in the pass side told him to get in and I was about to change his mind about Fords! I lived a few miles out of town then and we had a paved frontage road in front of our house. I proceeded to run it through the gears back and forth on this stretch of road for about 15 minutes! Well he ended up in the trunk when I was done! That was funny as hell! Ever since then he kept his mouth shut about Fords!

 

59 Chevy ex-drag car. Fresh outta the field with 420 brand new horsepower feeding a high stall converter and 13" wide back tires. 64 Impala buckets propped up on paint cans and 2x4s.

You can see where this is going.

Fortunately my foot caught the steering wheel, which shaved precious milliseconds off the mad scramble back into driver position. No harm, no foul

 

LOL, there's some funny stuff wrote here, probably not at the time, but reliving the good'o'days is pretty fun...

 

My friend had just finished installation of a 289 in his Triumph spitfire, no nose, two loose bucket seats, and a wrench in his left hand wired to the carburator. We went for a test ride down Bedford road in Pleasantville. Soon as he gassed it we both went back in our seats, with feet in the air. When he regained control , the swing axles had left skinny and then fat chirps in the road...thought it was fun, and pretty funny.(this was in the 60's, the cops would have laughed back then, now, not so sure.)

 

Bought a 70 Chevelle 2 door hardtop body off of a guy. Got a buddy to tow it to my place while I steered it with a pair of vice grips and sitting on a milk crate. Went for a ride in a buddy,s blown 427 Camaro that we just stuck the seats in it not bolted down. He punched it and I went over backwards into the back seat. What a ride.....

 

I have a lot of these! perfect storys for a very cold day
Tony is always fast to tell any one building a car "nut on steering wheel and bolt down a seat!" his story is about a guy he knows, lived in saltlake city area, the car, '38 ford coup maiden voyage around the block. so every thing was going great, so he steps on it!! off the milk crate seat! scrambles to get up, headed into a curve, takes a wild stab at the brake, yes he hit the gas! hit the curb, bounces thru the air, and pulls the steering wheel off! lands bouncing and sliding side ways, thru the bushes, and crashes into the house!! he's lay'n in the back of the coup still hold'n the steering wheel!

 

I used a folding metal chair when I drove the 51 F-3 for it's first trip around the block, would have been no problem except for the bad driver door latch, door kept flying opening every time I took a right hand turn.

 

I built my '54 F-100 outside mostly. I finnaly found the time to pull it into the garage (about 10 feet) last November in 4-inches of snow. The floor was solid ice, and I had never started the 4.3 either. Trusty pink milk crate as a seat.

The torque converter was locked up, and the ledge into my garage was about 6-inches high. Pretty much no brakes either. I had to hold it on the floor and column drop it into reverse to launch myself over the ledge, and then quickly try and stop with the 1-wheel brakes before I made myself another garage door. All on a solid sheet of ice. I managed, but took out a filing cabinet in the process.

 

Got a nice ride in 66 SS Impala on couple of milk crates. The guy was nuts 70 miles per hour no doors no seats. Checking out his new motor. Always stayed away when his projects were ready to test after that,

 

We used to jump our Schwinns over milk crates,when I was a kid. Then the same crate was used to keep my Hotwheels in. The used it to drive my first car,'67 VW,til I could get some seats. Now it has all my old albums in it. That means i've had the same milk crate for about 43 years now,LOL!!!!
Might just have to bring it out of retirement, when I get my seat in the Hotrod covered...

 

Ag shop, 1972... Randy drags a '55 plymouth into the shop, cool!! blue nose wrench made quick removal of most of the body. field car! but the motor seams stuck, he says no it should run. w'ell pull it and break her loose. log chain, pick-up.. teacher says only 2 guys, thats 1 driver each. only a fire wall and floor pan, yes and a milk crate.. around and around school and dump the clutch. no wieght, the tires just slide. day after day pulling this junk around school, to everyones delight. one day the idea was to stop at the ag shop and load her down with the guys from shop that wern't work'n on any thing any way. its sitt'n low, with bodys, OK this was fun, everyone hanging on to each other, but if any one saw this we were in trouble, so go thru the residential area by school. around and around, now when you pop the clutch things happened, tires squeeling, bouncing, 15 guys yelling, pick-up pipes bellering, some one called the cop!! back to school just as fast as we could go watching between the houses then up the alley, gravel fly'n everyone looking back where the cop was. Out of control the '55 hit a guy wire for a utillity pole, chain snaped, fly'n thru the air, it climbed that cable and caught on the cover thing, and hung there!!! guys laying every where!! well this is the end of the fun part of the story!!! I have a lot of these storys!!

 

Used a stack of phonebooks once, they slid on each other so bad. It was funny at the time trying to drive and do pull ups with hand and put books back with the other.

 

There great for safety while bench racing.
When the shit is threatening to get deep, simply stand on one. If real bad go for the rectangle shaped one.

 

Not a milk crate, but I drove my first car home ('57 Chevy 210 2 door) sitting on an upside down galvanized pail. I then bought a front seat out of a '57 hardtop for $3.00.

 

A younger guy came over Thursday, looking for a '56 hood. He was driving a newer Chevy trk.. He works @ a bodyshop, was that him? I really hate selling front end parts for cheap. He mentioned he found a hood on "CL" for an arm & a leg. Which made me think- he can't afford mine then. I wasn't rude or anything- I suggested Pomona Swap Meet! He said that was worst case scenario!

 

This thread makes my beer, all that much better! Thanks, guys & gals.. I needed that today!

 

Yea, the first car I ever attempted to restore, a 72 911 (mine), I was 19. Me and the ol brother in law Howard, got in it, and putted off down the (dirt) road. It was the first ride, so I was pleased that everything worked(kinda). When we got to the end of the road and turned around, I punched it (yea, let's see what this thangill do!) Bad idea, in my lust for speed, I had forgaotten a bout the milk crate, and a few other unsecured items. When we hit about 30 or 40, the hood with no latch yet, slammed into the winsheild opening, making forward sight just a memory. Next we hit that big pothole I had no chance in hell to see before i could get it slowed down. In an instant, the milk crate lurched out from underneath me. Falling into the rust hole I had cut out of the floor, I was deperate to hold on to something, anything, so I death gripped the steering wheel. Just by chance, it was loose also, with no attaching hardware. Now on the way down unimpeded, with the now detctched steering wheel clutched uselessly in my hands, the only thing I had left was to stand on the gas pedal for some leverage. Fortunately ol Howard had been sitting on the floor, and had the presence of mind to turn the ignition off. When we finally rolled to a stop, relatively unscathed, he said "next time I'm drivin, you crazy bastard"...

 

count me in....to many times....

 

My brothers had a 59 El Camino that they drove around with milk crate seats. On the dirt road my friend lives on there was a guy nicknamed "Bucket Joe" cause he drove around an old chevy apache missing a door with a bucket for a seat!

 

These are the last two I built. Does using a 5 Gal bucket a
acceptible replacement for a milk crate?

 

The only story I have is where I work (a dealer service dept), our oil change guy went to get into a handicapped van and since where was no seat he pitched a milk crate in. While pulling up on the drive on rack, he tipped back and cranked the hand throttle and ran off the end of the rack and through the wall. Since then the OSHA guys told us no milk crates....not because of the accident. They say alot of people are hurt standing on crates....or falling off of them.

 

No milk crates in my story but I did use a five gallon bucket one time to get a truck to the paint shop it was about five miles each way and uneventful but I have done it.

 

A friend of mine (he's a HAMB member) got a great deal on a 50 chevy project a few years back because of a milk crate. This guy was almost done with it, and decided to take it through town to get gas, while sitting on a milk crate. He decided to show off a little and jumped on it as he was turning a corner leaving the gas station, the crate tipped, he fell against the door and hit the handle. The door flew open and he fell out. The car kept going, took out some shrubbery and then hit a porch, (doing very little damage to the car). But the driver had to pay for all the damage to the property as well as all the citations he received, so he had to sell the car quick. My buddy picked up a nice nearly finished car with all body work and paint done, ran great with a newer v8 drive train installed, etc., for $2,500!
First thing he did was install the seat.