Old time car clubs you knew as a kid(greybeards)

HumboltCats post on the Paegans Car Club got me thinking about the clubs I saw around western New England when I was growing up the the '50's.What ones do you remember????
Around here we had: The Cam Busters (N.Adams) The Piston Poppers and the Berkshire Dragmasters(Pittsfield) Strokers(Springfield)

 

Bean Bandits, Prowlers, Toppers, Strokers, Guys & Dolls, Retarded Sparks.

 

My old club.late 50's early 60's


the Ramrods.. Still putting on the D.C. hot rod car show.

 

Those clubs are still active here today. The only difference is that now I'm a grey beard and belong to one of them.

 

Was a member of "Diablos" for a very short while, skipped a bunch of meetings, they tossed me out.

Next, a member of the "Dwarfs", a take off on Snow White's seven dwarfs. The plaque had a cool pic of Dopey.
Same thing there, missed a bunch of meetings, they asked for the plaque back and we went our separate ways.

Last one - in the good old daze anyway - "The Poor Boys" kinda self explanatory. The club faded after a while and I wasn't doing too good on attendance anyway.
Do you see a pattern here?
Big reason for all the missed meetings was an every week meeting was too often for me, a kid busy with skating, a job, the car and the small discovery that girls could be a pretty interesting pastime.
As one of them said, "Would you rather be hanging out with a bunch of dateless guys on a Friday night or be with me?"
It was an easy choice.

Other clubs in town - Ventura, California, late 50's to early 60's - Motor Monarchs, Gents and Coachmen.
Some of the "T-Timers" would hit town now and then. They were out of towners and the T-Timers were a large club in SoCal with plaques that said, "T-Timers" and the city on the bottom. Some of their plaques left off the city name.

Santa Barbara, about 33 miles up the coast had the "Igniters" among others and it's still going today.
Santa Paula, about 20 miles east had the "Silent Knights" and "Santa Paula Roadsters."
Oxnard, bout 10 miles south had "Pharoahs." I'm fairly sure there, it was a custom oriented name and the town seemed to have more customs than hot rods. Coulda been a similar name and I just have American Graffiti running around in my mind.

Nowadays, a charter and life member of "The Outsiders." A no-club club, no meetings, no dues, everyone is the president and if we get together once a year fine and if not that's fine too.
This latest club done so we can park together at the one car show a year I do. Otherwise, the show committee won't even try to park friends together.
Not sure how big the club is either. Some years, only two, others as many as 11.
We don't keep records either, but we ought to get a plaque.
I think O'Brien Truckers has an outsider plaque, but not sure.

 

Growing up in San Diego I remember seeing a lot of Prowlers and Early Times cars. There were some Over The Hill Gang guys too. But I remember more Amigos, Oldies, Notorious and City Lights lowriders than anything else.

 

Back in the early '60s my dad was a member of the "Turtles" up at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in central CA. He's still got his club jacket and plaque, which features a turtle wearing gogggles with zoomies and tri-power poking out of his shell.

 

The clubs I remember as a kid around Eastern Massachusetts were the Road Rebels in Saugus(my home town),the Stockers from Everett,the DragNetters from Marblehead,the Strokers from Malden,the Orientals from Reading(still going)the CamSnappers from Newburyport and a bunch I've forgotten already.Graybearditis I guess.

 

i'm not a greybeard,but my parents are and when i was just about 6 in like 79 they joined the del rods and my mom is still an active member today....there weren't that many clubs around here ...oh yeah,the abreviation for delaware is de now,they changed it to del a number of years ago

 

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Well for being out in the sticks,guess we were really lucky.When I was just a pup,there was a very cool group of old guys,most of them 18 to 25 years old,really old!They had a club called the DRAGGIN-DRAGONS.It was way cool,they went together and rented a building for club project cars and had little cards they would hand out,if they helped someone out in need,such as a stranded motorist.The card said somthing like: Youve been helped by a member of the Draggin Dragons.I was lucky and got to know several of these guys later on in life and have become great friends with most of them that are still around.I had a new cast made of thier old club plate,had to have one,I think its really coooool.

 

West L.A./Santa Monica, circa 1956-7:

Block Busters (my club)
T-Timers (older guys)
Kerb Krushers
4-11s
Drifters
Flywheels (mostly about fighting, not cars)
Black Rats (plaque showed a tombstone, a dagger and a bottle)

I'm sure I've forgotten others.

 

I was 17 in 1966 and joined the Kam Pushers in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, Canada. We had some rods and customs. I had a 56 chev 4-door hardtop on the road, and a 33 chev 2-door I was working on with my limited knowledge. We even had a club barn with 2 car stalls and a club room and a mechanical assembly room, all heated. The entire attic of the barn was parts storage. The rent was $25 a month in the sixties. The club had started in 1956. One of the original members still has his 40 ford 2-door that he swapped a 56 T-bird 312 into in 1960. It still has the original ford black paint and interior and the Y-block. All I have left is my club plaque.

 

Well, I'm no "greybeard"... although at 29 I have grey in my beard... and I have a bad back after Work tonight... anyway I've yet to be in a car club, but as a teenager in Arcadia I often visited the Street Rods Forever meets at the Glendale Federal Bank, every (week? month?). Am trying to remember where they've moved the meet to. Is it Fuddruckers?
Was just mesmerized by that scene, like the pages of car mags come to life, not to mention the friendliness, comradery, and seein' 'em zoom out the lot and up the road.
Did a story on them for the Arcadia Tribune as a senior in high school, made front page news.
Been thinking of starting a club here called the "Lost Coast Bloody (or Busted) Knuckles".
Great post!
Some posted this link for club plaques on my post, thought you'd enjoy it:
http://www.relicsandrods.com/carclubplaques.htm
I wish Uncle Tommy's "Paegans" jacket was still around.

 

my beard hasnt turned gray on me just yet, only club I remember is the one I hung out with back home...River Valley Kustoms, we used to be the club that hosted a certain car show in the city of the Hangin Judge, Ft Smith, AR, before it was moved to fayetteville on the same weekend as the big swap meet at Petit Jean....

ahhhh good old days, hangin out with hemikat and phatboy and Larry Rogers and the rest of the club.....the nights after the show at the King's Row Inn...the infamous office chair shenanigans...the (gasp! not at a KKOA gathering!!!) flamethrowers, the nekkid people in the pool....the thunderstorm that hit in 1999 and the lightning bolt that blew a hole in the McDonald's sign not 50 yards away, the mini-bike with the McPhail painted tank...the Lucky13 and their introducing me to shiner bock beer...

there was someone there with a video camera that got my baby blue '51 blowin flames...wish I had a copy of that...

 

As sophomores in high school, a bunch of us gearheads thought it would be cool to start up a car club. It was 1961-62 and right after my parents relocated to another town, those guys did start up the club. I had to go with my parents and wasn't able to be a part of it. After high school came a 3 year stint in the Army. When I went home from Europe, I moved back to my old town and the car club was going great guns. The boys had a clubhouse adjacent to the rail switching yard, made conversation interesting when the rail cars would collide [the railroad guys call it "humping"] and you couldn't hear yourself think! That was in 1969-70 and the clubhouse had a 4 or 5 car bay for clubmembers to work on their cars...very cool.
I left to relocate to my new wife's city [Portland] and lost touch with everybody..When I went back a few years ago to attend goodguys NW in Puyallup, Washington, I stopped in to find the club was still active. Not one of the old founding members was still in the club. I re-joined anyway as an associate member and was sent my monthly news letter but it just wasn't the same... I let the dues lapse and they didn't write or call to tell me they'd lapsed...just stopped sending newsletters and dropped me from the roster. That was cool with me.
When I go back for visits, I still stop and visit with some of the old founding club members, none of them active in any clubs but all of 'em still still having hot rods. Mortecai is one of 'em and he posts here on occasion. It might be fun to re-start the old club but we're not really club guys.
Side story:::
I drove my 50 chevy sedan delivery back to Oregon from Omaha about 6 years [30th class reunuion] ago and we all met up at Burgerville, USA at the local cruise night. There were 4 of us and we all piled into Danny's 55 chevy.. He'd had a similar 55 in high school and I had my video camera with me. IT WAS JUST LIKE 1964, ALL OVER AGAIN! We hadda have the traditional argument about who was gonna ride shotgun, who got the back seat and everybody's place was dictated by their social standing on our little group.......just like it was in the 60's........We had the "Oldies" station on the A.M. radio and when we stopped for cokes, Ken was flat broke just exactly like he always was.....Danny grumbled about the "Cheap bastard" and came up with Ken's coke money, just like he always did....it was just like 35 years hadn't passed at all. Two young ladies pulled up beside us in their late-model and gave us a once-over....pulled around us and continued on with wrinkled noses.....just like in the olden days....
I think it's important to get with old car-buddies but ya don't necessarily have to be in a club to do it...

 

This is the patch we had sewn to the back of our red nylon (James Dean) jackets back in high school....1958. A couple of us even had cars....

 

The Lifters started in '58, after a time laspe are going strong today, The Prowlers and Bean Bandits are among the oldest car clubs and still going, The Torquers of Ocean Beach had what today are called "traditional" cars, There are a few others from San Diego That I can't remember because my beard is grey and my brain cells are frijoles. As soon as they come back? I will post them, there was a club that had show cars I'm trying to remember.

 

Not a "founding father", but belonged to the CAMS in Wethersfield/Waterbury CT. in the mid to late fifties. Some of our guys - me included - ran the tech line at a Charlestown Rhode Island drag strip and later at CT Dragway. Didn't have many "cool" cars but we had fun.

 

It took a while but I finally got it..Aristocrats had some nice show cars in San Diego.

 

I am not sure, but I think the oldest club in Canada that is still active may be the British Columbia Custom Car Association or BCCCA, started in 1952 in Vancouver, BC. They have all kinds of cars and operate the dragstrip in Mission. The Vancouver Roadster Club was active in the 40's but isn't around now.

 

Hi I have been a member of the Kurb Krushers cince 1956. I had a lot of friends in the 4-11's as we all grew up in WLA, Santa Monica and we had a mutual love of cars. Your right the Flywheels were not a car club but just a bunch of idiots. We had a KK reunion(50 yrs) in Marina Del Rey and we still keep in touch. great memories of good times. I still fly my club plaque on my '40 Ford Mike Gilmore

 

3 long time clubs in my area.......Tachmen (45+yrs)........Radical CC (40yrs) and Random CC (35 yrs)..........

Ther Tachmen are still into the old time rods......

 

In the '50s my brother belonged to the "Quartermilers" in Lawrenceville, Ill. I now live in Ct. and belong to a very loose nit club called the "Rod Benders". We are a handful of old geezers (mostly retired) that get together to work on our cars and BS.

 

when my dad was is his 20's,now 78, he was a charter member of the Ramblin' Rebels in Raleigh, NC. He has a couple of the original jackets they had made and I have seen one of the pewter license plates they ran on their cars. Back then he had a 40 ford convertible. I have heard the club is still around but of course it's another bunch of guys.

 

I remember the "Road Hawks" from Independence, MO in the late 50's.

J.

 

In the late 50's we had a club called the "Sleepers". It folded after a couple years. One of the guys kept a window sticker; we had those instead of plaques. I had a new run of stickers made 4-5 years ago and have one in each of my cars. I guess I'm a car club of one. Never any disagreements, etc.

 

Our Club Der Kobblers Was Formed In 1956 I Joined In 67 When I Was 18 Tim

 

Sometimes timing is strange.Just before the GNRS there was a post about club plaques.I Post that I've been looking for a ROAD STAR SOUTH OMAHA plaque for a long time.I lived next door to Bob Rose,A member of that club.I can remember them welding on a roadster in his driveway after dark.That would of been 1957.I was hooked. I also had my hair cut at Holcumbs barber shop on 46th and Q street.The Holcumb brothers had really nice cars.These were Road Stars that I knew. I post I've been looking for their plaque and I believe Dennis? from O'Brien trucking comes right back with a picture of the cast master an says I can have one made.Thanks a bunch, I got it in the mail today and it's perfect.
Now thru research I find out that one''Chicken Al'' is still around,81 years young and still running a chrome shop.I'm going to ask permission to run the plaque again.
If you are looking for an old plaque I'd try OBrien Truckers their #1 in my book and they have an extensive catalog.Later