Boston Ma area - Street Racing in 60's remember this car?

You guys are really going down memory lane. That is a great looking car. We all(motorheadss) had cars similar thne. Worked or hung at gas stations.
I cruied Richards in Quincy and did a trip to Adventure occasionally Shot pool at Wollaston Bowladrome and went to dances at the Rexicana in Marshfield. Fords ,chevies dodge , desoto biucks. We could get pulled over and not busted. Great time to be a teenager. 63-64

 

Capecodbob, you probably met my dad a few times! He was a cop in marshfield and had plenty of stories of clearing out the rexicana after last call!

 

I just went to kellys...was gonna stop at bianchi's instead actually but they had already closed for the night..

 

that could be my dad,,,,his car seriously deep 12s in street trim / ran high 11s deep...my grandfathers body shop was first on mystic ave in medford, then behind mt vernon somerville...

i know that my dads friend, had used my grandfathers shop, one of which was building a nomad and new drivetrain was all laid out, one night it had got stolen! my dad and his friends figured out who it was

also my father always tells me about some guys out of their garage in somerville, ran a dragster I believe and for quite some time, held the national record for the class

ill get there names

my dad raced with billy prendable a lot - he ran corvettes, even one that was out to 454 before 1970, a motor they built, running in 68

 

my dad also raced circle track a good deal, his partner in that was a guy named bobby powers...

 

also bob noss, bob noss was not someone my dad was friends with but if you know the name, you know the reputation he had

there was a tragic accident, two cars racing on the new 93...one launched off the highway into a house....that was down below

bob noss was in the car that survived, other car was killed and rumors circle the accident to this day

other local names I know, through my dad, tom steed - worked at chevy dealers, tony grasso - he passed away a few years ago, had an early black vette, then owned a speed / performance shop in recent years

 

I need to get to Everett soon to visit my dad's grave and i will get to the beach and hit Bianchi's as well NOW I am gettin nostalgic.

 

I think Mark Rodgers might have been in that club. He drives a mean model A chopped sedan with nailhead. I almost rented those garages about 10 years ago when I lived in JP!

 

I remember that accident well.......we used to hang out at the Dunkin Donuts in Redstone/Stoneham.......heard about it shortly after it happened. Went to see it the next morning......sure enough the back end of the car (a '34 coupe if I remember correctly) was sticking out of the roof of that house.....must have been quite a surprise to the folks sleeping!! The 2 Boston papers put the pic on their front page......

The other car was a Griffith.....(maybe a different accident...fuzzy memory about 50 years ago!).......one of those stubby little cars.....I think it had a SBF.....rear window got sucked out and the guy had an "E ticket" ride.......the guy used to come around Donuts once in a while.....

 

Cool shots of back in the day. I always loved the "post" '55 Chevys. My avatar is from '75, 327, 4 speed and 4:56's.

 

I remember hearing about that when I was in the Navy.Paul Grasso(Tony's older brother)was the one that got killed.I've heard the rumors too.
Is Anna's Pizza still down on Revere Beach? I liked their pizza even better than Bianchi's.
Used to hang there in the early 60's until the MDC cops threw us out.One of their own got punched by a couple of friends who were drunk and fighting.He was out of uniform and tried to break it up and they both turned on him.They both got two years in Shirley.Ma Burkes was a great place NOT to go unless you liked fighting.Seem to remember a loony MDC cop(Robson?)riding his bike through the front door one night.
Just the mention of Kelly's gets my mouth watering for a rare roast beef or some clam chowder.Nothing like that out here.
Tim Carroll bought Tony Grasso's 34 cabriolet and I think he still owned it when he passed away.Always wondered what happened to the Whale(chopped 55 Ford Vicky with the hilborn injected Lincoln in it).Saw some pics of it on here awhile back.The Li'l Moose(27 T roadster)is another one Tim and John had.I did some striping on it when it was still street driven before they turned it into a show car.Had to be around 1961.

 

Great topic ! Here is a picture from my old neighborhood in Malden, MA., in the late sixties. There was constant flow of hot rods and racers coming and going from these garages.

 

The dragster that ran out of Somerville, was the A&B Speed Shop A/FD. It was owned by Bernie Regals and Ade Kynff. They beat many blown dragsters in match races.

 

Thanks for the pic and the correction Jack;couldn't remember whether they ran gas or fuel.Is that Joey Scribner's 34 cab or is it the McKeil brother's 34?Both as I recall were Buick powered.And the 37;is that Walter Jepson's car? If it is my cousin Dave(Manley;Dick's brother)bought it when we were in high school.Still had mechanical brakes on it which we changed over to hydraulics.I ran into that car years later in Salem.Ed Santisi bought it and converted it back to stock.
I remember those garages well;Richie had his Deuce 5 window there that Don Burley wound up with.He drove it to the Street Rod Nationals in Detroit in 72(or 74 I forget the year)with his wife and two kids(they rode in the rumble seat)and a turtle top camper attached to the roof.Vito Venuti bought his 34 Plymouth sedan there(he and Sally had flown out)and they drove back together.Those were the days.

 

My father and his friends used my grandfathers shop and the garages on North Street in Medford.

Again, I am only 38, but was lucky enough to work at PV Performance all through college and got to meet a lot of older racers and guys involved with building some sick early cars.

Mike Goffredo still manages the shop....and the steering wheel he took off his go cart went on to a fairly well known car called the Instant T (i believe that is what it was called)

A good friend of mine, lives next door to the house what was owned by Noss....his son lives there now and of what I hear, the apple did not fall far from the tree.

So do any of you know the kids from Somerville, that once held the national record with their dragster?

How about Larry Little and Coolbreeze???????? A friend of his, named Jan, retired from Verizon now campaigns a wagon with the Coolbreeze name, car goes 8s or 7s now I believe.

 

Yeah, Tony Grasso was always cool to me, I know some people thought he was arrogant, but seemed like a good guy, served his country in Vietnam, built some sick cars, he had offered my a job, but it was right when I took the job with PV. I am sure it was a combo of smoking and maybe even agent orange that got Tony sick with the big C.

I am fortunate to have met some of these guys...

Not sure if Anna's Pizza is there, dont think I ever heard of it.....I had a large roast beef mustard, cheese and sauce from Kelly's the other night, was very good!

 

PV Performance in Melrose? Are they still in business?

 

Haha, actually in Malden, on Melrose line...still there!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Next time you see Mike tell him I said hello.Met him when he worked for Brian on Salem St. in Malden(the first one that was on the left going toward Malden Sq) and drove his blue 60 sedan delivery.I had a brown one only mine was full of plastic and had a million miles on it(old American Tobacco Co cigarette truck).Brian had his yellow 59 sedan delivery that he used to tow his 55 Nomad drag car.
I remember Mike sold that car and bought it back a couple times and made money everytime! I found it many years later in a shop near the Pepsi bottling plant in Wilmington.Pretty far gone by then.Striped a few cars for him that he built.
Ray Smith

 

Mike went 12 flat with that car....i know the first shop too, though ass way before my time

 

I remember goin in there as akid they have picture on the wall of a Nova cal "Novadose" i think someone was tryin to sell it

 

Do you remember a guy named Richie Lane with a black 66 or 67 Chevell SS 427? There was another guy named Rich Delipiana with a wicked 64 or 65 Chevelle also i think from Everett. I cant believe PV servived all these years with the way hotrodding has changed. I dont think Anna's Pizza is there anymore. Bill Ash's is though I believe anyone wanna go? lol

OH SHIT!! does anyone remember Larry Fox he drove a fenderless bright yellow 36 coupe, he lived near the Malden projects

 

Sounds like a lot of the names you mentioned were after my time.Not that I'm that old(68)but most of the people I knew had older cars.There was a car club that had a garage off Route 99 across the street from Robin Adair's.Can't remember the name now but there was a guy named Ed Cook and Frank D'Agostino in the club.Frank is still into cars I saw him several years ago and he had a Fiero with a 383 in the back.Serious car.They were both from Malden. Dave Yetman had a chopped 50 Plymouth and later an Austin A4o sedan with an Olds engine in it.Dave was a striper and went on to build custom frames for motorcycles in Beverly.Talked with him awhile back and he got out of bikes in the 70's and lives on a boat(I think)in Maine now.
There was a guy in Everett that had a sectioned 55 or 56 Ford hardtop and another named Oliveri that had a 57 Chevy 4 door hardtop that screamed.There was also a couple of brothers(twins maybe)called the Z Brothers because nobody could pronounce their last name who owned a 58 Corvette that they had about a gazillion dollars into.
One of the fastest cars around there(stock anyway)was Paul Gouveia's 61 Chevy SS convertible with a 350 hp 348 in it.Craziest sunuvabitch I ever rode with.Raced a Corvette one night from Wellington Circle going toward Everett and ran out of real estate(lane ended)and he drove the car up onto the curb and never let off the gas.Finally pulled ahead of the Vette enough to get back on the road and didn't even crack a smile.
Remember another time my buddy had his50 Olds and he pulled up at one of the lights on the Revere Beach Parkway headed toward Everett to race this kid in a 61 Pontiac.A bike pulled up on the other side and Don thought it was one of the guys from Ma Burke's.Pulled a gigantic holeshot on the Pontiac when the light changed only to discover the guy on the bike was the crazy MDC cop who had driven his bike into Burke's once.Cop pulled them both over;dragged them out of the car and nearly beat the snot out of both of them.
They went to trial and Don was supposed to lose his license until he was 25(he was 21 at the time).Cop didn't know Don's old man had the ticket squashed and it wound up being a 60 day suspension.Cop cornered him after court and told him if he ever saw him on the beach again he'd kill him.Knowing the cop he likely would have.
I gotta sign off;I'm thinking about a Kelly's RARE roast beef and a cup of clam chowder.almost ready to wake the wife and get on the road.Only a 14 or 15 hour drive.

 

I gotta say.. I love these kinda threads. It's pretty cool for a young 'un like me to read all of your posts about the old days and the stories.

Shame today's nothing like those days. That would have been a hoot to see for myself.

Thanks guys.

 

Hi Ray, That is Joey's cabriolet parked at the Edmund St garages. Joe bought the car from the McKeil brothers from Melrose. Also in the driveway is Dickie Scribners 37 Ford, that Jeppy owned before him and before Jep your cousin had it.

 

A and B Speed was the shop, the place that once held a national record for awhile for the class..I believe it was a dragster

ill go to bill ashes if the girl in ur avatar comes....

novadose..the maroon wagon? Mike bought it later sold it

 

After the A&B Speed Shop Ade went into business with Joe Palladino in Malden on Broadway just past Ferry St. going toward Everett.They campaigned a 55 Chevy gasser(see picture) that I lettered the doors.The rest of the lettering had been done earlier by Skip Clement.Don't think the business lasted all that long though and it may have been due to an incident that took place very close by.
My soon-to-be brother-in-law had a 66 Fairlane GT with a modified 390 that he had just sold to someone(don't remember the guy's name but he must have been born with a horseshoe lodged in his butt).
The guy came out of the speed shop;did a horrendous burnout and headed off toward Everett.The car had been recently raised in front and the front shocks hadn't been installed yet.When he hit the railroad tracks going across the road he lost control of the car and it rolled several times and then hit a telephone pole right across the back of the roof.The force was so great the front subframe and engine was ripped from the car at the cowl and continued down the road for a couple hundred feet.Amazingly when people got to the car the driver was outside walking around! He was dazed and scraped up a bit but no broken bones.Apparently he was holding onto the wheel and was propelled out of the car when it broke apart.He let go of the wheel then and was thrown a short distance.I wish I still had the pictures of the car;if you looked at them you would swear NO ONE got out of that.

BTW was that wagon the one Tom Steed had?

 

WHOOPS! Forgot the pic! Sorry.

 

The wagon was built by Mike Casey, it was a newer built car, was a 67 Nova Wagon I believe.