Writer looking for Moonshine Car Research

I'm in Southwest VA, about 5 minutes from the Kentucky border.

 

Then ...as now, the government did not care about the whiskey...it was the TAX on the whiskey that they wanted.

Plain and simple........$$$.

Good moonshine is as smooth as a glass of water....but packs a real kick. It is way different than store bought alcohol.

Some fellows had being making shine as a family business since their grandfather's and great grandfather's times. Making good shine is Hard work... Some still do.....make it.....

 

Change the Olds Holiday to a 54 or 55 Ford 2 dr with a 56-57 312 dual quad engine. In 59 a 312 would have been a cheap junkyard buy and dual quad intakes were regular aftermarket items. This would have been more in keeping with the people doing the driving.

In 59 I was stationed in Olathe, KS with a moonshiners son from the Missouri Ozarks. They used 49-51 Fords with Olds or Cadillac V8 engines. Real fast unless you hit an ice patch over a bridge. And then hit the dirt road and rolled over a few times into a farmers hog patch. Farmer came out and helped us get it back on the road with his tractor. There was so much mud in the patch that no real body damage happened; but what a mess! Only a few bottles broke due to good packing and the rest of the trip back to KS was uneventful. KS was dry at the time. Real story!

Other cars to consider:

55-6 Chevy 150 or 210 series 2 dr sedans. Plain Jane basics that could even be bought new with Power Pak V8's or swapped in at any time.

54-6 Dodge or Desoto with Hemi power.

51-7 Hudson Hornet. Awesome power in what looked like a ministers sedan.

57 Ford as in Thunder Road. The 1st Ford with a truly huge trunk.

As far as weight distribution any serious runner had suspension mods as well as relocated or even removed back seats. Getting stopped wasnt an option.
In the 2 years I was in KS I made that Ozark run with Bob about 9-10 times and only got chased once by a local cop.

 

i own a 38 ford pu that was a tenn hauler had a caddy engine laselle trany a big hydrovac on the brakes and 15" stock car wheels and the best recaps money could buy. so they used a number of vehicles. like the man said big chryslers in the sixties

 

kinda off the subject but my 40 coupe is a businessman's coupe but it is a deluxe, i was told most of the businessman coupes were standards, anyone got numbers on them?And i recommend Thunder road also..........

 

I have not read the entire thread yet, but our neighbor back in the '50s had been in the Tennessee State Pen for moonshining, so it always interested me.

A few months back, I remember someone offering on eBay a (certainly) genuinely looking early '30s REO, still with the moonshine-conceiling tank in the back. I'd like to say Terraplane, but I am pretty sure that one was a REO coupe.

 

1949 Fords were a favorite for moonshiners, as well as 1955 thru 58 fords. A 50 Ply and 54 chev just wouldn't hack it unless a V-8 had been installed. Suspension was the main thing. I come from a neighboorhood of moonshiners in Atlanta. All ran the Dawsonville/Atlanta route in the 50's/60's.

 

If you haven't stumbled across this article yet, there's some info in there for ya


http://www.hotrod.com/thehistoryof/113_0510_moonshine_runners_cars_history/index.html

 

read book by charles h. weems a retired a.t.f. agent..in the book he list real vech's used by trippers& confiscated moonshine cars used by the a.t.f...list includes 60 pontiac,58desoto,56merc,57dodge,48ply,56fordp.u., 50 olds,46ford,39desoto,37ford,52 ford panel truck,53olds,55 ford panel,55ford,46 3/4t truck,49buick,40ford cpe,55 ford,48dodge,49pontiac,54merc,50hudson,50 ford p.u.,47ford,41ford,49ford,55merc,..all real vech's that hauled moonshine from 1954-1964 in the states of ga.tn. & surrounding parts. thunder road had a tech. adviser/ real life moonshiner named ralph shue?shoe?.., but hollyweird still did it their way!..research books & talk to the "real life moonshiners" who may be still be alive,..but in the end..moonshine haulers/trippers used everything that was at their disposal

 

1941 International Pick Up? I am not sure that could out run a horse never mind cops. Just look at early nascar that is full of moonshine cars

 

If the setting was 1959, the car can't be very close to that year, you have to remember that moonshiners lived in the poorest states and did'nt have the money to buy an almost new car, the car of choice was the 42 to 48 ford coupes, they had a large trunk , handled good on the road and had a large engine bay that you could put a newer engine, if they had money, their favorite was the 57 ford with the 312 t-bird engine

 

well, at least you got a good idea of the attitudes of the people in the biz, from all the attacks you got so far in this post

There's been some guessing in this post, but the info is basically sound...some 'runners were pros, set up their cars right with leaf springs from a "professional" Cadillac (in other words, a hearse. the local funeral home usually handled ambulance duties too) along with the drivetrain, and got that "california rake" to keep the car level under a full weight.

but other 'runners were amateurs, just grabbed a jalopy and hopped it up (a horse racing term, when you hopped up your horse with coke) following what they thought they saw others doing. an opportunity to make $$ is an opportuntity. and it was all about ducking the taxes, check out the bloodlines in that community. they've been waging war against taxes since the Civil War times .

Keep in mind, too...any listing of what got caught...is a listing of what doesn't work lol

 

My grandfather used a 39 ford coupe to run from Asheville NC to Kentucky to pick up boubon vs white lighting...he was the only one doing it in this area I was thinking...his house had a room downstairs that had a small section the length of the house where he hid the liquor from the cops...it looked like the end of the room but the room had a two foot section that was built with shelves and has/had trays hooked with chains to fill the length of the room with his haul..

By the way...his name was Lucas...in thunderoad...the star was named "Luke"....and my grandfather lived on state st....in the movie they had a stake out on " state ave"....

The movie was filmed about a mile from my grandfathers place...huummmmm.

 

........Sounds like it may have been loosely based on your Gramps antics. I had an uncle who spent some time in W. N. Carolina and E. Tennessee jails for "allegedly" being involved in the "shine" trade. He was a Ramsey from near Asheville somewhere. Word was he was hung up by his thumbs for hours in an attempt to get him to disclose info about his supplier and other associates. He was like Lucas Doolin, wouldn't talk to the law!

 

I would say your "Ramsey" was from Madison County....the next county over from Asheville and known for "white lightnin"....a Ramsey eventually became the " sherriff"....probably the same or brother of the Ramsey you referred to.

The folks who live in my old growing up house on State St I am sure have not discovered the " secret wall" in the house...there were nothing but old liqueor bottles in the trays when I last checked in the 60's. The secret storage area is between the addtion built room and the outside wall in the basement...one of the three drivers my grandfather used to go to Kentucky pissed off his wife by going and she had them raid my grandfathers house right when the 39 coupe pulled into the basement to unload.

I have many more ties to the movie as to friends and neighbors...my best friends grandfather owned the land where they built the filling station that blew up and the filling station was copied from Gene Johnson's Atlantic station and he also lived around the corner from my Grandfather....huummmmm....could keep going on ties to the movie.

Added after later postings.... This is a "LEGITIMATE" posting !!!~!!!

 

It's been six years, wonder if she ever finished the book?

 

My old 39 standard coupe came out of Cocke County, TN and was hopped up with extra springs and airplane (tube) shocks. The floor on the passenger side was rusted from the broken shine bottles leaking onto the floor even onto the frame, just on that side.

 

I thought it was ok.

 

I'd say some of Popcorns stuff got hauled in that thing

 

contact me off board at 336-786-4478 x 224 during the day EST. I'll put you in touch with some guys with great legit collections of bootlegger cars to field your questions.

40 ford's a must as are 57/58 and probably shoebox ford.

matt

 

.......I was born in Newport, in Cocke County and grew up in nearby Jefferson County. No shine ever came out of those or Sevier County

 

FNGs can raise the dead.

 

...............Ha, I did notice this thread was over 6 yrs. old!!

 

May I be so bold as to suggest you use the spellcheck on your computer...(soup & exceed
are spelled incorrectly), if there is anything book agents (and readers in general), dislike it's bad spelling...that'll get you a rejection letter faster than you can say 'white lightning'.

May I also be so bold as to suggest that I may be able to help you (in some small way)...I've written 5 books and have a 95,000 (+) word fictional manuscript out right now to several agents...simply PM me if you'd like help or questions answered.

R-

 

This is an old shine runner.

Look for a movie called moonshine highway, it will help you with your research, it is placed in the Tennesee hills in the '50s.

Good luck

 

Very cool, Beaner. I like it.

 

What kind shine car did popcorn sutton drive???

 

Who are you writing this to? This thread is six years old, and it was started by a "guest" here on the HAMB, not a member...

 

Well Special Ed, LOL...looks like I broke one of my own cardinal rules : "Check the dates on the first post...'". when I spotted it it was on the second page and had today's date on it and I didn't check the original date when I quoted it...and it looks like I'm not the only one that didn't check the date...

Yep, 6 years old...guess I was replying to no one in particular...so nevermind...!!!

R-

 

In Popcorns book "Me and my liker" he mentioned a 46 or 48 willis jeep. a 53 ford convertable with a merc engine and 2 strombergs.... a 61 ford 390 engine 3 speed trans with overdrive and exhalst cut outs or dumps controled from inside the car that would kick up a lot of dust. The Model A truck was used in filming for the history channel. I have not read the book in several years so maybe I left out one or more of his autos..