In more than one of the cl***ic 60's car songs they mention "....racing for a buck a gear..." What exactly does that mean? I've tried to reason it out but can't come up with anything that makes sense. Is a "buck" $100? So racing for a "Buck Fifty" would be $150... Is it kind of like odds. I'll put up $300 vs your $400 because I have a 3 speed and you have a 4 speed. Or even odds if we both have 4 speeds.
The song "Little Nifty Fifty" ( or "Nifty '50") was covered by a few people, I don't know who did it first. The Super Stocks Gary Usher The Customs. These are the lyrics as I hear them... Some, I still can't make out. I drive a nineteen fifty Chevrolet It may be old but I'd like to say With valve in heads she's really thrifty Twelve years old but she's really nifty Yes I treat her nice, my little nifty fifty. It's a real mover ____ and _________(??) It's head is shaved with 'em split and opposed. Not much top end that's pretty clear. But I make my money draggin' at a buck a gear. Yes I treat her nice, my little nifty fifty. I ask chicks to ride, but they always p*** I guess they figure I don't show much cl*** I'm not bugged when I get the air (????) I don't have payments so I really don't care And I love my sweetheart, my little nifty fifty.
Another song: X.K.E. by The Rip Chords (1964) I make money draggin' at a buck a gear. I always shut'em down. And even the little old ladies stay clear When I tach it up at the line now. (??) __________________
In the 1960's, I would say a buck a gear was one dollar. At that time a buck would buy three gallons of gas. None of us had a hundred dollars . Three gallons of gas would go a long way to covering expenses for the week. Phil
So..... does a buck a gear mean that who ever was ahead in a race, in each gear, won the buck? So 3 bucks per race?
Gary Usher wrote the song. He had about 5 different groups that did car and surf type music. He did a lot of work with other groups as a backup singer and player. I have been trying to figure this line, "buck a gear" out of many years.....all I can figure out is that it rhymes......
Santa Clara, CA. 1958: I had a '56 Ford ragtop, 292 stick O/D that was fast. A loudmouth with an old '53 Chevy tudor and a 'Blue Flame 6', Fenton 2 jugger, split manifold, loud exhausts, louder mouth said he'd race me for "5 Bucks a Gear". Guess he thought he could 'bluff' or win by intimidation. He got louder and louder, so I said, "O.K., 5 bucks a gear..." I wondered how it would tabulate if he were, by some miracle, able to get even one 'gear' up on me...do we subtract that from the two I'd take??? Well... I watched for a 'gat', in case he was gonna shoot one of my tires out... Quickly decided that I'd just eat him alive, so when the starter threw down the hanky, I came out strong...foot to the floor, 8.20s spinning, 65 MPH in low, 90 in second, then held 100 by speedo until I saw him slowing down in my mirror...about 300 yds back... ***hole got out of his Chevy loudly, as usual...calling me by my last name...if he hadn't handed me the 10 and the 5 he would have had his nose waxed. I could add. Beat him in first; get him good in second; keep him behind in 3rd. All the way to Alviso, if necessary. Fifteen bucks was fifteen bucks. (felt a little unfair taking it, but he ran his big yap, ***uming all he'd heard about Fords was true.) NOT hardly.
photo credit: Super Chevy Mag Hey BJR, "a buck a gear..." If that is the case, my friend owes me 3 dollars in each race, as I was ahead every time we raced. (2 times) He was learning to shift his new 1962 4 speed, 409 Biscayne (we taught him) and I was always ahead in my C&O 348 58 Impala from the start up until he got into 4th gear and then that 409 zipped by at the finish line at the Cherry Ave. Drags. If he had learned to speed shift or just make smooth shifts, that car was going to be the king of the streets and do well at Lions Dragstrip. The time I drove that car and shifted, it was a powerful beast, much faster than my 348 Impala. But, he never wanted to drive his 409 as a pure race car. It was just his first real daily driver car. He wanted a car that was fast (he got that) and look cool at the drive-in, back row, weekly car show and tell.(he definitely got that) Jnaki The next time I see him and mention the 3 bucks per race motto, we will all laugh. But, he will bring up the fact that his car was faster than mine. (two years and 100 HP advantage) So, yes it was and that both cars are gone with the times…
Yep, one dollar if you are ahead in each gear and at the end (one would suppose if you had a 4 speed you would win more!). Gary
Hey Gary, That is a good question about having a 4 speed. The 58 Impala's C&O was definitely, the fastest off of the start line. (auto vs 4 speed) Add in 4:56 gears and the measley, 280 hp, plus a quick reaction, made a start that gave me the advantage over most cars. The 280+ hp usually kept that advantage past the end of the quarter mile. (plus, a 4 speed transformation would have cost a ton of money and would not have solved the need for an automatic transmission. I had to let my mom use the car once a week for shopping. So she paid for a regular automatic transmission conversion from the stock 3 speed...I just happen to have a C&O stick hydro installed. HA! money well spent.) But, it was hard to keep up with the newer 1959-62 bigger horsepower cars, especially those 409 Chevys. I could get them off the line, but being at least 100 hp less, made it a race that was definitely not always for a win. If they missed a shift, which they did a lot, then I was able to keep up the lead and win. But, on the average, how does having 100 hp less make it any easier? The odds were definitely against us... My motor was at the top end of the build at the time. It definitely needed more money to make it go just a little faster, bore, pistons, ported/polished heads,etc. Since the money was not coming in as fast as I wanted to spend, we did what was fun and exciting, despite the odds. Jnaki It was hard to keep up with those factory super stock cars with more horsepower and yes, those 4 speed transmissions...But, we kept it up as long as we could. Boy, was it fun... until it wasn't...
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