Did you grow up around Seattle in the sixties?

I'm hungry for some examples of the styles (wheels, paint, engine, interior, etc.) used regionally around the Pac Northwest.

We always here about how it was done in Cali, in the sixties, but what was the average kid cruising during the heyday of KJR with Pat O'Day, the Midway Drive-In, Spanish Castle, SIR, and the like?

Any info on stance, tire choice (white or blackwall), drag or custom influence is greatly appreciated.

Oldbeet? Paul? FEDER? Unklgriz? Anyone?

Thanks.

 

If you look in some of the old little books there is a surprising amount of cars featured in them from the NW.

I was born in 59 so wasnt driving yet in the 60's, wish I could give you more info.

 

I think the popular wheel tire combo at the time was black wheels with or without baby moons and narrow whitewalls. A**** the guys I knew you just didn't run black walls in the early 60's. That didn't start until about 1965 or 66. The mags that were available at the time were gaining popularity but some had a reputation for breaking. Chrome reverse wheels were probably the custom wheel of choice for a lot of guys because they were somewhat affordable, about 4 for 75.00.
Primer or flat paint was out except for the primer spots that showed that you had had the car nosed, decked or had removed side trim. Primer showed that you were working on the body and usually you could see weekly changes on a guys car until it had the new and shiny paint.
For the low buck guys in the Seattle area it was most often a trip to Sure-fit for a set of new seat covers and they would sew up custom sets. The older folks took their brand new cars there to get the clear plastic seat covers installed so that the upholstery would be nice when they traded the car in.
Outside of black or white you tried to choose a color that no one else in your area was running. Along with that i think each town or area of any size had a jet black 55 or 56 Chev two door that honked. Usually loaded with Corvette goodies.

Due to guys running up and down the coast all the time we were not that much different than what they were running in Cal.

 

i was born there in 60' but grew up in tacoma. spent many hours listening to KJR 95: CHICKEN MAN!

 

Thanks for the quick responses.

I have a decent collection of old magazines, including little books, but those were coming out when wheelcovers and white tnr were still "in".

I'm specifically searching for mid to late sixties. I know that being on the west coast means some California influence is inevitable.

Would you have seen a '65 Wildcat running chrome reverse, or a new set of mags, and if it was lowered, a front or rear rake? Was metalflake and panel paint accepted locally?

 

btt to keep it visible

dang, this board moves ten times faster than it used to.

 

I was in Seattle in the 60's and this was what I was driving except for a brief stint at Bonnevile.

 

no I didn't grow up in the sixties at all ( I wish I did)

 

My late friend Don Stuernagel grew up in Fife, WA in the 60's, If you had the wheels, more specifically, the tires stolen off your VW back then, let me apologize for him. He took a trip to SE Asia to break himself of the habit.

He said that a set of tiny VW tires would lower a car 2" without having to do anything else.

 

Rumor had it that finding a VW spare was as easy as lifting the bonnet cover.

 

Metalflake was popular within a year of when it was invented. Someone else will have to chime in on the exact year. I saw it in the article in the magazine and saw it on the street within 3 months. Never much cared for it though and the lowrider brigade have pretty well made it their trademark in the PNW.

 

I'm one of those guys who grew up in the 60's, and although I lived in Portland, I spent a fair amount of my time in the Seattle/Tacoma area with my 48 Chevy.
Built it after coming back from the Army in "67". Wish I had her now!
Had a 340hp 62 Corvette motor, muncie 4spd, 57 Chevy rearend, 55 Chevy 1/2 truck straight axle, Cragers with small tires in front and orignally had a set of huge US Royal Master that were capped two or three times, then went to M/T's or Pro Tracs..............this is what I drove in the 60's.

 

My dad ran around the monroe, duvall area with a yellow cowebbed 55 pontiac safari and new 69 z-28, sold his 32 5 window project

 

I came to Seattle from Portland in 1964. Drove a black 56 Merc Tudor. mag wheels, red lines, 390 FE, 4 speed. Never did grow up!.............OLDBEET

 

Thanks for all the cool responses. That Chevy coupe looks like something that would make you shake in your boots, if you were next to it at a stoplight!

Beetle, that Merc sounds really bad***, as well. I've been tempted to get a set of redlines for my Buick, lately.

 

I wasn't really old enough to remember much of the car scene of the '60's. I do remember one of my uncles driving a '56 Merc, one drove a '60 Chev Sedan Delivery, and that's about all really. The car scene and the cars really didn't get going for me until my Uncle stopped by one day with his mild custom '56 Chev, that was around '71 if I remember correctly. It was running a set of chrome reversed wheels and blackwalls. From then on I was hooked, and went to almost every Hot Boat and Speed show, and Autorama we could get to.

Larry

 

Street racin at Golden Gardens was a thrill in Friday nite. They used to bring out some big guns. Roll um off of trailers. Cops would show up and everyone ****tered. I really miss them days!!...........OLDBEET

 

I was in highschool from 61/64 and my first car was a 51 Chevy Htp, powder egg blue, the wheels were the same color with baby moons. Within a year the car went from stock height, to lowered in front, to raised in front. It had a nasty 55 Corvette 6cyld with tripower.

The second car was a 61 Ford Vicky, 265 Chevy with overdrive. The car was Red and had a Custom Craft black interior. It had white reveresed rims with baby moons. The car was jacked up front and rear...........front with station wagon coils and rear with Jeep leaf springs. Neat car.

Last car before leaving home was 56 Chevy Htp, 327, 3spd then 4spd. Car had American Mags with same size tires. Car was two tone white and green.

In 70 sold my 48 Coupe to my brother and bought a 64 Impala Htp, 327/300hp factory 4spd, station wagon coils all around and Lakewood traction bars. That was the car I got married in the first time.................

This was in Portland, OR, but going through highschool I remember Larry Palmer had this very nasty Turbo Corvair, Dale Reed had a drop dead gorgeous 48 Ford Convertible with 327/4spd, blue with white top, one kid had a 64 Dodge Coronet with 413 Wedge with cross rams, but very few real old hot rods like 30's or 40's. One kid had a Bug Eye Sprite with 327, that wasn't safe but went like stink, and another good friend had a 61 Pontiac Catalina with 421/4spd. Didn't really see very many low riders but I remember one Chopped 50 Merc with lakes pipes that you couldn't put a pack of Lucky's between the lakes pipes and the ground...............really low. I never saw any Red rims, you saw Yellow and White............those were the days when gas was 15 a gallon cents during the gas wars!!!!! At least for the guys I ran with, HP and speed was just about all there was, with girls falling in line around 3rd or 4th on our priority list. Chrome rims were OK, mags were better, never liked the Raider wheels, but they came from the Portland area. Like I said, it was lowered front ends, then raised front ends (to make them look they were launching at the strip) then raised all around, Cragers, Americans, Enkie, Raiders, and other wheels were very popular. Traction bars were a must, Traction Master, Lakewood, and others were a must if you had a fast car. Straight axles were just coming to the street in the late 60's. My 48 Coupe was one of a handful in the Portland area in 68/69.

That's how I remembe the early to late 60's in Portland, OR.

 

I remember the guys that emulated drag cars. Lifted all around, with the front just a bit higher. Stock steel wheels painted WHITE, chrome reverse, or 5 slot ASTROS (NOT the Astros of today). Front wheel houses painted white. Sun tach on the dash. Dual exhaust. Custom 3 spoke steering wheel. Cars had dumps coming off the manifold header pipe capped with a twist-off gas cap to uncork them easily. Some ran cheater slicks. I remember a fella in my high school had a 64' Chevelle Model 300 2 dr sedan set up like a g***er; had a suicide style front axle and one day he had to slam the brakes on in the parking lot; the front end just folded under. Colby Ave, the Renton Loop, and Golden Gardens; there were even stickers around that said "GOLDEN GARDENS RACEWAY".

 

I spent the summer of 62 in Eugene Or [just outside] with relatives. I was 16, but did not have any wheels there. The only guy around my age lived down the road and was allowed to use his folks 47 Chevy 4 door sedan. So any "running around" was in that Chevy. Obviously we did not hang around any car guys. The main thing I remember there that has not been mentioned was white undercarraiges. I had not seen it before, or after, that I can remember. I remember it being common there. 'Course after was back in Oklahoma.

 

Hey BEET, Don't forget Colby- Renton Loop-Alki- Lake City. Yeah, Man, Slotted Mags, Cragars, Spring shackles with *** Up! Traction Bars with Red lights on em. Oh yeah! DragFast stuff(Seattle). Service Center on 99 Lynwood. Across fron Green's. Supertuners, Tru spokes.(they were the ****!) Super snoopers, 64 FunnyCars, Fox Hunt.(What a Smokeout! and I don't mean tires) Wake up in a Ditch on Hwy 18 sunday morning. Whew! Those were Killer Days. They were also Cruising Big in Bremerton then." Excuse me officer, Did you say empty that whole keg in the trunk?" B

 

I have nothing valuable to add to this (since I wasn't around) but it's a great thread!

 

Tru Spokes still are the ****! I grew up too damn late, out here. Oh, to have partied in the pre-PC days of ***, gr***, and good gas.

I graduated in '91, and by then, the only cruising was around SeaTac mall in Federal Way. I learned the hard way, not to street race where there was cruising going on. Reckless driving ticket, dropped to a negligent after I cleaned up and wore a shirt and tie to court (Yes, ma'am, certainly, never again, I'm sorry....)

I've always heard of guys talking about racing down "Three Tree Point", between Normandy Park and Burien. Any stories??

 

I did that once in July 69 with my 69 Cutl***. I was doing about 90 and had a yellow vw bug pull out in front of me from the marina.
After a panic stop Loaded up my buddy and called it a night.
In the summer of 1966 I probably rode and drove a couple thousand miles on the Renton loop. Friday and Saturday nights drew cars from all over the northwest. I almost lived in the parking lot at Dags that summer.

 

Ya, we hit all those spots just as things were getting closed off. We mainly hit Herfy's in White Center, Renton, Alki, and the infamous South Park Raceway. Watched a '55 Chev Sedan Delivery with a blown 350 pull the front wheels one night in front of Herfy's. That was the wildest summer. It was in the mid '70's, but there were still straight axle Chevelles, 'vettes, and nova's running the streets right along side the 440 Chargers, Darts and SOHC Fords. If you didn't see them on the street you'd see them at SIR hammerin' the 1320.


Larry

 

I know this is an older post but here are a few of my dads pics from the 60's-70's around the Seattle and Bellingham areas. My dad ran a Cheveron station in the Capitol Hill area and drove a cream colored 53 F100, a Corvair wagon with Spyder gutts and a orange 49 ford custom with a carson top. I will have more pics the next time Im over at his place and grabb some more of his photo albums.
I still need to re scan the pics one by one or seperate them with photoshop.




















One of his projects way back when.



This was another project of his. If you read Rod & Custom or know Jim Green you will reconize the pink grillshell, hood and sides. There will be a full story on the car that went with these parts in a future issue.



I will grab some of his other albums that have better and older pics in them the next time Im at his place.

 

Great stuff Frankenstein. SeaTac, cl*** of '65. We used to bait Tukwila Charlie because he had a new '64 Chev squad car that he had been tweaking with a cam and dual quads. Chromies and baby moons or spiders. Renton cruising. Renton Washington the unsynchronized traffic light capital of the world. KOL 1300 or KJR Seattle Channel 95. Merrilee and the Turnabouts or the Kingsmen at the Castle. Doing a wax job at Seward Park. The tubes on 188th under the airport.

 

I owned the deuce roadster that went with that "Lido Lavender" track nose. The guy who owns the car now had the nose and I had the car. It was built by Keith Treece and in Hot Rod Mag. in 1961. Pete Sukalak did the article. The car was shown for years at Portland and Seattle. I heard it was going to be in Rod and Custom soon. The restoration turned out beautiful.

 

I lived in Bremerton and Seattle during the 50's-60's and to my memory the car scene was very big in Bremerton (Bummerton), Tacoma (Tacodor), Olympia (Oly). Most of the cars were customs, shaved, decked, lowered (or raked) to the max, chopped, rolled and pleated, the tires were mostly blackwall (except for the roadster styles) and wheels were generally painted black or red, smoothed, and often reversed and widened in the rear. This was also the time when drags were getting more popular and there were a lot of g***ers out running the streets too. A lot of mopars if I recall with big hemi's. A lot of the guys drove their dad's older cars too which were originals like woodies, big packards and buicks. The 49-50 olds were very popular stock/rods. There were regular street races out in the country around Bummerton and Belfair and a lot of racing was done on the Tacoma Narrows Bridge. There were several places that the cops let alone because some of the cops liked to race too, and a few did it in their patrol cars. There wasn't much if any interest in safety equipment but I don't recall any real horrible wrecks although there were a few. Those were some great times, hadn't thought of them for quite a while, thanks for waking up the memories.

 

Way O/t I know,but did anyone get to see the toughest R'n'R band in history that came out of Tacoma,The Sonics in their heyday?they're my heroes!