REAL RACECARS DONT RUN RETREADS Dad wasnt a big fan of spending excessive amounts of money didnt have any anyway with six in the family it wasnt easy on a truck driver/mechanics salary well, OK, make that five, I was going to art school in Omaha, but home on weekends, eating on his money worse part was my 57s six was nearly wore out from all my street racing except Dad didnt know that...and the day would come soon when Id need a newer car working part-time at a Hinky Dinky grocery store in Omaha only paid for gas & grub there. It was kind of a surprise the weekend I went home in early 1964 the finned 1959 Bel Air was parked in the driveway. Didnt know it was mine Dad agreed I needed a newer car and was proud of the fact I decided to go to school, even if it was technical school this was his way to telling me. Shocked? Yeah, the car was a looker and only 5 years old Silver Blue blue vinyl interior, three-speed on the column, 348/4 barrel/dual exhausts. Dad didnt go for big engines but said hed been watching the car, for almost a year, itd set after it was wrecked, in a small town had lo-miles so he bought it at his price. Dad replaced the fender, hood, grille, headlight door and bumper with junk-yard used, including the radiator painted the front clip at work. It had body-color wheels, small dog-dish hubcaps and blackwall retreads (aka recaps) .Dad loved retreads! New tires were expensive about $60.00 for a complete set, with warranty as far as Dad was concerned, way too much money for something that was designed to wear out! Not far from his work was a tire retreader retreaded huge truck tires and had just gotten into recapping p***enger car tires. If Dad would bring over some good carc***es, theyd retread them $5.00 apiece. Twenty bucks for a full set of new tires that suited Dad just fine! I got thru the rest of the Omaha winter on the retreads hed put on the 59 but one of the last races of the winter out near Boys Town did one of them in came apart, peeled off the carc***. I had to run the nearly bald spare home Saturday morning, 72 miles one way told Dad the retreads were junk. He was furious said those tires should have lasted me at least a year not the three months Id had them. Course, I never mentioned the torque the 348 had it ran hard he wouldnt understand! After getting on my case all weekend about the tires, and actually seeing him check the fronts, he finally agreed I needed new tires, and a front-end alignment told me to call school Monday morning, excuse yourself and meet me in Carroll, at work, well get a new set and an alignment. Be careful coming over, dont need to blow out another one. Uhmmm, yeah. I got there about lunch time we went to the tire shop and picked out a set of recaps blakwalls again as the manager was pulling fresh tires off the rack, he asked Dad about whitewalls said they could vulcanize port-a-walls and theyd never come off. Since Dad had been buying truck tires from them (for he company he worked for), was a good customer, and that 59 sitting out there would look better with whitewalls, theyd put some on and not charge for it. Dad never p***ed on a deal. The 59 looked killer! I drove back to Omaha that afternoon feeling like King of the Road. The retreads held up pretty good into the summer Friday and Saturday nites the rears got workouts heading toward Kings on 72nd & Dodge Street, I got in a race with a 58 Ford didnt know what engine or ****** he had, but he played me for a while until we pulled up to the last light he motioned towards Boys Town and I nodded...a friendly race no money on it. The light changed and I got the hole shot left the Ford behind but I could hear him coming I slammed second and leapt a bit farther ahead I was certain I had this one wrapped up until the car started vibrating heard something banging the fender and had to quit. The Ford shot by me that was the end of that race. I pulled over to see what the noise was all about that was the end of the left tire, too. The tread had literally peeled off the carc*** you could stick your hand in between the tire and the tread. Fortunately, the Ford kept on going a beating on top of a ruined tire would ruin the weekend. Thot Id better check the other rear it wasnt exactly round anymore, felt like it was about to separate. I got the spare out, slapped it on limped back to my apartment dreaded calling Dad in the morning, asking him to bring me down a couple of tires. Looks like I wasnt going anywhere for the whole weekend bummer! How in the hell can you go thru that many tires? was the question, shouted thru the phone. Dont know Dad, are you sure these recaps are really that good? At least it got him thinking that maybe retreads werent quite as good as new well, they are definitely better priced. Maybe, depends on how many you go thru in six months. You need two, huh? Ones simply come apart? Well, yeah, maybe it wasnt simply, but it did come apart and the other is about to. He drove down Monday evening, a new set on the back seat of his 54 Ford four-door back-and-forth-to-work car when he opened the door of that car the smell of new rubber was invigorating! He inspected the front tires on the 59 didnt say anything but I could tell he wasnt happy they were worn, too. Cost almost as much to have those white-walled tires mounted and balanced as the whole set had cost him Take care of these, youre paying me back for them and getting them mounted. Im not buying you another set. With new tires, the 348 could again get a great hole shot wasnt anyone could leave a stoplight quikern me except the one nite I got into it with a brand new Olds 4-4-2 friend Sam (he with the Sonoramic Commando dual-four barrel V8ed 1960 Plymouth) had had trouble with a new Olds Cutl*** but he had four people in his car that nite, so I figured since I had three less people in my car Id have a better shot. It was one of those quikies no stopping to inspect each others cars, no money on it, just a nod and go when the lite changes. I lost the hole shot the 348 wailed right from the lite change think it was the hardest launch Id ever done the tires bawled I tromped the gas pedal thru the floor boards and knew Id win this one for sure! Figured the Olds was behind me that is, until I heard him hit second gear his rear tires wailed, rite in my ear my lead was gone, but only by a bumper and that distance wasnt holding now. I hit second, jumped a bit ahead and he slammed third and pulled a fender ahead of me looked like I was gonna lose this one for sure. Right about 80, the rear tire literally disintegrated the car lurched left, right toward that Olds I could see us getting tangled up, me hitting the 4-4-2s rear quarter, spinning us both around in a dance of death right in the middle of the street the cops were gonna have a hard time figuring out how this accident happened. I hit the brakes and held onto the steering wheel couldnt have missed the Olds by more than whitewalls width. He was still intent on beating me, doubt he even knew what was happening and kept going. I limped to the side of the street, shaking, and got out. Took a few minutes to calm down and scope out the situation. I changed the tire and headed for my apartment. During hot Midwestern summer months, in the afternoons, you can actually see heat waves rising from the pavement youre driving didnt think too much about how hot the pavement was as I headed home the next day...knew I was gonna be in trouble again for ruining another retread! Halfway home, outside of Logan, I hit a heat buckle, across both lanes of Hiway 30 concrete on Iowa highways had a tendency to buckle that is, it would break and pitch up, usually about 8-10 inches high and about 18-24 inches wide it was like hitting a curb and there was nothing you could do about it when you were flying along at 70 Bam, I nailed it hard, felt the suspension shake another bam -- the right side of the car dropped tire blew now what was I gonna do? Aimed for the side of the road, up on the curbing and stopped while Im inspecting the front tire I hear ssssssssssssss the p***enger side rear had a big bubble on the sidewall and was slowly going down the spare already on the car, Im screwed, big time. I leaned against the car for a while, trying to determine if I should walk or flag down someone with a Chevy to see if I can borrow at least one spare .maybe I could limp back into town on the other tire, not quite flat yet. A farmer in a pick-up came to my rescue said he may have some old tires at the farm. Get those off, well take em with us. The jack held up one corner while a 12 cut piece of firewood held the other. I jumped in and ten minutes later we looking thru his pile of junk tires got a mud & snow that had a couple of treads left and a decent 15 Amoco that held air mite get me home. We changed them right there and he drove me back...wouldnt take any money for the tires or the gas he used. I headed for home slow knew the last retread didnt have much life left in it, didnt want to take a chance of blowing it out and having to go thru this whole thing again. Dad was pissed, said he wasnt buying me any more tires that was OK cuz I refused to get more of his new tires I went to the Firestone store, bought a set of the new, narrow whitewalls warranty included and signed the credit app. I have no idea if retreads are even made these days, I dont buy them theres no good reason to these days, for as little as $125.00 you can get a full set of new tires, with warranty, from most major tires stores. Copyright 11-04 R.A. Jetter/Aden Rush Now available: Bangin Gears & Bustin Heads. 208 pages of the 1960s in Lincoln, Omaha, Fremont, Nebraska and Iowa stories of drag races, fist fights, cruisin, four-oh-nines, four-oh-sixes, Plymouths, Oldsmobiles and the way it really was including vintage B & W photos. Visit my website: www.rajetter.com and PayPal for it there or send $15.95 (plus $5.00 S & H total of $20.95) to P. O. Box 440042, Aurora, CO 80044 I will, in turn, DONATE $1.00 from each sale of the book to The Jalopy Journal! For overseas & foreign, they will be an increase in postage e-mail me for correct amount. This book would make a nice Christmas gift for that hard-to-buy-for person. Bonus: When you order direct from the author (thatd be ME!!!), Ill autograph it to you personally. Also available at major bookstores and Amazon. com
Good story Roger!! Remember re-refined oil ( can't remember exactly what it was called), could get a quart for the old oil burner for about half the price of "new" oil. If I remember right those 348 cars had a close ratio 3 speed, had a set of close ratio gears in the 3 speed my '56 Chev, may have been out of an old 'Vette, not sure, had a 3:08 rear end, column shift. Would pull up beside people going about 80, look over to get eye contact, downshift to 2nd, run it up to 110, make a big show of downshifting to 3rd. All with tires I wouldn't even puton a farm trailer today!! Thanks for the memories, I remember retreads well!
I used to run recaps. Only, I bought my own. I never had much money and when I did, me and it soon parted company. I had the same results that you did. I finaly bit the bullet and bought real deal manufactured brnd new tires. quit having trouble almost at the same time. Another great read that held me little attention and brought me back to the past. One of these days, I am going to get out my old pictures and scn a few to post. Especially a certain 59 Impala with blue and ice blue. Thanks. Jim
Great read Roger. I remember asking my great uncle the fastest he had gone in a car. He said "57 ford, pegged the needle at 110 and went a little further, in the dead of winter on recaps, never did it again". You know, they do still make recaps....aren't the Hurst slicks recaps? Greg
Great read Roger. I never have ran retreads, but heard tons of story's about them. Chris Nelson Kansas
Man, you've really recaptured my youth with this one! I had a '65 Nova that I had similar experiences with, and it leaked oil so bad, I'd buy the re-refined oil; I figured it wouldn't stay in crankcase long enough to do any damage. At the time we lived in Amarillo, Texas, and Dad was convinced that I needed MUD GRIPS to keep me from sliding into a bar ditch when it snowed. "HOLY ****, DAD!!! Mud Grips?!?" I couldn't convince him that was just not cool! I seem to recall he wore my **** out about as fast as it took for me to burn the tread off those tires. I enjoyed this very much. If this is what your book is about, you can be expecting some mail from me! Thanks for the memories, Billy
love the recaps... never ran em myself, was lucky i guess! grandma had a set on her grand marquis, man, that thing was SCARY. drove it to north carolina from ohio, thru the mountains, following my mom and dad in their taurus in the rain. had NO grip, was down to 55 and feeling like i was trying to balance a chair on a beach ball. parents flying ahead of me, no cell phone, can't keep up, they turn off at an exit without trying to let me get to them, i lay on the brakes, slide about 15 ft past the exit sign and mudbog it onto the offramp. no worries!
Man...that sure brings back memories of my old man,always buyin' recaps! He put a set on a 1963 Chrysler Imperial we had...........I lost a cap on that car, comin' down I-71 at about 90 mph.You talk about shakin' the **** outta ya!!! Good Read, Thanks Roger!
Another good one Roger. I had a 53 chev 4dr. It was black with Edsel 3 bar flippers, white walls and a "Simonized" Wax (permanent) job. 6 cyl ran VERY good until the timing gears went out, then wouldn't pull the hat off your head??? Dad always ran re-treads. Heck, the first slicks I bought for the Henry-J were Firestone re-treads. Thanks again for taking me back, Tommy Mc
roger these stories kick *** and once i get the money im gonna get that book also your stories kick *** in goodguys gazette
Hey Johnny...thanx for the compliment...go hit your Uncle Bud up for the money...he knows me and probably would gladly put up the bux.... R-
[ QUOTE ] Hey Johnny...thanx for the compliment...go hit your Uncle Bud up for the money...he knows me and probably would gladly put up the bux.... R- [/ QUOTE ] hahaha im gonna have to tell him to join this place sometime soon
Love the story! Brings back memories even up this way. I guess the scorn for rethreads is universal. (Of course not everyone tested them as hard as you did!!!)LoL
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