History Just California Hot Rods 1960-1970?? Let's see pics...

In the late '70's, Wed. night was amature night...kind of a race what ya drove in....fun times....I ran my '55 Ford P.U. w/ a 351C there several times....

 

"Wednesday Grudge Night"
....all you need is a seat belt and five bucks....

 

In the late 80's it was Wednesday Nights were $6 at Fremont Drag Strip(Baylands)

 

Mazooma, You lived the life back then. With all of your photos and memory it sure would make a great book.............ever given any thought to putting one together?

Frank

 

Thanks Frank, but just posting thoughts and photos here is as good as it gets. It's hard to beat this place for finding like-minded guys like you, me and all the others.
I doubt I would have even scanned this stuff if I hadn't had a place to share it....it would still be sitting in that box somewhere....

 

Mazooma-
I second fab32's comment...your posts...from the story about meeting Roth and acquiring your shirt & avatar to your accounts about attending Lions have the making of a fine collection of rodding history and "growing up 60's."

Living in Palatine,Ill.& N.Va. back in the day I could only dream it...you lived it.

 

I think there should be a Mazooma1 stories thread!

This stuff is as cool as it gets. I'm 20 so I've never quite had the same opportunity to do the same stuff you older guys got to do. Driving my Henry J to high school once with open headers and not getting a ticket for it was about as good as it got, considering I was the only one with a machine like that. Barely got away with doing burnouts at a football game. The repercussions of getting busted for stuff like that is so much more severe today.

I would kill to have been able to see the drags back in the 60s and 70s. Bracket racing sucks! The days of experimenting are pretty much over when it comes to american muscle.

Nobody cruises anymore.. anywhere. Or at least not anywhere around here. I do what I can to bring back your good ol days because I never got the chance to live it. Shit is too too strict these days, I get away with what I can.

 

When I was in High School,in 1958-59, my 36 ford always had to have all of the features working, because I got stopped by the cops at least once a week. They always checked my wipers,horn, lights, brakes, e-brake, tires, no cracked glass,etc.
You just had to put up with it.

 

When you put it that way, I guess I get away with a lot. No bumpers, no wipers, no horn, cracked glass, loud pipes, tinted windows, and slicks.

 

When you put it that way, I guess I get away with a lot. No bumpers, no wipers, no horn, cracked glass, loud pipes, tinted windows, and slicks.

In California in the late 50's your car would be off the road!!

 

Jim Davis's Blue Boy coupe mid 70s build ...for sale??

 

bumpity

 

Chevado is still one of my favorites of all time !!! thanks for posting .

 

Thanks!!

Cool stuff Mazooma! Hope you got more,, can’t wait,,

Lars

 

Awesome thread! Love the stories and pics from those who were there. Doesn't get any better than that!

 

"Early Times" car club, 1968, I was 17 and you had to be 18 to join, but I went everywhere with these guys....many of these guys turned into legends in the hobby...Dan Woods (Milk Truck), Jim Jacobs (Pete and Jakes), Don Thelan (ZZ-Top coupe

The 32 Sedan belonged to Jerry Mack. He has been in Bend, Oregon for years but made it back to their re-union.

I was in Tustin from 58 to 64 so didn't see a lot of these cars but ran with Larry Johnson of Santa Ana. We did a lot of cruisin and my drag racing was at Pomana but I never got into cameras. Even in later life I still don't often take pictures of my stuff. Dumb! But I always thought I knew what they were as my memories fade away................ I wish that I would have.

 

Good ol' Irwindale Raceway. I raced there from around 1967 until it closed down. Great fun place to be back then....

 

Awesome thread! Pics and story kick ass!

 

After seeing all these hopped up cars, did you guys ever race with your friends down side streets or stretches of highway? I know you had the dragstrips but the temptation must have been there looking at some of those built up engines. Joe

 

grew up a block away from Irwindale in azusa. use to go under the fence since we didnt have much money to pay entrance fee's. my freshman year at gladstone high school the metal shop teacher (Jerry Darien)donated a dragster for the senior class project. i remember how cool it was to see that rail progress each day. later the school district made them sell it,seems there was to much liability involved with them wanting to race it.

 

The approach to the San Mateo Bridge saw many good races. in the late 50's early 60's

 

Bump to California guys. We'd like to hear more great stories.

 

This thread freekin rules. I love to see the cars as they changed from year to year. its like looking at a high school year book and how a student changed through the years.

Keep this alive!!!!!!!!!!!!

Eric

 

Crazy, I've seen most of these pics before. Only all in leroys photo album. He told me about that trip to Oregon multiple times. Leroys my uncle and when I was working at the shop he and I would hang out after hours, have beers and look through all his old albums. Such neat hot rodding history. I treasure all the knowledge that he has passed on to me both from the stories and from the actual practical knowledge.
The stories ive heard from leroy are awesome. he told me one about being in junior high in arcadia and how he and his buddy used to drive this model A to school at First avenue but because they were so young and weren't supposed to be driving they'd do a couple passes past the school then go park on a side street. He said that they ended up having to walk farther from the car than if they'd just walked from home but that it didn't matter because no matter how far they had to walk they were hot roddin. He is absolutely the reason that no matter how much my parents were against it i was bound and determined to be a hot rodder.
johnny

 

i like that 32

 

heres what it looks like today

 

heres mine.

 

This is so true! I have often wished that I would have had the foresight to have taken pictures back then. Just too busy havin' fun, I guess. Irwindale, Fontana and In N' Out were a way of life for me and my friends in the 60's. As was Balboa Island and Huntington Beach in the summertime. I have said it many times over the years, the 50' and 60's in Southern California was the best time and place to be a teen-ager.

Mazooma1... Although we grew up on opposite ends of the San Gabriel Valley, your pictures and stories bring back a lot of good memories for me. Thanks...

 

Great thread. Please post more!

 

This is a great thread, I was a little kid in SoCal in the early '60's and always in awe of the hot rods I'd see. I'm building a '66 Chevy C10 pickup now and trying to give it a 60's SoCal shop truck/push truck/hot rod truck look. Any ideas would be appreciated.