I've been looking everywhere, and I can't find any pictures of the old cars used for bootlegging and whiskey running. I've got an old '55 Chevy car that I'm just itching to beef up like they did when they were running hooch, but I can't find any pictures of any cars used for the back woods trade. If you've got some pictures, don't be shy. We're all friends here.
Theres a car movie called Moonshine Hiway that has a 55 2 dr HT tanker in it (along with a 53 Lincoln) The thing to remember about movies is they are fiction.....it really doesn;t mean what is in the movie was like it was in real life
willie clay call opened a museum exibit One of Wilkes County’s best known former moonshiners dies at 73 Posted on: 8:26 pm, August 7, 2012, by Joe Borlik <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td style="vertical-align:bottom; white-space:nowrap;zoom:1;"> </td><td style="vertical-align:middle; white-space:nowrap;zoom:1;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gig-button-td"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction1-left"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction1-icon" style="zoom:1;vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x;"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction1-right"> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td><td>90</td></tr></tbody></table> </td><td style="vertical-align:bottom; white-space:nowrap;zoom:1;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gig-button-td"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction2-left"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction2-icon" style="zoom:1;vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-image:url('http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png')"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction2-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-image:url('http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png')">Pinterest </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction2-right"> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td><td>0</td></tr></tbody></table> </td><td style="vertical-align:bottom; white-space:nowrap;zoom:1;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gig-button-td"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction3-left"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction3-icon" style="zoom:1;vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-image:url('http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png')"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction3-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-image:url('http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png')">Share </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction3-right"> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td><td>93</td></tr></tbody></table> </td><td style="vertical-align:bottom; white-space:nowrap;zoom:1;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td class="gig-button-td"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction4-left"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction4-icon" style="zoom:1;vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-image:url('http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png')"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction4-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-image:url('http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png')">Twitter </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction4-right"> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td><td>3</td></tr></tbody></table> </td><td style="vertical-align:bottom; white-space:nowrap;zoom:1;"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tbody><tr><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction5-left"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction5-icon" style="zoom:1;vertical-align:middle;text-align:left;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-image:url('http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png')"> </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction5-text" style="vertical-align:middle;background-repeat:repeat-x;background-image:url('http://cdn.gigya.com/gs/i/shareBar/button/buttonCenterImgUp.png')">Email </td><td id="componentDiv19087218-reaction5-right"> </td></tr></tbody></table> </td></tr></tbody></table> At a 2009 gathering, Millard Ashley, Willie Clay Call and Junior Johnson (from left) swapped stories. In his later years, Call had served as a link to the past. (Credit: David Rolfe/JOURNAL) WILKESBORO, N.C. — One of Wilkes County’s best-known former moonshiners was buried Monday. The Winston-Salem Journal reported that Willie Clay Call of North Wilkesboro died Friday at his home. He was 73. He died a farmer, but back in the day, Call ran moonshine like his father and grandfather and his lifelong friend, Junior Johnson, who was an honorary pallbearer at his funeral. Back in the 1960s, Call liked to take his 1955 Ford out on the North Wilkesboro Speedway during practice. “Story he always told people was he outran Fred Lorenzen on several occasions while out practicing,” said Steve Wilson of the preservation group Save the Speedway, according to the Journal. Call and Johnson lent a car and copper still to the Reynolda House Museum of American Art for an exhibit on moonshining in 2002. Call provided a car for filming when the Wilkes Playmakers needed video footage as part of a play about Johnson. And he provided moonshining items for the Wilkes Heritage Museum in the old county courthouse. Read more: The Winston-Salem Journal.
About ten years ago, I was watching a documentary with an older bootlegger, and he pointed out what they would do to any car they used. The best that my memory serves me he said that they reinforced all four corners. They would beef up the bumper supports and add an extra one to the inside of each fender and quarter panel to prevent the sheet metal from piercing the tire in the event of an impact. He also said that because of the added weight of the moonshine, they would use wagon springs for that model of car and add another leaf or two accordingly. He also said that engine swaps were a must and that the Olds rocket was a favorite up until the Hemi and SBC came out. His personal favorite was the Hemi. He stressed in the interview that keeping the car all stock in appearance was an absolute must as to not raise suspicion by anyone. This all sounds like sound advice. If I'm forgetting anything, let me know.
Here's a good article in Hot Rod magazine: Moonshiners history But I think the idea of some of the cars is somewhat 'romanticized'. The typical Moonshiner's car would have been a large car, with much heavier springs in place so the rear didn't sag when loaded (figure roughly 10 extra pounds per gallon of whiskey, including the containers) The cars would have been as nondescript as possible, to avoid attracting attention. Here's one of the cars from the article, a '61 Chrysler New Yorker.
Its the ultimate sleeper. They're just not called as such. It's really bad ass. You wouldn't know what you were looking at unless you were told what it is.
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A good source on the HAMB is Hot Rod Elvis who helps run the Dawsonville Ga racing hall of fame.. He was very good friends with the most famous owner/bootlegger the late Mr Raymond Parks. Maybe we can get him to come on this thread and tell us a few of the stories he knows. A fact in N Ga and all of Alabama and Mississippi no one ran a car with a tank. Stainless is heavy and few had the know how and equipment to weld up one. Plus if caught with a empty tank you still went to jail. Most used mason jars with straw around the jars to keep them from moving and or breaking. In the area around Atlanta most used Coke a Cola 1 or 5 Gal tins. The packed these in sleaves and could hall over 200 gal in a 39 Ford. As the years went on the drivers called "Trip Boys" and car owners would buy later model cars to blend in with traffic. This is from personal knowelge and Neal Thompsons book on Whiskey/and racing.. Bobby.
Most real moonshine cars were just plain ole cars. 4 doors, station wagons or whatever. The reason was that they changed cars often ... to throw the FEDS off. Most haulers just hauled ... 50/75/ to 100 quarts of moonshine and it was in Mason jars ... not a tank. Or at least that is the way it was in the Carolinas where I live. .
In Popcorn Suttons book "me and my liker" he said he used a 1943 willis jeep. A 53 Ford conv with a 52 Merc flathead with 2 stromburg 97 carbs. He wrecked this car when he hit a tree. He said " I shit teeth for a week". He sold the engine to a cousin who put it a 48 ford truck. His next car was a 63 Ford 390 with a 3 speed and over drive and dash mounted cut outs. That way he could kick up lots pf dust on a dirt road.............................................................................................. Mr. Parks started out with a T model then later 31 A model Ford. Then as his operation got larger he moved many different types of cars in and out of service............................ A great place to take a trip and learn about trip cars come to the Dawsonville Ga. Moonshine festival in Oct every year. Lots of old trip cars.and race cars.............................................................. And more 39/40 Ford that you will ever see at one time................................................................................................. a couple years Miss Hurst Linda Vaughn was their selling posters. She is from that area {Dalton} and knows more about Moonshine than most people would think.
I'll be damned. This is all good to know. I was talking to a buddy of mine some years back who told me that when he was a kid, there was a moonshine hauler from his town who got pulled over and busted when his car appeared to be overloaded in the ass end at 3 in the morning. He said when that guy got back from prison that Johnny Law kept a close eye on him, but prison had wised this fellow up. He started driving around at 3 in the morning with his car overloaded with bricks in the ass end. My buddy told me that the cops pulled him over about a half a dozen times during this period but only found those bricks in his trunk. Once the cops stopped pulling him over, he started running shine again.
At some museum, maybe it is in Dawsonville, I heard that there was a '40 Ford Sedan Delivery that was used to run 'shine. This interested me because I own a S/D that after a rebuild I plan on going to that Moonshine Festival, maybe next year. Anybody know of that S/D?
Thunder Road (1958) - FULL MOVIE . <iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5wd_TX_zPrM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe> .
My 34 Fordor was confiscated in 1959 by the state of S.C. for running shine. Kept for 10+ years & sold at public auction about 1971. Put in a barn in 1973. I got it out in 2010. It had a later model flat head & no back seat. Suposedly had a tank where back seat went.
The Jalopy Journal
