I miss the old cruise on Central nights...checking out all the hot rods that came from all over the Valley...
I'm hip to that. This whole deal started as a non-sanctioned, "outlaw" event. Organization turned it into a slapped *** nonsense loaded circus, and basically killed the original spirit of the deal. The non-sanctioned, non-organized cruise on the previous weekend was so much better.
I have to credit Troy in this deal too. As we watched the circus down below from the second story parking garage and reminissed about what Central was like in the 80's, we hatched this hair-brained idea. It is not new and has been tried before, but the downfall has been a trail of printed matter such as flyers about the second coming of cruising. That has meant 4 thousand Phoenix cops ready to screw us around... Hope fully, with out the paper trail we can quietly go about our business and hve a good time with out meeting resistance. Ya, the big deal mess that went down last weekend started as a bunch of us doing exactly what I am proposing now. But Central itself was the cruising spot in the valley since the early fifties. You've been to my place, it is absolutely no coincedence that I live 10 doors off Central. From the very late seventies through the early nineties I was here as much as 3 nights a week. I moved here to be able to do what I want, and a couple of years later it all got shut down... Let's take it back!
Joking I hope? That's how serious I am... I used an imoticon for the second time in my computerized life! No, sorry to be so secretive but I've seen this attempted many time over the last twenty years. The last circulated flyer via a couple of rod shops here in town and the police knew about it way in advance. If we make this thing huge and turn it into another twice yearly circus, it'll get shut down for sure.
I drove my 216 powered truck to sedona today and plan to stay till the job is done so I am out for the central activities until further notice but I really hope this sticks and we can do more than hanging out in a parking lot looking at the same old same old. It would be fun to revive central again.
Damn man, that had to be loooong ride! Glad to here your using it though! Did you go up 89 all the way?
From 52nd ave and just north of Peoria to wickenberg on the 60. From wickenberg to yarnell. Oh my God that was a steep hill. Yarnell to prescott. Prescott to Jerome. I shut my engine off as I was going downhill to Jerome. Jerome to cottonwood. Cottonwood to sedona. I stopped in every town to fill the radiator and to refill the 3 gallons I have behind the seat because I have a cracked block that leaks water. I also dumped about 3 qts of oil in it also when I would notice the level low. I know its a Chevy but it must be the Vw guy living inside of me that has to mark every spot I park. Especially long trip when you top out around 45 mph. I left Glendale at 7am and got to sedona around 3pm
Sounds like a damn good adventure though! Trust me, I havr nursed tons of old weird stuff on long trips before. Congrats!
I did the math and one way trip is a total of 191 miles The drive home is gonna **** cause I will have tools in the back, but I can take my time a little more and do some sight seeing. Seen some cool stuff in yarnell.
Hey gang! Tonight is the night that we are going to try to make it happen again! The whole deal on this is to reintroduce cruising as it was on Central before. I do not wish this to be an orginized event. That is the opposite of what I would like to see. Nor would I like to act like I'm in charge of this "deal", by FAR the opposite of my intentions. But if I may be so bold, I would like to give some guidelines on this deal that I have discussed and agreed upon with others - 1 Don't be a squirrel! Lets not get out and smoke tires and that sort of thing! That's what draws police attention at THE SANCTIONED cruise night, and what will get us shut down imeadiatly doing this. If you need to do that stuff, please do it elsewhere. 2 Don't litter! That is what was the final nail in the coffin of the original cruise nights on Central 2 decades ago. Too many people, too much litter, pissed off store owners = police pressure to close it down. 3 The deal here is to cruise. This is not a time to hang out in Park Central's parking lot and check out crybaby dolls. Nor is it strictly to hang out at McDonalds and plug their parking lot for the evening. This also was the end of Central years ago. 4 If you do stop for a bit at say McDonald's or Jack in The Box, stop in and buy something. Hell, even if it's a Coke, it's money in their register at the end of the night. Suddenly, as a group we go from being a problem to being profit. And trust me, if things get shut down and merchant loose profits, they are more than happy to go to bat for us with the city - it's happened before! That's it gang... I sure don't want to sound like the autoritarian guy, but most of you have no idea how hard I worked as a young local business owner to preserve cruising Central twenty years ago when it was shut down. The four items above are what the causes were, and if we repeat them again the out come will be the same. Let's police our own to help keep this going. Thanks, Chip Quinn
If I didn't have something else going on tonite, I'd be down there to check it out. Maybe next weekend? Hope there's a few that show up. But it's a good idea Chip. Back in the mid 70's, I used to drive down from Flagstaff once in a while to cruise central. Those were the good old days!
I need to get my 55' done so I can come down and cruise with you guys! No one up here does any of that...Have fun tonight!!
It worked!!! We had 15 maybe 20 cars show, we hung out at mostly the McDonald's and made a few swings as a group... Kinda like going home again - kinda. it was *****in' to be riding in the back of Mike and Mary's "T" sedan and have Troy's coupe roll alongside with it's evil 4 banger Makin' it's noises. At least until we realized my semi -fat *** was too much for Mike's rear spring and the tires were dragging! Talked to the manager at McDonalds and she was way happy for the extra revenue too! I'd call that a win, win, win! So what say ye out there in Phoenix H.A.M.B.land, do we do this on Saturdays this summer? If yes, post it here, also tell two hot rod friends about it... And they'll tell two friends, and so on, and so on, and so on! Had just a moment heading home a few minutes ago, watching Mike's yellow headlights on the "T" following my car down Central at about George and Dragon that I heard that old rediculous walkman I had in the eighties in my cars that sped the music up just a touch with out making it sound like the Chipmunks... And in my mind it was playing Link Wray's "Jack the Ripper", Yea, Kinda like going home!!! P.S. Please, for the love of god, nobody print any flyers for this deal!!! Lets keep this on the down low as much as possible so it doesn't get squirrelled out of existance! Thanks gang, Chip
I was out for a cruise on my sportster last night and just happened to come across the cool cars in the parking lot of the McDonalds. I stopped by and ended up talkin to some cool people. It was nice to everyone come out and meet up like this and I hope it continues. See you all next week!
Keep it going. I am still working in sedona.. When I am done up here, count me and my ttuck in for central on Saturdays.
Yes sir! I'll be out at some point for a bit, and we have been meeting at McD's just south of Indian School. It's been a pretty small group of us the last few weeks, but it's also been pretty much the same temp as the surface of the sun too, so I kinda expected that! We have switched off of this thread and onto onother started by "tri-power guy" called Take Back Central AZ.
The Jalopy Journal
