How old's the oldest H.A.M.B. member?60+?Tell us a cool story

I turned 67 last August. In 1963 a friend of mine owned a 1947 Ford Convertible one night we were going to the neighboring town to the drive in for some burgers. North of town we had this long hill called the sand hill going up the hill we were passing this car and I guess he decided to race us. We had six people in this old Ford and we shut down other car pretty bad. We got to the drive in and ordered the burgers and along comes the other car, it was a new Chevy Super Sport hard top with a 409 four speed. He asked my friend what he had in the Ford, he said a '56 Buick Nail Head.

The guy in the Chevy asked my friend how fast the Ford would go? He said my speedometer is broke. The guy in the Chevy said well I was going 120 when you went around me.

I have slowed down a lot over the years.

 

Well, I'm not old, but I've got a good story to share from an older fellow I used to work with. I don't know why but this story has always stuck with me. Anyway this fellow's name was Merle and he grew grew up with his parents in small community where all of the housing, stores, etc., were owned by the coal mining company because his father was a miner. On the very day that him and his family arrive home from Merle's high school graduation and walk into the house, Merle's father said "Well boy, this is no longer your home, I suggest you join the Service." Well, two weeks later he was in Navy basic training. Forced into manhood whether he was ready or not.

 

I am almost 69 and remember well some of my dad's old vehicles,
36 ford convert, 39 Buick convert, 49 GMC, 49 packard and the best 51 hudson hornet.. just to name a few.. I wont bore you with the ones I have owned myself...........and let go..lol

my first car was a 46 Ford convert in my senior yr of high school...1959..
just completed my 2nd round of chemo, doing well.. took the 52 rod out for a short run, little car is running so fine.... sorry this is more then you ask for but I am bored today..

Fred

 

i'm 73 feel great till i wake up then it takes till noon to loosen up other than that i feel great. i think.


steve

 

hi steve, welcome to the hamb ......

 

I turn 40 the first week of may, not looking forward to that.
Lost my dad in 08, but he was born in 1945. The story I always remember him telling, is about a time we he was younger, and street racing my uncle's 70? nova with his 63 galaxie.

Come to a train track, and of course there is a train. My uncle was ahead, and made it pass the tracks. My dad hit the train between the wheels , and the train drug him down the ditch, and he ended up derailing the train. Uncle looking back on the other side of the tracks, thought dad was a goner. Also told how much more you could get away with, without the cops dragging you to jail. I am old enough also to remember a time you could get away doing some stupid shit, and somehow only get a warning, even had a cop give me a ride home one night when I was drinking. Not like drinking and driving was ever a smart thing to do, but the days of ever getting a warning if you had a few, drive home, and get pulled over are long gone. With the fatalities and the kind of money MADD gives to the police department, and the fine, court and jail cost they get for an owi.

 

crusin palm springs with some buddies on easter vacation 1958. after attending couple of crazy parties decided to head back to riverside. Now my car at the time was a really cool duece 2dr, big an little wws,, stock running gear, w juice brakes, 3" dropped axle,hudson steering, column shift, mex blanket threads, 265 chevy, and grey rattle can primered paint job.[[see avatar] Bombing along thru Whitewater, a big desert downpour hits and the wimpy vac wiper isnt up to the job, as we slowed down all of a sudden I get a regular rainstorm! right down my neck! then when i start to accelerate it rains on my buddies in the back seat! my old fabric top had absorbed all that it could and that leaky rain soaked wet cotton let loose its load of cold water on us inside!

 

1952; I was in first year of HS. My buddy, Gerald, had a bitchin' black '48 Merc coupe. My ride was grandpa's Model A, but my dad wouldn't let me drive it to school until I was a sophmore. The street in front of the school house was graded gravel. At lunch break we would run down to his merc and go to the pool hall for a pepsi and peanuts or some other snack, then back to harassing the faculty by stopping in front of the school, then gunning the motor and fishtailing down that gravel street! It was funny, as it must be today also, how the busybodies in the faculty imagined they were our keepers, even when we were off the school grounds. It actually bugged them so much they complained to the school board that he was "racing, digging out , and throwing gravel. It was successful, and the school board barred his car from the school house parking lot. One time we went to a movie, saw the first show and went to the next town to see the second showing of a different movie there. The speedo on the merc was rockin on 85, which was pretty good for a '48. I never saw a stock pre-'49 chivvy or ford register that. The best our A ever did was 55, downhill with a tailwind.

 

I'm going to call this story "Kills Corvair!"

I'm 61. The other three guys in "Jeep's" 65 Valiant are
all the same age. We're all classmates about to graduate
from high school. The year is 1966.

We're out cruising in "Jeep's" green Valiant. Me, the other Gary
and the third Garry are passengers as "Jeep" steers the beast.
The evening is getting a little late. We need a laugh.

The third Garry fixes this in short order. We pull up next to a
Corvair in traffic. He rolls down the back window,
crawls out of the car to his waist and screams louder than I have ever
heard a human scream before; and with impressive duration.

The fellow in the Corvair tramps it; rightly assuming that he has
run across a car full of lunatics. I will never forget the sound of
the Corvair revving under a slipping clutch;
revving higher and higher and still higher.... and then the air cooled
grenade blows. Smoke and oil and parts everywhere!
And the four of us laughing harder than we had ever laughed
or probably will ever laugh.

The summer of '66 seems like yesterday.

Memories.

Every time I see 'American Graffiti" I think the exploding Corvair
should have been in there.

 

I turned 61 last month. Miss the good ole days when we sneak into the drive inn theater by trying to back in exit. Cruised the street in a 63.5 Galaxie with a factory 8 track.

 

Will be 70 April the 7th, the fun time was when I was 16 and needed to get my drivers license, Skipped school borrowed a friends car and drove my self to the DMV in Merced CA, Went in and asked to take my test, the guy said how did you get here and I said that a friend had dropped me off and would be back. He said OK and gave me the test. Lucky for me I passed and then drove back to school and thanked my friend for the use of his car. No way could you do this today. Went home and got my car that I had ready for the time that I could drive. The next three years were fun with crusing the drag in Merced and then running to Fresno and Stans drive in for the roving reporter at midnight. Chase girls until The the cops would tell us to head back to Merced.

 

I'm 64 and have had a great time BUT the El Mirage dry lakes season starts in May and I'm too busy getting ready to type stories. Plus Bonneville is not too far away. When I get too old to race I'll tell stories.

 

68 and still going. Got the 52 Chevy project started. Lots of stories but not enough time to tell them all. Built several "Chevillacs" in the 60's. Real sleepers ! ! !

 

An old timer told some good stories, one that sticks out happened back in the 40s, his dad had an old Ford that the fuel pump went out on, times were tough and they couldnt afford one so when they had to go to town my old friend had to sit on the fender and pour gas out of a can into the carb., they lived in western North Carolina mountains and it was all he could do to hang on while pouring gas out of a 3 gal. can, it was mostly dirt roads and he would hit a bump and dump too much gas in and have to grab something to stay on, would have made a good film. Spike

 

Yah!!! I'm 68 and I STILL don't give a SHIT!!!!! Maybe it was all those nitro fumes.....???

Wolfie

 

I'm not the oldest but I think I was at the best place at the perfect time. I grew up in Whittier Ca, grad. from high school in 1964.Whittier Blvd. was the place for most of the 60's Bob's Big Boy was central with Whirley's and Foster Freeze right there. Weekends and summer nights the line was always a couple of blocks long to cruze thru Bob's, probably 3, 4 miles to cruize the Blvd. 409 Cheveys, 396 Chevelles 427 Fords 383 Mopars Anglias,32 Fords, 49 Fords and Chevs with Chev And Olds V8's,bikes runnin nitro for the night, race cars poppin the chute just showin off, you name it they showed up on Whittier Blvd. Baby boomers were king for those times,18 cents a gallon for gas, always 3 or 4 parties on a Sat. night. We all thought it would be like that forever but Vietnam, old age , gas prices,enviromental concerns,etc. got in the way. Probably won't happen again but it sure was fun to be there.

 

I'm going on 61. Hired in at Ford in 1967, working on the assembly line. It paid $3.65 an hour and that was big money then. So....cheap gas ($0.25)and cheap cars ($300) are a relative thing.

 

Be 70 in June. Started racing in '56 and I'm still at it. Built a few street rods too.
I've met tons of neat people doin this stuff.

 

I just turned 62 this past January, not as old as some, but older than most. I remember it was the summer of '69, I had just came home from my tour of duty in Viet Nam and had discharge papers in hand. My good friend Butch and I had put together a brand new 331 sbc for the Willy's coupe, and decided that we would tow it up the street to fire it off. We recruited our good buddy Roy, our "go to guy" who worked at the local garage, to come by and help us. We hooked a twenty foot log chain to the rear bumper of Butch's Grandpa's 55 Chevy Handyman wagon and the other end to the front axle of the coupe. So with Butch in the driver's seat, me in the wagon, and Roy perched precariously on the fender of the Willys, up the street we went. Roy, with a screwdriver in one hand and the other hand twisting the mag, Butch working the clutch pedal with one foot and pumping the gas with the other, the ol' girl cracked and popped and finally roared to life. Roy did a final twist to the mag while I jumped out and unhooked the chain. Butch had decided he was going to drive it back down the street to his grandpa's garage, but he couldn't resist the temptation. He reved the engine to about four or five grand and dumped the clutch. "Bang" ten lug bolts sheared off the rear axle, the back of the Willys hit the blacktop, and that fresh engine surely bumped up against the redline. Meanwhile Roy and I chased two drag slicks half way down the street. It didn't seem very funny at the time, but when I think back on it, it makes me smile.

 

Well, i'm 61 and one of my best times at 16 years old, was being flown to somewhere north of Butler Pa. with Don Yenko at the wheel (stick?). My friend Tom (lot boy at Yenko Chevrolet) an I were to drive back some hi-po cars Don bought for his lot. I had a 66 396 chevelle and i think Tom drove a 396 camaro. We also got to drive stage 2 Stingers to the Pgh. airport so Don Yenko and Donna Mae Mims had something to drive home in after returning from a race. Great times for a 16 yr. old

 

Thank God there is someone older than me.

 

I'm one of regulars over at Rick's and he aint lying the old timers as we call them are the best guy's ever...i've left Rick's a couple of times at 1:00 in the morning without even drinking a drop laughing my ass off from all the crazy stories........priceless!

 

I'll be 66 in couple of weeks. Back in '62 I met the guy that would end up being my best man. He had a '62 Ford Galaxy, 390 with three duces, 406 HP, three speed on the column with overdrive. He tells the story of going out and racing a three duce '58 Pontiac which at that time was known to have a really good top end.

He was at a resturant eating when the guys in the Pontiac asked him if he wanted to race (he always wanted a race and even kept his Cheater Slicks on the car), so out they go. He played with them, just let them be side by side, and after burying the needle a ways he waves at them to get their attention. They look over and he's all ready in Overdrive, so he sticks it up into second gear and just blows the Poncho off.

The first time I rode in it he did the same for me, up into second gear at over 120; the GGs were something else, I could hardly lean forward. He claimed that Ford built the car to do 180, I certainly belived it.

Both back side windows were filled with Trophy stickers. The next year he traded it in and bought a '63 1/2 Ford Galaxy Fastback with a 427, two four barrels and fourspeed. On the 1/4 Drag Strip both cars had similar speeds but '63 had a lower ET.

 

Well ,I will be 66 this year. Last summer a young fellow in a Honda pulled up in my drive as I was working on my grandsons 38 Chevy truck (I live way out in the country BTW) and started talking about things like "Hey old timer why do guys your age fool with junk like that.I didn't say much and after a while he said he had to get back to Louisville and said "How do YOU get to Louisville from here ?"I said well most of the time the wife or Son-in-Law take me!!!!!.He said real smart like "you don't know much do you old man" I said well I may not know much BUT I know I'm NOT LOST !!!!!! LOL TOM (Tired Old man)

 

I don't know if it's my age " it seems like everything I eat turns to Shit"

and one story reminds me of another!

85 was rolling for a Ford/Merc or Chev. which set up myelf and 3 friends, each kicked in 5 bucks each to win a sure thing!
Eddie Ralph had a 37 Buick Roadmaster and claimed it would run 90 mph in second gear. when we called BS he wanted to bet 20 bucks (which no one we knew had that much cash in1957) so 4 of us slapped down the hard cash knowing we would double our money. We started in Arcadia and that old buick got up to 65 in less than a mile. then the speedometer just barely kept climbing with the old 320 cubic inches. We were sure it would blow long before 90 haha! 14 miles just before we got to Azusa we each lost our 5 bucks and Eddie had his bragging rights. I've never bet on a sure thing since

 

talkin about Buicks, I have one from around 50 years ago. Crusin with some of the guys down magnolia ave. a guy come up alongside and starts playing around next to us indicating he wanted to run against my buddy Jack,s big 4dr '40 Roadmaster. Well that was a runnin Buick for as big as it was and Jack knew how to make it go. It was stock kinda loose straight 8 with just a milled head and '52 4 barrel intake. we slowed a little an the guy wants a rollin start, ah well just what Jack wanted and as the other guy punches his, Jack rev,s it and bangs low gear and pops the clutch, the Buick leaps up like i thought the front wheels lifted off, and it screams to about 45 and he hits second and another leap, and at 65 shifted to high and walked away from that Olds. ohh I,m 73.

 

>>>>,I'll be 67 this Friday ,,in '56 i started a car club in Marshalltown ,Iowa ,,"the Hi-Winders" ,,i was 15 and the only member without a drivers license ,,as president,, i had to ride my bicycle to the meetings ,,then ,,when i turned 16 ,,i got to drive my Dad's '57 Chevy to the meetings ,and on a date on the weekends ,,a 210 two door hardtop,,turquiose n white ,,283 pwr pac,,three speed overdrive w' a 4;11 posi rear ,,it was the 2nd fastest car in town ,,a '55 Olds w' a Mondello motor / hydro & tri-power was the fastest ,,
those were sum fun times ,,,

 

>>>>,OH ,,i shoulda also added ,,,my Dad will be 85 next month ,,in '59 ,when he traded the '57 in on a new '59 Impala ,,the Chevy dealer gave him what he paid for it new ,,$1975,,on trade ,,even tho it had 102,000 miles on it ,,my Dad ask him why ,,the dealer told him ,,"don't you know ?? it's the second fastest car in town ",,
when my dad came home that day ,,he asked me ,"Have you been racing my car !!?',,before i could answer ,,he hit me with a right cross ,,i ended up on my back against the wall,,clear across the living room ,,my Dad was a golden gloves champ before WW II and Middle Weight Champ of the Pacific when he was on P T Boats during WW II ,,
well,,,to this DAY ,,he's still pissed about me racin' his '57 Chevy ,,he never got over it ,,,

 

Turned '62 in Dec., grew up in Leominster, Mass, grad of '66. In '65, a Buddy bought a '49 Ford, flattie with 3 deuces, OD on the tree. Needed new kingpins. Took us awhile pounding to figure the small bolts had to come out to get the kp's out. Used a block of wood on top of the new bushings so we wouldn't (?) mess them up and pounded some more. Then pounded in the kp's, didn't know much about reaming. Got it all back together in two days and off course the steering was a bit tight. Coming home from the Sat nite H.S. dance in a light snow, got to the turn to cross over Rte 2 and "POP" goes the steering. We're doing donuts in the snow and never hit a thing! Limped into a local Shell station, owned by my next door neighbor, to find the bolts hold the steering box were gone. Put some used bolts and nuts in and slowly made it home. Monday, it was back at my neighbors station for new kp's and bushings.
Now I play with a '75 year old and his truck in his garage, waiting to start on a '29 sport coupe.

 

71 yo