Instigator over the years

Happy 4th of July fellas!

 

A group of friends met here at the house and we all cruised over to our local 4th of July Parade location.
My wife's 34 starts the parade.
LOTS of kids, so refreshing to see.
Everybody knows our little dog Joey so the kids were all hollering "Hi Joey!" TFF.

 

Showing school kids a hot rod

 

What a bone head!

Our friend Bruno has a beautiful/rare 42 Ford business coupe.
See attached...
He's been attending our Walnut Creek 4th of July parade every year
but this year he and his wife got talked into attending the Concord parade instead.
It's a HUGE parade, kids everywhere; some "bone head" in a shortened 56 Chevy wagon gasser was trying to show off behind him during the parade by attempting to do wheel stands...with his 9 year old grandson in the car.
He lost control of the car and plowed right into the back of the 42.
A video of it was sent to me last night.
I'm shaking my head,
Mick

 

Another 30 pickup at one of our Friday Night Gatherings.
Same location but it was Baja Fresh back then, now Domino's.

 

When I ran tunnel ram decades ago...

 

Check out the rear wheels...

 

It's getting more and more difficult to show the car without showing the wheels but..
still giving it a shot.
Here's another burger run we attended.

 

This was also at one of our Friday Night Gatherings...

 

A steel 30 at one of our Friday Night Gatherings

 

Another A pickup [no, I didn't take this picture]

 

How does this fella see where he's going?

 

Went diggin' through my office closet and came across a few more old shots;
wish I would have kept these tail lights too.

 

Old school street racing

 

4th of July decades ago in San Bruno Park

 

Got divorced in 1974 [2 year marriage/sold the house and moved into an apartment in San Bruno].
Had the pickup in front of my apt for a day.
Note front drum brakes, old firewall, still had Cragars...

 

Teenage years [16], silly but sort of cool.
My high school buddy Mike had a 50 Chevy, 6 cyl 3 speed.
He had picked up a "three ones" intake and carbs for it.

It usually ran on the one carb but..
he mounted a [starter] solenoid on top of the valve cover,
an electric button on the floor mounted shifter which was a
connecting rod that he made.

He'd floor it then hit the button and the other two carbs would kick in.
It didn't really go any faster but you could hear them.
Pretty smart idea for a youngster,
Mick

 

He was a smart kid; again at 16
my 40 Plymouth had a weird [stock] 3 speed column shift.
One linkage arm was a rod then other was a cable.
Unable to find a floor shift conversion, he made me one
that was spring loaded, shifted like an automatic [yes, that fast]
and impossible to miss a shift.
In later years he worked for United Airlines as a jet mechanic, invented something off the hook, was awarded a ton of $.
Got divorced, moved to Florida, now has a Lear jet.

 

Another attempt [hood off coupe], hot rod front wheel covered up...

 

Our friend Al's 36

 

Thanks Mick,
Great story, great read!
What a great group of car friends you have!
What you describe in your stories is exactly how I imagined early hot rodding to be.
Your story about your boat ride brought back a similar memory for me.
About 15 years ago a friend of mine took me on a similar ride, 120+ on water is way different than 120 on land for sure.
He bought an ex-Miss Budweiser drag boat, with a blown big block Chevy.
The sound of that engine at full throttle mere inches behind me was incredible!
It took all weekend to remove the smile from my face!

 

They won't kick you off Mick, its guys exactly like you that make this site.

 

It doesn't make a bit of difference anyway, Mark moved it to the O.T. Forum... Now anything is legal!

 

Hey BLUSHU, glad you're enjoying the read.
Boats? I'll say, no seat belt, no helmet, no roll cage, bathing trunks and sandals, nothing to hang on to as a passenger,
seems like your flyin'.

 

I meant

I meant "warned of showing new style wheels" [not steels]...

 

427 SLEEPER, I emailed him back and forth and it looks like I'm getting another chance [not going on the OT forum]. Am I incorrect?

 

I prefer to keep it here if that's OK with you [?].
I'll just be careful about the wheels.
Thanks much,
Mick