History Old car quotes from days gone bye

I had 67 GMC 2500 and yes I did that (see the USA) but it was so damn unreliable I felt like I was seeing the country one stop at a time.
I broke down in and near towns I never knew existed.
But boy did I meet a lot nice people doing it.
Ask the guys from the Ritzville Classic Car Club in WA.
Not that ritzy a town, but all great folks, especially the folks that ran the motel across from the club rooms...

 

“You can’t make a racehorse out of a pig. But, if you work hard enough at it you can make a mighty fast pig”

 

If I'm not mistaken BMW now owns Rolls Royce.....

 

and the Chinese own Volvo...

 

isn't Jaguar now part of TATa which is Indian ??

 

was it Kruschev who said TV will be Americas downfall ?? well Henry Ford will be Russias down fall by giving them cheap cars !

 

Most accidents are caused by the nut behind the wheel...

 

I had worked on a 49 Cadillac (including interior) for an old friend of mine. A few years later he came by the shop to tell me that he was thinking about buying a 41 Lincoln Continental and wanted to know if I would be interested in working on it. I replied after a few moments and said "Hell why not, ain't nothing but a Down Town Mercury"
When other Guys were driving their unfinished cars (including me) we would call them "Shot Rods" Lot more out there !!! Keep them coming ............. Jeff

 

High speed driving in a Model T, the ears are the spark and throttle levers.

"Public Enemy" James Cagney to valet who grinds gears in his high end car....

WWII pass words" Battleground 1949"

From old RR semaphore signal. Closely related to "High Ball" or Highballing it, another old RR term.

 

S T O P = Squeal Tires on Pavement (My dad...)

Also, can't remember the source, but..

"The best way to end up with a small fortune fixing up old cars is to start with a big fortune"

 

As a little delinquent in the middle to late 50's my pal Mark and I used to watch all the older guys cruise around in their hot rods and kustoms while we launched hole shots with our 3 speed Columbia and Raleigh bicycles.
Mark and I admired the art of these kats leaving rubber on takeoffs.
We used to call it "Laying a patch", "Digging out", "Squealing out", or "Scratching out"

I don't know where we learned the terms. Maybe from reading the little pages, or something our own fertile 12 year old minds conjured up.
We would pedal to the hot spots in town, belt buckles turned to the far left side, collars on our wind breakers turned upwards, wearing penny loafers or snap-jack shoes, a pack of smokes to share between us, Brylcreem in our ducks-ass hair, and park on the corner near the soda fountain.
We'd smoke ( and cough), spit on the ground, watch the cars drive 'round the block, comment on the latest modifications and conjure up some other new terms.

Real Rebels Without A Clue!

 

"Hauling the mail" or "Carrying the mail" as my father in law always says.

Also,"He was just hittin' the high spots"


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My Dad: "He was going like a ruptured duck!"

 

"Hot rod...you know the kind, low...kinda beat up...two exhaust pipes..." -Jack Webb, 'Dragnet' 1952

 

Correct. VW owns Bentley.

 

"He had her skint back" -Daddy, also when he heard somebody boilin the tires he'd holler "burn em off, daddy'll buy some more!!" (made it a point not to spin a tire when he was in earshot)

 

And, to go back to the original comment, Roll Royce was never part of British Leyland, if that was the implication

 

Had it on the wood- gas pedal on the floor
Pour the coal to her- " " " " "
Stir the soup- miss a gear
Second meat- burning rubber with just a slight dash between the 1-2 shift

 

maybe already posted:
RUNS LIKE A RAPED APE


Ago

 

"It goes like scaulded cat", was an expression I recall way back when...

 

"Horsepower sells cars, torque wins races."--Carroll Shelby

 

An old one I never understood out of the deep south;
"In 1st gear she gits it, in 2nd gear she really gits it, and I mean she'll git it from a leanin bush, but in 3rd gear she runs like a broke dick dog!" I never understood the "...leanin bush..." part.

On bad welds in race cars Dad would say; "That wouldn't hold sour owl shit."

 

I've heard a Mercury is just a Ford with lock washers.

 

My all time favorite is: Get in. Shut up. And hang on!

 

I guess one of the more common expressions would be "haulin ass".

 

I'd always heard it as "it runs/goes like a strip-ped assed ape".


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How about, it goes like a rat up a drain pipe...

 

On of my fathers sayings when something is not rare is "Those things are as common as turds around a country schoolhouse". One of my neighbors favorite sayings is "That boy could f*** up a two can milk route"

 

Ass , gas , or grass , nobody rides free.....and also ..if you see this van rockin , don't come knockin...