My two buds and I were car crazy, the year was 1953. Honk, Hop Up, R&C all fit inside our schoolbooks, so we were getting a first rate education at age 11. Hot rods were scarce, but there were a few around Santa Clara, CA. San Jose was the 'big city', 6 miles Southeast, a nice drive along El Camino Real. Babe's Muffler Service opened early in '54, right on El Camino...and we could reach it easily on our bikes. If Juvenile Delinquency began in barber shops, Babe's was the Hot Rodder's Boutique. Dual exhaust a specialty, Babe carried chrome exhaust tips in every imaginable size & shape, some Full Moon caps, spotlights w/mirrors, and skirts on an order basis... Babe Royer, the cool owner, parked his full custom F-1 out front, a maroon beauty with 4-1/2" chopped top, '50 Nash grille, full flare skirts, chrome stacks, custom bumpers... Babe dressed in Levi's, engineer boots, and a white tee-shirt. So did we. Saturdays were the day to be there, some rods would show up, and Babe and his two guys were busy with whatever came in. We were on-watch, and welcome to sit on a waiting bench, or stand around and look 'cool'. The Mercury News ran a story about 'Twin Pipes', and their illegality...we hurried down to Babe's for the story. He said some policemen had visited, but the story was not accurate. As for the tickets being issued, they were directed at the cars that were excessive loud. Babe did add that some had been written for 'Illegal exhaust', or 'modified exhaust'. But pipes were technically illegal, the way some police read it. Cadillacs had dual exhaust, and that was a lever in court. The law was finally written "may have dual exhaust to increase mileage, but not to exceed noise levels" ('levels'? LOL) We witnessed a few cars being returned to single exhaust, but only for about a month. By 1955, more cars had two chrome tips under the bumpers than ever before. We laughed at how 'far it had come'...Just the previous year, if your car had pipes, you had a 'hot rod'!
A bit before my time but jump seven years ahead, Ventura California, and I was getting my 50 ford outfitted with "Scavenger Pipes". Oh boy, I was now cool!
Mike A little off subject but in the early '90s I had a job that took me up and down El Camino Real in that area. One day I noticed this old build flathead powered fiberglass bodied T roadster at an automotive repair shop. I stopped to look at it and talked to an older guy (I was about fifty at the time so it would make him up in his sixties at the time) so anyway I told him I had just started driving my steel bodied T roadster and he told me that his T used to have a steel body but as soon as the fiberglass bodies came out he bought one. He said his roadster was a Corvette killer back in the day up and down that road. I was just wondering if you might remember him. I can't remember the name of the shop but I think it might have been a mans first name. Gary
Growing up in Riverside, I can well remember those days. Only a very few customs, and fewer still real hotrods. Chopper type bikes were fairly common. I think our local cops were afraid to tangle with the Hells Angels. By the mid 50's hotrods were becoming more common. Bought my first Model A in 54, when I was only 14 years old. By the time I reached legal to drive age, (doesn't mean I didn't drive it before becoming legal), I had a mild hopped up banger in it. By the end of my first year in high school, it had an OHV converted B engine. Riverside at the time had a small police force. They had just built a second high school. Whenever the 2 schools played each other, rivalry was high and fights broke out. For that reason, nearly all of Riversides police force was stationed at which ever school the game was at. I never watched a single game. A certain group of us would go and drag race right in front of the police station. On non game nights, a straight stretch of Victoria Ave. had white lines painted across it, exactly 1/4 mile apart. Night drags were held there, after checking very carefully for cops. Those days are long gone, but it's sure fun to think back and remember them.
Hi, Gar'! The only flatmotor-powered 'Vette eater of that time I can recall is Bud Jones's '27. But you should know that car, it was '57 Chrysler Salmon, and Bud flat towed it to the Old Time drags at Baylands behind his matching '57 Chrysler 300! (Roadster turned 112 mph, mid 12 secs) Interesting build: Bud was tired of all the guys at the bar talking about the 'old hot rod days', (1976) so he found a steel '27 bucket...no quarters or deck lid. Cal Auto sold him the rear section (fiberglass) and Bud made the whole tail section hinge up (access to quickie without jacking it up) My wife and I went Sundays with Bud and his wife Judy, and when Bud rolled up to the ticket booth the guys standing just beyond would say, "Jesus, look at the Letter Car!" As Bud paid the admin fee, we would roll past slowly, and they'd see the racecar-nosed roadster, same color..."Son of a Bitch!" was often heard, wife Joey and self would bust out laughing.... Bud agreed that YOUR 'T' was the best proportioned and stanced of most; He never saw it with the Cad, too bad.
Man does this sound famaliar. I got my drivers license in 1953 & right into hot rods, customs & drags. For a while I had a 52 MG TD & we split the manifold & ran twin straight pipes out the back & put 2 chrome motorcycle megaphone tips on them. That little engine got bored & with a street cams & had the stock dual carbs & it would really rap out some RPM's when I dorve fast & that was all the time. To cure the loud pipes tickets I drilled 2 small holes verticle in the pipes just ahead of the chrome meg tips. When I got a ticket, the next day I would just stop at a grocery store & get a tube of steel wool & stuff half a pack up each pipe past the holes & drop in a nail thru the holes to hold the steel wool & beat it down to the inspection station & get it inspeted. Passed the inspetion & if I forgot to pull the nails the wool would burn itself out by the next day and right back to twin straights. I did that for a long time. This was real neet as if you passed inspetion they tore up the ticket & there was no fine. This was in Shreveport La & at that time it was southern hot rod heaven to me. After the MG I ran glasspacks on everything to keep the poice from just following me around trying to give me tickets. That is if they could catch me. Jimmie
I take it Bud is gone now. So sorry I wish I could have met him and heard some of his stories. And thanks for the compliment on my roadster. This t I am talking about as I remember had a 25 T fiberglass body and was pretty low. I seem to me as I remember it when I saw it in the early '90 was not a great build or maybe had just seen better days. Kind low slung. The guy was really friendly and talkative. I always thought of going back in my roadster and talking to him but never did. Another hot rodder I met from that area was Art Gray. Here again my senior by about ten or fifteen years or more. He is gone now too. I actually have a picture of him and me at a little car show down there in the early 2000s. He owned a trucking company in the area and ran a crate '50 Cad. engined 32 at Bonn. in the early '50s. He sold (gave me $100) me my Horne manifold. I am having trouble downloading photos now for some reason. What I have to is post it than go into the edit link and download the photo. Art is the good looking African American man on the left next to his blue car. I am the ugly white guy with him.
We are probably the same age, have so many good recollections of those WONDERFUL days. I'll add one more thought on dual exhaust. For us to drive our "rods" to high school, we had to get a "parking permit". To get the parking permit, we had to have our cars inspected by the local cop in Euclid, Ohio, a chubby, round little officer named "Smitty" ...... but not of glasspac fame. We all ran glasspacs, but LOUD EXHAUST was illegal, don't ya know ......no LOUD EXHAUST, if you wanted a parking permit for Euclid High School. We took off our chrome turn down tailpipe extensions, we shoved WADS of steel wool into the tailpipes, then covered the opening of the tailpipes with screen material, as in window screens. The local hardware store loved us ....... hard to keep steel wool in stock, near a high school. The screen material kept the steel wool from blowing out of the tailpipes. But what held the screening in place? After the screening was wrapped over the end of the tailpipes, like a condom, or "rubber" as we knew them, the turn down extensions were slipped over the tailpipes and screening. The extensions held the screening in place, the screening held the steel wool in place. When "Smitty" revved up our cars, to check for loudness, the cars sounded like an Electrolux vacuum cleaner .... shhhhh ................... so very quiet. Then we got our parking permit. Played it cool for a couple of days, the high school parking lot sounded like a vacuum cleaner convention. Few days later, when all was cool, the extensions came off, the screening and the steel wool came off, the extensions went back on ........ and we were, once again, rapping away in first and second gear ......... until the next parking permit inspection next semester. LOL
Ol'Nubull and Bob... Good Night, Steel Wool! I had a '48 Cad mid-high school years, dropped with a pair of 22" steel-pak Smittys. Straight out the back, man what a backrap... Elwood Rice, a Motorcycle cop in Santa Clara stabbed me for 'excessive noise/modified exhaust' near the high school, 'Fix it or sizeable fine'. Some buddies told me about the steel wool trick, so I got a package of medium grade and stuffed it in the tailpipes. Drilled some 1/8" holes, 2 per side, 90 degrees apart. Inserted 8d nails, bent the ends slightly... Drove to the police station to have Officer Rice inspect it. He stood right behind the drivers side, said "Rev 'er up." I did. "Higher," said Officer Rice. I did. Suddenly there was a blast of Caddy flathead unleashed, and a big sock of steel wool struck Elwood Rice right on the shiny riding boot! 'Foop!' "Very clever, Mike. Now go get it fixed before I get mad." Two long glass pack "Mellotones" later, compliments of Babe's Muffler Service, ($22 if I remember correctly) I returned to confront Elwood Rice once again. This time, he dropped to a perfect USMC pushup position...dropped elbows, peered under...then jumped to a standing position! No dirt on riding breeches, not a trace. (What a guy!) ...Then he pronounced me 'forgiven'. Thanks, Elwood.
GREAT STUFF!..........in that period I was, as now, in the Midwest.....wishing I was in California. Doing the same as you guys though, with the 'little books' inside my school text books and dreamin' Thanks for sharing your memories Ray
Ray? Thought you were an original "L.A. Boy". In those days, we emulated every word from the 'little pages'...Hard to forget. Everything I own has 'pipes'... LOL
Thanks all. I love the old stories. It helps this younger guy better understand the early days. Funny how so many stories from different locations all follow the same pattern. My dad has plenty of similar stories. Like getting a noise violation ticket for running his mostly stock 50 Olds with the exhaust unhooked on the way to Conn. Dragway. Then the damn thing wouldn't restart once heat soaked. He laughs now thinking back on it, but I bet he had a different attitude the day it happened!
LOUD PIPES SAVE LIFES That has always been my motto I had a Chevy pickup about 40 years ago that had "mufflers" made out of 6 inch well casing with tail pipes going to 4 inch driveshaft tubes out the back. That sucker was even to loud for me sometimes. Got pulled over one night and the cop asked me what the hell kind of mufflers I had on that thing. I told him in my best innocent tone that I didn't know, what ever they put on it a the muffler shop. He got down on his knee and took his night stick and beat on a so called muffler, it rang like a bell! Cop didn't think it was near as funny as me, gave me 24 hrs to take it to the local Hiway Patrol station to get it inspected with legal mufflers. My wife thinks at some point I will out grow all this hot rod stuff but since I just turned 63 she is giving up hope. I just tell her all this shit I collect and the cars and trucks will make for her a good auction when I kick off some day.
Bud Jones (Fastest Flathead in Willow Glen) was a friend of mine and i admired the roadster, but not the color. Have a lot of El Mirage and Bonneville stories with Bud in them. Babe also had a chopped cad powered A pickup that was as pretty as the F1. Ran it at Half Moon Bay often. Art Gray drove his Cad/32 everywhere around here for years and years. His trucking company was on Old County Road in San Carlos and was exclusively Studebaker trucks. Pretty cool being a kid in those days.
Here's an old thread (2008) about dual exhausts, with a bunch more recollections from the early '50s: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/threads/dual-exhausts-a-look-back.315133/
So Rich do you think it was the Bud Jones T roadster I saw in front of the repair shop on El Camino Real in the early '90s. I don't remember the color now but the old roadster was in such unkept condition that it was probably faded. The shop as I remember was on the right hand side headed south. Art Gray also told me he had a house in Oakland by High St. He told me he still had his first truck there. Don't know why but once on one of my trips down to my rental in San Leandro I found the house and sure enough there was the old truck in back. I thought it was a late '40 early '50s Chevy. but it could have been a Studebaker. I kinda met him a little too late to buy all of his Cad. engine stuff. He mentioned that some neighbors complained about all his stuff in his yard and that he had to junk a lot of it. A couple of pictures taken the same day I met Art at the little car shop in I think Palo Alto. The one at the GG Bridge I had all the parts he sold me on the passenger side floorboard. Gary
My family lived in Santa Clara in an apartment on Pruneridge Ave near San Tomas Expwy. in 1965 / 1966, we moved to the Campbell area later in 1966. I was just a little guy (3-4 yrs.) at that time, but very car crazy and car aware. Our local tire shop was Bruce's Tire on San Carlos Ave. Bruces was known for their recap slicks. My family continued to drive out to Bruce's for our tire needs for several years after we moved to Campbell. I loved to go there, there was always something cool to look at and my sister and I would each get one of Bruce's cool stickers featuring a big alligator biting a tire with the slogan "Bite by Bruce's". Babe's Muffler also had a location in Campbell near San Tomas Expwy and Winchester Blvd. I remember they had a giant man holding a giant muffler out front.
Buds T was the same color as his 300C. Pretty ugly on the Chrysler and just awful on the roadster, I thought. Never told Bud that. Otherwise I thought it was really pretty.
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