Sharing an older..."What a rush" experience.

61belairbubbletop

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
One of my "What a rush" experience's came to me in late 1965. It made quite a mark in my life.

I had a half brother. He's gone now, but this story is one of my fondest memories of him.

His father bought him a new car upon graduation of trade school. At the time, we lived in Chesterton, Indiana.
Our mother drove us to Michigan City, Indiana (about 16 miles) to the chevy dealership (Enyart Chevrolet) to get the car. He was 19, I was 13. When we got there, we were told the car was back in the shop waiting.
I remember walking back there to see a 1966 chevelle SS 396/375 sitting in a mechanics bay with the hood up.
The car was marina blue, with dog dish hub caps, marina blue steel wheels, and red line tires. The engine looked bigger than any engine I had ever seen before. It was beautiful ! The lights from the work bench made the engine bay just sparkle ! The sticker on the air cleaner said 396/375.

The guy that prepped the car put these thick paper floor mats inside. The interior was all blue, bucket seats, knee knocker tachometer, 4-speed with that t-handle for reverse.

Our mom left us, and told my brother to take me home. Well, he wasn't too happy about that, but I was in heaven, and couldn't wait to go for a ride in a car like this. When he started it up, it rumbled like nothing I had ever been around yet. I was riding on top of a cloud! I remember it was nice outside, and we had the windows down when we pulled away from the dealership. Driving down the main street in Michigan City, I could hear the engine rumbling and the sound bouncing off the buildings uptown. People were on the sidewalk, and a lot of them were turning to see what was coming down the street.

My brother had his own apartment by the beach then, but every once in a while someone would drop by my mom's house looking for him & the chevelle. I remember one day when a guy pulled in the drive with a beautiful black mercury looking for him. It was an early 60's merc, with what I remember hearing from other's had a 406, dual quad, and a 4-speed. It was a beautiful car, too, and it rumbled.

Oh, those were the day's ! That's what really opened up my eye's to the muscle car's of the 60's.

I remember being uptown Chesterton on my bicycle and seeing my brother driving by in the chevelle with slicks on, which meant that there was some racing going on out by the Warren Dunes. Sometimes I would catch a ride with someone and go out there to watch.

Once I seen him race a guy that had a wheel standing 59 corvette.

I actually ended up buying that corvette years later.

Ok. I'll shut up now. I'd like to tell this story at work, but the guy's I work with are all young enough to be my kid's, and they rave about that stupid Street Outlaw's on the discovery channel. Boring to me.

Hell, they weren't even alive back when I had my experience with muscle cars! Glad I experienced that.
Good times.
 

wristpin

Well Known Member
Didnt nobody talk crap back then like they do to each other on Street Outlaws, OCC or others. There wouldn't have been a race there'd have been blood. Seen one guy talk BS about a guys '60's Hotrod Hearse. He's alive now because we didn't want Hearse owner in prison. Have a few of my own stories regarding my MOPAR in a Chevy high school. I'm old enough now that those even bore me so I'll spare all you lol. Point being...people now talk shit and rarely prove it.
 

Agent Blue

Well Known Member
Mid to late 80s on a sunny afternoon found us in Madison, Wisconsin. Enjoying the weekend events it was a choice of walking the mall, swimming in the hotel pool or checking out the car lots. My seven year old son naturally voted to check out the town. We did the cursory check of several car lots finding boring four door sedans. Edging to the east side of town we spotted a couple strange looking sports type cars and an old metal building. One shiney red convertible out front drew us into the parking lot. We were greeted by the owner introducing himself and a quick scenario of his business. Invited inside several 65ish Mustang notch backs were disassembled with parts stacked in an unused corner of the building. He explained they make replica Ford Cobras with fiberglass front and rear sections. The basic cowl and floor was used forming the structure. Low cut doors, no side glass or top with a chrome roll bar in back of two contoured bucket seats completed the interior. Rebuilt Chevrolet 350s provided the power with a Muncie four speed and low restriction huge side pipes to expel a deep throaty exhaust gases. Explaining we had a 63 Corvette coupe and wished to add a convertible to the garage led us to a test drive in the owners personal car. One minor problem existed. two seat belts and three of us would not be a winning ticket. Now here comes the sales pitch of the day .......... he can sit in the middle and if we need to stop suddenly I will extend my right hand to your right hand and we will lock hands to provide a safe barrier for him. Being a deputy I knew this was the craziest solution in the world. We could not leave him behind, would not know where to look for my wife ( cell phone delete ) and being late on Saturday this test drive would only be a passing thought. He said, you drive two miles out there are two lane county roads we can drive on safely. Insanity took over and as Jackie Gleason always says " away we go ! "
I was impressed with the handling despite the loud exhaust. My son, hair blowing in the wind, was all smiles. Finding our way about ten minutes from town the owner stated I will drive us back. That appeared to be the mistake of the day. One would think he was on the starting grid of the Rolex 24 hour race. The light body responded quickly leaving two black strips of rubber on the asphalt. Down shifting in the curves the 350 was a true performer sucking air through the hood scoop and expelling out the side pipes ending at the rear door edge. Climbing a steep grade a farm wagon load of straw in our lane seemed a quarter mile away suddenly appeared close enough to reach out and touch. We had to be in the 80 to 90 mile per hour range as he swerved out to pass. Prior to completion a car crested the hill towards us. Not backing off I hear the side pipes grow intensely louder as we barely missed the car and a seven foot tall John Deere rear tire. How would the approaching driver know a low red UFO was approaching at super sonic speeds as we suddenly appeared in close proximety. The remainder of the ride back was pretty quiet as I was very fortunate to breathe normal after seconds of sheer panic . I did not stay to get prices and options or tell my wife the ride experience details. That was as close to personally meeting god as I ever experienced at the hands of another driver.
 

Iowa 409 Guy

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 15
I didn't have much for cars back in the late 60's. We would do a little road racing on the rock roads, sliding around the curves, trying to pass each other when you could see through the dust. One time on a black top road heading to a County Park my buddy wouldn't let me around him. We came to a tee in the road and when he turned left, I took the ditch and passed him on the right.......................I used to drive in the ditch just for fun. Had old $35-$75 beaters to drive. We'd be out drinking a few beers and head out the Quarry to slide around. I would drive up the stockpile of rock and go right over the edge.............the guys with me would about $hit themselves...imagine looking out in front and seeing nothing...............then going over the edge. You always wanted to make sure the pile was fresh and didn't have any rock hauled away to make a steep dropoff. I had a 62 Chev wagon in 1976 I bought specifically for driving up and down the river on the ice for $50 if I remember right. No one around here had done that before because of the current in the river caused the ice to be thin in spots. 1976 was a drought year and I probably had a 10 mile stretch of river to mess with. Get up to 60mph or so and go into a spin,,,,,cool................I slid into a log jam one night. Jack the car up and when I went to take the lug nuts of realized I had 3 lug wrenches and none fit. There was a car coming up the river so I flagged him down to see if he had a wrench to fit. It was a guy from town and he did have a brand new lug wrench, because he was driving his brand new 1976 Monte Carlo with less that 500 miles on in up the river............... A couple of beers and I could write a book.....................:crazy:crazy:crazy:winner:winner:winnerI had a flat bottom 16' boat with a 70HP Evinrude that could tell a lot of stories also....when you run it up on a sand bar on purpose going 45MPH or so it is a long drag back to the river......

When reading the posts from 2005 I think Bob Walker wears a 4X jock...............



View attachment 51458 The guys wanted to go ice fishing one day so I told them to drill the small hole and I would take care of the rest. Du Pont and I drilled this hole. Ice flew up in the air probably a couple hundred feet and most landed back in the hole. I couldn't find any pics of our cars parked on the ice just out of view....... 1976 and 1977 are the only 2 years cars drove on our river here. Very dry years, low water levels. That is not water in the bottom of the pic.
 

wristpin

Well Known Member
Wayne Borkhuis who was the instigator of the Tinkertown Nationals passed away last week. At the funeral they had some pictures of the cars in the yard and lined up at the mailbox, also had a pic of Rod's 61 bubble loaded in the back of the grain truck as we were getting ready to head to Thunder Valley at Marion, SD. Told mom Borkhuis she needed to get me some copies of those cool old pictures, will post some when I get them.
Sorry you lost a lifelong friend.
I raced at Thunder Valley '77-'80. Went there last year and hope to get there this July 4th.
 

Jeff Olson

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
View attachment 51458 The guys wanted to go ice fishing one day so I told them to drill the small hole and I would take care of the rest. Du Pont and I drilled this hole. Ice flew up in the air probably a couple hundred feet and most landed back in the hole. I couldn't find any pics of our cars parked on the ice just out of view....... 1976 and 1977 are the only 2 years cars drove on our river here. Very dry years, low water levels. That is not water in the bottom of the pic.

Only you Dave......
 

Simps37

Well Known Member
Supporting Member 2
Great stories.....will throw a mild one out there.....
I was building my first hot rod with dad....283 with a rock crusher Muncy and posi Olds rear end and 4.11 gears in a 55 Chevy post.

We had it running good and one day Mom came walking by and asked if it was going good....I said yep and she asked to go for a ride.....well, I only had 1 seat in it at the time and told her that....she went and grabbed a bucket...flipped it upside down in the passenger hole and said lets go.
Well we lived out in the country and had a little black top farm/market road so I eased down it a mile or 2 and eased over to turn around.....she looked at me and said "is that all it's got?....thought y'all had made a hot rod?, show me what its got."
Well I told her to hang on...she griped the vent window and I dropped the hammer at about 6800rpm......car went forward and Mom went backwards...bucket and all.
I stopped the car thinking I had killed her but she was laughing so hard that I soon knew it was ok.....she never asked to be shown what one of my cars had ever again.
 

blkblk63ss

Well Seasoned Member
Supporting Member 5
Great stories.....will throw a mild one out there.....
I was building my first hot rod with dad....283 with a rock crusher Muncy and posi Olds rear end and 4.11 gears in a 55 Chevy post.

We had it running good and one day Mom came walking by and asked if it was going good....I said yep and she asked to go for a ride.....well, I only had 1 seat in it at the time and told her that....she went and grabbed a bucket...flipped it upside down in the passenger hole and said lets go.
Well we lived out in the country and had a little black top farm/market road so I eased down it a mile or 2 and eased over to turn around.....she looked at me and said "is that all it's got?....thought y'all had made a hot rod?, show me what its got."
Well I told her to hang on...she griped the vent window and I dropped the hammer at about 6800rpm......car went forward and Mom went backwards...bucket and all.
I stopped the car thinking I had killed her but she was laughing so hard that I soon knew it was ok.....she never asked to be shown what one of my cars had ever again.
Cool mom!!!!!! :D
 
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