What is your favorite car story?

[donsrods]

I'm new to RRT, so maybe this topic has been brought up before, but I thought on a cold night like this (well, I'm in Florida, so it isn't TOO cold, but I see some of you are in places like Iowa.............brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr) that it might be nice to trade stories about cars. Every car nut has one or more, and to start things off, here is one of mine.

I grew up near Pittsburgh, Pa. and in the mid '60's the street racers from Pittsburgh would travel north every Saturday night  to a stretch of four lane (Rt. 51) where they would meet up with the racers from the Mon-Valley, and they would race each other for maybe 3 or 4 hours until the cops would finally show up. (The nearest State Police barracks was far away)

In about 1965 the car that was one of the fastest on the street was the 396 cubic inch/ 425 horsepower Corvette. They were tearing up the streets. On one particular Saturday night there was a huge crowd there (guys would bring their dates, sit on an overlooking hill, etc. It was like the Nationals, only illegal). As the racing was going on, a white 1965 Chevy Impala pulled in. It was a nice car, had whitewalls, stock 3 bar Chevy hubcaps, fender skirts, two dummy spotlights.........just a nice slightly customized cruiser. Except it had " 396" flags on the fenders.

After some discussion, he made arrangements to run one of the 'Vettes . As soon as the negotiations over money were made (and the 'Vette crew stopped snickering about how they were going to take this guys money) the guys who came in the Chevy got to work.

Out of the trunk came a floorjack, and two M & H 11 inch dragster slicks. Off came the fender skirts, and one guy climbed underneath and uncorked the headers. Now we noticed the Impala had a 4 speed, and looked a little different when the slicks went on. After they were finished, the guy fired up the Chevy, and the entire disposition of the car changed.

As he did a few short burnouts,  the inside drivers wheel was getting real close to coming off the ground, and it sounded like a fuel dragster. He staged against the 'Vette, and when they took off he put about 10 car lengths on the 'Vette in the first 1/8 mile. He shifted all four gears in about the 1/8 mile (we later found out he was running 5:14 gears).

When they came back, the guy in the 'Vette wanted to fight, because somehow he felt he had been cheated, so the Impala guy offers to let him have another shot at it...........for another $100.00 bet.  They line up again, and the Impala fries him even worse the 2nd time.

They jack the Impala back up, put the slicks back in the trunk, put the caps back on the headers, and finally open the hood. There on the valve cover of the big block was a little sticker that read "Engine built by Bill Thomas Race Cars." The Chevy drove off, $ 200.00 richer, and leaving all who witnessed the race in awe.

I never saw or heard of the Impala again, but I have never forgotten it, and it made me build a few of my own " Sleepers" over the years. After all, it is so much fun to blow someones doors off with a car that looks like Grandma drove it to church last Sunday.

That is one of my favorite car memories, do any of you have one?  I'd love to hear it, and I'll bet others would too.

[alchevy]

Don, That's a good story. I am the newsletter editor of two car club newsletters so I am going to pull out a few stories to share here. Let me find them. Just to peak your interest, here's the subject of two of them:

"How to get a crate motor home from Louisville" (written by me of my experience)

"Roadside repairs coming home from Louisville" (written by a friend of mine when he was the editor)
AL

[enjenjo]

I have a buddy who used to own a salvage yard. Back about 1980 he got a 70 Nova in the yard, 6 cylinder, stick. It was pretty clean, but the engine was worn out. Over in the corner was a serious 496 cube big block out of his race car, and a 400 Turbo, so we stuck it in the Nova. A big forklift battery in the trunk, and welded up the spider gears in the stock 3.07 10 bolt. No other changes, stock tires and all.

That thing was scary fast. from a stop it would just blow the tires away, but from a roll, it pulled harder than any other street car I have driven. The first time I jumped on it, I shut it off in the middle of the road, because it was scaring me.

One day I borrowed the car, and drove it to work. I had a fellow that rode with me, old drag racer, I stopped at his house to pick him up. He got in the car, half asleep, he was a charter boat captain too, and settled in to nap on the way to work. I cranked the car, didn't want to crank, and I finally got it started, I told him it was my cousin's car, and that I had been working on it. He knew my cousin had a Nova, so didn't question it. I got it out on the road, and eased down to the main road. Of course it stalled at the corner, and he said in needed more work.

I pulled onto the main road, and said it really ran pretty good off idle. I stuffed it, ran it up through the gears, let off about 100 mph, and looked over at him. He was awake now. "This ain't no 350' he says! We played a bit with it on the way to work, we were both pretty pumped when we got there.

There was a guy there with a SS396 Chevelle that though it was pretty fast. I started woofing on him, that the Nova was a piece of crap, but was faster than the Chevelle. After work, he was ready to go. I told him I would take him for a ride before we raced.

We loaded him in the back seat, and I ran it a couple miles to warm things up. I pulled it into low gear, and hit it from a roll. The back of the car squatted until the driveshaft was hitting the floor, the tires are up in smoke, the car is half sideways, and it's pulling like a bear. We scared the crap out of him. He decide he didn't want to race.

It took us several hours to get back home, we were up half the night playing with it. It was a really awesome car.

Two weeks later one of the axles broke, so he pulled the engine and trans out of it, and parted it out. It didn't last long, but for a short time, it was one of the best sleepers I have seen.

[48builder]

I came home on leave from the Air Force, and a friend of mine told me to come over and see the car he had just bought. Turns out it was a '68 Hemi Road Runner. We get in and he starts it up, and it is really running like crap. Sounded like it was hitting on maybe six cylinders. We go out on the road and he stops. It was a 4-speed, and he punched the gas and popped the clutch. I thought I was going to die right then and there. The tires were still smoking when he hit third gear and my eyeballs were in the back of my head. The thing was still mis-firing badly, and at that point I was glad it was. It was easily the fastest car I had been in up till that point. He had the engine blueprinted later, but I never got a chance to ride in it after that. He sold it and after 30 years he still says that is the biggest mistake he ever made.

Another friend in the AF had a Ford Ranchero. He had a 429SCJ engine in that baby with 5:13 gears. Car would pull like crazy up to about 80 mph, but that was about top end. Good thing gas was only 30 cents a gallon then, cuz it sure ate a lot of it.

[donsrods]

If your buddy has watched the Barrett-Jackson auctions over the past few weekends, he is probably still throwing up! Those Hemi cars are bringing more than 2 new houses.

What would you do with a half-million dollar car, besides park it in the middle of your family room and look at it?

[enjenjo]

If your buddy has watched the Barrett-Jackson auctions over the past few weekends, he is probably still throwing up! Those Hemi cars are bringing more than 2 new houses.

What would you do with a half-million dollar car, besides park it in the middle of your family room and look at it?

The same guy who owned the Nova above, he is no longer in the salvage business, has a 69 ZL1 Corvette in his bedroom. He has doors like in a car showroom so he can move it in and out. He has owned this car since about 1980.

[phat46]

A friend i had in high school stopped by one day after school with his Moms new car. I look out in the driveway and there sits a '70 Dodge Charger R/T. "Wow, that's nice" I tell him  "what's in it?" He says he doesn't know and he's not a car guy. We go and pop the hood and there sits a 440 Magnum. I'm oooing and awwwing at it and he asked if that is good...We had some real adventures in that thing, like the night he spun it from a dead stop trying to race a "vette that really was "the fastest car in town"  Or the night we got it sideways at about a buck ten when we crossed a intersection where a gravel road crossed the paved road we were flying down. His mom destroyed the engine by running regular gas in it....

[48builder]

If your buddy has watched the Barrett-Jackson auctions over the past few weekends, he is probably still throwing up! Those Hemi cars are bringing more than 2 new houses.

What would you do with a half-million dollar car, besides park it in the middle of your family room and look at it?

Yeah, those things are going for a lot. I think he paid less than 2 grand for it if I remember right. That was in '75.

[alchevy]

HOW TO GET A NEW CHEVY 350 V8 HOME FROM THE STREET ROD NATIONALS (story from September, 2000)

Well, I knew that I was going to order one sooner or later so I had already set it up with Ronnie Neihaus that I could get it delivered to the place he & I work at. Most freight companies will get the motor to the back of their truck and you have to get it off of their truck. Just reach in there and grab that 500 pounds and yank it right out of there, yeah right. But if you work at a place that has a loading dock and a forklift, and it's ok to do it, you can have it delivered there and then they can easily get it off the truck and load it into your truck. Sounds easy doesn't it? Well, not when it arrives at 4:45p.m. on a Friday and you think that most of the people that know how to run a forklift have gone home for the weekend. I had just told the system administrator (Brad who is in the office next to mine) that it was going to be delivered at work when the receptionist calls for Brad to come up to the front of the office now! So he does and then appears back around the corner saying: "Al, your motor is here." He grabs a truck dolly (not your everyday truck dolly) and says the truck driver is coming around to the back of the building (where it is almost flat to roll things into the building). We head back there and the truck has a lift gate on the back of it. If I had known that, he could have brought it to my house. Oh well, he is here now and so we get it onto the dolly and bring it into the building. We got a few strange looks by the employees that were still there. "That looks like a bomb!" I tell them that it's a Chevy 350 V8 and they don't believe me. Well, we bring it to my office and I think "Now what am I going to do with a motor in my office at work." Bet you have never had one in your office before! I called up Donnie and ask him what to do. He told me to get some big strong welders to pick it up and put it into the back of my truck. Then the VP of LeTourneau Marine (Donald Cross) comes into my office and asks if I need some help. I tell Donnie that help just arrived. Mr. Cross suggest that we take it around to the front steps of the building and for me to back up my truck so that the rear wheels are on the sidewalk and then we can ease it down the 6 or 7 steps and roll it into the back of my truck. 500 pound motor down 6 or 7 steps, well he is the boss. It actually worked. Two people (Jerry & Mike) that were getting off from work stopped to ask if they could give us a hand and they helped out very well. I got it home and used the club's cherry picker and eased it out of the truck and onto a furniture dolly so that I could roll it around to where I needed it. My Mom asked: "Why didn't you just back your truck up to the delivery truck and lower the lift gate down to my truck and then just ease the motor into the bed of my truck?" I said: "That would of worked!" But I would not of had such an interesting story to tell folks.

AL

[alchevy]

AN OLDIE, BUT A GOODIE by D. Cool

The famous or infamous axle replacement on Jack Creel's 40 Ford Pickup.  So here's the story, which has probably gotten better with age.

We were heading home from having a great time at the Street Rod Nationals in Louisville KY, and we were doing our normal Roundman cruising speed of 75 plus miles per hour,  (yes, he was taking it easy this time).  I was the last in line following Jimmy and Jack, when I noticed the right rear tire on Jack's truck starting to wobble.  Before I could get on the CB to tell Jack about his tire, it parted company from the truck and passed Jack on the right.  I had my CB mike in my hand already so I told everyone that Jack had lost a tire.  As luck would have it, or maybe it was because of Joe Doyle's foresight when he built the truck originally, but because of the way the rear end was mounted, the right rear of the truck just sat down on the bracket that Joe built to hold the four bar linkage.  The bracket acted as a skid and Jimmy and Jack were able to safely guide and stop the truck on the side of the Interstate without further incident.  Good fortune was still with us because we saw an exit ramp just a couple of hundred yards up the road.  We also noticed a road just on the other side of the fence, next to the Interstate, where we were able to park our cars to get them off the side of the road while an assessment of the problem was conducted.  In other words, we tried to figure out what happened and how in the world are we going to fix it.  Upon retrieving the run-a-way tire and wheel, we noticed that axle had sheared off right at the axle bearing; we also noticed that the axle had a crack in it for some time.  Now what do we do?  Since I reconstructed the truck when I bought it from Joe Doyle, I knew the rear end was out of a 67 Mustang, but where would we find one of those here in the middle of Tennessee?  I know you've all heard the saying the "God looks after fools and children" or something like that, well it must apply to Street Rodders as well, just haven't figured out if we're a bunch of fools or just big kids, probably both, which may be why things were working out like they were.  I said earlier there was an exit only a short distance up the road; well, there was a big truck stop at that exit as well.  Now I didn't go with the folks that went to the truck stop, I think it was Jimmy or Jack and maybe Roundman that went, but the story I remember was as follows.  When they got to the truck stop, the question was asked if a parts store was nearby, I didn't mention that this was Sunday afternoon did I?  Well it was, so either someone at the truck stop knew the owner of the local parts house or the owner was at the truck stop, but either way a parts store was found and opened just so we could get a new axle bearing.  One problem solved, now for the axle, where to find one of those.  I guess someone else at the truck stop knew of a junkyard close by as well, so now they're off to see if they could find an axle.  When they arrived at the place where they were told to go, a fellow met them in the front yard, the story was he had no shirt and only one of the straps on his bib overalls fasten, and he wanted to know what they were doing there.  When he found out they were from the Government and they needed some car parts, things got a lot friendlier.  He was asked if he had a rear axle from a 67 Mustang, he thought a minute and called to someone in the house.  A woman came out (don't know if she was dressed like him or not) and he told her to get the tools and go down into the holler and fetch an axle from out of the Mustang.  So, she took off with the tool box in hand heading down the holler, I think someone asked if she needed help, and the man said "Nope she can get it", not too long after she left, she came back up the hill toting the tool box in one hand and the axle slung over her shoulder.  I have no idea how much the axle cost, but the story of this is priceless.  So now where back on the side of the road, the axle in one hand, and the new bearing in the other.  "Wait a minute doesn't the bearing need to be pressed onto the axle?"  Well normally the answer is yes, but that's only if you don't have someone named Roundman.  Roundman took the old axle, which still had part of the old bearing on it, and using a chisel and hammer, promptly took the old bearing off the axle.  Now how do we get the new bearing on?  No problem for the Round One, using the same removal tool (i.e. hammer & chisel) he turned them into an installation tool, we didn't know it was a multi-use tool.  We all watch as Roundman kept tapping the bearing and bearing retainer until they both were in the proper place.  It's really amazing what he can do with a hammer and chisel.  The new axle, complete with new bearing, was placed back into the rear end.  We then noticed the brake shoes suffered some damage when the tire came off.  Not to worry though, Roundman pulled out his brake shoe mender, (did I mention that the hammer was a multi-purpose tool?) and he quickly put the shoe back into shape.  The shoe was only missing a small part of the brake lining; Jack said he would replace that when he got home.  So with everything back together, we were ready to hit the road once again.  One would think that with that kind of repair we would take it easy for a while to make sure everything was going to stay together, Right?  Well, your wrong, we resumed Roundman running speed and I'm happy to report we made the rest of the trip home without further incident.  One last thing, remember that I said the brake shoes were damaged and Jack was going to replace them when he got home?  Well this happened in August, and when I saw Jack again in October, at our Fat Boys Fall Fling, I asked if he replace the damaged brake shoe.  Jack said he had not done it yet, but he will soon, but he wasn't too concerned because the truck is stopping just fine.

[donsrods]

Great stories. Amazing what you can repair along a highway when you have to. When I was younger I owned a '63 Bonneville Convertible with a 389 that I installed a 421 cam in and trips from a GTO. I converted it to a stick shift, but could never afford a four speed, so I just ran chevy 3 speed trannys.

The 3 speeds were cheap (I could buy them for $ 15.00 each at the local junkyards) but they were pretty weak. When I would powershift them, 2nd gear would strip out. I got so good at changing transmissions, I could actually do it in about 15 minutes. I always carried a spare in the trunk, and I would just find a Dari Queen, or some other business with a high curb in front, and I would pull the front wheels up on the curb to give me room to crawl under the car. I knew exactly what tools I needed to take under with me.

I actually had to do this on more than one date, while my girlfriend sat in the car, not real happy with me. I could have used the woman in your Kentucky story. Wouldn't have even had to get dirty myself.