Hi Bruce!
Hey! Reading about your axle reminds me of some of the weird
"fixes" I came up with over the years too. And I know what you mean about
"modern automotive repairs". Pretty soon we're just gonna have to throw 'em
away...it'll be cheaper! Thanks to planned obsolescence! My neighbours 1992
4 wheel drive Ford Ranger quit working due to a computer problem. He was
told by the dealer they don't make that part anymore! Either scrap the truck
or try and find a used one. Seems the scrap yards know about "that" problem
too...that used part cost him a righteous sum!!!! But it was still cheaper
than buying a new vehicle! Ah, for the good ole days when all you needed was
a screwdriver, a bale of wire and ...well, ok an oven!...lol!
One tip about ovens though, in case you haven't tried it (yeah
right!...lol) Anyway, after I chopped the top of my 1968 El Camino I found
out you can't cut curved glass (hey! I was young,ok?...lol!)
So my wife came home one day and found "supper" cooking in the oven...my
"curved" plexiglass side windows! Just lay the "chopped" plastic ones over
the real glass ones and turn up the heat till they bend! Worked great! Well,
till I had to keep 'em from scratching! But "THAT"s another story!...lol!
After that one I learned NOT to chop cars with curved side
windows...unless the customer was well aware of what he was going to end up
with...plastic...!
I've been reading with great interest your hot rodding escapades and
you've been one busy boy over the years... Living in Canada, couldn't
compare to YOUR times, but I too was into drag racing when I was a kid.
Luckily, I've met a lot of the American big names(memories) when they came
to our St Thomas dragway, Cayuga Dragway and Grand Bend Dragway. It was
"your" guys that taught US how to fab cars right! And have left me with
indelible memories... like Tommy Ivo's 4 engined car,like the Little Red
Wagon standing on it's rear bumper at 120 miles an hour , and Hemi Under
Glass on it's bumper AND shifting it's 4 gears at speed! Maybe not the same
as seeing some of the older greats like you, but still great memories
anyway. I can remember standing beside K.S. Pitmans '33 Willys coupe and
thinking how "small a car" it was in REAL life! Gotta have one of them some
day!(I'm STILL looking for a steel one!...lol!)
Remember, E.J. Potter, the Michigan Madman? WOW! He really was!...lol!
The first time I stood at the starting line and watched an "American"
dragster burn rubber "all the way through" the quarter mile! Leaving two
wavy strips of rubber, right through the lights...man that was memorable to
me!
All those night drags "for cokes" at the Thunderbird Drive-in where ALL
the "hot cars" hung out.(Luckily it was located on a 4-lane paved highway!)
Remember, jacked up 55 Chevys and all those hot rodded model A Fords? Where
have they all gone?
I remember Grand Bend Dragwway and sitting on the starting line...in my
straight-axled, altered wheelbase '53 Chevy C/Altered coupe. My tri-carbed
327 with the B&M Hydro just idling wildly, while I waited for that...BB/FD
40 Willys coupe to stage...Yup BB Fuel Dragster!
He was running a blown and injected 301 Chevy with a four speed...on
NITROmethane! They didn't have face masks yet for that class up here, and
before every one of his runs they had the ambulance move to the finish line.
It waited there WITH OXYGEN and HAD TO CARRY him out of his car and give him
the breath of life after EVERY run!!!! REALLY CRAZY by today's standards,
but that's what made it so...special to us today...those times will never
come again!
I remember being at a car club about 2:30 in the morning...(bench racing
before the drags,in a few hours . One of the "slower" guys there was
bothering everybody with his stupid questions. Someone told him to "Get
lost! Go work on your car or something!" He had a '28 model A coach (highboy
style) with a 301" small block Chevy. He said "I don't have nothin' to do on
it!" "Well, why don't you chop the top or something?", someone said to him.
About 20 minutes later a strange noise emitted from his corner of the
garage. "Grimes, what are you doing?" "I'm choppin my top!..like you told
me to!" "But you don't know how to, do you?" "No, but I'll figure it out!"
That "slow boy" had his car at the drags "that day". No windshield glass!
But it was back on the road!
(He eventually settled for using that car strictly for dragracing
Today, he owns a computer company and is worth millions! Slow eh?.lol!
Oh well! I've bothered you long enough Bruce! Thanks for allowing me MY
trip down memory lane! Well, gotta go and make supper now! (Boy! That was a
helluva short trip,eh?...lol!)
Bye for now, Ron
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