Yep---'58 Ford. What Daddy had when I was 16. 332 Thunderbird Police Interceptor (or so the breather said!) with 4-barrel. Pop was funny when he first got the car--a Fairlane 4-door. He didn't really LOOK at the engine until he brought it home. I was 10 and excited at the new Ford. I got him to pop the hood and his eyes got really wide!
"What th'.........", he cried.
I said, "WOOHOO!"
But when I got my license a few years later I got really good at
double-clutching all the way down to Low gear. I couldn't outrun my buddies with the new SS 327 Chevys, but I could turn a corner, drop into low at about 20-30 and really rocket away---for a short distance! I got a rep for having a "fast" Ford, but it wasn't all THAT fast; it just
seemed like it. Took 'em about a year of cruising the boulevard to catch onto my secret!
Then them "shivo-lays" cleaned my clock but good!
I didn't have a CHANCE!!
The other trick I learned was an old moonshiner's trick--the "road" turn. We'd chase each other around town playing cat and mouse. The object was to "shake" the other car, then we'd meet at the local drive-in to say "Nana-nana boo-boo"--all in good fun. Some of the little streets and roads were dirt--one was called "Thunder Road" where we watched the submarine races.
We'd even shine flashlights into the cars to get them to chase us after....uh, er, 'interrupting' their
(ahem) fun. And they WOULD, too! If one car got too close and I couldn't shake, 'em (them dratted Chevys usually), I'd go onto one of the dirt roads so it would make clouds of dust and they couldn't see. Then I'd stab the emergency brake, keeping my left hand on the handle.
Then I'd turn quickly to the left, sliding the rear around with the wheels locked, then releasing the hand brake while shifting into 2nd gear. OH! The look of shock when I passed my pursuer going BACK the other way!!!!!! What FUN we had when we didn't know how foolish we were! And--ohhhhhhh-if Pop had found out all the stuff I was doing with his car, my my!
But the movie "American Graffiti" was actually pretty accurate, too! We lived it on "Sar'dy" night cruising & listening to "Surfer Girl" and "Little old Lady from Pasadena" on our AM radios! It took 35 years and I never thought I would, but I finally MET the Beach Boys and got an autographed beachball!
Today, I'm admittedly chicken about playing with a car; I wouldn't DARE do some of the stuff I did in high school!!!
(sorry I got this off-topic--I'll try to behave!!!)
73
CWM[/i]