a good tale

[rt green]

as told by pete mc nicholl.   
it was the summer of '57, and the wife and i had been fishing in the mt clemens mi area. we're on our way home, cruising south on gratiot ave.  i'm in the far right lane pulling a 16 foot chris craft out board with my 55 plymouth that i had stuffed full of 354 hemi.  anyhow, i'm in the rirht lane, see, and this 57 chevy pulls up along side me. 'course , he doesnt give me a second look, with me towing a boat and all. he's paying attention to the 55 olds thats just pulled up in the left lane.
the lights aboutm to change, and the chevy starts rapping his engine, and i get alittle excited and say to the wife "hey, they're gonna race".  course the wife gets upset and she starts yelling and hollering about " now dont you go racing. your pulling a boat, and theres a time and place for racing and this isnt one of them and your gonna get both kilt", and all.

[rt green]

anyhow, the light changes and the chevy and olds go at it. i'm on the gas sort of moderately, and i'm right on their tail. i know i can beat these guys, boat and all, and the temtation is just too great. i tell the wife, "hey i can beat these guys", and she starts yelling and hollering all over again how not to race and how i'm going to ruin something.   we all catch the next light on gratiot, and the chevy and olds still dont give me a second look. the chevy is rapping his engine again, but this time i'm ready.   

[rt green]

i punch the low button on my torqueflite, brake torque it to get a good launch, and when the light changes, i actually pull a holeshot on those guys. you've got to appreciate the sene. here are these two hotshoes going at each other full bore and they look over and see themselves being passed by a boat!
anyhow, the chevy waves me over at the next light, and of course i play dumb. the plymouth looks bone stock on the outside, and the guy asks my what i'm runnin. i say i dunno, i just bought it off the showroom floor.

[JB400]

 

[rt green]

this chevy guy gets all excited and tells me about his other 57 chevy that runs out of a local drive-inn thats never been beat, and carries a hundred ddollar bill for the guy that can beat him. well, i say, i dont do that sort of thing and all. but in the meantime i'm thinking about that hundred bucks. hey, back in 57 that was big time money.
when i get home, i call a buddy of mine, hank, who has a 54 olds. i tell him about this 57 chevy thats never been beat and backs his mouth up with a hundred bucks. we decide its someting worth checking out.

[rt green]

we show up at the drive-in the next night and we spot this guy with a real bad looking black 57 chevy. the guy knew the deal , cause he sees my plymouth, walks up to me and says matter a factly, look, we'll take 'em out to 14 mile road and run 'em.
"okay," i said "i'm pretty new at this , and i don't know much about racing and all."  'coourse i'm lying through my teeth, see, as i'd been racing since i was a little kid. 

[rt green]

There are four guys in the chevy, and me and Hank in the Plymouth.  We drive out to the area which is pretty remote and desolate at the time. It's all homes now, but back then it was farm country.  All three guys jump out of the chevy, and Hank says, well, what do you think?  I tell him that the Chevy sounds pretty healthy, and maybe he better climb out too. 

One of their guys acts like their flag man.  I'm thinking about that $100.00 bucks.  He lines up and we get off.
By the time we've run the quarter mile, I beat the Chevy, but not by very much -- maybe two car lengths or so.  We turn around and drive back to where the guys are standing, and the Chevy guy says, Hay how about two out of three ? 

[rt green]

Well, ok, I guess !!  Then the chevy guy says, how his engine loaded up driving out here and he has to open up the pipes to clear it out.  So he bends down and starts to uncap his exhaust.  Now, I new I was in trouble when he started doing that, so I say, wait a second guys-- I gotta loosen mine up too.

Of course, this blows the Chevy guys mind.  The Plymouth looks totally stock, and I have the exhaust caps tucked way up under the car where you can't see them.  I think that right then and there they knew theyd been had, cause that hemy has a sound totally different from anything else when it's opened up.  Well, we line up again, and this time I literally blow the Chevy's doors right off. I musta had him by about 15 car lengths by the end of the quarter mile.  What can I say, you really put it to me.  Come back to the drive in.  I'll buy you guys a malt and give you your money.

[rt green]

The Chevy guy is leading the way, and he knows the streets around there and I don't.  Hank and I are laughing about the whole deal and not much attention.  All of the sudden, the Chevy makes a quick right.
I jump on the brakes, but by the time I back up to make the turn, he out of sight.  We went back to the drive in many times after that but we never saw the Chevy guy again or his car again.  Probably he still has the car hidden in his garage.

the deal was so much fun, though, that me and hank used to do this thing on woodward ave.  what we did was take a 3x5-foot utiity trailer and torck the springs to make it look like it was carrying a lot of weight.  then we'd tie empty boxes to it, like from aa refrigerator or washer or dryer. it reallt looked like it was heavy. then we'd run up and down woodward-always in the right hand lane, looking for guys that were racing in the center and left lanes. they would be going all out, and we'd just drive right by 'em looking like we were moving half a house. i think those were some of the best times i ever had.   

[charge69]

That's a great story and I would've loved to see the look on the Chevy guy's face when you blew his doors off!  Back when I was a teenager, I ran around with a good friend who had a '55 Chevy 2dr. post 210 with a fairly stock 283 we put in it. This was before I had a car to drive, by the way. The Chevy just had a 3 speed tranny converted to floorshift but he was pretty good at launching it. He won more than a few dollars betting people he could "jump" a coke bottle with his front wheels. Cannot remember the size coke bottle but it was a regular coke bottle sold everywhere then. Probably a 6 oz bottle.

He would manipulate the clutch and brake and get the car "hopping" I guess is the best way to describe it but he would make the front wheels lift off the pavement and move just a little ways forward. More often than not, he would actually jump the coke bottle put on the ground a foot or so in front of the passenger side (I think) front wheel. The car was pretty quick but could never pull a "wheelie" just dropping the clutch. Funny to watch him do it and profitable too !

[Ghoste]

Pete was one of the originals.  Great story!

[F8-4life]

 love these old stories!

[hemigeno]

McNicholl didn't know that a Plymouth was never equipped with a Hemi engine of any displacement until 1964?

[Ghoste]

It was a swap, there are pictures of the car in that Rmachargers biography.

[hemigeno]

It was a swap, there are pictures of the car in that Rmachargers biography.

Ahh, my bad.

Carry on!

[FlatbackFanatic]

Great story.

[bakerhillpins]

It was a swap, there are pictures of the car in that Rmachargers biography.

Ahh, my bad.

Carry on!

Yea, I didn't pick up on that either... must be insider info or sumpin.  

Great story all the same! 

[Ghoste]

Maybe depends how close you are to the Detroit area?  I hardly think of myself as an insider.

[rt green]

he said he had the plymouth  "stuffed full" of 354 hemi

[bakerhillpins]

Maybe depends how close you are to the Detroit area?  I hardly think of myself as an insider.

It was more of a tongue in cheek type of explanation more than anything else. Just a poor attempt at humor while trying to convey that I didn't get it either.

he said he had the plymouth  "stuffed full" of 354 hemi

Yea, read that as artistic expression not that he had swapped it that's all. It's obvious now.

[Ghoste]

It wasn't a poor attempt at all, I got it and my reply was also meant to be tongue in cheek so more likely mine was the poor attempt.

[Finn]

Great read!! Would love to hear more.

[70redbee]

That was a great story. Anyone else have any stories of the bye gone era?

[warpspeed]

Don't you just love the "good ole days" when you could get away with it AND not worry about whether the cops could catch you?

[charge69]

It was the fall of 1976 and me and my best friend, Larry, were just cruising around in my fairly recently acquired 1969 Charger R/T HEMI. The car was still untouched as far as engine enhancements were concerned but ran very well even though it had around 80k miles on it by now. The previous owner used it for a daily driver in and around Pasadena, Tx since early 1971 when he bought it from the original owner.

We found ourselves sitting at a light about to go under the freeway and turn left back toward my home. I had let my friend drive as he had begged me to drive it and I let him. After all, he let me drive his 454 equipped 1972 Vette. We realized we probably had to move one lane to the left to turn but there was a car there by us at the light. Two women were sitting in the car just having a conversation. The windows were down on both their car and the Charger as it was a nice cool day to be out and about.

My friend, Larry, prepared to get the jump on them so he could turn left and as the light turned, he floored it! The Charger had blown out cherry bomb mufflers on it and it was "LOUD" now and the car just leaped forward without stumbling at all. All hell broke loose as the motor screamed to life with a loud,loud roar!

The look on the women's face was priceless as we, obviously scared the total Hell out of them and made the turn under the freeway easily! We laughed and talked about how bad he scared those poor ladies for years!

[rt green]

good story. the wife thought it was funny.

[djcarguy]

   I will never forget  that hot summer day in 1975. i was 45 miles from home ,driveing thru medford,or. i had just got duel pipes and tune up on my 66 red coronet ht.new reverse chomes and white lettered tires,an all washed and shined up.
   I stop at a light on a divided 4 lane on way out of town.  me a 16 yr old kid, super loud 68-72 vette skids up beside me,hes revvin it and yells just as lite changes and off i go .i got jump as he was distrated yelling at me.but man did the vette catch me fast. we hit the next red and hes laughing,oh kid i know that dodge has got more guts than that.  so i rev it a few times and yell sure does its a 440 . so hes reving the hell out of his vet the light changes and i sit there as he melts his tires and jumps into the intersection. he jams for 2nd gear and the vet jumps again ,with a super loud bang . parts and oil and smoke fly out of his vet and he skids off and hits the curb and down into the rocky center divider.

i went got a burger then drove back by later. the wrecker had pulled the vet off to the side,the cops were inspectting it. i saw the engine and trans were not connected anymore and looked like they would fall out the bottom. old bumper tow trucks back then ,no roll back.his front tire and mag were smashed from curb and exhaust and bell housing were gernaded.

     good thing i wasnt racing an beside him when he blowup, he would of hit me and knock me over into the on coming cars,head on. you may have guess why i didnt race all out against this vette.  my red coronet,66 was my best car and had to keep it that way.was also 45 miles from home,on a hot day.i knew the vette could kill me at the lite but my car killed the vette instead. my 66 was a 440 coronet it didnt have one under the hood.so my wide block 318,2barrel killed the big bad vette that hot summer day.and taught me a very big lessons,little self control and brains can save your life and car to live another day.god bless ya all.dj

[charge69]

When we are young, especially teenagers, about the only way we learn life's lessons are the hard way!  The occasional "lesson learned" through another's experience is a big plus!

[djcarguy]

    WAS raised in a very small town,prospect,or. dad was one of the guys on the fire crew and took his 4 sons to fires and car wrecks.up there it could take 1 or 1 1/2 hours for ambulance to arrive. saw blood,hurting people long before i ever got my permit. back then the wrecks would just get dragged into someones yard or driveway.did not want cops having them towed 45 miles to medford unless newer and fixable.  just towing and storage,then cost to get them back home,added up real fast.we wound up with 3 cars thru the yrs that the owners just gave us . a bettle,a 59 desoto with hemi and 67 chev wagon hit in the side. we used a handyman jack. jacked the side out on wagon to get a rear tire on it and bolted door handle back on pass side.bother drove it for a yr and then sold the drive train.  we had a county land fill and could dump old cars for free w\o titles. we would still sell parts and get parts off other cars at dump .was a friend of  dads,and i worked for him yrs latter.got mags and wheels,few v8s and rearends there.even towed a 52 panel van home from dump and got the title from guy down the road afew miles.

 the good old days ,and cheap cars and parts.many neat cars got hauled to dump and shot full of holes that we didnt get to save/55-57 chevys,t-birds and fairlanes and several ragtops.lots of old truck front haves as back was saved for trailers. not many mopars up there, guys knew my dad was into mopars and would call and give him and later us boys the old cars. 4 sons,2 1\2 acers and mom yelling iam going to leave if you drag in 1 more old car.we would do it when she was at work,hahahaha.there was hell to pay latter ,she would go and count them.an yell for hours.hahaha

[djcarguy]

     hey guys its winter an cold out.  how bout some more great tales of days gone by or good old days ,old or new???

[DadsCharger00]

WELL....This didn't happen to me, but my dad tells the story pretty well and I recall it pretty well too! When my dad was in high school he had his 69 charger 383 with 440 heads, and 440 cam. His buddy has a Cuda, and his buddy had a roadrunner. Down the road about 10 minutes from where I grew up there was a small town. Only had 3 intersections in town. The old cop there (and he was old then, he's even older now!) used to sit in the middle of the 2nd intersection that way he could view basically the whole town. He'd sit there by the post office in his car, window down, and eat his pistacio nuts and toss em out the window. Well my dad being the young hell raiser he was, got together with his buddies one night, and decided to run over to this town, and each pick an intersection and spin some cookies. Thought it would be a good time. Dad drew the short straw and got the second intersection in town, the one directly in front of old Claire. So they roll into town, and get into position at the stop signs, and start those cookies!  My dad said the look on ol' claires face was priceless! So they spin a few, and off they go...all in opposite directions.  Well Ol' Claire was a crazy ol' bat.....and he starts to follow my dad.  My dad hits the highway traveling pretty good clip, and Claires a following him! Dad said they were giving it all heck down the road and the Charger was starting to pull away from claire...when POP POP POP......claire starts shooting out the window at my dad!!!! Dad said the foot went a little further down when he heard those sounds, and the car moved just a little faster! Said Claire gave up or turned around...didn't see him again! Said it was a heck of a conversation between him and the guys after they met back up. Needless to say, it wasn't long after that the small town took claires gun away. Nobody knew why....except my dad and his buddies!  Claire was the cop in that town for years after that. But no more gun! 

[JB400]

That's a good one.  He's lucky he didn't get shot.

[nvrbdn]

when i was in high school back in 72-73 sophmore year i had my dream car, a 68 charger. i ran with a group of mopar gear heads. there was a demon, 2 dusters, 69 super bee, my charger,and a  4 speed 69 road runner. we would drive around and when we would see someone broke down, we would all pull over and walk up to the guy while he was looking under the hood and say, "shoulda bought a mopar" and head off. well the old charger ran pretty good, but could never beat that road runner. one night we cruised up to a farm town called brighton. they still had the wood sidewalks in that town and the cutest farm girls.   the boys didnt like us coming into town talking to their gals so they started talking crap. their top dog was talking about how fast his mean car was and ready for a race. so i said id take him on and he says no, not that charger,  but i will run that road runner for 50.00. well darrell got 50 bucks richer that night. nice take for the road runner when gas was 40-50 cents a gallon.

[F8-4life]

Oh man, as a young guy I just love these storys, stuff like this just is not possible in todays world...