Confessions of a Drugstore Car Guy

Late-winter blahs (too cold outside, nothing to do inside) have me cruising memory lane; playing re-runs in my head. Since it’s mostly car-related stuff, though, my memories must have some value, right? In recent years I’ve seen a lot of old school hot rods and other cars of that style that got me remembering some of the cars from my old school days.

I went to high school in the early sixties and tri-five Chevys were pretty new (Moms and Dads were still using them as daily-drivers and grocery-getters). My friends with cars tended to have less exotic rides. Eddie, for instance, had a flat-head six ’53 Plymouth and his brother, a four door Ford of the same vintage. I fell out of Eddie’s car while he was doing do-nuts in the school parking lot. I don’t remember if being seen riding in that car or falling out of it was more embarrassing.

My friend Jim had several cars while we were in school. One was a ’56 Ford; a two-door hardtop with a V-8. It was also a beater with no rear shocks. Riding in that car taught me how important shock absorbers are to both ride and handling; it was unsafe at any speed! Maybe it was the experience of putting our lives on the line every time we hit the road that made us all such responsible drivers as we got older.

Another friend, Rush (not that one), seemed to have access to lots of cars. His supplier was partial to Cadillac’s and we spent a lot of time running around in them, or not (because they broke down a lot!). He had a ’30 Model A coupe with a Caddy motor and transmission. It, too, was a beater (maybe the proto-type for today’s rat rods) with orange crate seats and a vise-grip gear selector. Three guys in a Model A teaches lots about togetherness. His other Cadillacs, while not necessarily things of beauty, were definitely the class of teenage cruising vessels (when running).

Not all of the cars I remember were old or raggedy. Charlie had a ’64 Ford Galaxy two-door hardtop with that NASCAR-style fast-back roof and a dual-quad 427. I have it on good authority that car would do over 150 mph. It also took a bunch of us more than 8 hours to make a 150 mile trip in the damn thing due to a combination of Ford engineering and poverty. Charlie could barely afford to keep gas in the car and certainly couldn’t afford to keep it tuned. The radiator water tank was not part of the radiator. It mounted on top of the front of the motor and had connections to the radiator and thermostat housing that were prone to crack from vibration. Charlie’s did and, on that trip, we spent more time pouring water in the cooling system than we did traveling.

The other evening I was talking about cars and teen-agers in this neck-of-the-woods with a fellow car club member (he grew-up in Middletown). Not a lot different than from where I grew-up (Arizona) except things here were/are closer together and greener. He, too, had a story about a Model A with vise-grips and make-do (cinder block) seats. In his version the vise-grips were used to steer! One thing universal about teen-age boys; they’ve got more guts than brains (it’s a blood-flow thing).

My friend was telling me about cruising the loop in Frederick. As I understand it, the loop went east from the Circle S Drive-In on South St. to Market St., up to 7th St., west to the Red Top Drive-In that used to be across from the new entrance to FMH. Then either back to Bentz St. and down to South St. to complete the loop or out U.S. 40 north to a hang-out where Mountain Motors is now located.

We cruised Central Ave. in Phoenix, with stops at Bob’s Big Boy at Thomas Rd. and Central and side trips up to South Mountain Park to (whatever we could get away with). By the time I was old enough to know better (and had a wife and kids) cruising Central was officially banned and Bob’s became a office tower and parking lot.

Man, this makes me want to crank up the old 8-track with the Box Tops or Three Dog Night blaring, circling for hours on a dollars-worth of gas, wishing for (whatever it is young men wish for—I don’t remember). I could forget $3.50+/gal. gas, $35000+ cars, $350,000+ mortgages, and just enjoy! Or worry about whatever it is young men worry about (don’t remember that, either). Let’s all go to a cruise-in or 35 this season and rekindle some of that weekend driving in circles nostalgia!