Garage tour

Every year the VALLEY CRUZERS hosts a garage tour and this year my shop was included. We had a good turnout. There were hot rods, street rods, and classics everywhere. Good people and hot rodders. (in my experience, usually the same thing) No better way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

I am humbled frequently by the skills and knowledge some of these people have. As I show someone a car I bought, I am shown a car they built. A quiet man who lives around the corner from me does it all. Motors, paint, chassis and interiors. No bragging, just building. I can learn a lot from this man. My friend from Brownsville who built his '56 Chevy himself and can fix anything. People who were building and racing hot rods long before I bent my first push-rod. (moms station wagon) This hobby is as much, if not more, about the people as it is the cars. Thanks for coming folks. Thanks for including me...

John

Crusin' for chicks...

Friday night, 1964. As usual we were downtown showin' off, street racin', and crusin' for chicks. This is a true story. I have only changed the name because I'm not sure how to spell Sterling Keminskie. This is the true American Graffiti, Eugene Oregon edition.

Every weekend was about the same. Run up and down the streets wastin' gas, chirpin' tires, and looking for girls that would like to jump in the car with a couple guys that just put their last two dollars in the gas tank. Girls like that were quite rare in Eugene. If Keminskie was here he could vouch for that. We never got lucky, except for that one night. Two unattended young ladies accepted our invitation to go for a ride. I'm going to skip the middle part of the story, from the pick up until we ended up parked at the rose garden because it really isn't very interesting, and get right to the good part.

The girls. One young lady was quite attractive, and sense it was my car and I was a year older than Keminskie, I got the cute chick. Sterling got the other one that could best be described as large. Quite large if I remember correctly. Things were starting to get interesting in the front seat when my new lady friend pointed out that nothing was happening in the back seat. She was reluctant to continue with our mutual exploration if we were the only ones fogging up the windows. I excused myself for a bathroom break and Sterling was eager to join me. I explained the situation to him and told him that with his cooperation, this could be my lucky night. Just talk to her if nothing else. "About what?" he said. Damn it Sterling! Just think of something!

We returned to the car and soon things were starting to cook in the front seat again, and then again my now eager partner noticed nothing happening in the back seat. I glared at Sterling over the seat and mouthed the word TALK! I was about to resume my exploration yet again when we heard Sterling ask, "Do you have much trouble with that wart on your lip?"

My memory is a little fuzzy after that. Sterling could finish the story better than I. He was a lot closer to the action. We dropped the girls off back downtown where we found them and went home. We were about out of gas anyway

John

Busted

Sometimes the simplest task turns into a project. Replacing worn studs in an exhaust manifold sounded simple. A little penetrating oil, a little heat, a little twist with the vice grips, a little SNAP. Crap! (similar to the word I used) Well, now I will have to drill and tap the hole. Not a big deal. I have all the stuff... First the pilot hole. SNAP! CRAP! Now I have a pilot bit busted off in the pilot hole! ( pilot error?) Have you ever tried to drill a drill bit with a drill bit?

After giving the matter some thought, I decided to try heating the manifold/stud/broken bit until it was cherry red and letting it cool slowly. It worked great! The now annealed pilot bit drilled out almost like the soft steel it was buried in. Life is good at Easy Street Rods.

John

The project

The front went on the engine today. I need to move the blower pulley and the tensioner pulley out 1/2"

Does any one know if Weiand makes different pulleys for a 177?

Sharing the road with bikes.

I'm a car guy. I've been a car guy since hi-school. Before I was a car guy, I was a bike guy. I went everywhere on my bike. I rode my bike just to be riding. I didn't really need a specific destination, I just liked the freedom of going wherever, whenever. I still have a bike... somewhere.
Tonight, I almost ran over one of the morons I'm sharing the road with. He was riding in traffic with no lights or reflectors of any kind on a major, unlit street. The outcome of this event was decided by inches. This time in his favor. As I continued home, I thought, could I live with myself if I had run over him and then sued his family to have his remains professionally removed from my undercarriage and any scratches and dings caused by his bike repaired? I think I could!
Let's turn things around for a minute. If we drove our cars, like some of these morons ride their bikes, it would be total chaos. What if we drove on the wrong side of the road, ignored stop signs and traffic lights, drove on the side walk when traffic didn't suit us, passed on the right so we didn't have to slow down for traffic stopped at a light, and didn't signal before we turned?
I just needed to vent a little and I feel better now. I'm glad I didn't run over the guy. Drive safe and watch out for morons.

1956 Chevrolet Delray coupe

This is my second '56 Delray. The first one was also my first car in high school. Same color inside and out. I payed $325.00 for the first one in 1963. This one cost a little more, and it will be taken better care of.

This car has factory air and a three speed on the column. It has the smooth frame, which I have heard called a 'NASCAR' frame, and a 'California' frame. It has about 10,000 miles on a frame off restoration, and is a numbers matching car. It has no modifications other than tires and wheels, gauges, and clipped front springs.

This car is not a trailer queen, and is driven to local car shows and frequently driven on Sunny days.

Public displays of acceleration

Remember when it cost only ten bucks if you were caught doing a burnout downtown? In traffic? They called it excessive noise, tires. Then there was excessive noise, pipes. Ten bucks! Apparently, I had a very noisy automobile. After about two hundred bucks, there was traffic school. That was free! I picked up another ticket as I was leaving the graduation ceremony. Apparently my tires had learned nothing. Ten bucks!

I have another '56 chevy now just like the one I had in high school. Same color even! I'm a much better driver than I was back then, but that first little chevy didn't cost quite as much as this one did. Parts were cheaper too, and I remember a lot of things broke when I was being excessive. I'm still showin' off and it still costs money. Entry fees. Ten bucks, Twenty bucks, and sometimes even more. But it's quieter and I don't break things.

Well it's getting late and this old man is about ready for the lazy-boy. Watch a little TV and call it a day. Or maybe I'll go downtown...