Thread: Woodward, Telegraph, Gratiot & "the Ditch"

Tweet

This topic was brought up on another forum and brought up old memories,... this is what I posted over there,..... anyone else with stories of the old "Proving Grounds"?

I cruised Woodward, Gratiot,... and Telegraph, mostly Telegraph, I worked at Gratiot Auto Supply Livonia in the 70's and we did a lot of "Testing" on Telegraph or "The Ditch".

I picked up a girl at Korvetts parking lot one night, she insisted she wanted to go with me when I raced someone, I had a factory 67 GT-390 4spd. Mustang Fastback, (blew up the 390 and replaced it with a dual quad 427 side oiler, It was Black on Black with SS Cragars),..

She kept saying "ooh race that one,... no no,.. race that one!"I pull up to the light near West Chicago and a guy pulls up next to me and and rapp's it a couple times,... I look over at her and said are you ready? to which her reply was a giggle,....... We spooled them up and when the light turned green I side stepped the clutch and we went to war,.....

Over the sound of that Big ol' 427 yelling out it's name,... Her screams just about blew out my ear drum, with a occasional STOP!,...STOP!,..WE"RE GONNA DIE!!!!,.... along with more screaming of coarse,..... despite all of the "encouragement" I got from her,... the Ol' black Horse won,...... as We slowed down she started crying hysterically,... and saying "I wanna go back to my friends!".

I take her back to Korvetts and she jumps out of the car and runs over to her friends,.. still crying hysterically,... I go over to explain because they were looking at me like I must have tried to attack her or something,.... They all called me a jerk (or worse) as they were trying to calm her down,... I look back just before I get in the car and I see the back of her light blue pants,... and her butt was dark blue,... I look at my seat, and sure enough,.... I had to go over to Top Hat hamburgers to get some napkins,......


Anyone else have any old memories?,....

That is absolutely choice.

When I married my wife she owned a '68 Mustang coupe.......289, automatic. It was her pride and joy. After a while I began to play with the Mustang a little and it ended up with a '70 351 Cleveland with some Gapp and Roush heads, Torker intake, Holley DP, Crane cam, headers, 4 speed toploader with Hurst Ramrod shifter, and a nodular 9 inch rear running 4:88 gears. It changed the complexion of the car somewhat! It ran mid 11's on M and H dragster slicks. But it remained one of our two daily drivers for a few years until it got too radical to drive on the street.

My wife was an RN and worked nightshift at a hospital in Pittsburgh, so one night we put our two Sons into their little car seats in the rear and I drove her to work. The kids were maybe a year old or year and a half old at the time. After I dropped off my wife I was driving home along a 4 lane street and when I stopped at a red light a vette pulled up along side. He was sporting 427 flags and he blipped it a couple of times while we were sitting there.

When the light turned green my 25 year old mind forgot my kids were in the back seat, and I launched it hard. By the time I hit 3rd gear the vette was way back, and suddenly it dawned on me my Sons were in the back!! Looking in the rearview mirror all I could see were 4 eyes about the size of saucers looking at me. I think it was at that point they became motorheads.

I shudder now to think about my stupidity, and I can guarantee you Mom never heard that story until after the boys were all grown up. Actually, the kids and I had a lot of car secrets we had to keep from Mom.

Don

When My Sons were little (about 20 years ago) I had a 64 El Camino, High compression '69 350,4bbl., muncie M-22, 12 bolt with 3:55 posi.,... this car had all the SS options,.... nothing really special, but pretty darn quick, it also had 3" exhaust and flow masters on it,.... I would pick the kids up from school, take them to Dairy Queen, cruise nights, and all over in that car,... I could strap them both in one seat belt on that bucket seat and they were both comfortable.

They would get the biggest kick out of a little game we use to play,... if a car came up next to us at a light that sounded like a hot rod, or someone wanting to race,... the kids would say "make it loud daddy",. So I revvvs it up and they would giggle, then the other guy would rev up,... finally we both had the RPM raised ready to go,..... ( the kids would really be giggling hard now).

The light would go green and that other guy would take off like a scalded dog,... and we would leave the light like little old ladies,..... the kids would really be laughing by then. My sons and I had a ton of fun when they were little,.... I really miss that time.

Our best nights in the mid to late 60's in Sioux Falls was when the Sioux City boys would come to town for a "visit", or we went down there.... Some great racing, and of course we whooped them Iowa boys all the time.....Though roofcam may have a different recollection of the outcome!!!!

Highboy - My story is the reverse. When I started dating my wife I had a 63 split-window fuelie vette. She wanted to drive it, said she knew how to shift and
use a clutch (she had 59 Ford 4 dr, three on the tree). I conceded to let her drive on a side street. She immediately revved it up, side stepped the clutch and started banging gears. I was the one who nearly wet my pants. I just knew I was going to end up splattered all over. Turns out her ex boyfriend had a 67 Nova 300hp, 4 speed and he taught her how to drive. Forty years later she still thinks it's funny. I still don't! That vette was my life back then.

Here is a post I made on the "Summer relief" thread,... but I think it bears repeating.

This thread reminded me of some of the most pleasant memories I have of my youth with cars,... I never had A/C in a car until the late 70's (and that wasn't a hot rod) , but I remember those long hot dog days of summer here in Michigan,... and after the day was done, work was over, and the sun started to set,.... you just had to go for a ride.

I would jump in my car, roll all the windows down (with crank handles), and head over to a buddies house, listening to "CKLW The Big 8", or "WKNR Keener 13",.... when I got to my buddies house the heat and humidity of the day would be falling off into a cool night, All of my Buddies and I lived about 5 minutes (If that) from Telegraph Rd., we would brake it down to two guys per car,.... and head up to Telegraph, sometimes Woodward Ave. just to cool off and look for girls.

There were all kinds of cars cursing Telegraph on any given night following a hot day (most of which weren't Hot Rods),..... but the sound of your engine and exhaust ( The smell of burning Sunoco 260),... as well as the sound of other built cars cursing around you was like magic,.... it seemed everyone listened to CKLW or WKNR and the sound echoed through the night,...... did we find girls ? yep, sometimes,..... did we race ? Oh yeah we went to war many times.

Hanging out at Korvetts parking lot, or Top Hat Hamburgers, sometimes the brand new Burger King,..... life was simpler then, and even with Viet Nam going on there didn't seem to be World Wide confusion like there is now, but that could have been just the way it seemed to a young man with a cool Hot Rod and a whole life ahead of him.

I have gone back to Telegraph and even Woodward throughout the years,... sadly it's not the same,..... those days are lost in time and live only in the memories of some of my ol' buddies and myself,. and probably some of you old timers like me.

Sorry about rambling on, just something I felt I had to write out. Next time your out driving around after a hot summer day,... turn off the A/C, roll down the windows, find some good music,..... and try to find that time machine.

Thanks for indulging me on this post. Heres a picture of one of my old horses ('66 fairlane conv. mild SBF and a fairbanks C-4 & 9" rear,... ) doing what it did best,........ Also a clone I started of the 427 Mustang a few years back, I found a 428 CJ to go into this one, but ended up giving it to my son. (and yes I know this is a 68 not a 67 and it has Keystone classics not SS Cragars,... but it was all I could find at the time)

This thread also brought back pleasant memories for me too........
Back in the fall of 73 I picked up a 66 Chev 4 door for $50.00 and it had a brand new $45.00 battery in it. The column shift was all gummed up and you couldn't shift it, that's why I got it so cheap. I just pulled out the column and cleaned it up, worked fine. My baby brother Steve was a Junior in high School and helped me work on car. Being the Older brother of 12 years he just about worshiped me. Well I gave him the car but our Dad wouldn't let him have one so we just kept it a my place and we worked on it together.
At the same time he worked part-time at a used car/trailer house lot. One day a 69 Chevelle 2 door hardtop got tradded in so he brings it over for me to look at. It had no exhaust, doors were sagging, bad brakes, body was pretty straight but needed paint badly, and it barely ran. It had a 350 with a 4 barrel and a STOCK 3 speed on the floor.
He wanted to buy it really bad so he came up with a little cash, his 66 Chev and I traded in my Sears riding lawn mower. We took it over to my place to work on it over the winter (I was really poor at that time and was doing bodywork, painting cars and doing engine work on the side), so it took a while to get the car done.
We got all the mechanical work done; carb kit, brakes, door hinges, dual exhaust, and then we tweeked the timing a little. He bought some nice chromies and put some nice Meats on it also. I said lets take it out for a ride..... wow it could turn them big wide tires over quite easily. I then asked him if he knew how to power shift, he says no show me. Man oh man when I threw it into second he says stop, stop your burning up my tires.
After that we started doing the body work, it was early Spring. His goal was to have it ready for Prom. It looked like we weren't going to get it done in time. That week I got it painted, stock dark green and then flat black on rocker pannels. I had to tell him that he had better ask our Dad for the use of his car for Prom (remember our Dad didn't know about this and his other car). Steve was really disappointed but knew it took time to get things done correctly.
Well I took the day of the Prom off of work and finished the car, rubbing it out and put on some pin stripping. Got done at 6:30 PM, called my parents house and asked where Steve was. They said he just showed up their with his date. I told them to hold him there as long as possible. I jumped in the car and drove over to their house (one block away) just as Steve and his date were leaving the house. I jumped out of the car and said... Here's your car brother...... His eyes were a little glossy as were mine.
He drove that car all through his college years and finally sold it. He found a Buick Skylark in the same shape that the Chevelle was and asked me if I would help him with it. I said Steve I taught you everything I know about cars and that you should do this one on your own, But that I would paint it for him though. That car was dark blue with a black vinyl top and again a black interior. He fixed the tranny, out exhaust on it, did the body work and put chromies with nice meats on it. I painted it Corvette yellow, one of if not my best paint job. You could not tell that the car wasn't orginally a yellow car.
He drove the Buick for about a year and tradded it off for....... His Old Chevelle - some how found it. But like most of us got rid of it and has all ways wished he could find it again...... He now has for a toy a 69 Chevelle convertable...... yup you guessed it.... it's dark green

That's a great story Tom, I have to admit I am a little surprised there isn't more stories on this thread,..... It doesn't have to be the Detroit metro area,.... any good stories of cursing in the ol' days.