Thread: Illinois Vacation

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I had a great time on my trip back to Illinois last week, the El Camino did the 4000 miles without a hiccup, the old 500 Caddy just purred along at
75-80 the whole trip.

This vacation was a real trip down memory lane for me. I timed the trip so I could make the local car show in my home town and saw a few old friends in the process. As I was walking around the town, I went by the old Chrysler Plymouth dealership I got my start in back in 68. The dealer is long closed now, and the building was sold off and is now used for storage. The door was open, and the current owner happened to be there and let me walk thru the old place......it doesn’t look like much now, but back in the late 60s it was pretty busy, 8 bays, 3 lifts and a ton of neat cars, like Road Runner, GTXs, and state cop cars to work on.




I also went digging thru the old photo albums and found a few pictures to bring back. I brought the pictures back to PROVE to the kids that at one point I actually was young AND skinny.

Here is me in 67 with my first ride, a 57 International PU, just after dad and I got thru putting a new motor in it.....hey, it was transportation LOL.



The next is me in about 72 with my little 63 Falcon Futura just before I shipped off to Korea. That started out as a 6 cly auto and ended up with a hot dog 289, and 4 speed.



And of course the main reason I went back in the El Camino, Dads old Waterloo boy which came back with me.


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Like I said I really enjoyed this trip, but with the price of gas and Motels I don’t know how many more times I drive it. Been kind of thinking about the train next time LOL.

Is that the same international pickup behind the falcon?

And again, Thanks for sharing!

Neat trip, Mike, and thanks for the pics!!!! So, really!!! Who's the skinny white kid standing beside the binder??????

like the waterloo boy... there is a carbon copy of that brick shop here in bay city

Cool stuff............

Going back to old stomping grounds can be a bit bittersweet sometimes - things change a lot over the years, and too often the old neighborhoods are not nearly as nice as we remember them being, at least for me. May be simply that the memory is bad

".....So, really!!! Who's the skinny white kid standing beside the binder?????? ...."

Damn, same reaction as the Kids

".....Is that the same international pickup behind the falcon?......"

Yup after I had moved on to better (faster) things my little brother inherited it .....and promptly blew the engine up. You might notice the remains of the tractor in the background, that was a streched F20 Farmall that that was built for the light modified tractor pull class. I built a real nice 354 Poly for that and yes he managed to ventilate the block in that too. Kind of a trend for him in his younger days I guess (727 Transmissions were also a common replacment him).

".... Going back to old stomping grounds can be a bit bittersweet sometimes...."

Yeah, that's true. It's still in a pretty good nieghborhood, and would make a heck of a neat shop.....unfortunatly now it would cost so much to bring it to code though.


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Originally Posted by Mike P

....my little brother inherited it .....and promptly blew the engine up. You might notice the remains of the tractor in the background, that was a streched F20 Farmall that that was built for the light modified tractor pull class. I built a real nice 354 Poly for that and yes he managed to ventilate the block in that too. Kind of a trend for him in his younger days I guess (727 Transmissions were also a common replacment him).

Yeah, but back then a guy could run out to the local salvage yard, walk in and tell them what he was looking for, and the response was, "I think there's a good one out in that '59, but it'll cost you $25!!" Oh for the days of cheap used parts, and being turned loose to go pull them yourself!!

What part of Illinois?

About 35 miles South of the Quad Cities Jay, a little place called Aledo.

Originally Posted by Mike P

About 35 miles South of the Quad Cities Jay, a little place called Aledo.

So how many others Googled "quad cities" to find out what cities are in the group?

And did you go back and re-read the first line that starts out " The Quad Cities are a group of 5 cities.....

Only in the mid west


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Originally Posted by Mike P

And did you go back and re-read the first line that starts out " The Quad Cities are a group of 5 cities.....

Only in the mid west

YES!! That had me puzzled, but then noticed "...Moline and East Moline..." and it made sense that back in the day there were only four, but to be politically correct.... We are collectively a crazy people at times....