Topic: Those were the days

[Don R]

 I was just thinking about getting a couple empty bottles for the deposit and going to Ann's coffee shop for a couple 27 cent Pepsi's, then the A&P for a bag of BBQ potato chips, sitting on my buddy's front steps and watching the cars cruising Main St. down to Steak and Shake then back through town to Northgate lanes to look in the side door to see who was in there.
 There was Buddy Coles purple 40 Ford Coupe with a dual quad 409, McCarthy driving his Mom's mustang because he wrecked his street racing, Hogan's big block 67 Corvette, A cube van that has Madame Zorbas fortune telling painted on one side and Captain Ahab's used camel lot on the other side, Dave Raleigh's Bug eye Sprite, Godsil's 55 chevy smoking because he accidently stole diesel fuel, Weird Harolds orange GTO Judge, the V8 VW Bug on a T bucket chassis, my cousin Fred's 65 goat, the Guy from the Shell Station's Buick GS, the blonde chick in the Hornet, her sister in the Javelin, "the sleeper" laid back going slow in his dark green olds 72  W30 Cutlass, Terry in his yellow 383 4 speed GTX 60,000 miles, in town, never left second gear but it sounded so good in second.
   J.A. in his bug, did a burnout in the gas station across the street and his wheels were turned, he hit the steel pipe arch that protected the pumps. Hey Poncho, let's get your dad's hammer and pry bar to help J.A. get the fender off of his front tire.
 

[grcamna2]

I was just thinking about getting a couple empty bottles for the deposit and going to Ann's coffee shop for a couple 27 cent Pepsi's, then the A&P for a bag of BBQ potato chips, sitting on my buddy's front steps and watching the cars cruising Main St. down to Steak and Shake then back through town to Northgate lanes to look in the side door to see who was in there.
 There was Buddy Coles purple 40 Ford Coupe with a dual quad 409, McCarthy driving his Mom's mustang because he wrecked his street racing, Hogan's big block 67 Corvette, A cube van that has Madame Zorbas fortune telling painted on one side and Captain Ahab's used camel lot on the other side, Dave Raleigh's Bug eye Sprite, Godsil's 55 chevy smoking because he accidently stole diesel fuel, Weird Harolds orange GTO Judge, the V8 VW Bug on a T bucket chassis, my cousin Fred's 65 goat, the Guy from the Shell Station's Buick GS, the blonde chick in the Hornet, her sister in the Javelin, "the sleeper" laid back going slow in his dark green olds 72  W30 Cutlass, Terry in his yellow 383 4 speed GTX 60,000 miles, in town, never left second gear but it sounded so good in second.
   J.A. in his bug, did a burnout in the gas station across the street and his wheels were turned, he hit the steel pipe arch that protected the pumps. Hey Poncho, let's get your dad's hammer and pry bar to help J.A. get the fender off of his front tire.

Why not ! 

[britman]

Where did all of the telephone booths go????Are they in a big warehouse with typewriters, Rand McNally road maps, and car ash trays???

[jlh3rd]

1. phone booth graveyards
2. antique shops
3. cigarette ashes out the window.....followed by the butt in the street.

[britman]

I am holding on to my carbon paper, when the web reaches full capacity it will be worth a fortune.   One of the last homicides I worked before being promoted out of the field in my Law Enforcement career involved a bar fight in which the patron who was receiving the worst end of a arse whipping ran from the establishment and for some unknown reason shut himself up in a glass phone booth.  After pulling a 12 gauge shotgun out of his car the other party gave pursuit and quickly located the victim.  The main point of the story. phone booths are not bullet proof and really only work for Superman...

[HondaMan]

Don, your remembrance stirs mine from Peoria!
On 1970 Saturday night, got done studying the Electronics Design book for the upcoming Monday test. So, got on the SuperHawk to buzz over to the Steak & Shake on Main to see who was out. Here comes Oddjob, a full custom Ford T, westbound to the light with the blower standing so high the driver was half hidden, stalking a Daytona Charger who was in the next block. My neighbor's tripowered 406 '63 Galaxy convertible was behind the Job, wanting to dust the Camaro on the 'Job's left, but the Cammie wasn't going to try the T. Two blocks further West I could see the local cops pulling off to watch, as they couldn't catch any of these, they were just there to mop up the mess if someone went sideways. Eastbound of The Shake was 2 GMs, one an SS396 Chevelle and the other a Nova with no hood and 2 velocity stacks: at the light the Nova took off like it was in a slingshot while the Chevelle smoked up the street. At the next westbound light was a SuperBird,the blue one that had been around awhile, stalking the Daytona Charger, and behind it was a Hemi RoadRunner GTX with 5 loud black guys in it and cigarette(?) smoke billowing out the back windows: they were a Saturday night regular there. That car had torn its rear axle out once before from the wide rear tires and solid traction. The Triumphs and BSAs left those guys alone. A single CL450 was trying teasing someone in a homemade hotrod Fairlane at the next eastbound light and dusted it when the green showed. We watched the GTX roll uncontested all the way past the cops, and then 2 Harleys, a Sportster and a custom '74, met up at the eastbound light: the '74 took the green but the Sporty ran past it by 3rd gear, in time to stop for the next light 3 blocks east. A year later I watched a CB750 sandcast, sporting a full Vetter touring fairing ( https://craigvetter.com/pages/Vetter_Fairings/Series1700.html ), smoke that Sportster like something broke in it. The 750 was owned by my mentor, Jim Chamberlain, and already had 20k miles on it by then.

This would go on all night. I do miss those days.

[Kelly E]

In the late 70's early 80's we had the same stuff going on at a park on Puget Sound called Golden Gardens in north Seattle. There were two lanes leaving the park southbound along the marina for about two miles. People came from all over the Seattle area to race. My buddy and I were running a 450hp big block 68' Chevelle with a B&M black case manual shift Turbo 400 and a 12 bolt posi rear axle.
It was a whole lot of fun until the city shut it down. These days the kids have nowhere to go with their cars so now the city has to deal with those crazy intersection takeovers and freeway group speed runs. The funny part is the park wasn't near any houses. There's only two ways in and easy for law enforcement to keep a handle on it. Now the situation is out of control. The kids are all linked up so when the law shows up they scatter like cockroaches and meet up somewhere else, it's like whack a mole.

[grcamna2]

In the late 70's early 80's we had the same stuff going on at a park on Puget Sound called Golden Gardens in north Seattle. There were two lanes leaving the park southbound along the marina for about two miles. People came from all over the Seattle area to race. My buddy and I were running a 450hp big block 68' Chevelle with a B&M black case manual shift Turbo 400 and a 12 bolt posi rear axle.
It was a whole lot of fun until the city shut it down. These days the kids have nowhere to go with their cars so now the city has to deal with those crazy intersection takeovers and freeway group speed runs. The funny part is the park wasn't near any houses. There's only two ways in and easy for law enforcement to keep a handle on it. Now the situation is out of control. The kids are all linked up so when the law shows up they scatter like cockroaches and meet up somewhere else, it's like whack a mole.

We all need places to race;independent tracks.

[dave500]

it was a lotta fun in those days,we had that here in Australia with our GM monaros and ford GT falcons,hemi chargers and what ever else home grown souped up run what ya brung cars,thing these days is its become somewhat very anti social from many parcipitants?lotta "hoons"just trying to be annoying for the sake of it in worn out old sedan clunkers that can still do a burn out etc,no racing challenge like the old days?

[Stev-o]

Where did all of the telephone booths go?

They're on eBay...here go go Britman, a British Red phone booth! Would look great in your shop...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/147122913167?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-166974-028196-7&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=147122913167&targetid=2304343365564&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9028253&poi=&campaignid=21230835085&mkgroupid=161793343890&rlsatarget=pla-2304343365564&abcId=9409114&merchantid=6415844&geoid=9028253&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21230835085&gbraid=0AAAAAD_QDh_uftNpmUQYyD_G1nTDRW_AP&gclid=CjwKCAiAnoXNBhAZEiwAnItcG46NULrXObsO16wUIMYu5exSIq0YwU-89SoBKXdWL_2qWbf6DRTdlRoCgHEQAvD_BwE


Side note: the old local auto parts store still has a pay phone on the exterior wall but it is non-functional.

[jgger]

The local drag straps here in So Cal used to host "grudge nights" where you could run just about anything. Irwindale did for sure and it helped keep the caos off the streets, plus no tickets!

[simon#42]

Where did all of the telephone booths go?

They're on eBay...here go go Britman, a British Red phone booth! Would look great in your shop...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/147122913167?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-166974-028196-7&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=147122913167&targetid=2304343365564&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9028253&poi=&campaignid=21230835085&mkgroupid=161793343890&rlsatarget=pla-2304343365564&abcId=9409114&merchantid=6415844&geoid=9028253&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21230835085&gbraid=0AAAAAD_QDh_uftNpmUQYyD_G1nTDRW_AP&gclid=CjwKCAiAnoXNBhAZEiwAnItcG46NULrXObsO16wUIMYu5exSIq0YwU-89SoBKXdWL_2qWbf6DRTdlRoCgHEQAvD_BwE


Side note: the old local auto parts store still has a pay phone on the exterior wall but it is non-functional.

I will get you a real one for less than that britman ,  postage might be a problem though .

[grcamna2]

Where did all of the telephone booths go?

They're on eBay...here go go Britman, a British Red phone booth! Would look great in your shop...

https://www.ebay.com/itm/147122913167?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-166974-028196-7&mkcid=2&mkscid=101&itemid=147122913167&targetid=2304343365564&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9028253&poi=&campaignid=21230835085&mkgroupid=161793343890&rlsatarget=pla-2304343365564&abcId=9409114&merchantid=6415844&geoid=9028253&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21230835085&gbraid=0AAAAAD_QDh_uftNpmUQYyD_G1nTDRW_AP&gclid=CjwKCAiAnoXNBhAZEiwAnItcG46NULrXObsO16wUIMYu5exSIq0YwU-89SoBKXdWL_2qWbf6DRTdlRoCgHEQAvD_BwE


Side note: the old local auto parts store still has a pay phone on the exterior wall but it is non-functional.

I will get you a real one for less than that britman ,  postage might be a problem though .

postage 

[Little_Phil]

Here's a top price one on UK ebay. Postage should be small potatoes compared to this.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/357278069752

[Stev-o]

Here's a top price one on UK ebay. Postage should be small potatoes compared to this.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/357278069752

I love how we try to spend each others money!  Those were the days...