A short video for those who remember the cars and tunes of the 50's & 60's

[Super Santa]

I thought some of you old-timers (like myself) might enjoy this as much as I did.

http://cruzintheavenue.com/CarsWeDrove.htm

[John Schmidt]

Man....just the sound on the intro brought back some memories, some good, some not for public consumption. 

Times were much simpler in the early-mid 50's, back when the real Rock 'n Roll was played. Football or basketball every Friday night, followed by a choice of 3-4 dances to attend...town of almost 30k. Depending on who you were dating kinda determined which dance you hit first. By the time I showered and got dressed after the games, the gals were all gone....except one time in particular. She lagged behind, adventurous sort, and we sneaked back into the football stadium. Had a great time sitting at the top of the bleachers eating a late dinner(honest) she brought.....until we decided to leave. We then realized we had no way out....the wall had a barbed wire top to discourage such things. To get out, we had to climb a tree at one end of the baseball field and drop off a limb that reached out over the wall. Then it was nearly a mile all the way around the stadium back to my car.

[Charlie McCready]

Yehhhh, memory lane all right. 1966-1968 I had a '58 Impala convertible like the one shown there. Mine was white with a black top when I bought it. I painted it candy apple red and put a white top on it. It was a 348, three speed with a floor shift.  Later sold it for $300. Wish I had one like that now !!!

[old2soon]

I thought some of you old-timers (like myself) might enjoy this as much as I did.

http://cruzintheavenue.com/CarsWeDrove.htm

O man a walk down memory lane. We had an a&w root beer in our town.          little short on cash went to school with the waitress no problem-you got a pine float. Toothpick in a mug of ice water!! I really like that 57 black buick with the lakes pipes. Seeing the flatheads brought back lotsa memories to. Dang i guess i am gettin a little older. Funny part is-i recognized all the cars-knew what they were b4 they told me. Anybody from that time into cars could tell you what it was-what engine was under the hood and what tranny in it. My x fatherinlaw said it best-Todays cars look like the boxes the italian running shoes came in!!

[Walküre]

Love the beginning! NOTHING sounds like a flathead...

Currently putting together my '51 Ford F2 (3/4 ton pickup), with stock flattie, except will have dual carbs, the only concession to performance. Unless I can find a decent set of aluminum heads, reasonable...

THEN:







NOW:







Hopefully, movable by the end of summer...

Long live Flatheads!!



R

[John Schmidt]

Walkure, I'm jealous of your truck project. The last flathead I owned was a baby blue '50 Merc, 4-door, beautiful car. Sure wish I still had it. Had it set up with three deuces, just enough cam to give it a nice lope, one of the shops at the base in Rapid City built me a set of headers and welded up an adapter/collector for my duals. Geez would that thing run. My wife went through u-joints like they were going out of style....she loved to race. My home was in Iowa and a buddy and I would get a 3-day pass and drive home about once a month. No interstates back then, so we just hit the highway and opened it up. With the overdrive we could cruise at 100 and not ever overheat. My wife would pick us up at 5:00pm on the base(Ellsworth AFB) and we'd leave from there, be in Ft. Dodge by midnight....about 540 miles. I-90 now pretty much follows the route of the highway we took...flat and straight.

As they say....Flatheads Forever!  You mentioned aluminum heads, wonder if there are any Ardun heads still laying around. Those suckers were huge, as big or bigger than hemi heads off a Chrylser.

[KW]

Great post, though I’m a little too young to remember when 40’s and 50’s car were cut up and ratted out (Why did you guys raise the front end up anyway? We did just the opposite in the early 70’s with traction bars in the rear!) I do remember the drive-in food stands like Dog & Suds & A&W. We had a local one called ‘Bee’s’ where the car hop gals actually wore roller skates!

My first ‘street car’ was a 66 Pontiac Catalina with a 389 tri-power. I miss that old tank! 

I’m digging your Truck project Walkure! Nice garage too! Are you going to powder coat the frame? I just painted mine with POR 15, but it turned out good. Please keep us posted on the progress!

[Walküre]

Walkure, I'm jealous of your truck project.
As they say....Flatheads Forever!  You mentioned aluminum heads, wonder if there are any Ardun heads still laying around. Those suckers were huge, as big or bigger than hemi heads off a Chrylser.

John - you can still get Ardun heads, brand new, much better than the originals, with better engineering, and metallurgy. $14,000.  





last September a set of old stock, went at auction for $26,000! I looked at a set, years back for $8000. Way too much then, not enough, now!

http://www.rmauctions.com/CarDetails.cfm?SaleCode=rw09&CarID=L171&Currency=USD

There's also a company engineering new flathead blocks, with improved everything...estimated cost about $20,000. so, for $35,000, you can have a decent NEW flathead. Think I'll stick with my two. But still, there's NOthing like a flathead!!

Great post, though I’m a little too young to remember when 40’s and 50’s car were cut up and ratted out (Why did you guys raise the front end up anyway? We did just the opposite in the early 70’s with traction bars in the rear!) I do remember the drive-in food stands like Dog & Suds & A&W. We had a local one called ‘Bee’s’ where the car hop gals actually wore roller skates!

My first ‘street car’ was a 66 Pontiac Catalina with a 389 tri-power. I miss that old tank!  

I’m digging your Truck project Walkure! Nice garage too! Are you going to powder coat the frame? I just painted mine with POR 15, but it turned out good. Please keep us posted on the progress!

The reason front ends were "lifted" is that they put solid axles under them. Much better on the strip, stronger too. it wasn't too long before people started offering drop axles, to lower the solid I-beam, as they realized lower was better.

Had a '64 or '65 Pontiac, "2 + 2", convertible, with 421, three dueces. What a screamer THAT was! One of the handful of cars, I wish I still had.

thanks on the project, and garage - lot of sweat into it so far. I used Chassis Saver on the chassis - similar to Por 15, but less $$$'s. Trouble with powder coating on a truck frame, is that the frame is designed to flex, gives it it's strength. A hard powder coat can crack. the Por 15 or Chassis Saver won't. You might top coat your Por, as it has a tendency to "gray out" from UV, regardless of who says differently.

Here's the rest of the project...

http://www.crbest.com/bodywork

[Walküre]

Great post, though I’m a little too young to remember when 40’s and 50’s car were cut up and ratted out

-

Oh, yeah, NO one made a "rat-rod". that's a new thing. The reason was that the guys in the 40's, 50's, and even into the 60's (my dad, not me...) had, what today would be a rat-rod, was one of necessity - they didn't have the money to put a car together, without scavenging parts out of several cars. And it was ALL about the motor, and suspension - the only reason it HAD a body, was because you HAD to. Now, it's as though the rattier, the better - people throw crap together, just to shock. What a waste of time, and goodies, in MY opinion.

I went to a show, and there were some VERY nice cars there - some really great old-school, as well as some true survivors. Beautiful cars! then there was a rat, that looked like it had been thrown together with a cutting torch, and welder, and people FLOCKED around it. Very sad...

R

[KW]

Yea, I've read the POR is URV sensitive, but I should be good on the undercariage. At least I hope so! I used it on the cab floor also. I didn't have any rust, but the metal is 42 years old and we were completely re-doing the interrior, so I though "why not?" It's great stuff, but on the expensive side! I may be wrong, but I think they have a flexing agent for power coating now, but it's not my area . . . so, I could be wrong.

It's a shame we couldn't (in my case) or didn't hang on to some of the cars we had in our youth. I never really had anything 'special' but I had a couple I loved and wished I still had!

Your old 2+2 is highly collectable/desirable (as I'm sure you know!) Of course, I'm a hard core Arrow fan, so I REALLY like them!

My 69 GMC has it's original 396 (402) BB in it with the orginal matching TH400 transmission. The engine however, isn't stock any more. . . The truck is pretty much done now (they're never really done) and this summer's project is to put a posi in the rear end. The thing is scary quick now, so we can't wait to change up the rear!