Mid Summer's Night Dream

[Shenango]

Ya'll in the South might be planning your next A Body ride in the country but today I'm waiting for the wind to die down so I can snow blow the drive again. 8 days in a row clearing the drive and sidewalk. Hopefully the temp will get above 15* today and the state plow won't have buried the end of my drive.
I've been doing some daydreaming while watching the birds at my feeder and wondered how and when the Friday and Saturday night cruises of my day (mid to late 60's) turned into the cruises of today. I would leave home about an hour before dusk, pick up my girl if she wasn't grounded and head for State St. The rout was about 3 miles long and there were pass throughs at A&W, Red Barn, McDonald's, The Dog House and at the far end of town was Morgans KFC. McD's and Morgan's had speed bumps and it was an art to slowly pull up to the bump and bounce over with just a blip of throttle and slowly let the rears touch the bump. To get the rears over most would chose a slight chirp or sometimes a bit more to finish the process. You had to be careful or the restaurant manager would call the local cops and that could spoil your evening. Anyway the 3 mile process would continue all evening until you met up with a friend or one of your girl's friends and then there was an equally slow process of backing into the perfect spot so everyone could get out and talk. Sometimes 5 or 6 cars would be together American Graffiti style and all would tune to the same radio station and party a bit. The restaurant wouldn't complain if you bought a coke or a $.35 burger but generally if there was parking for the paying crowd you didn't even have to buy anything. Unlike today where the cars are highly restored classics the normal ride was probably Dad's work car or maybe an old junker you and your buddies got running so you could get to school without walking. There were those hotrods guys around and racing was pretty common but normally light to light stuff and rarely did anyone get above 60 or so. One of my friends had a 64 Catalina 389 he bought from his uncle, he pulled the intake and put 2 fours on it and headers with cutouts. Pretty cool ride and fast for a huge car. In the summer of 1970 I moved on to the racing crowd with my new 340 Swinger. She was a real fast 4 speed with 3.23 gears and Ram Air. I challenged and beat some Camaros and Chevelles some Mustangs and even Mopar B bodies. My best friend had a 70 Cuda 340 and another good friend had a 69 Swinger 340. We rarely raced each other but it was always a toss up as to who would win.
Those were the good days and we were a lot happier than sitting in lawn chairs behind your carefully prepared vintage piece as some cruisers do today. We can all dream and wish it was 1970 again and there was a race about to happen or your girl was in an amorous mood and well you get the idea.
It's time for lunch and then get the blower out of the garage again. Have a happy and prosperous and safe new year and take time to reminisce once in a while.
Jerry

 

[Treblig]

We're dying down here in S.Texas, it's 32 degrees and the low for tonight is 26. For this area that's pretty darn cold. The advantage to living down here is that the cold doesn't last long, a few days of real cold weather then the sun comes out and it's warm again. This winter has been extra brutal, been pretty cold for a couple of weeks now. We even got 3-4 inches of snow a few weeks ago (VERY RARE). I'd move further South but I'm running out of US territory!! I'll be cruising in a few weeks I imagine.

Treblig

 

[ocdart]

Hey Jerry -
Your "back in the day" east coast cruisin' sounds like how it was here in SoCal.
Our hot spot was Whittier Blvd just a few miles from where I lived. It was about the same cruise distance centered around Bob's Big Boy in Whittier. Almost bumper-to-bumper cruisin' traffic both east and west. You'd make the cruise east, turn around and head back west. Once you got back to Bob's Big Boy, you'd have to wait in line to get into their parking lot and then hope to get a good spot to park. If you found a spot in their parking lot you could get out of your car and hang out with your friends. If no spot in the lot, you'd have to park in the car hop area and stay in your car.
Then back out for more laps around the cruise route.
Any racing was done away from the cruise spot - and usually much later in the night. The International Brotherhood of Street Racers (Big Willie's bunch) would meet after midnight down at York Field in Whittier and races were organized there, but didn't happen there. Races took place at industrial areas like the "Box Factory" or in yet-to-be-built-up areas like Diamond Bar (now solid residential) a few miles away.
Good times for sure!

 

[67redcudavert]

Jerry,
I suspect it was like you describe in a lot of different places, the amount of action depending on the amount of local development and the size of the population.

I grew up in the western suburbs of Chicago and suspected there was a lot going on, car wise, but what I discovered after getting my license in July of 67 was incredible.

In some respects it was very much like American Graffiti, with lots of cars clustering in drive-ins, cruising a loop and so on. And there was a lot of drive ins to pick from.

There was a Tops Big Boy that was strictly car hop service, no indoor seating, that probably held about sixty cars. So many people would just drive in, park and not buy anything that they put in a tollgate.

While there was a fair amount of kids in their parent's cars there was also quite a lot of modified cars, from mild to wild, a few were full on drag cars with plates hung on them, some show quality, those cars you only saw on Sat. night.

American Graffiti is a good watch anytime, but I really like watching it this time of year when it damn cold out with snow on the ground, a brief flash of happiness helping you through the cold and gloomy season until the warm weather returns.