Stop in for a cup of coffee

-
krazykuda said:
They do have some local cruises around here on a regular basis... Tinley Park which is not far from me has a cruise on Oak Park Avenue every Tuesday that I hear brings some nice cars... Someother towns also have their cruise nights also....

But none of them are as popular as Dukes was back in the day...
Click to expand...
In my home town it was E ST on the weekends for crusin. Nothing but good memories. Cross town Mt Vernon was the cruise for low riders. Of course we, and they had to interlope!
 
Mopar Tim said:
NOT!!!
Click to expand...

Y-knot....

Y-knot.jpg
 
krazykuda said:
I found out some news today that is sad... :(

Dukes Drive In is closing at the end of the month...

It was the place to cruise around here back when I was in high school... Everybody worked on their cars all week long so they could cruise Duke's on Friday and Saturday night... They would pack the place and you couldn't find a parking space in their parking lot and had to park 2 -3 blocks away... The Gas City gas station next door went out of business and they bought and increased the size of their parking lot...

They would easily have 500+ people in their parking lot at one time... If you tried to park a foreign car in their lot, the patrons would tell you to park it somewhere else or else something "might" happen to it... American cars only...

You had your clicks of Chevy, Ford, GM, and a few of us Mopar guys... People would set up races for later after Duke's closed at 10 PM and they would go out to the sticks and race... I saw some great street races back then... The big dog 10 second and faster cars would tow their cars out to the designated race spot on trailers and race usually for at least $2 K per race between the two racers... Then there were side bets between the spectators... Pull them off the trailers, warm them up, line up and race... Then load them back on the trailers and get the f*ck out of there before the cops showed up....

There were other races with the 'slower' cars which usually could turn up to 14 seconds in the quarter mile or quicker... There were about 4 different places that they would run... They would send a 'scout' out to the designated place to check that the cops were not there... Then they would CB the message back that it was a go and people would go out and the races would begin... Some were already set up at Duke's, and some would arrange to race at the races... If you didn't know what you were doing, you were set up for failure as they would always lie about how fast their cars were so they could sucker bet and take your money...

Shortly before I left for college, there was an accident at the races which seriously injured about 3 - 4 people... It was a race between a 67 - 69 Camaro and a Buick GSX.... The guy in the Camaro used his nitrous off the line (a no-no) and could not handle it and ended up taking out a few spectators that were standing in front of the starting line (another no-no, you always stand behind the starting line in case someone gets squirrely)... After that, the cops cracked down hard on the street racing and would give out tickets with $2500 fine if you were caught out there... You didn't have to be racing, the cops would go to court and swear that you were lined up to race even if you weren't, and you know the court takes the cop's word over yours...

So the street racing died down after that and Duke's popularity faded over the years...

Dukes was rated in the top 5 best places to cruise in the country back in the 70's and 80's by both Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines... They really packed them in back then...

I went there to day and bought some lunch...


Here's their poster with a picture of what it looked like back in the good cruising days...

View attachment 1715382536


Here's a couple of the signs that they have posted in the window next to where you order your food...

View attachment 1715382537

View attachment 1715382538


Here's one of their Chicago style hot dogs...

View attachment 1715382539


It comes with fries....

View attachment 1715382540


And their Italian Beef, which is a Chicago staple dating back to the days of the Chicago stock yards... They are awesome!!!

View attachment 1715382541

It's sad to hear that they are closing... :(

However one of the employees said that they plan to open another place soon, but haven't decided where it will be... Hopefully the new place can start the old cruising tradition back up again...
Click to expand...
Seeings I know how bashful you are I will add the part about "beef " sandwiches you left out. Ya always order them hot and wet!
 
Mopar Tim said:
In my home town it was E ST on the weekends for crusin. Nothing but good memories. Cross town Mt Vernon was the cruise for low riders. Of course we, and they had to interlope!
Click to expand...

Done the E St festivities a time or two. Got a lot of ":wtf: are those guys?" looks. The Hemi Challenger got a lot of these :eek::eek::eek: :D
 
ZMan67S said:
Been out stripping the paint off the tail panel. A small area around the Barracuda script I couldn't get with the bead blaster. Its been a PIA but almost done.
Glad the new paint is darker than the old.
I have no idea, other than taking the script off, how I'd get to the teeny tiny spots.
I've heard taking the script off, and putting it on, isn't too simple.
I'll pass, I think??
Click to expand...
Hey @ZMan67S
What colorcode did you go with on your tail panel, have you seen the correct shade to match it? I just happen to have a NOS tail panel in stock here at home if you need to match color let me know.
Lon
 
Sublime one said:
And I double dog dare you to sit down in Dukes and put ketchup on a Chicago Dog!
Click to expand...

I do like ketchup on my hot dogs... (but forgot to order it this time....)

I was born and raised in the burbs of Chicago, so if they wanna start with me I know how to handle them....

I was actually born 5 miles from Dukes....
 
I had the Neon in the paint shop today. In and out in under half hour! AKA spray bombed in the driveway with the only red I had in the cabinet. Lol ( ‘dog leg’ behind door/ in front of wheel)

4ACE9F00-8A12-4849-B82B-5F2693D12704.jpeg
 
Morning. Wife and dog both snoring, house is cold and i crave coffee.
And i went to sleep way too early.
So, up and at it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
-

Back
Top