Days of My Youth

[CoggedBelt75]

After our recent move, I was going thru boxes of pictures and found a bunch of old photos that brought out all the good times I had in the old day. Yeah, the 1900's. Ah, the 70's and 80's. Well, the 70's mostly. Photos of drag cars of the era and my old rides. If only we had a camera in our shirt pocket like nowadays. But armed with only a Polaroid and rarely any film, sadly there isn't many but what I have sure reinforces the memories I have.
Rewind to 1970-71, my sophomore year. Went on wheat harvest at end of school year and at the end of harvest, I rat holed enough to pay cash for a 1969 Pontiac Lemans. Of course didn't even own a camera then so no pics.
Junior year a buddy has a '56 Chevy with a fresh 283 and 4 speed so I sell the Pontiac and buy his. Again, no camera. This was a fun car to drive and what got me hooked on hot rodding.
By the end of the school year, I came across a '69 Chevelle. Been hanging out at garages and the local speed shop for a few years watching and listening to the hot rodders and decided I would try building my own motor. Found a 327 and had it punched .30 over, 10.5:1 pistons, 30-30 solid lifter Duntov cam. Tranny was a Muncie M22 with a short throw Hurst super shifter. 4.56 in the rear. Good stop light to stop light combo. Pic quality is lousy but anyways.....

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Have to include my copilot(girlfriend at the time, wife today) that spent many hours getting dirty working on it and keeping everything clean and shiny.

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Well, we got married and on our honeymoon...NHRA Spring Nationals in Tulsa!! And once I seen a couple of these, I had to have one.

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[CoggedBelt75]

I came across this a few weeks later

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Time to take the floor pan out from the back of the seats to the back panel

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Rookie with a chisel, hammer and grinder, what could go wrong?

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Looks worse than it really was. just punctured my forehead on a jagged piece of metal, but I had to have a little fun with my mom and GF when I went in. Anyway, a neighbor was a pipe line welder and the back half from Don Hardy, along with the narrowed Dana 60, arrived so he set that up for me.

 

[DoubleDingo]

Cool memories and photos. Keep sharing if you have more!

 

[CoggedBelt75]

Another goodie showed up so it was time to pull the engine out of the Chevelle.

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Once all the other stuff needed to fill the engine bay was acquired, in it went. Of course the pic is really lousy here.

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A local racer had a "bulletproof" Turbo 350 for sale so I got that and drove it around for awhile but wasn't happy with how the engine looked so went with a dual top and Holley 500 2 barrels on top

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Much better! Then something else arrived....a baby. Then another. An such is life, priorities take over so it eventually came time to go our own directions. To this day, I still wonder what became of the car.

 

[Old77]

these pics are awesome

 

[CoggedBelt75]

In memory of the one car I wish I still had and hoping she is still pounding the streets somewhere

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But I still got to hang on to this a bit longer

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Until life finally caught up with us. So fast forward thru the family life. Kids are gone and have their family thing going. We have got everything settled in again like when we were young, pretty much a worry free way of life. So the cycle repeats its self again, but instead of the many years we use to look forward to, sad to say they are numbered now. So in the meantime, I'm going to drive the hell out of her like there's no tomorrow!!

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[DoubleDingo]

Diggin' It!

 

[CoggedBelt75]

And to all the old codgers of my generation that reads this, start up a thread and show us what you had.

 

[Blue Ox]

Wow, you got to live through some of the best years that America had to offer. That pic of the Chevelle with the Indy Slots is magical.

I understand how the thing we love come and go as our lives, priorities and finances change. But If you still have the girl and the memories it's all good. If you still have the hair it's even better. Thanks for posting.

 

[CoggedBelt75]

Actually still have hair, just receding in the front. Never wore a cap so it's full on top. Length is a thing of the past tho. Close cropped with no hassles. She's still here too.
Some hassles here and there tho

 

[Backfoot100]

Absolutely timeless. That's way cool.

 

[Blue Ox]

Actually still have hair, just receding in the front. Never wore a cap so it's full on top. Length is a thing of the past tho. Close cropped with no hassles. She's still here too.
Some hassles here and there tho

I always swore that them long-hair hippie types went bald because the weight of the long hair strained their follicles. But it turns out that, hats or no, it's simply genetic. As for the rest, there's always hassles. It's what life is like. Sounds like you did pretty well. Thanx for the pics.

 

[Crispy]

Awesome stuff man, thanks for sharing! Looks like you got to hold on the best one for the longest and now you can keep riding like you always have.

That engine hoist is something else! I recently pulled an engine in my yard but used ply wood and my wife to help drag it out. Seeing that picture I immediately thought to myself, "I wish I woulda had that!" I'm gonna go try and find one, or figure out how to modify mine.

 

[Kim Burke]

And to all the old codgers of my generation that reads this, start up a thread and show us what you had.

Wow, that might be fun.

 

[Shorty81]

Thanks for a great post Joe, you remind me of my hero, my brother Mark. He was just a bit older than you and I was always around as he was building his hot rods. Good days indeed.