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- Classic Pickups Garage
- Follow field reporters from around the world as they take shots from cruise nights and shows in their areas. If you want to become a field reporter send us an email. classicpickupsgarage@gmail.com
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Monday, January 25, 2010
Cool 56
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Monday, January 18, 2010
Glenn's Tech Articles
Glenn's Alignment & Brake Service has been providing quality auto repair since our beginning in 1979.
Check out some of Glenn's Tech Articles at our main site
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Donut Derelicts
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Thursday, January 14, 2010
A visit with a friend
It was a clear day at the cemetery. We started out around 9am from Yorba Linda making our way east on the 91. There were four F100's rolling in perfect form. Heads turned as we passed. This is normal whenever we took the streets as a group. The ride was a time to reflect back on a time with a friend. The many times I looked out my front windshield to see his truck leading us to a destination, today I was leading the pack. The many times I had to call him on the cell to say "your brake lights are not working".It would be the next thing we fixed once we stopped. It's what we did for each other or anyone who was a long for the ride. Jeff was someone who cared for his fellow man and would do what was right. He had many friends. At times when at a car show it would take some time to walk and look at the cars.He stopped to talk with many people he had met at car shows over the years and it was as if it was yesterday that they last talked. Some he would just walk up to and make a new friend and you would think they knew each other for years by the way they would talk. Jeff always had a story to tell or had an option on current events and he wasn't afraid to let you know what he thought.
A year has gone by and much in the world has changed but my memories will stay with me forever, and what great memories they are.
Rest in peace my friend.
Ed
Monday, January 11, 2010
Do You Remember These?
DO YOU REMEMBER THESE
By The Music Man
This is a story about the two things a truck guy wants to hear when he's behind the wheel of his ride. The first is always the sweet sound of the cylinders coming to life through those open chamber mufflers. The second is the cruising tunes, the music, and sounds of yesteryear. You know the tunes, the special ones that send you back in time to that particular moment when life was easier. A time when your friends encouraged you to try and score with the girls at the Saturday dance and/or back to the weekend drive-in theater adventures when the last thing on your mind was watching the movie. Can you remember what song was playing on the radio for that first kiss with your best gal? These are the songs that instantly transport us back to the best of times. These are the songs that mark time for all of us, and we naturally want to relive them through music.
Think back to the cars and trucks you have owned or the ones that got away and the songs that were on the radio back then. Can you put a list together of the songs that take you back to the good old days? Remember when you woke up to Saturday morning serials on TV, remember penny loafers, cigarettes rolled up in your t-shirt sleeve, flat top hair cuts, sock hops, Studebaker, Hudson, Kaiser, and Henry J. If you can remember them, then think back to what was playing on the radio as you and your buddies finished working on your new mill and got ready to fire it up for the first time.
My first car was a 1955 Ford two door coupe. She was oxidized blue with Tijuana tuck and roll. It didn't run but what was on the radio in 55 was Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets. 1955 was a transition year for music, songs like Sincerely, by the McGuire Sisters were being replaced by the upstart rock and rollers like Elvis and DJ's like Allan Freed who broke the color barrier with songs like Speedo by the Cadillacs or Maybellene by Chuck Berry. Good music, Peddle pushers, Buffalo Bob, and Cracker Jack prizes were all part of the good times.
Stars and Stripes, my 55 panel truck would come much later and by then I was listening too, you guessed it, oldies but goodies. Earth Angel by the Penguins helped make Doo-Wop king of the radio. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers with Why Do Fools Fall in Love and the Rays, Silhouettes had all the guys checking addresses. The Crests had 16 Candles and Dion and the Belmonts hit big with the Wanderer. There was Little Richard pioneering pop crossover R&B with Lucille and Good Golly Miss Molly. The king busted on the scene in 54 with That's Alright (Mama) hit again in 55 with Mystery Train and followed in 56 with Heartbreak Hotel and the rest is history.
I had purchased a 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88, just about the time my Uncle Sam came knocking, which caused me to cut short my love affair with the 390 backed by a B&M hydro in what had become a real sleeper on the street. What better song to remember than Jackie Brenston's, Rocket 88. It's a Grammy winning hall of fame song that went something like this, 'You women have heard of jalopies, you've heard the noise they make, well let me introduce my new rocket 88, yes its great, just won't wait, everybody likes my Rocket 88'. Do you remember The Tennessee Waltz by Patti Page, Goodnight Irene by The Weavers and Mona Lisa by Nat 'King' Cole? If you can remember the Hit Parade, the Sadie Hawkins dance, duck tail hair and the seam on the back of nylon hosiery then you are on the right 50's track.
I built a 1955 Chevy 210 post solely for the drag strip. It had a fiberglass tilt front end, trunk lid, and bumpers. The rear wheel wells were radiused to make room for the slicks and the frame had been cut and boxed. It had a straight axle up front with Pontiac 31 spline axles. The power plant was a 396 big block, bored 30 over and balanced and blue printed. The mill wore air research heads and was topped off with a Wieand tunnel ram with dual 750 CFM Holly carbs. A Muncie rock crusher made everything go. What better to listen to than Jan & Dean's with Drag City or the Beach Boys, Shut Down, 409 and Little Duce Coupe.
About midway through the sixties two Volkswagens infected my life. This was as close as I got to the hippy, God help me what am I doing phase. I tried to make up for it by installing an under dash 45 RPM record player in the 65. Space was a problem in those bugs and so the record box went behind the rear seat when old' Sol smiled on them and you guessed it, the records melted. So what records were I spinning as I putt, putt, putted down the highway? I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher, You've Lost That Loving' Feeling by he Righteous Brothers, My Girl by the Temptations, Eight Day's a Week by the Beatles, I can't Help Myself by the Four Tops. The British invasion was in full swing so groups like Herman's Hermits, Gerry and The Pacemakers, The Rolling Stones, Yardbyrds, and the Animals filled our ears with the Mersey Beat.
There was a 1960 Chevrolet truck that I called Suzy. A 1968 Mustang fast back and a 1969 Road Runner 383 (wish it was the Hemi). A 1970 Chevelle, a Dodge custom van, a Corvair that Ralph Nadar failed to confiscate as well as a 1956 F100 and later a 1971 F100 and many others that don't bear mentioning. I had other toys like a chopped 750 Norton Commando, a jet ski boat and just for fun a lawn mower powered scooter. My tunes played on everything from the AM radio's KHJ and KRLA to the onboard record players and first four track and then eight track tape players that blasted out our favorite tunes. We have gone from the youthful exuberance of blasting out tunes that we knew everyone around us wanted to hear, like The Duke of Earl, The Loco Motion, Big Girls Don't Cry and Pretty Woman, too hey, keep that boom box quiet.
We have gone from simple storied lyric's sung by legends and backed by real musicians playing real instruments, to synthesized music filled with lyric's that defy explanation. This is nothing new; in 1934 Cole Porter wrote a song called 'Anything Goes'. The lyrics go something like this, 'Times have changed and we've often rewound the clock….In olden days a glimpse of something was looked down on as something shocking, now heaven known anything goes. Good authors too, who once knew better words now only use four letter words when writing pros, anything goes'. I've lived in an age when dress length and morals were lifted but still had a limit. When music went from suggestive to grinding it on the dance floor, and I still prefer to remember; Rock and roll sock hops, lemonade stands, coonskin caps, howdy doody, root beer floats, secrete codes, turtle neck shirts and white buck shoes.
You'll know it when you hear it, the song that puts a smile on your face and instantly takes you to that happy place. I'll end this with the immortal words of the great singer, song writer Barry Mann; 'I'd like to thank the guy who wrote the song, that made my baby fall in love with me. Who put the bomp in the bom-ba-bomp ba-bomp, who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong....and my baby every time we dance too dip, de-dip, de-dip dip de-dip she always says she love me so…. My honey, rama lama ding dong and when I say dip-de-dip-de dip I mean it from the bottom of my boogty, boogty shoo.
Until that time…Dan
The Music Man
By The Music Man
This is a story about the two things a truck guy wants to hear when he's behind the wheel of his ride. The first is always the sweet sound of the cylinders coming to life through those open chamber mufflers. The second is the cruising tunes, the music, and sounds of yesteryear. You know the tunes, the special ones that send you back in time to that particular moment when life was easier. A time when your friends encouraged you to try and score with the girls at the Saturday dance and/or back to the weekend drive-in theater adventures when the last thing on your mind was watching the movie. Can you remember what song was playing on the radio for that first kiss with your best gal? These are the songs that instantly transport us back to the best of times. These are the songs that mark time for all of us, and we naturally want to relive them through music.
Think back to the cars and trucks you have owned or the ones that got away and the songs that were on the radio back then. Can you put a list together of the songs that take you back to the good old days? Remember when you woke up to Saturday morning serials on TV, remember penny loafers, cigarettes rolled up in your t-shirt sleeve, flat top hair cuts, sock hops, Studebaker, Hudson, Kaiser, and Henry J. If you can remember them, then think back to what was playing on the radio as you and your buddies finished working on your new mill and got ready to fire it up for the first time.
My first car was a 1955 Ford two door coupe. She was oxidized blue with Tijuana tuck and roll. It didn't run but what was on the radio in 55 was Rock Around The Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets. 1955 was a transition year for music, songs like Sincerely, by the McGuire Sisters were being replaced by the upstart rock and rollers like Elvis and DJ's like Allan Freed who broke the color barrier with songs like Speedo by the Cadillacs or Maybellene by Chuck Berry. Good music, Peddle pushers, Buffalo Bob, and Cracker Jack prizes were all part of the good times.
Stars and Stripes, my 55 panel truck would come much later and by then I was listening too, you guessed it, oldies but goodies. Earth Angel by the Penguins helped make Doo-Wop king of the radio. Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers with Why Do Fools Fall in Love and the Rays, Silhouettes had all the guys checking addresses. The Crests had 16 Candles and Dion and the Belmonts hit big with the Wanderer. There was Little Richard pioneering pop crossover R&B with Lucille and Good Golly Miss Molly. The king busted on the scene in 54 with That's Alright (Mama) hit again in 55 with Mystery Train and followed in 56 with Heartbreak Hotel and the rest is history.
I had purchased a 1950 Oldsmobile Rocket 88, just about the time my Uncle Sam came knocking, which caused me to cut short my love affair with the 390 backed by a B&M hydro in what had become a real sleeper on the street. What better song to remember than Jackie Brenston's, Rocket 88. It's a Grammy winning hall of fame song that went something like this, 'You women have heard of jalopies, you've heard the noise they make, well let me introduce my new rocket 88, yes its great, just won't wait, everybody likes my Rocket 88'. Do you remember The Tennessee Waltz by Patti Page, Goodnight Irene by The Weavers and Mona Lisa by Nat 'King' Cole? If you can remember the Hit Parade, the Sadie Hawkins dance, duck tail hair and the seam on the back of nylon hosiery then you are on the right 50's track.
I built a 1955 Chevy 210 post solely for the drag strip. It had a fiberglass tilt front end, trunk lid, and bumpers. The rear wheel wells were radiused to make room for the slicks and the frame had been cut and boxed. It had a straight axle up front with Pontiac 31 spline axles. The power plant was a 396 big block, bored 30 over and balanced and blue printed. The mill wore air research heads and was topped off with a Wieand tunnel ram with dual 750 CFM Holly carbs. A Muncie rock crusher made everything go. What better to listen to than Jan & Dean's with Drag City or the Beach Boys, Shut Down, 409 and Little Duce Coupe.
About midway through the sixties two Volkswagens infected my life. This was as close as I got to the hippy, God help me what am I doing phase. I tried to make up for it by installing an under dash 45 RPM record player in the 65. Space was a problem in those bugs and so the record box went behind the rear seat when old' Sol smiled on them and you guessed it, the records melted. So what records were I spinning as I putt, putt, putted down the highway? I Got You Babe by Sonny and Cher, You've Lost That Loving' Feeling by he Righteous Brothers, My Girl by the Temptations, Eight Day's a Week by the Beatles, I can't Help Myself by the Four Tops. The British invasion was in full swing so groups like Herman's Hermits, Gerry and The Pacemakers, The Rolling Stones, Yardbyrds, and the Animals filled our ears with the Mersey Beat.
There was a 1960 Chevrolet truck that I called Suzy. A 1968 Mustang fast back and a 1969 Road Runner 383 (wish it was the Hemi). A 1970 Chevelle, a Dodge custom van, a Corvair that Ralph Nadar failed to confiscate as well as a 1956 F100 and later a 1971 F100 and many others that don't bear mentioning. I had other toys like a chopped 750 Norton Commando, a jet ski boat and just for fun a lawn mower powered scooter. My tunes played on everything from the AM radio's KHJ and KRLA to the onboard record players and first four track and then eight track tape players that blasted out our favorite tunes. We have gone from the youthful exuberance of blasting out tunes that we knew everyone around us wanted to hear, like The Duke of Earl, The Loco Motion, Big Girls Don't Cry and Pretty Woman, too hey, keep that boom box quiet.
We have gone from simple storied lyric's sung by legends and backed by real musicians playing real instruments, to synthesized music filled with lyric's that defy explanation. This is nothing new; in 1934 Cole Porter wrote a song called 'Anything Goes'. The lyrics go something like this, 'Times have changed and we've often rewound the clock….In olden days a glimpse of something was looked down on as something shocking, now heaven known anything goes. Good authors too, who once knew better words now only use four letter words when writing pros, anything goes'. I've lived in an age when dress length and morals were lifted but still had a limit. When music went from suggestive to grinding it on the dance floor, and I still prefer to remember; Rock and roll sock hops, lemonade stands, coonskin caps, howdy doody, root beer floats, secrete codes, turtle neck shirts and white buck shoes.
You'll know it when you hear it, the song that puts a smile on your face and instantly takes you to that happy place. I'll end this with the immortal words of the great singer, song writer Barry Mann; 'I'd like to thank the guy who wrote the song, that made my baby fall in love with me. Who put the bomp in the bom-ba-bomp ba-bomp, who put the ram in the rama lama ding dong....and my baby every time we dance too dip, de-dip, de-dip dip de-dip she always says she love me so…. My honey, rama lama ding dong and when I say dip-de-dip-de dip I mean it from the bottom of my boogty, boogty shoo.
Until that time…Dan
The Music Man
Saturday, January 9, 2010
Winter In So Cal
Later;)
Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®
Friday, January 8, 2010
Jeff's Fun Run
Jeff's Fun Run open to all makes and models.
On Saturday January 30 is the 2nd Annual Jeff's
Fun Run in honor of past Orange County PUL
President Jeff Hornsby.
Click here or go to http://www.jeffsfunrun.com for
more information
On Saturday January 30 is the 2nd Annual Jeff's
Fun Run in honor of past Orange County PUL
President Jeff Hornsby.
Click here or go to http://www.jeffsfunrun.com for
more information
Friday, January 1, 2010
COLLECTOR STATUS
COLLECTOR STATUS
By The Music Man
By The Music Man
Do you have an old truck or car? If you do, did you know you're a collector?
The definition of a collector is someone who puts together or accumulates?
It can also be said of a collector that he or she builds-up and in some
cases stockpiles parts for future projects or repairs to current or dreamt
of projects. Like most of us, you are likely to have one truck on the road
and/or maybe a project in the back yard or at least in the back of your
mind. In any case it's good for us gear heads to have a goal to keep our
portfolio diversified into something other than a new couch for the misses.
My goal is to attain the perfect trifecta by adding a 1957 F100 to my
garage. I bet you thought I meant the tri-five Chevy. As cars go, the
tri-five Chevy's are nice but, in my opinion, nothing beats a Chevy or Ford
truck for versatility and down right good looks.
When it comes to collecting, you can have one, or one hundred, or something
in-between, it makes no difference, there is no room in this definition for
numbers and that makes you a collector. You're part of a small but uniquely
American tradition of preservationists that ensure the continued heritage of
American iron. You may be a collector that enjoys the look and feel of the
original. With today's abundance of after market parts and fabricators the
average garage has no problem with most vehicle restorations. Returning your
ride to factory specs would be your passion, and if your wallet can handle
the strain of a rotisserie restoration that might be just the ticket.
As a group, I don't know if the wealthy collectors' stable of cars, both
restored and modified is larger than the resto-mod crowd, who identify
themselves with the main stream of wrench heads throughout the nation and
around the world. Some include frame off or frame on restorations while
maintaining the original body style and parts. It is clear that collectors
vary in style and preference but, are never the less true collectors. As a
rule of thumb, the resto-mod generally maintains the stock body style while
concentrating on restoring and strengthening the frame to accept the
transplant of a modern engine and transmission. In some cases these heart
transplants include Chevy motors, and while I prefer Ford blood in a Ford,
resto-mod guys go for the more affordable and larger parts availability of
the Chevy implants. Upgrading the bling factor with paint, interior, and
chrome accessories finishes off the resto-mod.
The Pro-street guys that just can't leave stock Detroit iron alone. They are
collectors that will always modify and change body styles and/or swap out
motors for more ground pounding power to that new differential and four link
suspensions. They will chop, cut and rebuild based on their idea of what a
bitchen ride should be. Interiors also go through modest to wild upgrades
and no cruiser or hot rod or even rat rod owner has ever been known to leave
the stock wheels on his ride. I've known guys that paid more for the wheels
and tires (financed in some cases) than they did for the entire vehicle.
That is the thing about collecting, you have the car or truck of your dreams
and when your wallet catches up with your imagination magic happens.
Then there are the shade tree mechanics. We all like to think of ourselves
as some sort of back yard mechanical wizard who will piece together the
vintage iron that will eventually hit the road with you as the proud owner.
A Shade tree mechanics is recognized by his knowledge of automotive parts
and assembly procedures. Some bolt on parts while others fabricate, or as
they like to say, they make things. The shade tree or backyard mechanic is
recognized by the years of accumulated grease and grime forever wedged under
his finger nails. These guys are the mainstay of any sport, and yes
collecting is a sport. When they are done with a vehicle, the fun is over
and they look for a new challenge, often selling their creations for seed
money towards the next project. By doing this they help perpetuate and renew
collectables for the next generation.
There are tastes for everyone that include the chop and cut guys the low and
slow bling, bling guys and even the Tupperware set with their long and low
recreations. All help increase the public's interest in your sport and
hobby. Collecting, even if it's preserving just one original, vintage,
resto, modified, pro, or rat, is an obsession that once infected with,
drains your patience, strains your marriage, and drains your wallet. But,
you love it. It's a love of the cruise, love of the smell of raw gas in the
morning or that first cruise of the day. It's the bench racing with your
buddies, and what better way to meet and greet than over the hood of a truck
or in your garage staring at the engine, while chewing the fat about adding
injection or blower or both. Love of life; love of the cruise, add any
adjective you wish, and the result is the same, we love our collectables and
for me vintage Ford trucks fill that need.
Until that time
The Music Man
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