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August, 2001, Cruise News

STORY LINE: WOODWARD 2001

Been there, done it and gonna’ do it again … Woodward.

Back in the last century and some 40 + years ago, it was Woodward that brought out the faithful on Friday and Saturday nights. Whether it was with your date, with the boys just cruising or for a serious stop light gran prix, that’s where it was. Woodward. Certainly by now-and then-everyone knows and knew what the ‘avenue’ was all about. And it has not changed, done just got a whole lot bigger and a bit more notorious for a whole lot of reasons-most though being nostalgic.

Most all of the drive-in eaterie’s as us ‘oldies’ remember them are gone, the days of street drag racing … are way to dangerous to reconsider as possible today-they were way too dangerous then.

It was Teds drive-in that I most frequented, loved those 5 by 5 burgers with the sauce and those big Bermuda onion rings. The parking lot was huge and always filled with car people and it certainly was the place to be. My sister Marcia had a new 1964 Impala SS convertible, black exterior with white convertible top, white bucket seat trim with red carpeting and dash-very sharp. And we kept it spit shined with ‘Liquid Class’ auto polish … maybe it was ‘Liquid Glass’ … I cant remember, but it sure did work. The main ingredient though was the flag emblem on the front fenders declaring it as a 327. There was no way though-without looking under the hood-to tell if it was the 250 or 300 horsepower motor. The 300HP motor had the bigger 1.94/1.50 valve heads with bigger ports, a larger runner intake and larger Carter AFB four barrel carburetor. And if it were the 4-speed transmission … it also had the larger runner exhaust manifolds and matching larger exhaust system. Marcia ordered this car right, with the 300HP and 4-speed, and it was Dyno-Tuned by Hub’s.

It may not have been the fastest car on Woodward or any other boulevard, but with the 4-speed that had a neat whine and that ‘tuned’ motor, it sure ‘worked’ very well. A Hurst floor shift that we added made for some quick gear changes … and to think it cost maybe $75.00 to install that Hurst shifter, new.

Somewhere around 1967 I bought a ’55 Chevrolet Bel Air 2-door sedan, 265 with a ‘three-on-the-tree’ for the paltry sum of $45.00, pulled that motor, dropped in a 327 with an L79 cam and some other performance goodies-but that was not enough. My other ‘sleeper’ was a gray primer color ’55 Bel Air 2-door hardtop with a 396/425HP L78 and Turbo 400. Had both cars at the same time, ran the 327 on Friday and Saturday-Woodward and Gratiot-set up Sunday morning for special ‘showings’ with the big motored car. No one ever saw under the hood of the primer car and no one ever knew what hit ‘em when the light turned green. White wall tires and full wheel covers too. Put ‘em both together with junk warranty parts. Swift … kickers.

On the 327 car I had to screw the right rear hubcap down as it consistently ‘blew’ off when I hammered second gear. The big block car used to break the valve train-but was always repairable. Its the way it was. Still is, if your fast.

Had a ’65 Comet 4-door sedan for a short stint in ’71. It was powered by a pretty wild and a very high compression HiPo 289, bored-‘cause I broke it once- to 302, Sig Erson roller cam, big valve heads by Angelucci, Weiand aluminum intake with the plenum cut down to the floor, a three barrel 950cfm Holley caburetor, 4-speed toploader and a welded spider 5.13 axle. Broke that one too. Its the way it was. Still is, if your fast.

That was Woodward … then. The memories are really good, nobody ever got hurt that I was a part of or my friends and, most of us are still around and in one piece. Ain’t nuthin wrong with bench racin’. The old Woodward was good. Today’s Woodward just brings us all back. Thank you.