"Little Old Lady from Pasadina"

[Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770]

I had an Alpoesque moment a bit ago. Somehow the Beach Boys song popped into my head. Most of us here are old enough to remember when it was playing on the radio. The Alpoesque part comes when I think that they were might have been talking about a woman YOUNGER than many of us here. Go Granny go indeed!

[Rip Snorter]

One of the permanent discs in the player in my old Dodge is Beachboys Greatest Hits.  I don't play music often, but when I do play that, there is a linkage to the accelerator in a still Fast car.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

Ain't she sweet....  

 

(But it was Jan and Dean, not the Beach boys)  

 

 

 

[Blackwater 53393]

2 minutes ago, Sgt. C.J. Sabre, SASS #46770 said:

I had an Alpoesque moment a bit ago. Somehow the Beach Boys song popped into my head. Most of us here are old enough to remember when it was playing on the radio. The Alpoesque part comes when I think that they were might have been talking about a woman YOUNGER than many of of here. Go Granny go indeed!

And if it were modern day, they COULD be talking about my 88 year old mom who STILL has a lead foot and a short fuse!!

 

 I figure any day now to hear that she’s been ticked for excessive speed or some such!! She’ll still punch it when someone messes with her!

 

She learned to drive in a ‘53 Olds with three twos, a 4spd Hydramatic, milled heads, and “pop-up” pistons.

 

She got her first ticket in 1961 from a New Jersey state trooper for drag racing her ‘57 Hemi Belvedere on US route 1.  The cop said she blew the doors off a ‘60 T-Bird driven by some guy who was “messin’ with her”!! 

[Alpo]

15 minutes ago, Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967 said:

Ain't she sweet....  

 

(But it was Jan and Dean, not the Beach boys)  

 

 

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Old_Lady_(from_Pasadena)

 

The song was performed live by The Beach Boys at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on August 1, 1964 for inclusion on their No.1 album Beach Boys Concert. The Beach Boys, and particularly Brian Wilson, who co-wrote several of Jan & Dean's biggest surf hits, had supported Jan & Dean in the recording studio to initiate them in the surf music genre.

 

 

[Warden Callaway]

Not a Dodge. Not from Pasadena.  No song.  But in 1970 the local Oldsmobile dealer got in a Hurst/Olds.  455 high preference engine said to produce over 500 real horsepower.  I seen them move it out of the garage and when they put it it gear, the body would flex.  They sold it to two maiden sisters.  I'd see it occasionally then it was gone.   I figured someone got it away from them or they wrecked it.  But youngest son was in town one day and seen it. The old lady was getting into it.  He spoke to her.  No,  she couldn't do without her car.

[Rip Snorter]

Once you have had a high performance car, IMHO, you are going to want one forever.  I love my old ranch pickup, but it scratches a different itch.

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

1 hour ago, Blackwater 53393 said:

And if it were modern day, they COULD be talking about my 88 year old mom who STILL has a lead foot and a short fuse!!

 

 I figure any day now to hear that she’s been ticked for excessive speed or some such!! She’ll still punch it when someone messes with her!

 

She learned to drive in a ‘53 Olds with three twos, a 4spd Hydramatic, milled heads, and “pop-up” pistons.

 

She got her first ticket in 1961 from a New Jersey state trooper for drag racing her ‘57 Hemi Belvedere on US route 1.  The cop said she blew the doors off a ‘60 T-Bird driven by some guy who was “messin’ with her”!! 

My mom is 77 - still runs our gunshop and still drives her Mustang Convertible that I bought for her from a member of the band Sweet (Ballroom Blitz).

 

She has also owned a 1969 Dodge Charger 440 Magnum.

1968 Plymouth Road Runner 383

1969 Corvette 427

In addition to driving my dads fast cars and the few hotrods that I built over the years.

 

And, as she puts it - her last fast car love...

When Desert Scorpion was born and Scorpions mom returned to work; my mom would make the drive from Pahrump NV to our house in North Las Vegas everyday to watch her.  This was about a 60 mile one way trip and mom was always on time.  One day, she was late and when she arrived; I asked if everything was ok.

Mom explained that she had gotten a late start and while trying to make up time - gotten pulled over for speeding.

And how fast were you going, mom?

 

Apparently my dear mom was clocked at 6:30 am on a stretch of NV Hwy 160 at 138 mph.  Her car of choice at that time was a 1996 350 cubic in. Pontiac Firebird Trans Am - Bright red with blacked out limo tint windows.

When the officer walked up to the window (obviously expecting some teenage troublemaker) and not my sweet gray haired mother.  She said his demeanour went from angry to legitimate confusion, asking do you know how fast you were going?  Mom played the old lady card and said, no, Im sorry - Im just late to go watch my grand daughter.  Officer informed of her speed, told her he could of arrested her on the spot for that speed and to slow down.

And then walked away shaking his head...

 

Mom still smiles telling that story and since she wasn't running flat out; wonders how much more top end the Firebird had.

 

No, I still haven't given her the keys to my Corvette.

[Blackwater 53393]

32 minutes ago, Rip Snorter said:

Once you have had a high performance car, IMHO, you are going to want one forever.  I love my old ranch pickup, but it scratches a different itch.

Gotta’ agree with Rip on this one!  There are several high performance cars that have passed through my possession.

 

My ‘64 Impala SS 409/425.  I’ve told some of the story of this one.

 

A ‘67 Corvette. 427 car that I was partners on after high school. Another brutally fast car that received ridiculous amounts of attention and money!

 

A 1966 Chevy II Nova. Street car that was, in the end, barely streetable.

 

A 1965 Olds 442. It wasn’t very high performance until I got hold of it!

 

A ‘72 Vega Kamback that received a potent 283 with three twos and all the latest hotrod stuff. PowerGlide with transbrake and a 9” Ford rear end.

 

A 1980 Malibu Classic with a 465” Big Block, Turbo 400, and a 12 bolt limited slip rear end.

 

Numerous drag cars from door slammers to high seven second dragsters.

 

 I even had a 2000 Buell S1 White Lightening that had enough done to it to pull the front wheel at over 120 mph.

 

 I can still say that I haven’t been fast enough, provided the conditions are right.

 

 I’m building a 1927 Model T coupe that has an old 348 Chevy with two fours and headers, an overdrive transmission, 3.23:1 Olds rear end and lots of speed stuff to go with everything!

 

I turn 70 next month!!  My mom and Schoolmarm have both driven many of these vehicles! I’m certain that Schoolmarm would have ridden off on the Buell if she’d been able to reach the ground with both feet while sitting on it.  She drove the Vega back and forth to school and raced it on the weekends.  She used to do wheelstands on her Sportster, but she always said she didn’t.

 

My dad drove Champ cars in USAC competition and stock cars on the weekends and chased bootleggers as a cop.  
 

I come by it honest.

[largo casey #19191]

One of my favorite cars was a 62 Ford Galaxie (Sleeper).Came from the factory with 406 2x4's & 4 on the floor.It didn't have all that when I got it.

I found a early 427 & then 3x2s to put in it.This was in the late 60's..

I got clocked at 90 going through Aztec NM.When I hit the Hwy I opened her up.When I got to the Farmington city limit I shut it down.A city cop pulled me over.

Asked if I knew how fast I was going.Told him my speedo didn't work.Said the officer from aztec was back there.He never showed up.The Farmington officer didn't catch me for anything so I didn't get a ticket.WHEW.

                                                                                                                                        Largo

[Blackwater 53393]

My mom had a ‘69 Impala Custom SS.  It had a 396 4bbl. While my folks were out of town on vacation, I blew the engine at the drag strip.

 

My cousin had a built 427 that I bought and he helped me swap it into the Impala.

 

On Monday morning after they got back from vacation, mom gets in the car and starts it up. It doesn’t sound or feel like it did before the transplant and she stomps up stairs, wakes up the old man and say, “Thomas! There’s something wrong with the car!”

 

Dad worked nights at the time and he sleepily trudges down the stairs to the garage. He starts the car and then opens the hood.  Of course, he recognizes the swap immediately, but he just tells Mom, “Oh, Tommy and Sam just tuned it up.”

 

She backs the car out into the driveway and boils the back tires all the way to the street.  You could hear the tires chirping every time the car changed gears!!  She really hated it when they traded it for a new car!!

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

65 Ford LTD 390.

[Hardpan Curmudgeon SASS #8967]

5 hours ago, Alpo said:

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Little_Old_Lady_(from_Pasadena)

 

The song was performed live by The Beach Boys at Sacramento Memorial Auditorium on August 1, 1964 for inclusion on their No.1 album Beach Boys Concert. The Beach Boys, and particularly Brian Wilson, who co-wrote several of Jan & Dean's biggest surf hits, had supported Jan & Dean in the recording studio to initiate them in the surf music genre.

 

 

 

Well, I stands corrected.  Sorta!  

 

But I still like Jan and Dean.  

 

 

 

[Creeker, SASS #43022]

3 hours ago, largo casey #19191 said:

One of my favorite cars was a 62 Ford Galaxie (Sleeper).Came from the factory with 406 2x4's & 4 on the floor.It didn't have all that when I got it.

I found a early 427 & then 3x2s to put in it.This was in the late 60's..

 

3 hours ago, Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619 said:

65 Ford LTD 390.

 

I have mentioned that my Dad and I built Corvettes when I was younger - but around the time I turned 15 - my Dad decided he wanted to find another specimen of the car he had when he and my mom started dating - a 1962 Galaxie XL convertible (when they started dating seriously anyway; when he first asked her out - he had a 58 Buick in green that Mom refused to be seen in).

 

Anyways while we searched for the 62; we came across and were directed towards other years, models and deals (same as looking for a certain gun; someone always knows someone that might have something - if not exactly what you were looking for; really close and too good of a deal to pass up) so over time we acquired a plethora of old Fords.

A couple 62 four doors 352's (just for parts, of course), a 61 with a 289 (out of a later model something), a 63 1/2 427 car, a 6 cylinder 65 Falcon Ranchero (3 on the tree).

And then finally in a barn in Memphis Tennessee covered in empty burlap feed sacks we found Dads car, 1962 Galaxie 500 XL 390 tri power with factory cast iron headers with 26k original miles.  Had sat so long with the bags on it that the weave pattern of the bags had molded into the paint.  We brought it home and then looked around at the formerly Corvette based polebarn and surrounding area now over run with blue Ford ovals.

So began my time wrenching on Fords - two 62 four doors became one very decent example.  The 61 with a new cam, intake and carb became a good little runner (really considered keeping that for myself).

I had a buddy with a 65 Mustang that we had shoehorned a 351 Cleveland between the shock towers and he was active in the local drag racing scene - so the 63 1/2 got a tune up, a tear drop hood scoop, slotted aluminum wheels with Mickey Thompson street slicks and a set of 4:11 rear gears to transform it to a weekend toy for me.

The Ranchero was kind of cool - but a 6 cylinder stick was not.  So one wrecked 302 Maverick Grabber (a whole $75) later and the Ranchero had a heart transplant and way too much ooomph for the factory four lug rear end with no weight over the axle (really fun and really stupid).  And being poor - I built that one with every piece I could use or repurpose.  My dad was none too pleased to see me build the exhaust using factory Corvette sidepipes (hey, they were just sitting unused in the garage - informing me that those sidepipes were worth more than the entirety of the Ranchero and they were DEFINITELY coming off when it was sold).

 

I loved the Corvettes and I am a bowtie guy down in my heart (not saying I haven't strayed from to time; but I always come back) - but searching for, finding, building and destroying (a couple of) those old Fords are some of my best memories of time with my dad.  Everytime we pulled into another farmers field or behind an old state road garage or listened to the creak of a barn door that had not been opened for 15 years - we were always so excited with the possibilities of what lay ahead.

Sometimes it was just a rusted out husk of what used to be a car but would now struggle to perform as a chicken coop and you wondered why it was ever placed in the garage.

And other times - it was discovering a time capsule that someone parked, covered in feed sacks and never returned.

 

I am somewhat saddened that as cars have become more reliable, more sterile and more disposable at the same time - that within another generation or two - the bond between the person and their car will be gone.  There is something that irretrievably binds you to your car after you have bled on it after busting your knuckles open swinging a wrench, not having the money for real exhaust hangers and using wire coat hangers to rehang the muffler (and afterall - the closet was right there), saving your dimes to afford that Pioneer cassette player and Kraco speakers from Kmart.

And the sheer joy the first day it was running right, the weather was perfect, the windows were down and the radio played the soundtrack of your youth...

At full volume.

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

Head of the drama dept at the JuCo I attended had a red 6.6L Trans Am that was not to be trifled with.  She embarrassed more than one 19 year old gear head on the highway in front of campus.

 

She retired the year after I left and bought herself a Porche Boxster as a retirement present.

[bgavin]

The closest I ever got was '57 T-Bird, port hole hard top convertible with a swapped-in big Lincoln V8.
Dad sold it just before I got my day license (ID, 1964) because he wanted me to see age 14.

 

He had me bring it home from the downtown shop once.
I had it out on Crescent Blvd and turned it loose... and the throttle return spring came loose so it kept winding up.

I had worked plenty of engine stuff so I knew enough to turn off the key, put the throttle spring back in place, and go home shaking like a leaf.

Other than dropping a 440 Interceptor into my wife's first grocery-getter (1970 Newport) that is my sole experience with muscle cars.
Motorcycles... a different matter, altogether.
 

[Warden Callaway]

Back when son Chris was in high school,  I drove past the Christler Plymouth dealership and spotted a 72 Dodge Dart two door hardtop in super nice condition.   It had been a little old ladies car and she had been in nursing home the last 10 years then passed away.  The grandkids got the car and trained it in.  We didn't pay much for it and bought it for Chris to drive from school to his evening job in town.  It had a slant 6. Plenty of power but he wanted a V8.  So one awful winter day we drove the back lines of the used car lots.   Found an iced over 77 Plymouth Valiant station wagon with 318 2bbl and negotiated the price from $500 to $200 on the condition it would start.  The salesman beat the ice off the driver's side and it actually started.  Later I pulled the slant 6 and converted the motor mounts and installed the 318. 

 

So happened Chris' buddy also named Chris wanted that car really bad. I'm not sure what deal they made but it changed hands.  Soon thereafter,  it was taken to a backwoods garage and they put a 440 4bbl out of an Imperial in it.  Rolled it out and went to a party.  They had pinched a break line and it was leaking down.  Just top off the reservoir often.  He and two other boys took off up the blacktop to see how fast it would go.  Came to a T intersection and ran across into the embankment head on.  All three were bussed up really bad but not killed.  That was the end of the Dodge Dart. One night. 

[Linn Keller, SASS 27332, BOLD 103]

A physics prof named Karen had a very plain looking Dodge of some grocery-store-on-Saturday nondescript variety.

She also had a 440 under the hood.

Her heart's delight was to wait until some impatient young buck tried to pass her.

Her smile was ever so sweet, and then she left them in her slipstream.

My Mama inherited her Granddad's driving talents: he was a moonshiner and a moonrunner and was known as Old Devil Maxwell, for he drove like the Devil himself was after him.

Mama outran the State Highway Patrol in a '57 Ford -- it was the step below the Fairlane -- 292 with a three on the tree. She came home triumphant and dear old Dad painted the car the next day.

We ended up with a white '63 Olds Starfire with the last of the Ultra High Compression engines, two hundred ninety some rompin' stompin' cubic inches of four-barrel Oldsmobubble go power.

She outran the State Patrol again.

Next day that white Olds was midnight metallic blue.

Dear old Dad called her Lead Foot Red -- her hair was a rich, red-auburn, and she was truly gifted behind the wheel.

She taught by the living example of her driving, how to maintain control when you hit black ice, or when you come around a blind curve and there's a cement block in the middle of your lane: her lessons kept me from collisions more times than one.

Lead Foot Red.

Yep, she earned that nickname!

[Warden Callaway]

Hotest car on our farm was a 69 Buick GS 400 with functional air ram intake system.  I seen it in an ad and went and looked at it.  The dad was selling it while his kid was off in the military.  I low balled him an offer and he wanted rid of it.   I'm not sure what all had been done to it but it was strong.  Chris sold it to another kid and he soon wrecked it and was killed.  The family kept the car even though people tried to buy it.  The real ram air system had some collector value. 

[Blackwater 53393]

And now for a minor tragedy!

 

My little brother had an all original Buick Grand National. It was all there and would run, but needed restoration.  It was a truly unique, but certified car because it was SILVER in color.

 

He had moved the car to my mother’s place because he had lost his place to store it.

 

One evening when my mom was burning some brush and some old cardboard boxes, the fire jumped and burned the Buick to the ground!

 

A total loss of what was an extremely rare and valuable classic!!  I wonder, sometimes, how many are lost like this!!

[Red Gauntlet , SASS 60619]

19 hours ago, Creeker, SASS #43022 said:

busting your knuckles open swinging a wrench, not having the money for real exhaust hangers and using wire coat hangers to rehang the muffler (and afterall - the closet was right there), saving your

 

Or using a chunk of wire coat hanger to pin the rotor on a 64 Chevy Nova.

 

I do not miss one bit the days when there'd be some breakdown with a car full of wife and kids;; or worrying about it on a long trip. I love the era of the truly reliable car, though the romance is pretty much gone.

[Imis Twohofon,SASS # 46646]

Old maid Aunt gave me her 1955 Chevrolet 2 door sedan, stovebolt 6 and an iron Powerglide became a 327, 202 heads ,cam and headers with a 400 turbo and 354 gear. The nice Highway patrol man said"149' , I said "it had a little more".

 

Imis

[bgavin]

Waay back a long time ago, we used to attend long IBM schools in the Hudson Valley, NY.
I stayed with an ancient ol' gal and rented a room for the 3 months I was there.
It was during a Kingston NY winter, with lots of snow, that I found out she had a '56 Chevy in the garage she hadn't driven in years.
Marie was in her 90s at the time, and walked most everywhere, including sliding down the snow banks to get out of her house.
I never saw it up close, nor saw it run, but it was a definite '56 in her garage, and in nice looking shape.

[Blackwater 53393]

1 hour ago, bgavin said:

Waay back a long time ago, we used to attend long IBM schools in the Hudson Valley, NY.
I stayed with an ancient ol' gal and rented a room for the 3 months I was there.
It was during a Kingston NY winter, with lots of snow, that I found out she had a '56 Chevy in the garage she hadn't driven in years.
Marie was in her 90s at the time, and walked most everywhere, including sliding down the snow banks to get out of her house.
I never saw it up close, nor saw it run, but it was a definite '56 in her garage, and in nice looking shape.

Had an uncle that went to IBM schools in Poughkeepsie, NY back in the early sixties.  His name was Dan S. Allen and he went on to become a top exec at IBM.  
 

My folks loaned him a really nice little ‘52 Chevy to drive back and forth from New Jersey on weekends and to Nashville between terms at the school.  Two tone blue, two door with the BelAir package. Wish I had that one!!

[PowderRiverCowboy]

Damn you for sticking that in my head tonight , But woke up at 3am the other morning and neg 48 temps to the Rodeo Song stuck in my head (and no I cant post it here ) but its 40 below got a heater in my truck and its off to the rodeo LOL and that cleaned up version 

 

[Chili Ron]

Howdy,

A friend was the son of a big shot at GM.

He got the first 68 camaro 302.

It was celery green and somehow the black stripes just didnt stand out much.

He kept the 67 vette for a while and decided to let go of the camaro.

Another friend grabbed the camaro I was just too broke that time.

It just didnt LOOK like much but it did nearly fly.

Later these cars were badged Z/28.

About ten years back it was sold by the Volo Auto museum.

I didnt even want to know the price.

Even a camaro can be a sleeper.

Best

CR

 

[Choctaw Jack]

On 12/21/2022 at 8:25 PM, largo casey #19191 said:

One of my favorite cars was a 62 Ford Galaxie (Sleeper).Came from the factory with 406 2x4's & 4 on the floor.It didn't have all that when I got it.

I found a early 427 & then 3x2s to put in it.This was in the late 60's..

I got clocked at 90 going through Aztec NM.When I hit the Hwy I opened her up.When I got to the Farmington city limit I shut it down.A city cop pulled me over.

Asked if I knew how fast I was going.Told him my speedo didn't work.Said the officer from aztec was back there.He never showed up.The Farmington officer didn't catch me for anything so I didn't get a ticket.WHEW.

                                                                                                                                        Largo

We moved to Aztec in 1962. 

The Aztec Pd's rookie cop moved in next door to us, and we had a long, less than amicable , relationship with him over the years.

His patrol unit was a Chevy Biscayne with a Straight Six and a PowerGlide.

We could outrun him on our Honda 150 Dream, and often did.

Choctaw

[Blackwater 53393]

8 minutes ago, Choctaw Jack said:

We moved to Aztec in 1962. 

The Aztec Pd's rookie cop moved in next door to us, and we had a long, less than amicable , relationship with him over the years.

His patrol unit was a Chevy Biscayne with a Straight Six and a PowerGlide.

We could outrun him on our Honda 150 Dream, and often did.

Choctaw

Reminds me of one of my dad’s unmarked pursuit cars. It was a four door ‘61 Biscayne with a 327 with Rochester fuel injection and a three on the tree!  Refrigerator white with red interior.  We called it “the biscuit”!

 

We sometimes took it to church on Sunday morning and on the way home he’d turn it loose on the highway, just for the fun of it.  It surprised a lot of folks!!

[Smuteye John SASS#24774]

Since we've wandered from little old ladies driving hotrods to just hotrods and sleepers in general,....

 

Daddy bought a used car from a guy at work in the early '80's.  A '73 Monte Carlo with a 350, 4 barrel and Turbo 400 transmission.  The fella had moved South from the upper Mid-West somewheres and the pans were rusted out, but it was cheap and mechanically in good condition.  Matter of fact, the motor seemed to run almost too well.

 

He'd had it a couple of years when he took it by the local quickie lube to get the oil changed.  The new guy was working top side and offered him $1000 for the car (in 1982 or 83) after they were done servicing it.  Daddy turned him down and asked him why he wanted a rusted out, small block Monte Carlo so bad.

 

Come to find out, the guy was a serious gear head and had realized that the car was basically a factory sleeper- the motor was the same 350 they used in the Corvette that year and the rear end was different than stock, too.

 

Daddy screwed with folks in that ragged out (body only) Monte Carlo all the time.  He blew the doors off of a Camaro or Mustang running stoplight to stoplight coming back from buying groceries- with a family of 4 in the car a couple times.  Then there was the 300Z.  We were on a family weekend trip up in the mountains and the 300Z was behind us for several miles.  When we came to a 2 lane passing zone, they waited to the last moment to start to pass and were about to run us off the road, so Daddy stepped on the gas and got to the end of the right lane about 3 car lengths ahead of them.

[Blackwater 53393]

To kinda’ bring this back on topic, I will say that my mom drove most of the cars I’ve mentioned at one time or another.

 

My ‘66 Chevy II comes to mind just now.  It was a Saturday morning and I was running errands in Dad’s pickup. Most of the time, the next car in line was used by the next driver out the door.

 

My little Nova was just barely street legal and I had been admonished by the local LEOs on numerous occasions about driving it on the streets.  This particular morning, it was parked behind her Lincoln, so she took it to town to take my sister to the doctor.

 

 I was sitting at the intersection where the parking lot to the clinic emptied out onto the main drag when they went to leave the doctors’ offices and a cop was waiting to turn right across the street from the parking lot.  This was in the days before “right turn on red”.

 

As I’ve said, my mom didn’t like people “messing with her”, so when someone momentarily blocked the intersection when the light changed, she floored the gas and the Chevy II launched into the road with the tires smoking and the left front wheel about a foot off the ground, spun a quarter turn to the left and stormed off down the street!

 

Red lights and sirens and the chase was on!!  I pulled up behind them a few blocks down the street and watched as the surprised officer confronted my still fuming mother at the side of the road! (I’m certain he was expecting to see me behind the wheel!)

 

He let Mom off with a stern warning and I had some great leverage around the dinner table for several weeks!  
 

Of course, the cop told my dad about the incident and we didn’t let Mom off the hook for a good long while!