Welcome to my site. So glad you could make it.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Back to Life

 Well let's see what else I can write about.
  My wireless was down for awhile so I couldn't get anything done. But it's back up now in case you couldn't tell.
The posts on my cars seemed to draw a bit of interest, so I'll go on from there.  My next auto was a 64 Chevrolet Malibu SS. The SS meant it had bucket seats and a console. or so I remember. It had a 283 with a two barrel carb and a powerglide 2 speed transmission.
I had lost my previous car and was still working Holiday Inn, at the time bussing tables. One of the waitress knew I was looking for a car and said she had it. It also was a 40 dollar special. She told me it hadn't been run for awhile and needed a battery. Blew all the money I had and picked it up that day.
  It was in pretty good shape. White on the outside and red on the inside. Ran without much work, pretty well for a 10 year old car. It was good for running light to light on the weekends. A lot of folks would work on there cars all week, just to run them on weekends at the strip. The Malibu wasn't much for the drag strip, but could hold its own in town. Some people had their cars all fixed up, with pipes and cams, and I could out-run them from light to light. Of course once you got above 65, they would just blow right by. That's why I liked running light to light. You got up to 50 or so and had to hit the brakes for the next light. You could usually get two or three good runs before the police would show up. This greatly reduced the amount of fun you could have.
 My friends and I would alternate cars after school running the farm roads. Now the farm roads are not really roads in the true sense. More like tractor trails going from one field to another. The fun was to see where you would come out at and what you could find abandoned. More than one rust bucket could be found. After you got to know the trails you could pick up the pace. Bouncing from one side to the other, heads banging off the roof, until you got stuck or found another trail. More than once we got stuck. Remember the first time I got stuck in this car, only to learn I had no base to the jack. (probably why they sold it so cheap). Took off one of the hubcaps and used it. Went pretty well until  it tried to get the wheel off the ground. Punched a Y right down the middle of the cap. I think we used a come-a-long to get out of that one.
 Another thing these trails allowed was shortcuts and hiding spots. While speeding down the road, if you were in the right spot and passed a cop, you could hit the trails. The cops didn't chase you down them and they didn't have helicopters back then for speeders. It also allowed you places to go with your girlfriend. But that is another story.
  Can't really remember exactly what happened to this one. Maybe used for a trade-in. With old age comes un-selective memory.
  The trails are now gone. The fields went away. Where they once were, are subdivisions. In Fl, the developers got rich. Everyone else had to put up with more congestion.
But then again, That's life.

3 comments:

Gorges Smythe said...

Those 283's were good little engines. The folks had one in their '64 Impala station wagon and it kept running long after the body was headed south.

Ralph Goff said...

Bobby, sounds like you had way too much fun with that Malibu. I've got it's little brother here. A 63 Chevy II sedan. While they were available with the 283, this one has the plain Jane 194 six in a row and 3 on the tree. While its a fun ride back into the past, I'd be a lot happier in a big old batwing 59 Impala (some day).

Bobby said...

Gorges
Loved the 283. Revved up real quick. This one lasted the life of the car. So easy to work on also.

Ralph
Those bat-wing autos were pretty special. My dad had a plumber friend with one of them.
The fun was only starting back then. I was pretty lucky not getting more tickets or in more accidents.