Growing up in Chicago in the 60's

[kwhizz]

O.K...............I ordered the car in late March of 66 from Hoskins Chevrolet, they were about a mile or so away from Nickey on Irving Park (Irving and Damen)...I traded my 65 Impala (327 250hp/Powerglide w/32,000 miles)....the car arrived the 3rd week of April on a warm sunny spring day........I bought it from Hoskins because they were $50 cheaper than Nickey....... It was a Marina Blue SS w/ Bright Blue Interior, L-79, 4 speed,3.73 posi and metalic brakes, am Radio, white walls and full disc caps............I remember the day very well when I got the call that my car was in.....I was only 19 at the time so I had to get my dad to meet me there so he could co-sign all the papers.......While I was waiting for my dad to get there I was all over the car......

Now.....Just Imagine being 19.....living in the epi-center of the Muscle Car Universe.....with the ultimate (in my mind) musle car waiting for the key to be slipped into the Ignition for the first time, and having to wait for your Dad to get there and sign.......LOL.....I can still hear that engine Idleing for the first time with that "Rumpity" idle.........Driving home and going thru the gears........Kinda hard to top that feeling........I got rid of my Grandpa car and have now arrived to where I could be one of the neighborhood "Fast Car guy's"...........................

Now....At the time, I had just gotten Married, worked as an Apprentice Tool & Die maker at Chicago Coin Machine (we made Pin Ball machines etc), I was making $1.95 an hour, had to pay the rent, buy food and have money to play cars.........which was more Important???......LOL.......The Princess had her hands full in those early years.....

Anyhow.......I was in heaven.......I had so much I wanted to do and couldn't because of the lack of $$$.........but....just having the car was enough (for a while).......after getting more involved in the neighborhood street racing scene the little Nova was making it's mark......It's about this time I got hooked up with Eddie Mac and Mario, Eddie had a 66 Chevelle L-78 car that he put a Crane cam in......now...up until that time, our cars were dead even in street dragging......neither car could pull away from the other.......But with the camshaft change it was no competition......I remember they changed the camshaft in the street in front of Eddies house and they had to cut out a section of the grill to get the cam out......LOL....The good old day's......

So, the next winter (while Paulette was pregnant) I pulled the engine out and took it to E&R on Belmont and Racine and they went thru the engine, bored .030, forged pistons, Sig Erson camshaft, Edelbrock Cross ram....( I think I sold the stock Carb and Manifold for $15.....LOL).......Now, at this stage of my life I had absolutely "NO" common sense as I just wanted to go Drag Racing.......and me and Mario spent the summer Drag Racing all around the Chicago area...........Wednesday Nights at U.S. 30 and the weekends at the Grove........I couldn't afford to pay the Rent or buy food, but I was always at the track Racing.......as Fall came the "Princess" finally said enough is enough.......I sold the engine for $300 and bought a 63 Chevrolet that had a nasty sounding small block in it for $300....pulled the engine out and sold the body for $100...........Now, I was able to drive the car as a normal??? car again.........(If I was smart I would have just changed the Cam.......) ...But, at the time it seemed like a good idea....

So, I get the Nova on the street again, but the engine I now had in the Nova was a real "Stone"....sounded good but it couldn't get out of it's own way........But....there was a guy in the neighborhood that had just bought a new chevelle 396-360hp/Turbo 400 and he just loved the way the Nova sounded....he made me an offer that seemed to be too good to be true at the time.....he wanted to trade engines and trans........No Problem....

Over the winter I cut out the spring towers and fit the Engine/Trans into the Nova.......I ended up making my own headers and completed the install the following spring.......Now....I think I probably had the only big block 66 Nova in the area........It was cool looking, chirped the tires with the Turbo 400 at gear changes, but again, relative to what it was, it was a "Pooch"........Up until the time the car spent every night in the garage.....we went out one night and I was too lazy to put it in the garage as there was a parking place right in front of the house we lived in........the next morning I got up to move the car and at some time during the night someone side swiped the car..........I got it fixed but it was never the same again......I sold it to a guy on the south side and never saw tha car again........The bottom line is.....I basically "Trashed" a L-79 Nova..........(Tear in my Eye)



Ken

[ed mac 70 ss]

It's all true. The last time I saw Ken he was making that great engine change.to the big block. What was he thinking. I think that even I thought it was a great idea, after all if it did'nt work out we could just trade it and get another car. I started with a couple of Mr Norm's street rams ..A 64 and then the next year a 65. Fast but of course not fast enough. One of our friends had just bought a 66 Chevelle 396 - 375 hp. Within a couple of months he had racked up a slew of tickets. His father said get rid of it. A good friend of mine said lets take over the payments and race the car. So we raided our piggy banks and became street racers. When the summer was over we pulled the engine and delivered it to E & R and had as much engine work done as we could afford. Mario and I put the motor together in my dining room..In the following summer we raced wherever and whatever. Low 12,s not bad for a newbee. Then we sold the Chevelle to a guy named al frieman ,payments of course which lasted a few months then the car was stolen so hence no more payments. So ended my racing career. Moved to southern california for about 10 years Brouht back a 73 novaSS 350 turbo which I got new. Drove around a few years then parked it for several years.Chevrolet came out with all the nice crate motors so I spent the whole winter rehabbing the car. Turned out real nice except people would follow me around to see where I Parked the car.Sold it for a lot of money in about 99. In about 2002 I found the world of restored classics, 72 chevelle matching 350 4-speed for a few years now a pretty nice 70 ls6 clone . Not perfect but what I can afford in retirement. Car shows well and I,ve met bunches of nice guya at the shows . Can't wait for warmer weather to "get her out" Well thats my story and I'm sticking to see yall at the show in Nov
ed

[bashton]

What a great story...felt like I was right there with ya!

Bashton
MCACN Managing Member

[mrtimstik]

Cool story Ken. It's fun meeting up with friends from the past no matter how you get back in touch.

[Dicky]

Ken, I was sitting there with you when you drove home from the dealership (I'm sure it was the long way home) you put goose bumps on me with your writing ability. [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/worship.gif[/img] THANKS


Dicky [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/flag.gif[/img]

[Mr70]

That story is so reminiscent of why we are all hear on this site today.[img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/burnout.gif[/img]
Bitter/sweet tear in my eye too..

[Postsedan]

The Best Story since since... &quot;Gone with the Wind&quot;

Well Done!

Dan

[Xplantdad]

It's always good to hear a Kwhizz story from back in the day... [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/headbang.gif[/img]

[WILMASBOYL78]

&quot;&quot;&quot;So, the next winter (while Paulette was pregnant)&quot;&quot;&quot;
How did you have time for that if you were always working on the car..??

wilma [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/hmmm.gif[/img] [img]<<GRAEMLIN_URL>>/naughty.gif[/img]

[Smokey]

Tom- Thats pretty easy to understand. He had to plug in at night to keep warm during those cold Chicago nights.