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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Jul 31, 2007 9:19:48 GMT -6
A girl like that, I'd be willing to give her a Mulligan. Provided, of course, she first gave me a Rusty Trombone.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Jul 31, 2007 9:25:25 GMT -6
... and another hole in one.
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Jul 31, 2007 9:43:44 GMT -6
Or a birdie.
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Post by innit Geezer on Aug 1, 2007 5:47:41 GMT -6
Royal Oak is a sacred place to many 1960's hot rodders. Royal Oak Pontiac had a national following and built modified cars for everyday use. Cars that came from there are very collectible today. I like this top picture, no helmets, no guard rails, much simpler times overall.  Here's a picture of my own madness in my 1968 GTO prepared similar to a Royal car. The photo is about 25 years old.  |
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Post by New Mama on Aug 1, 2007 14:19:02 GMT -6
Dragging Woodward Ave between 8 Mile road and 16 (Big Beaver) was the favorite pass time for me and about 2 thousand other teenage goofballs throughout the 50's and 60's. Royal Oak is located between 10 and 12 mile road. Detroit was all about cars. Their were several car hop type of joints, Totem Pole, Big Wheel and Big Boys that were ‘cruise’ palaces where you slowly cruised through to show off your wheels. If you had a job you’d back up in one of the car slots, park, order a hamburger, Cherry Coke and watch the parade of custom cars and want-a-bees in Dad’s station wagon.
My Polish boyfriend at the time, Leon had a 63 Chevy with a 396 engine and four on the floor…slicks on the back. I even won a trophy on the ¼ mile at Detroit Drag Way one Saturday afternoon back in 68. Mainly we dragged other soup’ed up cars up and down Woodward Avenue every night drinking Black Label or Stroh’s beer. Those were the days my friend…..great memories.
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Post by ♥ COVID-19♥ on Aug 1, 2007 14:25:12 GMT -6
My Polish boyfriend at the time, Leon ... Is the term "Polish boyfriend" some kind of politically incorrect euphemism for a vibrator? |
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Post by New Mama on Aug 1, 2007 14:39:09 GMT -6
My Polish boyfriend at the time, Leon ... Is the term "Polish boyfriend" some kind of politically incorrect euphemism for a vibrator? Exactly! But now you have me remembering things that have nothing to do with racing cars......oh, the Royal Oak Drive-In on 12 Mile Road, just east of Woodward, every Friday night. What fun! It was for good reason that his buddy's called him stretch <big grin>. |
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Post by New Mama on Aug 1, 2007 14:43:29 GMT -6
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Post by Tex on Aug 1, 2007 16:26:31 GMT -6
Detroit and its burbs were sort of sad really. You can tell that it was once a vibrant city, but it looks tired to me. The handwriting is on the wall for the Big 3 automakers. I had a long talk with my sister-in-law's fiance about the situation at GM, where he is an engineer with the GM Proving Ground.
Trucks have been GM's only profitable market lately. Toyota is going after that big time with the new Tundra plant in San Antonio. GM has two big disadvantages:
1) $3,000 per unit roughly in retiree medical costs. Toyota has very little.
2) GM's current UAW labor costs are about $50 per hour. Toyota's are about $20 (non-union). The Toyota workforce has resisted unionizing so far. The UAW initially gave the foreign car companies a soft pitch to get them to build here and now their employess don't want the union. Toyota has built its recent plants in right to work states (Lexington, KY for the Camry plant and San Antonio for the Tundra plant)
UAW is still militant and won't give an inch with the Big 3.
I don't see how GM, Ford, and Chrysler can survive long term in North America. Militant unions will be the death of them.
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Post by Tex on Aug 2, 2007 12:33:49 GMT -6
Niagara Falls was worth the trip, as was Toronto. The Falls was inundated with people and there were long waits, but it is an amazing sight. This was my first trip to Toronto in years. We slept in a hotel downtown but hung around Chinatown where my wife's cousin and her husband work. He is a fruit man  and she works in a sandwich shop. They both work 12 hours a day, seven days a week but took some time off to see us. I wish we had more time to hang around Toronto as it is a very nice city, albeit expensive. |
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Post by Tex on Aug 3, 2007 6:59:38 GMT -6
We did frequent Tim Hortons while on the road in Canada. They are good and worth the money. We actually filled up at a full service (first one I've been to in 25 years) gas station in one little town. They had a mechanic's shop in the back. I spotted a clean old 1940's Citroen in the back and got my Vietnamese mother-in-law out to look at it. It brought back memories for her as these were the transportation du jour in the Saigon she grew up in.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Aug 3, 2007 7:27:22 GMT -6
I had put this (or something like it) together yesterday, but it seems to have disappeared in the ether... Woodward has a long and storied history, and THANK YOU Anita for mentioning the Totem Pole and Big Wheel. LOTS of good memories there. Cant forget Susie Q's and Ted's either. Woodwards heritage goes back to the turn of the 20th century www.woodwardheritage.com/ The Totem Pole had a burger called the "Big Chief" that made anything like a "Big Mac" seem amaturish, 40+ years later its memory is still the standard that I measure any similar burger against...  If things were a bit more formal, or the family was involved... head to the WigWam  Cruise 2 miles north of there to Susie Q's for a malt..  Then, depending on your age, and the movies that was showing, it might be a 'family' thing, or maybe with your date... head to the Oak Drive In  THEN after the movie things got serious on Woodward. My dad's younger brother, for a brief time in the late 50's held the record for the run between the 11 and 12 Mile traffic lights, topping off at 120+ mph. If you remember the climatic dragrace scene in the movie "American Graffiti", thats close except the traffic lights controlled the start, and it was 4 across. This is his '47 Ford, just after purchase (and before he 'modified' it) running through a puddle in front of my Grandparents house in Ferndale.  |
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Post by Tex on Aug 3, 2007 7:45:10 GMT -6
My sister-in-law's fiance restored a red 1956 Porsche Roadster. While the women went shopping, we cruised up and down Woodward. Cool place. Saturday night, all of us went to an old malt shop, serve at the window place on Woodward and watched the cars. Maybe it was the weather, but there were plenty of them out. I believe I was told that Woodward Ave. between Detroit and Pontiac was the oldest paved road in North America akin to what Gordon wrote.
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Post by New Mama on Aug 3, 2007 8:33:13 GMT -6
Great photos Gordie!! Where on earth did you find them? I’d like to send them to my sister who was part of the Woodward scene in the 50’s.
I LOVED the Big Chief burgers at the ‘Pole;’ and the pastrami sandwiches at WigWam. I forgot about Ted’s that was the end of the line for cruising Woodward for my gang of cruisers.
I’ve wanted to get back for the annual Dream Cruise event on Woodward, but I can’t seem to tear myself away from the Lake in August.
Thanks for the memories.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Aug 3, 2007 8:33:15 GMT -6
That one sectioned mentioned above is what she was referring to. It wasnt the first concrete road ever (there were short stretches of concrete elsewhere prior), but the first full mile of concrete, and that 27 mile stretch being paved in the 19teens, may have been the longest stretch to that date.
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Post by innit Geezer on Aug 3, 2007 18:48:15 GMT -6
Thank you for the pictures Gordon. I have always had a curiosity about this area and it's foundation in culture of America's love with cars.
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Post by Tex on Aug 3, 2007 19:58:52 GMT -6
In 1950, Detroit had 1.6 million people and had the highest per capita income among US cities. Today, it has 800,000 and ranks 64th. The place has an inspiring history, but they did something wrong along the way.
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Post by Chicago Jake on Aug 4, 2007 23:02:07 GMT -6
.......The place has an inspiring history, but they did something wrong along the way. I suspect some of our liberal pinhead members may disagree with me, but I would pin most of that "something wrong" on the labor unions......Jake (who apologizes in advance for bringing politics into the trip report forum) |
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Aug 6, 2007 5:30:07 GMT -6
Jake, this liberal pinhead will point to something he has said many times before. BOTH SIDES (union AND management) have to agree to a work stoppage OR a contract. There is plenty of blame to go around and BOTH sides are guilty guilty guilty.
BUT, that is not at the core of Detroit downfall. As early as the 1960's people were pointing out that the city relies WAY TOO MUCH on one industry. Calls for economic diversification were aplenty then, including the city mayor and the state's governor. BUT THAT WAS ALL IT EVER WAS. It made great rhetoric, and everytime there was an economic turn down the city suffered (actually, since the early '20s the city was the nations economic leader when times were good, and a basket case when the auto business was bad). Dem's and Repub's have sung the same song for 4 decades, but no one had the cojones to dance.
NO QUESTION, the unions have their share in the downfall, but they were also integral to the cities rise also. But to pin even 'most' of the blame on them is overly simplistic.
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Post by Ardbeg... innit on Aug 6, 2007 5:34:11 GMT -6
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Post by Tex on Aug 6, 2007 6:38:35 GMT -6
...NO QUESTION, the unions have their share in the downfall, but they were also integral to the cities rise also. But to pin even 'most' of the blame on them is overly simplistic. Gordon, you are too smart for that. Give me a break here. Bullheaded UAW bosses are 100% of the problem with the US auto makers today. If GM and Ford could go from the over $50 per hour total labor costs to the little over $20 that Toyota has, they would: 1) be profitable instantly 2) be able to make a profit selling smaller cars I am not talking about Toyota's Japanese labor costs, but their costs making Camrys in Lexington, KY and Tundras in San Antonio, TX. |
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Post by innit Geezer on Aug 6, 2007 8:09:01 GMT -6
Volkswagen pays high per hour costs also. Is it brand loyalty in Germany that keeps them going? (rhetorically speaking)
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Post by Chicago Jake on Aug 6, 2007 9:40:04 GMT -6
Jake, this liberal pinhead will point to something he has said many times before. BOTH SIDES (union AND management) have to agree to a work stoppage OR a contract. There is plenty of blame to go around and BOTH sides are guilty guilty guilty. BUT, that is not at the core of Detroit downfall. As early as the 1960's people were pointing out that the city relies WAY TOO MUCH on one industry. Calls for economic diversification were aplenty then, including the city mayor and the state's governor. BUT THAT WAS ALL IT EVER WAS. It made great rhetoric, and everytime there was an economic turn down the city suffered (actually, since the early '20s the city was the nations economic leader when times were good, and a basket case when the auto business was bad). Dem's and Repub's have sung the same song for 4 decades, but no one had the cojones to dance. NO QUESTION, the unions have their share in the downfall, but they were also integral to the cities rise also. But to pin even 'most' of the blame on them is overly simplistic. I'm going to reply to this load of crap in the Politics forum where it belongs. Again, my apologies for starting it up over here. Please, move along! Nothing to see here!!.....Jake |
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and she works in a sandwich shop. They both work 12 hours a day, seven days a week but took some time off to see us. I wish we had more time to hang around Toronto as it is a very nice city, albeit expensive.