Remembering the "Good Ol' Days"
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Remembering the "Good Ol' Days"
Posted: July 05 2008 11:56 AM
 
Jim Edwards (aka Starfire) [ View ] [ Car Ads ] [ Blogs ]
Weimar, Texas
 
Anyone else remember the the good old days when if you could build it and the headlights and brake lights worked it was "Street Legal?" Which brings up a trivia question. When did the term "street legal" come into being?
 
 
Comments
 
Posted by cr55  -  07/05/2008 05:52 PM
Were they really as good as you would like to think? LOL I can remember some of the cars that I "sneaked" thru the department of motor vehicles. They would probably throw the book at you today and I'm lucky that I didn't kill myself or someone else in them!!!
I'm a product of the late 60's and early 70's. Cars were jacked up so high in the back to make room for those giant L60's that you could hardly see out of the back window. Muscle cars were big then and most if not all of them had manual drum brakes , front and rear. Those things would roll,but it took 2 men and a boy to get them to stop! The "good ole days"?........CR
I thought that I knew it all , but.. [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] dover, Delaware
 
Posted by Starfire  -  07/05/2008 06:51 PM
The "Good Old days" were when one headed to the salvage yard and could pickup a complete "A" or '32-36 coupe or roadster for $50-$75, if it would run you might have paid $125.00. Then all you needed was an OHV engine and maybe a tranny adapter plate. Then was the chore of adding "juice" brakes. For about $500 bucks you were on the road with your new hot rod that would pass a safety inspection. Meaning lights and brakes worked.
Starfire [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Weimar, Texas
 
Posted by cr55  -  07/05/2008 07:11 PM
Just a "little" before my time! Only a choosen few had real hotrods. And boy was I jealous. On my first day of high school I remember staring out of the window and the lot was full of all types of Hotrods. I thouight i'd died and went to heaven! Never saw most of them after that first day, I guess they belonged to parents or somebody who let them borrow the cars. We always had our share of muscle cars. Most of us dumb a***s hardly knew how to keep them running much less build them. But I learned the hard way. My Pop didn't care for cars so he was no help when it came time to fix mine. His reply was " You'll figure it out". And I did. It was either that or walk. I didn't much care for walking back then, had a reputation to keep up,you know!!!!!!!!I would have loved to have an old car when I was a teenager, but it wasn't in the cards until later when I supposedly grew up. Plus working out in the street or if I was lucky in the driveway didn't really cut it. Now you can't keep me away. A couple of years ago my family and myself were vacationing in the Bahamas. As we were riding on the local bus, I looked out the window and lo and behold there was a car show going on in the parking lot of a shopping center. Just about all american hotrods too. My wife looked over at me and knew what I was going to do! I shouted "STOP THE BUS" and I proceeded to enjoy my vacation even more! I guess we all have an incurable disease, and I hope they don't find a cure for it any time soon!......CR
I thought that I knew it all , but.. [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] dover, Delaware
 
Posted by screw  -  07/05/2008 07:14 PM
My guess on the street legal thing would have to be around 1971 or so, when the Insurance companies were putting the screws to the manufacturers?
screw [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Gray Rapids N.B., Canada
 
Posted by cr55  -  07/05/2008 07:15 PM
Screw, Hows the tin Indian coming along? Great looking car!.....CR
I thought that I knew it all , but.. [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] dover, Delaware
 
Posted by DavyJ  -  07/05/2008 10:14 PM
I seem to remember the term street legal being used in the early 60's in Rod & Custom, they had a few articles about how to alter the wheel base in a 64 Chev by moving the rear axle forward and putting in a straight axle.
Still driving the wife's car, cause I am slow. [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Niagara Falls, Canada Charter Member since February 2005
 
Posted by Starfire  -  07/05/2008 11:31 PM
Davy that is probably as close an answer to being correct time wise as we may find. It may have also evolved as a term with the very earliest so called "funny cars" many of which used the original chassis of a car with the driver's seat moved way back to accommodate a much larger engine than the car originally had and were not street legal, though retaining a street appearance. Of course just about everywhere today it also means a car that will pass the criteria for licensing. A far cry from just working lights, brakes, and wipers. Actually I recall cars without headlights being licensed, you just couldn't drive them on the street at night. As long as it was daylight every thing was cool.
Starfire [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Weimar, Texas
 
Posted by screw  -  07/06/2008 10:33 AM
Well cr55 the ol' Poncho's comin' right along. Although, I'm finding it tough to get a chance to spend more than just an hour or two because I'm trying to In stall a new heating system in the house, but we should be finishing up the brakes on thursday then all the mechanical stuff wil be done for now. She's got new rear shocks,water pump brake lines, cleaned up and painted all kinds of stuff (small stuff) so hopefully Friday, she'll be at the body shop for the rear fender fix and then......................CRUISE!
screw [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] Gray Rapids N.B., Canada
 
Posted by Crazyhorse Rod Shop  -  07/06/2008 11:32 AM
well this one was street legal for a while until i put it on a diet .
dont poke the porchdog........he bites [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] BLUFF DALE, Texas Charter Member since March 2003
 
Posted by cr55  -  07/06/2008 12:00 PM
Screw, it's summertime man, that heating system can wait until October or later ..LOL. And Shine, I know I didn't have any teachers with a car like that! ......CR
I thought that I knew it all , but.. [ View ] [ Email ] [ Blogs ] [ Car Ads ] dover, Delaware
 
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