[Deralik]

I grew up in Stanton, a small town (barrio) near Disneyland before it was Disneyland. Santa Ana, a nearby "big city" offered week-end street drags from stoplight to stoplight DOWNTOWN!! Man, those were the days! Cruising and street racing and hooking up with friends to find where the "party's" were that night was just the start of a really fun week-end. Unless of course you got in trouble, ahem (PC 647f Drunk in Public) and wound up in the main jail where you knew everybody and everybody knew you. I remember the bars on the windows that opened onto an alley were finger loose and could be removed and used to give thumpin' "noogies" to your homies. Nobody bothered to escape though, too much trouble.

Money was tight (the more things change....) Good ol' Louie had a six cylinder '54 Chevy (vatomobile) that would get us from Stanton to Santa Ana for a $1.00 gas donation. Gas was 25 cents/gal so it worked out. Next came getting our hands on some beer (El Cheapo Golden Grain Beer from Rexall Drugs...guaranteed to provide a massive morning headache/dry heaves/porcelain Goddess where are you/ Oh God, I'll never do this again/I ain't got nuthin' more to throw up 'cept my nuts!!. Then once our courage was fortified, trying to hook up with the ladies YOWZA!!

My point (there is one somewhere) is that there was a tire/wheel/hubcap combo during that time that was very popular, especially so among 50's-60's Chevys. It consisted of a black reversed 15" wheel utilizing a small crossed flags ('58-''59?) Chevy dogdish hubcap and a "beautry ring". It was KILLER and cheap too. I loved the style but haven't seen an example for 40-50 (yikes!) years. What happened? Anybody got photos. I'd really like to see them again.

Lotsa stories in these old bones. Anybody out there???

[garrell.770]

Hey, I ran that wheel/hubcap combination on a 1959 red Chevy Impala but I guess I thought it was Tallapoosa style. I probably had never heard of SoCal at that time. I don't remember but I don't think there were many Mag wheels at that time and could not have afforded them any way.
Garrell

[da34guy]

Ah Yes! Them were the days.
Racin from Pebblers cleaners to Chestnut On Main st 1/4 mile.
Hangin @ Oscars, goin over to Anaheim and crusin The Bean Hut.
Then down to GG blvd back to Santa Ana.
Maybe out on Browning by LTA 4 a little more racin.
Powerine Gas stations with gas wars gas was 18.9
that was in 63 -64
The good ole days

[garrell.770]

All Tallapoosa, Georgia had was the Burger Chick, home of the Big O, the worlds best hamburger. After about 2:00 am you could race from the second traffic light down past what is now the Post office, side by side on the main highway through town. There was only one other traffic light in town for a total of three.
There is a pipeline that runs from a refinery in Louisana through all the southern states to Plantion Pipeline storage facility. The Mayor of Tallapoosa, after he was released from Federal Prison for making moonshine had the pipeline tapped next to an old abandoned house. He had a tanker truck that would load up at night and deliver to 7 out of the 8 service stations in town. They were finally caught when the driver left the truck as it was filling up a tank in the middle of the night, gas started running down the gutter on the main highway mentioned above. The Mayor and seven service station owners went to federal prison for interstate theft. The Mayor was the Boss Hogg of town and his henchmen did all of the work. There was a book written about the incident, The Tallapoosa Seven, don't know if it is still in print or not. It definitley the Good Ole Days.

Garrell