Cruising

My brother Jack got a chevy ( i think it was a 41 ) I was about 13 or 14 at the time. I thoroughly enjoyed cars. When Jack got this car i was really excited because i knew he would take me cruising with him. Of course we had to slam the car first. It was black and had gangster white walls. The car was so low we had to go over the railroad tracks one tire at a time. It was a cool little ride, It bounced a lot but that was cool with us. Back then the top speed on that car was about 45 mph and that was cool with us too. As long as we were cruising everything was cool. To us cruising in that old bomb was like cruising in a brand new Cadillac. We never went far. in those days driving from Colusa to Woodland is comparable to driving from Woodland to San Francisco these days. We were content to just cruise around town and be cool. In order to go cruising, the car had to look good, so we would spend about a couple hours washing and waxing it every weekend, and you had to look good too, you had to have your spit shines ( usually french toed shoes ) khaki's or frisco's pants that were starched and creased so sharp you could cut yourself on them, white t-shirt and a starched shirt, sometimes with a military style crease, depending on what was going down, and you had to have your pompadour hairdo with the ducktail in the back and your hair would be longer then what was acceptable at the time. Most people didn't care for "our" style. It was the Pachuco style. The Pachucos were the first to go against the grain so to speak in the way they dressed, there music, cars and attitude towards any authoritative figure. They enjoyed there own style instead of going with the mainstream. The Pachucos of the 50's had ties to the chicano movement that started in the 60's. They were the first to dress down with the "baggy look". They also created there own style of tattoos.I would say the cross was the most popular. In any group of people, you'll find good ones and bad ones and they were no different. They just had a different perspective of what things should be like. That was cool with me because i have always thought out of the box.
We didn't have a radio in the car as was the case with a lot of cars back then. We were just learning about cars and we didn't know how to put a radio in a car and it wasn't a priority for us cause we were content just the way we were. The music came later, we were digging the fact that we could cruise around and connect with our friends. Mom and Dad didn't care too much for our music, if it was too loud they would tell us to turn it down, if our hair got too long, either my Dad would cut it the way he wanted it, or it was up to you to get it cut. We had no other choice. Mom and Dad had there opinion about the way we dressed , but as long as we were clean they didn't say too much. These were fun times for me. Having Mom and Dad and the rest of the family there and all the good times with our cousins and friends....priceless. One time my Dad bought this 49 Studebaker, they were called torpedoes because of there shape,but it looked like an aquarium. It had wrap around windows and was this funky green color. At the time none of us had a car so we would go cruising in the studebaker. That car was my Dads pride and joy until......one day he was having problems with the battery and it wouldn't start. He told a friend to give it a push with his car to get it started and he told me to get in the studebaker and when i got it started i was to turn it around and come right back. and i did have every intention of coming right back but my friend Danny went with me to get it started and when the car started he asked me of i could give him a ride home. I should have listened to Dad of course, but that little devil in me said "aw what the heck, give him a ride home, you'll be o.k." I drove right past our block and gave my friend a ride home. I always wondered what my Dad thought when he seen me drive by, I sure didn't want to ask after what i did. Any way we get to my friends house and the car dies out, so i figure i'm in trouble now. so my friend Danny boy asks his brother-in-law if he can give me a push to get the car started again and he says o.k. So he gets in his car and starts pushing the ol Studebaker and he pushes it all over the neighborhood but it wouldn't start, about this time it's starting to get dark so i tell him to give me a real hard push and let me go and i'll coast it into the alley behind the house and then i'll run away from home. No not really . I just figured i would have to face the music alone. now about this time I should have been home over an hour ago. Well he gives me this push as fast as he could get it going and then he lets me go, i get to the road going into the alley and make my turn. the lights on the car were not working because the battery was too dead and when i make my turn i make it too short and i hit the curb. It bent the wheel and frame all the way back on one side only so that one tire pointed east and the other tires pointed south..OHHHH NOOOO. A bout this time i'm thinking foreign legion. I was only about 16 at the time and i only had about 35 cents to my name so i went home, as soon as i walked in the door everyone stopped talking and slowly started leaving the room with one ear stretching back trying to find out what happened. Nobody i mean nobody liked hearing my Dad when he was pissed and believe you me he was pissed. He said where did you go, and i said i went to give Danny a ride home and then he said, where is my car, and i said, it's at Danny's house. and he said, i thought i told you to come right back, well i was wrong so i couldn't say anything all i could do was just shrug my shoulders. Dad says did it stop on you and i said yes it did and i'm thinking boy did it ever stop. I look at Dad and he's giving me one of those looks that you only know what i'm talking about if your one of his sons or daughters and you just screwed up big time. I had to tell him what happened so i started telling him and before i even get to the part about wrecking it i just knew Dad already knew this wasn't going to be nice. Before i get to the part where the curb jumped out in front of me, Dad puts his hand up and says how bad is it, after i tell him about the tires he gets his hand and runs it over his face, top to bottom. About this time i feel about two feet tall and shrinking. Dad tells me he doesn't care how i do it but he wants me to go and get that car out of the street. Lucky for me my brother Jr. lived right down the street from where i wrecked the car, so i go to him and he helped me move it, sad to say the car was totaled. My Dad sold it to the junk yard. I still had to hear it from my Dad again when I got home, If I remember correctly, Mom would always be close when Dad was letting me have it and she always had this little tell tale smile or maybe even smirk on her face as if she was enjoying it. I guess she was figuring i just learned a good lesson and thats something i won't do again. I caught more hell wrecking that ugly ol Studebaker then i did when i wrecked his beautiful 56 chevy. But thats another story.