This past Sunday morning we were on our way to church and when we went through the intersection of Access Highway and Rt. 1 in Caribou, there was a group of classic automobiles coming off Bennett Drive onto Rt. 1 headed towards Presque Isle. The leader of the group was a 1984 Chevrolet El Camino SS. I had to roll up my tongue as I looked this car over from behind and then the left side as I passed him headed south. Behind him was a 1956 Ford Thunderbird and I saw several Chevys and a Dodge or two.
These cars brought me back in time to 1975 when I was in the Navy and my ship was in the shipyard in Portsmouth, Va. I owned a 1966 Dodge Charger LE. There were only 750 of them built and it was the only Charger that came stock from the factory with a 383 magnum engine in 1966. A friend of mine owned a 1969 Chevrolet Camaro SS that he had totally restored and rebuilt the engine. Another fella from my ship owned a 1969 Dodge Charger that was mint from top to bottom and front to back.
I remember when we didn’t have the duty on the weekends, we would all congregate at the loop on Atlantic Avenue in Virginia Beach and just look at each others’ cars. Of course, we weren’t the only ones who had muscle cars there. An airman from Oceana Naval Air Station had a 1955 Chevrolet Bel Air with a 455 Cadillac engine in it. The front end of the body was all fiberglass and hinged at the bottom of the front so it could swing up and out of the way to allow access to the engine from all sides but the bottom. That ’55 would go like a scalded cat. My Charger and Lee’s Camaro engines had to be tied down with chains to the frame so the torque on acceleration wouldn’t break the motor mounts. There was no way, though, that we were in the same class as that ’55.
About that time was when James Taylor starred in the movie “Two Lane Blacktop” about two fellas who drove a ’55 Chevy across country racing when they needed gas money or money to be able to eat. “American Graffiti” came out shortly after, and Harrison Ford’s character drove a souped-up ’55 Chevy. The other male stars also drove “hot rods” that they cherished more than their girlfriends.
Last Sunday, as I got closer to Presque Isle, I came back to earth and reality. I miss those days when we all would meet and swap tales, some of them true, about past races and how many times we had changed broken motor mounts. Then some of us would talk of all the speeding tickets we had gotten. But that is a tale better suited for a later edition.
You know, it isn’t a bad thing to see something that triggers a memory and allows you to Remember When . . .
Guy Woodworth of Presque Isle is a 1973 graduate of Presque Isle High School and a four-year Navy veteran. He and his wife Theresa have two grown sons and five grandchildren. He may be contacted at lightning117_1999@yahoo.com.
