Bangin' Gears & Bustin' Heads

Wanna read some car stories set in the 1960’s?

Wanna know how it really was back then? Wanna know what ‘61 409’s, ’62 406 Fords ran like off the showroom floor? Wanna read about illegal street races, fist-fights, sock hops, real cruising and Premium gasoline? Wanna know how most of us spent our weekends?

If you do…“Bangin’ Gears & Bustin’ Heads” will, at least, help most of you relive YOUR youth…and I know you had one! Here’s an excerpt as a tease:

I slammed the three-speed into second, hauled the steering wheel right and floored the gas pedal. Rocks and gravel flew, the car slid around the corner, dust kicked up. I was going to lose Dave right now!

The Merc’s tail slid left. I corrected, straightened her out and caught a glimpse of red reflectors. Dead ahead of me -- a stake bed truck -- no way to miss it. Going to be bad when the glass quits tinkling, dust clears and the car stops! I yelled “hold on.” Bobby screamed. I hit it.

The yelling quit, the sound of rushing wind ended, the exhausts quieted, the music from WLS-AM just…went…away. Every trace of noise stopped… deathly quiet. The car hurtled forward in slow motion.

I furiously worked the clutch, gas pedal, and the wheel. The side mirror went, vent window shattered, metal crunched. The cab of the truck loomed. We were still moving. I stomped the gas, turned the wheel and missed the majority of the cab.

I realized, as I rounded the last corner of the driveway on the way out, that I’d side-swiped the truck…Dave’s headlights disappeared. I poured the Merc around the corner, bounced onto the gravel road and didn’t look back. I shoved the gas pedal almost thru the floorboard, didn’t want to stick around to see what kind of damage the truck took. Certainly didn’t want to see what I did to Dad’s Merc. No doubt now -- Dad will have my ass big time tomorrow!

“Bangin’ Gears & Bustin’ Heads”…is a commentary on the early to mid 1960’s…a series of 26 episodes, with each episode explained, between the stories.