60's gearheads and/or automotive historians still here?

[Forwardlook]

Haven't been much on the site since the fantastic Old Car Factories thread, any car geeks still here? I am trying to realize my dream of not only visiting the Woodward Dream Cruise but also see the hot spots of the glory days of Detroit Muscle. I'm first and foremost a Chrysler guy but my interest is not limited to that. Some of the places I'd like to see are the old Chrysler Center site in Highland Park, old dealerships that are still standing like Hodges Dodges, Taylor's Motor Sales [[later Northwestern Dodge) etc, Creative Industries, the Turbine car facility, the Howard Johnson restaurant that was home of the High End club [[not sure if the building on site is the original), anything related to the Ramchargers, of course the Packard Plant and Fisher Body etc etc. Even neighborhoods where the Chrysler plants once stood would be interesting. I can find a lot myself and I have a few contacts already but it would be great to hear as much stories from back in the day as possible. Anyone here care to show a European fan of Detroit around? Maybe someone else would be interested too and even a small group could be formed? All hints and suggestions of what to see are highly appreciated. I will haul down a 1961 Dodge Dart Pioneer 2dHT down from Wisconsin [[before taking it to port) which will be a replica of the car that the Ramchargers raced in 1961. I will try to shoot some photos of it in places related to the original one. Should be interesting. Any thoughts?

[redvetred]

Interesting trip you have planned. Not much left of Chrysler in Highland Park except buildings. Hodges Dodges is now Hodges Subaru in Ferndale. The Ramchargers facility on Hilton in Ferndale is still there but of course the Ramchargers are long gone. You should stop at the Chrysler Museum in Auburn Hills as it has a very good display with storyboards about the original Ramchargers. The first time I ever saw a wheelie was at Woodward and Ten Mile by the Ramchargers. Does your car have an altered wheel base? I look forward to seeing it at the Woodward DreamCruise.

[Packman41]

I PMed Forward Look and we've exchanged some e-mails

For others interested in an auto tour there is the Woodward Avenue Action Assoc. website. They have two tours: [[1) auto history related and [[2) Public Art Along the Byways, see:
http://www.woodwardstore.org/ They are free, but there is a log on process.

I have not tried them myself, but will check it out soon.

Or you can try this link to the MotorCities National Heritage Area for their tours:
http://www.motorcities.org/Explore+M...ve+Map-84.html

[stromberg2]

The Tplex is cool. It's the Model T plant on Piquette.

Stromberg2

[Sailor Rick]

Where was Ramchargers on Hilton? Was Hodges Dodges at the same facility back in the day as they are now? Was it ever south of Cambourne at what used to be Fernwood Dodge?
I had a summer job at Fernwood Dodge as a used car porter in the mid-70's. Plenty of hot Mopars on the lot for me to "blow out the carbon".
Only downside was I had to ride along with anyone who test drove a car. I never had any problems. Maybe they thought I came with the car.

[douglasm]

Looks like Hodges is in the same location [[and updated building) as it was back in the day. I don't remember them ever south of Camborne except for a storage lot next to the little grocery store [[where Pizza Hut is now), On Woodward and Lewiston was Hodges Imports [[Renault/Puegot/Saab) and/or Northwood Chrysler-Plymouth, but I don't remember Fernwood Dodge. Was that in the same building? Memory is an iffy thing, so keep in mind I haven't been back there since the early 90's.

[Sailor Rick]

“Memory is an iffy thing.” Who can forget the dirigible races at the State Fair? Now that’s worth remembering.

Fernwood Dodge was at the site where the Pizza Hut is. The building now also houses a clothing store and a fitness center. Fernwood must have followed Hodges. I can’t imagine a pair of Dodge dealers on the same corner. The building didn’t seem that new so maybe it was a previously a different make dealer before becoming Fernwood.

Do you remember the “Motown Missile”, the pro stock ‘Cuda? Their shop was on I believe, Delmere a few miles east of Woodward in Royal Oak. My pals and I hung out there a few times in high school. They were pretty cool to us dorky teenagers. Imagine the thrill sitting in it after they fired it up. The walls would shake. We used to roll the scrawniest of our group down the street [[ouch!) in the used slicks they let us trash pick. I still have a cut up chrome valve cover from the Missile hanging in my garage. www.allpar.com/racing/missile/missile.html

Fowardlook, you should check out the “Silver Bullet”. It was a legendary street machine that ruled Woodward. A 1967 hemi GTX owned by Jimmy Addison, “a good old boy” [[American slang for Southerner) mechanic who worked at a Sunoco Service station at Woodward and Taunton in Birmingham. In reality, it was a test bed for Chrysler high-performance engineering. To my knowledge it can still be seen at the Chrysler exhibit during the “cruise.” To see it square off with an equally powerful car for a street race was incredible. http://www.silverbulletgtx.com/

[redvetred]

Sailor Rick
In the early-1960s, Ramchargers was located at 1950 Hilton Road, Ferndale. I'm not sure the building is still there. I believe in the mid-1960's they moved to Taylor.

[Forwardlook]

Thanks for all the replies! Have been abroad so it took awhile to answer.

redvetred,

Yes, not much left of the Chrysler complex in Highland Park. As far as I know the only building still standing is a warehouse in the northeast corner of the property. There are also at least one old gate left. But for me it would still be a magic place to visit knowing the incredible history.
The WPC Museum is a must, I have been there in 2007 but I am sure that there is a lot of new things to see. A Ramchargers storyboard sounds very cool!
Very cool to hear the exact Hilton Road garage location, this is the info I really look for! Is it the building across the side street from Chosen Books? Chosen Books is 1956 Hilton, Google Maps gives wrong numbers.
http://maps.google.fi/maps?q=1950+Hi...12,131.48,,0,0

Sorry, my car is nothing special, just a rusty 1961 Dodge from Wisconsin. The altered wheelbases started in 1964. I am attaching a picture of the Ramchargers 61.


Packman41

Thanks for those links, have to check them out! Great stuff!

stromberg2

Will definitely check out the Tplex!

Sailor Rick

I have been a bit confused of the Hodges Dodges locations as well, had a lot of photos of the dealership but lost them when my old computer kicked the bucket. My guess is though that the current Hodges Subaru is the old Hodges Dodges in 1960:s photos? BTW, if you look at Woodward Avenue on Google Maps they have shot photos during the Woodward Dream Cruise and the Hodges van is still a Dodge Ram
You wouldn't happen to remember the exact location of the Motown Missile facility? It might not be very hard to find via Google Street View?
I am quite familiar with the Silver Bullet, what a piece of Detroit history! Looking forward to seeing it! What was even more thrilling to me though was a recent piece of info in Genat's excellent Woodward Avenue book. He was talking about the Silver Bullet and when following Jimmy Addison Dave Koffel got into trouble with the cops driving a Petty Blue 68 Road Runner looking like a race car. This was the brainchild of the Chrysler ad agency, Young & Rubicam, and was thought to be marketed in 1969 as a "Petty Special". Petty Blue, huge "Plymouth" logos on the quarters like Superbirds would later have, Hemi, 4-sp, black interior and black steel wheels etc etc. Unfortunately Petty went to Ford in '69 and the project was scrapped. Before this book I had only heard the car mentioned one time before, in a 3 page article in the October 1985 issue of Car Craft magazine. Needless to say, it made an impression...

douglasm

Sure wish I'd still have all those photos, you could probably clear out a few things.

[Forwardlook]

Fowardlook, you should check out the “Silver Bullet”. It was a legendary street machine that ruled Woodward. A 1967 hemi GTX owned by Jimmy Addison, “a good old boy” [[American slang for Southerner) mechanic who worked at a Sunoco Service station at Woodward and Taunton in Birmingham. In reality, it was a test bed for Chrysler high-performance engineering. To my knowledge it can still be seen at the Chrysler exhibit during the “cruise.” To see it square off with an equally powerful car for a street race was incredible. http://www.silverbulletgtx.com/

Is this the actual building from back in the day or something more recent??? It is at Woodward and Taunton!

http://maps.google.fi/maps?q=Taunton...=12,41.41,,0,0

[Packman41]

Is this the actual building from back in the day or something more recent??? It is at Woodward and Taunton!

While I don't know the exact corner that the Sunoco Station was on I can tell you that the oil change building is very recent - within the last 10 to 12 years. The lot size seems a little smal for a former gas station.

Meanwhile, the lot to the south is larger and more suitable for what would have been the location for a gas station. If you go to your photo from Google Earth I am talking about the red/rust colored shingled building.

When you get to Detroit next month you will have to visit the National Automotive History Collection at the Skillman Library in downtown Detroit - the largest auto history collection in the world.

I will also contact my friend, Dick Skoglund, who was a part owner of the Ramchargers and see how you can get to meet/talk with him.

[douglasm]

Forward Look....

Did you have a question or two? My memories go back to Race Chrysler/Plymouth [[Race Edsel), so I should be able to dredge up a memory or two if need be. Just don't ask me the name of the C-P dealer on Woodward just north of 10 Mile. THAT I don't remember.

BTW, a while back, I unearthed a set of shot glasses my father had with the forward look emblem on them.

[CountrySquire]

I got a few 'Hodges Dodges' Matchbooks, I want to keep one, I'll let the other one go for $20.

[Sailor Rick]

I got a few 'Hodges Dodges' Matchbooks, I want to keep one, I'll let the other one go for $20.

What's the address?

[douglasm]

2266 South M-78, West Branch? Does that dealership have any relationship to the old Hodges?

I would assume the address on the matchbook would be 23100 Woodward......

[Forwardlook]

2266 South M-78, West Branch? Does that dealership have any relationship to the old Hodges?

I would assume the address on the matchbook would be 23100 Woodward......

I have a Hodges matchbook from 1941, the address on it is 23048 Woodward...they sold both Dodges and Plymouths back then.

[Forwardlook]

While I don't know the exact corner that the Sunoco Station was on I can tell you that the oil change building is very recent - within the last 10 to 12 years. The lot size seems a little smal for a former gas station.

Meanwhile, the lot to the south is larger and more suitable for what would have been the location for a gas station. If you go to your photo from Google Earth I am talking about the red/rust colored shingled building.

When you get to Detroit next month you will have to visit the National Automotive History Collection at the Skillman Library in downtown Detroit - the largest auto history collection in the world.

I will also contact my friend, Dick Skoglund, who was a part owner of the Ramchargers and see how you can get to meet/talk with him.

I was going to ask if that collection is available to the public, very cool I am sure. Looks like I should stay six months instead of one week...

Dick Skoglund? Cool, didn't he join the Ramchargers in the mid-60:s? He might be able to verify the Hilton Road building as well as the address of the next garage on Trumbull Avenue? I bet he'd have a few stories to tell...

Anyone here with info on the Sunoco station?

[Forwardlook]

Forward Look....

Did you have a question or two? My memories go back to Race Chrysler/Plymouth [[Race Edsel), so I should be able to dredge up a memory or two if need be. Just don't ask me the name of the C-P dealer on Woodward just north of 10 Mile. THAT I don't remember.

BTW, a while back, I unearthed a set of shot glasses my father had with the forward look emblem on them.

Forward Look shot glasses, awesome. I have seen photos of them!

I asked about it in the car dealership thread already but could you verify if the U-Haul/self storage business is the old Taylor's Motor Sales Dodge dealership that later became Northwestern Dodge? The building definitely looks like an old car dealership with the showroom windows covered up. I have tried to find old pics of it but no luck.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=19711+...27.86,,0,16.16

Race Edsel on 22525 Woodward is torn down and a McDonalds is on the property? It was a C-P dealership before Edsel?

http://edsel.net/dealer/edselrace.jpg

I have to see if I can figure out what I was wondering regarding Hodges locations, my memory isn't the best...have to look for those vintage photos.

Negative feelings of Village C-P or? Sorry, you made me curious...

[Cincinnati_Kid]

Forward Look shot glasses, awesome. I have seen photos of them!

I asked about it in the car dealership thread already but could you verify if the U-Haul/self storage business is the old Taylor's Motor Sales Dodge dealership that later became Northwestern Dodge? The building definitely looks like an old car dealership with the showroom windows covered up. I have tried to find old pics of it but no luck.

http://maps.google.com/maps?q=19711+...27.86,,0,16.16

Race Edsel on 22525 Woodward is torn down and a McDonalds is on the property? It was a C-P dealership before Edsel?

http://edsel.net/dealer/edselrace.jpg

I have to see if I can figure out what I was wondering regarding Hodges locations, my memory isn't the best...have to look for those vintage photos.

Negative feelings of Village C-P or? Sorry, you made me curious...

I believe you are correct, my Dad bought a brand new 64 Dodge Dart from Taylor Dodge, and the U-Haul place was once a dealership.

[douglasm]

Actually, my memory is coming up with the thought that Race Motors was a Plymouth/DeSoto dealer. That I could be wrong about, though. When they went to Edsel, Hodges opened Northwood C-P.

[Hornwrecker]

Mid sixties photo of that stretch of Woodward:

http://dlxs.lib.wayne.edu/cgi/i/imag...-10529%5D10529

[CountrySquire]

What's the address?

My address or the address on the Matchbook? The matchbooks are from the 40s or 50s and are for the Ferndale Address on Woodward.

[DetroitPlanner]

There is a Hodges Dodges in West Branch, MI

[surenowinlife]

I found a cool old yardstick from the 30's/40's for " The Automobile Equipment Co" of Detroit with 12 locations.It is drilled with 16 holes for holding valves while getting ready to grind!

[CassTechGrad]

This is the information from the 1967 Birmingham phone directory. The street numbers on Woodward must have been modified between now and then because 1775 Woodward on Google maps is at the intersection of Old Woodward and Landon. I passed the station many times between 1967 and 1969 driving a 1967 Pontiac Firebird 400 with the Royal Bobcat package and I believe it was on the North corner.