Woodward Cruise? Nahhh, Telegraph was it!!

[Meddle]

North, south, whatever.

Wasn't there a TJ Maxx and/or a Burlington Coat Factory there, or was that after Korvette's?

[satellite beach]

If I remember correctly they had a fire that burned the store down late 60's early 70's

[gnome]

Sstosh, I must say you are correct, my statement that Gratiot trumped Telegraph was based on ignorance, I have no first hand knowledge about either, so to make such an absolute statement was indeed ignorant.

I stand corrected, thank you.

I'll try harder in the future.

[eriedearie]

Gotta chime in here...Me and my peeps from the East Side cruised them all. Cruised Telegraph and Woodward hoping to hook up with a rich guy from Oakland County and be set for life. Cruised Gratiot hoping to hook up with a rich guy from The Pointes and be set for life! We were just out having fun; didn't matter which avenue we cruised. It was a terrific time to be young and driving a muscle car, or being on a date with a guy that drove one. We WERE the original cast of GREASE!

[Warrenite84]

I'll admit I have no fond memories of Woodward or Telegraph. As a member of the MTV Generation, my cruise spot of choice was Gratiot. In the 80's, the Southbound side was packed from I-696 to 13Mile Rd. Northbound, from 9Mile Rd. to I-696. I was the guy cruising with my Grandmother's car, a white 1970 AMC Hornet straight 6, two barrel carb with vaporlock issues, [[stalls when cruising), power nothing, rubber floor, aftermarket rear window defogger, polyglass tires, stylin'!

We cruised both Fridays and Saturdays since crowds seemed different between those who cruised on one or the other. The crowds would lighten up around 1AM til the bar crowd let out, then get busy again.

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "But to say Telegraph wasn't much is just ignorance."

Quote: "my statement that Gratiot trumped Telegraph was based on ignorance, "

You're right, poor use of terms.

I'll try again, But to say Telegraph wasn't much means you probably didn't hang out around the west side. I think it just mattered what part of the city you hung out in.

[gnome]

Let me know when the beatings will stop, ok?

[birwood]

I remember going to Detroit Dragway in the mid 60's, watching the BOB FORD MUSTANG, the HURST HEMI UNDER GLASS 426 Hemi Cuda, seeing CONNIE KALETTA and SHIRLEY "CHA CHA" MULDOWNEY among others. One night Cruising Telegraph on the way home we ran [[raced) a bunch of guys, in different cars all with decals/bumper stickers
WOODWARD, NORTH US-10 TIMING ASSOCIATION....GOOD TIMES...GOOD OLD DAYS

[Sstashmoo]

Quote: "But to say Telegraph wasn't much is just ignorance." [[my original statement)

Quote: "my statement that Gratiot trumped Telegraph was based on ignorance, " [[ Your reply, sarcasm noted)

You're right, poor use of terms. [[My apology)

I'll try again, But to say Telegraph wasn't much means you probably didn't hang out around the west side. I think it just mattered what part of the city you hung out in.[[Restated so as not to insult anyone)

[Meddle]

I was the guy cruising with my Grandmother's car, a white 1970 AMC Hornet straight 6, two barrel carb with vaporlock issues, [[stalls when cruising), power nothing, rubber floor, aftermarket rear window defogger, polyglass tires, stylin'!

Knew a guy once that had a '70 Nova, stock 6 engine, no modifications. He'd go out a pick a race with somebody, and of course lose badly. Then he'd say "Let me go home and tune it, I'll be back in a while". He'd go home and get the OTHER '70 Nova, that was identical on the outside, but a little different under the hood.

[shovelhead]

Back in my T'graph days, 68 to about 73, it seemed that there was more racing there than on Woodward.

Only went to Gratiot once, in my friend's completely "stock" '55 Chevy, wide whitewalls and full wheel covers, with a 396/375 and a TH400 in it.

Some of our rides, my '54 Chevy with a 383 Mopar [[hey, engine was cheap, the BelAir needed a repower), my 421 Catalina, my friend's 55 Chevy 150 wagon, 283 4 speed with a Rochester Fuel Injection, '71 SS Nova, '61 Chrysler Newport 383 4 speed, '66 Corvette 427 3X2 with L88 aluminum heads [[he was a machinist, made GOOD money and put all of it in his car), '70 Barracuda 383 a '65 Lemans that had 326 tags on the fenders but had a 389 under the hood, '69 Rambler Scrambler, '67 Mustang GTA, '68 Z28 and such.


At various times we had Illinois dealer tags on some of these as one friend's father was a partner in a used car lot in Illinois, the '55 wagon had '69 Arizona tags on it as it was brought up from Phoenix when my other friend moved back here. He ran those until the local cops ticketed him in late '69.

We were semi-serious racers back then.. A lot of the guys I ran with then have since passed. The last time I cruised the Graph at night was in '96. A friend from Amarillo was up visiting. I bought tickets for a concert that night, took him, my wife and my best friend who I used to run with there [[the Ilinois tag guy) out that night in my restored 2+2. We cruised the Graph for a couple of hours that night. Sadly the "tag guy" passed just after Christmas that year.

Went to a couple of the day cruises, just not the same though......

[gnome]

remind me never to be one of your friends Shovelhead; you seem to be the TyphoidMary of the cruising set.

[Gannon]

Meddle,

For a while, I had my life in a storage unit on Van Born not far from Telegraph.

My neighbor had a blue Ford pickemup truck parked in his...and nothing else from my casual glances when we talked.

He drove an identical pickup...except for everything under the hood.


He played the same game your Nova-owning friend did, only in 2004!



MY fun was in a '66 Beetle with a blown-out 1900-cc van engine in place of the 40-hp 1100-cc stock unit...I might've been running 90-100hp.

Doesn't sound like much until you consider the car's 1/2 ton or so curb weight...I had to run American radials down around 20 pounds of pressure to keep the back wheels from spinning on launch...and through first and second gear not a ONE of those motor-heads could pull a car-length on me.

My little blue Beetle, painted to look like Grandma's church cruiser [[not my choice, my old boss had it before me), taught a bunch of fellows about power-to-weight ratio...and if I remember correctly, I never got a ticket in it!



Cheers

[shovelhead]

remind me never to be one of your friends Shovelhead; you seem to be the TyphoidMary of the cruising set.

Hey, we're a bunch of old farts you know. Late 50's, and up

[reddog289]

Had went through the same deal back in High School. Had a classmate with a 65 GTO. TriPower 389 etc. Black on Black. His Dad had the "same" car but with a 450+ c.i.d. engine duel quad and whatever else hiding in there.He let me in on his street racing success. Then would add that I needed to put a V8 in my 65 Comet. Bored and Stroked with 289 stickers on it though.

[vetalalumni]

Every town I visited in California in the 1970s had a small version of the dream cruise.And I mean every town.

Cruises are very much still occurring in California. Coast cruises, Vegas, the desert. Often not regular old guys though. And now the high-powered sports bikes, sometimes 50 or more, with a lot of 20 years olds.

My best cruising experiences were in the mid to late 70's. V8 Estate [[vettes) was top back then, urban-wise. Lot of very pretty ladies always around [[Land of Ladies, to quote the Brothers Johnson). Belle Isle, East Jefferson, Palmer Park, Eight Mile, Bowling Green on weekends, the metro-parks. The trips to Cedar Point were very, shall we say, wild and crazy.

[stasu1213]

Don't forget West Warren and Livernois. The White Castle was where the drag racing were held.

[mike1950]

Remember Bob Seger said "Pony cars are crusin' Woodward Ave., go and try to pass them and they smoke you if you do".

[393Bird]

I was raised in Redford Township, so of course cruised Telegraph. I went to the strip up at Gratiot and 26 Mile Rd when it first opened by the MHRA, and most of us westsiders just referred to it as New Baltimore.

I am still a gear head, and prefer being strapped it at the strip, than sitting in my recliner. Here is a shot under the hood of my weekend play car.






It is making 825 RWHP with 15 psi of boost on E85.

[gnome]

Jeeeze Louise, that is some massive work there Bird. Care to post any other pics of that ride?

[Gannon]

Your adrenal glands must be dried-up raisins by now!

Poor, overworked things...


...my Livonia Friend has that disease, too.


Thinks all problems can be solved with just a little more horsepower...or wattage.


Carrot on a stick, there is always more...


...cheers!

[Gannon]

I LOVE the 'RW' prefix to 'HP'!

Tell me that is Real World, not Rear Wheel...

[393Bird]

It is Rear Wheel from a dyno pull when I was verifying the a/f ratio under boost when I converted it to E85. I have dual wide band 02 sensors on it, but wanted to verify them also.



Here are 100s of pictures of the full 7 year project.

http://members.tccoa.com/392bird/

[redfordman]

My memories of Telegraph were mostly of racing, or for a quick trip to Toledo to buy beer or fireworks. Hang outs were McDonalds on Telegraph or on Plymouth Rd, or farther out towards Farmington at the Daly Drive In. Ted's on Woodward was the ultimate place to hang.

Before EJ Korvettes, it was The Town Drive In Theater. I saw my first Japanese monster movie, "Rodan" in the the late 50's there...

[393Bird]

Hey redfordman, where did you live? I lived on Ivanhoe near Roosevelt Elementry. Went to Redford Union, class of 61.