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Some of the Whittier Boulevard alumni just to name a few are John Force, Pisano Brothers, Butch Leal, Doug Thorley, Hayden Profitt, Bill Thomas, Hal Sullivan, Mickey Thompson, Davey MacDonald, even Carrol Shelby while at Moon cruised and tested the very first Cobra on Whittier Boulevard!
And we have our share of the speed equipment industry- Moon, Speed-O-Motive, Egge, BDS, Kugel, Vance & Hines and more!
Remember we had John Force, Pisanos, Butch Leal, BillThomas, Carrol Shelby when working out of Moon, Hal Sullivan, Doug Thorley, Hayden Profitt, Davis MacDonald, and many many many of the guys that ended up dominating the NHRA and AHRA! And we had big speed shops (Egge, Speed-O-Motive, Kugel, Stick City, Vance and Hines, BDS, like the Valley and the Van Nuys crowd! Each spot had its cool cars!
Well OK you win Names we all remember of course> I hung with the guys from Blair's Speed Shop, Earl Wade, Art Carr, Foothill Speed Center and such, not quite the names you mentioned but just the same we raced.
All the memories
NSF
Well OK you win Names we all remember of course> I hung with the guys from Blair's Speed Shop, Earl Wade, Art Carr, Foothill Speed Center and such, not quite the names you mentioned but just the same we raced.
All the memories
NSF
Remember we had John Force, Pisanos, Butch Leal, BillThomas, Carrol Shelby when working out of Moon, Hal Sullivan, Doug Thorley, Hayden Profitt, Davis MacDonald, and many many many of the guys that ended up dominating the NHRA and AHRA! And we had big speed shops (Egge, Speed-O-Motive, Kugel, Stick City, Vance and Hines, BDS, like the Valley and the Van Nuys crowd! Each spot had its cool cars!
My pal Norm Samuels (aka Rabbit) who ran Stick City and Street Rods on Whittier Blvd back in the day is still around. He runs Highline in Brea, and once in a while you'll see him at the Mecum or BJ Auctions representing clients.
That car was one that really solidified my interest in Corvettes. I recall it being featured in car mags at the time and I tried to build a model of it "back in the day." When the 1:18 die cast model came out a couple of years ago I had to have it! The crude fender cutout was part of the allure. Both the Corvette and John's ****** coupe were fast and show-worthy cars.
Thanks Guys for sharing all your memories. Those really must have been the times...
I love talking to my Dad about that era - it's really special in terms of just what was going on. He graduated HS in 1956 to give you an idea of his age!
My pal Norm Samuels (aka Rabbit) who ran Stick City and Street Rods on Whittier Blvd back in the day is still around. He runs Highline in Brea, and once in a while you'll see him at the Mecum or BJ Auctions representing clients.
I would love to see more old pictures of his lot and memorabilia from Stick City in actually La Habra! I was living in Hacienda Heights near where that largest in the US Buddhist temple place was built, so we would either drop onto Whittier Blvd over from Hacienda to Beach Blvd or over from Colima ! Then many times as my CF handle is derived from Turnbull Canyon (TCracing) related to my road racing IMSA inspired clandestine racing was done, we went to start the Canyon running first or to see who was up there, then down to Whittier for the social scene later, and then back up for the real serious race runs much later! Stick City had my 1973 Flared Porsche 914-V8 for sell on their lot for a short time after I Sold the car, to buy my first C2 Corvette ! I bet the guy I sold it to, traded it in there! I remember wasting many a Muscle car i with that weapon! With a 327 and under 2000lbs, that thing could out accelerate most things! I have always handpainted painted a skull and crossbones someplace on all of my hot rods and had one painted on the tail of that car!
Stick City directly sponsored local guys that went to the big time- in funny cars and match racing altered cars etc. Like the Pisano cars and many others the flip top Camaro and Corvairs were Stick City sponsored!
We had people come cruise from all around! Like from Fullerton, Brea, Alhambra, Covina, etc etc etc etc
I am sure cars around the Country were all pretty equally fast buying all of the same general parts and equipment! In our area, it turned into a lifestyle, where your dreams was to take your ultimate build to the boulevard and when someone actually did, they took it to the Boulevard for it's maiden introduction! I remember the fads!
The actual Muscle cars had never ruled the street! Maybe the fastest guys were some of the shop altered cars like what the Doug Thorley group on occasion would treat us with! Or Ricker Motors who ran two of the Country's top Super Stock or Pro Stock Red-White-Blue AMC AMXs that on cruise nights, they would sometimes roll out and park them on the curb! They would take a lap up and down Whittier with the Super Stock car on occasion!
I have extensively tried to document the Boulevard history and major players! The Dealerships were a catalyst! We had Don Steves Chevrolet on the Far East end of Whittier Boulevard and down into Whittier proper with the Charger Center and Ted Jones Chevrolet and the Olds and Buick dealers always had 442 cars and Grand Sport 455s! DonSteves was the guy that got John Force off of the streets and out onto the drag strips, previously he did the same thing for Davy MacDonald! Bill Thomas worked for Don Steves and tuned eventually from his Anaheim shop the Don Steves Stock cars and other racers like my Regional SCCA BP car!
Last edited by TCracingCA; 03-02-2017 at 02:34 PM.
Great stuff. In 1983, when Harrah's car museum was being broken down and sold off, I went out there and checked out what they had for sale 'out back'----these were cars that were not inside, but were awaiting a restoration. One was a '41 Lincoln Zephyr coupe for about $4000, and it was rough. Another was a 1928 Stutz DV-32 Bearcat roadster, with a wicker trimmed body, a running/driving decent car, for 28k, which might as well have been a million bucks. But what caught MY eye was a red on red '64 Plymouth Sport Fury, with a 426 max wedge and the dual outboard carbs. 4 speed car. 100% there, no rust, just baked out by the desert sun. Faded original red paint and exploded red interior. The price? $700. I knew it was a steal, but didn't have the room. Ten years later, I scored a red/white&black interior '66 Coronet with a factory 4 speed, bench seat and a 440 for $1500, but that is another story. Great thread here!!
Great stuff. In 1983, when Harrah's car museum was being broken down and sold off, I went out there and checked out what they had for sale 'out back'----these were cars that were not inside, but were awaiting a restoration. One was a '41 Lincoln Zephyr coupe for about $4000, and it was rough. Another was a 1928 Stutz DV-32 Bearcat roadster, with a wicker trimmed body, a running/driving decent car, for 28k, which might as well have been a million bucks. But what caught MY eye was a red on red '64 Plymouth Sport Fury, with a 426 max wedge and the dual outboard carbs. 4 speed car. 100% there, no rust, just baked out by the desert sun. Faded original red paint and exploded red interior. The price? $700. I knew it was a steal, but didn't have the room. Ten years later, I scored a red/white&black interior '66 Coronet with a factory 4 speed, bench seat and a 440 for $1500, but that is another story. Great thread here!!
DRAT! I hate it when that happens. It was 34 years ago.....could be memory fade or the wrong intake....I swear it said 'superstock 426' on the valve covers, though....but the intake runners would have obscured that, probably. Possible memory embellishment here!!
DRAT! I hate it when that happens. It was 34 years ago.....could be memory fade or the wrong intake....I swear it said 'superstock 426' on the valve covers, though....but the intake runners would have obscured that, probably. Possible memory embellishment here!!
this is the short ram engine, same as I had in my 63 Dodge factory superstock...
Bill
this is the short ram engine, same as I had in my 63 Dodge factory superstock...
Bill
Bill, correct or not, this is the one I saw in that '64. For sure not the long ram in the first pic. The valve covers were just as pictured in the second pic, too. Anyway, at $700, a total bargain, even back in '83!!
Check out this YOUTUBE video of a 50 year old dinosaur. This 426 dates back to '69-'70 era. The owner in this old school garage in Canada built this to factory stock specs except .030 over bore. Listened to that bad boy humm when she reaches 6,000 r's.
Bill, correct or not, this is the one I saw in that '64. For sure not the long ram in the first pic. The valve covers were just as pictured in the second pic, too. Anyway, at $700, a total bargain, even back in '83!!
I believe I paid about $1500 for my superstock dodge in about 64/65...
This is my uncle Larry Mollicone from South El Monte racing his Precious Vette. I was a little kid and never got to see him race. But I sure did get my Corvette Fever from him!
This is my uncle Larry Mollicone from South El Monte racing his Precious Vette. I was a little kid and never got to see him race. But I sure did get my Corvette Fever from him!
Sounds like we just might have another Whittier Blvd alumni? South El Monte is just to the north of the Whittier Narrows! Did your relative get his racing bug from Whittier street racing?
The Whittier Blvd scene was made up of multiple segments! The Downtown to the 605 Freeway was pretty much owned by the Lowrider Scene! The Tourist Cruise or Main Hot Rod/Muscle car section and Lowriders also came down was from the train bridge where Washington connects in and down to Colima! The section between the 605 and where Washington Blvd was, were the haunts of Hispanics, Mexican and Latino Hot Rodders, but some of the action ventured down there from the other areas to match race these guys! But both them and us hunted the Tourist section for suckers to race! And the last section was more of the local scene- the high schools, the Orange County kids, etc. This was down from about Scott to Harbor Blvd! The turnaround was down near Scott, because the Cops most nights were down and around the big intersection of Colima and Whittier! This last area encompassed Stick City, Don Steves Chevrolet and some of the local speeds shops! Basically we called going down to the Tourist cruise as the long lap! But we mainly stayed down east of Colima with our cars, because the businesses had a lot of perfect parking lots to park in to watch or stage from for cruising!
The Tourist cruise had actually a limited amount of lots, the primary ones were the Supermarket there on Colima and then the Bob's Big Boy and Scotties, etc and from around Gunn down to Painter people would line both sides parked at the curbs or on the side streets that paralleled the boulevard next to the neighborhood homes there on Whittier! There were just a few lots that had the hard core Street racer groups in that famous section, like one group out of Doug Thorley's lot and the Goodyear lot! Everything else was mostly first come first parked. Down on our end, we all had reserved lots and the curbs were local controlled! We usually u-turned the main intersection coming west prior to Painter, because the Cops were generally always down controlling or writing fix it tickets down near Painter or Greenleaf! The tourist cruisers usually kind of informally would go down to Lambert which ran parallel to the tourist route to joust, whereas the real street racers took it to a known venue where races were more formally organized!
Last edited by TCracingCA; 03-04-2017 at 05:35 PM.
Mazmanian's '61 was featured in an Ed Iskenderian cam ad on page 23 of the March, 1962 issue of Hot Rod magazine. There was a small photo (showing no rear wheelwell cut-outs, Moon tank, or blower) and this text:
"John Mazmanian was intrigued with the possibilities of the new 327 Chevy engine as a power unit for his '61 Corvette. When he got wind that Isky already had Roller Grinds ready for this engine he lost no time in making the installation. Thus, when his car made an appearance at San Gabriel, its performance hit like a bombshell. Totally unprepared for anything spectacular the crowd gasped as this full bodied, 3300 lb. Corvette, driven by Dick Bourgeois, blasted down the strip to hit a high of 119.85 mph, 12.02 sec. ET. To prove it was no fluke he made another run of 118.74 with a 12.04. Pomona was the next strip to witness this fantastic car. Driven this time by Richard Sironian, 2 runs netted times of 117.57 (12.19) and 117.34 (12.23). Installed with an Isky 5 cycle Roller Polydyne Cam & Kit (RR-8000) and a Rochester Fuel Injection System. Only other modification was ported heads."
I assume this ad copy had to be written around December, 1961 to appear in the March, 1962 magazine issue.
Last edited by jerrybramlett; 03-05-2017 at 10:53 AM.
03-01-2017, 11:12 PM
Names we all remember of course> I hung with the guys from Blair's Speed Shop, Earl Wade, Art Carr, Foothill Speed Center and such, not quite the names you mentioned but just the same we raced. 
