Giving Thanks For Something Illegal

Looking back in automotive history, it boggles my mind sometimes how one thing can lead to another. When we narrow our focus to the hot rod, it's pretty much a given that the concept was born in southern California just before World War II and races were primarily run on the dry lake beds that were located mostly in the northern part of the state. Many of these vehicles were prepared by bootleggers - the same

individuals that ran shine during Prohibition so they could outrun revenue agents as well as the federal government. Also as a direct result, police vehicles were modified in an effort to reel the bootleggers in. So in reality, when running booze was illegal, it also dawned the first "police interceptor" models used by The Man. Think about it - if we didn't have the Prohibition period, we may not have had the hot rod, or muscle car, or aftermarket speed equipment business we enjoy today or to the extent it has expanded to in modern times.

This concept can also broaden the mind in how this trickle-down effect has also influenced muscle cars as well as drag racing. Love them or hate them, we can all thank the heads of GM for being "responsible" and giving the other manufacturers the tools and means for giving the General Motors is own self-inflicted sucker punch. The first came in 1963 when GM pulled the plug on all factory backed racing; whether it was drag racing, NASCAR, Indy racing - you name it. They thought Ford and Chrysler would follow suit. They didn't. To add insult to injury at the same time, GM thought the horsepower wars were getting out of hand. In response, they implemented a corporate wide ban on the use of any 400+ cubic inch engine in a mid-size or smaller vehicle, the only exception being the Corvette because of it's specialty / sports car status. With a slew of new or redesigned vehicles on the horizon for 1964, including the all-new Chevelle, GM again thought Chrysler and Ford would fall in line. Again, they didn't. In fact, both manufacturers went in the opposite direction. As a result, on the musclecar front, manufacturers like Pontiac and Oldsmobile used loopholes like making the GTO an option and Oldsmobile using the specialty manufacturing clause (read: Hurst Industries) to skirt around that mandate.

In spite of GM's racing ban, it seemed drag racing went absolutely hog wild by the end of 1965. There were factory super-stock vehicles in both stock as well as altered wheelbase from the factory courtesy of Chrysler, never mind the A-bomb they dropped in the form of the 426 Hemi engine. Ford also produced some equally devastating hardware in the form of the SOHC or Cammer engine as well as memorable rides like the 1964 Thunderbolt. In what seemed like another massive flip of the bird to GM, by December of 1965, Mercury developed the Eliminator I - which was the first all fiberglass body over a tube-frame chassis race car, and changed the path of the funny car forever, while making "Dyno Don" Nicholson a racing hero for all time.

However, it wasn't all bad for fans of the Bowtie. Savvy dealers, who were tired of getting taking their lumps in the hometown stoplight wars, finally got their act in gear and released in-house supercars under their own colors, which was another way to get around the GM engine mandate, which wouldn't be lifted until the early fall of 1969. Baldwin-Motion from New York, Yenko Chevrolet from Pennsylvania, as well as Nickey and Gibbs Chevy from Chicago and Los Angeles, produced some of the most wicked musclecars that ever graced the tarmac.

So while the good old days weren't always so good, and tomorrow may not be as bad as it seems, we can give thanks for the cool shit from the past as well as for what we have - be it a little or a good deal more. As far as I'm concerned, I'm still waking up daily on the right side of the grass. And that's not a bad place to start.

Until next time, peace out, and Happy Thanksgiving!
Dave