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 youthand 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 justwentaway. 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 truckDave'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'sa series of 26 episodes, with each episode explained, between the stories.