I thought this would bring some of you guys back from when you were my age.

On Friday after school I got my grandfather to lend me the Cutlass, having a damn nice 455 motor in it.

We rode it around, went to my school which is next to grandparent's house, and showed it off.


Pretty quickly it became the center of attention. My friend driving, new to muscle cars, wanted to skadoosh, so he hit the throttle a bit. Not knowing what crazy torque power does, it wheelspun like crazy only going 15 miles per hour.


The track coach up the campus was apparently screaming for us to stop, we couldn't hear it over the sound of the beautiful exhaust tone, and surely enough the next day he tells the principal that we were going around "out of control"

We met with the principal this morning, and he acted like we were indangering people just by spinning the wheel from slight throttle, pretending we could of gotten 'out of control' how great.

It seems like no one knows anymore what true muscle cars are, and wheel spin is the equivilent of having to oversteer with a handbrake at 50 mph.

I guess I couldn't expect much from a Pontiac driver.

And all this time, we never hit over 15 miles per hour, and now I'm coined Smokey the Bandit at school. I can't wait to see their face when I get on the main road and really let her spin.

 

Funny... Yes, wheel spin is easy with torque! Torque = muscle! Torque = FUN!!!

 

Principals inherently have No since of humor.

 

Well FYI, it was frowned upon at school back in the mid 70's also!!! Go figure, some things never change!

 

Ahhhh Yes Lighting them up on the schools speed bumps LOL....

actually way back when, I had a 69 GTO convertible and 4 speed, I use to cruise up and down Jericho Turnpike, and occasionally have the stop light brawl.... I did get snagged once and got a ticket for unlawful acceleration, the car I was brawling against was a metallic gold 442 hardtop with black vinyl roof, automatic, I guess it was a 70-71.... all I saw were those two trumpets hanging out the back and of course the cop pulled over the slower of the two of us, which was my Injun someday I will finish my 69 and head back to jericho looking for that guy

 

That's what I told the guy; I basically just said, "Yeah, it does that." This is the 2nd time a coach/teacher has yelled at my friend and I for rendering the car OUT OF CONTROL aka wheelspinning harmlessly.

It's funny that back then they would get mad, it seems like it would be easy to call it off as an accident, then again I'd imagine most teachers driving slower town cars in the 70s.

Just great to see the look on their face when they hear tires squeaking.

 

We didn't have a paved parking lot in high school, nothing but dirt. But everyone leaving the parking lot after school let out would "Bark" their tires by spinning the wheels in the gravel before hitting the street pavement. Even the weakest car could get rubber that way. Yeah and the parking lot attendant's (geeks who did not have cars) would report the license numbers of the cars and you could not park in the lot for a week, so you just parked a block away on the street.

 

Want to bet that these guys were the 'hooligans' who got yelled at by their coach and principals? Seems to me that the admins of a school are hooped by the rules they choose to enact and enforce. They must enforce school requirements, but you know down deep they are the ones who would most want to confiscate your car so they could go light it up too!!

My elementary school principal drove a Jetstar - deep navy blue. Mind you he waddled like a duck and never drove faster than 30 mph.
My middle and senior high teachers had some cool. Mr Burton drove a Volvo B40 , but was cool in class. My math teacher drove a 70 Monte with the 454 and he had no issues with lighting it up leaving the 'teachers only' parking lot - go figure. One of my old neighbors was a teacher and he had a 71 W30 (lime colored) that had such a nice rumble you would go outside just to see him 'idle' down the back alley. Once it was on the road? That's when the 455 came alive. Oh yeah, it was a 4 speed!!!

 

Great post, I completely agree with the teachers pretending to be on a high horse, and I seriously wish I would have a single teacher that drove an olds, or any classic for that matter. Instead they, for the most part, drive small economy cars and will bark at anyone having fun in a better car.

I do have one teacher with a pretty nice s2000 that's heavily modded, but any day I would take a teacher with a W30 442!

 

If I was your grandfather I would have kicked your *** for letting your friend drive his car

 

That's not cool to let your friend drive your or your grandfathers car. That when the trouble starts, I bet if something bad happened he would have booked.
Ah the old days, back in 1980 my high school parking lot looked like a hotrod used car dealer. I had a 1968 Gto convt my buddies had SS Chevelles 442 GS stage1 Chargers Mustang GT. Novas too bad none of took pictures of that. Friday afternoon when the last class was over we'd all do burn outs it was too cool. Ah the good times in Long Island

 

How's it not cool, he told him to drive it... I wish I had burnout parties on the last day of class ;(

 

When I was in the fourth grade in central Ohio in the early eighties, I remember being in the classroom on the second floor with the windows open and hearing the deep toned squall of a Chevelle doing a hard power brake. White smoke and the smell of burning Eagle ST's engulfed the front of the old brick schoolhouse. I remember my classmates saying how "bad" those people were, and how much they wanted them to be punished. Meanwhile, I sheepishly went back to my desk with an ornery smile thinking how cool the juvenile spectacle was, and could not wait until I could do the same. I'll turn 38 at the end of this month, I still think that it was a very nice example of a "rip the guts out of it" burnout. Juvenile? yeah probably, but it will still bring that same smile to my face. That is all that matters....

 

Somehow I'd predict that I would be expelled for peeling out at this school I'm at...

 

wanted to skadoosh, WTF Wow They change names for everything !!!! LOL I like most car guys had there go arounds with the teachers not appreciating good fun and power! But some did. One really cool driver ed teacher asked me what my 31 ford coupe could do with a smile, So I showed him, and he loved it. The good old 70's. But nothing beat the 25 foot burn out in the bus lanes on the last day of my sr. year in the same coupe, and the smell of rubber. I didn't hang arround for the teachers or principles aproval !!! Like they say OOHH the good old days !!! Remember we are just a preveiw of you! LOL

 

haha, I'm the only person that says skadoosh at my school, it's interstingly a remake of the 40's slang phrase ''skidoo". awesome story by the way, loving the replies

 

Back in the early 80's me and my friends took Auto Shop. We used to do oil changes on school vans, trucks and some teachers cars. We used to take the used oil to the depot for them to do whatever they did. My friend Todd had a great idea. Lets dump it in the back corner of the student parking lot. Yes, I know not really good for the environment. Anyhow, that's where we all met after school to do burnouts in the oil slick. Even my 61' Faclon with a small straight six would burn rubber there. Great post. Brings back a lot of memories when things were simple. Cars, gas, beer, girls....

 

last day of my senior year, many of us lined up in the parking lot and one at a time left our mark. there were a couple 5.0 rustangs, an 80s Monti Carlo SS, 87 GN, 69 camaro, and my Rallye 350. i was last and by the time it was my turn one of the teachers walked out in front of us thinking it was going to stop us. i slid the back end sideways and he was running for the sidewalk. the next night at Graduation he come to me and said he would have done the same thing we did when he graduated if they thought of it. then he shook my hand and smiled.

 

Well, yea I used cruise on JTP as well as Deer Park Ave, rt 110, but in particular I liked 25A (also known as Northern Blvd). I drove a 69 LeMans and a 71 Challenger. The LeMans had a 350, but trust me smoking the tires as easy.....all this in 70's too.

 

Seem like there were a few LI guys here (living in far flung places now). My high school was Half Hollow Hills in Dix Hills. Wanna talk about spoiled kids - even back then - Cameros, Firebirds, Chargers, GTOs even Lincolns.

 

I had a talking to from the principal on more than 1 occasion for car related matters.

The most serious...We had an interstate highway running right next to the high school.One time during lunch one of my teachers briefly seen my car loaded down with friends cruising the interstate at around 110 mph. My Mom and Dad were not happy.

 

It seems to me that I read in the paper everyday about another high school kid, here in NJ, killing themself and perhaps others in a car accident. In my high school class of 600 (grades 10-12 with total of over 1900 kids) we didn't have one kid killed in an accident in the 3 years I attended. Given that this was a period of no seat belts, high powered, no real road mannered, metal dashed vehicles it seems ironic.

I suppose that even with all the safety improvements that cars today have too many other distractions in them for kids. A simple car gives you nothing else to do, but perhaps concentrate on driving.

One other factor may be driver ed classes. Back then driver ed consisted of 2 days in the car, 2 days of class instruction on laws, and 1 day of watch extremely gory movies of kids in accidents. I wonder if they still show those movies of kids with half their head missing? I would assume not as nowadays we avoid "tramatizing" the poor dears. Nevertheless, getting close to 40 years later I still recall those scenes and I think it makes me think about just being careful and alert.

 

Green with envy, my car in high school was a 73 MGBGT, no tire chirping going on there

 

Good post, I can tell you that every single person in my high school sucks at driving, even the kids with modern performance cars. They always try to haul their 2 liter engines to full capacity outside of the campus, really sad. When I drive I like to focus on driving, like it should be. 1/2 the people in our parking lot don't have their mirrors adjusted, and when they pull out of the campus you see their face in their rear view mirror, I mean really? This generation is full of people that would rather blast their shitty rap going 20 over while not paying attention to the road, not that I mind 20 over, but at LEAST be FOCUSED on the road if you're going to haul it.

And yes, I got my permit off a 3rd grade level test, the driving test is simply going down a road, not even parking now...

can't wait to see the next generation of drivers.... sigh.

 

I was a band geek in high school...I graduated in 1998. I drove a 1972 Cutlass Supreme w/ a 455. It ran 13.001 on street tires. Nothing special, but it could boogie compared to most street cars. My junior year, the assistant band director traded his '88 Trans Am for a '98 Trans Am.

I ran into him at a stop light after school one day...He nodded, I nodded...he revved a little, I revved a little...the light turned green and that Trans Am got burned by a high schooler driving an old 1972 Cutlass Supreme.

The next day, that band director bragged on my car...I ask him if he was half pedaling and he assured me that he wasn't. He was surprised his new Trans Am got beat by a thrown together BBO Cutlass. Such a cool experience for a teenager!

In hindsight, I think I would have tamed my lead foot a little back in those days. I had to request a "MORAL WAIVER" to join the Army. It seems the military doesn't like it when applicants have 33 traffic tickets. My SF86 had 4 pages of just ticket descriptions. It almost prevented me from getting to fly Apache's. I got in though, but I doubt I could now with military being downsized. Just be careful what you do when you're young, it may have a long term effect on what you can do down the road.

 

Our family car while in HS was a 69 Impala SS427. Doing burnouts next to my buddies 69 Chevelle SS396 on the last day of school got me expelled.
No bigs I thought till the Principal told me to call my dad.

More on my Impala history if interested. http://www.hubgarage.com/mygarage/blogs/33356

Another burnout incident, I must not have been very good
In the rain (duh) I got to fishtailing and knocked over a guys fence.
He came out as I was driving away(free and clear) I decided to do the right thing and face the music. Pulled in, scared, to the guys driveway as he glared at me. He was cool. I started with "I'll fix it" He said "nevermind your the first to ever offer" and let me go. Seems as if it happened a number of times. Oh the memories!

 

Ohh man high school burn outs were great i graduated high school about 3 years ago i remember doing a huge burn out in the student parking lot and got yelled at by the assistant principal threatening to suspend me, as soon as he got done yelling at me i headed for the exit and decided to do another burn out for him which PISSED HIM OFF lol. needless to say i was never allowed to park at school

 

I would always park right in front of school (aw, the older days; things were soooo different, then). I had a "work permit" so I got out of school at 2 PM to go sack groceries at the local A&P grocery store. Always started the car and "revved" the Smithy mufflers, hit the low horn, the high horn, the "ding-dong" Bermuda Bell, and the "Ah-OOgghhaaa" cow horn to let the whole school know, "I'm leaving" (the days before A/C of the school, much less most cars), back out of the parking space, then just nail it in 1st gear to the stop sign. Stop (of course!!!); turn right, then nail it again and grab some 2nd gear rubber. Did this every day my junior/senior Never a word said by anyone at school, and surely they knew it was me! LOL! What fine memories on this night I can't seem to go to sleep!

 

Back in the day circa 1987.....On friday was burnout day at school,Smokem if you could......Back row of the parking lot,One tire ****** to muscle cars you name it the hides were smoking!........Man those were good times......
Ride to HS for me?
1974 Torino......Dark brown,Saddle insides and tinted windows with a huge CB antenna....The chicks loved it......Sold it to my Bro half way thru the year and bought my Olds off a buddy with a prego girlfriend.......Olds diehard was born....

 

Got any radios left Jerr? I have more than I care to admit!!

Here's one just to wet the whistle:
http://s90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...radio%20stuff/

 

Back in '83 I was dropping off a buddy after lunch at my old HS. As I was pulling up a 78ish Trams Am took off with a pretty weak 2 foot patch. My friend said you can do better than that!
He slammed the door and I thought about it for a bit. Then I spotted the vice principal everyone on the planet hated, that did it. I carefully looked to make sure everyone was out of the street and nailed it. No power braking whatsoever.

I had no idea my car loved an audience until that day. A 350 powered pegleg equipped 73 Cutlass laid down about 15 feet of posi stripes and as I let it into 2nd around 40 MPH let out a healthy squeal into second. There were literally hundreds of eyes watching me as the header mufflers growled me down to the stop at the end of the street.

I pretty much ran the stop sign so no one could get my license plate!

 

Back in 84-85 my Jr and Sr years. Everyday, (except the days the cops sat accross from the school exit) was a burnout contest when we left the parking lot. My 67 4-dr Cutlass wasn't the meanest on the school grounds, but she would smoke-em peg-leg style as good as any of the others. Heck, dad was yelling at me the summer between my Jr. and SR. year for burning through at set of tires in one summer (I paid for them, by the way.) Luckily, my uncle was there and reminded him that he had gone through 4 sets in one year, when they were younger. Dad never yelled at me again for buring tires. I quess it is in the blood.

 

Great stories LET'S keep them coming.....

 

Back in the mid 70's we had burnout days out the back gate of our High School. It was on a slight incline and we had gallons n gallons of bleach. We would even assist the 4 and 6 bangers and lift up on their bumpers to lighten the backend when they took off.

Let me tell you, it looked like the school was on fire with all those smokey burnouts!!!!

The principal gave us a hard time once, so we carried his VW Bug and placed it in between two fire hydrants that barely touched each bumper and waited for him to come out and drive off. Now that was a show!

There were 4 groups in HS, Jocks, Stoners, Geeks, and Greasers, I was in the group that did not have to get dressed up on 50's day! We dressed like that everyday!

 

My Math teacher drove a Cadillac hearse, not to school. He drove a 60 something chevy panel truck which was already quite old then. he stopped by my house a couple times so I could check out the hearse. I now sometimes run into him at local cruise nights. No more hearse but he brings a 65 Electra or a 54 Chevy. He still has the panel truck. He was the type who would encourage burnouts in the parking lot.

 

I bet the principals don't really have too much against anyone lighting up their tires now and again. But if they simply turn a blind eye they have two problems;

#1, if they don't do anything they will have to explain to their superiors why they are failing to maintain discipline.

#2, if they don't do anything you bet it will escalate to the point that someone will do something really stupid and someone will get hurt.

When I was a kid I thought burnouts were really cool, now I'm a grumpy old git and prefer to see such antics at the drag strip.

In the UK in the early '70s the kudos went to the kids with the neatest bicycles, plenty of street racing, we had to produce our own muscle!.
I think only one kid actually brought a car to school, no such thing as drivers ed, to drive a car you had to be 17 years old, and pay for driving lessons, then take a test on public roads. Just about everyone learned stick, low price automatic cars were and still are almost unheard of over here.

Roger.

 

Great stories. I got one to share too. Back in high school, I used to drive the family wagon, (72 Country Squire) which was really old for 1989 and definitely not cool for the image. I used to take that to school most of the time, but occasionally I would take my 63 Riviera. I got it from my grandmother when I was 15, and still have it today. I really didn't abuse it too much, but occasionally I would have some fun with it.

It surprised most people because it did not look like a musclecar. Whitewall tires, spoke hubcaps, and a quiet exhaust system did not scream it's fast. But a group of us one afternoon met up and had a little fun on a pretty much abandoned piece of road. I ended up racing against a 2 year old IROC and beat him by 2 car lengths in the quarter mile. No one could believe it, that is until I opened the hood and showed them the stock 401 big block nailhead pumping out 445 ft lbs of torque. Talk about a stealth car! Never forgot that day.