New Old guy from Pittsburgh

OldschoolObee here..life long car guy and rust junkie....just found the site, looks like a great one.....my interests include tin hunting , fabrication, all phases of rod building....recently(as of last June) my health has put my business on standby, while the saw bones try to figure out what to do with my failing heart...SOBs, anyways.... looking at a new shop now, just to get in there and tinker to keep my sanity, (and get some of my cars done, so the old lady can sell em after im dead...LOL) Short list of cars : 1917 T roadster(steel), 300 buick powered, 1927 T sedan,sectioned/shortened/channeled, 1930 A cpe,4" chop,5" channel, fenderless, 1940 Ford Tudor, s-10 chassis swap, all steel body, 1941 Plymouth Business cpe, 1950 Chevy 4dr fleetline,235 powered, 1951 Chevy Business cpe,327/350 th/57 rear , 1957 Buick special, former 4 dr, now 2 dr "roadster" (Looong story)...and a herd more.....

Welcome from one Pittsburgh guy to another. We moved out of Pa. to Florida in '82. Grew up in the Belle Vernon area in the '50's and '60's.

Sorry to hear about the health issues. I've had a few along the road too. Hope they work out for you.

You will like this site. I found it about a year ago, and enjoy shooting the breeze with the folks on here...............all nice people, and very knowledgable. Plus, they keep it G rated, unlike some of the other ones.

Post some pictures of the collection. Everybody enjoys seeing them, even in 1/2 finished form (especially in 1/2 finished form :3dSMILE: :3dSMILE: :3dSMILE: )
How about those Steelers, huh? Finally did it again.

Where is Coulter Pa ? I'm trying to place it.


Don

I'm gonna post pics once i get this new bldg....easier than running from storage lot to storage lot to shoot them...Coulter is between White Oak/ Mckeesport & Westmoreland/N.Huntingdon....little tiny town, one road in & out...the whole damn town is a cul de sac.....:eek:

Another welcome from one former old guy from Pitssburgh to another. I was born in Pittsburgh and lived in Cecil (Bridgeville) until I was 5. Then our family moved to Sharon, PA. I got married, relocated to Rochester, NY in 1973.

Although we mow call Rochester home, there's no place like Pittsburgh.

Pat

Hi Pat...yeah the 'burgh isnt too bad...we dodged a bullet this week with all the flooding.....Pittsburgh and the suburbs didnt get much to speak of...not like out east....Plus you have all the sports hype(I could care less, myself....lol) Our ball team cant beat its way out of a paper bag, the hockey team is up for sale...all you have are the Steelers & even then ya got Big(dumb) Ben riding with no lic. OR helmet into Chryslers....our 1st round draft pic is woman beater who's been arrested about every other week....i look for his contract to get shredded.... BUT the Rodding & cruising scene is getting bigger and better every week........:D

Welcome! You'll find plenty of "old school" company here.

I don't qualify, but my wife is a card carrying Pittsburgher.

Lookin' forward to your pictures,

Jim

One of the reasons I moved to Florida was to be able to own a rod with no fenders or hood. Now I here Pa. has loosened those laws up, finally.

My girlfriend and I went back to Pittsburgh a few years ago, first time since '82, and Man is is cleaned up. The fish are even alive in the rivers.:LOL: :LOL:

Don

Hey Ol Skool...we dodged the bullet too, but East and South of Syracuse got nailed. My son in law's parents were coming up for the weekend and they got stuck outside of Albany. They closed a 117 mile stretch of the NYS Thruway (I-90). Rte 88 was also washed out! They left West Chester (NY) at 2:00PM and arrived at 4:00AM this morning. Usually a 5-1/2 hour drive.

Pat

LONG LIVE KENNYWOOD!!!!!!!

Its funny you mentioned Kennywood....when they revamped the Steel Phantom into the Phantoms revenge...I ended up with 8 of the roller coaster cars from the blue & gold train.....I still have two. of em....been planning a fairground cruiser outta them..:eek:

welcome to CHR
Looks like your among old friends
This is a great forum Enjoy
Charlie

Ever been to Carls Tavern? There were a few of them in Pittsburgh and surrounding areas. You could buy a "fishbowl" of beer (held a quart) for 25 cents, and a huge fish sandwich for $ 1.00.

After about 3 of those beers the old wooden roller coasters at Kennywood were a a real blast.:eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:


Don

Hey Olskool...Don (Itoldyouso) is a very knowledgable guy when it comes to cars.

He also remembers when the Pittsburgh International Dragway opened in Little Washington. I used to travel from Sharon to race my "brand new" 69 Z-28 Camaro that I purchased for a whopping $4100.00. I'll never forget that back then a scattered shield was required for NHRA. First time I ever raced I had to borrow a blanket to wrap around my tranny. Boy things have changed.

Pat

It's really cool talking with all you guys from the old stomping grounds. Did any of you street race on Saturday nights at Petes Gulf station on Rt. 51 and rt 31. Some nights we had more cars there than the nationals.:LOL: :LOL:

Took the State Police hours to get there from the Belle Vernon Barracks.


Don

They still have a reunion for PID every year...the old Keystone raceway out in New Alex, has gone IHRA, and actually hosted a national event recently...lotsa changes up there...the return road used to look like a bombing run practice strip...smashed the hell out of my oil pan on my Vega Super pro car.....we used to street race on rt 22 in Monroeville, from the Hardees at Miracle Mile to Eat and Park, then back...then there was the sunday meet in Homewood on Bennett st....we actually had pro cars and a rail or two show up down there...cops were cool as long as the locals didnt cry too much....

hay oldschoolobee ,hang in there keep going dont even think of your heart condition ,i just had open heart surgery 2 years ago and i feel better now thank GOD i still work on my cars i try not to think of my problem , GOG bless ,oldschool joe

[QUOTE=Pat Monaco]
"I'll never forget that back then a scattered shield was required for NHRA. First time I ever raced I had to borrow a blanket to wrap around my tranny. Boy things have changed."

The first time we went to a race requiring a scattershield (1/8"steel) we stupidly got cute and found a piece of aluminum and formed it around a big piece of sewer pipe and bolted it in, then brushed on a few coats of thick black paint. It passed the inspector (who probably assumed that ANYBODY would be smart enough not to try that ..... WRONG!) and nobody knew the difference. I'm pretty sure that even I would have known the difference if the clutch had let go.

We made a decent part before the next race.

Here's a blast from the past for you Pittsburgh guys. How many of you grew up listening to Porky Chedwick on WAMO radio............the " Daddio on the Raddio"? In those days all the white stations were pretty tame, but WAMO was a black music station and played the good stuff.

For years I thought Porky was black, but I was in a Rock group and we did some record hops for him and I was surprised to see he was a white guy. I'll bet Porky is no longer with us, because that was in the late '50's early ''60's.

His music was stuff like the Coasters, and all that great stuff that is now mainstream. He was our Wolfman Jack.

Don

In 1969 I was stationed in Adak Alaska with a guy from Mount Lebanon Pa. He used to keep me entertained with stories about Porky Chedwick. When I went to Pittsburgh in 1970 to attend PIA to be an A&P mechanic I was eagerly looking forward to hearing the "daddio"of the radio". Sadly he was no longer on the air. WAMO was though. I did purchase a CD off of e-Bay that has recordings of his radio shows. I listen to it quite often. To the best of my knowledge the "Porkster" is still alive? Their was a website at one time that kept up on the "Porkster's" present day activities. Not sure if it's still active or not? Thanks for the memories.:LOL:

runner59: Thanks for reminding me about looking him up on Google, I am not the most computer savvy person, so I rarely think about the things you can find there.

I pulled up a website about him, and it looks like he is still alive, or at least was at the beginning of this year. It said he turned 88 in Feb 06, and is still doing a show one day a week. The article was long and very detailed, but I read every word, as it brought back things I had even forgotten.

From '61 to about '64 I played sax for various local groups, and we did some of Porky's sock hops around the area. He loved to scream over our songs, especially saying "blow that horn, blow that horn" when a sax solo came up. The article brought that out, and I had forgotten about it. He was a real showman.

One other thing I remember about doing his gigs is that he always paid us at the end of the night. Some of the other DJ's would promise us a certain rate per man to show up, then try to tell us the turnout was less than expected, and pay us less. Porky never did that.

Small world, huh. There you were in Alaska listening to stories about the Bossman. Cool.


Don