Laying A Blaze
By Sal Romero
In 1973 I was the proud owner of my first car. It was a 1967 Impala, my first vehicle came from a salvage yard .... read that junk yard, I have no qualms about the word junk yard because like the saying goes " one mans junk is another mans treasure". Well my uncle, Paul Candelaria set the deal up and after an exchange of $300, I became the proud owner of a maroon 1967 Chevy Impala , the body wasn't too bad and the interior was in decent shape, the motor though would require a total rebuild. Which thanks to my uncle, who also is my godfather, would walk me through all the steps in rebuilding a strong 327 hp motor. Soon I had a gray primered smooth body fastback lowrider. I bought Fenton rims for my car, I couldn't afford my first choice of Crager rims and this was before tru-spoke introduced their wire wheels to the lowrider scene. I also bought a set of premium sportsway 5.20 tires, the standard lowrider tire at the time. I replaced the front seat, from the stock bench seat to what was referred to as a bench bucket seat ( instead of one solid back rest it featured individual driver and passenger bucket seats with a fold-down armrest between the two). I also added the required tilt steering column and small white steering wheel and rear fender skirts, well for a 16 year old boy I was in lowrider heaven, but my ride still lacked the ultimate in lowriding accessories, which were hydraulics. Hydraulics are the cylinders, pumps, hoses, dumps and batteries that enabled my auto fantasy to become reality.
Being the determined young man that I was, I soon had a
complete hook-up which included a set of Coppers, which were the best cylinders at the time, plus a pump and all the rest of the equipment that would enable my vehicle to lay with that perfect stance. My cousin Mike, did the honors and cut me out, which meant he along with a cutting torch cut the holes on top of the upper A-arms so the cylinders could slide through. Soon we had hoses run, batteries set and a switch installed under my dash. Mike had a lifted 65 and Nick and Fred had a 66, each was very good at the switch but Fred could really catch that rhythm and soon he’d have the car hopping off the ground with that Clack Clack, Clack Clack sound.
The rest and more stories on
salromero.word press.com on the Chava's Cortos page, also music from the era...
War on Junes Video Favorites page...Check It out, I hope you enjoy. Sal
