Edley, I graduated from Canoga Park High School way back when... How does the area look now?
Cool story!

Slither,

I visit your school at least once a year when my son's band (Van Nuys High School) beats your band. Your band is pretty good, too! I think there are some football activities going on in the background, just to fill time when the band is not on the field.

Anyway, Canoga seems to be a very nice school. The campus is so much newer than old Van Nuys (where "Good Times at Ridgemont High" was filmed). Van Nuys has produced a few celebrities; Paula Abdul, Robert Redford and others I can't remember. How about Canoga?

Having grown up in a boring backwater suburb of Houston, the historical events of this "Tinseltown" show business world are fasinating. Van Nuys, Canoga Park and the whole San Fernando Valley provided the setting for the John Wayne movie "Stagecoach" not that many years ago (1939). If you're old enough to remember the movie, there was nothing but sagebush for miles and miles....

Paul

Back to the thread....

I've been running rallies since 1964. That's almost 40 years of finding and hitting checkpoints. We have won a number of these events, but never with a perfect score. Well, it finally happened on May 1st. We ran the 4 hour "Bugaritaville" rally from the start near Magic Mountain and traversed the great canyon roads of the Los Angeles National Forest and finished back in Valencia. We found and hit eight checkpoints right on the hundredth of a minute for a perfect score of "zero".

It is so much fun to run these events when you have a great Navigator. I am very fortunate to have a great guy to figure out these complex mazes with very little information. Ron Dunlop has become an amazing rally tactician and co-driver. I blame the whole thing on him!

Paul

RallySnake, I was in the CPHS marching band 68-70. Back then, the bands were huge. What a rivalry. I left CA 2 1/2 years ago! I hear that things are different in the "valley" now. Do you still like it there?

Slither,

What did you play? I was a flute/piccolo/sax/clarinet player for years in bands and orchestras, until I started building this car. Living on the edge automotively is much more exciting than living on the edge musically.

The main thing that's changing in the valley is the prices of the homes. It's very hard to find anything under $300K anymore. A nice house is at least $450K. Values have doubled in the last two years. My wife and I offered $425K on a "fixer-upper" in a nice Chatsworth neighborhood last month. It was in terrible shape, yet it sold for $519K! It's just rediculous.

Yeah, I like it here. So many car activities that I cannot do half of them. I focus on rallies because they are the most fun for the expense involved. I run the 90 minute First Friday Night Rally in North Hills every month and the four Monte Carlo Rallies every year. I try to get to the Tri-Counties Cobra meets in Ventura because it's fun to talk with other guys who built (or are building) their cars. I do like to go to at least one of the Ford meets to talk to Cobra owners and buy a new shirt, each year. I run the occasional Solo2 event at Hollywood Park or El Toro. I sometimes go up to El Mirage to see the Land Speed boys do their thing, to Irwindale for the circle track stock cars and California Speedway for NASCAR events. I've only been to Pomona once for the Winternationals NHRA finals. They're up to 7,000 horsepower and 325 miles an hour in the quarter mile, now. What's not to like?

There are so many events I cannot get to, like the weekly meets at the Northridge Flames restaurant with some great hotrods and custom cars every Friday night. There are huge hotrod meets at least once a month in the area and I've been invited to exclusive car meets that happen once a month. There is the Old Town Pasadena car meet every week, too. Then, there is the Shelby Cobra Club that meets every month. There's always somthing going on at the Peterson Museum and every weekend at Los Angeles County Dragstrip. It's not far to Willow Springs or Buttonwillow road courses, either. There are Mopar meets and other brands too, that put on huge shows at Woodley Park in the summer and, of course, the annual new car show at the convention center every year.

The terrain is fantastic and diverse in this area, where the mountains meet the ocean. There are amazing canyon roads with rock formations, waterfalls (in the spring) and mountain views. On our rallies, we drive the best of them and also see interesting homes, movie sets and sports cars. For a car guy, there's just no place like SoCal.

Paul

Edley-

NO human female can rival Sweetness.

Of course, there is the slim chance that I may every-so-slightly prejudiced...

UT

RallySnake,
I played the trumpet during orchestra season and the drums during marching band and football seasons. The percussion section always got to ride the bus with the drill team for our games. At that time, we had no stadium lights so our home games were at Pierce College.
I sold my parents home in CP 2 1/2 years ago for 265K. Now I understand that the prices are way higher than that.
By the way, the top fuelers are running 4.42 seconds at 335 mph now!!!
You should come up to Willow Springs in October and run open track with the Cobra Owners Club. It is a blast!
There is always a car show or something to do automotive wise here in Phoenix any day/night of the week. Always something happening.
Take care,
Bill

Slither,

What are the rules for the Willow Springs event? Need a rollbar? I haven't installed mine yet, but I have a really hard head....

Paul

RallySnake,

I'm not sure if they do require a roll bar or not. I wouldn't think so. The car needs to be in a safe running order. Like two throttle return springs, no loose wheel bearings, safety belts, current DOT approved helmet and stuff like that. It is open track running and you select which run group you want to run according to your track skills. You can only pass on the two straights and nobody keeps a clock on you. You drive at your own ability. It costs $200 for Saturday and Sunday, so you get two full days of track time. There is fuel available at the track. It is a lot of fun.

Bill

Took the car over to a friends house this past weekend. (he lives about 4 miles away) On the way I got one thumbs up and three NICE CAR. On the way back home had to stop for gas. I had one guy walk up and compliment me right away, to which I always graciously acknowledge, but then a young kid pulls up behind me as I'm climbing back into the car and he jumps out and comes running over and asks if he can take a picture with his phone camera. I finally drive off and within 2 miles I get another thumbs up and another NICE CAR.
I drove less than 8-9 miles and all that attention.

Unbelieveable !!!!

Thanks for getting this thread back on topic! It's one of my faves here on CC...

-JT

At a recent cruise nite as I stood by my car a young father came up with his son and as they looked into the engine bay I over heard the father say,"this is the fastest car in the world and very expensive" The son just stared in awe. Another guy told his son that's a 427 engine in there ( er 351W sir) but I kept my mouth shut. God, these cars are fun.

A Bit Embarrassed
 

I've gotten the usual "nice car", "cool car", etc. But last Sunday I got something a bit different...

I had the ERA FIA parked outside a local country/general store. I always stop in Sunday morning to pick up the Sunday papers, and then head back home.

I was standing at the register waiting to pay for my papers when a young lady bursts through the front doors. I notice her, nice girl but... how can I say... a bit "unsophisticated." The best way to describe her would be a hardworking country farm girl, nothing wrong with that... Anyway, she sees me and makes a beeline for me. As she is walking up the aisle she says to me "Is that your car out there?" I reply, "Yes it is." She says.. "That's freakin (cleaned up) awesome!" (very excited). I say, "Thanks." She quickly replies, "Do you want an ovary for it?" Well at that point I didn't know what to say, and she pretty quickly realizes what she just said may have been a bit over the top. Anyway, she then goes on to explain her Dad is a real Ford fan and she would love it if I would cruise by her families place and give her Dad a few blips on the throttle.

All in all, one of my more interesting encounters.

SOOOO, GREG - - - - -

DON'T KEEP US IN SUSPENCE HERE.

DID YOU GET THE OVARY ????

AND DID YOU "GIVE ANYONE A FEW BLIPS" ????

LET'S HEAR THE REST OF THE STORY - - - - -

Y'ALL HAVE A REALLY GREAT DAY.

BLACKJACK

Couple a fella's told me it didn't look like a kit....Really!! and thanked them.

Edley -

If you ever get over to Phoenix (nice little drive for you), let me know. My best friend just got a Rumble Bee, and was saying he would have liked to put it up against dad's SPF. He knows he'd have lost, but what better way to do it!

Edley, for several extra $$ step up to the Ram SRT-10 and you will give a lot of cars a run for their money. 500hp/525ft-lbs and a top speed over 154mph.

My favorite time was at a gas station in Julian and there was a father and son in a pickup and he told his son they were giong to wait until I started it so they could hear it. What "real american muscle sounds like" as he put it.

Blackjack,

Nope, no ovaries, blips, drips, or otherwise were exchanged. I'll let that dog lay. :LOL:

An ovary for it? :confused: :confused:

Was this some kind of a sexual come on??? Come on...

I just don't understand how "...an ovary for it" translates.

Maybe I'm just too old or too dumb. Maybe I've turned down some good offers without realizing it... :( :o Nah...:rolleyes:

Lowell

One of those great recurring acknowledgements is at gas stations... Someone finishes filling up their car and gets in. I'm walking inside to grab a gatorade and pay for my gas, and I come out... they're sitting there at pump 5, just watching me walk to the car.

I get in and they "subtly" roll down their windows. Of course, I can't disappoint the crowd, so I of course start it in a "not nice" way. It usually surprises them. They think it's going to be loud, but they think it's going to be loud like their brother-in-law's Z28. :)

To this day it still amazes me how afraid people are of the car. I have a guarded switch on the dash that is the starter switch, and people always say, "That's so cool!" I tell them they can start it up if they want and they just shake their heads and start backing away saying, "nooo.... no, I don't think so man.... nope."

;)

A good friend of mine got in having never seen it or heard it yet, right after I finished it. I started it up and he looks at me and says, "Are we gonna die?"

Yes. Definitely. :JEKYLHYDE