Like many of you out there, I did my share of street racing.  There were groups around town that would go to different drive-in restaurtants on Friday and Saturday nights.  They would get together with their dates and before long two cars would leave and go street racing.  I even remember racing down Main Street in downtown Dayton on Saturday nights.  One of the buildings had a radio station in it that faced Main Street.  Between records, the DJ would announce the races in that block of town.  That was when I got bit by the drag racing fever.  The car I owned then was a '53 Ford Convertible.  This is a replica of that car.

I was the 3rd or 4th owner of this car.  I was told that the previous owner was a nurse.  The engine died on her and her boy friend replaced the flat head motor with a T-Bird 312 Y-Block.  That car was a screamer.  I managed to get myself in trouble with the police driving it too fast.  It took me 3 speeding tickets before I started slowing down.

 



I even had a high school friend get angry with me over this car.  Ron hated Fords with a passion.  He would not even ride in my car.  He owned a '57 Chevy Convertible with a 283 automatic.  Ron would brag about that car and how many Fords he had beat in street racing.  He kept wanting me to run against him and I kept saying no.  He said that I was chicken because he was sure that he would win.  He did not know about my engine, but I told him that he did not want to do this.  Well, long story short, we raced and I won.  He would not speak to me for a month.  I finally showed him my engine and told him that is why I did not want to race him.  I have to say that I really enjoyed owning that car.