Gone But Not Forgotten in San Antonio! - Part II (Austin: suites, best time)

[TrapperL]

At the time of the pic, it was the corner of Garden and Alamo. Garden was changed to St Marys. That pretty much makes it Rosarios. The men working were employees of the San Antonio Traction Co. You know it today as VIA.
Among my other faults, I don't read well apparently. Sorry I missed the inclusion of the Dodge and Pontiac folks. I just remember those drag race teams were mighty hard to beat- one with a GTO and the other a Polara SS. But when the Cortinas boys showed up with their Chevy II, that changed. Oh, the sweet smell of REAL gasoline back then!

[SATX56]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

At the time of the pic, it was the corner of Garden and Alamo. Garden was changed to St Marys. That pretty much makes it Rosarios. The men working were employees of the San Antonio Traction Co. You know it today as VIA.
Among my other faults, I don't read well apparently. Sorry I missed the inclusion of the Dodge and Pontiac folks. I just remember those drag race teams were mighty hard to beat- one with a GTO and the other a Polara SS. But when the Cortinas boys showed up with their Chevy II, that changed. Oh, the sweet smell of REAL gasoline back then!

Well great photo! Yep heard of the SA traction Company and the trolleys. Didn't know it was there. Far back as I've seen the location 50's and forward it's hard to recall what all occupied that building.

[Boss Rider]

Originally Posted by TrapperL

Can tell you folks weren't in on the racing scene in San Antonio back in the day.

Depends on your definition of 'the day'. My day was before they built the Dragway, so we raced on the streets south of Military, which was the edge of the earth in the late 50's. We'd leave the Flame drive in (Later Jim's Frontier) and go down Pleasanton Rd. or 281 South to FM2537. There was a straight, flat 1500 feet in the middle, but you had to be careful of the RR tracks about half way down. Since there were three ways out (back to Pleasanton rd, back to 281 or you could cut up the Martinez road that ran along side the tracks back to Pleasanton rd.) we never worried much about the Sheriff. He did catch a few of us, but we got tickets for disturbing the peace and illegal exhausts. It's all built up now, so you'd never be able to do anything like that any more.

I had a blue '55 Ford with a '56 Merc 312 cu. engine. 4 bbl, Hearst 3 speed stick on the floor, a lightly tweaked cam, and Lake headers. Also had a half turn cut off the front springs and reversed spring perches on the rear to get the nose down an inch and a half. Not a killer, but it would hold it's own. Biggest problem was tires back then. Unless you had street slicks, which were expensive, illegal and very noticeable, it was hard to keep from burning up the rear tires. Trick was a bump to get her rolling, and then lay in the power smoothly. Beat a bunch of kids with Dad's new car because they just floored it on takeoff and got sideways.

[huckster]

You bring back Great memories of San Antonio. I used to do the same thing, not floor the throttle of the car off the start line and take the lead right off. All of the tire smoke and noise make no difference at all on take-off. It is a waste of time unless you have a race suspnsion altered vehicle. Get a take off then floor it.
We used to go out camp Bullis Rd. late, people used to even haul cars on trail-
ers out there. One time the cops showed up too, we left in a hurry. Got away unscathed. Four cop cars , about, can't remember very well that far back.
That was the days before the dragway was built , as you wrote , on the southside. Secretly,word would get around through car afficionados, racing buffs, auto parts stores etc. and the race would be on. I don't know how the police dept. found out that time but they did.
Since there was no drag strip at the time, this was all there was.
One would just take his car out to the middle of the dark road and a likely opponent would idle up besides and someone else would be the starter.
I remember one time a guy on a stripped down Harley Davidson pulled up on the two very dark laner ,revved up his motor , challenging all. All of the people milling about , standing next to their cars ,began laughing at him as if to say "get out of here, You're not serious." That thing?
This guy got mad at the laughing, revved up and did quite a wheel stand
down the middle of Camp Bullis Rd..made one hell of a racket.
This bike-Turned around and once again idled up to the middle of the dark road and lined up at the start line and began revving his engine, once again.
The laughing stopped- everyone shutup.Noone wanted a piece of that bike.
Locally, We used to drag race down the Loop 410 access rd from Ingram Rd.
south towards Culebra.
There was nothing out there back then except coyotes and jack rabbits and it was a quarter mile stretch....
I could not believe my buddies 68' SS Camaro 396 beat my 68' Olds 442 there on the access rd.. But he did, barely, at the very end, passing me right at the finish. Tim was so far back I could see him back there in the rear view mirror.
Then ever so slowly, he began gaining and overtook me, a huge smile on his face.
I do remember the Flame Drive In -on Military Across from Brooks Field and in front of what was back then the Tuberculosis Hospital.

Originally Posted by Boss Rider

We'd leave the Flame drive in (Later Jim's Frontier) and go down Pleasanton Rd. or 281 South to FM2537. There was a straight, flat 1500 feet in the middle, but you had to be careful of the RR tracks about half way down. Since there were three ways out (back to Pleasanton rd, back to 281 or you could cut up the Martinez road that ran along side the tracks back to Pleasanton rd.) we never worried much about the Sheriff. He did catch a few of us, but we got tickets for disturbing the peace and illegal exhausts. It's all built up now, so you'd never be able to do anything like that any more.

I had a blue '55 Ford with a '56 Merc 312 cu. engine. 4 bbl, Hearst 3 speed stick on the floor, a lightly tweaked cam, and Lake headers. Also had a half turn cut off the front springs and reversed spring perches on the rear to get the nose down an inch and a half. Not a killer, but it would hold it's own. Biggest problem was tires back then. Unless you had street slicks, which were expensive, illegal and very noticeable, it was hard to keep from burning up the rear tires. Trick was a bump to get her rolling, and then lay in the power smoothly. Beat a bunch of kids with Dad's new car because they just floored it on takeoff and got sideways.

[TrapperL]

Boss Rider, yer givin' it up as being a southsider. Me too. I had an older sister so I got to hang with some of her friends before the Frontier opened on Goliad. I witnessed a few drags out at United Gas a time or two but never ran there myself. Remember a 1958 Pontiac, light green that had been lowered called Suddenly? I wonder what happened to the guy that owned it? George was his name as I remember it.He couldn't get the car in the Frontier because it would drag the ground getting in. Good days back then. Maybe because we were just kids and didn't pay attention to what was going on in the world but it sure seems like things were a lot simpler then.

My era would have been my sister graduating from Highlands in 1962 and I graduated from Marshall in 1965. We moved out to Verde Hills in 1963 which is off Bandera Rd. That when Bandera Rd was barely a single lane road with little to no traffic any time of the day.

[69GSstage1]

I noticed Rod East VW has changed its name to VW of Alamo Heights. A long time ago, it used to be Rod East VW and Northwood Porsche -Audi. Yet another entry into the annals of Gone but not Forgotten San Antonio.

[outafocus]

I bought my first brand new car from Rod East Volkswagen. There were also three other VW dealers. North Loop VW on Fredericksburg Rd, Auto Haus VW on SE Military Drive, and the original San Antonio VW dealer, Intercontinental Motors, which later became Lone Star Volkswagen on Broadway.

VW was flying high then, and was the number one imported brand in the US. Dealerships had strict guidelines to follow, including providing an upstairs waiting room for service customers with a window into the service area for the customers to watch their car being worked on.

[Willsatx]

I remember outside Bandera and 410 in the early 80's not as packed as things are now, after Ancira there was a gulf gas station at Grissom and Bandera. Then at Huebner and Bandera I remember the HEB, WINNS, Kroger, 7-11, GW Jr's.

[LilyLady]

Originally Posted by Willsatx

I remember outside Bandera and 410 in the early 80's not as packed as things are now, after Ancira there was a gulf gas station at Grissom and Bandera. Then at Huebner and Bandera I remember the HEB, WINNS, Kroger, 7-11, GW Jr's.

Back in the 60's I remember how a drive out Bandera Road was considered a drive out of town, suitable for stopping for a picnic lunch on the way to Kerrville!

[TexasRedneck]

Back in the 60's/early 70's, you had T&L Ice House (El Verde @ Bandera), Paula's Cafe & Mandry General Hardware & Supply (next door to each other, across from Poss @ Bandera), Meiske's/Bradford/Someone Else Esso/Exxon (Sawyer @ Bandera), Oasis Liquor Store (Linkwood @ Bandera), a burger place (Eckerd @ Bandera), Texas Star Inn (just down from the burger place on the other side of Bandera), Sigmor Shamrock (on Bandera, just past the creek), and KBAT radio across from the Sigmor.....not much else. I can remember when they developed Seneca Estates and Grass Valley......kids used to have fun "renaming" that subdivision by removing some of the letters!