The Cars, The Times

Cruisin' cars with crackling tailpipes, thundering engines and glossy paint jobs have returned to Monterey once more, and their voices are calling up memories.  We happened on them while walking around last night, killing time before dinner.

The cars are are sleek, long rides with heavy chassis, and they rumble along Alvarado Street like big beasts waiting for a hunk of meat. Dozens of coats of paint and chrome shone in the evening light. Glorious makes and models, the pride of  men who used to cruise boulevards in Bakersfield and Fresno, Colton and LA when they were teen punks, tough, excitable, young and full of hell. Pachuco hairstyles, two-tone Bel Airs and Firebirds turned heads, just like they did fifty years ago.

The air was thick with testosterone-driven nostalgia and beehive hairdo memories. The air was heavy with a fuel exhaust you don't usually inhale much of these days. As a kid, I heard teen guys in their cars racing each other on local streets in Carmel Valley, complete with screaming rubber and an occasional bashing crunch when a car spun out of control. It terrified me and seemed to be the very sound of violence and anger. How did I know.  It was always in the dark and I could only hear and imagine; little girls hiding under their covers were a world apart from teen angst. It was all about dare, counter dare and twitching muscles, just looking for a chance to show off, make someone else back down.

The idling beasts parked along Alvarado last night were glossy, big, heroic and some even beautiful. Back seats boasting square footage equivalent to a double bed left no doubt about teen sexual behavior; it was easy to imagine. When men hung their left arm out of their open windows, with the right slung on top of the steering wheel, their women riding casually in the seat beside them, both looking around to catch someone's eye as they passed, time melted away to the days when they were all young and full of themselves, ready to race and prove something.

The thing they're proving now is that it was an exciting, confusing, but exhilarating time in their lives, when boredom and long stretches of adulthood yawned before them. They survived their own teen years and these chariots were their proving grounds in many ways.  Now they're really only proving how much they love the cars and the lifestyle they found themselves in the middle of back then. The proof is impressive; unequivocally, the popping, roaring exhaust tones of a tricked-out street-ready ride quickens the pulse. Green vehicles be damned, just this one night. Johnny's gonna go cruisin' and get him a girl.

Jubilee In A Frozen Summer

Devilish cold gripped our necks and turned our hands to stone.  It's summer in Pacific Grove still, and little mean 'ol Mother Nature is getting her kicks, taking a wry humorous turn as trickster, but so can we when we want to, especially when the low rumble of old cars make their presence known.




Cherries Jubilee is in town, an annual homage to hot rods and classic cars of a different category than were here only three weeks ago for the Concours d'Elegance.  In comparison to the ritzy and rare (read:  extremely expensive) collectible automobiles on auction at many venues around the Peninsula, road-worthy cruisin' cars have been taking center stage.  '64 Chevelles, '57 Chevys, '65 Mustangs and their equals lined up on Lighthouse Avenue for any and all to admire and photograph.  Everyone picked their favorites, many turned heads and all brought smiles.  A '54 Henry J. Kaiser coupe was probably the oddest looking vehicle with its very dull beige interior and completely featureless dashboard.  It was so ugly that it was beautiful, but mostly ugly.

A '55 Chery Bel Air stole the hearts of those who love its hood ornament and grille design.  One giant beast, a '66 Chevy Long Panel weighs 4,700 lb unladen and was just huge.  Classy rocket ship styling of a '62 Cadillac convertible is 22 feet of two-tone red and white paint looked like a rolling party site, leather and chrome, all glossy and sweet.  One red-and- chrome prize winner was being meticulously massaged with a soft cloth, all 25 coats of its paint, every bit of its trim and inch of its engine.  Insanely horrible gas mileage on any of the cars stopped no one from feeling immense pangs of envy and admiration.

We ogled until we were good and frozen and then hustled back home to warm up again.  Today, all of the entries in the Jubilee are out at Laguna Seca doing laps and struttin' their stuff, going down memory lane.