I just finished restoring my 1971 442 W-30 convert with 4 speed. (see attached photo). I researching the history of the car I have determined it either sold new in Michigan or spend significant time there. It was Registered in Pennsylvania since 1982 and prior to that in Michigan. I found several business cards in the car from places in Detroit and Rochester Michigan. I also found a movie stub from a drive in marked "Detroit Drive In Theatre,Admisson $2.50". My question, was this a specific drive in theatre and in what era did they charge $2.50 for a movie. I am trying to determine timeline. Any help from you guys who grew up in Detroit would help.
Paul, I love your W-30 :TU: For drive-in theatre information, mail your question to this address: drivein@driveintheater.com
That car is drop dead gorgeous, Paul. That's about what drive in's cost around here back then, but can't help more thana that. Rochester, Mi is quite close to GM Tech Center, wouldn't be surprised if one of the owners was from there. My wife and I went to drive in theaters regularly in our Ramrod when it was new in the Lansing area. Slide the buckets all the way back, fold down the seat backs and watch from the back seat with a large bag of popcorn and a full cooler of Bud. I still find remnants of popcorn in the back of the car eery now and then. Good memories. :bglasses:
Awesome ride! Very nice. Drive-in's were about that price in the early and mid '70s. Some of the cheezier ones down here were $2.50 per carload, and they soaked you at the concession stand. There's not a single drive-in left in the New Orleans area now. :ball:
It was an original drive in opening in 1938. I wonder the year it closed? http://www.itsonlyamovie.co.uk/DRIVEINHISTORYPAGE.htm
Ok it closed and was torn down in 1977. Here are the pics. http://www.michigandriveins.com/detail.asp?id=41
Michigan circa 1970's thanks for the info on Michigan circa 1970"s. I sure wish Michigan DMV had older records. The tidbits I have are good enought to at least capture some of the history of where the car came from!
Jim: Thanks for that. I virtually lived at the Calvert Drive In in Calvert City, Ky from 1956 to 1959 (when my family moved to Pennsylvania), but went back and lived with the family in the summer of 1961 and ran another drive in they had bought (Lakeside, near Kentucky Dam). Went back to work in a smelly chemical plant there in 1964 while in college at Michigan, but went straight from the plant to the theater every night. Always something going on there (about the only thing going on down there). Great memories. Also spent much time at the Ypsi-Ann and University Drive ins near Ann Arbor back then also. When my wife and i were first married in 1968, we sublet a nice apartment from a retired couple that went to Florida for the winter. Acros the hall was this sweet ollady named Mrs. Spagnuolo. She use to bake for us and was very nice. Turns out, she and her husband built and owned the Crest Drive In just East of Okemos (East of East Lansing). We thought that was neat and went out there one night. Turns out, her husband had died and her two sons had turned it ito a XXX place and the night we went out there, "Deep Throat" was playing. We didn't go in. Laughed for a month, though. The screen was situated such that you could catch a glimpse of the picture from Grand River, a major road there. Always a car or two parked along the side. :laugh:
Movies in the 70's I suspect most drive in theatres had switched to XXX movies by the mid 70's. That is why I replaced "ALL " the upholstery in the car. :grin:
Dave I hesitated to post that HX of Michigan's Drive Ins just for fear their may be some old pics of you ah ah or Linda that had survived like the one on the assembly line. Could be we see one here yet. I am still sorting through them. Do you see any shots that looked like one of your old cars? J
Jim: I'll keep looking. I made a copy of the special on TV of "George Ray's dragstrip" in Arkansas, and reran it a dozen times through the part where it showed pics of cars running back when it opened. I'm more convinced than ever that one of the cars running was my neighbors' Dad in his black 57 Chevy. That thing was running in Paducah every Saturday night for big bucks until the law put the kaibosh on all of them. I had heard he and a few others used to go over to George Ray's back then. I just got a new printer/scanner/copier. Gots lots of old pics that I now can do something with, (I hope). Like my 61 Valiant B/MP sedan in 1967, my N stock (or P Stock, or Z stock???) customized 52 Ford that I ran at Milan in the 60's before the Valiant (actually ran against Ted Harbitt's 51 Stude one time there. Got a real good view of that back window. :laugh: One time at the Calvert Drive in 1961, I there were 21 shoebox 55-57 Chevies in a row on the back ramp. They used to start them up and rev them to the moon during the intermission. Probably half of them were totalled out in the next 6 months down there. BTW, made contact with my friend at that drive in as a result of your info. He retired from the chemical plant and has reopened that old drive in along with his younger brother. Plan to stop by and visit him this Fall. Haven't seen him since my honeymoon in 1968! THANKS!
