Clairton, Christmas, and Fins

CHROME AND STEEL; MUSCLE AND HORSEPOWER

Christmas morning 2010: It is early morning in the desert. The effects of a Christmas Eve party at the home of a former Pitt head basketball coach are slowly wearing off and we are looking forward to friends coming by later for Christmas dinner. So many former Clairtonians have moved away over the years. Many have moved to California, and even more to Florida, where there are so many ex-pat Clairtonians that they have an annual Clairton picnic. My email box is stuffed with holiday wishes from friends and family including many current and former Clairton residents.

Clairton ex-pat Vinnie Ross reminded me of the Christmas traditions in 1950s Clairton; the decorations that hung high above and across the streets, the decorated Christmas tree that stood proudly before the Roll of Honor at the intersection of St. Clair and Miller Avenues, Santa Claus and Toyland at the Clairton Hardware, and other displays at G. C. Murphy 5&10, Skapiks, and all the other small businesses that we’ve discussed in our 99 Clairton blogs.

Our own house was built in the early 1940s mostly by my father and his brothers, relatives, and friends, none of whom had expertise in reading blueprints or architecture or any of the other skills that we consider essential for home building today. The house was built on a lot in the last block of St. Clair Ave., one of just a few homes on that block. The street was unpaved until it met the beginning of traditional St. Clair at Gumble’s Chevrolet, current location of Rite Aid. But as the years passed more homes were built and the neighborhood eventually included two sets of Benedettos, Crans, Manzeks, Mols, Mazzolas, Pete Colonna the barber, Smokey DeCarlo the auto-body man, and others. More years passed and the road was flattened and paved, and a bridge was built across the hollow connecting the Hill to Wilson and Clairton Park.


The neighborhoods were rich with traditions. Most celebrated Christmas on December 25th but Serbian, Russian, and other Orthodox kids got to celebrate Christmas again two weeks later on January 7th. Many grandparents spoke little or no English and there did not seem to be much racial unrest. Such was the snapshot of Clairton in the 1950s and early 1960s.


But another phenomenon existed during a segment of those years – fins. More precisely, tail fins that adorned nearly every American car between 1957 and 1960. First, let me paint a picture of cars in the 1950s. Production had stopped during World War II as factories were converted to make tanks, Jeeps, and other military vehicles. When the war ended, late 1940s production cars were blah in appearance and color. That began to change in the early 1950s. “The Big Three” auto companies included Chrysler (Chrysler, Dodge, Desoto, Plymouth, Imperial) General Motors (Chevrolet, Pontiac, Buick, Oldsmobile, Cadillac), and Ford (Ford, Mercury, Edsel, Lincoln).


During the era, Cadillac was the standard of excellence by which all other cars were measured, so it might have been the early 1950s style of the upturned taillights of the Caddy that inspired fins. The 1956 Caddy was the only one that had anything other than smooth rear fenders.


But with the unveiling of the 1957 models, style was in full swing with two-tone paint, dual headlights, and tail fins. Cars became longer and lower and engines more powerful. Arguments among car nuts over which carburetor system offered more power; two four-barrel carbs (dual quads) or three two-barrel carbs (three deuces). Older cars were customized by individuals to further exaggerate the trend and car engines were measured by cubic inches which went from a measly 90 “cubes” to more than 400. Gas mileage was rarely calculated because gas was cheap – two-bits (that’s a quarter for you uninitiated) a gallon and often less.


By 1959 the longer, lower, wider, more powerful, tailfin race had reached its peak. A joke during the era showed two fishermen in a boat watching two fins coming toward them. One fisherman said to the other, “It’s either two sharks or a ’59 Caddy.”


Chevrolet had been the preferred car for many Highway Patrol and State Police agencies. By 1959 the rumor spread (probably an urban legend but it is one every teen boy swore was true) that the fins on the ’59 Chevy were so dramatic they created an airflow issue during high speed pursuits which caused the rear of the patrol car to be lifted from the highway, causing the patrolman to lose control. Thus, police agencies were forbidden to buy 1959 Chevys .



The rumor gained even more credence when the 1960 Chevy model came out with considerably smaller fins, and by the 1961 the fins were gone completely from not only Chevy but nearly every American car. Ah, but those four year models of nearly every model of the “Big Three” manufacturers thrived and became extensions of our ego. The exception was the Edsel by Ford which lasted only a couple of years.

American cars continued to be big, powerful, and fuel inefficient until the oil embargo of 1972 when many car buyers switched from models built by the Big Three to funny little cars like the Volkswagen (mockingly called “the pregnant roller skate”), a cheapie little funny car called “Honda” and a couple of others, Datsun (which would change its name to Nissan) and Toyota. They were cheap and fuel efficient but carried the stigma of “Made in Japan” which was synonymous with “poor quality.” My how times have changed.

A little blogging music Maestro: the theme song for Olds, “Would you like to take the wheel, of my Rocket Oldsmobile…”

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com

Bears, Kindness, and the Good Old Days

Bears Football and other stuff

Irony in the Semi-finals: Clairton met Farrell for the third time in high school playoff history. CHS won the other two games by a handful of points and Farrell Coach Jarrett Samuels entered the game with an overall coaching record of 40-8. Could he have imagines that would be the final score of the game? The Bears were so dominant that the entire second half was played under the “Mercy Rule” in which the clock does not stop thus helping the game come to a merciful end. Clairton had another shutout until the final minute or so when Farrell scored their lone points against the Bears second and third stringers. Running tally for the season: Bears 702 Opponents: 34. Next stop will be the final state playoff game in Hershey on 12/17.

Senior Josh Page helped assure that his final game would be played in Hershey by catching two touchdown passes, scoring on a punt return, and snatching up two fumbles. That sparked a 32-point second quarter against the Steelers, causing some to speculate that the Bears (Clairton, not Chicago) would look respectable against the Steelers (Pittsburgh, not Farrell). We have said in this space before that the football team has represented our hometown with grace and humility off the field. Nothing brings a community together like a winning sports team. Here’s hoping that coach Nola and his Bears have begun the healing of a fractured community. Thank you and congratulations. We wish you success and a Hershey Bar next week.

Email chain letters drive me nuts: I enjoy hearing from old classmates, current and former Clairtonians, and other blog readers. Many send me updates on the games (thanks Jay, Cal, and others), jokes, (thanks Bernie and others) and other news or just keeping up (thanks Vinnie, Carol, Lawrence and many, many others). But I get so many chain letters. They fall into well intentioned warnings (SENT THIS ON IMMEDIATELY!!!) or political crap, or heart tugging stories. But they all share the same urgency: “SEND THIS TO EVERYBODY IN YOUR ADDRESS BOOK!” which of course I refuse to do. Instead I research the emails, discover it is pure garbage, and reply to the sender with the results of my research. It amazes me that people will send on anything that tells them to do so. I was therefore equally skeptical when I received the following email:

Cleaning for a Reason

If you know any woman currently undergoing chemotherapy, please pass the
word to her that there is a cleaning service that provides FREE
housecleaning - once per month for 4 months while she is in treatment.
All she has to do is sign up and have her doctor fax a note confirming
the treatment. Cleaning for a Reason will have a participating maid
service in her zip code area arrange for the service. This organization
serves the entire USA and currently has 547 partners to help these women.
It's our job to pass the word and let them know that there are people out
there that care. Be a blessing to someone and pass this information
along. http://www.cleaningforareason.org/

As is my skeptical modus operandi, I researched the email, worrying that it was a cruel joke to be perpetuated on folks who were ill. But to my joy and amazement I discovered it was real. I take my hat off to the organization and share this information with my readers in the event that you or a loved one could benefit from their services. Bravo and kudos to this not-for-profit organization.



Those were the days: Finally, since it is the holiday season I wanted to share a recent conversation I had with my grandchildren about cars and the good old days:

“Yup, in the REAL old days, when my father was a kid, car engines were started by throwing a switch inside the car then turning a crank that attached to the front of it. Speaking of cranks, even in my day, car windows had to be cranked up and down by hand and if you wanted to see better at night, you pushed the headlight dimmer button with your foot.

“There were no automatic door locks either. You had to go around the car and push each lock button down by hand. But some cars required the all doors to be locked from the INSIDE, except for the driver’s door.

“The coolest cars had four headlights and two different colors of paint. If you were able to afford a new car the first thing you did was have seat-covers put on so the kids did not stain the seats. The seat-covers could be clear plastic or multi colored. There was no air conditioning in the cars and heaters and radios were optional. And if you did get a radio it was AM only. If you drove a Buick the antenna (or aerial as it was sometimes called) was in the top center of the windshield with a knob inside the car to twist it down when the radio was not playing.

“In the 1950s FM was added to the radios and Chrysler actually offered a record player as an option in 1956. Bumpy roads ended that one in a hurry. However, 4-track tape players were able to fit inside a car, then an inventor out in Reno, Nevada name of Bill Lear who had built jet airplanes invented an 8-track tape player in the early 60s. Then came the smaller, more compact cassette tape and finally the Compact Disc. Apple was still a fruit and not an iPod.

“There were no Hondas, Toyotas, Nissans, Lexus, Infinity, or Acuras. The luxury cars were Cadillac, Lincoln, and Imperial, and the “low priced three” were Chevy, Plymouth, and Ford. In between were the Desoto, Edsel, Pontiac, DeLorean, Nash, American, Rambler, Packard, Studebaker, Willys, and hundreds (that’s right, HUNDREDS) of others.

“There was no such thing as power steering so young men often attached a knob to the steering wheel to drive one handed with the other hand around their favorite girl. How did they reach her? Well seats were called “bench” seats and two people could snuggle together on the front seat. What about the gear shifter? Oh that was on the steering column. Gears had to be changed manually, first, second, third. No, there was no fourth gear.

“Brakes sometimes had to be pushed with both feet with your back braced against the seatback in order to stop the car. The side view mirror had to be adjusted by cranking down the window and moving it by hand.

“Tires lasted 10,000 miles if you were lucky, and then they were often recapped. What? Recap? Oh, that was when a used, bald tire was put into a machine and more rubber was sealed to it. With recaps, you nearly had to use an inner tube. Inner tube? That was a soft rubber circle, like the one in your swimming pool that went inside the tire to keep air from leaking out.”

They were rapt as I told them about cars getting 10 miles to a gallon average, gas at less than a quarter per gallon, how engines overheated especially when crossing mountains, and how burlap sacks of water were a must have, hanging over the outside mirror, whenever taking a long trip.

“What did we do in the summer if there was no air conditioning? Well, cars had 4-50 air conditioning. Four windows down; 50 miles per hour.”

When I finally finished with historical accuracy my granddaughter summed it all up, “Oh, Grandpa, you tell such big fibs.”

A little blogging music Maestro… “Dreams to Remember,” by Otis Redding..

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com
www.mifflintownship.org

Baby You Can Drive My Car

Mostly Personal

A small departure: Today’s blog will talk a little about the author, Dr. Forgot as I am called. That is a moniker I picked up from colleagues at a school where I worked. It is in reference to my being an absent-minded professor. I won’t go through the specifics or the defining incident, but suffice it to say that one Sunday morning en route to catch a plane to go to a conference on Gifted Children, I stopped by the school first to pick up some notes and in the process locked myself in. But that’s another story for another time.

Cars, cars, cars: I’ve always been a car guy. My first was a used 1949 Willys Station Wagon that my father bought for me so I could deliver The Daily News to local paperboys and stores. I was 14 at the time and drove the streets of Clairton, PA without incident for two years until I was legally old enough to get a driver’s license. When the old used Willys petered out after a year or so we invested in a brand new 1957 Willys panel truck. It looked almost exactly like the old one.

In college my first car was a 1949 Packard. My roommate Geno, also a Clairton boy, and I bought the car from a Utah farmer for $80. Except that we didn’t have $80 between us, we only had $20 each, so the farmer took our $40 and a verbal promise to send him the other $40 the following month – which we did. No contracts, no lawyers, just a handshake. During college I bought and sold several cars, making small profits by cleaning them up. After college I bought many – probably a total of 70 or 75 cars over the years. But my pride and joy came to me in 2000.

A new dealership: A Jaguar dealership opened near my house in 2000. I knew the family who owned it and had purchased cars from their other dealerships over the years. As I drove by the newly opened dealership I spied a gorgeous top of the line Jaguar Vanden Plas. Of course I knew I could not afford such a car so I stopped in to do a little window shopping. Turns out that the car was not new but had just been returned from a lease. A local casino executive leased a luxury car for his girlfriend regularly. It was pristine (the car, not the girlfriend). About 16,000 miles and looked brand new. The owner said he would sell it to me at a rock bottom price which was still a little rich for my blood, but this was, after all, my dream car. I went home to think about it and picked up the daily mail which included an advertisement from the new dealership with a $5,000 certificate that said, “Make your best deal and then take $5,000 off.” I took it as a sign. This was providence. I raced back down to the dealership, certificate in hand, and purchased the car. From that moment onward it has been my pride and joy. I’ve kept it in pristine condition and receive compliments every time I drive it.

Fast forward 10 years: In two weeks it will be 10 years to the day that I purchased the Jaguar and that means the car is nearing its 14th birthday. Yes, it has been expensive to maintain over the years, more so than most, but this was my combination hobby and fun car. Still, things were wearing out. The power steering worked most of the time, and several other things were getting ready for replacement to the tune of several thousands of dollars. So I probably should not have driven it to San Diego last week but I did.

In the middle of the desert, about 100 miles from nowhere the engine sputtered then caught again. It happened a few more times as we limped into San Diego. The local Jaguar dealership was unable to provide an accurate estimate but was certain that repairs would likely cost more than the value of the car. So I drove around the area looking at possibilities while Mrs. Dr. Forgot roamed the shopping malls. I eventually arrived at a dealership that was very aggressive in providing a deal on a new car. The car was plain vanilla on the outside (well, the color was actually pearlized white) but the interior was loaded with all the bells and whistles. The price was a very good one and when we finally got to discussing the Jaguar the manager offered me an excellent price. Turns out he is a tinkerer and would but the car himself and do whatever repairs needed. So I drove home in a new car. It was not planned that way. The new car does not elicit gasps from onlookers the way the Jaguar did and people do not start conversation with me about the new car. But it is a highly rated car with excellent gas mileage, 50% better than the Jaguar, and it runs on regular. My cat is a little miffed about it. He used to love to go into the garage and stretch out on the roof of the Jag. I think he thought they were related, both being cats. But I’m sure he’ll get used to the new car just as I will.

A little blogging music Maestro… An oldie from 1967 by The Who…“Jaguar”

Dr. Forgot
http://drforgot.com

Clairton's Car History

My designated driver drove me to drink

Not a Honda among us: Many readers of this blog remember Clairton back in the days when men were men and women were glad of it and you were able to tell one from the other by their earrings, tattoos, or the way they zipped their jeans. So return with us now to those thrilling days of yesteryear when there was no place in Clairton to purchase a new Acura, BMW, Mercedes, Audi, Datsun, Hummer, Hyundai, Infiniti, Jaguar, Kia, Lexus, Land Rover, Mazda, Mini, Mitsubishi, Nissan, Porsche, Saab, Scion, Smart, Subaru, Suzuki, Toyota, Vauxhall, Volkswagen, Volvo, or Cadillac. Well, ok, I’ll concede, Vauxhall was sold at Carroll Motors Pontiac for a short time during the 1950s.

Readers help me remember to See the USA in my Chevrolet: Reader Ed Gibson, Clairton lad with a wealthy healthy memory for modes of transportation helped me remember some of the cars that one was able to purchase new in Clairton in the 1940s, 50s and beyond. Let’s test your memory and see if you remember the dealerships and even some of the cars that were sold back in the days of the stick shift, suicide knob, chopping and channeling, the Western Auto store on Miller Avenue, and the Clairton Bears fan who would paint up his hearse with white shoe polish for football games.

Cars, boats, and other modes of transport: Ed Gibson is a Clairtonian and an admitted autophile, car junkie, and grease monkey. He currently runs Three Rivers Marine Surveys www.threeriversmarinesurveys.com but spent many years providing for his family in the car business. In his current business he helps owners of new boats solve warranty issues but in his heart beats the engine of a 400 horsepower Dodge Hemi with dual four-barrel carbs. Ed has written articles about boats, water marine surveying, and water safety but he also knows the difference between an Olds Rocket 88 and a Ninety-eight. Ed is a certified scuba diver but was also a Clairton hot rod driver. My best guess would be that Ed’s dream car would be the Amphicar, manufactured by Industrie Werke Karlsruhe in West Germany (see photo above), but alas, never sold in Clairton. The cars listed below WERE sold new in Clairton. A thank you for the assist in the compilation of those cars and their dealers goes to Ed Gibson, Clairton boy.

Of grocery stores and Buicks: Many Clairtonians remember the Marracini markets in Wilson and “on the hill” at the Woodland and Worthington Avenue confluence, but what you may not remember is that the Marracini family also owned the Buick dealership in Blair. The Ford dealership in Wilson had several different owners over the years and one little dealership not to be overlooked was Page Wilcher Crosley near Mendelssohn Avenue and the Spur gas station. Don’t remember that one? Crosley was what today we might call a subcompact car manufactured in the U.S. by Crosley Motors from 1939 to 1952. Industrialist Powel Crosley, Jr, owned radio stations and the Cincinnati Reds baseball team. He built a teeny (80” wheelbase, less than 1,000 lbs.)Convertible that got over 50 miles per gallon and cost about $250. He later added other models including sedans, wagons, and pickup trucks. But the Crosley went the way of the Edsel.

Moving on up with more extinct cars: Caddy-corner to the post office on St. Clair and Fifth Street was a pool hall. But before being a pool hall it was the Airport Kaiser-Frazer dealership. The Kaiser-Frazer Corporation was incorporated in Nevada in 1945. Industrialist Henry J. Kaiser teamed up with auto man Joseph Frazer and tried to catch a wave of the post World War II boom. The Clairton dealership did ok, but the company went bust. Studebaker started building wagons for farmers, miners, and the military during the Civil War. Their car building exploits started in 1902 first with electric then gasoline powered cars. Winters Motors on St. Clair Avenue sold Studebakers until the car company began to lose money and partnered with Packard, which had been building luxury cars since 1899. And yes, Packard had a dealership in Clairton, Niklas Brothers on Woodland Avenue at the corner of Halcomb.

A dealership near the cemetery – a bad omen: Hudson Motors built cars from 1909 until 1954 when they merged with Nash-Kelvinator (the latter of refrigerator fame) to form AMC, or American Motors Corporation. The Hudson dealership in Clairton was on Worthington as Nikolich Motors, just up the street from the cemetery, and later to become Johnny’s Glass, operated by John Nikolich, son of dealership owner Nick. The third generation Nick Nickolich now operates a waste management business from the same property. The Hudson dealership was short lived but the American Motors Corporation continued selling Nash Ramblers and other AMC products at Ping Young Motors on Miller Avenue and Wylie, a block from the grade school. Across the street from Miller Avenue school Ed Zupancic opened Zupancic Lincoln Mercury in the mid 1950s. The opening was attended by no less a celebrity than Ed Sullivan whose Ed Sullivan Show was sponsored by the car company.

General Motors, Ford, and Chrysler: In addition to the aforementioned Ford dealership in Wilson and Zupancic Lincoln Mercury, Chrysler Corporation dealerships included Gregg Motors Chrysler on Park Avenue near Clairton High School, Mauro Desoto/Plymouth next to the Blue Bird Restaurant, and Jim Phillips Dodge on Worthington across from the Triangle and Reggie Desiderio memorial. General Motors dealerships included Carroll Motors Pontiac next door to Mauro Desoto/Plymouth, and down the street was Gumble Chevrolet where the Rite Aid Drug Store currently stands. Browns Oldsmobile sat at the bottom of St. Clair Avenue. The last dealer of mention, and ironically one of the few still selling cars in Clairton is Royak Motors which sold Willys Jeep products across the street from the post office. It is operated by Joe Royak, Jr. Willys came to prominence by winning a government contract to produce Jeeps during World War II. After the war they expanded their offerings to cars, trucks, and station wagons that became America’s first SUVs. The Jeep brand was eventually sold to Chrysler.

A review of Clairton circa 1950s: During its heyday Clairton had 16 car dealerships that offered every American car made except Cadillac. The two main streets include St. Clair Avenue, which was the location of the State Theater, at least three hotels, and six car dealerships, and Miller Avenue which had a school, two car dealerships, two movie theaters (Capital and Colonial), most of the business district, three service stations and a church. All this in a town that at its peak boasted fewer than 20,000 residents! In my next post I’ll focus on how some things have changed in Clairton in a half century.

A little blogging music Maestro... “Riding Around in my Automobile,” by Chuck Berry.

Dr. Forgot
http://Drforgot.com
www.mifflintownship.org

Laying Eggs and Squealing Tires

Of Chicken Eggs and Jaguars

We eat chicken before it is born and after it is dead: My good friend Jim and I were to meet the other day for lunch. He’d had a hankering for an omelet for days so we went to a joint whose specialty is the omelet. It was closed. I teased him about being the first person ever to be thrown out of a joint when it was closed. Jim took my teasing well and our conversation turned to gas prices and how this generation of youngsters will never know the freedom and joy that we, the car generation knew.

Just for car lovers: By car lovers I do not mean the back seat of a 1949 Packard. Only a certain age group will understand that. Suffice it to say that any child born in the back seat of a car with an automatic transmission probably grew up to be a shiftless bastard. Cars were a huge part of the lives of those of us who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s. Any kid who had wheels was immediately bolstered in status in the eyes of his peers as well as the eyes of the opposite sex. My first car was a ’47 Willys Jeep panel truck, purchased for $ 200 in 1958. I was almost two years away from my 16th birthday so I was not exactly legal behind the wheel but I convinced my father to allow me to have the Jeep by using is as a newspaper delivery vehicle. Each afternoon 2,000 newspapers would arrive by truck in my father’s garage. We’d count them, tie them, and deliver them to paperboys around the city. Hard work for sure but is started me on my addiction to cars.

Every make and model: Over the years I’ve owned nearly every make and model American car. In college I’d make extra money by purchasing a sad looking car from a student for a song, wash it, wax it, replace dented parts with newer ones from the junkyard, then resell it at a tidy profit. It was a good business for a Psych major. I’ve owned Buicks, Fords, Cadillacs, Pontiacs, Ramblers, Packards, T-Birds, Mercs, Dodges, Plymouths, Lincolns etc. etc. But my dream had always been to own a Jaguar. There was something about the stuffed shirt upper class attitude of the Brits that made a Jag my dream car. They were very expensive and had a terrible reputation for breaking down, but they were regal and elegant. Then Ford bought the company, preserved the good parts and retooled the factories to improve the bad. The result was from 1992 onward the Jaguar brand soared.

Finally a dream come true: It was 2000 and I was driving home past a brand new Jaguar dealership. Sitting in front was the most beautiful burgundy colored Vanden Plas (the Jaguar top-of-the-line model) I had ever seen. I wheeled into the lot and was met by a salesman who had sold me a BMW at another dealership a few years earlier. I knew the price of that car was too steep for my blood and he told me that it was the car was in fact not new but a 1998 model just returned from a Red Carpet Lease. Seems a casino boss bought his girlfriend a new Jag every two years. He told me the price and it was almost within my range but I left in my old Lincoln.

It’s not me, it is Kismet: When I got home and checked the mail there was a card from the new dealership. It said, “Make your best deal at our new dealership then use this coupon for an additional $ 5,000 discount.” Needless to say I returned and became the proud owner of that Jag. It is my Sunday car. More than a decade old with fewer than 60,000 miles. It purrs. Jaguar has since been sold to Tata Motors of India but I’ve got mine.

A little blogging music Maestro... “Baby You Can Drive My Car” by the Beatles.

Dr. ForgotSee me also at http://vegasbuzznews.com/