Is real cruising dead?
 

I graduated high school in the early 80's and during that time we went cruising! Nowadays, I think it's a dead ritual. There are "cruise-ins" around (aka "Coffee and cars" because somehow everyone now has to drink coffee 24/7) but these events are more like "park-ins" because aside from getting there, no one is driving!

I found this clip on YouTube. It's pretty accurate for the time.
https://youtu.be/FfXD6bmsjL0


Is anyone lucky enough to still be cruising the old fashioned way? (ok, not the REAL way which also involved lots of drag racing or at least stop light to stop light jumping, that we just can't do much any more).

Oh, and note the part of the video where the cop talks about the "usual" things kids to wrong and what he does about it. You know, open containers, drinking and driving, and rowdy driving. So he just gives them tickets and sends them on their way. Yup, the good ol' days!

Not so much like that anymore, LOL. But every saturday night in Victoria BC Canada there is a couple of spots everybody goes to and cruises between. Every sat there is Cruise ships that dock in Victoria and the car owners like to cruise down to that location and sit for a bit the cruise back home through busy part of the City, making a little noise. No stop light stuff, a couple of early coupes got impounded for 7 days for havin a little fun.

All thru the 80's Hempstead Tnpk in East Meadow and Levittown, NY was the local cruising grounds. Some time in the early 90's that went away. I haven't heard of any cruising since.

Certainly, 1958-style cruising is dead, yes. Sure am glad I got to participate, though!

Up until a couple of years ago, the annual cruise in Penn Yan was nice. Typical car show on Main Street, but at the appointed time entrants were invited to "cruise" a route of about 9-10 miles- with volunteers and rent-a-cops controlling all intersections. But volunteer help dried up, so now it's just a car show.

The Vintage Festival in Watkins Glen (Sep 11-13 this year) is always fun- not just for sporty-car types, but for any "enthusiast" vehicles. I usually just find a spot on the sidewalk and watch the constant "parade" of interesting cars for a couple hours. This year I've agreed to display my Pontiac hemi engine with one of the local clubs- but I still plan to "enjoy the sights". Club members will get to "cruise" the historic Grand Prix course through the village!

I live in Niles MI. & in a town about 25 miles away there is a cruise every 1st. friday of the month in Goshen IN. Goshen use to be the cruise capital of the USA. At least it was in the early 80's before the people in the town got all upset about not being able to get through town at 10 PM, but the people that were complaining were already in bed at that time. but they got the town to curtail all the cruising & it went away. But now it's back because after all this time they finally realized that all the cruising car had people in them that were spending money at all the drive in's & stores in town that were open at that time of night. It only took them 25 + years to understand that cruisers have money to spend. Now because the town is almost broke they want the cars back & are helping to get them in the town at night now. Also we have a cruise in & car show every wed. which a lot of the cars do cruise a little while here on wed. just to feel like we did back then when we all cruised for hours at a time. It's about time they realized they need us. It's starting to come back & thats good for all of us.

Here's a thread that will recall part of the story & reasons Cruising's decline
==> http://forums.hotrod.com/hot-rod/70/...fun-governers/

Hot Rod, PHR, Car Crap, etc. for years ran stories about local crackdowns across the country to end cruising and automotive gatherings...

I have driven both Birds this week during the day and noticed I was the only vintage car in my few drives I did. People act like I am driving something from another planet. It is getting stranger every year driving a classic. It is like you are the Lone Stranger now instead of one of the pack, like it used to be....

Hard to find cruisers at car shows.My junk has been off the road for 2yrs.Prior to that i would cruise like i did in the 80's.2 tanks of gas in a night and barely leave the county.Have found a couple others that rolled with me just because we would see each other 10x's in a night lol.Good places to find the likes are car washes(self serve) late night restaurants and gas stations.Always enjoyed late night cool weather driving.Less A-holes on the road but more deer though..Fired mine up last night and im ready to hit the roads again.

"Real" cruising is for kids. We stopped cruising and drag racing every weekend when we were old enough to get into bars.

Anyone who grew up in the '60s or '70s on this side of town remembers Whittier Blvd. Now there are zero cruisers and plenty of street signs threatening fines.

Now - driving around for fun - I still do that all the time. Plenty of other classics always out here, too - especially on the weekends.

It died around 20 years ago
 

I live in a small town of 2700. In the early to to mid 80's on every Friday - Saturday night there was always someone continually cruising our 2.5 mile drag. Up and down up and down we would sometimes put 100 miles on and never leave town !!
Lots of 60's 70's muscle ...lots of variety but always a majority of Mopars. We would hand out at the Texaco gas station usually at least 12-20 cars minimum.. After it closed at 9 pm it was the gather spot where the guys would talk drink beer and decide to go out of town to race at the marked out 1/4 mile. All with pre stage and stage area painted lines. If it was a still night could hear the boys racing it up out of town.

Sometimes we shoot the poop for awhile and cruise for a while.
We had town police and they had one cop car and a force of 1 chief and 3 officers. We would cruise and as long as you were not ripping the streets up we were rarely bothered.

As time moved on and lifes changed for some jobs away, cars sold for marriage the cruising all weekend faded away the next generation never really continued on what we did for cruising and cruising more. By mid 90's was rare to see someone cruising the drag and never seen a car sitting at the Texaco after 9:00.
Today Texaco is now a off brand gas station our 4 man cop force is gone replaced by a huge municipal force and I and one friend occasionally will meet to cruise the drag and drive out of town past the ole marked 1/4 mile the paint marks long since disappeared.

Only thing left is our 2 cars and just memories now.

Yes here it is gone.

what happened to the rank this thread

Yup. It wouldn't seem the same now that we're all growed up.

I grew up in a small town south of Lansing, MI. We would cruise a little bit in our local town, one end to the other. We'd stop by Quality Dairy, pop the hoods, shoot the shiz, talk to the girls, and find out where the party was. We could hit the "Pot Lot" behind the row of downtown Main Street buildings, or see if somebody had an older sibling who could buy us some beer. I'd get followed all the way to the town limits by the PD, waiting to bust me for something. And I have one of those "Squealing Tires" civil infractions in the books.

We'd go cruising down Cedar and Pennsylvania in Lansing, or sometimes we'd go hit the west side and cruise Saginaw Ave. We'd do a little stoplight racing, and see the occasional girl give you a "flash" if she dug you or your car. Best one ever? A pair of hotties sitting up on top of the seats of a 67 Fairlane convertible. Got a tandem show while driving the 78 T-top Formula.

But it was all predicated on chasing tail or chasing a buzz. When you grow up you have easier access to both. You buy your own buzz, and stop chasing tail to marry it.:wife: And then years later you get a muscle car to remind yourself that for a brief moment in time you were the king of the world.;)

I couldn't really imagine doing it now. Driving my old car has become more of a spiritual reconnect for me these days, or a means to a thrill via racing.

I couldn't have put it better than Squidward.

Sucks to grow up and have responsibilities that force you to become an adult.

Western New York Summers are too short but there are cruises (sometimes multiple cruises) on every night of the week. Restaurants, bars, VFW's, Legions, Bowling Alleys, Churches, Auto Parts Stores, Casino, etc. all have cruises. Some have bands, all have food/beer/drinks available for purchase. Most are well attended 100 + cars. Some super cruises have more than 600 cars attend. They are good excuses to drive your car and are all within 25 miles or so from my house. They last from about 5:00 pm until 8 or 9:00. I usually try to get to a couple each week and a regular car show on the week end (weather permitting). See lots of cars that you don't see at the shows. WNY has a huge number of classic cars.

Goshen "almost broke?" Not hardly!

Weather permitting, Fri Sat Sun hold 3 different locations for the old car folks to gather, parked, walk and talk.

I enjoy the break from lawn work, & the drive to & from, & sometimes have 1 good conversation with a local about performance tricks.

The Bikers/ Harleys cruise the roads while us car folks watch them go by.

I thought this thread might evoke some fond memories and stories.

Yes, I know cruising, real cruising as described above which involved chasing girls and cars and other things to waste time on a friday or saturday night, is dead. BUT WHAT ABOUT THE KIDS TODAY? There certainly are the cars for it again. I understand that the street racing is a bad idea, but what about the street cruising where we went up and down a strip all night? Or all met at one known spot like the above mentioned Texaco? (For us in Rockland County, NY, it was at Super Amusements Arcade on Rt. 59).

Yes, Long Island and NY has great summer cruise ins. And now that all us kids are all growed up like responsible adults, we even have very organized events like this "Cruise to the Show" event. It doesn't hurt that our County Executive is a car guy (that's his gold Vette in these pics). Even Governor Cuomo also has an old Vette he's brought out to this show before (BTW, those two politicians cross the isle over their love for cars).

Cruise to the Show video: https://youtu.be/rNDTewkZ3p0

I mean, look at this web site: http://cruisetotheshow.com/. It's like his personal picture page for car shows! LOL

And yes, when they close down Oyster Bay every Tuesday night for the car show, all the local restaurants and stores do every well, including Billy Joel's motorcycle shop.

But where are the kids driving up and down Main St. USA? I guess it's a dead and buried pastime.

Cruising in Rockland County, NY in the 80's:
(I wanted to get mine in here)

Started at Super Amusements, the arcade on Route 59 in Nanuet. Hung there until others arrived. Maybe left for a lap down by The Nanuet Mall, especially when the movies were letting out. Rolled down the windows in January to look "cool" (as if the girls were going to say, "hey, nice car and they even have the windows down at 10* weather, let's hop in their car!"

Then on Sunday nights it was a big gathering in the Masters store parking lot, which later was the flea market, and later moved to a commuter lot down the street. We all met up, some after a day of racing at Englishtown to show off our shoe polish racing markings. Then the hard core folks would wait until it got really late and would go up on the highway to race. My friend's dad told us they were doing the SAME racing at the SAME spot in the 50's! I actually thought that was very cool. We even had Car Craft do a story on our cruising (I was away at school that night!!! darn it!)

Oh, and the mecca of cruising was down the shore. Yes, the Jersey Shore - Seaside Heights. NOW THAT was some real cruising fun! Driving up and down Ocean ave in front of the boardwalk. There were more girls driving REALLY nice new cars (convertible Vettes, IROCS, and some older cars too) and boy was that fun.

That's the first place I started to see The Man cracking down on cruising. "No Cruising" Street signs were posted (would love to have one of those signs). Cops would ticket you if you passed by too many times, etc.

Yes, this was cruising. Burning a tank of gas and not going anywhere as said above. Looking for girls or trying to show off what your car can do with the new cam you just installed.

I guess American Graffiti is just something to be talked about over coffee on an early Sunday morning gathering at the parking lot where OBI used to be (where the Long Island Iced Tea was invented).

So for now, we keep our fond memories alive as we keep our old cars alive. I guess it's better than the alternative! :clap2:



PS I was feeling nostalgic last night when I started this thread because I watched Hollywood Knights. Nice GTO.

Now here on Long Island , you cruise your car, some guys pull up next to you to race so you jump on your car, then lights go on. The cops are undercover, using an impounded car to bait you and now right you up or impound your car.
They wait outside hang out spots pull you over and harass you because you have a muscle car.
The cops now are young geeks that I guess were never into cruising around. I used to cruise Hemstead Tpk, and rt 231 all the time late 80's thru the 90's. Nathans in oceanside was a 45 minute ride we would go with about 10 cars every week, race there and back. Now you would be arrested, and the local news will have you looking like a criminal. SAD DAYS NOW

I grew up in northern Colorado and people would come from miles around just to cruise in Longmont. Now, the city of Golden holds a "supercruise" the first Sat of every month in good weather and several thousand cars show up. It's pretty much gridlock on the streets but an incredible event to see.

For the most part, true. Cruising for me ended when I bought the wedding rings!

What's happening on 231 these days?
My Pontiac spent many hours beating up on mustangs there.:D

We used to cruise around and hang out at the local Furr's parking lot and gas stations. By then it was mostly Grand Nationals, IROC & Fox body cars, and imports. Police used to hassle anyone who even remotely got out of line (and many who didn't), so most guys probably moved on and did other things away from the public eye where the chances of going to jail were minimal. This was 1996-1998...

I don't like being around other people, so I just get in my car and drive by myself for hours.

That's exactly right lol. Thirty years ago, driving around in my GTO, I would get the attention of mainly other gearheads. It was just another old car to most folks.
But flash forward to present day with the same car, and it's a completely different experience. Everyone notices now. People driving along side taking pictures and videos, giving thumbs up, starting conversations at redlights about their uncle that used to have a 442 just like it, asking to do burnouts or race etc. All of which is great, don't get me wrong, but it can get a little unnerving at times.
I just wish sometimes I could take a drive to enjoy the car and blend in with everyone else.

As far as cruising goes, I don't see it happening anymore like it used to be.
Rules and regulations slowly killed it back in the late 80's, early 90's. And kids of today simply have much more ways to occupy their time than we did, with all the online stuff, video games, facebook etc. Cruising would be boring to them.
Back in the early 80's, the local arcade was one of the cruise spots, which was the only means of video games. If you wanted to meet chicks you had to go out and find them, instead of sitting at home on your smart phone chatting with them on Tinder.

It's a different world now.

Yeah, I spent a lot of time there in the 80's. Don't think much is going on there anymore, although they recently put a Sonic restaurant there. Not sure if that will or has started a renewed interest in cruisin' 231.

I just bought a classic again. Just so I could go cruising. Now I'm the only old car on the road. My cars more of a cruiser (2 barrel carb, stock rearend) than a racer and I'm happy with that. But it sure would be nice to see some other old cars on the road. I get a lot of people checking out my car though like it's so unusual, I guess it really is though these days. I'm 31 and wishing I would have been around back when cruising was alive.

The little town I life by has one way streets on each side of main street. They got there because of so many cruisers on fri. and sat nights back in late 60's early 70's. Then the punks (hippie types) started just hanging around store fronts and the cops got tough. Before the one way streets they would have police directing traffic.

Cops and more cops, killed that spot for now.

Ah, the arcade! That seems to go hand in hand with the nostalgia from my youth!

We used to vacation at a lake along the Lake Michigan coast. There was an arcade with go-karts, mini golf, and video games along the lakeshore drive. I used to blow through the few bucks I had, but dreamed of the day I could be one of "those" guys with the long hair, wispy 'stache, and rumbly jacked up muscle car. Of course, tho, by the time I was old enough to drive, my family quit going up there. But I saw my first gen 1 FB on vacation up there, and it was a game changer for me.

Real cruising from back in the day had that "edge" to it, where you were behaving in a marginally legal manner. We drove with a little buzz, or maybe a friend or two with an open beer. Throw that in with the anticipation of a possible awkward hookup, and it was all the hormonal indulgence you needed. It all blended together so perfectly!

Cruise-Ins today with our old cars aren't the same. They are sedate, orderly, and void of danger. I enjoy them to some degree, but for different reasons. We are all responsible, financially sound, and have a lot to lose if we F up. Back when we were young we had no clue about future responsibility, and NOTHING to lose.

I think a lot of us still have that wild streak somewhere inside; we just learned how to keep the bear sleeping.;)

The perfect explanation! Thank You.:clap2:

Speaking of being all grown up and responsible, but with a wild side, as you can see by my videos and posts, I have no problem winding the car out, doing burnouts, and driving it like I am still 17, and I do it nearly every time the car is out. To me that's part of what a muscle car is all about. Granted, I look around first for safety more now.

But now that I'm a grown up, I sort of feel like if I got stopped doing any of this, either the older cop would understand, or the younger cop would need to respect his elders! LOL

Hopefully I never have to test those theories.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/n...8679668503.gif

It's so funny to me at 47 years old I still laugh my azz off at a burnout. Wish everyone found it as amusing as I do!

Back in the late 60's to early 70's, there was a "car culture". Everyone piled into the cars and cruised the main drag looking for a race or looking to watch a race. I lived in the far western suburbs of Chicago. We would cruise downtown Elgin half the night and head down to St. Charles to Rex's Drive-In for a burger. Some nights we would wind up in Hanover Park at the Mac's.

Some racing took place out on Bode Road between Streamwood and Elgin. There was a perfect 1/4 mile "down in the hole" where the guys would post lookouts on the hills at either end. I had a 1966 Fairlane GT w. a 428 CJ top end and cam and my buddies collectively had a '69 SS 396 Chevelle, a big block '66 Impala with a Bud Richter motor and a '65 GTO with a Racer Brown cam. There was a guy from Hanover Park with a '69 427 Nova that would flat tow his car, mount his slicks and race. He was wayyyy serious, we were just out to have fun and test each others' cars.

Sometimes we would cruise to Skip's on North Avenue in Chicago where "the big boys" hung out with cars way out of our league.

In those days, it was just fun hanging out and driving around. Gas was cheap so we would drive around all night checking out the cars (and girls). You had to live in that era to understand it. You tell the kids today and they will ask " So what is so much fun about driving around and doing nothing?"

My kids do. They ask for one every time! And being the hood father that I am, I oblige them.

Here, I'll make you laugh some more:

In this one, I've got one son filming and the other strapped in the car seat.
https://youtu.be/5UEYR-ApA7k

https://youtu.be/HvrAMTlM1_c

I to live in a small town in southwest MI. We use to cruise all night long,(70's-80's), but we to got older & we all got married & jobs that we had to be to at in the early AM. Now we have to get up & go to work or what ever & we don't seem to have the same amount of time we had when we were young. Between 1965 & 1977 we had about 40K people in town because of all the shops & business's we had. Now we have about 10K in the same town. We had back then lots of cars & guys cruising, but now when you see a classic car it's because it's going to a show or out of town somewhere else. We have a very nice show every wed. & get on avg. about 175 cars, but I tried to get an official/unofficial night cruise going & went around to all the cars at the show & talked with all the people with the cars to see if they'd be interested in a night cruise like we use to & everyone had something else to do or couldn't wouldn't bring there car out at night. We to have lost the passion to come out & cruise here to. I forgot we close our show on wed. at 9:00 PM & after the show about 15 mins after the show closes you would swear theres no classic cars in this town, they just disappear.

Sometimes I feel a little isolated in my passion for old muscle.

Probably no more than 10 people out of the hundreds that I work with get it. That's why I come here, because you guys DO get it. I have some local friends who dig it too, but sometimes schedules conflict because we are grownups.

I can "cruise" PY for a quick 20 minute fix, AND drink a beer without fear of jail time and $6k in fines.:D

But haven't times changed? I watched the video from Minnesota in '79, and the local sheriff mentioned citing someone for open beers, and letting them go. Could you imagine cruising with a couple buddies these days with an open beer or two? Not saying that road beering is good, but you'd end up in jail as some sort of menace to society!

Adam, cool burnout! I gotta go let some smoke outta my tires tomorrow. I'll have my boy film it.

Yup, Squid, you hit every nail on the head. Cruising and bench racing here is fun and easier to fit into our busy schedules.

Yes, I loved the comment about the beer drinking and driving on the video. I can remember having half our beer confiscated and then being sent to drive home. Where do you think the other half of that beer went? Do basically the cops made us drink and drive (sort of). LOL. Different times for sure.

Took white car to an 80+ local small show yesterday. Storm was forecasted and did blow in mid afternoon, so they hurried up so people could leave before and get cars home. How this ties into cruising is so many people were deathly afraid and in a state of terror over potential raindrops on their mega X car. The other point I noticed, and I think it always has been this way, except older, I now have different perspective eyeballs then I used to. But what I noticed was how over half the cars were not very streetable set ups and some were totally unusable to drive. I get race cars and marginally legal street hero cars, I do, but when over half the field has cars they can't (or won't) drive over ten miles and none on over 45mph roads, it looks like the "cruising" part is kind of missing for many. I do love the full scale "model" cars, I do really, the ultra modified ones are the crowd ga-ga cars for sure and with stock resto ones, the guiding light to emulate. But for some reason they make me sad, like the puppy that never gets walked :( .... :)

ps, I do have an ever growing list of places / roads / times of day to not drive my car and I have to keep reminding myself none of this will matter when I am 89 and what do I care how immaculate I leave my car for some other joker????

Found mentioned beer @ 9:00 mark here http://youtu.be/sVC6Yo9Z8CI contributing to "efficient traffic control?" :eek:

Remember Pro Street and ISCA winners @ Cruisins? Are they a Race Car, Full Size 1:1 model Cars or???
Regardless I Luv Em! :3gears:

I enjoy driving my cars and big (Peterbilt) truck, People now days come too a car cruise-get out there chairs-set down and don't even go look at other cars. People will go to the Woodward Dream Cruise and just park and sit. I have to atleast go from one end too the other and back. I always say no matter how nice a ride you gotta drive it alittle. Like having a nice girlfriend or wife you don't touch.

Not sure (??) I love the whazzooo stuff, I do. But it dawned on me yesterday. My car can do something many many cars there couldn't or wouldn't..... I have one I can take on the two hour drive around the big lake here. Kinda like my next modification(s) to my one car. It will be what they used to call "Grand Touring". Comfortable / powerful / able to drive cross country and it be effortless, fun, somewhat refined, with AC on (getting old here). I am even threatening to put a (correct) luggage rack on the thing (ok maybe not). It really gets down to what you want out of a car.

Was a teenager in the late '70s in a small town in Eastern Connecticut…weekend nights were spent cursing between several spots…we'd all meet up at the parking lot next to the Pizza Palace and then go to the hill, the trestle, the cabin, etc. It wasn't really centered on the cars, more just socializing in spots that were "private". The cars were just a way to get from one spot to another quickly and in style. When I go home to visit my mom, I drive by all these spots and I never see anyone. Don't see any vintage cars either.

Agree and have been a longtime "Grand Touring" fan also. You bring up another hidden point that when you exercise your car on an extended trip it runs better and seemingly holds up better w fewer deterioration (dry rot) issues than when short tripped, minimal use.

Often find new "issues" when ours haven't been run through their paces for extended periods. One of the things needed these days is roadside repair kit w (as appropriate for make/model) points, cap, rotor, spark plug(s), ign. module, fuel filter & gasket, paper towels, hand cleaner, tools...cause as they've aged the simple repair parts are often not on the local parts store shelves...

So like cruising, I think this thread is also dead. LOL

It lost its edge. Can't get arrested or get laid by cruising this thread.
:pound:

People still cruise here in Michigan on roads like Telegraph on Friday and Saturday nights. Not cool when someone os cruising an import junk with a loud fart can. We have the Down River Cruise, 28th Street Cruise, Michigan Ave Cruise, All American Cruise on Wayne Rd., Hines Park Cruise, Telegragh Rd. Cruise, Woodward Dream Cruise and probably a few more I forgot to mention. Telegraph was the hang out place when I was 16 into my 30's. I went there every Friday and Saturday nights and got my share of drag racing tickets too. We would cruise until about midnight. :D

He!!, cruising is actually ILLEGAL in some places. Atlantic Ave. in VA Beach for one. That is a sure sign that it was something fun to do.

I do, I do! I'm 46 and I can't get enough of it either. I lay a respectable patch EVERY time I take my car out. My kids love it, and so does the big kid driving.

I'm 44 and I think I was at the tail end of cruising in my area. Me and my high school friends would all pile in my 77GP and take a 40min drive into the big metropolis of Cedar Rapids to cruise 1st Ave. It was always a blast to beat up on Mustangs and Camaro in a huge car like that. For being in IA it had a pretty lively cruise scene from 10 to midnight.

Gas was cheap, Radar detector on, Friends on lookout for cops, girls and cars to race.

When my older brother joined the military he was stationed in little Rock. We met halfway one time in St Luis and I got to see first hand what real cruising looked like. It was equally about the girls as much as the cars.

Another time I drove the whole way to Little Rock and spent a few days. Hit a few cruise spots, a few junk yards, acted like morons in front of all the women. It was a blast.

One story that I gotta tell about cruising 1st Ave in my 77GP. I was checking out something besides what was in front of me and had to make an emergency stop to keep from hitting a 77 Monte Carlo in front of me. I was able to stop just inches from his bumper. The car behind me was not so lucky. I think is was a Chevy Citation. The whole front end was destroyed. He slammed me so hard the radar detector on the visor hit me right in the mouth. I was pushed hard right into the Monte. We all got out and looked things over No damage to the Monte so he left. No damage to my car but still exchanged info with him. Those 77s were Tanks.

Anymore we drive to cruise events.

But it was all predicated on chasing tail or chasing a buzz. When you grow up you have easier access to both. You buy your own buzz, and stop chasing tail to marry it. And then years later you get a muscle car to remind yourself that for a brief moment in time you were the king of the world.
So very true!!