[Teej]

In more than one of the classic 60's car songs they mention "....racing for a buck a gear..."

What exactly does that mean? I've tried to reason it out but can't come up with anything that makes sense.

The only one that is even close is kind of like odds. I'll put up $3 vs your $4 because I have a 3 speed and you have a 4 speed. Or even odds if we both have 4 speeds.

Just curious...

[Judge-1969]

Are you sure they are not saying "racing for a bucket of beer"? LOL

[Teej]

Now THAT would make more sense to me...

[John V.]

Can you identify a song or two?

I grew up with '60s rock n roll, can't recall ever hearing that lyric in any song. Or anybody that even just said it.

In street slang if you wager a buck fifty, you are betting $150.

Anybody that would use that expression most likely would be referring to 4 speeds. So I'm guessing the wager would be $400.

[Chris65LeMans]

Originally Posted by Google

No results found for "racing for a buck a gear".

If Google can't find anything; it didn't happen.

[Teej]

The song "Little Nifty Fifty" ( or "Nifty '50") was covered by a few people, I don't know who did it first.
The Super Stocks
Gary Usher
The Customs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LUz6NODP5RA

These are the lyrics as I hear them... Some, I still can't make out.

I drive a nineteen fifty Chevrolet
It may be old but I'd like to say
With valve in heads she's really thrifty
Twelve years old but she's really nifty
Yes I treat her nice, my little nifty fifty.

It's a real mover ____ and _________(??)
It's head is shaved with 'em split and opposed.
Not much top end that's pretty clear.
But I make my money draggin' at a buck a gear.
Yes I treat her nice, my little nifty fifty.

I ask chicks to ride, but they always pass
I guess they figure I don't show much class
I'm not bugged when I get the air (????)
I don't have payments so I really don't care
And I love my sweetheart, my little nifty fifty.

[Teej]

Another song:

X.K.E. by The Rip Chords (1964)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tifKcTQYebM

I make money draggin' at a buck a gear.
I always shut'em down.
And even the little old ladies stay clear
When I tach it up at the line now. (??)

[bob d]

I think I remember that phrase. it meant whoever had the lead when you both shifted through each gear won a dollar a shift. maybe. thanks bob.

[Teej]

Interesting thought. (I'd never have come up with that..) I like that one.

[ta6point6]

Originally Posted by bob d

I think I remember that phrase. it meant whoever had the lead when you both shifted through each gear won a dollar a shift. maybe. thanks bob.

I have never heard that but sounds right to me. In 1950 a single dollar is worth 10.00 dollars now. If you lined a few races you in one night you could come home with a 100+. I could be wrong on this but I don't think there were a lot of transmissions that had synchros back in the 50's. So there was a real possibility of missing a gear when racing for gears. Heck there were guys in the 70's that would miss a gear with a trans that had synchros.

[John V.]

XKE sounded totally unfamiliar to me. According to google (LOL), XKE was unreleased, sat in Columbia Records vault from 1965 until it was released on a CD in 2006. So you would have had to hear The Rip Chords perform live to have heard it in the '60s from what I can tell.

I remember their Hey Little Cobra, but that's it.

Little Nifty Fifty is another I can safely say I never heard before! Possibly because I was not a big Beach Boys and surf music/Calif sound kid in the '60s. I came to appreciate the Beach Boys later on.

You have to dig deep for that one. It was released in 1996 on "The Super Stocks - The Complete Recordings". But was not on any of the three albums that were released in 1964 by the "group".

The Super Stocks were a studio creation of Gary Usher who enjoyed some fame for songwriting with Brian Wilson and others. The Super Stocks were one of a few Usher assembled to produce recordings of songs he wrote.

Little Nifty Fifty was included on a '63 compilation album released by Capitol Records, a forgettable album called Hot Rod Rally. The Super Stocks were credited with 6 of the 12 songs on that compilation.

In '95, 2 versions of the song were included in a compilation release titled Hot Rod City, the song was identified as "Nifty '50" on that digitized album.

The performing group was identified as The Customs. The "alternate version" I think is the same as the one released in '63 as performed by The Super Stocks except I think truncated. The other version is a bit different but the lead singer on both sounds like the same one as on the version released in '63.

Since the "groups" created by Usher were various assemblages of session musicians, I'm guessing the singer is one in the same on both versions. Note the lyric about the '50 being 12 years old, pretty well means the song was written in '62.

Pretty sure I can say that no group ever covered this song.

Adding to your lyric interpretation, I get:

I drive a nineteen fifty Chevrolet.
It may be old but I'd like to say,
that valve in head six is really thrifty.
Twelve years old but she's really nifty.
Yes I treat her nice, my little nifty '50.

It's a real mover though it's old.
The head is shaved with a split manifold.
Not much top end, that's pretty clear.
But I make my money draggin' at a buck a gear.
Yes I treat her nice, my little nifty '50.

I ask chicks to ride but they always pass.
I guess they figure I don't show much class.
I'm not bugged when I get the air. (edit, meaning a "nose in the air" snooty brushoff)
I don't have payments so I really don't care.
Yes I love my sweetheart, my little nifty '50.

I guess you know I really like her.
Cleanest little (motor? or unintelligible) I've been told.
Cherry little paint job, Candy Apple Red.
Rather go parking with it instead.
Now you know why I love her, my little nifty '50.

One of the studio musicians that worked with The Super Stocks was Leon Russell.

I wonder if he is the organist heard in the bridge on this version I believe from Hot Rod City? Best part of the song IMO.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a0eDvRZ6hxo

I couldn't find a songwriter credit for X.K.E. Given the similarity of the lyric making "money draggin' at a buck a gear" in both songs, I wonder if Gary Usher wrote the lyrics for both?

I still think "buck" would mean $100. Racing for a $1/gear would be pretty lame. Then again, both these songs are pretty lame!

But a good nostalgia trip. Thanks for the fun thread Teej.

[Teej]

One of my favorites also with ties to Gary Usher was "R.P.M.". There are a few lyrics in there I can't make out as well...
This is a version by The Four Speeds. Not the greatest but all I could find on a quick search. The one off of Barefoot Adventure (or what I listen to on Pandora) was better.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U8YN1HoMwtc

I gotta knock a second off to get a trophy run (One grand two grand RPM)
If I keep breaking loose on the line then I'm done. (Three grand four grand RPM)
That's why I'm winding out I'm winding out I gotta get more RPM

I got a bored Chevy mill with 4:11 rear. (5 grand 6 grand RPM)
A big blown hemi ??___________ set of closed gears ??? (7 grand 8 grand RPM)
That's why I'm winding out I'm winding out I gotta get more RPM

the ______(???) cause he's got more cubes
he better not miss or he'll be looking at my tubes.

Time trials over and eliminations on
If I jump the gun before the light my trophy will be gone.

[John V.]

Teej, you're crackin' me up! The kind of records that you'd find in the "cutout" bin back in the day, I swear.

Anyway, I'm sure it is "set of close gears", as in a close ratio Muncie or in '62, it would have been a close ratio Borg-Warner, Muncie not out yet. Can't make out what comes before, I think I hear "a big chrome hemi blown, set of close gears.

"I know a couple guys that cheat and they got more care-ubs(??), one grand...."

They better not miss or they'll be looking at the air-ubs(??)"

"Time trials over and the elimination's on.
If I dump the clutch before the light, my trophy will be gone"

The two words I can't make out, I'm sure I don't hears cubes, could care-ubs be a butchering of Carbs? Or maybe "cam lifts".

And what would happen if you miss (miss a shift?). You might blow an engine but what would "they be looking at? Could it be "Air Lifts" to rhyme with cam lifts? Honestly, none of that makes sense to me, I think it must be something else.

Don't know if this version is any clearer:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pUf5VxNFAbM

[U47]

Originally Posted by ta6point6

I have never heard that but sounds right to me. In 1950 a single dollar is worth 10.00 dollars now. If you lined a few races you in one night you could come home with a 100+. I could be wrong on this but I don't think there were a lot of transmissions that had synchros back in the 50's. So there was a real possibility of missing a gear when racing for gears. Heck there were guys in the 70's that would miss a gear with a trans that had synchros.

Cadillac's first synchromesh transmission was 1928. 1935 would be the first year for Pontiac. My dad's stock 1940 Pontiac had 2nd and 3rd gear synchromesh. A friend has a stock 39 chevy master deluxe and 2nd and 3rd are synchronized, Hell, Oldsmobile had HydraMatic in 1940! Cadillac in 1941 and Pontiac in 1948.

[Half-Inch Stud]

"Little honda gto scramblers" recorm has lots of neat songs....the mr hotrod song is pretty cool