Stop in for a cup of coffee

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Almost two hours waiting for a customer to show up. Three weeks since car was repaired. Guess after he pays and drives away he goes on my blocked caller list. Dont need the bs.
 
@Mopar Tim what gun would you recommend? I’m sure my 50 dollar el cheapo from Home Depot isn’t gonna work
Nope. How much you want to spend? This is the one i am buying to replace an aging gun
Devilbiss Eastwood PLUS Paint Gun 303742
p15194_1.jpg

I am replacing this gun, it works well, and is IMO the least expensive I would consider for Auto painting
Sharpe Finex FX3000 HVLP Paint Gun
14969.gif
 
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Nope. How much you want to spend? This is the one i am buying to replace an aging gun
Devilbiss Eastwood PLUS Paint Gun 303742
View attachment 1715382524
I am replacing this gun, it works well, and is IMO the least expensive I would consider for Auto painting
Sharpe Finex FX3000 HVLP Paint Gun
View attachment 1715382525
I’ll put it this way, when this thing goes to paint this time next year, it’ll be 7 years, I’m not gonna risk ******* up the paint on a 7 year project because I wanted to save a couple hundred bucks on the paint gun. I’m not looking to spend several grand but a few hundred isn’t gonna be a turn off
 
Good stuff :D Just one of those goofy thoughts that just goes blazing through your mind and sticks. I think it's probably numerous decades since I consumed a Hamms. Found them at the last place listed here in the valley.
 
I found out some news today that is sad... :(

Dukes Drive In is closing at the end of the month...

It was the place to cruise around here back when I was in high school... Everybody worked on their cars all week long so they could cruise Duke's on Friday and Saturday night... They would pack the place and you couldn't find a parking space in their parking lot and had to park 2 -3 blocks away... The Gas City gas station next door went out of business and they bought and increased the size of their parking lot...

They would easily have 500+ people in their parking lot at one time... If you tried to park a foreign car in their lot, the patrons would tell you to park it somewhere else or else something "might" happen to it... American cars only...

You had your clicks of Chevy, Ford, GM, and a few of us Mopar guys... People would set up races for later after Duke's closed at 10 PM and they would go out to the sticks and race... I saw some great street races back then... The big dog 10 second and faster cars would tow their cars out to the designated race spot on trailers and race usually for at least $2 K per race between the two racers... Then there were side bets between the spectators... Pull them off the trailers, warm them up, line up and race... Then load them back on the trailers and get the f*ck out of there before the cops showed up....

There were other races with the 'slower' cars which usually could turn up to 14 seconds in the quarter mile or quicker... There were about 4 different places that they would run... They would send a 'scout' out to the designated place to check that the cops were not there... Then they would CB the message back that it was a go and people would go out and the races would begin... Some were already set up at Duke's, and some would arrange to race at the races... If you didn't know what you were doing, you were set up for failure as they would always lie about how fast their cars were so they could sucker bet and take your money...

Shortly before I left for college, there was an accident at the races which seriously injured about 3 - 4 people... It was a race between a 67 - 69 Camaro and a Buick GSX.... The guy in the Camaro used his nitrous off the line (a no-no) and could not handle it and ended up taking out a few spectators that were standing in front of the starting line (another no-no, you always stand behind the starting line in case someone gets squirrely)... After that, the cops cracked down hard on the street racing and would give out tickets with $2500 fine if you were caught out there... You didn't have to be racing, the cops would go to court and swear that you were lined up to race even if you weren't, and you know the court takes the cop's word over yours...

So the street racing died down after that and Duke's popularity faded over the years...

Dukes was rated in the top 5 best places to cruise in the country back in the 70's and 80's by both Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines... They really packed them in back then...

I went there to day and bought some lunch...


Here's their poster with a picture of what it looked like back in the good cruising days...

DSC00619 B.JPG



Here's a couple of the signs that they have posted in the window next to where you order your food...

DSC00621 B.JPG


DSC00624 B.JPG



Here's one of their Chicago style hot dogs...

DSC00625 B.JPG



It comes with fries....

DSC00630 B.JPG



And their Italian Beef, which is a Chicago staple dating back to the days of the Chicago stock yards... They are awesome!!!

DSC00631 B.JPG


It's sad to hear that they are closing... :(

However one of the employees said that they plan to open another place soon, but haven't decided where it will be... Hopefully the new place can start the old cruising tradition back up again...
 
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I found out some news today that is sad... :(

Dukes Drive In is closing at the end of the month...

It was the place to cruise around here back when I was in high school... Everybody worked on their cars all week long so they could cruise Duke's on Friday and Saturday night... They would pack the place and you couldn't find a parking space in their parking lot and had to park 2 -3 blocks away... The Gas City gas station next door went out of business and they bought and increased the size of their parking lot...

They would easily have 500+ people in their parking lot at one time... If you tried to park a foreign car in their lot, the patrons would tell you to park it somewhere else or else something "might" happen to it... American cars only...

You had your clicks of Chevy, Ford, GM, and a few of us Mopar guys... People would set up races for later after Duke's closed at 10 PM and they would go out to the sticks and race... I saw some great street races back then... The big dog 10 second and faster cars would tow their cars out to the designated race spot on trailers and race usually for at least $2 K per race between the two racers... Then there were side bets between the spectators... Pull them off the trailers, warm them up, line up and race... Then load them back on the trailers and get the f*ck out of there before the cops showed up....

There were other races with the 'slower' cars which usually could turn up to 14 seconds in the quarter mile or quicker... There were about 4 different places that they would run... They would send a 'scout' out to the designated place to check that the cops were not there... Then they would CB the message back that it was a go and people would go out and the races would begin... Some were already set up at Duke's, and some would arrange to race at the races... If you didn't know what you were doing, you were set up for failure as they would always lie about how fast their cars were so they could sucker bet and take your money...

Shortly before I left for college, there was an accident at the races which seriously injured about 3 - 4 people... It was a race between a 67 - 69 Camaro and a Buick GSX.... The guy in the Camaro used his nitrous off the line (a no-no) and could not handle it and ended up taking out a few spectators that were standing in front of the starting line (another no-no, you always stand behind the starting line in case someone gets squirrely)... After that, the cops cracked down hard on the street racing and would give out tickets with $2500 fine if you were caught out there... You didn't have to be racing, the cops would go to court and swear that you were lined up to race even if you weren't, and you know the court takes the cop's word over yours...

So the street racing died down after that and Duke's popularity faded over the years...

Dukes was rated in the top 5 best places to cruise in the country back in the 70's and 80's by both Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines... They really packed them in back then...

I went there to day and bought some lunch...


Here's their poster with a picture of what it looked like back in the good cruising days...

View attachment 1715382536


Here's a couple of the signs that they have posted in the window next to where you order your food...

View attachment 1715382537

View attachment 1715382538


Here's one of their Chicago style hot dogs...

View attachment 1715382539


It comes with fries....

View attachment 1715382540


And their Italian Beef, which is a Chicago staple dating back to the days of the Chicago stock yards... They are awesome!!!

View attachment 1715382541

It's sad to hear that they are closing... :(

However one of the employees said that they plan to open another place soon, but haven't decided where it will be... Hopefully the new place can start the old cruising tradition back up again...
Those old days of cruzing are forever gone I am afraid.....
 
Those old days of cruzing are forever gone I am afraid.....

Plus there's not as much need to street race around here anymore as now we have the race tracks in Joliet... Back in those days the closest race tracks were US-30 in Merrilleville, IN which was IHRA, or Union Grove Wisconsin for NHRA which is an hour and a half north of us...

Joliet now has the route 66 NASCAR track, quarter mile track, and a dirt track for demo derbies all near each other which is about 30 - 40 minutes from here if there is no traffic jams...

If you want to race, it's best to go to the track where it's much safer and you don't risk getting a ticket...

My buddy in Texas who grew up here told me about that cable program (I can't remember its name) that street races, came here and filmed and our local guys handed their asses to them... They lost big time...
 
Those old days of cruzing are forever gone I am afraid.....

They do have some local cruises around here on a regular basis... Tinley Park which is not far from me has a cruise on Oak Park Avenue every Tuesday that I hear brings some nice cars... Someother towns also have their cruise nights also....

But none of them are as popular as Dukes was back in the day...
 
I found out some news today that is sad... :(

Dukes Drive In is closing at the end of the month...

It was the place to cruise around here back when I was in high school... Everybody worked on their cars all week long so they could cruise Duke's on Friday and Saturday night... They would pack the place and you couldn't find a parking space in their parking lot and had to park 2 -3 blocks away... The Gas City gas station next door went out of business and they bought and increased the size of their parking lot...

They would easily have 500+ people in their parking lot at one time... If you tried to park a foreign car in their lot, the patrons would tell you to park it somewhere else or else something "might" happen to it... American cars only...

You had your clicks of Chevy, Ford, GM, and a few of us Mopar guys... People would set up races for later after Duke's closed at 10 PM and they would go out to the sticks and race... I saw some great street races back then... The big dog 10 second and faster cars would tow their cars out to the designated race spot on trailers and race usually for at least $2 K per race between the two racers... Then there were side bets between the spectators... Pull them off the trailers, warm them up, line up and race... Then load them back on the trailers and get the f*ck out of there before the cops showed up....

There were other races with the 'slower' cars which usually could turn up to 14 seconds in the quarter mile or quicker... There were about 4 different places that they would run... They would send a 'scout' out to the designated place to check that the cops were not there... Then they would CB the message back that it was a go and people would go out and the races would begin... Some were already set up at Duke's, and some would arrange to race at the races... If you didn't know what you were doing, you were set up for failure as they would always lie about how fast their cars were so they could sucker bet and take your money...

Shortly before I left for college, there was an accident at the races which seriously injured about 3 - 4 people... It was a race between a 67 - 69 Camaro and a Buick GSX.... The guy in the Camaro used his nitrous off the line (a no-no) and could not handle it and ended up taking out a few spectators that were standing in front of the starting line (another no-no, you always stand behind the starting line in case someone gets squirrely)... After that, the cops cracked down hard on the street racing and would give out tickets with $2500 fine if you were caught out there... You didn't have to be racing, the cops would go to court and swear that you were lined up to race even if you weren't, and you know the court takes the cop's word over yours...

So the street racing died down after that and Duke's popularity faded over the years...

Dukes was rated in the top 5 best places to cruise in the country back in the 70's and 80's by both Hot Rod and Car Craft magazines... They really packed them in back then...

I went there to day and bought some lunch...


Here's their poster with a picture of what it looked like back in the good cruising days...

View attachment 1715382536


Here's a couple of the signs that they have posted in the window next to where you order your food...

View attachment 1715382537

View attachment 1715382538


Here's one of their Chicago style hot dogs...

View attachment 1715382539


It comes with fries....

View attachment 1715382540


And their Italian Beef, which is a Chicago staple dating back to the days of the Chicago stock yards... They are awesome!!!

View attachment 1715382541

It's sad to hear that they are closing... :(

However one of the employees said that they plan to open another place soon, but haven't decided where it will be... Hopefully the new place can start the old cruising tradition back up again...
I’ve heard of this place before. Never been able to actually go though. Sucks
 
I’ve heard of this place before. Never been able to actually go though. Sucks


There was another local cruise spot in Northwest Indiana called Blue Top that was also rated in the top 5 in the country to cruise by Hot Rod and Car Craft and they don't bring the crowd anymore... I tried going there a few times after moving back here and it's also dead...

I hear that they have a new owner and he's trying to get the cruisers back, but haven't been there to see yet...
 
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