On this date in 2006, the movie “Cars” was released. Since we have had so much fun recently with old cars and car music, I thought we would continue with our cars theme for today’s Music on Mondays.
Our last cars-themed Music on Mondays ended with 1957, so let us continue with 1958. All of these songs are, of course, in my music collection.
“Hop In My Jalop”
Chuck Alaimo Quartet
“Let’s Go For A Ride”
The Collegians
“Spark Plug”
Four Teens
A couple of years ago I was going through Joel Whitburn’s “Top Pop Singles” looking for the title of singles that I used to have on vinyl but had not been able to find on CD or in digital downloads. That’s when I discovered Jan & Dean’s older music; you’re probably familiar with three of their hits: #1 “Surf City,” #3 The Little Old Lady (From Pasadena), and #8 Dead Man’s Curve. Dean was drafted into the Army in 1957, and while he was gone, Jan teamed up with Arnie to continue the surf rock sound that Jan & Dean eventually would become quite famous for. Here’s Jan & Arnie:
“Gas Money”
Jan & Arnie
“The Ballad Of Thunder Road”
Robert Mitchum (yes, the movie star)
When I graduated from high school in 1973, two friends and I spent the summer touring the United States west of the Mississippi River. We made it to every national forest, every national monument, and every national park, as well as every city with a population of 100,000 or more. Sometimes we just drove through to say that we had been there.
Larry, who had just bought the 1973 Buick Apollo that we went in, had grandparents in Sacramento, California (we lived in far south Texas, in Kingsville). We stopped to spend the night with his grandparents, and his granddad started comparing his 1954 Nash Rambler with Larry’s 1973 Buick Apollo (with a 400 ci engine). Granddad took us for a ride in his Nash Rambler, which had been slightly modified to include an 8-track tape player. The tape we listened to comprised nothing but car songs, many of them classics now. One of them was “Beep Beep” by The Playmates, which tells of a “little Nash Rambler” keeping up with a Cadillac. Oh, the disgrace for that poor Cadillac.
“Beep Beep”
The Playmates
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Loved that movie. My husband is the REAL car guy in this family, though. 🙂
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Great post! Great songs! My dad had a 50’s something Nash Rambler which he liked for it’s peppyness! I’m intrigued with your western states trip after graduation, as I am preparing an article now to be published soon in “The MGB Driver” a club magazine – based on my 1967 cross country “road-trip of a lifetime!” You can see the original 10 post series starting on my website as listed in the index, Aug., 2013. M
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I was the journalist for our trip. I have this huge scrapbook of receipts and such to go along with the journal, which documented money spent, places where we ate and bought stuff, music we listened to on Larry’s 8-track player, and such.
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Yee Gods! an 8 track player! I do recall the MG only had a relatively simple AM radio, and on many parts of our trip there was absolutely no reception of any kind. Then, one late night, coming back in Kansas, we picked up WABC… in NY! I think they call it – skip, or bounce off the ionosphere.
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That’s why Larry installed an 8-track in his car!……..LOL
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A real trip down memory lane 😀
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Hi Russel, more gems. I have to get a car or at least some toe tapping shoes. And a big thank you for so many likes, you must be having a give away special or probably were bored, either way I appreciate it. Happy days to you and yours, give cool cat a scratch for me.
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Ha! I’m never bored. There’s too much to do in life to be bored!
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Quite a few memories with those songs Russel. I love road trips.
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Ah, to be young again with lots of energy to go on long road trips……………………
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To be young when there weren’t too many toilet breaks. sigh……………………….
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“beep beep” always a favorite! Good memories of Tom tonight listening to those songs, he enjoyed these classic songs and the classic cars!. 😀
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Robert Mitchum had a singing career??
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Lots of movie stars were singers first. Justin Timberlake is the latest.
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And some of us will never have either!
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