Route 66 and Muscle Cars Can Never Die.
Posted: Thursday, May 07, 2009
by Mike Fak
http://mikefak.com
I remember about ten years ago helping a friend in a small town of 500 people. It was the day before Thanksgiving and he was having a real bad roof problem so I offered to help.
At lunch time we went to an old-fashioned cafe in the one block downtown. It was in its last days as a restaurant. Established in the late 1800s, the daughter, now eighty, was going to close it and retire.
The menu items that day were: turkey and dressing, mashed potatoes, green beans, a salad and either coffee or iced tea. The charge for the meal was $2.50.
I remember my friend trying to pay more for all the food but the old owner refused, telling him he could leave a few dollars tip but not to tell him what she should charge for a meal.
The old restaurant is gone now. Closed up like so many mom and pop eateries that for decades were hugely successful thanks to Route 66.
Route 66, for those of you not old enough to remember, was a highway/roadway/city street collaboration that ran from Chicago to Los Angeles. It was a series of national roads that when they reached a town used the towns' streets to continue the road till another section of new highway took over on the other end.
This combination of fast new roads linked with twisting, meandering streets through small towns is what gave the highway its charm.
Many a motorist with family would spend a day or a weekend or a week's vacation just driving and visiting and stopping in small towns all the way from Illinois to California.
With the self-induced need for greater speed and faster travel, the historic route eventually was bypassed and many small towns and the businesses on the route that depended on motorists became far less than what they were before.
Some towns reworked their economy and thrived. Others, who had relied too heavily on the motorists and buses that stopped all day, became near ghost towns. Many actually disappeared.
In Illinois, there is a great push to revive interest in Route 66 and it seems to be working.
Locally another small town has just reopened a 1940s grill and cafe that sat empty for more than three decades. The owners not only reopened the eatery, but using old pictures, restored it to the original look when not only townspeople stopped in for a meal but all the travelers as well.
If you look up Route 66 in a search engine you will see thousands of sites devoted to the iconic roadway and from all accounts the new eatery has a great chance of survival as already Route 66 buffs are planning trips to the cafe to have a meal and reminisce.
I also had the pleasure of going to an unveiling of the new 2010 Chevrolet Camaro the other day. The car boasts of 400 horsepower with 30 MPG highway ratings. It looks new and sleek and ultra-modern but it is definitely a muscle car and muscle cars and big horsepower vehicles were the everyday visitors to small town USA a half century ago.
I don't know. Maybe I'm the only one who sees this linkage of big horsepower cars and Route 66 but I feel it is there.
You see I remember driving that route in a 64 Chevelle Supersport many years ago. I drove fast when I could but I also enjoyed the visits into small towns with their own unique look and charm. I remember a trip from Chicago that went through that small town and the cafe with the old neon light on the front of the building. The neon light is back now as is the cafe and grill.
It's almost like I removed 40 years of living in just one week. Now if I could just afford one of those new Camaro's, everything would be perfect.
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Top-level comments on this article: (2 total)"if I could just afford one of those new Camaro's, everything would be perfect."That is so true, Mike. But would it be the same? It seems life during the Route 66 era was a magical time, by all accounts that I've read or seen.Still, I would love to give it a try!Yep Ken. It would be more fun to make the drive in an old Chevy or Ford for sure.Mike
Even as a Canadian boy growing up, I heard of Route 66. The image brings back the nostalgia of the 1950's. My wife is American so I think the whole image of Route 66 has an even stronger impact on her. One day I would love to take a road trip along that historic route.We have visitors all the time David, especially in the summer who are doing just that.If you have the time and can stop and enjoy all the little towns along the way, it is a hoot.Mike
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