Socal Cruise Night Tour

On Wednesday night, the Olive Garden restaurant in Downey's Stonewood shopping mall is usually packed with plenty of "kool kustoms." But we were diggin' this row of slick Mopar street machines and listened in as the owners sat in a group in front of their cars swapping speed secrets.

This Nova wagon with its TPI small-block power was in attendance at the Olive Garden. Its recent write-up in Hot Rod elevated its owner to hero status-well, almost.

My brother (Mustang & Fords staffer Wayne Cook) and I did the cruise night tour in our beater '64 Fairlane. Here we're recovering from way too many breadsticks. If you want to have kool kustoms and breadstick overload on Wednesday evenings, the Olive Garden is on Firestone Blvd. in the city of Downey. Call 213/569-6672 for more info.

Also on Wednesdays, and less than a mile from the Olive Garden, is a cruise night at Frisco's drive-in (562/928-3663). In the summer months, this is the big one to attend for a midweek gearhead fix. The address is 12050 Woodruff Ave., in Downey.

A regular at the Downey Frisco's is CC buddy Steve Hurst and his 12-second '86 Buick Regal Turbo T. With our 355 small-block Cheap Street Chevelle, we knew not to go pickin' on Steve. Now that we've got 502 power and a fistful of low 11-second timeslips, it's time for Steve to step up to the plate, wouldn't you say?

Fighting horrendous LA traffic, we got to Giovanni's Pizza in the La Habra/Fullerton area just as they were turning out the lights. However, we did get to see the trophy winner for the evening in the Best Ford category-a radical Pinto with 351C power. Now that's a real cruise night-one with trophies for winners in various categories. In the summer months, this cruise-in at the corner of Imperial Highway and Harbor Boulevard is arguably the best one in the L.A. area. The quality of the cars is top-notch, and they number more than 200 on warm evenings. You can get more info on this show by calling 562/690-9237.

About 10 miles from Bob's, also on Friday evenings, Cruisers Car Wash holds its bash. You can see all the action by going to 8870 Tampa Ave., in the San Fernando Valley suburb of Northridge. In the summer, this place flat cranks with dozens and dozens of cool cars. Call 'em at 818/882-9274 for the skinny.

One of our favorite cruise nights is Bob's Big Boy in the Toluca Lake/Burbank area. Although its lot is on the smaller side, the variety of cars is amazing. Mustang & Fords staffer Cook was Jonesin' big time for this 428 Cobra Jet Torino basking under the Bob's neon sign. This Friday night shindig is located at 4211 Riverside Dr. in Toluca Lake. Call 818/843-9334 for more info.

You want variety? Only at places like Bob's will you see resto Ford Model A's, solid-axle Vettes, street rods,...

I was in gearhead heaven at Cruisers with righteous examples of my two favorite cars-in my favorite years no less! The '65 Mustang fastback had way-nasty TFS-headed 351W power, and the '67 Vette ragtop was top-drawer with its 427/435hp fat-block.