She's my little deuce coupe, you don't know what I got.

[edbermac]

I've been a good boy this year, Santa. O8)



Little deuce Coupe
You don't know what I got
Little deuce Coupe
You don't know what I got

Well I'm not braggin' babe so don't put me down
But I've got the fastest set of wheels in town
When something comes up to me he don't even try
Cause if it had a set of wings man I know she could fly
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
My little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got

Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill
But she'll walk a Thunderbird like it's standin' still
She's ported and relieved and she's stroked and bored.
She'll do a hundred and forty in the top end floored
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
My little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got

She's got a competition clutch with the four on the floor
And she purrs like a kitten till the Lake Pipes roar
And if that aint enough to make you flip your lid
There's one more thing, I got the pink slip, Daddy

And comin' off the line when the light turns green
Well she blows 'em outta the water like you never seen
I get pushed out of shape and it's hard to steer
When I get rubber in all four gears

She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
My little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got

[raccoon]

1. That needs some annotation. While I love the Beach Boys,

there's a lot of phrases in there I just don't get.

[redqueen]

3. It helps if you grow up with a couple part-time grease monkeys around...

that's for sure!

:D

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. Which ones?

At yer service. :patriot:

[billyskank]

5. I was just going to page you.

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. You got the outfit for it?

:)

[raccoon]

8. They're bolded here.

Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill
But she'll walk a Thunderbird like it's standin' still
She's ported and relieved and she's stroked and bored.
She'll do a hundred and forty in the top end floored
She's my little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got
My little deuce coupe
You don't know what I got

She's got a competition clutch with the four on the floor
And she purrs like a kitten till the Lake Pipes roar
And if that aint enough to make you flip your lid
There's one more thing, I got the pink slip, Daddy

And comin' off the line when the light turns green
Well she blows 'em outta the water like you never seen
I get pushed out of shape and it's hard to steer
When I get rubber in all four gears

[Oeditpus Rex]

10. A flathead's a type of engine

that has the intake and exhaust valves in the block, next to the pistons, rather than in the head, which is much more common. (The "OHV" you see to describe most automobile engines stands for "overhead valve," meaning the valves are in the head.) "Mill" is just old rodder slang for "engine."

Here's a stock Ford V-8 flathead:



...and a small-block Chevy OHV V-8 from about the same era ('50s):





Porting and relieving are machine-shop tricks rodders do to combustion chambers (where the spark plugs screw in) and valve ports (where the fuel-air mixture goes to the combustion chambers and the exhaust gases go out) to create a more-efficient flow. Basically, it's just getting rid of any imperfections in the casting and making it as smooth as possible. There's also polishing and three-angling, which is cutting precise angles on the valve ports.

Stroking is increasing the distance the piston travels up and down, by changing either the crankshaft or the connecting rods (crankshaft to piston) or both. This increases horsepower and torque. Boring is what most women think of all this... no, wait. It's increasing the diameter of the cylinders and installing larger pistons, which also increases power. (Typically, the maximum recommended over-bore is 6/100ths of an inch, but some serious engine builders will double that.)

Top end refers to the peak of an engine's power curve, expressed in revolutions (of the crankshaft) per minute. Most stock engines produce their peak power at somewhere between 5,000 and 6,000 RPM, but a hot-rodded engine may push this to 7,000 or more, and much higher in professional race engines. "Floored" simply means the accelerator pedal is pushed as far as it'll go.

A competition clutch is much sturdier than a standard clutch. It'll hold up under high-RPM shifts and grip better, with more heat resistance. We used to call them "neck-snappers" because when you throw a high-RPM shift with one, your head jerks back.

Lake pipes (or "lakepipes") were half-performance, half-show. They're straight exhaust pipes (as opposed to stock exhaust, which has a lot of bends). The idea is to get the exhaust gases out of the combustion chambers with as little resistance as possible (called "scavenging"), which increases performance.

Authentic lake pipes were chrome side pipes that were really too small in diameter for maximum efficiency — about 1 1/2". (See photo.) The name comes from the earliest organized drag racers, who ran on Muroc Dry Lake Bed in the western Mojave Desert. These guys formed the Southern California Timing Association, which became the National Hot Rod Association.

[raccoon]

14. Thanks, Oeditpus! That's a keeper.

You know your auto mechanics!

[Deep13]

7. Translation

"Little deuce Coupe"
1932 Ford model B.

"Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill"
Flathead is an old-style engine with the valves facing perpendicular to the cylinder. Frankly, they are not known for their performance. Mill=engine. 1932 Fords were supplied by the factory with a V-8 flat-head engine.

"But she'll walk a Thunderbird like it's standin' still"
Walk=outrun in a race. Thunderbird, a new performance car fashionable when this song was written. The writer is saying his old, out-moded Model B has better performance than something much newer and more expensive.

"She's ported and relieved and she's stroked and bored."
Ported and relieved refer to valve-head modifications to reduce the constriction of gases entering and leaving the cylinder. Bored means that the cylinder has been increased in diameter in accomodate bigger pistons. No sure about "stroked."

"She'll do a hundred and forty in the top end floored"
Floored=maximum aceleration by depressing the gas pedal to the floor.

"She's got a competition clutch with the four on the floor"
Four gear manual transmission with the shifter on the floor rather than "on the tree" or steering-wheel column. The competition clutch is just what it sounds like, a high performance clutch to increase performance in racing.

"And she purrs like a kitten till the Lake Pipes roar"
Lake Pipes, see OP's photo. Instead of a normal exhaust system, the pipes are run with no muffler along the running boards ending just before the rear wheels.

"And if that aint enough to make you flip your lid
There's one more thing, I got the pink slip, Daddy"

Pink slip=title. It's paid-for, another jab at the new Thunderbirds.

"And comin' off the line when the light turns green
Well she blows 'em outta the water like you never seen
I get pushed out of shape and it's hard to steer
When I get rubber in all four gears"

Pushed out of shape: literally the torque from the drive wheels causes the car frame to warp, hence--hard to steer.
Rubber-squealing the tires. Uusually a car only has enough torque to get rubber in the lowest gears-1st and reverse.

[yellowcanine]

13. Actually the flat head could be souped up quite a bit. Particularly the later model

48-53 Mercury flathead; many of the Model B owners would swap out the stock flathead for the later model Merc engine. It had a longer stroke already and many rodders would install headers and a custom intake that would accept three carburators. Yeah they didn't match the performance of the big block V-8s of the 60s and 70s but still, they could outperform a lot of stock engines of the 50s that had a lot more cubic inches, including those pricy T-Birds. And the sound of a souped up flat head was some kind of sweet. There are still gear heads that specialize in flat heads and even race them. To me there is something a little romantic about an all steel rod fitted with a souped up Merc flat head that a modern glass rod with a Chevy 350 crate engine just can't match, regardless of the superior performance.

[raccoon]

15. Thanks to you too, Deep13! nt

[Oeditpus Rex]

2. On Dead Man's Curve I used to shut 'em down

I had the hottest muscle car in my hometown
I could burn rubber in all four gears
But I haven't done that in a million years

Hey, little minivan, we're goin' to the grocery stOOOOOOrrre

She's got an automatic tranny with overdrive
and the radio's tuned to Magic 95
She gets 30 miles on a gallon of gas
And I can schlep all the girls to gymnastics class
Her headlights are on both night and day
The most practical value in the USA
She's got cruise control, ABS and EFI
I keep her Michelins at 32 PSI

Hey, little minivan, we're goin' to the children's musEEEEEuuum

On icy mornings when I'm feeling my age
I'm protected and warm in my steel cage
Her climate control really pumps out the heat
And her dual air bags just can't be beat
She's rated real high by Consumer Reports
And her two front seats have got lumbar support
I've got the good driver rate and comprehensive insurance
And she's loaded with electronic theft deTERrents
(Step away from the car, step away from the car, step away from the car, step away from the car)

We're a wild and rowdy bunch when you pass us by
(Wah-ooooo)
Bobby's buggin' baby sister and makin' her cry
(Wah-ooooo)
If I have to pull over someone's gonna pay
(Ay-yi-yiiii)
And it was fun, fun, fun, till Bobby took her teether away
(Fun, fun, fun, fun)

Hey, little minivan, we're goin' to the pediatrIIIciaaaaaan

Now the wife and I hardly ever date
'cause our baby sitter has to be home by 8
We hurry through dinner and go out and park
With the fold-down seats we can nap till dark
I dream of Barracudas and souped-up 'Vettes
(Woo-ooo-ooooo)
Crazy games of chicken and drag race bets
(Woo-oo-oooooo)
Then she wakes me up and says, "Honey, don't be sad
"Our van's the classic Woody you never had"
Now if I ever get tired of my minivan
A red sports car will make me young again

Hey, little minivan, we're goin' to the grocery stOOOOOOrrre
We'll get there when we GET there!
Hey, little minivan, we're goin' to the grocery stOOOOOOrrre
Why didn't you think of that beFORE we left??
Hey, little minivan, we're goin' to the grocery stOOOOOOrrre
I don't care who hit who first! Just STOP it!
Hey, little minivan, we're goin' to the grocery stOOOOOOrrre
Don't make me come BACK there!
Grocery store, grocery store
If Larry jumped off a cliff, would you do THAT, too?
Grocery store, grocery store
What did you do with the LAST one I gave you??
Grocery store, grocery store
THREE KIDS?!? What were we THINKING?!?
Go, little Minnie Van Gogh
Little Minnie Van Gogh
Little Minnie Van Gogh



© Copyright 2004 Austin Lounge Lizards www.bluecornmusic.com

[hellbound-liberal]

9. This thread needs some music!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B1LiKpv-VfE

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. Stupid white kids

Clappin' on the 1/3. :grr:

[Oeditpus Rex]

12. The cruisers' anthem:

I get around
From town to town
I'm a real cool head
I'm makin' real good bread


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mN7Xs9WVNBU


Got a silly little story to go with this one: I used to cruise South Main with Jim and Gary, listening to nothing but the Beach Boys and the "American Grafitti" soundtrack. We were the Not Too Shabby Chevies. :)

Gary had a '69 Malibu with a stuffed-up 307 — those were absolute dog motors, man. But, when "I Get Around" came on when we were in Gary's car, if you didn't yell out "'CAUSE IT'S NEVER BEEN BEAT," he'd throw you out of the car. One night, I think it was Bucky who didn't yell it, and Gary reached over and opened the passenger door and was shoving Bucky and yelling, "'CAUSE IT'S NEVER BEEN BEAT, MAN! 'CAUSE IT'S NEVER BEEN BEAT!" — while he was driving. (Gary was a coupla plugs shy of a V-8.)

To this day, whenever I hear "I Get Around," I yell that line.

To the Not Too Shabby Chevies. :toast: