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Who hopped cars?

B

Bonnan

Member
The thread below about bicycling reminded me of hopping cars when we were walking home from school in winter time. Back in the 40's road crews did not have salt or apply sand/cinders on very few roads in our area. With snow packed road surfaces we would sneak up behind a car starting out and grab the rear metal bumper, squat down and go for a ride. The game was to see who could hang on the longest! It did hurt when you hit a bare spot or caught h*ll when you ruined a pair of boots. Anybody do this or something similar?
 
My grandpa told of sled riding down streets/roads where he grew up in Cincinnati.They would get to the bottom and grab ahold of a bumper of a car (Model Ts usually I think) and get towed back up the hill.I think he said the cars had chains on their tires.He was very good at describing things:I wish we had recorded his stories.Mark
 
My Grand Father talked about stealing watermelons of the back of slow moving trucks in his teen years. They would get on the hood of a car. When the trucks would slow down on long hills they would drive right up to the back of the truck. Then the guys on the hood would climb up on top of the load of melons. They would throw them back to the guys in the car. Then before the truck gain speed at the top of the hill they would climb back down to the car. He talked about how the one time the guy driving the car backed off and left the fellow on the top of the truck. They had to ride to the next town on top of the truck. They had to wait until the truck stopped at the stop light in the next town to get off.

This would have been in the mid 1920s.
 
A couple of friends and I would ride around a local town on a sled pulled behind a car back in the early 60's. The streets weren't sanded back then, making the sledding pretty good. The car was a late 40's Dodge if I remember right.
 
In the cities the kids still do it only on roller skates or skate boards. Hanging on to door handles and just letting go when they get where they want to go or hanging on 'til they get up a long hill where they would otherwise have to wank up.
 
my kids used to manure ski. grab ahold of cows tail in the cow yard when the cement was slippery with soupy manure
 
My dads cousin talked of doing the same thing as JD Seller described. He said they had a kid running along behind the truck catching the melons and rolling them off in the grader ditch to pickup on the way back. Hard to believe this happened else where to.
 
My Mother who grew up in London would ride her bicycle all over southern England as a teenager. She said if she was riding up a hill, she would grab the back corner of a lorry (truck) and let it pull her up the hills.
Richard in NW SC
 
Now, you know that the nanny state does not allow you to do that without a helmet....

Dean
 
We called it "hooking cars". You could get three on a car. Get four jumping on at a stop sign and the car wouldn't move. Just sit and spin. That's when the driver bailed out and gave you all some choice words.
Made the 14 block trip in winter for BB practice a 2 minute trip instead of a 20 minute walk.
 
We used to do that. We also sledded down our road when it was icy. The neighbor would get his VW bug (1960s) and would pull us back up the hill hooked to his bumper.
 
Also called it skitching. I remember using that term when we lived in Colorado, but I mostly grew up in MD in the 70s, so maybe it's from there (but I don't remember ever having enough snow, or slippery enough snow, to ever skitch in MD)
 
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