• The Wild Ones

When I was in high school there were two car clubs in the Cedar Falls and Waterloo communities. Cedar Falls had the Pacers, all from Cedar Falls High, who mainly drove 1940 Ford coupes, lowered in the front and painted in primer gray.  They had the obligatory club plaque hanging from the rear bumper, and they wore jackets with "PACERS'  on the back.

I think I knew most of the Pacers by name, car and reputation.  But the only one I remember today was Jace.  He was tall and thin, had "the hair," and was quite good looking from the girls'  opinion.  I knew him later in college.

There were probably twenty or so members and a number of wannabes,  They worked mostly on their own cars and cruised but made an awesome spectacle when they were together.  That was usually on summer Saturday nights at Teen Time.  

Waterloo had the Ramblers.  They drove mostly newer model Chevrolets, lowered and nicely painted with a name lettered on the rear fenders.  One was a '56 two-door painted a dark red called "Blood Rust."  These guys were usually older, out of high school and had more money in their cars.  They were also from Waterloo, which made them bigger stuff in our eyes since Waterloo was the larger of the two cites.  I have no idea how many there were in all, because we were less likely to see them all at one time.

But they could be seen together sometimes at the Hop at Electric Park.  We knew them more by the names on their cars than by their real names.

The Ramblers and the Pacers seldom crossed paths and stayed mainly in their own towns.  They weren't territorial , but they kept distances from one another.

There were also car clubs in various small towns not far away like Janesville, Waverly and Parkersburg.  But they were lesser known....until the Dike Incident.

Who knows what the real story is? Even those who were there have blown it way out  of proportion. My telling of it is certainly second-hand, and over fifty years removed.  It must have been the summer of '59 when it happened.  There was one kid who was sort of on the fringes of the Pacers.  I knew him but can't remember his name.  He was small and mainly a punk.  Somehow he got into a scrape with some guys from one of the small towns and got his butt kicked.  He then threatened to call the Pacers and the Ramblers down on his adversaries.  Word started  to spread  that everyone was to meet in Dike for a Rumble.

Now, Dike was a very small town.  At the time,  the whole town could have been treed like "The Wild Ones", only it wouldn't have taken as many guys.  The thought of having several hundred angry teens in town was a little terrifying. The Dike police called for reinforcements.

So, on a hot summer afternoon every car club from miles around, converged on Dike for a showdown.  The Iowa Highway Patrol sealed off the town, moved in and nothing happened.  I think everybody, especially the would-be combatants, were glad the cops showed up.  It was over before it started.

But there is still this myth that persists and grows with each telling.  The story made the "Des Moines Register",  sort of like the Arnold Park riots of 1965.  The telling is more important than what really happened.

If someone wanted to, there are a lot stories like that that need to be researched.  I wonder how many guys still remember that incident, and even more, I wonder what happened to all those '40 Fords.