Nephew wants to know what some of the words below mean. I think “deuce coup” refers to the year 1932, but I couldn’t explain the rest.
Just a little deuce coupe with a flat head mill
But she’ll walk a Thunderbird like (she’s) it’s standin’ still
She’s ported and relieved and she’s stroked and bored.
She’ll do* a hundred and forty with 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 ain’t enough to make you flip your lid
There’s one more thing, I got the pink slip daddy
walk a Thunderbird-outrun a Thunderbird(car model) in a race
ported and relieved-intake manifolds have been modified to improve/increase airflow
stroked and bored-cylinders are increased in size, longer connecting rods=increases engine displacement
a hundred and forty with the top end floored-top speed of 140 mph
competition clutch with the four on the floor-clutch built for better engagement and to handle the rigors of a more powerful engine and a four speed manual transmission-stick shift on the floor
lake pipes-built for racing on dry lakebeds/salt flats. I have no idea as to what advantage they have, though
Flat head mill - an earlier engine style, less efficient, but - it can:
walk a Thunderbird - still beat T-bird (modern V-8) in a drag race
Ported and relieved - the passages in the head where the air flows have been opened up, and the wall surfaces of the combustion chamber have been relieved where the valves are for better flow.
Stroked and bored - crankshaft reground to produce a longer stroke, the cylinders have been bored out, both for increased displacement
she’ll do 140 with the top end floored - a bit stilted to make it rhyme, that’s all. It would read better if it said “She’ll do 140 at the top end, floored”
Lake pipes, exhaust pipes that run down the outside of the car instead of underneath and are usually just straight through with no baffles
Dennis
The “four on the floor” line – that’s opposed to something like “three on the tree” right? That is, like what you think of as a stick shift these days that’s floor mounted rather than steering column mounted, right? (Although typically these days we’re looking at five or six gears – and possibly more – not four.) What’s the last car that came with the gear shift on the column, anyway? Or are there still some being made?
Flat head mill - refers to the engine, the famous compact V8 introduced in 1932, in production to 1955 or thereabouts, was (and still today) very much favored by the hot rodder set, with all manner of aftermarket parts and such to increase horsepower. They have distinctive flat cylinder heads, as opposed to much larger OHV cylinder heads.
Ported and stroked and relieved and bored - refers to increasing the cylinder size and installing larger pistons to increase horsepower, smoothing the exhaust ports so the engine will “breathe” better, again for increased power output.
The “pink slip” is what usually causes some confusion. In California they were apparently colored pink, as in registration. Racing for “pinks” meant the loser of the race lost his car.
Sometime around 1982 from what I’ve read, and they weren’t common by that time. I have “three on the tree” on an old pickup. Modern day theft prevention, nobody under 40 would know how to drive it.
Two door ford with a flat head engine, as opposed to a V
Car will leave a T-bird standing still
Engine has been modified, Allough I am gonna guess the ported and relieved today would be headers and dual exhaust, while stroked and bored would be the engine displacement has been modified, boring out a 302 ford to 351 which increases the stroke distance of the piston
Goes really fast, 140 mph and no idea about what the top end would be in relation to floored
The dude’s ride, shot gun is for the chick
Car looks factory stock, and no zoom zoom zoom visible
See above
Non factory clutch, makes shifting easier compared to those tractor clutches the older cars seemed to use, four speed transmission with the stick on the floor instead of the steering wheel stalk or dash buttons.
Car is quiet until you launch out of the hole, and then the mufflers or cherry bombs sing the song of my people
Pink slip is the title of the vehicle, other than that I got nothing on this lyric, but I think there might be a comma missing ,between slip and daddy.
Couple more things. Lake pipes were often hooked up through a “cut-out”, which was a cable operated flapper valve. It routed the exhaust through the muffler until you pulled the handle, then it exited through the open pipes. Today most are electric and made of polished stainless steel.
“Pink slip”. Probably more legend then fact, there has been lots of discussion on this over the years on various car forums. Who in the heck is going to run in a claiming race against an unknown car? Seems like the fastest guy would end up owning all the hot rods in town.
You can have a flathead V. Flathead refers to whether the head has valves in it or not, it’s not referring to the layout of the cylinders.
Overhead valve engines are more efficient than flathead ones, but by the 50’s flathead Ford V-8s were a favorite of hot rodders because they were familiar, cheap and ubiquitous. Ford installed flathead V-8s starting in '32, which is probably what the car in question had.
The song doesn’t say anything about “racing for pinks.” The song just says “This baby’s mine.” You wouldn’t get the pink slip until the car was fully paid for.
As for actual racing for pinks…I would think that pretty soon only strangers like Bob Falfa would race against someone like John Milner.
Certainly. Brian needed a 2 syllable word for the meter of the song. He could have picked “moron,” “dickhead” or “Buddha.” But “daddy” as a shortened version of “daddy-o” was chosen. Such are the vagaries of pop song writing.
