Ronald Pope Jr. digs in to his two-breast order of chicken with coleslaw at Lucky Wishbone on Campbell Avenue. Pope says he's been going to Wishbone for more than 30 years.

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They're small, they've been around Tucson forever and, despite the tactical incursions of national fast-food chains, they aren't going anywhere. Tucson's unique drive-up and drive-through fast-food restaurants weather changing tastes and economic trends and just serve it up. Shari's, Pat's and Lucky Wishbone all have customers who span generations. "I think Tucsonans are proud of their local heritage, and so they have a die-hard clientele," said Wanda Howell, University of Arizona distinguished professor of nutritional sciences.

623-5385

A retro vertical sign announcing Shari's Drive-in is tucked among the advertising clutter along the east side of North First Avenue, south of Glenn Street. You could miss it if you're trying to make the traffic signal. But Shari's Drive-in is there, and for 53 years Tucsonans have been driving in.

"Well, honey, I use real food," explained Carol Schaub, who has run Shari's for the past 7 1/2 years. "Everything is cooked to order."

It's not-so-fast food. The big sellers are the Sharimac burger and the double cheeseburger, milkshakes and fries, Schaub said. People in a hurry will call up and order in advance, but most of her customers simply pull up to the little window.

People don't mind waiting, she said. "We don't have one of those things outside, a squawk box, to call in your order. We march outside there with our little pad and give them a menu."

If you get out of your car and come up to the order window, you'll find accumulated jokes and words of wisdom taped to the glass. The jokes started a few years ago, Schaub said, to keep things light for the employees and customers.

Originally called June's Dairy Delight, it's been Shari's for a long time, Schaub said. There really was a Shari, and, when she sold it, the next owner kept the name. When Schaub took over, she quit her job as a dental assistant because "you can't let other people run your business." She's never looked back.

College students are among her best customers, she said, and that makes sense to Howell.

"That whole stretch of First looks like it came out of the 1950s, and the college kids like that. They think it's real retro," Howell said. "And so they'll cruise, and they'll find Shari's."

624-0891

Another nugget from the past is Pat's Drive-in, opened in 1962 and famous for its zippy chili dogs.

People who have never been to Pat's know about the drive-in, some 500 feet or so from a Jack-in-the-Box on North Grande Avenue at Niagara Street on Tucson's West Side.

"Everybody says chili dogs, and right away they think of Pat's," said Sam Bingham, a manager who has worked at Pat's for 25 years.

A handful of tables allow customers who are not eating in their vehicles or driving away to sit for a few minutes while they put away the spicy dogs and burgers and big bags of oily but delicious fries cut from whole potatoes three times a day.

You can put whatever you want on them, but if you don't douse everything with hot chili sauce and fresh chopped onions, it really isn't Pat's. You have to order the hot chili, Bingham said. "We make it fresh every day."

During his 25 years at Pat's, he said, he's watched people bring their kids there, watched the kids grow up and then bring their kids.

With the exception of adding chicken tenders and tuna fish, Bingham said, the menu hasn't changed since Pat's opened. Its specialty item is a "Sissy burger" ( a corruption of "CC" for chili and cheese), a double-patty burger on Texas toast.

Pat's is a shortening of the name of the original owner, Henry Patterson, who hired 14-year-old Carlos "Charlie" Hernandez to work in the kitchen. Years later in 1979, when Patterson needed to sell it for family reasons, he asked Hernandez if he wanted to buy it. Hernandez has owned it ever since.

Pat's closed for two weeks in July, creating a minor panic, Bingham said. "We had to put up a big huge sign, saying we were just on vacation." Gina, one of two of Hernandez's daughters active in the restaurant, laughed and said it happens every year during their annual break. She said Pat's isn't going anywhere. "We're really happy here. It's been very good to us."

323-9329 for Campbell location

Lucky Wishbone was the daydream of a Phoenix cowboy back in the 1940s. He was a customer of the ice cream parlor that Derald Fulton and his partner ran.

"They had an old cowboy who used to come in there and he used to say, if you ever want to open a chicken restaurant, I've got a good name for you," said Mark Morris, a Lucky Wishbone owner and great-nephew of Fulton. "And he gave them the name Lucky Wishbone and drew the logo, I guess."

Morris said his uncle and partner moved to Tucson a couple of years later and opened a typical drive-in with car hops and sandwiches called the Polar Bar. Tucson must have been a wilder and woollier place in those days.

"Business was great, but they had a lot of fights in the parking lot . . . so my uncle decided he wanted a restaurant where people came in, picked up the food and took off." Morris said the partners never forgot the old cowboy, and Lucky Wishbone, the chicken restaurant, became their next project.

There are now six locations, all owned and operated by family and friends, serving up the same fried chicken, steak fingers and fries for more than 50 years. The delightfully tacky jingle that must be nearly as old is still instantly recognizable to many Tucsonans of all ages.

"We have grandparents bringing in their grandkids. Third- and fourth-generation customers. It's amazing," said Morris, who has been involved with the restaurant for 27 years.

"It truly is local color," said Howell of all three restaurants. "They haven't changed their menu in a thousand years. You know exactly what you're getting. It's not expensive, and it's a tradition. It's kind of a comforting thing. That's why they keep the same customers coming back over and over." And making new ones from scratch.