what started it all - earliest hot rod memories [Archive]

Nick32vic

11-08-2003, 01:38 PM

For me it was a combination of things. first, it was going to rod runs with my dad and my favorites were always the primered cars and rust buckets since i was like 4 years old. Second, it was building model cars. Third and lastly, it was the day my dad told me his friend had this cool body for sale and he wanted to know if i wanted to save up and buy so we could build it. That was it, from then on all i think about (besides girls of course) is Hot Rods and Street Rods.

Nick

Harrison

11-08-2003, 01:52 PM

On my third Christmas my uncle bought me a $.99 Buddy L hot rod T coupe, red white and blue, at the dollar store. I remember opening it but nothing else about the day.

I still have it.

For $.99 he set the hook.

JH

Ayers Garage

11-08-2003, 01:53 PM

Mine is not real exciting.

One of my neighbors had a 64 Chevy (Biscayne, I think) on slot mags. I thought those slots made it the coolest car ever. We were all poor, so there were no real nice cars around where I was.

That was 1977

Tony

11-08-2003, 02:03 PM

My interest in Hot rods?? two words:

American Graffiti.

The movie came out in '73, and i was born in '74.
I don't remember when i saw it for the first time, i'd figure it to be late 70's, but that '32 was burned in my memory forever..
don't get me wrong, Between my family and their friends, i was no stranger to cars as a youth at all, and could probably write a book about all the stuff that aided to my 'sickness'..
but for some reason, i always wanted to own that "yellow coupe"

it was all down hill from there!! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Rat...

50Fraud

11-08-2003, 02:10 PM

It's 1950, and I'm in a car with my uncle, waiting at a traffic light on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood. Johnny is only seven years older than me, and a cool guy, but he's never been into modified cars.

Suddenly this roadster coming toward us shoots past all the other stopped cars on the right, hangs a hard right turn, and disappears down the side street. The two guys in the roadster are laughing uproariously, and the passenger is waving his arms in the air.

Johnny mutters "crazy assholes", letting me know that he disapproves of what we've just seen. I couldn't tell him I thought it was really neat.

My memory says it was a yellow highboy roadster with a deuce grill and whitewalls, that it was shiny and loud and bitchin'. In reality it was probably just a jalopy, but it got my attention big time.

safariknut

11-08-2003, 02:13 PM

I guess the earliest memory I have of a,"hot rod" was my best friend's older brother who had a 1951 Ford 2 door hardtop;black with skirts and a continental kit and the nastiest set of pipes I've ever heard.It was a Ford-O-Matic(1st year)and I remember hearing him come around the corner and wind it up in Low down the street and then "back it off" as he slowed down to turn around in the school yard at the end of the street before making his return trip and starting his second,"back down"right in front of our house.Used to drive my grandfather nuts!
The next brother had a 50 Merc coupe similarly equipped except it had a single exhaust and was even louder.He used to do the same thing.
When Donnie(the oldest)got married they used his wife's car(a 52 Ford 6 cylinder)and he sold the Vicky to Lennie(the one with the Merc)so he sold the Merc to Dick(my best friend)and that was the car that was the first to fall victim to my striping brush(long story told before).WAY TOO MANY MEMORIES.

Curly

11-08-2003, 02:16 PM

My Grandparents died and my dad's brother (my Uncle) moved in with us until he finished school. That was in the early 70's. My dad always had antique cars he was a resto kinda guy and my Uncle was a hotrodder. One day he took me somewhere with him and he had this GTX that was built for the strip. He had slicks on it and uncorked headers. He stopped the car in front of the local Harley dealership and told me to hold on.
He laid out one of the smokiest burnouts I had ever seen, felt or smelt at my young age. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
Every time he shifted that car my head snapped so hard that I thought I was going to die. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
When that ol Mopar motor came to life I had never heard anything like that in my life! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/ooo.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/cool.gif
The mailboxes started to fly by so fast they became white blurrs! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif
When he got out of it in what seemed like miles down the road he made me promise not to tell my mom and dad. I didn't tell...but soon after that the conversations changed around the house and mom and dad figured it out.

That is when mom showed me all of dad and her trophies she had packed away and told me that she would still be racing if it wasn't for dad telling her that she had to stop because she was pregnant. That was in'65 I was born in early of'66. I could either carry the torch or end an era. I still have a soft spot for Roadrunners and GTX's, antique cars, andthe dragstrip (it's still open).

buckethead

11-08-2003, 02:36 PM

Two things hooked me on hotrods, first thing was my brother had a '55 chevy with a hopped up 265 and low ass rear gears. There was a big hole in the floor behind the driver thats where he made me ride to school. He would get in front of school and pull wheelies before school and scare the hell out of me. The second thing was seeing three brand new Roadrunners and a Mach 1 Mustang lined up down the road and racing past me at over 100 mph heading for the school zone. COOL as hell.

cornfieldrodder

11-08-2003, 02:51 PM

Dads 58 Chrysler with 392 inches of Walter Ps finest planted the seed. A 100= mph trip to Cedar Point Ohio from Detroit in my sisters brand new 67 Toranado may have helped. Maybe it was when that Wizenhunt guy moved in around the corner with that Dark blue 40 Ford coupe. It needed the laquer buffed so bad it was "suede". There were cheater slicks on it with chrome rims and baby moons. Oh, then it had a 427 medium riser and a four speed. Yeah folk, I think that first ride did it. the head rest mounted to the cross tube on the roll bar kept my 9 year old head from whippin' back. I dunno, maybe that did it http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

CLSSY56

11-08-2003, 03:03 PM

I'm not sure what sparked my attention. I have been more of an avaition nut. I have always liked anything with a motor. I was also born in 1974 and my grandfather bought a plane in '76, so there is that part of the story. I remember haveing a model of a 1957 2dr HT when I was real young, along with all my hotwheels and stuff. My first old car was a 1940 Plymouth 4 door P-10 sedan. It didn't run, engine was long gone, but it came with 2 engine, 2 trannys and 3 clutches along with gobs of parts to God knows what too. I played with it for about a year to 1-1/2 years and then sold it. My dad had nothing to do with old cars and my knowledge was next to nothing (which to me it still is, someday I would love to rebuild an engine), so I winged most of it and lost interest in the old girl. I think he helped me on some things on other cars, but shop manuals gave me most of the knowledge. It wasn't until I got heavy into jeeps that I learned alot and dad/grandpa helped me pull the tranny out after it broke (4 hours out, 5 to put it back in after a week). I bought my 2nd old car right before my son was born (2 weeks before to be exact).
http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/Family/CLSSY56.jpg
Then came my 3rd car (parts car) which was in one piece and I only took the parts I needed and sold it to a buddy on CT (which this is his pic)...
http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/CLSSY56/56-2403number2.jpg
After almost a year I talked to another CT buddy and ended up trading my Jeep Wrangler (which he just sold) for his 56 in Aug 2002. It was his daily driver and was going to be my daily driver. I borrowed dad's truck and trailer for this, even though he was against the trade...
http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/MyOldJeep/000109.jpg http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/MyOldJeep/Aug24_01.jpg http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/CLSSY56/0814_003.jpg
When I got home my driveway looked like this...
http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/CLSSY56/Aug29_01.jpg
Soon after I sold the red/white one on Ebay with most of my extra parts (which now I didn't need). Today (actually today) my car (blue/white one)looks like this, which when I got it the odometer said ...
http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/CLSSY56/The%20Car/070402-guages.jpg
today...
http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/CLSSY56/The%20Car/110803-guages.JPG http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/CLSSY56/The%20Car/110803-1.JPG http://www.htc.net/~clssy56/CLSSY56/The%20Car/110803-2.JPG

hmmmm, this has become more of an intro then my intro was http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/shocked.gif

Kerry

11-08-2003, 04:22 PM

I just kind of grew up with it. Dad had been in a car club called the Phaetons. He was into anything mechanical. Problem was we were farming and relatively poor so in 1970 he had Mom stop the Hot Rod subscription. He told her if she didn't he'd not be able to help himself and would spend all our money on cars.

He really had great fabrication skills. He built a few silage cutters from scratch and was building a 4wd tractor from scratch when he died in 1973. I found his models when going through his stuff. There was a black T roadster and a 32 five window. The five window had been chopped, and it had a Chrysler hemi SCOT blower and three strombergs. I decided right then at 8 1/2 I'd buld one myeself someday.

Here's a picture of a "stripdown" he made. in his earlyier days. The dash from the discarded body is what is in my 31 now.

Plowboy

11-08-2003, 04:24 PM

ZZ Top and David Lee Roth. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Revhead

11-08-2003, 05:06 PM

Mines kinda out there and a bit O/T, but when I was like 7 or so we were living in France. One night comming home from watching a disney movie, I think Fantasia, we got hit by a driver paying no attention at all. We were headed from Nice back to Vence and this guy pulls out from a side street and clips the passenger rear 1/4 of my dad's Alfa Spyder. We went out of control hit a brick wall head on and left the alfa in a banana shape. Here's where it started. The first people to stop were driving a Renualt 5 Turbo. Crazy factory rear engined "Le Car" if you haven't seen one. I was more interested in this guys car than my bloodied ear. Then after all that was over my dad bought a '73 Alfa GTV and while no one was looking (laws prohibit engine size changes) we swapped out the 1300 for the 2000 that was in the Spyder. I was out there as much as possible helping "remove" stuff and watching the chain break as the 2L fell directly on the motor mounts from about 1 1/2 ft. up. I was hooked.

fab32

11-08-2003, 08:32 PM

It was 1954 and my dad had went back into the Air Force after being out for a few years after WWII. We had the first hemi New Yorker that he owned. The guy next door was into HOT RODS. I was always hanging around his house as he was just like my grandfather, always tinkering only this time it was old cars. He let me take his collection of Hot Rod Magazines (he had every issue starting with no.1) and read them. Wouldn't you know the car that captured my imagination was Bill Neicamps ''29 roadster that won the 1st America'a Most Beautiful Roadster Trophy. I just couldn't stop looking at that car and dreaming of one day owning something like it. To this day it is my no. 1 hot rod. Well, after over 100 cars (daily drivers, drag cars. oval track racers, street racers, and projects) I'm still a sucker for broken down old car I can drag home and dream about.

Frank

40Tudor

11-08-2003, 09:08 PM

It's all Dad's fault. I was born with it.

My ride home from the hospital when I was born was a 64 Corvette (still a one-owner car and the only car Mom and Dad had at the time). He always had Corvettes. They made good winter cars cause they didn't rust.

Vague memories of being at Road America (3 or 4 yrs old).

Getting yelled at for ripping his Hot Rod mags before he got home from work (I was 5 or 6).

50's car mags that belonged to my Dad and uncles when they were kids - they were in Gramma's attic as late as the 80s.

NSRA nats in St. Paul, 1977.

It goes on from there.

My 40 was in Grampa's shop since '62 or so (I came along in 67). Dad got it out in the mid 80's when the shop was finally sold and torn down.

Where my 40 Tudor was 'back in the day' (http://www2.bitstream.net/~youngc/hotrod/update/history.htm)

gege

11-08-2003, 11:10 PM

models,i lived across the street from calhi that had lots of rods and customs the kids drove and got to watch that occur when i was a little kid, little size rod magazines my mom bought me{yea i know thats weird] high school metal shop,an add for a 32 roadster in newspaper when i was 15 and bought it,and a fairly close neighbor tom mcmullen.

metalshapes

11-08-2003, 11:12 PM

The Car bug runs in the family.
But the guy that got me started on Hot Rods is Lil John Buttera, his write ups in HRM made it all seem possible.
nobody I knew at the time was interested in Hot Rods, and I got as much shit about liking them as I do now about also liking European Sports and Race cars...

Thirdyfivepickup

11-08-2003, 11:28 PM

Dad used to 'drag' me to swap meets as early as I can remember. He has a 31 Chevy 5 window that looks the same now as it did back then. Guess he took 25 or so years away from it to raise a family. He would point out stuff and tell me what year it was from. I learned a lot from him and, luckily, continue to learn from him daily.

My Uncle Nick drow me to an aunts house when I was 6 or 7. It was an hour-long trip. He has a deuce roadster with a tri-power 289 that he built in 1972. He had to be doing over 100 mph most of the way.

My cousin Nick's candyapple green GTO with a blown BBC with twin dominators and 800+ hp comes in a close third.

warbird

11-08-2003, 11:38 PM

Visting my grandparents here in town when I was about 8 yrs. old and seeing some college guy go flying down 21st St. in a green Ford roadster with some kind of hopped-up engine up front. Thought it was pretty cool at the time. Also didn't hurt that Grandma was driving a '40 Ford at the time (it's sitting in my garage right now), and that most of the farms in the Midwest where I grew up had at least one old junker out in the shelter-belt. T's, 40's, A's and all kinds of old trucks. Lots of stuff to dream about in the late Fifies!

warbird

Sam F.

11-08-2003, 11:40 PM

are you talikng about TRADITIONAL hot rods? or regular hot rod stuff??? either way since a lil kid i ve always dug it,

..if you meant TRADITIONAL stuff then i remeber the time very clearly,(i mean,the time i realized what i wanted to do)

at the time i was a 14 or 15 tear old punk hell bent being "into" the 50'sscene ..my first eye opener was seeing Axles yellow coupe in person back in the late 80's/early 90's or so,the first time i saw it was at a car show at Don Steves chevorlet if i remeber right...you have to remember that even in so.cal at this time the "SCENE" as most of you know it today was pretty much non-existant other than the diehard original hot rodders who had been doing it since way back then. i was floored,,i knew i had to be apart of that...

as far as the whole hot roddong thing,,my dad has been a hottrodder all his life and i grew up around badd ass cars(mostly chevys) weither hoddies,lowriders,or restored classics...

BELLM

11-08-2003, 11:58 PM

Musta been around 1958 or so I was with my grandfather a lot, small town of Lexington, Tx some guy worked service station had a 33 or 34 3w, chopped, channeled, no fenders or hood, flathead with finned alum heads several carbs, sat real low. I liked it. A lot. Still like them.
Then in 8th grade, around 60 or 61, buddys brother had a t-bucket with Chevy 283 bored 301 with 3x2 setup, nice finished car, his sister in law was in high school, cheerleader, used to drive car around a lot. Really got hooked, pretty girl & cool car all in one package. 42 years later that 301, with tunnel ram & 2x4, is sitting in same guys shop, in a half-finished 27T roadster with 28 fenders, built pro street, half finished. Guy died before finished, about 5 yrs ago.. Gave up trying to buy it earlier this year. He had this 27 body apart in his attic when I first met him around 1960.

Greezy

11-09-2003, 12:03 AM

I was about 5 or 6 yrs old my uncle had a 68 Mustang fastback 289 and a 4 spd. I remember my dad taking me for a ride...brought the rpm's up dumped the clutch and the car went this way and that way, engine screaming. Scared the shit out of me...Ive been hooked ever since.

TexasHardcore

11-09-2003, 12:09 AM

I rode home from the hospital after I was born in a '59 Apache 4WD with a 400SBC. When I was 2 my dad bought his '33 Chevrolet Master Deluxe Sedan, full fendered, fat tired, hot rod, and still owns it today. At the same time one uncle had a '78 Camaro with some goodies, another uncle had "The Bandit" edition '78 Poncho, and another uncle had a '65 GTO. I was exposed to cars early.. Thanks dad.

delaware george

11-09-2003, 12:47 AM

everyone claims that their dads got them into hotrods....well when i was six my mom talked my dad into buying this cool old car and they joined the del-rods car club...they got divorced and my mom kept the car....and eventually it will be mine(if i ever get done the rpu http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/confused.gif) she still goes to car shows and is into cars...she no mechanic,but loves cars

Missing Link

11-09-2003, 01:49 AM

My Dad schooled me on early oldsmobiles, serious J2's, B&M mechanical monsters, turnpike cruiser skirts, minor body mods and the like. He moved back and forth from PA to FLA back in the early/mid 60's and had some really cool pics of some of the stuff that he and his budies ran around in from both regions. Cool shit, that I wish I had now. Shit happened, hate boiled over and I have none of those pic's left. I was young and dumb and mom was demoralized. He was cool when it came to tht sort of stuff, but he was dick otherwise. Then he got me into building model cars and dragging my sorry ass to car shows and rod runs, etc. Even to this day imo, there still is nothing cooler looking than the front end of 50 Olds...well, 'cept maybe a deuce grille
And then I began hearing stories and seeing pic's of my grandfather's stocker. Grand dad was dead before I was born so it is second hand info, but He used to run the circuit with his 34 ford flathead powered tudor. I posted pic's of it a while back. Hardcore Trackin' with the Kelsey H's! I did not know his driving antics until later in life. I guess it just runs in the family.
Shit, I guess if it runs inthe family I get to die early and be an alcoholic at the same time! http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif At least I have part of it down!

Dat Dirty Rat

11-09-2003, 02:17 AM

shit i was practically born in a oil pan,,when i was a kid my dad had a 41 Ford (wich the guy he sold it to back in the late 70's still has the car tuck away in his garage!) & my uncle had a 36 Ford (wich the guy he sold his to is just getting it on the road after 'allll' these years). We use to follow my Uncles bestfriend around who ran a altered Anglia...If there wasn't nights out in the garage,,,we were spending the whole entire day at the track..So I got to see 'alot' of really great cars over the years...To many to really pin point the one car that did it for me cause they have always been around me one way or another.. I saw alot of the movies and yeah it helped/added to my sickness..But there was nothing greater than being right in the middle of all the action or out in the garage with my dad helping him where I could...Dirty

AnimalAin

11-09-2003, 02:37 AM

My Dad used to own the local Ford house. When I was in my early teens, Larry Mills, the parts manager, was quite into hot cars and drag racing. He took me to the drag races at Lions drag strip. Among other things, I saw Stone-Woods-Cook race Hugh Tucker's national record holding street roadster. I don't think I was ever the same after that....

Germ

11-09-2003, 05:17 AM

[ QUOTE ]
are you talikng about TRADITIONAL hot rods? or regular hot rod stuff??? either way since a lil kid i ve always dug it,

..if you meant TRADITIONAL stuff then i remeber the time very clearly,(i mean,the time i realized what i wanted to do)

at the time i was a 14 or 15 tear old punk hell bent being "into" the 50'sscene ..my first eye opener was seeing Axles yellow coupe in person back in the late 80's/early 90's or so,the first time i saw it was at a car show at Don Steves chevorlet if i remeber right...you have to remember that even in so.cal at this time the "SCENE" as most of you know it today was pretty much non-existant other than the diehard original hot rodders who had been doing it since way back then. i was floored,,i knew i had to be apart of that...

as far as the whole hot roddong thing,,my dad has been a hottrodder all his life and i grew up around badd ass cars(mostly chevys) weither hoddies,lowriders,or restored classics...

[/ QUOTE ]

in the LATE EIGHTIES "AXLE" was a break dancer, and JimmyShine was running DAYTON copies, on his 84 REGAL,,, while the DEACONS were going to RAVES and collecting toys to play with while they did extacy with teenage FATHER-LESS girls,,,,,....

I got into hot rods when I was 11, cause when COLE use to BABYSIT me HE MOLESTED me, while i read ROD-n CUSTOM'''

Jkustom

11-09-2003, 05:19 AM

When I was real little, my grandma and grandpa would watch me when mom was at work. I was probably about 5 or 6 at the latest, and there was something on t.v. , Black and white footage... I remember seeing headlights coming down the street and all of a sudden-And I remember this vividly- some roadster with no fenders comes flying into the turn, turns left and the passenger door flies open, the guy on the passenger side almost falls out but hangs on, and the driver never slowed down... a few sconds later, a cop car comes in hot pursiut. I dont know if it was real footage or some movie, but It ruined me for life. And I remember the way my grandpa looked when he saw the way I reacted to this, he gave a bit of a chuckle. I later found out that befor he had kids, he used to race jalopies on the beaches at the ocean, and in the late 1940's he drove his hot rod up the stairs of the capital building in washington state. Went to jail for that one I hear... So he knew what it did to me I guess! -J. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

roadstar

11-09-2003, 09:06 AM

When I found the JALOPY JOURNAL. http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Before that I had a Mullet,Billet wheels and assories, The badest sculpted TWEED interior, Matching color coordanated lawnchairs(thst go in matching canvas bags).My cars always had real NEET graphics(neon of course). http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

I believe it is something you are born with. Not nessasarily hotrodding in it's traditional sense, but the love for thing automotive.
When I was about 6 my dad and I would sit on the front porch and he would say things like "Oh there goes a 58 Belair" And I marveled at how he new this. I asked him how he new. It didn't actually say the year on the car and I was amazed how he knew this. Well from that day on I was determaned to know about cars too just by looking at them.

For me it had been a progession from 57chevys with straight axels in the early 70's to restoring muscle cars to streetrods in the early 80's. I'm one of those people that like many cars and styles. I like Corvettes but hate the "VetteSet".
But Now I tend to like a timeless style. And that does happen to be a very traditional look. So to answer the origanal question for me it was something I was born with.

old beet

11-09-2003, 09:18 AM

Don't really know how it started, but I know it was early. My mother gave me some crayon drawings from my kindergarten class. Funny, I drew them all without fenders and flames comin out the motors, with by the way all seem to have blowers. I don't remember doin them. My brother had a chopped and channeled model A when I was seven. I could see the top of the roof.....1946-47......OLDBEET

modernbeat

11-09-2003, 10:24 AM

I renewed my car fanaticism every time I rode in my dad's '70 Challenger with a transplanted 440 or his zippy fairly stock '68 MGB. That was '70-'81 and I was 1 year old to 11 years old. I hated the Torino station wagon that my mom drove.

That got me into cars in general. Because of the prevailing winds of fashion, and my meager pocketchange, I ended up getting into vintage Japanese sports cars. Then graduated to Vintage American trucks, then VWs, then Porsches and finally Hot Rods.

What got me into Hot Rods? My pal Danny Burroughs. We both drove modified VWs (poor) even though Danny and his dad built killer hot rods. Well, Danny finally built a '32 Roadster and I was often his co-pilot on trips. That exposure infected me in the early '90s and I've been doing hot rods since then.

BUICKNAILHEAD

11-09-2003, 03:20 PM

Yeah My earliest recolection was my dads 58 Plymouth fury sitting in the driveway. And him popping the factory hubcaps off it to change a wheel cylinder. I could'nt see over into the engine compartment yet but i know now that there was a factory dual four setup. Straight outta the movie christine. Only silver with gold trim. As far as traditional my Uncle in new york had quite the selection of rods when I grew up. He bought choppped and sold them. Now he is into the buying and selling again. but more of the newer 60's 70's muscle. But I have to agree with the happy days gig. I was always waiting for that show. I even had the Tin Lunch box with matching thermos.! yeah those were the days. I can even remember the Matchbox hot rod cars I collected and the evil kinevil dude I had on his bike that you would send flying acrossed the room from pulling on the t stick and crashing into my moms feet.....geeze.. i might need to hunt for that toy!........ http://www.jalopyjournal.com/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

jonizzle

11-09-2003, 04:15 PM

Well for me it was helping dad on his resto. i guess more like standing in the car and watching him work. When i was 3 or 4 (1987 or so)i remember my dad restoring a 1964 Mercedes-Benz 230SL. i actually still have a sweet spot for those cars. Another time my dad was having some injection problems with that engine in the Mercedes and he needed to rev it up. I asked if i could do it. i remember the sound of the engine getting faster, and then him gettin on my case because i revved it too high. And when i was real young my dad stopped his 79 Diesel VW rabbit and put in 1st gear, got out and i steered it up the hill. i have no recollection of this, but those are some things that started it. along with helpin dad when i was a little older with fixin all the cars.

i have always had a fascination with anything pertroleum powered. I also remember asking my dad..."oh look...what kind of car is that?" he would tell me everything about them and then a little story about how he had one, his dad having one, or a neighbor or friend having one. Along with going to car shows. usually i would ask him if he wanted to go and we always enjoyed it.

For my 17th birthday to years ago my dad gave me his moms 1967 Fairlane convertible. I did some engine mods, and made it scream. you probably all remember my intro about that car so i won't go there again. hehe.

then 3 years before that my dad bought a mint 1931 Ford Model AA. it is a 2 3/4 ton stakeside flatbed. it was just sold and i am kinda dissapointed because if i had the money and space and wasn't in school i would of bought that thing in a minute.

Anyways what has brought be to Hot Rods and customs would have to be hanging out with the Coffins. Cruizin with was a lot of fun. I love what they are doing and it is making me want to build a car. also the H.A.M.B. has made me want to build a car. not sure what to build. After seeing Jimmy White's hemi coupe i would love to build a Hot Rod, but i have been thinkin of doing a 57 Fairlane or a 58 or 59 T-bird. anyways that's how it started for me.

flatheadpete

11-09-2003, 05:08 PM

I feel like a loser. My dad wasn't into cars as I grew up. My grandpa, on the other hand, had a 1977 Chevy suburban with a built to hell 468 BBC. "It helps pull the trailer." Sorry gramps, your full of crap. That sub hauled ass! Also while growing up, a block over, a guy named Al (I call him Bud to this day) had a bright red '39 Chevy coupe with a tri-power 350. I wandered around the block one day when I was about 9 to see what car made all the noise when it started. Thanks, Bud. I owe you one!

Crease

11-09-2003, 05:29 PM

My dad has always been into old cars. When I was about 12 he bought a 29 RPU with a high compression 4 banger, lighhtened flyweel, high speed rearend, the works. One trip down the street in that and I was hooked. Guess I owe the affliction to the old man.

flatlandman

11-09-2003, 05:33 PM

I grew up in a small town and was six or seven ('75 or 76) and our neighbors were all car car guys. Baseball (that was his name swear!) took me for a ride in his bucket. I can't remember what it had in it for a motor but it was blue and scary fast in a good way! I got a good whippin' from my Mom for getting that car! "You could have been killed...blah, blah"
I was hooked!
The guys (my sister's boyfriend) on the side of the street had a dark green pro stock Duster. It was so loud when they started it, my stomach would shake from the noise! I can remember them "testing" it out in the back lane. The tire smoke was so thick...those were the days. He still has the Duster 30 years later, sitting his parents garage in the same small town. It hasn't been run in about 25 years.