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Customs What car first got you excited about customs or rods as a kid?

Discussion in 'The Hokey Ass Message Board' started by patrick66, Oct 27, 2009.

  1. big-daddy-george
    Joined: Feb 10, 2008
    Posts: 180

    big-daddy-george
    Member
    from New York

    The very first magazine that I bought off the shelf of the local candy store was the May 1961 issue of Car Craft which I still have. On the cover was Ed Roth in a white shirt and tie leaning on the Beatnik Bandit. I was hooked. That is still my favorite hot rod. The same photo is on the recent book, published "Hot Rods by Big Daddy Roth". 25 years later I was on the road working car shows with him pinstriping and airbrushing t-shirts .Whenever I started to talk to him about one of his cars he said " "Don't talk to me about any of my cars. They were all junk.If you got one up to 60 miles an hour the wheels would fall off" I didn't talk to him about any of his cars again. I did say .." You still like to make money off them though,don't you?" He didn't respond.
     
  2. Harms Way
    Joined: Nov 27, 2005
    Posts: 6,894

    Harms Way
    Member

    When I was a kid this 36' Custom cruised around the Dearborn area,.... It was the first real Hot Rod/ Custom I had ever seen,.... It was built by Frank Taubits of Dearborn and won 3rd place at the first Detroit Autorama, first had a flatty followed by a 303 Olds in 53, a guy named Doug Stetterhome (sp?) then bought it. had it for a while and he sold it to a guy named Harry Vogal in 56. the story falls apart there as Harry died in the stands at a race track in 1957 (so I am told) .
    It's a 1936 Ford 5/W coupe, Chopped, quarter windows filled, filled trunk lid, rounded door corners, solid hood sides, frenched fenders to 1940 Buick rockers, front fender seams filled, cowl vent filled, bull nose, shaved, 49 Ply. bumpers., appeltons. This car was painted Olds Green with a green and white tuck & roll interior, single bar flipper caps.

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  3. shemp
    Joined: Dec 16, 2006
    Posts: 512

    shemp
    Alliance Vendor

    Building the Ala kart double kit, and discovering how cool it was the swap the pieces between the '29 A Roadster and the Ala Kart.
     
  4. banjorear
    Joined: Jul 30, 2004
    Posts: 4,479

    banjorear
    Member

    Listen to my father's '32 Tudor rumble away in the garage at age 3.

    That sound hooked me on flatheads for life.

    It also may have been the exposure to extremely high levels of CO2 that may have caused some brain damage and mild retardation since only fools still mess with flatheads! :)
     
  5. Bud
    Joined: Jun 28, 2005
    Posts: 577

    Bud
    Member
    from Orange, CA

    My first car was a 63 Tempest and I remember looking at 40 Fords in my dads friends magazines. My dad had numerous cars (I particularly remember a 55 Ford F-100 black with traditional colored flames, along with a Triumph TR-3 as Brett mentioned above. We used to ride behind the seats with our heads between the seats and the rear cowl! (But as they say, that is another story). Funny thing was I really never thought of them as customs or rods, just old cars, or cars period because that is just what we had .

    I bought myself a mini-truck in the early eighties (I know, I know) and a volkswagen bug because quite frankly I thought they were cooler at the time. I used to cruise Market Street in Riverside, I know some on here will remember it fondly as I do. Well, we were parked on the side of the street by the old Lou Miller's (of Miller's Outpost fame) just talking and looking at all the mini trucks, VW's, stepside Chevy pickups and muscle cars (camaros, firebirds and such). Then I saw it, it was the meanest coolest looking thing I had ever seen. It was a black, chopped 49 Merc coupe! It had Shake, Rattle and Roll painted on the rear quarters. (I would never do that to a car now but at that particular moment it didn't detract from the car at all) I was completely blown away! In my foggy memories it seemed as though the side window was a half an inch tall and there was a long haired tattooed biker in the passenger seat and he flipped us a peace sign. Thinking back now and to be perfectly honest, the car was all wrong, kind of like the Pharoahs Merc in AG, but that didn't matter. It came by low and slow, just absolutely blowing people away. It was the only time I saw it that night, in fact, I never saw that car again, but my buddies and I just couldn't stop talking about it. Remember this was the early eighties and at least in my part of So Cal you just didn't see customs like this at that time. From that moment on I knew I had to have a Merc before I took my final car ride in a pine box. I would have to say that car is the reason I became interested in rods and customs.

    Sorry it is so long but it is a memory I will take to my deathbed, it affected me that much.
     
  6. olskoolspeed
    Joined: Mar 2, 2009
    Posts: 476

    olskoolspeed
    Member
    from Ohio

    Back in '62, my next door neighbor had a '55 Chevy mild custom. I was 6 years old and I still remember that car to this day.
     
  7. ViseGrip
    Joined: Oct 27, 2009
    Posts: 13

    ViseGrip
    Member

    There have been so many. My dads 57 chevy in 1970 and a 1966 chevelle he had. Both cars were 4 speeds. I guess thats why I think all hot rods are supposed to have a clutch. I have always been a fan of the tri 5 chevys, but my dad has a 30 A model that we built together that I really like. I guess if it's got a choppy cam and a clutch I like it
     
  8. boldventure
    Joined: Mar 7, 2008
    Posts: 1,766

    boldventure
    Member

    Stuff like Ryan's post Ferrari Fascination from today and the "green pages" in Hot-Rod magazine when I was a kid. Here were guys building some really cool stuff. Then I'd jump right into "All's 'ya gotta do is..."
     
  9. Mr Mayo
    Joined: Aug 1, 2008
    Posts: 183

    Mr Mayo
    Member
    from Huff, ND

    I've been crazy about cars for as long as I can remember. As soon as I could stand and look out the window in the kitchen, watching cars go by on the highway.

    The first exposure to something more than stock was my neighbor's '57 Fury convertible with pipes. Later, like many here, it was model cars. Specifically for me, the Deora.
     
  10. Captain Chaos
    Joined: Oct 16, 2009
    Posts: 652

    Captain Chaos
    Member
    from Missery

    Only thing close to a hot rod in my family til I came of age was my dads 69 Skylark, it was jacked up so high in back we had to put our feet on back of front seat to keep from sliding off .
    But I think one of my biggest influences beside hot wheels and plastic model cars was the 70 superbird and a few other badass chryslers that roamed the neighbor hood and the old lady who worked 7/11 who drove an Olds Rallye 350 everyday
     
  11. Sphynx
    Joined: Jan 31, 2009
    Posts: 1,141

    Sphynx
    Member
    from Central Fl

    Hey me to my Dad had a 72 SS nova and my Grandmother had a 70 SS 396 Chevelle wow its like were brothers.:D No really were brothers..
     
  12. Frank
    Joined: Jul 30, 2004
    Posts: 2,325

    Frank
    Member

    I was a child of the 80's and I got no shame when I say the ZZTop Eliminator was probably my favorite then (Heck, I was 10. Who can blame me.)

    I still looove the lines of the 33/34 Fords. I've got the Eliminator album hanging in my garage.
     
  13. Gotgas
    Joined: Jul 22, 2004
    Posts: 7,175

    Gotgas
    Member
    from DFW USA

    Born into it. I could tell '55-6-7 Chevrolets apart before I was three.

    But what really sealed the deal (and influenced my infatuation with '50s Mopars) was Christine. I have hundreds of drawings I did as a kid of 58 Plymouths, hahahaaa.

    My uncle had a '78 Malibu with an LS6 454 in it, so that got my attention. And that was about '87-88 when the muscle car stuff exploded, what was an 11yr old kid to do?
     
  14. phaze1todd
    Joined: Apr 2, 2009
    Posts: 5

    phaze1todd
    Member

    My brother was a bodyman at the local Chrysler dealer and picked up a one year old, low mileage '78 Volar. . . 'ehm. . . Roadrunner with a blown 318. Swap in a 360 with dual exhaust and we've gone from grocery getter to sleeper. I remember sitting in the back seat on the still new smelling fine corinthian leather, getting pinned back and giggling when he'd punch it off the line.
     
  15. coupster
    Joined: May 9, 2006
    Posts: 860

    coupster
    Member
    from Oscoda Mi

    A bright yellow model A coupe. He drove by me every morning as I pedaled my bike to school. I remember it had a small block Chev and was loud and mean and had no fenders. I can still see the driver in his work uniform shirt smoking a cig, he was my idea of cool. Must have been around 66'. By the time I could drive all I could afford was an old 55' Chev station wagon from my paper route money. I was kinda bummed I wanted a coupe just like the one I saw every morning. Well I finally sold the old wagon around 2000, it brought pretty good dough, after all it was a Nomad, and now I have that coupe, not the exact same one but this one is all mine, and I shall never part with it.
     
  16. 49ratfink
    Joined: Feb 8, 2004
    Posts: 18,828

    49ratfink
    Member
    from California

    [​IMG]

    1968. mine was purple. I was 8. I still have it
     
  17. rikkitabaras
    Joined: Oct 8, 2009
    Posts: 76

    rikkitabaras
    Member
    from dallas tx

    My brothers 59 chevy hardtop with tri carbs, and the GT40 on the old boxes of the ford parts motorcraft!
     
  18. April 1953 Popular Mechanics article on customs, Lou Bettancourt's 49 Merc. Also my dad's 50 Merc 4dr, which I still have. I also have a chopped 50 Merc coupe.
     
  19. Moonglow2
    Joined: Feb 4, 2007
    Posts: 660

    Moonglow2
    Member

    At the age of fifteen I walked into the Fort Wayne Memorial Coliseum where they were having a car show. The first car at the entrance was editor Spencer Murray's Rod & Custom Dream Truck. I took lots of photos that got lost over the years. Later I found out that the truck was dropped off at Bob Metz's where it was revamped and the now-famous fins were added.
     
  20. Next door neighbor used to race at the local drag strip in Fort Wayne and had a mean 55 chevy gasser and I used to go over there are hang out while they were wrenchin' on it and look at all of the magazines that were laying around...some of them were even car related...
     
  21. PegLegStrick
    Joined: Aug 8, 2007
    Posts: 1,883

    PegLegStrick
    Member

    Model cars I used to buy as a kid
     
  22. Idlzruf
    Joined: Oct 24, 2009
    Posts: 93

    Idlzruf
    Member

    Seeing this guy go sideways

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  23. CharlieLed
    Joined: Feb 21, 2003
    Posts: 2,463

    CharlieLed
    Member

    Local derelict had a 49 Merc painted like a easter egg, jacked up in the rear and loud, that car was everything that pissed off my parents...I loved it!
     
  24. MCM
    Joined: May 9, 2008
    Posts: 162

    MCM
    Member

    Pretty sure it was the Munster Koach, either that or the Roth model kits...
     

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  25. onlychevrolets
    Joined: Jan 23, 2006
    Posts: 2,307

    onlychevrolets
    Member

    all my childhood I wanted a 55 Chevrolet ( still do ) I was born in 55 and really like that body style. My dad raced in the 60's at the Peach Bowl in Atlanta and he had a 55.... I can't afford one now but maybe someday.
     
  26. Mr Grim
    Joined: Dec 8, 2004
    Posts: 72

    Mr Grim
    Member
    from Chicago,IL

    pops had a model collection(it's mine now:) )when i was a kid and i was always starring at the little coffin and the orange crate just that mix of hot rod and pure drag got me hooked
     
  27. The stack of old 3-1 model kits Dad had on the shelves down stairs.
    Still can't believe he let me get my grubby little paws all over some of 'em.:rolleyes:
     
  28. Around 1960 7 years old there were these guys about 10 houses down the street from me that raced a yellow ford coupe gasser, not sure if it was a Model A or a '32. They flat towed it to Thompson behind a powder blue '57 Chevy ragtop. All summer I would go stand in their driveway and watch them wrench on the coupe. That is when the switch was turned on for me. The yellow coupe had yellow windows and its name was the "Bad Banana" I wonder if any guys in North East Ohio might have some pix of it. It was out of Maple Hts, Ohio.
     
  29. buickbelle
    Joined: Oct 10, 2008
    Posts: 241

    buickbelle
    Member

    When I was seven or eight, my Father traded a hog trough for a 1946 Ford. Gave it to my oldest brother for his first car. Paul spent hours and hours drawing different pictures of this car customizing it, and that ol 46 went thru all the "fazes" that a kid could do to a car in the mid fifties. Primer, flames, red wheels, baby moons, full moons, coon tails, you name it at one time or another that ol 46 had it. When my Oldest brother gave it to my 2nd oldest brother after the oldest enlisted in the Navy, Ben took several of the drawings Paul had done and set to customizing this car. Being the "little sister', I was there for all of it. Loving every second of it. By the time I graduated from High School, this car was one of the koolest kustoms on Douglas. Wish I had pictures of this ol car. This car is totally responsible for my love for cars today.

    Carrie
     

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