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

Seeing the 1953 Studebaker hard top Lorwe Coupe in the show room as a kid,that thing just looked so new and so better then every other make car.
The unvaling of the new cars was a really big deal,so Dad would take me with him as each new make showed.

 

Two cars, the Batmobile, and my uncle's '63 Chevy truck, with a 327 and Muncie 4 speed.

 

About 10 years ago it was "SCRAPE".

 

Hard to say when it was for me, could have been the Munster's or the Batmobile, maybe watching drag racing or stock racing, have a few uncles that were body men and mechanics, Dad was pretty handy under the hood. Remember running back and forth to the toolbox all day on Saturdays when I rather would have been watching cartoons or wrestling.

 

My old man use to let me sit on his lap and drive his 57 Ford 2dr around the parking lot when we lived in Wis when I was about 4. I remember my Mom stitching the interior. That was the car that started my appreciation. After that it was always going to old car shows and watching him work on what he drove. But, the car that really helped shape my personal taste was seeing a Model A coupe for sale at Back to the 50's when I was about 13. I had just started working and had enough money to buy it ($2300) but Mom was saying how it wasn't a "safe" car. It was actually an early 60's drag car that had been left alone since it's original build. I remember seeing a sbc with 6 2's and an aluminum sheet riveted to the roof that had holes cut in it. It was chopped and soo badass looking. After that it was all about drag cars. I've always wondered what happened to that thing.

-Mike

 

The eliminator coupe was the first street/hot rod that I can remember I didn't know what it was but I knew it was cool I was 9 or 10 at the time. I didn't know anyone who had hot rods or even muscle cars. so it was pretty limited to the exposure of what was on tv.

 

I've related this story before on the HAMB, when I was a kid a new car was a '49. My brother and I were looking at the magazines at Duckwalls drug store/soda fountain and we saw a Hotrod magazine with a fenderless roadster on the cover. We had a derelict model A pickup on the farm that had been discarded because the motor had shit the bed. Our dad had bought it's replacement already, in running condition for about $20.

When we got home we went out and started to strip the old A down, like in the pictures in the magazine. Picture this, a couple of dumb farm kids with no skills, taking the fenders, etc. off with crescent wrenches, screwdrivers, and fencing pliers. Of course, that car never ran again, and soon enough after that, we lost interest.

I went on for a career/family, etc., with a short venture into stock car racing for only a couple of years, until I realized my career and family came first, returning to hot rodding only after I retired. The last time I visited that farm, the hood from that old A had been flattened out and was part of a hog-pen fence. The headlight bar was hanging on a nail on the back wall of the old shed.

After retirement I restored a '31 Chivvy to original condition. My first custom was'nt inspired by any specific car. I simply wanted an old (early 30s) pickup truc, most likely inspired by my memory of the Model A farm trucks we had when I was a kid. I came across the derelict sheetmetal from a '29 Chivvy sedan and liking extended (space cabs), the result is obvious. I simply built it like I wanted it. The next, my Nash hot rod was inspired by any and all hot rods of the past that were made to look lower and lighter than it's production counterpart, channelled, lowered, big motor, loud pipes, fenderless, etc., possibly inspired by that first fenderless that I saw on a magazine cover as a kid. Now I'm a kid again.

 

In my initial post, I was not really asking about toys or models, although I certainly appreciate the response and can relate directly to that. I was able to point out the make, model, and year of cars when I was three years old - helped to live on a busy street in suburban Denver! My Dad always had four-doors and wagons, simply because there were seven of us kids and a rod or Corvette was not gonna happen then! The TV show Batman came out in 1966 when I was in kindergarten...believe me, I wanted to own that Batmobile! When the Hot Wheels cars came out in 1968, I had a lot of them...I do mean a LOT of them! Had a shitpot full of models as a kid, too! I'd been around cars my entire childhood, but my bro-in-law's '56 BelAir that I'd mentioned in the initial post was my first REAL car that I knew, rode in, and dreamed about!

All of the responses have been great - keep them coming in!

 

I would, but it would ruin that memory. I could never make the car as perfect as I remember that one. 30-plus years have polished all of the blemishes off that car in my memory and I want to leave it just where it is if that makes sense? That little chicken shack by the motorcycle dealership will always be there for me, with a parking lot full of the most immaculate traditional low riders I have ever seen. I just have to close my eyes.

I wonder how many kids we have done that to over the years with one of our projects?

C

 

Kinda born in me , Dad was a mechanic for almost 50 years. He always had some sort of hot rod or drag car, nothing really custom. I heard of a car called the moonglow when I was 14 and dreamed of owning a copy. I traded my project at the time and worked all summer to finish the payoff for a 54 chevy. Painted it silver and lowered it. Was as close as it ever came to being the clone .

 

It was a motorized Japanese tin toy Mustang coupe in 1966, my dear dad bought it for me, it was utterly fascinating to me, I was hooked forever.

 

A 46 ford coupe being built by my uncles house. Was maybe 7 years old and got to climb inside it and look at that dash and the split windshield, thought it was pretty cool.

 

My friend Dick Patterson's Model A Coupe.

 

living 2 blocks behinds jerry and eldon titus' house, and growing up in KUSTOM CITY ( which is moving alittle further south!) seeing starbird, stuckey, titus, and wolf driving their shit around the neihberhood.

 

I had no live influences - my dad was (and still is) not remotely interested in hot rods - he still can't understand why I spend money on them or get so excited when I talk about or work on them. My influence came from the first mags I saw, the very first being an issue of 1001 Custom and Rod Ideas (still have it somewhere) that had an article on Jake's yellow 3W and the Randy Bianchi-built T with the triple 4 bbl carbed, blown big block and mag Halibrands. I was hooked!

Steve

 

I saw the Kookie Kar on TV ( 77 Sunset Strip ), Tommy's car on TV in a movie, the hot rod in the Shaggy Dog movie - finally got a TBucket in 2003. Sold it last Feb to buy a '50 shoebox - now we will try the custom route and see where that takes me. At least my wife and 2 daughters can have fun with me now!

 

For me it was several things. My dad working on his 29 Hiboy roadster, model cars, going to the NHRA Nationals and also going to the NSRA Nationals when ever possible. I can still remember going to the Street Rod Nationals back when streaking was the fad....yikes!

 

My dad use to take me to the walterboro dragstrip[late 60's] in his hot rodded 60 impala.damn that was cool!

 

Here is mine! Original picture scanned in. I have many pictures of me as a child standing around with a lot of old drag cars that my father owned at one time or another. I remember being surrounded by these giants in the driveway always and being interested at an early age. This is a Canso with a L88 427. I remember a couple times my father leaving late at night with this thing. (open exhaust) I wonder where he was going??????lololololol By the way look at my bad comb over fluttering in the wind! lololol

 

Same Fooses custom 46-48 Ford coupe from the mid 70's...dont have a pic of it on this computer...it was on the cover of 1001 custom & rod ideas (or something like it) , had Crlys chopped Merc in it as well...still have the magazine musta read it a 1001 times lol! I was about 12 and those construction pics of those 2 cars lit the custom fire thats for sure!

 

My Answer to The Question : Ecto From Ghostbusters. Fuckin Cadillac Monster...I Love that damn car

 

i have to say the 66 batmobile for me that was the hottest car on TV at the time. i dont remember watching the munsters except for reruns then the "munster go home" movie came out by then i was hooked on Barris cars. and any other tv cars yes the monkeemobile is still kool. infact everytime i see a 67 ponitac i think man what i would do with that if it were mine

 

Probably going to the world of wheels as a small kid in the mid-70's and seeing wild and wacky stuff like the Mummy Machine and the like. Also when we would be at my aunt's and great grandma's house in Tipton, IN you would see a Steve Tansy creation once in a while!

 

For me it was, a model A with a 32 grill published in NZ hot rod mag in the early 80's - just a header pic on a page, but that sexy arse end curve caught my eye, and I've been wanting one ever since.
I will get there...

 

Has to be my uncle's rides, always had something cool as long as I can remember. From then on it was a hunger for info and tagging along to shows as a kid. It ruined me from then on.

 

Likely the '37 Ford 2D we still used some when I was 11 or so and I was allowed to drive it, (living on a farm has some advantages). Always thought it was a good looking car and wanted to make a hot rod. Life moved on.

 

When I was growing up in Brazil I had a neighbor that drove around a Model A on the weekend ( when he could get it going ) for fun and my grandfather helped with get the thing started all the time. That was the first time I held a wrench around 8-9 years old. My grandfather was always driving old VW Buses and Type 3's. Since them I worked my way up from toys, to bicycles, to motorcycles and now all the above

 

I started first grade in Sept. 1961 My first grade teacher (Judy Smith) was fresh out of college and a newlywed. Her and her husband bought a new 61 Corvette for thier honeymoon trip to California during the summer of 61. Her room was the end room on the building and she parked on the end of the parking row right outside our windows. I remember setting looking at that car and thinking how cool that car was over all the others. It was silver and interestingly silver and its variations remain my favorite colors. Without a doubt that is the exact car and place it all started. Thanks Judy!!--JK

 

When we were kids, my buddy's dad had/has a 59 Retractable, black with pink and white interior that is a touch of a tail dragger with very few mods. Its got a CJ hood scoop and all the interior tin is chromed. I've always loved that car and it was the first non street machine that really turned me onto the customs. That car gets out once a year, and it was this past weekend, I'll post up a pic later.

As far as hot rods, its a tie between the California Kid and one of the original members of E'ville Iron, 33 Delivery. Fat Jack's orange coupe is a close second.