When did it start for you?

[Jive-Bomber]

The love of old cars. I think for most of us its always been there, in our DNA since childhood, starting with toys and being cemented by our first car. But when did you actually appreciate OLD (i.e. pre-muscle) cars for the very first time? This pict...

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[beauishere]

I know it's cliche, but it was when I first saw American Graffiti. Although my dad had been a rodder before I came along, he had never told me about it until I came home from the theater talking about this movie and about all the cool cars it had in it. There weren't a whole lot of hot rods where I grew up, so it hit me like a left hook. The cars, the music, cruisin', racing, the whole thing.

[Little Wing]

Watchin my Father take apart the Avanti, and be surrounded by all the motorcycles.

It was the people attached to the cars and bikes I think as they were different ,,fun kinda people. When you saw the car or bike it was like so and so is coming,,and as a kid it would be play time.

[chop&drop]

I can't think of a "moment" when it hit me. It was a LONG time ago. I guess I was about 10-12 years old when I "fell in love" with hot rods. My dad has never been a gearhead, nor has anyone else in the family, and before I got into high school I didn't have any gearhead friends. It was just something that hit me like a ton of bricks and never went away.

[Kerry67]

I was into cars my whole childhood. Got into playing guitar in the late 70's when I was about 12 and that took over my life until 2000 (tried to be a rock star). Got back into cars (muscle cars) and then started to get into this type of stuff around 2004 or so when I got tired of people asking if it was numbers correct or pointing out flaws on every car around. Always went to car shows and auctions though..........

[Paulie9fingers]

From as early as I can remember (born in 1962), my dad raced coupes on the roundy round stuff. I was wandering around in the garage, junk yards and dirt tracks as a young kid and it just never stopped .

[57ford/60thunderbird]

well like most if not all here it started right out of the crib , but i guess the true defining moment for me was watching my dad tear apart a gray primered 55 chevy hardtop i just thought that flat gray car was awesome

( i think he was actually junking the car )
supposedly it was his old "hot rod" and was suposed to have been pretty mean
wish i had a pic of it
cause after he was done taking it apart it disappeared never saw it again
i was at most 6 years old at the time

[rustyhood]

I must have been to little to realize the moment it hit me. My dad had a towing business and every chance I got I was at the garage. My dad could always find me pretend driving and working on the junk cars on the property. I was blessed to have a dad that was a motor head and to be apart of his life teaching me. I miss him.

[Munstergarage]

Porterville Ca 1986: I'm 5 years old playing in my front yard when i hear the most terrifying yet eexciting sound I'd ever heard. It was the sound of a 396 torturing a set of tires. As i looked in that direction I see a canary yellow '55 chevy turning on to my street. the driver pulls up in front of my house and says " Hi Kenny I'm your uncle Doug, get in the car." He took me around town planting the loud pedal every chance he got. Thats when it happened for me. riding in that car, the tuck n roll, the smell the sounds I was hooked ever since.

[petes56usa]

It was 1965....I was 7 years old riding my purple metalflake bike up the sidewalk of the house we lived in and a brand new Gold 65 GTO "with cragar ss rims" came up the road and to the house across the street . I just thought that was the coolest thing I had ever seen....Been In love with American Iron ever since.................

[oldpaint]

I'm a "Boomer" born in 1948. I grew up in a small town. Across the street from my house was a chevy dealership and behind the garage was a junk yard. I hung out there most summer days.
I painted my first bicycle black and flamed it and named it the "Black Flame".

[Plowboy]

As long as I can remember whenever we would be on a trip, whenever I saw an old car I would always ask my dad what it was and what year it was. As I know now he was mostly full of shit. Now he has to ask me.

As for hot rods, Cartoons magazine, and when ZZ top came out with those videos that is what really set me off.....

[BrerHair]

Growing up in the 50's, the family piling into our '56 Ford wagon, kids in pj's, to go to the drive-in movies. Us kids would fall asleep early into the film Mom & Dad wanted to see.

First "souped-up" cars I remember were shoeboxes and tri-5's, neighborhood teens.

Growing up in 50's, there were still tons of 40's cars around. My dad had a '46 Plymouth, etc. . . . great childhood memories.

[Labold]

It is hard to pin point an exact moment because I grew up around cars, but I vividly remember playing in/around our 64 T-bird convertible (Dad still has it). I was bitten by the bug so long ago I don't even remember getting bit.

[Knucklehead29]

I'm probably a little different than most. Since my family is from Turkey I wasn't really raised with the whole American Hot Rod family like some here. As a kid my parents couldn't quite understand my obsession with all things cars around the age of 10. My first car was a 1990 Toyota Supra Turbo (I know I know) that I used to tune, but mostly it was something to go fast in. Next car was a 1996 Mustang Cobra that I spent most of my hard earned minimum wage money upgrading and making faster. My mom told me when I was 18 that she knew exactly where I got it from. She said her old man was fanatical about cars and had a '56 2 door Bel Air he used to take the family around in on long weekends in Turkey. He used to love that thing and shine it up every day. She said I must have got the bug from him when I was a kid. I bought a Bel Air to honor my grandpa's love for Bel Air's, and a '53 since that's when my mom was born. The day I showed it to her for the first time she got teary eyed and said "you remind me of my dad." That was all the motivation I needed to keep working on the car. For me it's a lifestyle. I tell my friends "To understand me is to understand my obsession with my cars."

[HOTRODSURFER]

i belive it is in our DNA i have always loved cars.hot rods,drag racing,my mom has a picture of me at 2 years reading rod and custom magazine,by age 6 i was holding a drop light for my gradfather &,cleaning tools out in the shop

[Bphotrod]

The next door neighbor kids were a few older than me, and always bringing home cars. One day one of the brothers came home with a 70 Cuda 340 4sp black on black. That was it. I was 10.

[wbrw32]

Study Hall in High School 1950...A senior was passing around the latest copy of "Hot Rod"mag..Shortly there after,I put Sombrero caps,Buick Skirts,long shackles and a set of "Douglass "twin pipes on my 39 Deluxe Ford cpe...Been at it ever since...

[HEMI32]

I was only 2 years old ... but I was already "driving" the HEMI32 Coupe:


1963: "Cruising my (future) Elementary School" - Fremont, Ca

[cr55]

It started for me when I was a little kid beggin my mom to buy me the larest copy of Rod and Custom or a model, had to cut grass or shovel snow for the money....My parents weren't into cars whatsoever, jut a means of transportation! They always wondered what was wrong with me!!...CR